Editing Staring At The Sun

Staring at the Sun is a rpg.net forum-based new world of darkness crossover game set in the city of Toronto, Ontario. It is intended to explore themes of the home, humanity, and the hunt. This space will soon link to pages for Cast, Setting, Fiction, and Rules sections but for now will simply hold a collection of the material already publicly shared by the ST 4LetterWord and the players.


'''Welcome to the Six:''' 
''"Tiller, I hope this helps you get a better feel for the city. I cobbled together some different pieces from some of the more talkative local...personalities. Needless to say, keep this one close to your chest and if possible, burn it once you're done." - Spade'' 

Toronto is a beautiful city, there's no denying that. Regardless of the late unpleasantness presented by ex-Mayor Rob Ford, it remains a city with a strong economy, an unusually low crime rate, a cosmopolitan population, and a strong cultural presence. On the surface it is almost perfect, but in the corners of the city, on the darker parts of the net, inklings leak out. The strange circumstances surrounding the death of Barry Hoy, how neatly everything was wrapped up around Mayor Ford, and the things that live beneath Cabbage street. These secrets stay secret, the city runs smoothly, maintains its seeming perfection, but nothing is free, even in Canada.
'''
Mortal Toronto:''' 
''"This bit is lifted straight from a darknet site being run by a couple of local "Perseuses" I found. Figured who knows the mortal better than a mortal."'' 

Alright kiddies, we all know why you're here. All other things aside, this city is rotten to its core. You've all had the dreams, you know what we're working against here, but you need to know the terrain before you can follow through on the hunt. I've been here for a few minutes so let me give you the run down. Toronto is big. Make that Big. 2 million people means a lot of territory to cover, and about a million of them are immigrants. No judgment, but it's a bit harder to get solid Intel out of someone who only speaks Hmong Vietnamese. Furthermore, it means more places to hide and to be level with you, the cops are not on our side. Not on their side either, but they don't like people poking around and asking the kind of questions we tend to ask. If you can turn them on your mark, do it, but be careful, one or more cleaners I know have gotten things turned on them for pointing the pigs away towards something that looked like a Nightmare but wasn't. Tread lightly. Organized crime is actually a better bet. More than a few of the best and most heroic warriors for the cause came out of one of the cities criminal organizations and some of them, the Jamaican and the VVT in particular, are run by individuals with no love for anything that crawls in the dark if you feel me. The cities demography means there are more gangs you can count, and they've all got different loyalties. More than a few have taken the monsters side...

''"He paints an alright picture. Organized crime is actually more common in Toronto than you'd think, and in Canada generally, due to the specific sentencing laws and the difficulty in prosecuting cases."''

'''Secret Toronto:''' 

''"This one I got from Lathe, one of ours. He outlines how things shake out here among the "things that crawl in the dark."'' 

So Spade wants a crash course, and here it is in one sentence. The city revolves around the CN Tower, and the community revolves around The Organization. The Organization is an eclectic group, an exclusive club that takes the most powerful and puts them in a room together overseen by Temperance, who is...well None of us are sure. There are rumors of their powers and abilities, ones which border on demonic even, but they also do not seem bound by the normal limitations. I asked some other members of the community and they said similar. Like a vamp, but seen in the Sun, like a mage, but worked around Mortals, you get the picture. The Organization has its fingers in a lot of pies but its real power comes from its membership, and their followers, employees, and talents. They number about sixty with an internal hierarchy not unlike a modern corporation. They are more than willing to draw on outside talent, but are not big on allowing lowly monsters to sit at the board room table unless they've paid their dues. The mixed, cosmopolitan nature of The Organization is reflected by some of the other groups in town. While each segment of the community has their society, most of us are members of more than one, and they are very happy to use and include outsiders with strange talents. I may not be a full member, but I am part of the local freehold and consilium as well. That comes with a few duties, but more resources. It gets complicated, real fast, but if you can insert yourself in the chain of back scratching at the right spot you can turn it against our enemies without too much trouble. I could go on, but for this break down, better that you ask one of our liaisons for the run down and introductions. The general rules are the same, no breaking other peoples toys, respect your deals, and offer no aid to anyone on the Black Lists.

'''Blacklisted:''' 

''"I'm not part of the Organization, but Awl is, and they maintain the Black Lists."''

The primary function of the Organization is the advancement of its members and to a lesser extent the broader community in Toronto. To this end we use numerous tools, but the one observers are likely to encounter are The Black Lists. Created by Temperance shortly after The Organization's founding, they are simple. They represent individuals who are officially ostracized from the community, with their positions up for grabs, their lives unprotected, and their friends encouraged to stay away, depending on the level of sanction. They are a hit list. They target everyone from mortals getting too close to the Organization who do not have what it takes to be peaceably enrolled in the community to too promiscuous vampires who make one too many "children". There are two things you need to know about the Black Lists. First, they are a collection, publicly held and distributed along with all collected information on a target. Second, there are...levels To the Lists. Dusk, capture for punishment. Midnight, kill. Dawn, capture for punishment. The lists are not magical, but they represent a...community Effort to hunt and destroy. The last thing to note is that there is one group who always land on the Midnight List, the Wendigo. 

'''Wendigo:''' 

''"Last but not least, I figure you should know about the local bogeymen. I've run into one of them once before and I barely survived even going loud. Hatchet is on of the other Organization members still working with our cell, and he's part of their Solutions Operating Group, which is far more dangerous than it sounds."'' 

Right. Wendigos. Strengths: Physically dangerous, human or above-human intelligence, natural control over darkness, ice, snow, blood, able to consume the substance of...anything. They take strength from anything they can eat and get stronger. Some of them have been able to make ghouls or things like them. The monster dreamers of course say they are their cousins but they don't have lairs. They are weak to silver but are certainly not wolves. They are endemic to Ontario and nowhere else and are drawn to Toronto. They look normal until they don't, they hunt everything, they can eat anything...bad news. Weaknesses: Overwhelming physical force. High concentrations of explosives. Like the wolves silver helps and to properly dispose of one they must be killed, ritually dismembered with silver, burned, buried, and the ground salted. Call for help. 

The worst part? We're not sure they're solitary, and they've been more common over the past 10 years. Attacks have almost doubled this year. They're getting stronger or more common or bolder but whatever is happening it's got Temperance on edge and if his name wasn't indication enough, they don't scare easy." 

''"That's the story. Look, there's room for people to get power here if they can play in the system, and advantages here that are nowhere else, but if things keep going the way they're going it could get a lot darker really soon. Stay smart kid." - Spade''