End of Infinities- A Science Fantasy GSRP
- Thread starter Laplace
- Start date
- OOC
- Location
- boundless optimism
You have what basically amounts to a couple of guys on standard sci fi ships with a coat of mystic paint firing missiles and lasers at each other to some warrior-saint leading a charge of martyrs on horseback through the void, iron hooves thundering on divine roads, sundering battleships with lances of holy light.
It varies, is what I'm saying.
Would the supernatural stuff always win vs tech stuff.
Last edited:
- Location
- boundless optimism
The supernatural stuff is normal technology. Any distinctions between the two are entirely artificial.
Wade Garrett
Just trying to do the right thing
- Pronouns
- He/His/Him
Star Wars and Warhammer 40K, got it.
Rigsfælleskabet
- Location
- Denmark
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Rigsfælleskabet - The Unity of the Realm:
Location and Capital: Greenland and Northern Canada, Earth
History: It is said that history does not repeat, but that it does rhyme to some degree. It is said that history is a lie, and nothing new can ever happen, that myth-structures surround Man in a harmonious choreography of dancing stories. Many things are said.
Once upon a time, a dark queen ruled over a northern kingdom, dead men marching at her command. She was a child of heinous crime, and broken hospitality, and she would come to doom her half-brother and rule darkly from a throne made of dead men. History marches on, and she is no more.
Once upon a time, a cold queen united three northern kingdoms, her father was sent from Heaven, and his most trusted advisor had broken the last foreign god. Her rule stretched across the ocean, and she died, beloved of three kingdoms, the echo of her presence sounding like the ringing of a bell, through the halls of history. History marches on, and she is no more.
Once upon a time, in the lands of Never, a frozen queen ruled a land that never was. Her father had born her through marriage to an empty page, and she was exiled to an icy world, far away from the kingdom of her father. She sought to render the hearts of the world as cold and empty as her halls, by using a mirror made by the devil. History marches on, and she never was.
Once upon the future, in the lands of Not Yet, a joyous queen will rule a vast kingdom of joyous peoples, bound together as fingers in a fist, each and everyone savouring and celebrating the beauty of their nation. Oh, what golden fields! Oh, what crimson flag! Oh, what blissful divinity of peace, that has brought them here! History marches on, and they are not, but they will be one day.
The Unity of the Realm, is an earthen state, considering itself the successor to all the northern realms, ruled by the Rigsvætte; the shadow of a queen that has not yet become, the Unity is more of an idea, than a polity. The dream of many people marching as an army, saluting as a nation, praying as a congregation, laughing as a family. In the Unity, past, present and future blend into one another, becoming a greater whole, across which the empire of the Unity of the Realm stretches it's rule. Thus, it can be hard to call the Unity of the Realm a successor state, as it has, in some way, always existed, while also being in the past and yet to be. This is not some vaunted holy grail of time travel, it is a realm of myth, where nothing new can ever truly happen, all events and all actions reflecting the dream beneath the state.
Culture: The Unity of the Realm exists at the Precipe of Time, where farmers live an idyllic agrarian existence amid golden fields, never needing to bother with the fear of hunger, never needing to fear the rage of winter, while perfectly formed swans, their coats a blend of beautiful silver and pale, white feathers, fly in the sky above, carrying soldiers to distant worlds and realms. Essential to the culture of the Unity of the Realm, is the love of the nation, for it is a nation sustained, maintained and born by love of a nation that never were, and might one day become; it is no more the Scandinavian kingdoms of ages past, than it is any particular polity at all, it is a nation without a state. Even the future shadow of the Queen-to-be, the Rigsvætte, is a shadow cast by the luminous fires of queenly figures, some of which have never lived at all.
Gnosis: The Realm
The Unity of the Realm once referred to a principle of petty legalities, in the Godless world before, but in the case of the Forever Nation, this is quite literal. All of the Unity of the Realm is an enshrinement of the love of the nation, of the crimson banner that exemplifies the Realm, and of the values that constitute it. The Unity of the Realm is a bizarre juxtaposition of living myth and the people that live there. Golden fields stretch as far as the eye can see, across perfect lands in an eternal sunset, coloring the lands below them in a rich, golden red, while the shadow of a queen that has yet to become, plays ruthless politics with foreign leaders; is she the puppet of the nation, or does she hold the strings of it?
In times of war, swans of interwoven threads of metal and feather fly to national anthems that contain no words, but communicate a willingness to fight forever, in the name of Queen and fatherland regardless. They dissolve into threads of light, carrying soldiers wearing elegant red jackets and wielding sabres that cut through steel as they would cut through cloth. They do not wear any particular armour; faith in God, love for the Nation and obedience to the Queen, will see them safely home.
Stats:
Rigsflåden:
The most iconic aspect of the Unity of the Realm, is perhaps the Kongelige Rigsfælleskabelige Flåde, the KRF, or simply Rigsflåden. In an older tongue, this meant the Fleet of the Realm, or Royal Fleet of the Unity of the Realm. Composed of swan-constructs woven from materials arcane, and borne aloft by pride and faith, their perfect, unmoving forms are just as likely to shear the steel of enemy battleships apart, as they are to unweave themselves, revealing troops and materials
It began as one of the first "space ships", nearly bankrupting the nations that once built it. A successful battle made the captain a war hero, and then another, and then another, and another; the successful battles stack upon themselves into absurdity and metal plate replaces itself with the invulnerability of the idea. There is no ship left, only the idea of the ship; a myth long gone into the annals of history, which still ends up, ever-ready and ever-faithful in the most perilous of times, for a myth is a living thing, with little time to spare for such inconveniences as impossibility.
Svaneussargardekompanierne:
Red jackets, feathered helmets, deadly sabres; these are the attributes of the feared Swan Hussars. The Swan Hussars are more than merely elite soldiers, they consist of immigrants and refugees alone, and do not necessarily have any love at all for the nation, they replace that with an absolute certainty in the righteousness of the cause of peace, and thus manage to still ride the prayer-borne swans of the Unity. When they charge, foes fall; when they call, foes flee; when they draw, allies recover.
The standard army, consisting of volunteer sons and daughters leaving home to fight in distant wars for distant causes, the People's Ward is no slouch in warfare at all.
Rigsvætten
Location and Capital: Greenland and Northern Canada, Earth
History: It is said that history does not repeat, but that it does rhyme to some degree. It is said that history is a lie, and nothing new can ever happen, that myth-structures surround Man in a harmonious choreography of dancing stories. Many things are said.
Once upon a time, a dark queen ruled over a northern kingdom, dead men marching at her command. She was a child of heinous crime, and broken hospitality, and she would come to doom her half-brother and rule darkly from a throne made of dead men. History marches on, and she is no more.
Once upon a time, a cold queen united three northern kingdoms, her father was sent from Heaven, and his most trusted advisor had broken the last foreign god. Her rule stretched across the ocean, and she died, beloved of three kingdoms, the echo of her presence sounding like the ringing of a bell, through the halls of history. History marches on, and she is no more.
Once upon a time, in the lands of Never, a frozen queen ruled a land that never was. Her father had born her through marriage to an empty page, and she was exiled to an icy world, far away from the kingdom of her father. She sought to render the hearts of the world as cold and empty as her halls, by using a mirror made by the devil. History marches on, and she never was.
Once upon the future, in the lands of Not Yet, a joyous queen will rule a vast kingdom of joyous peoples, bound together as fingers in a fist, each and everyone savouring and celebrating the beauty of their nation. Oh, what golden fields! Oh, what crimson flag! Oh, what blissful divinity of peace, that has brought them here! History marches on, and they are not, but they will be one day.
The Unity of the Realm, is an earthen state, considering itself the successor to all the northern realms, ruled by the Rigsvætte; the shadow of a queen that has not yet become, the Unity is more of an idea, than a polity. The dream of many people marching as an army, saluting as a nation, praying as a congregation, laughing as a family. In the Unity, past, present and future blend into one another, becoming a greater whole, across which the empire of the Unity of the Realm stretches it's rule. Thus, it can be hard to call the Unity of the Realm a successor state, as it has, in some way, always existed, while also being in the past and yet to be. This is not some vaunted holy grail of time travel, it is a realm of myth, where nothing new can ever truly happen, all events and all actions reflecting the dream beneath the state.
Culture: The Unity of the Realm exists at the Precipe of Time, where farmers live an idyllic agrarian existence amid golden fields, never needing to bother with the fear of hunger, never needing to fear the rage of winter, while perfectly formed swans, their coats a blend of beautiful silver and pale, white feathers, fly in the sky above, carrying soldiers to distant worlds and realms. Essential to the culture of the Unity of the Realm, is the love of the nation, for it is a nation sustained, maintained and born by love of a nation that never were, and might one day become; it is no more the Scandinavian kingdoms of ages past, than it is any particular polity at all, it is a nation without a state. Even the future shadow of the Queen-to-be, the Rigsvætte, is a shadow cast by the luminous fires of queenly figures, some of which have never lived at all.
Gnosis: The Realm
The Unity of the Realm once referred to a principle of petty legalities, in the Godless world before, but in the case of the Forever Nation, this is quite literal. All of the Unity of the Realm is an enshrinement of the love of the nation, of the crimson banner that exemplifies the Realm, and of the values that constitute it. The Unity of the Realm is a bizarre juxtaposition of living myth and the people that live there. Golden fields stretch as far as the eye can see, across perfect lands in an eternal sunset, coloring the lands below them in a rich, golden red, while the shadow of a queen that has yet to become, plays ruthless politics with foreign leaders; is she the puppet of the nation, or does she hold the strings of it?
In times of war, swans of interwoven threads of metal and feather fly to national anthems that contain no words, but communicate a willingness to fight forever, in the name of Queen and fatherland regardless. They dissolve into threads of light, carrying soldiers wearing elegant red jackets and wielding sabres that cut through steel as they would cut through cloth. They do not wear any particular armour; faith in God, love for the Nation and obedience to the Queen, will see them safely home.
Stats:
- Sword: 5
- The Unity of the Realm maintains a sizeable fleet, although the Rigsvætte is reputed to hate it, as one of the echoes that constitute the Queen-to-be is said to have hated the reliance on soldiery that merely maintaining an army caused. It is primarily used to intervene in conflicts, and even then, mostly as a deterrent towards the aims of peace and equality.
- Stave: 2
- As impressive as the designs of the Unity of the Realm are, it is ultimately a small empire, ruling a paltry slice of what was once Europe, deliberately maintaining a small size out of fear of engaging in conflict and harming the faith of the nation.
- Banquet: 5
- The Unity of the Realm is well-trusted, for it's reliance on diplomacy and keeping of the peace. Although, it is rather strange, it ultimately keeps to it's word, and is quick to offer relief to a beleaguered nation, or even lend it's support to a weaker power in order to grant it more favourable bargaining terms. However, it should never be forgotten that as beautiful an animal as the swan of the Unity is, the swan is also a fearsome bird with no fear at all of fighting greater foes.
- Coin: 3
- The Unity is not particularly rich, not particularly poor. The monetary politics of foreign nations elude the minds of the Realm, but it is no nation of paupers.
- Crown: 5
- Any natural citizen of the Unity of the Realm trusts the nation by the mere implication of being a natural citizen; they are just as much a part of the living myth as the Rigsvætte is. However, the many peoples absorbed or offered refuge are less quick to trust it; the human heart is a fickle thing, and the unconditional love demanded by the Unity of the Realm is simply impossible for many people to even think about giving.
Rigsflåden:
The most iconic aspect of the Unity of the Realm, is perhaps the Kongelige Rigsfælleskabelige Flåde, the KRF, or simply Rigsflåden. In an older tongue, this meant the Fleet of the Realm, or Royal Fleet of the Unity of the Realm. Composed of swan-constructs woven from materials arcane, and borne aloft by pride and faith, their perfect, unmoving forms are just as likely to shear the steel of enemy battleships apart, as they are to unweave themselves, revealing troops and materials
- High Concept: Giant swans borne aloft by winds of prayer.
- Trouble: Sustained purely by morale, and the love of the nation.
- Aspects:
- Beacons of Hope and Purity.
- Woven of Light, Feathers, Ice and Steel.
- Cold Heralds of the Realm.
It began as one of the first "space ships", nearly bankrupting the nations that once built it. A successful battle made the captain a war hero, and then another, and then another, and another; the successful battles stack upon themselves into absurdity and metal plate replaces itself with the invulnerability of the idea. There is no ship left, only the idea of the ship; a myth long gone into the annals of history, which still ends up, ever-ready and ever-faithful in the most perilous of times, for a myth is a living thing, with little time to spare for such inconveniences as impossibility.
- High Concept: Ghost ship that only appears in the greatest need.
- Trouble: Literally only appears in the greatest need.
- Aspects:
- Wonder of Faith and Technology.
- Cannons like Thunder.
- Attacks like Lightning.
- Faith like Steel.
- Plating like Ideas.
Svaneussargardekompanierne:
Red jackets, feathered helmets, deadly sabres; these are the attributes of the feared Swan Hussars. The Swan Hussars are more than merely elite soldiers, they consist of immigrants and refugees alone, and do not necessarily have any love at all for the nation, they replace that with an absolute certainty in the righteousness of the cause of peace, and thus manage to still ride the prayer-borne swans of the Unity. When they charge, foes fall; when they call, foes flee; when they draw, allies recover.
- High Concept: Swan-borne soldiers of peace.
- Trouble: Fight for no nation, but peace itself.
- Aspects
- Murderous Charge.
- No Fear but Fear Itself.
- Inspirational Existence.
The standard army, consisting of volunteer sons and daughters leaving home to fight in distant wars for distant causes, the People's Ward is no slouch in warfare at all.
- High Concept: Fearless volunteer army.
- Trouble: Bad with offensive strategies.
- Aspects:
- Tireless March.
- Glory of Swans Above.
- In War, No Fury.
- In Peace, No Hesitation.
Rigsvætten
- Name: Rigsvætten.
- History: The shadowy echo of queens that have been, queens that have never been, and the queen that will be. It is impossible to describe how the Rigsvætte looks, as she is a perfect amalgamation of queens of past, present and neverwhen. She is more of an emotion, or an impression than she is a person; the patriotic love that fills the heart, or a great desire for some indescribable, intangible feeling. She is the ultimate ruler of the Unity of the Realm, but considers herself equal to any peasant or soldier.
- Legend: The Rigsvætte is said to have centuries of queenly experience to draw on, as well as powers over ice and cold. She is a diplomatic genius, and can call forth the spirits of the righteous death of the Unity in times of need.
- Name: Admiral of the Rolf Krake.
- History: In the earliest times, the Thunderous Admiral served aboard a thousand, billion ships, although they are most well known as the captain and admiral of the Rolf Krake. They appear to lead and take command of any battle along with the appearance of the Rolf Krake in times of need.
- Legend: The Thunderous Admiral is reputed to be the greatest admiral that the Unity of the Realm has ever produced, and the only thing said to exceed his skills of leadership is the power of his voice and it's ability to quite literally slam through communication jamming to ensure that proper orders are relayed.
- Name: Long Forgotten.
- History: Once, the knight sat on a throne of stone, before a table of stone, in a hall of stone. They rise when the country needed it, but when it needed them most, they were nowhere to find; a weathered statue that could not even fool a fish. Perhaps, somewhere the statue stills stands, maintaining it's lonely vigil over a dead Realm. The knight volunteers their services in the most suicidal of missions, leading the charge in every situation. Perhaps they have not forgiven their mistake yet?
- Legend: It is said that the knight can defeat all but the strongest threats alone, as long as they are a direct threat to the nation itself, and it is said that when fighting, on the nation's soil, the knight needs no weapons at all, for the Unity of the Realm fights with him.
Last edited:
- Location
- boundless optimism
- Location
- Seattle
Ganymede is a nice popsicle. The dragon king and I could use more neighbors out here
The Celestial Court
Deadly Snark
Tryhard As Fuck
Nation Name: The Celestial Court
Location and Capital: North-Eastern Parts of the Indian Subcontinent and the Western Parts of China. The Himalaya Mountains
History: The first generations After Revelations lived in a chaotic and uncertain age. For thousands of years after the Fall of Babel cultures, nations and beliefs had arisen among mankind, many of which had not only a completely different view of the universe, but had survived and thrived across the ages. But now Heaven had been proven to exist, and these systems had been shown to be lies. Entire cultures had their foundational beliefs utterly shattered by Revelations.
These socities needed an answer. One that would allow them to reconcile all that they had known and believed with the new reality that now stared at them in the face. In this they found what they were looking for in a theory that would allow the old legends and stories and all that they offered to survive in the age of Heaven. What if the stories, myths, legends and heroic histories weren't wrong? What if the gods and heroes of myth were simply the Great Men of the age before the Tower? The struggles of their heroic and godlike ancestors who almost claimed the throne of Heaven before being cast down?
Euhemerism had ever been popular among the people of Earth, and so this idea spread around like wildfire, helping people accept the truth of Heaven just like how the Church had spread itself in ages past. A comfortable compromise that allowed the old traditions to be kept, while allowing them to digest the truth and move forward.
However, not all were content to simply leave it at that. Subsets of the population in these cultures, those within the Ivory Towers of the Academia and those stubbornly traditional communities stuck at the fringes of society wanted more. They wanted to dive deeper and deeper into the mythical lost past, to not simply advance, but also to look back and to reconstructed it.
These thinkers and communities were especially prevalent in the nations of India and China, with the two nations cooperating together in a replica of of the acts that had broken into Heaven, they sent their best and brightest into the system in order to find clues. And clues were certainly abundant once contact was establish the Liminal Realms. Stories began to be reconstructed and holes filled via cooperation with these cousins. Yet even they had lost much of their records and knowledge with the passing of ages as they languished in their realms.
It was then that it was discovered that men could form bonds with the liminal races, though it was especially easy with the spirit-folks. Pacts, contracts, unions of the soul that allowed not only for one to become more powerful, but also simply to be more. With it also came the discovery of the Supernal Forms. That men could achieve the greatness of the Ancient Sage Kings by Mantling their deeds and legends. Allowing for the lesser men of today to achieve the same heights of those who were once of the brink of conquering Heaven.
With these gifts, these Men alongside their Liminal Allies turned against their nations of origins, and through brute force and demagoguery laid them low and founded the Court. A Nation dedicated to reconstruct the lost history of mankind's ancient past.
Culture: Celestial society is perhaps one of the most cosmopolitan societies in the system. In its cities one can find humans, spirits, feys and etc intermingly and interacting in their day to day lives. Yet at the same time it is also a society full of divisions. One that is divided into 5 classes as defined by the Samsara. Divisions between those who have taken into themselves something of the Liminal. Divison between those who have formed alliances and pacts with different races. It defines those differences as the most important aspects of a person that must be respected. At the same time, it is a society build upon the idea that such barriers should eventually be broken, and that all beings should eventually become equals, all belonging to the highest of ranks.
The Naraka Class: The Lowest and most wretched members of society. Those humans who refuse or are incapable of Mantling, and thus unable to walk upon the Celestial Path. They cannot contribute meaningfully towards society and are also not allowed to participate in most activities for fear that they would taint the work of those greater than them. Those above will at best view them with paternalistic charity, while at worst they are seen as actively being leeches. Nevertheless however, a system of free schooling does exist for them, as a state mandated program to guide them towards advancement into the higher classes.
The Tiryag Class: Similar to the Naraka Class, these are the Liminal Races, the fey, spirit folks, dragons and etc, who refused or are incapable of Mantling, and thus walking upon the Celestial Path. However, they possess much greater rights and privileges than the Naraka, due to their nature as creatures who are innately closer to the Asters than humans are even without walking upon the Path. They are thus able to contribute to society and do not have most civic activities barred for them. However without a contract or a Mantle, in most professions they will never advanced past a certain rank, and in those works that do not have such ceilings, they will never advance as fast as those who do walk upon the Path.
The Preta Class: Due to the cosmopolitan nature of the Court, over the centuries many humans and liminals have interbreed. Their descendants form the Preta Class. All Preta from birth enjoy far more privileges and freedom than both the Naraka and the Tiryag. As creatures that are by nature half earthly and half liminal, they are seen as having been born with Mantles already on their shoulders and having a headstart on the Path. They are so valued, that for those who are simply unable to forge a contract or shoulder a mantle, so long as they have a Preta children, the Parents will automatically be risen to the Preta class, an enjoy the full privileges of such an position.
The Manusya: Those who have taken a mantle, either by taking upon themselves the form of a legend or formed a contract of the soul with a member of the Liminal Races. What we would consider the upper middle class and the specialists like doctors, lawyers, officers and etc. So long as a mantle or a contract is taken on and fufilled properly any Preta, Naraka or Tiryag can reach this class. However, if they fail or neglect what they had taken on, the offenders will be immediately kicked back down.
The Asura Class: The leaders of the Court, the greatest warriors and scholars. Those who have achieved the greatest mastery of the Supernal Forms and of Godspeak possible for the Children of Heaven without the favor of the Asters. They live exclusively in the Himalaya Palace and do not as a rule interact much with the lower classes, with the exception of the great scholars and generals who will interact with those lower than them as part of their profession. And while members of the 4 lower class can interbreed and marry across classes freely, social and familial pressures and contexts aside, the Asuras are only allowed to exclusively marry each other. So as to prevent any member of the lower class from entering their ranks without having gone through the trials and tribulations of the Path that they have gone through. The Children of the Asuras are not considered Asura themselves, and must climb their way upwards, potentially literally, through the Preta or/and Manusya classes.
The Deva Class: The Highest Class, also called the God class, the sage class, the Bodhisvatta Class and etc. The theoretically level that only exist in the minds of the Court's scholars and their religious texts and prophecies. It is the goal of the Celestial Court, the stage closest to the divinity of the Asters and the stage where the Children of Earth will finally regain the full might of the Kings who built the Tower.
Gnosis: The Mantle of the Ancestors/Gods.
What is the Future without the Past? How does one advance if they do not know from where they came from? You cannot. Just as one cannot build a house with solid foundations, without a clear understand of their past the future of a society is utterly doomed. Thus it is the duty of the current generation to uncover what was lost and restore it so as to save the future.
It is this fundamental belief that drives the Celestial Court. Through co-existence between humans and the liminal races they seek to reconstruct the mythical history and past, where the races were not divided, and Earth and the Liminal Realms were not separated. Through contracts between men and spirit, they seek to trace their steps back towards the ancient shamans and priests who once safeguarded the lost knowledge and provided the first bridges that the Children could maintain after the collapse of the Tower.
And through all of this, they seek to take on the Mantles of the Kings who built the Towers. Those men and women who even with divine punishment erasing much, their stories were preserved for their descendants. To take on the Mantles of these great ancestors, to live as they did, and ultimately to not only become them, but to build upon their deeds and become even greater.
Stats:
2 Armies, 2 Fleets
Fleet Template:
4 Heroes
Location and Capital: North-Eastern Parts of the Indian Subcontinent and the Western Parts of China. The Himalaya Mountains
History: The first generations After Revelations lived in a chaotic and uncertain age. For thousands of years after the Fall of Babel cultures, nations and beliefs had arisen among mankind, many of which had not only a completely different view of the universe, but had survived and thrived across the ages. But now Heaven had been proven to exist, and these systems had been shown to be lies. Entire cultures had their foundational beliefs utterly shattered by Revelations.
These socities needed an answer. One that would allow them to reconcile all that they had known and believed with the new reality that now stared at them in the face. In this they found what they were looking for in a theory that would allow the old legends and stories and all that they offered to survive in the age of Heaven. What if the stories, myths, legends and heroic histories weren't wrong? What if the gods and heroes of myth were simply the Great Men of the age before the Tower? The struggles of their heroic and godlike ancestors who almost claimed the throne of Heaven before being cast down?
Euhemerism had ever been popular among the people of Earth, and so this idea spread around like wildfire, helping people accept the truth of Heaven just like how the Church had spread itself in ages past. A comfortable compromise that allowed the old traditions to be kept, while allowing them to digest the truth and move forward.
However, not all were content to simply leave it at that. Subsets of the population in these cultures, those within the Ivory Towers of the Academia and those stubbornly traditional communities stuck at the fringes of society wanted more. They wanted to dive deeper and deeper into the mythical lost past, to not simply advance, but also to look back and to reconstructed it.
These thinkers and communities were especially prevalent in the nations of India and China, with the two nations cooperating together in a replica of of the acts that had broken into Heaven, they sent their best and brightest into the system in order to find clues. And clues were certainly abundant once contact was establish the Liminal Realms. Stories began to be reconstructed and holes filled via cooperation with these cousins. Yet even they had lost much of their records and knowledge with the passing of ages as they languished in their realms.
It was then that it was discovered that men could form bonds with the liminal races, though it was especially easy with the spirit-folks. Pacts, contracts, unions of the soul that allowed not only for one to become more powerful, but also simply to be more. With it also came the discovery of the Supernal Forms. That men could achieve the greatness of the Ancient Sage Kings by Mantling their deeds and legends. Allowing for the lesser men of today to achieve the same heights of those who were once of the brink of conquering Heaven.
With these gifts, these Men alongside their Liminal Allies turned against their nations of origins, and through brute force and demagoguery laid them low and founded the Court. A Nation dedicated to reconstruct the lost history of mankind's ancient past.
Culture: Celestial society is perhaps one of the most cosmopolitan societies in the system. In its cities one can find humans, spirits, feys and etc intermingly and interacting in their day to day lives. Yet at the same time it is also a society full of divisions. One that is divided into 5 classes as defined by the Samsara. Divisions between those who have taken into themselves something of the Liminal. Divison between those who have formed alliances and pacts with different races. It defines those differences as the most important aspects of a person that must be respected. At the same time, it is a society build upon the idea that such barriers should eventually be broken, and that all beings should eventually become equals, all belonging to the highest of ranks.
The Naraka Class: The Lowest and most wretched members of society. Those humans who refuse or are incapable of Mantling, and thus unable to walk upon the Celestial Path. They cannot contribute meaningfully towards society and are also not allowed to participate in most activities for fear that they would taint the work of those greater than them. Those above will at best view them with paternalistic charity, while at worst they are seen as actively being leeches. Nevertheless however, a system of free schooling does exist for them, as a state mandated program to guide them towards advancement into the higher classes.
The Tiryag Class: Similar to the Naraka Class, these are the Liminal Races, the fey, spirit folks, dragons and etc, who refused or are incapable of Mantling, and thus walking upon the Celestial Path. However, they possess much greater rights and privileges than the Naraka, due to their nature as creatures who are innately closer to the Asters than humans are even without walking upon the Path. They are thus able to contribute to society and do not have most civic activities barred for them. However without a contract or a Mantle, in most professions they will never advanced past a certain rank, and in those works that do not have such ceilings, they will never advance as fast as those who do walk upon the Path.
The Preta Class: Due to the cosmopolitan nature of the Court, over the centuries many humans and liminals have interbreed. Their descendants form the Preta Class. All Preta from birth enjoy far more privileges and freedom than both the Naraka and the Tiryag. As creatures that are by nature half earthly and half liminal, they are seen as having been born with Mantles already on their shoulders and having a headstart on the Path. They are so valued, that for those who are simply unable to forge a contract or shoulder a mantle, so long as they have a Preta children, the Parents will automatically be risen to the Preta class, an enjoy the full privileges of such an position.
The Manusya: Those who have taken a mantle, either by taking upon themselves the form of a legend or formed a contract of the soul with a member of the Liminal Races. What we would consider the upper middle class and the specialists like doctors, lawyers, officers and etc. So long as a mantle or a contract is taken on and fufilled properly any Preta, Naraka or Tiryag can reach this class. However, if they fail or neglect what they had taken on, the offenders will be immediately kicked back down.
The Asura Class: The leaders of the Court, the greatest warriors and scholars. Those who have achieved the greatest mastery of the Supernal Forms and of Godspeak possible for the Children of Heaven without the favor of the Asters. They live exclusively in the Himalaya Palace and do not as a rule interact much with the lower classes, with the exception of the great scholars and generals who will interact with those lower than them as part of their profession. And while members of the 4 lower class can interbreed and marry across classes freely, social and familial pressures and contexts aside, the Asuras are only allowed to exclusively marry each other. So as to prevent any member of the lower class from entering their ranks without having gone through the trials and tribulations of the Path that they have gone through. The Children of the Asuras are not considered Asura themselves, and must climb their way upwards, potentially literally, through the Preta or/and Manusya classes.
The Deva Class: The Highest Class, also called the God class, the sage class, the Bodhisvatta Class and etc. The theoretically level that only exist in the minds of the Court's scholars and their religious texts and prophecies. It is the goal of the Celestial Court, the stage closest to the divinity of the Asters and the stage where the Children of Earth will finally regain the full might of the Kings who built the Tower.
Gnosis: The Mantle of the Ancestors/Gods.
What is the Future without the Past? How does one advance if they do not know from where they came from? You cannot. Just as one cannot build a house with solid foundations, without a clear understand of their past the future of a society is utterly doomed. Thus it is the duty of the current generation to uncover what was lost and restore it so as to save the future.
It is this fundamental belief that drives the Celestial Court. Through co-existence between humans and the liminal races they seek to reconstruct the mythical history and past, where the races were not divided, and Earth and the Liminal Realms were not separated. Through contracts between men and spirit, they seek to trace their steps back towards the ancient shamans and priests who once safeguarded the lost knowledge and provided the first bridges that the Children could maintain after the collapse of the Tower.
And through all of this, they seek to take on the Mantles of the Kings who built the Towers. Those men and women who even with divine punishment erasing much, their stories were preserved for their descendants. To take on the Mantles of these great ancestors, to live as they did, and ultimately to not only become them, but to build upon their deeds and become even greater.
Stats:
- Sword: 5
- Stave: 3
- Banquet: 2
- Coin: 3
- Crown: 7
2 Armies, 2 Fleets
Fleet Template:
- High Concept: The Golden Spears of Judgement
- Trouble: Inconsistent Designs
- Aspects: Techno-Mythology, Spirit-based AI/VI, Symbols of Wealth and Might
- High Concept: Heroes of the Trojan War in Runic Power Armor
- Trouble: Quality is Hard to Replace
- Aspects: Lightsabers and Lighting Rifles, Mantle of the War Martyrs, Demi-Gods clad in Arrogance and Hubris
4 Heroes
- Name: Self Explanatory.
- History: Self Explanatory.
- Legend: The real meat and bones. Legend is what your hero excels in. It's basically a skills section. However, I'd like for it to include flaws and failings in addition to superpowers. For example, if I was statting out Achilles like this, I would put down his temper and his Heel on top of his invincibility.
Last edited:
- Location
- Denmark
- Pronouns
- She/Her
rip entire concept
- Location
- Denmark
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Okay, it's fine; I don't really want to be a space power, so I am relocating to GREENLANDrip entire concept
GREENLAND DANISH KALMAR UNION EMPIRE GOING RDY BOIS
EDIT: I have edited the document to feature a claim of Greenland and Northern Canada.
Last edited:
Arkalest
ELOP Stan In The Streets, Dromok Under The Sheets
TBH you could legit go "We're officially Scandinavia-in-exile's government IN SPACE, since we literally took our shit and gtfo'd while the getting was good and rivers weren't being rerouted by fast-growth skyscrapers."
EDIT: oh hey no space power then? Okay.
EDIT: oh hey no space power then? Okay.
Last edited:
The Heretic's Casino
NonSequtur
a body
Nation Name: The Heretic's Casino, The Pilgrimage of the Dawn, The Nightfishery, The Lintel Lands
Location and Capital:
The Caravans of Dawn, Sedna (120 AU, 12 hr/day)
Located on the very edge of deep space, beyond which entropy reigns, Sedna marks the boundary of the Light. Its darkened face skims the surface of primordial waters, and so the people move, always move, to remain within the faint Light of day.
The landscape is red like blood and wild like fire. The only constants are the Caravans, massive beasts with eyes or mouths fit to capture anything, with cities on their backs, and the crowds of Heretics which follow them.
History: Rebels without cause, gamblers without anything to gamble, heretics and blasphemers against the Sun. All fled as far as they could, looking for escape.
They found it on Sedna. Some charged over the threshold, and never returned. The rest were forced on an endless pilgrimage, moving forever to stay in the same place. Too fearful of the Light to return, and too afraid of the dark to leave.
On occasion, one would turn and face the night. Most disappeared entirely. Most of the rest died. But some few survived - or were replaced - and of those few, four found frightening power. These four made the Heretic's Casino. Not exactly a nation. A faith. Or maybe a feature of the landscape, as immutable as the red tint.
Culture:
The Heretic's Casino is the place for people to test their luck against entropy, to step, for a moment, beyond the Law of the Light, and return... different. Better. Worse. Neither. The stakes are everything. The cities are patchwork, as are the people. The only common theme is a belief that it is possible to win against the dark.
Gnosis:
Trust and optimism - or maybe recklessness and statistical ignorance - guide the Caravans. An almost progressive sense that change is for the better, that chaos will bend towards improvement. Or maybe a depressive conviction that nothing can be worse. The greatest expression of this, of course, is to spend a full day outside the Caravans, and let night change you as it will. This is how Heroes are born. This is how many, many die.
But even without a full surrender to Entropy, the highest virtue of the Heretic is change. Weapons tear strips of chaos into sun-bleached existence. Wealth is invested, sold, lost and gained. Stability is a vice. Revolutions are the only permanent structure. All things are temporary. All things change.
The magic of the Casino is that you can and should and must gamble with everything, and every roll of the dice promises something new.
The symbol of the Casino is fire in a wound.
Stats:
Location and Capital:
The Caravans of Dawn, Sedna (120 AU, 12 hr/day)
Located on the very edge of deep space, beyond which entropy reigns, Sedna marks the boundary of the Light. Its darkened face skims the surface of primordial waters, and so the people move, always move, to remain within the faint Light of day.
The landscape is red like blood and wild like fire. The only constants are the Caravans, massive beasts with eyes or mouths fit to capture anything, with cities on their backs, and the crowds of Heretics which follow them.
History: Rebels without cause, gamblers without anything to gamble, heretics and blasphemers against the Sun. All fled as far as they could, looking for escape.
They found it on Sedna. Some charged over the threshold, and never returned. The rest were forced on an endless pilgrimage, moving forever to stay in the same place. Too fearful of the Light to return, and too afraid of the dark to leave.
On occasion, one would turn and face the night. Most disappeared entirely. Most of the rest died. But some few survived - or were replaced - and of those few, four found frightening power. These four made the Heretic's Casino. Not exactly a nation. A faith. Or maybe a feature of the landscape, as immutable as the red tint.
Culture:
The Heretic's Casino is the place for people to test their luck against entropy, to step, for a moment, beyond the Law of the Light, and return... different. Better. Worse. Neither. The stakes are everything. The cities are patchwork, as are the people. The only common theme is a belief that it is possible to win against the dark.
Gnosis:
Trust and optimism - or maybe recklessness and statistical ignorance - guide the Caravans. An almost progressive sense that change is for the better, that chaos will bend towards improvement. Or maybe a depressive conviction that nothing can be worse. The greatest expression of this, of course, is to spend a full day outside the Caravans, and let night change you as it will. This is how Heroes are born. This is how many, many die.
But even without a full surrender to Entropy, the highest virtue of the Heretic is change. Weapons tear strips of chaos into sun-bleached existence. Wealth is invested, sold, lost and gained. Stability is a vice. Revolutions are the only permanent structure. All things are temporary. All things change.
The magic of the Casino is that you can and should and must gamble with everything, and every roll of the dice promises something new.
The symbol of the Casino is fire in a wound.
Stats:
- Sword: 0 - Discipline is counter to the ethos of the Heretic's Casino.
- Stave: 4 - There are more people than strictly plausible, given the planets involved. But it's still not many.
- Banquet: 3 - Many in the inner system have desires that might only be satiated by reaching into the unshaped realms.
- Coin: 5 - Whatever take the House of Entropy gets, it's not measured in gold.
- Crown: 8 - The very act of living in the Caravan of the Endless Dawn is one of significant trust, or a steadfast refusal to consider the risks. The Crown is, in effect, the Heroes, and in principle Entropy herself.
- High Concept: The Ecdysiast Armada
- Trouble: Can Be Deceived Quite Easily
- Aspects: Gridfire But Worse, No Structure To Sabotage, We Shed Our Skins And Show Our Glory
- Name: The Sun-Thief (Lawgiver, Lightbringer, Liar)
- History: A rogue Aster? A god-from-flesh? An Emanation of a Form? Which Form? Prometheus himself? Just a lucky gambler?
- Legend: A bulkhead against Entropy, the Sun-Thief has little power beyond endurance and beauty in the Light. But in the Dark it practices genesis, imposing its Light beyond the Sun's furthest reach. It is always followed by its worshipers, who pray to it in a nonsense tongue claimed to be the Godspeak of the Sun-Thief, who hope and fear that it will leave and make a new universe. Hope, that they can earn its favour, and ascend to being the Forms of a new world. Fear that they might be left behind. It is not known whether the Sun-Thief's Light can stand against Entropy for long - it never spends more than a week Beyond.
- Name: The Dam of Dark Waters (Mother-Father, Monster, Martyr)
- History: The surfaces of the outermost bodies are renewed each morning, as the light of day transfixes the mutations of the night. The Dam is said to have eaten a fruit, ripened at the break of dawn, and taken this ability for themselves.
- Legend: The Dam cares little for those whose forms have been set by exposure to Light. All their power is focused on the future hidden within. Their Children, once birthed, are given no comfort. The Caravans walked the dawn as newborns, and the war-ships' birth-screams were echoed by their foes. The only boon offered to those who have been born is the chance to have true heirs. Mother or Father, this process is fatal to the Dam's partner. The Dam is cursed to forget.
- Name: The Ecdysiast (Saboteur, Slayer, Sinner)
- History: It is said the Ecdysiast, upon completing their confrontation with the night, found their own discarded skin and put it on before returning to the Caravan. This is nonsense, of course. The Ecdysiast has far more than one skin.
- Legend: More than anything, the Ecdysiast rips the skin off things. Sometimes taking it for themselves. Sometimes simply reveling in what is revealed in the blood and flesh of a wounded reality. Sometimes sending things Beyond. They had a child with the Dam, at the cost of a favoured skin. The infant served and serves as the flagship of the Skinless Armada. These abilities, however, cost them much of their capacity for seeing deeper things by less gruesome means.
- Name: The Forge of Man (Teacher, Trader, Torturer)
- History: The Forge will tell you that after their pilgrimage, they had no body. As a pillar of flame they carved a corpus for themselves from the rock and dust of Eris. They will offer to do the same for you. Do not accept.
- Legend: The Forge offers the Devil's Bargain: what you ask for, in exchange for what you are. A man can become a woman, a scythe a sword, a mountain an impregnable wall, but it is always diminished in the process. They are a sculptor of reality, unlike the more generous Forms. The Forge can only change things by subtraction. Worse still, they are blind to this truth. Perhaps that was the cost of forging themselves anew.
this is why GM's need to make the hard decisions and have concepts fight each other to the death instead of relying on outdated modes of decision like first-come first-serverip entire concept
The Immolation Mandate
TenfoldShields
Lounging on a Hoard of Words
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Nation Name: The Immolation Mandate
Location and Capital: Neptune, Citadel Cinder
History: It is held that the ascension of Man heralded the onset of a new, enlightened Age. That, humbled and awed before the divine, so many old transgressions and common failings were forgotten and forgiven. Obsoleted in the face of this new truth; reduced to little more than savage relics of a sadly primitive time. But the Mandate holds the histories, it bears witness: the Revelation brought peace (of a kind), the Revelation brought plenty (for some). But the sins of man followed them even as they tore free of Earth's gravity and ascended into higher realms. Greed and envy and wrath and lust and pride, always pride, father of the profane and mother to horror. The poisoned radiance of a nuclear corona, rotting tendon and sinew and drawing those teary-eyed smiles back into death's head grins.
Thus the Mandate; founded by the first incarnation of the Unity. A desperate project, created in the chaos as everything that was once known, the world as it was understood, came undone and boundless vistas unfurled across the vaulted Heavens. Its staff were scholars and soldiers, lawgivers and laborers, and their home the Heaven Crossing Vessel Beacon. They were charged with chartering the boundaries of solar space and securing the secrets found there. With establishing outposts and fortifications. Ensuring that as the myriad nations of Earth raced outwards in every direction, reaching and clawing for knowledge, for power, for prestige there would be a stalwart waiting for them. A watchman, a sentinel, who would help serve to curb their worst impulses and hold them accountable for their crimes. To intercede on behalf of the injured and the weak, to carry the Unity's light like a beacon, a banner.
The best intentions of men and would-be Gods. Can you imagine what they found there, out on the edge of everything? There is a darkness beyond mortal sin. A darkness beyond dead stars and fading suns. A darkness that waits, patient and hungry, in the yawning void between known and unknown, in the silent space between heartbeats. That Abyssal blackness reached out and in their hour of fear the Mandate did as their ancestors did so long ago and kindled Flame against the endless night.
Culture: They will build paradise from their bodies. It does not matter if the world is imperfect, if the Sun's light frays and falters against this broken, bleeding night. They will labor, they will strive, they will shatter the shackles of their existence, freeing sapient life from suffering and deprivation. You can see it in their cities, in the little slice of the System they've made their own. Dragons of the deep living side-by-side with wolves of the winter forest, with raven-blessed dead and alien spirits and all manner of monstrous things. They succor the lost and the dispossessed, they give freely and often of themselves. They believe, with a passion that belies reason or logic, that the Flame will show them the way and they've won often enough to make it seem less like maddened rambling and more like prophecy. Their neighbors stir uneasily, tossing and turning in their own dreams of a future. Thoughts turning, now and then, to an imagined confrontation.
The Mandate will not stop, they cannot stop, yet where does this lead them? A campaign of eternal conquest and subjugation? Shall they glut and grow until, in the end, they rise to depose the Sun itself? Maybe not.
Maybe so.
Gnosis: The Molten Crown, the First Forge, the Ash, the Pyre-and-Hearth Parable, these are among the aspects attributed to the Gnosis of the Mandate: Flame. The Mandate burns like a beacon, banishing fear and ignorance and drawing others to seek shelter in its warmth, an island of light in a sea of night. The Mandate works the bellows and places its body upon the anvil, hammering itself into sharper shapes, toiling until the tools are indistinguishable from the wielder. The Mandate spreads out in every direction, chewing and consuming and transforming, all nations, all people, fuel to its flame. This Gnosis is the knowledge that destroys and renews, the truth that taints you with soot-stained hands, the salvation of the lost and the spark of industry. It is many things: glory and fury and danger and safety. But it is never subtle for to be diminished is to starve.
Stats:
2x Pyre Fleet:
They materialize, silhouetted against the Sun, a constellation of shadowy shapes hanging high above your head like a Damocles sword. At once industrial and yet so terribly, awfully organic. Honeycombed hive ships with the tonnage of heavy cruisers, jagged and dangerous. Dreadnoughts that bristle with cannons the size of frigates, crowned in thickers of sleeker spars. And everywhere, always, the endless swarm of smallcraft that flow between the semi-mobile citadel-stations in thundering rivers of metal and modified biology. Terror and trepidation are the most natural of responses.
They are multiform, a magnificent tapestry of slick chitin and armored scale, red-wound sinew and jutting bone spurs. Some burrow, slithering beneath the skin of the earth. Some plunge ahead, juggernauts of flesh and horn. Many fly and the thunder of their wings buzzes in the breast. Each and every one comes helmed in blue, crests and plates and living crowns of the richest, royal shade. In a seething mass they toil, constructing crucial infrastructure and fortifications. When they fight it is like an oncoming wave, with the true colossi wading through the living surf.
Our Lady of Sainted Sparks
Location and Capital: Neptune, Citadel Cinder
History: It is held that the ascension of Man heralded the onset of a new, enlightened Age. That, humbled and awed before the divine, so many old transgressions and common failings were forgotten and forgiven. Obsoleted in the face of this new truth; reduced to little more than savage relics of a sadly primitive time. But the Mandate holds the histories, it bears witness: the Revelation brought peace (of a kind), the Revelation brought plenty (for some). But the sins of man followed them even as they tore free of Earth's gravity and ascended into higher realms. Greed and envy and wrath and lust and pride, always pride, father of the profane and mother to horror. The poisoned radiance of a nuclear corona, rotting tendon and sinew and drawing those teary-eyed smiles back into death's head grins.
Thus the Mandate; founded by the first incarnation of the Unity. A desperate project, created in the chaos as everything that was once known, the world as it was understood, came undone and boundless vistas unfurled across the vaulted Heavens. Its staff were scholars and soldiers, lawgivers and laborers, and their home the Heaven Crossing Vessel Beacon. They were charged with chartering the boundaries of solar space and securing the secrets found there. With establishing outposts and fortifications. Ensuring that as the myriad nations of Earth raced outwards in every direction, reaching and clawing for knowledge, for power, for prestige there would be a stalwart waiting for them. A watchman, a sentinel, who would help serve to curb their worst impulses and hold them accountable for their crimes. To intercede on behalf of the injured and the weak, to carry the Unity's light like a beacon, a banner.
The best intentions of men and would-be Gods. Can you imagine what they found there, out on the edge of everything? There is a darkness beyond mortal sin. A darkness beyond dead stars and fading suns. A darkness that waits, patient and hungry, in the yawning void between known and unknown, in the silent space between heartbeats. That Abyssal blackness reached out and in their hour of fear the Mandate did as their ancestors did so long ago and kindled Flame against the endless night.
Culture: They will build paradise from their bodies. It does not matter if the world is imperfect, if the Sun's light frays and falters against this broken, bleeding night. They will labor, they will strive, they will shatter the shackles of their existence, freeing sapient life from suffering and deprivation. You can see it in their cities, in the little slice of the System they've made their own. Dragons of the deep living side-by-side with wolves of the winter forest, with raven-blessed dead and alien spirits and all manner of monstrous things. They succor the lost and the dispossessed, they give freely and often of themselves. They believe, with a passion that belies reason or logic, that the Flame will show them the way and they've won often enough to make it seem less like maddened rambling and more like prophecy. Their neighbors stir uneasily, tossing and turning in their own dreams of a future. Thoughts turning, now and then, to an imagined confrontation.
The Mandate will not stop, they cannot stop, yet where does this lead them? A campaign of eternal conquest and subjugation? Shall they glut and grow until, in the end, they rise to depose the Sun itself? Maybe not.
Maybe so.
Gnosis: The Molten Crown, the First Forge, the Ash, the Pyre-and-Hearth Parable, these are among the aspects attributed to the Gnosis of the Mandate: Flame. The Mandate burns like a beacon, banishing fear and ignorance and drawing others to seek shelter in its warmth, an island of light in a sea of night. The Mandate works the bellows and places its body upon the anvil, hammering itself into sharper shapes, toiling until the tools are indistinguishable from the wielder. The Mandate spreads out in every direction, chewing and consuming and transforming, all nations, all people, fuel to its flame. This Gnosis is the knowledge that destroys and renews, the truth that taints you with soot-stained hands, the salvation of the lost and the spark of industry. It is many things: glory and fury and danger and safety. But it is never subtle for to be diminished is to starve.
Stats:
- Sword: 5
- Self-sacrifice is ingrained into the Mandate, scarred into its very soul. They serve to protect those who cannot protect themselves. To ensure that even in this new, radiant world, the weak are not merely fodder for the strong. The soldier-strains of the Pyrian Fleets and Searing Armies are interventionist by nature and deeply passionate. Apathy, it is said, is but a coward's complicity.
- Stave: 4 This stat measures how big your nation is.
- The Immolation Mandate sprawls out, a vast web of truly titanic settlements anchored by inhuman industry. Their territory is populated by military megastructures, aerostat city-stations, and modified moons. Their hives are vast and cosmopolitan, home to countless ethnic enclaves while their border forts constantly strain the boundaries of their settled space.
- Banquet: 1 Banquet measures how much soft power you have.
- They may, at times, be invited in as witchfinders and harrowers, included in the hunt for Qlippothic Cults and those misguided idealists who would drink deep of that spiritual pollution. But this is the exception: the Mandate may be an ally to the oppressed and happy hosts to refugees, but their heavy-handed tendencies have won them few friends among their neighbors.
- Coin: 5 This indicates how wealthy your nation is.
- Living extractors crawl on spider-legs, symbotic refineries clinging to their chitin-hide like limpets. Worms the size of dreadnoughts bore through lunar regolith while gauzy-winged stations siphon rare gasses from Neptune's storms. This bounty funds the implementation of far reaching social programs and subsidizes cultural and biological conservation efforts, as well as the myriad of ever-ongoing aid missions.
- Crown: 5 This measures how much your citizens trust the nation.
- The Mandate is diverse in character and ever-welcoming. Creatures from a hundred legends, men and women from dozens of nations, find shelter beneath those smoldering wings. Wards of a benevolent state. Yet, while conscious efforts have been made to expand civilian autonomy, ultimately true power rests within the varied Directorates and Factory-Cathedrals.
2x Pyre Fleet:
They materialize, silhouetted against the Sun, a constellation of shadowy shapes hanging high above your head like a Damocles sword. At once industrial and yet so terribly, awfully organic. Honeycombed hive ships with the tonnage of heavy cruisers, jagged and dangerous. Dreadnoughts that bristle with cannons the size of frigates, crowned in thickers of sleeker spars. And everywhere, always, the endless swarm of smallcraft that flow between the semi-mobile citadel-stations in thundering rivers of metal and modified biology. Terror and trepidation are the most natural of responses.
- High Concept: The Immortal Swarm
- Trouble: 'Be Not Afraid' Thundered the Flaming Monster
- Aspect: The Last Line to Ever Hold
- Aspect: Siegebreaker and Besieger
- Aspect: Factory-Cathedrals
They are multiform, a magnificent tapestry of slick chitin and armored scale, red-wound sinew and jutting bone spurs. Some burrow, slithering beneath the skin of the earth. Some plunge ahead, juggernauts of flesh and horn. Many fly and the thunder of their wings buzzes in the breast. Each and every one comes helmed in blue, crests and plates and living crowns of the richest, royal shade. In a seething mass they toil, constructing crucial infrastructure and fortifications. When they fight it is like an oncoming wave, with the true colossi wading through the living surf.
- High Concept: Bluehelms
- Trouble: I'm a Horrifying Lizard-Locust and I'm Here to Help
- Aspects: Mass Meteoric Deployment
- Aspects: Martial Clades and Soldier-Strains
- Aspects: Bio-Titan Corps
Our Lady of Sainted Sparks
- History: A woman and her work become one, she was not to be the last but the very first always holds a special place.
- Legend: Ten coal-black spokes stretch outward, running for a league, tipped in fortress pylons that reach out to scrape and score the upper atmosphere; a hundred story hub at the center of this wheel. This city-sized forge hanging above the swirling, ceaseless storm; countless windows glittering like embers from a dying fire. Tentacles the size of trains move within the walls and the foundries here manufacture everything from fields of grain to flensed vat-meat to weapons and the legions of soldiers who will wield them. The woman herself sits on a throne, face a mask of orange-etched bone. Haloed by azure flame. This is only an extension, a polite fiction. This Factory-Cathedral is the greatest within the Immolation Mandate, and administrative and strategic abilities of its Lady are almost peerless. But, like most, it remains reliant on a constant stream of container-ships and cargo craft.
- History: He seems more scar than man now, but don't be fooled. He's still as strong as that day the Flame consumed him.
- Legend: When the sky fractured and the darkness seeped in, when man first met those things that dwell beyond the Sun's warmth, the toll was heavy. His company sacrificed severely so that others might survive and, in so doing, brought forth the Mandate's salvation. He sits, now, on his sapphire-draped throne, once a mere soldier, now an executor of the Mandate's armies. His body something out of Earth's primordial past and it's feverdream future, rippling with brawn and laced with ropes of keloid. Armor formed from flesh, an arsenal in marrow and muscle. Against all adversity he endures, inspiring those around him to do the same. In the face of all horror he holds fast. The things that dwell within Qlippoth do not know fear but they have come to regard him with a kind of dread. Yet, like many creatures Pryoclastic Maw craves connection. He stands alone and apart in the very empire he helped create.
- History: They walk in the skins of beautiful men and handsome women, an engine of war compressed down behind a smiling, open face.
- Legend: The Mandate maintains a comparatively small stealth corps, their energies more devoted to analysis, surveillance, and tactical action than long term infiltration. Mastery of Flame's less overt aspects is difficult and dangerous, oft-prone to spectacular failure. But Cinnabar-and-Soot is the exception to almost every rule. They carry with them a feeling of welcoming warmth, cultivating reciprocal affection among ostensible allies. Building bonfire blazes of loyal friends and fond cohorts, drawing augury from the dancing tongues. Often this is enough, their actions unnoticed, their presence at times actively missed. Other times more dramatic action is required and it is then that they shed their false flesh. It is then that they unfurl the Flame-wrought artifacts and manifold weapons coded into their very being and reduce an officer, his battalion, and their bunker, into so much softly falling ash.
- Location
- Deep Within the Pennsylvanian Forests
@Laplace
I went back over my faction sheet. I think I fixed everything troubling.
I've already got a claim in on Eris, but I'd be cool with working something out.
I went back over my faction sheet. I think I fixed everything troubling.
I've already got a claim in on Eris, but I'd be cool with working something out.
munchkinomatic
Douchiest of Bags
- Location
- The land of Skepticism
There can only be one! Where's my sword!?
NonSequtur
a body
I figure you can take Eris - I didn't notice you had the prior claim - and I take something further out, because my concept involves being right on the edge of the Light, beyond which no civilization exists. Maybe I'll just claim Nemesis and say its on the Heliopause.
whispers the wolf-word
more seriously i dont think theres that much thematic or aesthetic overlap
munchkinomatic
Douchiest of Bags
- Location
- The land of Skepticism
Unceasing Mysteries counter!
I mean we're both ripping off Cult Sim at the end of the day.
NonSequtur
a body
more ripping off the Anarchists from Sunless Sea
- Location
- Deep Within the Pennsylvanian Forests
Sedna also works, and puts you squarely beyond my furthest border.
We could also try to work out a way to coexist, but that would defeat your "is the furthest thing out imaginable" theme.
NonSequtur
a body
Yeah its either Sedna or Planet 9, but P9 would be kind of ridiculously far out - 500+ AU - so Sedna it is.
munchkinomatic
Douchiest of Bags
- Location
- The land of Skepticism
Oort cloud?
- Location
- Wörms, the half continent
Hey! I'm orbiting you! How's things!