The Troubles

The Troubles, also referred to as curses or afflictions, are supernatural, paranormal, and metaphysical abilities that run in the bloodlines of some families in Haven, Maine. The town Haven, Maine has a unique protection for Troubled people, and is usually a place were The Troubles cease to occur. Haven however is not always a protected and safe place, Troubled or not, and the periods of time that it isn't, are known as "The Troubles".

History
The name Haven comes from the Mi'kmap word, "Tuwiuwok", which means, "Haven for God's Orphans". Those with Troubles can be found living peacefully all around the town and surrounding areas. For most of the time, the town functions as a true Haven for these people as their Troubles cease to be active. This allows the Troubled to live their days in Haven as relatively normal people, unaffected by the supernatural abilities that runs in their bloodlines.

It is unknown if Troubled people originated in Haven, or if they simply came there in numbers for the protection and safety that the town provides. The Guard has a long run campaign of helping Troubled people relocate to Haven. The Troubles can be traced back to most of the Founding Families of Haven, Maine. The only Founding Family known to not be afficted with any Troubles were the Driscolls.

The Haven Herald  newspaper, run by Vince and Dave Teagues, has reported on many of these outbreaks in the past, however they are alway explained logically so to not bring unwanted attention upon the town. The opening credits sequence displays headlines that show periods of The Troubles that may go as far back as the foundation of the town, over 350 years ago.

Some people of the town see The Troubles as a curse from God and view Troubled people as damned. The Reverend Ed Driscoll states that, referring to Troubled people, "Haven is chock full of the Ungodly". Most people however are more sympathetic to Troubled people and are willing to help them.

The Troubles
The Troubles follow a twenty-seven year cycle of the Hunter Meteor Storm, starting one year before the Meteor Storm and stopping afterwards for another twenty-seven years. Whenever the Troubles reappear, so does a mysterious woman Mara, who always looks the same but has a different name and memories, with an inexplicable immunity to the Troubles and an innate ability to the the Troubled.

For the twenty-seven years that the Troubles are inactive, Mara spends in The Barn, functioning as an overall protection for the town, which helps to keep the Troubles at bay. This protection would only work for just over a quarter of a century at a time and so twenty=seven years after the last passing of the Hunter Meteor Storm, the Troubles would begin to come back. A year after that, Mara would arrive in Haven and would work to assist the Troubled and try to solve the mystery of her unknown past. Every time she arrived with the memories and name of a different person, and as she worked to help the Troubled, she would either begin remembering or was informed of her past apperances in Haven, Maine and the roles she played in protecting the town and it's inhabitants.

When the Hunter Meteor Storm was due to return, Mara would travel to Kick'em Jenny Neck, and would enter The Barn. It remains unknown if Mara would always willingly enter The Barn or if she was forced, but it is known that when she had the memories and name of Sarah Vernon, The Guard had to get involved after she wouldn't enter. Upon entering The Barn, all her memories of her time in Haven, Maine were stripped away from her, and new ones were put in place for the next cycle of Troubles. By entering The Barn, the Hunter Meteor Storm  would pass safely overhead and the Troubles would dissappear for another twenty-seven years.

In 2010, Nathan Wuornos caused the Hunter Meteor Storm to begin desceding on the town of Haven, Maine and for the Troubles to stay after he shot Agent Howard. After The Barn was destroyed, the Troubles got worse in a short period of time. It is unknown if this occured because of the destruction of The Barn itself, or if because with the hope of twenty-seven years without having to live with their Troubles, the Troubled residents of Haven lost the ability to have some control over their Troubles.

Mutated Troubles
When The Barn was imploding, a mysterious man called William, escaped The Barn and came to Haven, Maine accompanied by his two associates Heavy and SInister. Once he arrived in Haven, he made the Troubles even worse than they had already become, in an attempt to draw out the original personality of the mysterious women, whose real name is Mara as she, at the time, still has the memories and personality of Audrey Parker. To do this, he would either, mutate a persons Trouble to make them more deadly to themselves and those around them, trigger never before experienced or seen Troubles that had been dormant for generations, give Troubles to the un-afflicted, and created monster to torment the residents of Haven, Maine in a desperate attempt to draw the original identity of Mara out, so that they could reek havoc on the town together.

Causes and Triggers
According to William, the Troubles required an alchemy of three things: intent, a person chosen to match that intent, and a ball of, "evil black goo", more commonly known as either, "the breath of life" by William, or as, "Ether" by Mara. With a proper understanding of the personality, talents, and abilities of the person they intend to trigger, and a creative and well-matched intention, William and Mara/Audrey are able to use the Ether to force people to manifest new supernatural abilities, otherwise known as Troubles.

Once someone develops a Trouble, it stays in the bloodline of that persons family, dormant in the afflicted person until it's triggered by either a child reaching puberty or some form of severe emotional distress, the most common being the death of a loved one. There are some Troubles that, once having been triggered in the afflicted person are constantly active, which are mainly the biological Troubles, such as Nathan Wuornos inheriting his biological fathers ability to be insensitive in any form a touch, pain or temperature. Troubles that are not always active, are often able to be stopped or managed as long as the Troubled persons properly manages their emotions.

Bloodlines
Once a persons Trouble is triggered, it will stay in their families bloodline. Most of the time, the Trouble lineage will originate on the Fathers side of the family and will continue in a single line of descent. It is currently unknown what happens when two Troubled bloodlines are mixed, though it can be assumed that the child would gain at least one Trouble.

Some Troubles are very specidic and will only manifest in an identical fashion in every afflicted generation of the bloodline. But many Troubles will be trigger in a spontaneous manner that is specific to the situation and the person. An example of this is when Cornell Stamoran was too afraid to kill Henry, so his Trouble created a deadly clone. This caused Stamoran to then have to repeartedly kill his clone in order to stop it from killing again. Don Keaton, a volunteer fireman, had his Trouble triggered by his survivor's guilt, due to his partner being burned alive in a fire and him surviving. This meant that anyone who congratulated him for being a hero was flash-burned, dying in the same manner that his partner did.

According to William, when Mara and himself first started Troubling people, they would set up complimentary Troubles to see how they would interact with one another. Nathan Wuornos' inability to feel and Jordan McKee's touch causing extreme pain is one example the complimentary Troubles.

While the specifics of exactly how a Trouble is triggered and manifests/works is able to change from generation to generation, the underlying structure, concept and emotions that will trigger that specific Trouble are the same.

Types of Troubles
There are 2 main types of Troubles and 4 sub-catagories within these 2:
 * Manipulation - These posses the ability to manipulate the world around them through supernatural means and motives.
 * Manifestation - The effects of the Trouble would just occur and have no obvious or specific target.
 * Biological - When the manipulation allows the Troubled person to physically affect their own body, or gives them abilities that are related to their own physical bodies.
 * Time travel - When time itself is able to be manipulated.
 * Psychometric - Troubles that affect the psychological or mental state of people.
 * Creature - Troubles that create creatures that are able to harm others.