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You are among the last of Homo sapiens, a species of such potential. Villages across the wilderness and forests now lay empty; roving bands that had scoured the highest peaks and lowest basins are now gone.
Your band represents what may be the last survivors of your race. Together, you travel the land in search of shelter, sustenance, and of course, in a defiant attempt to find any other survivors of the onslaught. You race against the elements, you fight against the wild, the night, and hide from the yellow-eyed terrors that lurk in the depths of the vast, unexplored wild.
With this premise in mind, let me introduce you to From Afar, a concept born from a subversion of the classic alien invasion style story. Instead of extraterrestrials descending upon the Earth in a modern day or future setting and doing battle with humans who are armed with bullets, bombs, or perhaps even lasers, From Afar explores an alien invasion (or rather, infestation) at a point far further back in our timeline: our days of being hunter-gatherers, living in bands and tribes, a primal lifestyle; humans during the palaeolithic era. It is during this time that we still fear the night, deify fire, scramble for any food we can, it is a time in which super fauna still walks, and the world remains wild and mysterious. Except in this timeline, an infestation (think Tyranid vanguard or Zerg) fall from the sky one fateful night; the following years are replete with utter slaughter at the hands of utterly alien beasts with the seemingly sole intention of consuming all Humans.
It would be here that our story would begin. We would assume the role of one of (if not the only) surviving band of hunter-gatherers still living. We will journey across a prehistoric world in search of a better fate, and continued survival. What we encounter along the way, however, may not live up to such an optimistic expectation.
In terms of gameplay, I want character impermanence to play a large role. I want the threat to be very real, and I want character-based and survival-based action and storytelling. This simply cannot be done with a cast of characters who live from the first page to the last.
- I want each player to be able to introduce new characters at will through the IC, either by encountering rogue survivors living alone in the wild or, really, by any other means. These will not require a CS as they will b built entirely through the story. Of course, a record of each character will be kept for the sake of keeping track of who is in play.
- I want each character, when created in IC, to be specified whether or not they are essentially 'public domain' (able to be assumed by any participant) or not so. In this way we can steadily build up a cast of characters that can all take part in the action. It also prevents you from getting too attached to certain characters because...
- ...I will be killing characters off, whether public domain or private. This is why new character introduction is so important. The alien threat will take a toll. Lives will be lost. It will be fucking glorious. Those who have difficulty accepting characterised characters dying need not apply.
- I want each player to assume the perspective of exactly one character per post, though these will usually if not always be part of our roving band of survivors, so we don't have to worry about multiple setting confusion. I hate that stuff.
Who is game? We can make something pretty sweet.
You are among the last of Homo sapiens, a species of such potential. Villages across the wilderness and forests now lay empty; roving bands that had scoured the highest peaks and lowest basins are now gone.
Your band represents what may be the last survivors of your race. Together, you travel the land in search of shelter, sustenance, and of course, in a defiant attempt to find any other survivors of the onslaught. You race against the elements, you fight against the wild, the night, and hide from the yellow-eyed terrors that lurk in the depths of the vast, unexplored wild.
With this premise in mind, let me introduce you to From Afar, a concept born from a subversion of the classic alien invasion style story. Instead of extraterrestrials descending upon the Earth in a modern day or future setting and doing battle with humans who are armed with bullets, bombs, or perhaps even lasers, From Afar explores an alien invasion (or rather, infestation) at a point far further back in our timeline: our days of being hunter-gatherers, living in bands and tribes, a primal lifestyle; humans during the palaeolithic era. It is during this time that we still fear the night, deify fire, scramble for any food we can, it is a time in which super fauna still walks, and the world remains wild and mysterious. Except in this timeline, an infestation (think Tyranid vanguard or Zerg) fall from the sky one fateful night; the following years are replete with utter slaughter at the hands of utterly alien beasts with the seemingly sole intention of consuming all Humans.
It would be here that our story would begin. We would assume the role of one of (if not the only) surviving band of hunter-gatherers still living. We will journey across a prehistoric world in search of a better fate, and continued survival. What we encounter along the way, however, may not live up to such an optimistic expectation.
In terms of gameplay, I want character impermanence to play a large role. I want the threat to be very real, and I want character-based and survival-based action and storytelling. This simply cannot be done with a cast of characters who live from the first page to the last.
- I want each player to be able to introduce new characters at will through the IC, either by encountering rogue survivors living alone in the wild or, really, by any other means. These will not require a CS as they will b built entirely through the story. Of course, a record of each character will be kept for the sake of keeping track of who is in play.
- I want each character, when created in IC, to be specified whether or not they are essentially 'public domain' (able to be assumed by any participant) or not so. In this way we can steadily build up a cast of characters that can all take part in the action. It also prevents you from getting too attached to certain characters because...
- ...I will be killing characters off, whether public domain or private. This is why new character introduction is so important. The alien threat will take a toll. Lives will be lost. It will be fucking glorious. Those who have difficulty accepting characterised characters dying need not apply.
- I want each player to assume the perspective of exactly one character per post, though these will usually if not always be part of our roving band of survivors, so we don't have to worry about multiple setting confusion. I hate that stuff.
Who is game? We can make something pretty sweet.
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