With regards to the World Of Darkness's manifold Masquerades: It's taken as a setting assumption that the mundanes and mortals of the setting are either too apathetic, too frightened, too concerned with being seen as crazy, or too disbelieve-able to let a breach of the Masquerade affect their day-to-day lives. They're extras in a horror setting - these are the kind of people who don't notice a Knife Nut sitting in the back of their car. As non-protagonists and extras, they usually don't possess the inquisitiveness, mental fortitude, physical ability and social clout to stick to their guns and convince the wider majority of the populace that the supernatural exists.
Edited by WonSab Hide / Show Replies
There was this joke about the World of Darkness I was told once back in the day:
"Caine wakes up from his thousand-years-old sleep and walks into a nearby town to feed. He enters a building with a party going on inside and cries out: "Vampires out!" Half the guests leave, Caine then cries out again: "Mages, technocrats, changelings, werewolves, Prometheans too!" All the remaining guests leave, leaving only two, a punk and a frail little old lady.
But the punk is a Hunter, and the old lady has 5 dots in True Faith..."
I only just realized that Espers = ESPers... I am really stupid sometimes...
So, the Harry Potter example claims that it's a subversion, because only wizards, the immediate families of wizards, and people in positions of power in muggle societies who could thus act to suppress information and keep muggles away from danger and misinformed are aware of what's going on.
... Isn't that just the masquerade played unabashedly straight? Maybe with the relatively minor twist that the leaders of the wizard world aren't the same as the leaders of the muggle world.
Sorcerer in training
- This is the premise of the upcoming Cartoon Network pilot, currently known as KROG. The titlar group are monsters from Middle Earth sent to Take Over the World, incognito as a monster costume band. Guess which one of the two they're more competent in.
Since this was 'upcoming' at one point and doesn't seem to be in TV Tropes under the given name, can I get some help by those who might know more? Googling KROG and assorted search terms doesn't bring up anything either.
- Wicked Science does this, both Toby and Elizabeth prefer to have their genius not known to others than their friends.
I doubt this qualifies as an example of this specific trope. This involves two people, not a whole race/society/movement/group.
Edited by 97.113.46.231 Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving. -Terry Pratchett
What's a good way to write a plausible masquerade? I remember being about eight years old, reading the first Harry Potter book where Hagrid says '...everyone would want magical solutions to all their problems' and thinking 'That is a fecking stupid explanation.'
In another time, I'm now working on something set in a universe where there's a magical Masquerade, and it's...difficult. I would have said something about nuclear weapons/guns/tanks etc being dangerous even if you have magic, but the bit I'm currently working on is set in 1886, there is no time travel/prophecy, and what guns exist are happily used by most of my magical characters. So basically, my question is the one I started with, because I'm having trouble.
Edited by RachelGriffin Hide / Show Replies
In the case of Harry Potter, some form of Masquerade makes sense due to magic being something that only a tiny minority of human beings can learn (due to the in-born talent requirement). Less plausible is the idea that they could hide the countless magical creatures that seem to exist all over the place in the Harry Potter books.
To be honest, if magic isn't something that only a tiny minority can learn (and is extremely useful as well as predictable in its effects), I'm skeptical that a Masquerade would arise at all. It would be much more likely that magic would be another branch of technology and services, sort of like Fullmetal Alchemist. You have to remember that this would be a world where magic (and when you have them, magical creatures) have always existed in obvious and concrete form, and that would be a very different world from our own.
In other words, if this is a world where it's easier to train a new wizard who can fling around fireballs than to train archers/musketman, or to magically enchant carts to move than to build mechanical engines, you're probably going to see that technological route taken. I think this is frequently under-used in fantasy.
Edited by WiseBass
The best reasoning for a masquerade I've ever heard is probably the one used in MIB 1:
"There’s always an alien battle cruiser, or a Korlian death ray, or an intergalactic plague about to wipe out life on this planet. And the only thing that lets people get on with their hopeful little lives is that they don’t know about it." -K
I think the image should be replaced. It implies that knowledge of super heroes is VERY common place, even if the secret indenities aren't.
someone
Removed the Transformers example from Western Animation. It said something along the lines of "happened in some extent in almost all versions pf Transformers". Which is not true, in the original cartoon, they didn't make much conscious effort to conceal themselves. And, most of Transformers doesn't actually fall under "Western Animation".Kept the live-action film example though, seems mostly correct.
something
The Toy Story artical says "Any toy caught out of place is "frozen forever" and cannot reanimate". When did that get mentioned in the movies? I don't recall anything like that being said
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It also doesn't make sense, considering that in the first Toy Story film Woody openly animates and talks directly to Sid, the kid who tortures toys, without any repercussions.
Edited by WiseBass
This may be a dumb question, but does anyone know if you can use the term masquerade in a story with a masquerade, or is that term the propriety of World of Darkness? (Yes, it is a vampire story.)
What are some good alternatives?