by Ian Grey (Vampire: The Masquerade | The Chronicles of Nod | Columns)
Starting fresh is always a hard thing to do. Having only recently taken the helm as Vampire Developer for ELN, I had only a limited time to find a nice, punchy topic for March. Hmm, we've hit the New Millennium... Something cheerful? It's the big 2000, after all. It's a perfect time for new beginnings...
F**k that, lets talk about the End of the World!
Much of the background of Vampire & the WoD revolves around it. Much of the current WoD metaplot (and its subsequent products for the "Year of the Reckoning" & "...Revelations" depend on it. Ravnos dead & his decendants badly shaken, the Tremere Antitribu gone, the Gangrel becoming independent... the Antediluvians are finally taking steps. We have enough hints as to where they're going with this - the question that comes to mind is how this may affect our games, our stories... But while they force us to wait as they slowly grind out their grand vision, let's not forget they're not the only source. History, Mythology, Theology, Literature... all have additional views on the End of the World (and what may, or may not, come after), all good solid tools for laying the groundwork of fantastic chronicles!
Millennium's End
Here's some food for thought. According to the Apocrypha, in the three days between the death of Jesus and his resurrection he "harrowed" Hell - shut it down for a 1000 years. Hundreds of years later, the Church provided that those who were evil in this period (since Hell was kaput) went to Purgatory. The first Millennium ended but the world was still there. According to this particular bit of doctrine, Hell would be open again for business - becoming quite the topic of interest from the Middle Ages onward. Now, how might this involve itself with the rise of Infernalism in the WoD? Certainly it plays a significant role in V:tDA, with the Baali still being a bloodline of some power and influence. Even in modern nights, with the growing infernal factions in the Sabbat, the servants of Hell are increasingly busy. Could it be that the Jyhad is just a prelude to a much larger war? Could this ultimately be a (pardon the unintended pun) grudge match from hell?
The Stars are Right
Of course, Lovecraft had a different take on this. In his cosmology, all of Human history was little more than a speed bump in a world (a universe) where mighty alien beings had frightful and often inconceivable conflicts. To such as these the Antediluvians would be flies on the windshield. For an even scarier perspective, one could argue that the whole of the Book of Nod (Cain, Lilith, all of it) was yet another bogus set of myths & legends created by a fearful race of monsters trying to deny the horrid truth: that the Antediluvians might never have been human, but (like Cthulhu) lay sleeping in torpor until the Stars were right, when they would rise again to destroy the world as we know it. The heresy of Antediluvians-actually-Great Old Ones, infesting humanity just as Vicissitude wormed its way first through the Tzimice & later the Sabbat, is still a good (if shocking) element that can be introduced into any Chronicle without much work.
I Am Legend
Ok, so the world ends, civilization collapses - now what? Ultimately it would depend on how, and what was left behind. When people talk about post-apocalyptic settings, invariably visions of wastelands, mutants, and rival warlords come up - but there are other post-Gehenna futures that could come to pass. In Richard Matheson's story "I Am Legend", we have a world over-run with Vampires, and Humans are swiftly becoming the Myth. For more extreme views of a distant supernatural future that might result from the Gehenna you could look to Jack Vance's "Dying Earth", William Hope Hodgson's "the Nightland", or the classic anime flick "Vampire Hunter D" for inspiration. In such a changed world, those few Kindred who had survived (or slept through) Gehenna would likely be challenged at every turn - a sun dim or gone might be one of a few small benefits in those latter days.
Challenging Dogma
As you can see, there's more than one way to skin a cat. The metaplot coming from WW has some marvelous ideas, and like many I'm overjoyed to see what their doing with it - but given how many secrets of the Jyhad continue to be exposed for anyone with the cash to pick up, it's important to remember the "Golden Rule" - that its' your game. Find something special to insert into it, a special twist or secret that takes everything everyone 'thinks' is canon and turns it upside-down. I know, much of what I'm saying lands on the storyteller and in how they might design & develop a chronicle, but even players can come up with interesting ways to challenge Dogma. Malkavian Schizophrenics & Paranoids are an obvious example - no merry pranksters these, such characters can be truly frightening if they have a decidedly different take on the Final Nights. Indeed, any character with the proper mix of talents, merits & flaws can hold their own in a debate with irate Noddists on the subject of the coming Gehenna...
