u/EXIT_25

This idea came the other day to me. Its a punk-genre world where the main danger are the cosmic great old ones and their cults but in a daily-life setting. it is influenced by lovecraftian horror, Matrix and other punk genres

>"We wanted to reach for the stars, but they came first"

Berlin in the 1920s. The cults have prevailed. They have infiltrated governments, corporations, and banks, and through massive rituals and countless human sacrifices, they have succeeded in calling upon the Great Old Ones. They have come to Earth, but are still too weak to manifest themselves in pure, physical form. To exploit the world and humanity without being noticed, the Great Old Ones use their power to create an illusion in people’s minds. While their servants and grotesque monstrosities mingle among humans and the world around them slowly decays and defies the laws of physics, people remain oblivious. They live in their own world. The world is stuck in a loop of the 1920s. There is no progress, no wars.

But there are others as well—the Awakened. They live underground, beyond the reach of the Great Old Ones’ calls. They are dropouts. Outsiders for whom the truth is worth more than the comfort of illusion. To escape from this, they use the drug “Wake.” The brain stops filtering and presents what is seen to the human being in its raw form. Wake strips the brain of imagination and emotion. This makes it possible to endure the sight at all, while the person using it is emotionally numb and devoid of character. Only when the effects wear off does the person’s inner self return—most of the time. The brain tries to repress and process the images, yet many cannot bear the sight of the decaying world, the anomalies, and the monstrosities, and they go insane. Death is then a mercy. But Wake isn’t easy to come by. It is the precursor to a psychedelic drug and cannot be purchased. The Outsiders must steal it without getting caught or drawing attention to themselves. If the cults were to find out what Wake is and why the Outsiders need it, obtaining it could become even more dangerous.

And so the Outsiders live their lonely, desolate lives, knowing that the world is coming to an end. Defeating the Great Old Ones is impossible. All that remains for them is to sabotage the cults, delay their plans, and kill individual beasts. Some want to awaken as many people as possible, even if it will cost some the sanity; others want to focus on quiet sabotage to protect people.

What do you think? Do you have any other ideas?