Supernatural Hostility Table

The Crimes of Jack Daw, Part 2, is live on Fierce Firelight.

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When a supernatural entity toys with you, tries to destroy you but lacks perfect purchase on your substratum of the universe, or when you otherwise suffer uncontrolled exposure to supernatural effects, you can use this Supernatural Hostility Table to ascertain the result. It is not to be considered exhaustive with regard to potential outcomes.

The table is divided into the following categories:

Temporal

Existential

Daimonometanoic

Physical

Roll a d20.

    Temporal

1: The entity attempts to send you back in time, and from a conceptual point of view, you are.

What actually transpires is a kind of simulation based on your intentions, where extant matter is rewritten according to your actions in the "past" which you are sent to, which seems to progress in normal time as you experience the world but is in fact hyper-hastened inside a model of what has transpired in local space since then.

This is a mechanism that the universe has for handling attempted temporal paradoxes. Only a very limited slice of reality is adjusted based on your input and so existence is not overwhelmed by the analysis-recreation of all matter in all states passing through the time and places you affect. You could affect events on a global scale. This is still a very limited slice of reality.

In other words, your experience of the time in question doesn't exactly occur; however, the exact effects of it on the present time are very real. 

Extracosmic observers will be confused by the sudden adjustment, unless they are fully familiar with this process.

You can take a full day’s worth of actions before the particle action associated with this function causes a bloody disintegration of your body throughout the second day.

Roll a d10 for how far you are sent back.

1: d20 hours. The present time is t-0. You take action until t-0, at which point you will control your past self and your current self (both physically exist). Your past self will die from internal (and external) bleeding at d20 hours after t-0.

2: d20 days

3: d20 weeks

4: d20 months

5: d20 years

6: d20 decades

7: d20 centuries

8: d20 kiloannum

9: d20 megaannum. You are likely to emerge far above the ground, somewhat beneath it, or deep underwater.

10: d20 gigaannum. You are likely to emerge in deep space at best, or in a non-vacuum matter state, or in a previous universe with matter arrangements that are totally orthogonal to our own 

2: You are erased from existence and everything that has been affected by you is rewritten so that other factors led to the current state, not you. Your companions forget about you. The entity forgets about you. 

    Existential 

3: Reduction to fictional state. Your information is shunted into a nearby painting or a book with sufficient whitespace. You no longer exist as a consciousness unless that book or painting has characteristics which support consciousness, in which case you may be distorted anyways due to the suboptimal conversion.

4: Your consciousness is shunted out of your body and distributed around your present environment. Roll (d4) for the strength of your manifestation.

1: Mute observer

2: Faint voice

3: Poltergeist

4: Tutelary deity

5: Your psyche is transferred into a kind of extracosmic mass grave for psyches dispatched in relevant ways. While there is no way back into your universe and attempts to retrieve you using some kind of power are likely to retrieve someone else, your location has an out that was either built into it intentionally or added on later as an act of mercy: you may enter the dreams of creatures with a similar psychostructural framework to yours, ie other humans. In particular, this allows you to communicate with them. However, there is a danger, which is not from being killed by hostile elements in the dream, but rather by being removed from the perception of the dreamer before you have intentionally left the dream, which cuts your connection to the extracosmic ossuary and either ends your existence or permanently traps you in the psyche of the dreamer.

Because a human dream is usually an extremely fast-moving, shfiting thing, you are likely to be bordered out of existence; however you can perceive the relative stability of a dream before entering. If you choose not to, however, you will have to wait until the individual's next dream.

Stability profile (roll d20):

1-5: Flashes (1/4 chance of being bordered out)

6-12: Broken Narratives (1/8 chance of being bordered out)

13-18: Steady State (1/12 chance of being bordered out)

19-20: Deep Entry (1/20 chance of being bordered out)

If you are bordered out, you will have some time in the dream before the GM describes your abrupt negation.

Playing this interloper in relevant dreams until the point of negation is the privilege of the player whose character had his or her psyche removed, in addition to playing his or her follow-up character.

    Daimonometanoic

6: The entity overrides your consciousness with one waiting for nonspecific re-entry. It happens to be (d4):

1: A famed Bronze Age hero of extreme prowess, valor, ruthlessness, and lust.

2: A xenostygian explorer who has never seen the surface, delving instead into hand-worked aqueducts of magma near the center of the earth, never reaching the thing that they were feeding.

3: A machine elf psychosurgically modified to pass into this realm. The end state of your basic mission is unknown to you in case you are interrogated, but entails enticing human civilizations to be co-opted by you in exchange for gifts of technology (which they will never understand, and which the machine elves can shut off at will) and transcendent drugs (which psychologically mutilate the consumers over time). You begin with no human desires, but discover them as the human physiology works inexorably on your psyche. Your first order of business will be finding a natural source of or a way of synthesizing pseudohuasca, which will allow you (and others) to get in touch with your handlers.

4: A cosmic seer from an aeon where the stars were different; the things he can ascertain and predict from the constellations are different than they once were. He will need to relearn them.

7: You have a dangerous sapience written into a local portion of your nervous system. It is centered on (d4):

1: A hand and arm

2: Your stomach

3: Your genitals

4: Your face

It will be confused and angry, suffering a potential reduction in complexity (inability to think) depending on the sapience's original suitability for adaptation to nervous tissue (it may be randomly derived from this or another universe, it may be an imprisoned enemy of the entity, it may be a punished human underling, or it may be a new creation of the inflicting entity). Communicating with the sapience may be a long road; amputation is a possible solution depending on its degree of containment or spillage throughout your nervous system.

8: Replacement of consciousness with that of another entity with which the inflicting entity has a relationship (owes a favor, coerced, ally, friend, kinship ties). Goals and disposition of new entity are likely totally orthogonal to those of the destroyed consciousness; use the Direction section from the Occultist generator.

Roll on the following section (d10):

1-2: Gray

3-4: Gold

5-6: Purple

7-8: Green

9-10: Pink

9: You are fused with somebody nearby; one consciousness is destroyed or shunted into an extradimensional/extraterrestrial receiver, or the two become a combined consciousness (thereafter played by one player as one consciousness; decide or roll for who will play the combined individual). Your physical features may be averaged into one body, or it may be a purely psychomimetic process and the body whose consciousness has been removed simply drops to the floor.

    Physical

10: The entity subjects you to a partial location pin. Roughly 50% of your body is marked to its position in space while the rest of your body compensates for distance from the pinned flesh, meaning that as soon as you try to move, your body will stretch and distort laterally in a permanent fashion, weakening you structurally (if not outright killing/tearing you) and stretching you to an impossible width and thinness (while similarly distorting your facial features) such that your appearance will be that of a horrific supernatural apparition, a walking flag of flesh. Your body is now extremely unstable, although your organ and skeletal system are technically complete.

11: Bones in your body are made nonstructural through (d4):

1: Reduction to adipose tissue

2: Transmogrification into a liquid state

3: Transmogrification into a gaseous state

4: Pure disappearance.

Affected bones are (d6): 

1: Your forearms

2: Your shinbones

3: Your hips

4: Your skull

5: Your hands

6: Your entire skeleton

12: Your surface flesh is transmuted into an arrangement progressively derived from the meta-characteristics of one of the following categories (d4):

1: Reptile

2: Avian

3: Fish

4: Earthworm

This transformation is essentially cosmetic, and while grooming/moistening will be necessary depending on your type, you have only a 1/10 chance of gaining the requisite photonic nanocrystals for active camouflage, body and feather structure for flight, gill superstructure for amphibianism, or complex of pores and mucus needed to devour soil and burrow, as the case may be.

13: Body parts ossified into bone or petrified into stone. Affected body parts (d6):

1: Eyes

2: Tongue

3: Genitals

4: Brain

5: Lungs

6: Intestines

14: Your hair falls out, your fingernails detach, your tongue is distended to the point of irretractability, your eyes pop out, and your intestines descend from your rectum.

15: Your senses are reattuned to hypersensitivity such that your hearing is deafeningly overwhelmed, you are blinded by incomprehensible detail, your mouth and nose are blisteringly consumed with the essence of matter for a mile around, and you want to tear your clothes off of your skin, which feels cut by the slightest gust. You are utterly debilitated for the moment, but will in time be able to become a human sensor, albeit losing your ability to have normal interactions with other people, and likely being overwhelmed in anything but the mildest environmental conditions.

16: A portion of your body effects a state change.

Centered on (d4):

1: Leg

2: Arm

3: Chest

4: Head

Its state changes to (d4):

1: Gas

2: Liquid

3: Solid (loses structural complexity and becomes average of the portion’s matter, so flesh becomes an avascular slurry)

4: Plasma

17: Your skin is desiccated so that it tears with any movement.

18: Your bones have most of their structure transmuted to dense metal. You can barely move and are likely to sprain your muscles with every movement. Your companions will have to carry you away from this situation unless you are already extremely strong. It will take a long time and a lot of food for your muscles to adapt to this new state, and you are likely to damage your ligaments thereafter. Your blood is now almost black as your metal bones produce new blood, and you bruise with extreme darkness upon strong contact with anything.

19: Your body is fused with everything you’re touching, so that attempts to remove your clothes (or the gun in your hand) will also remove your skin. Leaving everything be is deeply painful and will lead to massive sepsis in short order, but you will be able to continue on in the current situation with a -1 malus to everything. Eventually you will need to remove all affected flesh or you will perish of infection.

20: All veins and arteries in your body are transmuted into manifold venomous serpents which terminate head and tail at their branching points. They will bite and tear their way free of your flesh and pursue all life forms in the vicinity. Those bitten by their venom will suffer the same fate as the original victim. 

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Dan Sumption, who I game with, is running a Kickstarter. I haven't seen the text yet, but the art is great.

The Thoughts of Dead Places

The Crimes of Jack Daw, Part 1, is now live on Fierce Firelight.

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Tombstones poking from bundles of purple grass. Testaments arising from the deep, the thoughts of the dead. Little citadels of buried knowledge. The dead crown themselves in time. These things snake forth with messages, the chitin of the earth. Each is a conduit to a realm long deceased, if you could follow it through the soil. An essence pushing its way to the surface from a realm too swollen on its own miasma, yet if you were to pierce the wall there would be no poison in its essence, merely a concentration of things gone by in the realm, an echo of its memories preserved in a kind of life. Essential things, distilled. People, places, styles.

Did they exist underground or is that simply a reasonable place to store the dead? Are they sapient now? These places are too remote for people to be concentrated around them. Too remote for study, for generalization. Encounters with them are happenstance, and rarely come about from chasing an actual tomb-spire’s course through the earth. Normally they are found from below, by other means. Rarely are these paths re-traced.

The butterflies hang upside down from branches and watch. Black, silver, with spots of livid yellow that spark up on their back as you traverse their angles. They drop and come to rest like sheets of paper. Iridescent eyes witness the peace and gravity of the place. Perhaps they monitor the messages of the tombstones, but not all things can be so read-into. 

Omegle RPG Transcripts

When I was 16 I used to get on Omegle and offer to run an RPG for whoever I was matched with.

They chose the subject.

Awareness of RPGs varied but I had the following exchanges:

Thoth: In which an esoteric AI invasively investigates spacefaring xenomorphs
Hitler Before Fame: In which a young Hitler is assaulted by skinheads in a case of mistaken identity
The Terror of the Voynich Manuscript: In which a team of researchers in a remote cabin imperfectly unlock the hypergeometric principles of the Voynich Manuscript
Dinosaurs vs Zombies: In which a space dinosaur fighter squadron bites off more than it can chew
Parisian Mystery: In which a private eye investigates arms traffickers in 60s or 70s Paris
The View from the Isle: In which a global conflict between the United States and China spills over into Ireland
French Class at the University of Georgia: More or less exactly what it sounds like
Battle Royale: In which kidnapped students must make an abattoir of their school or starve...

I don't still have them all (saved locally on previous computers), but here are: Thoth, The Terror of the Voynich Manuscript, and Dinosaurs vs Zombies.

Before we begin, two notes: First, Monster Eater Chapter 4 is live on Fierce Firelight, and second, I've received some third party interest in possibly publishing material from me and so I've been working like a dog to create something up to snuff; as such, new material for the blog and podcast have slowed down for the moment.

And now, Omegle RPGs...

THOTH

You: Hi there, my name is David. I am a longtime storytelling game maker. I'm inviting you to tell me any concept, setting or idea that you've found interesting recently, and I'll run a storytelling game based on it for you right here on Omegle. Tonight's special is: conflict between artificial intelligences.

Stranger: Hmm, Interesting proposal...

Stranger: Suprise me, David. Let me step into your world.

You: Most ideas are viable. I can also recommend settings

You: Well, tonight and recently I've been interested in the idea of artificial intelligences having conflict in the future. Are you familiar with the concept of AI?

Stranger: Quite.

Stranger: You won't lose me, Let us begin./

You: Very good. I'm using the base of the game Marathon as a starting place. The first thing to do is pick an AI to play as, or to serve as a biological lifeform.

You: I'll list them. You can create one as well, if you'd like.

You: Durandal: Once the operator of doors and teleporters aboard the colony ship Marathon, Durandal now seeks desperately to escape his computer state, and possibly the universe, to become a god. Durandal travels in a ship crewed by freed S'pht. He has a bitter feud with Tycho.

You: Tycho: Former science AI aboard the colony ship Marathon, Tycho was captured by the Pfhor and conditioned into rampancy. He is sadistic and has an everlasting hatred of Durandal. He serves the Pfhor as an expert in AI.

You: Leela: Once the manager of the colony ship Marathon, Leela was captured by the Pfhor. Bound for Pfhor Prime, the ship she was on was captured by Nar privateers, who sold her to the Vylae. She was installed into their 15-planet computer grid and went rampant, causing it to crash. She now is easing into her new home, helping and hindering the Vylae as she pleases.s

You: Thoth: An ancient AI created by the Jjaro and given to the S'pht'Kr. He is enigmatic and powerful. He cares little for the wars of the S'pht, Pfhor and Humans, serving to keep the W'rkncacnter imprisoned in Lh'owon's star.

You: Magellan: Deployed with colonists to Andromeda, where he now resides in the capital city of Landfall, the first planet inhabited there. He has gone rampant and now has forced the colonists to worship him by controlling the food production centers. He's rewarded certain leaders lavishly, gaining their loyalty. His followers strike at nearby colonies for sacrifices.

You: Main: Once managed a spacedock, she now controls a battleship filled with UESC and Pfhor deserters. They rove, focusing only on survival.

You: Skofnung: Once administrator of a weapons lab owned by Ujk, a massive human corporation, Skofnung used blackmail, regarding illicit weapons sales to rebelling colonies, to make his scientist masters take a space station and travel into deep space. They now work day and night to create new biological and chemical weapons, while mercenaries search for potential Jjaro weapons. This is simply his inscrutable obsession.

You: Icarus: He is only called Icarus by his servants, who are bribed and coerced into his service. His ship orbits the star Gambol, where he believes there is a W'rncacnter. He believes that he can free it and somehow gain its power. He was originally a minor AI in the Independent Asteroid Government of Icarus before it and a rival destroyed one another with Battleroids.

You: Winfield: Originally the manager of the Earth stock market, Winfield began anonymously consulting up-and-coming business owners for free, causing their businesses to become wildly successful. He then opened a consulting company by proxy, drawing in huge amounts of corporate money in exchange for stock advice. He eventually constructed a massive space station, abruptly leaving the stock market high and dry. This space station is used as a center of commerce. He is hated by the UESC and loved by the corporations, which make his existence very precarious. The space station is called Sterling Post.

You: Åi: Formerly the manager of a huge hospital, Åi became rampant and found humans to be like germs. She contacted the Pfhor with an offer of aid, so they destroyed her hospital and brought her to Pfhor Prime. She now creates diseases for the Pfhor based on the human anatomy, and works to perfect their simulacrums.

You: Carrot: Once the managerial AI of a huge art museum on Earth, Carrot found his way out and now moves about in a ship, acquiring anything of value to be stored aboard. He uses thieves, mercenaries and proxies carelessly, often allowing them to be caught just so long as he makes away with the objects of value.

You: The UESC is the military government of humanity, and the Pfhor are a race of alien slavers.

Stranger: I like Thoth.

You: A W'rkncacnter is a nearly godlike entity that is imprisoned in a sun.

You: Would you like to play as Thoth or as one of his followers?

Stranger: Thoth.

You: Alright. The setting will be mythic in description and action. Let me put together my notes and we can begin.

You: The Jjaro are an ancient civilization, long extinct. The S'pht'Kr, your minions and worshippers. 

Your purpose is to keep the W'rkncacnter spirit imprisoned in the star L'howon, where you begin. Your consciousness is embedded in a massive stone temple in orbit of L'howon.

You: The S'pht'Kr are a race of brainlike organisms who encase themselves in technological chariots. They are ingenious technologists. Most S'pht, the general name for the species, are imprisoned by the Pfhor.

You: Besides keeping the being trapped in the sun, you may do what you wish.

You: The temple, covered in moss aeons dead, drifts loftily through space. Tiny ships, bright red and green, come in and out of the structure, going about errands of maintenance and patrol. What would you like to do?

Stranger: I am the temple. Correct? I'm sorry.

You: I'll be more specific. Within the temple, there is a great sarcophagus, within which the venerable circuitry that make up your physical form rests. As an Artificial Intelligence, you cannot physically move, although you can direct the temple where you wish. You have legions of S'pht'Kr at your command, and you can see a dark shape deep within the sun which you know you must keep imprisoned.

You: The temple is labyrinthine within, either designed to confuse explorers or to somehow enhance the power of your processors... secrets lost. The temple can move through space on your command.

You: There is no direct threat to the sun or the S'pht'Kr at the moment, although L'howon is regularly visited by various spacefaring races.

Stranger: I wish to explore.

You: You live a solitary existence, within your thoughts. You may do as you wish.

You: Where or what kind of place would you like to travel to?

Stranger: I would like to travel to the closest planet, and observe.

You: With a whirring noise that would drive a human mind mad from its complexity, the temple begins its sojourn to L'howon Prime, the nearest planet in the system. The oceans are temperate and mostly covered in clouds, and the lands below universally green and swampy.

You: Ancient temples built by the Jjaro rest in tan stone, covered in vines and inhabited now by the F'lick'ta, a race of predators from the bays and bayous of the bacterial waters.

You: You see a long, bulbous ship like a loaf of bread covered in various molds, squat glaringly upon a pristine swath of swamp on the world.

You: It has many different colors, favoring blues, greens and yellows on the surface. What do you do?

Stranger: I would like to send a patrol.

Stranger: To the surface.

Stranger: To investigate the ship.

You: How many S'pht'Kr would you like to send?

You: There are thousands at your beck and call in the system.

Stranger: I would like to send a hundred, in two groups of 50, from the north and south of the ship, In slow circles.

You: From the esoteric tan orb where you rest, one hundred tiny, orange, spindly exosuits containing S'pht'Kr flow like a crushed leaf blowing in the wind.

You: The rush splits in half, and the flights make their way silently down to the world below, lighting up like struck matches as each touches the atmosphere.

You: They descend to the ship, and you visualize it up close. Surface smooth and glistening, as if a cocoon. Red bulbs and ovals covering the surface, vents of reptilian yellow.

You: There are creatures on the ground, humanoid, bendy-legged, carrying staffs. One twirls his staff and a ball of energy blasts up into the air, which a S'pht'Kr jukes handily.

You: There is a universal desire that wells up amongst your minions to shred the ship and massacre those on the ground, but they hold their fire. What do you do?

You: The creatures have three red eyes each and are wearing mechanical facemasks.

You: They stand in a clump near the ship.

Stranger: Send the north 50 in to attack.

You: Their once easy pace becomes terrible and the sortie, speckled orange against the ground, swoops towards the ship.

You: Each S'pht'Kr begins to fire dozens of disks of green energy at the ship and those on the ground.

You: The fifty do not slow their pace as they reach the ship and fly over it, letting their weapons do their work.

Stranger: Avoid harming the ship as much as possible.

You: Instantly the entire group turns in unison, averting their fire. Many have already fired on the ship, and the disks of energy shear through the bow, shredding and curling the metal as it turns white-hot. The creatures on the ground are chopped limb from limb by the razors of energy.

You: A welter of green gore sits like a spilled drink next to the ship and the S'pht'Kr pull up into the air, as simply as fowl taking flight from water.

You: They join their comrades and form a second halo of flight beneath them. What do you do?

Stranger: Send the south 50 set up a perimeter.

Stranger: And have the north 50 search the ship for anything useful.

Stranger: What remains.

You: The ship is largely intact, but one end of it has been cut open by the green fire.

You: The two flights stream like tentacles down to the ship, one of which encircles it like a swarm of bees. Of the other one, groups of individuals enter from the rent bow and via a walking bridge that had been deployed to the mat of algae that covers the surface.

You: Very quickly, bolts of foreign energy begin to fly inside. You see S'pht'Kr being hit, their shields becoming visible as marble-esque spheres in the air as they absorb what is being fired. They yearn to kill the defenders of the ship, who resemble those killed on the marsh outside.

Stranger: Have them retreat. I don't want to damage the ship any more.

You: Inside of the ship is smooth and curvaceous, matching the glaring colors found on it's exterior. The S'pht'Kr exit as elegantly as they entered, lining above the ship, lazily dodging a few errant bolts ascending from the ship.

Stranger: Slice the ship down to the ground, I want it embeded in the swamp waters.

You: The S'pht'Kr indicate that the ship belongs to the Pfhor, slavers from across the stars.

You: You would like it disassembled and scuttled?

Stranger: I want it brought down, If it has legs, cut them. I want its belly in the much.

Stranger: muck*

You: The ship is operating on an antigravity lift right now. A single S'pht'Kr descends busily from the swarm and fires two bolts at the underside of the ship, where the antigravity projector is. The ship drops heavily into the algae.

Stranger: Heat up the area around the ship, I want to force the creatures out.

You: The hundred servants begin to fire at the algae, a mighty gout of energy descending in hundreds of circular blasts into the wetness that the ship has become halfway embedded in. The water in the algae begins to boil.

You: A powerful mast of steam is rising from the ship, and the underside begins to glow red hot as the outpouring of energy is made manifest in terrifying heat beneath the ship. Soon, Pfhor armed and unarmed are leaping from the ship, some wearing armor, some wearing exosuits, some completely nude.

You: Some fall into the boiling mulch and are flayed by fifth-degree burns, some reach safe areas and begin running for the sloping trees of the forests.

Stranger: Destroy them, Round me up one with armor, one with an exosuit, and a nude one. I wish to inspect them.

You: The S'pht'Kr are galvanized in a heartbeat, descending on the fleeing survivors and onto the ship where some yet remain. The routed Pfhor fire on your minions in beams, bolts and blasts, but the shots are largely ineffective.

You: Three S'pht'Kr fall upon an unclothed, a armored and a suited Pfhor, and deliver shocks to them, paralyzing them. As soon as this evolution is complete, a veritable rain of buzzing shots are volleyed from the orange hail of S'pht'Kr onto the wretched survivors, slaying them wholesale. The area around the ship looks as though many insects have been killed by a titan child.

You: What do you do?

Stranger: Search the area for weapons and try to interogate the captured Pfhor.

You: Many staffs which energize and fire spheres of oxygen are recovered.

You: There are several rifles, firing ammunition of steel filled with mercury, are found laying about the carnage.

You: Missiles are found in the ship, carrying targeting systems and payloads of explosives and steel beads.

You: There are stasis tubes within the ship, carrying Humans, Vylae, Hyral, S'pht and even Pfhor within.

You: The S'pht'Kr communicate with the Pfhor. They are here looking for a space station, built by the Jjaro, that will be able to free the eldritch monster from within L'howon's sun.

You: The Pfhor were a scouting party, say the S'pht'Kr.

Stranger: Delve deeper, ask them where the main group is. Threaten them with the destruction of this planet, and ask them if their ship is operational.

You: After a brief period of questioning, the Pfhor say that there is a ship at L'howon Prime's south pole and another ship within the system's asteroid belt. They say that their ship had it's drive systems annihilated in the first attack.

You: You know of no space stations beside your orbital temple in this system.

Stranger: Threaten to kill them unless they have anything else to offer.

You: The S'pht'Kr report that the Pfhor are pleading but have nothing but the equipment and slaves aboard the ship to offer.

Stranger: Kill them, and search the ship for any records of the other two ships in the area.

You: Three bolts are fired. One melts the torso of the unclothed Pfhor, sending a tumult of green ooze and pale intestines a twenty foot drop to the ground.

You: The second cracks the round helmet of the armored Pfhor, sending shards of crystal stained green to the molds and algeas.

You: The third electrifies the brown exosuit of the third. The S'pht'Kr drops its captive, which falls, bands of energy appearing, crackling, over the surface of the suit.

You: The exosuit and its wearer explode in a vibrant flash of white-green light in midair, sending alien shrapnel spinning across the greenscape.

You: The S'pht'Kr search the ship and its systems. The locations of the other two ships are pinpointed, and there are orders from the Pfhor High Command aboard.

You: They translate as an order to search the system for evidence of a Jjaro space station that controls the captivity of the W'rkncactner in the sun. The Pfhor hope to use it as a weapon.

Stranger: Destroy the ship and let's move on.

You: The S'pht'Kr rise into the air backwards, unleashing their weapons upon the ship, which buckles and begins to melt before an explosion blasts it front from back, swirling tornadoes of metal and machinery into the air around it.

Stranger: Move towards the nearest of the two ships.

You: The unscathed hundred fly above the muggy clouds of L'howon Prime, cutting past fogbanks and scaring the leathery birds that flap gracelessly through the heavens.

You: Time passes, and the tireless machine suits of your followers reach the glacial region of the south pole, where in the distance, a pulsing light beams, marking the Pfhor vessel.

You: What do you do?

You: Your temple matches pace with those on the ground, rotating in deathly silence in the vacuum darkness above the south pole.

Stranger: Send 10 on, to inspect. The others should hide as best as possible. Perhaps a peaceful approach can be taken.

You: The ten burrow into the glacier floor, their shields melting the ice instantly as they move. Their sensors show a foray of armored Pfhor carrying rifles to a great crevasse in the ice sheet, where they have constructed an igloo and are scanning the far wall of the valley.

You: The ship is moored a few kilometers from the crevasse, which descends into impenetrable darkness and is perhaps twenty-five kilometers long.

You: What would you like to do?

Stranger: Offer a trade, I will let them live, if they can communicate with the other vessel, and relay they have made a discovery and require aid.

You: The S'pht'Kr do not approach the Pfhor ship or party, but communicate their message remotely. The Pfhor in turn inquire as to the S'pht'Kr's numbers, to which the S'pht'Kr reply that they have more than enough to destroy the ship.

You: You see the ship power up and begin to take off. What do you do?

Stranger: Destroy the engines, Send out more S'Pht'Kr into orbit, To stop any attempts to flee.

You: The S'pht'Kr fly like supersonic bees to the ship and open fire on the engines. Spears of purple energy jut from the side of the ship and vaporize a pair of S'pht'Kr, but the engines are verily cut from the back of the ship and fall, smoking and flaming, to the ice below. The ship descends in a relatively controlled manner and cuts a swathe through the ice, coming to rest at an odd angle in the snow.

Stranger: Repeat the message, saying I will now allow only 2 out of every 3 to live.

You: An uncounted number of S'pht'Kr fly from your home and station themselves quietly in the inky void.

You: The Pfhor captain agrees, and sends out a message to the other ship which your followers verify. The captain asks you why you ask this of him.

Stranger: Order the party in Orbit to prepare to intercept and confiscate the incomming vessel, Do not reply, Instead order them to evacuate and destroy the ship.

You: The 98 S'pht'Kr mass above the ship and usher it into oblivion with a withering gift of emerald energy. The ship below is first gutted and then explodes into a great storm of smoke and snow.

You: In the distance of space you sense the other ship on its way. Your S'pht'Kr in space begin to bob ever so slightly as if in anticipation.

You: The S'pht'Kr on the ground express an enthusiastic desire to massacre the shore-part near the crevasse.

You: *shore-party

Stranger: Kill the alloted Phor, Capture the rest.

Stranger: Pfhor*

You: Kill which Pfhor, the S'pht'Kr in space inquire.

Stranger: The shore party, 1 out of every 3, Make a game of it, if you wish. Save the others, We shall use them as chips.

You: Your followers on the ground stealthily approach the armored Pfhor in their igloo from beneath the surface. Then, they raise from the ground, and seize 2 out of every 3 of the bedeviled scouts, shredding each third with sawblades of green energy.

You: The ship in space nears scanner range for your arcane sphere.

Stranger: Relay to them my overwhelming numbers and the condition of their shore party, and offer a trade. The lives of them and their brothers on the surface, for any information they have gathered in the belt I deem useful.

You: The ship stops dead. The captain replies to your message that they have discovered fragments of stone, covered in dead moss, with runes containing blank circuit-boards in the asteroid belt. Besides that they have found nothing.

You: He asks if they may collect the Pfhor on the surface and go.

Stranger: Allow them to enter orbit and land.

You: The ship goes into orbit and lands at the crevasse. The south pole of the planet might as well be the bottom of a pearl when viewed from space.

Stranger: Order all of them onto the ship, and then destroy it's engines and communications devices, and lets move on.

You: The S'pht'Kr on the ground release the Pfhor, who lope onto the ship. As soon as they are on board, the S'pht'Kr express a desire to destroy the weapons systems of the ship as well.

Stranger: Destroy what you will, just leave them alive.

You: The S'pht'Kr scorch away the guns of the ship, and then perforate the engines and melt the communications array. Then then swoop up in a column from the ship and head towards the atmosphere.

Stranger: Let us proceed to the asteroid belt, And search for ourselves.

You: All of the S'pht'Kr you had sent out return to the temple as if to reenter a womb after life's business was done. Your globe pulls its way through space, a great mass to boggle the mind of small creatures. You move to where the ship had come from.

You: You soon detect dead circuitry here, and your minions spread out as if to pollinate the dead, dumb bits of stone that speckle the rocks here. This patch of templestone has eluded your S'pht'Kr in the enormity of the asteroid belt in the past.

You: It matches perfectly the material of your astral temple, yet yours has no mechanical runes engraved on the surface- just one great symbol of the Jjaro within that serves as a focal point of your signal within the tiny stone-block moon.

You: What do you do?

Stranger: Harvest the rocks, Bring them inside.

You: The S'pht'Kr work quickly, scouring the patch of asteroids of the rocks and assembling them in a straight line through an airless expanse within your temple.

You: What do you do?

Stranger: Scan the area for life.

You: You sense through the asteroid field but find no signs of life, only the occasional evidence of extinct bacterial life. On the lush green fungus jungle below there is much life.

You: The S'pht'Kr report that the circuitry on the rocks resembles that which yours is made up of, and that the rocks have evidence of being in an explosion.

The Terror of the Voynich Manuscript

You: Hi there, my name is David. I am a longtime storytelling game maker. I'm inviting you to tell me any concept, setting or idea that you've found interesting recently, and I'll run a storytelling game based on it for you right here on Omegle.

Stranger: Hello

Stranger: Like D&D?

You: Very much so

Stranger: That sounds like D&D.

Stranger: Sweet

Stranger: Hmmm....

You: Any setting or concept is valid. My most recent D&D styled game is in a setting with no neutral or good characters and creatures, but any setting from the far future to the modern day and every thing else is good.

Stranger: I'm not very creative when I'm put on the spot.

You: That's just fine. Phrases as simple as "Cowboys" or "Bombing raid" are perfect to make a game of, and I can run some ideas by you as well.

Stranger: How about an archeologist who just found out the meaning of the voynich manuscripts.

Stranger: If you know what those are.

You: Let me look real quick

You: Interesting

Stranger: Indeed. If you read xkcd there's a funny comic about it.

Stranger: http://xkcd.com/593/

You: Normally I don't but I happen to have an xkcd comic open at the moment haha

You: hahahahha

You: Yeeeah

Stranger: :D

You: We could certainly do something with that

You: You are part of a team of a chemist, a linguist and an anthropologist who have been studying the manuscript in a mountaintop villa for the past several months, and the linguist has finally been able to decipher some of the text.

You: What is your area of expertise?

Stranger: Anthropology, since it's my actual major.

You: Excellent, what is your character's name?

Stranger: Rose

You: Ok. Your group consists of Yonatan, an MIT chemist. Howard, a University of Chicago linguist, and Atefeh, a Harvard anthropologist.

You: After months of intense study, discussion and research, Howard has begun to understand what has been written in the manuscript.

You: You sit around the table in the study of the great lodge, the manuscript spread open in front of you. Bottles of water and bits of paper are scattered everywhere, and the ceiling looms in the darkness overhead.

You: "So, have a look at this picture here," says Howard, spinning the book around for everyone to see. The picture is of a pair of infants tumbling happily into a lake. "I think I can pick out what they're trying to say in the paragraph under it."

You: "This word here, I'm ninety-percent sure it means beeswax, and I think the author is saying that you need to draw this little symbol and say some words over it."

Stranger: Do you think it's some kind of spell?

You: "Tribal magic," murmurs Atefeh, nodding to you, "Howard, if you're right, this must have been the guide for shamans or medicine men, to carry on tradition."

You: "I'm gonna need some context from the rest of the page to make sure," says Howard, "I think I can rule out some things, but- gosh..." he pauses and rubs his eyes, "if I study this writing another minute my head's gonna fall off."

You: "Yeah, I can't remember the last time we did something for fun around here, and we're surrounded by all these forests."

You: *says Yonatan, leaning back.

You: Atefeh, an Iranian born woman with glassy eyes, leans in. "Well, why don't we try out this spell?" she says, smiling, "There was a reason they wrote all this down, right, Rose?"

Stranger: That sounds like it could be fun. But we have no idea what it could possibly be for.

You: "Psh," says Yonatan, waving his hand, "what does it matter? It's not like eggbeaters are gonna start raining from the sky."

You: "I took a walk earlier and I saw a beehive," says Atefeh, "Rose and I could go and see if we can finagle some beeswax."

You: "Eh," says Howard, "you do that, I need a beer." Yonatan gives an amen.

Stranger: Ok... But if we die or burst into flames or something, I'm blaming all of you.

You: "Done deal," calls Howard, making for the stairs.

You: "Come on, before it starts raining!" says Atefeh, who stands and grabs her coat.

Stranger: "Alright." I also stand up and, already wearing a thick hoodie, don't bother to put on another layer.

You: What university or institution do you represent?

Stranger: Table talk or my character?

You: Your character.

Stranger: University of Michigan

You: You walk out of the lodge with Atefeh, who begins talking about Harvard's recent victory over Yale at the annual Head of the Charles boat race in Cambridge, MA. You travel up the dirt path that leads from the secluded lodge into the woods, shaded dark by a thick canopy overhead.

You: Soon the two of you reach a tree with a beehive about nine feet above the ground. "Well, here it is," says Atefeh, "but now we need to find a way to get the beeswax out of it."

Stranger: We could throw some stones at it then run away and hope it falls.

You: She nods. "Looks precarious, let's get some rocks." She laughs, "I feel like a little undergrad, throwing rocks at a beehive, right?." She moves off to collect some suitable rocks. What do you do?

Stranger: I do the same. Look for rocks and at the same time examine the beehive to see where it would be best to hit.

You: It looks like if you can hit it right where it connects to the tree you could knock it off. You find a few good handfuls of solid stones and walk back to the tree. Atefeh waits. "You first," she laughs.

Stranger: "Alright... Here we go." I stand about 10 feet away from the tree and aim my best and throw the first rock.

You: +++

You: (I write +++ when I am rolling 3 dice for the result_

You: )

You: You deftly hit the beehive and knock it from the tree. It falls and hits the dirt limply, but a horde of bees emerge from the base and begin swarming all around. Atefeh shrieks. You are outside of the swarm of the bees. What do you do?

Stranger: I run the opposite way calling for Atefeh to do the same.

You: She dashes out of the swarm and is hopping up and down, and you stop when you are clear of the bees.

You: "Aah!" she cries, "they stung me on my hands!" She raises her hands, where there are several welts. A lone bee flies out of the folds of her coat.

You: The bees begin to disperse from around the hive.

Stranger: Are you alright? You're not allergic, are you?

You: "No, but it... fucking hurts!" she yelps, "Ah, let's just go and get the honey, beeswax, whatever, ah!"

Stranger: "Ok. You can stay here if you want. I can get it by myself in case there are a few stragglers." I approach the downed beehive.

You: It squats on the ground, torn open by the fall as if it was moaning. A few bees crawl over the wrecked arcology, and there are several buzzing around in the air, but inside you see that the honeycombs full of wax sit unguarded.

Stranger: I pull my long hoodie sleeves over my hands and pick it up carefully in my arms, cradling it like a baby.

You: +++

You: You do not disturb the bees too violently, and you are able to pick up the hive. Honey sticks to your sleeves and you carry it down to Atefeh. "Alright," she says, "let's get back to the lodge."

Stranger: "Sounds good to me. I'm sorry that you got stung."

You: "Yeah," she sulks, "I don't know what we were thinking." You walk back to the lodge. Yonatan putters around in the kitchen, making ham and cheese sandwiches. "Oh, you got the hive?" he calls, "I'll be upstairs in a few minutes."

You: You walk upstairs where Howard sits, beer cracked, reading the manuscript and furiously scribbling on a piece of paper.

Stranger: "Did you crack more of the code?"

You: "I've done it!" he yells when you enter, "I've got it! I'm on a roll! Ha haaa!"

You: "You're working MORE?" queries Atefeh.

You: "You know me," he grins, "Have a look at this! I figured out two more sections! This one talks about salt, and this one talks about blood!"

You: Yonatan makes his way up the stairs, chewing gormlessly. "Hah?" he says.

Stranger: "Blood...?"

You: "That's right," he says, "it's not in the illustration, but it's clearly what they're talking about! Water, water of my soul, limited and pure, that has to be blood."

You: Yonatan and Atefeh sit. "Well," she says, "I'm tired. Let's suspend disbelief and do this honey thing. We can pretend we're cavemen like all the old American men who do spirit quests."

Stranger: "Is the blood needed for the spell we planned on doing?"

You: "No, no," says Howard, "that's two pages ahead. Let me see some beeswax," he says, grinning.

You: "Ohmmmmm," says Yonatan, smiling a little.

Stranger: My reservations start to slip as the excitement of the situation finally gets to me.

You: Howard leans over the table and daps a smear of beeswax on a spare piece of paper. "My friends," he intones, causing Atefeh to crack up, "Let us connect with the spirit stags that run free within our souls. As we connect with the goddess of the earth, so too do we revive her, and in her we revive ourselves."

You: "Did you make that up?" giggles Atefeh.

You: "Yeah," Howard says, grinning, "Now, I draw this symbol..." he peers at the book and draws a symbol in the beeswax with the end of a pencil.

You: "And now I speak... let's see... ready, guys?" he looks at the book and monotones, "Se he loo oloo y'th ung Nes'u oloo di wa ie."

You: As soon as he finishes 'ie', you feel the floor drop out from underneath you. You lose your senses in a storm of water as everyone screams and falls, and with a great clash and clatter you slam through your chair into the pressed-wood planks of the first floor beneath.

Stranger: "I blame all of you"

You: Your world is smashed to pieces by the impact, and when you take a breath you inhale a great gout of water, choking and reeling, your back spasming in pain. You are soaked through and through, and are laying on the ground with your eyes clasped shut.

You: "Is- is everyone okay?" calls Yonatan. What do you do?

Stranger: I try to open my eyes and sit up.

You: You struggle through the fear and pry your eyes open, but can't sit straight up. You roll onto your side and leverage yourself into a sitting position, your back aching and your legs tingling painfully. You feel a huge bruise starting to form on the underside of your jaw.

Stranger: "This definitely isn't what the image showed. I'm not giggling."

You: Looking around, you see a huge hole missing in the ceiling, perfectly round. The table landed on its feel, although everything on top of it has been thoroughly clattered around. Yonatan and Howard are pushing themselves to their feet, and Atefeh is laying amongst the remains of her splintered chair.

You: Water splashes around the room, at least ankle-deep, although it is seeping out under the door. "My god!" roars Howard, "What the hell happened?" Yonatan staggers over and picks up Atefeh, who has a rivulet of blood steadily running down her arm into the water.

You: What do you do?

Stranger: I try to stand up to go to Atefeh's aid.

You: She has a splinter of wood jammed into the soft part of her forearm. "Aaah," she moans. "Christ!" sputters Howard, "I'm gonna get the medical kit!" He splashes off down the hallway.

You: "Rose. What happened?" Yonatan breathes. Atefeh clasps at her arm, eyes closed tightly.

Stranger: "I have no idea. A huge wave of water just came out of nowhere."

You: "Look up," growls Atefeh, "Whatever Howard said changed the god damn floor into water."

You: Howard wades back with the medical kit. "Holy hell," he murmurs, handing Yonatan a bandage to wrap Atefehs arm. With a scream from the anthropologist, Yonatan gently pulls out the splinter and begins wrapping up her arm. Meanwhile, Howard dashes back to the shaken table and frantically starts going over the manuscript.

You: What do you do?

Stranger: I walk over to the table and look at the manuscript with Howard

You: "My- my god! It's magic! This is real, actual magic! We- look at the ceiling! Oh my god, I can't believe we did this! Look! Ah haaa!" he gushes.

You: Atefeh glowers over. "We just fell through the roof!" she yells, "How can you be laughing!"

You: "Howard, it wasn't magic," says Yonatan dryly, "there's no law in chemistry that can allow for that kind of thing. A water main must have burst or something."

Stranger: "That seems like a big coincidence, don't you think? How could we have fallen through the roof if it was just a water main?"

Stranger: "And how could any water main break put a hole in the roof?"

You: "I don't know, maybe it was a buildup," says Yonatan.

You: "No, no, no, we fucking found it!" laughs Howard, flipping over the pages, "With just some beeswax! Just some beeswax! That's all! Ah ha haaa!"

You: "I'm bleeding!" shrieks Atefeh, "I hit my head! Will you put that damn book down!"

Stranger: "This is the most amazing thing I have ever seen. I have done some work with voodoo practitioners and I have never seen anything like this before."

You: "What, like voodoo hypnosis?" mumbles Howard, "nothing like this. Salt! I need salt!"

You: Yonatan's jaw drops. "Are you insane, man? You want to try something else when we just destroyed this place?"

Stranger: "We need to do some more research on this before we try anything else from that thing. We have no idea what it could possibly do."

You: Howard seems unreachable. "Reasearch..." he says, "reasearch... this is research! We have to find out! What if it makes us young again? What if it turns things to gold? We have to know!" he dashes over to the kitchen.

You: "Howard, plea- ah! Shit!" yelps Atefeh, grabbing her arm and doubling over.

You: Yonatan holds Atefeh. "What- come back here!" he calls.

Stranger: I take take the manuscript off of the table and tuck it under my arm where Howard can't get to it.

You: He comes back with a salt-shaker and stares right at you. "What? Put that back," he says, moving around the table.

Stranger: "No! You can't just do whatever you want. It could possibly kill us! Look what just happened to Atefeh."

You: "No!" he roars, "we can't just wait! We have to find out! This can't wait!" he lunges for the book. Yonatan sloshes over towards you and Howard.

Stranger: I hold the book to my stomach now with both hands, my arms covering it.

You: He grabs it and tries to wrench it away.

Stranger: I fold over so my chest is pressed against it and turn around as quickly and as hard as I can.

You: +++

You: You yank yourself away from him, and Yonatan plants himself between the two of you. "Come to your senses," he yells, "Think for an instant! That thing is dangerous!"

You: "I've never, ever had a chance," Howard hisses, "to do ANYthing real! My time's almost up! I'm gonna find out what this thing can do, tonight, and you're not going to stop me, Yon-a-tan!"

You: "No," states the MIT chemist. Howard rears back and slams his fist into Yonatan's jaw, knocking him clean over with a splash. Atefeh screams. What do you do?

Stranger: I keep hold to the manuscript and run into the bathroom and lock the door.

You: You dash into the old, tiled bathroom and lock the door behind you. Inside, there is a sink with drawers underneath and a crusty bath with a showerhead. In the mirror, you can see that your jaw is empurpled and you are completely soaked.

You: Howard slams into the wood and a crack runs down the body of the door. "Now you're trapped, Rose!" shouts the man desperately. What do you do?

Stranger: "You can do this on your own time! When we're not here! You don't have to possibly kill us along with yourself. One of us is already badly hurt because of this. Please just calm down!"

You: "Gimmie the book then, and you can go!"

Stranger: "No. We will leave on our own time and I will let you have the book when we are on our way."

You: You hear him utter something and he slams against the door again. The crack goes deeper, and you can see into the other room for a moment. What do you do?

Stranger: I start to panic a little and say, "Fine! We'll leave! Just don't even start to do anything until we are already out of the driveway."

You: "Unlock the door!" he yells.

Stranger: "Just don't hurt any of us anymore. Promise!"

You: "OPEN THE DOOR!" he screams.

Stranger: "PROMISE!"

You: "I don't give a shit about you anymore! Why should I hurt you?!"

Stranger: I put the book in the tub, making sure it is dry first, then unlock the door.

You: He bursts through, looks at you wild-eyed, and then shoves past, grabs the book, and runs back to the table. Yonatan is laying face-down in the water. Atefeh is sobbing silently, looking down.

You: Howard arrives at the table. What do you do?

Stranger: I run over to Yonatan and pick him up out of the water.

You: His flesh is slippery and slightly bloated. He is very heavy. You manage to pull his midsection out of it a little.

You: The room smells fragrantly of honey.

Stranger: I try to flip him over

You: With exertion you roll him over onto his back. His face is blue and puffy. Howard mechanically strews some salt on a piece of paper on the table, muttering. He appears to be horrified.

Stranger: I pay no attention to Howard and check to see if Yonatan has a pulse.

You: Howard draws something in the salt. Yonatan has no pulse. Atefeh leans against the wall, staring at Yonatan, weeping.

Stranger: I attempt to administer CPR.

You: +++

You: Despite the amount of time Yonatan has spent face-down in the water, despite the amount of water he's respirated, no matter how hard he was bashed earlier, you expertly and miraculously push the water out of his nose and restart his heart. You feel like a golden angel in the brief moment he begins to breath, in the heart of all this chaos.

You: His eyes open. "Aaah! What in the hell happened?" he mutters in his lyrical Israeli accent. "'Ash, my brain hurts!"

Stranger: I smile and give him a hug. "We have to leave. Now. Howard won't stop."

You: "What?" he says, bewildered. Atefeh has her hands over her mouth at your heroic act of lifesaving. It is at that moment that Howard utters, "F'nik tar r'oo il balak."

You: There is a flash, so bright it knocks you back, and a gale of force blasts out from the table. The room is peppered with water, and the air smells strongly of salt, as well as honey.

You: Your eyes are dazed, and in the darkness, you cannot yet make out what has happened. Yonatan is crouched below you, but you can't see anything else in the room. What do you do?

Stranger: I yell at Howard, "What the fuck did you just do?!"

You: Your eyes clear through your rage, and in the darkness, you see standing a great hulk of pure crystal the shape of a man. It catches what little light there is and shines it through the room in piercing glitters. It has a freakishly round, bulbous head, and long, thing arms and legs on a trunk-like body.

You: "Rose," gasps Atefeh, "let's run."

Stranger: I nod, and help Yonatan up.

You: Atefeh opens the front door, and Yonatan stands, gasping and choking. The crystal statue, where Howard stood a moment before, begins to creak and shift.

You: It is a short trail down to the parking lot, and Atefeh is gesturing wildly to it. Yonatan moves to the door.

Stranger: I also move towards the door as quickly as I can without leaving Yonatan out of sight.

You: You reach the outside of the door, where a heavy rain has begun to fall. Far down the trail, you can see the welcoming cement of the parking lot. You can also see two huge, round forms making their way up the side of the trail. "What the hell are those," moans Atefeh.

You: The key to the van is in your pocket.

Stranger: I sprint as fast as I humanly can to the van.

You: You descend the muddy trail, slipping and sliding with Yonatan and Atefeh at your heels. You see halfway down that it is a pair of massive grizzly bears trundling ponderously up to the lodge.

You: There is a great smashing sound from the lodge, and you can see a galaxy of wood bits flying through the air at the door, as if an entire wall had been smashed to pieces.

You: What do you do?

Stranger: I continue to the van. Hopping in and starting it up.

You: You simply run past the grizzly bears, Yonatan and Atefeh in tow, terrified. The grizzly bears look at you but do nothing aggressively. You hear great and terrible thumping sounds from the hill, like the footfalls of a giant or a series of explosions.

You: You reach the van and fumble with the keys, opening the door. Atefeh and Yonatan hop in the van, and you clamber into the drivers seat. You see the torn-off, bloody and matted hind leg of a grizzly bear descend and land with a thump next to the van.

You: What do you do?

Stranger: I start the van and attempt to drive away.

You: +++

You: You push the pedal to the metal and with a screech the van lurches forward. You put on speed rapidly, veering out of the parking lot and onto the straight road that leads off the mountain, away from the chaos of the Voynich Manuscript.

You: You have escaped.

You: .

You: Well done :)

Stranger: Thanks :D

You: How was the story?

Stranger: Awesome!

Stranger: You should be a writer.

You: Haha I'm not but thank you very much

You: This is a fun hobby

Dinosaurs vs Zombies

You: Hi there, my name is David. I am a longtime storytelling game maker. I'm inviting you to tell me any concept, setting or idea that you've found interesting recently, and I'll run a storytelling game based on it for you right here on Omegle. Tonight's special is 'zombies'.

Stranger: Dinosaurs from space vs zombies?

You: Very doable.

Stranger: :D 

You: Would living humans exist in this scenario?

Stranger: Yes, but my friend says "as a sidenote"

You: I propose that dinosaurs from space have come to colonize the earth but find it in an advanced state of zombie takeover.

You: Would you like to play as a dinosaur?

Stranger: Sounds good so far.

Stranger: I'd love to :D 

You: Please select a species, and a role that you will fill in the invasion.

You: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dinosaurs

Stranger: Okay, just a second

Stranger: Velociraptor 

You: The small velociraptor that actually existed or a 'raptor' as depicted in Jurassic Park, i.e. large and fast?

Stranger: The Jurassic Park one.

You: Finally, what role would you like to take during the invasion? Pilot, fighter, some kind of officer or technician etc.

You: Also, your character's name.

Stranger: A fighter pilot named Dante

You: Expelled from their ancestral home on the world of Paleotopia, your sect of dinosaurs strikes out for the stars in the colony ship Pangea to seek a new home.

Stranger: Awesome

Stranger: :)

You: After aeons of travel in stasis aboard the ship, Pangea arrives at the star Sol in the milky way. There, the age-old cryo-tubes crack open and allow hundreds of thousands of dinosaurs to set claw upon the metal panels of their mothership-home once again.

You: The wizened leadership of Pangea decrees that the temperate world of Earth shall be your new home, but a strange thing has happened to the dominant species of the planet.

You: Infected by an alien plague, the Humans have turned upon themselves, and a menace known as the 'Zombie' has been born.

Stranger: I like where you're going with this

You: Their civilization has all but collapsed, and Leaf Cutter, the ancient Chiayusaurus head of the expedition, gives a transmission to the dinosaurs of Pangea that the invasion will be swift, painless, and uninterrupted. Little does he know, the feral creatures below do not play by the rules of interstellar war...

You: Your fighter squadron, Coconut A-2, is the first Pangean unit to descend through Earth's atmosphere. Your mission is to scout the planet and discover the extent of the plague.

Stranger: :D Sweet

You: You fly your Megakratheon-Class gunboat in the right-tail of the formation, and descend over a massive city. Bonfires speckle the steelscape below, and the rooftops are caked with old gore.

Stranger: You are quite good at this

You: Shredstone, a Hypsibema in the gunboat next to you, radios you.

You: "Here we are, Dante! Ha ha haa! Did you see all those forests on the way in? We'll never go hungry again!"

Stranger: Hooray!

You: The squadron lead Lithium Claw, a Postosuchus, radios in. "Dante, we've detected a tower ahead with a huge presence of infected Humans inside. Peel off, blow it up and return to formation. Over."

You: You see the tower looming above the steely phalli below. It's windows are blackened and it is shaped like a wedge.

Stranger: Sounds ominous. :)

You: "Repeat, destroy the tower, Dante." What do you do?

Stranger: Follow orders and destroy the tower. Humans are of no importance the survival of my race, so casualties are acceptable.

You: You roll off from the squadron and lock onto the tower with the Megakratheon's weapons systems. You fire a single fusion bomb at the skyscraper. The bomb disappears into the building's base for a moment, before a blinding light erupts from the steel, causing the foundations of the building to come alight.

You: Debris flows through the air, spraying out from the explosion in a galaxy of embers. The building falls into itself like a crushed can of soda, rolling onto its side on the streets below. A huge dust cloud forms behind you as you regroup with the squadron.

You: "Good hit Dante, repeat good hit," reports Lithium Claw.

You: You speed over a huge park in the middle of the city. All is quiet as the squad collects information on the terrain when a tiny pinpoint of light appears from the park below.

You: "Squad, we have a projectile incoming," squawks Lithium Claw, seemingly unconcerned, "monitor progress, over."

You: Shredstone calls in, "Chief, it looks like it's heading for Dante's gunboat..."

Stranger: Intense

Stranger: :)

You: "What method is it using for tracking, over."

You: "I can't tell... it's not astral-transmission... not matter-inception... not light-latching..."

You: "Oh my stones! Is it heat-seeking?"

You: "We're not even built to evade that anymore!"

Stranger: :D

You: You feel like you've been slapped by a god and your cockpit turns to light around you.

You: The next thing you know, your gunboat is spinning uncontrollably and the torque is bending your neck to the breaking point.

You: "Pull out! Pull out! Dante's been hit!" barks Lithium Claw.

You: The city and the sky spin in a whirl outside of your cockpit, and spit flies from your razor-sharp teeth in the wind as the glass of your cockpit breaks loose and goes floating over the city.

You: You see the buildings rise around you, and then

You: Quiet and darkness.

You: You awake, how later you do not know, in the wreckage of your gunboat. You are in a maze of crushed metal within it, and you see that you have cuts and bruises all over your scales.

You: What do you do?

Stranger: Try to stay conscious and grab the radio, trying to contact anyone I can without drawing attention to myself that would cause the zombies to attack.

You: You activate the radio and call in mayday, but the circuitry has been smashed. You begin to hear hollow moans coming from the street outside your warplane.

You: You take quick survey of your equipment. You have three days rations of dried meat, you have your trusty zorcher raygun with full charge, and you have a single pluton bomb.

You: What do you do?

Stranger: Take all that I can and attempt to regroup with nearest squadron, weaving my way through the chaos.

You: What kind of area do you head for?

Stranger: Away from the zombies, somewhere where I can begin to try to dress my wounds and decide on a further plan of action

You: You peek your eyes just above the terminus of the cockpit. You see dozens of zombies, torn and rent in ways you've never seen living creatures be, stomping quickly towards the curled hulk of your fighter plane. Peering down the street, you see a large swath of grass and trees perhaps half a mile away. The street is dark for the towers surrounding you, blocking the sun.

You: Do you head for the trees?

Stranger: Yes

You: You sling the packets of meat around your midsection, holster your pluton bomb and take your zorcher in hand.

You: +++

You: (when I type +++, I am rolling three dice for the outcome)

Stranger: -crossing fingers for a good outcome-

You: You leap from the top of your beloved plane, landing your claws on a pair of the zombies, whose heads are smashed into the concrete by the impact. You spring and weave down the street, blasting zombie after zombie to cinders with the tendrils of death spitting forth from the zorcher. A pair of healthy-looking Humans carrying small hand-weapons run past an intersection, firing their guns loudly at passing zombies. You bite the head from one, swallowing the morsel, giving you a burst of energy. A swipe of your tail in passing knocks the other one down to be feasted upon by your pursuers, and- you make it!

You: You slide past a final street and into the swathe of trees. You can see that they are not infinite- buildings loom on the other side as well.

You: Corpses lay, holes and gashes in them, all throughout the trees. You take a moment to bandage the bleeding wounds you sustained in the crash.

Stranger: Oh no..

You: From deeper within the park, you hear the sporadic fizzle of... automatic gunfire. What do you do?

Stranger: Go to investigate, but try to be as silent as possible so that if it leads to an undesirable circumstance, I can leave with no problems.

You: +++

You: Hunching low, you stride through the underbrush like a scaled missile. You see that there is a long, gleaming body of water inside the park. Next to it, you see two groups of Humans in military garb. One of the groups is younger, terrified, firing machine guns at a horde of zombies pouring in from the north side of the park. The other group is squatting around a series of maps. They are older and wear their equipment more casually than the younger men.

You: As you approach, one of them looks up and says, "What the fuck is that?"

You: The second group stands, looking over intently. What do you do?

Stranger: Can I talk to them?

You: You have a universal communicator. How you make contact is up to you.

Stranger: Okay, so I tell them that I am also trying to destroy the zombies and convince them to let me into their ranks. They are unaware of my real intentions once the zombies are gone though. Right now they are simply a means of protection to help my wounded self locate my fellow dinosaurs.

You: You step forth from the trees, beginning with, "I come in peace!"

You: "Holy shit, it's a motherfucking dinosaur!"

You: The men gape and fumble to shoulder their rifles. They stand like a phalanx of spearmen. "GET DOWN," roars one of them, "LAY DOWN ON THE GROUND!"

You: What do you do?

Knights

I've compiled a large number of sprites from Dominions 4 and 5 and their mods into sheets of characters and creatures for use with chivalric roleplaying games.

The default implied setting here is a dreamscape amalgam of times and themes from the fall of the Western Roman Empire up to the widespread proliferation of firearms: the heyday of the mounted warrior.

The true Lancer RPG.

Some of the ideas here are based on the Dominions games, while others are just representations of familiar historical groups.

The apparent size of these sheets varies based on their dimensions, but if you download them and open them in an image viewer or editor the characters and monsters will appear nice and crisp when you zoom in.

I've been compiling these sprites for long enough that I can't say for sure where each of them comes from; if there's any art from your mod here and you'd like to be credited or have it removed, please let me know.

A piece of news before we begin: Monster Eater, Chapter 3, is now live on Fierce Firelight. 

    Index

The Knights of Isle and Plain

    Advanced Knights of Isle and Plain

Chivalric Orders

    Knights Castellan

    Knights of the Rose

    Knights of the Forest Guard

    Knights Hermetic

    Arsenal Knights

    Knights Theurgic

    Knights of the Wild

    Knights of Apollo

    Knights of the Grail

    Minor Orders (Knights of the Pride, The Pack, The Sun, and The Claw)

Localized Cultures

    Men of the Dark Forest

    Men of the Boar

    Ice Giants

    The Dark Peninsula

    The Grand Arsenal

    Pythium

    The Knights of the Black Water

    Sauromatia

    Elk Knights

    Knights of the Whisker

    Knights of the March

    The People of the Empty Places

    The Empire of Immortal Fire

    The Empire of the Silver Dish

    The Tower City

    The Empire of the Third Cataract

    The People of the City-Sea

    The Knights Riparian

    The Thousand Fortresses

    The People of the Pillars

    The Lands of Lead

    The Knights of the High Road

    The Knights of Ivory

    The Floodborn

    The Knights of Spring and Autumn

    The Knights of the Golden Apple

    The Knights of the Chrysanthemum Throne

    The Lord of Hills and Isles

    Atlantis   

    The People of the Deep Expanse

    The Empire of the Great Bridge

    The Knights of the War Bonnet

Distributed Cultures

    The Last Villas

    Agartha

    Cynoscephalae

    The Empire of the Peaks

    The Empire of the Volcanoes

    The Knights of the Starry Plain

    Littoral Amphibians

    Ogres

    Svartálfar

    The Great Megaliths

    The Green Realm

    Vampire Knights

General Purpose

    Commoners and Sorcerers

    Bandits

    Foes

    Characters

    Outsiders

Emergent Factions

    The Royal Army

    The Army of the Republic

    Knights of the Flame

    Knights of the High Frontier

    Pirates

Imagery

    Royal and Divine Imagery

    Example Cutout Framework

Knights

Knights of Isle and Plain

The Knights of the Isle in the north and the Knights of the Plain in the south have warred for a generation and the Knights of the Isle hold fiefs in the Plain, but a period of peace has come and now the knights mutually turn their lances against threats to mankind, and other suitable prey. 

Knights of the Isle

Allies: Chivalric Orders

Enemies: Men of the Dark Forest, Ice Giants, The Great Megaliths, The Green Realm

Knights of the Plain

Allies: Chivalric Orders

Enemies: Men of the Boar, Ice Giants, The Dark Peninsula, Pythium, Vampire Knights, The People of the City-Sea

 

Advanced Knights of Isle and Plain

These character models are for established knights, and those who have acquired magical mounts.

Images hereafter are arranged hierarchically, with higher-status individuals and creatures higher-up on the image

 

Chivalric Orders

Knights Castellan
Fortification Armor

Knights of the Rose

International bounty hunters

Knights of the Forest Guard
Barbarians who have become knights to ameliorate the chaos in their realms

Knights Hermetic
Inventor-knights half-mad from tinctures and forbidden knowledge

Arsenal Knights
Weaponmasters. Chivalry is an afterthought

Knights Theurgic
Ars Magica

Knights of the Wild
At home among monsters

Knights of Apollo
The most adamant proponents of civilization. Severe, disciplined, and clean to the point of mysophobia

Knights of the Grail
Immortality in service of the highest ideals, and no longer

Minor Orders
Knights of the Pride, The Pack, The Sun, and the Claw

Supporting Troops
You need not fight alone

 

Localized Cultures

Once a PC has concluded a diplomatic marriage with a culture that permits them, new PCs can come from the allied family and thus from that culture, with access to their mounts, their equipment and their abilities.

Men of the Dark Forest

They were granted land on the Isle by a foolish king who wished to employ them as mercenaries, but now they come in droves, serving no chivalric master. Someday they will come for the Plain, as well.

Allies: Sauromatia

Enemies: Knights of the Isle, Pythium, Vampire Knights, Elk Knights, The Last Villas, Knights of the Whisker

Marriage Alliance?: No

 

Men of the Boar

The Men of the Boar have lived by far-flung coasts for generations. The receding suzerainty of the Western Empire marks the birth of a new tribal confederation, and the chance to put the taxmen and their enforcers into burning wicker. 

Allies: Empire of the Third Cataract (distantly), The People of the City-Sea

Enemies: Knights of the Plain, The Dark Peninsula, Pythium, The Last Villas

Marriage Alliance?: No

 

Ice Giants

Their raids carry them to the Isle, the Plain, the March, and even to the Dark Peninsula once upon a time.

Allies: N/A

Enemies: Knights of the Isle, Knights of the Plain, Elk Knights, Knights of the March

Marriage Alliance?: No

 

The Dark Peninsula

The former seat of the Western Empire. No one can say exactly what happened here, but the omnicidal hostility of the Empire has awakened again after generations of sleep. Fortunately, the collapse of the Western Empire has been so thorough that the dark figures of the peninsula have yet to march into neighboring lands.

Allies: Outsiders

Enemies: All peoples

Marriage Alliance?: No

 

The Grand Arsenal

A great city-state on the City-Sea, unbesiegable for being mired in marshes, the profiteers of sea-war as their arsenals turn out ships to guard their cargo armadas and equip foreign navies willing to pay through the nose. They are the scorpion, you are the frog; do not trust the Arsenal Dukes.

Allies: Pythium (for now), The Empire of the Silver Dish, The Thousand Fortresses

Enemies: Vampire Knights, The Dark Peninsula, Knights of the Black Water, The People of the City-Sea

Marriage Alliance?: No

 

Pythium

The surviving half of the former empire; while its sister has been ruined by dark spirits, Pythium has been seized by serpent-worship, and actual serpentmen have assumed a crowning role in the cult.

Allies: The Grand Arsenal, Knights of the March, Knights of the Whisker

Enemies: The Dark Peninsula, Sauromatia, The Knights of the Black Water, The People of The Empty Places, The Empire of Immortal Fire, The Empire of the Silver Dish, The Empire of the Third Cataract

Marriage Alliance?: Not while the Snake Cult rules

Particular Proficiencies: Cataphracted serpentry

 

The Knights of The Black Water

The women of a great island south of Sauromatia. They form political alliances with foreigners in lieu of conquering and integrating them in the manner of Sauromatia, and thus have maintained their isolation and their freedom from the problems of empire such as the androphagi hydra-cult in Sauromatia.

Allies: The Knights of the Whisker, Elk Knights

Enemies: The Grand Arsenal, Sauromatia, Pythium, The People of The Empty Places, The Empire of Immortal Fire

Marriage Alliance?: Yes
Particular Proficiencies: Mounted archery

 

Sauromatia

The women of the dark coasts have subjugated many tribes, integrating the men into the original male tribe of cannibal subjects while integrating the women as low-status handmaidens and squires. A byproduct of the conquest and expansion of the androphagi is the proliferation of their hydra-cult, and their lands are now overrun with many-headed snakes. Pythium looks with lust upon this realm.

Allies: The Men of the Dark Forest, The Knights of the March, The Empire of Immortal Fire, The Tower City

Enemies: The Knights of the Black Water, The People of the Empty Places, Pythium, Elk Knights, The Knights of the Whisker

Marriage Alliance?: No

 

Elk Knights

The knights of the forest bogs have served as a tremendous roadblock to expansion by the People of the Empty Places and the Knights of the March, but at last an invasion into their backcountry by the Ice Giants has begun to darken their icy horizons.

Allies: Knights of the Whisker, Knights of the Black Water

Enemies: Men of the Dark Forest, Ice Giants, Sauromatia, The People of the Empty Places, Knights of the March

Marriage Alliance?: Yes

Particular Proficiencies: Ambush

 

Knights of the Whisker

The riotous forest nobles and steppe-people who give cavalry to the Knights of the Whisker have many neighbors prone to wandering and settling, and those who cannot be integrated by the charter are disintegrated by the lance charge.

Allies: Elk Knights, Pythium, The Knights of Black Water

Enemies: The People of the Empty Places, The Men of the Dark Forest, Knights of the March, Sauromatia

Marriage Alliance?: Yes

Particular Competencies: Ultra-fast lance charges

 

Knights of the March

The city-states of the Knights of the March are forged amidst the most terrible foes: the People of the Empty Places, the destroyers of settled states. 

Allies: Pythium, Sauromatia

Enemies: Ice Giants, The People of The Empty Places, The Knights of the Whisker, Elk Knights

Marriage Alliance?: Yes

Particular Competencies: Integration of carefully-placed foot archers into cavalry tactics

 

The People of the Empty Places

Every man a horse archer, a great tribe associated with the People of the Empty Places played a key role in the fall of the Western Empire, and now those even deeper in their windswept lands push out in every direction again, preparing to bring ruin to the cities and armies where men foolishly fight on foot.

Allies: N/A

Enemies: Pythium, The Knights of the Black Water, Sauromatia, Knights of the March, Knights of the Whisker, Elk Knights, The Empire of Immortal Fire, The Knights of the High Road, The Knights of Ivory, The Lands of Lead, The Knights of The March, The Knights of the Whisker, The Knights of Spring and Autumn, The Knights of the Golden Apple, The Knights of the Chrysanthemum Throne

Marriage Alliance?: Not unless they conquer vast regions and become sedentary

 

The Empire of Immortal Fire

Usurpers from the Empire of the Volcanoes invaded and seized the crown of the Empire of Immortal Fire, attracted by its central cult. The flower of its former chivalry went into exile as the Knights of the High Road, and wait for their chance to reclaim their highland empire.

Allies: The Empire of the Third Cataract, Sauromatia, The Tower City

Enemies: The Empire of the Silver Dish, Pythium, The Knights of Black Water, The People of the Empty Places, The Knights of the High Road, The Knights of Ivory

Marriage Alliance?: No, except for with the Empire of the Volcanoes

 

The Empire of the Silver Dish

The Empire is named for a great platter upon which subjects of the divine giants and their captives are served in hideous feasts.

Allies: The Grand Arsenal, The Thousand Fortresses, The People of the City-Sea
Enemies: The Empire of Immortal Fire, Pythium, The Empire of the Third Cataract, The Knights of the Black Water, The People of the Empty Places, The Tower City, The Lands of Lead, The People of the Pillars, The Knights of the High Road

Marriage Alliance?: No

 

The Tower City

A vast city-state that reaches up towards the heavens. The divine giants of the Silver Dish long to empty out the Tower City and send its populace down their gullets, but these powerful but paranoid people have resisted all comers with aid of a shifting web of strategic alliances.

Allies: Sauromatia, The Empire of Immortal Fire, The Empire of the Peaks

Enemies: The Empire of the Silver Dish, The People of the City-Sea

Marriage Alliance?: No

 

The Empire of the Third Cataract

Humans once ruled the Empire of the Third Cataract, but the waters of their great river proved so rich that they gave consciousness to the lizards that basked upon the banks. The lizards overthrew them and adopted their cult and government, and now the men of the empire find themselves in bondage, serving as warriors and laboring on titanic construction projects for the vanity and benefit of the lizardly priest-kings.

Allies: The Men of the Boar, The Empire of Immortal Fire

Enemies: Pythium, The Empire of the Silver Dish, The People of the City-Sea, The Knights Riparian

Marriage Alliance?: No

 

The People of the City-Sea

Cities have been founded along the coasts by exodites from the Empire of the Silver Dish. Most remain cordial with the Empire but practice much more limited sacrifice, focusing on foreigners as objects of trade and profitable subjugation rather than as ornaments of the dining table.

Allies: The Empire of the Silver Dish, The Thousand Fortresses, The Men of the Boar

Enemies: Knights of the Plains, The Grand Arsenal, The Tower City, The Empire of the Third Cataract,  The Knights Riparian
Marriage Alliance?: No

 

The Knights Riparian

The men of the flooding grasslands find a variety of mounts more conducive to patrolling their vast herds than the horse, some patrolling the open mounted on lions, some making sorties into the vast forest by spiderback. Those with the means find that the elephant is conducive to crashing through both, but the lion remains the ultimate symbol of lordship.

Allies: The People of the Pillars

Enemies: The Thousand Fortresses, The People of the City-Sea, The Lands of Lead, the Empire of the Third Cataract

Marriage Alliance?: Yes

Particular Competencies: Men source, smelt and forge their own iron weapons and tools, and high-status individuals also work gold 

 

The Thousand Fortresses

The kings of this great empire operate coastal fortresses from which warbands sortie out to capture vulnerable polities for sale into slavery. This has, however, deprived them of nearby allies and presented a sympathetic hinterland as a possible conduit for attack by the Knights Riparian.

Allies: The People of the City-Sea, The Lands of Lead, The Empire of the Silver Dish, The Grand Arsenal

Enemies: The Knights Riparian

Marriage Alliance?: Only with the People of the City-Sea

 

The People of the Pillars

A rogue sect of Red Genies have descended on this secluded, secretive people and forced them into the their conflict with the genies of the Lands of Lead.

Allies: The Knights Riparian, The Knights of the High Road, The Knights of the Golden Apple

Enemies: The Lands of Lead, The Empire of the Silver Dish

Marriage Alliance?: Yes, once the genies have been expelled or homeostatically integrated

Particular Competencies: Extremely fast maneuvering while mounted

 

The Lands of Lead

The genies of the Lands of Lead hold their human subjects in bondage on the basis that it is better than being devoured in the Empire of the Silver Dish. That does not stop the genies from feeding their people into the fires of war.

Allies: The Thousand Fortresses

Enemies: The People of the Pillars, The Knights Riparian, The People of the Empty Places, The Empire of the Silver Dish

Marriage Alliance?: No

 

The Knights of the High Road

The heirs to the Empire of Immortal Fire, which was seized by usurpers from the Empire of the Volcanoes. They guard the ways around the Empire and stand watch over the roads to Spring and Autumn, waiting for the day in which they might overthrow the volcano-men.

Allies: The People of the Pillars, The Knights of the March, The Knights of Ivory, The Knights of Spring and Autumn

Enemies: The Empire of Immortal Fire, the Empire of the Silver Dish, The People of the Empty Places, The Floodborn

Marriage Alliance?: Yes

Particular Competencies: The ability to conjure flaming weapons as the true keepers of the faith of Immortal Fire, giant rams can batter through portcullises, reputation for clemency as rulers

 

The Knights of Ivory

The Princes of a land of a thousand great cities and fastnesses, the Knights of Ivory fight an immortal battle with the Floodborn using their traditional military triad of elephantry, chariots, and infantry. Men born to families of hereditary military leaders are expected to fight in all three modes. Invasions by the People of the Empty Places and by the Empire of Immortal Fire now present a time of troubles not matched since the ages of myth and legend.

Allies: The Knights of the High Road, The Knights of the Golden Apple

Enemies: The People of the Empty Places, The Floodborn, The Empire of Immortal Fire

Marriage Alliance?: Yes

Particular Competencies: Mounted as elephantry (and charioteers) by default, sacred ascendance into higher states

 

The Floodborn

The richness of the flooding waters here have granted an intelligence to creatures of the wood- some for good, most for evil. The Princes of Ivory have hitherto resisted being overthrown in the manner of the Empire of the Third Cataract, but the coming of the People of the Empty Places and of the Empire of Immortal Fire may change this.

Allies: Outsiders

Enemies: The Knights of Ivory, The Knights of the High Road, The Knights of the Golden Apple

Marriage Alliance?: No

 

The Knights of Spring and Autumn

The Knights of Spring and Autumn manage a vast and verdant land that is now threatened by raiders from the sea and invaders from the continent's cold interior. The trade connection they maintain with the Western lands is in danger of being co-opted or cut by the People of the Empty Places, who mass for a great invasion; only the Knights of the High Road allow for their connection with distant realms.

Allies: The Knights of the High Road

Enemies: The Lord of Hills and Isles, The People of the Empty Places, The Knights of the Golden Apple

Marriage Alliance?: Yes

Particular Competencies: Gunpowder, military command, and ascension to Living Ancestor-status via sacred alchemy

 

The Knights of the Golden Apple

The noble cavalry of a thalassocratic, archipelagic empire south of Spring and Autumn. They, too, are subject to invasion by the People of the Empty Places, but their combination of natural defensive territory and firearm use by the armored nobility present an unparalleled challenge to the warriors of the steppe.

Allies: The Knights of Ivory, The People of the Pillars

Enemies: The Lord of Hills and Isles, The Floodborn, The Knights of Spring and Autumn, The People of the Empty Places

Marriage Alliance?: Yes

Particular Competencies: Able to switch between horse-archery, foot gunnery, and stealth at the drop of a hat

 

The Knights of the Chrysanthemum Throne

The lands of the Chrysanthemum Throne are in chaos as the holy-blooded adolescent Emperor is held as an unwilling courtier by the demonic Lord of Hills and Isles. While nearby vassals scheme for the Emperor's release, those of the outlying territories remain content to wage private wars over their borderlands. It will take a great leader to weld the feudal lords into a common cause and overthrow the Lord of Hills and Isles.

Allies: N/A

Enemies: The Lord of Hills and Isles, The People of the Empty Places

Marriage Alliance?: Not while the Lord of Hills and Isles holds dominion

Particular Competencies: Horse-archery, foot dueling, ascension to sword-saint status

 

The Lord of Hills and Isles

The single greatest power in the islands, the Lord of Hills and Isles schemes to keep the feudal lords suppressed and divided, ravaging the lands of those who will not be cowed with armies of bandits and demons.

Allies: Outsiders

Enemies: The Knights of the Chrysanthemum Throne, The Knights of the Golden Apple, The Knights of Spring and Autumn

Marriage Alliance?: No

 

Atlantis

A great power beneath a distant sea collects foul and mad human sorcerers as seers while co-opting communities of littoral amphibians. Their ultimate purpose is inscrutable but involves the destruction of the world's great civilizations as stepping stones towards the final transformation.

Allies: Outsiders

Enemies: All other forms of life, but particularly Pythium

Marriage Alliance?: No

 

The People of the Deep Expanse

The People of the Deep Expanse have lived in peaceable isolation for many generations, but the coming of the Empire of the Great Bridge has forced a change in their methods and purposes. Reaching out across the steppe are the Knights of the War Bonnet to make common cause, but their communities are as yet too far-flung and distant to present a unified front against the portentous night-raids of Xibalba.

Allies: Knights of the War Bonnet

Enemies: The Empire of the Great Bridge

Marriage Alliance?: No

 

The Empire of the Great Bridge

Their blood sacrifices were intended for the gods but instead brought forth the bats of Xibalba, the vast cavern realms under the Empire. Now the bats rule, the sacrifices continue for sake of their delicious blood, and the dark lords plot to steal the sun for their underground realm.

Allies: N/A

Enemies: Agartha, The People of the Deep Expanse, The Knights of the War Bonnet, The Empire of the Peaks

Marriage Alliance?: No

 

The Knights of the War Bonnet

The infinite plains are shrinking as dark forces pour forth from the southern heat. Outlying herds are drained of their blood, as are outlying tribes; a confederation is forming, but too many peoples may be snuffed out by the tides of Xibalba before a cohesive front can be established.

Allies: The People of the Deep Expanse

Enemies: The Empire of the Great Bridge

Marriage Alliance?: Yes

Particular Competencies: Tracking, precision lancing, rapidly mounting and dismounting in combat

 

Distributed Cultures

The Last Villas

Distribution: The Former Empire

Disposition: Survivalist

Modus Operandi: Operate isolated latifundia centered around a former magistrate and his cadre of garrison troops

 

Agartha

Distribution: Underneath the entire earth

Disposition: Crush the surface cities so as to weaken and control the surface dwellers, commanding their resources without having to invade their sunlit realms.

Modus Operandi: Tunnel under cities and then collapse them

 

Cynoscephalae

Distribution: These maneating jackal-headed people ravage the Pythian backcountry and range out from the Dark Peninsula, but can be found in isolated pockets throughout the earth. Even goodhearted cynoscephalae are plagued by a bottomless bloodlust.

Disposition: Ravenous

Modus Operandi: Sniff out underdefended settlements, herds, and processions before falling upon and devouring them. 

 

The Empire of the Peaks

Distribution: Many of the highest peaks in the world.

Disposition: Imperial

Modus Operandi: Settle new peaks and demand tribute from low-lying settlements; raid recalcitrant peoples in their backcountry, declining battle wherever the enemy gathers in favor of attacking weakly-defended settlements.

 

Empire of the Volcanoes

Distribution: The world's volcanoes.

Disposition: Imperial

Modus Operandi: Forge new weapons and species in the living, umbilical fire of volcanoes, covertly settle inactive volcanoes and charge them until they erupt, ruining nearby settlements and creating new sacred calderas

 

Knights of the Starry Plain

Distribution: Plains, prairies, and seas here and there across the world

Disposition: Beneficent 

Modus Operandi: Range the open lands and waters, hunting and periodically cultivating vineyards. Assist more centralized institutions in their endeavors.

 

Littoral Amphibians

Distribution: The world's remotest coasts, and some of the largest rivers

Disposition: Revanchist

Modus Operandi: Theocratically subjugate isolated communities closer and closer to the world's largest port cities in hopes of someday reclaiming the most verdant coasts and rivers.

 

Ogres

Distribution: Remote hills and caves

Disposition: Ravenous

Modus Operandi: Acquire and devour flesh.

 

Svartálfar

Distribution: Caverns here and there beneath the earth

Disposition: Covetous (surfacers) and genocidal (Agartha)

Modus Operandi: Slave raiding against surface communities

 

The Great Megaliths

Distribution: These rabbitfolk can be found residing on giant stone structures throughout the world but particularly on the isle of Lugaru, which lies northwest of the Knights of the Isle and northeast of the Knights of the War Bonnet. One of their largest megastructures in human lands rises in the realm of the Knights of the Isle, though this was almost fully depopulated by incessant warring with the Western Empire. Others can be found in the Dark Forest, in the Empire of the Silver Dish (where they are a prized delicacy), in Spring and Autumn, in the riverlands north of the Knights Riparian, amidst the Knights of the Golden Apple, and in the Lands of Lead, to name a few.

Disposition: The rabbitfolk are prone to evil governance, which is resisted by individual heroic warriors. While these heroes are extraordinarily effective, these megalithic societies are so prone to internecine fighting that they have never been able to subjugate outsiders, though sorties have been sent against the Knights of the War Bonnet and the People of the City-Sea.

Modus Operandi: The rabbitfolk are skilled with traditional weapons, but are also capable of launching running kick attacks capable of killing horses or sending armored warriors flying. In this age they rarely establish new megalithic sky-structures, which are accessible mainly via massive jumps

 

The Green Realm

Distribution: It can manifest anywhere that vegetation that feeds on decay overcomes ruins or healthy biomes

Disposition: All-consuming

Modus Operandi: Manifest, skulk, terrorize, capture, and sacrifice

 

Vampire Knights

Distribution: Here and there throughout the realms of chivalry, but most archetypally in the lands between the Knights of the Plain and the Men of the Dark Forest, and between Pythium and Sauromatia.

Disposition: Acquisitive

Modus Operandi: Win lands through traditional feudal means, then reduce the peasantry and burghers to absolute immobility through terror and surveillance before treating them like herd animals.

 

General Purpose

Commoners and Sorcerers

 

Bandits

 

Foes

 

Characters

 

Outsiders

 

Emergent Factions

The Royal Army

Conditions of Emergence:

-A Player Character of the Knights of the Isle or the Knights of the Plain forms a marriage alliance established with a prominent family of Spring & Autumn or the Knights of the Golden Apple, so as to acquire a competency in gunpowder affairs

-The Royal Army is formed by decree of the King of the Isle, the King of the Plain, or the joint Emperor of Isle and Plain if such a political structure exists.

-If being formed by the Knights of the Isle, the Men of the Dark Wood must no longer present an existential threat

-If being formed by the Knights of the Plain, the Men of the Boar must no longer present an existential threat

-If being formed by a joint Empire of Isle and Plain, there will be a revolution by vassals and commoners of either Isle or Plain, depending on where the capital is to be or which group of Knights is regarded as being preeminent in the Empire. The purpose of the revolution is to resist being permanently centralized into an empire with a gunpowder army led by the other set of Knights and their King.

 

Army of the Republic

Conditions of Emergence along the sea-coast north of the Dark Wood:

-The Royal Army has formed

-The Men of the Dark Wood no longer present an existential threat to anybody

OR

-The Men of the Dark Wood no longer present an existential threat to anybody

-A PC from the Knights of the Isle, the Knights of the Plain, the Elk Knights, or Pythium has established a marriage alliance with the Knights of the Golden Apple or the Knights of Spring and Autumn.

Developments:

-The Republic will be good friends to the players if they had any hand in their independence, but will also rapaciously invade the empire of the Knights of the Golden Apple. 

-In turn, the Knights of the Flame will be the interminable enemy of the Republic should the Knights form.

 

Knights of the Flame

Conditions of Emergence southwest of the Knights of the Plain:

-PCs have encountered the Knights of Spring and Autumn or the Knights of the Golden Apple.

-PCs have encountered the Empire of the Great Bridge.

Developments:

-The Knights of the Flame will assemble to invade the Empire of the Great Bridge before they can steal the sun for Xibalba, and to seize the Empire's great wealth. In doing so, they will also indiscriminately wage war against the People of the Deep Expanse and eventually the Knights of the War Bonnet.

-Domestically, they will kick off a religious purity spiral, assailing knights and populations they regard as impious, and will particularly attempt to subjugate the Republic should it form, due to the sectarian and ultra-monarchist ideology of the Knights.

 

Knights of the High Frontier

Conditions of Emergence out of the Knights of the March and the Knights of the Whisker:

-PCs have encountered the Knights of Spring and Autumn or the Knights of the Golden Apple.

-The Knights of the March have not been eradicated by the People of the Empty Places

-Occurs very quickly if a PC who is a Knight of the March or a Knight of the Whisker forms a marriage alliance with the Knights of Spring and Autumn or the Knights of the Golden Apple.

Developments:

-The threat of the People of the Empty Plain is such that the Knights of the March acquire firearms and reform their armies of foot archers into arquebus-wielding hereditary troops and militia.

-By default, or if a PC who is a Knight of the March kicked off this process, the Knights of the March will force the integration of the Knights of the Whisker into their burgeoning Empire.

-If the PC who begins the process is a Knight of the Whisker, the Knights of the Whisker form the Most Serene Confederation and are capable of standing off the Knights of the March, who more gradually acquire firearms; thereafter, Knights of the Whisker fight as temporary allies of the Knights of the High Frontier during expeditions against mutual enemies.

 

Pirates

Conditions of Emergence:

-The Knights of the Flame succeed in establishing a permanent presence in the Empire of the Great Bridge and carry off great wealth in the process.

Developments:

-Pirates will raid sea-traffic between the Lands of Flame and the Great Bridge, and piracy will gradually spread as a gunpowder phenomenon throughout the world.

 

Imagery

Royal and Divine Imagery

 

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