Tor'Vash'Por (5)

 Luna: Welcome back you're watching Tor'Vash'Por, I'm Luna Samara bringing you the latest news stories at the top of the hour, beginning with the latest developing story out of the Penros system.. 

BREAKING NEWS

Luna (cont.): .. reports are coming in that Tau expeditionary forces in the system have launched a major offensive against the local Ores'la on Penros VII. This marks the largest ground operation mounted by the Tau expeditionary forces since their arrival in the Penros system, our correspondent Farrier Seyburey has more for us now from Penros VII. 

(A Scorpionfish superheavy missile gunship sits parked on the ground of a rugged windswept plain of tussock grassland, its onboard lights creating an island of illumination in the cold dark pre-dawn gloom. A second Scorpionfish can just be made out in another tiny island of light far in the distance)

Farrier (VO): After weeks of intense and careful preparations.. 

(with a tremendous explosive roar an enormous missile erupts from the roof of the Scorpionfish in a brilliant burst of boiling light and fire, casting the landscape into harsh shifting illumination, and races into the dark grey sky on a strobing multi-pointed teardrop of burning white atop a spire of grey-white smoke. A distant shooting star can be seen leaping from the distant Scorpionfish as it launches a second missile)

Farrier (VO, cont.): .. Tau forces on Penros VII have launched their largest ground offensive so far in the conflict. 

(One by one a series of enormous missiles rise into the air from the tall vertically-pointing launch tubes of a cluster of massive Tau missile carriers, parked in a roughly circular pattern amidst miscellaneous sensor and support vehicles in open rolling wilderness. Each missile hangs in the air for an instant before twisting itself towards the left in a flurry of flame and smoke and racing into the distance on a crisp white contrail)

Farrier (VO, cont.): Acting on intelligence from Air Caste Command tracking the class-8 space hulk KVX-721 as it passed close to Penros VII, Tau Fire Caste Command Penros staged a massive attack on the local Ores'la forces as they attempted to board the space hulk from a network of ground-based matter transmitters. 

(Seen from the cupola of a Tau grav-tank, a Hammerhead gunship speeds across the wilderness beneath a sky crisscrossed with spidery white missile contrails)

Farrier (VO, cont.): Sources within Penros Coalition Command have reported no fewer than eight battle-level formations were involved in the operation, which coalition leadership has called Operation Ol'Vre-5..

(A relentless stream of burning orange lights plunge through the dark pre-dawn sky like meteors, slamming into the horizon in a series of rippling angry orange flashes that cast the hilly landscape into silhouette) 

Farrier (VO, cont.): ..  along with extensive missile and air support, with the aim of decapitating the Ores'la command structure while the aliens were preparing to migrate. 

(A river of Tau vehicles screened by drones glides past the field of view and pours down a deserted highway cutting through the countryside)

Farrier (VO, cont.): The offensive was centred around what Penros Coalition Command has named Operation Argon-7, a full scale assault on the city of Lucia deep in Ores'la held territory where reliable intelligence sources reported a gathering of key Ores'la leadership figures, including many of the planet's most notorious Ores'la chieftains. 

(A staggered formation of Devilfish troop carriers and Hammerhead gunships sweep across rolling temperate wilderness. Large plumes of black smoke stain the distant horizon)

Farrier (VO, cont.): Other major attacks, Operations Xenon-2, Krypton-9, Neon-18 and Radon-0 allowed the Tau penetrate deep into Ores'la territory and assault Lucia with a strike force reported to consist of elite guards cadre Fire Warriors as well as large numbers of reserve troops. 

(A team of Fire Warriors in full combat gear wait poised in the passenger compartment of a Devilfish, cast into a crimson glow from the interior combat lighting. Harsh white daylight can be seen through the passenger vision blocks)

Farrier (VO, cont.): The Ores'la forces encountered in Lucia are believed to have comprised warbands from multiple Ores'la tribes affiliated with the Snake Bites paramilitary.. 

(On the outskirts of a war-torn Imperial city, Broadside battlesuits are carefully unloaded from the open rear hatch of a landed Orca dropship, sliding off the central conveyor one by one and striding forward, while Fire Warriors and gun drones fan out around the landing site)

Farrier (VO, cont.): .. Large bands of Ores'la fighters were reportedly encountered with extensive artillery support alongside heavy cavalry and mechanised combat walker elements. 

(Viewed from above, a pair of Hammerhead gunships glide across a war-torn Imperial cityscape, their turret-mounted railguns tracking and firing on some distant target. A corkscrew of dust and debris is wrenched up along the path of each railgun shot fired)

Farrier (VO, cont.): Tau forces entered the city from two sides, concentrating their mobile elements on the southern approaches.. 

(A trio of Broadside battlesuits stand in a large room of a ruined Imperial building. Fingers of light stream in from the shattered windows in front of them. The battlesuits sway from one side to another as they track unseen targets with their shoulder-mounted railguns. At once the Broadsides fire their railguns, buffeting the world with the force of their recoil and sending a whirlwind of dust into the air from the floor. Then the machines unlock their foot stabilisers and shift their position, carefully shuffling around the room like elephants)

Farrier (VO, cont.): ..while air-landing infantry and heavy battlesuits were deployed along the eastern districts to hold Ores'la fighters in place against the main push, with medium battlesuit units being kept as an immediate reserve.. 

(Viewed from above, a Hammerhead gunship swoops down to an war-torn Imperial city intersection, its turret-mounted railgun turning to aim at some unseen target around the left corner and firing as it clears the side of the adjacent buildings)

Farrier (VO, cont.): ..Coalition officials have so far neither confirmed nor denied that a Tau Ethereal Caste representative was also involved in the operation. 

(Viewed from above in monochrome through a Tau gun camera, hulking figures crawl over the front prow of a Hammerhead gunship hovering on a war-torn Imperial roadway, wildly hacking at the machine with various implements. At once a corkscrew of dust and debris whips up around a flash of brightness along the road from the right to the stricken Hammerhead and a rippling series of explosions rake across the Hammerhead's prow, covering it in flame and dust and sending a shower of fragments from the grav-tank. As the dust clears the Hammerhead's prow is now clean of figures, the remaining pieces of its assailants sloughing off the prow as the Hammerhead moves forward)

Farrier (VO, cont.): Argon-7 encountered fierce resistance in the city. Almost immediately the Tau advance was compromised by ambushes from forward-deployed Ores'la special forces units.

(A Tau Fire Warrior talks into a microphone held from just out of sight)

Tau Fire Warrior: Ores'la M'yen'ka Run'vral'vre Ka[The Ores'la caught us by surprise with their special forces teams. We were operating without support from our own counter-infiltrators, so the Ores'la operators were able to get inside our lines well past our forward security screens. They hit my team's flank really hard, and almost came close to overrunning us. We had to redirect our drone support to cover that flank because the Ores'la were dangerously close to taking out a critical asset, and that ended up containing them] 

(A mass of Fire Warriors hug the ground of a war-torn Imperial plaza amidst a number of pixel-blurred bodies strewn across the pavement, firing off sporadic bursts from their pulse rifles in between bracing themselves as an unrelenting torrent of violent explosions and tracers rains down all around them. A pair of Devilfish hover in front of them, shifting forward and back and swooping down and up again as they manoeuvre to ward away other threats)

Farrier (VO): Ores'la artillery also proved lethally effective, inflicting major losses on the primary assault force as they reacted to sophisticated Ores'la counterintelligence efforts. 

(Another Tau Fire Warrior talks into a microphone held from just out of sight)

Tau Fire Warrior: Ores'la M'kna, Ores'la Kais'va Sa'J'cha M'ye[The Ores'la were very clever. They did a very smart piece of military deception, which led us to deploy on the ground too early and too far away. We had planned to set up ahead to ambush the Ores'la as they came through the city, but it was a trap and the Ores'la managed to ambush us instead. The Ores'la artillery was especially deadly, it was lethally accurate and continuous so we spent a lot of decs pinned down under heavy fire until we were finally able to break off and withdraw. We lost a lot of good guys out there, I just have to trust it was all for the Greater Good in the end] 

(Viewed from above in monochrome through a Tau gun camera, we follow a wave of hulking Orks riding on massive boars as they barrel down a large wide war-torn Imperial roadway. As they continue forward a stream of small flickering flashes dart across the field of view and slam into them, consuming the wave in blossoming flashes and dark clouds)

Farrier (VO): Nonetheless Tau forces were ultimately able to complete their primary mission, with Penros Coalition Command announcing the confirmed destruction of multiple key Ores'la chieftains in precision missile strikes and the decapitation of key levels of the Ores'la leadership and command structures. 

(A third Tau Fire Warrior talks into a microphone held from just out of sight. A Hammerhead gunship is parked on the ground behind them)

Tau Fire Warrior: Mont'ka'shi Kor'mont'sta[The gunships were the decisive force. Their mobility and heavy firepower smashed the Ores'la. The TX-7s hammered the Ores'la on the southern flank, the Ores'la had most of their troops concentrated there with almost no anti-tank weapons, so the TX-7s had perfect targets for their cluster shells. The TX-7-6 we had also did a great job, it was out of position for a while but it managed to neutralise the Ores'la cavalry force that's been a really dangerous threat before and would have ripped the heart out of our guys otherwise. Our gunships rampaged through the south, and if the Ores'la artillery hadn't destroyed too many of them they would have probably cleared the whole city. I'm really proud to have served alongside those guys] 

(Farrier stands in front of a roadway curving away through tussock-strewn wilderness. A pair of Tau sentry gun turrets flank the roadway, each next to a large signpost with the message "DANGER! RESTRICTED AREA - NO CIVILIAN ACCESS PAST THIS POINT!" printed in large bold letters in Tau'sia, human Gothic, and several other alien scripts) 

Farrier: Tau forces were forced to withdraw from Lucia with heavy casualties, but not before inflicting major damage on the Ores'la in turn and completing their main objectives. They have failed to prevent the Ores'la from escaping the planet.. 

(A Hammerhead gunship glides into view and carries on down the road, passing by behind Farrier with a screaming roar of jet turbines)

Farrier (cont.): ..but the Tau were successful in completely severing almost every level of the Ores'la chain of command on Penros VII, and that means two key things. First, the Ores'la migration was significantly disrupted, with the result that only a relatively small fraction.. 

(A pair of Devilfish troop carriers glide into view one after the other and carry on down the road, passing by behind Farrier with a screaming roar of jet turbines)

Farrier (cont.): ..of the aliens managed to leave the system and second, that the Ores'la remaining on Penros VII are now significantly weaker with reports.. 

(Another Hammerhead glides into view and carries on down the road, passing by behind Farrier with a screaming roar of jet turbines)

Farrier (cont.): ..already coming in that Ores'la warbands on the ground are quickly falling into fierce internal fighting. The Ores'la on Penros VII are far from gone, but they are for the moment no longer a major threat. 

(Viewed from above in monochrome through a Tau gun camera, bright flickering flashes blossom across a rugged rolling wilderness as two jagged lines of roughly-hewn trenches and fortifications exchange heavy gunfire and artillery shelling)

Farrier (VO): The aftermath of Operation Ol'Vre-5 has already seen dramatic results, coalition intelligence confirming the formation of a power vacuum among the Ores'la on Penros VII with splinter groups vying for control. 

(Viewed from above, we follow along a sprawling Ork shantytown. The streetways are littered with craters and burning wreckage. Streams of tracer fire pour across open spaces from one building to another. Thick clouds of black smoke pour from numerous huts and structures)

Farrier (VO, cont.): As early as 48 hours after the operation's conclusion Ores'la advances across the planet's primary continent have become paralysed, with witnesses from Ores'la occupied regions reporting intense firefights breaking out among Ores'la warbands.. 

(Massive plumes of smoke rise into the sky from a sprawling mass of Ork fortresses and buildings, illuminated by raging fires. Streams of tracer gunfire erupt into the air from amongst the skyline in wildly twisting patterns, crisscrossing the dusk sky)

Farrier (VO, cont.): ..and orbital and covert surveillance indicating dozens of known Ores'la strongholds now embroiled in full-scale warfare between local tribes. 

(In the dark of midnight at a Tau airbase illuminated by apron lights, the silhouette of a Barracuda races into the air with teardrop plumes of brilliant violet flame fountaining from its engines)

Farrier (VO, cont.): Meanwhile Tau Air Caste assets have been heavily involved in covering the escape of coalition forces incolved in Ol'Vre-5.. 

(An enormous Moray assault ship hangs serenely in the air high in the upper atmosphere. A massive missile lances out from its underside in a burst of flame and races away on a trail of white smoke)

Farrier (VO, cont.) .. as well as conducting targeted strikes against key Ores'la weapon sites.. 

(Viewed from above in monochrome through a Tau gun camera, a gargantuan Squiggoth plods forwards across the wilderness. A series of small bright flashes dart across the screen and slam into the side of the creature, consuming it in bright flashes of flame and sprays of debris before the beast collapses to its belly and keels over. Smoke and flame pour from the howdah on its back)

Farrier (VO, cont.): ..war machines.. 

(Viewed from above in monochrome through a Tau gun camera, several rows of captured Imperial tanks line a courtyard beside a sprawling roughly-shapen citadel inside a perimeter of jagged palisade fences. A tiny glob of light darts towards the centre and the whole compound is engulfed with a harsh fireball and clouds of smoke and dust) 

Farrier (VO, cont.): ..and command centres to prevent the Ores'la reorganising and to minimise the threat their internal conflict poses to civilian areas. 

(Aboard a Tau starship humans, Tau and various aliens move past a large set of doors emblazoned with the Water Caste logo)

Farrier (VO, cont): Water Caste Command Penros has issued a statement commending the professionalism, skill and bravery of the Tau forces on Penros and indicating cautious optimism about the Penros expeditionary mission. 

(Por'vre'T'au Sa'yio'Or'es'Kaara is addressing an out-of-sight crowd from a gleaming podium crowned with an array of microphones. The backdrop behind him is adorned with an array of hanging flags and banners emblazoned the emblems of Tau, Kroot, Gue'vesa, Nicassar, Naga, Sea'shi, Ich'khula and several others)

Por'vre'T'au Sa'yio'Or'es'kaara: ... the forces arrayed against us in this sector are a great abyss, the Ol'Vre mission was just a point of starlight. But it is a point of starlight that can show the way forward. The Ores'la plaguing Penros VII have been thrown into chaos, and their advance contained, but they are not gone and there remain many more dangers still at large. The task of stabilising the Penros system, and indeed the wider sector, and of bringing peace and well-being to those who live there, is far from over. 

Make no mistake, this is not the end, nor is it even the beginning of the end. But it is, I think, the end of the beginning. Our expeditionary forces have many more battles ahead of them, but it is safe to say that thanks to the monumental sacrifice of our military forces, we are one solid step closer to making Penros a safer, happier part of the galaxy... 

(A Manta missile destroyer comes in to land at a bustling Tau starport, gently and smoothly lowering itself to the ground beneath a radiant crimson sunset)

Farrier (VO): In the meantime, coalition forces on the ground are now licking their wounds, reorganising their battered forces and planning out how to keep the Ores'la civil conflict contained while pivoting to focus on other pirate and terrorist threats in the region. From Penros System this is Farrier Seyburey, Tor'Vash'Por. 

Luna: And to shed more light on the story we have standing by for us Payal Sarkar, special advisory liaison to the Dal'yth Sept Council Gue'vesa delegation, Pavel Titov strategic analyst at the Lambada Centre and Tim Colquhoun, senior fellow at the Miranda-Yamato Academy of Political Studies and author of 'Centre Of Gravity: The Changing Balance On The Eastern Fringe'. Payal I want to start with you first, just how is this latest offensive on Penros VII likely to be viewed by the Tau leadership? 

Payal: Well Luna I think the Tau are likely to be very cautiously optimistic about this latest development, we need to remember that it is still a very limited success and a portion of the Ores'la that managed to escape the system aboard the space hulk is not insignificant, which is going to cause problems in other regions they might resurface in, but that being said it is also the biggest success the coalition forces have had on Penros VII so far and it has effectively knocked out what was by far the greatest threat in the Penros system not just to the expeditionary mission but also to the local residents and I think that is going to cause some reevaluation with the Ethereals around salvaging the Penros mission. 

Luna: Alright Payal I can see Tim nodding along with you there Tim what are your thoughts on this? 

Tim: Thank you Luna yes I want to say I agree with most what Payal here is saying but it's also worth keeping in mind where the Penros Coalition is coming from. The Ores'la, we need to keep in mind, the Ores'la were threat number 1 on Penros VII by a huge margin right, these Ores'la were by far the single largest and most formidable force on the planet, they weren't just driving back our coalition forces but they were also keeping the Gue'la Imperial invasion effort bottled up too, they were not just threatening to break out and start threatening the wider system right, and the Tau have now just stopped all of that in its tracks, and I think that's very significant. 

Payal: Yes to add to what Tim is saying there this does also put the entire world of Penros VII in a very unpredictable place right now because of course the Ores'la had grown to such a large and entrenched presence and now that they've been plunged into this infighting it's going to create a power vacuum across the entire planet, which could take an already unstable situation and turn it into total chaos. 

Luna: Alright now that sounds like a pretty good place to bring you in Pavel, how would you describe the strategic situation for the Penros Expeditionary Mission right now? 

Pavel: Thank you Luna. I would describe the Penros expedition's strategic situation as extremely precarious right now, the expeditionary forces are in a very fragile condition right now with a lot of threats still facing them. On the one hand you have all these various other Mont'au'gue'la terror groups and pirate groups still active, and now they'll be looking to grow their presence and power without the Ores'la holding them back, like Payal was saying the collapse of the Ores'la is going to create a power vacuum that these other pirates and terrorists will rush to fill.. 

Tim: Now-

Pavel (cont.): .. On the other hand there's also the Gue'la Imperium presence in the system, and now they're also going to be emboldened to be more aggressive now for the same reasons.. 

Tim: Hold-

Pavel (cont.): .. and finally you have the Ores'la themselves, let's remember that yes their leadership structure has been destroyed yes they're no longer going to be pushing out and making cohesive strategic moves but the individual Ores'la warbands are not gone! There are still a large number of Ores'la forces still on Penros VII.. 

Luna: Pavel- 

Pavel (cont.): .. and they are only going to emerge from this infighting stronger if left to their own devices. 

Luna: Alright Pavel I am noticing Tim trying to come in there with some of his thoughts. 

Tim: Yes that's right, I'm not so sure I see things so pessimistically on my end here, from what I can see the Penros expedition still has some strong assets going for it. This operation has shown that even though the Tau have taken some heavy setbacks on Penros VII, that they were able to put this offensive together and carry it out still shows that they are able to make strong decisive plays and can still shape the conflict in big ways. 

Pavel: The trouble is this operation has also highlighted the vulnerabilities the Tau have on Penros VII, they threw this huge amount of force at the Ores'la, including a lot of their carefully collected heavy equipment, their carefully husbanded reserve troops, and even with all that they were still only able to achieve limited success, and they sustained heavy losses even just managing that much. That highlights to me just how much of a knife's edge the expedition is currently resting on right now. 

Luna: Payal you have something you want to add? 

Payal: Yes Luna I think the key word here surrounding the current situation in the Penros system is uncertainty. There's much more uncertainty now than there was even a few weeks ago with the space combat actions that occurred in the system, and that goes for both the Penros expeditionary mission and the Penros system, even the wider Penros sub-sector itself. Now that's certainly going to be very concerning for all involved, but we also need to keep in mind that uncertainty does not necessarily mean all bad. 

Tim: Thank you for bringing up an excellent point Payal, you're right that there's both a lot of risk and a lot of opportunity now for the Penros expedition. I think the most interesting opportunity right now to me at least, is the opportunity to cement some real legitimacy to the Tau claim to the system. Remember the Penros expedition was sent to the Penros system in the first place because the local governor there requested Tau assistance and support in maintaining security in the system and especially on Penros VII itself. Right now the Tau have just decapitated the Ores'la leadership, they've plunged the Ores'la that had Penros VII under their boot into infighting, they've taken that threat out of the fight, and they can take credit for that achievement. And I think that could go a long way into cementing the Tau as credible brokers of security in the system and in the wider sub-sector. 

Luna: Pavel what course of action do you think the Penros Coalition should pursue moving forward then? 

Pavel: My biggest recommendation Luna would be one of consolidation and caution. Right now the Penros Coalition is stretched very thin, dangerously thin even. You already have a very tenuous situation for coalition troops on the ground even before this latest offensive, and with the heavy casualties they've taken in this latest battle the coalition ground forces of Penros VII are boing to be taxed even further, and now the aerospace forces are being stretched out hunting down this Mont'au'gue'la pirate fleet that had entered the system, so the coalition military is stretched very thin right now and really needs to use this time to consolidate and regroup and reorganise their forces. 

Luna: Alright now Payal you work with the Ethereal caste, how threatened do you think the Tau are likely to feel in regards to the Penros system right now, and how likely are they to invest more resources into the Penros system as it stands now? 

Payal: That's a good question Luna I think the Tau are going to be feeling at least a little more confident about the Penros mission now they've gotten some kind of visible result. There have been rumblings within the Tau government about a complete withdrawal from the Penros system for some time now, and I would not be surprised to see that change. We know there are still additional Kor'vattra ships en route to reinforce the Penros Coalition right now, and I suspect that the Tau will be most likely to feed in just enough troops and materiel to keep their ground forces topped up and maintain the ability to project some kind of presence on the ground, while focusing on really reinforcing their aerospace hold over the system where the aerospace theatre has seen their greatest successes so far. 

Luna: Alright we are not starting to run out of time but I do want to hear from all of you now what do you think the implications are for the local civilians on Penros VII? 

Tim: I think the people of Penros VII have cause to be more hopeful than they've been in a long while now. Before they were facing the real prospect of indefinite domination by the Ores'la, possibly permanently, with all of the enslavement, violence and displacement that comes with that. Now, because of this operation Ol'vre, that outcome is suddenly a lot less likely, and they're a step closer towards being able to enjoy a normal life. 

Pavel: I'm not sure I fully agree with that assessment Luna, I think the civilian populace faces a lot more hardship to come now. Not only is the world far from secure, with many dozens of other pirate and terror groups besides the Ores'la, but there's also the Gue'la Imperium to deal with and the Ores'la themselves, and the violence of their internal conflict is going to be a very grave danger for civilians still trapped in those territories under Ores'la occupation. 

Payal: I think the most notable development for the local populace concerns the civilians trapped in Ores'la controlled territories. The coalition forces on Penros VII worked hard to evacuate as much of the civilian population as they could when the scale of hostilities became apparent, but the rapid advance of the Ores'la left a considerable number of civilians trapped under their occupation. Now those locals will be seeing a chance to escape the oppression of the Ores'la holding their lands, but they will also face a very serious risk of being caught in the crossfire of the Ores'la internal conflicts, and I would not be surprised if the Penros expeditionary mission plans to try and assist those local civilians where they can. 

Luna: Alright I'm afraid we are going to have to leave it there as we are out of time now but thank you all for taking the time to speak with us. 

Payal: Thank you Luna. 

Pavel: Thank you Luna. 

Tim: Thank you Luna. 

Luna: Alright moving onto some other news now it has been two weeks since Tor'Vash'Por correspondent Audra Vega was kidnapped and detained by Gue'la Imperium secret police. Tau and Gue'vesa authorities are continuing to demand her immediate release and there are now grave concerns over her treatment and the conditions in...

Tor'Vash'Por (4)

Idris: ... moving onto other news now and Tau forces in the Penros system have successfully repelled a surprise attack by pirate forces believed to be affiliated to Mont'au'Gue'la terror groups. The attack occurred on a Tau staging post above Penros X and marks the second major space combat by Tau expeditionary forces in the Penros system, coinciding with the appearance of a Class-8 space hulk in the system that now threatens to stretch Tau naval forces even further. Correspondent Farrier Seyburey has more for us now. 

(In a massive cavernous launch bay a Manta loaded with enormous underwing missile pods tears past our field of view and zooms into space through a vast gaping opening) 

Farrier (VO):  No rest for the weary as Tau aerospace forces in the Penros system continue to face mounting pressure from rapidly escalating terrorist activity.. 

(The missile-laden underside of an SX-06 Barracuda covers the top corner of view as we see a vast cavernous rectangular launch bay rapidly shoot back and downwards, followed by the vast launch bay entrance and enormous shape of an Explorer class starship falling into the distance as the Barracuda takes off and races away on its launch trajectory)

Farrier (VO Cont.): .. The latest attack has seen a major raid on the primary Tau staging point above Penros X by Mont'au'Gue'la pirate forces believed to be affiliated with the same terror group that launched an attack on Tau forces above Penros VI earlier this week.. 

(A relentless stream of missiles leaps upwards from a cluster of vertical launch cells amongst the sprawling hull and superstructure of a Tau starship)

Farrier (VO Cont.): .. The terrorist flotilla, believed to have comprised no fewer than six capital ships and six frigates of Imperial design, staged a surprise attack on the staging point while a major Tau action group was undergoing replenishment in preparation for further deployment throughout the Penros system.. 

(Stars wheel and whirl around the front underside of an SX-06 Barracuda, jutting across from the top corner of view towards a distant speck of light fixed in the centre of view. After a few moments of chasing a large missile flings itself from the Barracuda's underside just out of view and then hurtles off towards the distant speck)

Farrier (VO Cont.): .. Sources indicate that the Mont'au'Gue'la were initially able to achieve complete operational surprise, with only the local defensive patrol of Kir'qath class starships on alert at the onset of the attack.. 

(Stars wheel around the massive sprawling hull of a Merchant class starship as it manoeuvres) 

Farrier (VO Cont.): .. however Tau fleet intelligence was able to correctly predict the most likely avenues of attack and had the squadron positioned to quickly intercept the attacking ships.. 

(Viewed in monochrome through a Tau weapon seeker, the distant shape of a Styx class heavy cruiser slowly begins to grow out from the centre of view, wiggling to and fro as the missile tracks to keep it in the centre of vision. A stream of flashes races forwards from the ship before sweeping up and under out of view. At once the Styx rushes forward into the camera, zooming straight into a section of its hull before the image abruptly cuts)

Farrier (VO Cont.): .. This allowed the Tau fleet enough time to activate its ships in holding, and the Tau were then able to hold their own in an 8 dec engagement that ultimately saw the surviving Mont'au'Gue'la forced to retreat after being outmanoeuvred by Tau ships exploiting the gas giant Penros X itself to attack the terrorist formation from their rear aspect.. 

(Viewed in monochrome through a Tau gun camera, a Dreadclaw pod hangs in the middle of view as it hurtles through space at an oblique angle. At once a small flickering flash of light zips up on a smooth intercept trajectory and slams into it from beneath, consuming the pod in a bright flash that leaves behind a spiraling cloud of glittering debris)

Farrier (VO Cont.): .. Air Caste Command Penros has praised the professionalism of its pilots and starship crews in quickly responding to the emerging threat and repelling the attack despite continued use by the terrorists of advanced short-range etheric drives and self-repair capability onboard several warships.. 

(The top rear of a Manta sprawls across the bottom of view, furious coronas of light blasting from its engines as it speeds away from a distant speck of light in the centre of view. At once the entire vision is consumed by a searing unbearably white flash that dissipates in a moment, leaving behind a growing cloud of burning iridescent light where the speck once was)

Farrier (VO Cont.): .. Tau officials still refuse to confirm or deny unsubstantiated claims that these capabilities may be somehow connected to so-called etheric lifeforms, but have confirmed the destruction of at least two such modified cruisers.. 

(The superstructure of a Tau starship sprawls across the bottom of view, a distant speck of light slowly drifting past where a horizon might be. At once the entire vision is consumed by a searing unbearably purple flash. A twitching visual glitch runs across the camera's view and the flash dissipates, leaving behind a swirling mass of burning iridescent light where the speck once was. A tiny visual glitch persists at the very epicentre of the light mass)

Farrier (VO Cont.): .. from catastrophic damage to their plasma drives and etheric engines, as well as the loss of no fewer than three Mont'au'Gue'la torpedo frigates. Tau sources have also reported that the confirmed command ship of the attacking terrorists suffered crippling damage during the battle. 

(A Tau Air Caste pilot, holding her helmet in one hand by her waist, talks into a microphone held from just out of sight)

Tau Air Caste: Mont'au'Gue'la Vattra Mont'[These Mont'au'Gue'la starships are tough, they've been modified with powerful short-range ether drives and sophisticated self-repair systems, and when they use those two together it makes them really hard to destroy because if you don't destroy the ship in one pass it will jump out of space and then return when it's self-repaired all the damage. Normally our guys will fly in multiple smaller forces to cripple many adversaries quickly, but doing that with these ships just lets them escape and self-repair. So instead we started concentrating our guys into single larger strike packages and then we started getting success and destroyed two of their capital ships. It means we hit fewer targets, but the targets we do hit, we destroy for good. I know we lost a lot of ships this time, but I'm still feeling good because we're learning how to beat these Mont'au'Gue'la and we're adapting to beat them]

(Farrier walks down a crisp white corridor aboard a Tau starship) 

Farrier: The Tau ended the battle controlling the field and so have been able to keep open their main supply lines through the system, especially in preparation for additional ships en route to the Penros sub-sector - it's an important victory, but the Tau have paid an extremely heavy price for it, with Air Caste Command reporting the destruction of fifteen escort ships of various classes now that's already seriously heavy losses, but worse still is the reported destruction of two capital ships, the first such vessels lost by the Tau in the Penros system, including a Gal'leath class starship and that's a staggering blow, because these huge carrier starships are the backbone of the Kor'vattra the Tau navy, they're used for logistics, for command and control, for transporting and housing ground forces as well as being the primary offensive striking power of the Tau fleet so even losing just one of these starships is a massive setback for the Penros Coalition. Now, the good news is that the Gal'leath is reported to be relatively intact and in salvageable condition, but the other capital ship lost, which sources indicate to be a smaller Il'fannor class starship, did suffer a catastrophic plasma drive overload and will need to be replaced with another ship from out of system. Tau officials have reported investigations have been launched to determine why these ships were lost, as they were reportedly given multiple direct orders to disengage before suffering catastrophic damage, but in the meantime the Tau Air Caste will be stretched extremely thin across the Penros sub-sector. 

(We focus in on a still frame from a Tau sensor readout, showing a massive contact in deep space)

Farrier (VO): The losses have further compounded the Penros Coalition's increasingly fragile state in space, coinciding with the detection of a massive class-8 space hulk in the system.. 

(Viewed in monochrome through a Tau imager, an enormous roughly shaped mass hangs in the cosmos)

Farrier (VO Cont.): .. currently being tracked by Air Caste assets and projected to pass close by Penros VII later in the month.. 

(The superstructure of a Tau starship sprawls across the bottom of view. A distant speck of vividly bright light hangs in the centre of view, keeping pace with the Tau ship as it moves through space at speed)

Farrier (VO Cont.): .. It's a glaring example of the growing holes in the coalition's blockade of the system, as more and more fleet assets are committed to hunting down the emergent Mont'au'Gue'la threat to coalition space superiority.. 

(A gleaming four-armed Tau orbital hangs in space above the vast face of a planet covered by oceans, landmasses and clouds)

Farrier (VO Cont.): .. With Tau Air Caste assets further depleted, the coalition aerospace forces are now having to compromise in some areas.. 

(Digital contact icons shift and dance across the screen of a Tau sensor readout embedded in a cool grey workstation)

Farrier (VO Cont.): .. shifting priority from containment measures for hazards like space hulks.. 

(A Barracuda soars across a twilight sky, teardrop plumes of brilliant flame fountaining from its engines as it cruises on afterburners high above the clouds. The body of its wingman is just visible along the bottom of view)

Farrier (VO Cont.): .. as well as aerospace support for coalition ground forces embattled on the surface of Penros VII, and renewed talks of the possibility of escalation by the Gue'la Imperium in the region could now push the expeditionary mission to its breaking point.. 

(Neat slim white contrails arc across a cloudless midday sky across open rolling countryside)

 

Varrier (VO Cont.): .. Meanwhile on Penros VII coalition ground forces have shifted to a more aggressive posture.. 

(Rolling wilderness rushes past the underside of a Barracuda tearing along at low level. The Barracuda's central missile bay drops down and a pair of burning orange lights leap from the front of it one after the other before the Barracuda wrenches upwards and away from the world)

Farrier (VO Cont.): .. with missile and airstrikes intensifying around known Ores'la strongholds.. 

(In the middle of a bustling Tau starport, beneath a cold blue-grey-orange dusk, Tau, humans and drones hastily unload cargo and supplies from the open cargo hatches of landed Manta and Orca dropships and onto rows of Tau grav-tanks and troop carriers under the illumination of floodlights)

Farrier (VO Cont.): .. and reports of large numbers of Tau reserve units being mobilised.. 

(An orderly column of Tau vehicles screened by drones moves past the view down a desolate countryside roadway)

Farrier (VO Cont.): .. in preparation for what is anticipated to be a major offensive operation in the coming weeks.. 

(Viewed in monochrome through a Tau docking camera, the vast ruined shell of an Explorer class starship stretches in all directions as far as the eye can see, slowly growing closer and closer)

Farrier (VO Cont.): .. Salvaging operations are also underway to restore the derelict Gal'leath starship lost in combat operations to restore key fleet capabilities.. 

(Humans clad in Tau body armour and undersuit clothing swarm along a length of shattered, ruined Tau starship corridor, pulling battered Tau Air Caste from wreckage, working to repair the cataclysmic damage and moving loaded casualty grav-stretchers back out of view and fresh supplies and equipment out from view to where it's needed)

Farrier (VO Cont.): .. while the coalition awaits the arrival of additional reinforcements. It's now a race against time for the Penros Coalition to shore up its operational situation, but there remains a sense among Coalition Command that this conflict, is not yet over. From Penros System this is Farrier Seyburey, Tor'Vash'Por. 

Idris: Imperial authorities on Lysander have launched a brutal crackdown on civilian protestors calling for more equitable living conditions as well as diplomatic and trade ties with the Tau and Gue'vesa Federation. The demonstrators, only one day after their first mass action have been met with lethal force from local Arbite police units with the death toll currently at...

A Halloween Ghost Story

It was a night like this one, a long time ago. 

Back before the plague, before the tech bros, before the red caps and the boss babes, back when we were all wandering the face of the earth wondering what to do, a whole world full of lost little children. 

I was driving that night way out past those hills on the horizon there. Those hills are a funny place I tell you what. Some folk say there's something in them, something old and strange that calls to men, draws them off their path. The stats sure back it up, the crash rate along those roads is crazy. I've seen more than a few cars off the road in my travels round there and the way they looked, the way they had crossed past the barrier and over the side, the way they had come to their final rest, like a faithful horse carrying its rider to the very end, something just so damn uncanny specific about those wrecks when I seen 'em, well... 

... well I just can't help but think about those stories. 

And after that night, well... 

It was late, coming up to midnight. I had gone out for a cruise, to clear my head I suppose. I needed to get away, to run away, to fly away, to run to the edge of the world and never look back. I wanted to put my past as far away behind me as I could, and I had kept it in the rear view mirror at 80ks an hour since the sun had started painting the world one colour at a time. I had gone to the edge of the road, right to the sea, and since I had a car not a boat, that meant the end of the line. Only trouble was, I had done such a good job of outrunning my demons, I couldn't remember the way back. 

And it's the damndest thing, no matter how sure I was that I was turning back towards home, I kept ending up further and further into the hills. I tell you, those hills out there are funny things, they like to play tricks on you at night. 

The car's clock was coming up on 3AM by the time I got out of the hills, and I was a long way off the main roads. I decided to pull over and check the map to see if I could get a bearing. 

That was when I saw the school. 

I had come to a stop across the road from it, that desolate archipelago of buildings rising from the endless open countryside, still and empty and gaping like a dollhouse for giants. I had just turned the engine off when the moon caught the sign outside, a blazon of bright flowers and shiny blue ocean as vivid and colourful as the day it was first painted. It's funny how signs can outlast their buildings like that. The school itself, well I have to say I don't think that place had been teaching kids for years. 

Maybe it never did. 

The buildings seemed to huddle and grow close as I glanced across them. Their windows were still and black, their timbers blue in the forsaken night, but I swear in that moment my appreciation over the place weren't a two-way street. I looked into that deserted lost place, and it looked straight back at me with those gaping black holes of windows. 

And then I noticed the library. 

It was the biggest building, in the centre of the huddle. When I looked hard enough I could just make out the rows of bookshelves through its windows, a tiny other world at the end of a long dark tunnel. 

Why did I think there would be anything valuable in there? I don't know. Maybe I just couldn't leave a stone unturned if there was a chance a treasure of forgotten lore was under it. Maybe I wanted to believe I could escape back to that island of time when I could lose myself in the picture books in my old school library, paint whole worlds from just the pages, and live a whole afternoon in them without a care in the world. 

All I know is I locked the car behind me, dashed the road and jumped the chain at what used to be the gate. 

It was a wild night that night. The wind roared across the fields, clouds swam before the wheeling stars. But as I got closer to that place, everything got dead quiet. Even the wind seemed to leave it well enough alone. 

Maybe once that school had been a kind place, with its rows of white buildings. But the flowers painted on the walls had faded to a bone-like pallor, and one or two of the classrooms sat with their white painted walls clawed and mangled with deep dark scorching, the charred blackness behind their windows almost still smoldering to the eye. Through one window rows of desks stood with chairs neatly folded up, another they sat open before the desks as if in anticipation. A handprint sat in the corner of one window, a tiny footnote of darkness upon the darkness behind it. 

The only thing that moved besides me were a pair of swings on the far side of the concrete lake these islands of wood and darkness were set upon, twisting and rocking without a sound. There wasn't a damn noise in all the world as I walked through that place. 

Just the sense that something bad had happened here a long long time ago. 

The door to the library threw itself open with a crash that split the night like a meteor. Rust crept around its lock and hinges like mould. I made for the vast towering maw of darkness that lay beyond, daring it to swallow me before the future did. If the noise of the world was timid around the school, the light was just as meek inside it. It was only after a minute of careful, purposeful snaking through black upon black that I was finally able to make the open inner doorway, and that cold barren maze of shelves beyond. I pressed through, past shelves of  glossy hardcovers and tattered shambles of desecrated pages. 

And then right at the heart of that damn room I'll never forget what I saw. 

As soon as I laid eyes upon it the door smashed shut with another cleaving thunderclap. All at once the back of my head burned with anticipation, like a thousand eyes were staring down on me, judging me for ever daring to trespass that god-forsaken ruin that claimed them as their home forever. My own heart was silent. My own head was silent. My own soul was silent. The darkness smothered like water overhead. 

That was when I heard the yowl. 

A howling preening cry that cut through the suffocating silence like a sword. I wrenched my head to where it came from, a cat on the open window, its shapely tail curling up and back and beckoning me to where I was before. I needed no further invitation. I bolted for the window, not squandering a second to look back. The beast turned and leapt as I reached it, lunging behind me in an arrow of fuzzy darkness and brilliant iridescent eyes that shone like gold. I threw myself out the opening and ran, ran until my chest screamed and my hands hit familiar metal and glass. 

I got in the car and drove like the wind, until I glanced that darting serpentine shape of paws and ears and arrow-straight tail bolt right across the edge of my lights. I turned after it at the next intersection and as the moon broke through again I finally found myself coming towards the marching army of lights that cordoned the motorway. 

But I'll never forget what I saw that night in the heart of that damn room. 

It looked like this. 

Oh. OHHHHHHH! Oh I finally get it now! It's supposed to be a chained up tome of evil! All these years I thought the cover was just some kind of chain-gimp fetish shoutout

Ever since first learning of its existence I've tried very hard to understand and appreciate Wraith: The Oblivion. Its reputation as being the ultimate apotheosis of edgy grimdark, the shining jeweled cherry of pure distilled edgy grimdark misery on top of the already mountainous sundae of edgy grimdark drenched with hot edgy grimdark misery sauce that is the Old World of Darkness, has intrigued me because being already familiar with both Warhammer 40,000 and the golden child of the OWOD Vampire: The Masquerade, the idea of there being a tabletop game even more grimdark than those two is something I just have to see for myself - I'm fascinated by Kult for very similar reasons. 

Of course, the other big drive behind my fascination with Wraith is its other reputation as the neglected spat-upon Zoidberg of the OWOD, and as something of a Zoidberg myself I cannot help but naturally relate to such a product. One does not spend 15 years as a Tau player in online 40k fan spaces without developing at least a little empathy for a good outcast no-one likes (it's either that or internalise the hatred and become one of those Tau players that's not like Those Other Girls Tau fans)

Unfortunately, for a long time no matter how hard I tried I just fundamentally did not get Wraith. The trouble was that its dense world of Shadowlands and Stygia and Acranoi and a million billion assorted eternal realms of afterlife was all just noise to me, a sea of bizarre concepts that I just fundamentally could not get my head around enough to fully care about. 

And I suspect that's one of Wraith's biggest problems. At least when it comes to cultivating an audience and being successful. 

It's telling that until very recently the game's biggest moment in the spotlight, the time where it came closest to reaching a mass audience, was in one of the best sequences of the video game Bloodlines... that did not even bother to so much as mention a single thing about Wraith's background worldbuilding and instead focused down on classic ghost story staples with laser precision to masterful effect. 

What's also telling is the breakthrough that finally managed to pierce the cloud and start bridging the gap between me and Wraith. It was many years after I had first learned of Wraith, and I was revisiting the TVtropes page for the game in some idle web-browsing when I came across this buried gem: 

It's possible to permanently yield some power to your Shadow in order to reenter your body and become one of the Risen until you take care of some unfinished business. Yup; you become The Crow. 

Now THAT, that right there. THAT, is a concept. That is something I could comprehend having fun with. The stuff about a million billion afterlife realms and cliques politicking in them and also apparently all the stuff is made out of other ghosts now for some reason? That was all still largely illegible alien nerd gibberish to rival the Voynich Manuscript, but "You get to play as The Crow in the OWOD" was a concept with serious potential. 

And it was an angle that stuck with me just long enough to remember it right when I needed it most. 

It was 2020, and the climactic final act of the Vampire adventure that remains my magnum opus as a GM was coming up to high gear. In the sexy glitzy nights of central San Francisco, my PCs had just rescued an important personal friend of the local Tremere coven and an expert in ritual enchantments. In doing so they had finally learnt of the presence of a hard-as-nails veteran vampire hunter, hot on the trail of the defecting Sabbat VIP the PCs had been tasked with guarding and now packing an arsenal of custom tailor-enchanted anti-vampire stakes that she had forced the aforementioned Tremere hostage to make for her. 

(and as it turned out, also the daughter of the Final Girl that helped the Gangrel PC take down a Tzimisce operation back in the day) 

One brief car-motorcycle chase later, and two of the PCs had managed to narrowly apprehend said vampire hunter and get her unconscious ass back to their hideout. Between the difficulty in actually apprehending her and a cursory examination of the absolute arsenals found in the two duffel-bags on her person, the PCs quickly came to the (correct) conclusion that Ghouling her would make a formidable ally. 

Unfortunately the attempt to make a Ghoul out of her fell through when two sets of character prime directives violently collided with each other. See, the PC who had taken on the Ghouling plan as a pet project had this whole thing about only ever turning people into Ghouls and Vampires with consent ("I'm going to give you the choice I never had"), but what the players did not know was that Ms Vampire Hunter had her own whole thing about not becoming the very monsters she hunts at all costs. The resulting impasse might have been resolved with a sufficiently impressive feat of persuasion (which I was actually low-key rooting for the PCs to pull off), but the PC was the party's muscle and very much a fighter not a lover, and for whatever reason the player behind him never thought to break out and switch over to the much more socially inclined Ghoul they already had at their disposal (which I was actually low-key rooting for them to do), so the impasse was ultimately only resolved with terminal neck trauma. 

Yet it was not the end. The almighty puppeteer god that ruled over their world from behind the shadows was not yet ready to let go of such a promising NPC. Not least because it would make the job of putting together more session content easier if a few more sessions could be squeezed out of her. 

And it was in exploring ways to salvage the character that I remembered that little line from the TVtropes page, and the concept of Risen in the OWOD. It seemed like the perfect solution, so I went over to the White Wolf Wiki to at least get a cliff-notes understanding of what Risen were and how they work. 

And that was how I discovered the next big breakthrough with Wraith. 

See, it turns out that one of the special things Risen get access to is a couple of unique sets of powers. One of those unique lists of powers is called Serendipity, and the Wiki describes it as having power over coincidences that a Risen can use to- 

Wait. 

Hold up. 

Wait. 

Wait wait. 

Wait hold up. 

Wait hold up here a minute. 

Lemme just. 

Lemme just backtrack a little there and.. 

Those who master Serendipity can make coincidences work in their favor.

Make coincidences work in their favour. 

The power of coincidence. 

Coincidence. 

Coincidence, random chance. 

Random chance, coincidence. 

Like in Final Destination. 

The power of coincidence, like in Final Destination. 

Wait. 

Wait wait wait wait wait. 

Hold the fuck up here a minute. 

 Just hold the fuck up here a minute White Wolf. 

You're telling me, White Wolf, that in this Wraith game of yours, this whole time, I could have been going fucking full Final Destination on motherfuckers?  

Holy FUCK White Wolf! Why in god's name did you not open with that? That's the most metal thing I've heard all month! That's rock as hell! Fucking sign me up right there, that's the sale of the century! Bringing back this badass Vampire hunter as pissed off revenant with motherfucking Final Destination powers is exactly the kind of cool fun out of leftside challenge for my PCs I'm looking for! I can have ALL kinds of fun with that concept! 

Right that settles it, we're breaking out this Wraith stuff, we're making this girl a Risen and we're going to be busting out ALL the Final Destination powers, here we go, it's gonna be wild, it's gonna be rad, crank up that Within Temptation and lesh go! 

Alright here we go, I'm all fired up on Within Temptation, I'm feeling this in my bones, I am READY for these Final Destination powers, come on White Wolf hit me with every one of these Serendipity powers you got! Let's do this! Here we go! 

Oh. 

Oh. 

What the HELL White Wolf. How the HELL do you screw up Final Destination powers? I was promised an arsenal of kickass Final Destination powers and instead you give me a bunch of pissy little fee-fee kumbaya kombucha rubbish? What the hell am I supposed to do with any of this! I'm trying to make a paranormal supernatural horror story here not start a bible group! 

Just, just just go. Just get out of here White Wolf, just get the hell out of here. Go sit in the corner with Marmite, you deserve each other. This is why no-one likes you. 

So needless to say I almost immediately threw all the stuff on the wiki page out the window and exercised my awesome omnipotent might as GM to come up with some real Final Destination powers instead. And it was awesome. 

My point here is that this whole story is illustrative of Wraith's big framing problem and what I believe has held Wraith back from finding the same kind of success that Vampire did - Deep inside Wraith: The Oblivion is a mass of potential for a truly brilliant game, but it's hideously mismanaged and buried under 700 tons of clomping nerd bullshit for nerds, and the clomping nerd bullshit is placed front and centre as the star attraction which is the Tabletop Game marketing equivalent of going to a first date with a girl and then immediately asking her for graphic lewd descriptions of her feet and what they can do- it's the sort of thing you have to work up towards. 

That's not to say that this is all Wraith's fault specifically. The exact same problem plagues just about every single OWOD game that's not Vampire: The Masquerade, to varying extents, and again is a not insignificant factor in why none of them have ever really been able to replicate the same level of success and popularity that Vampire did. They all have this bad habit of trying way the hell too hard to make themselves their own distinct unique OC Do Not Steal IP, and in doing so they all end up overthinking everything and becoming dense and out there, and thus off-putting to a lot of people who would otherwise probably quite like their concepts. 

In contrast, Vampire never tried to be its own distinct unique completely original IP. It got there by accident while trying to be the ultimate general purpose vampire RPG. And when it comes to drawing in a big audience, that general purpose nature is a very powerful advantage. Being a general-purpose genre melting pot is a very effective survival strategy for a work of fiction, because leveraging existing familiarity allows preceding works to do half the work for you in priming people to like your content. If you've already grown up with westerns, adventure pulp, knight and samurai fantasy and war movies, then you're already primed to understand and like Star Wars. If you've grown up with 20th century sci fi like Aliens, Star Trek, Star Wars and so on, then you're already primed to understand and like Starcraft. 

And it's fundamentally the same with Vampire: The Masquerade. You're not playing in minutiae of fancy edgy goffik latinicus words, you're playing with sexy vampires. Or classic aristocratic vampires. Or classic hissing Orlock style vampires. You start by picking a classic vampire archetype and working out from there, and all the fancy gothic names are just window dressing that's mostly there as lawsuit repellant. And it works because if you're looking at Vampire: The Masquerade then you've probably already been weaned on a steady diet of Buffy, Anne Rice, Blade and Bram Stoker Francis Ford Coppola and know exactly what to expect and exactly what you're here for going in. 

With the other OWOD titles? Not so much. With them, the out-there OC IP is the central framework, and there's not really the same kind of ready-made onramp. 

In a lot of cases this is due to being victims of circumstance, in particular bad timing preventing them from piggy-backing off the cultural zeitgeist. Mage: The Ascension and Hunter: The Reckoning both suffer badly from this rotten luck - the former coming out three years too early to ride the Craft to Charmed Wicca pipeline, and the latter coming out six years too early to ride the Supernatural wave. And I suspect in both cases they were somewhat forced to improvise something to fill the gap, and resorted to doing so with varying degrees of clomping nerd bullshit that is often just really Out There man. Vampire, in contrast, was blessed to come out at just about the perfect time to be able to pick up on the experimental Lost Boys - Fright Night era of vampires and then slingshot off the Sexy Vampire Renaissance of the 90s, and thus never needed to try that hard. 

And that's not to say that really Out There niche stuff can't be good - the cult followings a lot of the non-Vampire OWOD titles have cobbled together is proof that people clearly do get invested in it - but it is going to have a lower ceiling on just how popular and successful the IP can get. As the old adage goes, not everybody drinks wine, but everybody drinks water. 

And this whole issue is probably most visible with Wraith, and most tragic because, when you dig down to that bedrock, Wraith is actually weirdly just about in the best possible place to replicate Vampire's success with the same survival strategy. 

It's not something you notice often, but when you sit down and really look at things, there's almost as many classic ghost stories in popular culture as there are vampire stories, and unlike the vampire stories, a lot more of those ghost stories actually centre ghosts themselves as protagonists. That means you don't even need to work as hard blending in out-of-subgenre elements. 

Those pop-culture influences are already enough to build a cool fun OWOD Wraith game off of. You don't need reams and reams of nonsense metacosmic spirit world politics, you don't even need a spirit world (seriously, why did White Wolf start confining their OWOD games to weird otherrealms?). You can just set players down and say "Alright, you're all ghosts, you have unfinished business in this life and there's some bad guys over there. Go Final Destination some motherfuckers. Go Beetlejuice the fuck out of them." and have a compelling fun game doing that. 

Because again, that's what Vampire: The Masquarade does, just with vampire pop culture. 

What do players do each night, you might ask? Well that's a great question, and the other great strength of Wraith is that it already has a really good solid answer for that too - just, again, buried under 700 tons of clomping nerd bullshit. 

The players try to transcend. 

It's been pointed out by some that Wraith for all its grimdark moping is ironically one of the most optimistic OWOD games because the ghostly ambition of resolving all the remaining lose ends tying them back and moving on to a better genuinely blissful afterlife is a goal that's actually viable in gameplay - you can practically achieve that over an adventure, in a way that you just can't with something like, say, riding yourself of the dark unholy thirst of the beast in Vampire. 

I'm compelled to agree, but I would go a step even further. That goal right there is on its own a perfect organic core story hook for you to base RPG sessions off of. That, right there, is the answer to the eternal question, as a wise blogger long ago once put it, of "what shall we do tonight Brain?" 

You try to work through your remaining life baggage so you can transcend to a final blissful existence. When in doubt, start exploring memories. 

Because ghosts, fundamentally, are MEMORIES. That's all a ghost is, a memory with an attitude and agency. That's why they're always tied to haunted places and objects, because that's how memories work - a thing or a place or a time reminds you of the memory. It's also why you can be haunted even by ghosts of people who aren't even dead, like when you're haunted by memories of an ex-girlfriend around an old anniversary. 

Someone on the Wraith team seemed to get this, because there's a good solid infrastructure in place already for that with all the fetters and tethers and such, but again, it's mismanaged and used as a footrest for 700 tons of unnecessary clomping nerd bullshit. 

Baddies you say? Well we'll get to those in the companion piece to this one. Oh yes, don't you worry about that, I have big plans all about playing stone-cold baddies galore. 

Oh wait, you mean bad guys, antagonists to fight? 

Ah well yes they're important too. We need someone to use those rocking Final Destination powers on. But I'm still not convinced you need a dark cosmic primordial evil with an army of evil spirits for that. After all, Vampire: The Masquerade - remember, the most popular OWOD game by a fair margin - does just fine without all that. In that one the bad guys are just a combination of antagonistic humans in your way and other vampires that are even worse than you and don't even pretend to care about humans or humanity. And that works. That 'hell is other people' concept works just fine, you don't need to go dragging in cosmological dark lords to justify it. 

And I feel like that formula would work much better for Wraith. Forget Oblivion and Spectres and all that, the bad guys in your way are just antagonistic humans and bad ghosts - no big cosmological reason why they're bad, they were just assholes in life and now they're assholes in death. People do be like that sometimes. Now go, get out there and Final Destination those motherfuckers. Go Beetlejuice the fuck out of them. 

See taking those kinds of antagonists, combining them with the core gameplay loop of exploring memories and resolving the loose ends holding your ghosts back from moving on, and a framework of classic ghost stories, produces a really focused, compelling tabletop RPG, with a focus on personal stakes and storytelling. No it doesn't have any grand sweeping cosmological battle of good and evil, but that's OK not every OWOD game needs one of those. In fact quite a few of them would probably be better off without it. You can have a fun cool and compelling game about a bunch of ghosts trapped in the real world (well the OWOD real world) cleaning up their memory baggage so they can move on to the better place they're supposed to be. With awesome Final Destination powers. 

And that, is what would make a Wraith game work for me at least. 

Cultural Touchstones 

So what are the pop culture touchstones that White Would should be drawing on for Wraith? What classic ghost stories should be the basis for its DNA? Well looking through my wall of VHS tapes, these for starters. 

Final Destination -  the reference that started it all. Raving about how excellent a source for game powers the film is, it's also a really really great classic example of a ghost story, at least of sorts. Final Destination is ultimately a classic ghost story without the ghost, with the characters instead being haunted by death itself. If you're wanting a good classic touchstone for what it's like to be haunted, this one is an excellent first pick. 


The Frighteners - gotta support the home team! As well as being a criminally underrated gem in its own right, The Frighteners is a great example of a ghost story with ghosts as... well not really protagonists but deuteragonists or deutragonist-adjacent at least. The dynamics between the main characters also give a good suggestion for what an ensemble party of ghost PCs might look something like, and while the surface design and concept of the antagonist is similar to what I think they were aiming for with the Spectres in the old game, the ultimate twist about the antagonist is a perfect example of the "hell is other people" type of antagonists that a good fresh Wraith game really should be focusing on more. 

Beetlejuice - it just wouldn't be a list of classic ghost pop culture without Tim Burton's magnum opus (yeah die mad about it old Batman fans) somewhere near the top. Beetlejuice, in case you are not familiar, is a tragic tale of achieving the ultimate pinnacle of the highest heaven, being cloistered up in your hobby room for all eternity with a 32 year old Geena Davis who utterly loves you, only to then have it all agonisingly ripped away by a couple of obnoxious yuppies and an immature edgelord who is summoned with the invocation "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" (repeating it also sends him back). Oh and Winona Ryder is there too. 

But I digress. The key thing about Beetlejuice, and what makes it such a key ingredient in what Wraith should be aiming for as a ghost RPG, is that Beetlejuice is probably the classic modern ghost story that's actually centred around ghosts. The protagonists are ghosts, one of the main antagonists is a ghost, and the central focus of the story is about ghosts navigating and adjusting to life after life. That makes it perfect bedrock to build a ghost-focused RPG on. 

I suspect this might be another case of someone on the Wraith team having the right idea, because I suspect that a lot of the nerd baggage in the game came about as an attempt to riff on the afterlife politics that also crop up in this film. But if that's the case then they also sort of missed the point completely, because the story here isn't about the afterlife politics, the story is about two newly ghostified people trying to make sense of their new existence and find their new place in the world. And that is exactly the sort of story that Wraith should really be focusing on. The rest is just garnish. 

Oh and there's also lots of rich inspiration for alternative powers to Final Destination too. 

Ghost - OK so there's two classic quintessential ghost stories centred on ghost as protagonist, and I need to throw in both of them if I want to avoid having my pop culture guru license revoked. But that's OK because I was going to do it anyway. Ghost is of course THE classic ghost movie, it is for ghost stories what Dracula and Interview are for vampire stories, but it's also EXACTLY the sort of personal stakes, personal-level story about exploring memory and tying up loose life baggage in order to ascend to the right place that should be Wraith's bread-and-butter. Give me a game where I play out something like this, and your game will be very popular and successful. 

Corpse Bride - Yet another ghost story with a ghost as deutragonist sort-of, and a focus on ghost characters navigating unresolved life baggage. A lot of what applies to the other entries above also applies here. It's almost like there's a common creative influence it shares between one of the others...

Thirteen Ghosts - while the other entries on here are all strong ingredients for what Wraith's story focus should be, this one is a key ingredient for what Wraith's aesthetic and visual design ought to be taking cues from. The story of the film itself is transparently threadbare and largely just an excuse to get characters exposed to freaky visuals, but those visuals themselves are on point. The look, design and character backstories of the titular ghosts are what has carried this film since its release, and are exactly the sort of place to look for when working out what Wraith characters might look like. Heck take the titular 13 ghosts from this film and you've already got a pretty respectable gallery of Wraith NPCs and/or pre-built PCs right there. 

Ghosts - rounding out the core lineup is this fun little gem of a TV show, as a good example of how ensembles of ghost characters can work over a serialised arc not dissimilar to the average RPG adventure, all delightfully framed by the charming charisma and dynamic magnetism of star actor Rose McIver who is a treasure to watch and a credit to every production she's in. 

Oh and there's also some obscure UK derivative of the show too I think. I suppose that's probably worth a watch too. 

Ghost Chips - Again, gotta support the home team! 

An astute observer will probably have noticed one recurring pattern across all these titles. None of them have the same sort of roof-top leather katana fighting action of Vampire, nor do they have the low-down gritty blue-collar brawling action of, say, Werewolf: The Apocalypse. The basis for a white-knuckled action game this is not. But that's OK, because not every OWOD game has to be like that, and in some cases it's a mistake for every OWOD game to try to be. It's OK to just be a personal game about personal character stories with personal character stakes. 

There's room in the OWOD for that. 

Ah ha haha.. 

YEEE-HOOO! 

Ah hahah hah hah! 

Ha hahahah hah hah hah, YEEEE-HOOOO! 

Hav'n trouble with the nerds? 

You tired of having your tabletop games neglected? 

You wanna get rid of them pesky profit losses once and for all? 

WELLL come on down to see me folks, 'cause I'm the nerd world's leading upcoming writer! 

Yessiree, come on down here and I wanna tell ya, 

I'll do ANYTHING! 

... 

I'll scare 'em REALL BAD, the POINT IS folks, I'm gon' do anything to get yer business! 

Hell! I'll possess MYSELF if I gotta! 

WOAH! YOWWWWWWW I got deemons runnin' all through me, ALL THROUGH ME! 

Come on down here and see it! 

And hey, if you act now, you get a free golden new game concept with every critique! Ah now you can't beat that can you. 

And bring the lil' parts down here! Hell we got plenty of snakes an' lizards for 'em to play with, there's no problem with that at all! 

So, 

Say it once! 

Say it twice! 

Third time's the charm! 

And remember! 

I'll eat anything you want me to eat, 

I'll swallow anything you want me to swallow, 

So come on down! I'll... 

I'll chew on a dawg! 

AWOOOOOOOOOOH!

A Halloween Witch's Tale

Hubble bubble, toil and trouble, 

Fire burn and cauldron bubble, 

By the clicking of my Friday Night Stilettoes, 

Something wicked this way goes... 

I was only in primary school when I first became aware of the existence of Charmed, the unhinged lunatic spiritual sister-series to Buffy The Vampire Slayer. For a long time my entire exposure to it was in the television ads that made their way to me while I was watching other shows, but as the years went by I became increasingly intrigued by this strange mysterious show about three sisters fighting demons or wizards or something. This was not least because by that point I was starting to experience strange funny feelings around girls, and the show featured Rose McGowan in a lot of slinky outfits. 

And then, just like that, it was gone. The show ran its course, vanished from broadcast, and the ads vanished with it, and I turned to other more pressing interests, leaving the strange mysterious sister magic show to fade from memory. 

From time to time over high school I was reminded of it when I came into contact with goth girls who were fond of the show, and from there I was able to piece together what Charmed was actually supposed to be about - a Buffy-style paranormal drama about 3-4 witches who fought demons and/or evil wizards with magic, with a lot of melodrama ensuring. So far so good, but my attention for supernatural drama quickly became dominated by Buffy, Angel and Supernatural, leaving Charmed to once again fall by the wayside. 

Then just recently I finally got around to reconnecting with and finishing watching through Allison Pregler's acclaimed chronicle of the life and times of Charmed, which currently stands at twelve volumes and a little over 11 hours of footage. I discovered much along that journey, learning of the tortured history of the show both in and out of its universe, and I can understand both why it never reached the same heights as Buffy and why the goth girls I knew in high school still loved it dearly all the same. 

But most of all, my single biggest impression was of just how fundamentally, quintessentially OWOD the whole thing was. The more I saw of it, the more I kept thinking "Oh my god! This is SO OWOD! This is just like the OWOD! That is EXACTLY the sort of thing that you would expect from the OWOD!" 

(and also the accompanying thought, "These characters could be a lot of fun to roleplay in an OWOD environment")

And the more I thought about that the more another thought began to slowly creep in - wait a minute, why isn't this in the OWOD? Sure Charmed might have never been a tremendous cultural phenomenon, but it did still have enough traction to net 8 seasons, 2 comic book sequels and enough of a cult following to warrant a reboot 10 years later. And it came off the tail of The Craft and a general undercurrent of fascination with all things wicca by the new age and goth movements in the 1990s. That sounds like exactly the sort of thing that White Wolf would have tried to cash in on with an OWOD game about cool sexy gothic witches hanging out in covens and getting into melodrama and fighting stuff with magic and riding around on Ducati motorcycles wearing slinky leather outfits. 

Yet it was nowhere to be found. 

Going through the various OWOD game lines I could think of, not a single one of them matched that description. But wait! That's right, wasn't there that one OWOD game about magic and shit? Surely that one would have to have a big thing all about cool sexy witches getting into antics, after all, it was an OWOD game about magic and magic practitioners in the wicca-flavoured era of the 90s. I remembered discovering that one a long time ago and then promptly writing it off when the masses of dense nerd baggage it presented me with made my brain hurt, but maybe I had been too hasty in writing it off completely. Maybe it was worth another look. 

So I opened up TVtropes and the White Wolf Wiki for some cursory research, and sure enough.... well.... I mean there was sort of kind of something like that in Mage: The Ascension, if you squinted... but it was still buried under 500 tons of nerd baggage about weird cyberpunk tesla magitek civil war stuff that still made my head hurt reading about it. 

So that leaves with a roughly Charmed shaped niche, almost completely unoccupied, with Mage partially covering it from one side, and Vampire: The Masquerade's Tremere partially covering a little bit of if from another end, but in both cases with a bunch of superfluous hoops to jump through and a focus on other dense nerd baggage, and neither one really being a peg that conforms to the hole well enough to scratch the Charmed But Make It OWOD itch perfectly. 

And that, then, is why I not-so-secretly yearn for a hard reboot of Mage: The Ascension that burns down "the lore" to make room for an additional new game fully rooted in a bedrock of wicca fantasy with a focus on playing out Charmed grade melodrama among witch covens in the OWOD. Look I'm sorry Mage fans, but it doesn't matter how hard you try to push it on me, at the end of the day I just can't get into Cyberpunk Magitech Civil War. That concept just does not make my brain go brrr on a fundamental level. 

But you know what does make my brain go brrr? What makes my brain brrrr hard? That's right, Charmed but Make It OWOD. Give me a game where I'm a sexy petty vindictive high-drama witch with phenomenal cosmic power, hanging out in a coven of other sexy petty vindictive high-drama witches with phenomenal cosmic power, getting into all kinds of wild soap opera shenanigans with vampires and werewolves and mortals over demon hexes and mimosas, and I am fucking there. THAT, that right there, is my idea of a good time tabletop RPGing. THAT, is a premise with potential. THAT, would be an OWOD game that works for me. 

What. Don't look at me like that. We all know perfectly well that wild trashy soapy melodrama is the lifeblood of the OWOD. The OWOD runs on wild trashy soapy melodrama. We're ALL here sliving for the wild trashy soapy supernatural melodrama, I'm just man enough to be honest about it. 

And given how much of a cult following Charmed and The Craft both have, enough that the CW tried to revive Charmed despite the infamy surrounding it, I feel confident in saying I'm not the only one out there who feels that way. I have zero doubt that there is a viable audience for that. I have every confidence that the premise I just pitched, a well-made storytelling game of demon hexes and mimosas, would sell like wildfire with the right marketing. 

I mean, just look at that tagline right there - A storytelling game of demon hexes and mimosas. That is a world-class tagline right there. The game almost writes itself from that tagline. Throw in some fun sexy artwork along that vibe and you're away with the races. 

The trick, of course, is that it would sell like wildfire among a completely different audience to what White Wolf has traditionally targeted. It's very obviously NOT going to sell like wildfire amongst your archetypal old-school 90s 'hArDcOrE' nerd RPG Gamur type, the sort of archetypal basement rocker who plays D&D to punch dragons in the face as an axe-waving barbarian and reacts to mimosa nights like a vampire to a church. That sort is obviously the sort that is much more likely to appreciate some industrial edgy cyberpunk magitech civil war premise instead, which is why the Mage game we got did so well with them. I am aware that as far as archetypal old-school 90s hardcore nerds go, I am in the minority in this regard. 

But here's the thing. You don't have to pitch or sell all your tabletop games to that one demographic. There are other demographics you can make tabletop games for instead, especially in this post-Gamergate, post-nerd culture world, and those other demographics pay just as well as the traditional nerds do. 

And this is important because marketing some tabletop games to those other demographics is an awesome way to grow your revenue, since it taps into streams of money that aren't already going into your coffers. If you make Wicca: The Craft, a storytelling game of Demon Hexes and Mimosas, those old-school nerds are still going to buy Vampire: The Masquerade and have fun chopping bad guys to bits with katanas while wearing sunglasses in it. The difference is that now in that hypothetical, you have the old-school nerds pouring money into your game company AND a whole new audience of goth girls also pouring money into your game company, leaving you with double the money streams and thus double the cha-ching-a-ling-ling. 

Yes, yes, I know that Vampire's primary audience is already 50-60% comprised of goth girls. The actual breakdown of this hypothetical demon hexes and mimosas game's core audience would probably be a similar sort of intersection of goth and LGBTQ as the one which fuels the Rocky Horror phenomenon. But my point here is that making different OWOD games to different and diverse audiences is not necessarily a bad idea. It's not going to cost White Wolf or whoever any serious loss in revenue, and actually has the potential to net them a whole lot more revenue overall. 

And also that Wicca: The Craft, a storytelling game of Demon Hexes and Mimosas is a million dollar concept premise for a tabletop RPG with serious legs.

It also fits in amongst the other OWOD games as a perfect little antidote for all the unrelenting grimdark misery that goes on in those lines. Had enough unrelenting misery and despair playing Vampire? Just break out Wicca: The Craft, a storytelling game of Demon Hexes and Mimosas enjoy a good bit of free sexy lighthearted fun playing Mean Girls with black magic. Then, when you've had your fun there and you're ready for more heavier stuff, break out Wraith or Werewolf or Hunter or something instead. 

It works on so many levels. 

Now, I know what you're thinking right now - "But Millitant, all the best OWOD games have some kind of solid core gameplay loop based on the nature of their supernatural protagonists and what motivates them, what are these sexy witch characters going to do each night?" Well my brainworms around this concept are a step ahead of you right there! Try this one out for size: 

Witches want to keep their sisterhood together against a world constantly trying to tear them apart. 

Not bad huh! Yes sure OK it's almost certainly a little bit very rough and unpolished but hey, it's a first outline scribbled down on a napkin straight off the top of my head from pure brainworm energy alone. As a starting point, I'd say it's not too shabby at all. At the bottom line your characters in Wicca: The Craft are trying to keep together as a sisterhood in the face of a world constantly pulling them apart with various temptations and dangers. That's the common goal they're all trying to achieve. 

What are those temptations and dangers you might ask? Well the exact specifics would be up to the GM, picking from a broad range of heart-throbs, exes, life opportunities, dickbags, rivals, rival covens, demons, evil wizards, vampires, ghosts, werewolves, monster hunters and so on. You know, the sort of dangers that haunt the OWOD every night plus the sort of temptations people get exposed to every night in most worlds. I guess you could maybe throw in some sort of league of evil witches too, but I'm not sure it's strictly necessary - if you're really in need of a big overarching cosmic doom for your cool sexy witches to fight against then you're already pretty spoiled for choice with any one of the dozen or so big overarching cosmic dooms that already populate the OWOD. Besides, the focus here is really supposed to be on the more personal melodrama side of things. Personal character-driven stakes. Remember, this is supposed to be a storytelling game of demon hexes and mimosas after all. 

Core concepts? Well I think the one I'd want front and centre on everyone's minds the most is 'Sisterhood'. That's usually the keystone theme in the source material, and the magic in the source material is always fueled by coordination and cooperation amongst a sisterhood - there's always a Power Of Three or a Four Element Ensemble thing going on. I like the idea of certain dice pools changing depending on party character relationships, to really hammer home the collective sisterhood spirit and really incentivise players to fully explore and have fun with inter-character dynamics. 

Maybe even have certain dice pools be transferrable, with players able to lend each other extra dice for certain things depending on the relationship between their characters. Maybe with some risks and consequences for holding onto too many dice for too long (dangerous to hoard too much magic power up for one's own selfish whims you see), just as a failsafe to make sure no-one gets too greedy. 

Speaking of dice, I'm liking the classic V5 Vampire two-colour dice combination, but obviously witches are not vampires and I'm feeling a different sort of duality in the dice pools would be required, with negative dice being not so much strictly worse in the way that hunger dice are in Vampire, but more a case of different, with different opportunities and consequences attached. The idea here is based on the whole classic sort of 'no light without darkness' magic concept where the two sides are a sort of yin-yang duality to be explored, balanced and harmonised rather than mitigated and contained like vampiric hunger. 

Now exactly what that would look like in game mechanics terms, well that's one area that's still a bit of an open question. Maybe one colour of dice is more consistent, more safe, while the other colour is more high-risk/high-reward. I dunno, I don't have all the specifics ironed out here yet. There's only so much room on the back of this napkin before you start running into grease blotches. 

Well, I think it's a pretty fun concept anyway. And that it's enjoyed rent-free living in my head all week is a sign that it's got some kind of potential at least. I think there's room there in the OWOD for something like it, a place of hellspawn and heartbreak, of lamassu and lip gloss, of ghouls and glitter. The place where the falling Violet Orlandi meets the rising Sabrina Carpenter. 

A place of demon hexes and mimosas. You know, in addition to the tesla cyberpunk magitech civil war.