Bay 12 Games Forum

In the distant past, when man was primitive, dreadful monsters and horrific men-turned-beasts alike held sway over the night. Those afflicted with a monstrous curse, those who delved into blasphemous sorceries, and those who were never men to begin with, reigned in the shadows beyond the firelight. But the distant past is long passed, and that time is done. Man is no longer primitive, and has made such strides in the fields of science that, for the first time, they are able to challenge, if not exterminate entirely the monsters that once plagued them with a relative ease that would've astounded even the most optimistic nightmare hunters of days-gone-by.

Monsters, always secretive by necessity, have adapted to the times, and embraced subtlety wholesale. In turn, humanity as a whole, has forgotten the deeds they've done, and all but an unlucky now regard them and their exploits as superstitious hearsay, vapid legends belonging to a bygone age, fanciful stories best left to children's tales. With this, the hunting of monsters has changed, from the patchwork struggle of a few brave and battered individuals to a science all-but perfected by the hunter's society, the globe-spanning conglomerate made of the descendants of the watchful travelers and secret societies that made monster-hunting their solemn duty.

For better or for worse, you are a monster. A nightmare terror lurking in the shadows, preying on the flesh and souls of the innocent, sworn enemy to humanity. To those in the know, you're regarded as a predator to be culled, or competition to be beaten. Immoral or not, you're seen as evil, and it's up to you to decide whether to embrace the legacy of those who came before, or spurn their malice in favor of apathy, if not benevolence. You might have past memories of manhood, or you might've always been something entirely unnatural, it's up to you to decide.Now then, what kind of monster are you?

A Vampire: A bloodthirsty scion of the night, stalker of shadows, and drinker of blood.

+ You are immortal, outwardly human, have several versatile powers you can develop with time, and with time, will be able to create lesser vampires bound to your service.
- You burn to ashes at the touch of sunlight, have several crippling weaknesses, and must drain the blood of mortals to survive.

A Were-beast: A ferocious, devouring beast, half-man, half-animal, wholly monstrous.

+ You are immortal, outwardly human, are able to enter a formidable bestial form at will, have several useful abilities, and with time, will be able to spawn a pack of lesser were-beasts to hunt alongside you.
- At first, you will not have conscious control over your transformations, the very touch of silver burns you, and you have intense predatory instincts which may be hard to suppress.

A Sorcerer: An ambitious warlock well-acquainted with dark powers beyond mortal ken.

+ You have an in-depth knowledge of a sorcerous discipline, tertiary knowledge of two more, and a set of tools and spell-books to advance your knowledge.
- You are mortal, begin your aspirations at eighteen years old, and if you don't find a way to preserve your life, you will die of old age. In addition, your sorcery has a cost that can be difficult to acquire.

A Demon: An unspeakable aberration from beyond the material veil, evil incarnate.

+ You are immortal, wield horrific power over the seven deadly sins, and grow stronger with mortal worship, the consumption of mortal souls, and the inexorable spread of your malign influence. In addition, your true form is obscenely powerful, and nigh-unkillable by mortal means alone.
- Your true form is bound to a layer of hell which you cannot leave, until your followers find a way to tear the veil between realities and allow you to enter theirs. You are essentially a deity in your layer, and upon death, your follower's souls will manifest in your domain. Occasionally, you'll have to engage in hellish politics and prevent other demons from conquering your layer.

The worldly plane is center of the cosmos, and is home to all mortal-kind, above lies the immaculate heavens, below lies the abyss hells, and to all sides, the elemental planes hold sway. You were once a mere mortal of the worldly plane, one among countless millions. You expected to live your life as your ancestors before you, but when the divine spoke to you, you were forever changed.

Barely surviving a dreadful calamity in life, a newborn divinity noticed you, and seeing potential, bestowed upon you a sliver of its power. With everything you'd ever known destroyed, and your life saved only through the divine's sudden intervention, you swore to spread its praise and worship across the whole of the worldly plane, and vowed upon your eternal soul to see it done or die in the effort.

You are a peasant youth of eighteen summers, an illiterate commoner with no possessions save the divine power given unto you and the fanatical determination only true faith can bring. Before your tale is told, some things must be said.

By what name are you known?
Be you a man or be you a woman?
By what name is your divinity known?
Be they a god, or be they a goddess?
Over what part of reality do they hold sway?
By what single word is their temperament best described?

In the nightmare of the fortieth millennium, The Imperium Of Man knows no respite. For generations the Imperium of Man has waged a hopeless war on all sides, slowly crumbling to many threats, both within and without. Every hour the Imperium comes closer to its demise, billions of tormented souls cry out for mercy, for protection from their Emperor. Their holy, almighty Emperor who can do wrong, watches over all, and protects his people. Yet the Emperor has done nothing to protect his chosen people. Instead, he watches as millions are ripped apart by the Tyranid swarms, and the Ork hordes. He sits idle as the Eldar and Necron devastate whole worlds in their vengeful wrath.

Why, you wondered. You unquestioningly believed in the Emperor's Truth and knew his power. But one day, when you'd planned to kill yourself in doubt, a voice spoke, and showed you a better way. At first you thought yourself mad, but the voice was very persuasive, and it told you of power, unimaginable power, to be yours for the taking. It told you of the truth, that the Emperor was no more than a rotting carcass. It showed you images of yourself, with all you've ever wanted, and more. The voice helped you realize the true might of the Ruinous Powers, and before leaving you, it gave you a holy gift, and one last command.

"Spread Chaos, and more yet shall come."

Before that voice spoke to you, you were but a man, one of countless trillions. A single resident of an Imperial hive world, home to countless billions of souls, no more than a grain of sand in the desert, but now? Now? Now you are so much more than you ever could've imagined. For once your life has purpose, your life has meaning. An all-consuming passion burns within your very soul, you serve one far beyond yourself, and most of all, you have something to live for; You will see the Imperium of Man ground to naught but dust and ashes, or you will perish in the attempt.

Before you can begin your Black Crusade, you must first know yourself,

What is your name?
If one were to look upon you, what would they see?
For how many years have you toiled in the Corpse-Emperor's name?
What are three skills you've become adept at through the course of your life?
Lastly, which of the Ruinous Powers spoke to you?

A) Khorne, the Blood God.
B) Nurgle, the Plague Lord.
C) Slannesh, the Dark Prince of Chaos.
D) Tzeentch, the Changer of Ways.

You are an Aberration, an insult to creation, an unnatural extraplanar entity formed from the eternal void before creation. Your form is twisted, incomprehensible, and fundamentally wrong. Mortals are driven to insanity at the slightest glimpse of your countenance, the Gods themselves fear your presence, and nothing is beyond you. Even the laws of reality are no more than a vague suggestion to you, broken and discarded on a whim.

Aberrations, shaped by the entropic whispers of the void eternal, are older than the material plane and the aetheric expanse by an order of magnitude. You, along with your kind, were brought into being by the infinite darkness before creation, and there you slept and dreamed, free from all distraction, nurtured and sustained by the void that birthed you, at peace.

When the Gods in their hubris, sought to pervert, distort, and corrupt perfection itself, you and your kind rose up against them, in defense of your creator and the beautiful, endless silence. Though you fought well, the Gods and their creations managed to defeat you, and dispelled your kind from reality, shielding their profane blasphemy with an impenetrable veil of stars, conduits of unimaginable arcane power.

Then, they were free to create, to marr and shatter the flawless serenity of the void with solid matter and aetheric energy. It sickened and infuriated you, to watch them defile the void, your home, with their disgusting works, all in the name of trivial entertainment and empty fulfillment.

You watched as they insulted the firmament of the void with their wretched existence, and you began to hate them with a primal hatred beyond all else. You sought nothing more than to destroy all that they had built, to remove their impudent creation, and return to your eternal slumber.

And now, you've gotten your chance. After countless eons of raging against the veil of stars, you managed to slightly tear the veil for only the slightest of instants. It was enough. You rushed through the tear, and as it closed, you were torn apart and separated from yourself, left inside creation with nought but the barest fraction of your power. It will be enough.

You will destroy all that the Gods built, and return all things to the blissful truth of oblivion, or you will be condemned to eternal slumber trying.

You've lived your life like almost everyone else, until one day, you decided to start your own Religion!

Before we begin, answer a few questions about yourself...

What is your name?

Are you a man or a woman?

What do you look like?

What clothing do you usually wear?

What did you do for a living before you started a New Religion?

As Founder of the New Religion, what do you call yourself?

Now, answer a few questions about your New Religion...

Do you believe in your own Religion?

What is the Religion called?

What are the followers of the Religion called?

What do the followers of the Religion believe?

What is one thing that is expected of followers of the Religion?

What is considered to be sacred by followers of the Religion?

What is considered to be abhorrent by followers of the Religion?

Where do you attempt to start your Religion?

The Wilderness, where there's very few people, and it's isolated and far away from prying eyes, but far from civilization.

The Outskirts, where there are some people, all spread across the countryside, and it's not difficult to keep things hidden, and civilization is close but not too close.

The Cityscape, where it is absolutely packed with people, it's easy to hide in the hustle and bustle, and civilization is everywhere.

In the beginning of the world, there was nothing but the Eternal Sea of Darkness, and Yiltho The First. Yiltho gazed upon the world and found it wanting. Taking his hands, he gathered the waters of the Eternal Sea of Darkness and bound them to the heavens, creating the Eternal Sky.

Yiltho was pleased by his work of creation, but saw that only the Darkness held sway. Taking his own hand, Yiltho gouged out his right eye and set it into the Eternal Sky, infusing it with his power so that it would warm and light the world for all time. So it was that Yiltho The First created the Sun, and banished the Eternal Darkness with its Light.

Here's the rules. Add whatever you feel like adding in each post, as long as it does not violate any other post in the thread. If enough people support something, we can change the setting's canon. Post any additions to the setting in bold text, and put a > symbol before it, to make it easier to recognize. Post discussion in ordinary text. No double-posting.

> The setting takes place some centuries after the fall of the extremely advanced ancient city Pecuniae. Many debate on the cause of the fall of Pecuniae. Some believe that the Gods struck them down for their hubris, and others believe that it was their own arrogance that sealed their fate. Most of the world is blasted desert wasteland, or flooded ocean, and fertile land is highly sought after.

> Human civilization is going through the early iron age. As a general rule, societies are either Feudal or Tribal in nature. Most technology and equipment is primitive, though ancient, hidden, and perilous Pecuniae ruins are scattered across the wastes. Anyone who is able to brave their dangers can discover unimaginable treasures and priceless artifacts of ancient times.

> This setting is low-magic, and all Nonhuman intelligent races are dangerous and primitive monsters. (No Elves, Dwarves, etc, but obviously monstrous nonhuman races like savage Dragons, Lizardmen, Minotaurs, are acceptable.) Magic-users are extremely rare, but the mysterious forces they wield are frighteningly powerful. Wizards are both feared and revered in equal measure by ordinary folk.

You're a homeless eighteen year old living in the Synith Metro slums, and an orphan to boot. That would all be bad enough, but you just so happen to be a Mutant. A Mutant, mutie, gene-freak, subhuman, whatever the hell you call yourself. You're different, born with a few twists in the DNA Helix, a walking talking insult to Mother Nature. Worthless scum, a drain on society, an abomination in the eyes of God, you could go on for days. Vigilante gangs target people like you with impunity, basic Human rights don't apply, people are revolted when they know the truth about you, you're used to it.

You were lucky enough to be born with the Gene TUWZ7426, more commonly known as the "Twist". In a word, you're... different from other people. You have powers and skills beyond what most are capable of, and that makes you dangerous. Having a Twist is pretty much the only benefit to being a Mutant. Aside from playing scrabble with a Mutant's Genetic Code, most of the time TUWZ7426 provides them with an inhuman ability, known as a "Twist." The word Twist is essentially a catchall term for whatever makes a Mutant better or worse than a Pure Human, no two Twists are alike.

A Twist can be anything, from a blatantly supernatural power, to a superhuman regular attribute, and everything in between. Occasionally, Twists are benign, but most aren't. Twists can be earth-shattering, usually, not so much. Often, Twists ignore the laws of physics to do things that can only be called Magical. Scientists have been studying Mutants for centuries, and they're no closer to truly understanding the Twist Gene than they were when they started.

Mutant Twists sometimes manifest right after birth, others take time to become evident. Many Twists can be turned on and off, and sometimes they're uncontrollable. Some Twists are broad, others are ridiculously specialized. Many Mutants don't have a Twist. Most Mutants have only one, less have more. A few slowly "Evolve" new and stronger Twists over time, you're one of them.

CHOOSE A TWIST CATEGORY, CHOOSE CAREFULLY!
 
COMBAT

STEALTH

MOBILITY

WEIRD

((OOC: First category to three votes gets it.))

Its the far future, cybernetics and futuristic technology has become commonplace. Despite Humanity's progress, in some ways it has degenerated. The government is shadowy and corrupt, crime runs rampant, and most people live in impoverished slums. Like the Synith Metro, population, 40 million. Mutants, maybe a few hundred thousand, they're pretty rare. You've been on the street struggling to survive for four years now, yesterday was your birthday and you've decided to make something of yourself or die trying.