The Na'Goth War

Arguably the most pivotal - and invisible - supernatural conflicts in Massachusetts history, the Na'Goth war started in April 2001 when Na'Goth, a powerful idigam,¹⁾ was freed from its ancient prison when contractors started tearing down the Northampton asylum. Na'Goth ravaged the Hisil²⁾ as it expanded and conquered, forcing the Smith's Daughters pack to fall back continuously.

By April 2002 Na'Goth's spirit-forces had conquered much of the I-91 corridor, including Springfield. By June, Na'Goth's advance splits the state in half. August saw the war spill out of the Hisil and into the physical world when Na'Goth creates vampire-Ridden,³⁾ bringing the state's Kindred into a conflict they don't understand in the slightest. By December 2002, almost all of western Massachusetts had fallen and Na'Goth started spreading into New York, Connecticut, Vermont, and New Hampshire.

2003 sees Na'Goth split its forces in northern and southern flank assaults. Multiple Uratha packs are either destroyed or forced to continually retreat east, and open war between Uratha and Kindred breaks out as many werewolf packs attack local vampires to deny Na'Goth the resource. Much of central Massachusetts is conquered, and by the end of the year Na'Goth's spirit-forces spread deeper into the surrounding states.

The beginning of 2004 sees the eastern packs finally acknowledging Na'Goth's threat. Valentine's Day sees a massive gathering of pack representatives at Harvard Square at the behest of Rebecca Masters of the Pit-Stompers pack. She proposes a clutch,⁴⁾ but that doesn't go over well. The packs meet again in March, and Rebecca Masters wins enough challenges that the assembled packs submit to an alliance, but not a formal clutch, while Na'Goth's forces press into eastern Massachusetts. The packs pool resources and knowledge to try and find Na'Goth's ban.⁵⁾

On July 1, 2004, Rebecca Masters enters Cambridge's Hisil alone in a quest to find Na'Goth's ban. Her absence nearly causes the alliance to collapse, until Na'Goth's ultimate goal becomes obvious to everyone. Another idigam sleeps in Massachusetts Bay, and is kept quiescent by wards maintained by the Sirens pack of Gloucester and the Wardens pack of Provincetown. The two-pronged assault that has continued since January 2003 is aimed squarely at the two towns, and if Na'Goth succeeds, it will awaken a second hostile spirit-god that sees humanity only as meat-vessels and the werewolves - Forsake and Pure - as half-spirit bastards to be obliterated.

Rebecca Masters returns from the spirit world on August 17th, bearing an ancient fetish⁶⁾ of unknown design that she claims is key to destroying Na'Goth. The clutch is formally born. Na'Goth's forces go berserk and abandon all their territory to retreat to Northampton. The clutch pursues, and the final battle occurs on September 22nd, the autumnal equinox. Twelve packs and a few lone wolves attack Na'Goth in the Hisil of Northampton, and Rebecca Masters successfully banishes Na'Goth with the fetish, although half of the werewolves do not survive. Unfortunately, with the threat of Na'Goth ended, the clutch falls apart and the packs return to their respective territories, formally ending the Na'Goth War.

As much of the war happened in the spirit world, the overwhelming majority of people never knew anything was amiss, but that doesn't mean the war did not affect them. Na'Goth ripped apart the Hisil of each city, town, and village it conquered, throwing the Shadow out of balance. In the physical world, violent crime rose dramatically in conquered territory, as did suicides. State and federal officials struggled to contain the inexplicable crime wave that choked Massachusetts and neighboring states, and a few hunter conspiracies, such as Task Force: VALKYRIE, realized something massive was occurring in the supernatural world. Had Na'Goth succeeded in freeing the second idigam, it is likely the two spirit-gods would have ripped open the Gauntlet that separates the physical and spirit worlds, an event that could politely be called 'fucking apocalyptic.'

The war left four major consequences.

1. The werewolf population of the state was halved, and the Uratha are greatly weakened. Thankfully, this applies to both the Forsaken and the Pure, and many believe the war forestalled a massive Pure invasion from the north.
2. The vampire population was left with a deep and abiding loathing of werewolves from what they see as an unprovoked, state-wide assault. Although the Kindred claim victory in this war, many vampires vanished, either to Na'Goth's spirit-puppeteers or the ravening claws of the Uratha. Considering how precariously balanced Kindred 'society' is normally, these disappearances destabilized many Kindred domains across the state.
3. The spirit world of Massachusetts was left in utter shambles. This widespread spiritual destruction has caused many ripples, some subtle and some gross, in the physical world to this day. To make matters worse, the war left cracks in the world, allowing other realities to seep through and even into each other. For example, a massive pit in the Hedge leads directly into the Dread Dominions of the Underworld, granting the True Fae a beachhead in to the lands of the dead, a fact that the Kerberoi are none too pleased with.
4. These cracks prompt a True Fae called The Purveyor to hatch a plan for a full-scale invasion of Earth by the Gentry. This leads to the Carnelian Coup and the Battle for the Compass Rose in 2008.