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Werewolf: The Forsaken

2021-09-27T04:08:28Z

2600:6C5D:617F:8312:84FF:1FCB:9ED9:8413: /* Each Other */

{{Game Infobox
|name = Werewolf: The Forsaken
|picture =
|type = [[RPG]]
|publisher = [[White Wolf]] / Onyx Path
|system = [[Storytelling System]]
|authors = Justin Achilli ''et al''
|year = 2005 (1st Edition) 2015 (2nd Edition)
}}
{{WoD-stub}}
The New [[World of Darkness]] analogue to [[Werewolf: The Apocalypse]]. Dumps the bloody-minded eco-hippies metaplot for a much vaguer "border patrol on the shores of Animistic Hell" setting.

==Backstory==
In the ancient past, the worlds of Flesh and Spirit were one, creating a world/time called Pangaea. In this time, the mighty wolf-spirit Father Wolf kept the peace between humans and spirits, destroying either of those that got out of line. The moon-spirit, Mother Luna, became enamored with Father Wolf's strength and took a human form to lay with him, giving birth to the first werewolves, who helped their father in his quest. These beings were special in that they were neither spirit nor flesh, but somewhere in between. From Wolf they inherited the drive to hunt and bring down their prey, and from Moon they inherited the ability to change their shape.

But as Father Wolf battled terrible demon-gods, his strength began to wane, and the world began to sicken, for he could no longer do his duty. Following their lupine instincts, some of these first werewolves rose up to challenge their father to step down as leader of the pack. Though he was unable to stand down by his nature, his spirit ban forbade him from attempting to defend against a killing blow made by one who could succeed him. Thus, the first generation of werewolves were forced to slay Father Wolf. His death howl tore Pangaea apart, raising the Gauntlet that formed a barrier between the worlds of Flesh and Spirit. The grieving Mother Luna cursed her patricidal children with bouts of uncontrollable rage and weakness to her sacred metal, silver. When the Uratha begged for her forgiveness, Luna charged them to take up their father's mantle as guardians of the boundary between flesh and spirit. This oath has been upheld by the Forsaken ever since.

==Werewolves and You==
In contrast to their predecessor in the Old World of Darkness, all werewolves are the result of werewolf on human sex or werewolf on werewolf sex; in 1e werewolves mating together was a Harmony-shattering event that can spawn evil, werewolf-hating demons called Unihar, but this has since been retconned. Werewolves ''don't'' mate with wolves (but, if they must, all that happens is a litter of normal wolf pups - you sicko!); while one of the books does refer to one wolfborn werewolf of the Pure, he is specifically referred to as being the only known exception to the rule.

As beings possessed of dual natures -wolf and man, as well as spirit and mortal- their morality replacement is Harmony, which represents how well they can strike a balance between the two aspects of their existence. This is expanded upon in 2.0, where in place of a ladder of sins your harmony is more like a spectrum from 0-10; at low harmony you're much more connected to your spirit-aspect, and can more easily leave the Flesh for the Spirit, change more easily, but under stressful situations you might shift involuntarily and will have trouble leaving the Shadow. You'll also pick up spirit bans and start acting weird(er). At high harmony you're much more connected to your flesh-aspect, and can more easily leave the Spirit for the Flesh. It's harder to shift forms or enter the Shadow, but you don't wig out under stress and turn into a wolf. In either case, however, you'll be more susceptible to Kuruth and will be handicapped should you need to work in the realm you aren't attuned to- hence the need for balance. At the highest extremes of 0 and 10 you'll be completely unable to leave or enter the Shadow, respectively.

Most human/werewolf matings produce wolfblooded, which are basically the game's equivalent to kinsfolk; in 1e they're more resistant to Lunacy and that's about it, but 2e makes them immune to it and gives them a minor supernatural ability based on the Uratha's powers at the expense of a feature marking them as not quite human.

Werewolves have five forms; Hishu (ordinary human), Urhan (ordinary wolf), Dalu (near-human; looks human from a distance but distinctly hairier and with bigger teeth when you can get a better look at it), Urshul (near-wolf; a very big and very nasty wolf), and Gaur<s>o</s>u
(a wolf-man mixed with a walking murder-machine that is very good at fighting but is prone to going into Death Rage and trying to kill everyone around it if used for anything other than that). There's also a high-level power called Primal Form, which adds a "dire wolf" form that is... well, picture a wolf big enough to eat a human in one bite, and you got the idea.

Werewolves are protected by Lunacy, a form of Luna's favor which drives humans who see a werewolf in any of its intermediate forms (i.e. not fully human or fully wolf) mad with fear and blurs their memories if they survive the encounter. It also has the potential to open them up to spirit possession as of 2.0 and may even turn them into Wolf-Blooded.

===Auspices===
The Forsaken each have an Auspice, a blessing of Luna dependent on which phase of the moon they underwent the First Change in. This acts as their "racial" splat, and determines one of their initial Renown points, their choice of Auspice skills, their starting Gifts, and their innate racial ability. The Pure reject all of Luna's blessings, and so they don't gain benefits from Auspices.
[[File:WTFAuspiceIrraka.jpg|right|100px]]
*'''Irraka'''
**Lunar phase: New Moon
**Gifts: New Moon, Stealth, Evasion
**Skills: Larceny, Stealth, Subterfuge
**Renown: Cunning

Unlike their oWoD counterparts, the Irraka have a well-defined role. Specifically, they serve as trackers, scouts, and silent hunters whose prey never knows that they're being hunted until it's too late for them. Other Uratha can be a bit unnerved by them due to their habit of observing others (including their packmates) to determine the ideal ways to murder them, and they have a bit of an undeserved reputation as lone wolves since they're best at what they do when on their own.

An innate connection to the new moon's uncertainty allows Irraka to get much closer to their quarry than they might seem to be, both literally and metaphorically. In practice, this translates to an initiative boost, a few less Doors in Social Maneuvering, or a surprise attack against an unwary opponent.
[[File:WTFAuspiceIthaeur.jpg|right|100px]]
*'''Ithaeur'''
**Lunar phase: Crescent Moon
**Gifts: Crescent Moon, Elemental, Shaping
**Skills: Animal Ken, Medicine, Occult
**Renown: Wisdom

The Uratha are half-spirit, and this is especially clear in the case of the Ithaeur. Whether it takes the form of negotiations, fetish-crafting, or flat-out combat, the Ithaeur are the auspice that specializes in interacting with the denizens of the Shadow. But they do tend to be a little bit crazy. Being around spirits as long as they do has some rather unusual effects on their behavior, and some of them are far more comfortable with spirits than they are with humans or even other werewolves. Still, they're highly effective in their role as shamans and spirit masters.

The Ithaeur's howl resonates through the Shadow, causing lesser spirits to fall dormant or retreat before the werewolf's passing. Even stronger spirits feel compelled to allow the Ithaeur to pass by peacefully, which can be a valuable asset when pursued by some of the nastier murder-spirits or pain-spirits.
[[File:WTFAuspiceElodoth.jpg|right|125px]]
*'''Elodoth'''
**Lunar phase: Half Moon
**Gifts: Half Moon, Insight, Warding
**Skills: Empathy, Investigation, Politics
**Renown: Honor

Counselors, mediators, and negotiators, the Elodoth try to see both sides of every story and are trusted as expert judges on account of their reputation for fairness. Against their prey on the other hand the Elodoth will use every one of his contacts to make the prey's life a living hell long before the werewolf himself shows up. Some might consider this sociopathic, and there are a few Elodoth who find that they're better as manipulators than they are as arbitrators.

The connection to the fine line between light and dark Elodoth possess allows them to relieve other werewolves of Death Rage. It also allows them to ''induce'' Death Rage as well, and while this may sound like an extremely bad idea it can be surprisingly useful in the right circumstances.
[[File:WTFAuspiceCahalith.jpg|right|100px]]
*'''Cahalith'''
**Lunar Phase: Gibbous Moon
**Gifts: Gibbous Moon, Inspiration, Knowledge
**Skills: Crafts, Expression, Persuasion
**Renown: Glory

Part loremaster, part prophet, and part warleader, the Cahaliths are visionaries who both rally their kin in battle and keep track of their legends and exploits. But the Cahalith's own story has to be a memorable one as well, and as such they give up subtlety in exchange for just scaring their prey shitless before going in for the kill. Or not necessarily killing them, at that matter- after all, what good is a story if nobody is able to tell it? The visions they receive mean quite a few tend to be fatalistic, or at least of a nature that isn't averse to planning out their own death scene.

Cahaliths are prone to receiving prophetic dreams in their sleep- a part of their blessing from Luna, some say. While these dreams are often cryptic and difficult to figure out, the events they portray always seem to come true for better or for worse.
[[File:WTFAuspiceRahu.jpg|right|100px]]
*'''Rahu'''
**Lunar Phase: Full Moon
**Gifts: Full Moon, Dominance, Strength
**Skills: Brawl, Intimidation, Survival
**Renown: Purity

Though they're warriors first and foremost, the Rahu shouldn't be written off as dumb brutes. The werewolves that change under the full moon are often expert tacticians and leaders as well, and their inclination towards Purity means they also can act as the moral center of the pack- at least as far as the Oath of the Moon is concerned. However, they do tend to be stubborn and at times they need to learn that they don't always have to be in charge.

The Rahu's sheer stubbornness lets them fight on through even the most grievous of injuries as if they weren't even there. In crunch terms, they can ignore the effects of negative Conditions or Tilts affecting them for up to two turns in combat. It's not long, but it can be just enough to make the difference.

===Tribes===
The allegiance splat for Werewolves is the Tribe, a sort of extended spiritual family/club you become a part of after being initiated. There are five (known) Forsaken tribes, which owe their allegiance to Luna and take the Oath of the Moon, and three (known) Pure tribes which owe their allegiance more directly to their Tribal Totems or an ideal of Father Wolf - it varies between region. Each Tribe is bound to a Firstborn, which depending on your interpretation are spirit children of Father Wolf, primordial Werewolves, or unique beings - their origins are contradictory and vary between regions. Each of these Firstborn has chosen a Sacred Prey that its tribal members are ordered to focus The Hunt on. They also have a tribal oath that can be kind of convoluted despite its seemingly straightforward wording.
[[File:WTFGhost Wolves.jpg|right|150px]]
While it's theoretically possible to refrain from joining a tribe (which is known as being a Ghost Wolf), this only serves to deprive any such werewolf of the advantages of being part of a tribe and furthermore puts them at risk of their hybrid nature going out of control in horrible, horrible ways.
*'''Ghost Wolf Tyrants''' pervert the pack bond, acting as the overlord of a group of humans that they gain power over through terror and intimidation. Their urge to hunt is similarly twisted into a drive to expand their fief and grow stronger when they acquire new followers.
*'''Ghost Wolf Devourers''' are insane cannibals that gain strange powers when they consume the flesh of other werewolves. Some have become organized, and a cult of them centered in Russia and China has gained considerable influence lately.
*'''Void Reivers''' are werewolves tainted by the Essence of void spirits, driving them insane and cursing them with a hunger for Essence that can never be satisfied. Worse, they can spread their corruption to other werewolves through their bites and the Sacred Hunt- as predator or prey.

====Forsaken Tribes====
=====Blood Talons=====
[[File:WTFTribeBlood Talons.jpg|right|125px]]
*Totem: Fenris-Ur (Destroyer Wolf)
*Sacred Prey: Other Werewolves
*Oath: Offer no surrender that you would not accept. (In other words, don't give someone terms of surrender that you wouldn't take in their situation. This is complicated by the fact that most Blood Talons don't like the idea of surrendering at all, and thus will offer no surrender themselves.)

If the name didn't give it away, the Blood Talons are the meathead all-war violent soldiers of the Forsaken. On the more bloodthirsty end of Forsaken ideology, these guys tend toward pursuing the Hunt as some form of warlike activity. Their initiations tend to be hyper-violent, bloody affairs, they like the color red...generally speaking the more Metal of the tribes. They hunt other Werewolves as their Sacred Prey (most often the Pure, but sometimes other Forsaken that are thought to have violated the Oath of the Moon- this second part does not endear them to the other Tribes) and on the Hunt they can see another werewolf's Renown to determine how powerful they are and which faction they're a member of.

Their Totem, Fenris-Ur, was renowned for his ferocity and the extreme violence he displayed in bringing down his prey.

=====Bone Shadows=====
[[File:WTFTribeBone Shadows.jpg|right|125px]]
*Totem: Kamduis-Ur (Death Wolf)
*Sacred Prey: Spirits (possibly other denizens of Twilight)
*Oath: Pay each spirit in kind. (An eye for an eye, etc.)

Bone Shadows are the necromancers and shamans of Werewolf society, in addition to fulfilling a role of mystic, secret-gatherer, wanderer, and everything else involving interaction with spirits. This tribe values the gathering of secrets, Shadow Lores, bans and banes that are hard to discover (weaknesses of spirits who are otherwise quite stolid), crazy rituals of power...you get the idea. This tribe hunts spirits that are being troublesome or ghosts that won't fuck off to the hereafter, and on the Hunt they can strike incorporeals with their natural weapons.

Their Totem, Kamduis-Ur, was known for chasing metaphysical impossibilities and posing mind-bending questions to her children.

=====Hunters in Darkness=====
[[File:WTFTribeHunters In Darkness.jpg|right|150px]]
*Totem: Hikaon-Ur (Black Wolf)
*Sacred Prey: Hosts (See "The Many Enemies of the Uratha")
*Oath: Let no sacred place in your territory be violated. (This is subjectively interpreted, but in general you should try to keep out of their territory if you haven't been specifically invited.)

This tribe seems to have a thing for fear. In 1.0 they represented the more wolf/rural leaning Uratha, in 2.0 they still have a bit of a rustic thing going on but their focus has been shifted more toward the archetypes of fear, darkness, and paranoia to dissuade their victims and make them pee themselves. Their Sacred Prey as Hosts, the fragmented remains of the ancient spirits that Father Wolf fought against. Rather than detail an entire foe unique to Werewolf the Forsaken here, suffice to say on the Hunt this tribe can sense where they've either eroded or over-reinforced the wall between the Flesh and Spirit worlds.

Their Totem, Hikaon-Ur, was even more obsessed with hunting than her siblings, giving her a certain purity of purpose that other Firstborn seemed to have lacked.

=====Iron Masters=====
[[File:WTFTribeIron Masters.jpg|right|125px]]
*Totem: Sagrim-Ur (Red Wolf)
*Sacred Prey: Humans (as well as Vampires and Mages when warranted)
*Oath: Honor your territory in all things (Similar to the Hunters in Darkness, but with a greater focus on making your territory a better place instead of blindly defending it.)

Associated primarily with Change and Adaptation rather than being the 'technological' or 'humie-focused' tribe, the Iron Masters nonetheless excel in screwing with technology and harnessing the changes that Humanity makes to the Spirit World. Consummate wolves among sheep, Iron Masters pare down the Herd when it threatens territories or spirit domains. Serial killers, slashers, dirty cops, and other Supernaturals closely associated with human society are their prey.

Their Totem, Sagrim-Ur, was always asking questions, never satisfied with the way things were, and welcomed the change that came with Father Wolf's death because to him Change is all that matters.

=====Storm Lords=====
[[File:WTFTribeStorm Lords.jpg|right|125px]]
*Totem: Skolis-Ur (Winter Wolf)
*Sacred Prey: Claimed (humans/animals/werewolves possessed by spirits and mutated into fucked up hybrids)
*Oath: Let nobody witness or tend to your weakness. (Never let others see your resolve falter; as a leader, this would only demoralize those who follow you.)

The Alphas of Forsaken society, Storm Lords are flinty eyed commissars and merciless monsters. Forced to endure really trying ordeals involving lightning and snow and storms, their Totem's primary fetish, these wolves lead by example of being noble badasses and excelling as paragons in their roles (think Emperor's Children minus Slaanesh). The Sacred Prey of the tribe would be Claimed, horrific fusions of spirit and flesh which occurs when a spirit decides to possess a body and melds with it, gaining dangerous new powers in the process. Although not very often explored in other games, Claimed are a serious threat due to their ability to warp the Shadow in a way that suits the spirit and its meat-suit.

Their Totem, Skolis-Ur, is the eldest of the Firstborn aligned with the Forsaken, and is considered to be the protector of his siblings; it is said the only time he ever showed weakness was after the death of Father Wolf.

====Pure Tribes====
When the first werewolves turned against Father Wolf alongside the Firstborn, not all of them agreed to do so. But Luna punished all werewolves for the actions of those who were involved. This pissed off the werewolves who weren't involved, who decided to tell mom "screw you!" That's the Pure; three tribes who blame Luna in some way, shape or form for their current predicament and who want to try and bring back the glory days of Pangaea.

Unfortunately for the Forsaken, the Pure are a lot more common than they are. Also, because they favor spirits over humans, ''they'' are in the good books of most spirits, meaning they get a lot more spiritual backup in the form of gifts and allies. About the only thing the Forsaken have going for them is the distant and unreliable support of Luna, and the fact that their repentance has earned the Forsaken a minor reprieve from Luna's curse of silver's bane. Silver weapons do Aggravated damage to them, but otherwise the forsaken can handle silver without any problem. The Pure, on the other hand, start burning if they so much as ''touch'' the stuff.

A brief note: as the Auspices are a gift from Luna meant specifically for the Forsaken, the Pure Tribes neither have Auspices nor do they particularly want them. Any Forsaken who wishes to join the Pure must first purge themselves of Mother Luna's blessings (or "chains", in their opinion). This is about as painful as you might expect it to be, and strips them of their Auspice. Which also brings the iconic Pure vulnerability to silver.

=====Fire-Touched=====
[[File:WTFTribeFire-Touched.jpg|right|150px]]
*Totem: Gurim-Ur (Rabid Wolf)
*Sacred Prey: Those who disrespect the Shadow and its denizens (Anyone who harms or commands a spirit without provocation, as well as anyone who tries to seal off the Shadow. Naturally, this does not apply to disrespect of Luna or her servants.)
*Oath: Let no false statement go unchallenged. (Do not lie, and do not allow others to lie in your presence without denouncing their lies as such. This applies to "white lies" as well.)

The Fire-Touched ask for only one thing of their members: absolute faith in the wisdom of their totem and the cause of the Pure. Though at first glance they may seem like a bunch of fanatics, they believe that any Uratha can be restored to spiritual wholeness if they would only accept it. Consequently, they are more than willing to accept any Forsaken willing to repent of their service to Luna into their tribe. And their proselytizing can be surprisingly persuasive, too. If that fails, there's always their other preferred weapons of choice: fire and disease.

Their Totem, Gurim-Ur, is said to be the omega of the firstborn on account of his sickly constitution. The Forsaken claim that he shirked the duties given to him by Luna out of cowardice and instead sided with the Pure. The Fire-Touched, on the other hand, say that Gurim-Ur never trusted Luna due to her ever-shifting nature, and when Father Wolf was slain he decided he would not suffer any more of Luna's falsehoods.

=====Ivory Claws=====
[[File:WTFTribeIvory Claws.jpg|right|150px]]
*Totem: Hathis-Ur (Silver Wolf)
*Sacred Prey: Those who disrespect their lineage (People who defy family traditions or disrespect their elders, as well as parents who prevent their children from choosing strong mates or consign them to failure. This definition also includes the Forsaken as a whole as they are seen to have dishonored Father Wolf.)
*Oath: Call no whelp of lesser blood your equal. (They will tolerate working with the other Pure Tribes, but only reluctantly. Forsaken, on the other hand? They won't even consider it unless they absolutely have to, and even then they'll make it clear they're the ones in charge. Humans are right out. There's also a bunch of lesser oaths they follow, like a ban against consuming plant seeds, but generally Hathis-Ur is content if any given Ivory Claw is consistent in upholding their interpretation of the oath)

The self-proclaimed purest of the Pure, the Ivory Claws hold the purity of their bloodlines above all else. As a result, they take great pains to track their pedigrees, as well as those of other supernatural beings. Though they're as dangerous as the other Pure Tribes if crossed, they tend to be more isolationist than actively aggressive and can be somewhat reasonable as long as they're left alone. They treat all human beings as slaves and cattle, much like the other Pure, but unlike the other Pure can actually feign sanity to the point of integrating with human civilization; this means the Ivory Claws actually have money, resources, and human cannon fodder to throw at their rivals. They are also the ''only'' Pure that will never, ''ever'' cooperate with the Forsaken for any reason or accept defections of any kind.

Their totem, Hathis-Ur, is said to be the proudest and most pained of the Firstborn. The Forsaken say this is because he once fought Father Wolf and lost and is now jealous of the Forsaken for succeeding where he failed. The Ivory Claws, on the other hand, say that he once loved Luna but was enraged when she commanded her children to kill Father Wolf; in revenge, he sought to kill her, but was defeated and had his coat turned into pure silver, leaving him in constant pain.

=====Predator Kings=====
[[File:WTFTribePredator Kings.jpg|right|150px]]
*Totem: Huzuruth-Ur (Dire Wolf)
*Sacred Prey: Those who do not properly honor the hunt (Any human that does not hunt once per season, or attempts to interfere with hunting; werewolves who end a Sacred Hunt without killing their prey are also valid, as is any being that hunts for sport rather than a higher purpose such as culling an overgrown population.)
*Oath: Honor nothing of human craft. (Predator Kings cannot use any man-made objects unless they intend to destroy them; they may only use tools made by werewolves or spirits.)

Take the Red Talons, remove even the possibility they could be interpreted as protagonists, and you have the Predator Kings in a nutshell. Apart from their oath, the only law they recognize is the law of the jungle: the strong live, and the weak die. Though their oath makes it all but impossible for them to live among human society, their contempt for civilization means they couldn't care less about such things anyway. Worryingly, their belief that Pangaea might be restored through savage revelry might be true; their hunts have been known to change the relationship between the Flesh and the Shadow in the past. Ironically, get along better with the Forsaken than either of the other Pure tribes. After all, as evil Nietzschean assholes, they love worthy enemies that make them strong. Now if only they'd stop interfering with their grand design to recreate Pangaea and pretending those useless prey-animal hominids are fit for anything but slaughter...

Their Totem, Huzuruth-Ur, is the eldest of the Firstborn and the bitterest by far. According to the Forsaken, he merely scoffed at Father Wolf's death, believing that anything weak enough to be slain by its own children was unworthy of being mourned over; he turned from the Forsaken only because their actions had created the Gauntlet and brought an end to Pangaea. The Predator Kings do not deny this story; they merely ask why the Forsaken would disagree with Huzuruth-Ur.

==The Many Enemies of the Uratha==
These are the most common threats a werewolf will most likely face off against in its (nasty, brutish and short) life. There's also a wide variety of other more obscure threats, most of which the average werewolf will not know about until they find one.

===Spirits===
Spirits are everywhere. They define and promote aspects of existence and do so to monomaniacal fixation; they are NOT good guys, and even spirits of things like Joy or Love are dangerous if they're left to their own devices due to their complete disregard of anything not directly relating to their nature. The nature of the Forsaken's oath to Mother Luna compels them to guard humanity from their influence, and many spirits hate them for it.

Though they are difficult to harm by conventional means, each spirit has a ban and a bane. The first restricts a spirit's behavior by by dictating things that it must or must not do (e.g. a spirit of fire cannot enter a place that is colder than room temperature), and the second is a substance or object that causes the spirit extreme harm on contact (such as the Uratha weakness to silver). In many cases, a spirit can only be dealt with if its ban and bane are used against it.

Most spirits feed off of Essence that is linked to the concept they embody, typically by consuming other spirits. By doing so, they may begin to change to reflect the nature of their former prey. If a new influence it picks up in this way is completely unrelated to its fundamental nature or makes no sense when combined with said fundamental nature (e.g. a wolf spirit that consumed a fear spirit would start focusing on how scary wolves are, but a car spirit that consumed a holly spirit would not be able to handle the new influence), they become a ''magath'', a confused abomination that doesn't know what the hell it's supposed to be anymore. These are almost always insane or destructive by nature, and most ultimately need to be put out of their misery by the Forsaken.

Void spirits- the spirits that dwell within the interstellar void's equivalent of the Shadow- are particularly dangerous, as such beings bear resonances unlike those of any earthly spirit and are unsuited to understanding concepts like "physical objects exist". They are mercifully rare, as Luna and her servants destroy the majority of those which pass close enough to the Earth to be caught in its gravity. Closely related are the ''mulhithim'', the arrogant and hateful spirits that hail from the Shadow of other planets (which has gotten quite a few werewolves wondering why Earth doesn't have its own planetary spirit...or if it does, what that might mean about the nature of [[Werewolf: The Apocalypse|"Gaia"]]), and the void leviathans, which are colossal Lovecraftian horrors just barely classifiable as spirits that warp the Shadow simply by their approach; if left unchecked they shift into the world of Flesh and attempt to fuse with the Earth for some incomprehensible purpose (invariably causing huge amounts of collateral damage in both the Shadow and the Flesh).

===Hosts===
Hosts are the shattered shards of the demon-gods that Father Wolf slew, which mostly exist as roving swarms of creepy-crawlies that occasionally hijack people's bodies for use as meat suits. If they get strong enough, they can forcibly merge with a victim and absorb their flesh to become grotesque half-human half-beasts. Slaying them in this form doesn't guarantee that they're gone- they break into a swarm of vermin upon "dying" and can only be destroyed permanently if every single one of those vermin is killed quickly.

The two main ones are the Azlu (brain-eating spiders with a hybrid form that has razor sharp forelegs and can grow to the size of a car; they also strengthen the Gauntlet with their webs, choking areas out of Essence in the process) and the Beshilu (plague-spreading rats with limited precognitive abilities that gnaw through the Gauntlet, letting spirits pass through to the mortal world- especially the spirits of disease they ally themselves with). The other ones include the Srizaku (flesh-eating locust swarms that devour every remotely edible object in sight), the Halaku (crows that eat peoples' eyes to turn them into their slaves for fuck-knows-why), the Razilu (snakes who your Storyteller gets to decide what the fuck they want), the Adarusharu (fear-eating wolves who can merge into giant multi-headed wolf-monsters), the Usudwirku (fungus-spirits that infect the victims of werewolves so they can drive wolves batty whilst the fungi-spirits take over their loci), the Uglathlu (worm spirits who steal the bodies of utter scum so they can create festering Wounds in the Shadow), the Thihoshlu (bloated toads that promote sloth and vice, setting themselves up as impartial arbiters among mortals and supernaturals alike so they can engineer conflicts as they sit back and laugh at the whole damned mess; for good measure they can also steal Essence from anyone crossing the Gauntlet and dampen a werewolf's fury with an aura of laziness), the Ukusgualu (lampreys that corrupt the Gauntlet with the blood that they consume until it liquefies and lets them swim through it; they claim that this will one day allow them to return to the ocean of blood they call home), the Hidalgu (electricity-eating wasps whose buzzing resonates through the Gauntlet, inducing nightmares and forcing anyone near to cross it; worse, they can possess people whose ambitions are frustrated through their dreams, turning them into powerful "queens") and the Zundilu (diligent but scatterbrained termites who feed on the Shadow reflections of buildings and structures until they're dead in the Spirit and create world-spanning tunnels to link other places to their nests; [[Demon: The Descent#And Infrastructure is?|occult architecture]] is their favorite food, which has derailed a fair deal of the God-Machine's plans in the past).

===Each Other===
Finally, one of the most depressingly common enemies for werewolves are ''other werewolves''. Squabbles over territory, pride, all that nonsense is normal. But, there's two groups of werewolves who are pretty much always enemies to the Tribes of the Moon.

As mentioned earlier, the Pure Tribes are the werewolves who claim they're innocent of murdering Father Wolf, and so they hate Mother Luna for demanding they atone for a crime they never committed and hate the Forsaken even more for killing Father Wolf- and taking Pangaea away from them by doing so. They reject Mother Luna, which among other things means silver hurts them worse, and they want to tear down the Gauntlet between worlds so the spirits can take over, hoping that this will restore Pangaea and allow them to become rulers. Thing is, there's a lot more of these bastards than there are of the Forsaken (that is, the good guys), and the spirits like them more since they aren't interested in bossing them around like the Forsaken do.

The Bale Hounds, meanwhile, have taken one look at the shithole they live in and come to the conclusion that evil is winning, and they want to be on the winning team. So, they've allied themselves with the Maeljin - powerful spirits of malice and evil- and work to make the world even more of an utter shithole, creating pits of hell that the werewolves call "Wounds". Even ''the Pure'' think these guys are fucking dangerous, so much so they have been known to team up with the Forsaken to kill the bastards. Mostly because if they had their way, there wouldn't be a Pangaea left for the Pure to rule. Ironically, the Bale Hounds themselves respect the Forsaken a lot more than they do the Pure; in their eyes, the Forsaken are at least trying to do something, even if it's doomed to fail, whilst the Pure will probably let the Bale Hounds win without even knowing it.

===Idigam===
But perhaps the most dangerous are the Idigam, the spirits who embody concepts that existed and faded away long before the world was fully formed. To survive, they became the incarnations of chaos and gained the ability to mimic the characteristics of anything mortal or spiritual. Between that and their unmatched ability to manipulate Essence, even Father Wolf was unable to slay them. Instead, they were sealed away on the moon where there was nothing for them to copy; Luna saw to that when she bound them in a prison as formless as they were. However, a relatively recent internecine war among the werewolves gave them an opportunity to escape back to Earth during the first manned moon landings. And they're VERY interested in making up for lost time now that they're back on Earth- as are the alien spirits that they've encountered and allied with during their banishment and the armies of minions they can create by corrupting other spirits with their Essence.

===Geryo===
A recent addition to the horrors the Uratha face, as in they were added in 2e in a new [[Night Horrors]] book, the Geryo claim themselves to be the first children of Father Wolf, who created them as his servants. However, he deemed them to be failures on account of their proneness to wanton destruction and sealed them away within what would later become the Gauntlet. When they finally broke loose, they discovered they could infect their werewolf "half-siblings" with their essence and force them to mutate into monstrous forms. (For some reason [[Beast: The Primordial|Beasts]] are also vulnerable to this infection, but let's be honest, they probably deserve it.) Now, they have resumed their old hunts and seek to wipe out the Uratha that they claim have taken their rightful place as the mightiest of predators. Like werewolves, they are subject to the Sacred Hunt, with each Geryo having its own preferred prey.

==Other Shifters==
A lot less focused on in this setting, but still present. There were two excellent books - World of Darkness: Skinchangers, for "humans who change shape through magic" and "spirit-melded shifters" types and War Against The Pure for more "mythical shapechanger" types.

There's also the absolute '''atrocity''' known as Changing Breeds, which is basically every single fucking awful thing about ''[[Werewolf: The Apocalypse]]'' wrapped up in one shittastic package. Don't believe us? It was largely written by [[Phil Brucato]]. Still not convinced somehow? Or maybe you just want to witness the Goatfucker at work. In any case, [http://destroythis.blogspot.com.au/search?updated-max=2014-07-31T18:46:00-07:00&max-results=7&start=7&by-date=false&m=1 these two] [http://projects.inklesspen.com/fatal-and-friends/kurieg/changing-breeds/ poor saps] who dared to try and dissect its awfulness chapter by chapter.

Needless to say, nobody talks about Changing Breeds, mainly because War Against the Pure did the concept a whole lot more justice and wasn't nearly one-tenth as shit besides.

What critters did those books actually add?

Skinchangers gave us:
* '''Scavenger Wolf:''' A wolf-spirit who steals human skins, in an inversion of the traditional skinthief role.
* '''Black-Eyed Toads:''' Mystics who know a ritual that lets them pluck out their eyes and stick them in the sockets of a living toad to take over its body.
* '''The Coalblacks:''' A family of thieves who use a magic ritual to become crows.
* '''Tusk-Runners:''' Mystics who can invade the body of a living elephant to control it.
* '''Horned Hunters:''' Hunters who use ritually claimed antlers to become [[minotaur|stag-horned deer-people]].
* '''Spirit-Skinners:''' Mystics who physically bind spirits and then draw their essence into themselves.
* '''The Stray:''' A poor homeless man who, through the whims of fate and the love of a loyal dog, can now temporarily take on the bodies of dead stray dogs.
* '''Doctor Ape:''' A mad doctor whose experiments in ape-to-human skin and flesh transplants gave him the power to become a chimpanzee, though he occasionally returns to human form to heal the sick and injured.
* '''Barsarks:''' Warrior-mystics who use bear skins to become werebears, straight out of [[Viking]] mythology.
* '''The Invisible Man:''' A man who discovered he can mentally possess and control a whole swarm of fire ants.
* '''The Black Flock:''' A collective of crow spirits, ''Thar Akuru'', the accidental result of a raven spirit's attempt to cheat death by reincarnating through a human host.
* '''[[Kitsune]]s:''' A unique Choir of fox-spirits able to transform into or hide inside the bodies of humans.
* '''Kanaima:''' Jaguar-shaped vengeance spirits who can possess the bodies of those who die whilst seeking revenge in order to enact their wrath.
* '''Leopard Men:''' The human hosts of the ''nemur sakar''; leopard-spirits of horror and pain from West Africa.
* '''Bouda:''' Women who serve as hosts to hyena spirits as a result of an ancient pact.
* '''Serpent Guardians:''' A choir of serpent-spirits of knowledge and protection who take human bodies to gather and guard knowledge.
* '''Patches:''' A strange shapechanger who can assume the form of any person or creature whose flayed flesh has been added to its leather coat - in fact, it may be the coat itself is sapient, taking the forms of its victims to try and live.
* '''Chimera:''' Science-spawned abominations in the form of the ''Animera'' (an animal granted superior intelligence through the splicing of human genes) and the ''Humera'' (a human twisted into a half-beast through gene-splicing).
* '''Circe's Brood:''' A general name for humans turned into animals against their will through vengeful curses and dark magic.
* '''Lobison:''' A cursed lineage where the seventh son of a seventh son transforms into a bloodthirsty, werewolf-like monster based on a maned wolf.
* '''The Devil's Daughter:''' The spawn of an unholy pact, a seemingly ordinary party girl who can transform into a giant, man-eating rattlesnake.
* '''Familiars:''' Shadowy spirit creatures that can shift between beast and human forms, frequently summoned by unwitting spellcasters.
* '''The Devil of Deacon Hill:''' A strange, territorial entity that can shift from panther to human.
* '''Zoonotics:''' Mutagenic diseases that transform human victims into animals.

In contrast, War Against the Pure offers:
* '''The Colony:''' Justice-seeking werecats.
* '''The Distant Ones:''' Arrogant werefalcons who largely spend their lives playing out a cross between a modernistic mythology and a soap opera.
* '''The Brineborn:''' Shapeshifting [[Deep One]]s whose own mythology describes them as rejected by their creator, and who just want to be left alone.
* '''The Unclean:''' Wereroaches who just want to be left alone.
* '''Baal-Hadad:''' Sun-worshipping [[minotaur|werebulls]] (there are women, but they have horns too) with a god complex who transform Wolf-Bloods into their own kind.

==2nd Edition==
Like [[Vampire: The Requiem]] before them, the wolves got themselves a 2nd edition, and they got a hell of a lot more badass in it. Some of the highlights:

*Werewolves now only take Aggravated damage from damage roll-over, silver, and supernatural attacks. This means werewolves are a ''lot'' tougher to fight.

*Gauru form got ''massively'' beefed up. Among other things? ''Instant'' regeneration of all non-Agg damage. Combined with how tough werewolves can be, and it's almost impossible to kill a werewolf while it's in war form. But it also causes instant Death Rage any time it's used outside of combat (except if it's used alongside a very specific Gift- and even then it's greatly weakened compared to what it would usually do), so don't try and use it to cheese your way out of danger.

*Wolf-bloods went from just getting +2 Willpower to resist Lunacy to full-fledged immunity ''and'' at least one (and potentially more) of several possible supernatural powers, from shapeshifting to werewolf-like regeneration. Of course, it's now possible for werewolves to make Wolf-bloods with bad Lunacy rolls and each of said powers comes with a noticeable drawback, so it's not all good news.

*Harmony acts a little differently, with 5 being the ideal score and breaking points either increasing or decreasing it based on which part of a werewolf's nature it places undue importance on. A Harmony of 4 or less is imbalanced toward the aspect of Spirit, and a Harmony of 6 or higher is skewed towards the aspect of Flesh; as all starting werewolves start at Harmony 7, they begin play imbalanced towards Flesh but not excessively so. Having a high Harmony locks a werewolf out of the Shadow and prevents them from shapeshifting without the use of Essence, while having a low Harmony effectively traps a werewolf in the shadow and causes him to reflexively transform when stressed. (In both cases, the triggers for Death Rage also become less specific as well.) Consequently, maintaining an ideal Harmony level requires a degree of finesse and a willingness to deliberately hit breaking points of one extreme as a way of countering the other. That being said, having it somewhat extreme isn't all bad. With a Harmony less than 3 or greater than 8, a werewolf doesn't need a locus to enter or exit the Shadow (respectively). Zi'ir were re-added in Night Horrors: Shunned by the Moon, but they can only appear if a werewolf at either Harmony extreme dramatically fails multiple breaking points towards that extreme (and at that point you really have to be going out of your way to become one).

*Death Rage now has two stages- "soft rage" and "hard rage". "Soft rage" allows a werewolf to try and reassert control over himself, but "hard rage" is basically the classic Death Rage. The catch is that "hard rage" is contagious, so if one werewolf in a pack enters "hard rage" the others will either enter it shortly afterwards or run the risk of being slaughtered by their packmates.
{{WoD-Games}}

Edgy

2021-09-27T03:56:16Z

2600:6C5D:617F:8312:84FF:1FCB:9ED9:8413: /* "Right Target, Wrong Method" Characters */

{{Topquote|As far as I can make out "edgy" occurs when middlebrow, middle-aged profiteers are looking to suck the energy--not to mention the spending money--out of the "youth culture." So they come up with this fake concept of "seeming to be dangerous when every move they make is the result of market research and a corporate master plan".|[[Daria 40k|Daria]], Episode [3.05] The Lost Girls.}}

{{Topquote|My name is Not Important; what is important is what I'm going to do. I just fucking hate this world, and the human worms feasting on its carcass. My whole life is just cold, bitter hatred, and I always wanted to die violently. This is the time of vengeance, and no life is worth saving, and I will put in the grave as many as I can. It's time for me to kill and it's time for me to die; my genocide crusade begins... here!|The player character of ''Hatred''}}

{{Topquote|Make it [[World of Darkness|dark]], make it [[Grimdark|grim]], make it [[ANGRY MARINES|tough]] but then, for the love of God, [[Comedy Marines|tell a joke]].|Joss Whedon giving a nice example on how to avoid being edgy even while creating a dark world}}

[[File:Marvel Edge.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Unabashed Edginess from the 1990s]]
'''Edginess''' refers to people pushing violent and controversial subject matter in their stories, especially when they're doing it to to try and be popular with tragic, violent or controversial stories. This often takes the form of senselessly driving a vague argument, a plotline or a scenario to its darkest possible outcome, all the while openly expressing their disdain for whoever "the establishment" is, rationalizing villains or finding a middle ground in discourses. Like most internet terminology, it has been beaten to death, resurrected hastily, and then beaten some more. Has no relation to ''[[Hunter: The Reckoning]]''.

Another far less negative use of the term is to describe something on the 'edge' of what's acceptable, pushing established boundaries of convention. For example, by this definition ''Batman: The Animated Series'' was edgy for making an animated series which defied expectations of how true to its base concept and generally well-written a show designed to sell toys could be. Some more examples of this would be Ren and Stimpy (which was crude and vulgar) or Invader Zim (which could get dark in subject matter, and used a fair bit of black humor); in both cases, a decent bit of the comedy was of the "I can't believe that they did ''THAT'' on a kid's cartoon show!" variety. A milder version of this was Sonic the Hedgehog in contrast to Mario. In 1989 the Simpsons was the Edgy take on the classic family sitcom archetype and in 1999 Family Guy had slotted itself in as the Edgy version of The Simpsons. For the 1990s and early 2000s Edgy was a favored term of cynical marketing types which drew the attention of the world's sarcastic snarkers and contrarians, many of which came to congregate on sites such as 4chan.

An "edgelord" is someone who essentially is guilty of serial attempts to be edgy, like [[that guy]] at your tabletop role playing group who always, without fail, makes a specific type of self insert or wish fulfillment character; brooding, antisocial, militant types with problems with authority and a troubled past - all without the nuance or skill to actually pull it off (with their opponents often being stand-ins for whoever the edgelord considers "The Man™" or representing "the establishment™"). The end result is they makes themselves look silly.

"Art" done by edgelords contain characters who are as dark, brooding and as painfully unhappy as possible, conflicts have zero compromise, institutions are the villains unless the edgelord made them and any conflict of interest will have the worst possible outcome. In writing, edgelords will go out of their way to make the story extra depressing, and subject multiple aspects of it to an increased shock factor when it's clearly '''illogical''' to do so. Needless to say, it can drive a perfect idea to make an entertaining story into the shitter, grating the nerves of even the most jaded audience. When commenting, the "edgelord" will simply push any predicament in the artwork to the darkest, deepest, worst outcome, while describing his fantasies. For example: In an adult and/or bondage predicament picture, edgelords can be found describing a paragraph of horrible fate the captive would suffer, *should* suffer because slaves are shit, and *deserve* abuse, even when the picture was of a predicament with nothing in context. Or he will simply fill the comment of any NSFW picture with his own sick fantasies, surely adding "women DESERVE it".

This is not to say that said dark elements like murder, slavery, extremism and rape are bad for literature, but rather that their sloppy execution with no regard to their depth is. As shown above, even the most "edgelord" of concepts can be salvaged and even made bearable with proper handling, especially going by the latter definition - but if you do it enough, the boundaries shift and what was edgy becomes the new norm, and there is always the risk of falling ''over'' the edge. This is why the old definition has fallen increasingly out of favor as time has gone on — people began seeing the dross sold under the title of "edgy", and the idea of what it meant thus moved away from the positive connotations marketing execs desired and closer to the qualities described above. Plus, this is the internet, and people would rather a word just be an insult or a compliment to reduce confusion.

==The Anatomy of Edginess==
Edginess is in some ways like a cargo cult. During WWII in the Pacific, the US military set up bases on remote, but inhabited islands, bringing with them a lot of stuff like planes and cars and so forth that was quite amazing to the stone age natives, to whom the world had been a few dozen square kilometers of land surrounded by ocean, with hazy stories of other such islands. When the military left, some of the natives took to making coconut and wooden radios and flight towers based off of some vague recollection of the military variants, unaware that making the shape alone does not get you the functional item.

[[File:Pizza-slicer.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The ultimate apotheosis of an edgelord: All edge, no point.]]
In that vein, most of what comes to mind when people envision "edgy" artworks tends to be the result of people who wanted to make ''morally grey'' characters and subject matter, but lack the maturity/experience/focus necessary to NOT end up with anything other than a multiple-personality-disordered mess or a power fantasy wrapped in propaganda. Someone with (at best) mediocre creative abilities sees some fiction that makes good use of melodrama, gritty settings, dark humor and such, made by people who know what the hell they're doing and figures "I can do that!", leading to said person haphazardly applying those elements incorrectly. The results of such efforts are either tiresome, unintentionally funny or just painful. The stereotypical teenager, especially one with gothic/emo tendencies or problems with authority, commonly embody this - all too eager for "adult" things (eg: violence, sex, etc.) in their limited perception of such, often born of denial. Individuals who pander to said demographic (or are otherwise just downright hacks) will favor this approach over any sense of complexity, subtlety, nuance and some actual understanding of the human condition.

===Edgy and [[Grimdark]]===
While edginess is frequently associated with invoking grimdark [[Derp|for the sake of it and nothing else]], it's important to remember that this alone does not edgy make. As an example, [[WH40K]]'s [[Imperium of Man]] has reasons to be fair and kind when capable: though it has plenty of genocide, xenocide (completely annihilating species even when they are gentle and kind), torture, forced labor (they draw the line at commercialized chattel slavery, but un-unionized indentured servitude is fair game), witch hunts and militarism that would give Hitler a chubby beyond the grave, said horrors have reasonable justifications. Aliens were buying and selling humans like pets and culling them by the billion, operating slaver outposts even in our solar system before the Emperor came into leading humanity into a roaring rampage of revenge. And regarding souls and the universe after the Heresy, any deviation from faith in the Emperor will ''literally'' send a human to hell upon death, with their soul becoming dæmon food (and/or sex toys).

Any mistreated machinery will attract foul entities and corruption that will fuck you up seven ways till Monday and chew you out; any ill-coaxed [[Machine Spirit]] will jam and blow up in your face; and any laxity will make [[Chaos]] cults pop up by the billion in a week. Then there's [[Necrons|the genocidal robots from another age]], [[Eldar|space elves that would murder a planet on the off chance that their]] [[Farseer]] would break a nail otherwise (and they're still the nice space elves despite that, as their [[Dark Eldar|webway dwelling cousins are even worse - murdering entire planets just because they like the sound of millions of people screaming]]), [[Orks|the ambulatory (AND belligerent) fungi that plague the entire galaxy in a series of wars]], and [[Tyranids|extragalactic horrors that intend to eat everyone's face.]] [[TL;DR]] The Imperium acts like an asshole Hitler/Hirohito bastard child because the alternative is much, MUCH worse.

At the level of narrative, the fact that things are very very bad is a core thematic element of this world. As pointed out there are reasons why things are so miserable in this world which flow logically and despite this there can be points of contrast. Imperials still have the same potential to love and be kind like modern real world humans do. The Tau are hopeful despite the evils of this world. Occasionally pragmatism can overcome the deep seeded prejudices to overcome greater evils, if only for a while. And even if it is preformed by Conscript Guardsmen, Commissars or Space Marines, each the product of horrendous military institutions, can fight to achieve acts of genuine (if still typically brutal) heroism.

Now if you want a senselessly edgy story in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, an example would be the now non-canon [[Khornate Knights]].

===Who's An Edgelord?===
Who's a cute little Edgelord? Yes, you, you adorable little mass-murderer, you!

"Edgelord" gets applied to two groups: '''Authors''' fixated on making edgy material, and the '''Edgy characters''' they write. While most of this article assumes the latter definition (as we at least try to avoid authorial mind-reading), it's quite possible for an Edgelord author to create an edgy work without an Edgelord character<ref>How? Well, just to start with, picture a modern retelling of The Little Match Girl (the one where the title character freezes to death on the street--looking back on it, Hans Christian Andersen was Edgelord as fuck).</ref>, and a non-Edgelord author to create an Edgelord character (either unintentionally, satirically, or de-constructively).

===Edgy Villains===

There's an important argument to be made about villains and edginess. Frequently, it's necessary to engage in authorial behavior that would be considered edgy in order to properly develop a bad guy. There are a few important questions to ask in this case, the largest ones being "is this a [[Mary Sue|Villain Sue]] situation, and if so, what kind of Villain Sue are we dealing with?"<ref>For an example of a non-Edgelord Villain Sue, there are plenty of Villain Sues who the author clearly hates, but can't bring themselves to kill off for reasons of marketability. It's usually only when the Doylist definition of Mary Sue comes into play, where the Author sees themselves as the villain and has more sympathy for them than the protagonist, that Edgelordery starts to set in.</ref> and "are the author's sympathies clearly with the villain's agenda?"<ref>Not with the villain himself; plenty of villains clearly have the author's sympathy (what [[TVTropes]] might call a "Villain Woobie" or "Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds"); what matters here is does the author believe what the villain believes. That may sound odd, but many cases of "The Bad Guy Was Right" involve characters created by another author, or are (usually bad) parody of such.</ref>

===Edgelords and [[Mary Sue]]s===

A lot of edgy characters also qualify as [[Mary Sue]]s. This is because many writers who aim for "edgy" in their works are terrible at writing, and writing a [[Mary Sue]] is a common result of terrible writing. Another reason is the "Power Fantasy" route, where the author uses their work and the character in question to attack something or someone from real-life that they oppose. There are a few important questions to ask in this case, the largest ones being "is this a Jerk Sue situation?", "do the villains represent a work the author hates?" and "do the villains represent a real person or thing the author is against?"

Be on the look out for plot armor, protagonists who not only share their author's values but are not challenged on these views in any way, and the other major Sue factors covered in our [[Mary Sue]] article.

==="Right Target, Wrong Method" Characters===

One important partial exception is that sometimes authors include a character that can be considered "Edgy" in theory, but in practice it's clear the author isn't rooting for them because they take things '''way''' too far. We're talking "Utopia Justifies the Means, No Matter How Horrific" and "Death Penalty for Jaywalking"-type characters. For an example of "edgy hero vs edgelord villain", compare [[Judge Dredd]] to his archnemesis, Judge Death.

While they can degrade into Edgelords quite easily, as long as it's clear that either the author's sympathies are not with them, and/or the story spends a lot of time on the collateral damage they inflict, they can be considered not wish-fulfillment enough to count as Edgelords. Note that such characters (particularly if allowed to be a protagonist or in the hands of more than one author) tend to degrade into Edgelordery for subtly obvious reasons.

===Sidenote: Chunni===

In some Weeb circles, an "Edgelord" is called "Chuuni", short for "Chuunibyou". This delightful Japanese word combines the concepts of "Sophomoric" ("Chuunibyou" literally translated means "Middle [School] 2[nd Year] Syndrome") and "Edgelord", with an optional side note of "I have supernatural powers". Importantly, the "Stupid and Lame" part is baked right into the word, while "Edgelord" is usually only ''implies'' stupidity.

===In closing===
{{Topquote|So maybe ordinary people ''don't'' always crack. Maybe there ''isn't'' any need to crawl under a ''rock'' with all the ''other'' slimy things when trouble hits... maybe it was just ''you'', all the time|Batman, The Killing Joke}}

There are many paths to success for a storyteller, some of which include going over dark territory in various ways or by innovating and pushing boundaries. However, all of them require care and attention to detail to pull off well. Being dark or pushing boundaries is not profound in and of itself. Shock value, twists and subverting expectations doesn't automatically equal good storytelling. Finally, using these things as an outlet for personal views/grievances is the writing equivalent of walking through a minefield.

==How Can I Tell If My Character Is An Edgelord?==

Every edgelord has at least four qualities; skilled at violence, moody, has easy access to weapons and are aggressively contrarian. While alone or even together these traits don't make an edgelord, each "Yes" answer from the list below gives your character a piece of edgelorddom:

* Are they either a power fantasy or deliberately written to offend "The Man™" or "the establishment™"? (NOTE: With one exception below, and even if not targeting "the establishment™", and/or instead targeting enemies of theirs such as criminals, '''a "yes" answer here automatically grants the character edgelord status.''')
** Bonus points if the writer goes after ''the usual targets''; [[Capitalism|big business]], organized [[religion]], the education system or law enforcement. Double bonus points if they're a real-life example from the above, triple bonus points if they've already been frequently targeted in media (eg; oil companies, the Catholic Church, strict schoolteachers or the police) and quadruple bonus points if its a mix (such as Catholic boarding schools).
** The one exception are characters who '''start out''' as merely mildly edgy (particularly antagonists of the "right target, wrong methods" variety), and only graduate to full edgelord status if other writers are allowed access to them or the current writer gets carried away.
* Do they openly mock altruistic traits (like hope and love)? Compromise? faith or the Powers-That-Be? Bonus points if they do so without suffering negative consequences for it.
* Do they have a backstory dominated by abuse they suffered (often trotted out as an excuse for their violent contrarianism)?
* Are forgiveness and redemption things the character disregards, if not actively despises?
** Partial credit if they're seeking redemption... but only changing their targets instead of their approach or methods.
* Do they not care if they live or die? Or do they want to die?
* Do they have problems with authority? As in a negative attitude towards anyone else having authority over them.
* Are they heavily scarred individuals? (physical, emotional, whatever...)
* Do they regularly quote-mine philosophers or works of fiction and spout these quotes to validate their worldview?
* Do they share any of the same beliefs as the work's creator and openly express them? (for example, the protagonists of stories by [[Ayn Rand]] or [[Jack Chick]]). Bonus points if they're nihilistic. <ref>This item is more a [[Mary Sue]] trope, but there is significant overlap between edgelords and Mary Sues.</ref>
** Are these views never challenged or refuted in the story? Or are the challengers clearly strawmen, including tarring an entire group with the same brush as an extremist minority?
** The [[Star Trek]] Captain Exception: If said belief is cleanly confined to one speech towards the end of the story/episode, and the author seems to be legitimately trying to just sum up the message of the story, it usually doesn't count. (Normally not an issue for edgelords, but it has happened occasionally.)
* Do they always wear sinister-looking attire? Bonus points if the outfit;
** Includes a cloak or a long trenchcoat (think Neo's from the Matrix films).
** Has [[Chaos|built-in blades or spikes]]
** Includes a fedora
*** Any other excessively Cool Hat counts for half-credit--and yes, this does include Judge Dredd's Helmet.
** Is covered in insults, profanities, curses or threats
** Has tailored-on violent, anarchic or sacrilegious imagery
** Incorporates or is made of others' body parts
** Is alive (especially if it's a monster in clothing form or possessed)
* Do they wear warpaint?
* Do they have body modification, ranging from minor such as tattoos to extreme examples such as horns or wings? Bonus points if the modifications can be weaponized.
* Do they swear like a drunk pirate?
* Do they have an "adult" vice such as drinking or smoking (fantastical ones count). Bonus points if its an addiction.
* Do they have plot armor? (such as the Punisher being able to go toe-to-toe against superpowered beings who’d mop the floor with him otherwise)
* Are they a protagonist or antagonist written by [[Gav Thorpe]], Garth Ennis, Mark Millar, [[A Song of Ice and Fire|George RR Martin]], Garth Ennis or Alan Moore?<ref>Yes, we did mention Garth Ennis twice on purpose; man is so edgy he probably belongs in the list ''three times''. In short: Ennis is a fucking edgelord even compared to other edgy authors and some edgelords, so any character he creates is probably going to be either an edgelord or a punching bag for one. And the arguments in his original works often fall apart because he has to deliberately make his settings the way they are to justify his personal feelings about superheroes/corporations/God/whatever he wants to rage against.</ref> Honorable mention: [[Judge Dredd|Pat Mills]] (Note, an edgelord can be written by someone who's none of these people. And Moore and Martin, at least, are capable of writing protagonists and antagonists who aren't Edgelords despite lots of their characters being unnecessarily edgy.)

==Notable Edgelords==

===Comics===
* The Punisher (pictured above), depending on the writer but especially when it's Garth Ennis. The ultimate example being Ennis' professionally published Hate Fic [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punisher_Kills_the_Marvel_Universe "Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe"].
* Billy Butcher from "The Boys", a comic series written by the edgelord Punisher author named above using [[Original character, do not steal|knock-offs of Marvel and DC supers]] in an anti-superhero genre power fantasy. Billy himself leads the titular group, and is a racist Punisher knock-off and author mouthpiece.
* The Joker, depending on the writer.
** Batman can be made into an edgelord in a edgy writer's hands (for example, Frank Miller's "All Star Batman And Robin"), although more rarely than you might think, since his respect for at least some parts of the establishment - owning Wayne Enterprises and his respectful alliance with Gotham's police plus a friendship with Police Commissioner Gordon - and his "no kill" code usually heads off most of the worst edgelord tendencies.
* Lord Edgelord, later killed and brought back as Lord Edgegod, from Slackwyrm Keep. He's aware, and <s>he's loving it</s>***CLANG!*** There's no love in edge, only chaos!
* Adversary from DC comics (pictured below), as a jab at edgelord characters and perhaps also their fans. In addition to meeting most of the criteria above, he works for a demon named Lord Satanus who gave him his powers and is actually a kid in a wheelchair.

===Film===
* Jared Leto's Joker in "Suicide Squad (2016)".
** Compare this to Heath Ledger's Joker in ''The Dark Knight'' and Joqauin Phoenix's Joker in ''Joker''. Ledger's and Phoenix's portrayals were "edge with a point"; the former was about exploring human evils regarding terrorism and the latter was about exploring the origins of evil (both avoiding ideological baggage).
* Tyler Durden from "Fight Club". While he started out as "edge with a point" trying to give men catharsis from, and criticizing, the growing cultural and familial vacuum of the 90's, later in the film he descended into being a full-blown edgelord.
* [[Star Wars|Kylo Ren]] AKA Krylo Ben AKA Ben Swolo. The writers were doing it on purpose, to play up the First Order's dogmatic North Korea in space schtick, and to that end made Kylo an incredibly unsubtle Darth Vader pastiche. While "Kylo" may be the worst Skywalker ever, there is no denying that the edge is strong in his family. His mom's side are a bunch of crybaby desert backworlders with an incestuous sex drive and his dad was a scruffy, nerf herding spice smuggler - and all were war criminals, some with body counts in the hundred thousands and some with children's blood on their hands... He probably fits the mold better than we'd like to admit. Also his edge is undermined by fact that he never won a fight against [[Mary_Sue|Mar-Rey Sue Palpatine]] which doesn’t help things either.
* Peter and Paul from "Funny Games". Another "cool psycho gang that tortures, kills and dismembers a family" sort of director's wank which ups to eleven: when the woman in desperation manages to kill one, the other literally turns back time, and kills her child and husband, THEN tortures, gags, takes her for a boat ride and drowns her for fun, go to the next house and wink at the camera while acting happy and nonchalant, to start the cycle a new. Director Haneke has stated that the film is a reflection and criticism of violence used in media and definitely not getting his rocks off torturing a whitebread white woman with a family and gagging, killing, and raping her. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight (then again this is a tame letdown compared to what a hardcore gorehound would watch, with cinematography purposely ruining any payoff. Very messed while also giving a middle finger to [[Slannesh]] Worshipers as no rape occurs in the film). Oh, and he enjoyed it so much he remade HIS OWN MOVIE; after the original 1997 German language version he made a 2008 English version.
* "The Strangers" from the 2008 The Strangers movie. Literally a bunch of home invaders invade a couple's home, beat, torture and kill the husband, unmask themselves to the wife, act all chill and cute, act cool to a bible tract distributing kid and talk about "it will be easier next time". They are never found, never bested, and simply put, get away with everything in a "cool teenager" attitude.

===Live Action TV===
* Stargate's Sohkar- It's hard to get more edgelord than literally masquerading/cosplaying as Satan.

===Video Games===
* [[/v/|Shadow the Hedgehog]] for the PS2/XBox/Gamecube. For the unfamiliar: An edgy game about a radical edgelordy cartoon hedgehog shooting enemies, yet ESRB rated for Everyone 10 and up. Contrary to popular belief, though, this game is really main continuity Shadow's only real brush with being an edgelord.
** The villain Infinite from ''Sonic Forces'', as a parody of edgy Villain Sue characters.
* Several characters from World of Warcraft, prime individuals being Deathwing, Sylvanas Windrunner, Sargeras and Illidan Stormrage (pictured below). There's also edgy groups including the Forsaken, Death Knights and Demon Hunters (Illidan even founded the latter) with edgelord members.
** Special mention goes to pre-retcon Sargeras. Originally, Sargeras was so traumatized by the evil of the demons he fought... [[Stupid Evil|he became convinced that good was futile and conscripted those same demons into an army to destroy the cosmos]]).
* Reaper from Overwatch. For whatever reason he cannot die, as he constantly regenerates his tissues (with an advanced necrosis, so he's basically sort of sci-fi undead). Of course, he blames his former friends from Overwatch (like he never considered it COULD be some side effect from supersoldier genetic modifications he'd received before forming of the Overwatch, even moreso when the shady scientist who modified him also joined Talon) for his sorry condition, so he became fixated on revenge and killing. Also, he was super jealous for his best friend, who was getting all the praise, while he was getting his hands dirty.
* Caesar's Legion and Caesar himself in [[Fallout|Fallout: New Vegas]] (along with some of their fans and the writer who created them).
* Not Important aka The Antagonist aka The Crusader from Hatred. Imagine every trope related to nihilistic spree shooters, push them to their uncomfortable extremes and then plop the result in a monochromatic mess of a game. What you get is the story about a very unlikable man with dialogue written by less likeable people (including an edgy as fuck death metal band) going around and killing everyone because...fuck you, it's edgy.

===Literature===
[[File:Got.jpg|200px|thumb|right|More or less this.]]
* [[Elric]] of Melnibone, arguably the first one.
* Euron Greyjoy, Littlefinger, and Ramsay Bolton from [[A Song of Ice and Fire]].
* Hamlet (yes, THAT Hamlet), possibly an example predating Elric. After his father dies dies, he wears black, becomes foreboding, dramatic and revenge obsessed for at least 6 months, monologues with skulls and murders his friends including the harmless father of his girlfriend (though to be fair he thought he was stabbing the man who he suspected killed his father).

===Tabletop Games===
* [[Blackguard]]s
* Vlaakith, the Queen of the [[Githyanki]]. On top of being a callous, violent, paranoid tyrannical lich, she hates systems of authority but wants to be goddess of her people [[What|despite hating religion most of all]]. She values strength... but kills people who ''might'' become powerful enough to challenge her; textbook edgelord.
* [[Lolth]] from Dungeons and Dragons. Started with trying to overthrow her divine husband because she didn't like her job and it all went downhill from there. For more information, look at the [[Drow]] and remember they're like that because her laws require it.
* Warhammer settings have too many to list them all;
** 40k is the worst offender, with groups such as the [[Black Templars]], the [[Marines Malevolent]] and most [[Chaos Space Marine|traitor marines]].
*** In particular, there's [[Konrad Curze]]...
*** ...[[Fabius Bile]]...
*** ...and the [[Dark Eldar]], each to such a degree they each deserve a separate bullet point all to themselves.
** For Warhammer Fantasy there's [[Valnir the Reaper]], [[Nagash]] and most [[Dark Elves]]. (None of whom are quite so ''needlessly'' edgy as to deserve their own separate bullet points, unlike the 40k Edgelords above.<ref>Nagash might come close, but is presented as more "he's just an asshole", compared to the "he might have a point" presentation of Bile or full Tragic Backstory of Curze. A similar point can be made about the Dark Elves (just assholes) compared to the Dark Eldar (who need to feed Slaanesh because if they don't s/he eats them).</ref>)
** On that note, [[Malal]] among the other [[Chaos Gods|Ruinous Powers]].

===Fan Works===
* [[Drizzt]] clones with extreme Alignment leanings, either towards good or evil.
* Various [[Original character, do not steal|fan-made]] Sonic characters, particularly ones based on or inspired by Shadow.
* The protagonist of "Ambience: A Fleet Symphony" and the story itself. A Fallout KanColle crossover fanfic that thinks it's a regular KanColle fanfic. It revolves around rape, killing, eugenics and an violent solipsistic protagonist with enough plot armor to make Ciaphas Cain look like a [[Star Trek|redshirt]] one day away from retirement. When the story was posted to a forum and scorned, the writer went ballistic against their critics.
* The whole "*teleports behind you* Nothing personal kid. *stabs you*" [[meme]] originated as a parody of edgelord characters.

===Anime===
* Half of the [[Animu]] protagonists in existence. Bonus points if the genre is [[Isekai]], triple points if there's a harem involved.
* As a general trend: Vegeta, of Dragonball Z started a long term trend in Shonen anime and manga for "edgy badboy antagonistic rival" (who usually either starts out or winds up as a full-on (anti)villain) characters who are frequently more popular than the milktoast main character, especially in fanfiction. Examples include Sasuke Uchiha of Naruto, Bakugo from My Hero Academia, and, going further afield, Riku from Kingdom Hearts (/v/, rather than /a/, if a very /a/ shaded /v/), and Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender (a Western example modeled on the type). Note that not all of them qualify for full "Edgelord", as many of them are merely ''mildly'' edgy, but it's a frequent enough vein of Edgelords that we need to mention it here. Particular mention should be made of...
** Bakugo from My Hero Academia, who probably counts as a deconstruction/parody of one. What else do you say about somebody who chooses the codename "King of Explodo-Kills" and later "Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight" while training to be a super'''hero'''?
* Keyaru from Redo of Healer deserves a spot for causing a localized [[Warp Storm|shitstorm]] involving massive levels of [[skub]] in the anime fandom. He's a healing slave who was physically and sexually abused until he finds out a [[Mary Sue|magic loophole allowing him to reset time]] and fulfill his fantasy. Keyaru believes that since history was reset, he can't take revenge for acts that were not commited; and in a twisted leap of logic, instead of preventing those things from happening, he decides to make sure his abusers actually repeat their wrongdoings (which include several months of sexual abuse while drugged in a filthy cell) so he feels justified when he inflicts his own kind of revenge. Revenge such as: breaking all the fingers of a princess, THEN healing them and start anew, THEN [[rape|raping]] her repeatedly, THEN erasing her personality and make her his sex slave; or turn a guard into a little girl, and turns all his men into [[Slaanesh |horny rape zombies]], and has him raped to death, while he torches the building to make sure no one survives; or lock an enfeebled knight lady in a room with brainwashed, sex-crazed hungry [[Cannibalism|cannibals]], and promises her he will free her if she manages to satisfy them sexually all night long. She gets devoured by midnight. And the list keeps going. Of course, Keyaru will say that hatred is what gets him going and revenge is the best feeling in the world, next to sex and eating. When [[Grimdark|his whole home village gets razed in retaliation for the princess]], he's actually overjoyed to finally have a justification to brutally murder THE WHOLE ARMY; he only manages to save a single boy from his village, but he makes sure the boy holds a grudge on him, because in his words [[derp|"Only hatred can wash up the sadness of losing all your loved ones"]]. Truly an endgelord among edgelords.

===Notable NOT Edgelords===

* '''Cad Bane''' (Star Wars The Clone Wars): Mostly lone wolf bounty hunter who once killed a guy in front of their brother just to get his fedora back (''"What are you lookin' at? It's a nice hat."''). Not an edgelord because he's perfectly happy to work for the establishment as long as the establishment is the highest bidder.

* '''Bronn/Ser Bronn of the Blackwater''' (A Song of Ice and Fire): Snarky mercenary who would kill a baby for the right price. Not an edgelord because he'll also work for the establishment - and does for much of the story - plus his SOLE focus in life is looking out for number one; he loves life and doesn't want to die.

* '''Darion Mograine''' (World of Warcraft): Ruthless member of an order of undead knights with a literal hunger for pain after sacrificing his soul to save his father's. While bordering on edgelord and looking the part (see below), Darion is not an edgelord because he doesn't oppose love (he still loves his father), faith or altruism and he'll work with the establishment - including his former paladin order.
[[Category:Gamer Slang]]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Lord_of_the_edge_by_takfloyd-d99sq48.png|The edgelord mindset in a nutshell.
File:1699592-elric_of_melnibone_by_isra2007.jpg|If any fictional edgelord could be called well-written, it'd be Elric.
File:Adversary_01.jpg|"Adversary" from DC Comics. Sinister clothes, aggressive name, smoking, swearing, trying to kill Superman for "rep"...
File:Tyler-durden-7.jpg|The face that launched a thousand edgelords (ironically doesn't wear dark clothes).
File:Darion Mograine.jpg|There's a small but distinct line between edgy...
File:531939-vertical-blizzard-wallpapers-2560x1440.jpg|... and edgelord.
File:Tumblr_mv0ibeglwt1s8pkdbo1_1280.png|Characters must be at least Ryuko-level to qualify for edgelord.
</gallery>