It would be very interesting to me if the Sword literally couldn't enter our Hell, not because of rules of conduct or etiquette, but as a simple fact of metaphysical existence. If the Sword is barred, then regular Angels are probably similarly affected, and if it extends to Angels then it probably extends to Denarian coins.
If that is the case, then the metaphysics of reality get further called into question. What is reality? What exactly are Angels? Etc, etc, etc.
My bet would be that he's not particularly forbidden or unable to enter our hell.
But the mission of the swords is to oppose the Fallen on Earth, not to go on vacation in some other place, so he can't leave reality and the adjacent Nevernever without going against that.
I expect it's because people do it on average at least once a day and spend about a third of their life's sleeping. It's very much a case of forcing someone to do something that comes naturally.
I expect it's because people do it on average at least once a day and spend about a third of their life's sleeping. It's very much a case of forcing someone to do something that comes naturally.
Yes and also because it is such a basic thing to make someone do. Dresden once (I think in Changes) explained the problem of breaking into someone's mind like breaking into their house. Does not matter why you do it you will at least break the window to get in. Sleep is a case of only doing the minimal damage to get in.
The one Broken Seeker tried to kill before he could prove himself in a fight was pissed enough to want to kill his master. Molly suspects that has a significant part in his feelings. She knows from the other one that this bunch has a twisted might makes right kill or be killed mentality, but in order to actually prove if you are the strongest you do have to get to the test, whatever that may be.
I think it has the most work out into it. The most fluff about its civilizations, the most details about weapons and species, and overall a society that does not come with an absurd list of problems.
So dp I'm curious what are the upper skill limits of our inhabitants especially for the oldest. Cause there are gonna be a few couple thousand year old people around who've practiced magical martial arts, dragons, who've been administrators since the governments United, crafters who've crafted since before robotics were a thing, mortal magic users well over the age of even the gatekeeper, etc etc? Few and far between of course but in a population of millions of immortals admittedly many of them likely not even in their first century. Some are going to be exceptional.
Yes and also because it is such a basic thing to make someone do. Dresden once (I think in Changes) explained the problem of breaking into someone's mind like breaking into their house. Does not matter why you do it you will at least break the window to get in. Sleep is a case of only doing the minimal damage to get in.
As well as the fact that sleep is natural mental healing process. So whatever damage is done is more likely to fix itself before any complications happen.
Yeah, that's actually the gist of my proposal. First, don't let them lie unconscious on hard, probably cold floor, get them on beds/coaches or at least stretchers, and second, don't leave them until they are conscious again and afterwards comfort them and explain what is needed to be explained.
For Fivefold Courts this, coupled with a) necessity to reach and occupy the throne as soon as possible and to prove that we are actually who we are and get that sweet cooperation of Committed population instead of being treated as suspicious intruders from beyond, and b) inability to escape notice of surveillance powered by cyberpunk-flavored superior technology and magic, leads to a need to appear near the throne, preferably already sitting on it, and request assistance (coaches/stretchers, medical checkup) for Izzy and Alec as soon as possible.
And yeah, you absolutely need at least a simple medical checkup after being knocked out and forced to stay unconscious for that long of time, sorcerer-healers to check up on them would be good, of course after Molly comforts them and explains the situation to them. Specifically human healers could be requested to not spook them unnecessary.
And yeah, you absolutely need at least a simple medical checkup after being knocked out and forced to stay unconscious for that long of time, sorcerer-healers to check up on them would be good, of course after Molly comforts them and explains the situation to them. Specifically human healers could be requested to not spook them unnecessary.
Have we checked that Broken Seeker didn't give them any parting present, like poison, lingering possesion, stuff like that? It might merit even a Crown question to make sure.
Have we checked that Broken Seeker didn't give them any parting present, like poison, lingering possesion, stuff like that? It might merit even a Crown question to make sure.
She spirals with worry about them not being safe...
...right into her own safest place in the universe
That said Molly proved to be a lot better at reading Broken Seeker then he was at hiding his feelings (again this was not his preferred field of social combat, no intimidation) and he claimed to not have harmed them.
OPTIONAL FEATURES: -3
Endless Suffering: -1 point
Gaols: -1 point (NotDemonreach maxsec imprisonment facilities, technological panopticon surveillance, hell butterflies)
Lord of The Land: -1 point
++++++++++++
FUTURE UPGRADES/NARRATIVE QUEST OPTIONS
Grand Grimoire: 1 point
Loyalty Upgrade: Committed: 1 point
Size Upgrade: Large to Vast: World: 2 points
Bottleneck: [Subject to QM approval]: 1 point
===========
INSPIRATION
BAHHSCQ quest by Avalanche
The demon city of Malfeas in Exalted 2E
The Titanean Commonwealth in Eclipse Phase
Pacific Rim
+++++++++++
SECRET ORIGINS
A splinter of Yu-Shan or the Wyld smashed through Creation, carrying fractions of Malfeas, and Creation with it.
Its destination: ages away.Splinering before reaching its destination, the vast bulk of its population arrives safely, but the other shards must be found to bring the Hell to its full strength
++++++++++++
ENTRY CONDITION
Think of appropriate music
++++++++++++ "We are programmed to receive
You can check out any time you like,
But you can never leave"
-Hotel California by The Eagles
For he shall come like the breaking dawn, and shatter the world with his coming, and make it anew
-Robert Jordan, Prophecies of the Karaethon Cycle, The Great Hunt
++++++++++++
The first thing you notice are the butterflies.
Crossing the boundary of wards and magical defenses that form the dividing line between this domain and the outside world brings the visitors into a realm as Earthlike as most; the Hell of Ten Thousand Eyes is at first impression very Earth-like in climate and geography. Evidence of intelligent habitation is few and far between.
Newcomers are advised to stay away from the waters edge.
Freshwater ecosystems are no more safe or dangerous than most of their Earthside counterparts, but the furious fecundity that is characteristic of charms from the Hell of Maggots is reflected in the seas of the kingdom, and much of the flora and fauna which thrive in them are ferociously dangerous. Losing an arm to a siaka is painful.
Mystical examination will notice significant damage to the underlying magical structure of the domain, with fracture lines evident upon careful examination. Key nodes appear to be absent with dragon lines snarled or sometimes amputated outright.
Shadowgarden the city is a megacity cum arcology occupying roughly 3% of the remaining surface area of the Hell of Perspectives, and is the population center of the domain, being the only surviving major settlement permitted by the realm's spirit. It is structured on the schema of Malfeas-That-Was, with the bulk of its population in layers of megacity stacked like pancakes on top of each other as it descends kilometers into the earth underneath.
TECHNOLOGY
Industrial capacity is integrated into the city itself.
Urban transportation is provided by road, high-speed rail and a short-range intracity teleportation network.
Long-range travel is the province of a road and high speed rail network, with air travel and personal magical feats both ; the land's spirit can perform long range teleportation, but seldom does so outside of emergency conditions.
Technology levels are at a minimum equivalent to anything seen from the Wicked City, and usually well in advance.
Universal education is mandatory, with screening for the magically talented. Personal technological and magical augments are available, and there is wide scale integration of magic and technology on both a personal-scale and society wide-basis.
A society-wide data network in addition to an array of personal computing devices provides networked access to all the advantages of the modern Internet.
Food is produced in artificial vats on an industrial scale, something which some chafe at.
DEMOGRAPHICS AND DENIZENS
Estimates put current population levels at around six hundred and thirty two million sophonts.
Population density is roughly 70,000 ppl/sq mile, which is that of the municipality of Levallois-Perret in north-western suburbs of Paris, France.
A majority of the inmates/residents claim human descent, though human represents a rather more expansive category of skin pigments and phenotypes than are otherwise known to the Earthborn, as evidenced by the djala, and the People of the Air, to count two of the most obvious.
Of the avowedly nonhuman, Jadeborn and lintha are some of the most outspoken, despite shared phenotypes and cross-fertility.
Dragon Kings and dragons make up the most obvious nonhuman contingent
There is a profusion of spiritual entities from elementals to nemah and angyalkae to machine spirits.
Some are Hell-spawned to the land's needs; others are immigrant.
PANOPTICON Every breath you take, And every move you make
Every bond you break, Every step you take
I'll be watching you
- The Police
The Hell of Ten Thousand Eyes lives up to its name. Cameras are everywhere in the city, and Hell-spawned machine spirits find their way into every large-scale computer network and telecommunication hub. Even out in the wild, the ubiquitous hell butterflies act as the eyes and ears of the realm's resident intelligence, providing realtime sensory feeds of events
No-one, not even the oldest living here, are sure of how much the land itself can see and importantly, understand, at any given time.And when asked, it has kept its own council.
NOTABLE PERSONALITIES
Eldest, an (allegedly) amnesic lesser elemental dragon.
Possible identities: Slacstag, Shogun of Crystal and Glass. Swan Dragon, Elemental Censor of the South.
Faka Rei, djala-borne medium and senior speaker for the Hell's spirit.
PLACES OF NOTE
The Hole. Sheol. Diyu. Avici. Mingfu.Youdu. Many names, among different people. Designed to contain and neutralize inmates who are too dangerous to be held otherwise, the Niraya Containment and Rehabilitation Facility runs deep underground, its surface works only hinting at the extent of the structures beneath the earth. Permanent detachments of spirits and mortals reinforce the technological and magical measures in place designed to prevent breaches from the inside or outside.
Raksha and the ghosts of multiple Yama Kings, even Onceborn, are rumored to populate the maximum security section, but nobody with reason to know will say a word.
Mirror Pools are bodies of water identified by the stars in their depths at night. At Samhain, residents of the kingdom, or paroled inmates of Niraya may choose to walk into one and pass on to whatever is next for them. Most are never seen again, but some people reputedly do find themselves back on Earth or the NeverNever, or in at least one case, back on the borders of the realm.
They are popular spots for roosting hell butterfly swarms.
The Deeps represent a geographical cluster of nodes on the sea floor which are responsible for empowering some of the largest marine swarm surges seen in the realm. Cut off from the rest of the realm's ley line network, much of its power is turned to spawning and empowering the hordes of marine life that occasionally plague those living on land.
Gethemane is located north of the city of Shadowgarden. Its [REDACTED].
Tzatli was located in one of the missing shards of the Hell. It held a great repository of mystical lore and ritual spaces
CALIBRATION Red skies at night, should have taken warning
-The Fixx
Feed the fire.
-Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon Reveal Trailer
Calibration is just that: the kingdom synchronizing itself like a clock to match the rest of the outside. It happens at the end of the year for five days, between the 27th of December and the 1st of the New Year, as the rubicon wards that delineate the boundaries weaken and the Hell drinks deep from the bottomless well of the NeverNever.
Characteristic features are a 5-day long total eclipse, with both the sun and moon in the sky for the entirety of the interregnum, and the skies turning red during this time as the influx of mystical energies wreaks eldritch effects on the weather systems.
Sudden, savage storms are often commonplace at this time across the kingdom, with killing winds drawn from the altitudes where they usually occur to surface levels to damage material and immaterial alike. Population concentrations draw particular attention from the weather at this time, and most sapients are well advised to seek shelter behind the mundane and mystical defenses.
Sometimes this period sees extra excitement, with enough power ending up in the seas to supercharge hosts of beasts to make their way onto dry land, some of whom may enter kaiju-tier classes of size and durability, and require major military intervention to put down.
And the aftermath often sees flotsam and jetsam thrown up on the metaphorical shores of the Realm, drawn in on the currents of power, from people to items and sometimes to outright settlements.
ENDLESS SUFFERING "It is mine, I tell you. My own. My precious. Yes, my precious."
-J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of The Ring
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
-Revelations 20:13, King James Version
All longterm residents are bound to the Hell itself, and are not allowed to die or pass on, with the Hell itself going to significant lengths to keep those it has Claimed.
However, some rules are universal.
Across reality, on All Hallows Eve/Samhain on October 31, immortals may sup of mortality. Thus on that day even the Hell of Ten Thousand Eyes must loosen its grip on those it has claimed as its own. Should a resident or paroled inmate choose to, they may choose to take a leap of faith and walk into a Mirror Pool, passing on to whatever is next for them.
MILITARY Si vis pacem, para bellum
-Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, De Re Militari
The Realm maintains a significant conventional standing force of military personnel and reserves due to the standing threat of marine uprisings, leveraging its industrial capabilities to equip them with everything from combat aircraft and armored fighting vehicles to main battle golems and aerial drones.
Otherwise, a lot of the day to day ground patrol for changes on the ground is carried out by First Teams, small teams of cyberware/bioware and spell-ware augmented-mortals with spirit support . Dreadlords are magically adept mortals with high-end cyberware, flight-capability, and the Backing of the domain's genius loci as Mentor/Totem.
Emerging in this era has seen a steady buildup in military readiness, as they invest in improved readiness. If they are called, they will not be found wanting.
TLDR
~600 million people.
Roughly the size of Ukraine, with around 220,000 sq miles of land and water.
Permanent habitation restricted by the Hell to between 3-5% of the surface area.
Advanced technology and magic
Missing pieces of the Hell that will require following future plot threads to upgrade to full world size.
POSTSCRIPT
My apologies this is late.
RL things to do.
I think I like this flavor the most.
And it's the only one that doesn't have straight Endless Suffering and instead limits it to non-old-age death, which I prefer.
Word of God: Its not fixed.
I asked the question months ago back when I was writing V1 of this thing and lost it.
Narrative quests to increase the size will exist, but its not just spend XP
As for size, the benchmark is Ukraine, which is 780 miles wide.
Thats to start.
Word of God: Its not fixed.
I asked the question months ago back when I was writing V1 of this thing and lost it.
Narrative quests to increase the size will exist, but its not just spend XP
As for size, the benchmark is Ukraine, which is 780 miles wide.
Thats to start.
Yes that is what I said. Fixed unless we go on time consuming side quests.
The quest already drags in places and we Already suffer from time constraints which forces us to give up stuff so I do not want to add even more to that.
Your option forces us to either give up on other actions or give up on expanding.
That js my point. We have limited action points and this would make it worse.
Yes that is what I said. Fixed unless we go on time consuming side quests.
The quest already drags in places and we Already suffer from time constraints which forces us to give up stuff so I do not want to add even more to that.
Your option forces us to either give up on other actions or give up on expanding.
That js my point. We have limited action points and this would make it worse.
Yes that is what I said. Fixed unless we go on time consuming side quests.
The quest already drags in places and we Already suffer from time constraints which forces us to give up stuff so I do not want to add even more to that.
Your option forces us to either give up on other actions or give up on expanding.
That js my point. We have limited action points and this would make it worse.
We're going looking anyway; giving an actual goal that the QM can hang story lines on doesnt extend anything.
I will point out that its explicitly one of our goals to explore IC our origins by doing shit like questing for remaining examples of Old Realm script an the like.
Those options were in part crafted because they lend themselves to that.
Furthermore, other than bragging rights?
You're gonna be hard pressed to think of why a kingdom on the scale of Ukraine, a country that's 780 miles/1250 km wide, and with access to both advanced technology and magic, is too small as a starting point.
Dunn if that was already answered, but can Molly communicate with her Hell or someone specific inside it while she is outside or does that use the same mechanic as actually entering?
Cause having comms means she can outsource a lot of intellectual labor to it.
Dunn if that was already answered, but can Molly communicate with her Hell or someone specific inside it while she is outside or does that use the same mechanic as actually entering?
Cause having comms means she can outsource a lot of intellectual labor to it.
Not by default, I think? Prayer eating charm tree lends itself to this, and it's not hard to wonder forge a non-sapient emenation arcana for this purpose.
