Welcome to the Land of Rûs.
This is our discussion thread. Have fun and remember to be excellent to each other.
For pre-game discussion, we can do some light role-playing in here. If you choose to participate, please start with the following info:
Your characters all start on a caravan headed to a small town called Fletcher's Rest. Your first RP post (either in discussion or gameplay) should include who you are, how others see you, and why you're on this caravan (as an employee of the caravan, escaping justice, moving to a small town to get away from it all, as a tradesman looking for a new location to open up trade, looking for someone, etc...).
Please also decide if and how any of your PCs know each other. Were you friends, enemies, or business partners before the caravan? Did you meet on the caravan and have become friends?
If you don't want to RP, then have some fun with IRL discussion.
If you are not an experienced PBP player, please let me know, as I have some pointers for you.
Remember that this is a horror game, so describing emotions and reactions to things you experience are an important part of maintaining the setting. Don't just post the actions of your PC (My guy attacks!), also include emotions and physical expressions of your PC (Anger flashes across his face despite the fear evident in his eyes, my guy attacks the demonically twisted cultist!).
Every action your character does should have some sort of descriptor to their emotions or their expressions (or both!). It's even better if you describe it in a way that others can respond to. Stating you have hidden emotions with a stoic body leaves others little to work with. Even clockwork PCs can show emotions without a face - see the movie V for Vendetta as a wonderful example of body language and emotional expression without using the face to show it.
Remember that while your characters will eventually become heroes, at this point they are not heroes. They're the equivalent of a standard NPC you may find in D&D or Pathfinder. In this game you have to earn your class.
Speaking of which, let's discuss classes.
There are four classes you can choose after the first Adventure: Warrior, Rogue, Priest, and Wizard.
While you're free to choose any class you like upon level up, the class you choose should reflect the actions you take in game. If you want to go wizard, have your PC attempt magic during gameplay. If you want Priest, act religious. If you want warrior, bash things or act like one. If you want rogue, do rogue-ish things.
If you don't do those things, but still wants to pick a certain class, please come up with a justification as to why it happened or work with me before the adventure ends so can introduce something into the story. As an example, I had a player say that their character hated magic, but they wanted me to force their character to become a wizard during gameplay. I can make that happen, but only if I know about it before the conclusion.
Rules of game play
Throughout the week I'll be posting some rules of the game so you can reference them and learn how to play. If you're one of those who own the book, please help me! I'm learning this game, too.
The World
Likewise, I'll also be making posts about the world and the setting. One important thing to remember is that the setting is intentionally vague. The designers have left a lot of room for us to fill up and make the world our own. Don't be afraid to declare something about the setting and the world as part of your character, we can find a way to work it in and make it our reality. Just please remember to keep to the genre of the world - don't go trying to be intentionally silly or try to intentionally screw up the flavor of the world just because.
As an example, the setting says that goblins were once Fey who got kicked out of the Faerie lands and forced to live with humans. They're now a kind of underclass citizen who often live in the sewers.
One of my friends made a goblin who has a background of almost drowning once when the sewers flooded, but who's also a sailor. So we decided that the sewers are acutt vast and even have underground oceans and lakes, which the gobmins actually sail on. Even the smaller tunnels have engineered wind tunnels so the gobmins can go sailing through them (mostly because the goblins have set up series of fans to help produce the wind effect).
I absolutely love that addition to the setting. So please, come up with stuff and let's make this a living world together. When you talk about your character's past or why they have the thoughts and feelings they do, expand on the setting and the world to help explain it.
If you have a.h questions about the setting, let me know! It'll serve as a place for me to start. :)
I love this kind of game. I mean, I love coming up with badass builds in Pathfinder and playing power games too, but becoming immersed in a character and a setting is what it's all about. I'm really looking forward to playing this character, and this game. I'll get an alias up soon :)
This looks like it could be a very distinct campaign. :)
A few last touches for Jexen.
Jexen is weary.
He feels as if he has travelled a very long way, but he does not recall most of it.
He feels old, but he doesn't remember being young. Or even less aged.
His carapace might have once been a brilliant white, but is now worn and discoloured into various light shades of yellow and grey.
He does not stand tall. Four foot nothing, slightly hunched, 75 pounds of gears and plates, with a key prominent on his back, slowly winding down.
He feels strong, and he thinks he could plan a landing on a hostile beach. And why he would be able to do so confuses and worries him.
He is not flesh, but there is a baby in swaddling cloth next to him.
Who made me? Why do I exist? What do I do now? And what do I do with this baby?
He speaks aloud:
"Do any of you know much about babies? This one looks fed and content, but I have nothing now to feed it with."
Tas' neck squeaks a bit as he turns his head towards the nearby clockwork. While he is very new, his constructor did not care to use new and good parts. Some of his cogs and springs have been rusted a long time before his body was assembled and filled with a soul.
He has the rough shape of a human but weighs a lot more due to the iron and steel making up his limbs and body. In his face he has a big hole - a socket - with an ember stone eye. A mouth-like opening to speak is the only other visible feature on his head.
Tas feels uncomfortable in this big caravan. But he has to bring the bag of flour in his backpack to Fletcher's Rest. While Mary always does a great job of winding up the tiny rusted key embedded in his back, he needed a repair as one of the connecting cogs started to break apart. There was only one dwarf in the nearest town capable of repairing him and he had no money to pay him for his service. Instead they made a deal: He would repair Tas and Tas had to join the caravan to deliver the bag of flour - at least that's what the dwarf called it - to it's destination.
"How did you end up with this baby, if you don't know anything about it? It does not look like it could wind up your key for you..."
I should have an alt this evening up.
How does one attempt magic without knowing any (besides using incantations)?
It may be challenging to actually use magic if you don't have it, but there are ways to express interest in it. Trying to do a magical analysis of some creature, studying a magical item you may find, using or studying scrolls you may find (I think one person started with a scroll), or other things like that.
You can also seek out a magical trainer in a town, while others are doing their own thing.
The idea is that if you can do it, then you try to do it. If you can't do it, you express interest in it. What's challenging to believe is that someone who has never expressed interest in it (not even thoughts), and makes no attempts to use it ever suddenly becomes a class without any reason. And even then, we can work with it if you tell me in advance.
It's like if someone writes an entire background in pacifism, refuses to even touch a weapon in game, and has no history of ever using violence suddenly becomes a master in sword fighting. It defies belief. Just make it work with the story so it makes sense. Said character could have had a background of being a sword master - and their own past actions are why they became a pacifist. Now it makes sense within the story.
That's all I'm asking for.
Brinda is an average human in terms of hgt/wgt, with medium-length brown hair and a cute, almost doll-like face. She smiles easily, but not much strong emotion shows on her face. She is a conscientious travelling companion, always willing to chip in with chores and duties, and she completes them with efficiency.
So I'm thinking Brinda may have struck up a friendship with Tas, as a) they both have an interest in magic, and b) a clockwork would not seem so threatening to her. How would that suit you Tas? We could have met during the voyage, or even before? Brinda is travelling because she is on the run, and she's not really concerned with where she's going, just that it's away from where she was. She is also keen to make friends, both for protection and companionship. She is a bit strange, but seems lovely.
If anyone else thinks they might be friends with Brinda already, let me know. It's likely that she is a bit apprehensive about strong or aggressive male characters, but I don't think she has any racial biases.
A thin and ugly dark-skinned Orc leans against the back of wagon watching a little metal ball float atop the railing as he pushes it between his hands. This is Slugoth a former bandit who just finished a year and a half studying the stars and their signs and wonders after having saved the life of a nobleman. Although big by human standards he is only 14 summers old.
When he hears talk of the baby his ears perk up, I know they are better stewed than baked.
Just checked out Slugoth, looks cool! An orc warrior/astrologer with more than a touch of the philosopher about him. Look forward to getting to know him :)
So I'm thinking Brinda may have struck up a friendship with Tas
That sounds good to me. Tas wouldn't take Mary with him for his strange task but he relies on someone to wind him up every once in a while. He would not want a human male to do that and does not know much about other races so Brinda would be a good friend to him. When introducing himself, he let her know his name is "T.A.S." (pronounced with every letter separately) but she can call him "Tas".
I'll go with Tas when describing his actions as T.A.S. is a pain when typing on my phone.
@bookrat: Okay that makes perfect sense. I was just wondering if that is reffering to some kind of game mechanic in Sotdl like "Cast level 0 magic with 3 banes if you don't know any magic". Tas has a level 0 scroll but you'll have to let me know what it is :)
Perfect! Brinda is a helpful soul, so she'd enjoy feeling needed by Tas. She hasn't let on that she's neither female nor human yet, as she so desperately doesn't want to be found out as a changeling. I also imagine she's very interested in Tas's scroll too, from an academic point of view. She has a good grasp of magic theory but no actual ability yet.
"To kill a child is the work of a savage, and not one who is worthy to be said to 'have a soul'."
Kandl is a tall Goblin, standing almost 5' in height. He has a painfully long chin, which is thankfully devoid of hair, otherwise one might make unflattering comparisons to a paintbrush. He is dressing in what one might believe to be a suit of leather armor, if they squinted their eyes and looked upon it at a great distance.
Still, there is a straightness in his bearing, and bit of something almost regal about him. Maybe it's his posture, maybe it's the red piece of ribbon he wears tied around one bicep. It's clear that he believes himself to be more than he appears.
I've written a small bit of lore about dwarves and clockwork. For those playing Changelings, Goblins, and Orcs - would you mind giving a bit of lore about those races according to the book?
Is anyone considering being religious? I can post information about some of the religions if anyone is interested. We have the Old Faith (polytheistic), the Cult of the New God (this world's version of emerging Christianity), Witchcraft, the Faerie Queen, or a smaller god.
For now, I'll start describing the world. I'll likely post a few times a day about the world and to answer any questions. The pace I'm setting for this pre-game stuff is my own choice, and no one has to follow it. All I also for is the once per day posting when we start game.
So here goes:
Overview of the Land of Rûs
The waters of four oceans divide the lands into eight continents, with numerous islands of varying sizes scattered among them. The continents boast diverse landscapes, with towering mountains, pestilential swamps, rolling plains, and primeval forests as old as the world. Deserts and badlands, prairies, hills, rivers, lakes, and jungles sustain a wide range of life.
Beneath the mortal world’s surface stretches a vast
labyrinth of tunnels, caverns, great galleries, and bottomless chasms. In these lightless grottos lies a violent and often terrifying world that the peoples living above have never conquered. Into the subterranean depths the wicked flee. Here also, exiles might find refuge and misguided people hope to bury evils from another age.
Arching over the world is a vast, azure expanse by day and deep blackness speckled with stars by night. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, and a single moon, Tarterus, is a whole other world, its surface obscured by boiling clouds in which lightning dances. Some believe Tarterus is a dark cousin to Urth, a world inhabited by all manner of warped and terrifying things. Others believe the gods created it to hold those primordial deities they cast down at the dawn of time.
-> Intellect
-> Rune Magic
-> 2nd Incantation
You have a scroll of Translate Anything (Rank 0). Using the scroll let's you read anything as if you were literate for one minute.
Using Incantations:
You use an incantation (aka scrolls) by reading it aloud. You can read the incantation regardless of the language in which it was inscribed since the magic makes the text legible. If your Power is greater than the spell’s rank, you expend the spell’s casting and resolve its effects. If your Power is equal to or less than the spell’s rank, make an Intellect challenge roll. You have 1 bane imposed on you for every rank your Power is lower than the spell’s rank. So, if your Power is 1 and you attempt to cast a rank 4 spell, you would have 3 banes imposed on you for your challenge roll. On a success, you cast the spell as above. On a failure, the attempt fails and the incantation is ruined.
I think what that means is you can use the scroll over and over so long as you don't fail your intellect roll (DC 10).
I was wondering if those incantations had only one or multiple uses as well. I think it means it's a one-time effect if you succeed and no effect (ruined) if you fail: "you expend the spell’s casting and resolve its effects". Would be pretty overpowered otherwise because you're limited in the number of spells you can cast from memory. Just having any incantation would let you cast spells all day.
"You can read the incantation regardless of the language" does that also imply we understand it's meaning? As it takes one hour to create, I'd guess it's more than just writing a word or two on it. Maybe also signs and runes? Making it a bit mystic and like a riddle to understand it's effect for people not knowing it?
I can imagine Tas and Brinda meeting first when Tas tried to decrypt the scroll during a rest.
A notion. While Jexen does not remember a thing about his past, other characters might have met him. They might even have known him fairly well.
Another tack is the baby. A characer might know of someone who was seeking it, for good or ill.
Follow-up questions for Jexen:
1) How long ago did you lose your memory? 5 minutes, last night, last week, three years ago, etc...
2) How long have you had the baby? While the book says newborn, let's call it months old.
3) When did you acquire the baby and what were the circumstances around it? If it's been longer than a night, assume you have all the equipment necessary for taking care of a baby - clothes, blankets, food, washable diapers, etc...
4) What race is the baby?
I was wondering if those incantations had only one or multiple uses as well. I think it means it's a one-time effect if you succeed and no effect (ruined) if you fail: "you expend the spell’s casting and resolve its effects". Would be pretty overpowered otherwise because you're limited in the number of spells you can cast from memory. Just having any incantation would let you cast spells all day.
You're right. I found a page on Schwalb Entertainment that said Incantations are consumed when used.
"You can read the incantation regardless of the language" does that also imply we understand it's meaning? As it takes one hour to create, I'd guess it's more than just writing a word or two on it. Maybe also signs and runes? Making it a bit mystic and like a riddle to understand it's effect for people not knowing it?
I think it means that you know the words and the intention of the scroll, and can use it even if you're not trained in magic. But it's still hard to cast if you're not trained, as noted by the Intellect Challent Roll (with Bane if you're under the power level).
So both you and Brenda can be reading it and studying it a lot to try and understand the magic behind it as a prelude to your Novice class.
Next up in our overview of the setting is Religion, Magic, and Science.
The Gods are Distant Powers:
Whether the gods exist or not is an open question. People worship them, along with monsters and the spirits of the ancestors, but the gods never take a direct hand in mortal affairs. Instead, their devoted servants advance their aims in the world and make believers of unbelievers.
Hidden Worlds:
Other realms exist unseen within the mortal world, and
entire realities drift across its surface like soap bubbles on water. Such worlds include the hidden kingdoms of the faerie, the Underworld, Hell, and other places strange and terrifying. Most mortals never encounter these realms during their lifetimes. However, accident, weird magic, or the influence of the Demon Lord can land the living in the abode of the dead or afford a glimpse at the dreamy vistas of Alfheim.
The world is a magical place. Magic infuses all things, all that remains of the creative force that spun the universe out from primordial chaos. Magic’s abundance means anyone with the will, time, and talent can learn to harness its power. Some people have the gift for wielding magic and call upon the power from within. Others discover it from reading ancient tomes and scrolls. And priests, devoted to the distant gods, call on magic to champion their causes in the world.
Aside from spells, magic sometimes lingers in objects infused with its power or created by it. Magical energy also gathers in certain places, making spells easier to cast or producing unexpected effects.
Humanity has made great strides in science and technology, discovering black powder, clockwork, and steam technologies. Although still expensive and exotic, pistols and rifles are becoming more widespread. Clockwork automatons work alongside laborers in construction and manufacturing. Engineers have begun to take steps toward creating steam engines. In the great Nine Cities of the east, flying ships—balloons and zeppelins—have begun to appear.
Follow-up questions for Jexen:
1) How long ago did you lose your memory? 5 minutes, last night, last week, three years ago, etc...
2) How long have you had the baby?
3) When did you acquire the baby and what were the circumstances around it? If it's been longer than a night, assume you have all the equipment necessary for taking care of a baby - clothes, blankets, food, washable diapers, etc...
4) What race is the baby?
1) About a day ago, and he stumbled upon the caravan shortly afterwards. As in less than an hour after what he first remembers, which is walking out of a wood onto the road.
2 & 3) At least a day, he doesn't know exactly when. The child is fed, he has blankets, clothes, a few changes of nappies. I was thinking no food, but willing to alter that.
4) Human. Male.
Slugoth nods at the goblin, The world is a savage place, when my kind began to free ourselves it was savage and bloody, and once we were free many of us had to do savage and unsavoury things to survive. That is simply nature.
But fear not I am well fed.
Rolling for paths (this is for entertainment purposes only and is not legally binding)
Magician -> Assassin -> Avenger....
Setting Overview Part 2:
Aside from spells, magic sometimes lingers in objects infused with its power or created by it. Magical energy also gathers in certain places, making spells easier to cast or producing unexpected effects.
Not all souls go to the Underworld, however. Corruption weighs down the soul, and foul acts performed in life can be cleansed only by torment. Mortals leading depraved and monstrous lives find Hell awaits them in the afterlife. There, the twisted faerie known as devils and other, darker supernatural beings scourge the corruption from their souls, feasting on those dark acts and savoring the memories of them. The darker the stains, the longer the soul remains in Hell, with some never truly escaping the damnation they earned.
The Empire’s instability invites savage humanoids to run amok through the crumbling landscape. Beastmen spill out from the old forests and broken lands, while trolls and giants resume their age-old wars against the faerie. Worst of all, cultists devoted to the Demon Lord have grown bolder and even now work to hasten the arrival of their unspeakable master.
Refugees flee to the cities, hunkering down behind the walls and living in squalid, overcrowded conditions in the hopes that somehow they will escape the doom that casts its shadow across the lands. Order crumbles in the face of the upheaval. City leaders hide in their homes and noblesseal off their castles, deaf to the cries of the people beyond their doors. These are dark times, and many believe they signal the first days of humanity’s last age.
Religion and Belief
Regardless of what form they take and how mortals perceive them, all gods are united by one fact: mortal belief and veneration sustain their immortal existence and give them power. In other words, the gods exist as a consequence of mortal belief rather than engendering belief by their existence. This reality explains why the gods rarely, if ever, reveal themselves to mortals or take a direct hand in mortal affairs. They are constructs of the imagination, born from mortals desperate to find meaning in a world both terrifying and wondrous. Miracles, wonders, and other signs of the divine are simply ways in which mortal faith interacts with magic.
Notions of the divine can be expressed in many ways. In more primitive lands, mortals see gods in the world around them: in the sun, the moon, the wind, trees, animals, and elsewhere. These conceptions of the divine in the world change as cultures do, and the deities undergo anthropomorphic transformation to make them more relatable. Spirits of the forest, skies, and seas become gods who look much like their worshipers and behave in a similar manner, albeit reflecting their particular natural aspects.
Religions evolve. As mortals learn more about the world in which they live, the role they assign to the gods diminishes until many of the deities making up the old pantheons fall away. A new and more powerful god might absorb the aspects of older, primitive religions. Some gods are repositioned as adversaries, evil beings that seek to mislead and waylay mortals. Others become legendary heroes or well-worn stories, or are just forgotten altogether.
Followers of the Old Faith believe the gods live in the world. Their myths describe heroes’ encounters with these beings in deep forests, caves, or ruins, and even other realms such as Hell and the Underworld. If the gods remain in the world, they rarely reveal themselves to mortals these days.
Followers of the Old Faith use a variety of symbols to indicate their religious affiliation. Oak leaves, acorns, sheaves of wheat, the Green Man’s face, and circles of menhirs are most common.
Father Death
The oldest of humanity’s gods, Father Death embodies finitude, endings, mortality, and fear. His symbol is the scythe and skull. Father Death rules the Underworld and emerges each night on a pale horse to reap the souls of the newly dead.
The Horned King
The Horned King, also known as the Beast Lord, the Stag Prince, and the Wild Man of the Wood, watches over beasts. Hunters, trackers, and explorers often make offerings to him. Some claim to have seen him striding through the woods, a giant of a man with antlers rising from his brow, eyes blazing with green light, and the lower body of stag. The Horned King’s symbol is a pair of green antlers.
The Maiden in the Moon
The Maiden in the Moon is known by her symbol, the crescent moon. She walks the dome of the world, remote from the affairs of mortals, a lady of mysteries, magic, and hidden paths.
Old Man Winter
Brother to Father Death, Old Man Winter lives in the far south, in the lands of snow and ice, bound in chains placed upon him by the Queen of Summer. She departs for lands north in the winter, allowing the Old Man to slip his bonds and conquer her kingdom. Her absence never lasts, though. When the Queen returns, her beauty and magic drive Winter south to his prison of hate and ice. Old Man Winter’s symbol is the face of an old man with blue skin and a thick white beard.
Revel
Two-faced Revel is the most mercurial of the gods. In one aspect, he represents unbridled joy, hilarity, drunkenness, and pleasure from lovemaking. In his other, darker aspect, he is anger, madness, and unrestrained lust. Those who “have the hand of Revel upon them” are considered to be insane.
The Queen of Summer
The Queen of Summer, believed by some to be the Faerie Queen, is the embodiment of love and romance, passion, creativity, and joy. She is depicted as a striking woman of unsurpassed beauty, with auburn hair and clothed in raiment made from flowers. She is a free spirit and never stays in place for long, traveling north and back again. Her symbol is the sun.
The Seer
A mysterious god often associated with secrets, prophecy, and wisdom, the Seer is depicted as a one-eyed owl. People make offers to the Seer for guidance and insight, to gain comfort when troubled, and for wisdom to overcome their problems.
The World Mother
The source of all life in the world, the World Mother is deemed the most important of all the Old Faith gods, and all give thanks to her. She is invoked to ensure an easy birth, to reap a good harvest, and to ward off sickness. Her symbol is a smiling woman, late in her pregnancy.
• The mortal soul is eternal. Death is a door to the next life.
• Cruelty, selfishness, and greed stain the soul, dooming it to the torments of Hell. To avoid the horrors of the afterlife, mortals should lead good lives, and be kind and virtuous in all things.
• The divine depends on mortals, not the other way around.
• Anything circumventing the migration of the soul is an abomination. Undead, spirits loosed from the Underworld, efforts to extend mortal life through magic, and the like draw the hateful eye of the Demon Lord.
Astrid disappeared in the third century after many years of persecution. Legend holds she ascended to Paradise. Some believe this ascension transformed her into a god, but many believe she was always a god in mortal form. Critics of the cult, however, claim she never ascended and was in fact stabbed to death, her corpse torn apart by wild dogs. All across the Empire, one can find the bones of wild dogs for sale in response; the faithful wear them as signs of their devotion and to gain the blessing of the New God.
Astrid is separate from the New God, but the commonfolk have elevated the prophet to divine status. The cult leaders reconcile the heresy by claiming Astrid is yet another aspect of the greater deity.
The symbol of the New God is a circle, usually depicting a snake or dragon eating its own tail. The prophet, Astrid, is shown as a robed woman with knives thrust into her body.
Travelling with the small caravan is a human man, wearing tattered clothing that looks like it was painstakingly maintained to keep it from falling into further disrepair. A dagger rests on his belt, the leather well-worn but evidently standard issue for the Imperial Military. His backpack is slung over one shoulder as he steps along the muddy road.
Standing at 6'4, his dark hair and beard looking ragged upon his face, while cautious brown eyes survey the scene around him. One of the hundreds of thousands of refugees that are fleeing to the major cities since the Emperor's death, he only has one thing on his mind; just making it one more day forward.
----- ----- ----- ----- ----
Hey there guys! KingHotTrash here with my somber human of a guy. A follower of the New God and an overall good guy. He is a real quiet type of man and I think he'd tend to help out whoever needed it on the trip. T.A.S. (or Tas as Brinda calls him) would certainly get some help from him; I'm considering him having been a father before some awfulness happened to his family. Anyone have any ideas?
As for racial bias, I think he is what he'd expect a common man to be. He is alright with Dwarves, pities the Clockworks to a degree, distrusts the Goblins, and distrusts the Orcs even more. As for Changelings, it is a hit and miss. I don't think he has ever (knowingly) interacted with any of them before.
Any tie-ins that anyone is thinking of?
A little bit about changelings for those of you without the book to refer to:
• Many Masks: Changelings can use their magical natures to adopt the forms of anyone they see. They assume different forms to conceal their true natures, forms most deem hideous and unsettling. When stripped of their disguises, changelings look like humanoids formed from dirt, sticks, and rocks, with glowing green eyes set in otherwise featureless faces. Changelings in their natural forms stand 5 feet tall and weigh 90 pounds.
• Changeable Identities: Constantly changing identities has a deleterious effect on changeling personalities. Most mimic the attitudes and outlooks of the people around them, having no particular views themselves or, if they have them, burying them so deep they cannot remember who they started out being or what they hope to become.
Toy doesn't really suffer as much from the second point, Changeable Identities, as they try to maintain the same identity for as long as possible (as per my personality roll). But I find the changeling's natural appearance pretty crazy!
Cosmology
Although the natural laws of the game world work as they do in reality, the existence of magic means those laws can be bent or even broken, making it possible for other worlds to exist within or beside Urth. Some of those other worlds are described here.
Many dimensional pockets can be freely entered and exited, and a bit of exploration can reveal the methods for doing so. Their entrances can look like (or be) mirrors, hide in the backs of old wardrobes or behind doors under the stairs, rest atop a giant beanstalk, or open through an odd crack that appears on a wall.
Other dimensional pockets have limited access. Some open at certain times of the year, when a word of opening is spoken aloud in the entrance’s vicinity, or when the moon rises full. Some pockets with limited access allow visitors to enter but are nearly impossible to escape.
The Fair Folk use powerful magic to guard the entrances
to their lands. Some gates are hidden within natural features, such as a tangle of roots or the bole of an ancient tree. Others are obvious: a locked door in the side of a rounded hill, a staircase that climbs to the clouds, or a glittering fog bank that does not disperse in the wind.
Even after discovery, access to the hidden kingdoms is never certain. A traveler might become lost in a magical mist, wandering for what seems like hours until finally stumbling free to discover that decades have passed. Some gates require special keys, the company of a faerie, or an invitation. And once access is granted, there is no guarantee of escape. Many mortals who stumble into a hidden kingdom never again leave, living out their days among their immortal hosts, whether in bliss or in terror.
Guardians watch over the Underworld’s entrances to ensure the living do not pass through them and the dead do not escape. Nevertheless, shades occasionally slip away. Some elude the sentries, returning to the world as specters, while others are stolen and anchored to mechanical bodies to become clockworks and golems.
The Underworld is no place for the living, but mortals often have cause to seek it out. Souls languishing in this gloomy place might offer wisdom to mortals who bring them gifts of fresh blood. Father Death is also believed to keep many fabulous treasures in his vaults—objects of vast and terrible power plucked from the cold hands of dead mortals.
Hell belongs to the devils, a sordid society of corrupted faerie driven from the hidden kingdoms to languish in this unwholesome place. Here they sustain their immortal existence by feeding on the darkness they strip from the shades trapped in the depths. Since devils need corruption to survive, they entice mortals to commit greater and greater acts of evil to fill their larders with the damned.
Stripping corruption from souls is an excruciating experience for the victims. The devils employ a wide range of torments to cleanse their prisoners, and there seems to be no limit to their inventiveness when going about this grim work. Hell echoes with their victims’ screams, an unholy chorus that is chilling to hear.
As with the Underworld, mortals sometimes find their way into Hell and explore its depths. Entry can be gained from the Underworld or in the most desolate and toxic places in the mortal world. Unlike the Underworld, Hell craves visitors and welcomes anyone with the courage to pass through its iron gates. Merely setting foot in the pit invites corruption, though, and few who visit escape with their souls or minds intact.
The wreckage of myriad destroyed realities tumbles through the chilling darkness. Explorers who venture into the Void stumble across odd statuary, the calcified remains of titanic beings, or landmasses that look as if they were torn from a world. Any living things that remain on these ruins are twisted horrors spawned from nightmare and hostile to anything they encounter.
The primary denizens of the Void are demons. There they lack physical forms, being nothing more than wisps of color, writhing and undulating in the gloom. They crave release from the darkness. Their desperation sends them scouring the Void for cracks in reality through which they might emerge into the world. Once freed, their hate and madness drive them into a frenzy of violence. Wherever they go, they leave a trail of corpses and ruin.
On escaping the void, demons’ ephemeral shapes transform into physical monstrosities assembled by whatever they were imagining on arrival. Demons might appear as shapeless masses of gelatinous tissue, assume a humanoid body with bestial features with extra appendages, or take some other horrific form.
Luckily for these universes, the gaps through which demons slip the Void are not large enough to permit the Demon Lord. No amount of thrashing and raging widens them enough for it to escape. However, the Demon Lord’s essence bleeds through these cracks, a psychic stain that influences the world through the people it touches. The Shadow of the Demon Lord might infect a single person, prompting acts of unimaginable wickedness and destruction, or affect an entire organization, which only intensifies the presence of the Demon Lord in the world.
Opportunities for the Demon Lord’s emergence have come and gone over the long centuries. Powerful magic, catastrophe, and chaos in the world all create new fissures in reality from which its Shadow can bleed. Periods of stability, balance, and peace heal the fissures and thus repel the Demon Lord. The unrest and upheaval of recent years has caused more cracks to open than ever before, and now the Shadow spreads across the land with disastrous results.
@Bookrat:
Jexen might have food on him without realising it. Well-hidden or somesuch.
Also, would you be open to creating a gameplay thread so we can dot in? It makes keeping track of games much easier.
Also, would you be open to creating a gameplay thread so we can dot in? It makes keeping track of games much easier.
Done!
Sorry, I had forgotten that the discussion thread doesn't do that for anyone not the GM.
For my next series of spoiler tags, would you like to know about the Land of Rûs (geography, countries, history, etc..) or some game mechanics?
Cheers!
I'd say more about the land.
Which region are we starting in, GM?
We're starting in the March Lands. On the map, it's near the big red spot. I'll post info about it a bit later. Nope. That's wrong. I misread the text. We're starting in the Northern Reach, in a little area called The Old Wood. The section on the March Lands mentions the Old Wood, so I thought it was located there.
Also, I've updated the Campaign Info tab with links to all this lore so you can find it later.
Ah right, nice :)
The Lands of Rûs
The continent Rûl spreads across the southern hemisphere, stretching north from the frozen polar regions until it breaks apart into a scattering of islands that reach across the equator.
Geography
From the depths of the Desolation come forth shuffling undead horrors, driven south by some inscrutable purpose to escape the deadly landscape and feed upon the living. The Cult of the New God supports a network of strongholds keeping the tide of undead at bay.
A narrow staircase with one thousand steps climbs up the side of the tallest peak on the largest island. At the top stands the Monastery of the Third Way, a haven for those seeking enlightenment. Micah, a refugee from Edene, founded the site centuries ago to teach others who would transcend their mortal selves and liberate their souls to become as gods. The school is home to a few dozen novices and eight masters who pass on the founder’s teachings.
So I'm not going to post the lore on all the countries and kindgoms and lands of all of Rûs, but instead just focus on the area around where we are starting.
We'll be starting in the Northern Reach - the location at the top of the map and near the equator. Within that area is a forest near one of the lakes called "The Old Wood."
I'll post a map of the Northern Reach when I post that information.
Speaking of maps, if you're curious why the map of the Land of Rûs looks the way it does - as best I can tell it's a stretched out bit of skin or flesh with the map painted on it. It's being stretched by lots of little leather straps holding it taught. The grey is the background (possibly a stone) that it is being stretched over. :)
So who all is settled classes/paths?
The Northern Reach
The Northern Reach marks the northern edge of the Empire, the last territory conquered before it began its downward slide into chaos and upheaval. Here civilization has made few inroads, and the ruins of ancient nations still litter the countryside. The region has a variety of climates and geography, perfect for sustaining a wide range of flora and fauna—some familiar, others utterly alien.
This is where the most detail will be given about the Land of Rûs. I'll spread it out in four parts: History, Geography and Climate, Major Settlements, and People and Cultures.
Part 1: History
The history of the Northern Reach is written in blood and fire. It is a story defined by conflict, with wars fought for dominance, for conquest, and over trivial disputes. The bones of dead soldiers lie buried in battlefields across the landscape, all that remains of unknown armies from nations whose names have been all but forgotten. It is fitting, then, that the fate of the world might be decided in this ancient realm.
The faerie here, as elsewhere in the world, lived in harmony with their environment, shaping it to suit their needs with potent magic and fostering life and beauty in all things. Where Crossings now blights the world once stood a great city boasting the palace of the Queen of Summer and all her court, and the tall trees of Mistwood reached all the way east to the shores of the Auroral Ocean. The Queen of Summer ruled with a gentle hand, and her subjects were free to go where they wished. Peace reigned across the lands, and hunger, pain, and want were strangers to the good folk who dwelled here.
All things must end, even for immortals such as the elves and their kin. Summer’s last days began when the trolls emerged from the western mountains, then bold peaks of raw rock that clawed at the skies. The trolls saw in the Fair Folk everything they were not. Where the faerie were light-hearted, wondrous, and filled with life, the trolls were low, twisted things—brutes whose hearts were poisoned by resentment for the crudeness of their forms and with dispositions mean and spiteful. The trolls used dark magic to enslave the giants and fashion terrible monsters from ordinary beasts. Bolstered by their malformed host, they swept into the Lands of Summer, bringing death to those who never died. The fighting raged for decades with neither side securing a clear victory, until the Robin Prince, consort of the Queen of Summer, fought the Troll King and slew him. Yet in his victory, the elf lord was himself slain. The Queen of Summer, her heart hardened by the loss of her true love, to say nothing of the countless other kin that had passed from the world, laid a heavy curse upon the trolls—a curse that prevented them from ever looking upon the light of the sun again lest the ugliness of their hearts turn them to stone. And so the trolls fled, embittered by their defeat and lamenting the curse their work had earned them, and took refuge under the mountains.
Although the faerie were victorious, sorrow fell across the lands. The time of Summer had passed. Autumn had begun.
Not all the faerie were so willing to leave. The Summer Queen’s own son defied his mother and declared he would take a stand against the invaders. Henceforth called the Betrayer, he and those who went with him were known as the Dark Ones, for they broke with tradition and used dark magic to fight back against the invaders. Again, war raged across the lands and left much of the area a smoldering ruin. The invaders withdrew and turned their attention to the south, while the surviving faerie retreated to dark places, twisted by hate, and thus became monsters not unlike the trolls that troubled them long ago.
Even so, when not contending with the perils spawned in the west, civilization’s outposts fought against each other. Armies marched, plagues darkened doorsteps, famine gripped the land, and Father Death’s door was crowded with souls.
None of these lands survived the coming of the Witch-King. The Gog, a race of sullied humans who had long reveled in darkness and evil, spilled out from the Desolation, fleeing the blight they had created to start again in the unspoiled south. Bolstered by undead and bound demons, they crushed the little kingdoms and enslaved the people. Civilization lost its hold on the land, and the wilderness began a steady reclamation of the territory taken from it.
The Witch-King’s defeat saw many of Gog’s surviving people flee to the wilderness, seeking refuge in the ruins their ancestors had created. In the decades and centuries that followed, other refugees followed. Many fled the Empire’s expansion and the bloodthirsty orcs who fought in the emperor’s name. Others sought to make new lives for themselves, paying for their freedom by enduring the hardships of the frontier. From these migrations, new settlements began to appear, first in the east and later farther into the western regions, all the way up to the Mistwood and in the shadow of the dreaded Mount Fear.
The crusaders brought order, justice, and stability to the frontier and established a string of citadels along the edge of the Desolation from which they could mount expeditions and shield the people of the frontier and the Empire beyond. The Empire’s financial involvement grew until it simply annexed the lands as its eighth province, bringing the entire region under the influence of the Alabaster Throne.
There appear to be spell rank (6+) with no spells of that actual rank am I missing something?
There appear to be spell rank (6+) with no spells of that actual rank am I missing something?
Nope! I had the exact same question. I even went through the classes to see what was the highest Power I could get. I found an FAQ on it a bit ago.
The core book only goes up to Power Level 5. Likewise, it only has spells up to that level as well. Furture books will allow you to go higher as well as provide spells of higher level, but we're not using those books for this game.
A notion. While Jexen does not remember a thing about his past, other characters might have met him. They might even have known him fairly well.
I think that could be an interesting idea with Cynerik. Perhaps he knew Jexen when they were soldiers together? Cynerik was a peasant conscript so he likely didn't know him well but he had seen the Clockwork fight viciously before?
@Cyrenik: Absolutely possible! Jexen will be very interested to hear anyone knowing anything about his past - or claiming to.
@Jexen - I think Cynerik will be hesitant to talk about it at first, seeing as he is a deserter from the Emperor's army. Eventually (when dramatically appropriate), certainly. Do you want a good reputation or a bad one?
I'd say a good one. Jexen might lack his memories, but his instincts are towards good.
Part 2: Geography and Climate of the Northern Reach
The Northern Reach is a modest-sized territory with borders defined by geographical features. To the west and south stand the Troll Mounts and Shield Mountains. The Desolation and the Spider Wood mark the northern boundaries. The province stretches eastward across a verdant belt to the shore of the Auroral Ocean. The land between is rich with variety, including old-growth forests, rolling hills, and plenty of arable farmland, especially in the east. Rivers and streams crisscross the land, fed by snowmelt from the mountains. Sizeable lakes dot the countryside, many of which formed when the glaciers retreated at the end of the last ice age.
This line of rolling hills littered with debris from a forgotten people stretches across the center of the Northern Reach and has a reputation for being haunted. Mounds mark the tombs of dead chieftains and warriors, perhaps left by the First People. Here and there standing stones gather in rings, while monoliths jut up from hilltops, their weathered surfaces still festooned with runes and whorls. Stories abound of the dead walking the hills, ghastly figures of tattered flesh encased in bronze and rotting leather, swords gleaming with unholy light. Locals avoid the area and do what they can to protect it from tomb robbers who might awaken the dead.
The Black Hills take their name from the rich coal deposits they conceal. Mines burrow into these high hills, and camps arrayed around them offer shelter to those who brave the darkness, the toxic atmosphere, and the cramped tunnels. Miners report encountering all manner of strange flora and fauna in the depths, from creeping slicks of black ichor to spindly humanoids that retreat from the light, black eyes watching from the shadows. They have also found eerie cave drawings and must deal with equipment that malfunctions unexpectedly.
A foul, bubbling lake reeking of sulfur marks the end of the Cold River’s course. The river is clean, so locals believe its waters become polluted upon mingling with toxic waste to form the lake. The bones of those who sampled its fetid depths line the lake’s shores.
The Burning Vaults is a stretch of active volcanoes in the northern arm of the Shield Mountains. They belch smoke and fire all year long, and ash clouds stream from the calderas to rain cinder and ash across the Endless Steppe to the west. Few creatures make their homes here, though it’s believed a colony of salamanders (fire elementals) dwells in a great city built on a spur jutting out from one of the lesser cones.
Once part of the Mistwood, the Dark Forest’s evil reputation has kept it from becoming lumber for the growing communities in the east. Beastmen infest these woods, gathering at a large sinkhole somewhere in the depths where they cast down the viscera of their sacrifices to feed their dark god.
Thousands of years ago, geological upheaval thrust the western lands hundreds of feet above those to the east. The Fall is a great cliff that formed as a result. Stretching from the Iron Peaks to the north to the Tumbledowns in the south, it looms large on the western horizon, a great barrier to whatever lands lie beyond. Waterfalls spill from the heights to feed the lakes and rivers below, and numerous villages and towns have been built in its sides. Switchbacks allow travel up and down the cliffs, but such routes are infrequent and far apart.
This dense stand of birch trees was once part of the Mistwood but has since become a forest apart. Mist curls between the white trunks day and night, no matter the season, and the trees grow so thickly that it is easy to become lost. Evil faerie, spirits, and other dreadful creatures make their home here, drawn by the ineffable darkness in its center.
Iron Peaks A line of old mountains, the Iron Peaks form a natural border to the Desolation. Miners dig into the hard rock to extract iron ore, but they must contend with ogres and boggarts that infest the caves of the upper reaches.
The largest freshwater body in the Northern Reach, Mirror Lake spreads out from the base of the Fall, where the Silver River spills over the top and crashes into the waters below. No one knows just how deep the lake is—no bottom has ever been found. Several caves lead below the cliffs into a vast system that spreads out beneath much of the region, which is home to troglodytes, gnomes, and other dwellers in the deep places.
On a clear day and from a great distance, one can just make out ghostly towers of Alfheim that climb above the forest, each a spire of white stone capped in glittering gold. Finding the hidden kingdom is no small feat: the paths through the dense forest twist and turn, leading explorers back the way they came or deeper inside, never to be seen again. Mist curls between the trees, making it even harder to find one’s way. Fauns, elves, talking animals, and other fey creatures live in the forest, all of whom might offer help or hindrance, depending on the nature of the travelers that enter their lands.
The highest peak in the Shield Mountains, Mount Fear is believed to be the home of the Great Dragon, an ancient and terrifying monster of mythic power. The rocky height is covered in snow year round and often veiled in clouds, with slopes made treacherous by landslides, avalanches, and fissures that vent scalding steam with no warning. Strange creatures roam the surrounding lands.
A string of large, rocky islands command the waters to the southeast of the Northern Reach. They take their name from rocks hidden by the swirling waters that can rip the hulls of ships that come too close. The descendants of jotun raiders who made landfall here centuries ago live in small coastal towns of longhouses partly buried in the hills. Grassed roofs conceal their presence from passing vessels.
The smallest of the Teeth, Witch’s Roost, marks the end of the chain. The island takes its name for Drusilla, the powerful storm witch who lives here. Banks of fog and sudden, powerful storms dissuade all but the most desperate from making landfall. Despite her sinister reputation, Drusilla has been known to aid ships that founder on the rocks, and many vessels have safely reached shore with the help of the beacon that shines from the highest hill of her island.
Regqrding the 4th truth of the new god: Anything circumventing the migration of the soul is an abomination. Undead, spirits loosed from the Underworld, efforts to extend mortal life through magic, and the like draw the hateful eye of the Demon Lord.
That means follower of the new god generally consider clockworks abominations? There might be of course exceptions but just to get the public opinion about clockworks right.
@Cynerik - Tas will be wary around human males and be careful with any religious people. Cynerik might convice him that not all religions follow the same path as the cultists of the demon lord. But depending on the question above Cynerik might see Tas as an abomination as well?
Can't wait to get the gameplay going with all the lore bookrat is posting :)
@Jexen - Sounds good. I think he lack of talking then might be because he is ashamed to be around a former good soldier since he deserted and fled his unit.
@Tas - Sounds fair to me. Cynerik, I think, may not view the Clockworks as abominations but as pitiable. They've been pulled from the chain of reincarnation and sealed within the bodies of machines. It is unnatural but not their choice.
@Slugoth - Depending on how things go in the first adventure, I'm thinking either warrior or priest > paladin. We'll see what happens though.
@bookrat thats what i figured but thought I'd ask
I'm glad you guys are enjoying the lore.
This world is really cool, and even then they still leave it vague so the players can introduce more stuff themselves. It's a solid mix of world setting and room for creativity.
Part 3: Major Settlements of the Northern Reach
Settlements in the Northern Reach range in size from isolated farmhouses in the middle of nowhere to crowded cities straining to contain the tens of thousands that live there. Some are described here.
A small city of some 19,000 souls at the center of the Northern Reach, Crossings is a cosmopolitan community with a diverse population. For more information on Crossings, see Tales of the Demon Lord.
An industrial town established just fifty years ago, Foundry has grown along with the number of iron and copper mines in the nearby Iron Peaks, and its chief industry is smelting ore. Chemicals used in the smelting process, as well as thick clouds of smoke coughed up from smokestacks, have resulted in widespread pollution that makes the entire area somewhat toxic. Steam engines carry copper and iron ingots from the town by rail south to Sixton, where they are then transported to the rest of the Empire. A considerable number of dwarfs live in Foundry and are its largest minority.
The largest and oldest city in the province, Gateway has stood on the shores of the Auroral Ocean for a thousand years. In its long history, the city has risen and fallen many times, but each time a conquering army shattered its gates or burned the city to the ground, the survivors rebuilt their homes and began again. The land on which Gateway stands is below sea level, so most of its “roads” are waterways navigated by small boats. Houses and buildings stand atop floating islands moored in place by stout pylons driven into the sand underwater. High walls ring the city, and towers fitted with cannon stand ready to defend the city against attack. Gateway’s people have always been fiercely independent, and they opposed the Empire’s claim on the territory to the point that they almost went to war with the Alabaster Throne. Now that the Empire seems to be on the brink of collapse, revolutionary groups are agitating to break from the province and pressing the city leaders to declare independence.
Good Fortune is the largest community in the Low Country and is probably the largest halfling town in the Empire. Originally a trade depot, it has grown into a modest community of a couple of thousand people who make their living buying and selling grains, livestock, and produce all across the Northern Reach and beyond. The Three Sheaves Shipping Company more or less runs the town, and nearly everyone who lives here works for the company.
The ancient dwarfen city of High Stone clings to the side of a mountain east of Mount Fear. History has not been kind to the dwarfs of this place, for they have been poor neighbors to the people of the region. The dwarfs have gone to war with the faerie, the humans, and other peoples no less than eight times since the city’s founding, and they remember everyone involved as if these events had happened yesterday. High Stone features 100-foot-tall walls of stone, decorated with equally tall statues of dwarf warriors clad in plate and armed with battleaxes. Great stone castles shelter behind the walls, each guarding the entrance to a sprawling complex of tunnels and chambers that delve deep into the mountain. The current king, Radarak the Fat, has ruled for almost a century, and rumor has it that he plots to send his army against Sixton and claim the entire province for himself.
Sixton was named the provincial capital when the Empire annexed the territory. Originally, it was a collection of six small and insignificant farming villages. They gradually grew into each other as their populations swelled from imperial settlers, Low Country halflings who traveled west, and crusaders who pressed north. The haphazard fashion in which it grew lends it a hodgepodge appearance, with a clash of architectural styles, crooked streets wending through the press of buildings, and a diverse population. The center of the city, which is still under construction after three decades, holds the governor’s estate and public buildings, including city hall, the courts, the University of the Hidden Path, and the Cathedral of the New God.
Regqrding the 4th truth of the new god: Anything circumventing the migration of the soul is an abomination. Undead, spirits loosed from the Underworld, efforts to extend mortal life through magic, and the like draw the hateful eye of the Demon Lord.
That means follower of the new god generally consider clockworks abominations? There might be of course exceptions but just to get the public opinion about clockworks right.
As best I can tell, this isn't answered within the lore. Which means it's up to us to decide how it will work within the game.
Knowing the teachings of the New God, how does your character view himself (if he's a believer)?
Remember that most people are not literate, so followers of the New God will likely believe the teachings of their local priest. If a priest doesn't already have an opinion of clockworks, then there's a good possibility that his or her impression of you and your actions will heavily dictate their opinions. Get on their bad side and maybe they'll start preaching that Clockworks are abominations from Hell. ;)
Other things to consider:
Just how many people have ever seen a clockwork, let alone know the history of their origins? I figure that even among those who know Clockworks exist, very few know that they're imbued with a soul from the Underworld.