Accidentally or intentionally, there will come a point when you reveal your special abilities to others and thereby inadvertently stumble upon the greatest hoax in the City. You will discover, much to your simultaneous relief and dismay, that no-one remembers anything regarding your powers. To say no- one is slightly inaccurate, as youâll eventually discover, but you will find that the vast majority of city dwellers simply ignore, excuse, or forget any legendary power that you manifest in their presence. Is it that they donât want to remember or that they cannot remember? This is a philosophical question you may never answer.
This force, responsible for the ignorance of millions of people, is the Mist. Even its name is shrouded, you will never discover it. No-one can know its name; it cannot be spoken in reference to this force anywhere in the City. But you have likely come up with your own term for it: âthe Hidingâ, âthe Brain-wiperâ, or simply âthis thing that makes people forgetâ.
In many ways it is a mild, undetectable force. In other ways, its all-encompassing nature is terrify- ing, as your experiments will surely divulge. When- ever the legendary manifests in any way, the Mist ensures that no-one knows about it or recognizes it for what it truly is. You begin to realize that you live in an entire City that is forever in the clutches of this force and that everyone you know and meet is entirely oblivious to what is going on around them. They are âSleepersâ, âgroggiesâ, âfog- headsâ; they are unable to see what you can see, no matter how concrete the facts you show them.
This realization alone can tear your psyche apart and indeed countless like you have lost their minds when the gravity of the situation struck them. You are living in a city of sleepwalkers, and that includes the people you love the most. A great chasm opens up between you and those closest to you, a chasm that you can only repress, never bridge. This may drive you to want to know more about the Mist. Even if you survive all this psycho- logical stress, you will face unavoidable questions. âWhat about me? What am I not seeing? Is there something I too am blind to?â You start, in your own way, to study the Mist. If you continue asking questions, hereâs what youâll find out:
The Mist hides and distracts. Just as one is about to witness the real-life manifestation of your Mythos, something will happen to make them look away or at the very least blur their impression. Fog will roll in, rain will lash at them, steam will blow out from the subway vents, the lights will flicker. Alternatively, their phone will ring just at the right moment, or someone will cry for help, or they will spot their favorite sports player walking down the street. Whatever form it takes, the Mist will make them miss the miraculous display altogether, or at the very least doubt what they saw: âI saw some- thing, but Iâm not sure exactlyâŠâ If you push them later, most people will respond with disbelief that it ever happened, or even could happen.
As youâll discover, the Mist is not limited to peopleâs minds. Its effects are more far-reaching than mind tricks. It can cause interference in electrical devices recording your legendary pow- ers (and Sleepers would claim itâs edited footage, anyway). More worryingly, it seems to be able to orchestrate events with disturbing synchronicity, for example, having your boyfriend arrive at the scene out of the blue just as youâre about to witness the magical powers of a Rift you worked weeks to track down.
You see, the effects of the Mist are not limited to Sleepers. You too, as well as the other Rifts youâll meet, are subject to its distractions. The difference is that you remember; you know there is something hiding the truth from you. You know that what you didnât see in a moment of distraction is what really matters, and that if you had seen it, youâd remember it.
The Mist provides excuses and twists perceptions. Sometimes, if youâre lucky or unlucky enough, the Mist will fail momentarily and someone will get to see your legendary power in all its glory. At first, as the unadulterated reality sets in, they may be shocked, eyes glazing over. However, the Mist quickly sweeps up after you. Moments later, the glazed look in their eyes will vanish; if asked about it, theyâll acknowledge everything that happened except its legendary nature. Sleepers will staunchly maintain that there is some mundane explanation to what happened: a freak electrical phenomenon, some kind of scam using movie special effects, whatever. You donât seriously expect them to believe it was the Big Bad Wolf you just wrestled with, do you?
This normalizing effect also works on a much deeper level. Youâll find that Sleepers subconsciously edit everything they see as it happens. Where you may see a two-headed troll, they will see horribly deformed and obese Siamese twins; when obviously faced with the Queen of the Dead, theyâll remember her as an obnoxious drag queen. The Mist makes it so that Sleepers just cannot see, not even whatâs right in front of them. Even you sometimes need an actual display of legendary powers before you can be sure someone else is a Rift. When thus revealed, the magnitude of the power of the Mist over the Cityâs residents is truly alarming.
The Mist makes you forget. This is possibly the scariest aspect of the Mist. When you experience this effect, you will suddenly grasp how fragile your mundane life is, how in one moment it can all be taken away from you. It seems there is only so much the Mist can cover up at once; sometimes, when itâs stuck for a solution, the Mist will become aggressive and simply wipe out all memory of your Mythos manifestations from peopleâs minds. For them, and sometimes âthemâ are very large groups of people, it would be as if the event never happened. âI canât recall exactly what I did last Thurs- day. I guess I went to Eddieâs, like every Thursday. I might have had one beer too many, thoughâŠâ
This effect also has a milder but equally impactful aspect, one which affects minds over time. People in the City donât dwell over mystical and supernatural shenanigans; they forget, they let go, they move on. Their own lives are much more compelling than something weird they canât understand. Which brings us to the last point.
The Mist exploits the things dearest to you. Your own life is the Mistâs strongest weapon, es- pecially the things you love or hate. If you value your family, the Mist will use them to throw you off. If you like cars or hate rats, youâll see a flashy ride or a hairy critter crossing the road just as youâre about to witness something important. And since almost everyone either loves or hates themselves, the Mist also employs aspects of your own personality and body against you: a passing thought about your future, an inexplica- ble bad feeling that never leaves you, or a sudden hunger for burritos â all of these can be carefully placed by the Mist at the exact moment some- thing else is happening at the corner of your eye, something legendary, something that will provide answers.
If thatâs the way it works on you, imagine how it works on Sleepers. Sleepers are obsessed with their own lives. They donât care whatâs happen- ing around them. Sometimes you think itâs like they wear helmets made of pure noise, constant- ly dealing with âMe, me, me!â. Well, in a way, youâre the same, but at least your eyes are open some of the time.
So while this mysterious force prevents others from seeing you as you are, it also makes it more difficult for you to find the answers you are looking for.
An important fact you will learn is that the Mist does NOT change reality (at least not abruptly enough for you to notice). While trying to get answers from a violent gang of cultists, for example, if you beat them up with your ancient bronze staff and you all end up getting arrested, theyâll report âThis freak came at me with some weird metal shaft!â If you do so by turning your arm into stone, theyâll say, âThat crazy son of a bitch hit me with a brick!â However, they will still be injured, for real, and forensics may be able to tell if they were hurt by bronze or stone. This is to say the consequences of your Mythos powers are very much real. Just because the Mist covers up all perception of the legendary aspects of your actions doesnât mean you will not be held responsible for them.
Only the legendary miracles and wonders are forgotten. Some of the ordinary residents of the City are quite sharp and focused: that police detective, that bohemian musician at the jazz club, that kid in the basketball court. Theyâre not zombies or drones, theyâre just under a spell. They can tell youâre up to something, even if they canât see it for what it is. And there is always the possibility that they too will awaken. .