A Fly Caught in a Web: An Introduction to The Web

And The Web Is Full Of Spiders.

Hello Reader Mine,

You don't know me but listen. Walk away. Don't even think about it. If you need help to forget, see your doctor for some meds or just self-medicate. Try the uppers first, then the downers. If all else fails just drink. A lantern has been lit in that brain of yours, and it's best to keep it dim. The brighter it is, the more its light will reveal.
If that doesn't scare you consider this: That light... that beacon... It doesn't just remind you why you feared the dark as a child. By casting its light on what lurks in the shadows, you may forget that you are the source of that light... the beacon reveals you too.
Welcome to The Web. Enter a place of horror and wonders alike. It's a world of unity suffering the constant feeling of isolation. It's a world where monsters are harder to kill with each passing day; a world where enlightenment comes at a cost, and it’s seldom what you think..

A Candle Light Vigil

The select few capable of peeling back the thin layer of the world to see the vicious horrors that feast on its roots undergoes a kind of enlightenment… literally. Those in the know call it The Candlelight. It isn't clear exactly what it is, but you can sense it; feel it coming off of people, places, and things like sunshine on a summer's day.
If you come into contact with something other than normal, the veil is lifted from your eyes. The more you see it, the more frequently you see it. Patterns emerge and become more frequent the longer you stare. It's like waking up and noticing the whole world shifted two inches to the left and you're the only one who sees it. You can't tell anyone. They'd call you crazy, their eyes still fixed to the cave wall. It starts small like a weird phone call that commands you to stop walking just before being hit by a car or a strange shadow that couldn't possibly be human in a dark alley towering over a fresh corpse.
It doesn't matter what, but look too closely and it will look back. If curiosity gets the better of you, you start to notice more. You'll remember that one news report and how it never got spoken of again despite its importance. You may look deeper, even investigating yourself. You may come face to face with something horrible. That is the moment you realize you're out of your depth.

...And Along Came A Spider

It's always the same spiel: a concerned citizen fighting for the greater good, or the former parent bent on revenge tracking a child caught in a losing battle. For most of human history, these few have been outnumbered and outgunned. They lack the knowledge to pursue and eradicate the things in the dark.
In 1985, world leaders found bizarre black envelopes on their desks. They met, the cameras were shut off due to "technical difficulties" and a vote was cast on the contents. Almost unanimously, they all voted for the establishment of organizations without borders. Each nation revealed clandestine groups already operating within their borders, many working outside of laws. "A Web of Conspiracies" they called it... and the term stuck. Their agendas differ greatly, as do their methods, but they work together as well as they can... sometimes.

Themes

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An Ever Changing World

A major theme of The Web is that things have changed, and are still changing. The horrors in the dark are starting to change too. Creatures are becoming more resilient or outright immune to that which once worked perfectly. more anomalous events occur now then ever. The dark grows bolder, and the web itself seems threatened by enemies on all fronts.
Using the term supernatural isn't quite right to define these horrors. Many creatures of myth and legend are just as flesh and blood as we are. It's the special few who break nature's laws that deserve the term… and there are only so many that have ever been discovered.

Weaving together

The web is only as strong as its thread. No matter how small, every group officially recognized by the Web is a part of The Web. Each group has its agenda. Siegfried, an extension of the U.S. military, adopts the shoot first and stop asking questions policy whereas the Alexandria University focuses far more on study and containment. Some groups are smaller, more mobile, and scattered. These nomadic organizations are called The Troubleshooters and are usually the first on the scene when the monsters crawl out from under the bed. Most of the time, the troubleshooters can handle the situation, if not, they call in the big guns.

A sense of Irony

The Web is a world filled with irony. Secrecy is often ignored. Monsters of great size are pulled behind cars through the streets and no one would notice it. Those who hear the engines in the distance simply ignore it, saying it must be those kids racing again. Journalists who even try to publish anything are made into a laughing stock and lose their careers, and the larger organizations in The Web have nothing to do with it. The world beneath is everywhere and always in plain sight. Hell, you can find recruitment pages in a google search, it's just that no one makes it much further than the first page.

The other

Another major theme of The Web is the contrast between the normal life we all know and the distinct otherness of the world beneath it. Usually, things are described with a certain age to them. Places of magic and power always seem to be hundreds of years old placed smack in the center of a bustling modern city. These things are out of place, and out of time. The world beneath is stagnant and in danger. The world is changing, but we are not.

...Its Not About The Monsters

Horror and sci-fi tropes litter this world like cigarette butts in a parking lot, but they are often undercut and flipped. The irony is key in this world, and you'd be surprised at how many 'rules' of sci-fi and horror it breaks.
Those who have power often find they don't have nearly enough. Those who are well beyond the average human are always in over their heads. In The Web, genres are not a rule, but a backdrop, a tool to explore the people who must endure them. Most of the monsters can be replaced with just about anything and the story would be quite similar. Even Players in the RPG begin as normal people, sometimes playing themselves in their hometown where the familiar is seen every day.
They will encounter various elements of horror, science fiction, and fantasy as they fall deeper down the rabbit hole. As they progress, the web will open up to them. They can join organizations and have assets available to them that make them more efficient, even if it doesn't make their jobs any easier.

Shall We Dig Deeper?