The Family.
An ancient faction of vampires under the control of the Vampire Masters, headquartered in the ‘English Club’ on the Rue de Caumartin in Paris.
Originally entering historical records somewhere around the late Iron Age as a meddling organization devoted to the ‘advancement’ of humanity, the Family appears to have replaced a previous organization whose details have been lost to time of considerably less benevolent aspect. (The lack of records of this former organization is of some concern to many historians of this era, given the ability of Vampires to remember everything they have ever experienced and habit of never actually shutting up about the past.)
Originally led by ‘Albrecht’ a Vampire with a particular dislike of France and also of shadows, and a penchant for autocratic rule derived from a presumed prior existence as a royal of some kind, by the time of the Catastrophe Albrecht has been overthrown and buried alive sometime in the 1840s, replaced by a cabal of lesser Masters of whom the most notable are Master Serah, a former architect and believer in the ability of vampires to govern themselves who acts as the first among equals, Master Alyson, a former poet who will enjoy an interesting afterlife in the post Catastrophe world as the ruler of Australia, and a gaggle of well-intentioned humanities graduates from the previous two millennia whose ability to run a war is limited by their lack of experiences of war.
The Arcane Investigations Agency
The United Kingdom’s premier pseudo-departmental body (technically part of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs) investigating and addressing in the most severe terms arcane and magical threats to the United Kingdom and its allies and dependencies (several small islands and a large patch of Antarctic wasteland).
The AIA in the period leading up to the Catastrophe is generally split into several operational sections using assigned agents to deal with threats under a broad umbrella of issues. The central Organization is run by a Director and deals with Fae incursions and similar (though of late it has swung from operational affairs and more towards a blend of horticulture and organizational shake ups to improve efficiency).
Other sections include Research, run in the period leading up to the Catastrophe by a misogynist and hater of witches by the name of Lawrence which works on a variety of rather unethical methods for identifying and torturing those accused of witchcraft, and the Vampire section run by a rather odd man by the name of Brooker which has taken a very ‘high level’ approach to completing its mandate that would tread on multiple toes throughout the UK’s government and the Director of the AIA’s team were they aware of what he was up to.
Practically the AIA’s agents tend to be a mixed bunch with a hard core of very competent, if underpowered investigators; and a rotating cast of short term hires whose pension rights very rarely vest before they shuffle off this mortal coil in a variety of unpleasant ways.
The Fae
An anarcho-monarchical entity theoretically under the sovereignty of the Queens of the Courts. The exact boundaries of these Courts are impossible to define covering several dimensional pockets and sections of the World Woods and are subject to ongoing dispute given the chaos of Fae existence and many Fae do not accept the authority of the Queens when given the chance.
The Fae themselves come in an infinity of forms and have an infinity of interests. Practically speaking most keep to themselves and play out their games in their own pocket universes, with the exception of the Kappa (a species of frog like creature operating out of the Pacific’s depths) whose interactions with human communities along the coastal zones of their settlements tend to be relatively cordial, and the Alfar, a species of carnivorous ape that exists under the northern regions of Europe and who scavenge parts to replace their own from communities unfortunate enough to exist near an Alfar outpost
The Fae are extremely powerful as a whole but have fallen behind the times in terms of magic (when compared to the Vampires) and in technology (when compared to modern humanity). They lack the organization to represent anything more than a local threat to a major faction and are also almost entirely reactive so that, when left alone, they will keep to themselves.
However, if they are disturbed or they are contacted with the intent of entering an alliance or some other form of theoretically mutually beneficial engagement with another species outside of the Courts this will trigger an extremely dangerous parasitic phase to their behavior, which, if not caught early invariably results in the enslavement of the relevant entity to will of the Courts, and the replacement of its controlling elements with changelings.
It has been theorized that this is the root cause of the multiplicity of the Fae’s forms – each of the species having at one point or another been absorbed.
Experience of human organizations engaged with the Fae has suggested that once infestation has begun, only the complete destruction of the infested elements within the body politic will prevent the complete takeover of the whole.
The Witches
There are two main groups of witches in the world.
The first are the Eastern Witches who mainly inhabit the real world and engage in traditional behavior of the witches of that area. They cooperate with the human authorities of the East, attempting to guide them away from threats such as the Masters or the Fae, and although they do conduct a variety of unsavory traditional rituals, they are fundamentally a force for good in the world, utilizing the tools of evil to prevent worse.
The second are the Western Witches. A group of reformers who split from the Eastern Witches sometime in the Dark Ages of Europe. They have retreated into the World Woods where they have alliances with a variety of factions including Fae and other wood dwellers. They do not engage in the world as a rule, but when they do they tend to limit their involvement to protecting their own domain and that of their dependents.
There is an ongoing philosophical debate going on among the Western Witches as to whether they should become more involved in the world given the technological and magical changes the world is undergoing with the rise of the human nations. Generally individual witches who have attempted to assist or protect humanity from its own stupidity have come to a bad end so that, by the time of the Catastrophe there is general agreement that it’s best to keep your head down and your hat on straight.
Unfortunately, one of the few witches not in agreement with this approach is the current head of the Western Witches whose actions will prove disastrous for her charges in the lead up to the Catastrophe – although beneficial to all in the longer term.
Ice Age in Scarlet 