[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by RyanW

One thing that frequently bugs me about "magical history" in settings is how it often accidentally justifies atrocities. I personally prefer that the Salem witch trials remain an out of control prank that caused a mass hysteria and killed two dozen innocent people, rather than a reasonable reaction to things that were really happening.

I understand that reaction, but the possibility of such things kind of comes with the territory if you discover that magic is real and that the 'legends' of history are factual. Of course that particular incident might still have been no more than what it seemed, even if magical history is real. But if everything we think we know is wrong, or might be wrong, then everything we think we know comes into question.

Originally Posted by Alden Loveshade

Also keep in mind that a clear-cut distinction between elves and fairies is a relatively modern invention (as a certain recently released GURPS supplement discusses). For example, Edmund Spenser's late 16th century The Faerie Queene uses the terms "elf" and "fairy" interchangeably. In more modern times, the photos of the Cottingley Fairies were believed to be real in the early 20th century. So yeah, elves, fairies, gnomes, brownies, etc. could work.

Also note that the notion that the elves are a 'good' race, or friendly to humans, is also something of a modernist notion. Historically, they and the rest of Faerie were generally seen as either evil or at least unpredictable and dangerous, and you did best to avoid contact if you could.

In that light, the word 'eldritch' originally derives from the same linguistic root word as 'elf'.

Originally Posted by Anthony

I would say in discussions of the Veil it's important to consider who it's actually intended to protect. For example, looking at White Wolf, we have:

• Vampire: the Masquerade protects vampires from mundanes.
• Werewolf: Delirium protects werewolves from mundanes.
• Mage: Paradox protects mundanes from mages.
• Changeling: Banality protects mundanes from changelings.

I generally find the second model easier to make sense of, which gives an interesting model for monster hunters: you actually have two, somewhat incompatible goals:

• Protect people from the monsters.
• Give the people long term protection against monsters by convincing them that the monsters didn't exist in the first place, or were mundane.

It can be both at once. To use The Dresden Files as an example, in it the masquerade is a loose thing, lots of people know something or suspect something of the truth, but TPTB will come after you if you violate it in a big way. It exists to protect both mundane mortals and the supernatural types, from each other.

Humans have a huge edge in numbers, and modern technology multiplies that effect. The monsters are immensely powerful individually, and some of them have world-shaking potency. Magic-using mortals are in both camps at once and can find themselves on either side of the conflict at a given time. The general consensus among those in the know is that it's best not to rock the boat, because a serious mundane/magical conflict could easily get way, way out of hand.