| What is the "World of Darkness?" By Todd Goggins There is no easy answer to that question in my mind. Officially, however, it is the fantasy world envisioned by Mark Rein*Hagen of White Wolf Gaming Studios based out of Atlanta, Georgia. It is a dark and depressing world, where monsters creep in the shadows, the minds, and the hearts of our mortal existence. In the "World of Darkness," things are much worse than that of our reality. It is evil and decay left unchecked. Where the sun hardly shines during the day and the nights are darker still, creatures lurk and exist beyond our human comprehension. And even if one was to witness such a creature with their own eyes, our minds are so entrenched in the reality that we grew up to believe, that it will attempt to rationalize what they have just seen as something other than what it is. As far as setting, an easy visual would be to see Batman: The Movie (1st one) or the Animated Series. Urban decay and sprawl are rampant and the architecture is dark and foreboding, with tall buildings decorated with stone gargoyles that look down upon the inhabitants. It is a setting of extremes (or maybe not, depending on your world view) in which evil rules over the righteous and hope is a dying candle in a wind that only gets stronger in its attempt to snuff it out. Pollution. Corruption. Death. They are daily and common occurrences in this world. Does this mean there are no good guys in this world? Well, the definition of good and evil is at times a gray area, actually, and you can explore that area with any type of character. Each person's experience will be different and diverse. Perhaps your character was beaten and enslaved as a child. Forced to work the sex trade at an early age. You free yourself and you try to help those that were once in your situation and you work and strive to make changes. But there is always that darkness that gnaws at you inside. A darkness that dwells within your soul, and even though you want to help, working the system isn't fast enough, so you take matters into your own hands... exacting revenge on those that had once enslaved you. Making them suffer as they had made you suffer. Now you question yourself. "Am I a good guy? Or a bad guy? Just how far have I slipped into becoming the monster I had hoped to avoid?" The World of Darkness is full of monsters. Vampires attempt to hide themselves from the eyes of Mortal society as they work to control and manipulate it. Werewolves prey on those they believe to be the cause of all the world's ills, often affecting the innocent in the process and only darkening the envelope that wraps our planet. And of course there is ourselves. The Mortals. Unknowing and uncaring in a sense to what goes on around us. We get up, go to work, come home, and watch the idiot box as we are fed what to think, what to believe, and what to feel. We are our own worst enemy. We create only to destroy. We kill our planet for the sake of living better lives. We kill each other, beat our family, indulge in sick and perverse actions. So ask yourself... Who's really the monster here? Written by Todd Goggins. � 2001 �World of Darkness� is copyrighted by White Wolf Game Studios. The views and expressions of the author are no in way associated With the writers and creators of Vampire or Werewolf and are not a challenge to their Copyrights. Merely it is a personal expression and interpretation of said works |