This Chronicle is set in the post-Ascension War (i.e. Mage: the Ascension 20th-Anniversary) World of Darkness, primarily in what’s considered in Real Life™ to be the northwestern suburbs of Chicago, in the towns primarily north of the intersection of the I-90 and I-290 expressways. These towns and villages have largely come together to form a joint venture called "The Crossroads Shared Municipality" to maximize efficient use of resources and services. The area designated “Chicago” proper in this version of the World of Darkness is itself several times the volume of Chicago in Real Life™, encompassing most of the Greater Chicago Metropolitan Area and several bordering counties. It’s also several times more densely populated, crime-ridden, and run-down. While the inner-city is known among the Awakened as a decaying and deadly battleground - where Technocrats vie for control against the machinations of vampires, shapeshifters, and other night-folk - suburban Chicagoland is generally considered less hostile... or at least less often the focus of such conflicts. Perhaps it would help to understand how it came to be this way...