Maple Hill Rising (Mage: the Awakening 2e) [ EDIT ]

Theme
Convention and Rebellion

Mood
Realism with a Dash of Grit

Plot Summary
It is the summer of 1987 in Maple Hill, New Jersey and the Wise who have set up shop there are hip deep in a new Mystery. Time does not follow the same rules in Maple Hill; it fluctuates and moves in a wholly unnatural way. But that is not the only concern among the Maple Hill Consilium. There are also rumors of a young cabal of malcontents who are planning to move against the Hierarch and her Councilors. Can the Consilium make peace with these young Mages? And what is the cause these time distortions?

History
There was a time when Maple Hill, New Jersey wasn?t so special. It was seven square miles of streets and homes, churches and bistros, elementary schools and playgrounds, and it was as interesting to the wise as stereo instruction manual. There were no members of the Wise that called Maple Hill home, and those that Awakened there rarely stayed for very long. It was a magical dead zone. Until ten years ago.

Everything changed for the quaint South Jersey borough in January of 1977, when a 7 year old boy named Jimmy Guthrie went missing. After days of combing the nearby Pinelands, Local authorities began to fear the worst. In July, after Jimmy had been missing for over 200 days, the family held a funeral service. A week later, an Acanthus was passing through Maple Hills. He found Jimmy Guthrie.

The boy was trapped in time. Held in place by some supernal energy, Jimmy Guthrie was unable to move, unable to speak, and unable to age. He was so close to home?-in his own front yard?-but the sleepers looking for him couldn?t bear to see him. Their minds rearranged his presence?-preferring to believe in a missing boy than a boy trapped time?-and soon they started to avoid the spot altogether. His parents moved away and no new buyers stepped forward. But for the Mages that would soon swarm to the area, Jimmy stood as a reminder of the first Mystery of Maple Hill.

The Acanthus and her cabal set up shop in Maple Hill, curious about the lost boy and the supernal energies surrounding him. And a few months into their studies they found that Time irregularities were all around. Members would find themselves frozen in time, the only moving figures in a town of living statues. Others would get caught in a time loop, living through a short span of time over and over again. And then there were the Abyssal horrors that seemed to surround these events. Were they causing the time anomalies? Or were they a symptom?

Soon cabals were flooding into Maple Hill en masse, eager to experience the time distortions and to study the events surrounding them. A Consilium was established and Maple Hill flourished into a thriving community. But before long problems began to surface. The Mages that Awakened in Maple Hill after 1977 were considered to be inept and uneducated, as the town lacked any formal structure until the arrival of the current Consilium. They were looked over for Consilium titles, and Cabals with Maple Hill Mages were often taken less seriously then Cabals with a more vivid history. Soon, the Maple Hill Mages were shunned and cast out as social pariahs. Many left the borough. But Some stayed to form their own Cabals, to push against the outsiders who would remove them from their home.

You will play the malcontents, the young Mages who raise their fist in salute to rebellion. A cabal of Mages who dare to demand equal rights in their own home. You were born here, but you are treated as if you are somehow less. By birthright Maple Hill is yours, friends. Stand up and take it.