White Wolf Online

The World You Knew
June 5th Preview of Monte Cook's World of Darkness
Posted: 2007-06-05

It's today. Or maybe tomorrow. The world in Monte Cook's World of Darkness is Earth as we know it, with all its shortcomings, problems, sorrows, joys, blessings and triumphs.

At least, it was the world we know, until a year ago, when everything changed. Yet still, it's similar. The events of one year ago are easy to grasp, though only a few know the truth about them — and no one knows the whole truth.

Supernatural beings now exist in the world, they have not had a long, secret history of interaction with humanity. They showed up a year ago. Thus, to play this game, you don't need to read through lengthy histories. In addition, the technology, the people, and the cities are elements we all know.

Characters have access to information, technology and weapons that you are familiar with in the real world. Characters likely can drive cars, use computers, and have cell phones. They conceivably could fly jet airliners, fire automatic rifles, develop anti-venom serums, or hack into computer networks.

The difference is: They do so while struggling against eldritch horrors beyond their ability to comprehend.

This is the World of Darkness, envisioned by Monte Cook…

Everything was fine. Well, we didn't realize that then. We thought everything was fucked up. But in retrospect, we had it really good. Then, the world ended.

Or rather, it was supposed to end. We couldn't even do that right, as it turns out. Now everything's a nightmare.

And most people don't even know about it. They know something happened. But they don't know the truth.

One year ago, eldritch horrors of cosmic malevolence called the Inconnu, or sometimes the Unbidden, attempted to destroy our reality, reshaping it for their unknowable purpose. This attempt, called the Intrusion, should have spelled the end of the world, with little humanity dying a swift, horrific death and six billion souls consumed by the ancient Inconnu who didn't even fully recognize their existence.

Yet the Intrusion wasn't the end of the world. In the end, humankind was far stronger than the Inconnu understood — not in force of arms or physical strength (certainly) or even wisdom, but in spirit. Since then, we've learned that key individuals around the globe unconsciously maintain the fundament of reality. They kept — and keep — the Inconnu from bringing about the apocalypse.

Despite this resistance, the Inconnu established a sort of foothold in the world — specifically in the middle of North America. The site of their intrusion into our reality yawns wide in the Great Plains of the United States; it is a seething sphere of nightmarish unreality. The people there were consumed in a conflagration greater than any the world had ever seen.

Further, the Intrusion sent a ripple through existence that altered the nature of reality. This ripple, called the Nightmare Wave, left its mark in many ways. In some locales, particularly those close to the Intrusion Site, it wrought terrible physical destruction. In others the changes it brought were subtler and more insidious. Imagine: People in one small town suddenly gain the taste — the need — for human flesh. A broken, unplugged jukebox in a condemned diner plays songs that give clues to future events. Cockroaches in an old warehouse communicate and think as a composite entity, and form into a single, monstrous creature.

So, the Inconnu blasted away a million people, wrenched a chunk of the US into a seething maelstrom of unreality, and gave like to horror-dreams across the world. But their goal was to wipe us out entirely, so their "victory" (if I can use such a term when there wasn't even a battle) was a partial one. Unsatisfied, the Inconnu then loosed spirits and demons into the material world. Some merged with human bodies and souls to become composite entities. Others clothed themselves in earthly matter and took on the guise of men and women. These beings seek to complete the world's destruction — through terror, through misinformation, through assassination and brutality and murder.

Yet again something happened that the Inconnu did not expect. Once more they underestimated the human spirit. Some of the possessed humans retained control of their bodies. They resisted the Inconnu and maintained their free will. Many turned their powers against the Inconnu and work to save humanity.

Now, agents of the Inconnu travel throughout the world, seeking to further its destruction. Their own kind fights against them, along with true human allies — some who know more than others, and some who wield ancient powers given new potency. A maelstrom of warping reality howls in the middle of what was once the world's most powerful nation. The Nightmare Wave's influence haunts sites across the globe. Government agencies and tough-minded individuals work to stop the Inconnu's agents, and people throughout the world attempt to discover what's really happened and what's happening. Few of them get close.

We're fighting a shadow war for Earth and all humanity.