Post by The Storyteller on Jan 7, 2015 21:42:56 GMT
After the Storm is a post-apocalyptic fantasy RP devised by myself and others for the purposes of amusing ourselves. It is not intended to be a particularly realistic RP, and is inspired by a much more overt genre of fantasy than we are used to.
Spirits
The world is filled with spirits, entities that have existed since the beginning of the world and hold dominion over the elements. Most are passive and dismissive of most events around them, but elves (Or 'Firstborn') are in possession of 'runes', or special contracts with these beings. Elves claim this is because they themselves were once spirits before taking mortal form, but most human scholars believe they simply discovered the means to bind spirits earlier than men. This elven connection with the supernatural is what marked their dominance over the land for millenia, allowing them to shift the earth, direct clean water to them, and warm themselves during the bitterest of winters.
Outside our reality is a place we call the Aether. Here, more spirits are found, but these are very different than those of our world. Here, every spirit is tied to a purpose, a niche. A river spirit have a home and a means to defend. They are rational and content, as they are rooted to this realm, and not forced to wander the fringes of creation as only a flicker of what it might be, devoid of form or intent. The description I gave a friend was "Starving, mad, angel hobos sitting outside the gated community". They are neither sinister nor inherently dangerous in the Aether, but they are very desperate to enter our reality and take material form. Since they are already warped by exposure to the Aether's warped physics and most of our realm is already claimed by other spirits, their presence often causes unfortunate consequences for mortals. There are no elven runes to control them, and thus they were long viewed as a menace.
Early Elves
The Firstborn, as their name suggest, believe themselves to be the first mortal race, and indeed, older than that. When the world was created by the Great Spririt of Light, several spirits took mortal form and became elves. It is through this heritage they believe they can command the spirits of the landscape through runes, or special contracts with spirits. With this, they have dominated mundane resources and international politics for millenia.
Traditionally, elven communities are guided by their eldest members, often a thousand years of age or more in better times. When especially important matters require discussion, several of the older elves will gather in an assembly to discuss matters at length. Elves have no concept of monarchy or aristocracy, as all elves believe they share a common ancestry, and mastery of runes will render any discussion of heredity moot. Still, it is polite to refer to a more esteemed elf as 'Lord'. (The actual Elven word is something really silly and unpronounceable, I'm sure.)
Elves have a monolithic culture, which is to say, you will rarely find different beliefs or dialects among them. One elf a thousand miles from another teaches the same stories and customs to their child. Their long life and easy access to comfort has rendered them quite static over time. This has unfortunately lead to an easy arrogance that makes humans uncomfortable.
Early Humans
Humans never had it so easy, and have a history of development not dissimilar from our own in real life. They had to master agriculture, metallurgy, medicine, calligraphy, and warfare just as we had to, over just as long a period. What's more, they had to struggle for fresh water and fertile earth when elves simply had to ask politely for the crops to flourish. This obviously caused much tension between the races, resulting in a lot of humans taking it upon themselves to raid outlying farms in order to secure sustenance for their families.
Unlike elves, humans never had a unified language, culture, or belief system. Most had their own creation myths and cosmologies explaining the various spirits about them. Sacrifices were fairly common, and a particular savvy supplicant might get a proper request granted on occasion. Typically though, without the ancient contracts utilized by elves, they normally ignored the humans. Someone could live their entire life without ever seeing a spirit.
Eventually, families became tribes, and tribes became nations. The first of the would be world conquerors was a dusky southerner called Marius the Magnificent, though despite uniting much of the human world, his short life ended when he attempted to lay siege to an elven sanctum. His men were starved by the earth, burnt by the heat, and drained of water through their pores. It is recorded Marius's last words were unintelligible as the air was removed his lungs.
In many ways, Marius's death marked the beginning of his empire. Humanity collectively realized, that whatever explanation they ascribed to the witchmen, there would be no peace or safety until they had subdued the immortals who had continually robbed them of every opportunity to thrive. A group of Marius's advisers gathered and crowned Marius only daughter Empress of the Western Reaches. It would last a thousand years in some form or another, and while it unified humanity in a way it never had been nor ever would be again, no amount of military might could survive without air or water or warmth. Thus, the stalemate lasted through the centuries.
The Great War
The term 'great war' is extremely misleading, and more poetic and accurate terms exist. The Sutekhians called it the Slow Boil, and more than one elf lord has simply called it 'pest control'. No historian ever marked a beginning to the conflict, theologians preached the Long Crusade, and emperors regularly declared an impending solution to 'the fae menace'. Still, like most conflicts, it fueled progress in every field, particularly in warfare and the arcane sciences.
Unable to form lasting contracts with spirits, alchemists and conjurers regularly focused on short, one-time bargains with the supernatural. A disease cured here, a bountiful harvest there. It was not ideal, but it opened the path to other alternatives. The Conjurer Diocletes is credited with making first contact with the Aether, and it was the Alchemist Germien the Golden who perfected the means of inviting a spirit inside a mundane object, thus inventing the art of Enchantment, something no elf had ever attempted. The greatbow Soulsnare was reputedly the first successful attempt at enchanting weaponry.
It was inevitable before less ethical minds began considering the question, "If we can coax a spirit to grant its potency to a ring or a blade, why not a person?" It was Emperor Noceris I who commissioned the first explorations into necromancy under controlled circumstances. No records exist of the actual results, but his scientific ministers assured him the results were most promising. His Grace then gave his blessing for further investigations.
His granddaughter Empress Maria VI, only 17 years of age, thought she was merely following in her long-lived predecessor's footsteps when she allowed the College of Outer Mysteries to attempt to create a semi-permanent bridge between our reality and the Aether. The project would not be completed in her lifetime, as she would die in childbirth, leaving the Empire to an infant and a team of ambitious ministers. The kind-hearted, intelligent young woman may have been the one to finally seal the rift between man and elf, but instead, she would be indirectly responsible for a far greater one.
Her ministers, with true names that are no longer recorded, began the last push for sovereignty of the earth. Armed with blades that could cut stone, armor that could withstand the flames of the Hollow Earth, and the ability to resurrect the fallen to continue fighting, it seemed a fair battle at last. The elves were no warriors, and had not evolved their tools in millenia. Did they expect to hide to behind their ancient allies once more? Unsurprisingly, for a race that still recalled Marius mad siege with perfect memory, yes, they would.
This time though, their newfound arcane arts had aroused a powerful paranoia unseen in the Assembly. The Firstborn would push back their neighbour's advances as usual, perhaps with a little more effort than usual. But now they would take new lands, discover the source of these new outrages. This elven aggression was unknown before. Certainly, they had hoarded and quietly claimed resources, and they had defended their lands with extreme prejudice, but never had they marched onto lands already claimed by human hands.
We may never know who gave the order to open the Bridge. Many ministers, academics, and military commanders regularly discussed the possibility of creating a permanent portal to the Aether and allowing outside spirits to enter our world in exchange for new contracts, in hopes of staving off the almost certain elven victory. It's a popular tale that those mages we now call the Undying were directly responsible for the project, fully aware of the consequences for both humanity and Firstborn.
The Deep Exodus
When the shell of our reality was pierced, the elves were the first to notice the change. Their thriving lands, gifted and tended by spirits, suddenly turned to wastes. Plants rotted on the vine and wild animals trekked miles simply to assault elven children. Houses were set ablaze, with only the strongest runes able to calm the maddened spirits. Only the most inexperienced of the Firstborn had ever feared the displeasure of a spirit, but this was different. Humanity's foolishness had rendered all mortal life by proxy the enemies of the land itself.
No elf ever learned the details of the human experiments responsible, but whether through arrogance or wisdom, the Assembly understood the Secondborn to be responsible. They had done more damage to the Firstborn's homes, resources, and culture in a day than the whole of history. The order was given to retreat into the Hollow Earth, an ancient realm far from the touch of most spirits or human influence. Legend held that dragons of old had burrowed into the earth to hide their treasures, but no elf had ever found or even guessed what that treasure might be. Perhaps, in the end, that treasure was life itself.
Utilizing Earth runes, elves carved cities into the caverns in some semblance of their old lives. They directed clean water from above and lit their hearths with magical fire, but it was all naught but an elaborate ruse. The Assembly was now a fifth of its size only a month earlier. Lifespans would inevitably shorten in this new environment. The Firstborn, children of the Great Spirit of Light and cousins to the elements, were no more.
The Thirdborn and the Undying
Humans, lacking runes, suffered far worse than their enemies. Cities were devastated in hours when the sky literally rained fire. Many religious figures declared it the End Times, and they were not entirely wrong. For how could humanity survive Nature's wrath?
Not ironically, it would be the same minds that brought about the calamity that would offer its salvation. Prominent mages and officials began herding survivors into select shelters. Once there, the sexes were split to the cries of their families, and women were lead into certain rooms covered in certain rooms. What occurred in these rooms is not for anyone but the Undying to say. The descendants of these women, more spirit than human, still thrive today. The Aetherians, or Thirdborn in drow parlance, with their spirit lineage, were exempt from the fury of the elements. Their mortal forms were hardened into natural, while many displayed unique talents that rivaled elven runes in power.
Today, the Aetherians are the dominant race of the surface. For every surviving drow below, there are a hundred Aetherians above, each one as fierce as the greatest drow warrior. Their settlements dot the landscape, a pale imitation of their long dead human forebears. Songs and histories are relayed around fires, and life for the half-spirits is often a peaceful affair.
But not free. When the original mages responsible for the first Aetherians were finished, they realized the new generation would need guidance when humanity was inevitably exterminated. Therefore, combining the highest arts of conjuration, enchantment, and necromancy, they coaxed the most powerful spirits of the Aether into this world, then offered themselves as living vessels.
The Long Storm
Understand this. Everything before this section is as meaningless to your character as Babylonian mythology might be to your little sister. You have either lived your life an abomination beneath the yoke of the Undying or your entire family has lived and probably die beneath the dirt, safe
Spirits
The world is filled with spirits, entities that have existed since the beginning of the world and hold dominion over the elements. Most are passive and dismissive of most events around them, but elves (Or 'Firstborn') are in possession of 'runes', or special contracts with these beings. Elves claim this is because they themselves were once spirits before taking mortal form, but most human scholars believe they simply discovered the means to bind spirits earlier than men. This elven connection with the supernatural is what marked their dominance over the land for millenia, allowing them to shift the earth, direct clean water to them, and warm themselves during the bitterest of winters.
Outside our reality is a place we call the Aether. Here, more spirits are found, but these are very different than those of our world. Here, every spirit is tied to a purpose, a niche. A river spirit have a home and a means to defend. They are rational and content, as they are rooted to this realm, and not forced to wander the fringes of creation as only a flicker of what it might be, devoid of form or intent. The description I gave a friend was "Starving, mad, angel hobos sitting outside the gated community". They are neither sinister nor inherently dangerous in the Aether, but they are very desperate to enter our reality and take material form. Since they are already warped by exposure to the Aether's warped physics and most of our realm is already claimed by other spirits, their presence often causes unfortunate consequences for mortals. There are no elven runes to control them, and thus they were long viewed as a menace.
Early Elves
The Firstborn, as their name suggest, believe themselves to be the first mortal race, and indeed, older than that. When the world was created by the Great Spririt of Light, several spirits took mortal form and became elves. It is through this heritage they believe they can command the spirits of the landscape through runes, or special contracts with spirits. With this, they have dominated mundane resources and international politics for millenia.
Traditionally, elven communities are guided by their eldest members, often a thousand years of age or more in better times. When especially important matters require discussion, several of the older elves will gather in an assembly to discuss matters at length. Elves have no concept of monarchy or aristocracy, as all elves believe they share a common ancestry, and mastery of runes will render any discussion of heredity moot. Still, it is polite to refer to a more esteemed elf as 'Lord'. (The actual Elven word is something really silly and unpronounceable, I'm sure.)
Elves have a monolithic culture, which is to say, you will rarely find different beliefs or dialects among them. One elf a thousand miles from another teaches the same stories and customs to their child. Their long life and easy access to comfort has rendered them quite static over time. This has unfortunately lead to an easy arrogance that makes humans uncomfortable.
Early Humans
Humans never had it so easy, and have a history of development not dissimilar from our own in real life. They had to master agriculture, metallurgy, medicine, calligraphy, and warfare just as we had to, over just as long a period. What's more, they had to struggle for fresh water and fertile earth when elves simply had to ask politely for the crops to flourish. This obviously caused much tension between the races, resulting in a lot of humans taking it upon themselves to raid outlying farms in order to secure sustenance for their families.
Unlike elves, humans never had a unified language, culture, or belief system. Most had their own creation myths and cosmologies explaining the various spirits about them. Sacrifices were fairly common, and a particular savvy supplicant might get a proper request granted on occasion. Typically though, without the ancient contracts utilized by elves, they normally ignored the humans. Someone could live their entire life without ever seeing a spirit.
Eventually, families became tribes, and tribes became nations. The first of the would be world conquerors was a dusky southerner called Marius the Magnificent, though despite uniting much of the human world, his short life ended when he attempted to lay siege to an elven sanctum. His men were starved by the earth, burnt by the heat, and drained of water through their pores. It is recorded Marius's last words were unintelligible as the air was removed his lungs.
In many ways, Marius's death marked the beginning of his empire. Humanity collectively realized, that whatever explanation they ascribed to the witchmen, there would be no peace or safety until they had subdued the immortals who had continually robbed them of every opportunity to thrive. A group of Marius's advisers gathered and crowned Marius only daughter Empress of the Western Reaches. It would last a thousand years in some form or another, and while it unified humanity in a way it never had been nor ever would be again, no amount of military might could survive without air or water or warmth. Thus, the stalemate lasted through the centuries.
The Great War
The term 'great war' is extremely misleading, and more poetic and accurate terms exist. The Sutekhians called it the Slow Boil, and more than one elf lord has simply called it 'pest control'. No historian ever marked a beginning to the conflict, theologians preached the Long Crusade, and emperors regularly declared an impending solution to 'the fae menace'. Still, like most conflicts, it fueled progress in every field, particularly in warfare and the arcane sciences.
Unable to form lasting contracts with spirits, alchemists and conjurers regularly focused on short, one-time bargains with the supernatural. A disease cured here, a bountiful harvest there. It was not ideal, but it opened the path to other alternatives. The Conjurer Diocletes is credited with making first contact with the Aether, and it was the Alchemist Germien the Golden who perfected the means of inviting a spirit inside a mundane object, thus inventing the art of Enchantment, something no elf had ever attempted. The greatbow Soulsnare was reputedly the first successful attempt at enchanting weaponry.
It was inevitable before less ethical minds began considering the question, "If we can coax a spirit to grant its potency to a ring or a blade, why not a person?" It was Emperor Noceris I who commissioned the first explorations into necromancy under controlled circumstances. No records exist of the actual results, but his scientific ministers assured him the results were most promising. His Grace then gave his blessing for further investigations.
His granddaughter Empress Maria VI, only 17 years of age, thought she was merely following in her long-lived predecessor's footsteps when she allowed the College of Outer Mysteries to attempt to create a semi-permanent bridge between our reality and the Aether. The project would not be completed in her lifetime, as she would die in childbirth, leaving the Empire to an infant and a team of ambitious ministers. The kind-hearted, intelligent young woman may have been the one to finally seal the rift between man and elf, but instead, she would be indirectly responsible for a far greater one.
Her ministers, with true names that are no longer recorded, began the last push for sovereignty of the earth. Armed with blades that could cut stone, armor that could withstand the flames of the Hollow Earth, and the ability to resurrect the fallen to continue fighting, it seemed a fair battle at last. The elves were no warriors, and had not evolved their tools in millenia. Did they expect to hide to behind their ancient allies once more? Unsurprisingly, for a race that still recalled Marius mad siege with perfect memory, yes, they would.
This time though, their newfound arcane arts had aroused a powerful paranoia unseen in the Assembly. The Firstborn would push back their neighbour's advances as usual, perhaps with a little more effort than usual. But now they would take new lands, discover the source of these new outrages. This elven aggression was unknown before. Certainly, they had hoarded and quietly claimed resources, and they had defended their lands with extreme prejudice, but never had they marched onto lands already claimed by human hands.
We may never know who gave the order to open the Bridge. Many ministers, academics, and military commanders regularly discussed the possibility of creating a permanent portal to the Aether and allowing outside spirits to enter our world in exchange for new contracts, in hopes of staving off the almost certain elven victory. It's a popular tale that those mages we now call the Undying were directly responsible for the project, fully aware of the consequences for both humanity and Firstborn.
The Deep Exodus
When the shell of our reality was pierced, the elves were the first to notice the change. Their thriving lands, gifted and tended by spirits, suddenly turned to wastes. Plants rotted on the vine and wild animals trekked miles simply to assault elven children. Houses were set ablaze, with only the strongest runes able to calm the maddened spirits. Only the most inexperienced of the Firstborn had ever feared the displeasure of a spirit, but this was different. Humanity's foolishness had rendered all mortal life by proxy the enemies of the land itself.
No elf ever learned the details of the human experiments responsible, but whether through arrogance or wisdom, the Assembly understood the Secondborn to be responsible. They had done more damage to the Firstborn's homes, resources, and culture in a day than the whole of history. The order was given to retreat into the Hollow Earth, an ancient realm far from the touch of most spirits or human influence. Legend held that dragons of old had burrowed into the earth to hide their treasures, but no elf had ever found or even guessed what that treasure might be. Perhaps, in the end, that treasure was life itself.
Utilizing Earth runes, elves carved cities into the caverns in some semblance of their old lives. They directed clean water from above and lit their hearths with magical fire, but it was all naught but an elaborate ruse. The Assembly was now a fifth of its size only a month earlier. Lifespans would inevitably shorten in this new environment. The Firstborn, children of the Great Spirit of Light and cousins to the elements, were no more.
The Thirdborn and the Undying
Humans, lacking runes, suffered far worse than their enemies. Cities were devastated in hours when the sky literally rained fire. Many religious figures declared it the End Times, and they were not entirely wrong. For how could humanity survive Nature's wrath?
Not ironically, it would be the same minds that brought about the calamity that would offer its salvation. Prominent mages and officials began herding survivors into select shelters. Once there, the sexes were split to the cries of their families, and women were lead into certain rooms covered in certain rooms. What occurred in these rooms is not for anyone but the Undying to say. The descendants of these women, more spirit than human, still thrive today. The Aetherians, or Thirdborn in drow parlance, with their spirit lineage, were exempt from the fury of the elements. Their mortal forms were hardened into natural, while many displayed unique talents that rivaled elven runes in power.
Today, the Aetherians are the dominant race of the surface. For every surviving drow below, there are a hundred Aetherians above, each one as fierce as the greatest drow warrior. Their settlements dot the landscape, a pale imitation of their long dead human forebears. Songs and histories are relayed around fires, and life for the half-spirits is often a peaceful affair.
But not free. When the original mages responsible for the first Aetherians were finished, they realized the new generation would need guidance when humanity was inevitably exterminated. Therefore, combining the highest arts of conjuration, enchantment, and necromancy, they coaxed the most powerful spirits of the Aether into this world, then offered themselves as living vessels.
The Long Storm
Understand this. Everything before this section is as meaningless to your character as Babylonian mythology might be to your little sister. You have either lived your life an abomination beneath the yoke of the Undying or your entire family has lived and probably die beneath the dirt, safe