[WoD: Bad Dreams] Introduction

[Creeper]

Talis Canyon is a large port city, built at the mouth of a deep valley. Constructed in the late 1800s to primarily to support the Navy base nearby, the city has grown in leaps and bounds thanks to a number of prestigious Universities and artists springing up. This city of 500 000 people also has some darker claims to fame, including the highest missing persons rate on the continent. Space in Talis Canyon is limited, as the urban landscape is spread to each wall of the tiny valley. The town boasts large Steel, Military, and liberal arts companies and employers. Things are just as lucrative for the black market, as drug use, prostitution, and illegal immigration are rampant in the cramped town. And it is here that either a terrible disaster or beautiful wonder will be created...

[Creeper]

People are strange when you’re a stranger
Faces look ugly when you’re alone
Women seem wicked when you’re unwanted
Streets are uneven when you’re down

When you’re strange
Faces come out of the rain
When you’re strange
No one remembers your name
When you’re strange
When you’re strange
When you’re strange...- The Doors, 'People are Strange'

Welcome to The World of Darkness: Bad Dreams, a crossover game between White Wolf's Mage: The Asenscion and Changeling: The Dreaming. There is a limit on player slots, so please send a PM to Creeper asking about an opening before constructing a character. Also note the large number of modifications I've made to both games when you take into account the descision to play here or not.

The major theme in the Chronical is Change. The characters are placed in positions to make or witness great changes to the Dreaming, the City, or even to the World. But are the changes worth it? Is the suffering caused by their actions just a minor side effect of their gains?

[Creeper]

Changeling

Welcome to Talis Canyon.

Or, rather, welcome to the land of Duchess Layrona, and she'll make damn sure that you know that it's HER land, no matter where you decide to hole up. She spends most of her time playing the nobles against each other in a grand game of Grabass. And to think that this place used to be decent.

Kithain used to come to Talis Canyon for the high amount of Dreamers, and the bright Dreaming landscape. The dreamers and landscape are still here, but our home is plauged with hordes of Nervosa. It's gotten to the point where it's dangerous for Changelings to go out without a group. There are witnesses that say that some of them have gotten strong enough to abduct mortals. The motleys have complained, the nobles have complained, but the Duchess just looks on and smiles, considering that the Nervosa were fighting Banality by terrifying those poor human souls.

And there are other weird things, too. There are rumors of a 'Hole' in the middle of Talis Canyon, though where it leads is a point of argument. Talk of sea monsters attacking the Navy ships from the base. And let's not mention all of the Sorcerer running around aren't making things any less boring.

So welcome to Talis Canyon. You don't want to wake up here.

[Creeper]

Mage

Welcome to Talis Canyon.

Ah, good ol' Talis Canyon, natural home of the Perpetually Paranoid Willworker. Keep a few steps away from me boy, just 'cause I said I'd give you the low-down, doesn't mean I won't fuckin' stab you in your face. Things weren't always this bad.

You know, folks 'round here never really considered the possibility that we would have power over this town. Sure, it was an idea we believed in, but The Traditions around here figured that would come far in the future, with humanity backing us as we drove the last stake through the Technocracy's metal heart. We kept this in mind as we fought the Ascension War from the founding of this town until the Reckoning.

Then a peculiar thing happened in Talis Canyon, around 1998. We started to win.

Sure, the loss of Horizon and the Masters hurt everyone, but we still pushed even harder against the Technocrats. We struck at their sympathizers, their constructs, and all the little businesses they hid under until... They stopped showing up to fights. Any violence on our part was met with retreat, misdirection. They made no efforts to retake power or brainwash any more sleepers. They just stopped everything, except for when some moron was trying to break the Rule of Shade.

Naturally everyone was pleased as punch that we had effectively won Talis Canyon. There were parties and orgies and mass-meditations, depending on the particular Tradition, of course. Then some fucker had to stand up and ask the inevitable question: What are we going to do now?

That's when things started going wrong. A bunch of folks just wanted to blow the whole door on the supernatural open, let humanity know what was up. There was surprisingly great opposition to this, mostly from the Hermetics. The use of magic on Sleepers became a big topic too, and after a few Traditionalists were found murdered, wild accusations started flying. Fuck, even the bad blood between the Brotherhood and the Euthanatos was kicked up again.

Long story short, the Traditions in this city have effectively imploded. Everyone is guarding their stuff and their asses, certain that the unseen evils will come and get them. With the Technocrats on their heels, Mages now have the time to carry out private agendas. You're going to have to make a serious effort to get someone outside your tradition to trust you. And things just keep getting weirder every day.

So, Welcome to Talis Canyon. You don't want to wake up here.