There is a child on our throne.
There is a plague on our streets.
There is a curse on our souls.

Ten years after the death of Corvo Attano, the assassin of the Empress, the city of Dunwall is as corrupt as ever. The conspiracy that Corvo fought was destroyed, but never made public knowledge and the child-queen Emily was put on the throne, but she has an unpopular figure considered by most to be a puppet of the Lord Regent even after her formal coronation when she turned 18. Corvo himself was found burned to death under the throne room, in a strange secret room filled with ash.

The rat-plague wrought by foul powers still ravages the population, without a cure. Worse still has been the manifestation of the Darksign, cursing those who bear it to a perpetual half-life, dying and dying over and over, eventually losing their sanity and turning to mindless Hollows. Those who bear the mark are considered touched by an outer power, a dark force that wishes to bring about an end to the New Age of Fire.

Strange beasts stalk the streets at night. The old prayers aren't bringing the same warm feelings they used to. The world is winding down, the cycle will begin again.

You bear the mark. You are cursed. Through it, a fell patron speaks to you and whispers of destiny and madness. Through it, you gain power beyond those of mortal men. Death will not touch you, but with each passing day your humanity and your memories slip further and further away.

Soon, you will find yourself in front of a certain pub, the doorway lit by whale-oil, and you can't quite remember why...

---

So, yeah, like the title suggests I had this idea for a crossover between the game Dishonored and the FromSoftware "Souls" games - Bloodborne but also the Dark Souls games since Bloodborne isn't out yet, even if it is thematically very similar to Dishonored.

Still thinking of ideas for mashing up the metaphysics, but the idea is that while Corvo had the Outsider's brand which gave him his powers, that you as the Undead are marked with the Darksign that will also give you power. Your patron doesn't have to be the Outsider though.

The idea is that PCs are all Undead, bearers of the accursed Darksign, who have lost some of their memories through the process of Hollowing (dying and recovering, losing fragments of their soul). They can hunt and kill people or monsters to earn more souls and keep the Hollowing away. They could use their newfound power to pursue their personal agendas - for as long as they can remember that agenda. They could delve into the sewers, to face the adversity in the cities beneath the city. They might rekindle the flame or bring about the Dark..

Thoughts? Questions?

You have my interests peaked.

Here's a question, should we involve Blood with the Souls? Afterall from the little that is known about Bloodborne there is a connection between a person becoming beastial and the tainted blood they consume or gather. Plus the name of the game itself suggests blood has a key role. Perhaps we can integrate it in with the aspects of Souls in that whatever the curse is it could be tied to something within blood.

My thinking there is to merge the rat-plague from Dishonored with the tainted-blood plague from Bloodborne. From what I've heard of Bloodborne's lore, the plague twists people into monsters, which Dishonored sort of has with the Weepers, only Bloodborne's transformations are more extreme. The mechanic (in the game) involves keeping your tainted-blood level down to avoid becoming more bestial and gathering pure blood; both work as healing items but pure blood is rarer and more powerful, therefore much more valuable. It sounds kind of like how in Fallout, non-radiated water is way more valuable than dirty water, but both heal you.

Meanwhile, the Darksign curse is a separate thing, merged in with the mark that the Outsider leaves on Corvo and other chosen individuals. I'm not sure if that makes you immune to the plague or not - I'll have to double-check if it made Corvo immune to the Outsider's rat-plague for instance.

All right then, now we just need to wait on others I guess.

I'll throw my interest into the metaphorical hat for this idea.

You got my interest, but I have several questions and clarifications I'd like to state. Though I understand that crossing over two universes and trying to make all details fit with each other is fairly hard.

I do apologize if I sound like a jerk, I don't mean to. Most of these are gonna be Dishonored though, as I've played it much, and have not played Darksouls yet, but am familiar of their lore.

First question, what happened to the Whalers (Daud's assassin company), are they in hiding? Are they immune to this new plague?
Also what about the seven others, including Daud, Marked (not with the Darksign) by the Outsider? Are they immune too?
What does Piero Joplin say about the Hollows? The last time we saw him, he was working with Sokolov to cure the rat plague and even perhaps the Weepers.
Why is Emily still a child after ten years? In the events of the game, she should be 9 or 10, so now, she should be like 19-20
Are there any other deities aside from the Outsider? What of the four Lord Souls?

And just some corrections: I'm not absolutely sure, but Sokolov actually believes the Outsider exists, the Outsider even said that Sokolov performs weird rituals for him. He just doesn't appear to Sokolov since, in the Outsider's own words: "But if he really wants to see me, he could start by being a bit more interesting." Although, perhaps we could say that Sokolov is just saying that for the record as to not lose his credibility?

Also, the Overseers' religion, the Abbey of the Everyman, is unique in that they only believe in the Void and the Outsider, and believe that the Outsider is evil. They have no other deities included in the religion, no "good" counterpart, so they wouldn't think the disease a punishment, they'd think its just the Outsider doing it for the evulz.

The Outsider did not bring the Rat Plague onto Dunwall, it was actually the Lord Regent. He got the rats, put 'em in the streets to rid it of the poor, but it went out of hand, the rats proved to be too uncontrollable and cleverer than the catchers.

Although, all these can be excused if this is an alternate universe that doesn't follow either Dishonored or Darksouls' canons.

It's cool man, questions are fair and I'm not perfect so I'll admit in a few places I've messed up or written things a little unclear.

Mikellh Dejax said
First question, what happened to the Whalers (Daud's assassin company), are they in hiding? Are they immune to this new plague?Also what about the seven others, including Daud, Marked (not with the Darksign) by the Outsider? Are they immune too?

1. The Whalers, after the death of Daud, are still in existence in the Flooded Districts of the city, though they've not had quite as lucrative a contract as the death of an Empress since then. They will be a faction PC's could come from, though mostly they serve as hired blades.

2. It's not a "new" plague, the rat-plague was never cured. And no, the Whalers are no more immune to the plague than anyone.

3. Corvo, Daud and the Witch (the three known living bearers of the Outsider's mark in Dishonored) are all dead by this point. As in this game I'm folding in the Darksign with the Outsider's mark, yes they would be immune to the plague because of their status as the Undead.

What does Piero Joplin say about the Hollows? The last time we saw him, he was working with Sokolov to cure the rat plague and even perhaps the Weepers.

Both Piero and Sokolov have attempted to study Hollows and the other Undead scientifically, but of course run into the problem of it being not scientific, The manifestation of the Undead is also taken as a new 'strain' of the plague initially (since it manifests with blemishes and some Weeper-like symptoms when they become Hollow), so quite a few resources are wasted trying to treat them like you would a conventional epidemic when they are anything but. Joplin, being more mentally frail than Sokolov, begins to despair and goes missing in the search for unconventional answers, last seen venturing into the sewers after rambling about a city beneath Dunwall.

Why is Emily still a child after ten years? In the events of the game, she should be 9 or 10, so now, she should be like 19-20

Sorry, ambiguous phrasing on my part. She is currently an adult, when I referred to her as a child-queen I meant because at the end of the game she becomes Empress but, since she's too young to rule at that point, a Lord Regent is appointed. She has recently been 'officially' crowned and begun to rule in earnest as an adult, but is still considered by many too young and naive to be a proper monarch, as well as a puppet of the Lord Regent, Lord Grenwich.

Are there any other deities aside from the Outsider?

Okay, so the Outsider is someone that I've actually enjoyed integrating into Dark Souls lore because he's kind of/kind of not a deity.

And just some corrections: I'm not absolutely sure, but Sokolov actually believes the Outsider exists, the Outsider even said that Sokolov performs weird rituals for him. He just doesn't appear to Sokolov since, in the Outsider's own words: "But if he really wants to see me, he could start by being a bit more interesting." Although, perhaps we could say that Sokolov is just saying that for the record as to not lose his credibility?

Yes, that was what I was going for. I know Sokolov wanted to summon the Outsider but wouldn't publicly admit to doing so and since the lore I wrote was in the form of a book he was writing, I figured it made more sense that he would pretend not to believe.

What of the four Lord Souls/other deities? Also, the Overseers' religion, the Abbey of the Everyman, is unique in that they only believe in the Void and the Outsider, and believe that the Outsider is evil. They have no other deities included in the religion, no "good" counterpart, so they wouldn't think the disease a punishment, they'd think its just the Outsider.

The metaphysics of Dishonored are quite vague and I will be leaning more on Dark Souls for this. So, yes, the Outsider is real as are the Four Lords, who exert power over the world in unexpected ways. They aren't necessarily going to be overt and literal gods, though they were in the past and have since reincarnated - remember, cycles. Figuring out who/what they are and getting hold of their souls is going to be a part of the roleplay so I won't say who/what they are, of course. But they are in Dunwall and they are mighty, in their own ways.

The Outsider did not bring the Rat Plague onto Dunwall, it was actually the Lord Regent.

A bit of both, actually. Yes, it was initially cooked up by the Lord Regent, but it was the Outsider who spread it via The Lonely Rat Boy, to whom he gave the Rat Swarm power.

Well done, I like how in-depth you went. You have my full support on this, I really want this to get more players so this can be successful.

Whales are enigmatic in-and-of themselves, and are told to be actually intelligent, so making them like descendants or related to dragons would be probable. Also, there's a mention of large flying creatures in the Dishonored universe, perhaps we could incorporate them when we get far enough?

So we just waiting then?