Daniel Archer

I am Daniel Archer. My sire is Valerius;
I am Valerius. My sire is Gilgamesh.
I am Gilgamesh. My sire is Ventrue;
I am Ventrue. My sire is Enoch;
I am Enoch. My sire is Caine;
I am Caine. I am he who sired all those of the blood.
All Kindred are my childer.
I am Daniel Archer, Ventrue of the Sixth Generation.
Hear my lineage, and know me…


1399 was a bleak year for England. Henry IV acceded the throne, King Richard II having been imprisoned and murdered - the first casualty in the War of the Roses between the houses of Lancaster and York. Into this chaotic time was born Daniel Archer.

Archer, an aspiring arms dealer, made the most of the great rivalry, playing both warring sides against one another, greatly increasing his family's fortune. His ruthless maneuverings in pursuit of his more established competitors attracted the attentions of the Ventrue, Valerius, who had recently settled in England. Archer showed promise, he thought, and was ghouled in the summer of 1431.

Archer served Valerius faithfully for over fifty years, manipulating the English noble houses for his master. In 1485, Archer arranged for the defeat of Richard III by denying him the war materials he needed to defeat Henry at the battle of Bosworth Field. Valerius rewarded Archer's exemplary service by at last embracing him.

By manipulating people's interests, Archer established himself as a force to be reckoned with in mortal and Kindred society alike, playing English houses against one another, then European religions, pitting Catholic against Protestant. Archer's lust for power resulted in a visionary plot to colonize the New World, and remove its control from his European foes. Archer arranged for James I of Scotland to be named successor to the English throne by his cousin, Elizabeth I. The King's dislike of the Puritans' religious demands resulted in the first wave of English immigrants to North America.

As the colonization effort began, Archer continued to play partisan politics, pitting the Cavaliers and Roundheads against one another. Those he supported prospered, until they outlived their usefulness, easily replaced by new fodder. Oliver Cromwell named himself Lord Protector of the Realm and executed Charles I. English society splintered into many factions: Levellers (intent on eradicating economic castes), Puritans, Episcopalians, remnants of the Cavaliers, and other religious and political radicals. At the eye of this hurricane, controlling its path, stood Daniel Archer.

Archer himself left for the New World shortly after Cromwell's death, intent on exploiting its riches, leaving England on the verge of another civil war. Archer arrived in Boston in October of 1658, eager to explore this brave new world. What he found was the same sort of prejudice that the original immigrants had left to escape; Massachusetts continued the practice of religious intolerance by beating, imprisoning and banishing Quakers. (What Ben Franklin said of rebellion also applies to intolerance and bigotry; it is only criminal in the third person.) By 1665, the British government was tightening its grip on its North American Colonies - who, except for the Massachusetts Bay Colony, reluctantly agreed to swear allegiance to Crown and allow freedom of religion.

Over the next fifty years, the instability of the British government led to increasing autonomy for its North American Colonies. This independence, though limited, resulted in a strain between the European elders, who wanted to retain control of the vast resources of the Americas, and the Colonial Kindred, who sought to discourage the interference of the elders in their affairs. They worked for a dissolution of the colonial status of the New World. Truly problematic, because the continental influence in the Colonies was far greater than the American influence back in Europe. The English passed the Iron Act of 1750 to limit production of finished iron products in the Colonies and the Currency Act of 1751 prohibiting issuance of money in the Colonies to limit our ability to utilize our resources to their fullest potential. Ben Franklin presented his "Plan of the Union" at the Albany Congress in 1754 (the plan would unite the Colonies under one President general) which was rejected by England.

The late 1750's found England once again at war with France, this time over imperial claims; fighting was intense in Europe, but North America was also a theatre of the war. In the Colonies, the French made alliances with the native tribes to harass the English border settlements. Archer met a Gangrel called Longtooth and used him as an intermediary in dealing with the Garou. In exchange for their involvement, Archer assured the Garou of his intervention in securing them lands free of Kindred influence. After the end of the French and Indian war, the English began to clamp down on the Colonies, as Archer had known they would, banning settlement to the west and restricting colonial activity, fulfilling his promise to the Garou. Within fifteen years, cries of revolution swept the Colonies.

In the 1780's, the British conceded the loss of the war, and the liberty of the Colonies. It would be another forty years before the elders would accept their defeat, following the War of 1812. By then, the eyes of the world had seen the acumen that had allowed the purchase of the Louisiana Territory for a pittance, and the resolution to maintain that which for they had struggled. Those in the north expanded the new industries under their influence, taking advantage of new technologies to brace the economy. The southern Kindred, however, preserved the old plantation system, stagnating their economy by leaving themselves dependent on slave labor. The schism that resulted in Kindred society could only be purged by fire and blood.

As the war approached, Archer headed west, preferring to avoid the havoc of a war that would pit brother against brother, and Clan against Clan. The burning of Atlanta sent a grim message to the southern Kindred that those who were directing this war would stop at nothing short of victory. (Archer suspected the Chicago fire of 1871 was a retaliation for this atrocity by the survivors of that conflagration.)

During this time, he traveled to Denver, in the Colorado Territory.

"Denver was born during the great 'Pikes Peak or Bust Gold Rush' of 1859 when some flakes of placer gold were found where the South Platte River meets Cherry Creek. In its first few years, the city survived a flood, two major fires, several Indian attacks and even raised an army that defeated an invading force of Confederates from Texas during the Civil War."
http://www.g8denver.org/explore_denver/denver_description.html

He encouraged the industry and economy of the kine, and helped their efforts to organize this new territory. As their access to new technologies improved, dealings with the local tribes worsened. In 1862, the settlers named Golden the territorial capital. The following year, the Garou and their Indian kinfolk increased their raids on the settlements along the eastern slope. Even as Denver obtained its first telegraph system, the isolation was enforced by Garou/ Indian attacks that closed the overland trails. The massacres that the Union soldiers perpetrated did little to ease relations.

In 1867, the territorial capital was moved to Denver, and within two years the violent conflicts with the Garou had abated. Longtooth's excursions into the mountains enabled the Kindred to work out a tentative truce. Archer was then able to return to the business of building a properly modern city. By 1871 gas streetlights lined Denver.

In 1872, Jullian Rhyer of Clan Tremere arrived in Denver intent on founding an Magical Academy. Archer publicly approved of the immigration. All real cities had a Tremere Chantry. Rhyer would prove a useful ally in protecting Denver from the incursions of the Sabbat.

Over the next decade, Denver grew; by 1878 they had telephones connecting them to the great cities of the east. When the Ute uprisings threatened Colorado, the truce with the Garou kept them away from Denver. When the great Ute Chief, Ouray, died his followers were moved to a reservation to keep them from disturbing the peace.

The city's growth progressed unhindered. Archer was always a great proponent of technology. In enabled the kine to be more productive, more communicative, and safer. In 1881 Denver had the first electric generating station built west of the Mississippi River. By 1883 there were electric lights on Denver's streets. Business and industry were booming; the Sherman Silver Act of 1890 filled Ventrue coffers. In 1892, Archer moved his regular haven to the first fireproof building in Colorado: The Brown Palace Hotel.

In 1893 Colorado became the second state to allow women's suffrage, a blow to the misogynistic Prince who had blocked every such effort for fifteen years. He was furious when, the following year, Colorado elected three women to the state legislature.

The repeal of the Sherman Silver Act in 1894 brought Colorado into a deep recession. Despite the success of the gold mines of Cripple Creek and other mountain towns, unemployment soared. Miners struggled in bloody battles against owners; scabs and soldiers fought striking unions.

In 1905, a strange three-way Praxis challenge resulted in Denver having three Princes, and Colorado, three governors in one day. Robert Pointe emerged victorious, but shaken.

In 1925, the depth of Pointe's bigotry was revealed, in the form of Governor Clarence Morley, a Republican supporter of the Ku Klux Klan. The climate of the time, however, left little opportunity to displace or chastise him. The stock market crash and subsequent depression left Archer inclined to leave him in power, while withholding all assistance except public support. During the war, and its economic recovery, the Kindred were too busy rebuilding their influence base and support structure to unseat him.
By the beginning of the 1960's, however, a change was sweeping the nation: The Civil Rights Movement. Unable to bend in those flexible times, Pointe was vulnerable enough that Archer was able to rally enough support to successfully challenge Pointe, and become Prince of Denver.