Monsters, Monsters, everywhere...

They crowd our imagination. They hide
under our beds. They lurk within the
recesses of our primal unconscious.
You can’t run, you can’t hide - it’s going
to get you. The beast, the ravager, the
‘Lusus Natura’. What is it, and why do
we fear it?

‘What is its name?’

We have always had our Fiends. At one
time, we called them Trolls; later, they
were named Demons, and then they were
Witches who brewed evil potions. Still later,
the Monster was said to be the hungry Wolf,
the Bogeyman, or the Godzilla of the Cold
War terror. Finally, some called it human
ignorance and intolerance. For a time they
tried to tell us that monsters don’t exist at
all, that everything that everything about the
Universe was either known or would be soon.

But now we know better. We have made our
reacquaintance with the Beast. We have
learned its true name. (…)

Today we have caught a glimpse of reality,
and have seen the truth behind the veil. We
have come full circle and rediscovered the
Fiend. We have found that to which we have
given so many names - the source of our
mortal terror.

‘We have found the enemy… and it is us.’

We are searchers(…), searching within
ourselves for that which has no name. By
looking at the monsters we create, we gain
new insights into our ‘darker half’. These
fiends express what are the deepest and
most inaccessible levels of our unconscious,
(…) they are have given us a connection to our
animal self and the promise of a brutal
justice. (…)

Just as the hero of legend must descent into
the pit of Purgatory to face the tormentor,
overcome personal weakness and finally be
cleansed, (…) so must we descend into the
depths of our own soul and return to life with
the secrets we have won (…). Only by
embarking on such a journey can we discover
our true  selves and look into the mirror.
But in the end, it is a most disturbing undertaking
(…) - for no journey is ever without its perils. Do
not look into your own soul, unless you are
willing to confront that which you find there.

So remember:

‘There are no such things as monsters…’

in “Vampire: the Masquerade - 2nd edition”

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