Godbound: Cults and Demiurges of the (Alternate) Bright Republic

This post is (hopefully) a work of fiction.

A continuation of the (depressing) post from last time on an alternate Bright Republic where society is about to collapse and everyone is breaking at the seams, only what's coming is the cruel realities of the world of Godbound and its realm, Arcem. These are cult, cabals and malcontents of the Bright Republics. Everything is ten minutes from midnight. Society is at a breaking point. In a world where divine power and transhumanism exist, this can lead many down to a darker path.

The Khamite Ascendency

Art by Tiago Baltar

The Polyarchy of Kham was the nation/people which the Ancalian and others descend and they were quite focused on transhumanism. In the Bright Republic, advanced transhumanism beyond attempts at restoring a body to its original function through medical means are generally banned. Knowledge of human modifying their bodies and souls to greater, immortal beings is generally something that is seen as the purview of science fiction novels. The various movements of Khamite Ascendency wish to return humanity to a state closer to this Godhood.

Too bad they are crazy, bigoted assholes working off incomplete information and cooky theories. The Khamite Ascendancy movements believe that their ancestors were unfairly stripped of their divine perfection, enslaved and turned from immortals to mere mortal slaves. What they don't know/forgot is that the ancient Akeh people which fled to the proto Bright Republic were those who had come to regret the excess of the Polyarchy. Perfected bodies free of diseases are one thing but the Polyarchy took this transhumanist movement to absolute extremes, modifying themselves into beings utterly removed from humanity. These dangerous modifications created beings known as the Fey/Cousins (see: Ancalia the Broken Towers) who became so unstable once natural laws began to shift that they degenerated into mad monsters or even flat out died. The various Ascendency movements are working off incomplete and incorrect information, based off an idealized mythical past and a lot of wishful thinking. This has led them to become intensely racially segregated at best and, at worst, they have begun to practice soft eugenics.

A few powerful businessmen with Akeh ancestors have backed up many of these would-be attempts at eugenics, funding underground both clinics. These attempted process at creating super men of 'pure genetic heritage' have been met with intense failure usually resulting in rather mundane problems such as genetic defect and increased cancer. With little success in these clinics, they have turned to poorer urban and rural populations and young, ill educated malcontents. Their rhetoric is clad in righteous indignation at supposed past transgression but the heads of these movements don't really feel any sense of loyalty to fellow Akeh-descended folks. They see all flesh and all colors as nothing but fuel for the great fire of genetic rebirth which awaits them, fully committed to the fact the moment they will succeed their creation will deem them all impure. Already, they have begun incubating fast-growing embryo which they believe to be 'purified Akeh', based off illegally obtained genetic material from Ancalia...

The Machination Cults and Cyber-Gods

Art by Tsvetomir Georgiev

Where the Akeh tried to advance the human form and flesh to godhood, the Din sought to create great mechanism to control the world. These ranged from what we would recognize as technological marvels of our age or near future to more complex systems, including synthetic life and mechanical gods. Where the Khamite Ascendancies movements are angry malcontents, people with a victim complex and feeding off a sense of 'divinity denied', these various Din-derived movements are much stranger. Much of the Bright Republic's culture is Din in origin and much of Din 'mythology' is built around recognizable modernist ideas that technology and science will improve life. Many Din-descended folks thought that their society was an ideal through its technological superiority and, given the constant crackdowns against any technology the government cannot control and regulate, there's been a growing sense that the Bright Republic has "rejected the Din ideals".

While these movements and cults are rooted in Din cultural ideals, there is no racial component to these cults. The core of their ideologies is that mankind can build devices and discover new ways to interact with the world. As technology decays in the Bright Republic and every advance is stifled and/or controlled by government and corporate lobbies (as to not strain the etheric nodes or risk damaging them if modifications would be needed to make use of the invention), more and more scientists grow discontent. As fate would have it, discontent mad scientists and ancient cooky ideological cults of 'Din ideals' met one day in a back alley and things have escalated out of control. Under the nose of (or sometimes with the illegal support of) the Bright Republic's government, there have arisen cults of would-be 'futurist'.

In some circumstances, these could have been a good thing. Unfortunately, at some point, the ideas that man's progress and rights "Shall not be infringed" have definitely become warped. That is because these cults have succeeded much faster than the Khamite ascendants, since the basis of their theurgical knowledge already existed in society. Rural militias, would be entrepreneur, garage inventors, hackers, punks and more these people aren't dangerous by themselves. Underneath the control network of the Bright Republic, however, these people have created/awakened divine intelligences. They are incubating a new generation of technological demiurges. Should they attempt a revolution in the name of personal liberty, access to knowledge and advancement of sciences their victory could be short lived as the machine gods overtake the Etheric Nodes, the internet and their own devices. That is because, you see, this type of research has been done before. In the Bleack Reaches and Nezdhova...

The Procyon Project

Art by Deepak Dhawan

Known under a variety of names, all covert and all secretly illegal, the Procyon Project is the brainchild of several institutes within the Bright Republic government. It operates hidden under their nose and is dedicated to projects which go against the core tenets and agenda of the current (and all future?) administration. They've been at it for decades, now. The project heads and founders are part of the various factions which believe the Bright Republic to be completely lost and beyond repair. Under their secretive orders, entire facilities have been relocated, experts kidnapped and brainwashed and massive ton of materials displaced to secret locations. All in the name of the Procyon Project, the 'Great Gateway'.

The heads of the project have located a fairly isolated chunk of Heaven. While heavily damaged and mostly ripped out of its Celestial Engines, it remain stable, self contained and seemingly away from the gaze of powerful entities. It is, for all intent and purpose, empty and secret. Under the auspice of dimensional studies, the Procyon Project has spent the last few decades preparing to relocate its people and their resources to this part of Heaven. They have acquired samples of most of the population (which the government already had for gene-tracking), which is enough genetic material to recreate mankind. Since the Bright Republic is going down in flame and Arcem is likely to crumble, they have deemed it to be a lost cause. In order to ensure the survival of humanity (read: themselves), the Procyon project has spared no expenses in trying to terraform this relatively small shard of Heaven. It is believed, by their experts, that it will remain stable in its core functions within the next ten thousand years. This is, they believe, enough time to develop the means to restore more of its function and laws.

Because they require access to a Night Road to get there, much of the research of the Procyon Project is responsible for the eruption of small pockets of Uncreated activity within the Republic. Their experiments require them to 'punch holes' in reality and experts estimate that, as they continue to approach the 'promised time' that Uncreated activity will only increase.

Other Cults and Conspiracies

These are but a mere sample of what is going on in the Bright Republic. Truth is, just about everyone is either willingly or unwillingly the puppet of one or more organization or conspiracy. Everyone is a tool and everyone is bought to someone, somewhere they just don't know it. There is a growing list of groups and/or problems which add fuel the fire of the Bright Republic burning down.

• The Atheocracy of Lom and their cult of True Reason has grown in power. Social fabric in the Bright Republic was always on the more cold and rational side, which align perfectly given the two societies are of Din origin. The removal of God/Gods as the final arbiter of all thing in favor of impersonal state forces and organizations mean that the people of the Bright Republic are one step away from being like the Atheocracy.
• There are people in the Bright Republic who are of Ren descent and their ancestor-cults and worship of the True King have re-emerged, just like some Akeh have flirted with transhumanism and the Din turn back to synthetic gods. Their loyalty may not be to the Republic.
• The political and entertainment elites regularly get a pass to defy or ignore any and all government regulations, such as limitations on buying meat, going on vacations during periods of lockdown and suppression and more. They gorge themselves and enjoy life even during times when the common people can't enjoy life. The production of the resources and energy department in the Bright Republic are extremely one sided. This is coated in fearmongering and economic policies framed as people consuming less to help the poor yet in practice it isn't that.
• The poor which try to apply to a variety of government programs which claim to help them are sometimes never seen again. In truth many of these people are sent to extermination camps, genetic research facilities or even sold to slavery to other states in Arcem after having their minds scrubbed. This is to constantly purge and cut down on the population.
• Human trafficking has always been a problem but with cut down on population and a 'planned reduction', there has been an increase in human chattel and sexual slavery. The rich politician and actors have mind scrubbed slaves. The rest are used as raw materials or the aforementioned slave trade. Some have begun to research means to turn human souls into energy to sustain the Etheric Nodes.
• Meat is increasingly illegal in the Bright Republic in order to cut down on food spent on livestock and the 'printing' of synthetic meat. Vegan lifestyles are being encouraged and the cost/taxes on meat are ever increasing, all in the name of helping society in the environment. A sizeable portion of the meat on the market might be human meat.
• Hidden beneath the island are ruins of past incarnations of the Republic and shattered pocket-realms leading into Night Roads. These are haven of mutants and degraded scum. As the mutant kingdoms are organizing, the Bright Republic is increasingly unable to hide their existence and placate them.
• Religious resurgence is an issue in the Bright Republic, as classic religious values clash with blind obedience to an immoral state with no virtues. While the people who cling to religious values and a return to sanity aren't bad people, in the societal confusion of the collapsing Bright Republic many could become swayed by a 'false messiah' which could be an Uncreated entity or a particularly vicious and self-serving Godbound.

Ultimately, either the people in power or people at the bottom will snap. The Bright Republic will come undone by not only the sheer weight of lies it peddled but by a complete loss if faith in it as an idea. When everything become subjective and faith is lost in its wholeness as a county and as an institution (and people already have lost faith) the the street will run red with blood. Then the lives, livelihood and very soul of twelve million people become nothing more than a prize for monsters, crazed godlings, demented demagogues, irrational social engineers and criminal scum.

Godbound: An Alternative Bright Republic

Basically, 'What if the Bright Republic was a big conspiracy'. Of course, because Godbound is very heavy on its shades of grey, things are a little more complex than the evil corporate overlords and social engineers lording over us for their own greedy end. Its also exactly just that, too. Yet it is also the tale of freedom sacrificed for the sake of sanity and comfort.

Its For Your Own Good 

Art by Roger Creus Dorico

Obey the government. Listen to the media, the experts. They know better than you. Things might not always be perfect, in fact there's not a day without some scandal that last ten minutes or some political problem or societal issue. Yet, overall, for the people of the Bright Republic the world make sense. They are an island nation, living in the present day. Their world is one of technology, of science and reason. That much is known. Pay no attention to this which tell otherwise: they are liars, grifters, conspiracy theorist and peddlers of misinformation.

There are no such things as Gods and Monsters.

Except its all true. Because the Bright Republic exist in Arcem, a Realm in the Godbound universe. Its population is lied to on a constant basis, with subtle mind-altering memetic messages to ensure they believe the world to be a globe, that the wider world is akin to what we'd recognize loosely as modern day Earth and that Gods and monsters aren't real. It isn't that the masterminds behind the Republic are pure evil (although they can indeed be very evil and corrupt): it's that the alternative, the truth, is so terrible that it would shatter the minds of its citizen. Let's say YOU found out, some day, that the Earth is actually a broken shard floating around seas of un-creation where monsters come out of the darkness to unmake reality all because Manmade Gods fought to control Heaven and destroyed the world. How would you react? If you had absolute proof of this? You'd go mad.

When the Bright Republic was established, it was arguably one of the more 'sedated' places in Arcem: its people wanted to build a world where advanced technology would enhance human lives without overriding its existence. These ideals were noble compared to techno eugenics or being forcibly fused into the thought-patterns of Divine Artificial Intelligences. In their rather retro futuristic world, the people of what would become the Bright Republic walked a balanced between the comforts of high technology with the liberty (and limitations) of baseline human existence. In a way, their approach to technology and theurgy was similar to how the Amish do: all technologies had to be considered for a time before being applied to society. In that way, the way of life of people would not be instantly upset and drastically changed in ways which the rulers and people alike would have difficulty coping with.

Innocence Lost

Art by Dan Henk

The current state of Arcem has forced the Bright Republic to ever increasingly lie to its public. The Bright Republic is all which remains of the Arcem of old, as everything else has degraded into the post apocalyptic techno-magical world we know from the Godbound book. Castles and ruins, demons and monsters. Sword and sorcery, you could say. Every piece of information produced within the Bright Republic is a lie. Every scientific data is falsified. Every historical record is falsified. These are produced through Theotechnical wonders (which are rapidly breaking down) and amplified through the technology which is sent from the Etheric Nodes. People who go on vacations to other countries enter planes that take off and then land on small islands off the coast, where their minds are remolded to create false (but interesting and happy) memories.

This state of being was NOT what the founders of the Bright Republic wanted. However as the damage of the war over Heaven accelerated, it increasingly found it difficult to control immigration to its stable, etheric node-controlled lands. Not only that but many people from Kham carried with them transgenic modifications which either enhanced their bodies or minds. These people found themselves forcibly re-altered and 'neutered' to maintain a more egalitarian world view, as heavy transhumanism was taboo in the Bright Republic. In time, the Uncreated night kept creeping. The region which became the Bleak Reaches became increasingly alien and dystopian. It simply reached a point where the outside world was too much of a living nightmare, filled with monsters, mutations and war. Society was at a breaking point. Drastic measures had to be taken,

And so, the Bright Republic sacrificed Freedom for Security. Where once theotechnical means of control over the human mind and soul were illegal in the Bright Republic, it became the norm. Not as a mean to enhance humans but to control them and ensure they were kept 'sane'. Entire centuries of history were rewritten. Records were falsified. Then the nano-eidolon shrouds were released, creeping in everyone's brains to rewrite their mind's pathways. Artificial intelligences were created to help oversee these networks of control. Society and technology in the Bright Republic has been going downward for centuries now but people don't realize it. Since humans live around a maximum of seventy or eighty years, history is regularly rewritten, rebooted and reset. Past centuries are then cast as time of oppression, of war and terror where untold number of people died, reframed as a great narrative. All this to explain the mass extermination and lobotomization of past generations to hide that technology and lifestyles had to be downscaled to meet the limits of the Republic's current and ever-decaying technology.

Cryptids and Conspiracies

Art by Leo Colapietro

Every single conspiracy theory is true in the Bright Republic or, at the very least, make good fuel for an adventure. Cryptids are a good example: the truth is that, as the Celestial Engines are failing, mutations are growing in number. Lesser mutations are blamed on pollution and environmental issues but once in a while, a true monstrosity is born. These become the shaggy ape-men who live in the woods, the sea monsters and other creatures. Those which aren't found quickly are usually those whose twisted nature make them hard to detect even for divine-level beings. They warp time, space and mind around them.

There are shady 'Men in Black' and creepy doctors in white coats scattered across the Republic. These are either people without identity (having been erased from society and history) or artificial life forms. Such transhumanism was once banned in the Bright Republic's previous incarnations but as things have become more and more dire, such beings have been created. Of course, for the most part they don't actually target people who post on the internet about things the media have deemed 'conspiracies'. These are relatively harmless compared to what is classified as an 'Intrusion'. An 'Intrusion' is what happen when something akin to an Uncreated cult has sprung or a local area's laws of physics have started to degrade. These are far more pressing threats than a simple podcast or internet comment.

The threat of Intrusions are real, even if the Bright Republic has become little more than a paranoid and demented totalitarian state in the pocket of elites whose laws are passed to benefit them and no one else. Unfortunately what they don't realize is that this very elitism and abuse of power has fed into the Intrusion. Or maybe some of them do realize but don't care. Pockets of proto-cults to the Uncreated Night have sprung all over the country over the last decade. Even with the ever increasing censorship of information, angry and discontent people with meaningful reasons to be pissed are slowly taken in by the lure of ruinous forces. Desire for reform, freedom and meaningful revolution are twisted into depression, anger, rage and utter discontent for the lives of anyone else. Meanwhile, religious fervor is in upswing as people desperately need something to believe in the face of their society slowly crumbling yet the government and culture has heavily attacked faith, since it demand only faith in the state, the media and institutions. The moment a Godbound emerges within the Bright Republic, for all to see, it will be a reckoning: they could be a saint or a monster but it wouldn't matter so much as people find something to follow and believe in that isn't sterile decadence.

Cults to horrific powers aren't the only ones which have sprung. A few ancient, so-called 'Mystery Cults' have emerged. These are the survivors of older incarnations of the Bright Republic, before it became the one we know today over the last century. These range from ancient, abstract cults to the ancient machine gods of the ancient Din, who are the distant ancestors of the Bright Republic. As the fabric of society unravel, these mystery cults turn to theotechnical and theurgical knowledge which have long been proscribed and erased from culture by the current ruling elites of the Republic. Others are resurgent ancient religion and ideologies of the non-Din folks (such as the Ren, Akeh and other less known minor groups). Rejecting the current society they turn back to what their ancestors believed in and forment coup and plots to assume control over the crumbling Bright Republic, they too having been driven to despair and believing nothing can be saved. Lacking the resources and a complete understanding of their history and own belief system, they are little more than pathetic malcontents which would be laughed at as mere pretenders by the outside world.

Even the media and government aren't immune to the Intrusion: their own selfish greed and desire for adoration and power has left many even more corrupt than people can even imagine as they've started to sell out the Bright Republic to outer powers: some to Uncreated cults too, others to the Atheocracy of Lom. Others sell out not out of ideology but simply believing they will emerge on top once it all crumble and have begun to cut deals with Vissio or the artificial intelligences of Nezdovha, two nations interested in the infrastructure of the Etheric nodes.

The Special Resources Department

The Bright Republic need not be a place for antagonist to exist and oppress people. One must understand the Bright Republic's overlord have done this to survive. Yes, mainly to save their own asses but also the entire population of currently around twelve million. The world as presented in Godbound is a dangerous place: the Uncreated are monsters, dangerous Blighted mutations randomly spring forth and other, even stranger monsters, exist. The Bright Republic's SRD is akin to a cross between the BRPD of Hellboy and the fictional version of the FBI/CIA. They aren't 'heroes' in the modern sense, as their job often require them to be callous with individual lives but they aren't monster out to oppress people.

The important thing to remember to keep things in perspective is that, every time this comes off as 'really creepy', one need to look back at the setting material presented in Godbound and Worlds Without Numbers. These twelve million people aren't ready to face what's outside. Yet, at the same time the sheer monstrosity of the Bright Republic's lies cannot endure.

Godbound: The Bleak Reaches

The Bleak Reaches clearly exist as a convenient 'clusterfuck' for GM to use as an adventure and trouble-heavy region. Well, at least on a meta-level of the worldbuilding which went into Arcem as a setting for Godbound. In universe, it isn't as simple as that but looking at the general design and outline of the place its clearly meant to be this adventurers-friendly area full of monsters, ruins, intrigues and political instability much like how Exalted had the Scavenger Lands. That and I haven't written about Arcem in quite a while as I haven't really gotten to use the setting and as such haven't really found any desire to write about it.

Well, It's Bleak All Right...

Concept art from S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

As with the rest of Arcem, the Bleak Reaches are a mess full of monsters, with technology which has degraded from extremely advanced to late Medieval. While everyone (except the Bright Republic) has degraded technologically, the Bleack Reaches (or whatever the hell it was called before) got hit quite bad as it used to be a so-called 'sister civilization' to the Bright Republic. When the Shattering came, the place got screwed beyond repair and was functionally nearly completely abandoned by any stable or structured society. It basically turned into a post apocalyptic wasteland filled with advanced technology now reduced to nothing but junk metal and plastic, unable to be activated. Given it's temperate to temperate-cold climate and the high level of technology, the image it conjures in my head (at least in the wake of the Sundering and the devastation that followed) is that of Metro 2033 or S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl combined with the so-called Original D&D setting.

This is the general image I get from the area: post apocalyptic ruins mixed with all the classic wilderness of Dungeons & Dragons, where small guarded towns exist as a 'point of light' within the monster infested wilds. To a certain extent, even the more 'dungeon punk' look of more modern D&D, especially the more silly art of Wayne Reynolds, could at least partially make sense and exist as people fashion armor from the recycled modern clothes, weapons and armors, cobbling together these bizarre armors and weapons out of whatever degraded material exist. Combine this with most settlers in the area being a later addition, exiles from other lands, and you get a rather eclectic place. It is a place where skeleton-haunted mines, swords & sorcery, old broken concrete roads and moss-encrusted crashed planes coexist.

Art by Jim Ling.

From what the stories of the Atheocracy tells, however, what became the Bleak Reaches was no utopia, not even remotely close to more 'relatable' Bright Republic. According to what we know of the Atheocracy's origins, these people fled the 'cold synthetic gods of a techno-theocracy'. What exactly this means is a bit unclear until one dig into now lost notes by Kevin Crawford back on Google+ where he describes the gods of that place as 'Geiger-esque AI-human god-hybrids'. Therefore whatever veneer of normality we would recognize in that ancient civilization would be but surface level, as their society was cruelly ruled and organized by man-machine hybrids who likely oversaw their society with nothing but cold efficiency or alien cruelty in mind. Kind of like Google but with more flesh-machine fusion and tentacles. Where did these creatures go? It is likely they died when the Sundering destroyed that civilization, these complex entities first to die when the laws of reality broke down, leaving behind only made mutated AI and decrepit mindless machines to wander the Bleak Reaches.

Generating A Village

Vaulters from Endless Legends.

The only any of these communities have in common is that A) life is hard and B) they live in the ruins of an advanced civilization. The only people who live in the Bleak Reaches are people with nowhere else to go and this heavily shapes what kind of village they are. Many of them will have a more 'sinister' side to them, as the region is full of monstrous abominations such as Parasite Gods (who are very common in the area) who will often set themselves up as a protector or God of a local community. To outsiders from calmer, gentler lands these people can come off as obviously in the wrong but one must understand that it is generally a mixture of desperation and pragmatism which drives them. For those who manage to establish a (mostly) stable society in those lands, away from their enemies, then it doesn't seem all that bad. Better a harsh, cruel but free life rather than death at the point of a sword.

The results on these tables should help inform what Features and Problems a village would have should the GM need to stat it as a Faction. For example: if the Ancalian Nobles In Exile result is rolled, it is likely the ruling caste of the community will have leftover transhuman enhancements while a Scavenger village, whose entire society is built on recovering, repairing and even reselling lost technology is going to have a technological edge over its neighbors no matter what.

D10	Origin of its People (Roll Each Column)
1-3	Mixed Origin: This community has come together from disparate origins. Roll 1d3 times on this table.	Political Exiles: These people have fled the authorities of their homeland (or another, nearby community) and created their own village.
		Religious Oddities: These people have particularly odd/foul religious beliefs and have settled the land from a mixture of religious reasons and simply fleeing.
		Cultural Deviants: Be it Ulstanger pacifists or Bright Republic Anarcho Primitivists these don’t belong back home anymore.
4	Din Survivors: These people are direct descendants of the original inhabitants of what are now the Bleak Reaches who have returned.	Escaped Slaves: This group was oppressed and enslaved, possibly by a nearby community and have since built their own society.
5	Bright Republic Exiles: For one reason or another these people have left or been exiled/cut off from the Bright Republic. Their life sucks, now.	Mutant Outcasts: These people have been cursed/mutated in some way, possibly even before arriving in the Reaches. They are feared, perhaps unfairly. Roll on the Mutations Table.
6	Lomites Returnee: These people have decided that it's better to flee the Atheocracy and go back to these lands than live another day there.	Scavengers: This community, whatever its roots or origins has evolved into a society heavily invested in scavenging and reselling technology. Roll on the Scavenged Technology Table.
7	Ulstanger Exiles: These people are from the Ulstang skerries, or at least their ancestors were. They now live within the Reaches.	Warriors: Whatever its roots or origins, this society has evolved into a hardy and spartan people; part mercenaries, part monster hunters. Roll on the Warrior Ethos table.
8	Ancalian Nobles in Exile: These people descend from some far off branch of Ancalian nobility, now fallen from grace and living a simpler existence.	Parasite God Cult: This community is wholly dedicated to its patron deity, which is a dangerous Parasite God. Roll on the Parasite God table.
9	Faraway Travellers: The inhabitants of this community are from another region which is quite far away and have travelled an absurd distance.	Arcane Research: This community was originally funded by seekers of forbidden knowledge, mages and the likes. This has heavily shaped their society. Roll on the Arcane Secrets table.
10	Night Road Immigrants: This group is not originally from Arcem and has arrived post-Sundering through a Night Road. These people bring with them stranger culture, magic or artifact.	Nanotech Corruption: This community has built its village in an area infested with still functioning nanotechnology, either imbuing and/or cursing the inhabitants in some shape or form while also making them unable to leave without their health failing. Roll on the Nanotech Corruption Table.

1d6	Mutations
1-2	Mutant Outcast Colony: There is no particular origin to these people’s deformities, they are simply united in their misery, welcoming any and all who have been shunned due to mutation and sickness.
3	Night People: Whatever has caused these people’s mutation (disease, magics or else) they cannot tolerate bright lights and have a nocturnal society. The sun either blinds them or burns their skin or they could all be albino.
4	Diseased Outcasts: These people are deformed by a particular metaphysical sickness which can be transmitted to others. They have created this colony to live out the rest of their lives. The sickness is carried in their blood and their children are born with it.
5	Miasma Tainted: These people were normal when they arrived in the Bleak Reaches but quickly became mutated by unseen forces. One side effect of these mutations is they can live in the most toxic/unstable areas of the Reaches without dying.
6	Devolution: These people are, for lack of a better term, ‘devolving’ as each generation is increasingly more beast-like both in appearance and mannerism. They are strong, hardy and well suited for survival but find higher concepts harder and harder.

1d6	Scavenged Technology
1-2	Ancient Firearms: The community has access to a few firearms which are mechanically equivalent to a Bright Republic magnetic gun with the ‘Hardened Tech’ upgrade. Every year more and more guns cease to function permanently.
3	Regalia Armor: The community has scavenged some Regalia Armor from the Bleak Reaches, which looks like high tech suits of armor crossed with an H.R. Giger painting. Malfunctioning suits have a bad habit of trying to merge with the wearer.
4	Unstable Automatons: The community has repaired and reactivated a few mechanical creatures which they can use to defend themselves. These half-broken robots have a chance of breaking down and going berserk.
5	Nanotech Medicine: Extremely limited in supply, these devices can be used to extend life and repair damaged organs...at a cost. The wealthy and powerful who use them are haunted by visions of synthetic gods trying to connect with their minds in vain.
6	Godwalker: The community has repaired and reactivated a fully functional Godwalker which now has a trained pilot.

1d6	Warrior Ethos
1-3	Discipline: When one lives in a monster and mutants-infested land, discipline is paramount. Hard discipline, punishment, stoicism and enforcement of rank and protocol is how this community operates.
4	Berserkers: These guys are crazy. The only way for them to have a fighting chance is through chemicals, fungus or Low Magic-infused battle rages where they feel nothing; not fear, not pain.
5	Warrior Code: There is a complex, philosophical code to these warriors on what they can and cannot do. It could be philosophical, religious or something with a bit of both. This mentality is derived from their origin.
6	Ruthless: The only ethos they follow is ‘we will survive, the enemy will not’. These people are ruthless pragmatics to the very end. While disciplined, they will cheat, fight dirty and do whatever is needed to win.

1d6	Parasite God
1-3	Cruel Overlord: The Parasite God is the typical demanding and very likely insane God, who must be constantly appeased less he or she destroys those under its ‘protection’. As long as it is pleased it will destroy the community’s enemies.
4	Formerly Benevolent: The Parasite God, when it was mortal, was already some heroic champion of its community. The transformation was seen as a blessing but as with all Parasite Gods it is now losing its mind.
5	Appeasement: The Parasite God does not directly interact with its community but rather simply claim the area they inhabit. As long as the locals appease it by giving offerings it will kill any enemies in their lands.
6	Complex Religion: This Parasite God has gone the extra mile to create a complex and compelling religion and mythology around itself to appear to not be yet another dime a dozen despotic monster. It has holy symbols, sacred texts, priests and everything.

1d6	Arcane Research
1-3	Low Magic Traditions: These people have maintained a form of Low Magic, which is stable and reliable enough to be used to enhance and sustain their society. It can be a pre-existing one from the book or a new one.
4	Theurgy: The community has one, maybe two true Theurge who are the inheritors to years upon years of research and experimentation. They could be enlightened or they could be some cruel overlord.
5	Transmuted Slaves: Through a mixture of theurgy, low magic and/or scavenge technology this community has an underclass of mutated slaves who are kept in line. They form the backbone of their workforce or military.
6	Alternative Energy: Through some complex and slightly dangerous magic process, this community is able to generate power for more advanced technologies on a limited scale. It is reliant on specific materials which are limited or human energy in some capacity.

1d6	Nanotech Corruption
1-2	Mutation: Roll on the Mutation table instead but refluff taking into account that it involves rampant nanotechnology.
3-4	Connected: The individuals are partially connected by the nanite colonies, able to sense the intent of others. It also carries a mental impulse to conform and obey.
5	Cyber Husks: The nanite colonies are damaged life support and/or enslavement technology. Those members of the community who die come back to life as biomechanical husks.
6	Assimilators: The members of this community are corrupted by the nanites and use it as a tool of growth and control. They can implant their will in the nanites and infect others with memetic control.