Awakened Brisbane
Brisbane, city of mysteries...
The Awakened population of the area grew quickly after the settlement of the penal colony in 1824. Originally established as a "prison within a prison" - a settlement, deliberatly distant from Sydney, to which convicts who reoffended while serving their sentences could be sent as punishment. It soon garnered a reputation, along with Norfolk Island, as being one of the harshest penal settlements in all of New South Wales. Part of the harshness was due to the agressive nature of the local Aboriginal people of the area, who tried to starve out the settlement by destroying it's crops.
One thing that was never anticipated was the sheer number of Awakenings, both convicts and free men, that occured in the area. Records of that time are sparse, but seem to indicate a rate of Awakening approxiately twenty to thirty times that of the norm. This prodigeous Awakening rate has continued into the modern day.
The penal colony became a centre of Magical study in Australia because of this, and also attracted a great number of the Awakened community simply to try and keep the Awakening prison population in check. This resulted in a "split personality" for the Mage population of the area: the academics with their in-depth study of the area, the worst of the prison population of New South Wales, and the prison guards brought in specifically to deal with them. This continued well into the 1840's until the penal colony was eventually closed.
Modern Brisbane
The size of the Brisbane Consillium is considerably greater than would be considered normal for a city of its size: averaging about 100 full members, plus the initiate population. Due to the sheer number of newly Awakened Mages the Consillium can expect, a system has been put in place where newly Awakened Mages are mentored with an existing Mage of their Path with (hopefully) complimentary personalities. It is the responsibility to Mentor to educate the new initiate into being a Mage, how the Consillium works and into Mage society as a whole. A new Mage can expect to be under the care of their Mentor for a period of between three to six months before being presented to the Consillium and accepted as a full member.
The Event
On the morning of the 1st of May, 2011, at approximately 10:28am, something happened.
Most of the Awakened in the area at the time reported a slight light-headed feeling that quickly passed, with no other noticable effects. It wasn't until later, days later in some instances, that the full impact of the Event was felt.
A quick head-count of the Consillium resulted in a total population of 41, far less than the expected 130-odd that was expected. The worst part was that no one could remember anything about any of the Mages who were missing. Study of Consillium and Order records showed litteral gaps in the entries. The Consillium roll, a physical tome that has had the details of every Mage entered into it since the founding of the Consillium, showed that 60 of the 100 lines currently recorded as active were blank of all details other than the active mark.
No one could remember anything about the missing Mages, other than vague recollections that they should exist.
An emergency Consillium meeting was called for the morning of Sunday the 8th of May, a week after the Event.