For a thousand years, the Apétychen Empire stood as the bastion of human unity and power in the Rings. Not perfectly, not completely, and not without strife, but true war and destruction grew to become a relic of the distant past.
Then the New Gods came, and brought with them Change.
The first and most distant, Amathos, was consumed by Lust and brought many children into the world, each granted incredible power and insufficient guidance. Some excelled in spite of it; others reveled in their Gifts and acted as they pleased. Their conflicts and self-indulgences shattered the world, scattering the Rings across the Planar Void and forming countless stellar remnants, the demiplanes. Two hundred years did the Time of Madness span, and during this time the once singular whole of Humanity was reshaped and metamorphosized into the great diversity of Metahumanity.
But in the end, even the wild anarchy of the Time of Madness could not last. Thea, eldest of Amathos' children, Goddess of Order, broke her siblings to her will and ascended the shattered and broken throne of an equally devasted Empire.
And then she vanished, and the imposed peace with her.
Now, the Apétychen Empire seeks to return to its mythic roots, to unite Metahumanity and spare it from the horrors of war and the banal cruelties of life: starvation, tyranny, ignorance, deprivation. But people are flawed, imperfect, and so any execution inherently fails to live up to its ideal, opposed from without and weakened from within.
The Reforging either failed or stalled, depending on whom you ask, at the Inner Planes, leaving many millions alone in the Outer Planes. And yet the Empire still sought to reach them, driven by their suffering. To that end, they sent out their best and brightest as Far Traders, to bring the light of unity and forge bonds of brotherhood.
(O)
Or so the official story goes. The truth is not so clean.
The Apétychen Empire brought many good things to humanity, yes: charity, goodwill, and aid to the masses; a firm hand to prevent war; extensive trade routes to foster wealth and cooperation. But the very structure that gave it strength and longevity instilled in it such extreme jingoism that external polities and rebellions were not tolerated, enforced a firm class division between Gifted noble and common citizen, and engendered constant political maneuvering and internecine strife. Still, over the centuries, its issues were slowly addressed. As technology marched forward and the Rings developed, the center of the Empire no longer held an overwhelming advantage in wealth and power. The Gift proliferated and became increasingly common, steadily chipping away at the idea that the Gifted nobility had been chosen to rule. The Imperial Family itself crumbled as an institution, losing more and more power until they were more figurehead than true head of state. A growing super-culture combined with improved communications brought with it increased agitation for true equality and social rights. The Empire was well on its way to becoming a Republic, or a Union.
And then the New Gods came.
In the very early days, the birth of Amathos was held up as a symbol of hope. A commoner, born with a Gift of such power that the world itself bent to his will. Resource inequality, hostile terrain, insufficient land, institutions 'too big to fail', wild were the hopes and dreams of the world. And perhaps Amathos could have lived up to those expectations.
But the main issue that doomed the world can really be summed up in four words: he was basically Zeus.
His lust was insatiable. He slept with women, then improved women when they grew boring, then fucked off and made his own companions for amusement and – again – sex. He had twenty-three children in all, each of which inherited his Gift of Change, something that had never happened before.
And if he were a good father, many problems might have been avoided. But again, he was too busy indulging himself and making dragons to fuck.
Some of his children, raised by caring and responsible mothers and families, turned out more or less alright. The Flaw their Gift was paired with and born of was either mostly harmless or they had enough self-control to not let it consume them. But the bulk of his children, who later styled themselves the New Gods, didn't care for that. They decided to live up to the example of their father, and focused solely on their own interests and amusements. That narcissism, that solipsism, is what broke the world, shattered the continental Rings, and flung the nascent Metahumanity throughout the Void and stars.
Then, for about a hundred years, the more vile New Gods lorded themselves over the scattered demiplanes and used them towards their own ends. Their more benevolent and moderate siblings tried to regulate them, but as few of them were willing to so wholeheartedly throw themselves into Rampancy as their darker siblings had or attempt the perilous journey to Dominance, they were generally only able to preserve the remainder of the earth, which came to be known as the Prime Remnant, along with a few of the closest demiplanes. This infuriated Thea, as the chaos and madness offended her on a deep and fundamental level, but it wasn't until two of her brothers, Korson and Helios, murdered their youngest brother Latas that she finally snapped and lost patience with her kin. She partnered with Oscanue, God of Balance, and together they set out on the emotionally and philosophically perilous journey of Dominance. Thea supposedly never made it, falling to Rampancy along the way, and no one knows if Oscanue succeeded, but whatever the truth may be the outward facts are undeniable: with two New Gods working together, brimming with Rampant or Dominant power married to ruthless will, they brought all of their siblings in line. Thea was not merciful in the least during this decade-long process, and she earned a fearsome, gruesome, and tyrannical reputation among her siblings, though on the flip side many people saw her as a savior. Her subsequent actions – seizing the throne of the beleaguered Empire, seemingly making preparations to rid herself of its Senate, and sending ultimatums to every demiplane she knew of – made her much more controversial.
But then, right before her plans could come to fruition and all could see whether she would become true tyrant or unexpected savior, she vanished, along with all of her siblings and their errant, philandering father.
In the aftermath, war erupted anew, and the Apétychen Empire looked at its fleets and armies, previously meaningless in the face of the New Gods, and decided it really liked the sound of this Unity and Order idea Thea had been pushing, and so began the Reforging.
Whether the subsequent benefits of the Empire's overlordship were worth the strife and bloodshed is debatable, and generally depends on the previous state and quality of life of whichever demiplane they took over and the manner in which they came to control it. For the most part though, the Reforging was very much a war of conquest, one that stalled before completion as its fleets and armies were bled dry by a multitude of inter-planar unions formed to oppose their imperialism.
Afterwards, as the Empire sought to rebuild, its rulers looked out at their neighbors and the polities growing in the Outer Planes, and worried that through either treaty or conquest those political entities and nations would become unassailable before the Empire could restart the Reforging. Making alliance with those that genuinely wanted to improve the lot of people living in the aftermath of the New Gods' indulgent tyranny, the Far Trader system was proposed, wherein worthy individuals would be given wealth, authority, and power and sent out into the Outer Planes to work for the Empire's gain. In practice, this became a form of exile, where capable yet troublesome individuals were sent out of sight and out of mind into situations where few honestly expected them to succeed.
You are one of those people. You've caused some scandal or another, found yourself surrounded by enemies without many friends, and so have elected to take the lifeline offered to you. Whether you actually care for the Empire's mission or not… well, that's up to you to decide.
(O)
I'm going to talk a bit about underlying mechanics, tone, and the character creation process, as I don't want to bury you under a mountain of mechanical details and text right at the start.
Spiritually, thematically, and tonally, this quest is based off of the Rogue Trader RPG, in that you're a powerful independent semi-noble with few solid ties going around adventuring, wheeling, and dealing for profit and power. Mechanically, this quest is a hodgepodge of various systems. The strategic level choices – where to go, who to support, what to do, social interaction, etc. – are based off of a d100 CKII system with the standard characteristics: Diplomacy (representing speech and persuasion), Martial (representing ability to command troops and direct battles), Stewardship (representing management and financial capabilities), Intrigue (representing the fields of spycraft and manipulation), and Learning (representing technical knowledge and general information gathering skills). Combat is based off of a much simplified Exalted 3e system where people throw dice pools at each other until someone wins, and army and ship combat is literally the CKII computer game combat system (as opposed to CKII quest systems which are… wildly inconsistent at best).
However, the last is one I am not going to heavily elaborate on as it's very number crunchy, and you don't really need to know the details of any of them at this stage. What's relevant now is the following:
1) The character generation process is concerned with the standard CKII characteristics (Diplomacy, Martial, etc.), the Combat characteristics (Attack, Defense, Initiative, Wounds, etc.), starting resources such as Wealth and Prestige, and Personality Traits that govern how your character plays and interacts with the world. Please note that Personality Traits do not provide direct Characteristic modifiers; they certainly can impact Characteristics, but I am deliberately not illuminating or expounding on said impact.
2) Bigger numbers are better.
3) Certain choices add or subtract BP, or Bonus Points. You start with 5, and can go into the negatives. At the final stage of character creation, you'll be presented with a list of Traits, upgrades, and purchases you can spend BP on or which provide BP. The only requirement when it comes to BP is that you can't be in the negatives by the end of character generation, even if that means you have to load up on disadvantages.
4) Please do Plan voting at every stage of character generation.
5) This is an original setting, albeit one with parts shamelessly ripped off and stolen from established settings, so please do ask questions. Long experience has shown me that it is much easier for me to formulate and provide information piecemeal and then to compile it into bigger loredumps than it is for me to establish everything first (and I'm not sure people tend to read those large loredumps up front).
Now, for the actual options:
You are the daughter of a noble house fallen on hard times. Your father, once a Gifted Noble of great power and esteem, has seen his star fade.
Who is your father, and why has his star faded?
[_] Once General. Your father was a general in the Apétychen Reforging and won much acclaim in the early stages of the Reforging. Close to the end however, when coalitions of enemies proved to be stronger than expected, much of the blame for his army group's losses were laid at his feet by his enemies. The damage to his reputation was compounded when, soon after his wife's death in childbirth, one of his former enemies drew him into a relationship, leading to rumors of treason and sedition. Though his roll of honor protects him from dire consequences, he has few friends left willing to help him. You start with middling Prestige and Wealth, leftovers of your father's glory days. You gain a moderate bonus to Martial and Combat Characteristics, and can call on lingering military connections.
[_] Too Noble Scion. Your father was the scion of a noble house that rose to prominence in the wake of the Godswar. Once considered a strong contender for election to the position of Emperor, his strong anti-war stance gradually cost him influence, especially as the Reforging went on and a number of the Inner Planes were reincorporated into the Empire. The final nail in the coffin was when, shortly after his noble wife's death, he preempted the desired invasion of a weak but resource rich demiplane by marrying into its power structure, formally incorporating it into the Empire. His political opponents, who desired to exploit said demiplane, were not pleased, but the Emperor could not be persuaded to waste his armies subjugating and destroying a now-loyal vassal, and so instead they focused their efforts on destroying your father's powerbase and image, casting him as a craven traitor. Their efforts were not successful, but your family was left weak in the aftermath. You start with high Prestige but low Wealth, a result of your father spending freely to present himself as a good and charitable man. You gain a moderate bonus to Diplomacy and Intrigue, and have ties to a notable but not powerful Inner Plane vassal.
[_] Unlucky Businessman. Your father was a commoner with the misfortune of being born in one of the small, isolated towns where much of the population was Giftless. As a result, he too was born Giftless, which proved a struggle in his early life. Nonetheless, he persevered, earning an education and then starting a business that capitalized on some of the innovations and technological developments that came in the wake of the Godswar. He achieved great success, and even married into a minor Gifted house as part of a business merger. However, relations soured after his wife died, and business rivals began to circle. In an attempt to maintain his position he married again, but this only caused further issues with his former in-laws and left him with many enemies and few friends. You start with low Prestige but high Wealth, a consequence of your father's struggle to maintain his position. You gain a moderate bonus to Stewardship and Learning, and have ties to strong business interests within the Prime Remnant.
As you know, your father has had two daughters, one human and trueborn, the second metahuman and... debatably less so.
Which are you?
[_] Human. You are the firstborn, entirely human daughter of your father. Humanity is by far the largest branch of Metahumanity, making up a bare majority of the full population by everyone's best guess, and is the predominant ruling branch in the Prime Remnant and the closest of the Inner Planes. As a pure human you're unlikely to face racism, which smooths over social interactions and relations. However, it also isn't anything special, especially out in the Outer Planes where the demographics are much more varied. Provides +2 BP.
[_] Metahuman. You are the second, youngest daughter of your father. You are also a metahuman, a Child of the New Gods in some form or another. Specifically, you are a Near-Human, one of those sub-branches that is capable of reproducing and having children with the main branch of Humanity. This is somewhat problematic when it comes to the racist elements of the Apétychen Empire, which fortunately are not particularly dominant, though they are still influential. Conversely, your particular flavor of metahumanity may afford you greater connections in the Outer Planes – or lead to racism of a different sort depending on the situation. Near-Humans generally have some form of 'magic' beyond the form the Gift takes, a residual inheritance or genetic blessing from the New Gods that created them which grants them abilities beyond the human norm. The available Near-Human choices (which if this option wins will be voted on in the next stage) are Elf, Dragonborn, and Vampire.
And finally and most importantly, you did something that angered The Powers That Be and resulted in your lavish exile from the Empire. What was it?
[_] Incessant Dueling. Because of your family's questionable reputation, many people thought they could insult and belittle you, your father, and your family. Many of those people swiftly grew to regret their poor decisions, as you promptly dueled and humiliated them. This brought you to the attention of greater individuals and made you an object of amusement, and many subsequently made the same mistake. And were in turn humiliated. And so it went, until it seemed like you had dueled half the nobility of the Empire. Needless to say, you made a lot of enemies. You gain large bonuses to Combat Characteristics, and start with the Personality Traits Wroth and Brave.
[_] Sleeping Around. You were a very friendly, charming, and passionate young woman. A very friendly, very passionate one. This made you quite a few friends, but also caused innumerable political messes - especially since many of the people you were friendly with were nobles, and that caused no end of trouble. When irate families came after you, labeling you a Constantinian whore, you were left with few options. You gain a large bonus to Diplomacy, an... interestingly sourced but decently sized boost to Prestige on account of political connections, and start with the Personality Traits Lustful and Seductive.
[_] Political Ambitions. From an early age your eye was on a high position of power, the Senate or perhaps even a revitalized Emperor-hood. But your yearning for power wasn't especially subtle, and you left many injured enemies on your ceaseless climb upward. In the end you slipped, and they descended upon you like a pack of ravenous piranhas. You gain a large bonus to Intrigue, a lesser bonus to Learning, and start with the Personality Traits Proud and Ambitious.
Please do not post yet, I need four placeholder posts for later content.