>>53443820

> As the decay progresses, Vampires gain fearsome supernatural abilities, but their sanity begins to slip.

>Vampires are created when blood is spilled over a corpse, either accidently or in purpose. Those who are on the border of death are most likely to feel the call of vampirism.

>>53443997

> The blood cannot be spilled in the heat of battle and it cannot be the corpse's own blood, it must be the blood of another person, spilled on the corpse deliberately and intentionally, or accidentally and surprisingly.

>>53443991
>These powers are brought from the corpse's approaching proximity to the Border of Death, a semi-permeable metaphysical division between the incomprehensible void and the living world. The closer they get to the Border, the more outlandish and mindbending their powers become.

>>53443997
>>53444266
>>53444443

> The blood must also be applied within twenty-four hours of the corpse's death, before the Border of Death pulls the soul from the body.

>>53444443

> Newly reborn Vampires have total amnesia and cannot remember their previous life, but over time, snippets of their past return to their memory. Ancient Vampires are often driven further into madness with the knowledge that they will never be able to return to their old life, and Neophyte Vampires often suffer an identity crisis as they struggle come to terms with losing the entirety of their memory.

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>>53444479
>The Border is both physical and not, and there are places in the world where it grows thin, bubbles of voidstuff swelling from the earth like a fungus.

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>>53444593

> Sometimes unspeakable abominations from beyond the Border come into the living world in search of mortal souls

>>53444846
>This abominations can only be seen by vampires since they are undead. Killing one abomination can be a difficult task but if it is done the Vampire gains a little bit of his humanity/sanity/memories back. This process cannot make a vampire human again and cannot stop his inevitable demise

>>53444935
>Vampires have been known to wait until their dying days to go on an abomination hunt as some sort of challenge where the winner is the last survivor

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All of this seems oddly familiar. Not that I'm complaining mind you.

So, since Vampires are essentially ticking timebombs of insane ghouls, is there any entity/organization that tries to regulate them and put them down once they start to decay and slip?

>The only known way to destroy a vampire is total dismemberment and exsaungination.
>as Vampires are phenomenally strong and have skin that's hard to even puncture, vampire hunter's weaponry is renowned for being almost comically brutal, with weapons that tear, dismember, bleed and break, usually simultaneously.
>the invention the combustion engine only made these weapons worse.

>>53445231
>>53445059
>An organization exists that locates vampires and sends vampire hunters to kill them
>This organization is one of the multiple branches of a bigger organization that regulates the supernatural

>>53445231
>using a vampire-hunting weapon on humans is considered as one of the worst crimes a person can commit and anybody who's caught in that act is most likely to be executioned or exiled

>>53444935
>>53445307
>Because the abominations can only be seen by vampires, the organization "recruits" the younger, less dangerous vampires to locate them

>>53444935

> These abominations target those who are vulnerable and close to death, the sick, crippled, and elderly are severely endangered by them, to the point that most nonviolent deaths are the result of an abomination. As Vampires have died and returned from the dead, abomonations are filled with a burning hatred for them and go into a killing frenzy upon witnessing them.

>>53443820
>In some cultures it is considered an honour to become a vampire
>There's whole religions based on the idea of vampires being superior entities whose fate is to attain true immortality and reign over all humankind
>In those places, it's common to keep at least one local known vampire to protect the people from abomiations in exchange for lesser sacrifices

>>53445337
>These vampires, often known as "Leashed", are often fed special consecrated tinctures that only the organization knows how to make. The tincture reduces the bloodcraving and slows the onset of insanity, but also dulls the strength of the vampire significantly

>Vampires don't actually exist

>>53445609

> as a natural species, they're an obscene perversion of nature's cycle of life and death

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>>53445835
>it's unkwown how it all started, though, there's no written reference to the first vampire nor any other trace fo their history

https://youtu.be/D10mHOqSfd8

Alex jones already did it for us.

>>53445593
>The unleashed are so drugged that they seem like dead even for a vampire. All desire from their body is lost
>>53445609
Fuck off

>>53445307
>>53445535

>this organisation is one of three organisations which rule this world: the guilds, the priesthood, and the supernatural.
>the priesthood sees the guilds as selfish and uncaring, and the supernat org as brutal and unregulated
>the guilds see the priesthood as busybodys and archaic, and the supernat org as a chaos sometimes as bad as the things they fight.
>the supernat org sees the priesthood as naive and the guilds as shortsighted

>>53445912
>An abomination that consumes a drugged vampire becomes drugged itself, getting slower and sloppier
>It's common practice amongst hunters to sacrifice their "leashed" when things get rough for an extra chance to kill the beast or run away

>>53445971
>the guild is the only organization that never uses vampires, as they believe in the power of mankind over everything else
>despite this, they aren't really into killing vampires either, simply seggregating them from living people

>Due to a curse known as "the original sin" the main goddess of the world, Sulis, has been locked away from her humans in punishment.
>as such, the nights are extremely long, and the days are weak and overcast.
>Many humans believe the original sin was making the vampires, and the only solution is to destroy them all.
>Others believe that the vampires are a part of the punishment itself.

>>53446152

> There is no concrete evidence that Sulis, or any other deity for that matter, exist, save for very persistent and compelling ancient myths and legends.

>>53445231
>>53445308

> The setting's overall technology level is similar to the early 1920's, with a few ahistorical anachronisms here and there

>>53446152
(Are we to infer Sulis is a sun goddess here?)

>>53446611
>The technology seems to have regional variants however, with certain regions relying more on altered biological beasts or organisms, while other more resource rich nations have diesel or steam powered technology, with some of the most advanced cultures possessing fully electric (albeit somewhat primitive) technology

>>53446152
>"The Original Sin" is believed to have been committed during The First Thaumaturgic War
>During the War many reality-altering events took place due to the heavy use of thaumaturgy distorting the fabric of the universe

>>53446991
>Due to historical and cultural reasons, magic had become rarer and rarer over the decades, leading to the decline of wizards.
>Societal reasons aside, there seems to be a more acute supernatural reason as less and less people are born with innate magical ability or affinity. Various guilds dedicated to merging science and magic have observed the effect with the Supernatural Order actively attempting to understand the mechanisms behind the decline

>The beings known as "ghosts" or "nobodies" by the inhabitants of the world are humanoids who have achieved their current state due to being displaced in reality
>They are cannot be perceived by any sentient being, including other ghosts.
>They themselves also cannot perceive any sentient being
>However, any action that affects other objects performed by a ghost is perceivable

>pouring vampire blood over a corpse creates a ghoul, which are similar to, but in many ways weaker than their vampire counterparts and are entirely subservient to their will.
>ghouls are in many ways even more wretched than their vampire "parents", requiring meat, not just blood to sustain themselves, and having a much faster degeneration rate. This leads to them having gluttonous appetites, and if not properly supervised, it is not uncommon for them to eat until they literally burst from the inside.

>>53446152
>Sunchasers
>due to the overcast days and weak sunlight, some people have turned to sunchasing, a cult where it's mumbers work to create flying machines, in a hope to break through the clouds and see the sun they've been so long denied.
>so far their efforts have not borne fruit, but money other interested groups offer them vast amounts of money for the use their machines have in surveying the landscape below, and as couriers.

>>53448162

> Ghouls are feared because any Human they bite will slowly lose their connection to the living world, and die when the connection is severed. Any freshly slain corpse that has Ghoul blood poured onto it, accidentally or intentionally, and never as the result of deliberate violence, will reanimated as a Ghoul following the Vampire that reanimated the original Ghoul.

>The oceans are inhabited by technologically advanced and roughly man sized giant isopods

There is a god that Vampires worship out of Fear! It is the God of the Sun for it holds the power to instantly destroy both them and their enemies

>>53443820
>make a setting for me /tg/

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I'm late to this party but just wanted to say I'd play the shit out of this campaign.
ya dun gud /tg/

>some vampires around the workd have formed lose alliances often doing whatever they want and fucking off
>these range from helping humans, killing entire villages, and general deviance
>vampires are overall wildcards, but most will never trust a vampires word

>>53450658

> what is a community coming together to create something superior to what any individual could do alone thanks to the vast, (pardon the term), diversity of tastes, experiences, and ideas among them, that is entirely public, that anyone anywhere could take and use for themselves, either directly or as inspiration for their own works, the post

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>>53444846
>Those vampires who have let themselves drift too closely to The Border and have lived for long enough become more and more vile and twisted until they become like the abominations themselves

>>53450451
>The oceans are, as a rule, inhabited by things beyond the scope of human sanity filled with malice beyond the scope of mortal morality. Such things are oft older than written language and more voracious than vampire or ghoul.

>>53453308

> Very few, living or undead, know how to swim, as the ocean will often attempt to grab non-native swimmers and drag them underwater.
> The implications of this horrify scholars everywhere.

>>53443820
>>53443991
Aren't those both basically how vamps/undead in general work in Pillars of Eternity?

>>53453623

OP here, can you give me a quick gesalt on Pillars of Eternity?

>>53446152
>Due to longer nights and darker days, the planet gets very little sunlight
>This results in the climate being much colder than on Earth

>>53453764
>All this has done realistically is cause people to be paler than usual, except near the equator where the populace is as dark as one would anticipate. Most plants and animals have adapted one way or another, as this change was nigh prehistoric

A question: is this an Alt Earth or an entirely fictitious world?

>The mimics are fungus-like animals that prey exclusively on humans and domesticated animals
>They hide inside man-made objects both to camouflage themselves and use them as exoskeletons

>Wizards don't say cursewords because they are literal curse words

>>53453815

I think an alt-earth might be interesting, but an alt-world has its advantages... Which do you think is better?

>There is a small island that has remained uninhabited since the world began. Any living being that steps foot on it begins to wither away and rot over the course of a single day, leaving nought but their skulls, which inexplicably remain perfectly intact. Superstitious pirates have dubbed it 'The Ivory Island', due to the many piles of pristine, white skulls that shine brightly in the tropical sun.

>>53454512
I'm honestly stuck in the middle.

Alt-Earth seems overdone, but originality isn't the objective here really. Interesting and fun is. But it's also a hell of a lot easier to work with than building up a world from scratch then justifying 20's era tech and cultural aesthetics.

Then again a world from scratch gives us unlimited freedom on what we want to do.

Perhaps the compromise is having an Alt-Earth so Alt that we can do whatever the hell we want with it?

>>53455280
I like the idea of a totally seperate world to be honest, and I think we should explore this gothic horror setting more, this is great so far.

>>53453538
Communities native to the seaside observe a variety of ritual practices, and sacrifices both minor and major to soothe the ocean, and allow their fishermen to trawl the waters and catch fish mostly undisturbed.

For this reason, fishermen and sailors are regarded with equal parts fear and respect all over the world.

>>53447250
>as one of measure meant to stop decline of magic, wizards started to use eugenics program
>one predicted result of this program is creation of supreme wizard of great power that could break the curse of "Original Sin"
>genetics studies indicate that he may be born soon
>other factions do not want it to happen

>>53456017
>A group of clergy men believe that birthing the mega wizard would be an even greater sin, as it would be humanity trying to surpass the powers of the gods
>the clergy is constantly putting wrenchs in the wizards plans making nigh impossible to ccomples
>this storyline will be meaningless in the grand scheme of things unless a third party steps in

>a symptom of the decline in magical ability is found in sourcerors, people who SHOULD have magickal ability, but completely lack the spark necessary to actually perform spells.
>This existance is maddeningly torturous to them, and most die in early childhood.
>The ones that survive to become adults invariably become obsessed with trying to gain magickal ability through other means, and frantically search for new sources of power. Hence the name, "sourcerors".
>In an even more tragic twist on the tale, those that do find new magickal sources, often drink far too deep and too readily from their new found power and rapidly and usually fatally overload themselves.

>Werewolves are vampires made using dog blood

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>>53456768

>Magic affinity is so rare in part due to being a recessive gene

>>53450390
>Any freshly slain corpse that has Ghoul blood poured onto it, accidentally or intentionally, and never as the result of deliberate violence, will reanimated as a Zombie

Continue the degeneration theme.
>Zombies are weaker, more a slave to their hunger and degenerate almost constantly unless feeding.

>>53445835
You know, I've always wondered, can it really be called unnatural if it's happening in the natural world?

>>53447759
>Ghosts are created when living humans consume vampire blood

>the reason that blood raises vampires who raise ghouls who raise zombies is because souls are actually contained in blood
>this was not always the case, and doing this was the original sin, but humans do not know this.

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>Long ago, in fear of the things that stalk the excruciatingly long nights and feast on the small lives of man, a blacksmith of great skill and power broke off a piece of The Border, using it's incomprehensible nature and boundless power to forge several magic weapons
>However, these weapons could not be wielded by any man, due to influence of The Border any living being who deems to try and touch these weapons is instantly liquefied
>Thus the blacksmith went to work once more, and instead, forged knights of metal to wield these magic weapons, crafting the suits around these weapons so they are one in the same.
>The Border shard's influence brought life to these forged knights, and as the blacksmith hoped, they could wield these incredible weapons.
>However, as soon as the knights came to life, they slew their creator, and marched off into the night to return to The Border
>Now, this band of lifeless knights, commonly referred to as "The Border Guard", stalk the edges of the world, phasing in and out of this and the next, seemingly driven by unknown goals. Sometimes they slay entire towns and drag the bodies through The Border, other times they simple stand there where The Border is bleeding through, silently keeping watch, whatever it is they do, and whoever, or whatever, is commanding these knights, is beyond mere mortals to understand

>The laws by which magic operates for a given user are based on the user's perception of it
>This is unknown to humans
>The only reason why magic users need spells, rituals and the like is because they think they are an integral part of magic

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>>53446991
>>During the War many reality-altering events took place due to the heavy use of thaumaturgy distorting the fabric of the universe
ahahahha oh fuck

>>53455881
>mostly undisturbed.
>The Deep one known to the fishermen as Da'vid Jon'es
>is an ancient and terrible being, during the first war the oceans were a safe haven for those who would flee rather than fight for the "Undriven" but a foolish mortal sought to use this ocean to end the war, He enchanted a drop of pure Hydrogen 2 parts Oxygen with his life essence and flung the vial far out into the ocean. there his essence spread and the entity known as Da'vid Jon'es was wrought.
The area around where the vial landed is so dimensionally stable that it can be used to lock in beings to powerful to be destroyed, it's called Davy Jones's locker.

>>53446991
>One such event is commonly referred to as the Dae-lands. An expanse of country that was once lush and beautiful with rolling hills of green, but now the land has been twisted, broken. Physics no longer exist here, hell, concepts break down as well. Few people return from the Dae-lands, let alone return sane, and those that do return, describe it as "an abstract land devoid of sense"

>>53456932
>Being able to harness magic is a rare art to learn
>Being born naturally attuned to magic is even rarer
>Being born with a magic affinity is also an almost certain death sentence, as magic is extremely volatile and reckless, so it's impossible to guarantee a child born with a magic affinity won't just explode in a pillar of fire or dissolve into a pool of acid the moment they are born
>Those few children who survive long enough to start learning to harness magic will grow up to become forces of nature, so powerful and twisted by their magical nature.

>>53456768
>This is of course, ancient traditional belief.
>The truth of the matter is that Lycanthropy or Therianthropy is a joint pathogenic and psychological effect, Dubbed "Wendigo Syndrome" named after the mythic creature of the same name.
>Therianthropic creatures are, as a rule, absolutely infested with various diseases, parasites, and plagues their enhanced immune system offering them nigh invunerability from said ailments. Amongst these is a mildly infectious family of viruses that when interacting with uninfected blood will begin to repurpose the body of the infected individual.
>The freshly infected will enjoy increased strength, stamina, speed, healing as well as enhanced sensory input and a highly increased sexual drive and a higher Fight response (these last two symptoms are simply the illness attempting to increase infectivity). Unfortunately these booms come at a great cost at the incessant hunger for human flesh. This is due to the viruses need for Wulvsen Bacteria, a harmless colony of creatures that live in most populations. The virus will use the Wulvsen Bacteria to put the biological changes into overdrive, using them as fuel and workers faster than they can reproduce in the intestine (thus the need to feast upon others).
>Once the Therianthrope has feasted upon enough victims it will, grossly engorged, hunt down a few more victims, tearing them apart and nesting in their remains, as the disease takes over their body entirely, turning the carnage into a cacoon from which the budding Were will draw nutrients vital to the transformation.

>>53457149
>However ghost is a bit of a misnomer. Humans that, through sick addiction (vampiric blood is twice as addcitive and thrice as potent as oppium when dried and smoked or snuffed) or accident, dine upon vampiric "blood" will slowly transform into semi-corporeal Wraiths, as they drift evercloser to the Border

>Those who fought in The First Thaumaturgic War and were lucky enough to live to the end of the war, but not lucky enough to die, have been twisted into immortal, abstract abominations untied from reality known as "Revenants", still fighting their long-ended war between each other
>Revenants are few in number, but each possesses horrifying reality-bending powers derived from concepts, ideas and the like intersecting with the universe
>Revenants are only partially immune to their powers, and as such most are twisted into inhumanoid abominations, ranging anywhere from flesh-covered statues to living castles to sapient armies
>Most of these forms are unbearably painful to the revenants themselves, but their immortality prevents them from stopping the pain

>>53460248
>The dead were not safe from the effects of The First Thaumaturgic War either.
>Some of the poor folks who suffered especially gruesome and magical deaths, such as when the walking tower Grandfell, exploded, removing an entire mountain range in the process, were infused with the pure, raw magic power. Some of these people just exploded in a shower of burning gore, but a very unlucky few became Lich
>Lich are accursed undead beings, their souls having been melted to their bones by an ethereal super nova caused by such magical cataclysms, now their souls are engines of sorts, pouring out magical energies like a broken faucet
>Lich are seen as walking figures of melted and charred bones, great stars thumping away in their chests
>What makes Lich so terrifying, is that they are unliving memories of those cataclysmic events, their bodies infused with all that destructive power, and controlled by a lost soul that is constant, rending agony.
>Lich are unstable beings, and few exist long before they erupt into a brand new cataclysm, which may spawn more Lich, renewing the cycle.
>But in return, Lich are unquestionably powerful spell weavers, if they can be coherent enough to do anything with that power.

>Gunpowder weapons are incredibly common, to simple muskets and blunderbusses to more advanced chambered weapons. Hunters of the supernatural organization and the Church have little use for them, as most paranormal and supernatural creatures are nigh impervious to most rounds of lesser calibre, leading to the iconic and nearly comical weaponry they use. High calibre weapons, such as antiarmour rifles are common amongst these hunters, however right at home with overly large chainsaws and jackhammers. Most hunters rely of mechanical apparatuses akin to diving suits or arcane or scientific enhancement to properly utilize these weapons, although there is a school of thought that eschews such means and some hunters instead rely on the strength of their own arm, leading some hunters to look like circus strongmen in stature and demeanour

>>53460637
>One of the positive results of the First Thaumaturgic War was the creation of a new element Bymetal
>Bymetal is a rare element that in infused with chaotic magics. In it's raw form it resembles an oil slick stone, but when heated and forged, it becomes similar to a liquid.
>Bymetal is attracted to magic, like a magnet of sorts, and thus forged Bymetal can be shaped using magic infused objects. Since magic is a rarity, Bymetal weapons are incredibly rare
>However, a crude form of Bymetal weaponry can be crafted, where raw Bymetal is used to shape forged Bymetal, but the results are usually very flimsy, more like whips of liquid than swords for example.
>The Church, however, has numerous Bymetalsmiths, and use them to craft Byshells and Byknives which are fully capable of killing supernatural creatures
>However, Bymetal is also toxic, and being in it's presence can make mortals very sick, long time users of Bymetal come down with 'Bydisfunction' and become increasingly weaker, as well as becoming allergic to magic itself

>The priesthood serves under the non-supernatural being known by priests as The Radiant Magnificence, believed to be an angel of Sulis sent to restore order to the world
>The Radiant Magnificence has been around for an incredibly long time, having been mentioned in the earliest of records
>It's true shape is not known, as it is obscured by a brilliant glow that causes illness, tumours and death in any who witness it, believed to be due to Sulis deeming the person unworthy
>Blasphemous scientists claim that the effects of the holy glow of The Radiant Magnificence are caused by "radiation", but the true believers know the truth and deny the blasphemies

>>53460825
>Those historians who are familiar with religious texts made before The First Thaumaturgic War and are not blinded by religion consider The Radiant Magnificence to be just as related to Sulis as a cow is related to a windmill

>There exists a religious cult who worship the First Thaumaturgic War. They do not see the war as a battle between people, nations and cities, but as a god in and of itself. There symbol is that of the first major moment of the War, The Rending of Ires, an explosion of magical power so enormous it could be seen from other countries and across the sea. The continent of Ires was completely obliterated, reduced to shattered islands, desolate wastelands, and constant ocean storms.
>The cult is known as The Cherished Welcomers of The Desolate Dawn
>They are zealots with an intense fervor for their doctrine, and their doctrine is to insight a second War, in the belief that a second War will bring forth the true form of their god, and purge the 'unfinished business' of the first War

>The largest human capital of the world is simply known as "Bastion" and was once a military base that expanded over the many years since the end of the Thaumatrgic War.
>It is a remote oppressively built fortress backed into a mountainside, with thick walls covered in shooting windows over it's surfaces. Life inside is cramped, noisy, and frequently violently short, and the goivernment of the city is quick to oppress any rebellion under the banner of "vampire hunting".

>>53443991
What OP proposed is pretty standard.
What you suggested is done in certain settings, like Elder Scrolls, but honestly I hate it. I think that consuming more blood should make a vampire stronger, not weaker.

>>53461485
He said nothing about blood consumption

>>53461629
OP said
>that require the blood of the living to stave off their slow but inevitable decay.
By that logic, if a vampire skimps on drinking blood, their decay will advance faster, and therefore, by >>53443991's logic, they will gain "fearsome supernatural abilities" faster.
Drink less blood = get more power. Not really my cup of tea, but whatever floats your boat.

>>53461707
New idea: what kind of abilities a vampire has depends on how decayed the vampire is, but the power is based on how much blood the vampire has

>>53462115
I like this. We can work with this.

>>53462115
Now we need to determine what kind of abilities are associated with which level of decay. Low decay grants more physical abilities, high decay grants more magical abilities? Just one potential idea. The sky is the limit.

>One of the most securely guarded relics is a revenant whose form is a sword

>>53462156
I think it should be the other way around. The more the vampire decays, the weaker their flesh, but the more powerful their presence becomes
Each stage could even have multiple abilities that aren't consistent across all vampires
>Full decay-full blood= Nightmare Self: The vampires very presence is a omen of death and destruction, sending all but the most hardened of mortals into mind rending terror

>Once, every three years, during the dead of winter, The Border will swallow the sun, plunging the world into darkness for the whole of winter.
>During this time, known as Dentersalia, or "The Dead Days", The Border is particularly solid, and things from within come and go freely. In some ways, this is a wondrous time, as the dead are able to step over for this brief window and reconnect with their loved ones. But there is a great horror in this moment, as this is the time of The Border Hunt
>From within the Border, strange beings, wearing skulls on their heads, and riding nightmarish steeds, ride out in great numbers. There goal is always the same: Slay as many mortals and undead as they can before Dentersalia ends.

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>it is said that the order of the Strangled Thane possesses many secrets
>nuggets of blasphemous knowledge regarding the nature of the original sin and The Border
>what secrets, if any are lost. The order's chapel- erected over the site of a hangmans graveyard sits on the fringe of a Border incursion
>constant exposure to The Border and the order's practice of self-hanging has left them bizarre and frightening

>Long before The War, there were two towns next to each other
>In those two towns were two boys
>These two boys hated each other, they always competed over everything possible, and always found any excuse to call a draw, or to hate each other more
>When The War started, the two boys joined separate sides, and on the battlefield they chose to end their life long competition
>They clashed many times across the War, and every time they could not finish their battle, they were each too strong to kill the other.
>Before they realized it, the war was over, and they had lost their chance to kill each other
>In frustration, the two marched back onto the scarred, ravaged earth, to end their feud once and for all
>But they were not alone. For every one step they made, a thousand feet marched, for every one hand gripping their weapon, a thousand hands drew their own
>The two men had become Revenants, two massive armies of identical soldiers
>So the two armies fought, over and over, endlessly, fueled by their obsession to beat the others, oblivious to the reality that neither will ever be able to win.
-The Tale of the Immortal War

>While the Thaumaturgic War is arguably the most impactful war in recorded history, it is also so old it is has begun to slide into myth.
>Fresh in the minds of the world, however, is the Great War.
>The war dragged nearly the entire world in, a global conflict not seen since the times of the First War. The Great War is also the first time firearms have been used en masse, as well as other technological horrors such as chemical, alchemical, arcane, and far more exotic modern engines of war. This war slaughtered millions and left thousands more with wounds sometimes transcending the physical. Everyone knows a veteran of the Great War, and none of them came back the same.
>Besides the man-made horror at play, the war offered the supernatural a limitless playground, vampires, Therians, and other monstrosities having been birthed or awakened in the wake of the conflict.
>Since then various transnational organizations have risen and fell to preserve lasting peace but their failings have only exacerbated the feelings of xenophobia, culturalism, racism, and isolationism.

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>It is said that The Border is actually the "shadow' of some ancient, malign, -thing- older than all of time that lies beyond and underneath all material existence. The Border pressing in upon material reality in places where the veil thins are the fever dreams of the Eternal Night leaking over into our world, the creatures that come from these relatively small wounds naught more than mere antibodies.

Is there any hope in this world at all? It's a miracle humans are even still alive going by how this setting is turning out

>>53465052
>One result of the Great War was the rise of the city-state of Geldunfray into a full blown political power. What granted such a small land such power so quickly? The discovery of Autonomous Magical Craft, or shortly called Autocraft. An engineer by the name of Albren Shakes patented a method of imbuing mechanical devices with a 'Arcane Heart' or a magical core that allowed machines to be fueled and to produce simple magical effects, such as producing fire quickly, or channeling water in bizarre ways. However, through increased research in this process, machines of war were quickly formulated. When the Great War started to stall out into a stale mate, Geldunfray sold their newly designed weapons, which catapulted the Great War into a global event, and sky rocketed the city state into a global power. The gradual decline in spellcasters and the end of the Great War can both be attributed to the discovery and development of Autocraft, and it is left to the imagination where such a thing can lead the rest of the world in the coming times

>>53465520
>This is highly significant, as the successful melding of technology with the arcane, beyond the specific boundaries of Alchemy, are astronomically rare.
>In general, controlled magic is increasingly rare by the minute

>>53465599
>>53465520
>However, what is not outwardly revealed to the world at large is the secret to the Autocraft system. Bymetal is most importantly processed into the inner workings of these Arcane Hearts, as well as various other light and heavy elements both, to produce a strong, magic proof outter shell, and the inner workings are various mechanisms adorned with raw Bymetal to produce a highly conductive magical inner shell, but the center of every Arcane Heart is a real heart. A product of alchemical research and human experimentation produced these bodyless, homonculus hearts, which are then transplanted into the Arcane Heart to act as a magical well to attract and distribute the energies, thus fueling any Autocraft mechanism. This would not be so bad if homonculi research and the development of artificial beings wasn't outlawed by the Church and many major governments due to the creation of massive armies of artificial soldiers during The Thaumaturgic War, a scourge of homonculi still haunt many lands all these years later. However, the Church does not know the truth of these machines, and major government figures keep the truth quiet due to how useful the Autocraft machines are. If it were to ever be discovered by the public, however, there would surely be a great outrage.

>>53465489
Oh there is hope, it is just very difficult to hold onto, and it is steeped in blood, battle and hardships.

>On the continent of Per, in the country of Aentherl, there is a great craggy valley. Within the great valley, there is a hole, a hole that had been blown out by great power, long, long ago. Within that hole, at the very end of that deep tunnel, is a wall, a wall of dark red stone, of smooth, unblemished rock, as if it were a slab of marble painted in blood. On the very center of this wall, is a single word, a word, written in deep, solid gouges, in old, beyond comprehension letters. No one knows what this word says, but all who have glimpsed this word know what it means. It is a message, a message that had been laid out long before man or beast or undead ever existed, a message, buried away and forgotten by the world.
>The word means "I Cometh"

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>>53450390
>>53457030

How about instead of calling Ghoulspawn Zombies, we called them Wretches? And Zombies, while superficially almost identical to Wretches, are actually the almost mindless reanimated corpses enslaved to the will of a Necromancer, a Wizard that draws terrifying power over death itself from beyond the Border of Death?

>>53443820
You literally copied this directly from blades in the dark.

>>53466020
Who actually cares? It's made a decent thread, with some cool grim dark horror

>>53466020

OP here, I swear upon my own wizardly virginity that I have never heard of Blades in the Dark, and that my mind spawned this idea entirely independent of any outside influence, though I would be extremely appreciative if you gave me the quick rundown on the subject.

>>53465489
>Autonomous metal knights fueled by eldritch power who have inscrutable goals who might just decide to kill you and your entire town in order to drag your bodies into what is for all intents and purposes Hell, or just stand and watch places where The Border leaks through into reality.
>Abominations who emerge from places where The Border starts to bleed through, and begin to devour all mortal souls they can find, and will go after Vampires upon sight
>Vampires who are unliving husks brought back into existence by the sliver of The Border that animates them, need blood to stave off their slow but inevitable decay due to this, have lost all memories of their previous life but can regain some of them from draining blood, eventually go mad due to the rot but gain immense supernatural powers, are hunted by Abominations from The Border upon sight and if they live long enough, will eventually turn into one of those Abominations
>Ghouls who have most of the same traits as Vampires, but most consume flesh along with blood in order to sustain themselves
>The main goddess of the world is imprisoned, and thus the nights are very long, empowering the forces of the dark, whilst the days are weak and perpetually overcast
>Several major Wars which have fucked the world something fierce, with the First Thaumaturgic War screwing physics over so badly that some portions of the world are completely uninhabitable
>Werewolves who are less brutish wolves with super strength, and more living vessels of plague and disease that need to consume flesh in order to fuel the pathogens that sustain them
>The ocean is alive and it hates you. trying to swim without appeasing it first is a death sentence

This world is absolutely horrifying. Its impressive that mankind hasn't ceased to exist with all of this shit running around.

>>53459788
>Therians will often congregate together during their metamorphosis, their gruesome pupae melding together to form great pulsating mounds of melting and reforming and sizzling flesh. Often, packs of metamorphic Therians will cause fires in the various abandoned haunts due to the body heat generated from their transformation.

>Newborn Weres are almost entirely bestial, with primal instincts and intelligence no greater than the animals that they are distantly related to (Weresharks being amongst the dimmiest of the breed). Upon greater feeding intelligence will return to the Therian and the Virus and the Host will form a somewhat symbiotic relationship. Highly sated Weres can sometimes return to their original form, either suppressing the primal urges of the Virus or so in tune with their affliction that the Virus is actually the subservient entity

>>53466242
Mankind has scraped their way into surviving, and they have ways of fighting back against the nightmares. With fire arms, bymetal weapons, and autocraft machines, humanity might yet survive in this dim world.

>>53466242

HUMANITY, FUCK YEAH!

>*Gets eaten by Werewolves drawn to the noise*
>*Corpse is turned into a Vampire by an accidental papercut*
>*Unliving corpse's soul is consumed by an Abomination*
>*Twice-dead corpse is eaten by Vampire blood addicts*
>*Tomb is defiled by Cherished Welcomers of the Desolate Dawn*

>Off the coast of the continent of Uriel, there is a great and terrible storm, known as the Ire of Forgen. This hurricane is sentient, a result of the First Thaumaturgic. It does not like people.

>>53466381
Well, look at this way, if you got your tomb defiled by those wack jobs, you must have been very important.

>>53466418
>In fact the Ire despises people so much that it will occasionally go out of it's way to tear through whole nations with it's wrath simply because it despises mortal life of all forms. It mostly ignores abominations or The Border Guard however, which might imply some mutual agreement between the two

>Prior to what most imagine, the Guilds have not stayed idle while the world tips closer to oblivion. The Priesthood and the Order of Hunters seek to deal with the problems that exist in the present, but the Guilds look towards the future.
>However, there are thousands of voices, both big and small, screaming out with their own solutions to the threats that mankind face, and each of every one of them are looking to profit.
>Autocraft hearts are typically reserved for machinery, but the surgeons of Wallahoo's Coven seek to implant them into human hosts, in order to recover the arcane talents lost over the generations. Cursory tests seem positive, even if the hosts seem to display a vastly degraded sense of morality and empathy.

>>53466999
>Spellcasters were once the dominant force
>Spellcasters started to die off during the wars
>Autocraft was created as a way to get rid of spellcasters permanently
>Autocraft is being use to create spellcasters
What a strange cycle

>>53466311
>If ancient, near forgotten legend rings true, the various breeds of Therianthrope all derive from six sacred beasts, blessed by the god of Beasts, the Hunt, and the Natural Order Cernónaugh as guardians of their domain and cast them throughout the world.
>The Guardian Hound, Lynx, Hawk, Snake, Fish (of what kind varies wildly throughout the world), and Boar.
>What happened to these majestic beasts varies almost as much as the nature of the beasts themselves, but the Supernatural Order agrees that somehow their blood was spilled upon human corpses, or otherwise ingested, becoming the initial vector for the plague, as well as many other illnesses such as leprosy.
>Most find that the death of the Hound was not perpetrated by man, as in most civilized nations beyond the equator and Orient, dogs are thought upon as stalwart friends of mankind

>>53467088
More often than not, humans recreate the mistakes of our past. Honestly, I don't think autocraft implanted humans would be spellcasters, so much as they'd be physically augmented. Or at least have the potential for other replaced limbs.

>>53467088
That IS funny.

I've noticed however that in some places we have some very clear parallels (or un-parallels) in this world compared to ours of the same 1900s-1930s period.

For example, we had a League of Nations that failed and a UN of dubious effectiveness coming after it, but in this world those ventures where complete failures and even had some negative effects in the long run.

I'm both worlds the populace is taken advantage of by scheming politicians and nobility, moral-less robber barons and trade guilds, and dubious malpracticioners and snake-oil salesmen.

I would like, however, for the Church to follow this same trend, but in the opposite direction. Everyone expects the Oppresive Church State to be the penultimate villain seconded only by some Eldritch Horror. But what if, for all their oppression and authority that they are actually some small source of good?

The Guilds (by and large) are clearly a negative force in many aspects, and our Victorian SCP foundation propagates the Supernatural as much as it regulates it due to the Ends Justifying the Means.

But what if the Church actively reforms without breaking apart too much like the Catholic Church and the Church of England and how many other demonations and factions arose from the Reformation. Of course this Church really refers to the "Anglosphere" of our world, unless they somehow pacified the Orient and other more exotic climes

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>The Riders of Hot Steel are a band of knights working for the Order of Hunters who have taken quickly to this era of Autocraft
>They ride upon roaring carts of steel, wielding weapons of war that have been sized down to be wielded personally
>The Knights of Hot Steel are a reckless gang of thugs, despite their honorable title of knighthood, who cause almost as much destruction on their hunts as their prey

>>53467284
I think the Orient would have it's own religious form, and means of fighting the supernatural.

And with a setting as bleak as this, I think there should just be a dark continent. A mysterious land that no one goes to, because every colonization attempt has resulted in disaster.

>>53467284
I feel like, in this world, the Church would be one of the few spots of good, and the few tyrannical or oppressive acts they perform are literally the last option they have, and done with immense regret and guilt. The Church as a whole, and it's higher ups, truly wish to guide humanity to a better future. I feel the Order of Hunters also try to do good, but believe the world is probably not going to recover, and theres nothing they can do, so they might as well make some money and get some power while they last, but the Guilds are outright monsters trying to take advantage of humanities weakness and fear.

>>53467284
>Victorian SCP foundation

>Known by many names by very few, the order that preserves the ever thinning line between the natural world and the supernatural throughout the world is known by the initiated simply as "The Bureau". In a world with sophistication and codification on the rise the latest incarnation of the ancient order is known as thus. Before the modern age the order was highly factionalized and scattered, many partied playing against each other just as much as they did the paranormal. Over a short few months after the outbreak of the Great War, which may or may not have had it's roots in supernatural meddling, the order quickly banded together and reformed as the transnational Bureau. The Bureau has solved the issue of disbanding and tribalism by founding mutally dependent and interwoven Departments, each focusing on a different aspect of the Unknown Enemy with sufficient overlap in interest and resources to force the departments to work together and keep the Bureau running smoothly as it possibly can in a world bursting with chaos.

>>53467327
Well, a few have already suggested some, but it's quite clear the First Thaumaturgic War fucked up a lot of places, so theres probably a lot of 'dark' locations where it's impossible to colonize, or outright uninhabitable. One example being the continent of Ires, which is now a mass of shattered islands, desolate wastelands and raging storms due to a massive magical explosion.

>Vampires who have lived for exceedingly long times become nightmarish creatures known as the Eldest. The Eldest are vampires who have drifted so close to The Border and the darkness within that they are closer to direct extensions of it than actual beings anymore. Abominations will flee in terror or even submit themselves to the all consuming hunger of the Eldest, seeing them as their superiors and manifestations of the truth of The Border. Wherever an Eldest manifests reality starts to fray and decay, becoming thin and letting The Border spill over more and more into reality. Mortals and lesser undead who gaze upon the Eldest have their souls torn from their frames, and are consumed by the shifting tide of decay. Despite all their terrible powers, Eldest cannot manifest far from the areas that are most tainted by The Border, atleast not without many souls and massive rituals being prepared for their arrival and the Suns light, dimmed though it may be is still enough to send them screaming back into the black depths from which they came. But should you ever be unfortunate enough to encounter an Eldest, pray. Pray for salvation, and end it before the nightmare takes you. And yet, even the Eldest are not the worse that can result from a long-lived vampire, and woe be unto those who speak of the Firstborn.

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>>53467407
I think making the Guilds simply evil and robber baron personifications is a little easy. In this world, there aren't any real good options. Sometimes people are evil shits, sometimes they're just trying to make ends meet like everyone else.

>The Stag Seekers are one of many groups making up the Order of Hunters, dedicated to braving and taming the wilds of the world, a truly impossible task.
>To this end they employ questionable tactics, even to the laxest of hunters. Weaponizing Therians, attempting to domesticate the most dangerous beasts, and breaking strange new grounds in bymetal weaponry.

>>53467471
Well the guilds are by no means a monolith of like the Church or the Bureau.

Honestly it seems like the Church (which needs a snazzy name) and the Bureau are just two sides of the same coin. Maybe the Church works more to try and stop humanity from fucking itself, like all the giant world wars it likes to have

>>53467498
Honestly, the Church seems like the biggest unified entity here. The way the Hunters and Guilds are being written, maybe they're more like a loose association of groups, rather than solid organizations?

>>53467327
>The Guild of Adventurers was a stable guild for a long time, being one of the oldest guilds in business. They prided themselves in training adventurers who can explore and traverse any location
>However the First War reduced the guild's power, and an increase in the supernatural threats caused a steady drop in adventurers
>However, with the dawning of a new era, things have taken a turn. With discoveries such as Bymetal, and the invention of Autocraft, the Baron of Travellers, Derren Vel Shumester has decided to retool the Adventurers Guild, turning it into the New World Reclamation Company, a business designed to equip highly trained and skilled adventurers to explore and attempt to re-colonize locales in the world that were once tarnished by the First War and numerous other incidents across history
>Thanks to Shumester's connections with other guilds and higher ups in the Order, he has been able to successfully launch this company, and even now, parties of New World Reclaimers work to try and take back the world, and in the Baron's hopes, find new discoveries he may sell off for great fortunes.

>>53467498
The Church of United Sulisians, or the Sulisian Church for short

>>53467498

How about the Noble Adherents of Sulis The Lightbringer? Or maybe that would be better as a small cult...

>>53467572
I can certainly dig this. I was also toying around with a concept for the priesthood. While they can't truly tap into the power of an imprisoned goddess, what about using up the embers of her power left on the world? Small boons and benedictions that become lifesavers in emergencies?

>>53467471
>Some Stag Seekers have even gone as far as to tap into the darker arts in their attempt to tame the untameable. These pursuits inevitably lead them into going too far, and glimpsing things not meant for mortal life.
>Now these maddened husks of men roam the world, commanding beasts of nightmare as they laugh at all things, at things that we cannot even begin to fathom. At a truth most terrible.

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>>53467471
>The Grim Ones are another branch of the Order of Hunters
>Hunters are no stranger to magic, nor the darker aspects of it's ilk, but the Grim Ones are hunters who have delved to the very depth of depravity and horror
>These few hunters utilize the darkest of magic arts and techniques to imbue themselves with the strength and ability to combat the more powerful of entities
>Amongst their armaments are Border shards, that they implant into hunters to provide them a moniker of protection from the Border's influence and other Undead beings, as well as tapping into the eldritch power of the Border, magical weapons claimed from a few Border Guards the Order were able to take down, and supposedly even weapons from the First War. Some rumor that the Grim Ones even possess a prototype of the Killing Rune, the most destructive weapon from the First War.

>>53467513
I would honestly think the Bureau would be more organized than the Church simply due to the nature of their organizations. There can be independent hunters and investigators and such, but the Bureau can control the spread of it's public presence, but controlling faith is like controlling wildfire. There's got to be 1000 cults and sects and monkhoods dedicated to Sulis or her pantheon

>>53467681
This setting just gets more and more dark as we go on. first super-vampires, then a bunch of highly deluded would-be beast tamers, now a bunch of guys who have delved into the darkest forms of magic in order to stand against the dark? What next? The moon of the world turning out to be a fragment of some long dead cosmic horror?

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>>53467644
>>53467681
>Saint Wesley's Holy Order of Blessed Marksmen, or as they're more commonly referred to, Slingers, are widely regarded as an Order of Hunters that have embraced the technological boons of the new era, while also consistently advancing technology in their own right.
>Founded by an ex-communicated priest of Sulis, who championed the use of technology to an almost fetishistic degree, martyred in a later abomination attack, the group continues his message of progress.
>Any member of the group can easily be spotted by their firearm, each and every one custom crafted for it's individual hunter. Wide and large, these Hunters tend to go after humanoid blasphemers and sacriligious practioners of vampire worship, though it's not uncommon to see them chase after the beasts themselves.

>>53467588
Mn, it gives the church a sort of "running out of bullets" situation, where they could probably push back the dark easily if they blew all of their goddesses remaining power, but then they would be powerless, and the dark would come back even stronger.

Perhaps the goddess left some things in the world, knowing she would be imprisoned, as means for her followers to use, like solidified miracles that allow the church some moniker of protection
>Sulis' Shawl. An etheral tapestry of fine silks in the most intricate of embroidering. The church found this Shawl centuries ago, and discovered it possesses a holy presence. They have erected a tent of sorts with this large shawl in the central cathedral, and children born beneath this shawl are granted a resistance to dark influences and undead. These children are raised and trained to become paladins, as their are, by nature, attuned to fighting the dark things in the world

>>53467739
>The moon of the world is a fragment of some long dead cosmic horror

>>53467718
I think it's far less interesting if there's a Bureau, since this implies that people would have a remotely organized way of fighting the Dark. What would make more sense would be one office trying to corral all these madmen and heretics in one direction, with different levels of success.

>>53467769
What I think they might teach their priests is to use their own inner flame, rather than the flame of their goddess. So their benedictions are fueled by their own lifeforce, making it highly dangerous for them to use their explosive abilities.

>>53467780
>It's eye specifically. On the darkest of nights, it's pupil can be seen, staring down on the world beneath it, still alive.

>>53467803
That might be a good group within the Church. People who have turned their souls into an inner furnace, burning their faith and their life within it to produce 'false miracles' so to say, in Sulis' name. Their lives are extremely short and painful, but they have decided to forfeit their future to become a burning lantern for the church

>>53467780

> "The moon's surface is dominated by unnaturally numerous craters and the remnants of shattered mountains, rumor has it that this damage was done during the First War, to destroy some a buncha fortresses on the moon, but supposedly, it went too far. Feh, imagine that, people, walking on, no, no, even, actually living on the moon! Crazy, right? Now, pass me the hookah."

>>53467780
>The moon is actually an egg, which is about to hatch.

>>53467803
That's what the Bureau is.

Don't mistake organization and sophistication for efficiency and success.

You want to know the most horrific Eldritch being of all is? Bureaucracy. The Bureau fights fire with fire, with the greatest evil of all slowly crushing itself.

>>53467836
>The Faithful Sword of Sulis prefer to recruit their members young. It makes it easier to hone their inner flames, and to twist them towards acts of self-destruction and warfare on the Church's enemies. In the hallowed halls, in full view of the public, the leaders decry this practice of taking the young, the downtrodden off of the streets and instilling them with this destructive purpose.
>Yet no one truly does anything more than talking about how horrible it is. Because deep down, the leaders are painfully aware how needed these martyrs are for the world to survive. Beating back the darkness, one young life burned away at a time.
>Gouts of flame, enhanced physical capabilities, mental fortitude against the forces of The Dark... All false miracles, and with such dangerous prices. There's a reason none of the combat ready units have a soldier over the age of twenty.

>>53467910
Fair enough, can't blame you there. In addition, someone should archive this thread. It's come up with some pretty baller ideas.

>>53467908
>>53467853
>>53467804
There's actually four moons in the sky, all but one some horrible entity or Eldritch rule. This is incredibly useful during the seasons of long night, where in some regions the moonlight is almost as bright as a normal twilight sky

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>>53467764
>The Old Band are traditionalists to an extreme. They abhor the new ways of the hunt to an ignorant degree, seeing firearms, and bymetal, and autocraft weaponry to be perversions of the way of the hunt
>The Old Band hunters are known by most other branches of the Order to be 'drugged up cunts', because of the main methods of the Old Band, which is imbibing immense amounts of highly risky and dangerous alchemical concoctions to transform their bodies into machines of flesh and carnage, turning a normal man into a whirlwind of steel and slaughter. Old Band hunters have very short lifespans, and those that don't die in battle, usually die of complete organ failure, and those unlucky few who don't die of complete biological shut down are permanently crippled, living the few remaining years they have in a constant state of pain and discomfort from the extensive damage they have done to their bodies.
>Still, somehow every year new recruits to the Old Band are seen marching off to hunt.

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>>53467780
>>53467804
You bastards. Ah well.

>On those most dark and terrible of nights, when the power of Evil is at it's zenith, the moon glows a sickly shade of green and red. Underneath the baleful gaze of the eye of the Dread Watcher, the forces of the dark are strengthened. Vampires find their infernal powers increased, and their regenerative abilities heightened, Therians find their already impossible strength bolstered ten-fold, the veils between our world and the oblivion of The Border fall with greater ease, and abominations of all sorts stream into reality, spurred on by the Dread Watchers malign power. and in the ancient stones of the world, far below the ruins of the old civilizations of ages past, darker horrors stir.

>>53467945
And one of the moons is a Revenant

If this thread dies, someone should make a new one. There are some absolutely great ideas in here, and we can't just let them be forgotten.

>>53467974
>>53462630
>It is a rare occurrence. Once every few hundred years perhaps. But it is still a night that is known, and dreaded. Some call it the Darkest Hour, others call it The Night of Horror, but the oldest mention of it calls it Grell Hunkorek, or "The End of the World"
>On this most unfortunate of nights, by some unholy miracle, the Dread Watcher reaches it's zenith during Dentersalia
>Beneath this dark gaze, the world is thrown into unbridled carnage. The Border is no longer a wall. It is no longer even an open door. The Border vanishes, and Hell spills out in the world unimpeded.
>The Border Guard, the Border Hunt, abominations, the undead, darker things than any human could know, all are let loose onto the mortal world on this most darkest of nights, bolstered to their greatest strengths
>The last time Grell Hunkorek came about, it was during the First War. Humanity was able to survive the night simply because they were already scorching the world as it was, no one seemed to notice Hell growing all the more horrendous
>But now in this new age of machines, the Grand Surveyor of the Stars has decreed that the darkest of nights is coming again, and soon.

>The School of Lao is one of the better-known equivalents of the Western Guilds system in the Orient.
>While philosophically agnostic, the School teaches that everything that happens in the world is natural and that supernatural phenomena must simply be studied and harmonised with the rest of nature. They see the War and its consequences as simply as new aspects of nature and while grim, must be endured like anything else. Furthermore, such things must be tamed by man, as with the rest of nature.
>The School of Lao is illegal in many nation-states throughout the Orient, often forcing them to work with the underworld or inhabiting the apocalyptic jungles and deserts that mark the catastrophes of the War.

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>In the first Thaumaturgic War, droves of homunculi and other artificial life were created, and the vast majority of them proceeded to die in battle, the resulting cataclysms, or the machinations of the races they fought against. For those that didn't, now they wander the land without cause.
>The countries of their creation are long gone, the ideals and masters they served long dead. For those that remain, all they know is a life of war. Many serve as mercenaries for the guilds, using centuries of skill and experience for coin.
>Infertile, and with no real stable appearance, a few traits make The Created stand out from baseline humanity. Chiefly, the fact that vampirism and Therian diseases have no hold on them, and the forces of The Dark tend to ignore them. What sort of sustenance is a manufactured soul, compared to the real thing?

>>53467969
>>53467764
>>53467681

>The Department of Hunting is the most overworked Department in the entire Bureau, which is quite the feat. The Department's duty is to find, catalogue, and liaison with all the various hunting parties, knighthoods, and orders loosely affiliated with the Bureau.

>>53468132
>Besides older constructs, as well as the new, forbidden breed of artificial lifeforms, as well the various undead and supernatural beings, there are no other races beyond humanity.
>Perhaps there once was, but they have long been extinct

Man, I really want to make a game out of this setting.

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>We are the Walkers Between
>We bring with us the Eight Words
>We walk with us eightfold selves of eightfold souls
>We speak death unto humanity and it's mortal lands with our five hundred and twelve tongues
>We clear the way for HIS coming
>With HIS coming, there will be no more day

>>53468138
>The Order of Hunters is lead by a council, known as the Prime Hunters. The most skilled, experienced and veteran of hunters who have survived long enough to take these roles
>Each Prime Hunter commands an arm of the Order, each arm is split into branches (ie. Stage Seekers, Grim Ones, Slingers, Old Band, ect ect)
>Each branch is lead by a Huntsmaster, who reports to the Prime Hunter
>The Council of Prime Hunters are overseen by the Hunter Imperalis, a singular hunter who is voted into the position by the council, they act as tie breakers, rule keepers, and generally keep the council from biting each other's heads off, as well as deciding when the council gathers to discuss matters.
>The Hunter Imperialis keeps in touch with the head of the Department of Hunting, as well as the Church
>The Council of Hunters is stationed in the Hall of the Fanged God, a grand fortress located in the mountains of Birthal, a city built between the mountains, and one of the largest cities in the world, know for it's exports of raw ore, stone, and beast corpses.

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>>53467945
>>53467999
>>53468113
>The Three other moons whilst nowhere near as bad as the Dread Watcher, they each have their own dark surprise for the world.
>The Dark Construct. This twisted mass of rot, metal, and the flesh of the damned hangs in the sky, phasing in and out of our reality as it drifts into the border. When The Construct is seen in the sky, it is most especially a bad sign. The artificial constructs of the world, whilst they can resist most of dark powers with ease, the siren call of The Dark Construct drives them into a maddened frenzy. Those artificial lifeforms touched by its power have their forms and minds warped to its will, and attempt to destroy all in their path, devouring and growing as they do. Whilst it hangs in the sky, The Dark Construct will occasionally sent down portions of itself, it's own spawn to aid in the assault. These aberrations are made from the flesh and souls of all those unfortunate enough to have been taken by The Dark Construct when it leaves this reality. Eventually the coming light of dawn drives away the nightmare, destroying all but the strongest of the newly-formed monsters and sending The Dark Construct reeling back to the abyss, but much will be lost in these assaults.
>The Dreamer Of Unending Night. a mass composed entirely of leering faces, and eyes, and grins. This "moon" is but the egg for an ancient evil, that rarely stirs in its slumber or makes itself known to the world, but when it does horrors begin to emerge. Reality begins to warp and shift becoming abstract and mind-breaking, seas turn to blood, forests wither and die, the earth opens up into numerous mouths capable of swallowing mountains, and the skies themselves began to tear and rain putrid flesh melting fluids from above. The dreamer cannot directly assail the world still imprisoned in slumber as it is, but it can still break down The Border and have abominations and its vile dreams do so in its stead.

this got longer than I was expecting

>>53468391
Just Bureaucracy my shit up senpai.

>The Department of Requisitions is the logistical pillar of the Bureau/Order.
>It has the highest advancement rate of any Department or hunting order.
>Because senior staff often commit suicide rather than deal with all the paperwork and demands of other Departments and hunters.
>Its been said that the department is actually ran by a (n)th dimensional being and that's the only reason anything at all gets done. It is not benevolent.
>This would actually explain the ever present critical shortage of gun oil and paperclips

>>53468462
The Dreamer seems like it overlaps too much with the Watcher. Plus it feels a bit too "big" for the world. It kind of makes the situation a bit too unfair if one of the moons just causes cataclysmic events and destroys the Border whenever it shows up. Maybe make it a bit more subtler horror. Like when the Dreamer comes into the sky above, all the shadows in beneath it seem to skitter and squirm, as if they are full of unseen creatures, everyone awake can feel eyes staring at them from everywhere, as if something is always behind them, staring at the back of their skull, and those who sleep while the Dreamer is above endure horrifying nightmares, but they do not wake, no one can wake until the Dreamer passes. And worst of all, when the Dreamer is above, the world is silent. No crickets, or cicadas, no rustling leaves in the wind, the world goes dead quiet, leaving humanity to listen to the ticking of their clocks and the creaking of their homes.

>>53448279
>It is said that the Sunchasers have been acquiring large amounts of steel, and flammable chemicals, and press-ganging local chemists and engineers from major cities and universities, it is unknown exactly what they intend.

>>53468567
>Though the Guilds are considered to be independent companies without a ruling force, there is a sort of union between them all, just as a way to keep trade easier to keep track of and to ensure there aren't guilds trying to overlap each other, or take over another guilds business
>This union is known as the United Overseers of Businesses Trades and Guilds, it originated as a Department of the Bureau, but broke off due to bureaucratic mishaps and forged themselves into an independent company, but remained tied to the Bureau as to keep tabs
>The United Overseers have no real power, but they have enough clout, money and big names to act like they have power, and thus can, in some ways, push their demands on Guilds
>The Overseers have no central HQ, instead they usually convene to various merchant centers and market forts, choosing which one depending on convenience and locale delicacies.

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>>53468578
This is a better version of what happens when The Dreamer makes itself manifest, but I couldn't really put it into words just how fucked the world becomes due to this things presence. It essentially causes the world to overlap with its dream, and starts to cause unseen nightmares to leak into the minds of all the people. And this is only when it's asleep mind you. When it's awake or starts to stir, things get far, far worse. The Border doesn't really 'break' per-se, but it starts to leak a bit, not enough for anything physical to show up, but just enough for dreams of terror to touch the minds of mortals.

>>53468703
I see, okay, that sounds better, originally it just sounded like the Dreamer just rained hell and fire on everything and the reality was getting twisted and such, and as dark and fucked up as this setting is, we gotta throw humanity a bone once in a while and not have one of their moons be a cataclysm bringer

>>53465935

I second this motion.

>>53468132
>>53468462

I like the concept of ancient wandering Homunculi, and the Dark Construct seems like it could generate some serious character development in an adventuring party.

>>53468462
>The fourth moon, known as the Jewel Sky, is just a normal moon, and does nothing horrible to the world, which is why humanity treats reveres it so much, because it's one of the few things in their world that isn't awful by nature.

>>53468128
>The Orient is a unique place. It has few major continents, instead, being a massive collections of islands of various sizes. The people of the Orient have a very close connection to the sea, and thus are very focused using boats. They have created a method of coating the bottoms of their ships with intricate runic designs and detailed paintings that trick the ocean into not noticing them, and thus they can sail freely without incurring the sea's wrath
>Some of the largest cities in the Orient are known as "dock cities" with large expanses of dock yard, and bridges that connect islands that are close together into one large 'man made island' of sorts.

>>53468766

> It changes color ever so slightly each month, annually alternating between a golden hue during the height of summer, and a light shade of azure during the height of winter. This is another reason it is called the Jewel Sky.

>>53468462
>The strongest and most ancient constructs seemingly can predict the coming of The Dark Construct, and plan accordingly. This secret is much lusted after by the Order of Hunters, yet is a tightly guarded facet of life for the constructs of the world.

>and there are fart aliens on the moon

>>53468766
>Which...isn't entirely true as there are strange beings with extraordinarily long rifles that will periodically take pot shots from the moon before fleeing back to the dark side.
>They however only choose one person to target at a time, so this phenomenon has yet to be noticed

>The top three guilds in the world at the current time are the Alchemist Guild, the Metalworkers Guild and the Engineering Guild, the era of Autocraft having lifted these three guilds to the top by miles

>>53468852
>Thats not evil, thats just annoying, those monsters!

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>>53468766
>on extremely rare moments however, when the Jewel Sky hangs above, it will glow with a fierce, brilliant light that washes over the land, cleansing impurities, bolstering heroes, burning away the taint of The Border and annihilating the servants of the dark. This unique "form" of the Jewel is known by some as 'Lumen'. When Lumen hangs in the airs above, the forces of Evil are driven back, hiding in the shadows until its light is forced back by the evil and darkness of the other moons. The rise of Lumen is an immensely rare occurrence, and is seen as a sign of great peace, aiding the ailing souls of the world and granting some respite from the onslaught of the Dark. Which is why the other Three will usually work in order to ensure that Lumen is forced into its Jewel Sky form perpetually, and will never rise to the aid of the forces of Light. The Three will move pawns across the board if it means that Lumen is never put into play, all to ensure that only they can blight the skies of the world with their evil

>>53468901

>Several cults are dedicated to Lumen, either worshiping it as an incarnation of Sulis, or as a deity in itself, Lumenites are genuinely good and moral people, which is almost a shame as monsters tend to target them.

>>53468901
>>53468935
>On the opposite end of the spectrum. Once a year, the night will end, and somehow, the clouds that curse the sky will deem to split open.
>This day is celebrated and considered a holiday across every land, it is called many things, but the most common name is "The Day of Brightness"
>It is said to be the one day a year where humanity is free of any dangers. The undead are driven into the shadows, as the raw, unhindered radiance of the sun is too much to endure. The Border vanishes completely beneath the suns rays, and the horrors of the land seem to melt into nothing against the suns heat. Rare things come out during this day, flora and fauna that remain hidden all year long come out to take in the suns glory, and humanity as a whole takes a moment to breath and bask in the light, savoring the fact that they have survived another year.
>The Day Of Brightness is considered the Year End on the calendar, thus drawing the old year to a close, and ushering in a new struggle for humanity to come, but the sun rekindles their souls, and raises their hearts once more, to stand against the retched night.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oHXWdIFaog_Xt6EeeG8PR_luGwyOS7YMGmJXyjY6BEo/edit?usp=sharing

I'm fond enough of this setting that I've gone and made a google doc to accumulate most of the ideas we've made on this thread, just in case anyone wants to continue building this world.

>>53468901
>>53469000
I'm fond of this train of pleasant things to clean up the bleakness of the world.

>>53469029
Gotta have a little pleasantness to contrast the grimness, otherwise it all just seems silly.

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>>53469014
You are truly amazing Anon. May this setting last for many threads to come.

>>53469000
Those born on the Day of Brightness carry a bit of the Sun's radiance within them. Though outnumbered, they stand fast against the encroaching dark. These Beacons are the shield of the poor and desperate, the common man.

>>53469029
Too much grimdark can easily make your setting into a caricature of what it once was, where every little bit of hope is either a lie, or is ground out too quickly for it to matter. The world in this setting may seem doomed, and some may question "what's the point", but they are always bolstered by the fact that there is always hope, no matter how bleak it seems.

Does this world have Werewolves?

>>53469092
Thanks. I'll probably clean it up and add whatever new ideas come to the thread tomorrow. If a new thread of this gets made, leave a comment on the doc and I'll get to it.

Speaking of this setting, we should probably settle on a name for it. I was thinking 'The Fading Light'.

>>53469130
Yeah, anon. A bunch of different, horribly diseased Therians.

>>53469157
I think "The Hungry Darkness"

>>53469173
That doesn't quite roll off the tongue, but what about "The Hollow Dark"? In addition, I imagine we might need a few more positive things in the world to at the very least offer some form of hope in the setting.

>>53469130
In this setting they re known as Therians. Think less 'monstrous humanoid wolves, or beasts with absurd strength and the capacity to break a man in half with ease", and more 'walking vessels of plague and disease that must consume the flesh of man in order to sustain the pathogens that fuel them, and to keep their bestial forms stable'. They also go through a nightmarish metamorphosis where they enter a cocoon of flesh after devouring people that may try to join up with others in the area, and emits so much heat that you can simply die from being too close. Some can manage to regain their original forms and memories, but many don't. And they still need to devour people to survive.

>>53469221
Well we do have quite a bit of hopeful stuff, but it's less "the sun comes out and clears the night" and more "humanity has weapons, they have machines, they have a way to fight now"

>>53469130
You ever play Prototype?

They're like that, if they were in Warhammer and were chosen by Nurgle. In their "evolved" state they can turn back into human form via muscle memory alone, A lot like Venom or Mercer, but they always look diseased or ill in one way or another, with bestial elements still present in way or another to various degrees of subtlety.

Ancient or sufficiently sated and strong willed Therians can meld fully with the virus, shifting from beast form to human in a flash, with complete mastery over their own bodies, save for the various diseases they are plagued with.

I imagine a particularly powerful Therian would be somewhere in between a Great Unclean One, a Skaven War beast, and late game Alex Mercer. So, fairly gross but even more so dangerous

>>53469235
>>53469221
This isn't a happy world, if we go light on the grimdark in some areas or add in some tongue in cheek stuff, it's to skirt away from the edge of being so grimdark it's satirical.

Where the hope comes from is the stories you make in the world and people you populate it with. The light in the world comes from within, not without

>>53469157
>>53469233
>>53469257
What the fuck.

That's one way to keep the furries away I guess.

>>53468852
>To expand upon this, these strange beings are the Gunners Of The Star. They aid in the battle against the Dark by appearing upon the surface of the Jewel Star and aiming with impeccable precision upon the hordes of the Dark wherever they might be, and then firing bullets infused with the power of the stars to destroy them. They fade when Jewel Star inevitably passes from the sky, and act as its watchful guardians when not in its Lumen form.

>>53469398
Eh. I liked them better as space dicks

I think we're going too nobledark here

>>53469398

To be honest, I agree with >>53469445 this anon, I feel your suggestion contrasts with the tone of the setting.

>>53469463
I'll be honest, and just having moon snipers seems too silly. I mean, theres no real point to it, especially since firearms are a new invention that is supposed to be unique to humanity and like, a milestone in human development. And the Jewel Sky is just a normal moon, and adding a bunch of aliens on it who just shoot random people doesn't really add to the grimness of the setting, it just seems like a spiteful joke, like "Hehe, these humans think they get to have something nice, but NO, heres some moon people who will just shoot them randomly for no reason, and no one realizes they are there, haha! And next, there gonna get super cancer from the sun!"

>>53469491
I mean.

>>53469491
Can we for the love of god call it the Jewel IN THE sky.

Please, I'm begging you here

>>53469445
>>53469463
>>53469491
Hmm very well then. The space people thing is quite silly anyways, but we can find other ways to incorporate things without fucking over the settings tone. Might go back and expand on the firstborn some more, maybe add a few cults worshiping them or something.

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>>53469572
But that names too long Anon. And we need something to differentiate it from the Lumen, since that's a specific form it takes on the rare occasion the Three aren't blocking its power from sight.

>>53469635
The Sky Jewel?

>>53469662
That could also work, but it's pretty generic, especially since many settings use a variant of names like that for their important plot relevant aspects. Whereas this setting literally has Werewolves named Terians, and whole cults named shit like "The Cherished Welcomers Of The Desolate Dawn". We have passed the point of generic anime titles quite a long time ago.

>>53469635

The Tear of Sulis?

>>53469702
>anime
Fuck off with that.

I came here for gothic horror and pulpy sci-fi, not weebshit.

What about "The Opal"? Have it be just a giant piece of opal. Would be rather pretty

>>53469740
>>53469737
If you want we could simply just make them all names for the same thing in setting, with the Jewel Sky simply being the most famous and thus the most used. It would satisfy everyone, and prevent us all from tearing out our throats over names for a giant moon that occasionally becomes a radiant mass of evil destroying light, in a setting where the other three moons are literal eldritch abominations.

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>>53469702

> implying only anime settings can have long, ridiculous titles

Shub-Niggurath, The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young would like a word with you.

>>53469756

This is a good idea, it adds depth to the setting and incorporates each idea. Perhaps there's a regional dialect divided between Jewel in the Sky, and Jewel of the Sky.

>>53469763
She is literally a cosmic horror whose true name would annihilate the minds of mere mortals. A good example she may be, but she's not what one normally uses as a first pick. Never mind the fact that this is a slight derail. Shall we get back on track gents? Or shall we retire for now, and pick up with a new thread?

>>53469836

This thread is a full 100 posts from the limit, let us press onward!

>>53469803
Quite likely. Do remember that sea travel in this world is very deadly, as you will be eaten if you do not pay proper tribute, most lands seem to be separated from each other, monsters of all sorts lay waste to civilization constantly, and three demonic living moons regularly manifest to cause chaos and discord. Wouldn't be surprised if people started applying names for things that are all vastly different from the other.

>>53469875

Indeed, my quickle sticks are tingling at the concept...

>>53469702
I like to imagine the Cherished Welcomers of The Desolate Dawn is their full name, but depending on who you ask, they may be known as just The Cherished Welcomers, or The Desolate Dawn.

>>53460825
>Despite being a radioactive religious impostor, The Radiant Magnificence is actually genuinely interested in humanity surviving

>>53469964
>The Radiant Magnificence has only gone to war threes times, each during the Darkest Hour
>No one can remember if what it wrought was worse than what it fought.

... Have the posts for Ire's Wrath vanished or has my decay progressed too far?

>>53462328
>During The First Thaumaturgic War children were raised from birth to become soldiers
>These soldiers knew nothing but war, and as such those who became revenants had their forms twisted into weaponry
>These revenant weapons are much more dangerous than normal weapons, exhibiting strange powers
>Some are considered relics and held in museums
>Others are wielded by those who aren't afraid of their power
>But most are still not found by humans

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>>53443991
>"Fool! Vampires don't go crazy, their minds change like their bodies! Vampirism is just growing into a better being in body, mind, and soul! It is not losing your humanity, it's trading it!
>AH
>AH
>AH

Have the humans in the setting already invented the radio?

>>53467922
>>53467836

There are voices who call these acts 'false miracles', as they are fuelled not by the embers of the Goddess' power, but by the inner fire of the human spirit. But others say, they are no less true miracles than those granted by the beneficience of the goddess. Does she not, even from her prison, preach to fight against the darkness, after all? Does she not preach that humans, and the human spirit are precious and worth fighting for? Does she not bless, even from beyond the veil, those who suffer martyrdom to save the innocent and push back the darkness?
Thus the church is divided between decrying the short inhumane lives these unsung heroes must suffer through, and thanking them for their willful martyrdom, for such acts are among the most holy one can do in the Goddess' name.

>>53470745
I would say yes.

>>53468462
>The Dark Construct, though its power terrible, is surprisingly easy to thwart in its evil purpose.
>Its siren call drives all artificial constructs into maddened frenzy, sure, but it can only call out to that which it sees.
>Thus, no one who can help it is foolish enough to leave any of their machines, constructs and tools laying out in the open as night approaches. Vehicles are parked in garages or covered with tarps, machines and tools are put back in storage and artificial beings either find shelter or cover themselves up, for the Dark Construct could potentially appear any night.
>Of course, once the night has begun, and the Dark Construct has failed to show, any work and purpose may continue, should it be necessary.

>Major settlements, to circumvent the hassle, maintain their own means of predicting the Dark Construct's arrival, be it precise mechanical arrays so sensitive that they react to even the approach of the hated moon, or rituals of divination. The same goes for the other moons of nightmare and destruction - an entire industry is based on tracking their every move and predicting their appearance, as well as attempting to lessen their effects by various means.

Navar, the twice blind goddess of fate and her husband, Mardar the bloodied god of luck are two of the other gods the humans remember from the old times.

Navar was originally a benevolent but stern goddess who could see the fates of all peoples, while Mardar was her lackadasical husband, who frittered his powers on making things easy, wandering the mortal plane in various forms to play with the odds of various games and tests of skill, enjoying the delights of wine food and merriment.

When the original sin cursed the world however, Navar was rendered blind. A goddess of fate being unable to see is a pitiful thing, and she fell into a deep despair. At her darkest hour though, a stranger came to her with a book. It contained prophecy and portent, and the stranger promised that reading it would be as good as Navar having her sight back. Desperately she agreed, and as she read with her fingers, she realised that the prophecy predicted a world in ruin, with humanity a flickering candle in a looming darkness. She tried to reject the book, but it was too late, and she was enslaved to it, to use her power to cause the prophecies to pass.

Mardar, who was unnaffected by the original sin by his own luck, saw this happen, and now works his hardest to use his guile, his charm, his wit and his own damnedable luck to distract Navar long enough that he can delete entries from the book to save humanity (whom he is quite fond of) and to try and find the passage that cursed her in the first place so he can erase it.

She grows furious with him with each passage he successfully destroys, and he now bears many wounds from her wrath. but he will not raise his own hand against her, for though he may not have always been the most faithful, he does still love her with all his heart.

>>53467945
>Due to the planet having four moons, the ocean's tides are much stronger and more erratic
>Because of the ocean's properties, this is a very bad thing

How large do you think the human population in this world is?

>>53472418
not a huge number of people, but living very close together (partly for herd safety, partly due to large areas of land being uninhabitable).

>>53472448
Could you tell an approximate number?

>>53472418
Maybe high millions, a billion at the very highest? Does it matter to a huge degree?

Let's get some more of the roaring twenties and general modernity in here, shall we

>The darkness and the many dangerous lurking the wilderness make roads dubious at best to travel. To alleviate this, a railway network connects major settlements where possible, constant reminders of mankind's perseverance.
>These railways are forged of steel and held in place by rail spikes that are each blessed by the Church. A line is only complete and safe to travel once the last one, a so-called Golden Spike is put in place, completing the enchantment and making the rail line a physical antithesis to the horrors that lurk between the islands of civilization, protecting it from any tampering besides earth-rending calamities.
>Trains pulled by mighty Autocraft engines travel these lines, ferrying passengers and cargo to and fro tirelessly. Both the Bureau and the Guilds are deeply involved in the railway industry - constant politicking and competition drive it ever onward, ever expanding, even if weighed down by immense bureaucracy.
>Of course, The Dark Construct threatens these engines, too. Along every line, at regular intervals, fortified Stations await the trains, ready to shield them from its baleful gaze - yet even with all the safety measures in the world, sometimes a train is delayed, or its drivers gauge the time they have poorly, and calamity occurs - a so-called Runaway Train is created.
>Compared to other engines going wild, the damage a train can do is most of the time limited, due to its confinement to the blessed rails. Thus, the best its crew and passengers can do before the engine extends its tendrils of corruption and consumes the entire train and all within it, is to quickly decouple the carriages, and leave the engine to roar off into the cursed night, while they are left at the wilderness' mercy until morning.
>However, if a Runaway Train grows strong enough to survive the morning, it also has grown strong enough to cast off the shackles of the railway.

>>53472254

>While the runeships of the Orient protect sailors from minor tides and waves, those that venture out to sea are far less fortunate. No rune can save a man when the wave envelopes the ship not by wilful intent, but simply because the waves are themselves great and strong.
>Most oceanbound ships from the Orient instead make use of moon compasses, a magic-reliant device that reduces the gravitational pull of the moons. In the times before the War, Oriental fleets could easily traverse the ocean without a single loss.
>As moon compasses require a crew of sixteen magic-users to function, the Oriental fleets are now much reduced. Many islands are lucky to have a single functioning ship.

Does the Dark Construct affect all machinery or just the magical machinery?

>>53472959
I was under the impression that it's magical machinery, but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of non-magical machinery...

>>53446789

>The people of the Orient developed technology along different lines to those of the West.
>Rather than heavily adopting autocraft in the wake of the War, they instead began developing a more 'natural' approach.
>Instead of metal, they used flesh. Biological machines, biomechs, were created and innovated to such a point that many oriental cities are literally alive, even if their outer facades show otherwise.

>>53472995
According to >>53470745, >>53446789 and >>53445231 humans do have conventional machinery.

>>53473070
Well then, the Dark Construct's fluff seems to suggest it only affects magical things.

So perhaps then >>53472910 not all trains are Autocraft? It's an efficiency vs. safety thing.

>Out of all factories on the planet, one has since it's creation expanded to the size of a city, and is known only as THE Factory
>It's first owner had both an incredible distaste for magic and a great desire for efficiency, and sought a way to make machinery which would surpass magic
>He would have never achieved his dream if not for an assassin sent to kill him trying to poison him with water taken from the Dae-Lands
>Ingesting the water led to him becoming partially detached from reality and witnessing the realm of concepts: The City Of Forms
>Using the knowledge gained there, he made his factory into a conduit for the very concept of Factory
>The efficiency of production and quality of products were absolutely perfect, and The Factory produced literally everything not involving magic, including living organisms, yet the buyers just couldn't shake off the feeling that the products had something wrong with them...
>And the buyers also wondered why The Factory seems to have no staff...

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>>53469617
I think the moon should just be a moon with beneficial properties. Sometimes there's not a reason to explain or give specific details on everything. This is a gothic horror setting, and the best horror stories leave you asking 'why' for a long time, because there isn't really a good answer. Sometimes, things just 'are'.

>>53470427
This sounds metal as fuck, and I'd be down for having these weapons expanded upon in a full game.


>>53472174
More gods in the setting could be pretty cool actually, but we'd need some short blurbs on their worshippers, and how they might affect the setting.

>>53472873
Personally I think the population shouldn't be roughly counted, and more as a nebulous mask. Who's doing census counts in a city like Bastion, ever growing and expanding?

>>53473016
Anon, I can't say that full blown biopunk appeals to me here. I think technology should mostly trump wholly organic tech in most cases throughout the setting, besides a few niche cases. Adds a layer of uniformity.

>>53453986
Does anyone have an idea how to improve mimics?

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>>53474317
I think the fungi-like animals are a decent idea, but if not, try this:

>Mimics are an insidious and highly adaptable insect species, and primarily carnivorous During their larval form, they typically find one particular object in nature to imitate, growing to look more and more like their chosen habitat as time goes on.
>However, larva occasionally crop up in urban environments, taking the form of ragged, gibbering beggars, man-made furniture, and other such placements in city life.
>The Gasmen are an Order of Hunters spawned from former soldiers of the Great War, trained in using a variety of different gases in order to combat not only mimics, but other insectoid and fungal monstrosities in the world.

>The First Thaumaturgic War was fought by many factions, yet few survive to the present day, and even then they are just shadows of their former selves
>One such faction is The Supremacy of Dgerrel
>Formed by worshippers of Dgerrel, The Supremacy believed that all that is not magic does not deserve to exist
>Among suprematists slavery, self-mutilation, magical augmentation and rituals involving human sacrifice were common
>The proportional relation of magical and normal in a given suprematist's body was dependent on his/her rank, with higher-ranking suprematists being almost completely magical
>In the present day most suprematists are less than 1% composed of abnormal materials and often have no magical affinity
>Due to them still following their old laws designed for beings much more powerful than humans, the economy of The Supremacy is in bad condition

>>53474421
I was asking more along the lines of "do something involving these mimics" than "make new mimics", but your idea is also interesting.
What do you think about the two variations existing simultaneously, but on different continents?

>>53473016
Biomachines kind of steps into the outlawing of artificial being production that was put into place after the First War. I dunno if the Orient would care about the Church and the various governments of the Occident banned artificial creation, but if their tech is biotech, they would probably be turned away at anything but the seediest of ports. It's kind of the reason the truth about the Arcane Hearts using homunculus hearts as it's core is a secret, or else there would be public outrage.

>>53474210
You're probably right about the biopunk sticking out. Perhaps it would be better if biomechs are still very much in their infancy and not nearly as efficient as autocraft save for a few specific uses? Making anything workwhile would require a great deal of energy. Exploring the sea might be one of those few times where biological tech would be better than autocrafts since you don't risk it being corrupted.

>>53474678
Well yeah, I'm assuming that the Guild/Church/etc. spheres of influence are limited to the western nations...right?

>>53474614
Oh, my mistake. I imagine the insectoid mimics might have a harder time existing in colder climates, so the Orient would be better suited for them, as opposed to the fungal mimics.

>>53474718
That definitely could work pretty well, yeah. They'd still be ostracized by most from the west, though. Giant, living ships does not exactly inspire safety in nations who are at war with the very sea.

>>53474739
I think the Sulis Church would mostly be limited to the west, but the Guilds and Hunters would be worldwide. Money and Monsters have no boundaries, and the Orient nations would be truly stupid not to let in people who could take care of either.

I'm also the anon who made the google doc, and if people want to carry planning on outside of this thread, feel free to join this discord link:

https://discord.gg/PyAH7nb

>During the First Thaumaturgic War, many weapons were employed. Destroyer Rituals, Grand Sunderings, Arcanic Curse outbreaks, Border Summonings, and numerous others. But the single most destructive weapon in the First War was the Killing Rune. The Killing Rune was created via the combined knowledge of numerous spellcaster schools and contracted by the Order, originally the Killing Rune was going to be used to fight back The Border, but thanks to some meddling by other factions in The First War, who saw the destructive potential of the Run, the Killing Rune was re-purposed into a weapon of war
>At first, everyone who knew of the Killing Rune, expected it to be just another simple weapon, it would cause death and destruction, but nothing out of the ordinary
>But it's first use in the field was on the continent of Ires
>The way the Killing Rune works, is that when it's planted, it will begin to drain the location of all magic energy, swelling the Rune with power, the second stage is the initial release, where the magical energy absorbed by the Rune is released in an unseen wave of death stretching out for miles, the erratic energy within the wave liquefying the insides of any creature caught in the wave. The third stage stage involves the Killing Rune then performing it's darkest act, the wave that expanded outward starts to close back in, and as it does it sweeps up the souls of those it originally killed, like a giant harvesters scythe sweeping across grain, pulling those lives back into the Rune, reabsorbing the magical energy it initially released. The final stage is the true, horrifying power of the Killing Rune, it mixes the souls and the magical energy within it into a source of pure, raw power, and releases it all at once, producing a catastrophic explosion that destroys land, sea and sky at the same time, the explosion is unrestrained, and can expand across miles and miles of land, only stopping when the power is exhausted.

>>53474955
>Now, this was all the creators knew of how the Killing Rune worked during testings, they believed it to be just another weapon, a sufficient killer. However, something unexpected happened when it was used on the continent of Ires
>The Killing Rune was planted on the outskirts of a fortress city on Ires, the ones employing it were the most powerful faction, at the time, The Republic of Vorek, who majorly funded the Rune.
>They intended to use the Rune to wipe out the city, take it over, and use it as a staging ground on their campaign in Ires.
>With the word given, they triggered the Rune, and the planting teams escaped in the time limit set. Four hours later, the Killing Rune activated.
>The Rune worked as it was expected at first, draining the city and surrounding land of any ambient magic energy, storing it all up, and then releasing it to wipe out the city and surrounding villages and towns. It wasn't until the final stage that something went wrong. When the explosion was released, the Rune did something no previous test showed it could do. Every life taken by the blast, was absorbed into the Rune, and used to fuel the explosion anew. This was not what the Rune was supposed to do.
>So, the expanding wall of raging fire, blinding light, and all consuming destruction swelled and devoured the land, each tiny life it snuffed out, used to fuel the destruction even greater, every village, every town, every city it hit, making the blast swell. It swallowed countries, it swallowed providences, it swallowed armies, it swallowed the sky, the earth, and even the sea around Ires. It was unholy destruction on a scale no human had ever witnessed before.
>The blast lasted all night, the blinding light could be seen across the ocean, and from other continents, as if a second sun had sprung up on earth.
>By morning, the blast subsided, and the continent of Ires was gone. Only lumps of charred islands remained.

>>53475114
>The republic's government was most pleased and ordered more runes to be made

>>53475114
>The majority of the Republic of Vorek's forces were located on the continent to prepare for the invasion and the first stages of their assault on the continent, as a result, they were caught in the blast, and the Republic's forces were crippled. Soon enough the remaining factions descended upon the Republic, now unable to defend itself, and the Republic of Vorek was toppled.
>The Killing Rune's effect was a turning point in the world, it was the first, major, man-made cataclysm, and as the First War continued on, this horrifying weapon would see extensive use (after some tweaking of course to prevent the same cataclysm)
>After the First War, many weapons were outlawed completely, and just their research was considered grounds of imprisonment. But rumor has it some factions in the world still possess First War weaponry, such as the Grim Ones supposedly having a prototype Killing Rune.

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>The Guilds tend to loathe the services of the Marrazi Sanctioned, yet few could deny the sheer influence that the peddlers of vice and debauchery have on the world. Prostitution, all manners of drugs, and if you've got the coin, depravities that would make the most sickening of monstrosities shudder.
>However, for all of their shortcomings, the Marrazi all but eliminate crime in whatever city or port they maintain holdings in. After all, the competition doesn't exactly make good business for them. In addition, their alchemists and surgeons are widely considered some of the best in the world, churning out some of the most effective, if addictive, medicines and drugs on the planet.

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>>53471774
>>53472910
>The Dark Construct will on the occasion that it cannot corrupt the creations of man, send forth large masses of itself down to the earth below.
.These masses of hate and malevolence, these Clockwork Horrors are amongst some of The Dark Constructs most terrible of spawn.
>Being directly made from it, the Clockwork Horrors possess the ability to radiate out the same corrupting presence as their progenitor, albeit at a much more limited range, but they do not possess the weakness of having to see the constructs in order to corrupt or taint them. Atleast not totally.They need only be in the general area in order to cause machines to go violent, but they can not truly corrupt them.
>Machines that are only affect by their baleful aura will go mad with frenzy, but will not mutate into horrors beyond description. Machines that are directly in front of the Horror however will. It does not help that the other maddened constructs will attempt to drag other constructs (and occasionally people), into the vicinity of the Clockwork Horror so that they may either be consumed to fuel its growth and power, or be turned into more servants to The Dark Construct
>It is for this reason that many people have taken to finding secure shelters for not just their machines, but for themselves as well

>>53468590

In their most benign form, sunchasers are engineers, explorers, tinkerers, and logistic managers trying to make the world a better place through improved communication, air travel, and ultimately reaching the sun through their machines. They are bound together by a common ideal of sun-worship, spreading their faith via air-traveling missionaries, and building better planes and airships.

At their worst, they're paranoid and Machiavellian, willing to commit terrible crimes to appropriate the resources needed to pursue their mission and brutally persecuting those within their organization that they deem lacking in commitment or faith.

Some days it seems that their faith in their ultimate goal, and current progress will keep them on a stable path, on others it seems that infighting, and religious fear will doom them.

>>53475114
>it is said that from the blasted lands, one can hear the whispers of all the lives taken by the calamity, and that stranger still one can hear laughter most malign.

What do you think of >>53473412 ?

>In an attempt to replace the lack of homunculus man power, which was outlawed, the Anchest Steel Company, a construction and production company in Bastion, attempted to create an autonomous worker. Using Autocraft, they developed a prototype machine with the form of a man. Using some Alchemical research as a base, they built an intricately working machine that, while not capable of the detailed work of a human or humonculus, could perform bigger jobs more efficiently, due to it's power. After months of work, they finally inserted the Arcane Heart, and powered the machine up. They dubbed it the Auto-Man, and after initial tests, it proved to be a huge success! However, the next day after it's successful unveiling, the Auto-Man was gone. Investigations did not determine that it was stolen, instead, it seemed as if the Auto-Man just got up and walked away on it's own.
>Since then, the development of Auto-Men is sort of on hiatus as engineers try to work out any possible, unforeseen bugs.

>>53475992
I think it's a pretty neat idea, but it seems just a tad over the top. If it was smaller than a city, but still large, I think that would work pretty well.

>>53475992
Sounds like a cool idea, though, again, producing living organisms is outlawed in the Occidental regions, so thats outright. As for the rest, I could see it being used somewhere like Bastion or in another big city like Geldunfray to speed up production of Autocraft machinery, weapons, and construction. Though such an obvious "this thing is not right" may make it hard to excuse it being in a major city, or being used by a lot of people.

>>53476136
Well, it's not producing living stuff because it sells, it produces it because it can be produced at a factory, and The Factory is literally the embodiment of the concept of a factory.

I feel like we're getting too large in scale. Sure yeah we need some large scale threats to keep the Sulisians, major guilds, and Bureau up at night, but what about the small scale horrors?

The monsters that drag you into shallow ponds, the monster under your bed, the faefolk and boggarts and boggles that spoil your milk and flay your children?

A party in a game set in this world needs something to fight at low levels other than immigrants and the poor

>>53475992
A few problems I have is that there was no real consequence to him ingesting the Dae-Lands laced water. He just got displaced from reality, but seemed to just get better? The Dae-Lands isn't just some weird, reality warping place, it's a hellscape of twisted, tormented magic. It's incredible that they were even able to obtain water from the Dae-Lands, but for a human to ingest that? I imagine being displaced from reality is the least of their worries.

Not to mention a city sized factory is a bit too big for this world. Large human constructs and settlements have to be literal fortresses, as the continuous assaults on human life make anything less than a fortress impossible to maintain at a large size. And the very obvious wrongness of the factory would lead to the Order or the Church knocking on it's door.

Still, I could see a supernaturally imbued factory that can quickly and efficiently produce products being a very real part of the setting, with a bit more tweaking to make it more subtle and not as sour thumby

>>53476194
Well if it does that, then The Factory would find the Order and the Church pounding on it's doors, because that is very obvious supernatural wrongness, theres no way it would be allowed if it's a massive factory, completely unmanned, and also spitting out living creatures.

>>53476235
>The goblins are four-limbed, vaguely humanoid carnivourous molluscine creatures which have adapted to live on land
>Goblins are slightly smarter than the average chimpanzee
>They are often found in human settlements trying to steal food
>A goblin's definition of food includes everything that fits in it's mouth

Also, we already have two types of mimics.

>>53476235
>Listen here children, and listen clear, in the dead of night, do not look out the windows, do not open the doors, do not cry out into the dark if you hear a sound. The Crill crawl along the walls, they crawl along the doors, they tap and bite and claw, hoping to find any tasty morsel they can. If the crill hear you, if they know you are home, they will slip in a crack with their arms, that can reach anywhere in the home, and they will grab you up and drag you out of your home through the cracks! So stay quiet in your beds, keep the curtains drawn, and never open the door in the dead of night.

>>53476235
Yeah, I can see where you're going with this anon. For smaller scale horrors, here are some ideas.

>The death of a child is a harrowing experience for any, but with it comes the risk of a Hag being created. Sorrow, torment, these are feelings the Border can feed off, twist and rend inside of a person... When a parent feels that loss, what would they do to bring their child back? Give into the darkness and become a Hag.
>However, this is entirely incorrect. Contrary to popular belief, Dread Hags are created through an intense retrovirus spread through not yet understood means, transforming their victims into child-stealing monstrosities. They're particularly common in fringe villages, at the edge of the civilization.

>Horses are widely known as the faithful steeds of mankind, but Carcass Broncos perverse this idea. Taking the shape of a headless horse, their purpose is insidious, stalking lone travelers in the wilderness and subsuming them whole.
>After their prey has been caught, they are quickly consumed, creating a disturbing facsimile of the mythical centaur.
>Eventually, their last meal rots away, and the Carcass Bronco goes on the hunt for prey.

>>53476320
>>53476285
>Out of all factories on the planet, one has since it's creation expanded to the size of a fortress, and is known only as THE Factory
>It's first owner had both an incredible distaste for magic and a great desire for efficiency, and sought a way to make machinery which would surpass magic
>He would have never achieved his dream if not for a magic-attuned assassin sent to kill him trying to permanently erase him from reality
>The assassin was killed before completing the ritual and the man was displaced only temporarily
>During his displacement he witnessed the realm of concepts: The City Of Forms
>Using the knowledge gained there, he made his factory into a conduit for the very concept of Factory
>The efficiency of production and quality of products were absolutely perfect, and The Factory produced literally everything not involving magic, including living organisms (although those never leave The Factory's confines), yet a few buyers had a slight feeling that the products had something wrong with them...
>And those who live near The Factory also wonder why it seems to have no staff...

>>53476502
Is this better?

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>>53476235
Well lets see what we can cook up

>The Crooked. Tall gangly creatures that stalk towns in the dead of night, their bent and distorted forms making it easy for them to slink through the darkness.
>They enter homes through windows, or small cracks, and they specifically go to the bedrooms of the children of such homes.
>They peer over them as they sleep, breathing down their necks and whispering sweet nothings in their ears. telling them of so many wonderful things that they could do with each other.
>The child's mind will usually be affected in a massive way. Constantly paranoid, always peeking over their shoulders, leaping away from even the smallest of shadows. The Crooked's deleterious influence has damaged their minds.
>Eventually after feasting off of the child for a period of time, until they can barely sleep, and they are screaming, begging for it to end, The Crooked will take them.
>It is not known were, but it is said that the maddened giggling of children can be heard on some especially dark nights when The Border encroaches, and that the number of Crooked goes up with every child taken in the dusk of night.

>>53476502
>>53476527

I just think the setting could live without the use of a weird, SCP-esque factory.

>>53476235
>A party in a game set in this world needs something to fight at low levels other than immigrants and the poor

Kek

>>53476623
>>53476527
>>53476502

I agree, although I can see it as a one off dungeon splat, but not as an integral part of the setting

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>>53476235
>In the countryside there is legend of creatures known as the Sunter Men, tall, gangly things, with faces of thorns and arms of straw and wood. The truth is, the Sunter Men are all too real. They live out in the countryside, away from the large fortress cities, and they prey on farmers and small townsfolk, but that does not make them weak. Sunter Men are able to rip a man in two with ease, and due to their unique biology, even firearms have trouble putting them down. Hunters who have faced Sunter Men tell that the most efficient method of killing them is normal steel blades, or any kind of bladed projectile, to cut and slice them, but the risk of facing a Sunter Man in close combat is extreme, and any Hunter who survives such encounters are considered incredibly skilled fighters

>>53476235
>The night mares are twisted creatures, resembling enormous insects with the heads of horses, wearing manic grins that a normal horse's jaw structure wouldn't allow for
>They are capable of sensing others' dreams through unknown means, and are drawn to those who recently suffered from nightmares
>Whether the person is currently asleep is irrelevant to the night mare's desire to locate him/her, but if the person isn't currently having a nightmare it's tracking is less accurate
>When the night mare locates it's victim, it will use two of it's legs to pry the human's mouth open, then vomit a grey, sticky substance into his/her mouth, after which it will begin consuming the human
>After ingesting the substance, if the victim was awake, he/she will fall into a coma that will last until death, during which he/she will have horrible nightmares
>Night mares will stalk their victim no matter what time of day it is, where the victim is or whether or not he/she is awake, the only requirement to be stalked is that the victim's last dream must have been a nightmare

Some more historical mirroring, albeit a bit shifted in time.

>The Great War such much political upheaval in the Occidental world, the mighty Autocraft industry and military industrial complex of the Great Veislünd Reich coming to a hideous screeching halt leading to horrendous economic collapse.

>The grand and sweeping Anglian Empire, one of the few nations to have free reign throughout the world via railway and steamship has split into East and West Anglia, the West still ruled by Anglian Royal Family while the East is controlled by the Sulisian Church and the Parliment founded by Anglian successionists that were barely suppressed before the war

>>53476699
Yes, now that I think about it the factory should probably be an one-off, with no other lore tied to it.

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>>53476481
>Unlike the regular domesticated dog, or the ever feared wolf, there lies a third species that breeds true where the Border grows thin. Barghest are an a clever breed of predators, one able to closely mimic the calls of other species, and most disturbingly, the human voice.
>It's not uncommon to find a pack of Barghest picking off shepherds and their flocks, but the real danger is when they begin to develop a liking for human flesh.
>Barghest skin is typically fairly tough stuff, and used in the construction of various different outfits and armor of Hunter orders.

>>53476235
>Creatures who want to create connections between people
>Unfortunately in their minds physical connections are considered equal to emotional connections

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>>53476235
>Some stories call them Tooth Fairies, in others, they are Tooth Kings. These creatures are a result of a dark infection brought from The Border. The Order has yet to determine the origin of the virus, or how it is transferred beyond it's hosts. The Tooth King virus, when it infects a host, works insidiously fast. It's first symptoms are an aching pain in the jaw, which grows to be pains across the body in various joints. After that, the host will begin to suffer a stiffening of the jaw, making it hard to eat or speak, as well as discomfort in the ribs, neck, spine, hands, knees and feet, this is caused by the bones in these locations enlarging slowly. Soon afterwards, the host will discover new teeth forcing their way into the bottom of their mouth, not just on the toothline, but under the tongue as well, excruciating pain will accompany this stage, autopsies of hosts in this stage also show certain bones fusing together, such as the rib cage fusing into three large rib bones, or the bones in the forearms and legs fusing into one. The final stage is welcomed with mind numbing pain across the whole body, focused majorly in the jaw, and after a few short hours the lower teeth will erupt upwards, the teeth have became incredibly strong and sharp, and thus are able to easily shred the front of the hosts face, skull and brain off as it extends, the ribs, collarbones, upper arm and hand bones, knee, lower leg and feet bones, and the spine will also protrude from the body.
>At this stage the host has become a Tooth King.
>Tooth Kings have been shown to display a hive mind of sorts, working together towards goals, as well as an form of intelligence, as they work with purpose rather than shambling about aimlessly. Tooth Kings are incredibly durable, their skeletal structure having become as strong as stone, and possess inhuman strength. Tooth Kings are also able to spread the virus by coming into contact with an uninfected person's bones.

>>53477281
>It's been shown that the more Tooth Kings in one location, the faster the virus works, and should an infected suffer multiple skeletal interactions with Tooth Kings, their virus will speed up even more so.
>There is no known cure for the Tooth King virus at this time.

>>53477281
>>53477327
Gotta wonder if there's anything left of the original personality by the time the transformation is finished. I hope that they die before they reach the final stage though, as that just sounds horrible.

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>As the night is an ever-present, literal everyday threat to humanity, wherever humans settle, they seek to fight the darkness back not only spiritually, but physically - most of the horrors, you see, do not take kindly to light, be it natural or artificial.
>Of course, there exist techno-magical lamps that sear the flesh of even the strongest and normally resistant creatures of the Border
>This means that street-lighting is the one utility every community, no matter how backwards or poor, tries to acquire and maintain.
>Those villages and hamlets at the edge of civilization that are too poor to afford streetlights are either doomed to a slow death as people move away or are slowly whittled down by the threats lurking in the night, or left at the mercy of supernatural benefactors and strange cults with even stranger rituals that promise to safeguard them - for a price.

>In larger metropolises, however, not only do streetlights line every street - the darkness of the night is drowned out as fully as possible.
>Urban buildings sport impressive, well-lit facades, storefronts vomit light out onto the streets, guilds, companies and businesses advertise themselves on large, luminescent signs and billboards on every possible surface, and vehicles sport impressive headlights to light up anything that yet remains in shadow wherever they go
>Thus, nights in a city are noisy, luminous affairs - the darkness is held at bay, and the noise of vehicles, machinery and business drown out the silence
>But, of course, the darkness can only be pushed back. Shadows stretch long in the night, and in quiet back-alleys, where streetlights are but a glimpse and the rumble of the city dampens, one may feel just as vulnerable as if he were traversing a dark forest

>>53477402
Sorry to say, but the host is completely alive, and fully conscious by the final stage. As for afterwards, not eve the Order can determine if hosts retains their personality, or any original thought after the transformation, as the Tooth Kings make no attempt to communicate

>>53477281
>>53477327

>Like most infections and ailments, werewolves will be carriers for this dark disease.

>In fact, while all Therians have increased strength and endurance and constitution to rival any undead, many will enjoy different booms depending on the plagues they bare.

>Some packs will actively hunt the afflicted in the hopes of claiming their suffering for their own gain. The godly immunity of a Were makes this a difficult, but not impossible, task.

>>53476235
>Meat Slaves- Large, spidery creatures covered in carapace hooks. They hunt down anything, from humans, to animals, and pin their corpses to their body to act as armor and possibly as a way of attracting mates.
>Yults- A species of flying bug the size of a dog. They are constantly on the move, their short lives never once landing on the ground. Thus they are extremely fast creatures, flitting through forests, hunting down prey with their razor sharp wings and six legs, each tipped with a poisonous stinger. Their abdomen contains a row of jagged, needle like teeth, and the Yult feeds by splitting it's abdomen open and biting down on whatever prey it's snatched up, drinking them dry and then dropping the empty husk
>Vile Hawks- Large goblin birds, nasty creatures with a delight for tormenting people, they will hunt down people traveling the roads, or people who wander away from the security of groups, and groups of Vile Hawks will swoop at them, clawing and kicking the poor soul, defecating and urinating on them, spitting and mocking them with laughter, and even playing with the prey by lifting them in the air and throwing them to the ground, or tossing them at trees and rocks, and even playing catch with each other. Eventually the victim will die from the Vile Hawks torments, and then the creatures will feast on the victims innards.

>>53477601
>Other possible carriers of the virus are the Dread Biters. Small, mosquito like creatures that come from The Border during the summer, and propagate the rest of the year before dying in the winter. Dread Biters are the size of beetles, with heads shaped like long syringe needles. Dread Biters are usually rife with diseases, from benign ones, to horrifying ones, and like mosquitos, will transfer these diseases by feeding on the blood of the living. Unlike mosquitos, Dread Biters also lay eggs with their bites. In a few short days after a Dread Biter feeds, long, sharp protrusions will form under the skin in the area of the bite, and soon after, the Dread Bites will push themselves out of the skin with their needle like heads and fly off into the night. It's unknown how newborn Dread Biters obtain the concoction of diseases that origin ones do.

>>53477841
You said that the Vile Hawk is a goblin bird. Do you mean goblin as in standard fantasy goblin or >>53476379 goblin?

>>53477841
>Bobaggins- Commonly found in swamps, marshes, wetlands, and even near lakes, Bobaggins are large, lung shaped creatures covered in long, twisted hair, a tube like mouth and a pair of big, milky eyes under the hair, and long, thin limbs. Bobaggins are surprisingly docile creatures, and will usually spend their time lingering in waters, noticeable by patches of hair floating on the surface of the water, but when Bobaggins find food nearby, which can range from corpses, animals, and people, they will gorge themselves. Bobaggins are not malicious, but they will show no hesitation in swallow men, women, children, and animals whole, alive or dead, and digesting them in their massive, lung shaped bodies, over many days, even the bones. Bobaggins are incredibly durable, their limbs, while thin and gangly, are very flexible, and can hold up to blades and blunt damage, and their lung shaped bodies are almost impossible to damage outside of heavy arms. However, if you can dismember a Bobaggin, it will rapidly bleed out.

>>53477994
I envisioned a horrid little creature with wings and talons, and just used goblin as a general descriptor. Though they could fit that goblin appearance.

>>53474570
Naw man, the Thaumaturgic War was so horrible, and so long ago, there's no way they exist. Besides, ancient revenents and stuff used to serve those factions, this would give them a big power boost.

I dunno, these random monsters aren't really doing it for me.

>>53477482
Jesus. I pity all those who suffer that fate. I take it that many children end up being taken by the disease?

>>53478104
What if they DID exist, but have since died out due to the war?

>>53478212
Could be secret societies who have long forgotten their true purpose or goals, but seek to reclaim former glories.

>>53478212
However, some of their artifacts and mementoes are still around, though most of them in museum and collections now...

>Gwell Whellies- Hill creatures, they have the appearance of small, scrawny toads adorned with horns and human like hands. Gwell Whellies are mostly harmless to large towns and cities, but smaller towns and villages are not so safe. Gwell Whellies subside on a diet of fish, bugs and small animals, and thus will not eat humans, but Gwell Whellies have an obsession over metal. Gwell Whellies will sneak into villages and towns to steal metal of any kind, tools, nails, trinkets, weapons, teeth, whatever it is, to take back to their nests and horde, and anyone or anything that tries to get in their way when they find something they like, will be met with a brutal mauling as the Gwell Whellies attack with sharp fangs and grabbing hands, they also are fond of swarming large targets when they do attack. However, Gwell Whellies are easy to dispatch if you don't get swamped by them, and will usually disperse if too many of them are killed or hurt, but Gwell Whellies have short memories, and stubborn dispositions, and will usually return in short order.

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>>53478120
Then that means it is time for something special.

>The Blighted Servitors Of The Unending Shadow. These vile entities are rumored to actually be a cult worshiping one of the Firstborn(speak not their names). Many think that the servitors were once vampires that indulged too deeply into the powers of The Border, but we cannot tell for sure other than their massive consumption of blood. The Blighted Servitors have forms resembling that of large bloated insects, with carapaces of shadow that reflect the dying light of the stars. Vile poisons drip from their mandibles, and their many limbs seem to dart in and out of this reality, become shadowy and indistinguishable from the darkness of night. The Blighted Servitors skulk and lurk in the dark parts of the world. In the underbellies of dead kingdoms, or in the black pits deep below the earth. There they conduct maddening rituals that tap into The Border, all in communion with the dark power that they have pledged themselves to. None truly know of how far this cult stretches, but many theorize that they might lurk deep below many of the modern day lands, though this is but a theory. On occasions , The Blighted Servitors will surge outwards from the dark depths and slaughter all in their path, draining the blood from their bodies and storing it, before retreating once more into the inky depths from whence they came. It is theorized by some scholars and Hunters that they use this blood in their macabre rituals in order to appease the Firstborn(do not speak their names), to whom they revere.

>>53478323
But who are these Firstborn?

>>53478358
The first vampires, and likely end of campaign threats. The stuff hordes of hunters go out to fight.

Right now we have more organizations than we have people. Does anyone want to make some historical figures and politicians?

>>53478120
The worlds gotta be full of something. You can't have a world full of just tigers and lions, ya gotta have some toads and rats and swamp things

>>53478121
Oh yes, where a Tooth King outbreak happens, it's likely to find numerous children who were taken by the disease. Some kids are lucky though, their teeth may fall out from the stress of the transformation, and they don't suffer the brutal, horrifying end, others die from shock, but regardless, kids will suffer where Tooth Kings are.

>>53478453
I just don't feel like many of them to really fit in the grand scheme of the world or the whole First Sin/First War/Border theme besides "spooky darkness oooo"

I hate how the thread has devolved into

>Teehee look how deadly my creature is!
>No no no, look at how terrible my creature is!
>Out of the way plebs, look at how great and powerful my Eldritch horror is!

What happened to fluffing out culture, religion, technology? Sure we're cribbing a lot from the 1800s but this is a new world, why not build up something remotely unique?

I like Eldritch and gothic horror and Penny Dreadfuls and Pulp Sci-fi as much as the next guy, but those things only work because of a baseline normality so that things can look aberrant and horrid in comparison.

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>>53478448
>The Solar Papacy serves as the governing body of the Church of Sulis, with each nation offering their own leader to represent their interests, both spiritual and practical, in the great assembly.
>For Geldunfrey, this is Frederick Lochsticschtein, a withered old man who reportedly served as a soldier in the Great War, prior to being turned to the light of the church. He's also the dominant force of the Old Guard within the church, maintaining that traditions must be maintained.

>>53478504
I agree. And I miss the early 20th century focus, rather than general 1800s.

>>53478358
>>Thought to have been vampires who lived for uncountable ages before diving headlong into the depths of The Border, the Firstborn(forever old) are now nothing more than abstract existences that exist primarily within the depths of the unreality that is The Border. Some think that the Firstborn do not exist, that they are a myth, but they are very real. The Firstborn have literally become parts of the very fabric of existence itself, laws of reality. Their vast existence stretches out into the breath of space, and perhaps even time itself. The Firstborn rarely make matters of the world their concern, enjoying the deep feasts of the blood of the cosmos itself, but when their ravenous gaze is drawn onto the world, terrible things befall all those living upon it. Lands are devoured, space and time become distorted, in some places even mimicking the madness of the Dae-Lands. Abominations tear their way through into reality itself, hearing the call of their masters, to feast and devour all in their path. The earth withers and dies, and the clouds grow inky, and pulse a deep hue of various reds and impossible colors. The Firstborn do not truly have tangible presences, but sometimes they will extend a sliver of their being into the material world to take part in the "festivities". These terrors of the void are titanic aberrations that are capable of scarring continents with their might. In the days of yore, whole armies worth of Hunters and warriors charged out to combat them, and could only barely manage to cast them back to the abyss. Nowadays the Firstborn rarely act outwardly, preferring to subtly corrupt the world over time. But their gaze is ever rapt and ravenous, and you would be wise to not draw their attention.

>>53478523
How would you alleviate that technological/cultural shift?

I'm not overly familiar with the world in that snapshot of time

>>53478504
>>53478491
>>53478523
Well, if you want the direction of the thread to change, feel free to suggest things. The nature of the setting, though? Not every beast needs to be incredibly over the top, or staggeringly unique. Sometimes there need to be smaller threats, folklorish beasts and creatures to fight for Hunters.

In terms of the 20th century focus, technology highly differs from place to place. Civilized locales like Bastion, or Geldunfrey will be stark, bright bastions of light and safety, modernity, and other technological innovation. Chambered guns would be more common there, along with electricity, and complex autocraft engines.

Whereas you head out from these locales, technology and complexity begins to break down. That's roughly how it was in the 1920's as well. Urban areas are highly developed, and the rural parts of the world languish for years.

>>53478448
>Angulus Saphron is the current head of the Sulisian Church, referred to as They Most Holy Before Her, or the Imprefus Superior. He is a man of many years, who holds the weight of the church on his shoulders. He believes wholly that the Church can save humanity from the dark, but he does feel his hopes dwingling with every year as more and more horrors are enacted on mankind. Though the High Chairs of the church believe they should rely solely on their divine power and their particular holy weaponry, Angulus believes the Church must embrace this era of Autocraft to strengthen their combat strength against the dark, thus Angulus personally oversees the development of the Deus Ex Machina, a mixture of their divine magics and Autocraft machinery, to produce weapons of holy might.

>>53478491
Well you should remember, not all things that threaten humanity are a result of The Border or the Wars, there existed enemies long before then. If you want a truly living, breathing world, you have to be sure that not everything is connected, this world would be rather dull if everything in it is dictated solely by the major events or concepts of the world.

How do you think The Radiant Magnificence figures into The church's ruling system? I think that it should be involved in it somehow but I don't know how a radioactive monster, even one that is friendly to humans, can make it's orders known to people without killing them.

>>53478504
I don't see what you're talking about. It's only new that were starting to flesh out more creatures of this world, before then it was nothing but historical events, locations, technology, religions, and organizations. This entire thread started on the idea of horrible monsters anyway, so were just returning to it's roots so we can present challenges for the people of the world that they can actually deal with

>>53478689
I think that should be a product of Church corruption. There's a sect that guards The Radiant Magnificence, and claims to interpret its will. In reality, they're just trying to maneuver ahead.

Perhaps they're also horribly mutated/irradiated, due to being in it's presence so much.

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>>53478448
>Sularis Achron is a figure of some renown amongst the peoples of the world. Known as "The Hunter Of The Bright Dawn", he is armored in brilliant golden armor, and wields a sword that some would say burns with the fury of Sulis herself. Not many know who the man beneath the armor truly is, or where he hails from, but they are thankful for his appearances nonetheless. Sularis does not make frequent, or even semi-regular appearances, appearing in the fields of combat at only the most dire of times, and against the most dire of threats. It is rumored that his title, and his lack of appearances are all because he is trying to find the location that Sulis' power may have been imprisoned by the Dark.

>>53478523
I don't think we have a centralized timezone. On the outskirts of civilization we have small hamlets and towns akin to old world places, the kind of towns you'd hear stories about Hags and old crones and bridge trolls from, then you move in you have towns, which are of Victorian origin, with cobble roads, wood and stone manors and homes, simple lamps lining the streets, then you get to the cities and you have giant fortresses, surrounded by walls of thick steel and bristling weapons, with the insides being full of crowded, smoking cityscapes of steel, stone and wood, chugging vehicles of magitech alongside horse drawn carriages, soldiers and hunters armed with guns, and a variety of other semi-modern tech, but with that archaic, old world flair as well.

>>53478689
>To communicate with our prophet, you must be really, really far away, but not TOO far away and know Morse code

>>53478448
>Dr. P.J. Gornbright is the current head of The Order's medical branch. A tired man who has seen more blood than any one man should ever suffer. He has studied all manner of creature in the world, and all manner of ailment and injury. Dr. Gornbright is most famous for having discovered the cure to the Bile Rot disease, a horrible outbreak that claimed countless lives. He is also known for developing the technique of transplanting organs successfully.

What's a good setting name?

>Gothic by Limelight
>Foul Deeds
>Gothic Mists
>Monsters and Machine Guns

>>53478968
I enjoy 'The Rising Dark'. If not that, I could settle for Foul Deeds.