The Pyramid Wars

 

About three thousand years ago, at least two powerful factions of the Enlightened Ones engaged in wars that led to the destruction of the entire eastern subcontinent. The Enlightened Ones, using the Abstract Tech they gathered for centuries, built the most powerful war machines the world have ever seen - the floating Pyramids with weaponry able to torch cities and melt entire mountains within moments.

Now the Desert of Thol covers the entire eastern peninsula. In the past it was a fertile land of green plains and crystal-clear springs but its ecosystem was totally and irreversibly destroyed by the terrifying weapons of the Pyramid Wars. Now Thol is almost lifeless, dry and scorched by the sun. Despite that there are still men and women that decide to travel to the desert. Maddened by oppressive heat, they traverse the sands in search for even tiniest bits of the forbidden, destructive tech from the time of war.

Eight or nine Pyramids were built. They were engineered and assembled using the Abstract Technology originating from the Deeper Spheres. The Pyramids were both the ultimate tools of destruction and the altars of the Primordial Forces, able to channel the hyper-entropic thoughts of the Primal Gods and focus them into beams of pure annihilation. Luckily all the Pyramids were destroyed, along with their creators and their entire civilization.

The Book of Infernal Angles contains the names of the Pyramids:

Mortontradd
Ormendzhar
Toralemmris
Ghaathrnor
Ashtinumtyer
Emwarruntlor
Voralemnothra
Xarntonran
Lorarnodorsar

Worldship part Two - the Ortix Worldship

Clicky!

Second part of my ramblings.This is the real start of the story about the Worldship orbiting the Cold Star. Still very raw text and many things are still unknown even for me. Probably even some very basic aspects of the Worldship's history may change.

The Ortix Worldship 

In case of the Worldship which is the center of our story, something went wrong. Probably some of the Ancestors woke up during the Transmutation phase. No one knows what happened but probably some kind of conflict erupted between them. Most of the Ancestors was killed and some Worldship’s processes were altered, maybe because of damage done to its mainframes or maybe as a result of intentional action. 

First and most important change was fact that no Guardians were awaken. This led to serious problems: when meteor shower devastated a large region of the of the outer surface, flora and fauna development went out of control, the same disaster caused major problems with Worldship’ security systems – gates between the Inner Surface and ship’s core complexes were opened and some breeding and gene-altering facilities went mad. Effects were terrifying – vile monsters had infested the Worldship itself. 

In addition, absence of Guardians had even more serious consequences – spaceship from the planet Earth has arrived.

Some old ideas... [Worldship part One]

Worldship during the initial phase could look like this

As you probably remember (or not! :D) I decided to separate the ideas about the surface world from the Underworld Kingdom. Now, when writing of the Bandits & Battlecruisers is finished, I felt rather empty.

Of course I have several unfinished projects (at least four, if I remember correctly) but I need more to feel busy enough :D That's the one of reasons why I started working on Ortix again - second one is because I had an idea how to change it into something bigger, more diverse and maybe slightly more original than typical Yet Another Science Fantasy Setting.

This is Part One, covering only the most basic aspects of the Worldship's concept. If you read this blog carefully you should find some huge similarities to one of my other projects ;)

Worldships

Try to imagine a spaceship so big that it’s powered by the internal, artificial sun. This fully automated vessel is able to travel through the Nullspace in search for a perfect place for a new colony. When Worldship finds such place, it shifts back into the normal space, sits on the orbit best for the life sustaining and start to reshape itself.
After some time, Worldship takes hollow, spherical shape, with artificial sun still suspended inside it. Transmuting devices begin to create it’s surfaces – both inside and outside ones. When it’s done, newly created planet begin to be populated.
During the “life creation” phase, Worldship begin to wake the Guardians – powerful artificial entities designed for balancing the population and protecting the Worldship from any threats from space, including any attempts of colonization by other sapient creatures.
Next and final step is to awake the Worldship’s creators - the Ve'sen. Some of them – the wisest and most powerful ones, called the Ancestors - are sleeping in the stasis cells, while most of them are born in automated breeding facilities. Their new home world is now complete.

I used the above image without permission but to be fair- here is a link to its DA page.

N - Necropolis

This immense, partially ruined city of cyclopean proportions is hidden deep beyond maze of caverns called Land of the Dead. Probably Necropolis is one of few signs of the Shapers’ civilization and maybe once it was the center of their civilization. Found and destroyed by K’reen, now it’s occupied by Dead Ones, who made it their capital and main shelter and hence the city got its name.

Despite the massive damage that ruined the city, its core remained rather intact. Dead ones found there strange and extremely complicated difference engines, probably built by the Shapers. It took them hundreds of years to analyze the machines and run them, but the results of the experiment is unknown even to most of them – it’s said that the Council of Elders closed themselves in the chamber of the engine and their leader transferred his consciousness to the machine or otherwise connected his mind with it.

Necropolis is a silent and disturbing place. Partially destroyed, it’s filled with huge buildings of unusual proportions, many monoliths and monuments of unknown purpose, strange markings and signs of use of weapons of incomprehensible power. Even the Dead Ones of the city are silent and withdrawn, just as if the city has left its mark even on them. This and difficulty with reaching the city makes that only a few mortals ever visited it.

K - King(s) of the Underworld

Although the name of the Underworld Kingdom seems to require the presence of the king, actually its meaning is slightly different. The point is that the underworld is a realm that is completely different from surface world. More mysterious, dangerous and unfathomable, it’s also more static – some things in the underworld have not changed for hundreds if not thousands of years.

Despite that rather obvious misinterpretation of the kingdom’s name, there are several powerful rulers, each ruling a different part of the Underworld:

• Jaarkon the Elder, King of Ghohk – lord of men, old and mad. It’s said that some kind of worms is slowly devouring his brains. However, he lives for almost 200 years and outlived his eight sons.
• Vrax / Morax, the Dragon King – two-headed master of the Galroth Spire. Lord of all dragons of the Underworld. Clever and dangerous, he despises mankind.
• The Seeker, lord of the Dead – master of the Necropolis. Is said that he transferred his mind into some powerful yet incomprehensible artifact of the Elder Races.
• The Great Father – ancient and dreadful, shrouded in mystery “Father Of All Evil”. Master of abominations, mutants and monsters, he plots to bring doom to all mankind. Some say that he is long dead, slain by his finest creation.

Dead Ones - new Character Class

(artwork by Sourine)

Nobody really knows when Grey Plague appeared for a first time. Certainly it has been hundreds (if not thousands) of years ago, perhaps even in the times of the Great War. It is not known whether it was created as a biological weapon of the Old Ones or its origin is quite different.

One thing is certain - the plague changes people into monsters. Spores of the disease attacks every cell of the the host's body, leading to his death. Despite the apparent demise, disease transforms the victim's body, sustaining his life in a unknown way. Thus, victims of the plague - often called the Dead Ones - practically does not need to eat of drink (though if it does not take the "replacements" for their diseased tissues - especially if they are injured or otherwise damaged, eventually they will begin to rot and decay), also they are resistant to the effects of aging (finally they are dead - at least in some sense). Unfortunately the course of infection is horrible and extremely painful, which results of falling the victim of the Grey Plague falling to madness.

As the outbreaks of plague have not appeared since ages and infected with the disease can release spores only once in a hundred years, the amount of Dead Ones is getting smaller. Moreover, they almost did not appear on the surface of Ortix - especially that they are treated there as a "ordinary" undead. Most of Dead Ones hide themselves deep in the Tomb of the Exiled.

Dead One as a character class

(click to enlarge) 

Additionally, GM can add some extra rules, such as doubled (or even tripled from some experience level) HP regeneration rate, reduced need to eat and drink, vulnerability to Turn Undead power etc.

Chronology?

My first and probably last attempt to stich together some facts about past of Ortix. Some of the events are based on my old campaign (1997-1999 AFAIR), some on events from my 2002-2003 campaign, and some are brand new, added to glue everything together.

Note: absence of dates is intentional - I encourage everyone who wants to play this campaign to adjust everything himself.

1. K'reen arrive to the Ortix.
2. Shaping the planet by K'reen (to be honest - one really knows what happened during their reign).
3. Arrival of the Shapers, the beginning of war between the newcomers and K'reen.
4. Shapers, after a long and destructive war, escape beneath the planet's surface. They create  vast underground cave complexes..
5. K'reen begin to remove effects of the war, they also build a giant spaceship.
6. K'reen descend to the underworld, to bring utter destruction to their mortal enemies.
7. Torgon Heartripper leaves the Grey Dimension and arrives on the Ortix.
8. Shapers create an underground city, which shall be attacked and ruined by K'reen in the future.
9. As a result of the last war between the Old Ones, K'reen are almost extinct and Shapers descend even deeper underground.
10. Rise of the Dargs and Alarri civilizations.
11. First humans arrive on Ortix.
12. War between Alarri and Dargs, Jewel of Creation dies. The first magic burn disrupts the flow of magic.
13. Human civilization flourishes, benefiting heavily from the remains of the Old Ones' technology. Architects' Guild is formed.
14. Total war breaks out between humans. Almost entire human civilization is destroyed and most of the planet becomes a contaminated wasteland.
15. First manifestation of Anomalies - distortions of the laws of physics, magic, time and space. People are starting to mutate. Some people escape to the Underworld.
16. Architects disappear without a trace.
17. First sights of the Grey Plague.
18. A being called the Great Father creates vampires and werewolves - the most perfect mutant species.
19. Kingdom of Aldarien arises.
20. Dead Ones find an ancient city deep in the Underworld.
21. Lord of the Plagues brings disease upon the Aldarien, king of Aldarien initiates ancient machinery, hoping that it help fight off the plague. Instead it destroys the entire city.
22. War erupts between the people of the Underworld Kingdom and Vrax & Morax - the two-headed dragon.
23. The lands east of the ruins Aldarien are united by the council of mages.
24. Mages discover a vast underground complex, called by them the Tomb of the Exiled. They build huge fortress over the entrance to the Underworld.
25. Hideous beasts start to appear in the Underworld.
26. Fall of Blackcrag.

Note that Blackcrag has fallen at least 200 years ago (although flow of time on the surface of Ortix can be Easily disturbed).

Hypotheses on the chronology

- Is the Floating Island a spaceship built by K'reen?

- Was the Jewel of Creation created by the Old Ones?

- Is Torgon Heartripper the same person as the Great Father and the Lord of the Plagues?

Because of significant changes in current shape of the campaign, consider this info as the "old stuff" - it will be heavily modified. 

Alarri (elves)

Former masters of magic, the Alarri civilisation collapsed when they were cursed by the Dargs' god. Apparently they were brought to life by the very essence of magic, source of which was in the center of their kingdom. Alarri didn't worship any gods, furthermore - because of their highly developed magical talents they saw themselves as equal to the gods (even though they represented only a fraction of K'reen or Shapers' capacity). It is said that this arrogance led to the conflict between Alarri and Dargs - children and followers of the Crystal God.

Although the technology of Dargs was very powerful and led to the destruction of large areas of the eastern forests, it cannot be compared to the magical powers of Alarri. Dargs' Kingdom has been broken and devastated, and the survivors fled into the underworld. However, this victory turned into a total disaster - The Jewel of Creation decided to avenge its children.

Crystal God broke through the magic shields guarding the capital of the Alarri kingdom. Although its crystalline "body" was destroyed, when Alarri tried to repel the attack, the dying god freed his life energy, destroying the power source and cursing all Alarri, severing them from their ancient magic.

Since the war Alarri number have decreased significantly. The old masters of magic completely isolated themselves from the world - a magical shield still keeps them out of the deserted and decaying kingdom, preventing access to anyone who is not invited. Now their power is only a shadow of their former abilities - even human wizards of Blackcrag would be able to overcome current Alarri masters.

Because of significant changes in current shape of the campaign, consider this info as the "old stuff" - it will be heavily modified. 

Dargs (dwarves)

A dying race of short humanoids, created in ancient times by the ancient god of Ortix's mountain roots, known as the Jewel of Creation. Deity, whose domain was grievously wounded during the wars of Old Ones, cast its essence in the crystal to avoid destruction. Dargs, guards and followers of Gem, were created from stone and life essence of troglodytes, wild tribes that inhabited the limitless plains of the planet.

Many years later, just when first humans appeared on Ortix, blooming kingdoms of Dargs began a war with the Alarri - race inhabiting the vast, virgin forests stretching eastward from the Plains. Technology of Dargs could not match magic of Alarri, so their kingdoms were smashed, temples destroyed, and they themselves forced to fall back into the underworld, like the Shapers millenia before.Legends say that the direct cause of the wars and, and the coming of the inevtable death of the two races was a result of the Darg's god's wrath. The diety, who was mortally wounded during a magical storm unleashed by the magi-kings of Alarri - used his last reserve of energy to curse the winners of war in a single magical eruption.  Unfortunately, the consequences of that act also reached the children of the Crystal God.

Dargs are a race close to extinction - death of the Jewel of Creation deprived them of their will to live. Through centuries, their outstanding achievements in engineering and construction turned into dust, and their desire to develop knowledge changed into a meaningless vegetation. Currently, only a few Dargs leaves Calthiboros - their last stronghold, hidden deep in the bowels of the Underworld Kingdom.

Because of significant changes in current shape of the campaign, consider this info as the "old stuff" - it will be heavily modified.