The Jail of Night:
The Apocalypse is Over

by Paul Beakley

        The Apocalypse was over when the Demiurge destroyed Gaia
to create reality.
        After the Demiurge cast out humanity and the Kindred
aristocrats from Metropolis (see part I: Metropolis by Night), Its
Archons created an illusory jail in which to keep Its prisoners until
final judgement.  The Gaia god-realm, the living dimension within
the essence of the Celestine Gaia, became this jail.
        Humanity and the accursed Kindred suddenly found
themselves within this vast, raw reality, stripped of their divinity
and senses.  Displaced and confused, the new citizens of the
god-realm set about recreating their homeland.  The humans did
this by building cities and reinventing their lost civilization; the
Kindred lurked and waited to reclaim their power.
        Prior to Her invasion, Gaia was a Celestine -- like the
Demiurge -- embodied as a living planet.  She was overgrown with
plants and animals that lived only on instinct.  Ages later, the elder
Garou would come to call Gaia's primordial force the Wyld.
        When the Demiurge opened gateways into the Gaia god-realm,
the result was utterly destructive to both sides.  Much of Metropolis
lay in ruin, its stable patterns exposed to energies of pure chaos and
uncontrolled organic growth.  Gaia's living purity was poisoned by
the statis and death that Metropolis and its denizens brought.  The
Demiurge's power of static creation was first known to the Garou as
the Weaver.
        When humanity took over the realm and raped Gaia's
dimensional embodiment, the invading race's work took on aspects
of the Wyrm.  In truth, the Wyrm is the effect of any
extradimensional energies in the Jail of Night.  The energies of the
Borderlands that create borderliners and (among the Garou) the
Black Spiral Dancers are "of the Wyrm."  The breakdown of the
Illusion within corrupted and failing cities is "of the Wyrm."  The
Hells on Earth created by Purgatides to torment the dead are "of the
Wyrm."
        Today, the garou are exiles in their own world.  The Demiurge
has hardened the barrier between the physical world and the
Garou's umbra, further weakening their toe-hold.  As "the Wyrm"
strengthens and the Illusion falls within the world's great cities, a
new Apocalypse approaches.
        For some Garou, this collapse will bring their final destruction. 
For others, it is a ray of hope that the invaders will return to their
home and evacuate Gaia forever.
        Telling stories of the Garou in the Jail of Night is not so much
about epic heroism as it is about total alienation.  While the
invading human population continues to destroy Gaia by recreating
Metropolis, the Garou become increasingly desperate.  They will try
anything to survive -- murderous preemptive assaults on humans,
worship of forgotten gods, exploration of dangerous magicks.  Their
racial memory punctuates their desperation, as newly Awakened
Garou rediscover the beast in their soul -- and the memory of being
hunted to extinction.  Perhaps it is the psychology of the hunted that
engages the Garou to create their melodramatic mythology, to give
meaning to their lives beyond mere survival.
        This is the second part of the Jail of Night, an alternative
World of Darkness set in the cosmology of Kult.  Kult is a rich and
disturbing world in its own right, and readers are encouraged to
purchase and explore the original rules for more detailed
information.

The Garou

        Before the invasion of the Demiurge, life within the
Gaia-realm could not be considered "intelligent" per se.  Creatures
there did not learn, or use tools, or create civilizations.  Rather, they
were driven by pure instinct and an understanding that every being
had a place within the Gaia-realm.
        The beings that fell from Metropolis were stripped of their
physical forms, converted to pure spirit during the transition.  They
shed their divine forms and were given bodies and minds by the
Demiurge that were unable to perceive the reality of Metropolis
from within the Illusion.
        How the Garou came to be is still a hotly debated topic among
many factions.  Many Garou tell a story of Gaia creating the
shapeshifters in response to the invasion, to protect Her
embodiment.  Hermetic research, however, suggests that some of
the fallen beings from Metropolis merged with -- or possessed -- the
creatures of the Gaia-realm, resulting in an amalgam creature with
the intelligence of humanity and the power and rage of an animal. 
Yet another school of thought suggests that early humans who
crossed into the Gaia-reality became, in essence, Gaia-Borderliners
(see part I: Metropolis by Night), their bodies and minds warped by
the conflicting energies of Gaia and the Illusion.
        In any event, the avatars of shapeshifters of all stripe are drawn
back into the Gaia-realm upon death.  They bypass the curse of the
Inferno entirely (see part IV: Necropolis: Metropolis) and thus
retain information of all their past lives.  This accumulation of racial
knowledge poses one of the greatest threats to the Illusion.  This
connection back to the Gaia-reality is also what gives the Garou
magical power, in the form of Gnosis.
        There were no attempts at peace in the early centuries of
Garou-human relations.  These creatures fought and killed humans
at every opportunity. The current myth that the Impergium was a
controlled event is a lie created by some Archon -- probably
Malkuth -- to later hide the raw destructive potential of the Garou
population.  The Archons had to cycle humans into the Inferno, over
and over, slowly stripping their minds of the memories of
Metropolis.  When plague, draught and war were not enough, the
Garou proved to be a convenient tool.
        Even in the beginning, the limited senses given humans by the
Demiurge worked to their detriment.  Unable to accept the
appearance of anything the Demiurge did not allow them to see,
humans remained blind to the existence of shapeshifters even within
their own cities.  Apparently, the Demiurge did not anticipate the
existence of these creatures.  Today, however, more people are
subconsciously overcoming their senses and see the Truth behind
this reality.  When they do, the secrets of the Garou will be revealed.

The Lay of the Land

The Umbrae

        The new reality created by the Demiurge is an unstable
admixture of two realities: Gaia and Metropolis.  These two
dimensions swirl around one another like oil and water, rarely
mixing but forever dissipating.  Where the influence of humanity
exists -- the Weaver, or the Wyrm -- there exists the reality of
Metropolis.  Wherever Metropolis is not, there remains Gaia.
        The Illusion within which humans and Garou alike exist is
partially a physical barrier, and partially perception-based.  The
limits of perception are fairly easy to overcome: through madness,
drugs, magick, meditation, artifacts or psychoemotional shock. 
Physically moving into either Gaia or Metropolis, however, is nearly
impossible without extremes of any of these methods.
        The act of "stepping sideways" in the Jail of Night is not so
much a magical ability as psychological conditioning.  Garou are
trained to see through the Illusion by achieving Gnosis, literally
"understanding."  When their perceptions entirely overcome the
Illusion, they step through into whatever lies beyond.  Because the
Garou regularly step into and out of this reality, many of these
creatures would be considered mad by onlookers.  Both the Garou
and the Azghouls share the ability of stepping in and out of the
Illusion.
        When a Garou is in a well-established city, she will step
sideways into Metropolis (see part I: Metropolis by Night).  If she is
a great distance from human population, she will step sideways into
the Gaia-realm. Sometimes, there are still faint hints of the
Gaia-realm even within areas of human population, in parks or
nature preserves.  Garou can still try and reach Gaia from within a
city, but only at great difficulty.

The Countryside

        While the Demiurge's influence on the Gaia-realm has been
vast and devastating, there is still much undeveloped land in this
world.
        There appears to be a balance of power between
Metropolis-reality and the Gaia-reality.  Where the
Metropolis-reality is strongest, cities and other manmade constructs
spring forth, obliterating all of nature.  Where the Gaia-reality is
strongest, artificial constructs are conspicuously absent. Sometimes
humans try to invade the wilderness with new housing
developments or strip mines, either succeeding in destroying
another piece of the Gaia-realm or failing and being driven back
into their Illusion.
        Sometimes, humans and the wilderness achieve parity.  These
rural areas are the strange, spooky small towns that are strung along
interstate highways and hidden backways through the hills and
forests.  The people within are often torn between the
animal-madness of the Gaia-realm and the lure of the
Metropolis-realm.
        Every human attempt at mass invasion of the wilderness is a
direct affront to the Garou.  They can sense the encroachment of
Metropolis on their lands and call it the Wyrm, or the Weaver. 
Often, these attempted invasions are directed by lictors of the rebel
Archon Malkuth who seek to assist humanity in opening gates back
to Metropolis.
        Deep in the wilderness, where the passages back to the
Gaia-realm are strongest, the Garou find their Caerns.  The energy
created by the proximity to Gaia Herself is what gives the Garou
their "magical" abilities.  Within these Caerns, all intelligent, living
things are most susceptible to Gaia's influence.
        The Gaia-realm into which the Garou in the Jail of Night step
is significantly different than the Umbra of the World of Darkness. 
It is an angry and primordial place.  The land and rocks themselves
are alive. Everything eats and grows and breeds.  The Gaia-realm
radiates a devolving power on everything that exists within it. 
Artificial objects -- everything from clothing to guns to computers --
immediately begin reducing themselves to their component parts. 
The mental capacity of both humans and Garou also begins to
weaken, replaced by animal instinct and rage.  Humans who have
spent time near Gaia-borderlands or within Gaia itself become feral
creatures, unable to control their animal urges for food, violence and
sex. Some of these humans become Kinfolk for the Garou (see
sidebar).  Sometimes, on dark nights under full moons, the beast
within escapes and they are transformed into werewolves.
        The wilderness literally drives us mad.  But then, so does the
city.

The City

        The Garou haven't remained entirely apart from the city. 
Perhaps this is proof that the Garou are simply mutated incarnations
of the divine humans who invaded Gaia.
        The Glass Walkers and Bone Gnawers spend most of their
time in the city, drawn by the presence of their "totem spirits." 
These spirits are usually the servants of the Archons (see part III:
Ascension is a Lie) or are Gaia-spirits that have been mutated by
the power of the Demiurge.
        Many Glass Walkers regularly travel to Metropolis, in search
of knowledge or artifacts left after millennia of looting.  The more
time they spend in Metropolis, though, the more they are separated
from their attachment to Gaia.  These explorers risk losing their
Gnosis or becoming Black Spiral Dancers.
        The Bone Gnawers and Ratkin share the Underworld with the
Nosferatu (see part I: Metropolis by Night).  They run the greatest
risk of exposure to the energies of the Borderlands.
        Garou who are exposed to the Borderlands eventually become
Black Spiral Dancers.  There are many kinds of Borderlands in the
city and beyond.  In addition to the slums and industrial districts,
there are also massive landfills, power generating stations and other
manmade sites.  The "Black Spiral Labyrinth" is the same
Metropolis Maze sought out by some Mages in search of
enlightenment (see part III: Ascension is a Lie).  This Maze is a
seemingly endless series of corridors and stairwells somewhere in
Metropolis.  In our reality, the Maze appears as the confusing
alleyways of places like Mexico City, New York City or Cairo.

The Realms

        The Garou spend perhaps more time traveling between
realities than any other supernatural being in the Jail of Night.  The
lictors are trapped in the Illusion with humanity, Lore magicians
spend most of their efforts drawing denizens of other realms into
this Illusion, and True Mages are often more academic than
practical in their studies.
        The Garou have mythologized many places that exist beyond
the Illusion. Weaver realms, for example, are often areas within
Metropolis that Garou mistakenly wander into.  The realm called
Scar is Metropolis itself, and within Scar there is a dizzying array of
locations.
        At the heart of Scar/Metropolis is the Abyss, a massive pit that
was once the foundation of the Demiurge's Citadel.  Garou still
venture into the Abyss to throw themselves in and seal the rift, but
must brave the dangers of Metropolis to find it.
        The Hunting Grounds are the worst part of Metropolis, where
Black Spiral Dancers hunt and kill unwary humans.  The Hunting
Grounds consist of the eternally burning ruins of Metropolis where
the Gaia-realm wrought such destruction during the Invasion.  None
of the remaining buildings stand above two stories, and the streets
are filled with debris.  Along with the Dancers live some Azghouls,
mad or suicidal Borderliners, and Ferocci, masterful hunting beasts
that may have once been human.  The hairless, wolflike Ferocci
wield steel claws and can camouflage themselves almost perfectly.
        The Inferno, because it is part of the Demiurge's plan to keep
humanity from remembering its divinity, is "of the Wyrm"
according to Garou mythology.  Malfeas is a realm within the
Inferno (see part IV: Necropolis: Metropolis), as are the Atrocity
Realms and Erebus.  The Battleground and Legendary Realms are
Purgatories often found on earth, ruled by cruel Purgatides and
Razides (see part IV: Necropolis: Metropolis).
        Pangaia and Flux are the last untouched areas of the
Gaia-realm.  Within these realms, the Gaia effect (see above) is
strongest.  Not even Garou can visit the heart of Gaia and retain
their civilized habits or human intelligence.
        The most disturbing part of the Garou mythology is how
riddled it is with the Archons' lies.  The most blatant of these lies is
the story of Summer Country.  By feeding the Garou such a
fairy-tale, the Archons can manipulate them into further destruction
of humanity's work -- and therefore maintain the Illusion.
        Finally, there are no "homelands."  While some Garou may
believe in myths surrounding these places, they are entirely
displaced and alienated in the Jail of Night.

Spirits

Totems

        These spirits are the Forgotten Gods that have existed long
before Gaia and Metropolis, and will exist long after this reality is
destroyed.  Some serve Gaia, others the Demiurge or Astaroth. 
Each totem was once its own being, but the invasion of the
Demiurge has weakened their power.  Today, they do their work in
our reality through their servants: human followers, sometimes the
Kindred, but most often the alienated Garou.
        Aspects of Archons or Death Angels sometimes also are
worshipped as totems. Netzach, for example, supports battle and
heroic victory in the form of War Totems.  Tiphareth appears as
various Wisdom Totems.  Other Archons manipulate the Garou
either as totems or celestines.
        The Black Spiral Dancers have also resorted to worship of the
Forgotten Gods.  Some of these gods include Coatlicue, the
personification of destructive entropy, Baal Rashef, the god of
pestilence, and Shiva Nataraja, the dancer of creation and
destruction.  Nataraja is a core deity in Dancer mythology.

Wyrms

        The fundamental essences of the Demiurge -- the six Archons
and the ten Death Angels -- are known to the Garou as Wyrms. 
Whether from Metropolis or the Inferno is no matter, for all of them
are the creations of the Demiurge, and therefore the Wyrm.
        The Archons and Death Angels work through the Black Spiral
Dancers, taking on the roles of totems the corrupted Garou left
behind when their Avatars were severed from Gaia in the
Borderlands.  Incarnates, lictors and razides often keep detachments
of Black Spiral Dancers as their servants.

Pentex

        Pentex is one of the most useful tools of  the Archon Malkuth,
and one of the greatest threats to the Illusion.
        Malkuth was the original creator of the Illusion.  Her
embodiment as the Illusion is, in many ways, synonymous to the
embodiment of the Gaia-realm as this world's wilderness.  She has
always been the rebel among the Archons, siding with the humans
against the Demiurge and Its servants.  She is humanity's greatest
protector, serving mages and scientists alike in an effort to free
humanity's divinity.
        Therefore, Malkuth is the greatest enemy of the Garou.  When
the Garou speak of the Wyrm, they are most often speaking of
Malkuth and her presence in this world.
        While the Technocracy is the socio-scientific arm of Malkuth's
efforts to free humanity (see part III: Ascension is a Lie), Pentex is
Malkuth's active effort to destroy her own Illusion.  The so-called
Omega Plan is the same as its World of Darkness counterpart, and
is Malkuth's suicide pact.
        Pentex executives are mostly lictors, or are at least aware that
their peers are lictors.  There are many azghouls and seraphim in the
ranks of the company.  Pentex offices often lead directly to
Malkuth's Citadel in Metropolis.
        Because Pentex is the creation of Malkuth, this creates some
strange-seeming alliances among other supernatural forces in the
Jail of Night.  The most obvious is that Pentex and the Technocracy
are one in the same.  Paradoxically, Pentex often harbors some
Mages in its ranks (although tensions between the Mages and the
Technocracy still result from inter-lictor disputes).  Some Kindred
in the service of Malkuth, especially the Brujah, work for Pentex.
        In addition to the endless stream of construction projects that
Pentex finances, it also performs extensive research on animals and
humans to determine ways to break the Illusion through genetic
research.  This research so far has resulted in the total alteration of
the subject's mind and body, resulting in a "fomori."  Some fomori
can survive the change and are used by Pentex for certain kinds of
field operations.  Those that cannot are augmented with technology
(exoskeletons, enhanced senses, implanted weapons and such) and
relegated to guardian roles around Pentex facilities.
        Because these creatures are so far beyond what humanity has
been programmed to expect, they are able to manipulate the
Illusion.  Sometimes they appear as human, other times they slip
beyond the Illusion entirely and move within Metropolis,
re-emerging where the Illusion is thinnest.
        Pentex has also mastered techniques to create new lictors.  By
augmenting the Create Proto-Lictor spell in the Lore of Passions,
Pentex researchers have discovered that breeding a fomori with a
sleeper human results in a lictor-like being.  Raised in the confines
of the Pentex laboratories, these new lictors learn total allegiance to
Malkuth.  As a result, Malkuth's power is expanding within the
Illusion while other Archons are weakening.  If this trend continues,
Malkuth will succeed in unmaking the Illusion and destroying this
reality. Sidebar:

Lore Magic

The Dream Realms

        Dreams are an important part of the Jail of Night.  They hold
real power, a shadow of the divinity humanity once enjoyed.  This
realm also has its own population, and creatures that seek to break
into our world through our dreams.
        The Garou and Dreamspeakers are most adept at controlling
their journeys into the dream worlds and most likely to have
knowledge of Dream Lore magic, but the power of dreams affect
everyone in the Jail of Night.
        Because the power of Dream is so significant, it is often
important for a character to know how to control their journey
through the Dreamlands.  This skill -- lucid dreaming, or the Art of
Dreaming -- is the first skill learned in the Lore, before any Lore
magics are attempted.  This is its own Talent.  Using the Art of
Dreaming, the character can alter their appearance in a dream, alter
the dreamscape and summon creatures.  At level four or higher, the
dreamer can open a portal between her dream and reality.
        Very skilled dreamers can actually transport their life essence
into the dream world and become a resident of Vortex, the source of
all dreams.  This Dream Wanderer can then enter other people's
dreams and open portals between Vortex and reality.
        The most powerful Dream Wanderers are the Dream Princes,
eight men and women who have mastered the Art of Dreaming and
now exist entirely within the collective dreamscape.  These princes
are served by other, weaker Dream Wanderers as well as
Ichthyrians, spiderlike creatures that hunt dreamers and devour
them both in the dreamland and reality.
        The difficulty of  Dream Lore spells is ranked in five levels.  A
character can learn spells up to their knowledge level in Rituals.

Level 1

        See Through Dreams -- the conjurer can open portals to view
or enter other people's dreams.
        Manipulate Dream -- the conjurer can alter the subject's dream
in any way he sees fit.

Level 2

        Summon Dream Creature -- the conjurer can summon a Dream
Creature. Examples include Dream Wanderers (see above),
Ichthyrians (see above) and Psyphagi, parasitic creatures that
possess living people.
        Bind Dream Creature -- the conjurer can bind any of the above
dream creatures.

Level 3

        Expel Dream Creature -- the conjurer can drive away a
creature from the dreamscape that either exists within the dream or
in reality.
        Exorcise Dream Creature -- the conjurer can drive away the
presence of a dream creature that possesses a human.

Level 4

        Dream Walk -- the conjurer can freely move between reality
and any of the dream worlds (other people's dreams, Vortex, the
realms of the Dream Princes).

Level 5

        Create/Destroy Dream -- the conjurer can create a new,
permanent dream world -- or destroy the dream of another. 

Sidebar:

Mortals in the Jail of Night

        Make no mistake: there is plenty of room for an effective
mortal character in the Jail of Night.
        Lore magic is an important part of this equation.  These
powerful magicks are available to any human willing to pay the
price.  This price is usually servitude to a lictor or incarnate.  The
secrets of lore magic have made their way into dusty tomes in many
languages.  In the Jail of Night, all but the most blatantly
opportunistic New Age books carry at least some power. As more
lictors rebel against their masters, the Archons are increasingly
anxious to secure the servitude of mortals.
        The powerful supernatural beings of the world -- Kindred,
Garou, Magi and Wraiths -- also have use of their mortal
counterparts.  With so many mortals under the control of archons,
lictors, Pentex, the Technocracy and other supernatural entities, a
truly independent and capable assistant is a rare gem indeed.
        Because of the pervasive influence of Metropolis, the Inferno
and Gaia upon all aspects of this world, mortals act strangest where
the Illusions are thinnest.  Tiny rural communities, for example, are
populated by "simple country folk" driven mad by the primitive
energies of Gaia.  Nights in these towns are filled with orgies of sex
and eating as these simple folk shed their civilized facades and
fulfill their primitive urges.  The Garou seek out these places, using
the mad population as kinfolk to protect themselves.
        In the city, many forces push and pull humanity as the Illusion
is simultaneously reinforced and destroyed.  Supernatural power is
appallingly seductive and readily available.  Most people who
explore these secrets are driven mad, however, before they uncover
real power.  Those that don't either find themselves on the Light
Path, reinforcing their understanding of reality as they approach the
Awakening of their sleeping divinity, or the Dark Path, as infernal
beings devour their souls in return for power (see part III:
Ascension is a Lie).

A special note from Paul: THIS DOES NOT PUT THE SERIES IN
THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.  I STILL OWN ALL RIGHTS TO THIS
SERIES. IF I FIND THE SERIES POSTED ANYWHERE ELSE
YOU WILL BE WRITTEN OUT OF THE INHERITANCE!

Copyright 1995 - Paul Beakley.  If you wish to redistribute or
repost this file, please contact the writer at muaddib@mailhost.
primenet.com