The Cadaverous Earth

[Steerpike]

[ooc]Oneiroi aren't affected because they're fundamentally very different beings than the quick/ghilan etc - they're more like psychic manifestations than true organic life.

It's possible to resist geist infection so outbreaks, while dangerous, can be contained with difficulty.

I edited the geist entry to reflect/refine this... thanks for spotting those problems, Llum![/ooc]

[Steerpike]

[ooc]Added haunts to the grave-spawn posts.  I believe now that most of the major grave-spawn races I'd originally concieved of or alluded to in other sections of the setting have an entry in the grave-spawn post.

If anyone has any ideas for other undead ideas that haven't been included that would work with the setting, that'd be awesome... I want a real menagerie of the dead in this setting.  I am trying to avoid stereotypical undead (classic vampires, liches, ghosts, etc) and undead specific to other games/settings (like morhgs for example, though they would be so perfect in some ways...).  I'm also planning on keeping most if not all undead - indeed the vast majority of creatures in the Cadaverous Earth more generally - corporeal, in order to retain the setting's visceral qualities and to avoid any sense of whimsy or "spookiness" that seems to surround ethereal or incorporeal creatures.

Also, of course, critiques/comments are welcome.[/ooc]

[Steerpike]

[ooc]I finished a (very rough) sketch map of the setting:
[spoiler][/spoiler]
I don't intend this as a "complete" map.  I may add new regions or fiddle with the geography as the setting continues to develop.

Nomadic, some time ago you'd offered to sketch up a map of the setting - if you'd still like to do so, based on the above sketch, that'd be super awesome.   If not, cool, the map above serves at least to coordinate things geographically and give people an idea of how I see things being laid out.  If anyone spots any contradictions between the map/text do let me know.

Right now I'm finishing up my exam period but I'm planning on writing up the Serrated Coast or possibly the Firesong Marches or the Tallow Plains, western parts of the setting ("The Occident") that have only been mentioned in passing.[/ooc]

[Loch Belthadd]

To the east could be ancient husk cities that are almost completely abandoned and mabye have vauge signs of what the world once was. If you do put them in they could be another "semi-hope" place.

[Steerpike]

[ooc]In the far east, the deep waste (from the Slaughter-lands post, the 3rd post down):

The Hecatomb Cities

In the deep waste of the Slaughter-lands are the so-called Hecatomb Cities: ruined metropolises that have been burnt nearly to the ground. Once proud capitols of world-spanning empires now stand empty, their citadels scorched, their courtyards charred and their avenues strewn with ashes and blackened bones. They lie to the east of Etiolation, south of the Shatters but north of Screamwood and Lesion Sea.

Unlike the other ruins dotting the Slaughter-lands, brought down by disasters or the whimpering depredations of history, the Hecatomb Cities were destroyed quite deliberately some time in the very distant past as mass-sacrifices, a great holocaust whose ultimate purpose has been lost. Some suggest the sacrifice was an appeasement to black and insatiable gods, others that it formed part of some incomprehensible ritual. A very few speak in whispers of the Fettering and its unspeakable cost. Whatever the cause, the Hecatomb Cities were burnt with their citizenry trapped inside them, pharmakoi in a grandiose and utterly horrific orgy of flame and destruction.

Now only fuliginous smears remain: even the names of the cities have been eradicated. Yet still, despite the thoroughness of their annihilation, the Hecatomb Cities still harbor a few glints of treasure. Brave scavengers occasionally enter the Cities in search of these glimmers, indestructible relics that withstood the firestorms and the toll of millennia. Few reemerge '" most are claimed by the Cities, or something that now dwells within them'¦

The Shatters

...There are other machines half-buried in the Shatters, along with the Cullys and Suchol, sister-cities of bronze and chrome grown spotted with rust, their walls collapsed, machine gods broken or insane. Berserk automata, swarms of the fetch, and a handful of bitter demons call these cities home, fallen places of smashed cogs and glyph-graved monoliths and maniacal deities of brass and steam, grown twisted and senile in the lightless gloom of the now-deserted temples.[/ooc]

[Llum]

The Skyscar sounds very interesting. Just out of curiosity how large an area does that map represent? Maybe compared to a real world example, like would it be similar in size to Western Europe? Or would it represent an area more equivalent to the Americas?

[Steerpike]

[ooc]The Skyscar is going to be the kind of Northern Lights of the setting.

I hadn't completely decided how large an area tha map covers, but I was thinking the area presented might be roughly equivalent to North America in size.  If Lophius and the swamps are somewhere round Florida and New Orleans then Dolmen might be close to Montreal.[/ooc]

[Loch Belthadd]

x. Whoops!

[Steerpike]

[ooc]Heh no worries, there's a ridiculous amount of text posted and those cities aren't all that prominent.[/ooc]

[Nomadic]

[ooc]I finished a (very rough) sketch map of the setting:
[spoiler][/spoiler]
I don't intend this as a "complete" map.  I may add new regions or fiddle with the geography as the setting continues to develop.

Nomadic, some time ago you'd offered to sketch up a map of the setting - if you'd still like to do so, based on the above sketch, that'd be super awesome.   If not, cool, the map above serves at least to coordinate things geographically and give people an idea of how I see things being laid out.  If anyone spots any contradictions between the map/text do let me know.

Right now I'm finishing up my exam period but I'm planning on writing up the Serrated Coast or possibly the Firesong Marches or the Tallow Plains, western parts of the setting ("The Occident") that have only been mentioned in passing.[/ooc]

Sure would love to. The problem is that the image isn't working. It doesn't load on the page and when I go directly there the page times out. If that can be fixed I will see what I can do.

[Steerpike]

[ooc]Hopefully this one will be visible to everyone:
[spoiler] [/spoiler] [/ooc]

[Moniker]

I am just reading through this now. Suffice to say, this is right up my alley. I like what I am reading thus far!

[Nomadic]

[ooc]Hopefully this one will be visible to everyone:
[spoiler] [/spoiler] [/ooc]

It works... I will see what I can do with it.

[Steerpike]

[ooc]Only if you like, of course.  Thanks, though![/ooc]

[Nomadic]

Here you are, let me know what you think (and if I messed up anything). The text is all non-contour because that takes a fair bit of extra time. However if you want I can probably fix that.

[spoiler=map]

[/spoiler]