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| Wednesday, October 11th, 2006 | 1:08 pm
[jedwardtremlett]
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| | Wednesday, April 5th, 2006 | 9:20 am
[jedwardtremlett]
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| | Saturday, March 4th, 2006 | 10:07 am
[jedwardtremlett]
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Wraith Project: One Steps Down, Another Steps Up
A couple months ago, I told the faithful readers of The Wraith Project that "big changes" were in the offing... soon. A couple of false starts and whoopsies later, I'm happy to say that those changes are on their way. The first change is that my term as Webmaster of the Project has ended. After almost five years in the iron throne, I am stepping down and handing the keys to another. Why? Well, it's time, and I mean that both figuratively and literally. On the literal side, I need to put my creative juices to other uses. Being the Webmaster on top of a 40-hour work week is less of a joy and more of a nagging distraction, these days. I still love Wraith: the Oblivion as much as I ever did, but even restless ghosts need to eat, sleep and practice polyamory once in a while. (That and, while I hate to sound so horribly unromatic, I'm finding that I get more of a thrill getting paid for my writing endeavors than seeing the Project's site count jump like a psychotic flea on speed around the 5th of every other month. Mammon is a cold lover and a harsh taskmaster, but sometimes she really is the only game in town - especially when the bill collectors bang on your Haunt...) And as for literally... time has come, in many senses of the word. When I joined up with the Project, it was still finding its feet and deciding which way it wanted to go. I helped shepherd it through that uncertain period, and get it moving in a forward direction, rather than around and around in ever-looser circles. And once the momentum started to build, it kept going, and eventually achieved the speed where it is today. What speed are we today? The Wraith Project stands as both THE premier fansite for Wraith: the Oblivion, and the only member of the "old guard" WOD sites that has maintained a near-constant publishing presence. Those are two things I'm damned proud of, right there, and I think I can hang up my helmet knowing that we've all done good by our dark muse. There's also the matter of having gotten what we wanted - sort of. Implicit in the early days of The Wraith Project was our burning desire to see Wraith: the Oblivion taken out of "development hiatus" and brought back as a full, viable game once more. This obviously did not happen: the complete and total end of the Old WOD broke that hope like shoddy soulsteel in the mouth of the Void. Wraith was gone, daddy, gone - right along with everyone else. And yet, we got some of the highly-demanded books of the line republished. We also got ALL the books republished as PDFs over at DrivethruRPG, which means that new fans don't have to play Bargain Bookstore Bingo to score some much-needed Wraith loving. We also got one hell of a complement through Exalted's The Abyssals and The Book of Bone and Ebony, didn't we? And damn if Orpheus isn't an amazing game: building on what remained of Wraith, and taking it up to a whole new level of spooky fun. At this point, it doesn't look like the New WOD is going to have an official, Wraith/Ghost game. That's a shame, but highly understandable, given what happened with Wraith. However, between PDFs, Orpheus, and Abyssals, old and new fans have more than enough goodies to base our Chronicles from. And while that might not be as sweet as having had the line restarted, then or now, or finally getting all those Old WOD books we should have had done, it's still pretty sweet if you ask me. So, having achieved both things I've set out to do, and realizing there's not much else I can do but keep the wheel turning, I have decided to hand over the helm, keys and throne to another. The new Webmaster is the one and only ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) jl_williams (jl.williams@FUCKSPAM!gmail.com): author of such fine works as Husk, Guildbook: Symphonists and the Revised Guildbooks for Sandmen and Spooks. I couldn't think of a better pair of hands to give the Project over to, and I can't wait until you see the improvements he's working on - especially the new layout... But have no fear! I will still be writing and arting (?) for The Wraith Project. I will still be amongst its Deathlords, and around in the fan community. And I will still be taking game-killers of our dark fun out behind the forges and spanking them with a stygian steel girder when they come to pee on our beloved game. "Only the landscape(r) has changed..." JL will bang the gong for the new issue fairly soon. In the meantime - and ever after - please send all submissions to jl.williams@FUCKSPAM!gmail.com. THANKS TO: the original Deathlords for offering me a spot at the table, keeping it open for me, and listening to my insane proposals; all the Developers and Writers for the love and occasional pro-bono work; and everyone who ever clicked by, read feverishly, contributed once or often, and offered constructive criticism during my tenure. You all rock, and I'm happy to be rocking with you. J. Edward Tremlett "The Renegade Lord" jedwardtremlett@FUCKSPAM!gmail.com | | Monday, February 6th, 2006 | 8:01 am
[jedwardtremlett]
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| | Monday, December 5th, 2005 | 12:13 pm
[jedwardtremlett]
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| | Wednesday, October 5th, 2005 | 8:40 am
[jedwardtremlett]
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| | Sunday, September 4th, 2005 | 10:15 pm
[jedwardtremlett]
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Wraith Project - Issue Delay + Important Change
Hey folks: By now, you've probably noticed that the Wraith Project has NOT updated, as expected. We're very sorry for this - Circumstances beyond our control have forced us to postpone the start of our publishing year for a month. This means that we'll be updating on October 5th, just in time for Halloween. Further - we are planning on going over to a bimonthly format, which means that we'll update on the 5th of every other month. That means, in short, that you can expect updates in October, December, February, April, June, and August. Why all the changes? We'll tell you in October. ; ) Until then, we appreciate your patience, and apologize for not living up to our usual standards. J | | Thursday, August 18th, 2005 | 10:00 am
[jedwardtremlett]
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| | Tuesday, June 14th, 2005 | 10:48 am
[jedwardtremlett]
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At Last, a Beginning
Okay, here is the start for the Victorian Age Wraith timeline. http://www.cattail.nu/wraithproject/0401vicwraittime.htmlI wanted to have it done enough to update it in the Wraith Project, but I didn't quite get that far. Hopefully you can see what's going on, though : ) Every year is hooked up to wikipedia's entry for that year, so all we have to present is occult, supernatral and odd stuff, dead people, wars and wraith stuff. Pretty easy, I think, but it's a lot of collating. So... anyone see anything that should be there, but isn't? | | Wednesday, May 11th, 2005 | 11:32 am
[jedwardtremlett]
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Towards a Timeline
Yeah, yeah, I have been really, really lax about doing anything with the timeline for Vic Age Wraith. And I apologize. However, I may have discovered a Goddessend http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1800All one has to do is type through, year after year, and C&P the best bits over. And I rediscovered my notes for ghosts and hauntings during the 19th century, too. This is, I think, a good thing. Current Mood:  artistic | | Friday, May 6th, 2005 | 8:22 am
[jedwardtremlett]
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| | Tuesday, April 5th, 2005 | 9:19 am
[jedwardtremlett]
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Wraith Project - April Update!
 No fooling! It’s the April update of the Wraith Project http://www.cattail.nu/wraithprojectwith... * Chapter 6 of Husk, and all previous chapters in PDF format! * Wraith: the Arising update! * Samuel Haight for Orpheus! * Continuing Fiction! Plus all the fiction, resources, art and other dark goodies you expect from us! No joke! Current Mood:  accomplished | | Friday, March 25th, 2005 | 11:30 pm
[jedwardtremlett]
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LJ Community for Wraith: the Arising
I've decided to jump on the community bandwagon. Little monsters in my head told me to do it. Blame them, not me. The Wraith: the Arising community is for people who are interested in Wraith: the Arising - a nWOD "patch" that allows you to play fully-realized Wraiths in the new World of Darkness. This will be a sounding board for ideas, questions, comments and suggestions. Anyone can join and anyone can post. http://www.livejournal.com/community/wraith_arising/See you there! Current Mood:  anxious | | Tuesday, November 2nd, 2004 | 9:55 am
[jedwardtremlett]
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| | Tuesday, October 19th, 2004 | 10:30 pm
[ladyfoxie] |
Arguments and suchlike
I've been thinking about arguments. I like arguments when I roleplay. I don't mean the sort with screaming, shouting and things being thrown at people. I mean more the sort of thing like an essay question. Lets take the Wraith we know and love. What's the argument there? Well, walk with me a while. This is the Age of Globalisation. We all know about meta-corporations. What happens in one part of the world affects our lives in ways we are only too aware of, and ways we're not. Companies have become bigger and bigger, until they've swallowed up the entire world. And in all of this, people have become resources. Revenue streams. Numbers. Head-count. Nothing more. One person drops out, and they are easily replaced. In the search for jobs, people are having to get them where they can find them. They move away from home, the ties with their family loosen, friends have to be disposable. Everybody is too isolated to worry about other people too much. We don't know our neighbours, and we don't want to. We exist in tiny groups of individuals, couples and small friendship groups. Groups of friends go out and go through the motions. They go out to pubs, clubs, get drunk, fall in and out of love, get into arguments with each other. One group is pretty much indistinguishable from the next. So people find comfort where they can. They look to religions, they look to the television, they make up fantasy lives that they simply don't have the effort of will to make possible. And in death, people expect it to be different. They expect it to be the release. A huge change, the answer to the Great Question. Somewhere, some small part of them expects to be fulfilled when they die. Be it Heaven, Hell, or Nothing, they expect something outside of their lives. But the Shadowlands isn't like that. It's like every single part of their lives which they hated condensed - the hopelessness, the lack of humanity, the grind of everyday life, only this time without the promise of an inevitable release. This is it, this is the end, there is no where else to go to. Fear of Oblivion and vague thoughts of Transcendence keep them waking up from Slumber, and the world around them make them wonder why they'd bothered. And all the time, there's this constant reminder of what they've lost, what they can no longer ever have, just beyond the Shroud. But a Wraith's Passions and Fetters make them unique. The strength of these things keeps them going, it's what marks them out as individuals, makes them special in this world of ceaseless grey. It what keeps them going, despite that nagging voice in the back of their head. It what gives them the hope, despite all the evidence, that there is something greater out there, something that they can reach. So, in the Age of Globalisation, in death we seek ourselves, to understand ourselves, to become more than ourselves. In death, we try to find ourselves. In the Age of Globalisation, the argument is the search for the individual. Or at least that's how I view it. So what about the Victorian Age, and the Romantic Age? Before we can construct arguments for those, we need to understand the times. We need to understand what people were thinking, and what they feared. What made them get up in the morning, and what kept them up at night. I've been thinking about that, too. (I can see you're already beginning to fear those words.) The Romantic Age was a time of great upheaval. It's almost impossible for us, looking back, to quite understand what that meant for them. Political, social, economic and spiritual systems were being torn out by the roots and thrown to the winds. It was the age of the Enlightenment. The age when science was taking great leaps and bounds, tearing away and tearing apart all those assumptions based on the religious thinking that had held society together for over a thousand years. Bodies were being dug up and experimented on, ensuring that they would not be able to be resurrected and judged when judgement day came. And they thought it was coming soon. People living in 1800 really couldn't see a future stretching out before them. Chaos was swarming around them, and it seemed inevitable that it would crash over them and wash them away. The French Revolution had wiped out, in a matter of years, a political system that had lasted as long as recorded time. In public exhibitions, bodies were being cut up and the anatomists were declaring that there was no soul to be found. God was dying a slow and painful death. Without God, without the soul, what are we? Without this divine power, with all the world falling around their ears, what can they look to? Where can they find hope? So what do they find when they die? They find a feudal structure they recognise from many years ago, and they find no God, no salvation, no resurrection. They find their last feeble hopes dashed. So, if there is no God, if there is no soul, if there is no Heaven to ascend to, what is there? So, in the Romantic Age, the argument is the search for the soul. So what about the Victorian Age? Well, the Victorian Age was the age of Invention and Innovation. Science was making huge leaps and tearing aside the veil that for so long had given the world it's sheen of mystique, the sheen of the divine. Men were not just trespassing on the land of the Gods, they were building railway tracks through it and setting up cotton mills. And the world was becoming smaller. The telegraph was making communication a matter of days rather than weeks or months, and was becoming quicker and more reliable. People were being 'discovered', whole new cultures were being thrown open and exposed to the cold light of the West. And again, we have massive social upheaval. The last vestiges of the feudal system were swept away as factories sprung up and the workers had to find work where they could get it. The old aristocracy were being replaced by the new middle class of mill-owners. People were getting the first taste of depersonalistaon. Being worked to death in the factories and mines, and being replaced as easily as a broken rod in a machine. And what do they find in the Shadowlands? Again, more of the same. So in death, what can the cling to? What can they aspire to? Stuck in-between an age where a person had a job for life, where they were born and brought up to fulfil a role in society, and where that would continue through the generations, and an age where a person was their job and nothing more, where they were a transient, temporary fixture in a world that doesn’t see them. So, in the Victorian Age, the argument is the search for a place in the world, for somewhere to stand. It’s all the same at the end of the day. In the end, it all amounts to the same thing. But it’s seen in different ways, and that’s what’s important. I mean, take a mountain. At the end of the day, it’s a huge lump of rock. That’s never going to change. The actual physical mountain is never going to be anything else. But in the Romantic Age, it was something sublime, something bigger than human understanding. In the Victorian Age, it was something to be conquered. To us, it is the inevitable result of tectonic plates colliding in accordance to universal laws of physics. It’s all a mountain, just seen differently. That was my point really. I’ve only had today at work to think about it, so I may not have expressed myself as clearly as I could have. I’m sure you get the idea. | | Saturday, October 16th, 2004 | 8:31 pm
[ladyfoxie] |
Hello all. Erm, I guess I'll just jump straight into it. I've had two thoughts regarding VAW and RAW. The first one is about Shadows. The way most Wraiths view shadows these days, as I understand it, is as some part of ourselves that was repressed in life, and in death has been given it's own voice and personality. Something that's always been lurking in our sub-conscious, whispering to us, telling us things that we don't want to hear, don't want to think, don't want to admit to ourselves. However, the idea of the sub-conscious was not put forward by Freud until around 1900 is his book, 'The Interpretation of Dreams'. A lot of investigation in the psyche seems to have been going on in the 19th century. Peoples of note included Marx, Nietzsche, Engle, Drawin, Freud, et al. The general trend seems to have been a move away from seeing people within a social or mythic framework, and instead concentrating on their individual passions, desires, motivations etc. Nietzsche proposed the idea of the individual as a being motivated by passions, biological instincts and self-interest, who had allowed himself to become the 'slave' of the morality abdicated by religion and society. This, of course, lead to the Victorian Romanticisation of the 'noble savage'. Anyway, my point was that, most likely, Wraiths wouldn't see their shadows as part of themselves, but something external to themselves. Although it has almost no impact in game terms, it has a huge impact in psychological terms. If your Shadow isn't part of you, then what the hell is it? Individual Shadows would most likely take on aspects unique to each Psyche, such as: - a demon tempting them while they are in some sort of Purgotory - a angel punishing them while they are in Purgotory - a deceased loved one wanting to help / harm them for whatever reason (attached to them because they are too weak to survive by itself; because the Psyche believes that they are two halves of the same soul; the Shadow wants to help so badly that they sacrificed their own spirital body etc.) - a spirit of some kind testing and examining them - the personification of their lies / wrongs etc, given phsyical form by death - a particularly oppresive figure from their lives, such as a dominant and overbearing master (to a servant), plantation owner etc. My other thought was about Isambard Kingdom Brunel. One of the main tenaments of the Victorian age, and even the Georgian age, was mankind subduing and controling nature. With man's powers of interllect, he could - and should - be master of all that he survays. So Brunel dies with more than enough Passions and Fetters to keep anyone happy. He sees this feudial society, cowering before the unknown of Oblivion and the Tempest, scared of things that go bump in the night. So as the mood of the Shadowlands slowly changes, he convinces the Heirarchy to build him a ship (of his own design, of course). The grandest, most magnificent ship the Shadowlands has ever seen, powered by a great engine that eats pathos like a steam ship eats coal. Anticipation, hope and expectation build, until the day comes for the launch. Brunel, with his hand-picked crew, sail off into the Tempest to plant the Union Jack at the heart of the Laberynth, to through light and understanding into these darkest of places. No one sees the boat, the crew or Brunel again. After a few years, rumours start to circulate about a 'ghost ship' drifitng through the Tempest, trying to find it's way home that carries in it's wake desperation, hopelessness. A ship that bears a striking resembalance to Brunel's Folly. The whole episode serves to encapture the mood of the age, and remind players (and the Wraiths) that there are some things out there that are simply bigger than Humanity. The world may be shrinking, innovations may be making the impossible mundane, Great Britian may dominate the world, but in the Shadowlands, somethings are best left well alone. | | Thursday, September 23rd, 2004 | 12:04 pm
[jedwardtremlett]
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The Huge-Ass Timeline o'Doom
Okay, I promised to set us up with a timeline... here it is. I figured maybe five categories: Major Events (duh), Technology (what was new?), Culture (books, plays, etc.) , Occult (duh), Stygian (what happened in the underworld). Stygian would also include who died that year, since that could facilitate getting someone 'famous' into the game. So I figure we can throw up events as we find them, and I can edit this journal entry as need be when we got more stuff. Just comment below. ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- 1801: Major Events: French forced to withdraw from Egypt; Alexander becomes Czar of Russia; UK's Act of Union takes effect; Haitian slaves, led by Toussaint L'Ouverture, rebel against the French, conquer entire island; United States fights against Tripoli; Technology: Richard Trevithick demonstrates four-wheeled, steam-propelled passenger vehicles for roads; Robert Fulton builds the Nautilus, a diving boat; Joseph Marie Jacquard invents the Jacquard loom; Culture: Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand's 'Atala'; Schiller's 'The Maid of Orleans'; Occult: Stygian: Novalis (pen name of Baron Friedrich von Hardenberg) a German romantic poet; American traitor Benedict Arnold; 1802: Major Events: Treaty of Amiens ends hostilities between France and Britain; Britain withdraws from Boer colony; British Parliament passes the first law regulating child labor; Nguyen Anh declares himself Emperor Gia Long of Vietnam; Napoleon sends large army to suppress slave revolt, Toussaint L'Ouverture arrested; Technology: Dalton's law of partial pressures; Oliver Evans invents high-pressure steam engine; first plan for a tunnel under the English Channel; ‘The New American Practical Navigator’ revised; Culture: Madame de Stael’s ‘Delphine’; Madame Tussaud's Exhibition in London; Sir Walter Scott’s ‘Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border’; Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand’s ‘The Spirit of Christianity’; Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s ‘Dejection: An Ode’ Occult: Stygian: Martha Washington, wife of George, dies after burning the letters he’d written her; American Patriot Richard Dobbs Spaight dies after duel with rival; American revolutionary war officer Daniel Morgan; Dismissed American sea captain Esek Hopkins; French surgeon and autopsy advocate Marie Francois Xavier Bichat 1803: Major Events: Louisiana Purchase; Revolt in Ireland against English viceroy; British convicts settle Tasmania; Technology: John Dalton’s atomic theory; Robert Fulton lauches experimental steamboats on the Seine - the first sinks, the second works; Culture: Lord Elgin starts sending his marbles back to England; Jean Baptiste Say’s ‘Treatise on Political Economy’; Occult: Marquis de Sade confined to Charenton Asylum; Stygian: George Bass, surgeon and explorer of Australia’s eastern coast, disappears while travelling from Sydney to Peru; Irish Patriot Robert Emmet is tried and hanged for revolt; Haitian leader Toussaint L'Ouverture dies in French prison; American Patriot Samuel Adams; American supporter of Britain Joseph Galloway; Current Mood: artisticCurrent Music: none - at work : P | | Saturday, September 18th, 2004 | 9:38 pm
[autumnsdarling]
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Victorian Age Personality Archetypes
Just some ideas I've thrown together. I got a bit confused about what exactly constitutes a Personality Archetype, and the more I thought about it the worse it got. So I guess I need telling if some/all of these are suitable. Let me know. I've also done up an image which I've stuck alongside some of the entries. It's meant for one of the Shadow Archetypes that I'm working on, but, well, I couldn't wait until then :) This is only about half of the archetypes that I have notes for, I'll get the others up as soon as I can.
Victorian Age Personality Archetypes | Conventionalist
The Conventionalist is obsessed with the way things should be done. The rules of polite society govern his every action, and etiquette influences his every work. Members of the upper or middle classes tend to be Conventionalists. Conventionalists are always impeccably turned out in the finest materials and the latest cuts, rarely put a word out of place, and spend an eternity blushing and squirming when they do.
- Regain Willpower whenever you are able to deal with a difficult problem or situation through the proper application of etiquette, or when you avoid embarrassing situations through your tact and application of proper conduct.
Puritan
The Puritan sees herself as the figurehead of the new Age of Modesty. Pure and chaste, the Puritan can be either male or female, but it usually found covered up from head to toe. A prude at heart, the Puritan is often horrified by inappropriate acts or lewd conversation, seeing them as either improper or unholy, and sometimes both.
- Regain Willpower whenever you overcome a difficult or improper situation through your abstention, chastity, and moral values.
Pioneer
More now than ever before the world is unfolding before mankind's eyes. Every day new places, people, things and history are being discovered, and it's the Pioneer's job to discover it. A frequent visitor to the edges of the unknown, the Pioneer is always the first into the jungle, the desert or the Tempest in search of lost cities, tribes and riches, as well as new species of insects, animals, or anything else that they have dedicated their lives to uncovering.
- Regain Willpower whenever you discover a new location, tribe, city, species, type of specter etc |
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Chauvinist
Where the Conventionalist is obsessed with the proper ways of doing things and the ways in which he should conduct himself, the Chauvinist forces his views, opinions and morals on everyone around him. Where perceived deviations are taking place, the Chauvinist will try and set things right with sharp words and beration, looking down his nose at all those that he views as being morally, ethically and socially below him.
- Regain Willpower whenever perceived deviations from the social or moral standards are set right by your intervention.
Labourer
Others may get through death with old money, or by exploiting the weak, but you get through it by knuckling down and working hard. You probably did it all your live, either through choice or simply to survive, and now you're dead, things are that different. After all, where would the world be if it wasn't filled with people prepared to just get on and get the job (whatever it may be) done. It's people like you that keep the Renegades, the Hierarchy, the Heretics, and everyone else, ticking over.
- Regain Willpower whenever you achieve something through hard work and elbow-grease.
Philanthropist
There is so much pain and suffering in the world, and the Philanthropist is determined to do what he can to alleviate it. Differing from the Caregiver in that, where they are focused on helping the individual, the Philanthropist seeks to help society as a whole. Philanthropists are often the founders of care homes, hospitals, or public baths, but whatever their chosen vocation, they work constantly to achieve their goal; to alleviate the pain and suffering indicative in society.
- Regain Willpower whenever you witness proof that your actions, or the actions of those like you, have helped a group of people, or society as a whole.
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Current Mood:  blah | | Friday, September 10th, 2004 | 8:34 am
[jedwardtremlett]
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What I & others Had For Vic Age Wraith
From the Wraith Project http://www.cattail.nu/wraithproject/0301vicwraith.html"There does exist beyond this a spiritual world - a system whose workings are generally in mercy hidden from us - a system which may be, and which is sometimes, partially and terribly revealed. "I am sure - I know... that there is a God - a dreadful God - and that retribution follows guilt, in ways the most mysterious and stupendous - by agencies the most inexplicable and terrible." "The Watcher" - J. S. Le Fanu X X X Welcome to the era of Queen Victoria. The age of the Empire. A time when the sun never set upon the flag of England, and glorious, Victorian virtues were spread wide across the world. A time of modernization, advancement and discovery. A wonderful time to be alive. Welcome to the era of Iron. The age of the Machine. A time when human life became only worth as much as it could produce, and the poor were dragged under the wheels of progress to wet its gears with their blood. A time of industrialization, regression and misery. A terrible time to be alive. And welcome to the Dark Kingdom of Iron. The Post-Tertium Era. A time when the Shroud was thickening to the consistency of steel, and the Deathlords had abandoned the Shadowlands for an endless sojourn on the Isle of Sorrows. A great and awful time to be dead. Here there are no landed gentry. No ranks and no titles to set some over others. There is either Hierarch or Renegade, master or slave, Enfant or Lemure or Gaunt. Here there is no progress. No great science to bring your world forward. Here there are the forge, the hammer and the ancient arts of the dead. Here there is little hope. No church and no charity to aid or guide you. Here there is an endless wait for peace in a land where you are your own worst enemy and no wonders come without their price. Welcome to the Underworld of the Victorian Age. Welcome to Hell. Welcome to the rest of eternity, or however much of it you can survive. Welcome to your death. And may you make the most of it... X X X Character Creation Character Sheet Victorian Era Arts Relics and Artifacts Recommended Reading Useful Websites (Submissions and Credits) X X X (and this was the wish list, from the open projects page on submissions...) What It Is: Wraith: the Oblivion presented during the Victorian era, much in the same way that Victorian Age Vampire gave players and Storytellers the tools and information needed to run Vampire games in that same time period. What's Needed: in specific, we are looking for: * Details on what the Underworld of the time was like, either in large swaths or in small studies, especially the major Necropoli. * Run-downs on what established groups were doing. * Descriptions of groups would have been unique to this era. * Art aplenty (period pictures, pictures in the period, illustrations for the major groups, etc.) * Mechanical matters (such as Thorns, Arts, Artifacts and Relics, etc.) * Roleplaying advice. * Anything else you would care to send. Remember that, although the Victorian Era stretched from when Queen Victoria took the throne in 1837 to her death in 1901, we'll take things concerning the entire 19th century, given how long-lived wraiths can be. An ultimate goal for the netbook would be to help Storytellers set a Wraith Chronicle anywhere in 1800's, and bring it as far forward within that century as they'd like - maybe even up to Wraith: the Great War... How We Want It: Since a lot of people may be speaking up - or speaking for - various pre-established groups, it's better to speak in generalities and questions than in specifics and definite answers. The more wiggle room you leave others, the better. Also, try to avoid explaining the great mysteries or atrocities of the age as having been wraithly in origin. It's okay to intimate that Spring-Heeled Jack was suspected of being of Haunter, but presenting him as a Haunter destroys his enigma, and also boxes Storytellers and players into a smaller corner. To echo the great Justin Achilli, the first person to suggest Jack the Ripper was a Proctor gets kicked in the ding ; ) One further thing to keep in mind: we are going from the understanding that the Shroud in Victorian-era England - as well as Europe, Russia and North America - is stronger than it was, previously, but is less than it was during Wraith's modern era. Conversely, the Victorian era saw a massive interest in spiritual matters, with a great deal of ghostly goings-on in the air. How the two facts can be reconciled is one of the aims of the Netbook - hit us with your best cryptic answers... Current Mood: artisticCurrent Music: ML of "new kid in town" by the Eagles... but why? | | Thursday, September 9th, 2004 | 8:24 pm
[autumnsdarling]
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Victorian Age Wraith Primer
 | Victorian Age Wraith
* Age of Industry - The Industrial Revolution kinda began and ended with the Victorian Era. In the space of 70 years, the western world was dragged out of the Dark Ages and into the Age of Enlightenment. Mass production is born, factories spring up all over the world.
* Age of Enlightenment - Inventions include the telephone, motor car, steam ship, locomotives, radio, machine guns and dynamite. Huge leaps forward are made in science and technology, the first powered flight takes place. Mechanization of war begins. Man begins to gain power and knowledge over the unknown.
* The Death of Religion - You can thank Mr Darwin for this one, his The Origin of Species in 1958 destroyed almost everything about the way people saw the world, as they were forced to accept that what he was saying had to be true, religion began its long decent away from being the way people explained the world around them.
* The British Empire - Was at its height. Parts of North America, the West Indies, Guiana, West Africa, East Africa, India, Australia, and New Zealand belong to Queen Victoria. Military campaigns are ongoing to claim even more territory for the Empire.
* Death - Death was everywhere in the Victorian era, from the factories staffed by child labor, to the military campaigns in Africa and the East, to the terrible conditions in the cities and dreaded pea soupers. Even the streets of London weren't safe and the likes of Sweeney Todd and Jack the Ripper put fear into the hearts of everyday men and women.
* The Media - Part of what fed the culture the bred Jack the Ripper was the media. For the first time in history, newspapers were huge. The celebrity lifestyle has its roots here, and with it, the rise of celebrity killers prepared to commit more and more heinous acts to grab the attention of the public.
* Mass Marketing - This was also born in the Victorian era. The village shop faded into obscurity to be replaced by the department store. Huge shops with catalogues hundreds of pages long pushing a hard sell on the general public.
* The Occult -The loss of faith in religion and the rise of science with its desire to explain everything caused the public to lash out in search of something else they couldn't explain. They turned to the dead. This was the age of the Fox Sisters and Alistair Crowley. The Ouija Board was born. An intense interest in the afterlife flowed from the declining belief in Heaven.
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The Shadowlands* The Industrialization of Stygia - Just as the Industrial Revolution swept across the lands of the living, so it ebbed over into the lands of the dead. The Empire of the Dead became a place of massive iron-hulled boats, guttering steam engines and roaring motor vehicles. Just as the change was life-altering for the living, so it must have shaken to the core the Kingdom's oldest ghosts. Just as people are mistreated by the living, so they are by the dead, Thralls are ferried across the Empire and smelted down, Soul forging reaches new-found heights. * The Growth of Oblivion - Hundreds of drones and weak souls sweep across the Shroud, feeding Oblivion quicker than ever before. The Shroud thickens, the Restless are imprisoned in the Shadowlands. Seances and Mediums offer one last gasp of the living world in the cold, dead space of the afterlife. * Fetters - Both Charon and the Deathlords loose the last of their fetters at some point in this age. Although I've not yet been able to find anything explaining how or why. (Any ideas?) * The Second Descent - Charon retreats into the Onyx Tower and leaves the Deathlords to govern in his stead. It's the beginning of the end of all things, both in the Skinlands, and in the Shadowlands.
General NotesWow, I never realized that I knew so much about the Victorian Age. Either that, or there's just a lot to know. There's a lot to work with for a Wraith game here. Death is everywhere. Science has finally replaced Religion and people turn to ghosts as a way of escaping that. For the first time in the western world, people begin to think that it's possible to contact someone that's 'passed on'. They're no longer in Heaven or Hell, the mortal idea of the Shadowlands begins to form. With celebrity killers stalking in the gaslight, children dying in the factories, people choking on the smog, wars raging across the world and technology advancing at an unbelievable rate, it must have been a frightening time to live in. People had very little to cling onto, and so they clung on desperately to the final shreds of religion. The idea of an Afterlife. As far as the Shadowlands go, I can see this being a much more active setting. The dead are going to have to start fighting a battle against Oblivion which is growing faster than ever before. For the first time, the Dead are going to start thinking that maybe they can't win, maybe Oblivion is going to overwhelm them all. As far as I can see, this era should set the game up for the empty desolation and final flickers of hope and courage of The Great War. I've ranted myself out now. Time for someone else to throw some ideas into the mix. Current Mood:  tiredCurrent Music: Tool - Parabola |
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deusetmachina
