Area Primer · Starting Zone
Bellingham High School is a standard public high school on paper—brick halls, aging classrooms, loud bells, and an underfunded arts wing—but it sits at a subtle fault line where adolescence, power, and myth brush against one another. Most students are mundane. A noticeable minority are Veil-brushed: kids with strange dreams, heightened instincts, unexplained rage, or moments of impossible luck.
The school is watched, quietly protected, and occasionally tested—not because it is special, but because this is where special people often first crack.
Violence here rarely looks supernatural. When it does, it is quickly buried under bureaucracy, rumors, or tragedy.
Students:
~90% fully mundane
~8% Veil-brushed (migraines, prophetic dreams, adrenaline spikes, emotional surges)
~2% dangerously close to awakening
Faculty:
Largely ignorant. A few have “bad feelings” or long-standing suspicions. None have proof.
Protection:
Comes from Alumni assets, dormant Watcher influence, and people like Jesse Boone intervening before things turn mythic.
Rule of the School:
No overt divine acts on campus.
Anyone who breaks this rule draws Watcher attention immediately.
The central artery of the school. Trophy cases line the walls—football, wrestling, ROTC plaques going back decades. The clock tower is older than the building and has been repaired more times than recorded.
Rumor: The clock has stopped ticking exactly three times in school history. All three coincided with unexplained deaths in the city.
Low ceilings, old mats, constant smell of sweat and iron. This is territory.
Home to the junior bully and his crew, a small knot of wrestlers who enforce dominance through intimidation, “training accidents,” and hallway pressure.
The junior is a Geat affiliate, unknowingly groomed by a no-name family member who sees him as future muscle.
Jesse Boone’s presence here is constant and deliberate.
Shared space between student training and Jesse’s “volunteer” sessions.
Old surplus gear.
Flags with faded insignias.
A locked storage closet that hums faintly during storms.
Hidden Truth: Jesse’s ghost sword drills leave faint spiritual grooves in the space. Sensitive students feel watched here.
Partially closed, underfunded, and poorly lit.
Flickering lights.
Storage rooms full of outdated equipment.
One classroom that students avoid instinctively.
Veil Activity:
This wing attracts Veil-brushed students unconsciously. Nightmares intensify here.
Normal during the day. At night, it feels too quiet.
Old yearbooks with names that don’t appear in district records.
Media students occasionally capture “artifacts” on film they can’t explain.
ATO has scrubbed this place more than once.
Social battlefield.
Tables are territory.
Deals, dares, rumors, and leverage exchange hands here.
Bacchus Bites candy has never officially appeared here—but kids swear it has.
Where breakdowns happen.
Overworked counselors.
Files that go missing.
A single office where Veil-brushed students seem calmer afterward.
That counselor doesn’t know why.
The threshold between school and city.
After-school fights.
Drug handoffs.
Rides to college parties.
Where Geat influence leaks in most visibly.
Mundane · Suspicious · Overburdened
A career administrator who has seen too many “coincidences” to ignore, but not enough proof to act on them. Keeps detailed private notes she never submits.
She trusts Jesse Boone more than anyone, though she doesn’t know why.
Mundane · Rule-Focused
Obsessed with procedure. Accidentally shields the Veil by burying incidents under paperwork.
(See existing profile)
Jesse is the silent pressure valve of the school.
He intervenes early, redirects violence, and ensures awakenings do not happen here.
He knows the junior bully is being groomed. He’s watching to see how far it goes.
Mundane · Curious
Encourages students to document the world. Has unknowingly recorded Veil anomalies twice. Both files vanished.
Veil-Brushed (Unaware)
Occasionally teaches lessons that include names or events he “shouldn’t know.” Students sometimes remember things they never learned.
Mundane · Empathic
Veil-brushed students feel better after visiting her. She assumes it’s placebo.
Led by a junior bully tied loosely to the Geat family
Enforces dominance, tests limits
Not overtly criminal yet
Being watched by multiple factions
This is a slow-burn antagonist, not a boss fight.
Small, unconnected students with:
Migraines
Rage issues
Dreams of fire, wolves, or falling
Instinctive distrust of authority
Potential future PCs or catalysts.
Corner store with blind spots
Coffee shop hangout
Bus stops
Small park
Parking structures
Cheap diner
Route to college district
Frat flyers
College day recruiters
Upperclassmen throwing parties
Sneak-outs and rides into the city
This is how the campaign naturally expands outward.
Student conflict
Faculty intervention
Jesse Boone steps in
Police involvement
Umbra attention
Watcher scrutiny
If step 6 happens, something has gone very wrong.
Bellingham High School exists to teach players:
Actions have witnesses
Power draws attention
Violence escalates systems
The city is bigger, meaner, and watching
This is not where legends are made.
This is where they begin to crack.