VAESEN
Throughout history, supernatural creatures have lived side by side with people. These creatures are not perceptible to ordinary human senses – unless they choose to be.
Invisible, they have helped out on farms, assisted in calving, made sure that stray ewes fOUnd their way home, and kept people safe during harsh winters or wildfires, in exchange for some of the farms’ milk and grain. In Scandinavia, these creatures are called Vaesen. These Vaesen have filled the fields with flowers and toadstools, shown the way to ponds where people can see their future reflected on the surface or find treasures hidden in the depths, and whispered dreams into the ears of the sleeping.
But not every interaction with Vaesen has been beneficial to humanity. Some are tricksy and mischievous, some positively inimical, and some have turned vengeful following an injury, however unintentional, or even a mere slight to their dignity and honour.
In the nineteenth century, Scandinavia has changed (as has much of the world). Science, industrialization, war, and revolution, and increasing literacy has brought new ways of thinking and understanding the world, spread through universities, books, and newspapers. Old truths are being questioned. The rural poor are pouring into the cities or across the Atlantic to escape starvation, hoping to build a life where they can be free.
It is no longer the nobles and the priests who decide how people should think and act, though they strive to cling to their control. Instead, those who are able to use the knowledge and inventions of this new age can make fortunes and exert influence through their wealth. Factories are emerging around the cities, giving rise to vast suburbs where impoverished workers are crammed together in harsh conditions.
The elderly are left behind in the villages, along with those too weak or scared to leave. Meadows become overgrown and wild, forests are cut down, the construction of railways between cities lays waste to paths and communities that have existed for centuries. Glass-works and refineries spew out chemicals, while the mines eat their way into the mountains like wolves feasting on a fallen beast.
The Vaesen of Scandinavia are changing as well. Villagers used to know how to appease the creatures when angry and gain their help – for instance, they refrained from pissing on the ground where the vaettir have their burrows or otherwise disturbing them and provided the nisse with porridge and a new hat every year. But the old rules and traditions no longer seem to apply. The Vaesen have turned increasingly aggressive, even bloodthirsty, snatching children from the villages, wrecking houses, and setting barns on fire.
In certain parts of Scandinavia, the supernatural seems to have grown stronger and started acting erratically – like a storm sweeping over the farmlands. There are rumors of kittens being born with two heads, streams where the water is mixed with blood, forests lulling young ones into eternal sleep, and fairies dancing through villages, luring youngsters into the woods to slave for those underground.
In other places, the creatures seem to have disappeared from the countryside, as if they never existed, and magic along with them. It is also said that some Vaesen have followed people to the cities and found new homes in sewers and cellars and abandoned factories and tenements.
Some people are said to have the Sight. These individuals can see the Vaesen, even when they are trying to stay invisible. Your character will be one of these. At some point you experienced something that scared or hurt you. Maybe you inexplicably survived a fire, or a werewolf chose to reveal itself to you or you discovered witchcraft is real. After that, nothing was ever the same. Suddenly, you could see nature spirits stealing food from tables and fairies showing up uninvited to weddings and christenings.
You and several others with the Sight have come to Uppsala in central Sweden. There you meet Linnea Elfeklint, an older woman who mostly spends her days at the city’s mental asylum. She will tell you about The Society of Artemis, a centuries-old organization dedicated to the study and control of Vaesen. The last members died or went missing some years ago. Linnea wants you to help re-form the Society.
Do you dare to assist her?
