Houdini
The kind of magic that works best here isn't the kind anyone you'd want to know is good at.
Death, Be Proud
For centuries, assorted cults, cabals, and cliques would play at magic, reading misunderstood interpretations of ancient texts, decontextualized and interpreted solely through the lenses of their own cultures, producing nothing but a sense of belonging and an excuse to hang around in robes and have drunken orgies, as if that really needs a justification. Then, in 1923, something happened. As the world marveled at the wonders of Tut's Tomb, a London cabal recited a chant that allegedly called the attention of Osiris, as they had done for decades prior, during the Equinox. The focus of so many people on all things Egyptian, combined with the reading of the ancient spell, acted to shift the world's balance just slightly. Mana flooded in, and magic - working, practical, magic - was loose once more.Pity the lens through which all that belief had been unintentionally focused was aspected towards necromantic powers. The original veneration of Osiris had been towards death as a natural thing, and his role was as guardian of the transition between the worlds. The would-be magicians of London sought power over death for unnatural ends, and that belief was what shaped the sudden flow of energy. The result was that the world's mana was aspected to spells of the Necromantic college, granting a +2 to effective skill when casting such spells, while those of most other colleges are at -1, with Healing at -2.
Given that the spell had been a distorted echo of something that once belonged to them, it is unsurprising the Egyptians were the first to apply magic to practical use. The just-formed Kingdom of Egypt become truly independant, driving the British from the Suez and gaining full control over the military, foreign relations, and other governmental functions denied despite "independance".
The various "occult" groups, whose play-acting became real, all scattered around the world and mutually hostile to each other in the way of all effectively identical niche factions can be, went to war.
Present
It is now 1929, and the Roaring 20s are still roaring, shaped by magic that is still being understood. The FBI has scryers hunting down bootleggers, and the bootleggers have zombie guards. Stalin is placing mages loyal to him in key positions, using them to strike down enemies. The US War Department has formed MAGE, the department of Magic and General Enchantment.
The breach point opens just north of San Francisco, a hotbed of crime and violence. The tong wars, bad enough on Baseline, have become even worse with magic in the mix, as have the struggles between other criminal groups. That said, the effects rarely spill out into the general populace.
Harry Houdini is still alive, and given his longstanding interest in contacting the dead, has become one of the most powerful mages known. He has become what he pretended to be, and is now a leading consultant to scholars and researchers. It is from the this that BREACH selected this world's CFAD.
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