It’s been 200 years since tragedy struck.
The hegemony of angels over the human world, the Surface, was over. The world became unstable. The very Essence, the fabric of all living things, changed. Creatures that were never possible before suddenly became possible. Chaos was threatening to set in when something extraordinary happened. The person responsible for it all was Judas Iscariot, the Tyrant aiming to eradicate all non-human existence. Angels and demons were savagely persecuted and killed at sight, their long-lasting despise for each other making their resistance weak and fragile against the sheer masses of humanity. As their numbers plummeted, their despair rose. It was just a matter of time until they would be all just a distant memory.
But not all humans agreed with Judas’ plans. Some were prepared to fight to bring order back, and were prepared for the ultimate sacrifice – their very soul. Thus a small group of humans, demons and angels teamed up in order to stop the rule of the Tyrant . They combined their power, their very existence, and surrendered parts of their soul in order to combine the remains with those of others’. The new creatures were called chimeras by some and nephilim by others, but in essence they were simply the most capable race of them all.
But not all-powerful. And not invincible.
As they broke though Judas’ army, killing left, right and center, the nephilim finally reached the center of his stronghold. Inside, the fate of the whole world was decided. Judas fell and his most prised possession – the Essence of the World, was retrieved. A sword, born from the flesh, tears and blood of thousands upon thousands of men and women, a sword, capable of altering the very fabric of existence, a sword that was once a woman herself. With the combined knowledge of all races and the help of the last Gatekeeper, Luciana, the Essence was persuaded to disband.
And thus, a new age began. An age where the mightiest creature in existence herself surrendered her power to humans children and the rule of the strongest over the weakest was over….
… or was it?
So, for the curious, the quick answer is – no, it wasn’t. ;p
Things are far from stable, although some semblance of balance was regained in the past 200 years. In short, we have 4 major races, each with its own perks and drawbacks. Angels are most organized and specialize in a few major groups, listed on the site. Demons are mostly selfish and can rarely be classed – unlike angels they can also use magic. Finally, there’s humans who are in between and can also use magic (they’re easy to influence into turning into something non-human – grey angels and surface demons).
Major points:
Magic doesn’t alter space and time, can’t create matter and can’t change someone’s personality, unless its root is an Instrument and the wielder – a Musician.
Essence is in everything alive – consider it something like a spirit, an aura and a life force. Demons can utilize that essence (by taking/eating it from other creatures, mostly) where angels only utilize their own for their work. Humans, as always, are in-between. Chimeras are an option of combining elements of all 3. In physical form essence presents itself in flesh, bone, blood, tears and so on.
The Roles:
Angels, Demons, Chimeras:
Angels and demons are still pretty weakened by all the past events but now they have struck a balance in power. Most of them agree to the Chain of Vengeance, a system whereby whenever a life is taken from one side, the other has the right to react by taking a life back. The ones who don’t subscribe to that belief are called Renegades and are usually hunted down by any of the 4 races.
My picking one of those races you’re choosing to be either free-lance good, free-lance bad (Renegade) or as belonging to one of the many ogranisations/sects dedicated to whatever purpose and have a more sandbox type of experience. The creation of those will be up to willing players.
Humans:
As mentioned, the Essence of the World was shattered into a million tiny pieces, all holding immense power and that power was given to the humans. The pieces take on the shapes of musical instruments and their abilities range widely, the most powerful of it being the altering of matter and IPC (involuntary personality change) which occurs when the instruments are played masterfully. However, power comes at a price and for the adolescents who want to master the Instruments, the price could be sanity. As the Instruments themselves hold the remains of countless angel, human and demon souls, they cannot be mastered without leaving an imprint on the bearer’s soul. The teachings are carefully monitored in Master Melody’s Academy of Fine Arts but accidents couldn’t be avoided. Many of the students go insane and all are never the same as they were to begin with. Upon their graduation the Masters are tasked with the protection of peace and order – to hunt down the Renegade and prevent them from reincarnating ever again by reaping their soul and absorbing it forever in their instruments.
If you want to play as one of the Academy, you can expect to have some missions given to you by random people (not necessarily the GM) and you should be generally trustworthy enough to be admitted. (That doesn’t mean you couldn’t have sneaked in and still be a psycho bastard, obviously). Also, feel free to explore the topic of inner voices and insanity with that role, or even things with a slice of life or school life tinge.
Other roles for a human are either a powerless individual, one that specializes in weaponry or magicians.
The site/ Homework:
Pretty much everything but the Characters and Council parts are the same sill. You don't have to read it all but it helps if you want to have a better idea about what it's all about. :)
There’s no section for Chimeras as those haven’t been fully explored just yet.
http://essence-of-the-world.weebly.com/
RACIAL SUMMARY
Demons: With their robust monopoly on magical arts, innumerable demonic kinds, and a perpetual hunger for essence to fuel their ritualistic evolution, the demons of Hell bring a frightening amount of dread to the table. What they lack in high quality essence, they make up for in their finesse in essence manipulation (life-energy based magic, essentially). Their evolution ritual is always a gamble, though: if they have not consumed enough essence, they risk dying and returning to the Void to await another chance to respawn on the Surface. That being said, demons should never be underestimated as they almost always have a way out of trouble.
There are two types of demons – Hellions and Surface demons. As the name implies, the first reside in the underworld, while the latter – on the human plane, simply called “Surface”. However, this is not the only difference between them – there is a stark contrast between their abilities too. With very few exceptions the Hellions are a lot more diverse and stronger while the Surface demons are basically possessed humans. Surface demons can evolve like their hellion brothers, however typically they are weak werewolves and vampires.
Angels: In stark contrast to demons, angels have the purest, highest quality of essence. Their auras are so forceful and overwhelming that it is a sight to behold; only fools disregard an angel's presence. Fewer in number, the angels possess extraordinary biological abilities, which to some might seem like magic. But angels cannot wield magic, at least not in the flexible way that humans and demon do. Regardless, with their powerfully trained angelic classes, especially Weather Angels, the winged forces of Heaven are not easily defeated, especially in large groups.
Angels strongly resemble humans in physical appearance save for their wings that hold their angelic essence and the memories of their past lives. Should those wings be detached from their bodies the angels revert back to being human and are called “Fallen”.
Humans: Let's be blunt here, humans can be weak and strong; dumb and wise. Yet they remain a force to be reckoned with; they always have and always will be. Their essence is far richer than demons’, yet not too rigid for them to use magic (unlike angels). They are the most numerous and can also have offspring, unlike their supernatural "cousins." They have the most potential to become highly effective, but it is a long journey with no promises of reward at the end. Such is our struggle, but therein lies our greatest strength: determination.
TECHNOLOGICAL & MAGICAL SUMMARY
1. Technology is for the most part modern day with a hint of some futuristic gadgets and such. Certain individuals and secret organizations are on the rise to using advance technology to combat the supernatural. As such, magitek is starting to become a bit more commonplace.
2. Magic is based around essence. What is essence? Essence is the mysterious entity that is the source of everything keeping this world together. It can't be created or destroyed, just manipulated and used for a variety of things, that I guess for all intents and purposes we should call magic. Essence is everywhere, it's within all living beings and is in all inanimate objects. Yet each of the three main races (angel, human, demon) utilize essence in different ways simply due to their biology. I encourage all of you to utilize creative magic around the broad rules of each race.
Angels: Angels cannot manipulate essence around themselves. Instead what they must rely on is the potent essence that is unique for them alone, hence the description that they have a “holy” aura around them. Angels are already physically strong so the majority of magic is defensive in nature. Using a lot of healing, illusion and protective magic, not to say that offensive is impossible for an Angel. Far from it, but it is more common for Angels to have more defensive magic than anything else.
Demons: The polar opposite of angels. Their own inner essence is rather bland in comparison to that of an angel or even a human. To compensate for this weakness, they manipulate the essence around them for a variety of mostly offensive magical spells (such as generic fireballs and lightning combination). Once again, this is not strictly limited to offensive magic, this is just the norm for demons. The demon lords of Hell, for example, have far more at their disposal. Additionally, with their longer life spans, demons generally have greater knowledge and experience with magic than humans.
Humans: Humanity, for the most part, have not been able to use magic for most of their history. Their very bodies form a barrier between humanity and access to its own inward essence, with only a small handful of humans having been able to cross that barrier throughout time. However, with the fall of the final gate (Hell's Gate) 200 years ago, the balance of essence has gone out of whack and has been slowly shifting. This has resulted in mankind having greater access to their own essence for magical purposes, albeit it's still incredibly difficult. Humans, have a strong essence within themselves like angels, but instead, humans use it to mix with the essence of the outside world, making a diverse of magic very possible for humans. Think of it like a form of alchemy or chemistry: mixing one's own essence with some other kind of essence to basically form a magical cocktail of sorts.
