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/eadsttcoteg/ will never die

>TL;DR Doc
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LxdaGoBlJRTMuziMDupG5TeeFwNDnsIW2pfaRAcFDgA
>Main Lore Doc, including links to anon-written short stories and additional lore in "Recommended..." section
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bRrxdD1BMLmcMDFeszwqg2Rcjrt8DDo7tjAxoOB6KQ8
>2e Main Rule Book, Expedition & Tokens. Mu, Duosicilians & Lemuria ALL NEW RELEASED!
https://app.mediafire.com/us7vnek39dc6k
>3e Rules Doc (READY FOR MORE PLAYTESTS)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/14ZpHhEyUbjt-SCx2xuAd0lyh7Rs4J7rK5kHkljqykhk/
> Unit Spreadsheet - Currently outdated, requires an update
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rcleQtrT4Q0INiBW50-kq2ZXWJ-cjLOeVTLTJg_oX5E
>Unit Design Doc
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1n0X89OdMPXJKQGm6kYcOABjhjE4NZER1fvmpDmDX1JA

OLD
>>91592820

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REJECT MODERNITY
EMBRACE GORG

Okay, so, I won't have free time tonight or tomorrow, but I will absolutely have time this weekend to get cracking down on editing the world doc.

Yes, Mediafire works if desired.
A google doc does make things easy to just jump in and out of while I'm cleaning things up, though, and makes edits easy for you to see without having to constantly re-send files back and forth.

Oh shit we're back.

>>91702215
YOU'RE ATLAS DAMNED RIGHT WE ARE

There was talk of moving to a blog of some sort in the last thread, two comments.
Moving to? Fuck no, but in addition to makes sense.
If anyone is up to maintain it, or just have a place to post all your shit, having a single blog to link to for all the rules and docs is a lot cleaner than a mess of OP links.

Also yeah, blogs are permanent so they would be accessible and findable without the archive.

It might be a good idea to make this a monthly thread instead of a weekly one like the homebrew thread or the storythread guys.

>>91703163
>It might be a good idea to make this a monthly thread instead of a weekly one like the homebrew thread or the storythread guys.
That's not a bad plan at all.
Or, it wouldn't be if /tg/ didn't have an arbitrary 1-week thread limit. We're kind of stuck on weekly threads because of that.

Having a separate, public repository of stuff like a block would help with that either way.

I've never been into the whole blog side of things, anyone know a good site we could set stuff up on?

>>91704847
Blogspot is pretty alright.

>>91706674
Anyone up to fire it up?
I'll be handling the editing so not sure if I can bounce around the blog too. And wouldn't want 2e anon to have another piece of workload atop that.

>>91701936
Hey I dropped off due to IRL stuff around I think September?
How much progress has been made since then since it doesn't look like the OP has changed much since then.

>>91711902
>How much progress has been made since then since it doesn't look like the OP has changed much since then.
Honestly?
A hell of a lot of progress that isn't in the OP as it just hasn't been properly compiled yet.
Heroic anon has compiled almost complete unit lists for every faction, as well as a full setting primer, both of which I haven't had the time to edit lately but will start cracking down on this weekend.

>>91711917
Oh sick ill lake a look then.

File: EXPEDITION WORLD DOC.pdf (5.36 MB, PDF)

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Fuck it, may as well repost instead of waiting for the specific anon to show up and do it.

Tomorrow I will be starting edits on the World Doc, btw.
Hopefully anon can get the editable doc up in mediafire, but the PDF will be fine.

If there is a link to the World Book in editable form I could get, it'd be great help for tomorrow.

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GOOD MORNING YOU FUCKS
LEE-DEHR BLESS

Also, since it was asked last thread, on the topic of the RPG
I've been swamped, man. I've been in the threads keeping them bumped when I can, but my time's been tight for a long ass time.

I didn't receive many replies when I posted about it a few times so I figured interest for the RPG was low. That said,
>Atlantis Underground
>A TTRPG based off the Expedition! setting.

Its still floating around, if the interest in its development remains.

Also, if you're around 2e anon, are you on the Discord?

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>>91701936
Thank you for baking!
I got demoralized a bit in the last few threads, thought we were nearing thread death, leading me to make some less-than-polite comment in some other parts of the site. A wise and well intended soul noticed this and prescribed a 72 hours mandatory rest period.
This however gave me time to go back on the main 2e game book and give it another round of polish. I'll be working on it today and tonight and hopefully post it tomorrow.
I added a much needed section on Leadership abilities, rewrote Explosions so that I can standardize them into a small weapon profile too, not have to word out the entire thing every time. I will cut out the Mount Charge rule altogether I think, still hesitating about it, I'm thinking I'll just have the Mounts that can do damage be usable as a weapon, not too sure yet...
Also added a new section named "Conditional Rules", where stuff like Obscurity levels, Wind Direction and Strength, High Altitude Falls, Map Features and perhaps future Anomalies will be put. These are rules that you do not have to use unless agreed upon by both players, invoked by a scenario OR imposed by a model's Special Rule.
I am also growing increasingly horrified at what I did with the NPCs. I don't know what I was thinking, it doesn't fit the game at all. I am thinking of scraping it altogether for something much simpler. Something like, if you roll that there are Saurs prowling around, instead of having a number of Saur model you track the whole game, it might end up being that at the end of the turn, models which are within "x" of a Jungle hex have to test if they are ambushed. If yes, then spawn the Saur next to it and it attacks. Keep things simple instead of having a system trying to do the whole thing. Similarly for other Neutrals it could be done through having a number of tribal buildings on the map that you have to search through, possibly spawning Apemen/Gorgs/Amazons in the process...

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>>91702269
>There was talk of moving to a blog of some sort in the last thread, two comments.
Kek, you must have misunderstood (or I miswrote in my frustration), I was bummed out at the fact it was starting to feel like a personal blogpost (meaning I was just bumping with very little response, and we had been hovering at the same level of interest for a few threads). It was just me being down, rereading the main doc brought me back to the roots of the project and how much I love it, so let's not dwell on that. Its the nature of project like these to dwindle in interest over time and that we've kept it this long is already a miracle, I'll do anything to further the cause. And as >>91704847 shows, we do get people back too, which is fucking awesome.
BUT the idea of a "blog" repository where we could try to organize stuff and point people too in addition to this thread is absolutely awesome. I have no knowledge or experience with this tho so I can do it but it won't be pretty.
>>91711966
>>91715308
The mediafire version isn't working? If not I could always cut it down in two parts and post it here.
>>91717361
I am but I usually keep it close and completely forget about it for weeks at a time, sorry.
>>91717313
I read through Expedition! a while back and was struck at how applicable it was as an RPG. Either that or a CoC clone.
Would making it Atlantis theme be sort of a module thing? With a Colonial one coming later on? Because "Miskatonic Institute has hired you to go in the Deep and validate/disprove this obviously insane theory (the truth is much worse), good luck" seems too good and obvious a hook to pass over...
But yes there is definitely interest!

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I also want to start to organize what I do a bit better in order to make the result more uniform, there are stuff in the main rule book that I should have fixed months ago, and other things that I have not utilized at all. Also, some observations from the last few games played are more or less consistent so I'll bring them up for balancing purposes.
> Movement too low. In some cases units are stuck out back for far too long, with almost no hope of even influencing the battlefield (looking at you Titanium Golem). I'm thinking of doing an across the board increase of 1~2. Movement 2 should be the absolute slowest one get unless hit by some debuff.
> Give some source of Explosion attacks to nearly everyone, if only as Dynamite sticks.
> Something similar for Spray attacks.
> Include a section in each Faction book which makes explicit the Mercenaries which can be recruited by that Faction and how. Thinking we might as well include the profiles too for expediency.
> Also thinking, to make it faster from the moment you introduce a player to the time the game starts, perhaps include a section of suggested standard loadouts at the end of a Faction book for more common models, with the profiles already worked out, so if your lazy you can just copy paste these instead ( I mean most BAP will have a very similar loadout after all).
> I'm thinking of perhaps increasing the Silver costs a bit while also increasing the average game Chest, in order to allow for a little bit more granularity.
I will continue to occasionally look at Sky-Clans and Hyperborea and work on the simple Campaign mode I posted last thread, but once I've finished this pass over the main rule book I'd like to do a polish of France, Britain and the US Faction book with all this in mind.

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Also, another thing I've been thinking about is splitting the Mercenary book apart, its getting too big. Instead I was thinking we could have 3 books, a Minor Faction one for La Ombre, The Lost Men and perhaps the War Existentialists and the KoB, one for Colonial Mercenaries proper, and one for Agarthan mercenaries and perhaps some monsters. Feedback?

>>91720149
No problem!

>The mediafire version isn't working? If not I could always cut it down in two parts and post it here.
I'll double check and repost if not.

Oh yeah there it is, didn't realise it was uploaded. Sweet, onwards we go!

>Also, another thing I've been thinking about is splitting the Mercenary book apart, its getting too big. Instead I was thinking we could have 3 books, a Minor Faction one for La Ombre, The Lost Men and perhaps the War Existentialists and the KoB, one for Colonial Mercenaries proper, and one for Agarthan mercenaries and perhaps some monsters. Feedback?
Entirely up to you, but too big can also be solved with good editing and organisation.

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>>91722155
>>91722137
Insanely based. Thank you very much for this.
Also, I've noticed a lot of spots where I basically just trailed off and didn't finish the paragraph or even the sentence. I apologize for not marking these I was rushing a bit to upload it toward the end.

>>91722358
Not an issue mate. Its obviously going to take me a while to carve through, big document, but I'll see what I can do.

Quick post for sample edits.
If any offence is taken to changes, please mention it before I go forward.

>Metaphysics & Ontology

>Perhaps for the educated, Julius Vernes’ accounts of the Lidenbrock Expedition was the true start. Or maybe, the earliest was Napoleon Bonaparte’s disappearance after his loss at Waterloo. For most, reality shattered in 1863, when the Champ de Mars of Paris, and many surrounding miles of city, collapsed into the depths.

>Whatever event is remembered as the start of this new Era, we no longer live in the same world as our fathers and grandfathers. Academia is fractured. Debates as to the nature of our world remain heated, but we know some things for fact:

> - The Earth’s strata are concentric Layers, illuminated by an unknown Inner Sun, hospitable to life. This underground has been called Agartha.

> - Space a psychic sea we now call Hyperborea, and a transparent ceiling in the sky keeping it from us.

> - Our rules of physics and logic shift, more so the deeper you venture. Frequent travels though the depths cause physical and mental sicknesses known as Deep-Drunkenness.

I'm also considering a project akin to a Monster Manual, something like
>Agartha Descent Creature Feature
just with all the weird critters and dinosaurs you find down there. Something to keep working on now that the first draft of the world book is done.

>>91722970
Nah this is good!

>>91724029
Sweet. Don't expect it finished any time soon, but I'll be picking away at edits whenever I can in my spare time for the forseeable future.

Quick bump.

>Its the nature of project like these to dwindle in interest over time and that we've kept it this long is already a miracle, I'll do anything to further the cause.
Absolutely. I wish I had more time, any free time at all honestly, I just really don't these days. Still come back to the threads whenever I can to give a bump.

>>91726049
>>91720383
woops

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>>91726049
Yeah, I'm blessed/cursed to be in a position where I can work on this while at work. Every contribution, no matter how occasional, however, is more than appreciated.
And with that said let me post the result of my graveyard shift. I have a lot of those coming up so I should hopefully be able to work a lot on this.
I worked on the "scenario features" I had initially started, gave them more flesh, so that they may end up being the scenario altogether.
I will have to figure out what "control" means in this context, not sure of pros and cons of any ways to do it.

>>91726453
Thinking of adding something for Academic models with this one.
Also, must add Trap interactions to the list of things to sprinkle on the Faction books once I start the next sweep.

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>>91726562
Kek forgot image.
Need sleep.

>>91726453
>I will have to figure out what "control" means in this context, not sure of pros and cons of any ways to do it.
Simplest would obviously be King of the Hill rules: Unit on it = control.
Not in Line of Sight to enemies / Not within range of an enemy that can shoot/harm it is another thought.

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>>91726591
>Simplest would obviously be King of the Hill rules: Unit on it = control.
I think I'm gonna go with that because it insensitive dealing with the unit capping it in a direct way instead of just massing more units around, also, it makes the few units capable of pushing (Gorgs, Prophets) have more utility, thanks!

>>91726709
>So focused on victory he's spilling his stink juice
must be good to be a gorg

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>>91715239
im the one who made up the ''new mu priestess'' on the OG compass, and I'm so very heartened to see you draw this.

thank you anon, and godspeed

>>91728335
That's an oldie btw in case you hadn't noticed.
Same with OP's Baron's that's a rare Baron, since he has blood and not liquid titanium pouring on him.

>>91731685
>Same with OP's Baron's that's a rare Baron, since he has blood and not liquid titanium pouring on him.
'tis a rare baron indeed

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In order to foster interest I'm gonna try an push the physical aspect of this. I have a quite a few Privateer press models gathering dust, I'm thinking the Examplar Cinerators could be used as a base for Atlan Immortals if I cut down the stupid looking weapons, file down the menofixes and replace the head.
There's a lot of gladiator-looking models out there so that'll be the basis for the Slave Soldiers, I'll order some tomorrow.
Also thinking of using Thyra, Flame of Sorrow as a basis for the Pearlescent Princess, if I can find a better looking head.
Otherwise I'll be ordering some Perry minis for a French force, not too sure what yet.

>>91732504
>In order to foster interest I'm gonna try an push the physical aspect of this. I have a quite a few Privateer press models gathering dust, I'm thinking the Examplar Cinerators could be used as a base for Atlan Immortals if I cut down the stupid looking weapons, file down the menofixes and replace the head.
Sounds great. Remember that Atlan metal is more of the blueish hue, those swords look pretty solid too though I mostly imagine Atlan using spears.

>>91732580
>Remember that Atlan metal is more of the blueish hue
Yes! I'm gonna try to make tone down the detail level on the models at first and keep it uniformly metal-bluish. Those swords are not too far from the Rhompala Immortals are supposed to be using but yes I also feel spears would look a lot better.
For the heads what look should I go for? Medieval knight-ish helmet or crested galea? Galea is more distinctive but its more Atlantean schtick...

>>91732657
>For the heads what look should I go for? Medieval knight-ish helmet or crested galea?
No crests I'd imagine. Heavy, intimidating.
Something closer to a Crusader helmet but perhaps without the pure square silhouette.

Perhaps something halfway between a crusader's helm and a samurai kabuto?

>>91732783
yeah i think that sounds cool, the idea is that the culture of ancient civilisations is the root for many modern ones, and can appear to reflect the cultural heritage of a variety of modern cultures

>>91732783
>Perhaps something halfway between a crusader's helm and a samurai kabuto?
That's a really cool idea, I'll see if I can find something like that online.

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Bump before work.
Tonight I'll try to continue working on the main worldbook, finish the Ruined Temple thing, maybe add another one for Chests, add a section on Criticals and then maybe try to work out a better system for Neutrals. Will post the results in the morning.

>>91735083
Sounds good!

>angry cloud elephant noises

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Hadn't posted it earlier but here we go. Nothing changed much except standardizing it and the strength threshold thing which I'm trying to use a bit more to make Strength more relevant.

>>91737715
Added section for Leadership Actions.
Again, nothing changed much, just made stuff more explicit.

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>>91737726
Bloody hell end of graveyard shift posting does not suit me. let's try again.

>>91737715
Honestly I should have been cracking down on edits the whole while so we could keep things full organised but hey, what can you do.

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>>91737913
No issue at all, its taking form (nearly a year later, but still).
Here's Melee Attacks reworded, hopefully its all clearer.

>>91738285
>To resolve a Melee Attack, the attacking model (The Attacker) selects one weapon and one enemy model within weapon range to attack (The Defender).

Quick brevity fix.

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>>91738313
Thank you!
I'll go sleep now and fix it when I wake up.

BUMP.

Shame editing isn't something I can really spam post about.

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>>91742944
I get you, sometimes it's a toss between posting an updated special rule or just a quick "bump".
Last thread someone mentioned it could be cool to work out a Great War mode for trench/urban skirmishes... Should we flesh it out a little before doing so, if we do? Like, when is it set to happen, some events in between current point (~1878) and then, the casus belli, who is on which side, that kind of stuff?

Once the current core rule updates are pushed I can try to wrangle players for another test game. I've got to make the most of jamboard before it goes under this year and I have to learn how to use an actual VTT.

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Hello everyone, anon who said he'd work on the Naval mode here (plus some other things), have been completely out of time since December due to work, my apologies. Anyone down to giving me a quick primer on what's happened since then to help me get back into things?

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>>91745608
The World book is being edited right now. Still need some entries but it's a good ways done, posted here >>91711958
I finished Ottomans and started working on Sky-Clans and Hyperborea, Sky-Clans is not too far from being done, Hyperborea is probably a long way's away, but its stewing.
Currently I'm doing a sweep through the main rulebook to make everything more explicit. Should be done in a couple of days at most, and then I want to start another balancing/polishing sweep for Brits, France and the USA.
Lorewise there was an extensive rewrite of France's lore, Anomalies got expanded upon and last thread a few anons touched the subject of the Great War as a game mode for urban combat, so I'm asking feedback on that and what we could work out as the lore background to it.
A "simple" campaign mode (without any map, focusing on small settlements fighting it off to tame the surrounding Underground) is also almost complete, I just need to pop down more Locations to fill the d100 table.
If you still feel like working on the Naval mode it would be awesome as a way to work out a "mid point" between 1878 and the Great War proper. You were thinking of a clone of Battlefleet Gothic right?

>>91746145
So when exactly is this "Great War" being set? Are we moving the timeline forward? I know there was some pushback to that earlier, and I'm a little hesitant myself to push things into the 20th century.

>You were thinking of a clone of Battlefleet Gothic right?
Yep. It should be a relatively simple job, though I think I might have to redesign weapons and ships since lance batteries and nova cannons don't exactly translate well to 19th century naval warfare. Or maybe I'll give Mu or Lemuria some magical bullshit later on. Currently unsure whether I should simplify things and place all the colonials under one banner and have them fight Atlantis, or each other. Main goal at the moment is to turn the brits into a workable faction and build on things from there.

>>91743538
>Should we flesh it out a little before doing so, if we do? Like, when is it set to happen, some events in between current point (~1878) and then, the casus belli, who is on which side, that kind of stuff?
Worth considering but I tend to avoid taking on more design projects without solidifying the core of what you're already working on first. Its a recipe for burnout.

>>91746541
>So when exactly is this "Great War" being set?
I very vaguely remember someone suggesting with set it to start right at the turn of the century for aesthetic purposes, but that was so long ago, we could go with anything.

>>91745608
Welcome back mate! The unit docs are largely finished now.
I feel you on the work side of things. I've been swamped with that and some rather unfortunate personal events, but this whole thing still being alive is crazy. Glad it is.

Also, small point but,

"World Book" is rather not evocative. Anyone have any idesas for a better name?

Also also, mnior tip:
CTRL + Enter makes a page break. Much easier than spamming a bunch of line breaks with just Enter.

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>>91701951
>https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rcleQtrT4Q0INiBW50-kq2ZXWJ-cjLOeVTLTJg_oX5E
We're missing a leader for the US. Why not make the Wizard of Menlo one? He's already responsible for making an artillery piece for the US.

>>91746931
I dig it.

>>91746959
My headcanon for Edison is that he goes all in on electrical engineering, mad scientist style in this timeline. Maybe his laboratory is the reason Mu attacks New York.

>>91746973
THE AMERICAN LIGHTNING KNIGHTS, at your service.

Alright alright alright, we have a lot of the underground done but since navybro popped in, here's a good question.

Who rules the seas? What empires? Many of them are warring on land, but certainly some of them have more prominent naval presences than others.
Is the water the true realm of the Taiping, given they have little hold in Agartha?

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>>91746987
Why stop at Knights? Our electric lamps light our paths down the Layers, our Electrical Emitters and Lightning Rods humanely dispatch the foes of freedom and civilization. From sea to shining sea, count on the Edison Electric Company!

>>91747030
>Why stop at Knights? Our electric lamps light our paths down the Layers,
You know what?
Being the only guys who have good electric lams is kind of a big deal here.
'Other people would want them, that's a huge boost to the American economy.

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>>91747053
It could be a part of why the US has such an advantage in firearms technology. I imagine any expedition worth its salt makes a stop in New York to purchase an Edison lamp.

>>91747016
>Third Layer is like the mediterranean. Lots of different factions, but with Atlan Pirates who want to enslave you instead of Barbary Corsairs. Also the French are still here and I would not be surprised if there was a historical parallel to Nice that they nabbed from the Italians
>I do not know if the fourth layer has an ocean. I would think that at most it has a lake like the ones in East Africa, and a bunch of ravine rivers like the Grand Canyon.
>The Fifth layer is Golden Age of Piracy 2: Revenge of the British. There's two naval empires, dangerous waters, and an unimaginable amount of pirates.
>Sixth layer is jungle cruise. Amazon or Nile, take your pick.
>Seventh layer has some Sunless Seas-esque underground silent pitch black lakes.
>Eighth layer might be largely underwater save for a couple small air pockets. Possibly lakes of actual pitch, obviously pitch black as well. Is this the one the New Mu initiates went down to?
>Ninth layer is frozen, maybe some minor ice flows. Didn't stop the Franklin expedition from dragging two ships down there for some fucking reason.

>>91747136
>Sixth layer is jungle cruise. Amazon or Nile, take your pick.
I pick trippy Southern bayou.

>>91747134
>I imagine any expedition worth its salt makes a stop in New York to purchase an Edison lamp.
For real, electric light is a big deal and the Champ du Hades is likely entirely lit by Edison's efforts.

>>91747016
Also, the Chinese golden age of piracy was about 40 years before when the game takes place but it was very much so alive and kicking at this point.
I don't know if the Taiping would have much in the way of a navy (unless the Hyperboreans and/or British were supplying them) but they sure as hell would have thousands of mercenary pirates on hand.
As for who rules every sea, we already know the answer.

>>91747176
>they sure as hell would have thousands of mercenary pirates on hand.
Mercenary pirates operating under the auspices of Chinese Christendom is a lot cooler than an official Taiping navy.

>>91747169
Acceptable. Since the Lemurians live on the same layer, that makes me think about how the savannah mentioned there kind of ties them to Plains Indians.
The fun thing about Lemurians is that they can fill the role of anything from an Apache warband to an Afghan force. They're like half of all colonial villain stereotypes rolled into one it's great.

>>91747173
>the Champ du Hades is likely entirely lit by Edison's efforts.
>France and America have an even closer political relationship than in OTL
>America gets more strange underground artifacts while France gets guns and electricity

>>91747208
As far as strange terrain goes, why not add some salt flats in too?

Status report:
8 pages edited. Wish I had more time, but things are moving.

>>91747190
If you didn't already know, one of the three contenders for "Most successful pirate of all time" is this lady, who operated pretty close to when the game takes place. Maybe one of her descendants kept the family business alive?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zheng_Yi_Sao
Also, the other two are Henry Avery or Henry Morgan. I don't know anything about pirates in antiquity except for the guys who kidnapped Caeser and the ones who ditched Spartacus, maybe there was a cooler one there.

>>91747016
Navybro here,

Way I envision it: The British have the best tech and ships, undisputed masters of the sea.
Their ships are the most heavily armed and armoured. However, they can only get ships down to Agartha through the Icelandic canal, and they're already spread thin maintaining their empire above ground, so things are beginning to wear thin. Still, the smart decision when you see one of the pre-dreads floating round the Agarthan seas is to turn and run, but whoever told an Atlan to run or a Lemurian to ignore his prophecy?

France is similar to the British, except they can actually build ships underground, though the quality is a little lower. They have a pretty stable position in their local area around Fallen France.

America doesn't really have much in the way of an (underground) navy. However, their tech is almost as good as the British and they're a big supplier of weapons and equipment to various groups. Currently unsure if I should make them the pioneers of sub technology.

Atlan/Atlantis is the big naval power underground, mostly through force of numbers, but they have significant experience with the geography and dangers of Agartha's waters. However, while each one could beat any of the other factions singlehanded, they're too busy fighting each other/baiting each other to actually mount a proper campaign, so the other powers worm their way through the cracks.

Lemuria/Mu I haven't given much thought to, though I guess they'd probably have a navy. Unsure what to do with them to separate from the others. Maybe Mu stealths their ships and uses decoys?

Satsuma don't care about a navy, their island is surrounded by sea mines they bought off America. SAMURAI PARADISE FOREVER!

Hyperborea uses tripods. HMS Thunderchild is also kicking

I'll see if I can incorporate lore when I write up the rules, though I should note that I haven't caught up on all the new lore, so this may be subject to rewrites.

>>91747262
>I'll see if I can incorporate lore when I write up the rules, though I should note that I haven't caught up on all the new lore, so this may be subject to rewrites.
All good mate. We'll certainly do a final editing pass for the complete rules compendium, mistakes will be corrected.

>>91747262
Mu gets sea monsters, Lemuria gets some sort of lanteen rigged ship because those are cool.

>>91747030
I was planning to write a story involving these guys, but since it's probably a while away I'll do a short synopsis:

The lamplighters are a small but highly professional group of men whose sole job is to install and maintain the lamps that light the American frontier and other parts of Agartha. Extremely tough, mostly because they need to work in some of the worst areas of Agartha, some of which has never seen the light of the (inner) sun. Their sponsors are the big Robber Barons, who are pouring money into Agartha for all the resources and opportunities it provides. Way I planned the story to go was they'd travel along a railway, lighting the lamps down there which keeps the railway free of monsters while fighting off all manner of creatures, until they ran into an entire swarm of Shapes in the Shadows, only managing to fight them off using an extremely powerful light grenade that temporarily lights up the entire cave system, requiring the Lamplighters to put on welding goggles, while they proceed to beat the Shapes to death because the only shadow left for them to hide in is those cast by the Lamplighters themselves. I originally planned the lamps to be Titanium in origin, though I suppose it could be Edison made too.

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Behold, members of the Mu Navy!
>Above you can see the Greater Morlock, a rare but not unknown variety. Much like how the humble goldfish never stops growing, a sufficiently cared for Morlock has no discovered upper limit.
>Below is Magister Qwibbth, current Tallysquid assigned to the New Mu Ports along the western coast. It enjoys long psychic conversations about the nature of existence, cultivating coral growths, and the taste of French Sailors, whose birth regions it claims it can distinguish akin to a sommelier.

>>91747339
very nice, anon. makes sense the older ''ships'' are wise old dudes too

>>91747339
Oh that is nice. I'll definitely incorporate Mu with the giant sea horrors when I get to them. Shoot, It's so tempting I might just see if I can't design a Brits vs Mu scenario to start the navy mode off.

>>91747365
>Brits vs Mu

>"Alright men, keep your eyes peeled! Their vessels could be anywhere!"
>"Vessels, sir?"

do not forget the submarine combat

bros help me
i tried stink juice, its delicious

>>91747668
Submarine combat is a must, but only after I've worked out a system for regular naval combat!

>>91748889
>Submarine combat is a must, but only after I've worked out a system for regular naval combat!
Absolutely.

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GOOD MORNING MY AGARTHAN BROTHERS
MAY TITAN BLESS YOU ALL

>>91746931
>Maybe his laboratory is the reason Mu attacks New York.
>>91746973
I dig it, and yes we need more Leaders for the USA, so that's awesome.
It might be a nice occasion to work out the Mu Attack on New York. Previously it was said that the reason for it was simply that Saur Knights constantly push New Mu to go to war because its traditional for Saur Knights to require participating in a campaign before considering their training completed. I like this because of how similar it is to how Lacedemonia imposed its rule.
We could add to this however that this was just a front and the Saur Knights got manipulated by Old Mu into it, with the real aim of taking out Edison.
I really like that between Babbage, Eiffel and this the 3 main "good guys" faction have an Engineering side developed and expressed in game. Brings thematic focus to the game.

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>>91754229
Here's the Mammoth, which is the one that directly inspired the ATE. It was designed for Yukon gold mining and you can actually go see it if you live near Vancouver. And by see it I mean see the partially overgrown and heavily rusted tracks and maybe a plaque.

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>>91754340
Born to Traction Agartha is a fuck Blast 'em all 1879 I am Steam Man 363,532 dead Prophets
>Every time I see this image I get struck by how fucking big it was.

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>>91754377
And lastly here's a picture of it offroading for style points.

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>>91716481
>Mfw that one-off bit I made on the compass about his name being LEE-DEHR has evolved into a canon fact
You motherfuckers make me so happy. I come back to this thread after months and it's the best thing ever. Anyway, I'm gonna slap this name on myself for shit that relates to design.

How *are* the Morlocks doing, anyway? I made a lot of the advanced units they had after seeing the first panel. What else have you guys stapled onto the fish?

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>>91754569
>How *are* the Morlocks doing, anyway?
Morlocks got most of their profiles in the Mu book. There was a playtest involving them, iirc they stampeded through a Brit line, so Morlock Spam Meta seems confirmed. Lately I wrote up the World Book entry for them, that's about it.

- Whenever an Epigean insist that Subhumanity must be understood as a normal evolutionary process rather than the result of Agarthan Science, the usual counterargument offered is the mere existence of Morlocks. How could Humanity regress so far as to reach back beyond its mammalian origins, all the while keeping its humanoid shape and a portion of its intelligence? And why would this creature exhibit physical features from all kinds of underwater animals?
Essentially “fishmen”, Morlocks mostly have an upright human lower body covered in fish scales, while their faces are those of fishes. They are generally shorter than a human being, going as short as being barely above 3 feet, but the specie as a whole exhibit the same dysmorphism as many other Subhumans. They have an unusually weak constitution, sometimes dying to wounds that would not kill a human child. Most can breath both under and above water, and those who can’t are able to retain their breath long enough to be functional in each case. Individuals among a single social group (a ‘shoal’) tend to share the same features across.

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>>91754824
(cont.)
Morlock society is almost always tribal, with power being disputed between a single warchief and one or many priests or shamans, regardless of the (often very large) size of their population. Their intelligence is not particularly low, nor are they very aggressive, apart during their spawning season. In fact, seeking and reinforcing acceptance in a social group seems to be the main particularity of the Morlock psyche, and they are not particularly picky about the specie. This natural subservience and their prowess as divers makes them welcome addition to fishing crews, and a number of them have emigrated to the Surface, most settling in New-England ports. There is otherwise little advantage in establishing trade routes to Morlock settlements, has they have very little industry or even crafting. Those who do are more often interested in their skills as guides and extensive knowledge of underwater and underground ruins.
Morlocks are native to every Layers between the 3rd and the 7th usually clustered in wetlands and around large bodies of water. A significant number have sworn fealty to Old Mu royalty, and will assemble in large swarms when called by their deep masters. This, their heightened aggression during the peak of their heat cycle as well as their habit of eating just about anything, including each other and Colonials, explains why many Epigeans default to see Morlocks as pests to be wiped. The rumors that a number of surface folks have taken these monsters as mate and had children with them does not seem to dissuade these, and will only result in shaming those that dare speak of such an impossibly obscene degeneracy.

>>91754569
We actually ran a test game of British vs Morlocks on new years eve. The Brit player was new but managed to bag five or six grunts before the javelin spam and unlimited morlocks overwhelmed them.

>>91747016
>>91747176
The Taiping never contested the seas, and piracy was nonviable because of the massive British naval presence off the Chinese coast during and after the Second Opium War, which overlapped with the rebellion. Even as the Brits (and French) were fighting against the Qing dynasty, they were never friendly to the Taiping. They saw their invasion as forcing a useful pawn/partner back into compliance and had no interest in regime change.
However, there was a lot of fighting in and around the Yangtze River and the adjoining lakes. I don't think they ever manufactured modern warships, but they captured vessels from the Qing and repurposed civilian ships to fight, transport troops, and bombard land positions. One of the few first-person accounts of the war from the Taiping side is by a Royal Navy officer (Augustus Lindley) who resigned to join the Taiping and ended up commanding the rebel navy, such as it was.
OTL China, however, actually put together a pretty serviceable navy after the Second Opium War. They didn't have much of an industrial base, but the state was still very wealthy and it wasn't that hard to build arsenals, buy ships, and hire experts from abroad. The limiting factor was really their institutions. The Japanese fleet that trashed them during the First Sino-Japanese War wasn't that much better technologically, but the Chinese fucked up constantly because of a divided command structure, bad training, terrible logistics, and plain crap decisions (political, operational, and tactical).
Anyway, I'd imagine the Taiping inheriting the bulk of the Qing navy (still very backward in the 1860s and decimated by Opium War anyway). They will have roughly the same ability to build production capacity by throwing cash around, plus a perfect opportunity to set up fresh institutions.
However, their domestic politics are very precarious and their ability to buy ships and talent from abroad is reduced by their bad relations with France and Britain.

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>>91755477
Good to know, but I still would like some pirates please. They could be from Cornwall for all I care.

>Bluecollar American working men working tirelessly to maintain the veritable spiderweb of wires that keeps the tunnels lit and the shadows out of their territory
New scenario idea, where an American force has a large chunk of land lit but need to defend key points from going offline and plunging the tunnels into darkness where horrors beyond comprehension lurk

>>91755767
>The light grid is on a series circuit like fucking Christmas tree lights
That is a terrifying thought.

>Lightning Knight squire chugs a bottle of whisky to prepare himself for his hazing
>He is the one who has to try to strap the lightning claws onto the squads wendigo auxiliary

>>91701936
I'll post the long delayed tyrant of Italy story soon. Sorry it took forever, I was delayed by my publishing of an actual book.

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>You ever look at someone and know they ain't human?
>I'm not talking about the fishbacks or whatever the hell is crawling out of Mu, but if you look at your fellow man and just know, on a primal level, he ain't what he seems?
>Imagine that, knowing a.. a thing is there, not even twenty feet away and being told not to worry about it.
>That's what it's like to have one of the deerheads down there with ya
>Yeah sure, most come with a handler, one of the Indians usually, which promise they can speak to them, but it never talks back, never nods or shakes its head. It just kinda... stares.
>You can tell by the eyes, you know? It looks like someone you can pass by on a Sunday afternoon everywhere else, but the eyes?
>There's something wrong with those, something old, something... hungry
>We lost a few down there, in the dark. Squads wiped by screaming fanatics or because they didn't bring enough batteries for the lights
>But of those squads, the ones that usually came back were the skinwalkers, if they decided to come back at all
>I think they like it down there, plenty of untold wilds to run around it, plenty of places to hunt without pulling the attention of local rangers
>I'm just happy that we had enough provisions to feed the damned thing, not that that stopped it from having a few snacks on anything not American
>But sometimes, when I lay awake at night, thinking about what I've done, where I've been
>I can't help but wonder of they crawled out of the deeper caves long before we started going coast to coast.
Interview with an Agarthain Ranger, published in the New York Times

>>91756244
Nice!

>>91756905
>Agarthan Ranger
why does that sound so cool

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At the top of the world stands a cairn, at the bottom is a second.
The cairn at the top of the world holds within a sheaf of paper, with one message written plainly and the other scrawled in the margins. The first message reads:
>H.M.S ships 'Erebus' and 'Terror' wintered in the Ice in lat. 70 05' N., long. 98 23' W. Having wintered in 1846–7 at Beechey Island, in lat. 74 43' 28" N., long. 91 39' 15" W., after having ascended Wellington Channel to lat. 77°, and returned by the west side of Cornwallis Island. Sir John Franklin commanding the expedition. All well.
And in the margins, with a shaking hand is written:
>1848 H.M. ships 'Terror' and 'Erebus' were lost on the 22nd April, 5 leagues N.N.W. of this, having been beset since 12th September, 1846 by hostile phenomena resembling auroras. The officers and crews, consisting of 105 souls, under the command of Captain F.R.M. Crozier, landed here in lat. 69˚ 37' 42" N., long. 98˚ 41' W. – Sir John Franklin died on the 11th June, 1847; and the total loss by deaths in the expedition has been to this date 9 officers and 15 men.

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In the ninth layer, far beyond Saint Helena, stands a second cairn. There is no paper inside, only a man. From a hole he reaches with out with a stiff frozen hand, recounting in a weak voice his tale.
>”We sought a passage, and were sought in turn. For ten years we drifted on a frozen sea of stars and shimmering lights, harried by phantasmal forces. For a time we starved, until a taboo act we did commit. Some lesser power of that realm saw us in the hour of our shame and claimed us then. There were spirits of pain and torture in that strange place which took men as chattel to the abattoir. Our new gaoler put an end to this, seeing fit to simply watch and enjoy our slow withering away. When at last it seemed as if we were to finally starve, it decided to repay us for the sustenance we had provided it. So onto our band was given a boon, to never yield to hunger or frost, or the hand of a foe. Though we feel the gnaw of an empty stomach, the bitter prick of a frozen world, we shall never again fear death from these things.”
The Franklinites existence is largely unknown save for Napoleon and his men, who rarely entreat with them. From a half-wrecked ship they sit silently, waiting for something not one of them can recall. They will trade directions out of the ninth layer for food, fuel, or bodies, but never leave themselves. Smaller camps can be found across the ninth layer, though often the inhabitants are frozen utterly solid and not worth the effort to revive. There always seem to be about the same number, no matter how many might be destroyed.
While the Franklinites themselves are interesting, what they represent is the true meat of their tale. What they achieved was to somehow access the ninth layer via the North Pole, crossing through Hyperborea on the way there. If their tale is to be believed they did this with the aid of a “benevolent” Hyperborean spirit who drew on the pain of starvation and prevented others from feasting on the unfortunate crew.

I swear that the Franklinites are a chart unit but I can't find them on the charts and it's pissing me off that I might have gaslit myself.

>>91759264
>I swear that the Franklinites are a chart unit but I can't find them on the charts and it's pissing me off that I might have gaslit myself.
That's what they want you to think.

>>91759278
I had recently done another Frostpunk run and tried The Pale Beyond so I needed to get the Polar expedition madness out somehow. Now that my autism humours are balanced I can go write about Atlantean Tessarakonteres ships or some such.

>>91759264
I don't think they were a chart unit but they are referred to many times in the archive, so that might be where you got them. In any case, they are a thing, and a thing that needed expanding upon, so I'm gonna use >>91759257 >>91759248 in the World Book.

>>91759333
The idea is that they're an excuse to have rare hyperborean units in the really low layers leaking up from the "Northern Passage" (9 and 8 and maybe 7) while the Franklinites themselves are something to put in the 9th layer other than ice and Frenchmen if someone ever runs a game down there.
I like the idea of having to thaw out one of them if you want a unit to serve as a guide or someone to trade with.

If there's anything else someone wants me to spitball lore for let me know. I mostly have weird knowledge about obscure technologies of the 19th century but I like to think I know a bit about other stuff too. Like dromons, which make me happy.

>>91759375
Well fuck, check out the lore docs yourself and see if anything strikes your fancy.
Things are pretty thorough as is. Maybe figure out how sky people bombers work?
What kind of fuel even is Stink Juice?

>>91759396
I'll have to get back to you on that one. Either it's internal combustion and we're fucked figuring out how the sky people work that, it's liquid fueled steam engines and we're fucked but less so, or it's a goddamn rocket fuel and I can't even begin to fathom that.
Sky bombers scare me in a way that only dynamic lift calculations have before.

>>91759436
>or it's a goddamn rocket fuel and I can't even begin to fathom that.
Now that sounds like my kind of party.

>>91759264
I think someone might have proposed them but they never got included on the charts. They're probably buried in the archive somewhere, or maybe the lore doc.

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What if stink juice just releases a lot of fumes and they put it in pressure vessels, and open a valve in the vessel to get propulsion?

You can always trust a Gorg to find the simplest solution.

>>91759375
You know much about all those weird health tonics and what they were supposed to do? Maybe they actually work in this setting through Agarthan bullshit.

>>91759491
It would work but only if the airships were pretty well built. I don't imagine they'd go fast enough to collapse the bow if they were non-rigid but if the gondola was improperly attached to the balloon it would fail to actually push it.
There's no historical precedent that I know of for something like this but that needn't stop us.

Although, a thought occurs. What if stink-juice fumes are a lifting gas? If you gave rudimentary wings to a bomber brigade airship it could climb to a high altitude, vent gas, and then literally dive down like a WW2 dive bomber or a hawk or something. The forward momentum would come from the aerodynamics of diving, negating the need for any bullshit engine mechanics and also allowing for sick looking dive bombing attacks.

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>>91759531
Which ones? Wild West snake oil was basically just water and some mineral oil, but there were a bunch of opium/cocaine/etc based ones that worked exactly how you would expect.
This was the start of the era where people kept finding weird trees in the amazon and similar places that would have medicinal effects we would come to base half of modern medicine around

>>91759532
>Although, a thought occurs. What if stink-juice fumes are a lifting gas?
Well that solves a LOT of problems. You could build lifting pressure vessels and also create propulsion by releasing it if needed. Perhaps with an alternate, actual, and rather simple propulsion source since the lift is taken care of?

>>91759563
Like I said, if stink juice can create a lifting gas all you need to do is get altitude, dive, level out and glide for a while, and then either refuel or wait for your current juice stocks to decay into more lifting gas. No need for propulsion at all!
Pressure vessel as propulsion would probably work but I can't speak with certainty on that one.

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>>91759582
Lifting gas also explains how the relatively simple Gorgs figured this shit out.
I'm sure almost any hokey bumbling SOVLmonger can see the gas make things float, and connect the dots to being able to float yourself. Perhaps this is how they became such good friends with the Skypeople to begin with?
The Skypeople who, indeed, may have refined Gorg designs into something more fearsome.

>>91759552
I don't know, I only really know they exist. Something that would give you super strength or increase your brainpower temporarily, perhaps at a cost later down the track. Though maybe that gets too close to the realm of fantasy potions?

Proposal for stink juice fumes to be called "Gorgium"

>Though we've yet to discern the chemical nature of this "Stink Juice", its properties prove fascinating.
>Does it stink? Not so much. The name is in no way apt. Its a heavy, earthy tone, like pulverised mushrooms with a hint of citrus. Perhaps the Agarthans revile such a scent, but to me it is not the least bit offensive.
>What matters about this oil, however, is in its mixture, one part three parts Stink Juice, three parts Water, and one part Sodium. A simple recipe, shown to me by the Atlanteans.
>The most pleasant effervescence occurs, a rapid non-violent bubbling of intensity unlike any other.
>And from this bubbling, a gas. Like the helium we know, it is a gas which floats, and much moreso to my experience.
>Perhaps this strange mixture, one easily stumbled upon by mere accident, gives reason to how those barbaric Gorgs mastered the arts of flight while we noble men of Epigea merely dreamed.

>>91760572
>>91760051
We needed more for Gorgs and it fits what I had imagined myself about how Stink Juice might be used as lifting gas, so unless other anons have something else in mind I would go with that.

>>91761568
I, for one, am also a fan of Lee-Dehr Wonka's Stinky Lifting Juice.

>Gorgs make stink juice balloons for fun
>One unfortunate Gorg gets caught on them and floats up to the ceiling.
>Taken in by the skypeople.
>Marvellous new technology flourishes on the roof.
We did need a reason for why the skypeople were so well associated with the gorgs.

Bump.
Do it for the gorgs.

>Oi Gog
>Wha?
>You know da metal men?
>Da ones covered in tha spiky bits, da stabby bits, or da zappy bits?
>Zappy
>Wot about em?
>Ever eat one?
>Uh.... no?
>I bet tha taste will shock you
>Hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk

>>91765015
Electric!

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>>91746987
Since we already have a bunch of different knight-type units it might be nice to differentiate the lightning knights somehow.
And that somehow is called a Faraday suit. No plates, only chainmail, get zapped. As a bonus it looks like an executioners hood which is sick as hell.
Imagine one of picrel in a cowboy duster and hat, only for the outer clothing to literally disintegrate as he whips out his big iron (Van de Graaff generator club)

>>91766518
>And that somehow is called a Faraday suit.
Equal parts functional, comedic and intimidating.
A perfect fit.

>>91766534
Admittedly a Van de Graff based weapon would be a bit in advance of the timeline, so they could also just have cattle prods and revolvers.
If you wanted them to shoot lightning they would have to be close enough to a Tesla-Coil style generator structure to conduct from it, so that might be a fun gameplay mechanic.

>>91766596
>so they could also just have cattle prods and revolvers.

Prods'n'pistols, sounds like a classic American night out.

>>91751142
Adding electric stuff would also fit the goal of making the US the shooty faction.
>We could add to this however that this was just a front and the Saur Knights got manipulated by Old Mu into it, with the real aim of taking out Edison.
Maybe he was responsible for building the Wardenclyffe Tower earlier in the timeline, and the wireless experiments kept messing with Mu/Lemuria's psychic powers (does Mu have psychics?). As a two-pronged attack, Mu sent the Saur Knights after the tower, while Lemuria went for Menlo Park (knowing they were going to fail, just as planned).

>>91755767
This is a great idea. Maybe John D. Rockefeller "lobbied" the US government into sending the Marines to defend the infrastructure, as it's connected to one of their company towns/a mine they own. Who would be the opposing force?

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>>91767167
>Who would be the opposing force
My gut reaction would be Malcolm and the Shadows to hammer in that light/dark dynamic, though I don't really recall if they are a fleshed out faction or not

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>>91766518
>>91766596
>Van de Graaff generator club
>Cattle prods
When confronted by Savage Beasts and Underworld Horrors, would YOU trust your life to inferior quality? NO?
Then purchase an EDISON LIGHTNING ROD
Humane–Effective
The Wizard of Menlo's Greatest Creation Yet
Zeus' Thunderbolts In YOUR Hand.
Bespoke Orders Accepted–Write or Cable Edison Electric Company, Menlo Park, NJ

>>91767296
The lost men being made up of deserters and crazies does lend them a certain wild west bandit vibe if you look at it from the right angle.

>>91759532
Look up the specs of the Hindenburg. Multiple tons of cargo, almost triple digit passenger compliment, plus good, plus crew. Several dozen intercontinental trips, too. Hydrogen gas ain't a joke.

>>91701936
The tyrant works at his desk now. It is on the first floor of the Vulcan Palace, constructed specifically for him. His work is atypical. He is not content to write papers with instructions and large scrolls with orders. At his desk. On the first floor of the Vulcan palace. It was constructed, specifically, for him.

At his command, his office is located in the very center of the structure. It is enclosed. It is shielded from the sun. It is safe. It was made specifically for him.

The Vulcan Palace has four entrances and four exists, one at each side. They are large enough to drive tanks through, though the thought of it happening is laughable. The palace is three stories tall. The windows are fine, with red curtains, gold laced buttresses, wooden furniture and walls of solid black obsidian rock.

>>91701936
The ebon glass heart of the Vulcan Palace is as black as the snow of the earth is white. That is the way it was made. Specifically. For him.

He occupies his office now as a farce. To the other Vulcan Lords, the staff of the Palace and his own secretary, he is recording his instructions for the day. Which nobles are to be examined for Papal sympathies, the tax rates for various services, appointments for offices in Third Sicily and other nonsense that doesn't matter even a little bit. More than once he simply writes down names he has imagined for posts and sends them to his secretary. None have returned for further specification. Or even to ask the Tyrant, 'Who is this man you've appointed?'

Too much of that was how the last three of his personal secretaries found themselves unemployed. He would have appointed a janarae priestess long ago but their talents were much better used elsewhere.

Two minutes putting nonsense to paper is all the cover he requires.

>>91701936
He stands, then straightens his uniform. Then strokes his enormous gray mustache. He removes his shoes and places his bare feet on the primal glass floor. When the palace was made for him, many rooms were left untiled. Humans walk directly on the smooth obsidian glass finer than any pavement. 'What a great testament to the power of the ones beneath the earth and their power to shape even the unyielding ebon!' he thinks. 'What great power I still have to unlock' is his final thought before he closes his eyes. He plunges his mind into his spirit. Then, he reaches deep into himself and feels the sorcerous might that the THINGS have placed inside of him. He finds it quicker every time. He taps into this power in himself and grips it into the form of perception. Shaped like a great tangle of vines, formed of nothing but his own sense of touch, he pushes them like weeds into the obsidian walls of his fortress, and from there into the warm earth.

He exhales. Finally, he knows physical comfort again.

His troubled mind works to alleviate his largest worry first. He turns his perception to Stromboli Volcano, the road to Sicilia Terza. His alien senses connect all the paved roads of his realm in a few hundred miles of the volcano. Their footfalls begin as very slightly prickles on the edges of his perception, but as he grows more attuned he feels the color of their movement take shape in is mind. Before he fully comprehends, he has a large, very detailed map of his realm formed in his head, composed of the echos of mere footfalls. He has the feeling of every terrestrial impact of every single foot and vehicle that touches the ground in his realm. The most TOTAL TYRANT mankind has ever suffered is this man, the Tyrant of Italy, Francesco the First.

>>91701936
He has no human experience to compare his 'earth perception' to. If he were forced to provide more detail about the power, then after he obliterates anyone daring to assert that he should be forced to do anything, then he might describe his aforesaid perception to the charred remains of the foolish one:

"They're like vines. I just spread them out and color them, the very definition of simplicity. Except, I don't actually see it. It's a bit like the light of your eyes shortly after you close them. Except it stays." Then, feeling rather childish, the Tyrant would find an excuse to throw someone into a volcano so he could take himself seriously again.

Good, he senses no unusual mass movements of armed troops on the roads. No large gatherings of men near the old Papal sites. No assemblies in protest. No blockage on the blood vein of his economic body. He only has an instant of concern for some odd movements in southern Italy before he remembers that it is harvest time and peasants are moving about the fields in absurd numbers. Garibaldi is hiding his partisans somewhere in the north, but how is he hiding them? There is no way he could know of the Tyrant's power to detect footfalls, so how does he disguise the movements of his guerillas? He scans the distant woods and foothills around the site of the last guerilla attack, and again, detects nothing unusual. He gives up the search before long and moves toward his next concern.

>>91701936
The Tyrant slowly decreases the size of his 'vines.' As his perceptions grow geographically smaller, they grow exponentially more perceptive. The movements of his own armies moving about the surface of Italy are in sync with normal projections. He is secretly pleased that no military officer will require replacement today. His allies inside Stromboli volcano continue to ensure safe traffic through the subterranian tunnels and he percieves their true forms, laughing to himself. He thinks, "Simon and Andrew were mere fishers of men, now look how I cast my net to catch gods!" His chuckle is quiet.

The sudden, heavy knock on his office door sharpens his concentration.

"Wait." He says. The tendrils of consciousness are currently floating about the region of Stromboli Volcano once again. He takes a last 'look' at the 'gods' of the earth before retracting the tendrils of his inhuman perception. Dutifully, his shoes are returned to his feet. The monster finds his cheeks are wet and wipes the moisture away with a red handkerchief.

"Enter." Says the tyrant.

>>91701936
So enter he does. It is Janesco Uberti, the abomination's secretary. He is middle-aged, hair as black as the floors and a mind as sharp as a thrusting dirk. When Signore Uberti was first notified of his appointment as secretary, he thought of how to use his new appointment to make money for himself. Might he spy for the British? The Germans? The secrets of the inner workings of the most powerful Vulcan Lord in Italy would fetch a high price.

About the third hour of his employ in the Vulcan Palace was how long it took for him to realize he could never spy against Francesco the First.

Signore Uberti had many talents. Many more faults.

He was NOT foolish.

He had felt the temperature of the water about the Vulcan Palace and found it scalding under the forge-hot steel grip of its master. Janesco Uberti had the honor of being the personal secretary to the first Vulcan Lord and high commander-in-chief of the armies of Italy. He had held the position for two years, breaking the record for longest-serving secretary to Francesco the First by about eight times the tenure of any previous appointee. He had not lasted this long by being a fool. He lasted this long by being a slave, and he KNEW it.

"Your lordship, there's a matter in the north entrance lobby." He says.

"Hmm."

"A man smuggled a pistol into the lobby and has the receptionist held hostage." Janesco says.

>>91701936
"Why hasn't the guard shot him?"

"It is the husband of your late...lately employed secretary. Misses Salazarie. He wants to know where his wife is." he says. "He wants to be shown where she is." His eyes do not leave the tyrant's face.

"Ah. I understand. You're with me." And the dog attaches himself to the elbow of his master. They move into the corridor, where's its just as quiet as the office. A key that is not merely metal locks the office and is swiftly returned under the shirt of the Tyrant of Italy. A janarae passes the pair in the hall, but why should they converse? That woman knows her role in the priesthood and the palace staff know to never get in their way. Janesco Uberti moves for her, saying nothing to each other despite the intense eye contact they make. The pair walk some distance to the northern staircase and now the tyrant can hear the yells. Some man screaming in desperation, demanding something. The response is a chorus of deep voices telling someone to drop the gun and release the hostage. Those are likely the guard, thinks the tyrant. He stops on the bottom landing and the tyrant is pleased that he has accurately envisioned the situation. A young man is holding a small pistol to the back of the receptionist's head just being the desk, which he is using as cover. About eight guards have responded with machine guns and are yelling in tandem for the man to release his hostage. Those eight machine guns would reduce the desk to toothpicks in less than two seconds. It was such a fine desk. 'What a waste that would be,' thinks the tyrant. The guard were correct not to obliterate this man. I don't think I'll have them punished. The scene is accented by frightened onlookers, members of the staff, other rabble running their rabbling mouths in surprise. How exhausting. The tumult is surveyed by Francesco for only a moment before it aggravates him. "SILENCE!" All parties, even the hostage and scared onlookers, turn to see the tyrant intone:

>>91701936
"Mister Salazarie. You've been very rude to my staff."

"Your excellency!" says Mr. Salazarie, "Thank God!" Nobody notices the tyrant's small facial twitch.

"Your excellency, I knew if only I could speak with you than this matter might be resolved urgently. You know my wife, your former secretary, yes? She is missing, sire. She was leaving her new work and only got to the second street over before she went missing. I have been trying to get a missive to you for months, sire. Your clerks have misled me and impeded my search. I am sorry it came to this, sire, but I urgently needed you to see the corruption of your staff. Someone is kidnapping people, even women and children. It has been happening for a while now." The hostage-taker trembles with emotion. "I know you are an honorable man, from the days of your father before you. Please," and Mr. Salazarie holds up a briefcase with the hand that is not holding his pistol to the back of the clerk's head. "This is the culmination of my investigation. Please, sire. Examine it yourself. For your people, for justice. I know there must be some evil conspiracy at work inside of your walls. I'm sure of it! But please, sire. I only want to help the nation, and you!"

The thing looks at Mr. Salazarie. Something remains inside of this being, something human. It twitches in his heart.

"You speak quite well. It was also quite right of you to bring my father, my honor and our nation into your plea to me. Everyone, lower your weapons. Including you, Mr. Salazarie. Now is the time for talking. Lower your guns, you guards."

As the ruler speaks, so his will is done, slowly at first, and then the situation seems well and disarmed. Tense, but the guns are pointing at the floor. "You," Says the tyrant, and points to one of the guards from the group. "Go and retrieve Mr. Salazarie's pistol. Do not resist this soldier, sir, he is only doing his job. I will not have you armed about my person."

>>91701936
"Of course, your excellency." Says the two former adversaries, together, and the pistol is retrieved without incident. Francesco turns to the guards, "Do not harm this man. Have him searched for weapons, and *only* searched, then escort him to my office. Janesco, ensure this is done and then bring my carriage to the north gate." The guards search the intruder and the tyrant moves back to his office. In the hallway on the second floor, he grabs one of the passing janarae by the arm. Garbed in only a dress, the janarae chuckles like a distant addict, then she says.

"So early, my lord?"

"Come with me."

"Yes, sire." is her reply.

By the time the guards have escorted Salazarie to Francesco's office, the hostage-taker is smiling, actually jovial that his desperate plan has worked. Finally, the lord will listen! There is much information to cover and a number of the lord's appointees that have been corrupted. It will surely shake even an unshakable man like Francesco the First. Salazarie is deposited upon the lord's doorstep and the guards maintain a watchful conduct of him. The door-knock of this man is answered by a calm, "Enter."

So Salazarie does. His confusion is momentary. "Who is this, your excellency?" and he points to the Janarae priestess.

>>91701936
"She is a priestess of the Janarae. Do not let her simple garb fool you, I have been entrusting her with a number of missives that have raised my concern of corruption within my government. She shares your concerns and has been conducting her own investigation. Please, though her religion is strange to you, but let her appoint this oil to your forehead. It will not hurt you and this, along with my assurance, is the only way she will trust you." Francesco says something to the priestess in a language that Salazarie doesn't know. She waits for the confused man to nod his consent before approaching and merely runs her moist thumb horizontally along his forehead. It is warm, thick and colored like olive oil. The unknown pomace smells wonderful and the woman is exceedingly beautiful, and Salazarie finds himself growing a little enchanted with his whole situation. Francesco begins, "Bring your evidence to my table and lay it there. Before we examine it, I would tell you something you do not know. Your stunt in the lobby was most unprecidented. That you had been stiffled in applying your concern to the proper channels, there may have been some warrant to your actions. Nobody was hurt in the end. I do not fault you. You need not fear prosecution by my human courts."

"Thank you, your excellency."

"I have many agents about the nation. Many who are loyal to me and who would die to serve Italy and what we stand for. Some are right under your nose. They are proud and loyal, I love each of them their sacrifice to keep this nation safe both here and abroad, from enemies like our papist friends in Austria. Would you serve our cause? My cause?"

"May they die for opposing greater Italy, your excellency."

"Your wife is such an agent" Salazarie's shock is total, "I should like to appoint you to a similarly important task."

"Yes, your excellency!"

"Go and open that closet to your left."

>>91701936
"What?" Salazarie looks to a small, seemingly innocuous closet on the side of the office. It is a tasteful african ebonywood sliding door, barely perceptible against the obsidian walls.

"Do it so I may tell you of my plans for you."

Salazarie slowly rises and meets the stares of his two witnesses. He slides to the closet. With a final turn of his head, finding the four eyes boring into him, he opens the closet door.

The fool.

>>91701936
Heat fills the office instantly, like the coming of the annihilation of Vesuvius in the mind of a prophet. Thirty feet below the foolish one is a great chasm of fire and lava. Molten earth torn assunder and cast into a great canyon, how had a mere ebonwood door hidden such an inhuman thing? The screams are the worst part, unidentifyable and echoing eternally beyond the pale of human comprehension. What Salazarie cannot hear is the laughter interspersed, the THINGS crawling within this chasm pleased beyond mortality with the suffering being inflicted mere feet from this terrified ignorant. How long did Salazarie stare into this horrible pit? How much damage did his mind take in the moments of exposure to this unholy terror of earth and fire and writhing and pure evil? The first coherent thought that entered the mind of terrified Salazarie was, "Oh, God. Let them stop moving. Let them die!" He barely felt the grip of that priestess behind him, barely noticed how his strength failed against her inhuman grip, the very veins of her ligaments glowing with an unholy red star. This same light shown from the tyrant's eyes as he said, "Yes, Salazarie. You will serve our nation well. As did your wife, who is there among the masses. Look closer, peasant. You may yet find her! There, look! Do you see the large beings flowing among the thrashing of these unwholesome men and women? Look at them. I SAID LOOK AT THEM!" And the grip of the tyrant finds poor Salazarie's chin, forcing his eyes into the painful, tear-inducing heat. "THEY are the true masters of this nation. I am the honorable one they have selected to be their herald into this world. They need you more than I do. If you served them with all your blood, you would serve this nation in ways you will never understand. DON'T TURN AWAY AGAIN! Yes, Salazarie. Your efforts will turn this world into another great star. Turning and burning forever into the void of the cosmos.

>>91701936
Together we will strip this planet of the fungus that grows upon it and give it a much brighter future. At that, I turn you over to your new masters." The priestess silences the screaming man with a knife and then releases him. The sound of his descent is cut short as she closes the door.

The exhausted panting of the two in the room are not merely from exhaustion. Through eyes half-lidded she says, "You serve the masters well, my lord."

"So shall you. Come here, witch."

"Yes, sire." is her grinning reply. Nothing is heard by the guards posted just outside. After a while Francesco leaves his office. He locks his door with the key that is not entirely metal. He meets Janesco at the north gate and together the two of them travel to Francesco's favorite restaurant just a few streets over. He has worked up quite an appetite. Patting the briefcase, he strains to think how much new *actual* work Janesco has to do now. Going over who is loyal and who is not. Oh well, it thinks. Janesco's job was made for him and he will do it well. As the tyrant loses sight of the Vulcan Palace, his thoughts venture inward, and all perception of irony is lost on the creature. Reflection is a human foible.

>>91769551
I was talking about the difficulty of using stink gas as a propulsion method not as a lift method.
And this is an airship SAFE SPACE we only talk about coo and nicel airships like The Graf Zeppelin and the USS Los Angeles and the R36 here.

>>91769770
>>91769783
>>91769799
>>91769816
>>91769831
>>91769845
>>91769861
>>91769879
>>91769891
>>91769900
>>91769927
>>91769941
>>91769955
Very Nice and in my mind a strong introduction to the tyrant as a character

>>91759248
>>91759257
Oh I love this. Especially the image of a half-starved, half-frozen man set in a stone cairn as warning to other travellers. Very chthonic imagery.

>>91769955
Beautiful mate.
/tg/ supports PDFs if you want to lump it all together and upload as that!

>>91769770
The description of the Volcano spirits is metal as hell, exquisite stuff.

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>"Heard y'all were switching to Westinghouse power."
>"You hear a lot of things partner."
>"The Chief sent me down here to 'renegotiate' our little deal"
>"Tell the Wizard I'll see him in hell."
And then a cowboy duel commences but one of them can shoot lightning and the other is 50% zombified.

>>91770949
you never do hear about the Powerhouse Wars in agartha, do you
its a real epigea-only thing

>>91771451
The fat cats would blow open a hole into the largest lemur den around if it means they could increase their profit margins by a few percentages

>>91771457
>The fat cats would blow open a hole into the largest lemur den around if it means they could increase their profit margins by a few percentages
Don't tell them about my lemurs on hamster wheels generator plan.

>It's funny, you would think chainmail would have been left behind by the time Sam Colt rolled around
>Turns out, if you build it right, it will stop lightning as well as blades
>They call it the "Steel veil", and trust me, you can't miss it when one of them shockers roll into town
>Now, I'm a simple man, give me a gun, and I will shoot one of those beasties down here dead, but even I have to admit that a company of those crazy bastards can fry a horde of lemurs and be back for supper.
>My advice? If you are ever on a job for one of the companies and you hear the clinking of metal, ready your gun
>After all, you're gonna need a quick hand to outshoot a lightning bolt

>>91771534
>After all, you're gonna need a quick hand to outshoot a lightning bolt
Now that sounds like a fucking folk hero, the gunslinger who can out-shoot a Lightning Knight.

>>91769770
What's the story title, mate?

>>91770949
>The Ranger
>The Farady Knight
>And the Gorg

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>>91772728
>The classic pan over the eyes
>Undead ranger staring both them down
>Faraday knight's electric blue eyes shining through their cowl
>The grog in the middle of drinking another bottle of stinkjuice

>>91772853
>grog in the middle
>the middle
>of a mexican standoff
classic assertion of Gorgian dominance

>>91771451
>The Powerhouse Wars
Holy kino

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>>91772897
>Walks into your standoff duel
>Chugs an entire gallon of stinkjuice
>Belches loud enough to make the birds fly away
>Refuses to elaborate further

>>91773250
>Both men in the standoff stare at the gorg
>They now can't shoot each other because a gorg is in the way

BUMP FOR THE LIGHTNING KNIGHTS

>>91771899
The Tyrant of Italy

>>91772930
Yeah, sounds like we've found another campaign scenario.

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>>91701936
Thread recap.
> Look for option for a "blog"/secondary repository.
> Mention of a Monster Manual
> Include Control rules in the main rule book.
> Think of a better name for World Book.
> Add Wizard of Menlo to US Leader
> Include descriptions of State's Navies as per what was working out by Navyanon.
> Add Franklinites in some way to the game.
> Snake Oil.
> Stink Juice and Gorgium interaction for Sky-People.
> Add Lightning Knights in USA roster (this is very serendipitous as the temporary rules I had worked out for the EEE was a really weird piece of artillery that forces you to select a model if there is any at the exact range rolled, and then arcs half that distance again, and again, so having units more or less immune to its effect you can position to arc it would work well I think).
If I missed anything let me know.

>>91778402
For real, wild west thunderstorms is has some huge draw potential.

Anyone baking?

>>91779930
>Lightning Knights in USA roster
The name doesn't spark joy desu. Americans even in the late 19th century were still fairly Anglophobic.

>>91782181
>The name doesn't spark joy desu. Americans even in the late 19th century were still fairly Anglophobic.
Honestly reasonable.
Lightning Rangers?

Lightning Sheriffs?
Lightning Marshals?

Chain Rangers?
We don't need to go with lightning, as the "Halloween ghost made of chainmail" may draw some joke-y colloquial names.

>>91782181
>>91782518
>>91782527
I like Arc Rangers

>>91782571
>I like Arc Rangers
Not bad.

Any bakers?

>>91784100
NEW