Fantasy Urban Fantasy

[Joey Winchester]

Hmmm.....well what if some kind of world event happens that starts to stir up the supernatural world? Like for a while the veil between the two worlds has been good and stable, but now it's starting to become thinner? It's the only idea I can come up with that isn't as cliché as usual.

 

[Vinny Havoc]

Cliches arent bad. Cliches became cliches for a reason. As for the veil becoming 'thinner' the veil isn't an actual thing just a convenient word to represent the fact that most people are simply unaware. there's nothing preventing normal folks from seeing a vampire at a nightclub, just a question of if they recognize it as a vampire.


Unless you're referring to the veil between life and death, or the one between the material and ethereal (djinn) or the waking and the dreaming (fae) .. THAT could be a thing.


As for a stirring up of the status quo, that could be a good start. Seeing as werewolves just happen to be my personal favorite one idea i can think of is a string of grisly murders being investigated, which look like animal maulings but seem simultaneously too violent, too large and too inconsistent with an animal.


That could lead human investigators to look for a serial killer, and instead find a real life monster. This of course, would put pressure on the local werewolf pack, because it's bringing unwanted attention down on them; they'd wanna find the killer but at the same time would be wary of exposing themselves to the police, for many reasons. There could be hooks to involve vampires, who either may seek to use the events to their advantage for some plot or another.. (undermine the werewolf pack, undermine pack leadership to install a vampire sympathetic werewolf leader, empower the werewolves to spark conflict to distract from the vampires, all kinds of conspiracy possibilities abound); hooks for Fae, seelie who just find the growing chaos amusing and want to poke and prod things just to see what happens, or unseelie who wish to use it to gather their own power, and of course hooks for psychics and magicians who may be brought in as 'consultants' to the case, or just pick up on it on their own and decide to delve some.


Any other opening catalysts anyone can think of?

 

[Mowgli]

Okay, are we trying to adapt an actual city into the setting or inventing a new one? Also we need to lock down a time period. I'm trying to picture this whole scenario and these specifics kind of help solidify a premise in my head that I can build upon. I like the idea of using Portland. Its a dense city in a not so dense state and the geography is diverse.


Portland is located 70 miles east of the Pacific Ocean at the northern end ofOregon's most populated region, the Willamette Valley. Downtown Portland straddles the banks of the Willamette River which flows north through the city center and consequently separates the east and west neighborhoods of the city. Less than 10 miles from downtown the Willamette River flows into theColumbia River, the fourth-largest river in the United States, which divides Oregon from Washington state.


Though much of downtown Portland is relatively flat, the foothills of theTualatin Mountains, more commonly referred to locally as the "West Hills", pierce through the Northwest and Southwest reaches of the city. Council Crest Park, the tallest point within city limits, is located in the West Hills and rises to an elevation of 1,073 feet. The highest point east of the river is Mt. Tabor, an extinct volcanic cinder cone, which rises to 636 feet. Nearby Powell Butte andRocky Butte rise to 614 feet and 612 feet, respectively. To the west of the Tualatin Mountains lies the Oregon Coast Range, and to the east lies the actively volcanic Cascade Range. On clear days Mt. Hood and Mt St. Helensdominate the horizon while Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainier can also be visible in the distance.


According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 145.09 square miles (375.78 km2), of which, 133.43 square miles (345.58 km2) is land and 11.66 square miles (30.20 km2) is water.[3] Although almost all of Portland lies within Multnomah County, small portions of the city lie withinClackamas and Washington counties with populations estimated at 785 and 1,455, respectively.[citation needed]


Portland lies on top of an extinct volcanic field known as the Boring Lava Field.[53] The Boring Lava Field contains at least 32 cinder cones such as Mount Tabor,[54] and its center lies in Southeast Portland. Mount St. Helens, a highly active volcano 50 miles northeast of the city in Washington state, is easily visible on clear days and is close enough to have dusted the city with volcanic ash after its eruption on May 18, 1980.[55


Courtesy of wikipedia. Anyways its got a little bit of everything and think its perfect for all the different possible species. As far as the time period, I feel like the technology is currently isnt conducive to the believeablity (sp?) of non humans prancing about everywhere and no one knows for sure. I'd think dialing it back to the 90s/early 00s is a good era. They would have many things we have to day but not as advanced or used as often. Picture or videos of "paranormal activity" would be grainy and hard to believe, the internet would be slow, and unreliable, encouraging people to be out and about more. I just feel like it would be a purer more active kind of atmosphere if that makes any sense.

 

[Mowgli]

Werewolf murders does sound like a productive catalyst, but I'm thinking there has to be some deeper meaning behind it. Why is this just now happening? Why just the werewolves? Something major has to set events in motion for all species, maybe the werewolves are over populated? That would cause problem with in the werewolves culture such as these murders. Lack of food or some such. And why are the werewolves over populated? Maybe another species has something against them and worked some kinda of trickery on their reproductive cycle so they would destroy each other. Then that possibly backfires on account of hunters and so on. I'm just spitballing but I see a lot of possibilities for a nicely dynamic plot.

 

[AccountNotActive]

*reads everything I missed* ........................................ Wha- *head explodes*

 

[Vinny Havoc]

@Mowgli hmm.. dialing it back a decade isn't entirely unreasonable, perhaps... although what would protect most supernaturals in the current day, asside from just being relatively rare (its not like there are hundreds of them 'prancing around everywhere' after all) is the denial phenomenon. people are predisposed to disbelieve any evidence that does come about, and it does leave things open to certain groups to have been aware, likely for a long time, just never done anything with it due to impracticality and lack of desire to raise a stir (as the reveal of such information would undoubtedly cause)


Also, i never said werewolf murders, i just said grisly murders. The investigations would lead to the werewolves for, honestly, the plot necessity of having our disparate characters interacting, and because the werewolves would be looking into it themselves to track the problem and get it the heck out of their territory.


To give it a sense of ratio, how uncommon supernaturals are, a city like portland and it's surrounding forests and other wilderness regions would be only one werewolf territorial range, likely enforced by a pack of less than two dozen. Large predators require extremely large territories, after all, and don't do well densely populated. Twenty werewolves, in an urban metropolitan area with a population of over two million. The chances of bumping into a werewolf, knowing that it's a werewolf, and managing to take any believable evidence of it would be extremely low; and if you managed to snap a picture of a werewolf transforming, chances are the rest of the pack who's still human would break every piece of electronics you're carrying and reduce to you a raving lunatic in the perspective of anyone you tried to tell you saw a werewolf.


Vampires of course, rely on forms of seduction, hypnosis, misdirection and image cultivation to hide, so they can easily stay hidden in even the modern day. Same goes for Fae and Djinn, and any psychic or magicians just have to either stay low key or hide in plain sight to avoid detection; most such empowerd humans wouldnt want anyone to know, it just creates trouble and makes people question your sanity.

 

[Vinny Havoc]

@RedLikeRoses you're fine, promise!

 

[AccountNotActive]

*points to all of the words* How am I even supposed to comprehend any of that? I- *head explodes again*

 

[Vinny Havoc]

Oh! And I'm not too worried about involving EVERY variety of Supernatural just yet, we don't have a large enough crowd for that. Start small and let it grow. But on the note of some of your other questions, pressures from other pack territories, or wandering rogues or dispersals could be causing issues.. though on the note of reproduction, werewolves only reproduce by the bite.

 

[Vinny Havoc]

@RedLikeRoses don['t worry too much about it! not every player has to participate in world creation. leave it to freaks like me who like this stuff.

 

[Shireling]

Commenting on the murders angle, perhaps all the victims are descendants of powerful sorcerers from some indeterminate time in the past who worked together to trap the main villain (evil wizard, dragon, whatever it may be) with a spell, and the big baddy has a cult running around doing his bidding and they need the victims' blood, heart, brain, what have you to break the binding spell.

 

[Shireling]

Also, concerning the setting, if you wanted a fictional setting, I think I have a map of the City of Bloodvein from an RP I did forever ago. Bloodvein is basically Gotham City but with a Crimson tinge. What I mean by that is that where Gotham is dangerous in the conventional sense, Bloodvein is horror-movie scary all the time. A disproportionate amount of the population is psychopathic, militant gangs roam the streets at night, and its basically a bordello for vampires with all the law-abiding residents boarding themselves up at night. That's probably darker and way more intense than what you are going for.

 

[Joey Winchester]

Well I was just using the veil as a metaphor, wasn't really referring to it as anything really. I like the whole murders plot theory idea thing. I see the magicians would suit the role of witches well. What if the murders are caused by a werewolf, but are more violent and gruesome than necessary? Maybe there is a witch that has created somewhat of a werewolf rabies? This would get the attention of other packs, vampires, good witches, and everything in between

 

[AccountNotActive]

...Please just tag me when this is made, I don't feel like my head exploding for a third time.

 

[Joey Winchester]

Also I don't think it would be unreasonable for this to take place in the present, As much as technology has advanced, you still have skeptics and people faking paranormal photography aaaaaaand no one has found big foot yet

 

[Joey Winchester]

@RedLikeRoses Don't worry! I'm not good with big words either! You'll be fine

 

[AccountNotActive]

@RedLikeRoses[/URL] Don't worry! I'm not good with big words either! You'll be fine

Thank you, Dean (That's gonna be your nickname for me until you change your profile picture)!


See you all when this thing is made.

 

[Joey Winchester]

Thank you, Dean (That's gonna be your nickname for me until you change your profile picture)!

Lol! Well I am gonna change it, but it's gonna be a different pic of him! Lol I don't mind being called Dean, don't mind it one bit! Heck, I'll make that my characters name!

 

[Mowgli]

A virus that lets werewolfism be transmitted by different means? Or it could taint the reproductive action some way and creat some other beast as a product of it. Or maybe a group or species or individual has some sort of age old vendetta against on of the other species or all of them and undergoes a maniacal plot for genocide and maybe pyschics start picking up on it and that's the catalyst. Or maybe everything everywhere starts dying plants animals trees. Water is slowly losing purity, the sun is hidden more and more frequently. The source is in Portland and the supernatural can feel it, no one knows why but they can feel themselves and everything around the fading, into the "veil" if you will. Maybe there one person behind it, maybe several, maybe an entire race, maybe some entity, maybe it was prophesized, ect...

 

[Joey Winchester]

Well crap I wish I had put some more thought into it! Lol those are some cool ideas. As for this supernatural rabies, I was just thinking it does what rabies does. Makes the infected go wild, thus the more violent killings. Well I guess there's nothing special about it then. Perhaps to make the virus the witch needs some special ingredients (Bones, organs, virgin this that, etc) thus one trail of killing leading to an other

 

[Vinny Havoc]

@Mowgli At the moment, I'm just wanting to keep things low key. Earlier in the thread I stated I wasn't going for an epic global apocalyptic thing, at least not yet. I'm looking for a more personal horror and discovery, especially as we are so few yet; Don't get me wrong, a lot of those ideas are good and could likely be worked in as later plot developments or escalations, assuming this survives. But for now, I do want it to be cut from the cloth of reality, just embellished a little.


@Joey Winchester A were-rabies isn't a bad idea, though in my interpretation of werewolves, their insane recuperative abilities basically make them immune to disease; it'd have to be something other than a literal virus, however THAT being said, I think I have an idea of what it could be that kind of combines ideas here and adds in some of my own...


On nomenclature. 'Magician' is just a neutral generic and genderless term that means 'one who uses magic' and is applied to those who use real magic as well as stage magic. Other titles would be either self-assigned or given by one's cultural background. Someone familiar in ancient egyptian conjuring might call themselves a sorcerer, or someone who uses pagan or wiccan four-elements magic might describe themselves as a witch, and a native american who communes with earthly spirits through ritual and divination could describe himself as a shaman. But they're all magic users, and so all under the generalized heading of 'magician.' ... Ever wonder where that vanishing cabinet in that vegas vaudeville stage magic act goes? The magician in sparkling spandex knows.

 

[Shireling]

Not to interrupt the natural flow of collaboration, but what sort of setting were you going for in terms of tone and atmosphere? I'm too lazy really to read back over the thread. So excuse me. Anyways, I think that the best setting for this would be an anachronistic present day. That way you can pick and choose what technologies you want to delete for atmosphere or plot, such as cellular phones, or you could add technologies that don't belong, like the pre-war Fallout universe. Having a non-historic setting gives you more flexibility to warp it. To give a good example, the crime show Gotham is presumably set between the early 2000's or present day, but the cars are old, cellphones and computers are uncommon, and it generally has a dark late 70's motif.

 

[Vinny Havoc]

@Shireling Present day is the time period, and the setting will likely be, since I haven't had any objections and only positive feedback, Portland Oregon. A big metropolitan area in the middle of a lot of wilderness, it's got lots of mountainous regions, thickly forested regions, isn't far from the coast, is situated on a branching river, and to the east there's deserts and south fields. On top of that Portland is a lot like New York in which you expect to see strange stuff downtown and will just dismiss it as interesting or amusing before going back to your day; the city's unofficial motto is 'Keep Portland Weird.'


I don't think there will be much need for anachronistic warping, as I'm going for a realistic feeling. The idea being that all these supernatural things have been part of the world since ever, and it isn't really special. It's normal. The presence of the supernatural is not as ground breaking a revelation as one might think, only a personal revelation when one discovers, yes, it is in fact real. It makes the whole 'hidden culture' or 'hidden society' aspect a bit more believable in my opinion, since all those involved are themselves normal people as well, just 'with a condition' so to speak. There has been talk of knocking the timeline back a decade or so, to before smartphones and ubiquitous internet were so commonplace, as dissemination of information tend to mean the death of secret societies, but I still think it's possible for them to remain hidden, helped by the fact that numbers are very low. The local werewolf pack claiming Portland as part of it's considerably huge territory might only be 20 members strong, which is a big pack, but less than a speck compared to the greater than 2 million human population. Add that to the common tendency for werewolves to outnumber vampires in most regions, and consider that neither of these 'common' supernaturals ever expect to meet a fair folk or a djinn at all, and ya see what I mean about it still being plausible for them to hide.


Anyway, I'm gonna be finishing up a small side fascination, then start scribbling out outlines to help guide this plot, and bash out the unifying lore so this can, maybe, get started.

 

[Shireling]

Coolio. I'd also be sure to include human culprits that the police could go after as well as the supernatural assailants to give the detective characters the run-around and make the supernatural angle even more unexpected. I don't know much about Portland, but there are lots of Asians on the West Coast so there could be a tong or yakuza sect the police are originally looking into. Maybe the criminal underworld is tied up into the supernatural as well, creating a natural plot bridge from investigating the gangsters to investigating the spooks and monsters.

 

[Vinny Havoc]

The criminal underworld does overlap sometimes, especially where vampires are concerned, but it's usually one-way where it can be done, with the supernaturals involved in organized crime, but the organized crime still being unaware of the presence of supernaturals. For example,, a local yakuza sect might regularly deal with a wealthy associate as part o their human trafficking ring, but are unaware that the associate is a representative of a vampire, the wealth isn't his but belongs to the vampire, and the vampire takes its own kind of cut from the business.


I don't know if there's any yakuza in Portland for sure, but I have heard that Seattle has them; but I honestly don't know, I've never delved into any kind of criminal enterprises so my experience with them is minimal.


Involving the mundane criminal element is a good idea though.