Post by THE POWERS THAT BE on Dec 7, 2012 16:17:18 GMT -5
SETTING
the open circle
Magic is secret, but in HIDDEN's setting, it's a natural thing that's been around since the dawn of time.
Not all humans are born with the gift, but any human can learn it. Like math or art, it's simply another skill that is honed with practice and study.
Where gods came from, when vampires began, when watchers first walked this earth--all these things, no one really knows.
Ever since the witch hunts of old history, the wakers have been particularly careful in keeping themselves hidden from sleepers. Wakers may be powerful, but sleepers are numerous and quick to shoot anything that looks at them funny.
In small towns, there's only a few wakers at most, going about their days as normal humans do. In the anonymity of large cities, they can afford to be an active and even flourishing subculture, albeit a secret one.
Post by THE POWERS THAT BE on Dec 7, 2012 16:24:52 GMT -5
NEW YORK CITY
the city that never sleeps
HIDDEN takes place in New York City. If you don't know anything about NYC, go check out WIKIPEDIA.
Remember that NYC is a very urban sort of place. Characters are more likely to take public transport or a taxi than they are to own a car. Even if they do have a car, they won't have a driveway to pull into when they get home. Should that be the case, your character should live in one of the other boroughs, where things are more spacious.
New York City has a bustling magical community. As often as it is united in secrecy, it is also often biting at its own throat.
All pantheons are active in NYC. Watchers are everywhere, and particularly the fallen enjoy the city. There are two significant vampire covens: Ordo Dracul and V. There are various packs and plenty of omegas. Both faerie courts are present and active, with the Seelie Court stronger uptown and the Unseelie Court downtown. Ghosts are literally all over the place, and many a demon calls NYC home.
For students (and alumni!), there's Mu Omega, which is a effectively a secret fraternity that accepts both genders--but it's invite-only, taking in only wakers and other magical sorts. At some schools, Mu Omega operates out in the open, other times it's another campus secret society. Either way, sleepers just assume it's nothing more than a fringe fraternity.
An organization simply called The Agency employs many wakers for occult odd jobs required by sleepers, such as seances, miracle cures, and exorcisms. They also defend the city from malignants on their own dime, and meeting an agency exorcist is one of the reasons most demons in NYC don't party too hard. Highly secretive, the Agency works through handlers to provide job assignments to its agents.
Post by THE POWERS THAT BE on Dec 7, 2012 16:34:42 GMT -5
AMERICA
the beautiful
Magic has been in America long before the colonials arrived. The Native Americans were more or less aware of magic as it was, all of them wakers. Now, just like everywhere else, America's mostly sleepers.
Wakers have no government of their own, and they live under American laws. Some are flagrant abusers of the law, others give zero shits, but many are respectable, law-abiding citizens.
Most cities will have their own fair share of wakers, but magical types are everywhere. The races that prey on humans--vampires and fae specifically--prefer to live in urban areas. Others, such as large werewolf packs, often prefer suburbia or even rural areas. Boston is a popular city for mages. There is a huge fae population on the west coast, ever since the California Gold Rush. The entire country is covered with vengeful ghosts and, worse yet, demons.
Should you want to go on a Winchester-style road trip across America, be my guest.
Post by THE POWERS THAT BE on Dec 7, 2012 16:43:14 GMT -5
THE WORLD
the realm of the living
Every human culture has its own gods and its own practitioners of magic. There is no culture that lacks death, undead, ghosts, or demons, although they may have been called evil spirits or devils.
All races can be found everywhere. Vampires and werewolves are numerous in Europe, whereas the fae are more populous throughout all of Asia. In Africa, ghosts and demons are most common. Many significant sorcerers and magi families have immigrated to North and South America. And gods, of course, are everywhere.
Post by THE POWERS THAT BE on Dec 7, 2012 16:52:27 GMT -5
THE REALMS
in the shadow of reality
Realms are different versions of our reality. They are vast and as difficult to explore as Earth itself.
The Dreaming is the land of the fae. Humans frequent it often enough in their dreams. It is an otherworld, theoretically an amorphous, constantly changing copy of Earth, but with it's phantasmal qualities, it's hard to tell.
Humans in the dreaming are only souls with their physical bodies left asleep in reality. They may stay in the dreaming indefinitely as long as the physical body has life support. Should a human die in the dreaming, they either immediately wake up or their body is left permanently comatose.
The Gloaming is the land of the lingering dead. It is the world ghosts disappear to and appear out of. The locales change as more ghosts and their memories are added to the landscape. It is a cold, dreary version of our world.
The gloaming is theoretically the home of demons, but most demons prefer reality over the dull gloaming. Humans may visit the gloaming, which they enter body and soul. A god that dies in the gloaming will have a very hard time reincarnating.
The Shining is gone. It was once the home of the gods, a version of Earth that was perfect and all life made immortal and everlasting. The gods have always walked both reality and the shining, but as their power declined, entering the shining became difficult and then impossible.
Some theorize that the shining still exists and is simply inaccessible.
HIDDEN in plain sight is a modern-day supernatural noir game set in New York City and sprawling the rest of America. Magic is real, and so are angels, ghosts, gods, vampires, and witches. It doesn't matter if you believe in them, because they're coming for you either way.
( TOSKA ) - Head admin, your go-to for anything HIDDEN related
( MURK ) - Ad mod, resident cutie pie. Keep it in your pants or Toska will cut you.
( VERTIGO ) - takes no math classes.
( TSUNDERE ) - Not actually staff, but has residual staff powers from v4. Feel free to pester with questions.
SPOTLIGHT
HIDDEN's spotlights give kudos to anything awesome. It can be a character, a member, a thread, or even a cool plot!
( SPOTLIGHT ) - Lorem ipsum character stuff goes here.
( SPOTLIGHT ) - Lorem ipsum character stuff goes here.
( SPOTLIGHT ) - Lorem ipsum character stuff goes here.
CREDITS
( ORIGINAL SITE BY KATYA ) - Original site, templates, skin, ideas, and system all by Katya. Other ideas belong to their original owners
