The Veil
An ancient and powerful barrier hiding the supernatural world in the shadows. The origins of this powerful barrier are unknown or even for how long it has existed. This barrier has created many parallell societies and communities of mystical nature to co-exist beside the human world and each other without being noticed. It is only the mundane world that can be perceived by everyone equally. The barrier affects humans and supernatural creatures alike.
The barrier does not affect babies as they can percieve the world as it is. As children grow and develop the barrier starts to cloud their senses and suppress any memories of mystical events. This can be prevented if the existence of a supernatural or mystical thing is witnessed many times and supported by both peers and adults. This means that a werewolf child will always be able to perceive their own kind as they grow up with them and simply know them to be real. However, if this same child becomes an orphan at a young age and is then raised by human parents it might never understand what is happening to them. Rarely does such a child survive into adulthood.
For this reason most supernatural communities and species only know of their own kind and maybe those that are closely connected to them. Only few know of the full extend of the mystical world.
Origin
The origin of this powerful mystical barrier is unknown. There exist many theories amongst mystics around the world. The three most prevailing theories are that the veil was created by ...- ... a secret cabal of mystics to hide themselves and their machinations. The veil was more of an unintended side-effect. Critics of this theory argue that mystics are simply not powerful enough to create a mystical ritual of this magnitude.
- ... an ancient deity or god who wished to separate the mystical worlds. Be it to create peace for his worshippers or any other reason. There are many different ideas about which deity or deities are responsible. Often whomever the mystic in question reveres the most.
- ... the world itself. This theory is often proposed by naturalists, spiritualists and animists. The idea is that a natural force is responsible for the separation of the worlds. Critics often ask then why the effect ended if it was a natural law?
Effect
The barrier works in two ways. It is an advanced perception filter that hides mystical effects from the perceptions of anyone around. The strength of this filter has its limits. A person who witnesses the transformation of a werewolf or a demonic summoning ritual will be able to see, hear and smell it. The filter is simply not powerful enough for them to ignore these unbelievable events. This is where the secondary effect kicks in. Once someone has broken through the perception filter the memories of these events are slowly suppressed by the veil. Once a witness to a transformation or other mystical event leaves the scene they will begin forgetting what had happened. The brain then attempts to fill in these gaps with various stories that make more sense to this witness. This effect does not only affect the witness itself but anyone who they tell of their encounter as well. It usually takes between 1 - 2 hours for an occurrence to completely vanish from the memories of anyone involved. These repressed memories are not lost, however. Forgotten traumatic events can still severely affect the mental health of witnesses or victims of a mystical assault or occurrence. Sometimes with the use of certain drugs or rituals, these repressed memories can even be brought to the surface temporarily. Most myths and legends which were written down were often created by witnesses recounting real but suppressed experiences in a way that makes sense to them. Both these effects are applied to synthetic sensors and memories as well. The perception filter prevents a camera from capturing the animal eyes of a werewolf. Security footage of a vampire draining a victim of their blood becomes blurred or corrupted no matter how many copies of it exist because of the memory suppression.
Type
Metaphysical, Supernatural
Memory Suppression
How the Catholic Church and other conservative organization reacted to the falling of the Veil? Afterall they believe that magic is evil
If you are looking for my Worldember articles check Magic Earth or My Worldember Progress Page
Hi Kajetan! That is currently a deliberate choice not to include :) I will have to have a deeper think about the role of religious organization in my world. Or might just ignore it further as it is a difficult subject.