Tenebris Mundi

Seed:

In the modern day, humanity as a species has achieved miracles since the days when people walked the earth following the herds of beasts in their routes of migration. Humankind has made societies, knowledges, languages, civilizations, politics, and perhaps most unique to this world safety. For the majority of history the primary motivations for progress were a combination of safety and survival. It's what people want, good health, safe neighbourhoods, and a bright future. It was never imagined that the improvements in medicine, education, communication, and general progress would have any downside. The mistake that most of the modern world made was to assume that the safety of progress meant that it invalidated all of the old ways and practices that had any element of danger, sexuality, or morbidity. By the year 2000 several active moments began a movement to sanitize common culture of these aspects not realising that from this desire to protect they were sacrificing something greater in exchange, they were killing humanity's creative drive. Creativity is born from the interaction between the Libido, the life impulse, and Thanatos, the death impulse. Though Libido is that which gives energy, Thanatos is that which gives the drive to create, it is through their co-existence that moves the world forward. By such choices made has the world gone out of balance, death is veiled, violence is sterilized, and the cosmic trickster of entropy has been caged as a butterfly's flapping wings. there is something seriously wrong with the world and if you can't see why you're part of the problem.

Chained Icarus

Standing there in a blasted room

Two doors out but neither worth choosing

Open doors, open sky, open dreams chasing across my mind

Chained to ground, chained to life, chained to destiny.

I dream of a world where I can matter,

I dream of a life I can earn,

Posibilities branching from choices,

Wings locked by a king I'll never see.

I'm standing here eyes reaching for the sky,

I'm tied here by another man's dreams,

The lie of the future all I've eaten,

The Shit from the past all I've seen.

Daedelus built me my wings to reach for the sky,

Flight to freedom meant to reach for the impossible,

Never reach the sun, never reach the air

Set to reach for the top never to hit the horizon.

Dad I want to open my wings,

I want to fly to my destiny,

You gave me the tools,

You gave me the hope to reach for the stars,

Your child not a hostage but a statistic.

Better to fall a million times,

Crash and Burn and Learn my lesson,

No one said life was easy,

Pain and experience a certainty,

I don't want anything you didn't earn.

But no one saw the chains that hold me,

Wrapped around by people we've never seen,

Not for safety,

Not for help,

Not for Slavery,

Made for a future where my gifts were unseen.

Can't you see these chains wrapping me,

'Cause Jacob Marley's got nothing on me,

Nothing wanted, nothing needed, nothing allowed,

For a future like a dust on a breeze.

Did you feel the chains constricting you,

Placed layer by layer over the years,

No Freedom, no future, no home,

Like a chained Icarus too held down to try to fly.

Sun's burning warmer on pained glass shards,

A thought experiment in Describing Tangible Darkness.

We all assume that black is the same as dark. It's a reasonable assumption, lack of light makes it dark and lack of colour makes it black, it seems logical doesn't it? We are of course wrong, Darkness by itself is a genuine absence of light, whereas black is just a blue that found a way to absorb all the light. Amoung us there are people that can tell dozens of shades of black, each a near-imperceptible degree of colour mixed in that differentiates itself from the rest. Darkness is much simpler, perceivable darkness is in direct contrast to the nearest source of light. The further away you are from that light the more shadow blends in with the light until you're practically blind, In this sense the darkness is invasive. What creeps us out is when the darkness develops texture instead of contrast, which is a curious way to put it. Normally in the visual medium degrees of darkness are contrasted with each other usually by means of colouring and shading, however unlike the visual evocative medium the written medium is invokative, that is to say rather than bringing the idea out one desires to manifest the idea within the "Cartesian theater" of the mind. One can create imagery however the goal is to create the image within the reader's mind with clarity while still utilizing the reader's imagination. In this case it is not like the difference between metaphor and simile though this difference is relevant. Saying that "the darkness oozes oil-slick across the floor with a rapier point," creates a different feel than saying "like oil the darkness oozed across the floor developing an edge as sharp as a rapier." It's the active voice vs. passive voice problem, but there is a deeper issue at hand, and it's the problem with describing colour. One cannot describe the greenness of green without comparison to another green object for reference, and the frustration of describing what may be considered the indescribable is making it's mark on me. Example: On another project I'm doing with a friend we were deciding how to describe an elemental force made manifest, not elemental in the Aristotelian sense but in a Platonic sense of Essences, and I described a being made of dozens of bird wings with a single reptile eye emanating from the center, this being is coloured a multitude of slightly transparent emerald green, it smells like citrus and sulfur, it sounds like a crescendo of euphoniums, and it tastes like pepper, soil, and juniper. Now, I grant you describing it in the active voice from a character's perspective will make it seem less awkwardly written, but the issue I feel is the same experience I have with writing about a living, tanglible darkness, that words fail when images work better, if barely.

Affirmation to the Realization of Be-ing.

We are the Never-Men, those that tread the edges of reality in dream and fiction.

We are the twilight walkers, the greeters of dawn, the fools hidden in the noon day shadow.

We empty our heads to erupt a vacuum of desire so that the pull to experience is endless.

We empty our hearts to prove that they are without boundary or limitation.

We see what is not there and take from that empty void the power to change minds.

We hear the unspoken words, thoughts, hopes, and dreams and we speak to fill their absence.

We fall a million times plummeting to the abyss for the day that we would find the means to fly.

Better afflicted with the paradox of life than drudgery in the simple gift of living.

The Void is not my enemy, it is the basis of my creation, Silence is not my foe it is my opportunity.

There is no colour, no taste, no sound, no feeling that can be wholly described, yet try we must.

There is no Truth, no Love, no Justice, no Kindness, no Hate, and no Faith unless we make it so.

Either nothing is sacred or everything is sacred.

And within that quantum-thin boundry between light and darkness where shadows become defined, I will find my soul.

Prosetry no. 1

Quiet dreams single stain the glass of my expression,

The brown and gold of my cornea are tinted tired,

wistful,

Lonely.

I tried sleeping,

waking wishing dreaming I await Mr. Sandman's last call at the bar,

my money isn't good here,

I wait for the dregs of sleep that more wealthy patrons leave behind in the glass,
when my money's good I can drink all I want,

when it's bad my throat gets sore from thirst.

Lust, Interest, and a Mercurial attention are my bedmates,

the four of us sharing a bed meant for two,

I'm the biggest one here, but they take up all the space,

tiredness rests on me like a blanket too small,

I can't cover up,

wrap around,

or keep myself comfy,

If I'm brain tired I'm not body tired,

If I'm body tired I'm not emotionally tired,

But if I'm not tired enough I'm spiritually tired.

What do others think about, when they stare into the nothingness waiting for death's little cousin,

do they think about the same things I do?

Kisses,

Mu Shu Pork,

factoids growing into facts that want to grow up to be full information

do they all lust for the sex to exhaust body and soul,

the crave that last drink to uncomfortable oblivion,

the rocking sensation of a parent's care that makes you fall on angel's wings into warm nothingness?

Illness sucks.

A world's Genesis

I have an idea for a novel, and this one I don't want to let die or be transformed into gaming material. SO....

I plan to write a few exerpts from the story I plan to write, this is the first, the prologue, the beginning.

First there was nothing, and in this absence of everything the cosmos was born.

Within our universe a thing manifested, but it was the only thing in existence, and it was lonely.

So it divided itself and from these two halves came light and darkness, they met and intermingled and explored the extreme limits of each other's existence, and though light and darkness were no longer lonely they wished to create something new to experience the world.

So light and darkness took of themselves and made the elements, made the stars, and set them all in motion. From this material creation light and darkness found new beings to talk to, they met the waters, the earth, the air, and the fires. And each spoke with different languages but with the same voices as light and darkness. They spoke of sight, sound, movement, creation, and change. And when they had spoken all that could be spoken of the six beings wished to create more. The gods made trees, grass, fish, animals, birds, and people. They listened to all these new voices in the world, though the plants and creatures they created swished, barked, cawed, breyed, and bubbled the gods did not hear voices from them they were accustomed to. Then they heard two divine voices from across their world, the gods of life and death had joined the discussion. Yet despite all the new things to talk about and all the things that exist in creation and interact within creation the gods felt something was missing from their creation. So the eight gods gathered together and made the dreaming, and from the dreaming they gave men imagination, and from this creation the god of dreams joined the pantheon and things began moving faster.

The god of dreams inspired men to create themselves, and from men's creations the gods found new members joining them. The god of time, the god of civilization, and the god of knowledge. But then the god of dreams inspired the last god, the god of the glyph, and at last all was good. From this last god and his creations each god found themselves named, each piece of knowledge could be recorded, times could be specifically told, and the glyphs of power were made. Great wizards could use and combine the glyphs to aid peoples and make new things, discoveries were made in time and after time all could be said to be good. But long after the glyphs were discovered and the words of man could speak with the words of gods an awful, terrible thing happened.

Outside of the cosmos, in a place past the stars, where the gods did not create the universe a thing entered the cosmos, and the gods not knowing what it was thought it was another god within creation. Ebal, the light-giver sought to welcome the being to the god's creation, though the thing hid from her gaze, it did not like the light. Unable to find the thing Ebal asked Narroh swift-shadow to find it. And Narroh searched in the hidden dark places of creation where only he may tread faster than light falls. He found the thing and wanting to be courteous approached it from earshot and introduced himself. The Thing responded in a language Narroh had never heard before, speaking in a voice of such hatred and anger that Narroh was so shocked when the Thing attacked him the god faster than light was unable to dodge out of the way. Caught by the Thing Narroh fought hard to free himself though he knew that the Thing meant to eat him. Unable to prevent his end and knowing that the Thing meant to possess his power Narroh released his command over darkness though the Thing managed to consume the barest fraction of Narroh's power. Ebal felt her companion's end, and all the gods felt the lack of Narroh's presence in the dark places in the cosmos as his power was released. Suspecting that the thing ended Narroh the gods spoke to each other fearing that the thing meant to unmake them and take over their creation. Though each god knew something needed to be done each feared for their safety as any being that could end such an old god was a frightful thing indeed, fire would not burn it, water would not drown it, air could not blast it, and nothing made of or on earth could harm it. It was not born so it could not die, it could not be tamed, it could not be aged, and there were no known weaknesses. Then from the depths of imagination Ensud the dream-shaper from the depths of the dreaming found an answer. Taking some of the released power of Narroh, Ensud nightmare-wielder crafted a cage for the Thing that would contain it. Ensud sought the Thing and baited the trap with a meal made of dreamstuff. Poisoning the Thing with dream Ensud confined it within a cage of a deep dark dreaming. The Thing was taken away from the Cosmos and it was hoped that it would never be able to escape. Ensud darkness-trapper was congratulated and given some of the nighttime responsiblities that still required a god's supervision while Ebal Shine-Sorrow wept the lost of Narroh Light-companion.

All was well for some time, though the god of Light did grow distant from creation. Unable to escape from the Deep Darkness the Thing experienced the dreaming, and began to understand some of the power it stole from Narroh darkness-delver. Though the thing could not physically escape from the Deep Dark Dreaming it learned how to manipulate the things of darkness, and extend itself into the darkest of the dream. Mimicking the things it found within the dark dreams of the cosmos it learned how it would smite upon the god's creation. Of the powers the Thing stole it could only use them on the Dark of the moon. Bidding it's time the Thing watched humanity grow and decided to strike against it specifically as they attracted the most interest of the gods.

When the thing struck, it was a nightmare of living darkness, from shadows the monstrous and indescribable things emerged from shadow and dream and struck against humanity. Though many were killed or driven mad the old weakness of the Thing did prove to be humanity's shield, only those who rested in light were immune to physical harm, though night terrors continue to plague humanity. Ensud nimble-thought was sorely vexed at such horror inflicted upon humanity, and sought a solution to the problem within the farthest, deepest realm of the dream where the dreams of philosophers meet. And thus, a solution was found, though humanity knew how to make light the dreams of people were meant to be sacred, though the gods were mighty they were not so imaginative as humanity, Ensud guard-maker made it possible for humans to fight the Dark Terrors of the soulless moon.

Ensud gave to humanity the gift of dreams and the gift of drawing from dream and imagination the terror and horrors that humanity could create to fight against the machinations of the Thing. Thus humanity saw Dreamweavers erupt from the Nights of Dark Terror, those taught by Ensud in the timeless dream how to defend against the Thing. Though despite the defenders, the plan was incomplete, though Ensud honour-martyr could not stop the Thing from causing the Nights of Dark Terror, he could actively guard and improve the prison to keep the Thing from learning from Humanity's darkness allowing humanity to develop better weapons to fight the thing.

Hail to Ensud! God of Dreams, protector against the Thing, and patron to Dreamweavers.
May you be forever honoured for your noble sacrifice.

An examination of the hierarchy within the Eulicid Foundation as far as the Agents are aware.

Eulicid Foundation

• Public Operations
• Business Management
• Diplomatic core
• Communications
• Foundation Management
• Headhunting
• Executive Organization
• Internal Security
• Temporal Operations
• Operations Departments
• Academy
• Basic Training
• Education
• Indoctrination
• Archives and Intelligence
• History and Informational Archiving
• Intellegence sorting and conglomerating
• Social Science Studies
• Training
• Archanotech
• Magickal R&D
• Magickal Archiving
• Magickal Training and Indoctrination
• Implant training
• Counter-Ops
• The Karma Bureau
• Intellegence training
• Foundation Team Assignment
• Intel.
• Medical Core
• Emergency Medical Training
• Surgery
• Xenobiology
• Thauma-medico corps
• Psych ward
• Mortuary
• Meta-human Resources
• Accounting Dept.
• Agent Assessment and observation
• Counciling Dept.
• Human Resources
• Life Security
• Inter-existential Relations
• Training
• Quartermasters
• Armory
• Costuming
• Equipment Training
• Equipment Maintenance
• Equipment Control and Acquisition
• R & D
• Public Relations
• Fiscal Adjustment
• Media Control
• Network Maintenance (Spys and Contacts)
• Paperwork and Political Presence
• Organisational Liaisons
• Inter-Organisational Relations
• Situational Management (Cover up and clean up)
• Training
• The Vault
• Dangerous Item Storage
• Internal Affairs
• Prisoner Storage and Corrections
• Training
• Field Mission Teams
  Mission teams are frequently made up of Agents cleared for field work from other departments, they are grouped on a mission-to-mission basis based on the relevant abilities presumed neccesary.

EF Status Benefits

Status * EF Agent Template, really? You don't think that's enough? You get status 1 for free for heaven's sake!

Status *** Agent Gains three Dots to apply to Allies (EF Department) and may purchase Allies dots within the EF at half cost. Agent now may use Allies Merit to gain additional resources or clout when interacting with specific Eulicid Foundation Departments.

Status ***** You are being watched by those Agents that have passed through the smokescreen into the executive level of the Foundation. You’ve been given a secret, a powerful secret, but an important secret, if you manage to hold onto it for long enough you will be given the option of Ascending the corporate ladder. Your Character gains a powerful ability or a transcendent piece of knowledge by the storyteller that may represent a chronicle long achievement by the Character...Hint HINT!