Poll: Would you uphold the Masquerade?

[Asita]

It really depends on the masquerade and the people involved. Blowing the whistle on something like the wizarding community in Harry Potter, for instance, would be of seriously questionable morality given that while any witch or wizard is potentially dangerous to muggles only a comparative few actually are and those are criminals...to say nothing of the fact that the masquerade is so extensive that trying to unveil it would ultimately be fruitless and practically suicidal due to the inevitable retribution that would follow.

If we're talking about a much smaller and far more dangerous masquerade, then you're hitting more interesting territory. Chances are still good, however, that both sides would want me dead if I revealed its existence. Humans because I was a monster, my 'kin' because I just performed what was likely the single gravest sin by their standards.

If it's not obvious, I lean more towards upholding the masquerade unless I was convinced that its destruction was both a possibility and worth sacrificing my life for.

 

[SoraOhmsford]

While it would be interesting to play/watch/read more fiction set in a De-Masqueraded world, if I had a choice in revealing the Masquerade, I probably wouldn't. Especially if they are cases like Vampire: The Masquerade or The Secret World where these worlds are chalk full of magical and supernatural creatures, a whole lot of them not particularly friendly, revealing the Masquerade would probably just cause a whole lot of chaos and panic.

Now if it were just one type magical/supernatural being in the world like only vampires/fairies/werewolves/whatever, then yeah, I'd probably tell more people about the Masquerade, not go on public television and blab, but if someone pressed I'd say something. Though I get the feeling that if everyone were to know in this case, we'd probably have something akin to the hate and discrimination the X-Men go through or worse, since I highly doubt these creatures have enough manpower to take over the world by force or the mind control powers a-la Vampire: the Masquerade Ventrue vampires have to make the world submit to them.

 

[somonels]

Kinda hard to keep it a secret/revel it while lurking the sewers. I see your butts.

 

[tiakeravelonna]

I would most certainly uphold the Masquerade. As Doclector said, we haven't advanced enough as the human race to fully accept something like vampires. Plus, I've played the computer game enough times to know *exactly* what would happen if I blatantly violated the Masquerade.

 

[Cowabungaa]

True, but I mean if you, personally were a vampire, it'd probably be much easier for you to prove the existence of vampires than it is for most people.

Dear God no. You might be more powerful than a single human, or maybe even five or ten humans, but there's just so damn many of them with so much regular firepower that it'd be suicidal to risk being hunted down.

frankly humanity for the most part still hasnt grown up past the 5 year old " eww you have cooties" stage but i hope with time we will

Considering the fact that in plenty of parts of the world people still get stoned to death for being witches, even in places well in contact with 'modern civilization', I wouldn't count on that happening in the next century or so.

 

[Something Amyss]

Usually in these same scenarios the Vampire World Order (or whatever World Order exists) has ties in with law enforcement at most levels. Are we still going with that? I mean, these are conspiracy theories to the nth degree, so how does that factor in?

If that's the case, then fuck no. I'm not going to talk about Fight Club if it means I'm going to get killed and nothing would change.

If there was a chance to get "the truth" out, then I'd try.

But realistically, would anyone believe me?

Honestly, in the fiction I write, "The Masquerade" is upheld less by cultural and political dominance and more by human ignorance and rejection of anything that doesn't fit their world-view. That may sound paranoid, but look at how many people we have dedicated to rejecting scientific principles! Our tiny mammalian brains have trouble with all sorts of concepts. Real vampires would be resisted even with proof. Same with real wizards, real werewolves, and real moderate conservatives.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I wouldn't tell anyone mainly due to paranoia from both side like what if the monster people did found out that I ratted them out or will the authority view us as a threat or experiment on us and etc.

 

[Mechamorph]

Humans hate and fear that which is different and that which they don't understand. If I am some sort of supernatural being and presumably have powers that defy the laws of science as we know them, I am going to check both boxes. Regardless of how much you trust someone, one more person let in on a secret is usually one person too many. As many people have noted, best case scenario is that you wind up strapped to an operating table as a dissection specimen. Worst case scenario is a (probably mutally) genocidal war. Everything in between will also probably end with me getting horrifically killed. So no, the Masquerade is too important to let slip on a whim regardless of the excesses of whatever sort of supernatural you are. Some argue that people need to know to protect themselves from monsters. Well monsters concerned with the Masquerade tend to be self-policing which is further incentive not to break it. Others think that it is possible for humanity and whatever supernaturals the Masquerade protects to co-exist but I disagree. Humans can't even treat other humans civilly, let alone humanely. Less than a handful of decades seperate us from the last large scale genocidal acts by one human population against another. Human rights are more observed in the breach than the letter in many parts of the world. Letting people know something real is going bump in the night is simply an action that will cause needless death and destruction on a scale short of the trumpets of armageddon blowing. If antediluvians are depopulating major cities, sure the vampires will have to rise up in public to save themselves and whatever small percentage of the human race that still survives. Otherwise the Masquerade should remain sacrosanct.

 

[Callate]

Seeing as I'm writing in a publicly viewable forum, I would TOTALLY KEEP THE MASQUERADE, AND CERTAINLY NOT LET ANYONE KNOW IF ANYTHING SINISTER WAS GOING ON BEHIND THE SCENES.

Hypothetically! Of course!

 

[revjay]

What are we? Clanless scum like the Caitiff? Of course I'd keep it secret and btw? I taste purple and I'm sure it's because of YOUR toaster!!one1!!!

(Guess which clan I am, heh)

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

As someone who played the hell out of Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines, and who is currently running a World of Darkness: Changeling the Lost tabletop game...

I'd uphold the masquerade. Full stop.

Now the degree to which I'd uphold it would vary based on what exactly I need to hide.

If I became a vampire, hell no I'm not breaking the masquerade under ANY circumstance. Not only would I die horribly at the hands of my undead peers for blabbing (or get half the world nuked by humans in a desperate attempt to cleanse it), but I could never bring myself to tell my loved ones about it. I mean, especially if I got Embraced by a nosferatu. I would not want to put my loved ones in danger, or potentially worse, make them want to join me in my curse and become a tormented vampire as well. No matter how much they love me, I would not want them becoming the kind of monster I had become. Far better for them to just think I'm dead. Because...Well, I would be dead.

If I was a mage or a changeling, then I'd keep my powers a secret from the general population, but I'd let my loved ones know (assuming I could prove it to them). This would probably be nearly impossible as a Changeling, since the majority of the time, the True Fae leave a clone made of random junk in your place to live your life and it's going to be hard to convince your family that the guy who looks exactly like you that they've been living with for 4 years is actually a fake made up of leaves and a pumpkin head covered in magic to look like you. I might be able to convince my GF, since there is a specific secret phrase we've decided on if anything bizzarro happens, and I think we're the only ones who know that phrase. XD

You could go to the PM and tell him. He'd then bare his fangs, smile and kill you.

Oh GOD, I can just imagine Stephen Harper being a vampire. He definitely could be one. Or at the very least he could be a goddamn fetch (those soulless clones the Fae leave behind).

I'm actually going to pull something like that in my Changeling game. XD

What are we? Clanless scum like the Caitiff? Of course I'd keep it secret and btw? I taste purple and I'm sure it's because of YOUR toaster!!one1!!!

(Guess which clan I am, heh)

Obviously a Malkavian, and not even one that's suffering from serious Madness. You're too coherent to have any kind of potent blood. What are you, Generation 15?!

 

[revjay]

As someone who played the hell out of Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines, and who is currently running a World of Darkness: Changeling the Lost tabletop game...

I'd uphold the masquerade. Full stop.

Now the degree to which I'd uphold it would vary based on what exactly I need to hide.

If I became a vampire, hell no I'm not breaking the masquerade under ANY circumstance. Not only would I die horribly at the hands of my undead peers for blabbing (or get half the world nuked by humans in a desperate attempt to cleanse it), but I could never bring myself to tell my loved ones about it. I mean, especially if I got Embraced by a nosferatu. I would not want to put my loved ones in danger, or potentially worse, make them want to join me in my curse and become a tormented vampire as well. No matter how much they love me, I would not want them becoming the kind of monster I had become. Far better for them to just think I'm dead. Because...Well, I would be dead.

If I was a mage or a changeling, then I'd keep my powers a secret from the general population, but I'd let my loved ones know (assuming I could prove it to them). This would probably be nearly impossible as a Changeling, since the majority of the time, the True Fae leave a clone made of random junk in your place to live your life and it's going to be hard to convince your family that the guy who looks exactly like you that they've been living with for 4 years is actually a fake made up of leaves and a pumpkin head covered in magic to look like you. I might be able to convince my GF, since there is a specific secret phrase we've decided on if anything bizzarro happens, and I think we're the only ones who know that phrase. XD

You could go to the PM and tell him. He'd then bare his fangs, smile and kill you.

Oh GOD, I can just imagine Stephen Harper being a vampire. He definitely could be one. Or at the very least he could be a goddamn fetch (those soulless clones the Fae leave behind).

I'm actually going to pull something like that in my Changeling game. XD

What are we? Clanless scum like the Caitiff? Of course I'd keep it secret and btw? I taste purple and I'm sure it's because of YOUR toaster!!one1!!!

(Guess which clan I am, heh)

Obviously a Malkavian, and not even one that's suffering from serious Madness. You're too coherent to have any kind of potent blood. What are you, Generation 15?!

But alas, there's more than one of us here. Sometimes I let the sane one talk for us as I did just then.

 

[tiakeravelonna]

And remember; Malkavians can see more than they let on.

 

[Darkasassin96]

I Probably wouldnt go out of my way to expose them. The particular fictional universe im thinking of is the dresden files. I would probably do something like dresden does, advertise in the phonebook as a wizard or whatever just for the shits and giggles. Or perhaps I could do something like the harry potter books, pay a visit to the president and just tell him about all of this stuff, electing myself as ambassador for the weird or something. Again the only reason is Im doing this is just because it would be funny.

But if the dresden files are anything to go by people can be attacked by werewolves in broad daylight while vampires and a Nagloashi are duking it out a few feet away and they will still call you crazy if you say magic is real because we are stubborn people who dont like our worldviewz challenged so unless someone wiht massive amounts of authority, credibility and proof are the ones to reveal it it probably isnt going to work on any sort of wide scale.

 

[Rowan93]

I could talk about how the segregation implied by a masquerade is never good to have around, that especially in this era the people and the not-exactly-people could get used to each other in at most a century, that in the long run whatever chaos happens, a world where all sapient creatures are united and can freely deal with one another is better off...

But that's not really why I'd try to tear down the masquerade.

I just want to watch the world burn.

 

[kurokotetsu]

Expose. I'd like to believe that we are rational enough for coexistance. There is no reason to go to war against vampires (or monsters), it would broaden our Universe (which is always fun) and there is no reason to keep it quiet, if most people act sensibly (which I hope with time they will). As how, well, get conclusive evidence and show it to teh world. No use being covert about it. Knowledge is there to be shared.

i like you and your optimism, the world needs more people like you.

the human race has spent a good chunk of its history murdering and butching each other over perceived differences and even industrialised mass murder to help achieved eliminating those differences can you imagine what they would do if they found out there were other races as such living amongst them, even if those races were completely and utterly harmless?

hell if you can be murdered for being gay or the wrong ethnic background could you imagine what would happen if people were shown to be non human?

frankly humanity for the most part still hasnt grown up past the 5 year old " eww you have cooties" stage but i hope with time we will

Well. thank you for the compliment.

But I disagree. The world is becoming more and more a place where we can go past the diferences. Slowly but surely we are going to a place where everone is considered equal, where we're not just "the other" we are just humans. And thinking in this scenario I would like to think that these people under the Masquerade are human too, which means we can talk and understand each other. We can have a symbiosis. In few generations we came a long way and we can go to the extra mile. There are bigots, fanatics that kill people for being different, but we are showing them that there are more good poeple than bad. We will be better.

While we may be in a 5 year old phase, that may be true, then we are also in a great place. A place to learn more, to be curious about our world and to be exposed to new things to grow as a species. We are in a place where we can learn to be good.

 

[AceTrilby]

I wish, that I could really tell you
All the things that happened to me
Or all that I have seen

Err, yeah, I've been listening to too much Genesis recently. But much like the song suggests, I'd keep it dark.
Humans being humans, any normal person would think you were a nutjob or worse. I wouldn't care to see witch-hunts become commonplace again, in such a situation.

 

[spartan231490]

It depends. Would telling accomplish anything? Would people believe me? If they did could they do anything about it? Is it worth the almost inevitable war between the humans and the supernatural? There are usually very good reasons for not telling the public, and as for the authorities, why am I assuming they don't know. I would expect them to know, personally.

 

[omega 616]

I'm finding this premise hard to understand, I mean I get the whole thing with secret society of vamps and I get they want to keep that a secret but whats with "now they are one, but extra special for some reason? And they have to not tell anyone, lots of random civilians get killed and half the "good guys" are murderous monsters?"

What do you mean by "now they are one, but extra special"? Special in what way?

What good guys? You mean like people who are perceived as good people? Like cops, fire fighters and paramedics doing a kind of Dexter, appearing as nice as pie but is actually raking up a kill count.

On the bit I understand, I'd fucking keep it a secret! I am thinking this is taking place in a kind of "Daybreakers" world where the vamps are the social elite ... so I am assuming they can track who leaked vamps exist and I don't want to be hunted by vamps.

 

[Objectable]

Yes. But how?
Simply put: Work in a prison.
Specifically, work in a Federal prison. Kill people who aren't getting out anytime soon. Guys who have stuff like life sentences, or are in solitary confinement. Nobody misses them, and it would simply be blamed on the prisoners.