Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time. And the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
-Genesis 6:5-6
Twenty-six centuries have passed since Adam and his wife Eve committed the first sin and ate the forbidden fruit of knowledge. From the very beginning, the Lord's favorite creation proved disobedient and faithless. In the centuries that followed, Man only honed his depravity. Adam's son Cain slew his brother Abel in a jealous rage, and in doing so became the first murderer. From there, Man's evil only increased in its frequency and severity. Bribery, cheating, torture, slavery, and rape became common among the teeming multitudes of Adam's progeny. The Lord became ashamed of the humans he had created and turned his back on creation out of disgust and guilt.
In the Lord's absence, the wickedness of man goes unchecked. In God's absence, men have taken his place, ruling over the multitudes with absolute authority. These masters among humanity have taken the title of 'Lord' for themselves, and with their authority over their peers, institute their own laws and make their own orders. They wage war with their neighbors to secure livestock, land, slaves, and women. Their cities are rife with all manner of debauched activities and vices designed to keep the populace sedate and pliable while the Lords seek to emulate God in his absence.
In spite of the widespread evil that prevails over the world, not all of humanity is lost to wickedness. Righteous men, though few and far between, adhere to God's will even though he has abandoned the world. Some men still treat their neighbors with dignity and mercy, despite the fact that their prayers have gone unanswered for millennia. They yearn for the day that the Lord God returns to cleanse the evil from the Earth.
The world itself is full of perils. In the cities, there are dangers aplenty. Slavers steal men from their homes or the streets and impress them into labor on the opium farms of the lords. Rapists, murderers, and common thieves are common throughout the rabble of the cities, and so no one is ever truly safe. Even the nobles in their guarded palaces cannot rest easy, for assassins sent by rival lords could be lurking in the shadows at any given moment. But for all the perils of the city, the countryside is no safer. Outside of the cities and hamlets, strange beasts haunt the wildernesses, necessitating walls and fences for all populated places. Roving warbands and marauders wander the wilderness too, seeking out easy prey caught beyond the protection of the walls and their guards. Fallen angels too occupy the Earth. Banished from the heavens, they tend to live in isolation away from humanity, though some have ventured into the cities to live with Man. Their great stature makes the Nephilim powerful adversaries, and those that venture into the cities can find gainful employment in the service of the local Lord or wealthy merchant.
2,600 years after the Fall of Man, you find yourself in a world ruled not by God, but by sin. Be you a lord, commoner, righteous man, Nephilim, prostitute, bandit, slaver, or otherwise, you must make your make your way as best you can in a world devoid of God's love and rife with Man's wickedness.
Welcome to the Wickedness of Man; an advanced, literate roleplay set in the Antediluvian World - the world prior to the Biblical flood. God, ashamed by how evil mankind has become, has decided to ignore Earth and leave men to their fate without any intervention. War and murder are constants in this world, and good people are few and far between. In this roleplay, the players may explore this grim and distant past either as a noble lord with hundreds of warriors and servants at their command, the head of a household with only a few characters under their control, or a solitary individual.
As an advanced and literate roleplay, the aim is not to "win", but to build a great story in a malleable setting with plenty of room for creative license. Extremely little is known about the Antediluvian world, so players are encouraged to use their imagination to fill in the gaps where the few historical sources are silent. Players are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the book of Genesis, the Antiquities of the Jews, and other sources, to understand the basics of this setting, but I will summarize very briefly here:
- The world is only 2,600 years old, and has not yet experienced the Great Flood of Genesis. Fantastic animals that never made it onto Noah's Ark to survive into modern times inhabit this world. Some of these lost beasts may have been used as draft animals or livestock. Others are apex predators. And others still serve no purpose but to inhabit the world and give it flavor.
- God had not yet limited the lifespan of Man, and so men sometimes live to be hundreds of years old. This is fairly rare and commoners tend to live hard, violent lives. They rarely live to be older than 60.
- The Tower of Babel has not yet been built, and so the humans of this world speak a single tongue known as Adamic. There may be different cultures extant throughout the world, but all men can speak freely to one another.
- Angels exist in this world, and there are several types of them. The Nephilim - the fallen angels banished from the Heavens - are by far the most common. Cherubim are God's messengers, and have not been seen in the world for thousands of years. Legend holds that six-winged Seraphim guard the land of Eden from humans attempting to re-enter.
- The City of Enoch, founded by Cain following the murder of Abel, is a great and populous city, but it is not the only city in the world. Other cities and locales exist and may be invented and ruled by the players.
At this point, I am just testing the waters to see if there is any interest in such a Roleplay. If interested, just let me know in this or one of the other interest checks. If there is sufficient interest, I will post an OOC thread with a map, character sheet template, and wait for 3-4 players to join before starting IC.
Thanks!
