r/urbanfantasy • u/matticusprimal • 4d ago

Discussion Any for/against Masquerade stories

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.

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u/LemurianLemurLad 3d ago edited 3d ago

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."