Reflections in the Dark: Personal Growth and Ideology in Obscurity Shroud
I've been working under the title "Obscurity Shroud" for a modern supernatural setting that combines some RPG mechanics with a personal narrative. The main plotlines are driven by experiences drawn from my own life, using a highly metaphorical approach to explore personal struggles and growth. It unfolds non-linearly, with different characters representing distinct phases of my personal development. Each perspective offers a glimpse into these moments, blending fantasy and self-reflection.
At the same time, the setting of Sydney serves as a platform for social critique, where supernatural creatures like vampires, arcanists, and therianthropes symbolise larger ideological forces. These factions embody capitalism, liberalism, and reactionary traditionalism, respectively, exerting their influence in ways that reflect real-world systems of power and oppression. Through these supernatural beings, I can explore my journey and the societal structures that frame the world around us. I hope that this interplay between the personal and the political gives the story depth, allowing for both introspection and a critique of the broader social order from my perspective.
Vampires: Drinking the Lifeblood
In this setting, the vampires serve as a monstrous metaphor for capitalists who exploit their workers. Just as vampires drain the life force from their victims, capitalists siphon labour and resources from the working class, amassing vast wealth while giving little in return. These vampires don't simply feed on individuals; they manipulate the entire economic system to secure their dominance, thriving on the inherent inequalities they perpetuate. They create a world designed for their unrestrained consumption, where resources and energy are extracted without limit. Their victims are left in a state of slow, agonising decay, drained of vitality and reduced to mere vessels of productivity—and, in more recent times, consumption. The system is indifferent to their well-being, viewing them only as expendable cogs in the relentless machinery of wealth generation. The more the vampires take, the more the system reflects their parasitic nature, grinding down those at the bottom to ensure the endless hunger at the top is always satisfied.
Given how much cultural baggage the word carries, I initially considered using a different term for "vampire". It's such a loaded term, steeped in history and myth, that if you were an actual vampire, you'd likely avoid calling yourself that at all costs. However, I decided to stick with "vampire" in the story for clarity and simplicity. Despite this choice, I wanted to capture the sense that the vampires themselves would reject the vulgarity of the term. To reflect their self-perception, I developed alternative names that they use among themselves, such as "The Kin", "Nightborn", "Elders", and others. These names embody their sense of superiority and distance from the monstrous connotations typically associated with their kind.
Sydney's class and social divides serve as the perfect backdrop for this exploitation. The wealthier districts, with their opulent high-rises and luxurious estates, act as the secluded lairs of these vampires. Hidden in their towers, they are insulated from the everyday lives of the city's working class yet continue to feed off their labour and vitality. These areas might look pristine on the surface, but they are rotten at their core, decaying from within—a reflection of how the system itself is hollow and unsustainable, propped up by the lives and energy it siphons from those below. Wealth is hoarded, power is concentrated, and the disparity between those who work and those who benefit from their labour is stark and unmistakable.
Arcanists: Guardians of Balance
In contrast, the arcanists represent liberalism's obsession with maintaining balance and preserving the status quo. While the vampires thrive on chaos, disruption, and suffering, the arcanists are laser-focused on keeping everything in equilibrium, even if that means upholding an unjust system. Their approach often centres on progressive reforms focused on identity issues—aimed at addressing representation, inclusivity, or social recognition—while leaving deeper structures of power and exploitation untouched. The arcanists fear that any significant disruption, no matter how necessary, could lead to chaos and instability, so they advocate for small, incremental changes that never challenge the core foundations of the system.
Though they appear well-meaning, the arcanists are ultimately complicit in preserving inequality. Their reforms offer just enough change to soothe unrest and promote the idea of progress, but these changes are superficial, focused more on symbolic victories than on dismantling the mechanisms of exploitation. They pacify rather than revolutionise, ensuring that the system remains fundamentally intact with all its inequalities and injustices. By addressing identity issues in isolation, they divert attention from broader economic and structural oppression, reinforcing the very hierarchies they claim to challenge.
As such, the arcanists operate as the gatekeepers of tradition, wielding their magic to prevent extreme shifts in power dynamics. They believe they are protecting society, ensuring no group becomes too dominant or rebellious. However, their reluctance to confront those overtly responsible for exploitation reveals their role as defenders of the system rather than agents of change. Their magic symbolises how liberal ideologies are often more concerned with preventing upheaval than addressing the real issues at hand.
Therianthropes: Champions of a Lost World
On the other hand, the therianthropes embody reactionary ideals, seeking to rebuild a world governed by rigid, hierarchical traditions. Their vision of society is rooted in the sanctity of ancestral bloodlines and a strict, unyielding social order where everyone knows their place. To them, power is not earned through merit or innovation, but a sacred inheritance passed down through generations as part of their natural duty to uphold the established order. The therianthropes see their power as a collective, almost moral responsibility—an obligation to restore and maintain a purity of lineage that reinforces their dominance. They believe that the strength of their "pack"—their society—is derived from these unbreakable ties to the past, and any deviation from this established order is viewed as a threat to the very fabric of their world. This emphasis on purity, tradition, and hierarchy creates a rigid framework that is intolerant of difference or dissent, as they see change as a dilution of their inherited greatness.
The therianthropes are deeply resistant to modernity and progressive change, perceiving such movements as dangerous disruptions that erode the natural order they seek to restore. This makes the therianthropes aggressively protective of their status, fostering a closed society where authority is centralised, traditions are sacrosanct, and any challenge to their supremacy is met with swift and forceful resistance. Their desire to "return" to this idealised past reflects a broader yearning for a society that is insular, militaristic, and deeply suspicious of anything that threatens their way of life, including the ideas of equality, diversity, and social mobility.
These three groups—vampires, arcanists, and therianthropes—each play a part in maintaining a system of inequality and exploitation. Whether through active domination, passive complicity, or nostalgic restoration, they all uphold structures that harm the broader populace. This is the ideological struggle I aim to explore in my story: how different factions within society can perpetuate oppression, whether through overt exploitation, passive acceptance, or the desire to return to an unjust past.
Humans & Hunters: The Struggle and the Fight
For the humans caught in the middle, their struggle becomes one of survival and resistance. They are the working class, the exploited labour force, and the ones most affected by the actions of these supernatural factions. They are drained by the vampires, who thrive on their suffering, ignored by the arcanists, prioritising maintaining a fragile equilibrium, and ensnared in the therianthropes' attempts to restore a rigid, hierarchical past. But among their number are the hunters—individuals not content with merely surviving; they aim to dismantle the systems of oppression enforced by supernatural powers and build something better for all of humanity.
The hunters represent a movement grounded in the belief that humanity deserves more than the roles these supernatural factions have assigned them. They reject the idea that they must accept exploitation, whether it comes from the vampires' parasitic grip, the arcanists' empty promises of reform, or the therianthropes' nostalgic vision of a stratified society. The hunters understand that true freedom and equality can only be achieved by tearing down the systems that allow these factions to thrive. Their resistance is active and organised, driven by a belief in collective strength and solidarity among the oppressed.
Unlike those who passively suffer under supernatural rule, the hunters refuse to be pawns in a system designed to perpetuate inequality. They are determined to forge a new path, one where power is not concentrated in the hands of a few but shared by all. Their struggle is twofold: they fight not only against the direct exploitation of the vampires but also against the arcanists' complicity and the therianthropes' regressive ambitions. In doing so, the hunters do not merely seek to resist the supernatural forces—they aim to overthrow them entirely. Their fight is not about reforming the current system but creating a new one where humanity controls its destiny and is no longer subject to the whims of those who would use them for their own gain. In their resistance, they embody the spirit of revolution, rejecting exploitation and the structures that sustain it. They seek the transformation of their world, believing that a better future for humanity can only be achieved through dismantling these supernatural power structures.
Sydney: The Battleground for Control, Power, and Revolution
Sydney becomes a key battleground in this story, reflecting the tension and conflict between these supernatural factions and the humans seeking to resist their influence. But as these supernatural forces vie for control, the hunters transform the city into a site of active resistance. Sydney's geography reflects these struggles: the glittering towers of the wealthy districts, untouched by the reality of suffering, stand in sharp contrast to the crumbling infrastructure of the poorer areas, where the tension is palpable and the hunters' influence grows.
Here, power, exploitation, tradition, and revolution collide. The supernatural elements elevate the social and political conflicts of the city, turning them into something both visceral and magical. But beneath the surface, these struggles mirror the broader fight for control, equality, and change. With all its divisions and complexities, Sydney becomes a living, breathing representation of the ideological battles that define the story—one where every street, every shadowed corner, reflects the fight for humanity's future.