Waltham

West by northwest of Boston proper lies the exurb of Waltham. Among the Awakened, it’s known for one thing: the Demesne and cabal farm known as Benefit.

Demesne: Benefit

Benefit took shape as an experiment by a cabal of transcendentalist mages over 150 years ago and has proved since then that, with only the most minimal magical assistance, humans can, in fact, live in total harmony with nature and benefit materially and spiritually by doing so.

The cabal is led — some have said dominated — by a powerful apostate Thyrsus mage and midwife named Jack Hawke. She, her husband Sandro (a Free Council mage and professor at MIT) and a solitary Shaman named Argos form a loose cabal united by a powerfully optimistic dream and Jack’s inspiring charisma. They guide a community of Sleepers who share their vision of communal existence with nature. While the Sleepers are ignorant about Jack, Sandro and Argos’ true natures as mages, the cabal does try to instill in the Sleepers an acceptance of the wonder and possibility of magic.

Jack is a fiery woman and the perfect embodiment of the archetypal redheaded witch. She is passionate, alluring and primal, a force of nature in her own right. She commands respect through wit and beauty as well as through sheer Awakened power. Jack’s dedication to those she lives with at Benefit is unwavering. Although the commune has stayed out of Boston politics for many decades, the members of the commune are sorely tempted to take their utopian philosophy to town now and present it as a viable and commonsensical option to the inter-cabal squabbles that have plagued Boston’s enlightened for decades. Jack and the others would have done so already, but they would rather not if there’s any chance that it might imperil their Demesne and community.

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