Assorted Moments from North Carolina History [Background]

General Roll20
1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Regulatio…

“The effort to eliminate the system of government became known as the Regulator uprising, War of the Regulation, or the Regulator War. … It was a struggle between mostly lower-class citizens, who made up the majority of the backcountry population of North and South Carolina, and the wealthy planter elite, who comprised about 5% of the population but maintained almost total control of the government.” The struggle was seen as a precursor to the Revolutionary War.

I can picture a lot of Halcyon vigilantes invoking the “Regulators” name to defend their actions (rightly or wrongly).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_in_th…

“Henry Toole Clark served as the state’s governor from July 1861 to September 1862. Clark founded a Confederate prison in North Carolina, set up European purchasing connections, and built a successful gunpowder mill. His successor Zebulon Vance further increased state assistance for the soldiers in the field. As the war went on, William Woods Holden became a quiet critic of the Confederate government, and a leader of the North Carolina peace movement. In 1864, he was the unsuccessful “peace candidate” against incumbent Governor Vance.”

“Unionists in North Carolina formed a group called the “Heroes of America” that was allied with the U.S. Numbering nearly 10,000 men, a few of them possibly black, they helped Unionists escape to U.S. lines.”

I don’t know about you folks, but “Zebulon Vance” sounds like a great bad guy name, and I can only hope that a group named the “Heroes of America” continues to this day in Halcyon City or around the state.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_North_Car…

“Political scientist V. O. Key analyzed the state political culture in depth in the late 1940s, and concluded it was exceptional in the South for its “progressive outlook and action in many phases of life”, especially in the realm of industrial development, commitment to public education, and a moderate-pattern segregation that was relatively free of the rigid racism found in the Deep South.”

I’m looking for game-usable moments from real history. There’s no doubt others, this is just stuff I’ve come across while reading.

author: Bill G.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/5431638

2

That’s cool stuff, Bill – thanks!

author: *** Dave H.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/5432807

3

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbeard

Edward Teach, aka “Blackbeard the Pirate”, has a place in North Carolinan history. Although not as successful as some, he had often distinguished himself for his uncommon boldness and personal courage as a privateer during the War of the Spanish Succession. Under the patronage of Captain Benjamin Hornigold, Teach gained control of a 40-gun ship and named it the Queen Anne’s Revenge. Despite his ferocious reputation, there are no verified accounts of his ever having murdered or harmed those he held captive. He was a canny military man and shrewd criminal, not the fearsome demon he knowingly portrayed himself to be. He sometimes operated out of Ocracoke Inlet, in the Outer Banks of what would become North Carolina. Blackbeard would eventually meet his end at the hands of Lieutenant Robert Maynard, after fierce fighting and having received grievous wounds.

But perhaps there is more to this man than what history tells - which isn’t much, all things considered. Certainly he is a man shrouded in myth and legend. Unexplained lights at sea are often referred to as “Teach’s light”. A North Carolinian tale holds that Teach’s skull was used as the basis for a silver drinking chalice; a local judge even claimed to have drunk from it one night in the 1930s. Could these have some deeper association?

In a world with supers, it’s possible that Blackbeard encountered something special: a magical artifact, a downed alien craft, or some similar paranormal phenomenon. Canny, cunning, and courageous, the pirate is willing to take a chance on this mystery, if it means profit. He is changed by it, or he negotiates with some intelligent being - a sorcerer, an alien. Magical or energetic emanations from the dingus could mean danger (are they harmful to humans? will they mutate things near them?) or risk (is someone else tracking the thing?), so of course it needs to be buried. Teach’s DNA is attuned to it, allowing him and only him to approach safely - for there are plenty of stories where a pirate’s crew was unreliable, and maybe he wanted insurance against mutiny or theft. After his death at Maynard’s hands, Teach’s corpse was thrown into the inlet to rot, but his head was taken as a trophy. And if indeed the skull was turned into a drinking chalice, this would form the only surviving key to the buried secrets of Blackbeard!

author: Bill G.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/5438867