Prologue/Preface
Just a little intro to the situation so you don't get so confused. The setting for this ficlet is from my campaign Varekai. I borrowed the name Varekai from the Cirque du Soleil show of the same name. The word means "wherever" essentially, and originally, the campaign was to take place on an island completely created out of a Ravnos' psyche. All the characters were to be trapped inside it. But, in the end, my tortured mind took on a life of it's own and Varekai proved to be a post-Armageddon-like city. By the time of this story, Steven (the central character) is still mortal, on the verge of the change due to his activities and his opposition to Malika who, unbeknownst to him, is Kindred. The world is technologically advanced, but still horribly behind at the same time (something that is shown by it's overuse of computers, but the presence of only three horribly maintained tv stations). Varekai is very dark, very cold. When I pictured it for game purposes, I saw the world as a very grey and drab place with a few stark white buildings piercing the general gloom (those white buildings I never got to explain that during the game period, were very important areas). You don't hear about them in this fic, but they were there. I should also note that this is the first fiction that I'm actually willing to post for review. At the time I was very proud of it, now. I'm not so sure. Much of the story was inspired by the Hacker's Manifesto which I tried to highlight with italics. So, now that you are acquainted with the character's world, get thee to the story.
Just a little intro to the situation so you don't get so confused. The setting for this ficlet is from my campaign Varekai. I borrowed the name Varekai from the Cirque du Soleil show of the same name. The word means "wherever" essentially, and originally, the campaign was to take place on an island completely created out of a Ravnos' psyche. All the characters were to be trapped inside it. But, in the end, my tortured mind took on a life of it's own and Varekai proved to be a post-Armageddon-like city. By the time of this story, Steven (the central character) is still mortal, on the verge of the change due to his activities and his opposition to Malika who, unbeknownst to him, is Kindred. The world is technologically advanced, but still horribly behind at the same time (something that is shown by it's overuse of computers, but the presence of only three horribly maintained tv stations). Varekai is very dark, very cold. When I pictured it for game purposes, I saw the world as a very grey and drab place with a few stark white buildings piercing the general gloom (those white buildings I never got to explain that during the game period, were very important areas). You don't hear about them in this fic, but they were there. I should also note that this is the first fiction that I'm actually willing to post for review. At the time I was very proud of it, now. I'm not so sure. Much of the story was inspired by the Hacker's Manifesto which I tried to highlight with italics. So, now that you are acquainted with the character's world, get thee to the story.