I N T R O D U C T I O N
There is no beginning or end to this. The word Nightland describes places, happenings, entities, and knowledge of occult nature. This presence exists everywhere. Everyone is affected by it in one way or another, yet ignorant. Its influence can be felt in all things that move, interact, and lingers. The reality of it extends beyond the physical world. Sometimes it is a reflection of things known. Other times it is completely alien. Those that become entangled in this web rarely escape it. Many people willingly or unwillingly partake in its course. Some may catch a glimpse of it by accident, while others may seek it out with enthusiasm. There are also those whom are born into its misery. They are bound to its fate until death comes.
This setting is not for the faint of heart. There are forces beyond our comprehension that maintain the presence of the Nightland. All is meant to distract human awareness. Things such as politics, wars, propaganda, and entertainment keep people in the dark. The mundane of life such as work, school, problems, and morals do their part in this scheme. The purpose of it all is to prevent knowledge of the truth. Interaction with the Nightland forces a person to walk a path of awakening. Layers of doubt, horror, and failure lurks around every corner of this journey. Nobody seems to know where or if the path ever ends. Even the most persistent and devout eventually go mad or commit suicide. However, there are those that manage to awake. They can truly understand the deceptions and tears in our reality. These people would surely feel outlandish to the rest of us upon meeting them.
The world is an illusion. Everything that happens has a hidden purpose. Everyone is a prisoner in one way or another — some are held captive for political and religious reasons, others are held captive by personal desires and societal routines, and all of us are held captive by our own flesh. Almost everyone has an eerie feeling that something is wrong with the world, but they cannot figure out what it is. There is always something to blame and continue with business as usual. The characters in any scenario are people who at least question things. They have either found the path or started their journey to awakening. Whatever the case might be, these characters will have been labeled as being in need to psychiatric care. This is usually how it ends for those that venture too far down the rabbit hole. However, if they are persistent and reject falsehoods, their deliriums will be proven right and the hidden world behind the mundane will be revealed.
Insight has little to do with age or education. A teenager may clearly see aspects of the hidden world, while an experienced occultist might search an entire life without finding a single clue. The maniac in the underground station can scribble words to bend space and time, while the rational physicist is kept captive by his own mind and logical equations. The hacker might step into some other realm and create their own universe, yet the devout priest searches for God and finds nothing but emptiness. The architect designs fantastical towers to break down the barriers to the other side, but the ambitious politician merely regurgitates established lies and advocates conventional policies without changing anything. The homeless man sees the horrific entities walking amongst us, while the rest of us drift by gazing down at our phones.
Here are a few examples of what might have happened to your character that led them to require psychiatric attention. You can also think of your own reason, of course. (1) They have some manner of drug addiction. This addiction has at one time briefly shattered some illusion and the character was able to experience something that they could not understand. (2) The character believes itself to be haunted or cursed. This can be anything from the perception of being stalked to some paranormal event. (3) They have experienced some kind of abuse that has led to delusions or other conditions. (4) The character is an actual medium and functions as a beacon for the Nightland. Discussion and planning with the Game Master is required for this one. There should not be more than one character with this background. (5) The character suffers from intense and vivid nightmares that tends to take shape in the physical world through personal perception. (6) The character has tantalizing allure that is difficult for other people to resist. This can lead to all kinds of complications. (7) The character has some kind of crippling phobia. (8) The character suffers from schizophrenia.
P R E M I S E
Members of a group therapy session find their therapist murdered one night. They tend this meeting once a week. The scene they find is horrific and ritualistic. The following events throw all of the members down a dark and twisted rabbit hole. They are set on a path of discovery, misery, and awakening. As the player of this scenario, your character can be anyone you can think of. However, they must have a reason for attending group therapy. The characters have met each other a couple of times before the incident. Late arrivals to this roleplay will be a character that simply missed the session this night. However, they will be equally relevant in the story.
M E T A P H Y S I C S
The following attempts to explain why the world is the way that it is. These are interpretations of incoherent teachings and scribbles made by hidden masters. Nothing is set in stone.
The world is flawed because it was created that way. All forms of life consume one another to nourish themselves. They visit great pain, fear, and death upon one another. This is also true for herbivorous animals that live by destroying plant life. Natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, fires, droughts, volcanic eruptions, plagues, and hurricanes play their part in this endless suffering. The more complex an organism is, the keener is its sense of distress. Human beings are a part of this dance of death. They are considered dark and deceptive in equal measure to the created world. All is distraction away from knowledge of what could be considered truth. The body attracts a person to the temptations of the external world, while the turbulence of the mind is obsessed with itself. Through these distractions, the inner self or the spirit is forgotten — for mankind is body, mind, and spirit. It is the spirit that is the essence of awakening and transcendence. Distractions and attachment to the flawed world can be undone through mystical experiences that reunites the three parts of man.
The God of the masters is alien to this reality. It is a transcendent God that does not create. Pure essence comes forth from the unmanifest state into the manifest. This makes possible further and more specific creation. The hidden God remains always the first cause. Other entities become the subordinate and secondary causes of creation. There is the analogy of the landowner. The landowner decides to develop a piece of land. This person will not be directly involved in clearing the land, planning, and constructing the buildings. There are architects and engineers that will do these things. It follows that if the landowner becomes less and less involved and the architect is inept, the final result will be anything but perfect. The architect of this analogy created this world. This is the God of the Abrahamic faiths and many other religions. This God is the Idiot God, blind and deaf. Its engineers are the petty rulers. These are the forces that keep all things on Earth ignorant of the truth.
The human body and mind originates on Earth but the spirit comes from afar. A human being consists of the physical and psychic, which are perishable, as well as the spiritual, which is a fragment of the pure essence of the hidden God. People are ignorant of this essence residing within them. The Nightland is designed to keep this knowledge unknown. Awakening from this predicament is the combined result of desire for liberation, external assistance, and trauma. The path to awakening is long and gruesome. A person who is conscious of all the falsehoods and illusions becomes a beacon in the Nightland. They will attract all manner of entities and circumstances that are less than favorable. Once the embers of the spirit have ignited, unimaginable things will begin to happen. It is rare to find in writing what the awakened actually experience. This is likely because a slumbering soul cannot comprehend it, thus it becomes futile to explain.
E N C O U N T E R S
This plays into the hand of the old axiom of “you must see it for yourself.” Encounters with the Nightland are bizarre and unexpected. No entity seems to have any comprehensible association with the next. What you perceive as reality at any given time can suddenly shift into something completely forlorn. Worst of all is that many things are without explanation. Many things are experienced for the first time by any individual. The Nightland is a hostile labyrinth without beginning, end, or logic. There is no way to describe all these things without having seen it firsthand. However, one thing remains true for everyone — all complications in the Nightland lead to new complications ad infinitum.
There are survivors. There are madmen. There are awakened. They linger in the world after their journey has ended. Sometimes they leave sacred wisdom and valuable secrets behind in esoteric symbols, confusing riddles, and infused objects. Here are a few things that have been deemed ‘good to know’ by the hidden masters. These are not rules nor guidelines. They may help at times, other times not. “All is Vibration! Up is Down! Time is Circle! Doors Everywhere! Make Symbols!” There is no discernible reason within these phrases beyond the surface level comprehension. One must take the journey through the Nightland and experience all that one can endure in order to understand what is useful to know and not.
The exotic aspects of the Nightland are difficult to explain with words. There are many types of entities that appear unusual or even horrid in the eyes of people. Some of them can be perceived with human senses, others cannot. Some of them are corporeal, others are not. One thing that can be said with certainty is that whenever they do appear, these entities rarely present themselves as illusions. They can hurt and kill people. The hidden masters would advise one to treat them as wild animals that exert violence for a specific purpose. The issue is that these purposes are exceedingly difficult if not impossible to understand for human beings. Be cautious, be alert, and follow words of wisdom.
There are many names for another distinct aspect of the Nightland. This is one that human beings can learn to master with enough time and devotion. An overwhelming part of it is concerned with the internal workings of consciousness. It is about control over the mind, body, and spirit. This part would be considered the easy part. The hard part is the outward influence. It only works when the first part has been completely trained and mastered. The axiom “as you will so shall it be” perfectly describes this phenomena. This is the part of occult practice where the wishes of the consciousness extends beyond the physical body. Many spectacular things can be achieved once the seeker has perfected his or her craft.
C H A R A C T E R
How you choose to present your character is up to you. A character sheet is a rather personal thing, so I will not impose something of my own doing upon you. I will only ask for the following information to be included. (1) Your character’s name and last name. (2) Your character’s age. (3) Your character’s weight. This one requires some explanation. Its only purpose is for determining physical confrontations. If an opponent is physically greater than your character, the outcome of it all will become more and more one sided. (4) Your character’s appearance. This is typically an image of a person. This image should be of a realistic nature. I know that some people find that to be uncomfortable, so please speak up if that is the case. Additional information about clothing and other details can be included with the image under this category called ‘appearance’. (5) You can call this category “The Issue”. This is their mental issue and reason for attended group therapy. This can be any of the suggested reasons in my introduction of the roleplay or your own creation. (6) You can call this category “Before”. This should be a free flowing text about your character’s past. There is no expected length. You decide exactly how much you want to tell about your character’s history up to this point in time. (7) You can call this category “Talents”. This is where you describe any specific talents or experience your character has. This is often work or education related, but can also be recreational talents, things of the mind, or things of the body. If you want there to be a special rule or circumstance for your character that the roleplay should adhere to, this is the place to describe it. (8) This category is called “Actions”. This is where you list your chosen settings from the information in the section with the same name — Actions. You can find this section under the ‘Rules’ section below.
R U L E S
Some manner of rules or guidelines are necessary. There is no particular order of severity here. To start, I ask that no player speaks for me or assumes that my decision would be any particular thing that they can think of. If there is a question for me, as the Game Master, then wait until I can see and answer it — do not speculate. Follow all the general forum rules that are active. They usually list the most common ways of conduct that to some people are obvious. If you have any specific ‘trigger’ that makes you feel uncomfortable, I expect you to contact me about it way in advance. I will not be held accountable for something after the fact. This roleplay has disturbing subject matter, so just assume that your trigger will appear at some point. If you let me know beforehand, I can make the experience easier on you. This is what I hope will happen, so that you continue to have a good time and stay with us.
A C T I O N S
This setting is about the unknown, fear, and weakness. It defeats the purpose if a character is too wonderful and never meets a challenge or defeat. However, there is no failure in the common sense of the word here. There is only further complications. The best possible outcome is if there are no additional problems in any given situation that is already a problem in itself. The following are common actions that a person takes during challenges they meet. All of this and the values you choose are for me, as the Game Master, to work with. You, as the player, do not have to do anything other than write your posts as usual. A higher value in something does not mean that you are better at it than anyone else. It means that there is less chance for additional complications to occur that I, as the Game Master, will detail in my posts. The default value for each action is zero. What you, as the player, need to do is assign the following modifications to each action that best fits your character: +3, +2, +1, +1, 0, -1, and -2. The action that you wish to be the most favorable should have the +3 modifier. The action that your character will be the least fortunate in should have the -2 modifier. One of the actions will remain at the default 0 value. I hope this makes sense.
Avoid Harm
This includes all possible ways that the human body can avoid being injured during attacks or accidents. You can call it evading, dodging, blocking, parrying, or whatever you want. It is about reflexes, movement, and weight.
Endure Injury
When you are injured — and you will get injured — there is a process of psychological and physical trauma. These things can cause all manner of problems for you and your environment. It is in part about the severity of the injury and your willpower to fight it, but also about the energies beyond normal perception that you put out during all this.
Keep It Together
This is about your mental health after traumatic experiences. The experience can be anything between injuries or verbal conflicts to gruesome scenes or paranormal encounters. There is a possibility that your mind will turn against you and leave a mark.
Act Under Pressure
There are complications in everything you do. Even when you attempt to make a cup of coffee, there are certainly traumatic things that can happen. The less complications, the easier everything will be.
Engage In Combat
This is for when you exert violence of any kind. There are certainly many things that can go wrong in violence. Things can malfunction, there might be friendly fire, or perhaps your opponent turns out to be more dangerous than you thought.
Influence Other
This is for when you interact with non-player characters or attempt occult practices. There is a myriad of things that can go so wrong here. Is there even a point in mentioning any of them? Use your imagination.
Sixth Sense
There are many hidden things in the world. There is also intentions and thoughts in the minds of other people. This is less about what can go wrong and more about what you can know without knowing. The Game Master will inform you when this happens to your character.
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