QuoteBetween the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom
Between the conception
And the creation
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the Shadow
Life is very long
Between the desire
And the spasm
Between the potency
And the existence
Between the essence
And the descent
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom
For Thine is
Life is
For Thine is the
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
TS Elliot – We are the Hollow Men
Quote
What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.
TS Elliot – The Waste Land
[ic=Voicelog, Dr. Robert Ericstein, December 3rd 2021, 11:35AM]
We're about to begin Trial 23 of the XTRS Prototype. Previous failures have not deterred our research – we're on the verge of a new era for mankind. No longer will we be limited to this single world, overpopulated and starving for resources. The XTRS will work now that we have sufficient power, and we will gain access to the entire cosmos, to any of the dozens of inhabitable worlds discovered. Testing begins now.
Functions appear within expected ranges. Energy fluctuations within expectations. Target destination is set, coordinates upload successful.
Distant voice: Dr Ericstein, would you like to do the honors?
I...yes, of course.
Deep exhalation Tonight we take a giant step for both man and mankind.
Thrumming Noise For 10.67 secondsWe've done it! We've achieved rift stability! Readings are all within normal ranges, there's minimal entropic leakage. My God, it's hard to remain dispassionate right now. We're about to take the first steps humanity has ever taken onto another-
Distant Voice: Dr. Ericstein! We're experiencing some sort of fluctuation! It...sir, it looks like something is coming through.
What? That's impossible. Let me see those readings – wait, what is that? What in the name of God is-
Screaming for 56.11 seconds. Proximity of screams decreases during durationSilence for remainder of this unit's recording capacity. This unit's capacity expired after 128763.23 seconds[/ic]
[ic=Padre Regburt Jacson, Priest, Sermon on 23 Midsummer 2356 AD, 335 AS]
Three hundred years later, and that is the only evidence we have of what happened. In an attempt to touch the Heavens, Mankind was Struck Down for our Hubris as we were first at Babel. That is when the Shadow was unleashed upon the Realm of Earth, and in it's wake it has remade the World as The Almighty once remade our Tongues into the diverse languages we have spoken since time immemorial. While The Shadow ravished our world for only two weeks before retreating to whence it came, we have all seen what it has left behind – Chaos. Mutants. Bandits that prey upon our fellow man. Witches and devil-worshippers hiding behind the guise of 'psions'. And still we attempt to further our technology, still we try and advance beyond what the Almighty, in His infinite wisdom, has made clear – Humanity was made to serve Him, not slave ourselves to the false gods of science and what we claim to be progress. No, those routes lead to Damnation. True Progress is what is needed, a Progress towards a Deeper Faith in Our Lord. Amen.[/ic]
[ic=Gregory Vladiovich, CEO of Avalon Securities]Of course I've heard that drivel spouted by the Church of Unwaivering Faith. It's pure nonsense, as you should well know. While we can all agree that the activation of the XTRS caused the calamity that has resulted in the current state of affairs, the idea it was some mythical 'shadow' sent by an angry god is laughable, and the idea that we should abandon technology simply ludicrious. Look at the towns that follow the Faith. Without the Lawbringers, much as I find vigilantes reprehensible, it's undeniable that they would fall to banditry or predation within their mythical two weeks. Look at what technology has done here at Avalon 13 – here we have peace, we have prosperity, we have Order, we have the beginning of a new civilization - all thanks to technology. So let those of the Faith cower in their hovels until they choke on the dust they worship. Those with real insight will be the ones to carry humanity into a glorious future.[/ic]
[ic=Unknown Bandit]What the fuckin' hell, man? You wantin' to talk fy-loss-off-ee? Why don't you tink about tis ten – you gonna give us yo money, or do I gotta put a bullet trough tat big brain o' yours and take the cash off your corpse?[/ic]
Welcome to Earth, 2356. Humanity, in an attempt to reach the cosmos, brought about it's own destruction. Dust and Shadows are what remain of the civilizations of old, and humanity is scattered across the world. In the wake of this cataclysmic event, new creatures arose as well as new breeds of humanity, fighting to reclaim civilization and restore order to the Earth – or tear it apart so they can continue to thrive on the chaos they created. Welcome to the Fourth Era of Humanity. Learn to survive, or learn to become part of the waste we've left behind.
[ooc]This is a project I've been working on for a while now, a Post Apocalyptic setting that's going to use the FATE system, bringing in elements from multiple of my prior settings as I cannibalize them for further inspiration. I'm going to be doing as much of this setting IC as possible, for a nice change of pace and to exercise those writing muscles some more, but some OOC notes are needed. Here's a brief overview of things to come:
Power Players – Avalon Securities and the Church of Unwavering Faith are two of them you've already met. With them comes the Order of the Third Eye, a group of psions that seek order through mental domination, The Twisted Grasp, a group of true mutants trying to unite their kind under a single banner, The Saurkis Empire, one of the few true species to emerge that is carving itself a nice chunk of land, Ordo Libris, a group that violently protects and preserves knowledge, and many outlaw bands and would-be warlords.
New Forms of Intelligence – Besides the psions and the true mutants (who have no unified form), several new human-like races have emerged – the cave digging Morlocks, the winged Cupidons, the aquatic Atlanteans, the seemingly-dead Necrots, and far stranger still.
Technology – is an odd mix of the typical post-apocalyptic garb and those found in more advanced sci-fi settings. This is the element I'm working on the most right now, trying to figure out how far I can go without breaking suspension of disbelief. However, many of the post-apocalyptic tropes will exist here.
As always, feedback is greatly appreciated, I love being asked questions, and if you review this and want me to look at something just let me know and I'll do it.[/ooc]
[ooc]Mechanics:
Okay, so there's no way I can think of to do this IC, so here's a brief overview of mechanics I have so far:
This system is FATE based and draws some heavy inspiration from the Dresden RPG. I'm not just doing Dresden wholesale, but still using it as a source of ideas.
Fist of all, some brief crunchy bits, your character has a humanity score that starts off between 6 and 10, depending on the level of power you want for your game. While you can buy skill points and tech points (more on those later) without decreasing humanity, you can buy mutation points, psionics points, or cybernetics points at the cost of humanity at a 5-1 ratio – 2 humanity lost gives you 5 points to spend on abilities. If your humanity drops to 0, congrats, you're now an NPC, roll a new character. It seems somewhat harsh, but your humanity dropping that low is only something that can happen if you deliberately do it – there's no way for someone to force ably reduce your humanity. Your humanity score determines how many fate points you start the game with, so the more human you are, the more you are able to resist compels given by the DM.
Mutations, Psionics, and Cybernetics are bought much like skills are, with FATE's pyramid structure intact – meaning you'll never just have a single powerful ability of any of those without lesser abilities to support them, and to become truly powerful you have to spend a good amount of humanity.
Non-integrated Technology is initially bought with tech points, a set number that every player has access to. However, tech points can be traded at 2 tech points for 1 skill point for characters that are less reliant on technology. Note that this does not include technology found or acquired during the course of the game, only the ones your character has at the beginning. Because we're talking post-apocalyptic here, all found technology will break down after awhile, and technological devices purchased will typically need constant maintenance – essentially, aspects on the technology the GM can use as compels.
This is obviously just a crude write-up, and subject to change as I playtest things, but right now it's at least a starting point to preview the system I'm working on.[/ooc]
This looks cool. I like the background intro/narrative. Have you ever read the book Santiago by Mike Resnik? There was a preacher bounty hunter in that book that would totally fit into this...
Nothing to offer mechanics wise as that's not really my strong suit. I did notice a possible slight discrepancy in Padre Regburts narration. He mentions that the recording was the only evidence of the Shadow happening 300 years prior and that they ravaged the world for two weeks. I was wondering how they would know it was precisely two weeks that the Shadow ravaged the world? I know it's a small thing but it was so specific a time frame that it shook me out of the intensity of the narration...
Also what does XTRS stand for?
No, I'll have to check that out, especially since bounty hunters are pretty common in this setting.
As for the two weeks, he knows that the same way fundamentalist Christians 'know' the world was created in 7 days - scripture. I intentinonally doubled that time - a major tenant of the Faith is that as dangerous as the Shadow was, the Almighty is stronger, which is why it took the Shadow twice as long to ruin creation as it took Him to make it, and even the Shadow could not unmake it.
XTRS stands for extraterrestrial relay system, the intended purpose of the gate...shame the opened the gate to somewhere far worse.
More on system and setting coming soon, trying to overcoming usual laziness in transferring stuff from notebook to computer and get a bit more setting stuff written first. Brief adside - the system is going to be designed to be flexible enough for any
Post-apocalyptic world, and this setting is just an example of what you can do with this system - much as I'm ripping off Dresden FATE, I want a greater divorce between system and setting than Dresden has.
[ooc]Note: All posts that are not responses will be tagged OOC or IC to make it easier to distinguish between responses and content/updates.
After reading Elemental Elf's roman empire themed setting that has an impossible to spell name without looking it up, I realized that part of his design method would work really well for me - mainly, a bottom up setting, starting with a small location and gradually expanding as opposed to trying to design an entire world and eventually getting to specific locations...mainly because I never manage to actually get to specific location. As such, other than some hints and rumors about the rest of the world, Shades and Dust is going to focus on what once was the American midwest, specifically Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, and some of the surrounding areas, because I live there and am far too lazy busy to research another entire area of the globe right now.
Hell, I might design all my settings as small areas from now on - if nothing else, I might actually finish some projects.
Anyway, working on new content soon, hope to have done before bed tonight if I don't get distracted by some-ooooh, butterfly[/ooc]
Avalon Securities
[ic=Radio Advertisement]
Trumpets Playing
AVALON SECURITIES!
Since 2310, Avalon Securities has been your number one stop for finding safe shelter within the Middle Territories! Our scientists, working in concert with state of the art city planners, have created the Avalon Biospheres, providing a qualify of life unseen elsewhere in the planet! Tired of living under the bootheels of bandits? Tired of fleeing from hordes of marauding mutants? Ready to start a life where civilization has been reborn? Then locate your nearest Avalon representative to apply for citizenship within the nearest Avalon Biosphere! Avalon: Restoring Civilization to Humanity.
$10,000 citizenship fee applies. Only pure blood humans need to apply. Anglo-Americans preferred. Credit check applies. Full DNA scan required to gain citizenship. By paying the citizenship fee you are entering into an agreement to serve Avalon securities for two full years. If unable to pay citizenship fee, a work-for-membership program can be entered to earn citizenship within 20 years of relocation. Location of Avalon Biodome to be determined by your Avalon Representative. See your local representative for further details.[/ic]
[ic=Unidentified Lawbringer]Yeah, I've heard that cryptile vomit that Avalon's been spewing all over Middwaste.
*Spits*
Middle Territories my ass. Fancy way of saying Middwaste to try and attract people from the Slaugh infested ruins of Saint Louis or their hidey-holes in Kansas City. Now, you wantin' the truth? Avalon's just a fancier class of bandits that learned it's easier to get people's money off them if you trick them into giving it to them – less hassle, less likelyhood of getting shot, and hell, if they don't have the money it's much easier to make them into slaves if you promise a roof over their heads and claim they can earn their freedom. They're just as bad as The Golden Trumpet, only at least the Trumpet doesn't make any bones about being tyrants – sure, they claim they got some sorta divine right to it, but they're still tyrants.
Why you so interested in in Avalon, anyway? You're not one of their lackeys, they tend to steer clear of us. They got someone you love locked up in there? Can't help you none – I'm a Lawbringer, not a Hunter. I do know a guy, though...[/ic]
[ic=Raelph Brandun, Hunter “Retrieval Specialist”]
You're lookin' to get into Avalon 6? You serious? You ain't trying to get summthing out, you ain't tryin' to save someone, you just want an inside view of the place? Hell no. Breakin' into an Avalon facility's risky as hell, and getting back out's just as hard. You gotta deal with automated sentry drones, actual damn walls – not these sheet metal throw-aways, but honest to Almighty concrete, then they got a hired army in there...plus, people who try and leave tend to got a short life expectancy even if they're out.
No way in hell I'm even trying to bust in there for a damn sightseeing mission...
Wait, you're offering how much? NuCreds, right, none of those Yankbills?
*pause*
Alright, when do you want to go?[/ic]
[ooc]Any strange terminology I'll answer by request until I finish a rough lexicon. Also, this writing a setting entirely in character isn't gonna last too much longer at this rate...but I'm still gonna try the experiment until I'm positive it's just not working.[/ooc]
[ooc]Okay, I have to ask - is the "Setting done all in IC" thing even remotely interesting to people, or would people prefer I keep the IC things but add OOC text to give more details than what's revealed in character?[/ooc]
Hmm, it is an admirable experiment, but as a reader I'm unsure how to react to IC material. I find myself reading through the IC waiting for "the actual info".
I think a golden middle road might be to do IC information exposition through more objective mediums like news articles (okay, kinda objective), reports and even dictionary/handbook entries.
As a final note, if you do have trouble finishing things (I'm with you there) this might be an unfortunate format as it will never really end. There is always one more perspective, one more person who hasn't had his say on the matter. On the plus side it does feel more coherent and "whole" in a way as you don't notice the missing information as much; it all boils down to who you ask after all.
I've considered the route of going news articles, reports, and dictionary/handbook/encyclopedia type entries...but the difficulty there is that the setting, being post-apocalyptic, doesn't lend itself well to those kind of things existing. I think I might have to just use the IC comments as an introduction to what's going on, then use OOC to provide a more detailed, objective stance for the setting - I might use a different setting that would have the above and try that all IC for the experiment. This might be a case of right idea, wrong setting.
And you've got a very, very good point about this being an awful way to make something complete - might make it feel more whole, but the end will probably lack the depth of a more traditional style, and I want to actually complete a setting for once. (Not before I start another project, since I rewatched the Pirates movies, saw The Three Musketeers, and re-read Neil Giaman's short story that featured Lovecraftian entities ruling Victorian Europe, and now my mind is full of possibilities that just don't fit into Shades and Dust - but I'm also not going to abandon this project either, just need to figure out a way to do both and actually finish the damn things.)
[ooc=Avalon Securities][note]While the IC sections are still going to be a major part of this setting's writing, I've decided that to convey all the information I want, I'm going to need to do OOC sections on each element to keep things manageable.[/note]Avalon Securities is one of the largest stable entities in the Midwest, referred to most as the Middwaste. Founded roughly 50 years ago, Avalon securities quickly established itself as a major force for stability, building a number of Havens – mainly by taking existing settlements and "enhancing" them, eliminating or driving away any non-human and then building walls of actual concrete (a very difficult task given the effort and resources involved) – and then abruptly shutting those Havens off from the outside world. It depends on who you ask – either the Havens were established as a bastion of peace and saftey, and the reason word does not come from behind the walls is for the safety of those within, or they're merciless slavedrivers, keeping whoever enters in constant bondage and forcing them to work in their factories to build anything from doomsday devices, a new XTRS, robotic armies, or other ludicrous theories.
As is often the case, the truth lies between the rumors.
A Haven is a wonderful place to live if you can afford the $10,000 pricetag – or offer an equivalent amount of goods. While that might sound like a relatively easy sum, in The Fourth Age, $10,000 is a huge amount of money. Once inside, you find luxury, safety, and plenty of opportunities to further your wealth.
If you can't afford it, you're still welcome within – and put to work until you work off the cost plus the interest, often in a job that barely allows you to pay the interest cost and for your survival needs – food, shelter, and the like. The jobs are hard, the hours are long, and the debt is passed down to your children, meaning it's essentially slave labor – though a few have, through the benevolence of the wealthy or perhaps through shady dealings, risen to enjoy the life lived by those that can afford it.
Of course, most of this is never seen. What is seen of a Haven, such as Avalon 13, is a huge concrete wall with auto-targeting gatling guns posted around it, a single massive gate, and not much else. Like most structures in the Waste, the preference is not for building up but digging down, and only the wealthiest can afford to live on the surface – in single story structures that do not rise above the wall.
Avalon Security guards are some of the most dangerous men and women in the Midwest outside the Lawbringers, though they thankfully rarely leave their assigned Haven. However, anyone that manages to provoke Avalon will likely incur there wrath, and a small force of Avalon soldiers is enough to pose a threat most dangers.
The other impact Avalon will have on those living outside their walls is the sale of their technology and weapons – though they keep the most up-to-date versions strictly in house, older or surplus models are sold to vendors of such goods to resell, often at an exorbitant cost. However, the cost is typically worth the investment – Avalon technology is some of the best you can find, period.[/ooc]
I like the idea of mysterious isolated communities in the middle of the wasteland, but Avalon seems almost too central at this stage in the setting.
You say they have the best armies, the best technology, the best living standards and the most money. Basically they are the best at everything! It will make it harder for you to find unique niches and facets for other not-yet-detailed organizations to excel at.
Hmm...you've got a good point there, Crow. (though standards of living are only best for those who could afford citizenship). But I see your point - I overdid Avalon, making them far too important. I like Avalon as is...which is a better solution, do you think? Tone them down to "Very good" or "Better than the average" in those areas except for safety from outside dangers (The nature of the beast makes them almost inherently best at that, since no one else has settlements as well defended or walled), or up the mystery and isolation factor where people speculate that they're best at those things, but the truth behind the walls is much better hidden so concrete knowledge of what they're actually best at (other than safety from outside threats) is nearly impossible - basically, how good they actually are is up to the DM, not set in stone, and as far as their impact they can either be the focal point of a campaign or "avoid these areas because you don't want to risk that the rumors are right"?