"A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away... no. Once upon a time there lived... no. In the times of old... yes that's better."
"In the times of old, the earth was home to many different intelligent species. The elves, fairies, vampires, dragons and magic of many a legend were as real as the smartphones you hold in hand or pocket."
"Oh why am I telling you that first. You won't understand. Now. As you know, recent shifts in the earth's weather, and our increasing environmental efforts have had some remarkable effects. Now I won't bore you with repeating what everyone already knows but I will draw your attention to the shrinking of the Sahara dessert. Now, ah I use that word too much... So with the desert shrinking, more trees being planted and colossal efforts propelling Africa into the foreground of world politics and events we found something beneath the sand..."
There is a sudden knocking sound at the door and an official looking head pokes itself through the gap."Mr Diamond? Everyone's here."
"Ok, I'm ready. Just one second."
Hello Pathfinders and welcome to another recruitment thread. It is I, the most precious form of carbon known to mankind, reduced to microscopic particles. And I have been working on a little homebrew. Part random dungeon crawling, part world history changing events.
The Setting
Slightly-post-modern-day Earth. Greater efforts than ever before have gone into saving the planet, and ourselves, from man-made catastrophe. And it worked. Science! Deserts are shrinking everywhere, resources are increasing and the third world is smaller than ever. Australia, Arabia, China, everywhere. The biggest effect was had in Africa. Extreme poverty is almost gone and regular poverty is at the levels of every other first-world country. There are still problems, wars and dictators, but the future is looking more hopeful than ever.
The Location
An ancient city has been found buried beneath the Saharan sands. Experts from around the world are studying it. Conspiracy theorists are churning out dozens of new stories for every official information release. Aliens, El Dorado, Atlantis, the Garden of Eden, you name it.
The Players
You are one of the few experts cleared through every security level. You are the ones that are helping to discover the secrets of this place. Archaeologists, Language Experts, Scientists and so on.
Top Secret
Mr. Diamond, foremost expert in world lore, legends and history, thinks he has figured it out and those in charge are heeding him. The world was once a very different place, filled with everything from almost any legend you think you have read or heard of. But something happened and that's what he thinks this city holds the key to uncovering. Where did it all go? Was it aliens? A world-wide flood? Did humans win the war and wipe everything else out? That's what you're here to help figure out whether you're a believer, skeptic, government plant or free thinker.
The Game
There will be many social interactions, be it on earth inside or outside the city, or in the 'dungeon'(for current lack of a better word). In the dungeon there will also be plenty of hostile encounters to deal with, as well as puzzles and traps to be figured out. There will also be incentive to figure out what the dungeon is, why it is, and steer humanity's decisions concerning the dungeon.
Main Course:
Location Designation: The Lost City Time: 4:32pm
They said the radiation readings that were coming from the wall weren't high enough for alarm but that did nothing to allay anyone's fears. There shouldn't be any readings at all. Nothing in the wall or any of the surroundings was made of anything radioactive. New discoveries in the city were being found every day, though 'discovery' was not synonymous with 'new knowledge' in the slightest. Who lived here and what they did was still a mystery. Every drawing 'interpreted' and text 'translated' made no sense to any normal modern mind. Mr. Diamond's crazy idea was just the only one that tied together all of the evidence as well as it did. Annoyingly well, to those who proposed other ideas and wanted Mr. Diamond out of the picture. A Museum? A Library City? Such weren't threats and until Diamond's idea could be comprehensively ruled out, he was here to stay.
This wall was not just any wall. It was part of the central building of the city. Unlike a building built for display such as a museum or library, this building resembled a fortress. Recently, new scans revealed gamma radiation coming from the walls of this building and no other. This sparked a scare that lead to the entire building being quarantined off from the surrounding city and only the foremost experts being allowed in to continue the investigation. Naturally this information got out and now people everywhere are demanding to know what has been found. If only you had something to tell them.
Instead you are sweating inside your Hazmat suits, taking samples to analyse, and examining every last crevice with the most advanced technology mankind has to offer. You don't often congregate together to talk as your suits possess internal communication systems so the events of today were more an accident than anything else. It just so happened that you stood in a set of concentric circles etched in the floor, each in your own circle. You know them well, images of them and their meaning had been pondered over since their discovery. But none of the most advanced minds of the 21st century had thought to stand on them all at the same time.
There weren't too many words to help describe what you experienced next. You know those really small cubes in CGI, like less than an inch across that unfold into a transformer or a car or something? Well try to picture a universe sized one, going in reverse. Folding up piece by piece and you along with it, until it is too small to even imagine, then unfolding, piece by piece, back to normal. Unfortunately for you the only normal things around you are the circles at your feet and your fellow scientists. There is no wall, no city and no protective quarantine dome above you. You are standing in an enclosed stone room with no windows but lit as if the sun was shining from every direction, eliminating almost all shadow. Several implements resembling spears lay at your feet, seemingly dropped. And there is one door in front of you where the wall should have been. Just a door and its door frame in the middle of the room connected only to the floor.
Character builds and Submissions Class Let me know the PC class you intend to level into (3rd party allowed as long as I can look at it on my computer). You will start as 7th level Experts(NPC class) and may go into another class as the game progresses in a semi-gestalt sort of fashion where your Expert class levels won't ever increase. You could gain a few levels and become a Fighter 3/Expert 7 and eventually a Fighter 15/Expert 7 for example. You will start leveling up as fast as a normal 1st level character but with 7 extra levels of HP and feats to help you survive.
Starting Languages Everyone gets their mother-tongue + English as free languages. Int-bonus can add languages from there. If English is your character's mother-tongue, oh well, you have one less possible language known compared to others.
Free Racial Trait Choose 1 free alternate racial(heart of the..., Awareness, Eye for Talent, etc...) as long as it makes sense to your character. Dual Talent is not allowed to be taken for free. All alternate traits can still be substituted with base traits in the normal fashion.
Hit Points Everyone gets maximum Hit Points each level. Also because of the 7 levels of expert, Hit Points won't increase much until your PC class overtakes the Expert class.
Background Skills Yes but only for your Expert levels. No background skills will be given when leveling up other classes.
Feats 5 feats for being 7th level human experts. Feats should make sense for your character to know now, not to be 'placeholders' that come online for your main class later (power attack? spell focus? You're a scientist, explain yourself! Weapon Finesse because your hobby is fencing? Great! etc...).
Stats 20 Point Buy(max 18 after racials). You don't have to have a high intelligence score to be a scientist. You might not be a genius but an average intelligence can still work hard and gain just about any profession. Professions are based on will scores anyhow. So plan your stats for the class you eventually want to become but please no stat dumps at least.
Traits and Drawbacks 1 normal trait and 1 custom campaign trait and the option of 1 drawback in exchange for 1 extra normal trait may be chosen the first time you gain a level in game and will otherwise not be available for initial character creation.
Money Though you are some of the foremost professionals, these aren't the most glamorous or well paying jobs in the world. Consider yourself as having an above average government or private salary in your chosen profession based on your background. This currency will have little effect in the dungeon where you will only start with clothes, Hazmat suits and a basic scientific and medical kit that one of you happened to be holding onto before stepping on the circles.
Backstory Probably the most important thing right now. Tell me how you got your job and where you come from in as many or as few words as you want. Your character can be from basically anywhere on earth, did it tough, had it easy, whatever you like. As well as your backstory, consider and answer these questions.
Why do you want to be working in the lost city?
Who hired you and why do they want you working there?
What do you think of Mr. Diamond's theory? (before anything weird happened at the wall)
What do you think of Mr. Diamond as a person? (personal, professional, may have met him before)
