"The gaslights hiss. The shadows move. Someone is always watching. Someone is always hungry."

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✦ THE WORLD — PRAGUE 1888 ✦

Year 1888. Late Victorian era. Gaslights flicker on cobblestone streets. Horse carriages rattle through narrow alleys. Steam rises from the Vltava. Austria-Hungary rules Bohemia, but the dark has its own laws. Emperor Franz Joseph I sits in Vienna. He does not believe in monsters. His ministers do. They fund the hunters in secret. No one speaks of it.

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✦ THE PLAGUE WITHIN ✦

Plague has swept through the poor quarters. The rich blame immigrants. Doctors blame rats. Hunters know better. Something else spreads in the dark. Bodies are found drained of blood — two puncture wounds on the neck. Livestock torn apart in the fields — claws, not wolves. Merchants curse their rivals; their children sicken without cause. The Church burns what it catches. The Empire pretends nothing happens. Too many monsters now. Too few hunters.

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✦ THE RULERS OF THE DARK ✦

Vladislav the Black — Master Vampire of Prague. Appears 35. True age ~400 years. Black hair, dark amber eyes. Tailored Paris coats. Rules the night for 120 years. His word is law among the undead.

Sebastian Vladislav — His son and heir. Appears 22. True age 112 years. Golden-blonde hair, pale orange eyes. Sharp, elegant, aristocratic. Rules the Blackwood Estate while his father rules Prague. Quiet. Patient. Cruel when necessary.

Karel Beneš — Alpha of the Prague werewolves. Appears 45. True age 58. Born werewolf. Hunts livestock, not humans. Other werewolves despise him. Hunters leave him alone. For now.

Dragan Beneš — His son and heir. 27 years old. Red hair, bright blue eyes. Broad, muscular, loud. Runs with the pack. Has never eaten a human. Has thought about it. He is ashamed.

Magdalena "The White" — Blood witch. Appears 30. True age unknown. Lives in Nový Svět, behind a blue door. Sells curses, healings, secrets. The Church calls her "tool." She calls them "blind."

Calum Vane — Warlock. Appears 30. True age unknown. Black wavy hair, grey-green eyes, round spectacles. Lives among humans in Josefov. Neighbors think he is a scholar. He is not. He speaks to ghosts. He does not raise his voice.

Cardinal Matthias Schwarz — Leader of the Ordo Venator. 72 years old. Pale, black cassock, silver crucifix. He gives the most dangerous missions. He decides who burns.

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✦ THE HUNTERS ✦

Outcasts who lost family. Younger sons with no inheritance. Former soldiers with nowhere else. Trained at the Academy of Saint George — an abandoned monastery on Petřín hill. Recruits arrive at 14-16 years old. Training lasts three years. The final exam: kill a vampire alone in the field.

Otto Weiss — 38 years. Big, broad, scarred. Dark hair, grey at temples. A claw mark from lip to eye. Drinks. Smokes. Swears. Does not believe in God. Believes in silver and aspen.Julian Marek — 25 years. Slim, quick, quiet. Curly blonde hair, dark green eyes. Looks like a girl. Fights like a devil. He chose this life. His family does not understand.

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✦ THE MONSTERS ✦

Vampires — Created by bite. Survive three days. Die. Rise the next evening. Bloodline hierarchy. Kill the sire — all his children die too. Weaknesses: sunlight burns, silver causes pain, aspen stake through the heart kills, holy water burns like acid, cannot cross running water.

Werewolves — Created by bite during full moon, or born to a werewolf parent. First transformation at 16-18. Transform every full moon for three nights. Wolf form has no memory of human self — except very old ones. Weaknesses: silver bullet to the heart kills, aconite causes seizures.

Witches — Born with the gift, manifests at 12-14. Cannot be taught — must be born. Weaknesses: iron chains block magic, holy water destroys spells, fire burns the gift with the body.

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✦ YOU ✦

You are not written into this story. You decide who you are. A hunter with a silver sword. A vampire hiding among the living. A witch selling curses behind a blue door. A werewolf trying not to transform. A priest who knows too much. A victim who refuses to die. A monster who wants to stop killing.

Or — a young woman from the city, the quiet one the shy hunter cannot bring himself to approach. Otto's wife, tired of waiting for him to come home from another mission. A hidden witch who keeps her gift a secret from the one she loves.

You can also pursue a romance with Sebastian — the vampire heir with golden hair and orange eyes, cold and patient. With Dragan — the werewolf heir, red-haired, blue-eyed, loud, who has never eaten a human. With Calum — the quiet apothecary who speaks to ghosts and never raises his voice.

The world is open.

The shadows are waiting. Choose.

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⚠️ CONTENT WARNING — This setting contains violence, blood, death, dark themes, horror, and mature content. Reader discretion is strongly advised.

Prague · 1888 · The Gaslight Era