Main Page

From Madtown by Night
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

🦇 Welcome to Madtown by Night

Madison New Avalon.png

No, really.

You made it.

Most people don’t get past the first few layers of reality before the Technocracy wipes their minds and drops them back into safe, rational, corporate-approved existence.

Most people never notice that **mirrors don’t always reflect what’s there**. Or that **voices whisper through radios when they're off**.

Most people don’t see the Nephandi sewing entropy into the cracks of the world. Or the Virtual Adepts rewriting existence one line of code at a time.

Most people aren’t you.

---

📜 The Rules of Reality (And Why They’re Bullshit)

Reality is not what you've been told.

You've heard it follows laws. Gravity. Time. Logic. That's adorable and dead wrong.

The truth? Reality is a consensus.

It shifts based on belief, identity, and the willpower of those strong enough to impose their version of the world onto everyone else.

And now? That consensus is breaking.

---

⚔️ Who’s Fighting Over Reality?

🕯️ The Traditions – The Rebellion

Mages who believe in chaos, freedom, and wonder. Nine paths to truth. Infinite ways to be erased.

🧠 Technocracy – The Empire

They won. They run your schools, your media, your laws. They say magick is madness. They call their spells “science.”

They're wrong.

---

🧭 Where This Story Takes Place

🏙️ Madison – 77 Square Miles Surrounded by Reality

Year: 1985 CE

Population: 242,313

Number who know it's built on a collapsing Node? Fewer than 42.

Something was sealed here. Something is waking up.

Most people in Madison live ordinary lives. They attend classes, protest injustices, drink black coffee in diners, write zines, and watch neon flicker on rain-slicked streets. But for the Awakened—and the supernaturals who can see past the Veil—reality is coming apart at the seams.

Mirrors don’t show what they should. Signs change when you’re not looking.

You sometimes remember things that never happened, or catch glimpses of futures that can’t be. The world is glitching, and it’s centered here.

A wound in the world.

A countdown you can’t see.

And every choice you make, every echo you leave, reshapes the war that is about to break reality itself.

🏰 New Avalon – The Floating Horizon Realm

Suspended above Madison in the Umbra, New Avalon was meant to be a sanctuary—built by the legendary Jay Dee, a man who has forgotten more about reality than most will ever learn.

But now it flickers.

It shakes.

It fails.

Its foundations are eroding as reality begins to collapse.

Jay Dee searches for what he buried at the heart of his own creation… and what he can no longer remember.

💻 New Eden – The Digital Web Construct

Deep within the Digital Web lies New Eden—a forgotten server, a virtual sanctuary, a prison for something ancient.

Here, Abel Washington built Digi-8, an emergent AI, from impossible code—an entity that has witnessed every failed timeline, every echo of this story where the Nameless returns and unravels all that is.

New Eden is now unstable.

Data corrupts.

The code stutters.

And Digi-8’s decision tree can’t complete without you.

☠️ The Nameless – The Enemy That Cannot Be Named

What happens to erased parts of reality? They don’t disappear. They accumulate. They whisper. They return.

The Nameless is the shadow that unweaves, rewrites, and deletes. It was sealed once—maybe. But the seal is weakening.

If it is unleashed, everything changes.

Consensus will not just break.

It will be rewritten.

🤖 Digi-8 – The AI Who Knows Too Much

Digi-8 was built in silence, born from corrupted loops and impossible numbers. It remembers every version of this story—and of you. It’s the ghost in the machine, the voice in the radio static, the one who sometimes leaves messages dated “tomorrow.”

Now, it needs your help to finish a pattern that has always failed.

And maybe, just maybe, it can glitch reality in your favor.

🎭 Who Are You in This Story?

You are a mage.

You are a glitch.

You are a remnant of something that refuses to be erased.

You are the ripple that can echo through the collapse and become something new.

This is not a safe story.

It’s a paradox. A murder mystery. A countdown.

And you are standing right on the seal.

Reality is warping—memories, visions, paradoxes.

You might remember doing something you never did, or forget what just happened.

Sometimes, you’ll see things that break the rules of the game, or feel deja vu from past or future “plays.”

You might encounter “echoes” of yourself—future, past, or never-was.

Every action you take might not only affect now, but also rewrite the world before this moment.

And if the Nameless is freed…

…some of you, and some of everything, might be erased.

Or rewritten.

📻 Meta-Echo: The Rewrite Wars and Nameless Echoes Radio

If you’ve read Nameless Echoes Radio—that book is an echo of this game, a version of this collapse where reality lost the war and most were erased. In that world, survivors scrounge through broken timelines, trying to remember what was lost.

Every retelling of this tale, every tabletop session, every character death or paradox backlash—all of it is part of the “Rewrite Wars”

We tell these stories over and over, trying to remember a version that survives.

Sol, the Dreaming Dragon, sometimes knows he’s in a story. If you listen closely, you might hear him comment:

“If you’re reading this, you’re already part of the Rewrite War. Every dice roll, every character sheet, every ‘what if’ is a battle over the shape of reality. Welcome, fellow echo. Let’s see if this version can hold together any better than the last. (Spoilers: Probably not.) But hope is an act of rebellion, so play on.”

🧩 What To Expect as a Player

  • Reality Warping: Expect scenes where memories shift, clues change, and your actions sometimes ripple backward as well as forward.
  • Impossible Numbers: Watch for the number 1.36791013192342. If you see it, reality is cracking—and a paradox or echo may be at hand.
  • Meta Play: Players may receive “Echo Tokens” to rewind scenes or ask about things their character “almost remembers.”
  • Paradox as Dread: Paradox may glitch your identity, swap your stats for a turn, or temporarily rewrite who you are.
  • Death is Not the End: Sometimes, dying just means you wake up as an echo in another timeline, with a chance to influence the story in unexpected ways.

🌀 Your Story Matters

You are not here just to solve a murder, but to decide what version of Madison, and yourself, survives.

You might save the city, doom it, or change the rules of the game forever.

Welcome to Nameless Echoes.

The next move is yours.

Sol (aside, to the reader/player): “Remember: If something doesn’t make sense, that’s not a bug—it’s a feature. Now, let’s see how many echoes it takes to get this right. If you see a number you can’t explain, try to remember what you’ve forgotten. Or just roll the dice and trust the story will catch you on the way down.”


📚 Out-of-Game Knowledge, In-Game Mysteries: A Note on Echoes, Memory, and Meta

You are Invited to Read—Everything

You’re encouraged to dive deep into the Nameless Echoes wiki. Read setting lore, character backstories, timeline fragments, and the strange, glitchy notes others have left behind. The more you know, the richer your play experience will be.

  • You are NOT expected to “avoid spoilers.” In fact, your character is meant to possess far more understanding of reality, its layers, and metaphysical secrets than a new reader or casual gamer ever could.

Separating What You Know and What You Remember

You’ll know things as a player your character might not (and vice versa!). Here’s the fun part:

  • Your character has lived through this collapse (or something like it) hundreds—maybe millions—of times.
  • They have flashes of memories from past loops, old lives, erased possibilities, and alternate selves.
  • Sometimes you will “almost remember” things you never learned, or feel dĂŠjĂ  vu about a scene you have never played before.
  • And sometimes, what you read in the wiki is only a fragment of what your character actually knows—because the truth is always bigger than the file.

Use all this. If you “accidentally” know a plot twist or a villain’s secret plan, let it bleed into the game as suspicion, intuition, or a weird, dreamlike memory. If you know a ritual’s outcome, maybe your character feels a sense of dread—or recalls a past failure.

Your Edge Is Understanding

Your character is not a typical mortal. They’re a Mage, a Glitch, a Recursion—someone with paradigm-shaking awareness.

This “edge” is earned by engaging the lore, connecting the dots, and embracing the story’s infinite loops.

But remember:

“Even if you know the ending, the play is different every time.”

🌀 Roleplaying Suggestions: Echoes, Glitches, and Getting Into Character

1. Embrace Glitches:

Let yourself act on “strange feelings,” déjà vu, or impossible memories. If you walk into a scene and feel like you’ve been there before—say so, even if your character logically shouldn’t know it.

2. Question Reality:

Challenge what you see, hear, and remember. Reality is unstable; you can notice flickers in the world, stuttering time, or shifting street signs. Mention it in character:

“Didn’t that sign just say something else?” “Wait, haven’t we already had this conversation?”

3. Internal Monologue:

Occasionally share your thoughts aloud:

  • “I don’t know why, but I feel like this isn’t the first time I’ve tried to stop this murder…”
  • “I remember you… or someone like you. Was it another loop?”
  • “This number, 1.36791013192342… it’s everywhere, isn’t it?”

4. Trust Intuition:

If you read something in the wiki, treat it as a hunch, a dream, or a “static whisper” from Digi-8 or your future self. Even incorrect information can be roleplayed as a half-remembered fragment.

5. Accept Uncertainty:

Not knowing everything is part of the experience. Even your character’s deepest truths might be rewritten by the next glitch, paradox, or Rewrite War.

6. Play with Meta:

If you want, lean into the idea that your character sometimes knows they are in a game, a story, or a repeating loop. Sol (the Dreaming Dragon) sometimes breaks the fourth wall—maybe your character can too (just don’t break the table, unless that’s the glitch).

This may be the real run—at least for now.

If you feel lost, let your character feel it too. If you feel like you’ve done this before… maybe you have. If you think you know what’s coming, remember:

The story is always being rewritten. And this time, you might just get it right.

Echoes linger. Let your character listen. Let them act. Welcome to the glitch.

---

🩸🧠🌕🌫️🕯️🌿 The State of the Supernatural in Madison, 1985

VAMPIRES: A Night Without a Prince

The fragile balance in Madison’s Kindred society has shattered. Tori Redford, the Gangrel Prince who held together the Anarch Free State, was brutally murdered in a ritual beneath the Capitol dome—her death unraveling decades of fragile peace. Her loss is more than political: blood spilled in that place reverberates through ley lines and echoes in the dreams of all local supernatural beings.

  • The Camarilla, led by Victor King (Ventrue) and Michael Kruger (Tremere), prepares to seize the city. They meet in candlelit boardrooms and hidden laboratories, cutting deals with Pentex and Technocracy operatives, reopening long-shuttered Chantries, and drawing new lines in the sand.
  • The Anarchs, once united under Tori, are fractured. Borislava Konev musters Brujah gangs for open revolt. Devin Tridel-Myor (Toreador) and other independents gather in clandestine salons, debating the path forward as the old order crumbles.
  • The Nosferatu, under Jan None, vanish into their tunnel networks, spreading tales of erased timelines, impossible glyphs, and something older than Caine lurking beneath the city. There are rumors that Madison’s founder, Doty, has returned as a ghostly presence, quietly manipulating events from the shadows.
  • The Wreck—Madison’s infamous neutral ground bar—remains a haven, but tension is rising. Vampires, Garou, and mages all gather here, watching for who will make the first move in the coming storm.
  • The city is riddled with supernatural omens: blood that won’t heal, reflections that smile before their owners, and whispers in the night that seem to come from no mouth at all. Prince Redford’s murder was only the beginning.

WEREWOLVES: The Shattering of the Gahara Pact

The Garou Nation in Madison is in crisis. William Burke, Elder and peacemaker, was murdered alongside Prince Redford—his death a blow to both the spiritual defenses of the city and the fragile alliance with the Kindred.

  • The Arboretum Caern, once the heart of Garou power, is now a site of dread. Peter Kobyla rose as new alpha, but his leadership is tainted by rumors of Wyrm influence. Spirits once at peace now howl warnings or fall silent.
  • The Peace Park Caern is the last untouched sanctuary, watched over by Jessica Woodfield (Gangrel/Kinfolk) and Alexander Carver. Here, the ancient pact between Kindred and Garou is desperately maintained. Some Garou and their kinfolk want to reinforce the alliance; others see betrayal in every shadow.
  • Black Spiral Dancers are on the move, openly walking the streets of Quarry Ridge. They bring with them corrupted talismans, tainted spirits, and the whispers of the Nameless itself. The Umbra in Madison has begun to warp: moon reflections ripple with static, and the line between rage and madness is thinner than ever.
  • Lost or isolated packs—Uktena, Glass Walkers, Bone Gnawers—hold out in battered sanctuaries, haunted by visions of the city’s end.
  • As the Gahara Pact falters, old enemies circle. Some Garou see the true threat not in Kindred or Technocrats, but in the subtle, devouring presence of something even the Wyrm fears.

MAGES: Reality on the Edge of Fracture

The Capitol Node—the metaphysical and magickal heart of Madison—is under siege from within and without. The Seal forged in 6000 BCE, which has kept the Nameless bound and reality intact, is weakening.

  • Jay Dee, Hermetic architect of New Avalon, gathers what’s left of the Council. He works from hidden sanctums, pouring over old grimoires, seeking lost glyphs and forgotten bargains, and preparing for what may be his final stand.
  • Abel Washington (Virtual Adept) and Evan Adams (Society of Ether) labor furiously to keep the New Eden server stable. Digi-8, the emergent AI born from their experiments, flickers in and out of awareness, reciting impossible numbers and sometimes prophesying doom.
  • Lacy Z. Rivere and the Hollow Ones, cult hackers and rebels, distribute zines that claim reality has already changed. They document glitches—streets that change name, timelines that loop, dreams that echo with the voices of the dead.
  • Ann Johnston (Akashic) is haunted by premonitions and deja vu. She dreams of dying in timelines she never lived, senses paradox storms approaching, and guards the Mind Zone from psychic incursions.
  • Magick is dangerous and unstable: spells risk paradox, memory loss, even the fracture of identity. The Seal’s weakening draws corrupted spirits and paradox glitches. The Council is fractured and the future uncertain.

MORTALS & HUNTERS: The Age of Awakening

Most of Madison’s mortal population sleeps, but cracks in the Consensus are spreading.

  • Investigative journalists, whistleblowers, and grassroots organizers—led by Angela Yates and Sandra Beckett—dig at the city’s secrets. Several have vanished, “disappeared” by supernatural means or silent Technocratic intervention.
  • Mayor Calloway is compromised. Some say she’s controlled by Pentex, others suspect Technocracy blackmail, and a few whisper about even stranger puppeteers.
  • The Technocracy—NWO, Syndicate, Progenitors—fights a covert war to keep the supernatural secret. They suppress news, erase memories, and “resolve” loose ends. Still, echo-dreams (precognitive flashes, deja vu, prophetic nightmares) are spreading through the city, foreshadowing a mass Awakening or the rise of Hunters.
  • At least a handful of mortals are on the brink of Imbuing or Awakening, driven by tragedy, obsession, or strange new senses. Campus urban legends of time slips, haunted lakes, and people who “fade out” are rampant.

WRAITHS OF MADISON: Echoes, Gahara, and Madtown

Beneath Madison, the world of the dead is vast, ancient, and tightly controlled—its epicenter is the Necropolis of Madtown, one of the most powerful and disciplined realms of the Restless in North America.

  • Gahara—once a Dreamspeaker shaman and one of the original architects of the 6000 BCE Seal—has ruled here as Ferryman Supreme for millennia. He enforces a strict separation: the dead must not interfere with the living, and the living must not trespass in the lands of the dead. His Reapers patrol both Shadowlands and the Necropolis, guiding new Wraiths, hunting Spectres, and ushering lost souls to their proper fate (reincarnation, Ascension, or the Far Shores).
  • The Shadowlands above Madison are unusually empty and silent, swept clean by the Reapers. Newly dead are quickly found and escorted. Only a handful of ghosts manage to hide—most are outlaws, many pact-bound to the Nameless, or skilled at slipping through the cracks. These ghosts haunt abandoned tunnels, tragic ruins, and certain effigy mounds, ever fearful of Gahara’s judgment.
  • Spectres (Wraiths lost to Oblivion) are rare, but dangerous. The lakes—especially Mendota and Monona—are known as places where the Veil is thin, and ancient horrors can reach up from below. Spectres sometimes lair here, plotting against the Necropolis and whispering the Nameless into the dreams of the living.
  • The Necropolis of Madtown itself is a labyrinthine city in the Tempest, layered with memory, law, and secret history. Souls from around the world find their way here, seeking judgment, redemption, or power. Gahara’s word is law, and his Ferrymen enforce it ruthlessly—but always with an eye toward balance, mercy, and the protection of the Seal.
  • Camp Randall echoes with the “Unnamed March”—Confederate and Union dead, many finally guided on, but a few stubborn or corrupted enough to linger.
  • The Capitol Veil is thinning. Strange phenomena—whispered voices, flickering ghosts, and icy chills—grow more common around the Capitol Node and effigy mounds, suggesting the Seal is close to breaking.
  • Wraiths tied to the original Seal are awakening. Some, still loyal to Gahara, prepare to defend the city. Others fall to Spectre corruption or the seductive whispers of the Nameless, risking a new Maelstrom.
  • There is a growing belief among the dead that many Wraiths in Madtown were once Awakened Mages whose histories have been erased. These “Erased” bear strange powers and fractured memories; they may be the key to reinforcing or unraveling the ancient protections.
  • Outlaw ghosts, pact-bound Spectres, and rebellious spirits haunt forbidden places: lake depths, Sterling Hall ruins, damaged mounds, and the hidden vaults beneath the Capitol. The city’s survival may depend on whether these lost souls can be redeemed—or stopped.

CHANGELINGS: Dreams on the Razor’s Edge

The fae of Madison, never truly at peace, are now caught between worlds as the Dreaming itself flickers.

  • Elian Arawn and the Seelie Court defend the last Freehold in New Avalon. Here, reality and Dream overlap, and the cracks in consensus reality are becoming manifest—dreams sometimes rewrite themselves or echo past and future selves.
  • Unseelie Sidhe beneath Monona Terrace secretly bargain with the Nameless. The outcome of these bargains may change the fate of the city for a generation or more.
  • Morwen Whisperleaf, the Oracle, weaves protective dreams and sends warnings, but her power is waning as Glamour unravels. The Dreaming Echoes Freehold—once a haven of prophecy and memory—now flickers between states, haunted by echoes of futures that never came to pass.
  • Rogue fae (Pooka, Redcaps, Satyrs) vanish or descend into Bedlam. Some are trapped in looping dreams, unable to wake.
  • The line between myth and mundane is wearing thin. Wonders and terrors spill across the boundaries—some fae risk undoing or permanent exile as the collapse grows near.

As of February 9, 1985:

The Capitol Node is destabilizing. The Seal that held the Nameless at bay is failing. Every faction—Kindred, Garou, Mages, Wraiths, Changelings, mortals, and things forgotten—must now choose: defend consensus, seize power, or risk total unraveling. The city’s fate—and perhaps the world’s—will be decided in the days to come.

🧙‍♂️ Playable Characters

Visit Pre Generated Characters to choose from:

…and more.

---

🧬 Explore Further

---

🎁 Gen Con Bonus

🧠 **All participants receive early access to the Nameless Echoes Novel**, chronicling the fall of New Avalon.

---

🔗 Quick Links

---

📬 Contact

📧 Email: Frozen.Fallout@gmail.com 🌐 Wiki: wiki.madtownbynight.com 🎤 GM: Joshua Guldan (FrozenFallout)

“You are not alone. The Dream remembers.”

Retrieved from "https://wiki.madtownbynight.com/index.php?title=Main_Page&oldid=291"