Well, if nothing else, all the references to the other World of Darkness games were most enjoyable.
There was the employee at Fada who used to work for Invidia Caul back in Night Road.
Claudia’s podcast mentioned the final confrontation against the Second Inquisition back in Tucson, another reference to Night Road.
There was also the reference to Julian and his attempt to bring about a controlled crash of the Masquerade.
Daniel’s company happens to have a client in the form of Lucca Corlis from Parliament of Knives.
There was the reference to Sins of the Sire regarding the Acropolis.
Hm, there do not seem to be references to Book of Hungry Names, though I will look again.
Now, regarding the other lines of the World of Darkness, hm, Milucra claims to be a lady of the Sidhe. I doubt it is in the form of the kith of the Sidhe from Changeling: The Dreaming. If she were that kind of Sidhe, she would already have her own fleshly body without needing to share with another occupant. One presumes Aine was taken to the Dreaming, perhaps to Arcadia, specifically. Perhaps Milucra is one of the Gallain or Adhene. The way that she spoke of it, she certainly regrets the loss of wonder and Glamor in the mortal world, of the current dominance of Banality.
Hopefully, one of the future games will be for Changeling: The Dreaming. It was quite a favorite.
There was also the Arcanum’s reference to the Invisible College. How quaint. When the Order of Reason was reorganized into the Technocratic Union, the Inner Circle that ruled it became the Invisible College. Now, we of the Technocratic Union call it Control.
I am also dearly hoping one of the future World of Darkness games will be for Mage: The Ascension. I have always been and will always be a loyal member of the Technocratic Union. If Giselle should appear in it, so much the better. If one can play as a Technocrat, it would be so very satisfying to deal with Giselle, one way or another, Traditionalist that she is.
Hm, I play as a Mental Primary build, the one who got a Ph.D., with some lesser skill in Social. It got me through to the very end. If my PC, Michael, had been one of the actual Imbued Hunters, he would very much be an Innocent. His Virtus is Mercy, after all. He wanted to learn, to understand what happened back then, and he wanted to serve as a bridge, to achieve some sort of peaceful coexistence with the supernaturals. Primarily, though, he just wanted to help Cormac, thus resolving the trauma from that terrible incident, and then finally return to his civilian life, comfortably back in his beloved academia.
He very much did not want to continue the Hunt afterwards. He saw where that path leads, with Claudia being utterly consumed by the Hunt. The more a Hunter walks that path, the more extreme they become, the less, ironically, human they are, as they lose connection to all those important facets of humanity and society for the sake of the Hunt. It would not even amount to anything in the end, with how Hunters regularly die all too soon.
Michael did his best to help the Garou. He saved both Eamon and Imane. He saved Cormac and told him to go with Eamon and Imane. It is how it should be. Directing Cormac to the Arcanum or Fada would be rather… questionable. It might help, but it would be purely coincidental. It is more likely to make things worse for Cormac.
Cormac is a Garou. He needs to be with his own kind, to be taught their ways, their history, to control his Rage as much as any Garou can. If he wants to interface more directly with humanity, what with all his dreams, they are not completely lost. He can join the Glass Walkers or Bone Gnawers, after all. It was Michael’s reasoning for directing Cormac to go with Imane and Eamon as well.
I do rather wish that Michael could have given the secret annals of Saint Enda to Imane, ensuring the rebirth of the Glenkildove Garou. However, it would necessitate the Vision Edge. By its very nature, the Vision Edge cannot allow the player to return to being a normal citizen. No matter what, a Hunter with the Vision Edge must continue the Hunt afterwards.
Well, despite Imane’s understandable pessimism about the matter, all is not lost, not truly. Michael has given them a chance, her, Eamon, and Cormac. Perhaps Milurca might arrange for them to discover the secret annals themselves. I would like to think that Imane might eventually make contact with my PC and his pack from Book of Hungry Names and receive their help finding the secret annals and rebuilding. Given that my Garou PC back then chose to achieve a rebirth of the ancestors, as much as they could be reborn, via the Answering Tiger, perhaps those ancestors will soon be helping Imane/s pack.
Unfortunately, there was no good outcome for Noriko in her attempt to return home, but Michael at least helped Noriko achieve the least negative ending possible. He explained that the ritual would only trap Noriko in Glenkildove forever. Noriko chose to gracefully face the morning sun and meet her Final Death. Michael did not want to make a deal to know about the other Cainites in Dublin. He was done with the Hunt. He simply expressed genuine sympathy and compassion towards Noriko and was sorry that she could not return to Japan and her mortal kin.
Noriko was so young by Cainite standards, not even one century old, perhaps barely half a century at most. However, age is not everything amongst Cainites, as my Courier demonstrated back in Night Road. He is so young as well, yet he advanced and improved rapidly, playing a crucial part in crippling the Second Inquisition, helping to defeat a ghoul that was centuries older than him.
Well, Michael could not save Aine, but he at least kept his promise to remember her. As compassionate as he is, he would have been understandably reluctant to take Milucra’s bargain to restore Aine. Hopefully, Aine can understand.
In any case, Michael is back to his beloved academia by the end, returning to his alma mater in Oxford, ready to become a lecturer at St. John’s College. Niamh is happy with Maire, so Cormac can at least rest assured in that much, perhaps visit from a distance. Kitty is fine and visiting. Claudia, well, the path of the Hunter is most likely going to lead her to a painful, swift end, but it is her choice. Daniel, well, he already left before the end when Michael told him and Claudia to put down their weapons in order to save Cormac. Besides, Michael had to make a difficult choice, but he asked the Arcanum to cancel repaying Daniel’s debt in order to ensure Maire’s custody of Niamh. Difficult, but, well, Daniel is an adult, and he brought this situation upon himself with his fraud and graft.
