Theme
Individual sessions of Eyes That Burn may have a unique focus, but the three themes of ruin, resonance
and transcendence are explored in our stories again and again.
Modern Detroit has become synominous with decline. In an extremely gothic parallel, it was the first
American city of over one million people to fall back below a million. Once the heart of American
technology and middle class working culture during the industrial revolution, today the unemployment
and murder rates are among the highest in the country. In a town where dozens of sprawling automotive
factories once produced nearly two-thirds of the world’s vehicles, two thousand buildings a year are
destroyed through arson or demolition. The glory of the past, the hardship of the present and the
bleakness of the future weigh heavily on the minds of every Detroiter. Vampires are not the only ones
who siphon the life force of the inhabitants. The city is much like a vampire itself.
If humanity is a sea, then immortal monsters are very heavy stones. The waves you create with your
every action, every decision, your very presence, will ripple out through the years and through society.
Mortals can say “Well, I’m only human, nobody’s perfect.” Not so with you. Say the wrong word at
the wrong kindred gathering, or injure the wrong mortal at the wrong time, and the ramifications of
your mistake may haunt you, literally, forever. There are elders who pay every night for the errors they
committed in their first undead years. But conversely, a truly good deed or the founding of something
honorable or beneficial may outlast even it’s immortal creator…assuming that kindred’s enemies never
learn about it, of course.
With the world so dark, and existence itself often seems an exercise in futility, why should anyone even
try to accomplish anything? Why on earth do some kindred not only choose to make Detroit their home,
but even get a grim pleasure out of it? And I’m not just talking about the masochists or the connoisseurs
of suffering, although Detroit is home to some of each. Because life, and hence unlife is so often
miserable, depressing, dreadful or dangerous, every triumph or accomplishment is that much more
poignant. Nothing important ever comes cheaply or easily here, and a reward is even harder to keep.
Perhaps that is why some kindred feel more “alive” here than anywhere else.
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