B@O@K: ST i ve TRADITI®@ON.2 Wheel of Fortune Scanned by Baal and Cropped, Straightened and Corrected by Duelist BY MALCOLM SHEPPARDy rie ren okaety CREDITS ‘Authors: Malcolm Sheppard World of Darkness created by Mark Rein Hager Storyteller game system designed by Mark Rei Development: Jess Heinig Editing: Michelle Lyons Art Direction: Aileen Miles cif Jones, Alex Sheikman, Melissa Uran Elan NW aN Seg tS Interior At Cover Art Cover Design, Layout and Typesetting: AuTHer’s DepicaTion ‘This book is dedicated to the memory of my father, Glenn Sheppard. Dad passed away while was writing this. He was ity yearsold.AsI writ thisnow,his shesare on display ina Torontc Buddhist temple. In three days I Christopher Shy en E. Miles He wasan artist, a poet, anda pe close onature, but compassion for othersstayed on his mind even in the midst ofa deserted path. He campaigned for human rights with the most effective tool he possessed: his words. He was an cloquent writer and encouraged me to develop my own abilities. When I belief could change the world, he smiled. Te was right up his alley. Malcolm Sheppard ace activist. He loved being ld him I was writing for a game where people's 735 PARK NORTH BLID. SUTEI28 CLaRisTon, GA 30021 USA GAME STUDIO © 2002 White Wolf Publishing, Inc. Al rights reserved. Reproduction without the written permission ofthe publisher isexpressly forbidden, except for the purposes of reviews, and for blank character sheets, which may be reproduced for personal use only. White Wolf, Vampire, Vampire the Masquerade, Vampire the Dark Ages, Mage the Ascension, Hunter the Reckoning, World of Darkness and Aberrant are registered trademarks of White Wolf Publishing, Ine. All rights re Werewolf the Apocalypse, Wraith the Oblivion, Changeling the Dreaming, Werewolf the Wild W: the Sorcerers Crusade, Wraith the Great War, Mummy the Resurrection, Trinity, Tradition Book Euthanatos, Lost Paths Ahl-i-Batin and Taftani, Dead Magic, The Bitter Road, The Vampire Storytellers Handbook, Hunter First Contact and Tradition Book Order ‘of Hermes are trademarks of White Wolf Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. All characters, names, places and text herein are copyrighted by White Wol! Publishing, Ine The concemed. erence to any company or product in these pages is not a challenge to the trademark or copyright This book uses the supernatural fr settings, characters and themes. All mystical and supernatural elements are fiction and intended for entertainment purposes only. This book contains mature content. Reader discretion is advised. For a fee White Wolf catalog call 1-800-454-WOLF Check out White Wolf online at herpe//wwwesvhite-wol.com alt-games.whitewolf and ree.gamesfrp storyteller PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 2 EuTHanaTesNi a drops his cellpha nae i the open ind knocks a cop's scalding supersized slap, He elbows the wheel ashe burns. His car obliges J fips into the way of another cruise. 1'sinjured —unlessyou countthe coffe barn. ids the whole mese and rips through the shoulder. Gravel rains om us a he “Truce! I dda alongside them all ull er the vehicle and come out All right.” He reaches 0 dufflebag and aimsout the passeny whips a Beretta out of the window. He ainsiton the cop's head fora ses "What are and jerks ic down, blowing a tee out with one shot. He whispers, "Take the next exic” “Goddamn! You're the original Sikh Cowboy" erackea gin to ast the thoughe we'e both having, Tho. Thanks.” He looks ‘The kids are erying again; I guess he sm cal to shoot. at my sl ¥ eyes to the ground, olicemen.” He drops his hand and his big bow "No, kiddo, we aren Yeah, no shit," Janine says with a defiant litte whine. “Who the fuck ate you? She plops down on a boulder. ‘Ger in the van omebod Jimmy'd pissed off Mobguys erring he cheated. Bur you are are you? You'te vigilantes. “Yeah, Janine. We just havent figured out how to puni —* heart, Janine. "No." She edo some bed thingy Utell you our story. Maybe il comfort you, maybe il hurt you, Bur something tells me I shoul “Truce Something tells me I shouldSHIVA PENS His EYES OY] “How do you think the world began?” asks Truce. “What?” Janine sits up, genuinely surprised. “Uh, Big Bang!” \ Ceres ool carey" Winievenns Pe eee é ‘sonal thing. It cares, it punishes, it means something.” Pea nar tacaesiia eS etc 2 aang eerste Eo eeecher eg opera Janine frowned, "What's the point of all this? "Who do you think did the cutting, did the killing” remem Irred the dil rom my Acarya ince glances at me and nods. “Who do you think did that afl, necesary thing” "People lke you?” asks Janine “Like all of us," I say, “doing what we must co survive. I's the sy ofhumans, gods, and cosmic forces, all struggling to accommo- de Fate “Buc thas not good enough, Janine. The suffering you create, ro matter how necessary it was for you, will come hack to hurt you. Tour view you should have killed yourself before you helped that bastard lay a hand on the kids.” “What?” She looks at me with wide, frightened eyes. "Then. then you might aswell finish the jo “Too late forthat," Truce saysasl goovertocheck thechildren. Now you've gota chance to heal yourself, You just have to kill the thing in you that would let you doi agai “Fuck you. Maybe you guys are — I don't know — psychic or something, bu ic doesa’t mean I can‘ el bullshit when Thea it What do myths have todo with me?” My tur to tlk. “Because like most Sleepers you think every. thing — creation, destruction, the way the world works — is inflicted on you. You don'e think it means anything or that it has anything do with you. You sit and watch che Wheel turn without seeing your hands doing the turning. It's why so many of you are nothing but natual-boen victims “You woulda’ claim your own power by dying,” Teuce says Now you have to claim it by living. Ge in the van.” She docs. ‘The Euthanatos cretion myth is a sanguine amalgam: ation ofthe Greek, Hindustories. TheFirst Smash es fom all of these places-and more 1 the similarities berween their stories universal myth to draw from for political Greeks and Indians were especially apt to stores Because all thee groups drew from the cultural stream. The creation myth is primarily ‘augmented wich mystical insights and, above all, | commonsense. This doesn't mean that the consensus isuniver the Madsimbabwe and other Aftican, Mesoamerican, and death magesstil cling rotheirown conception of the "primordia creation. Theos as these features ce meal he umed om dey e previous Age) exied jhe primal | sentences Brahma or Shiva. Ot Pandemo- “nium, or simply the Void, and shin futher | about teasing tac the utter emptines of Creation cat be [> undertod though anything les shan medi absorption. The emprines cred outa sound that was more than a {ai athens ed the vr i fama of he ‘ew age encompassing allthat would come afer i dhe sound | of Om, Abu ot whatever i was (all agree that it cant be Aplicated by the human voice). This ace created the fst divine beings. Dana and Donn the Teimut, che Titans — whatever their names,many Euthanati think of them as hazy memories of the Pure Ones ‘The Conmie Sacrifice: The ist crete beings interfere with the progres ofthe Whee, intentionally or otherwise. In elec rth, Danu and Doan were great that there was n0 ‘oom in ection for her beings to teive. To the Hindus, Purusa —the primordial man — split his body into pars that became the cosmos and the diferent castes. In Greek ales, Zeus opens the belly of Kronos to ec the gods Finally the primordial heing sacrificed to creat the phenomenal world He (the sncrice is wually mate) is reat asunder; each part Resnates with a fagment ofthe prthordial sound and be- omnes the Telluian. This isthe dawn ofthe leser gals the wholeness ofthe Pare Ones i replaced by the dominion of spirits representing fie, thunder, the sas, and the other wonders of materi universe THE Time BEFORE DEATH: AFarrY TALE “What happened to the Bad Man?*I'm siting in the back with the kid this time. They'd heen quiet sofa, but Therese’s question makes me smile, I means they're starting to tut “He's gone, kiddo. You don't need to worry about him any’ “He's dead?™ “Yeah, sweetheart.” Now don't lik the direction this going. “He's dead; CHAPTER @NE HisTeRY Is A TIGHTENING Newse = 15, WTS Wed Mey vrs ery ig fry we ‘ \ MMe yy MAAN Ca dibitaae | eu tfthe ereaion of the work and the fst urn it of the Om had divided neo many things and those had their distinct spirits everything was preserved change, close were they tothe enduringpower othe ee lect te ashes any excernal force. All gods feared che ofthe fine Saerifice except for one: Death, Death way the eyes ofthe Sactfice and sow things clearly. He ee ietieeriuccenn ot ac rc: Allee things that were eter pet themselves, would forever be weighted towards death, Bachanaroi believe that cis isthe reason Entropy tends | toward: destruction instead of simple balance, and why hei ‘taint instead ofa blesng. Behind the metaphor, it appears that Dynamism brought all things ito existence, then Stasis fixed hem in rigid tates. To keep the Wheel runing, Eneopy became more powerfl — perhaps too powerful —and gave everything a tendency toward coruption and doom. ‘At the same time, this comrupion was necessary, even Yital to the cretion of the Tellurian. Mages may complain shout foul Resonance a shapeshifes might pratleon abit the Wy, butthe Euthanatosknow thatwithoutEntropysicy hand, chee would be no history, no death and no tre li “He alwayssaidhe'dkillas You know, ike ie yelled too much ‘cred to run aay. Maybe we should’ have been fai hike yo toldthat lady” Atthis janine loks ack, opens her mouth asiftsay something, chen tues to stare out the windshield agin, speechless “No, Therese... death's complicated, grownup kin of thing, youknow? Youdon' ever wane to go there. t+. place for grownups only. Buta the same time, you shoul the afraid, Do you kids wane to heara story?" Iesnight agai, The ain tosses a dowsy beat onthe windows, Leo had alzeadyfllowed it all down to sleep. Blond Johnny nods rmutey and Therese setls in agains my shoulder “Once ypon atime nobody ever ded. The wees never dropped theie leaves, people didn’ gow od — even afr, once it, lasted forever. There wasn't even a word for death; the gods (donwant to sue them any pagan rains sl hey’ oldr, Eve) — I mean, the angels kept the very idea a secret fom the begining of ime “Now kiddo, what would happen if you hada biethday pany in your house and nobody ever lft” “Um, they'd eat everything? They'd take all my toysand make “Basically. Dying is kind of lke loving a house before you wreck everthing you haven't eaten all he cake and made big se tis time fr You ogo right? Buc you'd jus ust a place up sf you never lft. "So the fist people crowded up the world. The green, geen ‘ras groaned beneath theireet. Theyhad tomakc human pyramids just to have enough room, They could’ eat or drink anything tecause there was rever enough. They gotsick but coulda ge the rescof sleep, much less death. ‘Then an angel — some call him Fin, others call hen Yarna —