"All their wars are merry and all their songs are sad"
G.K.Chesterton
Art by Markku Peltoniemi and copyrighted by him. Used with permission.
‘Harlequin: The Dance Without End’ is an unauthorized supplement for White Wolf's World of Darkness, using material from Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000. The author does not challenge any of Games Workshop's or White Wolf's copyrights, and makes no profit from this work. To the managers of those companies and any other companies whose copyrights I break: I am not making any profit from this. Nada. It really wouldn't be worth it suing me, so please don't. This work uses material from White Wolf's ‘Werewolf: The Apocalypse’ and the ‘Werewolf: Players Guide’. It also uses Game's workshops Warhammer 40,000 Compendium, and a Citadel Journal.
This web page contains the image "tirael3.jpg" on the rules page; This artwork is by Alexandre Abdoulaev, it is his character 'Tirael' from his Ghost:2138 comic, this image is copyrighted by him, and I use it with permission. Alexandre's website URL is http://www.ghost2138.org , and his email address is alexghost@grimmware.com
This website contains the image "zombie4.jpg" on the introduction page; This artwork is by Markku Peltoniemi, it is copyrighted by him, and I use it with permission. Markku's email address is morphine@students.oamk.fi
This website contains the image "maskoftameric.jpg" on the rules page; This artwork is by Curtis Craddock , it is copyrighted by him, and I use it with permission. Curtis's website URL is http://www.ruralnet.net/~sphinx , and his email address is sphinx@ria.net
The original ideas and interpretations in this work are the intellectual property of the author. You can print this out, show it to your friends and use it in your games, but anyone who wants to put it in their Web site should email me (it is very unlikely that I will say no, but I want to see how it spreads).
All comments, praise, suggestions, criticisms, and requests to post this on your site are welcome (no flames please). I would appreciate any feedback on this, and all good ideas will be incorporated into the next version, and will make the existence of a next version more likely. My email address is hewhomustnotbenamed@hotmail.com, could any email relating to this have the subject line ‘Harlequin’ if possible to help me keep track.
To use this you will definitely need the 'Werewolf:The Apocalypse' rulebook and the Werewolf Players guide would be good too.
The curtain came up, but there was no one on stage. The audience looked around to see what was wrong when suddenly a form entered the stage. The Harlequin was whooping, jumping, somersaulting and cartwheeling around the stage, his costume as wild as he was with ever shifting colours.
He was the Wyld
A second dancer came onto the stage. In contrast to the Wyld she moved slowly and deliberately. Her costume showed the crystalline strands of the pattern web and she moved in her weaving dance to entrap the Wyld.
She was the Weaver.
A third dancer joined them. Its costume was half black and half white. It adjusted his dance constantly, sometimes jumping and leaping and aiding the Wyld if the Weaver had managed to corner him, other times he joined the Weaver in her attempts to entrap him if he eluded her.
It was the Wyrm
Then as they continued their dance around the stage other players entered. They danced the carefree and happy dance of those with their spirits and bodies in harmony , sometimes dancing together, other times staying on their own, with the Trait continuing their dance in, around and through the other dancers
This carried on for some time, but as the audience watched them they could see that something was wrong. The Weaver started dancing faster and faster, and the Wyrm was forced to concentrate solely on stopping her. As she carried her now frantic dancing the Wyrm got slower and slower as she exhausted it, suddenly it tripped and fell, and the Weaver danced round and round him , binding him with threads from her pattern web. Then she carried on her pursuit of the Wyld, and though he did not grow tired like the Wyrm, without the Wyrm the Weaver was slowing his dace bit by bit, while the Wyrm struggled and convulsed within the web binding it.
Suddenly there was a great scream, a scream that was more than just noise. All of the players but the Triat were knocked to the ground. The Wyrm leaped from the floor, it's bindings broken, but now the suit was all black.
The minor players rose and slowly began to dance again. But now they danced in two rings, one dancing the slow and joyless dance of the Physical World, while the others danced the fast but directionless dance of the Spirits. Some danced between the circles, the clear and savage dance of the Garou. They brought joy to the physical world and direction to the physical.
Now the Wyrm started to dance between the two rings, touching people in each, who then started the dance of the corrupted. Those in the physical world danced the cold dance of the vampire, grabbing some of the other Dancers and laying them at the foot of the Wyrm. Those laid there then joined the vampires in their dance and brought the Wyrm more offerings. The spirits touched began the mad of the Bane. And the worst, the Garou touched began the Savage dance of the Spiral. The Garou moved to stop them, but the Corrupted dodged and rolled, and often the Garou hit one of the uncorrupted or each other.
The Garou fought but they were being beaten and cornered. The Wyrm began to laugh, and the corrupted joined him. Their laugh echoed through the theatre. It was a laugh of madness. It was a laugh of corruption. It was a laugh of total depravity.
But suddenly in that laugh there was another voice. A clearer laugh, an ironic laugh. A laugh which laughs because it chooses not to weep.
In strolled a new player still laughing, in the brightly patterned suit of the Great Harlequin, his mask showing a great smile. He looked at the distraught spirits and humans, and he laughed. He looked at the Garou who did as much damage as they stopped, and he laughed. He looked at the Spirals Dancers, the Banes and the vampires as they bore down on him. And he laughed.
For a moment he could not been seen among the press of the Wyrms minions, but with a cry he flew above their heads, tumbling in flight to land facing them. As they turned he leaped again; two figures dropped as he touched them, and the rest clawed at empty air as he somersaulted across the stage.
His laugh now was one of glee as he leaped and tumbled, evading the hunters and turning now and then to strike back. He picked up the body of one of the fallen, and hurled it at the figure of the Wyrm who reeled slightly at the impact. With a wild cry the Great Harlequin leaped forward and pulled a single dancer from the huddle group of humans. The dancers costume changed to bright colours, and he also began to laugh as he danced the dance of the Harlequin. The two of them put the remaining corrupted to flight, and as the last fell the Wyrm joined the battle.
The confrontation between the Wyrm and the Great Harlequin seemed to go on forever. Other dancers melted away from the stage as the two figures leaped cartwheeled and somersaulted around each other. Slowly, in the background, the other dancers took up the dance, Vampire and Bane against Harlequin Garou, reflecting the movements of the principles in perfect union.
The dance ended abruptly, with the struggle unresolved. It was indeed The Dance Without End. The theatre was quiet. The dancers left the stage. The audience sat stunned.
The Harlequins are a group of storytelling-warrior-dancers (not necessarily in that order) who follow the Great Harlequin, a Celestine who is also known as the Laughing God. When the Triat fractured and reality was split one of the Great Harlequin set out to remove the Wyrm from the Weavers web, taking only his trusted ally the Incarna eagle Endobai. By stealth he managed to get in, but by the time he had reached the Wyrm it had already been sent mad, and it attacked him. They fought for an age, but the Wyrm was too strong and the Great Harlequin was knocked down. As the Wyrm was about to devour him Endobai flew down the Wyrm's mouth, which allowed the Great Harlequin to escape. Harlequins praise him for this, and rejoice in the fact that he pecks at the Wyrms gizzard for all eternity.
The Great Harlequin realized he could not free the Wyrm, nor could he defeat it in direct battle, so he turned his attention to Earth. He saw the Gaia's warriors, the Garou, and saw that while they fought well they made many mistakes and would make many more. They also did little to teach the humans about how things should be.
He reached down and put a part of himself into some of the humans spread over the Earth. These people who were his Harlequins tried to teach the people about how the world was and how it should be, and they tried to fight the Wyrm, but they were too spread out. Also the touch of a God had changed them, and they could not relate to normal people: their friends and even their family drifted away from them. They called up to the Laughing God, and he heard them.
He gathered them together and joined them into the first Troupe. Each of them had their role, both in their storytelling and in life. The Avatars play the laughing god himself, and other great spirits and people, they are the leaders and judges when not on stage. The Warlocks was the narrator, and are the Magi in battle and day to day affairs, advising the Avatars on Magical matters. The Death Jesters play spirits both of the many kinds, and they are talk to the Spirits, asking them favours and binding them into items when needed, they advise the Avatars on matters spiritual, they are also concerned with security matters. The Mimes play the Banes and other daemonic servants of the Wyrm, they are the scouts and spies of the troupe, and they know more of the Wyrm than the rest of the troupe. This means they can advise from this knowledge, but more than one Mime has turned to the Wyrm.
Finally the Solitaires: they are the only Harlequins who can play the Wyrm, for all others go mad if they try. They are even more disconnected from normal humanity than the rest of the Harlequins, anyone who talks to one will probably have forgotten about it within 5 minutes. They do not stay with troupes like other Harlequins, they travel around never staying too long in one place.
The Harlequins were then taught many stories to tell, and sent out in their troupes to teach humanity. They will perform their dances based on human and Garou legends, as well as their own (such as The Dance Without End, above). A troupe may perform together, go out and fight the Wyrm together, they may perform alone, and join other groups, like Garou and the Bete in their quests.
Each Harlequin is born a normal Human (though with a special Harlequin soul), but at some point in their lives (usually 16-20, but not necessarily) their soul reaches out and attains a moment of direct communication with the Great Harlequin. Sometimes this is set off by something specific, other times not. Since the Celestines usually communicate with lesser beings via avatars because of their cosmic nature, this changes the person it happens to forever. All nearby Harlequins sense this event, and will come and collect the new member (who is frequently in a near cataleptic state). The are then taught the ways of the Harlequin and taken through the initiation ceremony which binds them to their costume.