Old Gods: A Tale of Monsters and Men
A T A L E O F B L O O D
My Grandmother used to tell me the story of the First Transgression. She said that in the beginning there had always been Leviathans roaming this earth. These great beasts beyond our own comprehension and understanding that wander the earth as we do. It was how the balance of power worked we were always destined to live in the shadow of fear and through that come to understand ourselves. These beasts taught us the values of life and not to fall to hubris as if we ever built our cities too large or ripped apart the land too quickly, a Leviathan would surely come drawn by the noise and the moaning of the land and destroy the city of man with a terrible fury. But as time progressed and the age of stone moved to Steel our ambitions grew and with them our desire for power.
We saw what even the presence of the Leviathans long gone did. The taint which infected our brethren's blood changing and morphing them from children of men into beasts. We observed how even the smallest drop of blood from such a beast consumed by a mortal men could increase their own strength and abilities in the old ways of the arcane. We wanted that power for ourselves, we wanted to harness the power of the Leviathans and use it for our own gains. For they were merely beasts and we were man. Did our brains, morals and thinking not give us dominion over them? So an intrepid army set out to capture one such Leviathan and usher out the age of coexistence and bring forth the age of man. Those poor fools. had no idea what horrors they would bring forth upon the world.
For thousands of years Man and beast had lived in an ebb and flow with one another. Each balancing the other out and keeping the cycle from collapsing. This blatant attack marked the end of this peaceful coexistence. Man had made the first strike but thee Leviathans would retaliate. This attack is what we know call the First Transgression. An action filled by the same hubris and greed that fuel our leaders of today still trying to end a war that their ancestors started many moons ago. A war of man and beast. The Great War.
The countries of man bounded together in solidarity with their mixture of arts most arcane and technology in an attempt to hold of the hoards of their opponents both the Leviathans and the infected long tired of the segregation and oppression brought down upon them by their pure blooded brethren. The Great War began in earnest and the skies became aligt with a brilliant fire, the skies crashed and turned red with blood as the earth was shattered by giant feet and arcane magiks. At first humanity almost fell and was pushed back far to their last strongholds in the North, caught off guard by the ferocity of their otherworldly attackers. But they regrouped and pushed the beasts back across the sea and retook some of their lost land. Even since this last push the two sides have been caught in a stalemate. Neither side is able to take much substantial ground as cities are sacked they are soon lost within months and retaken by the opposing side. It’s become an endless meatgrinder as the world slowly quakes and trembles in its death throes as the humans build bigger arcane weapons and the Leviathans strike back.
But there are rumors out in the wastes. Rumors of humans and infected capable of forming blood links with these Leviathans like the Shamans of Old. Pathological bonds of shared consciousness with one of the beasts. A forced unity between beast and man that could bring peace to the world or bring it crashing down to its feet. But as these blood links grow and these individuals lose their innate humanity will peace be what they seek?
We saw what even the presence of the Leviathans long gone did. The taint which infected our brethren's blood changing and morphing them from children of men into beasts. We observed how even the smallest drop of blood from such a beast consumed by a mortal men could increase their own strength and abilities in the old ways of the arcane. We wanted that power for ourselves, we wanted to harness the power of the Leviathans and use it for our own gains. For they were merely beasts and we were man. Did our brains, morals and thinking not give us dominion over them? So an intrepid army set out to capture one such Leviathan and usher out the age of coexistence and bring forth the age of man. Those poor fools. had no idea what horrors they would bring forth upon the world.
For thousands of years Man and beast had lived in an ebb and flow with one another. Each balancing the other out and keeping the cycle from collapsing. This blatant attack marked the end of this peaceful coexistence. Man had made the first strike but thee Leviathans would retaliate. This attack is what we know call the First Transgression. An action filled by the same hubris and greed that fuel our leaders of today still trying to end a war that their ancestors started many moons ago. A war of man and beast. The Great War.
The countries of man bounded together in solidarity with their mixture of arts most arcane and technology in an attempt to hold of the hoards of their opponents both the Leviathans and the infected long tired of the segregation and oppression brought down upon them by their pure blooded brethren. The Great War began in earnest and the skies became aligt with a brilliant fire, the skies crashed and turned red with blood as the earth was shattered by giant feet and arcane magiks. At first humanity almost fell and was pushed back far to their last strongholds in the North, caught off guard by the ferocity of their otherworldly attackers. But they regrouped and pushed the beasts back across the sea and retook some of their lost land. Even since this last push the two sides have been caught in a stalemate. Neither side is able to take much substantial ground as cities are sacked they are soon lost within months and retaken by the opposing side. It’s become an endless meatgrinder as the world slowly quakes and trembles in its death throes as the humans build bigger arcane weapons and the Leviathans strike back.
But there are rumors out in the wastes. Rumors of humans and infected capable of forming blood links with these Leviathans like the Shamans of Old. Pathological bonds of shared consciousness with one of the beasts. A forced unity between beast and man that could bring peace to the world or bring it crashing down to its feet. But as these blood links grow and these individuals lose their innate humanity will peace be what they seek?
A world once verdant and filled with colors blue and green. This sanctity long ago destroyed by the calamity of the war. Magical assaults, the sheer power of the Leviathans and more conventional weaponry has pounded this mirror earth relentlessly. The Great war is one wage with the concept of total war in mind. Cities are leveled almost completely and towns killed to the man to ensure no revolts follow in foot. Farms are destroyed and then laced with terrible magiks that make it so no living crop can grow on that land again. The sun is a rare sight indeed, a lost object where some young children have never seen it once crest the great horizon unable to pierce the clouds of ashen death. Most of the trees are dead and those that remain strong are old and withered things sternly rooted to the ground with pale bark accenting the landscape. These combined factors allow the polar ices to begin their slow process southward as global cooling sets in for the long haul. The seas are no better having turned the color of blood long ago, great beasts lurk below the waves restricting all air travel to what would be our American Continent. This land know only known to those in the Republic as the Lost World with communications across the sea made almost impossible either by sea or by air.
Most of Europe is a shattered wasteland with cities left in ruin with only the Republic's heavily fortified cities in the North the only remnants of the great Human kingdoms that came before, the desolate steppes and plains of Asia remain scarred by Republic Invasionary forces but these lands still harbor the large majority of the Leviathan supporters and the infected. Refugees from both sides caught in the crossfire are given little aide for either army and are subjected to daily horrors of hongor, sleep deprivation and unset hypothermia or heatstroke as they try their best to survive and avoid the military patrols that would without a second thought kill them and take their belongings or worse forcibly conscript the men and have their way with the woman folk. The Rest of the world is in little better shape most islands having long been consumed by the waves and the African Continent having seen heavy fighting during the early years of the war now lay empty and dead with long stretches of shattered glass where desert once stood, sand turned crystalline by great magical fire.
The cities of the Republic stand in harsh contrast to the rest of the world. Towering constructs of metal and bellowing smoke filled with life as people move from place seemingly oblivious of the war so close to them and yet so far away. Where those not conscripted by the army either by being too young, too frail, very lucky or wealthy enough to pay off the government officials still worry about mundane things like how the weather is going to be tomorrow and the latest fashions. They hold balls, dances and perform operas to try and put the idea of imminent death behind them by indulging in revelry and hedonistic pursuits. It's all just another form of chaos afterall.
While this gives you a general description of the world as I've said in the interest check ve seen up a bare baseline for the world and a generally idea and feel that I want to go with. A sort of apocalyptic fantasy roaring 20s deal and have done a significant if not small amount of worldbuilding that will be displayed more thoroughly in the RP. But most of the world is a mystery, this Earth is not our own and whose to say the cities are to be the same either. Even so after decades of endless war many of those old world settlements have been destroyed and left in ruin only for new cities to rise in their wake. The stories of the people and the world they inhabit and the histories, and cultures they bring with them that's for us to work out together. To make a breathing world that every player has had a role in shaping the mold in some little way. So all city names, and the rest are tenuous and will be updated as we go along.
O F M A G I C & M E T A L
In the world of Old Gods it is impossible to talk of technology without first speaking of the Arcane. Mastery of Science and Mastery of Magic come hand and hand in this world for it was Magic that fueled the technological advancements of this Earth. To begin magic is something that even the most well versed scholars do not totally understand. From what humans can infer and have gathered though it is believed magic is a side effect of exposure to the Leviathans like these large reality warping aberrations leak the stuff or something like that. Because of that most people inherently have the ability to use magic but don't posses the skills needed to access these powers. It is a dangerous practice involving heavily the use of blood usually the caster own as a channel of sorts to cast magics and the untrained could easily destroy their own bodies or that of everyone around them by attempting to cast something that requires more energy than their own blood can produce forcing more to be drawn in at a rapid rate from the host and outside sources.
This is why the discovery of the enhancing ability of Leviathan's blood came as a perceived boon. It was like splitting the atom for the first time. This sacred blood could serve as a catalyst for the spell to draw from when injected. In short it provides scholars with practically unlimited energy to do what so they wished sending humanity forward technologically and in the art of magery with leaps and bounds. But of course once they progressed the temptation for more they couldn't just wait for another Leviathan to die of natural causes that was a rare rare thing indeed. So first they experimented and found out that the blood of the "infected" had similar properties if in much smaller amounts compared to the Leviathan's blood. These subhumans were already subjected against for their physically imperfections and impure blood and little protest occurred from their betters when they were rounded up and used for their blood: drained, chopped up, parts put in jars. But their blood was weak and it could not fuel the ambition and dreams of man and so we turned towards the Leviathans once more, desperate to pass even them.
Technology on the other hand is very much what you would expect from our own early 20th century. Following the same technological advancement as we did their things are just a little bit more fancy but you have the likes of guns, cars, zeppelins, trains, aeroplanes, boats, electricity, radio etc but rather than powered by oil or diesel it is powered by what others might describe as blood magic. Basically blood crystals act as channels of power source and arcane energy usually made out of infected blood or for some much more taxing projects there are even some crystals with Leviathan blood in them and are generally used to do things like power cities and the like. So basically it's a heavy dieselpunk aesthetic but less diesel more blood magic.
B E S T I A R Y
If the Leviathans gave you any clue about the world it is that this Earth has some interesting creatures in it. While we do have your normal assortments of dogs, cats and the rest many of them are changed by the presence of this great creatures and new creatures have arisen as well. Some are alien and deadly, others are benign and friendly. This list will update as we meet some of them and players are more than welcome to come up with their own ideas and pitch them my way.
M A N W R E T C H B E A S T
In Old Gods there are three seprate entities that you will run into most commonly. Those are man, those with tainted blood, and the Leviathans themselves. You as one Bounded in Blood are similar to all of them in many aspects but alien as well. Now to go over these groups.
Humans:
Humankind is exactly what you would expect as there is very little that makes them different from humans of our Earth. To be considered human one most have what is called pure blood. When a baby is born, blood is drawn from them and it is tested using arcane means. If the blood does not react to these test they are considered pure bloods. Human lineages because of the importance of blood purity are kept close and marriages are carefully observed and watched by families to make sure lovers and spouses are not impure. Most of humankind resides within the Republic their last bastion after most of the human kingdoms were destroyed in the early years of the Great War. Here they reign as kings and queen over their tainted brethren. Everyone not human are property, slaves or cattle just waiting to be harvested for their blood. They maintain dominance with their technological prowess and magical ability and understanding.Their are those rare groups that live outside of the Republic generally in small settlements or some even working with the Leviathans and the tainted in their war against humankind. Though they are few and far between.
The Tainted:
Infected, tainted, impure ones, and many other names have been used to describe this lesser subgroup of humanity. Nobody knows for certain how the first of their kind's blood became tainted and the humans have come up with many theories from consorting with demons, to some ridiculous ideas of shamanistic women sleeping with Leviathans. What is known is that their blood has been forever changed by the Leviathan's presence. This tainted blood causes mutations inside of the body ranging from no visible outward change, to extra limbs, animal features such as tails, fur, claws, scales, wings, other defects such as extreme shortness or gigantism among other things. But none of that really mattered what did matter was the fact that they were considered impure and non-human. Because of this they were used as slaves for most of history in hard labor, cleaning etc and while they did try to revolt at times their more well armed human brethren always put them down. When the Great War occurred they helped the Leviathans and these of impure blood generally serve as the face and footsoldiers of their army used against mankind. Though as the war increased many of the tainted were encouraged become consumed by their bestial urges becoming nothing more than ravenous beasts no different than animals, driven by one force and one force only death.
Leviathans:
Nobody knows for certain what these creatures are or hell even where they came from. What we do know is that they are old and very powerful and completely beyond our understanding. Gargantuan in size the smallest are the size of cars and some of the biggest can be confused for mountain ranges when they lay upon the ground in slumber. They are beasts of land, sky and sea with different types populating these different areas. From what humans can gather about them most of them are sentient in one way or another. But few do attempt to communicate to us either we are too small to be of any great significance to them or simply we are as alien to them as they are to us. Though for the most part they were generally peaceful creatures at least until the war happened. Then these gentle giants became beasts of war and while the tainted became the face and tacticians of their new army called to them by their alluring whispers without the power of these great beasts they would have been crushed long ago.
Those Bound In Blood:
There are legends of shamans able to communicate with the Leviathan using their power to protect their tribes and expand their kingdoms. They say that these shamans warred with one another frequently and all but destroyed one another long ago and with it the ability to fully understand these beasts. Some say you are an extension of this legend. Bound in blood at birth you were chosen for reasons unknown and without anyone knowing by great lumbering Leviathans far beyond the reach of man. These old gods lay in rest and recuperation never to be awakened or to fear the world fearing their wrath. But even so their reach still extends beyond what we can comprehend. You are their avatars blessed with only a morsel of their power making you stronger, faster, and harder to kill than any moral can imagine. These powers can serve a human or infected well in their own cause but it does come without a price. To tap deeper into these powers to unleash the true potential of your blood if you truly wish to change things you risk your own humanity. The darkness eats away at your soul, threatening to consume you. When you get angry or emotional the outburst occur uncontrollable, a yelling match can lead to an entire village slaughtered by your head in a fury of blood you don't even remember. But you most fall to your more baser instincts, you must not let the power of the old gods make you into a monster. You were given this power for a reason. And even if you didn't want to you must find out why, you must go down the path that the old gods have set for humanity. Or be consumed by darkness and let the world fall to ruin.
R u l e s
01: I'm not the biggest fan of rules because I like to assume everybody is sane human being so I'll keep this short. If you have to abide by any rules be it these two. Common decency and common sense is something that everybody should strive for. Treat your fellow humans like they are just that your fellow humans and with all the respect that implies. Disputes between players should not be long blown out affairs in the OCC, hell disputes should not happen at all if we are doing this right. If you want to argue have your characters dispute about something mundane like the importance of starch or something.
02: In regards to any roleplay involving the dark depravity of mankind and giant space monsters there are mature themes within this story. This is not a very nice world and terrible things happen to good people for no good reason. In that regard I heavily suggest you treat these matters with the weight that they would actually entitle. Romance falls into the same thing, sure it can happen if you want just don't make my lovecraftian examination of inner demons into a bad soap opera or we will have an issue.
03: Quality matters people, show me that you care. And remember I'm asking for your best not the best of Shakespeare or the like. I've been doing this shit for about a decade now and I'm still learning things everyday. Just remember Quality over Quantity and always remember Fail Faster.
