>>13879469
As the land began to turn to eternal night, the Shard became the only source of light in the entire Desert, and it's golden-red glow, a mockery of sunset caused by the dust particles in the air, could be seen for miles in all directions as it lit up the sky for hundreds of feet upwards, focused by the crystal encircling it.
As the local animal and fauna died out all around, the ones near the Shard seemed to thrive as it's magical properties rapidly reformed them from the cellular level upwards in mere years. Cacti grew to massive, gnarled and twisted sizes, their tendril like arms interlocking and forming a pseudo-maze around their source of un-earthly nourishment as they sucked raw energy from the air and were evolved into entirely new species. The animals, or more accurately, the scorpions, evolved to feed on the swarming insect population and any living creature stupid enough to come to the light looking for warmth, their poisons brewed to new heights of potency by the slim wisps of magic left subterraneanly, just out of the Cactus' grasp.
The actual Scar however, was the most dangerous place yet.

>>13879482
The constant influx of sand, tiny jet streams occasionally managing to lift it through the maze of grasping limbs, were burned as they passed into the Hell Gate and drew too close to the Shard, it's intense heat causing them to glow a brilliant yellow as they were thrashed upwards by the scalding air, and the overall affect was that the entire area was constantly bathed by the presence of sparks of tiny flame that set regular fires to the Cacti, coating the ground with a constant thin lair of ash (that provided the survivors with precious nutrients) and the smell of burning that lingered in the Dessert as it was spread out towards it's many corners by the same tiny wisps of wind that helped create it.
The crystal glowed an angry Red from above, and as one descended the diffusing and refracted light blinded one with a multitude of rainbows from all directions, making it even harder to navigate it's smooth surface and even more likely that one would fall in too eep and be burned to cinders by the sudden increase of temperature. The air was dry as bone, without a drop of moisture to be found, and caused the throat and lips to dry and ache not even a hundred feet in.
Overall, the massive amounts of fire, ash, poisonous animal life, twisting walls of needle and hellish glow gave everyone who saw it but even once the impulse to run for their lives from what was surely the home of demons, and gave birth to it's local nickname.

>>13879493
Until recently, that is. In the last few years the Shards light and heat has begun to die, the fires are fewer now, and one can even walk down a mile before the heat begins to become stifling, causing foolhardy adventurers and businessmen alike to lead expeditions down the Gateway in search of valuable resources that could still be exploited, and the poison of the scorpions, a very sought after ingredient for both Alchemist's potions and assassins daggers alike.

Features:
~A twisted maze of cacti that both damage and slightly drain the magic of anyone who allow themselves to be pricked by the needles of.
~A variety of aggressive scorpions that make their home both in the ground and Cacti, with very potent poisons, that will chase anyone who draws to near.
~Occasional fires that burn down large swaths of the maze, both opening passages and creating hazards.
~A Crystal tunnel that's light can disorientate the travellers (if you wish), cause them great discomfort as they go down (and weakening any ice, water or otherwise related spells/creatures/weapons), and a massive Sun shard ripe for the taking if one can secure a way of extracting it.


I'm guessing this could either be a high level oneshot/short campaign in the setting, some fluff that could be expanded, or even just a backstory for how some random BBEG got their power supply for their doomsday weapon.

Any thoughts/comments/criticisms?

FUCK YEAH SHATTERED SUN THREAD!

>http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=sun
Other threads are here for the curious.

>>13879541
Aw shit, sorry, I forgot the links while typing this up.
>shameless self bump?

Well, I'm stealing that.

Although I'll be adding a few other creatures into the maze or the surrounding area, maybe have a few corrupt members of the Alchemist Guild have set up camp (with a healthy dosage of slave labour gotten from local towns) trying to take the shard for themselves so they can sell it for a massive profit that the party has to fight off.

>>13879621
Ah-----huh.
I'll get right on writing that out after I check a few things in the other lore threads.

Bumping for writefag and for SS being generally awesome.

A while ago a duo of Masters from the Alchemists Guild, along with a dozen Journeymen in their service, have raided a group of small human settlements and made off with the thirty strongest men they could find, before killing anyone who'd seen them.
Due to their remote location, news travels exceptionally slow and has only reached Terec two months after the events. You are a member of a small band of fighters hired and sent out to discover if the tales of the gigantic Sun Shard being in danger were true, and the even more disturbing one that it was members of the Guild itself attempting to steal it.

As you arrive at one of the settlements on the edge of the Desert closest to the Gateway, you are invited (read: forced) into attending a meeting with the Chief, who, in all but word, begs you to punish those responsible for his people's suffering and to return anyone who you may find. He offers you anything you may need to do this, including a room for the night, and you head off the following morning after performing any actions you find necessary (Such as searching for gossip about the raid and gateway, buying supplies, charming the town whores etc.).

>>13880154
After at least three days travel through the Desert, you come across the Alchemist' settlement, a collection of tents built roughly thirty metres from a sizeable tunnel cut through the Cactus maze that leads to the entrance of the gate. There's a small collection of tents sitting alongside cages holding rather emaciated animals, beside a large one holding the slaves cages.
You must then choose to raid now while everyone is out and you may catch the alchemists tired and distracted somewhere inside the maze, without first trying to figure our what was going on, or risking a brief search of the camp before waiting until nightfall on the opposite edge of a Dune facing the camp, and attacking with at least some intelligence when they're rested but disorientated.
If you choose the first, and win against the weakened Alchemists, you manage to free only half the slaves as a fire is started that kills the rest if you can't put it out (and any water based spells are greatly diminished in power), before heading back to the camp, resting up and restocking supplies, and trekking back to the settlement with only a few of their men.

The shard gets stolen by the BBEG no matter this routes outcome as the slaves will always outnumber you by roughly seven to one and demand being returned home lest they should turn on you (Good or Bad/Evil party doesn't matter, you'll be weakened and forced into escorting them), and you get hired/forced into tracking it down as part of your second quest.

>>13880167
If you choose the night raid, the shard is dragged to the entrance and left under heavy tarpaulin to dim the light, while only the Journeymen Alchemist's sleep and the Master's try to siphon it's power. You then either free the slaves first and let them run a while away to safety, alerting the entire camp to your presence and losing any hint of surprise, or attack quickly and have a much easier fight against the Journeymen before being caught off guard by the two masters powered up by the shard's energy. If you choose the second choice, you must try to pick their cageblock's locks (three in all) the slaves before a fire set in their tents kills them all.
The camp is ruined, but you have the Shard easily available, and even though you can't resupply you make the three day journey out of the Desert, albeit while tired and in need of rest.

If you're an Evil/Bad party at the end of the night raid and have all the slaves, you can choose to have them drag it back to Terec while they die one by one, saving the shard and having a third Master publicly turn traitor (thus revealing the BBEG's Dragon's identity and reducing his ability to fuck you over/monitor you later on) and steal it, leading to you being sent as part of your second quest to track him down.

If you're good and have them all, you bring them all back alive (getting a nice reward from the Chief of a modest sum of money) and leave the shard ripe for the taking by the BBEG, which leads to you being sent to then try and track it down.

If you're bad/evil and have only have a few of the slaves, you can try to drag the shard, but the slaves all die half way and you abandon it to be stolen by the BBEG, who you get sent to track down.

If you're good and have a few slaves missing, you get the shard stolen and don't get a reward, but there's no other differences to the other outcome.

Any comments/criticisms?
I'm also thinking of working on a big-ass second quest for this, as now I've got a plot bunny that won't get out of my head, so ideas for that would be appreciated.

I'm now monitoring this thread.

Oh snap son, great to see this survived my three day ban! I was worried people would lose motivation or whatever, but it looks like this is really being taken seriously as a campaign setting. Oo-rah.

I definitely like the Gateway (or whatever you end up calling it). Good to have something other than the Soulshard that represents Shards as a double-edged sword - generally considered good things but capable of turning bad.

I think in another thread someone mentioned about there being a Shard in a nightlands lake that has gone dark for myserious reasons and there's a castle built on top of it? That might make a good adventure/dungeon.

>>13880300
I saw that as well, it was the idea of using the Shards as part of a dungeon rather than a goal or resource at the end that inspired me to write this thing.

And thanks, this thing is getting surprisingly big in my head now as I've started to plan out a campaign (Albeit one that has some railroading so it can be used to test the setting, not the limits of whatever game it's in)

>>13880339

Great, I hope you and your group end up having fun with it.

I like the idea that close proximity diminishes water/ice/cold effects. It could be that the Phoenix that hatched is some kind of fire elemental and the Shard has some kind of power sympathetic with that. Would flame/heat spells be enhanced in contrast?

Also: I've floated the idea of merging that Kalang bat-race /tg/ is coming up with with Shattered Sun. I thought we'd need a non-human race besides the Dineh (who used to be human anyway) and figured a civilisation that actually thinks more night is a GOOD thing would be an interesting contrast. What do you think?

>>13880423
I'd say there's nothing at the moment that says there can't be any more races in the setting, so if you think you can get it to work, fire ahead.
Also, I'd imagine yes to your other question. Fire would burn hotter and faster, heat spells would cost less to use as the material it's affecting is already pretty damn hot, and while ice/cold spells may cost a shit ton more to use, they'd also heal cool down anything they're used on, which for weaker types of metal could lead to them shattering if it's done, let's say, twice in a row in conjunction with a heat spell. (although this would be more of an enviornmetnal than a combat thing if I let it happen in one of my games)

BUMP FOR THE BUMP GOD

>>13880498

I was just a little worried we had nothing except humans and mutated humans. Something else might be needed to act as a hook. That said, no-one's raised the point before, so maybe I'm wrong. The only real point that was raised was "if we're having non-human races, for fuck's sake have it be something more interesting than just more elves and dwarves"

Bump

BUMPITY BUMP BUMP....BUMP BUMP!

>>13879469
>>13879482
>>13879493
>>13879507
I absolutely fucking love this! Into the wiki with you!

>>13880423
While I personally would prefer a human-only setting for this, I can see the potential for non-humans for the setting, so by all means roll with it!

Also pic related: Sketch of Terec

>>13880979
Also, some more ideas that got whisked away with a thread-bury:

>On the idea of paladins

For all Astronomy and civil rule has advanced in the Holy City, there are still vestiges of its theocratic beginnings. The House of Gargonel, which was the first to lay claim unto the City during its founding, imposed a religious government with its cadre of newly-formed Phoenix worshippers. Now Gargonel resides over the city’s religious affairs despite its own advances in Astronomy, including what was then its police force before the remaining Houses arrived to the scene.

The Order of the Pyre today is a multifaceted force which serves the Council of Kings as a whole, rather than just the House of Gargonel. They serve in a number of roles, including maintaining order in the City, spreading the Phoenix worship throughout the land, providing intelligence for the Council, and in some cases, becoming a supplemental military force for neighboring allies. The separate companies of the Order are defined on their primary function, although they do cross-train with each other to form a more comprehensive force.

cont'd

>>13881016
>And about how magic works...
While the primary duty of an Astronomer is to track and predict the paths of the Shards, their intimate knowledge of the Shards has produced some unexpected results. While the Sun has been proven to have been home to a mighty beast of legend and lore, the world under the Cerulean Heavens was devoid of much anything supernatural. The Sun then was merely a boundless source of Light and heat. With the Shards now so close to the world, their Light has produced a variety of otherwise unnatural effects on the world.

The more the Astronomer understands the workings of the Shards, the more he or she realizes their potential for their supernatural applications. Higher echelons of Astronomers in the Holy City, for instance, can control the weather in the City to a degree, as well as to provide an impenetrable barrier to protect it in times of war. Proximity to the Shards is also key. The People of the Soulshard, in this case, are mutated by their Shard’s Ghostlight, and those who are always close to it are changed even more.

A variant of what has come to be called Astromancy is the Rite of Phoenix’s Blood, which imprints Stardust into the wielder’s skin. Depending on how much Stardust has been put into the skin, as well as how well the wielder can tolerate its power, he or she can perform feats which other Astromancers can do, even in the depths of the Darklands.

cont'd

>>13881029
>How about some more of the Twilight...
Human settlements in the Twilight are mostly tightly-knit communities of farmers, hunters, and artisans. For the most part, they are a peaceful lot, living off of the land along the edge of the Shardstreams’ Light. The constant, but moderated Light proves extremely useful for the growing of plants without a distinct day and night cycle.

The constant dusk also produced a bit of a side effect within some of the villagers, however. Without the stronger Light bathing the Cities, these individuals have discovered an inner Light within other people. Most people with this ability use it in a predictive fashion, much like reading an aura. Some interpret a person’s inner Light as a measure of his or her personality. Others see it as a compass for said person to reach his or her goals.

There are a few in this already small number of people who can draw power from the inner Light. These select few have learned how to use the inherent Light within themselves as an energy source of sorts. Skilled users of the inner Light can perform physical feats otherwise thought impossible, bolstering their body and providing the sheer energy needed for such abilities. They can also do the same for those around them, bringing forth their companions’ inner Light to help them out in their time of need also.

>>13880979

I think if we were going pure human with this, we should institute some substantial mechanical differences between ethnic groups so that people can at least have some degree of customisation.

Baskers, for instance, are more inclined to commerce and scholarship, so they might have a bonus to INT or CHA. Strobers are hardy folk and have to forage to survive, so they'd have a bonus to CON or WIS. Twilighters see things others dont and act with unsettling precision, giving them DEX or WIS boosts...

Or something like that, at least. Just something to really add another layer of differentiation between group A and group B that the players can feel.

>>13880979
The Gateway added to the wiki.

>>13881426
Also on sup/tg/ for posterity!

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/13879469/

To keep this thread alive, I'll throw out a question. Anyone made any character concepts for this setting. No crunch or such (though it would be a bonus), but I'm interested how others would interact with the setting and its concepts.

>>13882699
Yes, actually.
Although I don't have the stats with me as they've yet to be made, I've got the backstory for my three player's (True neutral Cleric, Chaotic Neutral Warrior & Ranger, and Lawful Evil Rogue) party right here with me.

In the city of Terec there is an...odd group of thieves. They are led by a Cleric, a devout man of the Shards, in a quest not for money, but for knowledge. With the aid of Michael Oberron, a Thief in his employ, and Robert Slate and John Deryy, his long time (Warrior & Ranger) bodyguards and friends, he has been gathering rumors of important historical texts, star charts and geographical surveys being sold by merchants or kept hidden by the Alchemist Guild for their own usage, and has been stealing them so he may aid his Church through their donation.
For near seven months they have successfully stolen and donated nearly thirteen items, selling any small trinkets they have also picked up at a knock down price to fund their group. However, the Guil has finally taken notice of their actions after one of their Practitioners' store was raided and a piece of the the Clerics' robe, a rare colour and type of material only used by certain members of the Church, and they have been captured after a drawn out battle and chase through the less well off (read: slums) of the city.

And so their quest begins....

>>13885595
>Practitioners' store was raided and a piece of the the Clerics' robe, a rare colour and type of material only used by certain members of the Church, was found.

Ba-bumpin to let you all know my first game in this setting is going to be on this Wednesday, and if it goes well the second will be Sunday, and I'll be posting about what happens in a new thread I'll make for them.

Nice, I expect some epic shit from you, DMwritefag.

Holy shitfuck that is an awesome idea.

Alright, second quest has a few segments planned out should always come no matter the firsts end.
I'm also working on another environment, which is at the moment known only as the 'Rotting Swamp'

Babump!

Let's see if this can keep going for 24 hours.

bump

To the East lies a large swath of land coated by eternal darkness. This in of itself is not unusual, at any one time more than half of this world lies in grey twilight or blackest night, it's what hides within this blanket of shadow that makes it both unique and terrifying.
Some miles from the nearest Shard Stream, deep within the shade, lies a massive swamp where a great forest and a small city, with no remembered name, used to rest.
The city, at what may charitably be called it's prime, was home to near seven thousand and was well known along the Eastern coast as a major source of timber, charcoal and other by-products of wood. However, despite it’s well known stature, due to its main exports being cheap raw materials, and a rapidly expanding populance, the city was a rather poor one and suffered from both high unemployment rates and massive amounts of acid rain and smog, generated by the charcoal 'factories' and the constant drizzle of rain that seemed to permeate the air half the year. As a result of the corrosive precipitation and general lack of availability of more sturdy materials, the vast majority of the city’s residential accommodation was constructed from the timber produced by their occupants, and the buildings of the town, rather than reach towards the heavens above with spires and towers, clung to the ground as if afraid it would run away with deep basements designed to maximise space while minimising cost.

>>13891359
When the birth of the Phoenix occurred, this area was one of the few in the world unfortunate enough to not be gifted with any Shardstream or stray beacon of light at all, and as its occupants fled the nocturnal denizens of the forests advances and the never-ending night, the town fell into severe disrepair.
Gradually the wooden buildings came to be covered with thick clumps of moss and fungus, the only plants which could thrive in such environments, and rotted to the ground, as the more sturdy stone factories and official buildings became the refuge of wildlife scavenging the city for its dwindling food sources. The forest, or rather, certain types of fungus, also continued to grow with massive speed, and within two decades the entire area was covered by a thick layer of nutrient hungry fungus that turned everything of organic nature into slush beneath it, and decayed the rest into ruins with the aid of the still acidic and regular supply of rain water. The larger animals of the forest died out sometime after, providing yet more food for the insatiable plantlife.

>>13891394
Over the intervening centuries between now and the Birthing, the fungus and decay, combined with the massive amounts of organic matter provided by dead animal and plant life, have been converted into a deep sea of muddy swampland. It stretches almost five miles wide, atop the carcasses of its dead parents, and the only life to be found are massive, twisting fungi that reach dozens of feet into the air and thrice around, and small insects that feed off of nutrient-rich liquids (including the blood of animals), algae and small amphibians.

There is nothing alive besides it's now long established ecosystem that may survive there for even a paltry week before the spores in the air begin to take effect, with the kinder ones merely causing intense hallucinations and the more common causing mushrooms to take root in your lungs, and from there to devour you from the inside out. The insects seem to swarm constantly in the dank coldness, biting and stinging anyone who draws near to their domain, causing infections and disease, and are only held at bay by firelight, something so alien to them it overcomes even their hunger and drives them off in their hordes. The ground is uneven and contains unseeable, gaping sink-holes that can swallow horses whole, with muck and slime so thick that men have broken bones being dragged out by their friends.

If not for the steel machines still within intact factories, and the chance of a large sum of gold held throughout the town’s bank, and the promise of knowledge from before the Shattering, no-one would dare to enter the swamp and face the wrath of its ever expanding, tainted grasp. But, there still exist a few who dare to go where others have died before in search of glory, riches and knowledge.....

And the Rotting Swamp will gladly welcome their corpse.

Opinions/ideas/criticisms?

It's a bit grimdark

>>13891446
Nauusica + pitch black?

FUND IT!

Anyone else think that the Arts and Crafts system, if slightly edited, would work great in this setting?
......shit, now I've got another plot bunny. Should I bother trying to work up a combat system for this and making it into a full game as well as setting?
It'd probably focus on tactics more than hack and slash, with the environment having both positive and negative affects on you....
Huh, the spells should probably reflect that, with alchemy focusing on raw physical change and enchanting while magic uses energy and abstract concepts such as your perception of the world around you....
And maybe you shouldn't contain more than a tiny amount of magic, but can draw some in from the world around you, with shard proximity deciding how fast you can do it, and being a certain distance granting bonuses......
And the pale shards could even drain magic....


dammit, this isn't gonna leave me alone, is it?

Well fuck /tg/
You've got me workin on a homebrew combat and character system for this world now.

>>13891707
.....actually, that works surprisingly well.

Huh, I didn't even think of that.

>>13891740
I'll have to read up on that. Missed the A&C threads for whatever reason. But feel free to come up with some crunch for it. Bear in mind that the setting seems to be initially geared toward DnD, but go nuts with it. You may come out with something even better.

Also gonna add the Rotting Swamp to the wiki.

>>13891359
>>13891394
>>13891446
Added to the wiki!

Also, since you seem to be a bit of a prolific writefag, any insight on the Twilighters or the Strobers? We always need more material on them.

You know, vampires are going to be very successful in some areas.

Can someone give me a link to this wiki you guys keep talking about, I'm very interested in this setting.

>>13893270
http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Shattered_Sun

Enjoy!

From the wiki:
>A legendary City that was rapidly growing in size and power, claiming an ever growing region and attaining ever greater feats of engineering and science. It had lasted intact for hundreds of years when a stray Shard, unnoticed by even the City’s finest Astronomers, crashed into its Stream, sending down a rain of Shards unto it. It burns in the resulting inferno even today.

The City of Eternal Shardlight. It is a household name in most of the Cities beneath the Shardstreams. To most, it is an allegory for the lesson of moderating power. Too much power in your possession and you become blinded to what most would see as obvious. The tale is a tragic one of a City’s rise and fall, prosperity and destruction.

>>13893493
For some enterprising minds however, the City is a treasure trove waiting to be pilfered through: according to the tales, a rain of Shards fell upon the metropolis upon its end. Technology even exists now which make it possible to retrieve fallen Shards and extract their Light to a degree. While this would lead many to the conclusion of a massive opportunity waiting to be taken advantage of, there is only one thing in the way.

Fire, and lots of it.

The City was engulfed in a ferocious blaze defying all reason and logic upon the Shards’ fall. While no one can accurately put a date upon the catastrophe itself, it is widely known that the fires have been burning unabated for quite a long time. Even as most of the City itself has been reduced to its bones and ash, the fires still burn forth from the fallen Shards within the ruins. This discovery has led to a variety of theories as to how to actually get in the City to claim its riches.

>>13893500
There is always the possibility of digging beneath the City to evade the inferno above. However, early attempts at this solution led to the finding of the City being founded upon an incredibly hard layer of rock, thwarting even the most sophisticated tools around. With advances in digging technology quite some time away, the Alchemists of Terec have been trying to come up with a way to neutralize – or at least dramatically lessen – the scathing heat of the Shard-borne fires long enough for an expeditionary team to go into the City.

The best they can come up thus far with is an armored suit made with a Stardust-metallic alloy designed to ward off the worst of the fires from its wearer. The resonance of the Stardust within the suit is calibrated specifically to work counter with that of the Shards in the City. In theory, at least – the latest test subject was burned to a crisp within the suit, although the suit itself brushed the bright flames at the perimeter of the City right off of it. More research seems to be required to deal with the issue of the heat.

>>13893517
The suggestion of imbuing the Strobers’ Rite of Phoenix’s Blood upon a team has risen on occasion. Many see it as pursuing an unproven legend in lieu of a more scientific solution. Others who are more familiar with the Rite cite the dangers of too much Stardust within a person’s skin, which can cause extreme hallucinations for the subject, not to mention the possibility of a most violent and spontaneous combustion before even entering the City. Furthermore, it is nigh impossible to calibrate the resonance of the Stardust when it is in someone’s skin as opposed to when it is in a non-living metal.

Then there’s the possibility of entering the City from above. As the rumors of Daedalus Workshops’ flying machine percolating in the Cities, some believe that such a device can help spot exactly where the Shards lie within the City. Furthermore, supplemental machinery can be inserted from above to retrieve the Shards within, all without putting human life at significant risk. However, some scholars studying the technology of the old world beneath the Cerulean Heavens have noted the wind-generating effects of such intense fire and heat, which would make such a solution dangerous at best.

As elusive as entry into the City may be, such a facet of the City urges on further innovations and ideas from the greatest minds under the Shardstreams. Perhaps you will be the one who comes up with the idea that actually works.

One more bump before bed. I hope the thread will be here in the morning. :)

>>13892786
Sure, but I've got school so it'll be quite a while before I can post anything.
And don't worry - before I get to the hard crunch I'll be fluffing up some things about how magic and alchemy work in universe until we're all happy with if, at which point I'll start on stats, classes, then how combat works/progresses then PC skills/feats and spells. I'll probably work on either a few new status conditions (very cold/hot, exhausted, sick (vomiting), sick (fever), etc.) or traits after if all goes well.
Then I'll stat up a monster and give it a go with some dice to test it out myself to see if it's strategic enough or if it turns out generic fantasy hack n' slash.

Really, this'll probably end up as being a new combat/character module gearred towards the setting for DM's to slot into other games like D&D as I don't have any real experience creating the entire thing, just modding those two parts slightly.

>>13893228
The closest thing we have to vampires are berserk Aztec dwarves that feast on the flesh of anything that gets too close and suffer from rampant albinism.
And I dint think they really need anything else to be succesful.

>MFW this entire thread
>MFW I have no face

bumpin like the FOTNS

babump

I can still remember it like it was jus yesterday, and really, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget it.

I was...I was a new guard. The merchant convoy had stopped near Tenrec ‘an when I heard that’d be journeying to The Holy City and would get there in roughly three months, I jumped at the chance to leave that shithole behind. I woke up early, bathed for the first time in weeks, combed my hair and packed my bag with everything I needed. My ma’ had died a few years back from some STD the healers couldn’t fix, and my dad had been some young Practitioner new to the city looking for a quick and cheap fuck that I’d never met, so besides my landlord and a few people who I worked with at the factory I had no-one else to leave behind....it was an easy choice, really. I thought a change of scenery would do me good, maybe help me find a nice girl and a comfy job, finaly get my due, y’know?

Well, when I showed up, they checked me for my fitness, made me do some races and the like with the other sorry bastards who’d turned up, and gave me a, em, ‘quick’ background check before I kicked everyone else’s ass sides’ two in the tests and they gave us a club and some leather armour, the offer of shit pay and promised food while we were with ‘em. I accepted, threw my bag into one of the soldier carriages, and we were gone within the week.

>>13901701
The first few days were sorta fun, the merchants were pleasent if a bi snotty, the other two new guys, Rob an’ Nale, were good fellas, friendly as you could hope, and the older ones kept to ‘emselves cept when they were teachin us how to hit things till they died. I swear, I thought I knew how to fight beforehand, but those old bastards were tougher than goddamn steel and could have you on the ground gaspin for air before you knew they were flippin ye’ over. Anyway....we were makin good speed, all things considered, and in three weeks the convoy hadn’t been bothered by a single bandit or the like (though why one would try to take on twenty carriages and the same number of armed men I’ll never now), but then a nasty storm managed ta’ fuck up a few of the carriages by tippin ‘em over and we fell behind while fixin ‘em. So we decided that instead of taking thelong, hard route over the Ansei Mountains, we’d take the less used, short one through a valley that twisted through ‘em. That....that was when it all started to go wrong.

Y’see, as soon as we got into that fuckin thing, we started to hear stuff. Not normal things, like birds, or even wolves...but quick things. Little sounds in otherwise silent nights, that coulda’ been leaves bein rustled by something small or puddles being splashed by something poundin through them. We found a lot a’ dead things too, from a few dears that looked half torn open half sawed in two, ta’ birds with their necks twisted and stomachs gone scattered all over clearings in the brush...

>>13901716
The sides a’ the valley didn’t help, spite a’ the ton of plants an’ ivies growin all over it, and the trees an stream winding through it, the thing was thirty metres across most of the time and had steep edges, so any noise we made echoed around for ages. Ya’ couldn’ talk at one end of the convoy without bein heard at the other, and sometime we heard things bein said in a language no-one understood. When it started to rain again, and the river burst it’s banks after two days of it constantly, we found a cave.

By then, we were all goin a bit crazy – I was twitchin at every noise I heard, Nale was swearin and constantly and was so bloody angry he’d tried fightin with everyone in the convoy at least twice, and Rob was just cutting himself off from everyone – he refused to eat when we did, and had handed in his resignation (Really just a short talk wi’ the head merchant, a reasonable fella’ called Eustace that seemed to be the only one not simmerin with somethin) for when this was all over. Apparently, he’d had enough and wanted out. I couldn’t blame him, and after the two days of pissin rain, was thinkin of doin the same – I’d been considerin stayin on past the Holy City to see where else we’d go, but couldn’t stomach the thought of it anymore. So, squeezing everyone into the cave and settin up some bedsheets and a nightwatch, we left the caravans out with the goods covered and me an Rob sat guard until it was time to wake up the next guards on duty so we could get some shut eye.

>>13901722
I leaned into a nice little cranny in the rock, jus big enough to sit in, and rob went to walk outside. I tried to stay awake, I really did!, but I was wrecked after all of the walkin and ended up droppin off fairly quick. I think that was what saved me, I was so quiet and my armour made me blend in with the rock, so they couldn’t see me while they could get Rob. Everyone else, gathered roun smolderin fires on white linen and sweatin, got their attention. I woke up to the horses actin skittish, they were sorta movin back an forth and lookin in the cave, and then it started. I heard someone – Eustace, I think – scream a bit before a loud crack, and then everythin went to Hell.

>>13901728Little white things that looked like they'd once been men, hunched over on their hands and covered in pussin blisters all over their skin,* were tearin the place apart. They were growlin like animals, screamin and clawin everythin they saw, an some of em were even clawin their way up the walls somehow ta get away from any of the guards tryin to club em. Merchants were tryin ta run away, but as soon as they got near the exit more of the fuckers poured in so there was about two dozen in all, and started rippin them apart. I saw a few of them tearin arms off the fat bastards and beatin them with em until the screamin stopped, before they’d started chewin on the fuckin things like it was corn on the cob! The guards had only barely managed to grab their weapons beside their beds when they woke up and were doin a little better, they were fighters after all, but they were still hurt. Some had a few nasty bruises and bite marks, others were missin fingers and were bleedin like crazy, but the pale little things, weren’t even hurt! They were millin back and forth t confuse ‘em, pullin at legs from behind to trip em and swarmin on top of any bastard unlucky enough to fall.....Hell, I saw one get a sword through the chest and all it did was shriek louder before pullin it out and started to swing it around like it was nothing....really, even if I’d been able to get my legs to work, I’da done nothing but die, so when it was finally over and the things were bsuy pickin the bones, and I’d stopped cryin to meself long enough to calm down, I looked at the horses.

>>13901733
Only three of the older ones, still tied to carriages too heavy for them topull alone and with frayed ropes,were left, and they’d probably be next, so now was my last chance to get away....so, I bolted. I ran as fast as I could to the things when the monsters were all at the back of the cave, tore the rope holdin one of ‘em to the carriage in half with my hand, jumped on and beat it across the arse so it’d finally run. It galloped off, and I had te’ hold on to the damn raeigns while my feet fell out from under me before I could get in the saddle, and it was only a few hours later when the old thing finally keeled over after runin from the things that followed us flat out for near two hours that I finally let go. I ran the rest of the way out of the valley, only stopping once to grab some more water and goin in my pants rather than takin a lav break, for another day. I collapsed when I was safely out of it and under the Prime** before I took a break agaiun. I walked to the City for another week with short breaks, collapsed at the gate, and told the officials what had happened when I came to a week later in a hospital.

>>13901739
They sent in some of the Army and a few Alchemists before purging all the little monsters they found a month later, apparently cloud cover a month ago on the other side of the Ansei had gotten so thick with the storms that the little fuckers had managed to make it from the Darklands away from the Prime** to the valley, and got into it. They found everyone’s bodies, or waht was left, and gave ‘em a proper burial a week later.

That’s really all I gots to say on the matter, anything else you’ll want to know about the slaughter in Blood Valley’s only kept in records I can’t get into, ‘cause it’s about the investigation. I..I’m sorry, it’s jus’....it’s jus tha it brings back a lot a’ bad memries for fer me’.....***

>>13901746
Ed. Notes;
*Vampires, according to official reports, a supposedly insane outcast branch of the Soulshard Worshippers that rarely are found out of the Darklands.

**A colloquial term for the Holy city’s Shardstream commonly used in Terec)

***the interviewee began break down in tears at this point of the interview, and has refused to comment on the matter since, claiming to have “Finly gottin it off me chest”

The interviewee’s name, and the last names of any victims, have been kept redacted to preserve their privacy.

-Published in Year 734 PPB (Post-Phoenix Birth), in “Darkland Denizens: A Case Study, Part 3” by award winning author Neal Geimen, Pufflin Book House.

Sooo, yeah. I think the accent was fairly shaky and slipped too much at times, but the thing would have been illegible if I hadn't gotten it to fade some of the time. and I know Terec supposed to be well off and have very few poor, but, really, I don't think it could honestly have zero slums at all. Even just a tiny one will do to keep the story canon compliant, so can we ignore that part?
Thoughts/comments/criticisms?


Do we have a date for this thing? Because right now I'm assuming it's roughly seven centuries after the Phoenix, long enough for cities to grow, not long enough for things to get too advanced beside the odd anachronism like a printing press, and I'm using PPB until someone either comes up with a better one or points me to the one picked out I can't find.

Also, holy shit, I've written over four thousand words in three days for this thread.
I wish I could find this sort of drive for nanowrimo....

Finally, two things:
My four players have bailed due to commitments, so I can't test the setting (which sucks, as I haven't GM'd much besides oneshot pre-made campaigns and this would be my first big thing)

I'm working on the following:
-How Alchemy works, in world textbook style.
-How magic works, in world textbook style.
-Paldins training, history book-esque style.

I like you, writefag

Cool stories, bro.

>MFW
some bloody archive this or add it to the wikipage NAOW

>>13903363
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/13879469

Already archived. I love you too.

>>13901785
I like the writefagging. We'll proofread you. I do that a lot myself.

Also, 7-8 centuries after the Awakening sounds good. Dunno what to call it though... Post-Phoenix? I dunno.

>>13901701
>>13901716
>>13901722
>>13901728
>>13901733
>>13901739
>>13901746
>>13901758
Now in the wiki!

Currently working on a description of a Twilighter village.

>>13906684
The village of Copesa is a mostly quaint place on the outskirts of the Holy City’s influence, upon the very rim of Gargonel’s Light. Named after the supposed fifth King who sought to lay claim upon the lands of the Holy City – and failed miserably – the village has more or less removed said King’s ill repute of failure. Though it is technically a territory of the Holy City and does indeed pay the City its due tribute of food and stock for the City’s protection and representation in its affairs, the sprawling village does not take kindly to anyone from the City trying to make that fact public. Its people are fiercely independent, seeing themselves as more in a trade agreement with the City than anything else.

And it’s not just their spirit which is so resolute. Their fighting ability is rumored to be up to par with the best warriors the City can produce. Time and time again in recent history has the village of Copesa resisted or downright defeated armed groups from the Holy City and other nearby Cities wishing to more formally annex the village into their Cities. Even though there is no mistake that the men of the village are hardy as their agricultural traditions make them out to be, there is another factor that plays into the village’s success...

>Pic not related to Copesa, but my sketchies regardless...

>>13907124
It is widely known that the Light from the Shards has mystical properties which are harnessed by many: Astronomers who track the Shards and form a bond with them through their study; Alchemists who harness the power of the Light into mechanical form; Brandishers who create a permanent bond between person and Shard with Stardust-imbued tattoos. Being under a constant state of dusk gave some Twilighters, those in a culture already abound with stories of its many travelers full of mystery, intrigue, and magic, a fresh perspective on the Light not known by those basking under the Shardstreams’ glow. When these special villagers focus their eyes in just the right way, they see a faint glow that overlaps the person they are looking at. Depending on the circumstances, this “Innerlight” may simply be residual, or flaring up in various colors and directions.

Some villagers have used this ability as a sort of aural reading to better understand those they meet. Others can determine the subject’s desires and wishes to a degree. Even others have protracted such predictive ability to tell the subject’s future in general terms. But there are some who are somehow able to draw forth the Innerlight itself into the physical realm, conjuring powerful effects even when out of the immaculate shine of the Shards themselves. While there is no one being who can fully extract another’s Innerlight – too much of it removed and it literally saps the life out of the subject – there are those who can reconfigure the Innerlight within someone to make them stronger, more resilient, more able than they ever imagined. There are stories of small groups of villagers fending off an entire army only with a profound mastery over their Innerlight. Spears buckled upon them. Swords dulled on their skin. And woe is the unsuspecting infantryman who got caught in the gaze of one of these villagers for too long.

>>13907131
While Copesa is known to be the first to discover this ability in some of its villagers, many of the other villages in the Twilight are known for their own that are gifted in the Innerlight. For the most part though, this ability seems to reside only within those born and raised in the Twilight, although there has been the odd case of someone from either the Shardstreams or the Strobelands who have picked up the ability in their travels through these villages.

Copesa is also a veritable model of self-sustainable government to many of the other villages in the Twilight. By and large, the people of the village are ruled by a small group of elder men selected by their peers. While matters such as the economy and social affairs are usually left to the people themselves, a sort of common law which most of the villagers grow up to understand, major matters such as diplomacy and military issues are left to these elders. One of the only acknowledged weakness of this system is that the size of this council tends to fluctuate over the years: elders tend to die off over time; there’s usually not a similar number of elders to take up the mantle from generation to generation; there’s sometimes not many who the villagers see fit to lead the village; so forth and so on. Regardless of this bit of chaos in order, the system works for the most part.

>>13907143
The makeup of the council is usually based around the needs of the village at any given time. If the village is at war with a City, it will usually feature a number of former warriors and experts in the use of the Innerlight. In times of economic strife, there will be entrepreneurs in all sorts of fields available. In times of great prosperity, there will be members of a number of vocations to keep the prosperity going. In terrible famines, farmers and hunters will be present in the council. While there is always the issue of popularity and rhetoric within the elders’ politics, people who can address the village’s needs generally trump the best public speakers in the selection of the council.

>>13907150
The village is a primarily agricultural economy, specializing in the cultivation of grains and the raising of livestock. Their supplies are, for the most part, theirs to keep to further sustaining the village, but there is a great portion of it that goes to the Holy City in exchange for its protective services and representation to other Cities abroad. Smaller portions of their products are relegated to Strober traders who bring their goods further in the world in their chase of the Shards. There is also a budding demand for the village’s craftsmen and artisans as the ‘Copesan style’ is growing in popularity among the Holy City’s social elite.

There is also a growing black market of sorts beneath the rustic veneer of the village’s people. Magical baubles and mystic trinkets are hot sellers to those in the know, and for those who are willing to pay a pretty piece of gold for it, lessons in learning how to see the Innerlight. There is even a very small Shard trade which pays some of the elders greatly, though nothing nearly on the scale of the Shard trade of an Alchemical City such as Terec. For the most part, the black market is harmless and understood by the villagers, but can be looked down upon by outsiders, especially if the Holy City found out about the village’s Shard trade.

>That's all for now.

And the usual bedtime bump. Let's see some action by the morning!

/tg/ gets shit done

>>13908649
Yes. Yes it does.

Allright, I'm around for a little while. Let's see what we can rustle up in a couple hours. Perhaps any input on the Twilighters so we can further expand that group.

>>13910337
Derp, forgot my tripcode

And now the pre-Work bump. I'll be back this evening to see what;s going on with the thread.