Sreth 2.0: Wierd Western Wuxia Wasteland W.I.P

[Xathan]

[ooc]As part of my efforts to actually get setting work done and split my attention between multiple projects as opposes to mashing my settings until all I have is a gray, uninteresting paste, I've decided to revive a couple of my older settings that I missed working on. This one is Sreth: a setting of mine from '06 that, while I was proud of it at the time, is hopefully going to benefit from 5 years of exprience since then. If nothing else, I'm having a blast writing it, and hope it's as fun to read as it is to write.[/ooc]

Teaser

This world is broken.

It was not always so. In the Age Before, mages and sages and those with the Talent and the servants of the gods worked wonders and magics to make the world beautiful, breathtaking, and awe inspiring. The ruins they have left behind are vast and wonderous, men lived thrice as long as they now do, and many of the ills we now know were legend or rumor. It was a paradise.

And then the gods died.

It wasn't an immediate process - it was a war. From the Dark dieties of Hel to the Warrior Gods of in the halls of Ysgard to the gods of magic in their Astral dominions, realms that had known peace for millenia, they were assaulted by foes they had fought before and thought banished, bound or dead - after aeons of struggling against their bonds, the Titans had woken once again.

The war lasted for decades, brutal and violate and employing power on a scale not seen since the gods first rose against the titans and bound them. Though millenia late, the Gods were reaping the harvest of that war, as full Titanic might was turned against them. However, the gods were not alone this time: mortals who had obtained godhood, demigods with the blood of legends in their veins, mortals that had mystic power enough to assist in the battle, the great Dragons, the Demons and Angels: all stood beside the gods in the face of Titans and their servitors.

And the gods triumphed. It seems so trivial now, but the gods won that war, the titans were pushed back to where they once had been imprisioned or banished to realms beyond ours, and the gods thought they would have peace once agian.

They did, for 23 days and 23 nights.

It is arguable now if their weakness - still spent and depleated from the Second Titan War - was the cause of their fall, or if they could have even stood at the height of their power against what came. The powers wielded in this war had cracked the veil of reality. opening a tear to the Outer Spheres, and though this tear came the Old Reavers, The Walking Madnesses, The Great Twisted - the Old Ones, the gods that had ruled the cosmos in times immemorial and needed just such a tear to resume their dominion.

This battle lasted only weeks. At the end stood Mother Gaia, Deathlord Noxantis, and the Warrior Ordt, all holding a final stand against beings that had no name or form that mortal or god could comprehend. At the behest of the Warrior the Mother flew, escaping along the Shadowed Paths to another world, while the Deathlord and the Warrior stood as the final bastiions of hope against the Great Old Ones - and fell defending the lives they had long been responsible for ending.

[note]Yes, this is from where the Great Old Ones and Gaia, the guardian of Atlantis, come from to Terra Macabre.[/note]But the Great Old Ones had no interest in our world, torn and twisted by their presence as it was now. They left us, following the Paths that Mother Gaia took, to a world called Ireth or Aereth or Earth or something else - the fact that they were leaving and their destination were the last works of our sages before madness took them, and even then might have been a fever dream of the onset of their lunacy.

But the world was corrupted, even with their passing - the Age of Rot had begun.

The change was as gradual as it was inoxerable: corruption and madness overtook those tied to the old magics, with the world only spared the ravages of their lunacy by the rot that quickly claimed their bodies. Plants and Animals found their forms twisted into unnatural beings, swaths of land were engulfed in The Veil of Mists, and the proud humans and their ilk that had once ruled this world were pushed to the verge of extinction, forced to huddle in fortress cities or beneath the ground or whever they could find refuge - waiting in vain for the madness to end or at least abate.

For fivescore years we huddled, bleating in fear like terrified sheep who knew the wolves were closing in.

But despite our fear, we did not surrended. The Animists began unlocking the powers of mind and body, powers uncouched by the Taint. Alchemists unlocked great secrets of chymistology and mutology, working with the Artificers to create weapons to wield against the Outsiders, and the Taintwalkers learned to harness the magics of old without completely succumbing to madness - sacrificing decades of their own lives to fight for a future that may never come, guarded and watched by the Purifiers who have tapped into the lingering power of the Titan War, the corpses of the Gods, and even the might of the titans themselves to wield a powerful force against the Taint and the Rot. Guns were forged. Bodies were honed. Minds were readied.

We still fear what lives Outside. We know we may never be masters of this world again. But though this world is broken, it was once ours and we will fight with every ounce of might we can muster to make it ours once again. Sreth will be brought back to us.

The Age of Reclaimation has begun.

Overview

Sreth is a combination of my various apocalyptic loves, westerns, and martial arts with a bit of Lovecraftian and Gothic horror thrown in. It's a world where survival has been the primary drive of civilization for about 100 years, a world where the gods are dead and despair ruled daily life. Until recently. The Reclaimation movement, a drive to bring Sreth back under the control of the humanoid races, is beginning to pick up speed after a Renaissance in the sciences and technology coupled with the rediscovery of the power of Chi, or Anima, depending on regional vocabulary.

Tones

Points of Light: I know this is a concept from 4e that is hard to shake, but Sreth was a points of light setting before WOTC started using the term. Cities are points of "light", though it's the sickly pallor light of a funeral pyre. While it's not all doom and gloom - or at least it's less doom and gloom than it was a decade ago - the world within the cities is still difficult, and the world without is nasty and brutal and alien. The adventurers, primarily, will be Relcaimers, leaving the cities to strike out at their foes, finding targets for the military, identifying lands that would be safe to colonize and those that need to be purged, finding ruins that are habitable once the natives are cleared out, attempting to establish peaceful contact with the Twisted Races, identifying potential resources - or perhaps raiding rival cities for resources, toppling dictatorial leaders to establish a more friendly government (or working for a dictator with dreams of empire, or even wishing to become dictators themselves.)

Taint and Rot: The world is twisted and warped, and no where does this show more in Taint and Rot. While these two factors will have a mechanical component, from a in game standpoint Taint and Rot represent the corruption of mind and boy respectively. Tapping into either of these sources invites their expansion, and many who do have gross physical abnormalities. However, these elements are designed to enhance as much as they detract - someone with a Rotted eye may have a blackened pit where their eye used to be, unable to see normally out of it and giving them a hideous appearance as a black web of veins stretches from the gaping hole, but with that eye they can also see the taint in others, or perhaps see Twisted creatures that hide among us, or catch glimpses of the future. Some power-hungry individuals delve too far into this power, becoming Rotliches, and even those who only dabble in these powers will find their lives drastically shortened.

Waste Does Not Mean Barren: When one uses the term "wasteland" the idea that immediately springs to mind is a barren, rocky, dusty flat expanse. In Sreth, it means something different - land that is currently too dangerous for human life. The Grasping Woods, with fleshy tentacled plants that need sunlight and flesh, the Verdant Expanse, a twisted jungle inhabited by some of the deadliest creatures alive and plants that can kill with a brush of their torns, the Veil of Mists, a rolling mist that changes the landscape it passes across, the Great Hives of the more vicious Twisted, the Ossiary, a city built of and ruled by the dead, the Nocturn Fields, a savanna cloaked in eternal twilight - all are wastelands that have life and unlife and color and, well, everything not typically associated with wastelands - although wastelands in the classic sense do exist.

Adventurers are Lauded and Mistrusted: Inspired in part by Leetz' new Grimm Fairy Tails DnD setting (seriously, check it out), the Reclaimers are viewed with a mixture of awe and fear, pity and respect. Spending so much time out of the cities makes their life spans short but allows for the Reclaimation to begin, earning them much praise - but at the same time they are much more susceptible to taint and rot, have powers that many do not understand, and military-grade weaponry without military regulation, giving them both the fear and pity – pity because it's almost a given they will eventually succumb to rot (even if that is not true, most believe it is), and feared because of the consequences if they do succumb to madness.

Races

The races of Sreth contain some old and some new:

Humanity, adaptable people that survived the Corruption due to their sheer numbers, rebuilding in the wake of being much less numerous than they once were.

The Duendar, a once proud race that is now dependent on the effects of Rot to survive and have had their once mighty empire shattered.

Ghuls, ancient carnivores with a hunched gait that were long relegated to the deep corners of the world, finally emerging to regain the surface in the wake of the Corruption.

Shaszil, a race that, like humanity, weathered the Corruption well - covered in iridescent scales and long antennae, swift and agile herbivores.

Cymduel, a race of sapient cephalopods that weathered the Corruption by going into hybernation, awakening after one hundred years of slumber to the new world.

The Chulings, two related stunted races newly arisen from the twisted corpses much of humanity left behind, born of rot and taint, struggling to make their place in the blasted world.

Dovkyne, a race with the last blood of celestial, demonic, or deitific beings running through their veins, perhaps the last hope for true divinity to return to Sreth - or the nail that will seal its coffin forever.

I'm only describing physical traits here – there are no racial monocultures or monoracial cultures at this point among these races. I'm taking some ideas inspired by Xeviat's discussion on non-human stereotype races to develop these races, and will expound upon them further later on.

Martial Arts Cowboys

This is what really brought you to this setting, and deserves a section in and of themselves. While some of what they are was covered in the Adventurers section, there is more to them than people's reactions. Reclaimers, as they are popularly called, are men and women who venture outside the Cities in small groups for the goals stated at the beginning of the overview. They are warriors, scholars, martial artists, often mounted on fantastic beasts they tamed or were given, with little overview or oversight – they work freelance, making money off the resources and riches they find in abandoned ruins or in the possession of those they barter with or slay. The non-ki users rarely employ melee weapons as their primary mode of combat, guns being the vastly preferred weapon since they are just a better way of killing things for those without the ability to channel their body and mind (though some combine the two into a single style). The other exception to this rule are the Evolutionaries, people who combine the focus of ki with alchemical substances to change their physical forms into something that can better combat the monsters without on their own terms. Chi users and Evolutionaries, with the occasional arcane caster battling against taint and their Purifier handler (tasked with aiding the caster and executing them should they succumb to taint or rot) are the exceptions – the most common Reclaimer is a man or woman with a gun, a steed, and balls of steel looking to take Sreth back by bullet and grit.

On the other side of the Wuxia Cowboys are the Bandits and Outlaws that have survived without a city to protect them, typically formed by criminals and exiles or the occasional warlord. They're scavangers and killers, to be sure, but they also are part of the Reclaimation – while they have little love for the cities, they also want Sreth to once again belong to humanoids (which would make their jobs easier). They make for adventurers as well, and are a perfectly viable option as allies or foes or the source of the party.

We Are Not One Happy Family

Although the Cities, the Outlaws, and the Nomads all share a common goal – reclaiming Sreth – they differ as to how it should be done, who should be in charge, and what kind of world should arise. Those who once held noble titles squabble with merchants that have amassed wealth and power enough for private armies, cities squabble amongst themselves and with outlaws for resources, ideology is a conflict source – in short, intelligent races behave as stupid as they do in the real world. The only change is that outright warfare between these various groups is exceptionally rare – instead, they work through Reclaimers or mercenaries or assassins or, most horrifying of all, politicians to assure that the world created is the one they want. The presence of a strong and looming outside threat keeps them from going to extreme options, but it is not enough to ensure total peace.

The Veil of Mists

This element deserves special attention. Despite it's name it is not always mist – it can be a sandstorm, or a dense rain, or any other weather condition that obscures vision. It sits around the world of Sreth, forming the border between Sreth and Elsewhere – and like any natural, amorphous barrier, it ebbs and flows like the tide. Where it passes it leaves changes in it's wake – entire cities, deserted, may appear out of nowhere, and other terrain features could be swallowed up and vanished. While inhabitation seems to hold back the Mists to a degree, strange creatures still emerge from it from time to time, and smaller cities have been known to be swallowed and vanish. Only the bravest or the most foolhardy dare wander near here, and none who have ever crossed its border have been seen or heard from again.

[Xathan]

RESERVED

[Xathan]

RESERVED

[Xathan]

RESERVED

[Xathan]

RESERVED

[Xathan]

RESERVED

[Xathan]

RESERVED

[Xathan]

RESERVED

[Xathan]

RESERVED

[Xathan]

Last Reserved: Figured this would be a good way to combine a discussion thread and a setting thread.

[Xathan]

Overview and major updates added to first post.

[Steerpike]

The Veil of Mists

This element deserves special attention. Despite it's name it is not always mist – it can be a sandstorm, or a dense rain, or any other weather condition that obscures vision. It sits around the world of Sreth, forming the border between Sreth and Elsewhere – and like any natural, amorphous barrier, it ebbs and flows like the tide. Where it passes it leaves changes in it's wake – entire cities, deserted, may appear out of nowhere, and other terrain features could be swallowed up and vanished. While inhabitation seems to hold back the Mists to a degree, strange creatures still emerge from it from time to time, and smaller cities have been known to be swallowed and vanish. Only the bravest or the most foolhardy dare wander near here, and none who have ever crossed its border have been seen or heard from again.

Very interesting idea.  A few questions...

1) Do these creatures/cities seem "extraplanar" in origin i.e. do they speak alien languages or exhibit otherworldly characteristics?
2) Have any cities/towns (not people) ever returned from the Mists?
3) Have you decided where, if anywhere, the Veil sends people/places to? Is it the same "Elsewhere" that other cities deposited by the Mists come from?
4) Does the Veil exhibit any form of intelligence?  Can its fluctuations be predicted or prophesied?  Why does habitation keep it "at bay," and does anything else work to ward it off?

It feels like the Veil offers amazing cross-over potential, much like the Mists of Ravenloft (if you're not familiar with those, look them up - somewhat similar idea).

[Xathan]

The Veil of Mists

This element deserves special attention. Despite it's name it is not always mist – it can be a sandstorm, or a dense rain, or any other weather condition that obscures vision. It sits around the world of Sreth, forming the border between Sreth and Elsewhere – and like any natural, amorphous barrier, it ebbs and flows like the tide. Where it passes it leaves changes in it's wake – entire cities, deserted, may appear out of nowhere, and other terrain features could be swallowed up and vanished. While inhabitation seems to hold back the Mists to a degree, strange creatures still emerge from it from time to time, and smaller cities have been known to be swallowed and vanish. Only the bravest or the most foolhardy dare wander near here, and none who have ever crossed its border have been seen or heard from again.

Very interesting idea.  A few questions...

1) Do these creatures/cities seem "extraplanar" in origin i.e. do they speak alien languages or exhibit otherworldly characteristics?
2) Have any cities/towns (not people) ever returned from the Mists?
3) Have you decided where, if anywhere, the Veil sends people/places to? Is it the same "Elsewhere" that other cities deposited by the Mists come from?
4) Does the Veil exhibit any form of intelligence?  Can its fluctuations be predicted or prophesied?  Why does habitation keep it "at bay," and does anything else work to ward it off?

It feels like the Veil offers amazing cross-over potential, much like the Mists of Ravenloft (if you're not familiar with those, look them up - somewhat similar idea).

Thanks! Not familiar with Ravenloft (well, I'm aware it's a gothic horror setting that came out for ADND, but not much beyond that), will have to check them out.

Not, for your questions.

1) Yes, especially on the Languages. They almost never speak a language native to Sreth, don't have much understanding of the native language, and often seem horrified or confused. They also rarely last long - without the survival skills needed for Sreth or an understanding of the dangers of arcane magic, it's a short life for them. On the other hand, the monsters that come through are often vicious, brutal, and feral - doing quite well, their numbers only limited by lack of breeding partners.

2) Yes. Completely uninhabted, often in very distrubing ways - and occasionally containing skeletons calcified in place, never corresponding to the original inhabitants, or strange structures added to the city for no apparent reason.

3) I have a couple of ideas bouncing around in my head on that one. It's going to be another setting of mine - or perhaps any setting of mine (I'm not sure.) Or perhaps it's going to be an Ethereal Plane/Plane of Shadow/Dark Faerie type place. Or maybe even someone else's setting, if the two match and someone's interested. But either way, a crossover of some sort is what I had going in mind for this - I'm kind of sad that Ravenloft did it first. And it will be related to where the cities come from, though I'm not 100% sure until I figure out the origin plane(s).

4) No intelligence, and the only predictability is that it flows slowly, most of the time, though it occasionally has "waves" that stretch out. Typically, however, you know it's coming...except for that one time you don't. As for why habitation helps keep at bay, no one's sure - the predominant theory is that the Mists flows easiest over natural formations, so structures are a barrier for it. However, huge walls have no effect, so that seems a flimsy excuse at best. And nothing else known works, although some of the various Great Hives have existed at the edge of the Mist with no problems, so their might be something the Skrae know.

Thanks for the feedback, looking forward to your further thoughts! :)

[Magnus Pym]

Taint and Rot: The world is twisted and warped, and no where does this show more in Taint and Rot. While these two factors will have a mechanical component, from a in game standpoint Taint and Rot represent the corruption of mind and boy respectively.

There may be a typo here. Was it body that you meant?

My opinions;

I think this settings has alot of potential. The Tones on which it will be based are well described, and sound promising. I definitely see an influence of some other settings showcased here in the CBG in Sreth and I think you mesh them beautifully with your own ideas. Although there isn't much to bite on at the moment, I have faith in what it'll grow to be.

Now there is the thing about "traditional fantasy" that you are planning on including. By that I mean elves, dwarves and things like that. Wouldn't you want to aim for something unique and perhaps create your own races? This world, I think, would be so much better if it was authentic as to what lives on its surface. Of course I, like always, agree with having humans.

To continue on this matter, every races you mentioned after the traditional ones looked cool.

Now, this is about martial arts, cowboys, BUT there is magic and there are guns. How does martial art compete against these? And, after that, how does it compete against freak monsters who have 20 feet long tentacles and a gigantic body? I think my question can be summed up like this; how strong are martial arts compared to other ways of combat?

Lastly, I think the Veil of Mist is a very interesting aspect of this world.

Keep up the good work, I want to see more of this.

[Xathan]

This setting is not dead! Just got too wrapped up in X20 for a bit. :)

Taint and Rot: The world is twisted and warped, and no where does this show more in Taint and Rot. While these two factors will have a mechanical component, from a in game standpoint Taint and Rot represent the corruption of mind and boy respectively.

There may be a typo here. Was it body that you meant?

Whoops, thanks for catching that typo. :)

My opinions;

I think this settings has alot of potential. The Tones on which it will be based are well described, and sound promising. I definitely see an influence of some other settings showcased here in the CBG in Sreth and I think you mesh them beautifully with your own ideas. Although there isn't much to bite on at the moment, I have faith in what it'll grow to be.

Thanks a ton here - it's always good to hear that a project is being enjoyed! The original Sreth came out either before or alongside some of the settings that are now providing inspiration, and I really feel the setting is benefiting in diversity and depth from having those settings to inspire me - the primary two being the infamous Cadaverous Earth and your equally unsettling Plaguelands. I freely admit that when I spoke of potential crossovers with other people's settings that - while those weren't my only choices - those two settings are the ones I had most in mind. Hell, Sreth's mists could be used for a direct crossover between the two settings, with the characters only stepping foot on Sreth for a few moments before being whisked away.

Now there is the thing about "traditional fantasy" that you are planning on including. By that I mean elves, dwarves and things like that. Wouldn't you want to aim for something unique and perhaps create your own races? This world, I think, would be so much better if it was authentic as to what lives on its surface. Of course I, like always, agree with having humans.

I've come to believe humans are a necessity for any setting - without them, players will inevitably feel a disconnect from the setting. And...you're right about other fantasy races. Much as I may like them, they are jarring with the tone of the rest of the setting. Intelligent races are fine - elves, dwarves, etc are (with the possible exception of Orcs)  not  in fitting with everything else. I'm going to come up with some unique races (probably shoot for 5, more than that and it'll feel cluttered) for player characters.

This is in fact one thing that bothered me about Eberron and Dark Sun - the existing player races felt shoehorned in. The Kalastar, Changelings, and Warforged fit perfectly in the former, Muls and Thri-Kreen excellently in the latter, but Elves et all did not.

To continue on this matter, every races you mentioned after the traditional ones looked cool.

Thanks! I'm going to use those races, actually - I don't even need to create more - just moderately reworked so they are a bit less randomish.

Now, this is about martial arts, cowboys, BUT there is magic and there are guns. How does martial art compete against these? And, after that, how does it compete against freak monsters who have 20 feet long tentacles and a gigantic body? I think my question can be summed up like this; how strong are martial arts compared to other ways of combat?

Martial arts reach a level of power somewhere between what you see in Wuixa and what you see in Anime - they can do incredible feats of leaping and agility, catch arrows and dodge bullets and evade or resist spells, project their Ki in a shout or a blow or a blast, make improbably dodges, run along the aforementioned 20ft tentacles to strike the creature in the middle with a blow hard enough for even its massive body to feel the blow - in short, while they don't have the raw power of casters and are as killable as everyone else, they are by no means weak or vulnerable. The big difference between them and gunslingers or spellcasters is that they have to work much harder (in Roleplay terms, not game terms) to achieve that level of power, but at the same time are almost never caught unarmed or defenseless.

Also, some martial artists follow the School of Resounding Thunder, which basically comes to do "They do Gun-Fu."

Lastly, I think the Veil of Mist is a very interesting aspect of this world.

Keep up the good work, I want to see more of this.

Thank you! I hope I can do more with the Veil - it's an aspect of the setting that adds a particularly interesting element (in my opinion, at least) and some great opportunity for adventures and story-lines even disregarding the previously mentioned crossovers. :)

And trust me, you will seem more, now that I've come up from being completely mired in crunch. :P