"If you see a man without a shadow, shoot it;
If you see a shadow without a man, run."
If you see a shadow without a man, run."
Thirty years ago they simply appeared, strange creatures made of shadow, all over the world. Anyone they touched simply changed, these shadow touched no longer cast shadows in any light and seem to lose that which made them human on some fundamental level. We call them the Soulless.
The mainlands are lost, dominated by ethereal shadow beasts and their legions of soulless humans. We survive because of two facts: the shadows fear bright lights and the Soulless don't work together like true humans. Now the survivors of humanity live on small islands, their coasts kept illuminated by great fires at night, some use electricity to power flood lights, but such technology was considered dead long before the shadows began to move. Great airships, once cargo haulers and passenger liners became flying cities. Safer than the islands as Shadows can't fly, but harder work to survive on.
For now, survival is all we can manage, for how can you kill monsters that you can't touch?
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The world of shadows is an apocalyptic steampunk setting some of my friends asked me to run. Currently there is no map or set list of nations so much is up for creation. That being said there are some key concepts of the world all must know:
-Mercureal: Often simply called 'merc' is a naturally occurring gas often found beneath great mountain ranges. While highly toxic and more than slightly flammable it is the substance on which the world ran before the shadows came to life, and is now the one thing keeping humanity alive. When combined with water at one part per thousand it dissolves into the water like salt. The merc treated water has a lower boiling point, vastly lowered transition state energy requirement and, most importantly, once turned to steam will not condense, regardless of temperature, so long as it is kept under pressure. When it finally does condense the water becomes normal with the merc seemingly replaced with a mildly toxic salt.
-Shadows: called many different names by different cultures, the shadows are an enigma. Generally inactive during the day they flee from bright lights, but don't seem injured by them. They pass through normal matter at will, ignoring walls, doors, bullets and explosions. There has never been a confirmed case of one being killed, and all attempts to contain one for study have similarly failed with spectacular results. Any human they touch becomes soulless, in fact this seems to be the only way they can interact directly with the world.
-Soulless: While appearing human on the outside, they are anything but. Most notably they do not cast shadows, this property has never been explained, though it has been studied. Soulless are capable of coherent speech, tool use, teamwork and even cultural persuits such as art or music, but they seem to decline to use any of these when left on their own. Groups of wild soulless act more like beasts than men, fighting for food, not using tools, failing to maintain their own health and appearance beyond basic needs and the like. Despite this, when challenged by untouched humans they will take up arms, pretend to be normal, even entreating others with promises and lies. Despite everything one things remains constant, the soulless always try to stop humanity from surviving. They pin down people so they can be touched or kill them, acting on some collective instinct. The change from human to soulless is instant, a marine who moments ago fighting to save his comrades will gladly turn his weapons on his friends the moment his soul is taken. Often they will try to hide their condition to infiltrate safe islands or airships where they can sabotage and kill.
-Technology: Due to the discovery of Mercureal this world has gone down a vastly different path from our own. Electricity is considered a technological dead end, used for lighting and creating sparks, but little else. Instead the world uses machinery powered by steam. Special tanks able to hold merc-steam under immense pressure are used as batteries or fuel. During the great war, which ended shortly before the shadows rose, great tanks were powered by these steam cells. Afterwards personal automobiles using the same tech were on the rise. Gunpowder does exist but is much harder to find due to the situation, most arms are steam weapons, using merc-steam to propel pellets at near supersonic velocities. Several steam guns are even able to break the sound barrier. While weaker than normal firearms, these steamarms are much cheaper to use and easier to find ammo for since any merc-boiler can recharge their tanks.
A discord is... coming soon(TM). RP will be mostly on RPguild but the discord can be used for quick back and forth conversations that one player then posts allowing for in-depth conversations. I shall be the GM and control the NPCs running the airship the players find themselves on. Exact details are yet to be determined but the RP will likely follow a single airship that the players are notable members of and their struggle to survive in this broken world. Politics between different ships and the various safe islands as humans fight over supplies, drama between friends as people are pushed to their limits. I hope all of this will be central in this RP.
Update: Discord Get!
