The Meta Plot
We all know the story. What happened in 1999, the Week of Nightmares. The Avatar Storm. The Technocracy unleashed spirit nukes which caused all sorts of havok in the Umbra, making travels between the two realms difficult and dangerous. Horizon went dark, the world was cut off from the Council of Nine Traditions. Doissetep fell, and it seemed that the Traditions had lost the Ascension war. However, nothing is that simple. There were still many places in the world where the belief in the wondrous held supreme. It also turned out that the Technocrats lost communication with their masters.
Suddenly there was hope again. An unknown presence only calling themselves Sphinx, maintained communication with the Earthly traditions and keeping them whole. All the while the Technocracy suffered massive losses with the discovery of Nephandi influence from within. Slowly the Traditions were able to pull together, rebuild in the shadows.
Then the Avatar Storm subsided.
The old masters were gone, or lost. But, now was the chance to rebuild. A new conclave of the Council of Nine Traditions met in San Francisco and thus the New Horizon Council was born. The Traditions rose again just as the Technocracy was shaking under its own weight. Thus a ceasefire was sought. By no means does this mean the Traditions and the Technocracy are friends, but it does mean they do not seek each other out to fight in the streets anymore.
During this time many crafts not of the Traditions came together to form a loose coalition called the Disparate Alliance, to protect their autonomy from both the Traditions and the Technocracy.
Sphinx disappeared and no one ever found out who this being truly was....and hope rose again for magic. Yet off in the distance shadows begin to rise as well...