Justin Achilli

I’ve had this idea for a fictional World of Darkness city since shortly after we started redesign work on the WoD. One of my favorite aspects of the new World of Darkness is that it’s just weird. As such, it’s the perfect venue for a setting that doesn’t have to adhere as closely to a rigidly defined worldview as locations in the old World of Darkness did. In the old World of Darkness, everything was laid out — writers just had to decide which ubiquitous and reliable clan/tribe/etc. their characters-as-plot-hooks belonged to. The new World of Darkness, though, is wide open to possibilities of unique, undefined, unorthodox bizarrerie that gives even the supernatural denizens of the world with a shudder. Those proud creeps who prowl the night don’t have all the answers anymore. That’s a great square one from which to start a horror chronicle.

To that end, I’ve long wanted to put together a setting that turns up those strange occurrences to 11. Making the city of Diadem a fictional setting adds just a hint more alienness and menace to the environment, as people visiting (in the context of a game) don’t quite know what to expect.

I can't quite understand what's happening here, and that's good.A city in which no established supernatural “template type” holds sway (or even knows what’s really going on) is a great place to turn new groups of players’ characters loose — they can be movers and shakers among their kind or rank neophytes, and they’ll all be faced by challenges that exceed the default political struggles of the games as written. It’s also a strong candidate for crossover stories, as various factions used to being on top have to pool their resources to resolve the city’s oblique mysteries.

A diadem is a crown, of course, but it has its origins in the Greek word diadein, meaning "to bind." I like the double-entendre, suggesting that the city of Diadem is both a treasure and a trap

Influences

Literary influences include Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, William S. Burroughs’ Cities of the Red Night; Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities; a little bit of China Miéville’s Bas-Lag and New Crobuzon from Perdido Street Station, etc; and of course some of H.P. Lovecraft’s Kadath, Sarnath, and mysterious R’yleh. Film influences include Dark City, Metropolis, City of Lost Children, the non-comedic aspects of Brazil and 12 Monkeys, a more kinetic Twin Peaks, and Tetsuo: Iron Man. I have a ton of musical influences, too, but I won’t bore you with them here.

Pieces of the Crown

Here are a few ideas I’ve been scribbling in a notebook that I think are particularly suitable for use in Diadem. Naturally, there’d be a lot more in an actual chronicle, but  thinking critically about the setting suggests a few core ideas.

• A “prince” or other preeminent supernatural figure who isn’t a vampire, werewolf, mage, or anything like that. He’s a dream that’s taken on its own identity and he needs the troubled sleep of the people of Diadem for his nourishment.
• A group of otherwise normal people who have abnormally long lives. They’re mystically connected to the wellbeing of the city and serve it in a somewhat similar way to how ghouls serve vampires. It’s a little more abstract than that, since they serve an inanimate object or idea in the form of the city.
• The Clock of Souls, a family line that serves as a sort of fuse for a supernatural event. When the last member of the family line dies, that supernatural event occurs. Characters might kill the last descendent to hasten the event or they might put a spell on him or otherwise artificially extend his life to put off the supernatural event. (I haven’t yet defined the event.)
• The Mechanos Cult, a religious faction of deists who view God as a clockmaker or other artisan. They’ll be up to something that seems nefarious but is ultimate altruistic or at least pragmatic. I’m wanting to invoke some of the Masonic aspects of From Hell with this one. As well, the Greek scientist Heron had designed a slew of "miracles" that would convince people they had witnessed divine intervention — some degree of that church-as-theater idea would be appropriate here.
• A pack of intelligent dogs. Not werewolves, but actual dogs. This seems very sinister to me, with an unknown number of dogs potentially spying on people or actively planning to betray them somehow. They might not even be an organized faction, just a fluke that occurs here and there in the city. This may or may not be related to…
• The Child Catcher, a kidnapper at large in the city who’s been plying his trade for longer than any one such fiend should be alive and vital. I may tie the Child Catcher to the dogs (“These dogs are the abducted children!”) or this may have some application to Ethan’s treatment of Changeling.
• A variety of suggestions on the city’s history. I want to include possible origins for wherever people decide to place Diadem in their chronicles — it might be a haunted Roman fort like Aquincum or an American anomaly like Roanoke or a cultural relic like Savannah.
• Some portion of the city will be accessed by canals, like Venice. Something inherently spooky colors the idea of canals, and Venice is built literally atop the older city that existed there first. I touched on this a little in the first edition of Clanbook: Giovanni, but it's real-world macabre that's just too good to let lie fallow. Haunting history in the context of John Berendt’s City of Falling Angels and Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil.