Shadows Over America (new net project)

[Beelzebozo]

Shadows Over America is an ambitious project - a seamlessly integrated netbook detailing the Nightlord-held realms of North America (and possibly the world). Once Shadows of the South is farther along, I'll be moving on to serving as continuity editor, handling coordinating territories between participants and making sure everything fits nicely together.

I'm providing a basic framework for the continent, sketching out the areas ruled by each of King Moloch's regional Viceroys. When official information is available in the books, I have integrated that and given a reference to where that particular ruler may be found. For some Nightlords who are named but not given territory, I have assigned them a region. Some of the remaining names appeared in Shadows of the South, while others are new.

Generally, Nightlord society can be broken down as follows. King Moloch appoints Viceroys, who are in overall command of a region of a country. These Viceroys in turn have Nightlords serving under them who administrate states, provinces or similarly-sized regions (an example). And finally, these Nightlords delegate responsibility for individual cities to their avatars and Night Princes, saving the largest and most important cities for themselves to serve as an administrative hub. A more detailed look is available here.

If you are interested in contributing write-ups for a region or its Nightlord, send me an email. I'll be adding a list of the currently-named cities, and there will also soon be a master list of Nightlords and their domains.

It should be noted that for now I've used the "Shadows of/Over X" format for the titles of my material. Coincidentally (or maybe not so coincidentally), it's also reminiscent of the title of the fourth Nightbane book, Shadows of Light. For the record, I came up with the title 'Shadows of the South' for Matt Penn's then-new netbook in 1998, long before Shadows of Light was written. But anyway, by no means does anyone else have to use it. Title it whatever you want; you don't have to follow my lead.

The general guidelines for this project are as follows:

1. Consistency with published material: This net project is to fit smoothly with the officially-published material for Nightbane. This means that material published in the books is used as it is written, unmodified. Material published in the Rifter, such as Tribes of the Moon, is also considered (for purposes of this project) as canon, and may be referenced. I would also recommend whenever possible creating ties between new material and these, to build the sense that this is a “real” and connected world.

2. Internal consistency: As a project with multiple writers, it is imperative that the sections of Shadows Over America fit together seamlessly. Don’t be afraid to ask another writer’s opinion of how their Nightlord would relate to yours, or to offer ideas of your own.

3. Minimal new Factions: In general, I’d like to discourage writers from creating their own new Factions and groups. As it is, the Nightbane world is already populated by several groups, both good and evil, in the books and Rifter articles. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t create your own organizations – but first, ask the question, “Is this group’s role already filled by an existing Faction?” Also, don’t be afraid to adapt local chapters of Factions. For, example, Shadows of the South has the Black Voodoo Cartel and the Righteous Brotherhood of the White Rose. While these are in a way new groups, they are really just local subdivisions of the Cult of Night. The national Factions presented in the books are large and diverse enough to support a wide range of local roles.

Beyond that, be creative and have fun. If you're interested in participating, and would like to stake a claim on a city or region, PM or email me. I'll be putting up a section on my site as the central host for everything. I'd also recommend you don't post material directly here, for obvious reasons.

[Beelzebozo]

Beg pardon?