The shadows lengthen in the City of Redemption and night is about to fall. Starting next week we'll be running a serial of urban Gothic horror. Take a look now, before the sun sets...
Redemption is a medium sized city in the middle of some dark corner of England somewhere. The castle it grew up around was at various times in history a shrine, a fortress, a monastery and a manor. Today it is a thoroughly modern city, although the ruins of the castle and a rich accumulation of architectural styles serve as a reminder of the city's long history. Something old dwells behind the glass and steel skyscrapers of the city's heart; something older than the Victorian brownstones and the Gothic cathedrals; older than the remnants of the fortress walls which once ringed the town; older even than the sections of ancient forest preserved since feudal times. Magic lurks at the roots of the city and it draws creatures of darkness and here. Club-hopping vampires can be seen at the city's night spots; urban werewolves run in the streets; witches and sorcerers ply their trade in unexpected places; and occasionally one will even meet one of the fae, the Fair Folk whom it is perilous for mortals to know.
Dark Redemption started out as an online role-playing game created by James Crowther (aka Jex, Lord Featherbunny), one of the Secret Masters of a Harry Potter fansite called VH. It quickly evolved into a kind of shared world novel in which each writer's plot became a thread in the greater tale of a city of magic and Gothic horror. For a while, With Jex's permission, I was serializing some of the major plots from the story in my "Live and Let Dice" column on the website Pop Thought.
The game, sadly, eventually dwindled away, and Pop Thought, too, is no more. I've decided to revive my story thread from the game and present it here. Hopefully, I may even finish it. Stranger things have happened.
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