The Cadaverous Earth

[Llum]

Thank you for posting about the Membrane War, it was something I was looking forward too, didn't disappoint.

Now I had trouble picturing the Naghini, do they have two complete upper torsos that join at the "waist" to for the tail/legs?

Felix Rhadcuth was quite interesting, to me he seemed to have a large "Camorr" vibe to him, but maybe that's just because I'm currently rereading The Lies of Locke Lamora.

Now the main question I had was about the rarity of the various non-humans. It seems to me that the various races have roughly equal rarity, then the different gravespawn, then the Oneiroi and finally the Daevas. How rare exactly are the Daevas? You mention the Gorgons, of which there are multiples, and the winged man-faced lion Daeva oracle. Are they so truly rare that they become spectacles in themselves for simply appearing? Or is it something that wouldn't cause more then a small spark of interest?

Finally the Oneiroi seem to be the most hostile of all the creatures, more so then any other being. Is this true? Or just the specific Oneiroi presented? Or just in my head?

[Steerpike]

[ooc]Thanks so much for the detailed review, and thanks for not pulling your punches!  In terms of the ick factor, I can understand completely where you're coming from - and Hobbes definitely was an influence on the setting, for sure.  I'm inclined to be a bit unapolegetic about the extremity of the grotesquerie because I rather like Boogerville, and I'm partly aiming for the gross-out factor.

However what worries me is the word "sameness."  I'm striving to create a fairly diverse setting, unified in tone but not in content, and I'm worried that the setting might be failing in that regard.  I think I understand your point: you're saying that the darkness/rotting stuff is ubiquitous, and that plucks its sting, to a certain extent.  A gross undead monster is much ickier if its invading a comparatively "cleaner" world.

I think the dynamic of the mirror world is an interesting one, and worth exploring.  In a sense all roleplaying neccesiates a mirror world - our own, the mundane one from which we travel into other worlds via roleplaying.  I think what you're saying is that within the setting itself the grotesquerie gets undermined because it's so wide-spread, to the point of banality.

I think, in light of your criticism, that the Cadaverous Earth could do with an injection of a more gentle beauty here and there, not to dull its edge but, in fact, to sharpen it.  Alternatively it might be expanded quite vastly and placed in a cosmology alongside some other, less relentlessly icky worlds.

If I might ask you briefly a follow-up question: what do you make of the shedim at the Temple of Sighing Winds in the Slouching-devil Mountains (the last major post on the first page)?  I felt that that location, while not altogether incongruous with the rest of the setting, embodied a more kind of pastel, melancholic rather than all-out gloomy tone.  Would more along the same lines - shots, as it were, of melancholy, wilting beauty - improve the setting by generating a stronger sense of contrast  with the (admittedly incessant) gore and decomposition?[/ooc]

[Steerpike]

[ooc] [blockquote=Llum]Now I had trouble picturing the Naghini, do they have two complete upper torsos that join at the "waist" to for the tail/legs?[/blockquote]

Yep.  I considered giving them a single shared torso but decided that two torsos joined at the waist would be weirder, and it's basically a rule for myself in this setting that if presented with a choice between greater and lesser weirdness to always pick the stranger option if there are no other factors.

[blockquote=Llum]Now the main question I had was about the rarity of the various non-humans. It seems to me that the various races have roughly equal rarity, then the different gravespawn, then the Oneiroi and finally the Daevas. How rare exactly are the Daevas? You mention the Gorgons, of which there are multiples, and the winged man-faced lion Daeva oracle. Are they so truly rare that they become spectacles in themselves for simply appearing? Or is it something that wouldn't cause more then a small spark of interest?

Finally the Oneiroi seem to be the most hostile of all the creatures, more so then any other being. Is this true? Or just the specific Oneiroi presented? Or just in my head?[/blockquote]

I'd say the fetch are the most all-out hostile creatures - complete psychopaths.  The oneiroi are essentially deranged animals, even the intelligent ones - they're very predatory.  But unlike the fetch some of them might be reasoned with, potentially, or tamed.  But in essence the oneiroi are nightmares, and nightmares tend to be hostile.

Daevas are something I'm struggling with in this setting, somewhat.  I want them to be probably the rarest of all non-humans other, perhaps, than demons, with the exception of Skein's demonic population.  I'm planning on including more daevas - possibly some form of efreet creature in the same region as the zerda (foxfolk) and mantids (mantis-people), which will be a western desert distinct from the Slaughter-lands.

I'm thinking that humans are the most populous creatures, followed by most of the non-daeva inhumans, probably with hagmen and lilix as the largest group, and naghini and leechkin as the smallest group (largely tribal, mostly non-urbanized).  Grave-spawn as a "species" of their own would probably make up close to a third of the total population, while humans & inhumans would make up about 1/2.  The remainder would be daevas, demons, and oneiroi, although an accurate count on the oneiroi isn't really all that important, since they don't tend to dwell in the cities.

[blockquote=Silvercat Moonpaw]I have to ask, though, have you ever felt that maybe you've gone a bit too far for one setting? It seems like this stuff would become simply squicky after a while at this saturation. It's interesting as an artwork, but have you had anybody play in it long-term?[/blockquote]

I haven't played in the Cadaverous Earth yet, though bits and pieces of it have showed up in other games, many of them post-apocalyptic.  I do want a sense of saturation (or oversaturation) but I can see how the setting could go "too far" for some (just as, perhaps, some can't play, say, Gears of War for very long, or read too much Lovecraft or Poe in a single sitting, without getting grossed out by the harrowing darkness).[/ooc]

[sparkletwist]

I think you've interpreted my meaning correctly. I feel like you have created a setting that is unified in tone but not in content. I didn't mean to imply that there was a lack of variety in the world-- it's not so much that the world is full of the same kind of darkness and decay, it's that it's everywhere. Some parts more resemble terrible urban blight, others a Gigereseque alien hive, others a dissected corpse. You have done well in diversifying the imagery, but, though the areas are different in their content, they are not so different in their impact. As an example, I'm sure a village suffering an outbreak of some gruesome Ebola-like disease would not be out of place on the Cadaverous Earth. However, such places actually existed, too. The difference is one of contrast. What is a mile away? On our Earth, you might well encounter an unspoiled, beautiful forest, a perfectly idyllic location-- and if you emerged from this onto the previously mentioned village, it'd be all the more horrific because of the contrast.

In your setting, I feel like after a while, one corrupted landscape may give way to another, without any real impact on the part of the players or characters. The contrast is what is vital. It is some degree of contrast that I think this setting needs most, and I would very much encourage you to add. After all, how can we see darkness without some degree of brightness?

In some ways, I see a realm like this as the ideal "afterlife" for some other world. Granted, it'd take some changes, would relegate to a somewhat mythic status, and would make active adventuring more difficult, but then the contrast with whatever other world is already established. The idea of simple mortality is also removed-- one never dies, only becomes more and more corrupted by the horrors of the place. This, too, might be good, as a mere mortal's life expectancy in a world like this might be too short to really be able to experience all of its, um, delights. Note that I'm not sure how viable a suggestion this really is, but it's something I thought I'd throw out there.

To answer your last question, to be honest, the thing about the shedim didn't really give me as much of different sense as you seemed to be trying for. There was a different aura to it, I'll give you that, but the creature still had a sense that death was at hand-- sleeping so much, being so isolated, being possibly the last of its race, and whatnot. Perhaps I'm being unfairly wide in my interpretation of your "tone," but, to me it felt like it was the same tone, just one more "look and feel" to convey it with. (as I mentioned before, you were skillful in having many of those)

In order to make something really stand apart, I think you'd need some sort of completely unmitigated optimism. And that, unfortunately, may stand out so sharply that it becomes the real "ugliness" by the standards of this grotesque world.

[Steerpike]

[ooc][blockquote=sparkletwist]In order to make something really stand apart, I think you'd need some sort of completely unmitigated optimism. And that, unfortunately, may stand out so sharply that it becomes the real "ugliness" by the standards of this grotesque world.[/blockquote]

Hmm, I'm going to have to mull this one over carefully.  While I doubt full-plate wearing paladins are going to crusade across the Cadaverous Earth smiting evil and spreading goodness and cheer any time soon, the introduction of a "completely unmitigated optimistic" faction or element might be really interesting.  They probably would be regarded as freaks by most of the world's inhabitants, but the players might well relate to them more.  A group that maintains they are "the only ones who SEE!"

Some parts more resemble terrible urban blight, others a Gigereseque alien hive, others a dissected corpse. You have done well in diversifying the imagery, but, though the areas are different in their content, they are not so different in their impact.

Good - that was what was worrying me.  I can work on complicating and fleshing out impact, but I was concerned that the imagery might be getting too samey.

I don't think I'm going to relegate the Cadaverous Earth to an afterlife position or remove death from the setting.  I may, eventually, work it into a larger cosmology with several less diseased worlds (though not before developing it more).

I shall percolate.  Thanks again, for your review and prompt reply.[/ooc]

[sparkletwist]

While I doubt full-plate wearing paladins are going to crusade across the Cadaverous Earth smiting evil and spreading goodness and cheer any time soon, the introduction of a "completely unmitigated optimistic" faction or element might be really interesting. They probably would be regarded as freaks by most of the world's inhabitants, but the players might well relate to them more. A group that maintains they are "the only ones who SEE!"

Another option might be to assume that the current state of this world is a "problem to be solved," so to speak. The "optimistic" faction would then arrive with the goal of fixing the terrible ruin that seems to grip it.

After giving it some thought, this faction wouldn't necessarily have to detract from the bleak feel-- perhaps they carry out their goal in an immensely pragmatic, Machiavellian fashion, with a feel more along the lines of cold terraforming rather than any sort of "redemption." I envision something like ominous, mysterious gas-mask clad men showing up (Half Life Combine soldiers, or the like) and deciding to simply eradicate anything they don't like. This could also create an interesting disconnect in the minds of players-- they'd likely not connect the occasional beautiful, verdant landscape that did appear with the mysterious genocidal faction that turned out to have actually produced it. Just another random thought!

[Steerpike]

[ooc]Yes, that's along the lines of what I was thinking.

I was already planning on introducing a Cult of the Unfettering that supports the cataclysmic power unleashed by the sleeping gods who ended the Membrane Wars as a kind of "harsh medicine."  Hirud is the god-leech - the bloodletter - the physic/antidote.

Other groups might be less extreme but have a similar motivation, to cut away the corruption as surgeons do tumors.  I'm thinking many of these groups might be clandestine, cells of them infiltrating all of the Twilight Cities.  Desperate times and whatnot...

See this is exactly what I want from the Guild - constructive criticism that makes me THINK, that actively inspires me.  Already I feel like the development of the Cadaverous Earth has been rapidly accelerated... once I make a Review Badge, you're definitely getting one, sparkletwist.[/ooc]

[Nomadic]

Sorry that I haven't really gone over your more recent stuff. Life has been a bit hectic. But anyways...

First thought of the day. Extending upon what sparkletwist said, perhaps you might have glades of "clean earth" so to speak. Hidden places where the rot has been pushed back by various forces. I can just imagine the look on the players faces. After months of trudging through death riddled marshes and the corrupted ruins inhabited by necromantic beings and blood phages they come across a pristine landscape with rich green trees and clean water. Off in the distance the warbles of a bird can be heard and their jaws just drop. Of course the next thing they probably do is go for their weapons (good ole PC mentality) since this place is too good to be true.

You could bring in several factions to this. Those that are creating these places, perhaps though it might be more of a thing. A strange being that eats rot and decay. Then perhaps a druidic sect that worships the being or the places it creates (or both) and actively searches out these new places (to worship at them or protect them or whatever else they might do). Then on the other end you have a more necromantic cult that feels these places are a stain on the world, that it is wrong to reverse the entropy.

[Steerpike]

[ooc]A phenomenon known as the Fecundity has been added to the Slaughter-lands post near the beginning.  I don't think it contradicts the feel of the Cadaverous Earth, but it does suggest a kind of hope.  It probably isn't what sparkletwist meant when she said that some unmitigated optimism was needed in the setting, but I try to resist absolutes whenever possible - the Fecundity is kind of a good thing, but it's also really, really bad depending on one's perspective.  Also in the same post is some info on the Cult of the Great Unfettering (in general they don't like the Fecundity - they think it's too little, too late) and the naive environmentalists who worship the Fecundity.  These additions are intended to add a sense of depth, to diversify in some way the "impacts" of the Cadaverous Earth.

Any thoughts or opinions are welcome.[/ooc]

[LordVreeg]

Steerpike, remind me again of the general opinion of technology.  There was some level of holy zeal to the idea of progress in some circles, right?

[Steerpike]

[ooc]There are some barbaric tribes in the Shatters that worship the Behemoths rusting there as Dead Gods, but the true technology worshipers would be the atheistic artificers of Skein.  Though on the surface they maintain a kind of cold, scientific dispassion and rationalism their zeal for progress, invention, and the artificial (mostly in the form of hyper-finely wrought clockwork, like the sort that forms an automaton's brain) has taken on more than a few religious aspects.  The artificers can mostly be found in Skein's Copper Ward, where they attend to these kind of "secular temples" based around orreries (The Palace of Chimes) and other grand machines and where robot angels sing in the street.

Also in the Shatters are two cities "ruled" by insane computing engines and their mad automaton henchmen.

In general, technology is regarded as a commodity and a means to an end.  While the "tech level" is roughly steampunk with a lot of crude biopunk elements (grafting, a partially arcane process), there's so much old technology hanging around - either eldritch or mechanical or both - that in actual fact the tech level is a lot higher, just no one knows how to duplicate the old stuff.  So you might find some gizmo in the Curio Bazaars of Baranauskas that was once the uber death-ray of some badass deathmarine from two Aeons ago or what-have-you, but no one could manufacture one for you.  I want to keep the futuristic elements relatively in tone with the other technology I've presented  - incredibly advanced clockwork, biological tech, and advanced arcane stuff - rather than characterizing it as typical "sci-fi" stuff with lasers and chrome; it's just that the old stuff was way more advanced than what can be produced now.

Probably the most powerful technological factions apart from Skein are the Resin Merchants of Moroi who use their vast machines to drain the Elder Tree (though how the machine works precisely they could no longer explain) and the Lords Revenant of Somnambulon, the most industrially successful group - most of Somnambulon consists of seemingly endless pseudo-automatated factories, worked by zombies, with only the shanties and the hive-manses standing apart.[/ooc]

[Steerpike]

[ooc]sparkletwist, Llum, Kindling,   and Lord Vreeg get review badges if they like, and so does Vermillion because he drew me a lovely leechkin:



By the way, Llum, The Lies of Locke Lamora is one of my favorite fantasy novels.  Felix does have an air of Camorr about him, and Scott Lynch has definitely influenced the Cadaveruos Earth, espeically in bits of Skein and Lophius.

Because it probably got lost in the Tavern here's a quote from its wikipedia page describing Athtas, the world of Dark Sun:

"Once a blue planet teeming with life, Athas has since been stripped of its fertility by the use of corrupting magic known as Defiling, and the decay of its sun. It is a sun-burnt land forsaken by the gods, water, and hope. The natural resources have been depleted and a lack of metal has resulted in the use of wood, obsidian and bone for weapons, tools and common equipment. In such a harsh and unforgiving land, even the most mundane of creatures have developed psionic abilities in the constant struggle of survival of the fittest.

In such a world as Athas, a death by natural aging is considered to be a great achievement and an event worthy of celebrations."

I ws curious about what sparkletwist thought about it, because in some ways the tone is similar - whether Dark Sun could be criticized on the same grounds.  Obviously they're different settings, but I'm curious about how my setting is percievde as opposed to something in some ways also quite bleak... since sparkletwist isn't too familiar with Dark Sun, if anyone else (perhaps more familiar with Athas) could chime in on Dark Sun vs. The Cadaveruos Earth (and thematic separations between the two) that'd be great - the major one I can think of right now is the emphasis on undead and vampirism/cannibalism in the Cadaverous Earth, perhaps..[/ooc]

[sparkletwist]

I read over the Dark Sun information on Wikipedia. While I don't think I know enough about it just from reading that to really compare and contrast it with CE, I did find it pretty interesting in its own right, so thanks for pointing me to it.

I will also say that looking into both Cadaverous Earth and Dark Sun have somewhat inspired me as to ways I could add various "decaying" aspects to my own setting-- new takes on monsters, ruins, and other stuff that is supposed to be creepy no matter where it is; so thank you for that, as well.

[Acrimone]

WOW.

I haven't even gotten a third of the way through, but this is breathtaking in its scope and extremely enjoyable to read (with one important caveat, below).   I've been typing my comments in MS Word as I've been reading through, and upon reflection I see that I'm somewhat echoing Sparkletwist's thoughts, so forgive the repetition.  Anyway, here are my thoughts.  They're mostly critical, as I only have time to write so much and criticism is almost always more useful than praise, especially when the author in question (you) clearly has some degree of confidence and doesn't need to be handled with kid gloves.

Style:
   Lush language is great'¦ but only if it highlights what is going on.  And in order to do that, the reader needs to know what is going on.  There is too much description of not enough information happening here.  The locquacious verbosity interferes with and inhibits the transmission and reception of clear, unfettered information in the minds of the readers, whether they glean the meanings of the exceptionally puissant vocabulary exemplars or not.

What Came Before:
   Clearly there was a lot going on here in this world before everything went to hell in a handbasket.  Does it matter what it is?  Are the things that are happening in this world a result of what came before?  Or has what came before simply yielded before the relentless assault of awfulness that has been wreaked upon it?  In other words, is there a connection between the past and the present, or is the present simply what has replaced the past?  That's something important for GMs, as it could be an entire campaign just to find out what the hell it was the ancient peoples did that caused the Suppuration, or whatnot.  (But see my comments on the Suppuration, below.)

The Twilight Cities:
   First, "Twilight" is a very apt name.  I think that captures everything you wanted it to: the fading of civilization, yes?
   Second, there seems to be a problem.  Of what are these cities the Twilight?  It doesn't seem that they really are centers of "civilization" so much.  This isn't a dying world, and these aren't the last bits of a dying world caught on the edge of the Slaughterlands.  These cities are already dead.  I'm down with Grotesquerie, but the fact is that there needs to be something against which to set it off or it loses its true power: revulsion.  There doesn't seem to be anything against which to set off the macabre nature of the Twilight Cities except the just-as-macabre-except-larger horrors of the Slaughterlands.
   Now lets talk a little about at least two of the individual cities.

Somnambulon:
   You might want to explain that the "Unbound" are so called because (and I'm guessing here based on subsequent material, but I think I'm right) they aren't enthralled by the hive mind of the Lords Revenant.
   What do the Lords think about these Unbound?  What purpose do they serve, and why haven't the Lords with their rather considerable hordes of servants simply converted the Unbound?

Crepuscle:
   Clearly this isn't a full description; it's just supposed to be the beginnings of an idea.  And it's a good one.  This is by far the most intruiguing of the cities precisely because it has some traces of normality to it that make the horror more compelling by contrast.

The Suppuration:
   First, I like the name.  That, too, gets across everything you want it to.  It oozes nasty "stuff."  It's perfect.
   So the Red Rains/Red Ravishing destroyed things environmentally, and the Fecundity seems to be doing its damndest to refresh the environmental degredation.  But the Suppuration is different: it isn't about destroying what's there, but about adding something entirely new and foreign to the mix '" apparently the oneiroi.  This suggests that it has, as a cataclysm, a different source than the other unfortunances.  Is it happenstance that caused it?  Or is there someone or something trying to accomplish something by opening up this rift?  TELL ME I WANNA KNOW!

The Fecundity:
   It's strange, but the Fecundity is making me think of Naussica'¦ you know, with the poison forest creeping everywhere and all that.
   The Fecundity really seems to be the centerpiece of your theme, and it's puzzling because there is absolutely no mention of what it really is, what drives it, or where it comes from.  It's also not clear how the Fecundity is so dangerous.  To be sure, you have pointed out that there are monstrous, terrifying things lurking in its depths.  But you also seem to imply that the jungle (and it seems more jungle than forest) as a whole is somehow malevolent.  Are the plants sentient?  Are they the outcroppings of some malevolent sentience?  Is the jungle itself treacherous in some magical or non-magical way?   Or is it simply that the ecosystem has some sort of instinctive predatory nature?  That the fetch alone of men can live here suggests that there is something in the differences between normal folk and the fetch that can account for or neutralize whatever makes the jungle so dangerous'¦. And I WANT TO KNOW WHAT IT IS!!!!!!  You seem to be going out of your way to make the differences between the Fetch and the normal folk (such as they are) primarily psychological.  Is the secret of the Fecundity's menace, then, something that attacks the mind?  Is it filled with some sort of terror or hopelessness?
   Also, you use the phrase "false rapture."  Are you meaning to appropriate the Christian metaphor of the Rapture here?  Or do you mean that there is (at least purported) joy to be found in the Fecundity and that the cultists deny this?

Eidolons
   Ah, here we are.  This is where things really get effective.  The reason that the Eidolons are so wonderful is that there is something at least seemingly "normal" about them.  (Indeed, they apparently can appear so normal that I wonder where in the Twilight Cities they don't stick out as unusual'¦)

The Quick:
   If you are going to have a category like "the quick", the way you use it in opposition to grave-spawn, you should probably capitalize it, especially in light of the fact that "the quick" in some of the sentences you write makes it sound like you're talking about Ghilan, that come in two varieties '" the "slow" and "the quick".
   Also, you never really define this.  It becomes clear after a few uses that you are probably using this in opposition to grave spawn, but there's no reason to make your readers do all that extra work.

The Ghilan:
   I like the idea that these are sentient and almost normal '" uh, except that they aren't.  Their having attitudes and preferences and such, more than anything you've written so far, gives me a sense of what makes puts the "Earth" in Cadaverous Earth.  It's important not to forget the other half of that name.
   It's also interesting that these are "mindless" parasites.  This suggests that the parasite isn't what's in control '" it just interferes with and changes the person that existed before.  
   The parasitic involvement also makes me question why these are called "grave spawn."  What is the significance of that term?

The Zehrer:
   Nice.  I only have two questions.
   First, how do you pronounce this?
   Second, you say "So complete is this coupling of minds that the Revenants have become almost indistinguishable from the zehrer over the centuries."  To whom are they almost indistinguishable, and how aren't the entirely indistinguishable to these people?  Also, when there is a coupling like this, isn't some third entity what results, and if so, what is there to distinguish anyway?  You seem to be suggesting that some separate traces of the Zehrer and the Lord/Lady persist.  Is this what you mean to say?

Zombies:
   Are the zombies actually dead?

Lilix:
   I'm confused.  You say:  "(T)he lilix are spiderfolk, a race of anthropomorphized arachnids, each possessing eight limbs and eight eyes. Other than these obvious differences and a set of mandibles in lieu of a mouth the lilix are essentially humans with grayish, sometimes hairy skins."
   What is "essentially" human about any of this?  Isn't what makes humans "essentially" human having four limbs, two for walking and two for grasping, and having binocular vision with a mouth suitable for forming humanlike words?
   What is really missing here, I guess, is whether or not the eight limbs are four arms and four legs, four legs, six arms and two legs'¦ what do these limbs look like?  Do Lilix have feet?

Oneiroi:
   There are more than two, right?  I mean, the Suppuration oozes'¦. Somewhat continually I gather.  These two are just two that you happen to have documented, yes?

That's all for now.  I'll work on the rest later.  So much material... so little time.

[Steerpike]

[ooc]First of all, thanks Acrimone, that was an AWESOME review!

In terms of style, I know I can get carried away; I'm trying to imitiate peope like Lovecraft, Peake, and Mieville, who tend to use very lush, hypnogogic language which sometimes places poetry before meaning.  I can understand that this sometimes gets too much, and I do try to reign my language in a bit here and there.

Twilight: I'm going to fight a little on this one.  I'd contend that the cities aren't dead at all, but quite alive.  The Hecatomb cities or Cullys and Suchol, those are dead cities - ruins.  Undead doesn't equal dead.  And for all their nastiness, there's a kind of civilization to the Twilight Cities.  Crepuscle will be in some ways a little less horrifying, but frankly I don't find Baranauskas particularly bad.  Cannibalism is just a harsh necessity, and while there's cruelty in that city, it doesn't compare with the horrors of Somnambulon or Dolmen, the oppression of Skein, or the near-constant violence of Lophius, in my book.  The Twilight Cities may be ugly and horrible in places, macabre in many, but they're still hanging on there, on the edge of the True Night, staring out into their own doom (the Slaughter-lands, which while perhaps as horrifying, are much more barren).

Somnambulon: will get further treatment, and the Unbound will be explained - yes, they are those not bound to the hive-mind.

What Came Before: will depend on the focus of the GM.  mostly, the past is just a big, vague backdrop and disaster factory.  There are lots of dark hints about actions in the past cuasing consequences in the present (all of the major catastrophes, etc), but it all gets kind of blurred, and that's quite intentional.

The Fecundity: its still a little mysterious, but the huge beasts in the forest are one source of danger; the other is that the forest literally eats stuff.  You know Old Man Willow from LOTR?  Like that.  It could also destroy settlements, branches breaking walls apart, creepers tearing off roofs, fungus rotting wooden planks, etc.  Why the fetch?  They're awesome survivalists if given enough food.  The reason they die out is because of lack of food; they're basically aping Hobbes' "state of nature".  I may also have the Fecundity literally ignore the fetch in a way it doesn't with normal humans, since it recognizes them as its twisted children... thanks very much for pointing this one out.  And yeah, the rapture is an appropriation of the Christian one.

As for where it comes from, I thought that was somewhat hinted at... the Red Rain grows the fecundity, and the Red Rain was orchestrated through some unknown process by a group of arcanists (witches) like an Aeon ago.  The How of it is pretty much glossed over - insane magical ritual, basically, some kind of twisted cloud-seeding.

The Suppuration: see the Witchcraft post, under nectar.  I should probably clarify this in the Suppuration post.  The Suppuration is what happened when lots and lots of witches (mostly from Moroi) wore away at the collective unconscious, the aether.

Grave-spawn/Quick: yeah that probably needs clarification.  Quick means living (and usually the term aplies to humans, because it contrasts with grave-spawn who were overwhelmingly once human); grave-spawn are undead (the original binary is "the quick and the dead").  Ghilan (ghouls) are grave-spawn because the parasite kills and revivifies them, as vampires in other settings revivify; they retain their personality and "control" (contrast with say, shades) but lose their memories.  Zombies, too, are dead in this way.  But while zombies and shades can rot, ghilan (and zehrer) don't, again like vampires in other settings - they're more sustained.  

I'm not big on capital letters for races, because we don't capitalize bears or wolves or whatnot, and I want my races to feel more like scientific species.

Zehrer is a German word for devourer and a nachzehrer is also some sort of spirit in German mythology.  I honestly don't know exactly how to pronounce it.  The Revenants are used to refer to the human hosts of the zehrer.  The zehrer and the Revenants, their hosts, have essentially become one and the same race over the centuries, is what I mean by their complete mingling, their sequential generational mind-melding.

Lilix: Picture a human.  Add two pairs of arms from their torso.  Replace the mouth with manidbles and slap on some extra eyes.  That's a lilix: no chitin body, no particularly exotic coloration, no abdomen/head thing going on - a human with extra, arms eyes, and mandibles.  Contrast with, say, a cestoid and you'll see what I mean by essentially human.

Oneiroi: the three described are the only ones I've treated with detail; more are coming.  There are a lot of smaller references to individual oneiroi in the Slaughter-lands post and the Adventure in Baransukas post.

Again, thanks so much for the review!  I've already implemented some additions.[/ooc]