Grey
Dialectical Hermeticist
| I have a private theory, Sir, that there are no heroes and no monsters in this world. Only children should be allowed to use these words Alfred de Vigny, 'Stello' |
A World Without Sun
The City is often called simply that; The City. The thanatocrats call it Umbra without a trace of irony, and well, they would know, one supposes. It is found on no map, and some say that by the twisting, arcane nature of the place the idea of mapping it is a hopeless dream besides - it sprawls endlessly inward from the dark sea and the lights of its towers can be seen far beyond the furthest known street. Who dwells in those lost boroughs, we do not know.
The streets are cobbled, in various states of repair. The buildings are tightly packed, often two or three stories tall over narrow streets, the monotony broken by dismal parks, unsettling monuments, and civic institutions long abandoned. Some streets have gas street lamps, a few electric. Rats, cats, crows, and feral dogs are common.
The sun does not rise, in this place. Only moons of varying size and colour to give any living rhythm to the place. Surprisingly, this seems to have no physiological effect on the people who live here. Unsurprisingly, no scientist remains unchanged by their new home; either driven quite mad by the revelation that much of the natural sciences seem to collapse in the City, or inspired to dark brilliance by the possibilities.
Ask anyone living the date, and they'll tell you it's 1800 and something.
As Children Fear The Dark
| The sinister, the terrible never deceive: the state in which they leave us is always one of enlightenment Thomas Ligotti, 'Medusa' |
Umbra is a Thanatocracy. On Lily Hill, the promontory overlooking the bay, live the elite of the City; the lich-lords in their finery and funeral masks, their stately sepulchres and mortuary-mansions. The Undead. The Dead Who Rule.
The Reclaimers Guild and Governor exist with their support; if the outlanders refused the Dead openly, they would receive no finance, no supplies, no mercy.
Masters of necromancy, the Thanatocrats enforce their will with subtle magics of decay or hulking knights of bone - though more commonly a few indentured vampires and loyal mortal serve as their agents.
They rarely descend from their palatial and silent district of the city.
The Docklands are controlled by the vampires, the Ab-Dead, or Dead Who Reave. Sailors, thugs, and pirates, the vampires are tenuously under the command of the liches. When the night is without a moon, the vampires sail out to kidnap new tenants from the world left behind. A share is taken in slaves, pets, playthings, minions and companions, but most captives find themselves in the City proper. Outlanders can often trade blood to the vampires in exchange for items wrested from the wider world. The Docklands are probably the most bustling and vibrant part of the City known.
| He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man. Samuel Johnson |
The Botanical Gardens, sprawling for a couple of miles to the far west of Providence, are inhabited by the Thropes - beasts that walk like men. Dissidents against the lich-lords’ regime, they are dangerous to know both for their radical politics and dark appetites. They support anarchists and undermine the Thanatocracy at every opportunity, and ably subvert Strangers or frustrated Theurgists to their cause.
Strangers In A Strange Land
There are two kinds of people in the City, living mostly in the district of Providence at the heart of this inhabited region. The first kind are the Outlanders; those taken from the outside world by the Reavers and left to fend for themselves. The oldest have been here thirty years, the youngest less than a month - and as young as twelve, in some cases. The outlanders are the largest group of mortals, and most are slowly spreading out and refurbishing the City under the guidance of the Reclaimers Guild and the Governor.
The Strange are the other kind of people; the children born in the City. The eldest is twenty-four, now, a young woman best known as The Witch of Isley Row. The Strange are young, yet, and still mostly in whatever group to which their parents might belong, but they’re easily recognizable and the moniker is well-deserved. The Strange are paler than their parents, with darker eyes, and hair in abnormal hues. Sooner or later they demonstrate a kinship with the shadows of the City, a talent for becoming unseen or finding their way in the dark, or calling on eerie powers.
Understandably, relations between them and their forefathers are somewhat tense.
Likewise, relations between the 'unaligned' and registered Guild members are tense, with Anarchists lurking in the midst of both doing nothing to ensure stability or compromise.
We Unfashioned Creatures
The scientists not driven mad by the oddities of the City draw from them terrible inspiration, and build devices both wondrous and sinister. But their proudest achievement is the voltaic men.
Corpses raised by occult science, sewn together and riven with cables, powered by lightning, most are mindless, servile things. But some are aware enough to still feel, to piece together the remnants of their living history and recognize their hands are not their own.
Outlawed by the Thanatocracy for its 'vulgar imitation of our august powers', people so resurrected find themselves hunted, untrusted, and with few options beyond criminality or terrorism to survive.
What But Design of Darkness To Appall?
The City is waking up. More captives have arrived and are filtering out from the Docks. Lily Hill sighs with fresh mockery of life. Guild and Theurgists increasingly risk coming to blows, and people on the streets are more worried about eyes in the dark than politics.
Where do you fit in? What's the secret of the City?
This game will use a light, diceless system I've been tinkering with. Some things may be changed as necessary as we proceed.
Vigor is spent on Actions, whether use of a Skill or a Power. There are no dice. You need only spend enough Vigor to beat the Difficulty of the task.
At Character creation, select your Stock and add the starting points to your Traits.
Traits can go as high as 5. You get 20 points to spend on Brutality, Grace, Poise, Intellect, and Wit. Fortitude is equal to your Poise and Intellect, and your Vigor is equal to your Fortitude + any bonuses.
Next you choose your Calling. Each Calling has a Core Trait which effects your Vigor recovery, and a selection of Skills. You get ten more points to spend on Skills, Talents, and Powers/Spells/Expertise.if you qualify.
When you want to do something, the task will have a Difficulty. To overcome that Difficulty, you spend Vigor equal to the Difficulty. However, your Skill is limited by how many points you spent on it, plus your relevant Trait, and you only have so much Vigor per Scene to divide between different actions.
If you cannot meet the Difficulty naturally, you can ask for assistance from an ally or use an item to help you meet the Difficulty.
When two characters oppose each other, the victory goes to whoever can overcome the other's action with superior Vigor. This may require some creative justification for certain actions.
There are no dice involved at any point, only decisions.
