Giant Robots for the Vampires of the Gothic Frontier

Escaflowne: The Movie (2000) dir. Kazuki Akane

Whitehack 3e just dropped and it has all kinds of goodies to take advantage of for my futuristic gothic western campaign. One of the main things I want to get sorted is the titular Dragoon. These are terrible creations of the vampiric Nobles. Giant, bio-organic suits of armor powered by a mixture of occult magicks and inhuman sciences. They were lost long ago but around the time my campaign is taking place, they are slowly being unearthed and brought out of the murky depths of legend and myth.

Being made by the occult science of the Nobles, it would only make sense that these things are gnarly. Their armor is scales of bone and thick scabbed skin, their sensors are organic clusters of eyes or tongues that flick and taste the air, and their minds are full of sin and rage. To pilot one is to be pierced by organic tubes and feeders that latch onto your veins, bones, and mind. Rather than think of them as mere vehicles you pilot, they are better thought of as beasts fused with tier pilot and 'ridden' into battle.

Vampires & Dragoons - Gothic Western Wastes in Whitehack

Yoshitaka Amano

With perfect timing, Whitehack 3e will be coming out right as I start a new Whitehack 2e game with my players! We just wrapped up our previous Whitehack campaign after almost a year and a half, but we're already itching for some more.

I've recently watched some favorites of mine: Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000) dir. Yoshiaki Kawajiri and Escaflowne: The Movie (2000) dir. Kazuki Akane. Both films have been swirling in my mind. Ancient technology, strange and powerful species, apocalyptic wastes, and gothic goodness. That sounds like a good excuse for a new campaign! The following is what I pitched to my players before we threw together a session 0:

Earth...

The distant future...

The dwindling shadow of the Vampires and their terrible Dragoons still lingers...

With huge bounties on their head, a class of hunters has emerged. Bounty Hunters.

In a far-future, post-nuclear waste we wander. A world, once terrified by the blood-sucking Nobles, ancient demons, mutants, and their terrible creations: the Dragoons, that is only now returning to a semblance of human control--thanks in part to the decadence and hubris of Nobles, the stubbornness of humanity, and the rise of mercenary hunters-for-hire.

But as the shadow of the past fades, new troubles stir. Haughty warlords and despotic tyrants seek to claim power and dominion over their fellow humans in a world that has only now tasted freedom. Nobles still rule the night and cling to the past by any means available, from unholy pacts to technology best left forgotten. The Dragoons, those fell suits of Dragon Armor born of Sin, towering bio-weapons all, are being unearthed after their merciful slumber.

Indeed, only time will tell if the world can finally emerge into the light, or if it falls into dark forevermore.

 INSPIRATION

> Pulp genres of inspiration: westerns, sci-fi, horror, high fantasy, folklore, and occult science.

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?

> Imagine `Castlevania` + `Fist of the North Star` + `A Fistfull of Dollars` illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano and Ayami Kojima.

WHAT DO WE DO?

> Rob parasitic nobles, overthrow tyranny, delve unholy temples, use freaky past tech and unholy magic, hunt undead horrors, make posses to ride with, and carve out your legend or die trying.

I see this as a great opportunity to play to Whitehack's strengths and expose my players to genres and art they might not have known about. Also, I can't really think of a better time to get together to stick it to corrupt and inhuman leeches at the top of a struggling society.

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000) dir. Yoshiaki Kawajiri

Whitehack has a very broad framework for character creation. Nearly anything goes. The following are just some of the ideas I had scribbled down to give my players a creative push during our session 0.

Basic Classes

• The Strong
• The Deft
• The Wise

Rare Classes

• The Brave
• The Fortunate
• The Species-as-Class
• Dhampir
• Cyborg
• Revenant

Sample Vocation Groups

• Revolutionary
• Highwayman
• Merchant
• Raod Warrior
• Sheriff's Deputy
• Hunter-for-Hire
• Vampire Hunter
• Exorcist
• Grave Robber
• Rancher
• Scavenger
• Surgeon
• Horse Mechanic
• Old World Scholar
• Shadow Templar [RARE]

Species Groups

• Humans
• Dhampir [RARE]
• Cyborg [RARE]
• Revenant [RARE]
• Night Creature [RARE]

We also wanted to try 'Affiliation Groups as Social Class Attunement'. Not unlike using groups like 'Lawful' or 'Good' for moral attunements in more traditional campaigns, we talked about using them to represent your class loyalties.

We have:

• The Nobility. Why would you side with their cold ilk? They care for you not.
• The High Class. Seekers of opportunity in these fresh vacuums of power. They aspire for what they shall never have.
• The 'Deadbeats'. The masses. The most powerful as the others are powerless without them.

Characters without such groups are simply more ambiguous and complex in their loyalties.

Whitehack really thrives with Groups. They are a potent way to just fully open the setting up to players and everyone at the table (Referee included) can be surprised by the emergent creativity. It's one of my favorite parts of the system.

Escaflowne: The Movie (2000) dir. Kazuki Akane

At the end of our session 0, we ended up with a neat group of characters and a quirky place where our adventures will start.

We have a con man on the run from his past deeds, a mutant rancher, a vampire hunter with potent contraband, and a gentleman thief who dabbles in the occult. 

I look forward to coming up with some more ideas for the various bio-weapons and weird occult nonsense that we'll stumble across. The lasers with fly, the gun blades will sing, and the dead will rise in these unholy wastes. For now, we kick off with our first session next week!

It is the year 12,090 A.D. The world has all but ended, ravaged in a firestorm of mankind's wars and madness. But from the wreckage a few humans manage to survive. A few humans... and something else.

Welcome to the Frontier. A post-apocalyptic wasteland inhabited by humans, mutants, demons and various other strange creatures. 

Our story begins in the town of Sandridge, a small ranch town in the Eastern Sector of the Frontier established a couple hundred years ago. It's not far from New Moses, the closest seat of the relatively young Revolutionary Government. It's at least close enough to have some of the Frontier Defense Force parade around and act like heroes.

It's a quiet place. The weather controllers still work and the augmented fields still deliver plenty of crops. But some nasty trouble is brewing and those who came here for an escape are in for a rude awakening!

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000) dir. Yoshiaki Kawajiri

Blood of Pangea: Hyperborea

Northern Lights over Iceland, by Harald Moltke, 1899.

I've recently fallen down the Free Kriegsspiel rabbit hole. It's all about "playing worlds, not rules" (check out this intro to this style of play and the leftist Discord full of amazing discussion about it). It's been quite a blast so far and the main game leading me merrily down that direction is the sword & sorcery system of Blood of Pangea by Olde House Rules.

The game's default setting is PANGEA, the ur-continent of our Earth, but it lists some fictional settings that would be quite fitting. As a huge Clark Ashton Smith fan, HYPERBOREA jumped out at me. I reread the whole Hyperborean cycle, went to the Hyperborean Glossary, and set down to make a campaign outline in the vein of the Pangea overview given in the book. Here I've tried to make Hyperborea my own and present my take on it.

HYPERBOREA was supposedly located at the top of the world, but was otherwise pleasant and warm. It was said to be ruled by giant kings, and at least one modern portrayal added prehistoric life and a mysterious technology, joining civilization with the primitive.  

— Blood of Pangea, p. 15

Appendix I: HYPERBOREA

They had spent the night beneath its lowermost crags, keeping a ceaseless watch, piling dead branches on their fires, and hearing on the grisly heights above them the wild and dog-like ululations of those subhuman savages, the Voormis for which the mountain was named. Also, they heard the bellowing of an alpine catoblepas pursued by the Voormis, and the mad snarling of a saber-tooth tiger assailed and dragged down; and Ralibar Vooz had deemed that these noises boded well for the morrow's hunting.

— Clark Ashton Smith, "THE SEVEN GEASES" (1933)

HYPERBOREA was located at the top of the world. Before it was overwhelmed by the advancing sheets of the Pleistocene age, Hyperborea was a warm and fertile paradise.

REALMS OF HYPERBOREA

COMMORIOM is the high built capital of Hyperborea. A white city of numberless spires of marble and granite. It is the most powerful city of its age gaining tributes from Atlantis, Mu, Tscho Vulpanomi, and Mhu Thulan.

• UZULDAROUM lays a day's journey south of Commoriom, on the fertile plains and jungles of Hyperborea. The land around Uzuldaroum is an agreeable country, full of farms and orchards and running waters and green, flowery woods. Further south, swamps and plains give way to desert.

EIGLOPHIAN MOUNTAINS are a frightful central mountain range of black, glassy walled mountains, riddles with tunnels. The four-coned mountain Voormithadreth lies at the center of this range. One prong runs south, one prong east, dissecting the contenting.

• MOUNT VOORITHADRETH is a volcanic, four peaked mountain. There is some suggestion that the peaks have extinct craters. It is riddled with volcanic tunnels in which the furtive Voormis dwell. Deeper caves lead to the dwellings of Haon-Dor and the serpent folk, while even deeper is the realm of gods.

MHU THULAN is the northern realm of Hyperborea, said to correspond with Greenland, that was one of man's first civilizations. It is composed of several provinces such as Zabdamar and Iqqua.

• CERNGOTH is a northerly, flower-girdled sea-port, on the eastern shore of the Hyperborea Sea. It features shell-shaped domed buildings among which is the golden Temple of the Seven Gods, and griffon-carved wharves. North of Cerngoth lie the bleak mountains of Zabdamar leading to Polarion.
• IQQUA is the most important city in the kingdom of Mhu Thulan. Princes and Kings rule the lands around Iqqua and the cult of Yhoundeh is centered here as well.
• OGGON-ZHAI is a spired city with a black temple to Tsathoggua, north of Iqqua.
• LEQQUAN is a city of thronged streets.

POLARION is an isle of snow inhabited by uncouth peoples. Its people are called Polarions. It appears to be very near the north pole. It is partly an ice desert as oncoming glaciers creep in valleys fertile with fern and cycad.

TCHO VULPANOMI is a semi-legendary volcanic region of the far south, probably corresponding with modern Iceland. Here a lake of boiling asphaltum beats forever at the sea. The dread volcanic mountain Achoravomas belches rivers of flame over the land. Crystals of tourmaline are found here, with diamond-sanded, ruby-graveled shores.

THULASK is a broad northern island of the Hyperborea archipelago. It's people are called Thulaskians. They have a great temple to Tsathoggua.

Dreamy Mountainscapes, by Chih-Hung Kuo

Hyperborean barbarians wander, and the characters may come from the above-listed regions if the judge permits. For ease of play in Blood of Pangea, each has a unique language that can be spoken (and learned) in the campaign.

Other lands are also mentioned above such as the empire of ATLANTIS, with its sorceries and living metal, and the ancient and barbaric sea nation of MU. As I have taken up Hyperborea, I leave this to be explored and expanded by other Judges!

MONSTERS OF HYPERBOREA

Most of the monsters in Hyperborea will be nameless and forgotten abominations, unique in their form, and unknown in their terror. The following creatures are occasional threats that can be more readily introduced as characters range across Hyperborea.

NOTE: Many of the creatures in Blood of Pangea would be right at home in Hyperborea such as mastodons, pterodactyls, tyrannosaurs, snake people, and wizards.

FORMLESS SPAWN appear as formless monsters of black ichor so terrible to behold that characters seeing them have a 1 in 1d6 chance per round of fleeing in terror, although 1 MIGHT can be spent avoiding this. They often rest in basins in Tsathoggua's temples and keep the sanctuary from being defiled by nonbelievers.

Might: 5-10 Move: 30' Damage/Bonus: fear, tendrils (+3)

GREAT SLOTHS stand a massive 12' tall and posses strength beyond the mightiest human. They are rare, but sometimes seen in the jungles around of Zesh.

Might: 15 Move: 30' Damage/Bonus: 2 claws, trampling (+2)

SABRE-TOOTHED TIGERS are ferocious big cats with elongated bladelike canine teeth in their upper jaw. They stalk the Eiglophian Mountains and the northern regions.

Might: 10 Move: 50' Damage/Bonus: bite, 2 claws (+2)

VAMPIRE-BATS are common in the jungles of Zesh. These predators are dangerous and hunt in packs, attacking with great fangs. Optionally, larger ones may carry off smaller victims on a roll of 12 or more, attacking with both their fangs and razor-sharp talons.

Might: 1-4 Move: 40' Damage/Bonus: bite, fangs (+0)

VOORMIS are a degenerate semi-human race. They are umber-colored and shaggily furred, speaking with dog-like howls. Mount Voormithadreth is named after this race, who now dwell in its volcanic fissures. They fight with natural weaponry, but also employ clubs and stones, being physically quite powerful. They worship Tsathoggua.

Might: 1-10 Move: 40' Damage/Bonus: 2 claws, weaponry (+1)

Appendix II: GODS & DEMONS

You shall know Tsathoggua by his great girth and his batlike furriness and the look of a sleepy black toad which he has eternally. He will rise not from his place, even in the ravening of hunger, but will wait in divine slothfulness for the sacrifice.

— Clark Ashton Smith, "THE SEVEN GEASES" (1933)

GODS OF HYPERBOREA

Many gods are worshipped in Hyperborea (this list is just a start), and many sworn oaths have been made to the following deities:

• Hagarg Ryonis (M): wrathful goddess of reptiles; one of the seven
• Ixeera (M): cat-goddess; queen of all cats
• Karakal (C/M): lady of dreams; one of the seven
• Kathruale (M): forgotten animal god
• Leniqua (C/M): moon-god(ess) of the sea
• Lobon (M): god of warriors; one of the seven
• Nath-Horthath (M): lion-god and lord of dreams; one of the seven
• Qualk (M): kindly god of fishermen
• Shimba (C): god of shepherds and keeper of the plains
• Tamash (M): trickster god; one of the seven
• Yhoundeh (M): elk-goddess; heretic burner
• Zo-Kalar (M): god of birth and death; one of the seven

*Worshipped in Commoriom (C), Mhu Thulan (M)

In the true pulp tradition, monstrous and alien gods exist in Hyperborea, cosmic horrors pre-dating humanity's rise from the primordial stew.

• Atlach-Nacha: spider-god of the deep caverns
• Azathoth: swilring mass from deep space
• Kthulhut: aquatic and rubbery high priest
• Rlim Shaikorth: white worm and glacial travesty
• Tsathoggua: bat-like toad from Saturn
• Ubbo-Sathla: formless protoplasmic monster

These are the GREAT REPUGNANCES, although the Judge can include yet more horrors from beyond. Like ZARBANOTH, a star-demon of ice and greed. Simply looking upon these things risks madness as described in Blood of Pangea.

Appendix III: SAMPLE CHARACTER

Here is a new character ready for their first adventure in the wilds of Hyperborea. Perhaps you recognize him?

NAME: Ralibar Vooz    GENDER: male (he/him)

CLASS: adventurer        MIGHT: 10

NARRATIVE: Ralibar is a skilled huntsman, trained in the arts of trapping, wayfinding, and stealth. He rarely gets lost in the wilds. He speaks Thulan and is extremely strong...

EQUIPMENT: bronze broadsword,bronze hunting dagger one week's rations, bedroll, climbing tools

EXPERIENCE: 0        TREASURE: 2 SP

Hegemon - The Phoenix Empire of Berytos

J. M. W. Turner, Dido building Carthage, or The Rise of the Carthaginian Empire, 1815

I'm running a Godbound campaign based heavily on ancient civilizations and their mythology inspired by the wonderful lore of some nations of the Dominion series by Illwinter, my favorite fantasy MMOs, and the awesome creations of Kevin Crawford. The result of this mesh of ideas has been a blast at the table so far and my fledgling pantheon of would-be divinities is already interacting with big players in the region. One of the factions that is featuring heavily so far Berytos, the Phoenix Empire, so I thought I'd explain their vibe and flesh them out. 

Berytos is mainly flavored after the Phoenicians and other Mediterranean seafaring peoples. Think sea peoples of Canaan, Phoenicians and Carthaginian and the cities of Byblos, Tyros, Sidon, and Carthage as important sources. Picture Carthage's founding and the Ba'al worship of the Canaanites.  

Their gist is that they're a literal "phoenix empire" that was destroyed and reemerged as a conglomerate of numerous coastal city states. It is a now cultural melting pot influenced by several other key players along the Telkios Sea. 

A Punic gilded bronze cuirass from Ksour Essaf, 3rd-2nd century BCE. (Bardo National Museum, Tunisia)

The Risen Phoenix

Even the most meager of chronicles of Creation before the Last War recounts the tale of Telkhines, titanic storm demons whose great civilization of Therodos once ruled the waves. The Telkhines ruled over the peoples of the coast and there these slaves learned great lore both ancient and terrible. From the Telkhines these servants learned of exquisite shipbuilding techniques, how to tame the tumultuous seas of Creation, and supreme mastery over metals mundane and impossible. 

This changed when the Pantokrator, the One, during their construction of the Heavens and their taming of Creation, struck down Telkhines for their obsession with Stygian magicks and threatening to prolong the Age of Chaos. The One sundered their bastions, drowned their cities, and the Telkhines were either slain or imprisoned in the lowest circles of Hell. The great Kingdom of Therodos was cast beneath the waves. 

When divine punishment was meted out, the mortal survivors of the now lost kingdom fled. Lead across the angered sea by the Storm Callers, greatest disciples of the Telkhines, some escaped the judgement. Though their might couldn't endure the ravages of the Last War, the echoes of this enclave lived on. Armed with the knowledge of iron-crafting and the magical might of the newest generation of the honored Storm Callers, new colonies were founded on distant shores. Like a phoenix, the dying empire was reborn.  

Much has changed since then. After the shattering of Creation and with their Telkhine gods either dead or shackled in Hell, the humans sought divine leadership. They found the Melqarts of grand Hinnom. One of the colonies was situated near Ashdod and the bloody cult of the Melqarts soon spread through the Phoenix Empire. In the capital colony of Berytos, a great temple to the Melqarts was built, the Temple of Fire and Storms.

But soon another power found its way into the cult. Refugee Colossi, great men of the Machakan royal family, arrived in Berytos and established themselves as rulers of the bloody cult. Their sorceresses claimed divinity and called themselves Brides-in-Waiting. Now Berytos is a seafaring people led by sorcerer-queens from the great temple in Berytos. Since then Berytos has been an accomplished practitioner of war, acquiring new territories and resources, and safeguarding its vast trade network in the Telkios Sea. 

Slowly, the prophecies are being fulfilled. Melqarts of Hinnom have come to claim their brides and feast on the blood of sacrifices. Now in the grand city of Berytos, a terrible queen and a fell king rule. 

Troika! - Shuffling around the Stygian Library

Ynn was so cool, I just had to take a look at The Stygian Library as a sphere in Troika! It's always nice when the methods of getting around the spheres are just as interesting as the destinations. Here's a new background and some beasties.

New Background: Mummified Sage

You're a professor and esteemed scholar. Or at least, you were. Exactly where you taught and even what subject are long forgotten trivialities since you discarded your mortality and life by venturing into the Library. Who knows what would motivate you to do such a thing, but since then you've spent many mortal lifetimes researching and gathering esoteric knowledge and interesting trivia. 

Possessions 

• Fresh Change of Wrappings
• 2d6 of your Favorite Books and Scrolls
• Ragged Robes
• Bootstrap with a Particularly Beefy Tome (Damage as Club)

Skills 

• 3 Speed Reading
• 2 Astrology
• 2 Mathmology
• 2 Pedagogy
• 1 Evaluate
• 1 Book Fighting

Special

You're not quite alive but you're not quite undead either. You don't need to breath or circulate blood. You take double Damage from Silver Weapons but recover Stamina as normal. 

You can read any written language. Your speaking skills are quite rusty though and leave much to be desired, most likely due to an millenia or two since you last held a decent conversation.

Due to the breadth of your studies you may Test your Luck to identify otherwise mysterious things encountered, such as unknown creatures, forgotten artefacts, unexplored locales, undocumented diseases, little-known historical figures, unseen art, etc. However, your knowledge on the practical and mundane pales in comparison.

Librarians

Skill: 7,  Stamina: 7, Initiative: 2, Damage as Unarmed

Mien: 

1. Furtive
2. Furtive
3. Repairing
4. Restoring
5. Furtive
6. Furtive

If the party is sufficiently destructive or rowdy in the Library, replace Furtive with Hostile.

Palid faces look out from voluminous robes as they scurry between the bookshelves. Once academics, their extended stay has warped them into the diminutive and emaciated keepers of the Library. Never tiring, never resting, they make sure the sheol computer is working and that the everything is as it should be in the endless depths of the Library.

Special

Librarians are immune to any mind-controlling effect that would interfere with their work.

If hidden behind a bookshelf, a Librarian may teleport to any other bookshelf in the Library as if there was no intervening space, so long as the start and end points are both unobserved.

Libraries all know the Jolt Spell. Depending on their order they know additional spells. Some suggestions include:

1. Red Order - Breach, Levitate
2. Yellow Order - Amity, True Seeing
3. Black Order - Affix, Fear
4. Grey Order - Exorcism, Posthumous Vitality 
5. White Order - Invisibility, Undo

The Weirdcrawl Approachs

Click the pic to check it out!

Whitehack is pretty flexible when it comes to what it can run and I've had Yoon-suin on the mind...

Yoon-suin is already a weird and wild setting, but I wanted to make it a tad more gonzo and throw in hyper-intelligent sleeping god-machines and have a good excuse for opium dealing slug-people and confused Norman knights from the past to team up to take down mummified monks of Chaos from the Moon Mountains with the railgun they found on the beach.

Basically, I mashed together Yoon-suin and Silent Titans and threw it on a nice handout for my players.

I really want to run this as a hexcrawl in the coming months once my summer games wrap up. I might add more to it, like converting the avatars from Silent Titans and listing out some cool artifacts from the past and future. 

Seven Seals - Setting Spiel

Trench Shrine, Mike Franchina

This is a setting I've been rolling in my mind for some time. It was sparked by the work of Mike Franchina and his "Trench Crusade" project. Go check him out! The basic premise is that in the first year of the Great War, the Apocalypse breaks out resulting in an Occult "Weird War" scenario as you mix dark mysticism, fanaticism,  and technological advancement. I want to draw on cool things like weird war tech, gnostic and antiquated cosmology, and apocalyptic themes. When the Great War turns into the Final Battle, what terrible weapons would be forged? What life look like as things end? Why is it even happening in the first place?

The Great Red Dragon and the Beast from the Sea - William Blake

Riders of Doom, Mikhail Borulko

Shock Troops, Mikhail Borulko

We were warned to repent. We did not listen. Our Great War could have ended before it truly started. We did not cease. Our works were not perfect before the eyes of the DEMIURGE on His celestial throne. As brother killed brother and waded through tides of crimson, we could only preserve what little strength we had in the face of the opening of the Seals. When the ANOINTED LAMB opened the seals, the End began. The first four Seals heralded terrible riders who made our Great War eternal. With the fifth seal, the slain arose in terrible spite. The sixth seal ended the light of day as the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, the moon became like blood, the stars of the sky fell to the earth, the sky was split apart, and every mountain and island was moved out of their places. We hid in our fortresses, trenches, and caves acknowledging the presence of Him who sits on the throne and the wrath of his LAMB. Then the servants of the DEMIURGE were revealed to us.

With the sounding of the trumpets of heaven, hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, burning a third of the earth's flora, scorching all green grass. Something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea and a third of the sea became blood, killing a third of everything in the ocean, even ships. And a great star, Wormwood, fell from heaven poisoning the water from rivers and water springs. The sun, the moons, and stars were struck, so that a third of their light diminished to the point of complete darkness for a third of the day, even during the night. The bottomless pit was opened and smoke arose, darkening the air and sunlight. Then war broke out in heaven itself.

Now that celestial war has fallen to us. The Dragon of Chaos, the ADVERSARY, went to war with we who keep the commandments of the DEMIURGE and honor his LAMB. When the It drew the BEAST  from the sea, the ADVERSARY gave it authority to rule the world. The fools marveled at is might and worshiped it as legions of heretics. The BEAST then went to war with our Saints. Then the second beast, THE FALSE LAMB who speaks as a dragon, arose from the earth and gave all who didn't wear the Mark of the Demiurge, the Mark of the Beast. 

We now fight and kill amongst the ruin, waiting for the time when the earth is finally harvested. We answer the call of the Trench Crusade.

Now I better get some of these ideas down and clear before I forget: 

• ~1918-1920, this all started a year into WW1. The war would have been forgotten if the power of the Seals hadn't whipped everyone into a frenzy (thanks War and Conquest). After war broke out in heaven and fell to the ruined world, the fighting was then augmented by occult magic, heavenly and infernal knowledge, and terrifying beings beyond mortal understanding
• The political alliances have long given way to three major groups: the heretic legions, the servants of the demiurge, and the lost (who really just want to survive the shit show in some way)
• The "front" would be a trench hexcrawl with the shells of cities, bunkers, and temples being the "dungeons" 
• The aether is real. Quintessence is potent dark energy harnessed to fuel and feed the terrible war machines. It is not good for the environment or your lungs, but most don't care about either of those things
• If you couldn't tell by the above, the earth is absolutely ruined. Most places are burnt, destroyed, echoes where terrible things crawl and squirm. Literally pits to Hell are open. Don't fall in and beware what comes out. 
• Because of the seals, the dead are around and quite angry. I can seen some organizing (a skeletal brigade still waging organized war) while others are just creatures who hunt people for their tasty flesh. Understandably, flamethrowers and cremation are quite popular.
• The Demiurge is not God. He is a flawed creator who never knew the actual supreme being but instead styles Himself as the Lord of Creation. The Adversary is an agent of the actual creator being, seeking to liberate humanity from the tyranny of the Demiurge and to test them on whether they can pierce His deceit.Think about it, the Demiurge starting all the terrible things that ruined the world, the Adversary waged its war in heaven as retaliation. 
• The tides of the chaotic cosmic ocean, the Great Deep, which long ago confronted the Demiurge, again encroach on the world, bringing all manner of terrors. 
• You can climb down to Hell if you have the time. A few Hell pores are heavily contested battlefields, with airships, flying things, and climbers waging war inside of them
• Bred from the genes of the LAMB, paladins descend into Hell itself to slay the Dragon's minions in their places of power
• Oh yeah, I want war machines. Flying battleships, crawling tanks that spew hellfire, planes that skirt the firmaments of the heavens themselves
• Chemical and biological warfare is the worst it could possibly be. Angels of cancer and blessed lepers spread rot amongst the heretic legion with their holy blight

Death Was Pleased - Ash, Cannibal Knights, and Math

We finished up our setting jam for my dark-fantasy, post-magical war, point-crawl (which is really a mix and mash of Gus L's Fallen Empire and parts of different settings I've taken a liking to). We've got four characters ready to go, a rough idea of our starting location, and a ton of cool player-made ideas for me to use and draw from.

Our current party roster is:

• Baladur, Level 1 Wise Tainted Shaman
• Kasat, Level 1 Wise Librarian of the Circle
• Otto, Level 1 Strong Ordo Contemnite Mors Knight 
• Remmy, Level 1 Deft Shriek Tamer of the Windriders

All of my players opted to be from various outsider groups and backwaters in the rough eastern regions of the world. I wanted to get some of my ideas down about this region and some of the aspects my players have injected into the setting. 

Zdzisław Beksiński

We will starting on the Road of Tombs, a grand imperial highway towards the eastern edge of things that was hit hard by the Wars of Regicide. Further east, past the Ash Wastes and fang-like mountains, is the distant domain of the Kingdom of Vheissu with its volcanic legions and magical mastery. The Road of Tombs is a mixture of somber memorial and monument of hubris, untold generations upon generations of ancient Agarthans entombed along its path for reasons long forgotten. Plundered during the wars as an easy source of necromantic fodder, it has been corrupted like much of the southeastern empire. Along its monolithic pathways the dead are particularly restless, dark shrines host shadowy groups, and necrophagic wyms carve out their desolation. Only the foolish or the exceedingly brave would travel its worn stones into the depths of the scoured Agarthan Heartland, making it a perfect route of travel for blackguards and secretive travelers.  

Doe

Ordo Contemnite Mors 

Less of a formal martial order and more of a loosely connected group of fanatics hellbent on stopping the universal decay that Death has unleashed on the world. These warriors accept a Thrall Mark (a degenerate curse, based on potent dark Thaumaturgy) in order to gain potent abilities and power to oppose the abominations and horrors that now roam the world. Some even go so far as to turn to dark necromancy to stave off Death's foul embrace and carry on their forsaken crusade in this world, coming closer and closer to resembling the things that they hunt.

The eldest of the Ordo would be monstrous to the average person. If not for the now infamous Thrall Mark, it would be easy to mistake these old warriors as liche lords or dark knights. Many villages or caravans are shocked to find their savior, standing over the ruined remains of their monstrous attackers, to be quite monstrous themselves.

Others still, lose themselves to their endless crusade, becoming just another horror roaming the world and spilling blood. As a result, the public opinion on these fanatics can range from adoration and appreciation to being detested and even hunted.

Zhengyi Wang

Tainted Peoples of the Ash Wastes

The Ash Wastes are probably most well known for two things: the infernal blood that runs deep in the people who live there and their mastery of unsavory magics. These shadowed borderlands made the perfect refuge for the demonic-hosts (individuals possessed and used for war), with the most stable of these beings being able to breed. Generations later, the infernal blood still touches some the folk of these lands, called the Tainted, with some more overtly affected than others. Perhaps as a direct result of this, the voodoo-esque magics of these nomadic tribes contain some of the most potent necromancy, hexes, and curses that can be found outside of the most well-preserved Imperial magics or demonic tomes. 

Anna Kharitonova

Far from the picture of violent and bestial savages that the laughably exaggerated tales and Imperial propaganda abroad paint them as, the nomads of the Wastes are a very pragmatic and communal peoples. They exalt Demon Kings not because they aspire to be servants of darkness or seek great destruction in this world, but because of the ease with which their ancestry allows them to commune with the underlords and how useful such powers are in their difficult lives. These slaves to darkness would leap at a chance to escape the pacts and bargains that they have made, but with the rest of the world regarding them as monsters fit only for extermination this isn't likely to happen any time soon. The real dangers of the Wastes are the arcane creatures, leftover demon-hosts, and even outsiders summoned whole into the terrestrial world staling the crags and old battlefields of the those harsh lands.

Paul Canavan

The Revived Library of Pythag

In the cold, north eastern reaches of the Agarthan Empire lies one of the most complete collections of knowledge on history, the outsiders, the Mystery Thaumaturgic, and more. The Library, practically a city with the population of its upper levels, is a bastion of learning and scholarship. The lower levels are seemingly infinite in their depths, plagued by secrets long forgotten and eager to escape. It was claimed centuries ago by a heathen god of hidden knowledge, with the ultimate goal of collecting and preserving all the world's knowledge and wisdom, who now rules this Bastard Kingdom from the Library as a Philosopher God-King. 

Tatyana Kupriyanova

You could spend a hundred lifetimes searching his collection and indeed many dedicate themselves to plumbing its depth and adding to its vast holds of information. As a reward for this service, Pythag whispers fragments of lost secrets of the Mystery to his Librarians. He only shares tiny fragments of his knowledge though, delighting in the boasts of his wisdom and jealously guarding the most potent of secrets. His Librarians are well know for their mastery of the mystical mathematics and their study of the alchemy of old. Pthag and his servants are particularly interested in scouring the Successor Empire and its ruins for every last scrap or fragment of forgotten knowledge and wandering Librarians can be found all across the imperial territories.

Visions of Ruin

A Visual Palette for Death Was Pleased

I wanted to put together a visual summary of the new point crawl I'm working on, based off of Gus' Fallen Empire setting. Listen to this as you look through these. 

Hubert Robert

Hubert Robert

Hubert Robert

Carl Blechen

Roman Kupriianov

Bastien Lecouffe Deharme

Serhii Kasainchuk

Serhii Kasainchuk

Alexander Mandradjiev

Seok Yung Choi

Stepan Alekseev

Artem Demura

Stepan Alekseev

Bogdan Rezunenko

Bogdan Rezunenko

Liu

Assimilators, Crusaders, Invaders, and Violators - I

I mean just look at this stuff

The concept artwork for Destiny is the main inspirational source for this campaign. It's only fitting
that the alien species that I have in mind take a lot of inspiration from the early enemy concept art and design work for both the games. They have a lot of neat themes and ideas buried in there that I really want to take advantage of.

I love it!

In the year 2896, Earth and the Sol System are continuously threatened by various alien species who seek to claim it for their own ends. But this isn't a joint effort, to the point that the aliens are just as willing to fight each other over the scraps of humanity as they are to fight humanity itself. Suffice to say, the entire system is an absolute mess. Let' take a look at who's stirring it up.

The Dishonored 

Ghouls from the Void

Lens: Greed and Treachery

Disgraced. Wandering. Wanting. These raiders are here from the beyond the galaxy to plunder and pillage, forever seeking what was denied to them. The term "Dishonored" refers collectively to the splintered Great Sects of this species, though each Great Sect has their own agenda, regalia, and nature. They don't appear to have a unified leadership as their inner politics are plagued with treachery and scheming; their High Seat has long been empty as a sign of their unworthiness and fall from grace. Any alliance between Sects is temporary at best. The Great Sects themselves each venerate an aspect of the their esoteric and many-eyed deity, who is said to have laid their species low in its great displeasure long, long ago. As a result of this slight, they lost the divine energy they were imbued with and have been searching the stars for a long-term replacement for many millennia*. They are essentially husks of their former selves craving for divine sustenance they may never find.

The Dishonored are known to use human thralls.

They were the second species from outside the galaxy to arrive in the Sol System. For the survivors of humanity who were struggling after the End, the Dishonored armada arrived and declared a great crusade to gut the remains of the system. The crusade quickly dissolved into infighting as the 9 Great Sects turned on each other. Today, these vile scavengers are picking at the carcass of humanity's civilization and have rooted deep, erecting great towers to dock their massive stronghold ships. Extremely potent warriors and pilots, they issue forth from their towers piloting deadly ships filled with terrible machines of war and destruction.

The Dishonored are taking advantage of the rich energy conditions of the Sol System to fuel their energy requirements. The roiling tides of pure power are not unlike what their deity granted them long ago. They harvest theses great fonts of power, the innate energy of lives, and especially the meta-dimensional rich sources such as MES-afflicted and Souls to sustain their parasitic existence. 

*Some Sects (Minor and even some Great) have found a suitable replacement in the Shadows that occur naturally in the wake of the End in the Sol System. These Sects are predictably very bad news.

Great Monuments of Ruin

BLACK SUN VI: The Heirs and The Verge

Ethereal Looks and Transient Vibes

Destiny's Awoken always seemed like a concept that lost a little bit of something in its transition from concept to in-game. In-game, they just seemed like blue people to me. They didn't have the mystic and otherworldly look that their original art had. They lost the "otherness" in their look. Their lore is quite interesting, but I can't help but lament how their design changed to look in-game.

Look! It's...just a blue person

Since BLACK SUN is heavily inspired by the original designs and artwork of Destiny, I want the posthumans of the setting maintain that ethereal and almost transient look that a lot of the early art had. This should also reflect in their nature. To that end, the BLACK SUN will have the Heirs and their home amongst the ruins, the Verge. 

The Heirs to Humanity

Warden Heirs are a rarity

The Heirs are an species of psychic posthumans who live amongst the ruins of the Asteroid Belt. More than mere MES afflicted humans, they are natural fonts of meta-dimensional energies. Their stark blue-white skin has an ethereal almost luminescent quality to it. Their eyes are perfectly white pits that see beyond where we cannot. Their hair is so white as to practically shine and moves in wind that is not our own. Perhaps this is the same cosmic wind that allows them to effortlessly defy gravity and pass through the air, paying no heed to the rules of our reality.

The Heirs are living multidimensional anomalies and despite being an offshoot of humanity, their forms only have notional similarities to that of the human form. They require food, air, and water. They can become fatigued and require rest, or be injured and bleed. This is all because they are beings that still have a notion of humanity. The concept is potent enough to tie and direct the flow of their energies to the form and limitations of human flesh. They are self-defining in a sense.

Their exact origins are a mystery but what is known is this: they were once something greater and are now something lesser. For the Heirs are a stagnant species. Not that their population doesn't ebb and flow, but rather that all the Heirs that will ever be have been. Aside from those made in the lost events of the End, no new Heirs will ever be created. This is because Heirs are not born. They arrive. From eruptions and gusts of pure meta-dimensional energies, they are incarnated in our reality. Unchanging and mature, fully mentally developed but with feelings of having traveled long and far. Heirs are perhaps incapable of fully understanding exactly why, but they are all too aware that they feel restrained in their current existence. Like a prisoner who has forgotten what the skies themselves look like, they know they have gone away from something incredible but cannot find the words to describe its wonder.

Did  I mention that I love the environmental art too?

On the Verge

Mankind took full advantage of the Asteroid Belt during the Prosperity Era. Massive mining operations were launched to full the construction of orbital infrastructure for the planets and moons during the waves of human colonization. Hulking colony ships, massive orbital rings, numerous cylinder stations, mighty Mandate fleets, and more were created during this time. During the End, it was all turned to ruin and wreckage. Unable to flee the system or weather the storm, destruction swept through the system. It is among these corpses of mankind's mightiest machines and structures that the Heirs have created the impossible cities of their domain, the Verge. 

Distant and aloof from the Redoubt and the BLACK SUN, the Heirs of the Verge are ruled totally by the Twin Kings, two arch-psions who founded the Verge and have weathered the trials of many centuries. While not cruel, they are quite used to having their way and would like to maintain the current way of things. 

Not all Heirs live in the Verge, however. No small amount made their way to Earth and now reside in the Redoubt. These "grounded" Heirs are more in touch with the human side of their existence due to being away from their impossible cities and musings of higher existences. 

Through the Verge