Fife was one of the last of the Pictish Kingdoms - the name "Fife" is a corruption of the word "Fiobh", a name most probably Pictish in origin. The Celtic Scotti tribes swept eastward from Dalriada in the west, with the Damnomnii settling in the regions of Fife and Lothian to the south. It marked the furthest frontier of the Roman Empire, and in later years, the southernmost frontier of the Scottish Highlands. Dunfermline, a large town in South Fife was for many years the capital of Scotland before the seat of power was moved to Edinburgh.
From White Howler, to Fianna, to Silver Fang through to Glass Walker, the Garou have ruled Fife. However, the Black Spiral Dancers never did truly forsake the last mortal seat of power they held. It is no accident that Fife has always had a thriving mining industry, that the ground underneath Fife is riddled with tunnels, that the Wemyss caves that cut deep underground are covered in Pictish hierogyphs, that so many place names have the sinister prefix of "Pit" - Pitcairn, Pittenweem, Pitsligo etc, or that so many Standing Stones of Pictish origin detailing wolves, serpents and lions scatter the Kingdom of Fife...
A truly essential book is the 1995 "Chronicle of the Black Labyrinth" published by White Wolf under the "Black Dog Game Factory" range of books. This book is the definative tome of Wyrm Lore, and the mystical "Dambarrow" that it makes constant reference to is stated to be situated in Fife.
The Dark Ages
55 AD
- The Roman Invasion.
122 AD - Hadrians Wall built.
122 onwards - Fall of the White Howlers. The Scottish Fianna begin their occupation, sweeping eastwards from the Kingdom of Dalriada in modern Strathclyde.
143 AD
- Antonine Wall Built
c. 200 AD - Death of Brennus, King of the Picts. Brennus was the last of the pure White Howlers. (NB - read "Chapter One: A Centurions Letters" of the Chronicle of the Black Labyrinth for the full story).
c. 250 AD - The First Church at Dambarrow built (NB - read "Chapter Two: Fabulae et Cantae Scotii" of the Chronicle of the Black Labyrinth for the story. Round about the same time, the events described in "A Missionary's Letter" take place in the Scottish Highlands)
367 AD - Barbarica Conspiriatio. The Picts, Scots and Saxons (White Howlers, Fianna and Get of Fenris) mount a coordinated attack the Northern frontier of Britain. Rome loses control of her North British provinces from York to Northumberland for two years, Malkavian Antideluvian slain*.
370 AD - St. Regulus arrives in Scotland. St. Regulus carries the bones of St. Andrew from Patras in Greece and is shipwrecked at Muckross. Angus, King of the Picts allows him to found the monastary of St. Andrews.
410 AD - Roman Abandonment The Emperor Honorius refuses to help Britain defend herself from Saxon (Get of Fenris) invasion. Roman garrisons formally withdrawn to defend Rome from the Goths
596 AD - Battle of Raith fought near Kirkcaldy. Partial success of the Angles over King Aidan's army of Scots, Picts and Britons (Kirkcaldy is situated on the southern frontier of Pictland)
835 AD - Unification of Alba (Scotia) Picts and Scots united into one nation under King Kenneth MacAlpin (White Howler/ Fianna Kinfolk). This effectively ended the Picts as a separate people (due to unique matrilineal line of Pictish assent - the Irish Scots had been marring into Pictish families for years). It coincided with the last battle with the Black Spiral Dancers and forcing them underground.
874 & 1035 - Defeat of the Danes near Kirkcaldy. The Fianna succesfully drive off full scale invasion by the Get of Fenris
1075 - Malcolm III bestows the revenues and jurisdiction of "KIRKCALADUNT" to Dunfermline Abbey.
The Middle Ages
Saints Patrick, Regulus (Rule), Serf and Columbus have all spread the Christian faith throughout Scotland. Vampires flock to Fife en masse and it becomes a wealthy link to the rest of Europe. The events of Shakespeare’s play MacBeth unfold. The Fianna Thane of Fife, MacDuff takes center stage…
1236 - Sir Michael Scott, scientist, astrologer and wizard born in Abbotshall, Kirkcaldy. He was known to be alive in Florence as late as 1348, as described by the scholar and historian Giovanni Villani, and later in Italy by the chronicler Folengo in 1530.
1305 - Edward I grants Kirkcaldy a weekly marrket and Easter fair. (This will eventually become the Links Market - the largest street fair in Europe)
1400 - Louis le Fif, The Black Monk begins hiis wanderings - Louis le Fif ("Lewis of Fife" - no relation to the author "Lewis the Fife DST"!!!) eventually enters service with the infamous Gillies de Rais. See the Chronicle of the Black Labyrinth for details
1450 - Work begins on Ravenscraig Castle. This comes about largely due to the machinations of Magister David Boys, kinfolk to the Corax, who manages to persuade James II to fund the project. The Umbrascape of Ravenscraig is majestic and brooding, not ruined. It is empty, the Corax are long gone save for the Raven spirits who play among the battlements…
1451 - Dunfermline relinquishes most of its previously held rights over Kirkcaldy
1470 - Ravenscraig Castle is passed to the Earl of Orkney
1460 - The Trial and Execution of Louis le Fif, the Black Monk (NB - read Chapter Three: The Trial of the Black Monk of the Chronicles of the Black Labyrinth for the details of the Trial)
1542 - Mary, Queen of Scots born at Linlithgoow. Queen Mary is Silver Fang kinfolk of the Austere Howl. Crowned Queen of Scotland aged 9 months. Her favourite residence in Scotland remained Falkland Palace, Fife throughout her reign as Queen of Scots.
1559 - Mary becomes Queen of France
1560 - Mary becomes a widow and returns to Sccotland. First Protestant Minister appointed in Kirkcaldy.
1565 - Mary marries Darnley, Earl of Lennox. Darnley is also Silver Fang kinfolk, but the marriage is disastrous both politically and personally. The Lord of the Isles (Get of Fenris who rules the Islanders descended from Viking settlers) refuses to acknowledge her authority. The unruly Fianna clans of the Highlands are contemptive of the beautiful young Queen, looking only to their Clan Chiefs for leadership. Darnley murders David Rizzio, Mary's private secretary in front of the Queen. Rizzio was Italian Corax, and Mary's favourite courtier. Mary never forgave Darnley for this, and she ordered his assassination in 1566. Darley was killed in an explosion at Kirk o' Field on Febuary 10th. Queen Elizabeth I of England - also Silver Fang kinfolk - was fully aware of Darnley's plans to murder Rizzio, yet chose to do nothing.
1567 - Mary marries James, Earl of Bothwell. Another disastrous marriage. She is forced to abdicate on July 24th. She is imprisoned in Lochleven Castle, Fife.
1568 - Mary escapes from Lochleven. Her divided Fianna supporters rally a small army, but are defeated at the Battle of Langside by an alliance of Fianna and Silver Fangs. Mary flees to Elizabeth, her cousin. Elizabeth imprisons her in Carlysle.
1582 - "The Pilgrimage of Young Journeymman Quaestor" published - First explicit reference to the mysterious "Pretanic Order" (NB - see "Chapter Four: Ex Disputandem Re Supernibus Ab Probati Quaestori Adversarique" from the Chronicle of the Black Labyrinth)
1583 - Bone Gnawer "Fringe of Gold"; Sept founded at Pathhead (After James VI’s comment about Fife being a "beggars mantle fringed with gold"). Incorporated into the Wealth of Nations Sept in 1876.
1584 - Kirkcaldy suffers the Black Death. The Wyrm grows fat on the rotting contents of the Plague Pits, and the Wraith Legions swell.
1587 - Mary, Queen of Scots is beheaded. First sightings of the "White Lady" at Falkland Palace.
1597 - First Witchcraft trial. The following pogrom all but eliminates the Ceilican (Bastet), Corax and Verbana (Mage Tradition) in Fife.
1606
- The Union of Crowns.
The Renaissance
Fife reaches its peak as the political centre of Scotland, and power becomes devolved to Edinburgh as the old Garou nobility lose power to the rising Cainite-backed European nobles.
1650 - Oliver Cromwell ravages through Fife. Amongst his crimes, Cromwell is responsible for destroying the last refuge of native Lupus-stock Garou, the ancient forests of Falkland.
1676 - Alexander Selkirk born. Selkirk, Fianna kinfolk, becomes famous as the inspiration for Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe.
c. 1690 - Reverend Allan Logan (the "Witche-Prickker") becomes one of Scotland’s most infamous witchfinders. Logan is Black Spiral kinfolk, but also a Fomor in his own right.
1707 - The Union of Parliaments (where Scotland formally joined England, creating the "United Kindom of Great Britain") brings financial ruin to Fife
The Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution
1723 - Adam Smith born
1751 - Adam Smith appointed Professor of Logiic at Glasgow University
1776 - "Enquiry into the Nature and Causses of Wealth of Nations" published. Iron Riders (Glass Walkers) found the "Wealth of Nations" Sept in his birthplace of Kirkcaldy. They expand exponentially, eventually subsuming all other Septs and Cairns in Fife.
1778 - Reverend Robert Shirra drives Americann pirates from the Forth through the power of prayer. The pirate leader is none other than John Paul Jones, founder of the US Navy - himself a Scot from Galloway.
1790 - Adam Smith dies
1835 - Andrew Carnegie born in Dunfermline. Andrew Carnegie emigrates to America and eventually becomes the richest man in the world due to his ruthless business practices.
1846 - The First Railway in Kirkcaldy. The Weaver influence is now all-pervasive, as defined by the curious smell that starts to permeate the air, a smell that eminates directly from the Weaver itself
1847 - Michael Nairn perfects the process of linoleum production. Iron Riders from the Sept of the Wealth of Nations adopt the Weaver-spirit "Queer-like Smell" as a totem, and as a reward, linoleum production becomes Kirkcaldy’s main industry.
1897 - "Professor Webley and the Strangee Case of the Mysterious Oriental" published in "Cloven Hoof Magazine" (NB - see Chapter Five of the Chronicle of the Black Labyrinth for the story.
c. 1915 - The Laird of Demburgh emigrates to the United States
1992 - Golgotha: The Poll Tax Riots signify a massive upheaval in Garou society, with many Garou meeting their Death. When the smoke at last cleared, the only garou left were the Cubs and a few Elders
2000 - Sept of the Wealth of Nations Destroyed on January the 1st. All the cairns it possessed were drained and destroyed by person or persons unknown. Queer-Like Smell disappears back into the Umbra.
(* In "real" history, it was the highest ranking military officer in York that was slain, a major coup for the barbarians and a major Empire-wide embarrassment for the Romans.)
