Era: Dragon In The Streets
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pre Pre-History
pre Pre-Changes
1 Dragon In The Streets (12/96)
2 EraTheShockSettlesIn (12/96)
3 EraNationOnTheBrink (1/97)
4 EraSchismAndStalemate (1/97)
5 EraFromCausesToCrusades (2-8/97)
6 EraWinterOfDiscontent (8-12/97)
7 EraANewWorldOrder (1998+)
8 EraOverTheHorizon (2007+)
pre Pre-Changes
1 Dragon In The Streets (12/96)
2 EraTheShockSettlesIn (12/96)
3 EraNationOnTheBrink (1/97)
4 EraSchismAndStalemate (1/97)
5 EraFromCausesToCrusades (2-8/97)
6 EraWinterOfDiscontent (8-12/97)
7 EraANewWorldOrder (1998+)
8 EraOverTheHorizon (2007+)
Starts with: EventTheFirstSighting
Ends with: EventLosAngelesRiots
Era Summary
Whatever else can be said about TheChanges ... they were not easy.
The number of people who became therianthropes immediately after EventTheFirstSighting was less than 1 in 10,000 humans. The number of people directly affected by theris' shapeshifting was a tiny fraction of the population. But everyone had to deal with the indirect effect ... and, for many, that effect was the crumbling away of their understanding of the world.
In the wake of EventTheFirstSighting, word spread quickly. Nobody knew quite what it meant, but everybody knew it meant something. A vocal segment of society dismissed it as a hoax or publicity stunt. Then reports of similar sightings started flooding in worldwide. Denial soon fell away, to be replaced with panic.
One of the most popular fallbacks was religion -- even though many religions identified TheChanges as a sign of the End Times. Apocalyptic sentiment began running high, and while every passing day without cosmic war weakened the Armageddon interpretation, the idea didn't really lose its hold until weeks into 1997.
In the EraDragonInTheStreets era, the world is as turbulent and dangerous as it ever gets. Hard facts about therianthropes -- including, at the most basic, how and why they changed -- are rare and precious. Speculation runs wild. No theory can be dismissed out of hand.
One of the few factors working against this mindless flailing is theris themselves -- none of whom, ironically, have any better idea of the cause than the unchanged humans. But their newfound fame and delight in their new state -- along with the lack of panicked people shapeshifting against their will, and the general lack of publicized conflict or misbehavior -- does shape the media's narrative from "unexplained crisis facing humanity" to "unexplained gift for a small minority of us."
Unfortunately, with tensions so high, there was bound to be a spark somewhere, and that spark was bound to light a fire. In the United States, that spark would come from the EventLosAngelesRiots.
Mass religious demonstrations were occurring in most major American cities by the end of the week. But Los Angeles inarguably got the worst of it. Caught off guard, a stretched-thin police force had to contend not only with mass demonstrations, but also widespread opportunistic looting and property destruction. In a move that would later be widely criticized and lead to a wave of firings and resignations, the chief of police assigned cops disproportionately to affluent areas, leaving broad swaths of the city virtually unpatrolled and downtown's religious protesters ringed by a skeleton force of nervous authorities. High-profile volunteer work by squads of therianthropes and mages, led by CharacterDennisRedwing, kept the city from falling into a deadly firestorm, but even they couldn't stop the explosion of violence when a moment of panic led to policemen firing tear gas on the religious group.
As word of the confrontation got out, and initial erroneous reports spread of police and troops siding with therianthropes and against Christians, several other large cities followed suit. Fortunately, curfews, lockdowns, and an influx of National Guardsmen managed to keep things contained until appeals for calm from top political and religious leaders could be heard, and the riots marked the last moments of this dangerous and mercifully short era.
Major Events
The following 23 page(s) belong to EraDragonInTheStreets| CategoryEras [Eras of TTU] |
| EraANewWorldOrder [Era: A New World Order] |
| EraFromCausesToCrusades [Era: From Causes To Crusades] |
| EraNationOnTheBrink [Era: Nation On The Brink] |
| EraOverTheHorizon [Era: Over The Horizon] |
| EraPreChanges [Era: Pre-Changes] |
| EraPreHistory [Era: Pre-History] |
| EraSchismAndStalemate [Era: Schism And Stalemate] |
| EraTheShockSettlesIn [Era: The Shock Settles In] |
| EraWinterOfDiscontent [Era: Winter of Discontent] |
| EventLosAngelesRiots [The Los Angeles Riots] |
| EventTheFirstSighting [The First Sighting] |
| StoryActsOfFaith [Stories: Acts of Faith] |
| StoryButTheGardenHasNoApples [Stories: But The Garden Has No Apples] |
| StoryFirstFlight [Stories: First Flight] |
| StoryLegendOfHero [Stories: Legend of Hero] |
| StoryNotesFromTheEnd [Stories: Notes From The End Of The World] |
| StoryOpeningNight [Stories: Opening Night] |
| StoryRightHereRightNow [Stories: Right Here, Right Now] |
| StorySenseiWolf [Stories: Sensei Wolf] |
| StoryVoiceInTheWilderness [Stories: Voice In The Wilderness] |
| StoryWardC1012pm [Stories: Ward C, 10:12 p.m.] |
| TemplateEraBox [Eras of TTU] |
Writing Tips
In this era, almost everyone has had the rug pulled out from underneath them. Irrational behavior is the norm. Emotions are running at a fever pitch. Many try to seek comfort in routine, but within a day of EventTheFirstSighting, the impact of the Changes is inescapable ... and once that wall of comfortable denial caves in, it's anyone's guess what gets unleashed.
Therianthropes have it a little easier than the rest of humanity -- which isn't saying much. Instead of the uncertainty of their world falling apart, they're having something happen to them which intuitively feels right, but upends their life all the same. For some, it finally provides a sense of purpose they had been lacking in a world they felt had no place for them. For others, it provokes dangerous or even fatal confrontations as threatened humans lash out.
This is an era in which nothing can be taken for granted. Even those who on some level expected magic's return were caught off-guard, and nobody knows just how far down the rabbit hole goes. Nobody can rule out the prospect of some coming Armageddon or alien invasion. It's a scary time, and all of your characters, at some level, should feel that.
Notes
You would think that the appearance (and/or return, depending on who you talk to) of magic would be the real story in the early days of TheChanges ... but magic, oddly enough, is almost an afterthought in most people's minds.
The implications of magic becoming possible are far greater than that of a small number of people changing form, but by the time verifiable reports of spellcasting were publicized, people were already primed to expect it; after all, what else was going to explain the shapeshifting?
Stories Set In This Era
The following 23 page(s) belong to EraDragonInTheStreets| CategoryEras [Eras of TTU] | EraANewWorldOrder [Era: A New World Order] | EraFromCausesToCrusades [Era: From Causes To Crusades] | EraNationOnTheBrink [Era: Nation On The Brink] |
| EraOverTheHorizon [Era: Over The Horizon] | EraPreChanges [Era: Pre-Changes] | EraPreHistory [Era: Pre-History] | EraSchismAndStalemate [Era: Schism And Stalemate] |
| EraTheShockSettlesIn [Era: The Shock Settles In] | EraWinterOfDiscontent [Era: Winter of Discontent] | EventLosAngelesRiots [The Los Angeles Riots] | EventTheFirstSighting [The First Sighting] |
| StoryActsOfFaith [Stories: Acts of Faith] | StoryButTheGardenHasNoApples [Stories: But The Garden Has No Apples] | StoryFirstFlight [Stories: First Flight] | StoryLegendOfHero [Stories: Legend of Hero] |
| StoryNotesFromTheEnd [Stories: Notes From The End Of The World] | StoryOpeningNight [Stories: Opening Night] | StoryRightHereRightNow [Stories: Right Here, Right Now] | StorySenseiWolf [Stories: Sensei Wolf] |
| StoryVoiceInTheWilderness [Stories: Voice In The Wilderness] | StoryWardC1012pm [Stories: Ward C, 10:12 p.m.] | TemplateEraBox [Eras of TTU] |
Other Associated Pages
The following 23 page(s) belong to EraDragonInTheStreets| CategoryEras [Eras of TTU] | EraANewWorldOrder [Era: A New World Order] | EraFromCausesToCrusades [Era: From Causes To Crusades] | EraNationOnTheBrink [Era: Nation On The Brink] |
| EraOverTheHorizon [Era: Over The Horizon] | EraPreChanges [Era: Pre-Changes] | EraPreHistory [Era: Pre-History] | EraSchismAndStalemate [Era: Schism And Stalemate] |
| EraTheShockSettlesIn [Era: The Shock Settles In] | EraWinterOfDiscontent [Era: Winter of Discontent] | EventLosAngelesRiots [The Los Angeles Riots] | EventTheFirstSighting [The First Sighting] |
| StoryActsOfFaith [Stories: Acts of Faith] | StoryButTheGardenHasNoApples [Stories: But The Garden Has No Apples] | StoryFirstFlight [Stories: First Flight] | StoryLegendOfHero [Stories: Legend of Hero] |
| StoryNotesFromTheEnd [Stories: Notes From The End Of The World] | StoryOpeningNight [Stories: Opening Night] | StoryRightHereRightNow [Stories: Right Here, Right Now] | StorySenseiWolf [Stories: Sensei Wolf] |
| StoryVoiceInTheWilderness [Stories: Voice In The Wilderness] | StoryWardC1012pm [Stories: Ward C, 10:12 p.m.] | TemplateEraBox [Eras of TTU] |
CategoryEras
