Mythos

Augusta, Maine was a sleepy city with a low crime rate that was dealt with at a leisurely pace by the municipal police department. That is until one winter, when a spate of vicious crimes hit Augusta leaving a bloody trail of destruction in their wake. Murders, beatings, rapes and numerous muggings were perpetrated by what appeared to be a small gang of deviants. More crimes were committed in the first three weeks of the spree than had been recorded in the previous three years. Worse still, the gang proved to be incredibly elusive despite the best efforts of Lieutenant Jim Dugan. With a string of commendations to his name from his time in Chicago, Jim was expected to break the gang within a week. Three months later, the stress was really beginning to show on Jim and his team.

The story of the Custos Crypta begins in the year 700 BCE at the height of the Kushite Empire when the authority of Pharaoh Neferkare Shabaka was considered absolute. Shabaka was said to be blessed by the ancient Egyptian Goddess Khepera. It was in Khepera?s name that Shabaka ruled, from Nubia to the Nile Delta and a blood sacrifice was made daily in his name. For this tribute, the Kushite Empire was gifted the service of the Custos Crypta, a sentient insectoid species that acted as both guardian and custodian of Shabaka and his people. But time and the treachery of humankind are the only constants in this world and Shabaka was murdered by his nephew Taharqa. The remaining Custos Crypta were entombed alongside their Pharaoh in the pyramid at el-Kurru, there to remain for the rest of eternity. At least that was the plan?

Salvaged by the crew of HMS Nautilus from an Enlightened vessel adrift in the Mediterranean, Drum was discovered in a shipping container marked as 'Aberrant Technology' - likely to be examined and disassembled. This large Automata was apparently built for mechanised labour but Erasmus Darwin made the contraption his own personal project, tinkering for hours on end. He envisaged the machine being used by the Nautilus to operate in the deepest parts of the oceans where no human can travel safely, let alone explore or recover wreckage. After several weeks, Darwin managed to coax the temperamental machine back to full operational capacity albeit with more than a handful of glitches. His barrel-like carapace earned him the nickname of 'Drum' and it was clear that he exhibited a sense of self-awareness that Erasmus and the other engineers had never seen in any Automata before. Fascinated as to the nature of this 'personality', Captain Nimue offered the Automata the opportunity to join her crew. Surprised at being treated like a human, Drum paused momentarily before enthusiastically choosing to stay and make the Nautilus his home.

With the constantly growing threat from unknown quarters in the West the small unit known as Infernal Affairs have found themselves in high demand of late. Led by the indomitable Marshall Helena Miller this Posse are used to fighting, and defeating, the most unusual and terrifying opponents to Law and Order. Backed up by Furio Montoya, Jedrick Powell, Mercury Jones, Ida Saxon and Blackhoof 20-20, Marshall Miller tackles those missions that nobody else wants or is likely to come back from alive.

Associate members of the Covenant of the Enlightened do not enjoy the respect or prestige that Covenant Peers do, but they are often the ones who do most of the leg work. In order to be officially recognised as an associate of a Peer, an individual will have to put in hours of thankless research and errand running for their sponsoring Peer. Of course like all who are drawn to the Enlightened, being in possession of a keen mind and a drive to push the boundaries of human understanding is a prerequisite. But associates often lack the opportunity or financial means to secure an actual Peerage in the Covenant.<p>Girauld Eres was one such associate, a Parisian naturalist who had developed into a minor celebrity as he toured Paris society with his collection of primates. Girauld's real passion lay in animal physiology and his personal menagerie was home to some impressive specimens. Showing a talent for specimen capture, he was approached by Warwick Hudson and earned a sponsorship into the Covenant as an associate following his collaboration on the spectral containment technology with Hudson and Katherine Holst.</p>

Shaken by the echoes of the millions dead in the Great War, doors that were once sealed are now opening and horrors that have been slumbering for millennia are awakening... Mythos is an exciting narrative skirmish game with brand new superbly detailed 35mm miniatures. Engage in twisted head-to-head confrontations in casual play or create epic campaigns using the narrative guide, as the competing factions wage a shadowy war against each other and the wider world. As the world rebuilds after the Great War, the carnage has caused long-forgotten dark gods of ancient power to begin to awaken. Those touched by these Old Ones have formed rival cults and now move amongst an unsuspecting world preparing for their Master's return... Down the centuries, humanity has given different names to the notion of drawing upon the power of Mythos. Names such as magic, arcana, shamanism and down through the ages such forbidden knowledge has been learnt, lost and is now rediscovered. But can monsters and myths really stand up to flamethrowers and machine guns? The hubris and industry of mankind collide with occult mysticism in this thrilling and atmospheric miniatures game. The Mythos Rules and Gubbins Box contains all the tools you need to play. Just grab this box and your favourite Faction Starter Set (or two) and you are ready to start exploring the dark, mysterious world of Mythos.

The future may not be read with impunity. The threads of destiny for a person are wrapped through the days of their lives, known only to the omniscient beings known to their followers as the Fates. The secrets of the Fates are hidden from the eyes of mere mortals and only those with the gift of Mythos may begin to lift that veil. For the Odani people, as servants to the Fates, the gift of foresight is passed down through the female line. From Mother to Daughter, the ability to see that what will be has allowed the Travellers to remain healthy, wealthy and wise. Of course, it has the added benefit of staying one step ahead of any authorities that wish to limit their nomadic lifestyle. The Odani camp moves from the outskirts of neighbouring towns across America, never staying more than a few days at any location. On arrival, the extended families of the Odani set up their stalls with attractions and shows to entice locals to part with a few dollars in the name of entertainment. The highlight of the Odani Traveller?s arrival is the dazzling performances beneath their canvas tent. Colourful, exotic and always greeting visitors with a toothy smile, the demeanour of the Odani is designed to beguile the public. In the Shadow War, the knowledge of the Fates combined with skilful misdirection is one of the Odani?s strengths which, they hope, will enable them to survive the ruin of humanity. To this end, it is often the case that a handful of local people will go missing shortly after the wagons of the Odani leave town. Usually, such disappearances go unreported and unremarked. Those that vanish are often from the fringes of society or have led a difficult life up to that point. The gift of the Odani means that the fate of their victims are already known to the travellers from the moment they meet them. Each of the disappeared would inadvertently or directly contribute to some great calamity in the Odani?s future. But destiny is a fickle creature and for each life taken and each doom averted, a new ill omen seems to materialise cursing the Odani to redouble their efforts in the face of this oncoming storm. If there is one thing the Odani are learning over the generations, it is that you cannot cheat the Fates.

It is a great and noble thing to devote a life to the pursuit of knowledge. Some are obsessed with knowledge for its own sake and push the boundaries of understanding within their chosen field of study. However, there are those who seek the power to dominate others through their knowledge. Chester Barreman is a man such as that. Even in his youth, Chester had an interest in history, more specifically in ancient civilizations and their religions. He was fascinated by the various interconnected beliefs of people across the globe stretching as far back as the written word, hieroglyphs or even cave paintings allowed. It was only as his studies matured that he realised he was at the beginning of a very dangerous path. A path defined by a single word: Chronozon.

Like the Custos Crypta, the Silver Venators have arrived in the middle of the Shadow War to find they are in a world much removed from their own. The Venators are a coven of huntresses who travel the angles of time as their master's demand. Each Venator is entrusted with a silvered key, an object attuned to their own Mythos energies. With their key, the Venators can travel through a narrow passage of 120 degrees or less through the gates of time. Using the knowledge of their masters, the Venators emerge from that same corner at the preordained point in the past or future.The Silver Venators serve the Y'th, temporal beings who dwell in a library-realm beyond time itself. In that omnipresent place, the Y'th have witnessed the regular flow of time and can see how this Shadow War threatens to irrevocably twist that which should be impermeable. The actions of the Old Ones and their followers threatens to undo all that should come to pass after the 1920's. For the Y'th, their past is humanity's future and one which must be maintained at all costs.

Servants of the Sunken Pantheon, the Hidden Ones make their home in coastal towns and villages around the world. Through corruption and interbreeding, the Hidden Ones irrevocably link their community to the sea and to Dread Father Dagon, Deep Mother Hydra, and the other ancient deities that they worship. The rise of sterile cities has forced the Hidden Ones further into the shadows and has pushed them towards the isolated communities where it is easier to go unnoticed. The families can prey on their neighbours, considering them little more than talkative sheep ready for slaughter. Food is not an issue for these ancient bloodlines that hide amongst the rest of us, and their numbers are growing with each cycle.

Knowledge is power, so the adage goes. To the adepts of the Priory, this is a literal truth as they have been curating their knowledge of Mythos for generations. It is the power by which humanity will be saved from the predations of the Old Ones. Over the millennia, shamans, soothsayers, skalds and scholars held the keys to the power of Mythos but were unaware of its greater purpose. Those fortunate few used it sparingly and merely glimpsed behind the curtain to barely retain their sanity. As humanity became increasingly arrogant in their own manifest destiny, this precious lore of Mythos was discarded in favour of technology, and the illusion of safety created by our increasingly modern world. So the Priory have been charged by their mysterious coordinator Madame Adrestia to remember the old dangers that still lurk in the shadows and to fight it at every turn.

Desperate times call for desperate measures and Abraham Lincoln believes that the times of the Dystopian Age are desperate indeed. Faking his own assassination in order to work unhindered by the demands of office, Director Lincoln now fights against the Union’s enemies alongside those men and women trusted enough to join his Secret Service. Lincoln and his agents wage a war in the shadows, defending their beloved country from threats that the general public must have no knowledge about. Whatever it takes so that the good folk of the Union of Federated States can sleep soundly in their beds.  With the assistance of his right-hand man Robert Pinkerton, his top agents Lucinda Loveless and Camilla Blanche, Henry Courtwright, Leah Kingston and Milo Jefferson, Lincoln has the tools he needs to tackle any situation.

To the common man, the Covenant of the Enlightened are little more than an exclusive club of intellectuals and aristocrats who sit in grand drawing rooms talking much and doing little. While the Covenant are at great pains to show that the reality is far removed from this, it must be acknowledged that there are some groups within the Enlightened who more closely resemble this stereotype than they would like to admit. One such group of these is the Hook and Ladder Club in New York City, so named due to their premises being located in a building that was originally destined for the nascent Fire Department. The club members specialise in the emergent field of parapsychology, a subject that the common man might call supernatural.

Born under the Raj in Delhi, Rani Nimue had a turbulent childhood. Her English-born father worked for the diplomatic service and moved across the country to wherever Her Majesty required him, his wife and only child dutifully following. At the height of the Indian Mutiny, Rani’s mother was killed and her father was faced with the difficult task of raising his daughter alone. Seeing to it that she was educated by a succession of governesses and tutors, her father proudly saw her grow into a beautiful and fiercely intelligent woman. Rani secretly harboured a wanderlust and restlessness that, added to the stifling restrictions of Victorian society brewed within her until she was fit to either explode or run away and leave it all behind. Eventually her love for the swaggering Outlaw Broad Arrow Jack, after a chance encounter in the Port of Bombay, twisted her father’s pride to shame when, at the age of sixteen, she ran away with the pirate and was not heard from again for nearly a decade.

Naturalists and biologists will say that Nature is a living thing in perfect balance. But what they do not realise, is that such harmony has only been reached through the influence of the ancient force known as the Wyld. This power was worshipped in its own right in ages past and even today can be found in the roots of many more sanitised religions. The Wyldborne still remember the old ways, however, and all the raw power that comes from those who walk in its shadow.