Places

In a story, Blights serve as objects of action. Garou can never truly feel safe, but entering a Blight is akin to cross­ ing the Rubicon. It’s a moment where players know shit is officially real. It’s a moment when everyone knows it’s time to check their Initiative pools. So from a storytelling perspective, Blights are all about framing. Blights give the Storyteller an arena of sort, which lets her control the tension in her chronicle. If the players know their characters will be raiding a Blight, the buildup to that moment allows them to open a bit, to play vulnerable, since they know the real danger doesn’t start until they take that step.

Also, Blights allow a Storyteller to lay the symbolism on thick. The Penumbra in general allows for communicative, symbolic representations of the World of Darkness. If she has a little time to prepare, Blights can help her foreshadow elements of the story, hit home with moods and themes she wants to emphasize, and remind the players of the setting’s personal aesthetic. This is best handled through specific combinations of spirits, contrasting the Wyrm and Weaver present. If you’re telling a story at a hospital, Toxic Waste Banes and Mercury Pattern Spiders each could be interesting spirits. But together, they start to tell a story. They both show different facets of the same location. Look at spirits as lenses, as much as antagonists.

Chimares are dreams made flesh. Some Garou believe that every dream has a Chimare representation. This is not true; the Penumbra’s not big enough for that. They’re certainly not representative of every dream, but they occur any time a dream reaches a certain degree of prominence in the cultural subconscious. Popular variations receive their own Chimares as well. For example, an entire cluster of Chimares represents variations on “performing while naked” and “falling” dreams.

Chimares are often malleable, depending on how powerful the dream is. Prominent, frequent dreams tend to have very solidified conditions. Fleeting dreams can be manipulated by a strong will, or an enterprising Theurge using the Rite of the Dreamtime. Dreamstuff is like clay, and a well-baked dream needs a lot of work to return to its softened state, if it can at all.

Chimares stand as an excellent way for a werewolf to find what she needs. If she knows what she’s looking for, she can find an appropriate dreamer and trace the threads of their subconscious back to a Chimare. But nothing’s ever that simple. If she doesn’t know her dreamer, his dreams, and the symbolism within, she could be wandering into a place with dangers beyond her wildest imaginings. Sure, she might be able to get a long-extinct flower from that dream meadow, but if she hasn’t done her research, she might end up eaten by the living, carnivorous earth beneath the meadow.

More troubling, some willworkers seek out and latch onto Chimares. These sorcerers treat Chimares with the same reverence Garou treat caerns. The dreamstuff holds much value for their magic. Such mages are a dire threat within a Chimare, since they can mold its contents far better than any werewolves could ever hope to.

Affecting dreams can subtly affect dreamers. Most people expect certain things of their dreams. If a visitor shakes those foundations, she can damage the dreamer’s subconscious. If the dream shifts from serene to harrowing quickly, the damage can be permanent.

While not a common tactic, some Black Spiral Dancers invade Chimares as a sort of guerrilla tactic, where they’ll warp a dreamer into a violent, jumbled mess for whatever ends they wish to serve. The easy path leaves a person com­ pletely debilitated, and liable to lash out violently and end their next day locked up. The challenging path creates a complex, ticking time bomb that destroys lives around him, and ends in a well-placed conflagration. Kinfolk are ideal targets for this type of invasion, since they have ready access to sept resources, and often direct access to sleeping Garou. This is a risky proposition, high risk, high reward, but since when have the Black Spiral Dancers shied away from risk?

Since perceptions in a Chimare are determined by the rules of the dream in question, they’re as varied as the dreamers. However, a few recurring themes pop up in many Chimares, because the human brain works in certain similar ways between people. Dreams are highly dissociative. Often, perceptions in a Chimare are synesthetic; a visitor might see a smell, or taste a sensation across her skin. For those going in unaware, this can be a jarring experience. Even with extensive research into the dream, these sorts of senses can’t exactly be trained. The best the Garou can hope to do is test the waters with lesser Chimare before any extended campaigns in the dreamtime.