by Justin

The Man stands just in the hallway looking past the partially closed door in to the playroom. Children ages 4 through 8 are happily playing all types of games with each other and an older girl. The teenager stops to stare at a picture drawn by one of the children. She becomes intent on it for a long period of time, and then finally looks down with pity at the child who made the drawing. She whispers to him softly, "You should let someone know."

Gently rubbing his cross, the man concentrates on not being seen, a difficult task because it was so different from his nature, but he persevered. He ponders the scene. ‘How pleasant they look. No screaming, no fear. Yet If I walked into this room there would be instant panic.’ He shakes his head slightly and almost regrets many things. ‘At least I can give them their childhood.’ Though he knows that his very presence helps destroy this fragile gift.

The older girl starts to stalk around like a cat, her motions and silence utterly feline, making some of the children laugh.

The man snaps from his reverie and goes back to studying the victims inside, watching the performance, as always, observing, weighing. ‘I think she is trying to look like an animal.’ Though why the children found this funny he did not understand.

The kitty-sitter pounces on a little child, tickling them, threatening to lick them like a mommy kitty. She laughs as the small one giggles with glee.

The man watches the performance with interest but continues to caress the old wooden cross on his sash. ‘I am not here, I am not here.’ The teen-mommycat releases her child-kitten and stalks around a bit more. He continues to watch the display. ‘It seems to be working. No one is looking at me.’

Little by little, the children crawl into their beds and fall to play-exhausted, happy sleep. The teen starts to soundlessly creep towards the door. The man slowly moves back so that she may slip out. She maintains her silent kitty walk even once outside the room.

The man waits patiently for the teenager to slip out the door so as not to disturb the children. His finger softly touches his lips for silence though she moves like a very shadow herself. Once the teen is out of the play-sleep area completely he gracefully closes the door and induces the thin teen to another room.

She heeds his subtle direction without daring to look directly at him, slipping into the indicated chamber. Stepping into this room the man closes the door after them and quietly approaches the quivering young woman until he is looming over her, very much like a hawk might with a mouse. His robes gently rustle as he raises an arm and exposes a length of pale forearm.

With a suddenly tormented mien, she grabs handfuls of hair with shivering hands, forcibly pulling herself down to her knees as if an opposing force tries to keep her standing. Slowly bending at the knees the man flows with the girl staying near enough to brush her with his robe. She releases her hold on her hair, scooping up and cradling his wrist with both hands. Now taking her hair and wrapping his fingers through its tresses he gets a firm hold. The teen slowly looks up, meeting the man’s predatory gaze with a plea in her eyes. "Please make me stop…"

"It is that time." The words flow out like warm wine. Gently the man pushes her head toward his exposed flesh.

The teen shrinks with defeat and allows her lips to press against his wrist. She then rubs her face from forehead, to cheek, to chin slowly across his wrist and hand, then back up again, resting her forehead on the thin skin below the palm. Looking down still, she whispers almost coyly, "What are you afraid of?"

Entwining his fingers yet further through her hair he steps closer and carefully presses his wrist closer to her lips, whispering back like a breath from a tomb, "The grave." The youth trembles at his nearness, "I fear death and what is beyond." His words seep into her hearing. "I fear what no one can know."

She murmurs back softly, lips brushing across his wrist, "I fear never knowing what is beyond." Her canines glide across the surface of his dead skin. Then, brushing her cheek along his wrist again, she catches his eye, "But you will show me that someday, I think." The teen smiles at him with eerie, childlike solace.

He bends closer still, until his lips are not quit touching her ear. "Yes I will grant you that boon someday," the words flow like silk. "By my lips shall you someday meet the great beyond."

The young woman quakes at the promise. She breathes out, her lips caressing his flesh, "Reality paints itself obscene," and bites until the thin covering of skin gives way, shocking at the draught. The man stiffens as her teeth penetrate the cool flesh. His hand tightening in her hair he pushes her harder into his arm, betraying a subtle gasp. She shudders at his reaction then closes her eyes allowing the liquid sin to flow through her with morose euphoria. The teen swallows harder, deeper, with the pressure on the back of her head, then closes her eyes hard and tries to pull away.

His body quivering from his essence pouring into her, the man bends down, keeping her pressed against his flesh. The man slides his lips down her neck until he finds the joint between neck and shoulder. The girl recoils slightly at the cold lips sliding down her skin. He bites cleanly and deeply into the muscle and flesh, his teeth sinking in far to find and free her vitae. ‘No,’ his mind rebels the act, but the word is lost among the waves of heat and joy that race through his body.

The young woman stiffens as her world explodes in a kaleidoscope of euphoria and terror, barely maintaining her hold on his arm, drinking as she is fed from. Now pulling her hair back he frees his wrist and exposes more of her throat. With sensual pain Joseph slides his razor sharp fangs through her flesh until he reaches the traditional spot on her neck, leaving a deep gash behind him. She gasps at the gouging then succumbs to the abyss of dark pleasure.

Bringing his arm around he pulls her into him and drinks on as the waves wash over him, threatening to drown out all reason. The teen convulses with attempts at action. She reaches a clenched hand up to his shoulder, then another on his other side, focusing her will on a meager attempt to push him away.

Again his non-beast mind implores, "No." The word works its way slowly through his mind. The teen starts to shake, quivering under the kiss. Liquid life surging through his body the man barely notices. His mind commands again, ‘NO!’ as every rapturous convulsion of the one beneath him screams, ‘Yes…’

With an act of will the man jerks his fangs out of the teens throat, splattering his orange robe with bits of her scarlet vitae. The teen ’s hands fall down as a marionette’s with strings cut would, then with sudden anguish reaches up grabs her hair and scalp again, clawing of flesh softly heard in the still silence. The man rises and drags her up with him. She looks up into his eyes with awe. "No," he states quietly. "Once more in control." Slowly untangling her fingers from her hair, she nods without removing her gaze from his, her eyes bright with obsession.

Looking down into her gleaming eyes, a smile briefly touches his hard features. Raising his hand he gently once more tilts her head and this time closes the wound he had given her with a cool brush of his lips. Then raising his arm to her he waits. She gently lifts his wrist, ensuring that no harm remains, kissing it subtly before lowering it.

Shakily turning the man helps guide the teen out the door and back to the children.

by Malcus Dorroga

After my initial discussion of paradigms in this column, a few readers wrote to me, asking for something more substantial. While pointing out the importance of paradigm was well received by these readers, some pointed out to me that many people simply do not understand how to create a paradigm for their characters. This is understandable; most role-playing games either have self-contained paradigms or simply do not require players to question their beliefs in reality as much as Mage does, and suddenly being thrust into such a situation can be daunting.

However, paradigms should not be so difficult, since they are simply extensions of the already existing Mage mechanics. In the most abstract sense, a paradigm is what a Mage believes about reality, magic, and existence. However, boil away all the high-flung metaphysics and the self-analyzing philosophy and psychology, and the players is left with a simple way to explain game mechanics and characters statistics from the point of view of the character.

General Issues

Paradigms are best made simultaneously with character creation. Very rarely is there any good time to make the whole paradigm in one sitting. Rather, bits and pieces of it should be created as various aspects of the character come together. When you choose your spheres, for example, ask how this person is going to explain this sphere to others; no character is going to say, "Hi, I’m Brianna, and I have Life 3!"

For those playing members of an established mystic group, the job of creating a paradigm is half done. Each Tradition, Convention, and Craft has its own ideals and views that it will teach its younger members to follow. Most mages will follow Tradition paradigm fairly closely, if for no other reason than the fact that it’s the only way they know to explain what they do. If Brianna’s mentor is a Verbena, and she teaches the young mage that blood and sacred oaks allow her to heal and harm, then Brianna is going to use blood and wood, and her paradigm will reflect those beliefs.

Of course, mystic groups only provide the skeleton of the individual paradigm, and it is up to the player to build on this and make the character’s magic as personal as possible. Does the character prefer some aspects of the paradigm to others? Is she rebellious, or is she a rules stickler? Maybe the character tries to mix paradigms a bit, such as a Virtual Adept trying to justify hermetic circles or a Chorister who still follows tribal ways.

The challenge of making a personal paradigm comes when playing an Orphan. These people have Awakened on their own and do not have the "controlled" Awakenings of most Tradition mages. Whereas a trained mage enters her Awakening with the Tradition’s preconceived notions about magic, an Orphan comes to power in a random environment, with only her own beliefs to explain what is going on. For these characters, the moment of Awakening is probably the biggest influence on paradigm. If Brianna Awakens during a drug high, for example, she may truly believe that what happened was a drug trip and can only be duplicated while high. This may, of course, eventually lead her to the Cult of Ecstasy, but it’s a start.

The final thing to keep in mind is that, no matter how a character Awakens, he or she will have some notion about how the universe works and why she can do the stunts she suddenly can. Awakening, to some degree, is all about insight and enlightenment; a mage simply cannot, by definition, function as a willworker unless she acknowledges some form of metaphysic, even if it’s something as simple as fairy tales or as everyday as common science.

Creation

The actual process of paradigm creation has three steps: Basic Metaphysic, Sphere Metaphysic, and Background Metaphysic. While creating your character, answer as many paradigm questions as you can. Imagine how this character will explain her mystic abilities to another mage, and avoid actually using MAGE’s terminology as much as possible.

The Basic Metaphysic coincides with character concept, and should resolve the character’s essential worldview. Ask yourself what this character thinks the nature of reality is and why she thinks she can use magic. These answers do not have to be deep by any stretch of the imagination; paradigms can be as simple as wishcraft or as complex as witchcraft. If the character doesn’t have a deep universal metaphysic, you should at least resolve the issue of how and why her abilities work; everyone’s going to come up with an answer for that.

The Sphere Metaphysic is fairly easy, especially if the character’s worldview has been developed. At this point, you should explain how the character explains each individual Sphere. These explanations should fit with the metaphysic; a Dreamspeaker explaining Forces as "the power of Satan" probably won’t cut it. The explanations should sound plausible to the character, and should cover as much of each Sphere as possible. It helps to define the character’s starting spheres at first, then explaining the others.

The Background Metaphysic defines the mage’s views on the Avatar, Arete, Quintessence, Paradox, and the mystic backgrounds like Arcane and Sanctum. These are important to clarify just how the mage sees her everyday life, as well as the things that affect her the most. A mage may not necessarily see that the avatar is what allows her to work magic; some may see it as "creative genius", while others revere it as a guardian angel or animal spirit. Arete is a measure of enlightenment, and everyone follows a different inner path, whether it is devotion to the One, inner balance, or acceptance of an idea. People will explain Paradox differently, based on their own experiences with it and the experiences they have shared with others.

Once these issues have been resolved, the player is left with a simple role-playing tool that allows her to get into the character’s head and mindset far easier than without.

Genesis: An Example Paradigm
Ok, let’s try this step by step. First, let’s grab a concept and a basic background. Our character will be a Virtual Adept… let’s call him Bob for now… and he was Awakened by another Virtual Adept during a Quake death-match. (Don’t giggle, just work with me here…) He was trained by the Adepts, and follows much of their paradigm, but the whole death-match Awakening has skewed his outlook somewhat.

For the Basic Metaphysic, we can pretty much use the standard Adept paradigm that has been drilled into his head: the universe is a vast network of information that can be hacked, altered, and uploaded. However, Bob is partial to the idea that the information for the physical world is written in Quake code, allowing for "spectacular, real-life 3D effects". Bob can take part of this code, play with it a bit, and modify the universal program in small ways. He’s even developed his own set of "cheat codes" (rotes); all he has to do is "hit the tilde", input his code, and the cheat takes effect.

For his Spheres, Bob has spent most of his time working with simple environmental changes. He has 1 level of Correspondence, 2 of Matter, 2 of Forces, and 1 of Mind. We’ll stick to just explaining those for now. Since Bob’s paradigm is code-based, his explanations for those Spheres should also be code-based. After a bit of thinking, we may come up with something like the following:

• Correspondence - LAN: Code can be accessed from just about anywhere, as long as you have access to the right pipelines. Everything is linked, so everything can be accessed from one place.
• Forces - Power: the easiest way to relay code is by pulse. Universal code requires plenty of power pulses, and the right hardware or software can divert these pulses as easily as the codes they contain.
• Matter - Hexagonal Bitmap: the things we touch and see every day are coded, just like anything else, and these codes are fairly easy to hack and change.
• Mind - CPU: my mind is a center of code processing, a place where the universal code is translated into something I can understand. If I can’t deal with the code properly, I can always overclock. :)

Moving onto Background Metaphysic, we can already see the general tendencies of this character, so Bob’s explanations for other things should be simple, yet potentially geeky. Bob will certainly not, for example, be using any flowery phrases to explain what his avatar is any time soon; he’ll just call it his "inspiration". His Arete can be explained as his ability to hack, his "eliteness", if I may steal a phrase. Paradox is just "bugs in the system" or "anti-hacking defenses", while quintessence is little more than a system backdoor or a code crack. His other backgrounds will take on similarly technical definitions.

And there you have it: Bob, the Quake hacker.

Paradigms really flesh out the character and make the role-playing experience far easier. There is no really deep philosophy required to do this, just a little creativity and a little thought. What you come up with may surprise you.

NEXT MONTH: Barring natural disaster or a burning need to write something else, I’ll delve into the Storyteller’s nightmare that is running a Seeking. We’ll look at the role of the Avatar, using Nature, and how to set this bad boy up.

by Hastu the 7th

Paligon is the new rave of the video game on the market. In the game, in the game, the players seek too catch all 600 paligons and beat 7 "camp leaders" and become a "Paligon champ".

What the public doesn’t know, is that this game is the latest thing from tellus enterprises too spread the will of the wyrm. This pentex spawned game is designed too create new fomori too assist the wyrm in his battle against the garou. As the children play the game, they become more and more obsessed with "catching them all"; dropping out of school, running away from home, even locking themselves into there rooms if need be. Eventually, after several days of playing, the child undergoes a bizarre transformation, slowly changing into one of the creatures from the game. After the transformation, they go out, and begin too act out the game; attacking and killing anything they can get there hands on and destroying Gaia.

DRAGOGON: this is a dragon like Paligon. It looks like a tiny blue t-rex with a barbed tail.

POLYDRAK: this Paligon looks like an armadillo with sharp spikes on its back.

BLUMPADOR: this Paligon is a fat fish with a single unicorn like horn.

BUZZAGIM: this Paligon looks like a bumblebee and is the most popular Paligon

STATS: the stats are the same for all the Paligons. The main differences are the fomor gifts.

ATTRIBUTES: strength: 6 dexterity: 5 stamina: 3 perception: 5 wits: 5 intelligence: 1 all others zero

Abilities: brawl: 5 melee: 4

BACKGROUNDS: none

DRAGOGON: fire breath (diff. 7, 4 dice damage, aggravated) claws and teeth, immunity too delirium.

POLYDRAK: hide of the wyrm, claws and teeth, immunity to delirium

BLUMPADOR: gills (can breath under water and on land) horn (can ram for strength +1 damage) immunity too delirium

BUZZAGIM: electricity, (diff. 7, 5 agg. Damage) wings (flight at speed dex. +3) claws and teeth, exoskeleton, immunity to delirium.

WILLPOWER: 6

EQUIPMENT: none.

IMAGE: dragagon: appears as a tiny gaunt blue tyrannosaurus.

Polydrak: looks like a red armadillo with long claws.

Blumpador: looks like a green fish with a white belly, and a unicorn horn.

Buzzagim: looks like a large, bee like animal.

ROLEPLAYING NOTES: you’re a Paligon, you have too serve your "trainer" (a black spiral dancer or fomor) and defeat enemy Paligon (garou, mages, changelings and vampires) screech your name instead of talking.

STORYTELLER NOTES: storytellers should feel free too make new types of Paligon by using the guidelines above. They are a good example of what type of resources pentex has and shows how low they can really sink (most of these fomori are children) they also make excellent shock troops and are usually underestimated by there opponents.

Casual Interview with Justin Achilli by the DViE Staff

How did you start roleplaying, and about what age did you get interested?
I started in the archetypal cousin’s basement at age nine. From that very first session, I was hooked. I borrowed the game rules and became a full-tilt goober immediately. I mean it — I bought almost everything that I could convince the hobby shop to stock. Of course, I didn’t have much money, so I had to be choosy with what I convinced them to order, but, man, I look back on it all and think of how many thousands of dollars I must have spent on this stuff. It’d buy a lot of vodka, even with 1999 dollars.

What was your first Role-playing game?
Dungeons & Dragons. My cousin’s elf died and we threw his corpse into a room where the walls had been trapped to compress. It didn’t work.

How long have you written for White Wolf, and were you first hired as a writer?
I’ve written for White Wolf for about five years now. My first project, done gratis (grumble grumble) was With Fang and Claw, a revision of the Rage player’s companion. After that, I picked up part of Warriors of the Apocalypse, which was a collection of characters for Werewolf. Soon after working on that book, I shifted over into full-time development on Dark Ages, and now I have some bit of writing in every Vampire book that hits the shelves. Some more than others, of course.

Why did you start writing for white wolf, and how did you come to write for White Wolf?
I basically did the Rage book for free, because it was handled "on the clock," and we needed it for the game line. As to how, I did that book because I was developing Rage at the time and having worked with that game nonstop for over a year, I had a pretty good handle on it. As far as working on other books, I think Ethan hired me on Warriors of the Apocalypse because I was a freak. And that helps in a game like Werewolf, and certainly with Vampire as well.

Do you have any future plans for Vampire?
Tons of ‘em. Once we move past 2000 (Year of Revelations), we’ll be stepping back a bit from the metaplot, but that certainly doesn’t mean we’ll be stopping support for the games. On the contrary, I’ve got my 2001 theme book finalized on the schedule and Vampire’s Victorian setting is going to be on there, too. We’ve just finished the Transylvania Chronicles (TCIV is at the printer), but we won’t be starting another story arc immediately. For the next year and a half, I’m focusing again on books that are useful to the Storyteller _and_ the players.

What plans did you have for Vampire, that never made it through the publishing process?
That’s a funny question, because much of what actually goes on in the books has repercussions that never see print. For example, I know what shakes out of the Assamite "rebirth," I know how the Giovanni-Cappadocian-Harbingers thing works out, I have a full detail of Traits for people like Adonai, etc. It’s not so much a question of things that don’t _make it through_ the publishing process as it is things that we choose to _deliberately exclude_ from the process. That said, though, I have had a few ideas that weren’t realistic for the company to undertake. I’m kicking these around with Arthaus so they may still see print (namely Havana by Night, which may become WoD: Havana), but there are plenty of "Ooh, this would be cool!" ideas that every developer has that just can’t be accommodated sometimes.

Are there any parts of Vampire you would change?
Well, if we’re talking about massive, sweeping changes that I would have built in from the beginning, then yes. Of course, I have the benefit of nine years of observing the game, so that’s not really fair to say, but here are a few. I would have only five clans. I wouldn’t have hit the goth angle so hard in the early work. I would have kept it more traditionally gothic. I wouldn’t have the Black Hand — the Camarilla, Sabbat and Inconnu work very well as is. I’d cull most of the proprietary Disciplines (with the exception of Thaumaturgy, which would belong to the Tremere, the blasphemous "sixth clan"). I’d rework Golconda as a more mythical (and less achievable) Biblical redemption. You know… just… things here and there. I think the people before me certainly did an excellent job, but everyone has little marks they’d like to make. In fact, that’s the most rewarding aspect of working on the game to me: seeing people take what they like and work with the rest to get _exactly_ what they want.

Ever consider writing for any other Genre?
Actually, I’ve done a bit of writing for a few other genres. I came up with the Duke Rollo character for Aberrant (who’s obviously based a bit on Bret Harte and a great deal on Hunter S. Thompson) and he’s got an entire book to himself coming out next year. I also do the obligatory writer journal thing, which I’ve been considering publishing online, but I don’t know how much of it is appropriate to outside reading — it’s mostly drug humor, drunken tirades and personal purple angst. I used to do a style column for an online magazine, but my editor left so I don’t work for them any longer. Horror is my first love, though, so that’s where most of my efforts lie.

Is there anything that you would change about todays Role-play? (What annoys you the most?)
When I was younger, we played games and enjoyed the experience. If we wanted to tweak the rules, we did. Nowadays (you whippersnappers!), gaming has become a true "fandom" and often carries with it all of the endemic detritus of fandom. Now, instead of reworking and homebrewing, it’s hip to bitch publicly and spout off about how such-and-such system sucks and how the people working on it are fucking retards and blah blah blah. You see it in fandom everywhere — Star Trek, comics, anime, etc. The people who just quietly enjoy the stuff are overwhelmed by the armchair geniuses who know how it "could have been better" — if everyone just realized that their way was obviously the best. I’ve never been a big supporter of "game celebrity" and I generally try to take it down a notch or two when I go to shows. That’s why I work our parties for free, why I buy drinks for fans, etc. I think it’s fairly ridiculous that anyone who makes a fucking game be afforded some kind of rock-star status, so I don’t subscribe to any of that bullshit. If we’re at a convention (and I’m not drunk), I _enjoy_ talking to people about games. I don’t lord anything over anyone; I genuinely enjoy discussing our common interests. Anyone who tries to make himself a celebrity in this business has a self-esteem problem. Just do your fucking job.

What kind of questions are you asked about Vampire most often?
Mostly plot stuff, with a healthy side order of "What are the Traits for…". I try not to reveal the plot outside of the books themselves, so that stuff doesn’t work on me. Also, unless you see it in a book, I’m not going to tell you the Traits ;)

Is there anything about the game that you would like to stress?
Hell, yes. Make it your own. The published material is only a guideline. If you use it word for word, great. If you scrap it all except for one idea, that’s great, too. The most important thing that can come from this game is the enjoyment and creativity it allows the end user. I guess maybe that’s why I’m so anti-celeb. I’m just another guy; I’m a gamer like everyone else who plays.

Where do you see yourself in the role-play world in 5 years?
I dunno — probably still playing but not necessarily in the business. If I still have a day job in five years, I’ll be upset.

How do you feel about all the negative skepticism that Vampire "feeds" in (Such as, Crap on Jenny Jones, Columbine Crisis. etc.)
I don’t pay it any attention. We have a media-saturated society, and as long as the media sees a big deal, they’ll continue covering it. If we just weather the storm, it’ll all blow over and they’ll lose interest because the real causes of tragedies are less interesting to them than the Next Big Thing. I also think that our society wants to blame someone other than the people responsible, and that just nauseates me, so I tend to ignore the hysterical stories.

Do you have a favorite clan?; If so, what, and why?
Me, I love the Ventrue. They’re in charge, they’re crooked as all hell, and they don’t give a fuck who knows it. Honesty in politics and Prada suits. God bless ‘em.

by Millie

Cast:
(w) played by wHo?, the Malkavian Primogen
(m) played by millie, the Malkavian Primogen’s biggest fan

Singular singularity Pitiful plurality.

(m) Um, wHo?
(w) Who what?
(m) Who you.
(w) Who me what?
(m) You are what now?
(w) I am me, silly. Now what?
(m) ::sigh:: Ok, ok, wHo? What is more than one Brujah called?
(w) A Malkavian patè party?
(m) ::shudder:: No, like plural. It is like, well, one Brujah, or a whole bunch of Brujah, the same singular or plural.
(w) Yeah. ::s::
(m) And what about Toreador? You can have a Toreador, or a bunch of Toreador at a party. Also there is one Nosferatu or all of the Nosferatu together in a beautiful family portrait.
(w) ::nods solemnly::
(m) Then there’s the Ventrue Prince, or a meeting of all the Ventrue Board. ::tilts head:: It goes the same with a Gangrel, or many Gangrel, and a spooky Tremere, or a whole nightmare full of hordes of Tremere. But, what about. ::throat knots up, trying to speak::
(w) Like me, a Malkavian?
(m) ::nods:: And like us, two. Malkavians, with an ’s’ at the end. Different than the singular, unlike the other clans. Why?
(w) Because, when you’ve seen one Brujah, you’ve seen them all, and so on, and so on. ::giggle::
(m) ::giggle:: Ooooo. you can be so..
(w) Malkavian?
(m) ::nods, giggles:: Petting zoo time? It’s your turn to rock them to sleep.

And they did.

Singular singularity
Pitiful plurality
More thoughts means more reality
Priced a mere insanity.

by Millie

Are you a victim of society?

Gorge away, punish the punishers. Take so much that it does not matter how much you loose. All your needs can be met with food, and clothes, and cars, and houses, and adoration of your fellow man, and sex, and drugs, and trinkets in stores. Society says they can. When you have enough, you will be happy.

Be judged.

You sell yourself; you are your own pimp and whore. I’m buying.

Victims, aren’t we all?

‘Let me go!’ Your mind screams, for your will cannot.

‘More, more…’ my mind whispers, referring not to your vitae but to the images that flood your psyche. People tend to think so quickly when they are dying, I have found. I imagine God is able to find the sinners as easily as I.

I remember dying. I remember being so close to knowing all… so close… so close…

Your mind wanders to a lovely creature. Oh, she was sweet. Innocence should fade, not be slaughtered. One never forgets that pain. More than one? More than two? The memories of abuse and violation run through your mind. You believe me to be your punishment.

And I am.

Such terrible things you have done to others, but all from some… self hate? Seen, oh yes, I understand, trying to know the moment just before your own innocence was taken from you, by watching it over, and over, and over.

Life slips away, as slowly as I can manage, drinking in every last drop of your final thoughts. Remorselessly, you blame the world for every bit of pain you have ever caused. You do indeed deserve to die.

I judge me.

by Anonymous

/\nother tiresome night in the hills. Big raindrops, only slightly odd for Southern California this time of year, beat down upon the windows in a rhythmic tune. Lounging about the couch, legs flung over the back, head lulling towards the ground, Jessica Tear continues to read a torn an’ tattered copy of Burning Chrome, William Gibson’s book of short stories, until the faint sound of footsteps divert her attention. Luminous orbs of a chocolate hue shift towards the hallway.

*Thud-thump*. As they near, the sound became louder, the steps heavier. Until they deposit a spurred boot in the woman’s view, dangerously close to stepping on the chestnut tresses that swept the floor. The corners of her mouth curve slightly upward and expressing the utter amusement which overcomes her as she takes in her lover’s appearence.

; "You know, Einstein… The Ren Faire isn’t for awhile yet," her voice but a soft chuckle.

"Hmph." His grunt being the only response she gets, save his hand swatting her feet with such force it causes her legs to hit the floor, sending her body into an upright position.

"I’m bored, baby. Lets do somethin’." How could he deny that exquisite pout? That’s right. He couldn’t. No matter how hard he tried in the last few years, when the woman wanted something, she got it. However, it was rarely without some form of pointless arguing and witty banter.

After slowly raising herself, cat-like purrs befell the lucious tiers gracing her tanned countenance as she stretched her limbs. Her gaze never averted from the captivating man who was, without a doubt, the other half that made up the whole. So very different, so much the same. Never, in her two centuries plus, has she been as sure of anything as she was of him. Of who they were, and what they were.

A well-kept brow was raised at the sound. How precious she was. Nothing short of adorable did he find her adamance about keeping her humanity, especially the little things, such as her previous actions and their accompanying sounds. Although he must admit, it thoroughly annoyed him when they had first met.

Two precise steps carried his much larger frame beside Jess. A faint bow of the head allowed his distended canines access to her jaw, just below which he offered just enough pressure to allow two puncture wounds to be made.

As his lips molded around the droplets arising from the tiny holes, a soft gasp caught in her throat and quickly replaced by moans derived from the ecstasy of the pain, if that was indeed what it was. With those two, pain was always a relative thing. So very different, so very much alike. The book slipped from her grasp, and bounced from the couch to the floor, at their feet. The slender arms that had been previously raised high above her head find themselves draped on his shoulders, nimble digits embedding themselves in his short, dark hair.

Too quickly had he pulled away, the tip of his tongue gliding over the tiny breaks in her immaculate flesh. With but a smirk, his body retreated and was ascending the stairs, leaving Jessica to compose herself. Several minutes later, he returned. Clad in everyday street clothes, looking for his jacket.

"Jess, have you seen…"
"Last time I saw that thing we were in Pittsburgh." He loved when she did that. "Check the closet behind the stairs.&quot An’ sure enough, that’s where it was.

Returning to the double sized doorway leading into the living room, he watched her as sat bent over, tying her newly acquired 8-eyed Docs. And when she was finished, she stood up an’ watched him for a moment. Watched him watch her.

"Hmm..?" Soft footsteps carried her to his side.

His eyebrows raise as his head shook. A familiar look of bemusement danced across his angular features.

"Do you have something specific in mind, or are we wingin’ it?" This question asked as he slung the trench onto his arms and across his body, sending a tiny, forgotten vile, which had been nestled deep within one of the pockets, skittering across the floor.

The quick movement coupled with the small racket the glass container makes was enough to capture both parties attention. And while it causes one a look of curiousity, it provides the other a delighted smirk.

"Oooh, I suddenly have something in mind." Knowing what his response would be, she again turns her head to him. How could he deny that pout?

by Millie

To gain attention of divinity
The wretched sycophant will earn its hate
Preferring agony to apathy
Humiliating carnal wrath will sate

In gorging needs with crimson sacrament
Despising each exalted draught of lies
The wasted bloody tears dare not repent
Devotion to a god one must despise.

Obsession is a poor facsimile
For cravings that beg grief and ridicule
Corrupted needs transgress obscenity
And make the lusts of madness miniscule

Drink thrice for immortality undone
The source of want and woe forever one

by Hastu the 7th

The annis are one of the most feared changeling types ever too live. In ancient times they were born of nightmares of evil witches who stole into houses too eat children.

Since there creation in the ancient times, this evil kith have captured humans and devoured them. Leaving only bones in their wake they were one of the few kith too flourish in the 600 year absence of the sidhe. As they were the first kith too use the now common practice of living inside human bodies. They are becoming more and more common (unfortunately) although high king David has ordered these changelings killed on sight. It is not surprising they are resilient, for they claim too be the oldest of kith. As one would guess, the majority of annis are unseelie.

They often bunk with black spiral dancers, nephandi, and unseelie redcaps. They lure human’s too there freeholds and devour them with little care. The few seelie of the species live as lone wolves. Eating only wicked and banal humans and helping lost children find good homes and loving families. The changeling even attribute the annis too the disappearance of three certain collage students three years ago…

Appearance: The annis look like old, overweight humanoids with sharp claws and even sharper teeth, they have hard rock like skin and gray hair. For some reason, the female annis outnumber the male 80 too one. Annis tend too prefer large cloaks and flowing robes for attire.

Lifestyles: Annis live in the near dreaming in deep forests. They often live in chimerical living houses (with wings or legs) in order too leave anarea before their presence becomes widely known (and hunters attack) They rarely show up in cities unless there controlled by the sabbat or other evil forces.

Childlings: often age very quickly, the average childling looks more like a teenager or maybe older. Their job is the family tempter. Bringing home young boys for ‘dinner’. The only time they leave their captives alive is for fattening or breeding.

Wilders: Begin too show the first signs of old age. They have tiny wrinkles and some gray hairs as well. At this stage, the annis begins too learn how too hunt more effectively. By going out and stalking humans at night. It is not uncommon for the young annis too join with a pack of sabbat vampires or a black spiral hive too learn more effectively.

Grumps: Make up the majority of this kith. These annis are usually very fat (from all the people they have eaten) and cannot seduce mortals as they use too. This bothers them little, however, as they are now strong enough too hunt for their meals full time. They are also masters of fae magic. Few things are as scary as a angry annis grump.

Affinity: Actor

BIRTHRIGHTS:

Claws and fangs: Annis have sharp claws and rock like fangs. These claws do str +1 chimerical damage and there savage bite does str+3 chimerical damage. It can not be used in the presence of the unenchanted unless the annis calls upon the wyrd.

Tough old bird: Annis are very strong and resilient all annis get a +2 too STR and stamina. Even if this brings them over 5. This gift can only be used in the presence of the enchanted or if they have called upon the wyrd.

FRAILITIES:

Ugliness: Grumps have an appearance of 0. Do too there age and
weight.

Gluttony: Annis live too consume human flesh. When faced with
an opportunity too eat it (or any other meat for that matter) they must make a will power
roll (diff 8) too avoid stop and devour it.

Quote:
"that’s nice buddy, why don’t you come over… for dinner?"

STEREOTYPES:

Boggans: mmmm! Yummy! So plump and juicy! A yummy treat!
"A good idea too invite them too dinner, a bad idea too be invited too dinner BY them.

Eshu: come in my friend! There is always room at our table for another!
"Uhhhh, I wouldn’t want too intrude."

Knockers: cuss all you want buddy, no one will hear you.
"YOU BET ILL CUSS YOU %!*%*&!@%&*!@!&@%&!@!@&%!@&(_~@&(@~!"

Pooka: yummy! So furry, tickles all the way down!
" THAT’S NOT FUNNY! Say, I don’t think ive ever said THAT before!"

Redcaps: our brothers in arms. Say pass a drumstick would ya buddy?
"Sure! Haven’t eaten this well in a while!"

Satyrs: fools, such easy too lure into our clutches, damn hard too catch though.
"Word of advice, meet an annis at a bar, make sure you go too YOUR place, not theirs.&quot

Sidhe: cowardly fools. Sweet, but too difficult too catch.
"Annis!?! Here? GUARDS!"

Sluagh: cold and slimy. Not worth the effort of finding.
"There are advantages too living in the sewer."

Trolls: it is call for great celebrating when we catch one of these blue titans. What a feast.
"The duke ordered your capture man eater. You’re coming with me."