The World of Darkness

November 16th, 2009

You’re dancing to a relentless techno beat in the press of warm, sweaty bodies. You’re in the attic of a squat house, walls covered in graffiti, the bare concrete floor stained with mysterious liquids. You’re drunk and high, coming down from the euphoria of becoming part of the writhing crowd. A woman brushes past you, her hand cold on your shoulder. You watch her as she presses between people and slips behind the DJ’s table. She doesn’t look that old, dressed like any of the bleary junkies grinding their bodies against you – at least, not until she notices you watching her. She smiles, and in that second, she seems to hold knowledge beyond anything that could be conceived on this dance floor.   Perhaps you have experienced a moment like this in real life. You’ve noticed a compelling stranger, exchanging a moment of flirtation or terror with someone you’ve never seen again. They were in your life only for a fleeting moment, yet you still remember them years later.   In the real world a moment like this is nothing but chance. Who was the woman who brushed past you? Maybe she’s the next DJ, going to prepare for her set, her hand cold because she was having a smoke outside. In real life, everything has an explanation. In the World of Darkness, things aren’t always that simple.On the surface, it looks like our world. The office where you work, the school you attended as a child, and the retirement home where you visit your grandmother are all the same in our world and in the World of Darkness. Once you go deeper into the frayed, abandoned, and hidden corners, the real nature of the World of Darkness starts to emerge. It’s a world with secrets, deep wells of darkness – and you can stumble into them if you follow the clues. Perhaps that’s what the cold hand of the woman at the illegal techno party really was: a sign you can follow, leaving your comfortable life behind and entering a secret world of terrors.