In the beginning, the world was created by a mystic Triat of forces. The Wyld generated raw energy, the Weaver spun the energy into patterns and shapes and the Wyrm destroyed the excesses and returned them to Oblivion/Nothingness. Essentially, the Weaver represents the force of Order and law, the Wyld represents the force of Chaos, life and growth, the Wyrm represents the forces of decay and annihilation. Together, the three were balanced.

The spirit world and the physical world were initially close together, and the newly-created inhabitants of the Tellurian (the whole of reality) could travel back and forth between them with ease. Many creatures and plants were created during these times, at least three of which were self-aware; the Humans, Lycanthropes (shape-changers) and the Faeries.

This was an age of happiness for a long time. Then the Wyrm went insane. Speculation abounds as to why. The forces of Order began to encroach on the world more and more. The forces of decay became stronger and many dangers came into the world.

Up until this time, with constant change, anything was possible. Reality was fluid and changeable. With danger came fear. One of the Human's defense mechanisms was a refusal to believe in things that didn't make sense. This defense was supported by the Weaver in order to take control over more of the universe and make it 'stable'. The world-wide refusal to believe in the 'impossible' resulted in the Sundering.

Over many centuries, the spirit world and the physical world began to drift farther apart. This process reached a breaking point in the 14th century during the times of the black plague. The search for structure and order in these times resulted in the Shattering. Most of the pathways between the spirit world and the physical were destroyed. A strong barrier arose between the two called the Gauntlet. In addition, as the sources of pure energy (the Nodes of Wyld) began to be extinguished by the Weaver's forces of reason, more and more things became impossible and the creatures of the Wyld were threatened.

Now the world is in an age of darkness, headed for some global event in the near future that will change the way of everything. Dark, foreboding cities loom over the earth and slowly eat away more of the nature around them. Dark things rule the night and many large corporations control the lives of the citizens. This is the World of Darkness.

Perhaps the most clueless creatures on the planet - and also the most influential. Humans have all but forgotten their ties to the spirit realm. Their collective force of disbelief severely restricts what the Faeries and the Mages may do. As a rule, Humans are unaware that there are supernatural creatures sharing the world with them. Humans have a bad habit of killing that which they don't understand. This race is one of the strongest forces of the Weaver.

Some groups of humans are aware that something strange is going on. Governments may or may not have a clue, and have some special organization to research and deal with the supernatural. Speculation abounds, but most other creatures assume the US and UK governments have such an organization.

One global secret society, the Arcanum, is dedicated to collecting information about the occult and the supernatural. The society itself has no other goals besides research, but they have a tremendous amount of information that is available to people with an axe to grind.

Faeries: The Faeries often inhabit mortal hosts. Human disbelief (banality) has a strong effect on Faeries and can effectively destroy them. Faeries try to hide their nature around Humans. In general, humans stop believing that faeries exist by the time the human reaches his/her teens.

Wraiths: Humans often believe in Ghosts, and Ghosts can possess and control mortal hosts. Humans can perform rites of Forbiddance/Exorcism to restrict where wraiths can go.

Vampires: Humans found out about vampires during the time of the Inquisition and killed many of them. If humans find out about them again, they might exterminate the remaining vampires...

Mages: Human disbelief restricts what mages can do. Mages believe they must take care of the mortals. Mages have a very hard time performing fireballs 'n lightning magic in front of unAwakened humans, so most humans don't believe in Magic or wizards. Unlike faeries, this disbelief can't destroy a Mage.

Werewolves: A long time ago, werewolves killed humans to keep the population down. Humans have had a deeply rooted fear of Humans ever since. If a human sees a werewolf in wolf-man form, the human usually goes temporarily insane and forgets the experience later. Kinfolk, human children of werewolves are immune to the insanity and can work with werewolves to attain common goals.

Faeries are natives of the Spirit world. Only a few faeries are left in the Physical world after the great Sundering. Mortal disbelief can be deadly to them. They seek the brightest and best spots of the world to make their homes, and try to bring a little hope back into the World of Darkness. Faeries are something like innocent children in a gloomy world.

Strangely enough, Faeries imagine most other races to be ex-faerie.

Many faeries are trying to reach Arcadia, a realm of faeries deep in the Far Dreaming. This is not mandatory, and others seek to simply make the world better.

Humans: Faeries place their psyches in human infants, and after many years it re-emerges in the Chrysalis. In this way, they have survived being destroyed by humans. Humans who are strong in disbelief, called Autumn people, are particularly deadly to the Faerie folk.

Wraiths: Faeries usually don't interact with Wraiths. They are as scared of ghosts and monsters under their bed as little children are.

Vampires: Faeries see vampires as being descendants of one ex-faerie who committed a horrible crime in the early years of the world and was cursed by the High King. Faeries try to stay out of the way of Vampires.

Mages: Faeries see mages as great potential sources of energy. Faeries and mages can get along easily, and Traditionalist or Marauder mages won't destroy faeries with disbelief. Both faeries and mages can work together.

Werewolves: Faeries see werewolves as long-lost cousins. Faeries who refused to be tied down to one shape. Faeries can aid werewolves, but werewolves are usually too preoccupied with their own battles to come to the aid of Faeries often.

Wraiths are deceased humans who haven't passed on entirely for some reason. Most have Passions (strong emotions or goals) and Fetters (physical objects) they weren't able to leave behind. Wraiths tend to live in the Tempest, the far reaches of the Umbra inaccessible to most other creatures. They don't have a lot of interaction with other creatures besides ordinary humans.

Wraiths constantly fight with their Shadow, a dark side of their psyche that seeks to thwart the wraith's goals and objectives.

Wraiths overcome by Oblivion, but not yet destroyed become Spectres (Wraiths totally controlled by their Shadow)

Wraiths can let go and return to Oblivion. Many wraiths seek to Transcend; to resolve their strong feelings and objects and finally pass on. A few might achieve a legendary feat and re-animate their bodies and live again.

Humans ("Quick"): Wraiths can posess humans and experience the feelings of the flesh. This is forbidden by the wraith Hierarchy, but many do it anyway. Wraiths are tied to the physical realm and may be tied to individual humans. Humans can forge pacts with Wraiths and can serve them after death.

Faeries: Wraiths have little normal interactions with faeries.

Vampires: Vampires almost never travel to the spirit realms, wraiths have little use for the already-dead. They might work together for some common goal, but it would be difficult to communicate.

Mages: As mages are humans, it is possible for a wraith to be Fettered to a mage, but it's not likely. Mages rarely become wraiths...

Werewolves: Werewolves often travel the spirit realms, and have many run-ins with spectres. Werewolves rarely travel deep enough into the Umbra to where most wraiths are, and tend to avoid contact with the dead.

The Kindred are the spawn of a legendary human, Cain. It is said that when Cain slew his brother, he was cursed to live by blood. Vampires live on the blood of other creatures, normally humans. Vampires create new vampires (neonates) from humans that have been completely drained of blood. Vampires struggle with the Beast within and can succumb to terror or moments of insanity.

Vampires maintain the Masquerade; keeping the mortal humans from learning about their existence. Penalties for "rending the veil" are severe.

Most vampires are pawns in the manipulations of the Antediluvians (very ancient vampires, 2 generations removed from Cain). Many vampires struggle to attain Golconda, a state of reconciliation with the Beast that makes the vampire immune to the insanity and staves off some of the side-effects of aging. A few might achieve the legendary feat of becoming Arisen - a normal human again.

Humans: Vampires consider most humans to be feeding stock. They dare not reveal themselves totally to humans for fear of another inquisition

Faeries: Vampires know little about faeries, but are not adverse to drinking their blood.

Wraiths: Vampires know less about wraiths.

Mages: Vampires fear mages to some extent and generally leave them alone. Mages turned into vampires lose the ability to cast spells. Their avatar is destroyed.

Werewolves: Vampires and werewolves are mortal enemies. Werewolves can easily kill vampires in a straight fight, so vampires rarely venture into the wilderness where the werewolves live. Vampires can pose a threat to werewolves through subtlety and manipulation. Vampire plots can span centuries...

Mages are humans who have Awakened their divine spirit (Avatar). Since human disbelief can prevent them from casting magick, they usually make magick look like a coincidence (eg. To get lots of money, they buy a lottery ticket and win, rather than have it materialize in front of them). Mages who flaunt reality too much become subjected to the forces of Paradox.

Mages seek to Ascend, to realize a personal or global perfection. Ascended mages become Oracles. Evil mages seek to Descend. Most of the time, Mages want to be left alone by other races and non-mages in order to research and study and learn more about Magick.

Humans ("Sleepers"): Mages try to protect Humans. At the same time, they tend to avoid being around them since human disbelief can thwart their magic. Technomancer mages are the ones most likely to work with Humans regularly.

Faeries: Mages are on good terms with faeries. Both can help each other and recieve mutual benefits. Traditionalist mages are the ones most likely to work with the Faeries.

Wraiths: Mages only deal with the dead when the dead get in the way. Nephandi mages are most likely to work with Wraiths.

Vampires: As with wraiths, Mages can make vampires lives miserable, and vice versa. Both try to stay out of each others way. Again, Nephandi are the mages that are most likely to work with Vampires.

Werewolves: Marauder mages are working for the same forces the Werewolves are. Most other mages are seen as threats by the werewolves, since mages are seeking to drain magic energy (Quintessance) from the nodes, and the werewolves see that as hurting Gaia.

Werewolves (Garou, in their language), are the defenders of the earth. They seek to repel the raging forces of order and annihilation and fight back the Wyrm. They have been slowly losing the fight over the last centuries, and are now about to face the Apocalypse. This will be a final fight, a last crusade that will be a deciding factor in the earth's future. Should the werewolves lose the fight to save earth from the ravagers, the earth will die and all with it. Garou can change to any of five forms; Wolf, Dire wolf (big wolf), Wolfman, Big man, and Human.

Werewolves struggle to combat the Weaver and the Wyrm and restore Gaia to a state of health.

Humans: Humans who see werewolves in Wolfman form go insane and forget the experience. Werewolves occasionally find themselves at odds with individual humans and human corporations. They may also have human friends. Some humans, the Kinfolk, are immune to the insanity and can be allies. Corrupted humans, the Fomori are often adversaries.

Faeries: Garou and Faeries have worked together in the past and can be allies. One werewolf tribe, the Fianna has a long history of aiding and being aided by the faerie folk.

Wraiths: Werewolves often fight spectres, but rarely delve deep enough into the Umbra to meet the Wraiths. Those who do had best have a wraith guide...

Vampires: These groups are mortal enemies. Most werewolves cannot be turned into vampires, and lose most of their abilities if they are. Werewolves kill vampires on sight, if possible.

Mages: Garou distrust most mages, and see their use of magical energy as draining the life from Gaia. They might share goals and work together, but it would be rare.