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Simple things can breed terror. A
lonely road,
a cloud masking the moon, the cry of a cat, or the eyes of a bent old man...
meaningless things, but sometimes charged with weird
menace....
Hugh B. Cave, Modern
Nero
niteside dreams takes place in a post-war, 1940s/1950s parallel world in which magic is a commonplace practice, existing side by side with science and technology, and commanding a similar status.
Here we will define the basic traits of this world, that serve as a background for the adventures, where they deviate more drastically from the '40s-'50s we know; this is followed by a few practical tricks to help said background come alive.
Magic & Society
Origins
Magic has always been an elemet of human culture, from the most ancient sciamanic rituals performed by cavemen up to the fringe magic pratictioners surviving the in the superstitious shadows of the Illuminist revolution.
Magic became better-known in the late 1800's as enlightened students of the occult began to sistematically study esoteric tomes and form Occult circles and Societies. From dark practice to quaint entertainment to serious scholarly pursuit, the field evolved through the romanthic nineteenth century, to emerge as an established set of facts and practices at the dawn of the new century.
By 1920 a populist magic revival was under way, spurred on by organisations such as the Golden Dawn, the Freemasons, etc.
Reaction to the Great War and the horrendous waste of life probably made humanity less inclined to trust the orthodox Church, which denounced magic as a tool of the Devil.
Religious schisms, sects, cults and suchlike flourished in the 1920 - 1940 period, whilst the power of the Church (and other orthodox religions such as Islam, Bhuddism et al) was slowly but greatly eroded.
Things reached a balance when the Catholic Church relented in its attack against magic. Currently there are still quite a few excomunicated spells (all the necromancy ones, to start with), while the Church accepts and even tacitally support things like healing spells and the like. A radical Christian sect centered in the Salem area still opposes any form of magic as the work of the Devil - and a few other groups of this kind exist in the world. A magic-oriented dissident branch of the Church is also active, commonly known as "The Church of Our Lord Spellcaster". Finally, magic-based pagan religions are much more widespread and influential than they used to be - you can't call them "ignorant natives" anymore, after all.
In everyday life a 50-50 mix of old-school Christians (chiefly older people) and new-age believers (children of the Bright Young Things era) who embraced the new ways had to learn to cohexist and face the future.
And those surviving 1920's characters can sit around and talk about the good old days when you rarely saw a spell, nowadays you have to be careful who you shout at in case you get cursed for real, it was much simpler when an Elder Sign and a .45 was all you needed...
The War Years
It was logical to assume that some kind of magic application would be devised during the war years, first in Britain (to face the onslaught of the Axis forces) and later in the United States.
Detection magic can be used as a quickly deployed and often more precise substitute for radar. Also, you can equip aircraft with precision targetting systems by simply putting a medium on board.
Similar applications of simpe magical effects were used during the war in place of mine detectors, to enhance the nightsight ability of snipers, and for many small scale support activities.
For all practical purposes, the mundane/magic alternative currently dominating the '40s society was first established and became a standard through the wartime.
But it was as the conflict soured that the magical heavyweights entered the field.
Nazis were evil.
So their magic was the worst possible in terms of
morals and style, and was finally deployed as on the Eastern front in the
face of relentless Russian opposition: vast undead armies, powered by mass
human sacrifices (a.k.a. Final Solution) that were fully known and comprehended
only after the end of the conflict.
In the last few years mighty strange tales have been told by some veterans, tales that would have the Nazi party backed by some Great Evil Entity, and the highest ranks of the Regime as sort of priests of some unnamable cult. No proof has so far emerged to support these stories.
The mass destruction Unique Deadly Spell used to end the war by smithing the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and later became the "Deterrent" instrumental in mantaining the Balance of Power finally showed that the Allies could play the same game of the Axis, if for higher moral reasons (?)
Moral alibis apart, something is weighting heavily on the conscience of a nation.
The use of magic made by the Nazis and against the Japanese targets left a black stain on the popularity of spellcasting. Necromancy and Dead magic, already seen by many as against morals, were fully rejected by all the major western nations. Due to the high strategic importance of some magical practices, however, the citizens of the two Power Blocks are currently subject to a heavy campaign to rehestablish magic as a friendly, positive force.
Now
Now, in 1940s, man places his faith in a mix of science and sorcery. Since magic has only become popular in the last 20 years there are no established magical marketplaces being exploited by big business (other than those markets such as zombies exploited by organised crime figures who needed a new source of income). Charlatans are many, miracles are still big news, every businessman wants an edge over his competitors and the law of supply and demand means that there are plenty of mugs out there to be fleeced. Real sorcerors are most respected by those in the know, and it still holds true that 'it is not what you = know it is who you know'.
Industry is getting back to peace-time production after many years of war effort, and a few interesting solutions are being dreamed up by enterprising tycoons.
Industries mass-producing cheap, short-lived, one shot magical gadgents are a new, fresh field of employment and money-making. Imagine long benches with people sitting and "imprinting" with a few magic points an amulet after the other.
The expenditure of magic points leaves the workers exausted but otherwise undamaged. They'll only need to sleep and recuperate. And is a perfect reason for the deserted city streets at night (a classical noir cliche'). Cue to huge dormitory districts in the suburbs, and soul-less masses like those seen in "Metropolis".
The industrial process also has another side: if zombies make great bodyguards, how do they perform when it comes to line-production? Unless you need a very delicate manipulation (zombies being clumsy), a factory full of undead is the best you could wish: no vacations, no unions, no problems with overtime...
You can now also imagine a zombie import racket - the advantages over illegal immigrants are obvious. So: humans working in magical-manifacturing factories, and zombies working on mundane production lines.
But there are some obstacles in the way of this dream-image.
The Governments of many nations had to face a sudden surge of magical
practices, creating new laws and new Departments deling with the growing
field of magical crimes and misdemeanors - even if the field grew much faster
than the legislator's attempts to handle it, and much of what they know about
it all was hype.
First attempts were generally botched and inefective
at best: the Magical Restriction Act of '21 simply meant that a lot of people
made a lot of money selling not only bootlegger booze but also and chiefly
lucky charms and love potions during Prohibition. The Act was revoked in
the early '30, but by that time a lot of the original bootleggers had emplyed
part of their fat income to become virgins again, starting respected carreers
in politics and in the stock exchage. As a result, a common set of laws for
Magic is still long to come, and the many gray areas are being exploited
by the crooked and the mean.
The Zombie Question is a classical
exhample.
The reason why zombies are problematic is not that they may have rights - it's that it's necromantic practice. And a good number of people who might accept glowing lampposts and anti-aging amulets still object to shambling hordes of the walking dead. If there was one kind of magic that Congress would pass laws against, it would be necromancy. (And if there was one kind of magic that would turn into a thriving underground trade...)
Developed, first world countries have strict laws against zombie creation (not to mention necromancy in general, & demonology etc.) These laws are strictly enforced with severe penalties, which drives up the prices for the illegal trade, which would make it an attractive market for organized crime. This basically means lots of opportunities for corruption of police and government officials, too. Meanwhile, things are much more loose in the underdeveloped third world countries. They may or may not have laws officially on the books to appease the developed nations, but such laws, if they exist, are much more loosely enforced. (Just bribe the right official...)
Plans for the creations of a specifically trained Law Enforcement Agency (Dead Enforcement Agency, or DEA) is underway, but is facing a serious oppositions from the high-ups in the ATF that have so far taken care of this side of the business.
The situation, by the way, is handled in a totally different way by the
Eastern Block: in a mandatorily materialistic country, good citizens can
serve the party
even after their death (however, there's no afterlife, right?).
In the
USSR
we have finally a perfect home for our zombie workers.
Heck, they might even send a zombie to the Moon, one of these days!
And the classic Deighton line "I was shaded by two STASI zombies" assumes a totally different meaning.
In the western world the employment of zombies other than by crime syndicates is certainly frowned upon - it smells either of Nazi revival (which is bad) or of Communism (which is worse - cue to MacCarthy-like investigations and witch-hunts). Even so, the option is being explored by highly influential (= string-pulling) industries, limiting their use to a few factories, working zombies in nightshifts as an experimental evaluation of the resource.
And the question of sentient undead - if any - rights is still open.
Establishing the Background
Make Your Own Standard Noir City Setting
Noir can be regarded as an urban genre, or even better an indoor genre. We will not explore here the reasons (economical? artistic?) thet led the pioneers of the genreto use chiefly urban interiors as a setting for their movies, but will use this general attitude to better establish the setting mood in our games.
Fist off, a few Standard City Districts
The Waterfront: docks and warehouses,
shacks where night-guards spend their time reading sports-papers and listening
to late-nite radio while the night rolls by.
The place is wet, cold,
foggy.
A siren can cut the silence once in a while.
Dock-workers arrive
early and sometimes stay late, wearing rough plaid or leather jackets in
the cold or tank-tops in the heat, talking in grunts, wary of strangers.
Anyone down on his luck and strong enough can join their ranks, but it will
take time to join their tribe.
Chinatown
At
night, large areas are deserted.
Behind closed doors, in clubs and
restaurants, rich western thrillseekers will get more than what they bargained
for.
Women disappear in this place, never to be seen again.
And anything
can be found. For a price.
The Business District: is where
PIs will probably have their offices, on sidestreets, with windows facing
brickwalls. The streets are busy, cabs crowding them together with black
big-shor limos.
Not all the business carried out in this district is legit,
of course. Somebody owns a fair share of the Mayor, while the Chief of the
Police is still available for cheap. Developers feud for land and influence,
and for making more money. Sometimes someone jumps from one of the
scy-scrapers.
Sometimes somebody helps him doing it.
On the Beach: a few idle rich
prefer the sound of the sea to the whisper of money coupling in their safes,
and wooden bungalows are here to provide'em some distraction. The music is
loud and popular, parties and barbeques frequent. Writers, and character
actors live here, together with a few climbers looking for the right catch,
and some of those guys that make a habit of sneaking in the back to take
a look at the garbage. You never know where a string to pull can be found.
Quality Street: this is where
the rich and powerful come to pet their dogs and their wives, where local
politicos keep their golfclubs and bottles. Each villa has a name, a gravelly
path and an imposing door behind which lurks a butler that might not be the
murderer, not this time. Some of them have conservatories, pools, stables,
depandances where the handyman lives with his wife.
Few cars go along
these streets, but when they do often it's fast, and following a none too
straight path.
The Suburbs: being the place
where the working man lives, the suburbs are often deserted - as the majority
is at work by day and fast asleep by night. A few kids playing stickball
in the street during the day, maybe, a few shopkeepers standing on the doors
of their shops, the occasional cab, but little else is seen on the streets.
And by night the streets are truly deserted and menacing. The only light
comes from a few lampposts and the all-nite cafe where the workers on ther
way to or from their shift stop for a donut and a cup of tar.
Other Elements of Style
Dampen the lights.
Set every scene you can at night, and indoors.
If you can't have a deserted street, fill it with a faceless crowd.
Name-Dropping
Foods: Coca-Cola, Campbell's, Kellogs, Nestlé, Kraft, Del Monte
Smoking Items: Camel, Lucky Strike, Huptmann, Coronas Major, Gitanes, Ronson
Weapons: Smith & Wesson, Colt, Remington, Purdie, Brochadt-Luger, Mauser, Bodeo
Magazines: Cosmopolitan, Vogue, National Geographic, Harper's Bazaar, The New Yorker, House Beautiful, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Astounding Stories, Reader's Digest, The Beano, Weird Tales
Writing Implements: Parker, Aurora, Waterman, Fabriano
Toilet: Gilette, Aqua Vellv, Procter & Gamble White/Ivory Soap, Roger & Gallet, Jurgens Lotion, Noxzema, Prep, Avon, Coppertone
Perfumes: My Sin, Shalimar, Chanel n.5
Leather Goods, Accessories: Gucci, Hermes, Ray-Ban
Over the Counter Drugs: Aspirin, Band-Aid, Listerine, Vick's Vaporub, Alka-Seltzer
Precision Equipment: Karl Zeiss, Eberhardt
Motor Vehicles: Alfa Romeo, Mercedes-Benz, Tucker, Cytroen, Renault, Daimler, Bentley, Cadillac, Ford
