Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by Tessaract
Raw
GM
Avatar of Tessaract

Tessaract Verschlimmbessern

Member Seen 6 yrs ago



A C T I: T O T H A T W I T H O U T B O U N D


In ancient times, men became gods, laid claim to the stars, and sought to solve the mysteries of the infinite. Yet as they became saviors, they also became their own damnation. For it was not divine intervention, plague, or cataclysms which brought there great and terrible histories to a close. No, in the end it was nothing more than simple hubris. And so their world came down, the threads frayed and their lives shattered. As time has moved onward and wounds thought too grievous have hence healed, much of the world before the Long Silence has been relegated to myth and scripture based on the remnants which remain.

As things are life today is too dangerous to dwell on a past that cannot be understood. So we excavate just enough to help us survive in the world which we must dwell. We know that energies and knowledge are suspended invisibly in the air, that reshaped continents of iron and glass—below, upon, and above the earth—hold vast treasures, and that secret doorways to stars and other dimensions and realms provide power and secrets and death. To call it magic, may just as well be truth for all of our understanding.

Upon the eastern expanse of the reclaimed world lies a loose confederation of city-states collectively called the Holdings. Each of these independently-minded entities has a ruler to call their own, but all are under the watchful gaze of the Priory, the central faith of the reclaimed world. A faith based upon the understanding of the past, treating its technology as divine and the Long Silence; the punishment for its abuses. Its leader, the Archon arguably being one of the most influential, if not thee most influential figure in all of the Holdings.

Yet beyond the Holdings, the world is still a wild and untamed place. What clusters of civilization exist do so as isolated islands avast uncharted lands filled with dangers. Here death lurks around every corner as monsters, the loose remnants of past attempts at creating life, roam the lands unchecked by the protective aura of civilization. Yet where there is danger there is also opportunity for wealth and power. These wild lands are the domains of krewes, teams of adventures for hire paid fair compensation for their work to plunder the ruins of old in search of technology. These brave souls are the lifeblood of existence, their blood allowing for civilization to flow.


It is the third day of the Budding Winds. After a long and hard winter, the Reclaimed World has begun to thaw. The great trade city of Mournhold is steeped in merriment and celebration admist the week long festival. Yet even as others drink and dance, there are those that are preparing to venture forth beyond the Reclaimed World and into the Beyond. A clergy caravan from the Priory set to bring supplies, scholars, and pilgrims to the excavation site at Ashfoot. Along with them travels two dozen of the mercenary krewe known as the Vigil, for the roads are long and filled with peril.


G E N E R A L G U I D E L I N E S


Have fun. This arguably thing if any I'd love for you to take away from this. This about telling a story with some cool folks and having a fun time while doing it. There is no winning here in the conventional sense, but considered it a victory if you take out something from this that was worth your while.

Don't be afraid to speak up. If you have question about anything or if something or somebody is making you uncomfortable, please, please, please speak up. As a GM it is my job to make an enjoyable story for you guys but I can only do that if you communicate with me.

Don't post your sheets to the Character Tab until they are approved. This is a really simple one to comprehend right? Just don't do it. You may post/send a draft of your sheet to me if you want any opinions on it, but for the final review it is only fair that I do it in front of everybody, so when you post your sheet to the OOC, I'm going to consider that your submitted application unless otherwise noted.

Post all the things. Posting guidelines go as follows. Preferably once a week and in such a manner that it displays effort on the part of the poster. Personally, I tend towards the longer side of things because I'm terrible at condensing down my verbal vomit. You may be the master of the written word and get as much detail in a single paragraph. So do by you. Also if you won't be able to post for some time please tell me or I will consider you gone and that won't be fun for anyone.

I'm not God. I'm some twenty something trying to distract themselves from the perpetual horrors of medical school, through magical worlds. Yet it is you the players that breath life into these worlds, the GM is not God. I may be the referee, I may be your encyclopedia, but my job is not to control you or command you. My job is to facilitate a story in such a way that everyone can have an awesome time. Don't be afraid to critique me, that's the only way I learn.

Do your best. Don't sweat it, everyone is just as worried and insecure as you are. No one is a perfect writer, I mean if you want to show me your Noble Prize than yes maybe we can talk. I for one suck at proofreading and there will probably never be a day, I don't have to edit a post to spell a word correctly. But I'm trying to make an effort to be better at it. That's what I'm asking you, to try your best.
1x Thank Thank
Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by Tessaract
Raw
GM
Avatar of Tessaract

Tessaract Verschlimmbessern

Member Seen 6 yrs ago



The Reclaimed World is the backdrop of a young civilization that has grown up amid the ruins of very old, very advanced forebears. In the time of the Reclaimed, the landmasses have rejoined to form a vast supercontinent, and a few scattered islands surrounded by seemingly endless seas with perilous storms. But did the world come to be in this march of time, or did humanity design it to be so? Certainly the ancient inhabitants of the previous worlds had the ability to shape their planet; as humanity's mark is a normal part of the topography. Islands of crystal float in the sky. Inverted mountains rise above plains of broken glass. Abandoned structures the size of kingdoms stretch across great distances, so enormous that they affect the weather. Massive machines, some still active, churn and hum. But for what purpose?

T H E H O L D I N G S


Along the eastern coast of this vast supercontient lay the Holdings. The Holdings comprises elven different city-states. Collectively, the rulers are often referred together as the Eleven Presiding. These kings, queens, princes, and councils share no love for one another and truthfully have no relationship except that each rules over a land whose people follow the Priory. Generally speaking, the Holding is more settled and civilized than the Wild, but it can be just as dangerous. Communities are isolated. Travel on the roads is risky and nearly unthinkable at night — but at least the roads actually exist.



T H E W I L D S


The Wilds is a very Holding-centric term, used essentially to describe any area of the world that isn’t part of it. As the scope of the world known and understood by even the most learned scholars in the Holding is limited, however, what the Beyond technically includes are the lands south of the Vallstead, west of Mournhold , and north of Wessmound. The people of the Wild are even more disparate and isolated from one another than the folk of the Holdings are. Although these lands are full of would be rulers, most communities are truly independent. Many have little contact with the world outside their own limited bounds, and some have none at all. The scattered villages of the Wild are numerous but there numbers are unknown, the only ones upon which any certain can be found are those built around Prioy Enclaves. The Wilds as they are as mostly uncharted filled with dangers and secrets a like. Lost laboratories, colossal structures and other mysteries dot its landscape.



T H E V I G I L


Thirty years ago, a small group organized themselves into a Krewe calling themselves the Vigil. In the years since, the Vigil has grown into an international effort of associated krewes led by an elected council. Though the Vigil are generally well trained and supplied, their success can mostly be attributed to business branch - the administrators and representatives responsible for contract negotiations - who are perhaps even more ruthless than those in the field.

The Vigil is not one singular outfit, but rather a conglomeration of dozens of smaller krewes who have submitted themselves to the authority and standards of the Leading Council. The benefits of signing with the Vigil are notoriety, access to requisitions at reduced cost, and the option of pooling together with another Vigil chapter to meet the requirements some of the larger contracts stipulate. That the Vigil typically sends the closest local chapter to fulfill a contract also helps protect the reputation of the organization. Krewes comprised mostly of locals helps mitigate some of the more disagreeable behaviors that foreign mercenaries might exhibit, especially when the land and people they are protecting are not their own.

If all the local companies under the Vigil banner were to assemble, their numbers would surpass five-thousand. This, however, is a theoretical estimation that in reality would be virtually impossible without breaking dozens if not hundreds of ongoing contracts across the Holdings.

The viscount in Mournhold has contracted a retainer of one-hundred Vigil soldiers to remain in the city to aid in training and transitioning military responsibilities to the viscount's footsoldiers.

You are one of those one-hundred.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Tessaract
Raw
GM
Avatar of Tessaract

Tessaract Verschlimmbessern

Member Seen 6 yrs ago



As one might expect humanity in its current form is the main racial group within the Holdings. Yet there are other sentient and not-so sentient creatures that exist in the Reclaimed World, the left over remnants of attempts to create new life either from altered flesh or steel. Acceptance is a hard word to use in a world where racial preconceptions still exist, but there is at the least more cases of mutual beneficial coexistence then there is without, especially now with stronger foundations of the Holdings taking place. In fact it may be more common for sectionalism to be a problem than racism do to the independent nature of the cities the settlements that make up the Holdings.

Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by Tessaract
Raw
GM
Avatar of Tessaract

Tessaract Verschlimmbessern

Member Seen 6 yrs ago



T E C H N O L O G Y A N D I T S T Y P E S


Although the comparison between “magic” and technology is worthwhile, taking it too far is likely a mistake. For example, you can imagine someone disbelieving in magic even in a world where it exists. No one in Reforged “disbelieves” in the technolgoy. It’s all around them. It cannot be denied. It’s also more common than magic would be in most fantasy settings. And yet it’s still just as mysterious and strange, mostly because the technology is varied and unpredictable to those who don’t understand it.

There are people, however, who do understand it—at least to some degree. Not everyone merely scavenges technology from ruins. Some study it, comprehend a bit of it, and then create their own. Results are mixed, but in certain villages, the local tinkerer or Priory member has made a fabulous discovery not just of technology, but of understanding. Now, with the right resources, they can make the device, concoct the drug, or develop the process. A whole community might have access to advancements that are far beyond anything else they possess —a group of farmers using automatons to pull their plows, a village whose thatched roofs are coated in fire-retardant spray, or a band of soldiers with chainmail, spears, and short-wave communicators in their iron helms.

It’s important to remember that the people don’t look at technolgoy the way that 21st-century people look at technology. A force field projector and a two-way radio would seem not only like magic, but magic of the same level of power. In fact, the radio might seem more potent because its use is more broad and its effects are “invisible.” These people have no perspective on what sorts of technology are more advanced than others, and they take none of it for granted.

Technology in all its forms is categorized generally into three distinct formats depending on what they do and how they do it. These are typically called Level I, Level II, and Level III tech for simplicty particualry by Krewes who use said terminology.

Level I is basically strange little oddities and trinkets that are found almost everywhere. They are simple things such as a stone that floats in the palm of your hand, or a small rod that glows when you shake it. These weird and interesting little trinkets and gadegts can be given as gifts or commonly sold to merchants for a quick piece of coin.

Level II refers to technology that has power, but can't hold onto that power for long. These are simple things like a magical elixir used to cure poison (anti-venom), a small sphere that when throw emits a bright display of light or maybe an explosion of fire and metal (grenades), a device that points you towards its sister device (a tracking device), a pill that lets you breath underwater and so on.

Level III technology are typically along the same lines of power as Level II tech, but they are much more durable lasting for extended uses or as long as their batteries maintain themselves. These can be reforged and made into much more versatile equipment like weapons, armor, and other utility items like radios and flash lights.

Still, all tech is rarely straightforward in actual use. Rather than find a device that was meant to be used as a “gun,” a person is far more likely to find an item that was originally intended for another purpose but that has been modified (as best as the Reclaimed World understanding can manage) and now can be used as a ranged weapon. So instead of having a laser pistol you have a modified wielding device, and some reactor coating can be made into a reflector shield. Given the right tools and parts, some characters will be able to construct such items on their own. All tech are incomprehensible devices, as likely as not powered by transdimensional siphons using nanotechnology to rewrite reality on an atomic or subatomic level. Even to someone who understands a great deal about technology, most artifacts appear to be more magic than machine.

D R A F T E R S


Drafters are sometimes called mages, wizards, sorcerers, or witches by the people of the Reclaimed World. Some claim to be the representatives of gods or other supernatural agencies. Whatever they’re called, these individuals have come to understand the mysteries of the past to the degree that they seem to perform miracles. They tap into Technology to alter reality or learn things that they couldn’t otherwise know.

Drafters come in two distinctive forms which are dependent on how they interact with the technology around them to perform their magic. Those who through various tiny devices that they possess, which seem like magic charms to the uninitiated, “conjure” energy. By accessing the surrounding web of connectivity transmitted across the world, they connect with machines — including the nanites — to change their environment. As a result the magic does not come from inside or any potency, but from the understanding of these charms making it more "totemic magic" if you want to call it that.

There are also of course what are called High Smiths. These alchemists and artificers have spent their entire lives analyze and understanding the underlying mechanism behind recovered technology. Using their knowledge they are capable of jury-rigging seemingly useless odds and ends of recovered technology into fabulous creations. Anyone can split a few wires to make an old battery into a bomb, but a High Smith can make wrecks into cannons and gravity generators into personal deflector shields for the right price of course. Because of the skill and knowledge it takes to perform such feats High Smiths are very rare especially beyond the Holdings and most if not all are of Cellva blood as their long lifespans work mean that spending seventy years submerged in reading old recovered mechanical designs and taking apart salvaged tech isn't too much of a time sink.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Tessaract
Raw
GM
Avatar of Tessaract

Tessaract Verschlimmbessern

Member Seen 6 yrs ago

1x Laugh Laugh
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Nariata
Raw
Avatar of Nariata

Nariata The Silent

Member Seen 5 yrs ago

Wooooo! Working on my CS :D
1x Like Like
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Tangletail
Raw
Avatar of Tangletail

Tangletail Keyboard Knight

Member Seen 3 yrs ago

Working on the CS
1x Like Like
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by vietmyke
Raw
Avatar of vietmyke

vietmyke

Member Seen 2 hrs ago

Making progress on my CS as well
1x Like Like
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Za Warudo
Raw
Avatar of Za Warudo

Za Warudo You thought this was going to be a witty comment

Member Seen 6 yrs ago

OH BOI

Working on CS :D
1x Like Like
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by boomlover
Raw
Avatar of boomlover

boomlover The godfather of explosions

Member Seen 6 yrs ago

gentlemen. Lets get this party started !!
2x Like Like
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Tangletail
Raw
Avatar of Tangletail

Tangletail Keyboard Knight

Member Seen 3 yrs ago

Just need to work out the history and my CS will be complete.
Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by FoxFire
Raw
Avatar of FoxFire

FoxFire

Member Seen 3 yrs ago

@Tessaract , does the Ukanuq mentality and maturity show a growth at the same rate as their physiological age? For example, a Ukanuq of 13 years of age has the same mental and physiological maturity that a human of the smae equivalent age would have? 13 years of age is around a quarter of the life spectancy of Ukanuq (50 years), so would that make a Ukanuq of said age be as mature as a human of 21 (which is a quarter of the life expectancy of a human at 85)?
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Tessaract
Raw
GM
Avatar of Tessaract

Tessaract Verschlimmbessern

Member Seen 6 yrs ago

Does the Ukanuq mentality and maturity show a growth at the same rate as their physiological age? For example, a Ukanuq of 13 years of age has the same mental and physiological maturity that a human of the same equivalent age would have? 13 years of age is around a quarter of the life spectancy of Ukanuq (50 years), so would that make a Ukanuq of said age be as mature as a human of 21 (which is a quarter of the life expectancy of a human at 85)?


Yep, you go it right!
Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by Tangletail
Raw
Avatar of Tangletail

Tangletail Keyboard Knight

Member Seen 3 yrs ago




I hope everything is in order!

EDIT: Redid the history. For the most part it is the same, just less rushed.
1x Like Like
Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by Dogematix
Raw
Avatar of Dogematix

Dogematix

Member Seen 5 yrs ago

Very interested! I'm considering making a Cellva drafter (I normally go knight/warrior types so let's mix it up) I've just got a little question about how their charms or "spell list" works before picking my type of drafter.

It says the totemic style works with nanomachines and energy to alter their surroundings, in what way would they alter them? Like I can picture them interacting with AI and programs to navigate ruins and opening locked doors but does interacting with energy mean they can channel it to act like a more traditional "spell" as well like creating lightning or one use shields?

Edit: never mind, I just read over the character tab again and answered my own question lol now it's just a matter of picking between the two styles.
1x Like Like
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by FoxFire
Raw
Avatar of FoxFire

FoxFire

Member Seen 3 yrs ago


1x Like Like
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by vietmyke
Raw
Avatar of vietmyke

vietmyke

Member Seen 2 hrs ago

Wow a lot of Ukanuq applicants, considering mine is planned on being one as well- almost done by the by, just finishing up history now
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Za Warudo
Raw
Avatar of Za Warudo

Za Warudo You thought this was going to be a witty comment

Member Seen 6 yrs ago

Wow a lot of Ukanuq applicants, considering mine is planned on being one as well- almost done by the by, just finishing up history now


I'm making a human, so it shouldn't be too furry focused :D
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by boomlover
Raw
Avatar of boomlover

boomlover The godfather of explosions

Member Seen 6 yrs ago

Yeah i should get to work on mine. Dont be suprised when mine,s like a lot worse. XD
Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by vietmyke
Raw
Avatar of vietmyke

vietmyke

Member Seen 2 hrs ago

↑ Top
© 2007-2024
BBCode Cheatsheet