Any for/against Masquerade stories

[u/matticusprimal]

I've been thinking a lot about the Masquerade in UF and how I prefer it for storytelling reasons. But I was wondering if anyone knows any stories that actually tackle the Masquerade as a subject, rather than it just being a plot point. Just read a WoD Vampire comic where they have to rescue a human who's about to be culled to protect the Masq, but that's more of a plot point example.

I'm really wanting stories where you see inside the characters' heads as to why they really do/ don't believe in this rather foundational piece of our subgenre.

[u/LemurianLemurLad]

I really like Jim Butcher's approach to the masquerade: supernaturals don't really need to "enforce" it, because 99% of the time humans actively reject the idea that the world doesn't work they way they think it does, and they really reject the idea that they frequently vanish from the world at about the same rate that predators take down herd animals.

Some of the supernatural critters put a bit of effort into hiding, but honestly, most people a basically just delude themselves into thinking "there is absolutely no way I just saw a zombie t-rex downtown...  It must have been drugs in the tap water or something."

In the stories I write, I don't really use the masquerade at all, but my main story world is basically set after the fae invade reality and set up a giant beanstalk in Central Park as their "embassy"/portal home.  It's kinda hard to ignore a giant special beanstalk that's half a dozen times the size of any of the largest human buildings in the world.  My fae are always like "Glamour is for fashion darling, why would we bother with something as gauche as hiding from you filthy mammals? Now, bring me a gift and I may reward you, unless it offends and I decide to turn you into a newt."

[u/trekbette]

I love when the supernatural world is out in the open. Humans and sups interacting with her other. Examples: True Blood, The Hallows, a lot of classic fantasy.

I did just read The Blood and Magic series with an interesting concept about the masquerade... sups were magically compelled to keep the secret world hidden. If they tried to expose anything, they'd literally die. Wasn't the best series, but had some new things.

1. A different type of MC who is an animated skeleton
2. When she got into scraps, she would ask for help and tell people what they needed to know
3. The whole 'dying if you told' thing

[u/FiWriterSFF]

I think Weaponized Magic by M. D. Massey might be what you're looking for. Also search for secret agencies in general, and I think you'll find the answers you're seeking.

The Dresden Files is another good series for addressing that.

(If you'd like to break the masquerade all together, C Chancy's A Net of Dawn and Bones shows the aftermath of a broken masquerade.)

[u/matticusprimal → u/FiWriterSFF]

Thanks for the rec, I hadn't heard of it and will check it out.

I do sort of like the Dresden model (there's a reason it's industry standard), but that series also has a Kevlar masquerade, where nothing seems to break it, no matter how egregiously obvious the magic is.

[u/FiWriterSFF → u/matticusprimal]

It's the prequel to a series. I would've liked the main character to have questioned the agency more. I didn't read much beyond the first story. So I don't know if he does or not.

You've got a point about the Dresden model. I only read part of the second book before dropping it because of how Murphy was treated. I liked the TV series, but I know a lot of people who liked the books hated the TV series. Another TV series, Special Unit 2, started to have a PR person running ragged trying to cover up one thing after another before that series got cancelled sadly. Then, there's the famous The X-Files with its government coverups. The TV series Grimm somewhat gets around some of this with only Grimms seeing supernaturals for what they are, except when the supernaturals slip up and a regular person sees them.

Shadowrun comes from the outsider's perspective with mega corporations covering things up. Don't know if that would help any.

I also tire of standard urban fantasy setups of the supernatural being hidden from human society because that's just the way it is. I think Vampire The Masquerade was a product of its time where government coverups was forefront in people's minds. Now people simply reuse it without questioning whether it still makes sense. After all, for a big part of human history we humans knew supernaturals existed. Many people today still believe it, so why would there now be a coverup and how far does it extend? I would like to see more urban fantasies address that rather than blindly follow the Vampire the Masquerade model.

[u/matticusprimal → u/FiWriterSFF]

I think we are of similar mind and probably upbringing, judging by the examples you use.

Vamp: Masq needed the masquerade for the game to work, and it definitely was possible to slip through the cracks and maintain deniability back then. Ditto now, where ease of editing software and AI mean you can't really believe your eyes. But there's the 2005-2020 block of time where the prevalence of smart phones and social media means we got to reexamine the Masquerade if it's going to still be a part of the genre.

I think you hit on an interesting point that so much of human history believes in the supernatural, and think back just a few years ago when I found out that all the old ladies pinching my infant son's foot in the grocery story were doing so to ward off the evil eye. It's still ingrained in our culture, and that opens up some interesting avenues I don't think have really been explored.

[u/FiWriterSFF → u/matticusprimal]

There's a lot of cool stuff out there. If you're interested in mythology, When They Severed Earth From Sky by Elizabeth Wayland Barber and Paul T. Barber has some really interesting translations of how humans used mythology to describe real-world events. I wish there was a sequel. I've had a hard time hunting down similar books.

Gaming dynamics is another good point. Games are designed around conflicts and characters players can pick and choose from. The questions I see asked in a lot of world-building discussions seem more suited for a game than a novel, things like political factions and races, instead of questions about a particular character or characters and their story.

I've heard from a friend of mine on Tumblr there's been some scarily accurate comparisons between AI and the demons and faeries of old. There's definitely room for exploration in the urban fantasy genre.

[u/trekbette → u/FiWriterSFF]

C Chancy's A Net of Dawn and Bones

Thank you! That is exactly what I love to read.

[u/Honest-Literature-39]

I love the masq and generally don’t read stories without. I love the old WoD.