introduction, or: i hate myself and want die (wip)

A young person stands in their bedroom.

It just so happens that today, in the current month of the current year, is the eve of the event that will forever change their life. Though it was any number of years ago that they were given life, it is only now that they will be given a name and a purpose.

That young person is you, and all that you knew is about to be ripped out from under you.

(oWoD)
Armageddon. The Apocalypse. Gehenna. The Reckoning. No matter which way you slice it, those around you have been crying out about the END OF DAYS for years. Maybe you didn’t know what those words meant to the STRANGE BEINGS that lurked just beyond human perception, or maybe you did. But nobody really knew what form the END OF DAYS would take, did they?

Maybe you were one of the KINDRED, who believed that THEIR FOREBEARS would one day wake and consume their DESCENDENTS in a storm of BLOOD and FIRE. Maybe you were a GAROU or another SHAPESHIFTER, who believed that the ANCIENT SERPENT-SPIRIT OF CORRUPTION, the WYRM, would break free of its binds and destroy MOTHER GAIA. Maybe you were AWAKENED, and your PRETERNATURAL POWERS were blocked from their full majesty by PARADOX, which you fear would one day lead to the CESSATION OF ALL WONDER. Perhaps you DIED and refused to move on, trapped in a sham of an AFTERLIFE with others like yourself, trying to avoid the JUDGEMENT of those who would melt your soul down and REFORGE it.

Maybe you were a FAE BEING, fickle and capricious, trying to avoid a TRAGIC END by the forces that choke and strangle the WONDERS of the world. It’s possible that you were an ANCIENT SPIRIT OF CREATION, cast into an UNKNOWABLE VOID by an UNCARING GOD for the sole crime of CARING ABOUT HUMANITY and its many BRANCH-OFFS and scarred by the torment of NOTHINGNESS. Perhaps, at one time, you were NORMAL, but were called by WHISPERS AND SCREAMS to DEFEND HUMANITY against the OTHERS, whether you wanted to or not. Maybe you were an ancient, undying spirit devoted to the fall of an ancient deity of sin, cursed forever to rise from the grave to fight another day.

Maybe you were just a HUMAN who wanted to play a game.

Or maybe you were an ALIEN RACE, totally divorced from the EARTHLY CONCEPTS of THINGS THAT LURK IN THE DARK.

Whatever the case, the END didn’t come as you believed it would.

(nWoD)
The world as you knew it was a dark, dark place, stained with the blood of innocents who could never know what walked among them. BLOOD-DRINKERS, SKIN-CHANGERS and WILL-WORKERS all stalked the shadowed corners of the world, ever watching, ever waiting for that next kill, building complex webs of relationships of manipulation and intrigue amongst themselves in the dark.

Maybe you were a KINDRED, ever seeking the next high, slaking your DAMNED THIRST on the waiting MORTAL FLOCKS. Or maybe you were one of the FORSAKEN, the terrifying WEREWOLVES that STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE in a world that seems to reject them. Or, you were one of the ILLUSTRIOUS CIRCLES OF MAGES who sought the GLORY that they lost when ATLANTIS fell. It’s very possible that you were STOLEN AWAY, by BEINGS FROM BEYOND, and warped until you were nearly UNRECOGNIZABLE, made into ONE OF THEM by their own hands.

Maybe you were AWARE. You knew what STALKED THE NIGHT, and you were hellbent on ENDING THE HORROR, always wondering what kind of CRUEL GOD would build a world so UNERRINGLY DANGEROUS. Maybe you were not BORN, but CREATED, a walking PARADOX whose animating DIVINE FIRE draws you ETERNAL SCORN and marks you as an ABOMINATION. Indeed, you could have ONCE BEEN DEAD, but were blessed with SECOND LIFE and power over the ETHEREAL by an ENTITY FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE.

You could have been a SIMPLE HUMAN, who just wanted to play a game.

Or you could have been one of an ALIEN RACE, who never knew about the WORLD OF DARKNESS that humans inhabit.

Whatever the case, before anyone knew it, the EARTH was presented with an END.

(general)
In some manner, you had many INTERESTS, not in the least of which was VIDEO GAMES. Perhaps you followed every site, every company and every conference with interest, ever chasing the next fantasy. Or maybe you were simply a casual player, filthy though others may call you, who simply picked up whatever on the store shelf looked interesting that day. Maybe you were a fan of a wide variety of games, always on the hunt for something new. Or perhaps you were a devoted fan of a single game, or maybe two or three different series.

No matter how you approached the subject matter, one day, something caught your eye about a game that was suddenly being promoted out of nowhere. This game, titled simply SBURB, was an up and coming indie title being conceived by a company called SkaiaNet, and about to enter a closed beta period that some lucky individuals would be accepted into should they sign up for it.

You, and any number of your friends, signed up and became those lucky individuals.