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A Unified World of Darkness

ONE WORLD OF DARKNESS
Why A Unified World of Darkness is NOT the same as a Crossover

The Supernatural residents of the World of Darkness come from drastically divergent backgrounds. Few of them can really hope to comprehend Awakened beings from unusual backgrounds, and sometimes just understanding how they think can be a difficult task. Mages do not really understand the Kindred, and the Kindred certainly do not understand the Garou. Many supernatural beings believe they understand Wraiths; many of these 'experts' are quite mistaken.

However, the supernaturals all exist in the same world, and despite their best efforts, they must occasionally deal with one another. A great deal of their interaction simply take the form of business transactions, and a substantial amount of what each group believes about their counterparts is nothing more than propaganda.
- The Chaos Factor, White Wolf Publishing

Definition of a Crossover-
A Crossover is a game where Characters from different systems all happily play together and ignore the Canon position that this couldn't happen. According to the rules as written, this should only really happen if the group includes a Vampire or an Imbued as nothing in the Rules ever states that Mages have a problem with Changelings, Wraiths, Undying or Garou, and the same can be said for those groups about each other and Mages too. To a purist, this simply means that no mixing should ever be aloud because its always being lambasted on message boards. Whatever your stance, it is important that you don't allow this view to spread beyond its bound and start to follow the nonsense about using all other Supernatural races as one dimensional Cannon fodder without splats or a cosmology of their own.

Definition of a unified World of Darkness -
A Unified World of Darkness is the original intention of the game and its developers in which the different system species may not have teamed up to play 'Super friends', but they did all inhabit the same single reality. It is the World of Darkness where the Shapeshifters have a neo-pagan belief and tribes, even if you are running a game of Vampire. In which the Dreamspeaker's are not the friends of any Werewolf, but of those whose cosmology can accept their shared philosophy. It is highly important to the rest of this article that you are intelligent enough to understand this distinction!

THE ORANGES OF THE SPIKEYVERSE

A Unifying Theaory for the World of Darkness

If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have one idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas
- G. Shaw

In the beginning was the Void, an ocean of chaotic possibility. Chaos encompasses all things, matter, spirit, order, Life, thought, Instinct and desire. That desire was the catalyse for change and the void divided, spawning new life. The Primal chaos divided, echoing the nature of all cells, of all life, and new creatures were born. A plethora of creator Gods came from the void and together began to create realms for themselves.

In Egyptian Myth the creator god, variously named Kheper, Ra, Ptah, Amun or Apis, comes from the Primordial waters of Nu and creates a realm with his seaman. Mesopotamian legend relates how primordial Apsu creates Mummu-Tiamat, from whose body the creator God Marduk forms the world, the Maori understood the Void as Po, while the Japanese, Hindus, Buddhists, the Orphic texts of the Greeks and the Chinese creation myth liken the primordial chaos to an egg containing the germs of creation. The Ravnos Clan refer to the void as Weig, or as the Universal chaos while the Garou revere the Wyld. It is like a womb containing the seeds of creation. The half Spirit changing breeds know many truths about this time, even if they communicate them in allegories and mythic terms;

"Gaia blossomed in nothingness and became something. She gave birth to everything known and unknown. The Dawn was the light of Her eyes opening and spreading throughout the world. There was no sun in those days but Her eyes were brighter anyway. Whop needed the sun when you had them?

None of us today can imagine the sheer joy all things felt in that time. Everything that existed did so because She willed it that way. Beautiful creatures unimaginable by our crude minds were born and danced in the dewy grass of the Dawn. Just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes and envy to my heart. But there was no envy then, for everything was fulfilled, born with utter potential. All was a mystery for these newborn eyes, and the world was a wonderful land of exploration: to touch, to feel, to reach out for the world and have it reach back; to meld with it and separate and meld again for the sheer joy of it. No one then knew that separation could be permanent.

Everything was in flux, nothing was set or static, for they had no names. But Gaia tired of this chaos, and wanted order so that She could rest. So, She called all Her creations to Her and named them one by one. By giving them names, She gave them limitations, but also wonderful powers they hadn't had before.

Some things were wilder than others, and She set some above them to reign them in. These were the totems who rule their broods. In this way, everything had a place and a family, and every family had a leader who was named to be wise and powerful.

But some things were never named. They ran when they heard Gaia's call, for they wanted to exist with no limitations. Fear ever meeting such a spirit, for they are powerful and nothing is beyond their sway. It is said that they still exist in the Deep Umbra, at the very farthest margins of the world. The minions of the Wyld are not as chaotic as them, for even the Wyld has a name. Fear the nameless."

- Axis Mundi; the Book of Spirits, White Wolf Publishing

These entities spawned by the void, which in many ways were the void, had the ability to form reality. Creation began. In the worlds that existed before man, when the realms were fluid and ran together as one World, the Gods walked the land. Some of these entities divided again and again, following the original diversification and becoming lesser Deities, Spirits and Daemons, while others retained their energies and ruled as all-powerful Gods, heads of great pantheons, the Totems and the Celestines of the Garou.

Those who remember this time have a dearth of names for the children of the Void, the Occultists call them Daevin, the Aboriginals knew them to be spirits of the Dreamtime, while in Persian mythology they were named the Daeva, the Asura and the Divs. Those Voidlings who did not continue to divide and create more of themselves became the greatest Gods. They attracted lesser Children of the void to them and these Angels or Demons were able to interact with the world of man. The Gods created children of their own from the available elements and moulded amoeba into animals, each greater than the one before until intelligence was born amid the apes. Each of the Gods had their favourites and the worship of their faithful gave them power. Behind the scenes, battles were fought over reality and sometimes a God was denied worship and was lost. These Mortals sought to understand their magical world and by this act, sundered the physical world from the spiritual realm.

This flux of void born entities never stops and defeat often means being reabsorbed by the Void itself or by the victor as can be seen by such examples as the absorption of the ideals of Zoroastrianism into Christianity. Over the history of the world the most powerful Gods got to shape reality and their worshippers got to write History by dint of superiority, allowing Voidlings newly emerged from the Chaos to have been present at the beginning. Creation myths became the truth as the power of the Void, the Weig of the universe, became rationed and possibilities contracted. Unfortunately the Realms could not retain their plasticity in the face of universal belief and as mankind began to doubt the existence of Spirit, so the Spiritual aspects of the World were shut away. A wall began to appear between the world of matter and the other worlds, eventually severing the two realms completely for those without enough of the Voids power to cross this gauntlet.

Slowly the Mythic age ended as the lies of science took hold and the Children of the Void had to take refuge. The world of reason could not house them, focused as it was on the Matter that lays at the end of creation rather than the Void that is the beginning. Those beings of the Void who remained were greatly weakened in this brave new world and so most fled from their creation. They took shelter in what some call the Umbral realms, most notably in the Dreaming, in Empyrean (Heaven) or in Hell, or they fled beyond the star, while some were trapped in the spaced between the worlds.

There is in God, some say,
A deep but dazzling darkness.
- Henry Vaughan, Silex Scintillans, pt. I, The Night

A world where monsters creep around the shadows and have societies every bit as detailed and divergent as human civilization is not new, it is the premise of Films like Nightbreed, with its Tribes of the moon, The Sonja Blue books, and the TV show Buffy the Vampire slayer to name but a few.

The unified theory is based on the concept that the Mythic age, alluded to in Kindred of the East, Mage, Changeling and Demon: the Fallen, was a time that could include all possible truths. Before reality calcified Gaia was the source of all life and it was also created by Christian God, Shiva, Ptah, The Jade Emperor, Marduk, Cronos, the Spirits of the Dreamtime and by the Big bang. Each deity, each creative spark and each scientific process all came from the same source, from the Void that existed before time and space. While this sounds impossible when viewed by our modern mind, we need to remember that these thought processes, like science, are simply a modern phenomenon that were formed by mans desire to understand and quantify his surroundings. The concept of consensual reality first proposed by the Mage system becomes the basis for our unified world of darkness and we are free to assign every reality to a truth lost with the mythic Age or to a myth told by supernaturals to explain their existence, no reality is mutually exclusive.

Now with the benefit of scientific hindsight, myths have no reality in our world and only the laws of geology and evolution hold water. Those creatures who did not become part of our consensual realty find it difficult to exist in the mortal realm and only those who Void energy is slight can survive for protracted periods of time here.

Those entities of the dominant reality, the ordered creatures of Judeo-Christian mythology, the natural Children of Gaia or the heterogeneous cultures of the East find it easier to exist in the mortal realm but the creatures of forgotten lands and apparent 'fantasy' need to balance their own realities with those that set the rules on earth. They must mutate to survive. During the last millennium while the Judeo-Christian paradigm dominated the Western world, creatures such as fairies merged with Christian myth, becoming souls denied an afterlife in heaven or Hell and ancient beasts like the Loch ness monster became associated with the Biblical Leviathan. For the same reason, magical natures suffer in the cold light of reason and even the Gods are unable to exist fully in our physical realm, the lands defined by science. The Void no longer fits into this reality and those who are born with more Void and less matter cannot cross the seals into our space. Gods such as Shiva, Ba'al, Jehovah, the Triat, Lucifer, the Celestial hierarchy or the Demon king Ahrimane have to send their servants, creatures of lower Void energy, to act in their stead. Only the Supernaturals whose Void natures have been adapted by consensual reality are still permanently resident here, and these are the Player races in the Storyteller system.

I am not a fan of interspecies troupes as a way of life, though I think it can be fun for short term chronicles or one off games and I will include support for them in this article, what I use in my games is an interspecies world. Following the original premise of the World of Darkness by recognising that the Vampires live in the same world as the Garou, the Mages, Wraiths, Changelings, the Undying or the Hidden. By accepting that there is only World of darkness that is home to countless supernatural races rather than the revised opinion that each Game, each race, exists in a vacuum, we are not necessarily denying the fact that these beasties don't all drink at the same pub.

ROOLZ
When one character uses a power against another, and the issue of whether the character is powerful enough to pull it off comes up, use this scale: compare a vampire's discipline rating, a Garou's Rank, a Mage's Sphere rating, or a Wraith's Arcanoi rating. The supernatural with the highest score 'wins'; her power is more effective. In the case of ties, a resisted roll is then made.

Note: The scores compared are the beings own abilities, not necessarily the level or rating of the power used. In other words, a Kindred with Dominate 4 will use the Level one Dominate ability Command the wearied Mind more effectively than a Kindred with Dominate 1. Elements like duration, damage and range do not change, but the effect's potency over other supernaturals does.
- The Chaos Factor, White Wolf Publishing.

While most supernaturals have their powers compared by path or discipline, the Garou are ranged by rank. Understandably the entire system of Gifts and the ability to use them counts as one school of magic, in essence the ability to cast Gifts. As Investments follow a similar concept, needing no linear progression, they should follow the same comparison rate. However Investments are rated from 1 to 10 like Disciplines and Spheres. So for that reason the Investment used should be the basis for comparison in the same way a gift is compared but are listed with Spheres so as not to cinfuse the fact that no Gifts exist above the sixth level. Nuff said.

Discipline	Garou Rank	Sphere rating * Investment	Arcanoi, Art* Hekau level
1	1 (Cliath)	1	1
2	2 (Fostern)	2	2
3	3 (Adren)	3	3
4	4 (Athro)	4	4
5	5 (Elder)	5	5
6	6+ (Elder)	6	-
7	-	7	-
8	-	8	-
9	-	9	-
10	-	10	-

*In the case of conjunctional effects, use the highest Sphere or Art rating of the Effect that the Mage or Changeling is attempting.

TEMPERS

Active and Passive Tempers.
Behind the rules for the different Splats in the World of Darkness are a few common ties. All creatures have Tempers; a Willpower trait, an active power source and for some, a Passive resistance.

Mortals are forced to use Willpower for all of these effects, but the Awakened supernaturals have ways to effect the world based on their cosmology. The active Temper is in its simplest form the process of harvesting magical energy and using it to empower their preternatural existence. Whether we understand this as Chi or quintessence is unimportant, it is all the same universal energy.

The Kuei-Jin, Risen from the East, are the masters of Chi harvesting, having the ability to extract it from wider sources as they advance in personal awareness while the Mages are capable of much the same thing. Garou, having a spiritual link to the universal soul, have the ability to gather and utilise two forms of Chi; Spirit Chi of the Umbra (Gnosis) and the primal Chi of their own natures (Rage). Changelings resemble Garou in this respect, they harvest Chi from their Fae and Mortal natures (Glamour and Banality). Western Vampires are limited to Harvesting this 'Chi' from blood, taking the life force if you will, while Mummy's, Wraiths and the Hidden need to fulfil certain emotive and intellectual precepts before they can harvest Chi (Sekhem, Pathos and Damnation) from certain individuals or from the universe itself.

	Vampires	Garou	Mages	Wraiths	Changelings
Active	Blood	Rage/Gnosis	Quintessence	Pathos	Glamour/Banality
Passive	Virtues	-	-	-	-
	Willpower	Willpower	Willpower	Willpower	Willpower

	Reborn	Undying	Hidden	Mortals	Kuei-Jin
Active	Sekhem	Sekhem	Damnation	Willpower	Chi
Passive	Virtues	Balance	Virtues	Virtues	Chi Virtues
	Willpower	Willpower	Willpower	Willpower	Willpower

VIRTUES
Similarly a few of the Splats have passive Tempers, or Virtues, which could, at a pinch, be replaced by Willpower. For Vampires, Mortals (at least those created with the Vampire rules), Ghouls, Mummy's (pre revision 1st and 2nd Edition) and Demons (as they originally appeared in the Storytellers guide to the Sabbat) we have the Virtues and paths (Humanity etc). In a game that uses more than one system the storyteller might feel justified in bolting the Virtues onto the other races, I certainly do when running my PbEM chronicle. This way he can judge the way all his characters react to outside stimuli, a trait lacking in Werewolf, Mage, Wraith and Changeling. By using Virtues across the board we know how humane or how instinctual a character is, we can gauge how scared or disturbed a Character is by the horrors that stalk the World of Darkness (Think sanity for good old Call of Cthulhu).

With the first two Virtues it is important to choose whether your Characters soul is of a darker or lighter aspect. Humane Creatures Have Conscience and Self Control, Beasts have Conviction and Instinct. Conscience can be debilitating to the Bete, to Autarkis Vampires or Unseelie Changelings and so Conviction comes into its own as much for the good guys as for the monstrous Sabbat or Demonic Spirits. For the same reasons, those splats who live in the moment and who rely on their guts over their brains, the Were creatures, Ecstatic Magi, almost anyone with the Primal urge Talent, we have Instinct and not Self-Control.

All Characters have Courage (sometimes called Morale), and thus the Storyteller can tell how much viscera wrenching bowel loosening terror your Character can stand up to. If you have Conviction rather than Conscience, he knows you're a bit of a cold bastard who has the ability to do what needs to be done. You're a Shadow Lord or a Lasombra more than a Child of Gaia or a Ventrue if you like.

Conscience or Conviction	The Conscience trait provides the character with the ability to remain true to your sense of right and wrong. The Conviction trait governs her ability to keep control when faced with desire by accepting her nature.
Self-control or Instinct	The Self-control trait provides the ability to fight your darker nature and keep it at bay. Instinct instead governs how much control can be exerted while going with these urges.
Courage or Morale	Self explanatory. The ability to resist terror, panic and fear. Courage as a basis for the Willpower rating shows strength of character.

For Vampires and Mortals, Courage or Morale trait determines your starting Willpower. Your Conscience or Conviction added to your Self-Control or Instinct traits determines your Humanity or path rating.

Each of the three Virtues is rated 1 to 5 and begins with a single dot already in it, much the same as the Attributes. At character creation the player recieves 7 points to distribute among these three traits. Because Virtues are bought with a separate set of points , and do not penalise other parts of Character creation, a simple addition of 2 or 3 freebie points to any Character created with another system should even up the spread.

Demonic Virtues (From the Storytellers Handbook to the Sabbat)

Demons have their own set of ‘virtues’. These represent the likelihood of them behaving in a certain manner, if the opportunity presents itself.

The first of these Virtues is Treachery. Whatever the demon gets into a position where it has more to gain by betraying its supporters and allies than it would by remaining loyal to them, it must make a Treachery roll. If it gets at least one success, it will betray its supporters. The difficulty level is based on the size of the potential gain had by betraying them. The larger the gain, the lower the difficulty level.

The second Demonic virtue is Cruelty. Cruelty represents the likelihood that the demon will commit some atrocity for its own pleasure when the opportunity presents itself. Thus, if the demon has a chance to commit some debased act, it must make a roll using this Virtue. If it succeeds, it will commit the act. The difficulty level is based on how much out of its way the demon must go to commit the act and the desirability of the situation. Thus, if the demon were running from a group of inquisitors, the difficulty level would be high because the demon’s self-interest is at stake, but if the situation involved the opportunity to throw a little child off a bridge, the demon would be hard pressed not to stop and enjoy itself.

The third Demonic virtue is Courage. It is used the same as it is for Vampires, but it is a rare commodity among these creatures.

WILLPOWER
In the Virtue systems, Willpower is figured from the base Courage/Morale rating and only after that can Freebie points be spent to raise them separately. The generation of Willpower from the base courage trait does allow a greater spread of ability and personality in other systems and Storytellers should consider which system he uses for Willpower. As this is already the core, unifying trait between all systems generating it the same way across the board makes a lot of sense.

PATHS
In the Vampire and Mortal Virtue systems, a Path score is generated by adding the Conscience (Conviction) trait to the Self-Control (Instinct) trait, resulting in a rating of between 5 and 10. It is impossible to begin with a path rating of less than 5, because even if a player sinks all available points (4) into his courage he is still left over with 3 points and the two starting points in each of the remaining Virtues.

I am not promoting the use of Paths in all systems, trying to crowbar Garou philosophy into the ethics of Humanity would hamstring the beauty of the system, but having a score with which to gauge overall spirituality and self-awareness has its uses. Most obvious is the way it reflects domination of the beast over the higher consciousness. Those whose 'Path' rating is below seven are more prone to the influences of the beast and will be less than welcome among creatures such as the Garou. By measuring the Mages control over her Avatar and the Mortals mastery over her Beast in the same way we gauge that of the Undead we see a more unified World of darkness. The Vampire with a path rating of 5 is seen as Wyrm tainted by the Garou, is then the Mage with a similar rating a servant of the weaver, does the Changeling show obvious signs of a Wyld nature? In the Werewolves cosmology they certainly do.

Storytellers might also gauge how benevolent a Mage's Avatar is likely to be based on the path rating, or the likelihood of Harano in her shapeshifters, she may even alter her difficulties for frenzy rolls or the acquisition of Banality, the chances of a Wraith's shadow taking over or of a possessed mortal giving in to her darker urges. An Uktena Garou who is to driven to attack Vampires for their Wyrm taint might not understand the difference between the undead with a low rating and a Mage with the same score.

THE BEAST
In the Unified theory all reality was spawned by the Void and travels from the magical to the mundane. Supernaturals are either creatures whose lineage has retained more of the void (Shapeshifters, Changelings, Hidden and Spirits of all kinds) or are mundane mortals who have been altered and awoken by the energies of the Void (Vampires, Mummy's, Ghouls, Kuei-Jin, Wraiths and Mages). The concept known as the Beast is really the residue of the Void that rests within everything, the junk DNA in life. By being resident in a sentient entity it gains a level of psuedo-sentience itself and can effect those with a higher level of consciousness such as humans and their supernatural offshoots.

Vampires, Mortals, Ghouls and Shapeshifters all have a beast that is understood in the classical sense. An internal urge that dwells within the soul, perhaps a remainder of the Humans reptile brain, and that seeks to overwhelm the conscious mind in favour of the instinctual animal. Freud and Jung have a few theories on this concept, Jung even talked sense on the subject. For the Kuei-Jin the Beast is referred to as the Demon or the P'o nature. Wraiths have their Shadow, almost as sentient as the Kuei-Jin Demon, which is perhaps the Beasts true nature now released from its physical imprisonment. Mages and their wider grasp of the universal have an Avatar, a cerebral beast, but a beast none the less. Changelings seem not to have a Beast in the classical sense, their internal nemesis is far more active and it comes from the fact that each half of their Chemistry is diametrically opposed to the other. The fae nature can drag the mortal mien into insanity while the Banal mortal body and the world in which it exists can literally kill the fae soul, or at least force it into a coma. The Mummy's Beast seems at first to be absent while they are alive, in Death they have a shadow like any other Wraith. Perhaps the Ka portion of a Mummy soul could be considered to be the face of her Beast. For the Hidden the Beast, the pure essence of the Void is called the Sorath and has aspects seen in other Supernaturals.

REASONS FOR INTERSPECIES CO-OPERATION
The Dreaded Issue of the Crossover

A friend loves at all times and a brother is for adversity
- Proverb

The the first and most conceivable reason for the supernaturals to work together are the ties that existed for the character before he was embraced, or before he awoke in which ever way. These are likely to be much stronger than those his mentor (Sire, Sept, Pack, Tutor, patron etc) informs him are expected. A devout Christian embraced by the Followers of Set, unless the Setites have spent a great deal of time corrupting the Neonate before hand, will still be a devout Christian and will still deal with the world in the same way, he will be no more likely to commit the acts of atrocity we expect of the Setites than any other Christian. The embrace, or any other awakening does not reprogram its recipient!! Nothing in the embrace forces a personality change upon the new vampire and nothing in the Chrysalis can turn an evil Mortal good just because he now has a fae mein.

The Embrace is like the Lottery ... I won't let it change me!
Certainly those clans whose physical state are altered, the Nosferatu, Samedi or the Kiasyd, might undergo some changes, but that should be considered on an individual basis, the same can be said for Garou or Changelings who undergo a physical metamorphosis. For Garou the First change comes at the end of a long and traumatic period that will have certainly taught the Cub who is a real friend and who isn't. The final revelation for shapeshifters must often be a blessed relief. Mages undergo a traumatic awakening, but although it will certainly open new vistas, the Mage is most likely to deal with them with the frame of reference he developed as a sleeper. Wraiths are simply dead versions of mortals and can be assumed to continue on in much the same vein. Changelings, being thrust not only into a new state but into a new world almost immediately might be expected to undergo drastic personality changes. Perhaps, but when you consider that a part of their subconscious has always known who they were and that they benefit from the preparations of the awakening in much the same way as Garou and mages, perhaps they are in fact least changed of all. The Reborn are always given a choice, while the Ammenti, a fusing of a Reborn with a Mortal/Wraith (in essence at least), undergo something akin to the Vampires embrace. The point is that a sensible player will not strap himself into the stereotypes and will first consider who his Character was before the event that thrust him into the supernatural world.

This reason, above all other, provides countless reasons for crossovers and interspecies relationships. Membership in a mortal body, especially one with close ties such as a family (Vampire revenants, Kinfolk, Kinain), a race (the Romany, Ghetto bound cultures, Garou Kinfolk) or a Cult (Setite temple, Mage Acolytes) makes a reasonable premise for Supernaturals whose Elders hate each other to remain loyal, or at least on cordial terms. Forgive me using the Romany as an example but its always better to stick with what you know.

The us against them sense that they will have grown up with might not be wiped out by the first change or the embrace. Sure vampires are servants of the Wyrm, or Satan, but that doesn't include Cousin Couron obviously. Gawje Mages might be untrustworthy, but Nana Lee the Chovihani (Witch) isn't gawje is she? All bets are off in this case. The Silent Strider from gypsy stock will trust his Ravnos Uncle more than the Get of Fenrir skinhead Sept mate, its in his blood. If you want it too be! Maybe the wise Mage is teaching your character his skills, but his coffers could feed your family for a year. And when you set up your foreboding castle or secret Chantry on your own, who will you choose as aids and staff? The Gawje fools, or your own people? Why bother living among people who you might have to hide your nature from when your own family accept the supernatural as everyday?
- Spikey, article for Valkyrie Roleplaying Magazine.

The same thinking can be applied to almost any group. If you were embraced into the Vampire nation tonight and went home to your family, would you share your secret with your siblings, your mother or whoever you trust? If your Wife turned out to be a Mage or your Big Brother a werewolf, do you truly believe the racial hatred between your new camps would outweigh the shared experiences of blood and family? I have to say that such thinking smacks of limited thought processes to me. So these ties that exist for you and I as mundane people in our mundane world are just as powerful in the World of darkness and its hard to imagine that they wouldn't elicit the same amount of understanding there. In the modern world the supernatural is given little credence, especially in the affluent west. There is no stigma for a teenager 'coming out of the closet' as a werewolf or a Vampire, though he might want to be careful how he announces his newfound status as a 'Fairy'.

Joking aside, the whole concept of coming out that permeates enough of our TV to be recognisable to us all regardless of sexuality is a good metaphor. Revealing your true nature to those you know will always depend on who you are and who they are, but if the majority of intelligent people can accept you no matter what, does it really matter if you're an alcoholic, a homosexual or a troubled soul with an aversion to sunlight and a liquid diet?

So, what we are saying here is that while the modern mood of White Wolf canon claims to be against Crossovers, the logic of the game setting does not support this view. If you want to concentrate on the Blood ties of your Romany troupe and gloss over the fact that one is a Werewolf of the Silent Strider Tribe, one is a Ravnos Vampire and the other two are Changelings from the Eshu Kith, does anyone really think you're committing a sin? If your Garou pack runs with a Dreamspeaker Mage is that so bad? There's also a lot of mileage in the Star crossed lovers scenario, if your Juliet happens to be a Setite and Romeo a Silent Strider you have a vast amount of ethos in your stories. Failing that, there's always the shared enemy, the twisted upbringing or the 'trapped together' concepts to explain a crossover chronicle.

THE SHARED ENEMY
Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed
The First Book of Moses, Called Genesis, 9:6

One of the simplest reasons for groups or individuals with an animosity towards each other to work together is the old adage that 'the enemy of mine enemy is my friend'. This usually only works for short periods of time however and makes a better 'one-shot' story than it does a campaign. Less fractured groups might form a co-alition war party, or a task force to remove a much greater enemy, but its fair to say that once the enemy is defeated, all bets are off. This in itself can be a great scenario, if the story goes far beyond completing the mission and includes the attempt of the Player Characters trying to get home while being deep in enemy territory once the truce is declared null and void.

Secondly, the Truce might be made at a much higher level, but the party's higher ups. If A Tzimisce Voivoide and a Shadow Lord Elder have agreed to forgo their war with each other until the vile Tremere are driven out, those at the lower level are often kept in the dark. The vampires may not even know that their mission to cut off a village is only part of a larger plan that includes having a garou pack drive the Tremere into that Village to be slaughtered by more able vampires or higher rank Garou.

Of course, it isn't always a combat scenario that might lead diverse entities to co-operate. If a local group or sect is the main focus of attention, smaller groups opposed to it might be able to exchange information or favours, non-aggression pacts or Truces. Just because you have agreed to not Kill the Lupines when they come into town to battle the Sabbat, it does not mean your Coterie of Camarilla loyal vampires will ever join with them and fight back to back. Two unfriendly forces might be able to accept the continued existence of each other, so long as neither crosses established turf boundaries or conducts themselves in too monstrous a fashion.

TWISTED OR ENLIGHTENED UPBRINGING
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
- The First Book of Moses, Called Genesis, 2:17

The Enlightened Upbringing is most notably established by the eastern settings or the Middle kingdom of 'Kindred of the East', 'Hengyoki' and the other year of the Lotus products. These creatures do not conduct themselves in the same fashion as the Barbarian westerners and believe that any animosity can be avoided by the judicious use of emissary and diplomat. For all its Flaws, the Kindred of the East does present a much more believable viewpoint for the supernaturals in which hatreds and decisions to attack and exterminate are not based solely on race, but on nature and criminal intent. The Shapeshifters of the East are only really interested in taking down the servants of the Centipede (Wyrm) whether those servants be Kuei-Jin, Mages or even other Shapeshifters should it come to that.

'TRAPPED'
Oh, if I had Orpheus' voice and poetry
with which to move the Dark Maid and her Lord,
I'd call you back, dear love, from the world below.
I'd go down there for you. Charon or the grim
King's dog could not prevent me then
from carrying you up into the fields of light.
-Euripides

Vampire: the Masquerade

If sack and sugar be a fault, God help the wicked! If to be old and merry be a sin, then many an old host that I know is damned: if to be fat be to be hated, then Pharaoh's lean kine are to be loved.
- King Henry the Fourth, Part I - William Shakespeare

Werewolf: the Apocalpse

A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Kubla Khan

For the Garou nothing is more important than the Conflict between the Triat and thus those they see as harmful to Gaia are to be despised. Most hated of the Player races apparently are the Vampires, who the Garou believe are 'of the Wyrm'. Ignoring the glaring holes in that theory we must first examine the way Garou sense Vampires. We are given pages of explanation about how any Vampire with a humanity of 7 or over will not show up for the Gift sense Wyrm, but so what? If Garou automatically consider all Vampires as Wyrm tainted and any Garou can sense the lack of body heat, smell and breathing on a Vampire, it should make bugger all difference. No Garou would ever use sense Wyrm on a Vampire because he should have already attacked him.

Unless.

Unless there are Garou who view the Leeches in shades of grey. Why might that be? Well top of the list come the Silent striders and the Ravnos tie I have mentioned before, or perhaps any vampire who works against the Forces of Set gaining an ally by dint of the old adage my enemy's enemy is my friend. Other Garou might also share a common philosophy with members of the undead, Shadow Lords and Tzimisce perhaps, or Ananasi running with Anarch's. Farsighted Garou such as the Uktena or the Children of Gaia might work with the leeches while searching for aspects of the sane Wyrm or Glass walker or Bone Gnawers because they see aspects of the Weaver in the vampiric nature.

Beyond the Vampires are the Mages, creatures of the Weaver we are told. But the Dreamspeakers share an almost identical cosmology with the Shapeshifters, at its grass roots level at least. The Stargazers share some common ground with the Akashic brotherhood, which is mirrored by the entire relationship between eastern supernaturals, and Verbena have been known to tolerate the Fianna.

Mage: the Ascension

Lady, I have to tell you I have been grossly misinformed about witches!
- Bart Simpson

There exist only three beings worthy of respect: the priest, the soldier, the poet. To know, to kill, to create.
- Charles Baudelaire

Wraith: the Oblivion

If I must die,
I will encounter darkness as a bride,
And hug it in my arms.
- William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure

Changeling: the Dreaming

O black and unknown bards of long ago,
How came your lips to touch the sacred fire?
How, in your darkness, did you come to know
The power and beauty of the minstrels' lyre?
- James Weldon Johnson, O Black and Unknown Bards

Mummy: the Ressurection

I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.
So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind:
Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned
With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned.
- Edna St. Vincent Millay, Dirge Without Music

Demon: the Hidden

If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
- The Gospel According to Saint Matthew, 6:23

When Demons first reared their heads in the World of darkness they were explained with the Vampire system, The Storytellers Guide to the sabbat gave the Demons Virtues of thier own and replaced Blood with damnation.

Demons have their own set of ‘virtues’. These represent the likelihood of them behaving in a certain manner, if the opportunity presents itself.

The third Demonic virtue is Courage. It is used the same as it is for Vampires, but it is a rare commodity among these creatures.

Treachery / Callousness	Blah blah !
Cruelty	Blah blah !
Courage	Blah blah !