A hollow age makes hollow people. In many

regards, the 20th century was that age – filled

with sound and fury but very little depth below its rather spectacular surface. The term “lost generation” was coined to reflect the wild rush of indulgence and abandon that epitomized the early part of that century, and though the Hollow Ones are anything but lost, that phrase echoes their questing Path.

Dismissed as a bunch of shallow club-kids, the Darklings are as old as humanity. Where other mages sought enlightenment, the hollow people explored shadows. The heirs of Lilith and Lucifer, they found power in rebellion, not submission. It’s not surprising, then, that they were, until recently, a rare and haunted breed.

The group’s modern incarnation traces its roots to the Romantic Rebellion of the early 1800s, when artists like Byron, Beethoven, Goya, and the Shelleys spit in the face of that Age of Reason, exposing the tempestuous intersection of nature and humanity. Their inheritors, the Decadents, reveled in debauchery, seeking wisdom in excess. In those days of open-eyed madness, the Hollow Ones found inspiration. Although the group’s familiar name and purpose came together several decades later, that pursuit of clarity through glorious paradox remains a foundation of the sect. “We are,” quoted Darkling icon Neville Sinclair, “the Hollow Men. We have always been here.”

Regardless of the name they’ve chosen, the Hollow Ones specialize in revealing truths that other folks would rather ignore. Their ironic embrace of morbidity is a pose meant to highlight the importance of life. A living memento mori, this group kicks over monuments in order to show the rot underneath… and thus, to also demonstrate the importance of living life well. Art, poetry, dance, imagination… such things are sacraments to the Hollow Ones, not simply because it’s fun but because of the truth embodied in artistry. Art, at its best, distills passions into symbols other people can understand. Real art – not the hollow confections of pop culture but the deeper levels, where truth comes out – is a form of magick. And although other groups employ that focus too, no sect understands this form better than the Hollow Ones.

Though they’ve shared space with other sects for over a century now, the Hollowers rarely get the respect they’ve earned. Most other mages see them as dilettantes, capering around the club-scene like spoiled children while their elders do the heavy lifting. That’s an unfair assessment, though understandable at times. In reality, the Darklings focus on Earthly matters that their oh-so-cosmic peers ignore. Especially since the explosion of subcultures in the post-WWII era, Hollow mages have concentrated on the young people caught out on the fringes of their world: the misfits, the freaks, the left-behinders whose oddness strands them, as Patti Smith put it, “outside of society.”

Ours is a strange and beautiful weirdness.

Organization: Traditionally, the Darklings favor small, family-like cliques; within these groups, social acclaim and stigma keep the members of that group in line. Given the dangerous nature of their world, these cliques prize loyalty and punish betrayal with all the harshness of the streets. The rules within such groups are simple: don’t fuck each other over, respect one another’s autonomy, and remain beautiful in the face of ugliness.

Stereotypes

The Traditions: We gave them a chance – lots of chances, actually. They blew us off, so fuck ‘em. We got a new ball and we’re playing a new game.

The Technocracy: The rotten core of a rotting age.

The Disparate Alliance: Is it perfect? Hell no. Is it an improvement? Damn straight.

Other sects might show up at homeless shelters with some gifts and a sermon, but Hollowers speak the language of the streets. Like the cast-off items from which they shape their Arts, these mages reclaim life’s throwaways and make something beautiful from them.

Until recently, the Hollowers were considered the lost Tradition; they had even considered, and been considered for, a 10th seat on the Council of Nine. Those plans fell apart when various catastrophes shook the Council. Hollow elders, disgusted with the constant games of make-nice, decided that the Traditions were a lost cause. Although some Hollow Ones joined the Verbena, Ecstatics, or even the Etherites, the majority decided to ditch their Council aspirations. The talks that seeded the Disparate Alliance proved instrumental in that decision… and now the Darklings – rebel tribes by nature – are adjusting to the idea of being leaders instead of malcontents.

Initiation: Though they’re typically associated with the Goth-rock subculture, Hollow Ones gravitate toward any fashion steeped in beautiful revolt. Punk, metal, hip-hop, techno-industrial, and even classical music cultures have adherents among the Hollow Ones. Most recently, the neo-jazz, steampunk, fae-punk, Gothic Lolita, and androgynous visual kei subcultures have rattled the old Bauhaus-style cage. Even so, many Hollowers still enjoy the old-school Goth look, if only because it’s so unfashionable these days.

An element of grace must always be present in Darkling company. When an appropriately graceful member gets noticed, a clique begins to test his fitness to join the club. From a discreet distance, they prod him and watch how he responds. Assuming that he passes their tests, they approach the potential member with offers of friendship. If he seems cool, he’s allowed further and further into the clique until the members judge him fit to join… by which point he’s usually a member by default.

Affinity Spheres: Any. Focus: Darklings use whatever they’ve got to work with – typically things discarded by society. Broken toys, occult goodies, and symbols and behaviors that so-called respectable people shun make potent tools in the hands of a Hollow mage. Belief-wise, that hollow image is appropriately symbolic: these folks tend to see themselves as vessels of life and death, pouring their Arts out or carrying those cosmic forces from place to place. Magick, then, comes from the proper comprehension and intentional use of the energies that, in most people, are simply wasted. Everything is Chaos, an Illusion, or a Mistake, probably on a One-Way Trip to Oblivion. Some Hollowers insist that It’s All Good, but they’re the minority. Chaos and gutter magick are near-universal among the Hollow Ones. Although such Arts don’t actually nurture chaos, they thrive in the chaos of our age.

Organization

Traditionally, the Darklings favor small, family-like cliques; within these groups, social acclaim and stigma keep the members of that group in line. Given the dangerous nature of their world, these cliques prize loyalty and punish betrayal with all the harshness of the streets. The rules within such groups are simple: don’t fuck each other over, respect one another’s autonomy, and remain beautiful in the face of ugliness.

Focus

Darklings use whatever they’ve got to work with – typically things discarded by society. Broken toys, occult goodies, and symbols and behaviors that so-called respectable people shun make potent tools in the hands of a Hollow mage. Belief-wise, that hollow image is appropriately symbolic: these folks tend to see themselves as vessels of life and death, pouring their Arts out or carrying those cosmic forces from place to place. Magick, then, comes from the proper comprehension and intentional use of the energies that, in most people, are simply wasted. Everything is Chaos, an Illusion, or a Mistake, probably on a One-Way Trip to Oblivion. Some Hollowers insist that It’s All Good, but they’re the minority. Chaos and gutter magick are near-universal among the Hollow Ones. Although such Arts don’t actually nurture chaos, they thrive in the chaos of our age.