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"The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good, and the very gentle, and the very brave, impartially."-Ernest Hemingway Welcome to the Grimdark ============================================================================OVERVIEW OF CONCEPTPremise: We shall be playing in a fantasy world, formerly a high fantasy world that due to the appearance of a lovecraftian force of darkness in the centre of the world has been sent down the drain to its current (Grim)dark fantasy state.
In terms of influences, think part Warhammer Fantasy and part Berserk. The world is a crapsack one under siege by eldritch forces. All mortal (And some immortal) life wages a war of extinction against impossible odds and regularly loses. When not fighting for their lives, civilizations commonly turn on each other over petty issues with tragic results. Benevolent gods are progressively becoming weaker and weaker, impotent against the relentless assault of darkness. The living stand defiant with collective awesome might, however for every step heroes and warriors take forward, the living as a whole take three steps back.
============================================================================Political Map
[note: The above map was drawn by me]
White = open blocks to claim
Coloured Blocks = Claimed blocks
Brownish-Grey = Impassible landmass (Extremely large mountain ranges, note the rectangular blocks within this land are mountain passes)
Brown = The ocean (We live on a continental mass similar to Pangaea)
Grey = Land currently being invaded by the Darkness
Black = Land taken by the Darkness
Geographic Map
Dark Green = Forests/Woodland
Green = (Thick) Grasslands + Minor Woodland
Light Green = Plains and (Light) Grasslands
Pale Green = Tundra
Purple = Marshes/Swamp
Light Brown = Hills and Rocky Terrain
Dark Brown = Mountains and Ranges
Gold = Desert
Tan = Cold Desert/Steppes
White = Arctic
Grey = Grasslands, Plains and Forests with gradual darkness corruption
Black = Here be (Not even!) Dragons.
Pale Blue = Jungle/Tropical
Pink = Great Defensive Structures (E.g: The Wall from ASoIaF or the Curtain Ring-Walls from Attack on Titan)
Lavender = Holy City
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Features:<-----------
-Dark fantasy world
-Standard fantasy races (Note: Applying grimdarkness optional but recommended)
-Custom fantasy races
-Late Medieval to vaguely Renaissance tech (Handcannon’s/Cannons available, Arquebuses are for elite units, swords/spears/polarms/crossbows are still the common weapons however)
-Apocalyptic existential warfare: The ongoing two hundred years war against the relentless forces of darkness spewing forth from the entropic life-consuming hole in the centre of the world is a serious factor in convincing realms to cooperate in a kind of loose (But easily broken) alliance. The so called “Sacrilege War” appears to have no ending in sight and is rapidly expanding towards all corners of the world, allowing only the most distant and safe kingdoms to pretend the world is perfectly fine.
-GreivousKhan (The RPer) as the All-Consuming Horrors: Fear him, for he will be playing the forces of darkness, and we are not talking demons or undead here, but bona fide lovecraftian horrors. (Undead and demons as additional threats to all life optional)
-Four major religions (Preset by GM) accompanied by local religions (Created by players), the four major religions have four holy cities (Positioned North, South, East and West to the darkness) which power the most influential benevolent (And not so benevolent) deities in their losing fight against the ever expanding darkness, so it is imperative that the cities are defended at all costs. Beyond the four great faiths are minor religious cities, holy relics, religious sites and other things which contribute power to both the four great faiths and various local deities.
-The power gained by the deities is then trickled back down to mortals in the form of magic (As well as divine intervention). Magic originates from divine origins however once in possession of mortals (Either from birth or from certain events) can be used in various forms learned by the mortal. The closer a magic user is to a holy city, holy relic or holy site the more powerful they become. Conversely, entering territory taken by the darkness will sap the user, siphoning their power off to the entropic environment.
-Two playable faction types, Realms and Hosts.
: Realms are physical nations with borders, populations and armies. They have smaller starting armies than Crusaders however can rapidly replenish their forces (And as such usually have far larger maximum army sizes, particularly when factoring in modifiers they gain when being physically invaded by the darkness), have far more resources and static defenses like castles and walls. Realms must attend to political matters far more than Hosts and while the war of extinction is the most important matter, it is hardly the only one. Realms consist of empires, kingdoms, principalities and other nation-states that can claim ownership of territory.
: -Hosts are landless factions with a single, massive starting army, this 'host' is given an objective and funding by one of the four holy cities to either defend a besieged realm from the darkness or attempt to venture into the darkness itself to recapture territory (The latter is very dangerous). Hosts only physical territory besides the land they camp in (Usually with permission of the country they are passing through) is either specific 'order' buildings permitted to them by patron realms or any land they conquer back from the darkness and don't give back to its original owners. Due to Hosts difficulty with regaining troop numbers, Hosts are advised to have a high number of hero characters and bands of larger than life fighters. Hosts are typically comprised of crusaders; adventurists, great heroes, warlords, barbarian nomads, refugee’s who wish to reclaim their lost lands and any other willing to form together into vast armies of light (Or not so light).
- Heroes and other legendary figures are usually individuals chosen by certain deities and empowered to ridiculous degrees. Hosts are renowned for having high concentrations of such individuals. Some exceptional normal individuals have reputations of heroes despite being normal; these individuals are incredibly lucky and should be glad they haven't been eaten by giant thirteen headed eldritch flame-breathing slugs yet. The existence of heroes as almost their own social and racial group has become so distinct in this doomed world that entire eras are literally named after their prevalence. The birth (Metaphorical birth, not literal usually) of an unrivalled, world changing hero or legendary figure (messiah, god-emperor etc) from a great event usually marks the beginning of a new “Heroic Age”. We are currently in the Seventeenth Heroic Age.
