"Xeria"-A sci-fi/fantasy world.

Protagonist

One Thousand Club
This is a world I created for a future RP:


The setting takes place an uncertain time in the future. The Earth (called "Terra" by characters in this setting) has been destroyed, and people have been forced to emigrate to another world, known as Xeria.


The Native Xerians are relatively low-tech, ranging from neolithic to middle-ages.


The Three Races:


Humankind:
Homo Sapiens, Children of Adam, Sky People, Terrans, and various other names are attributed to this species. Humanity was brought to this world after their own home’s destruction. Outside of Zion, most humans have stopped caring about their heritage, and have integrated into the tribes of Xeria. The Zion Republic, being founded and run by humans, tends to take pro-human stances. As a result, humans often have the benefits of social class. Because of Xeria’s weak magnetic field, humans have to consume small doses of anti-radiation tablets (which are relatively easy to make with things found on the planet).


Xerians: The natives of Xeria, obviously. They are also referred to as “Xenos”, “Elves”, or simply “Natives”. They look similar to humans, but with a few differences. Xerians have pointed ears, and have unusual eye structures (such as those associated with birds, reptiles, and amphibians). Some races of them have blue or green skin as well. Xerians heal very quickly. Their legal status in Zion varies from town to town, ranging from "full citizenship" to "second class citizenship". There was a time when enslaving Xerians was a way for a colony to grow. As recently as 50 years ago, Zion outlawed the enslavement of Xerians (preferring to stick with Android labor) However, they currently lack the ability to vote in a federal election. The President has been trying to change this, with little success so far.


Androids: Androids (also known as "Synths" informally. It's not a slur) are sentient machines. They’re built exclusively by corporations based in Zion, but are often sold away to the tribes, or occasionally escape to join them, or manage to outlive their creators. Androids are stronger and sturdier than humans. They are usually considered property in most areas. However, they are able to purchase their freedom. In most areas, they have small legal protections like "a 2000 gram fine if you murder one". Most of them are 3-laws compliant. However, the first and second law only apply to "Human citizens of Zion or their town". They can, for example, kill a Xerian without any programming restraints. Though their body is mechanical, their brains are composed of synthetic organic material. Thus, they can be poisoned, and do need food, water, and air.


Race Relations: (Within Zion)


Human-Android: Opinions of robots generally range from them being "the hired help" (who should be treated well) to "appliances of no particular value outside of the work they do". The Church of Metatron wishes to improve their legal status. Robots have mixed feelings of mankind, that range from "oppressors that must be escaped" to "our glorious creators who must be served".


Human-Xerian: Xerians and Humans have a bit of a Sordid history in Zion. Many Xerians fear for the loss of their "native" cultures, and dislike being the subjects of a human power. However, many also like human technology, and the great work opportunities that the human government has provided to Xerians willing to cooperate with them. Human opinions of Xerians generally range from "Ignorant Barbarians" to "Noble Savages". It often depends on the human's experiences when dealing with them. Many colonies have been destroyed by Xerian raiding parties. Many have also been taught how to survive because of them.


Xerian-Android: Xerians and Androids generally do not like each other. Xerian tribals are every bit as willing to enslave Androids as Humans are. Robots are less willing to work for Xerians as they are for humans (humans created them. Xerians did not). Xerians who dislike humans also tend to dislike robots (who they see as as enabling Zion to exist). There are exceptions, but the general rule is that they distrust each other.


Theology:


The religion of Xeria is pretty universally accepted. Most of the members of the Xerian Parthenon show themselves to people frequently enough that it would be silly not to believe in them. They are however, very mysterious, shadowy figures. There are also wildly different denominations and affiliations.


In the beginning, there was Theos. Theos is the eternal, omnipotent god of destiny. In the fires of a star, he forged a living, breathing world known as Xeria. Using the same fires, he created 7 lesser gods, and gave the world to them. He tasked them with maintaining Xeria, keeping it progressing along his path. To this end, 2 gods known as Apollyon and Metatron were set up as the king of the lesser gods. Apollyon would rule night, and Metatron day. The other 5 (the elemental deities) would be their loyal subjects.


Overtime, the gods began to question Theos's path. Apollyon, eventually, grew to hate Theos, and ordered them to break away from Theos and follow him.


His brother, Metatron, was disgusted with Apollyon, and ordered his subjects to "stay the course". What they perceive as "pointless bickering" has caused the Elemental deities to lose faith in their kings. The elementals are now Ubermensches, who do whatever they feel makes them happy.


As the nearby planet Earth started to die, Metatron saw an opportunity. He called out to them, telling them to colonize Xeria. He was hoping they'd become loyal followers who would help him defeat Apollyon. However, the colonization had mixed success, and indeed, many even found themselves following Apollyon. However, many humans do like Metatron, who did save their species from extinction.


As for the Afterlife:


People who die in this world usually reincarnate. They lose all their memories, but their personality remains mostly intact. Most of the time, the person retains their gender and race, but there are exceptions. Worshiping Diluvii can sometimes cause somebody to have better luck in the "reincarnation lottery" so to speak.


Having a heart full of "darkness" (that is to say, Apollyon's favor and hatred of Theos) will cause someone to "Descend", and not reincarnate. Apollyonists consider this desireable, wishing for eternal rest.


Metatronists have the opposite view: they believe that immortality is very desirable. They however, don't consider reincarnation to be "good enough". One who's heart is filled with "light" can "Ascend" into the Zenith, where Theos lives.


However, neither Metatron nor Apollyon considers reincarnation to be a "bad" fate, just an "ok" one. It requires one's to be very much in their respective deity's favor to ascend or descend.


Spiritual light and darkness is not quite the same as good and evil. However, it's generally more conducive for a person seeking Ascension to be good, and Descension evil. Only through rigorous religious practice can one ever ascend or descend. Also, in order to ascend or descend, you have to want it.


Magic:


Magic (also known as Psionics) exists in this setting. There are two types of Magic: Elementalism, and Conjuration. Elementalism involves channeling a specific elemental power. For example:


-Aerokinesis (moving air. Can also solidify the air to some extent)


-Pyrokinesis (creating fire with one's mind)


-Cyrokinesis (causing the Ether to absorb heat from an object)


-Hydrokinesis (moving water with one's mind)


-Florakinesis (generating plant material. It cannot normally create edible plants, unfortunately)


-Geokinesis (moving rocks with one's mind)


There's a substance (a type of cold plasma) known as Ether. Ether is attracted to living material and especially certain types of crystals and precious metals. It's an invisible substance that can't be seen, felt, tasted, or smelled.


In order to use magic, a person needs a "focus". Focuses can be a lot of things, but are usually rings, wands, staves, eye or face wear, text (scrolls, books, that sort of thing), and candles.


In order to use magic, one needs a hold out their focus, and envision what they want their respective material to do. For example, if they want to throw a cushion of air at their opponent, they simply envision the air hitting their opponent. The better they visualize it, the better their element will "obey".


It also draws energy out of the user, causing them to eventually pass out. A better focus makes the process more efficient.


It's not truly supernatural, but it is something that most scientists don't understand. It's kind of like the human brain. Probably not supernatural, but very mysterious.


Conjuration:


Conjuration is a sub-type of magic. It doesn't, on its own, allow someone to spell-cast, but instead allows one to conjur or control other beings. It works by the user holding a "soul stone", which allows them to project a creature into the world. A few types of Conjuration:


-Spiritism: Summoning wildlife. The organism that is created from spiritism is perfectly trained, and knows what its user wants it to do. It's a relatively "safe" form of conjuration.


-Necromancy: Reanimating and/or summoning the dead. It works by drawing power out of Apollyon. It is not, in and of itself, evil. However, Apollyon's essence is. Thus, Necromancy is not the safest form of conjuration. Misuse of Necromancy causes side-effects such as dependence, hallucination, depression, general feelings of dread, paranoia, reduced empathy. Though it is not evil, many have been turned to evil through necromancy. The safest approach to necromancy is to think of it as "turning darkness against itself". Necromancy cannot resurrect the dead fully. It instead creates a new pseudo-organism which wears the body as a shell. This pseudo-organism has no will of its own, and is very zombie-like.


-Technomancy: Summoning or interfacing with technology using magic. It works by channeling energy out of Metatron, which machines can read relatively easily. It also isn't perfectly safe to use, but for different reasons than Necromancy. Metatron dislikes impurity. And since no one is perfect, it can cause physical harm to the user.


Plasmic Weaponry:


Most guns in this setting fire plasma ammo. The main reason for this is simply practical: It allows more suspension of disbelief when it comes to bullet wounds.


The Undead:


The Undead (also known as Monsters, Shadowspawn, and "Dark Creatures") are creatures filled with dark, Apollyonic Ether. They are not truly alive, but are rather pseudo-organisms, like a virus. They "reproduce" using other organisms. They inject Dark Ether into another living being, which then kills its host. It then reanimates its host, turning them into a monster. The monster then goes on to infect other living things.


Sunlight causes the undead to lose dark ether, weakening and eventually killing them. However, the process is not instant. All undead are nocturnal. They spend the daytime hiding in shelters nicknamed "haunted houses".


The undead spread like this:


A small undead sneaks in a house at night, and finds a hiding spot. Usually they hide under furniture (IE, beds) or inside cupboards or closets. After a few days, they attack and infect all the people they can. The place becomes a haunted house afterwards. At night, they go out to seek more prey. Once their numbers have swelled, they form large hordes and conquer the entire settlement, turning it into a necropolis.


The Nations:


Zion Republic: The major protagonistic faction. Zion was formed by a prophet and former slave named St. Quinn. He led a group of human refugees from failed colonies and took them to a place he saw in a vision. A holy city, carved from a mountain. They call it Valhalla. Inside Valhalla was advanced technology, and weapons...and a machine army. Quinn declared that they were the chosen people of the sun-god Metatron, and that they were to spread civilization across the world.


Zion has become the "World Police", and they keep the other factions in line. They are rather imperialistic, but they have a good track record of actually improving the living conditions of the people under their rule.


ENIGMA: The Antagonists of the setting. Not Technically a nation, but something of an NGO Superpower, nonetheless. ENIGMA is a secret society of cultists/necromancers and pseudo-anarchist revolutionaries. They control 90% of organized crime. Their long-term goal is to overthrow all the world's governments and create a "utopia" without nations. Their conflict with Zion is the main focus of the story. ENIGMA associates with a deity known as Apollyon, though they do not directly worship him.


Their culture has something of inverted symbolism. "Darkness" is considered good in their society, for example. Specifically, darkness symbolizes acceptance and equality (you can't tell two people apart in the dark).


The following are Xerian states, each one following a "Sacred Element" (Fire, Water, Earth, Ice, and Plants):


Minerva: An Athens-like culture that lives near coastal regions, with its sacred element being water. Naturally, they have a sea-faring economy, and a giant navy. Their society is a true democracy, led by a Philospher-King. They associate with the deity Dilluvii, goddess of water, death, and reincarnation.


Giza: Ancient Egyptian culture, who worship Renibus, goddess of construction and mining. They like to build pyramids and monuments, and their society is lead by a Pharoah. They value work ethic.


Hooric Empire: The Hooric Empire is a Viking-like society who worship Calor, god of fire and the warrior spirit. Their society is built around strength. People who do well in the Arena often go on to become kings, and the strongest warrior is allowed to be the emporer. They value sportsmanship, honor, and ass-kicking.


The Silvians: An Asiatic culture who live in the forest in cities of treehouses. They worship Silvia, goddess of love and nature. They have a caste system, and their warriors follow a sort of bushido code.


The Crystal Kingdom: A kingdom off to the north, resembling medieval Europe. It always snows there. They value creativity, and worship Frigus, god of Winter and Art.
 
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Some history, for one. Is there magic and how does it work? Can you explore the politics and religion in detail? What's daily life like? What kind of character should we expect?
 
Oki. I'm actually working out the specifics of their mythology right now.


 
Now the gist of the magic is done.
 
Going places, certainly. Have you considered the scientific and cultural ramifications of the magic system?
 
Actually, I have not. I suppose in general, possessing magic isn't a "huge deal" in this world. I'll look into bigger details than that later.
 
Well, if you're going to call it sci-fi, you need to explore the social and technological consequences of this kind of thing.


If it's just The Force with another name and reskin, this is sci-fantasy.


Which is fine, just a distinction to be aware of. Also, not logically considering the implications of a piece of magic or technology can be bad for immersion and surprise you when a player takes advantage of it (see; using the Create Food spell in D&D to crash an economy).
 
Oh! Thanks for bringing that up! I'll have to limit on Plant-Magic's ability to create edible plants, as it could be a game breaker otherwise (since survival is a rather important part of this RP)
 
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I'm probably going to sound a bit dumb saying this, but what exactly do you mean when you say thematic core? I've tried looking the term up on the internet, but can't find a specific definition.
 
As in... if you had to use two or three words to describe the themes that are central to the setting and guide how it's used. Tone too, while we're at it.


As an example, for Crucible I'd always say responsibility and sacrifice, and the tone is predominantly of horror.
 
The tone I'm going for is sort of..."Knight in Sour Armor"-themed. The world is basically a mess, with 5 of its deities being amoral hedonists at best, and one god being practically evil incarnate. Said evil god is still charismatic enough that many people everywhere are still willing to follow it, believe they're doing the right thing, and dying for the cause. The good guy-faction is filled with extremists. However, it is not hopeless. Situations can improve through enough work and sacrifice. However, sacrifice too much, and you end up becoming the bad guy anyways. So it's about walking that fine line much of the time.
 
So it's a crapsack world where someone can triumph through hard work and discipline?


Is that personal victory, or is there room for a larger positive impact?


What kind of stories do you want to tell with the setting, and how do the various elements support that?
 
Grey said:
So it's a crapsack world where someone can triumph through hard work and discipline?
Is that personal victory, or is there room for a larger positive impact?


What kind of stories do you want to tell with the setting, and how do the various elements support that?
Most of it revolves around personal victory and local improvement. However, it is implied that said personal victories and local improvements add up eventually. For example:


You defeat a group of bandits harrassing a farm. The farmers can do their job in peace. Therefore, they create more food. Said food might, for example, help feed an army which helps secure the entire region, thus helping win the entire war against ENIGMA.
 
I'd say focus on the elements of the setting that emphasize that, then.


I do like that ENIGMA isn't just lolevil, by the way.


Exploring the various cultures and ideologies in depth would be really beneficial to this.
 
Yeah, I figured that it would be a little hard to recruit armies by saying "hey, guys, let's be evil!". They have to at least have a rationalization for it. For that matter, tricking otherwise good people into being cannon fodder only makes the villains more evil.
 
Fun... but I don't fully like it.


Aren't there gonna be skeptics: who don't believe in all this religion stuff (MY character that I want?) Wouldn't they want to live in a place that isn't dedicated to a deity?
 
Assailant said:
Fun... but I don't fully like it.
Aren't there gonna be skeptics: who don't believe in all this religion stuff (MY character that I want?) Wouldn't they want to live in a place that isn't dedicated to a deity?
Unlike the real world, most of the gods are quite visible, even appearing on television or the internet occasionally. Being an atheist in this world would be like not believing in President Obama. The only god who's existence could reasonably be questioned would be Theos. There are, however, many people who don't actively worship any particular deity. In fact, more people fear the gods (and want to appease them so they don't get hit with a natural disaster or something) or consider their powers useful rather than truly love them. Zion would be the main exception to this rule (with their deity being fairly well respected within their borders).
 
Protagonist said:
Unlike the real world, most of the gods are quite visible, even appearing on television or the internet occasionally. Being an atheist in this world would be like not believing in President Obama. The only god who's existence could reasonably be questioned would be Theos. There are, however, many people who don't actively worship any particular deity. In fact, more people fear the gods (and want to appease them so they don't get hit with a natural disaster or something) or consider their powers useful rather than truly love them. Zion would be the main exception to this rule (with their deity being fairly well respected within their borders).
What about magic? What about people who believe it's all smoke and mirrors (Metaphorically speaking)?
 
Assailant said:
What about magic? What about people who believe it's all smoke and mirrors (Metaphorically speaking)?
Wizards are about as common as illusionists are in real life. However, most Mages only know one or two spells. A skeptical mind could reasonably come to the conclusion that at least most of them are frauds. Also, stating that magic is overrated wouldn't be too unreasonable either. In fact, given that the most powerful faction became so via guns and science rather than magic, it's probably true.


Back to the gods topic, it could be reasoned by someone who's never seen a deity in person that the gods are actually really well done hoaxes (CGI and whatnot). Though someone saying that would probably get weird looks.


Are you trying to make a kind of jaded Han Solo-esque character?
 
Protagonist said:
Wizards are about as common as illusionists are in real life. However, most Mages only know one or two spells. A skeptical mind could reasonably come to the conclusion that at least most of them are frauds. Also, stating that magic is overrated wouldn't be too unreasonable either. In fact, given that the most powerful faction became so via guns and science rather than magic, it's probably true.
Back to the gods topic, it could be reasoned by someone who's never seen a deity in person that the gods are actually really well done hoaxes (CGI and whatnot). Though someone saying that would probably get weird looks.


Are you trying to make a kind of jaded Han Solo-esque character?
Ding ding ding, there you go. See, I don't know whether I want my character to not believe in magic at all, OR to believe that the Gods are just really powerful mages.
 
Assailant said:
Ding ding ding, there you go. See, I don't know whether I want my character to not believe in magic at all, OR to believe that the Gods are just really powerful mages.
Just verifying. :)


I'd go with something along the lines with the gods just being mages or something similar. For example, Metatron could be explained away reasonably as a rogue AI that's capable of channeling vast amounts of magical energies, feigning godhood to achieve...whatever end he seeks. Also, they might not believe that any of the gods particularly care about people.
 
Protagonist said:
Just verifying. :)
I'd go with something along the lines with the gods just being mages or something similar. For example, Metatron could be explained away reasonably as a rogue AI that's capable of channeling vast amounts of magical energies, feigning godhood to achieve...whatever end he seeks. Also, they might not believe that any of the gods particularly care about people.
Well, whether or not there's a group of people that doesn't believe, or my character is alone, I'm gonna have that...


Actually, having an "atheist," as it were, in a religious city would provide good conflict
 
Assailant said:
Well, whether or not there's a group of people that doesn't believe, or my character is alone, I'm gonna have that...
Actually, having an "atheist," as it were, in a religious city would provide good conflict
I think it would be rather...entertaining. :)
 

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