Worlds Without Number: The Orcquest (Campaign Concept)

The 'orc' archetypes keep making rounds these days, again and again, as society goes in circle over the same lie and nonsense. These creatures, indeed all so-called Savage or Evil Humanoids are caught between two roles and concepts. One is their archetypal concept as humanoid forces of destruction, be it that of nature or a representation of humanity's animalistic and barbaric side. The other conception is the 'orc' is a misunderstood, sometimes even oppressed victim. So which one is truer to the 'orc' nature: barbaric despoiler devoid of any redeeming qualities and only fit to die at sword point or misunderstood victim?

Perhaps in Latter Earth, they are both true in a way. After all, Tolkien's orcs have a proposed origin of having once been Elves twisted by Morgoth.

The Orcquest

“What is better ? to be born good or to overcome your evil nature through great effort ?”     

-Paarthurnax, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Art by Markus Neidel

Game Concept: Arthurian legends quest for the Holy Grail+Warhammer's Warriors of Chaos+Orcs

You are an Anakim, a descendant of demi-human engineered by the cruel alien Outsiders to be a living weapon against the rest of humanity. Your ancestors were made stronger, faster, more vicious and filled with an intense built-in hatred for anything close to the baseline human. For generations your kind has existed, all across the fragment of Latter Earth. You were born in the Nameless Wastelands, a horrible patch of land partially transformed into an Arratu. For eons your kind has lived there. When the other beings, the human and demi-human's power waned or when they grew fat and weak your kind swarmed in to destroy and pillage their lands only to inevitably be driven back into your horrid wilderness which pass for a homeland. This is the only existence your kind has known for all of their (poorly recorded) history. That and constant strife, rivalries and genocides against each others.

Every generation there are a few like you which are either born with the curse weaker in their blood or who possess the natural strength of character to surpass the blight which affect your people. Often such individuals with a greater sense of vision and purpose rise to become great heroes, war leaders, shaman or revolutionaries. However you and your like-minded compatriots have realized this is not the way to go, as anything these Anak men and women build will invariably come undone or twisted. It is in the nature of your people to crave violence and to fear and hate everything around them. Whatever gods or demons you pray to have never answered your prayers with peace because such peace would be unnatural to your people.

You know your kind are both the monsters people say they are but also more than that, at least in potential. You have lost too many friends to bloodlust or petty emotions. Maybe you've had to kill a son, a husband or sworn friend because they could not be reasoned as they smelled the scent of demi-human flesh and ancient memetic kill codes imbedded in their genes activated. Not that you'd know what those are. Your kind simply calls it The Hate or The Curse or The Nature. Anak hate and fear all of the other things which call Latter Earth their home. You know deep down your kindred are cruel, petty, cowardly and lacking in empathy (a word you only learned from scant few interaction with purer humans).

So you and your band of warriors set out on a foolish quest which no other Anakim has ever attempted. A quest some believe to be impossible. You intended to find the birth place of your kind, where the Outsiders first molded the flesh and mind of your ancestors to become twisted creatures. You wish to find the mythical ur-blood, the flesh-cradles and the spawning pits of legend. Perhaps an Outsider still live there or perhaps it left behind secret notes on the Anak's creation. You and your band hope to find it or die trying so you may free all of your people and all their distant kindred from their twisted nature. Then and only then will your people be truly free to choose their own destiny and turn their passion and anger to a greater purpose.

Or perhaps, should you succeed, you'd only doom Latter Earth with a tide of renewed and empowered Anakim...

The Vendraminian Orc

Danny Vendramini has a pretty cooky and 'out there' theory about Neanderthals: they were mostly nocturnal, carnivorous and even flat out predatory toward ancient humans. Our conception of what ancient human relatives were like has indeed changed over time, from simple minded brutes to being mostly like us. Danny, on the other hand, goes in a radically different direction and posit they were nocturnal cannibals and rapists and are the root of modern humans and our mythology of monsters. Now I will fully admit to knowing a whole lot about Neanderthals or if his theory has any valid ideas in it. It probably doesn't and might end up in the dustbin of cooky, crackpot theories. However, if one look into it we see some interesting recurring elements spanning from ancient mythology to modern pop culture emerge.

The 'Real' Monster?

Crackpot's Neanderthal...or just an Orc?

Vendramini's Neanderthal has many features we do associate with our modern conception of Neanderthal, namely its squat and powerful build. His recreation, however, is that of a much more ape-like and monstrous creature whose thick bones are used to support very large muscles. The strange and large eye sockets of Neanderthal skulls are related to their night vision and nocturnal predatory habits. These creatures are exclusively meat eaters and are super predators which hunt both megafauna as much as they hunt early modern humans for meat and/or sexual satisfaction. So what we have here is a short but very powerful, incredibly vicious creature whose ape-like features belies an incredibly high level of intelligence, but this intelligence is that of a born hunter and killer. They stalk the dark forests, hunt and raid in bands and generally tend to despise sunlight because they are nocturnal.

Danny Vendramini's Neanderthals are Orcs. Or rather, they fit in the overall cultural archetype of the orc, the goblin, the troll and similar monsters. This is a point Vendramini even makes: that our concept of monsters, from trolls to werewolves to vampire to the 'woodwose' of medieval folklore to the modern day version of the werewolf myth or even the slashers of B-movies are all expressions of this monster which humanity relegated to myths and legend yet retain a fear on an instinctual and genetic level. These would, in turn, pass on into our collective image with things such as cavemen in pulp novels and Tolkien's creation of the Orc, themselves derived from the myth of Beowulf and the monster Grendel.

But Aren't We (Mostly) Part Neanderthal?

Its generally understood that Neanderthal never truly went extinct and that large groups of human carry in them their DNA. That's the generally agreed story of how Neanderthal came to an 'end': it was out-competed by humans and bred out, their lineage melding into our own and influencing the genetic makeup of many modern human to a varying degree, even if I'm sure by the time I write this post there's going to be a dozen more articles debating the finer points. This part here is asking, if this more fantastical Neanderthal was real within the confines of a fictional setting what would this lingering admixture bring to humanity?

Well, I'll redirect people to a blog that's much more famous than this dumpster fire. This is a post from Joseph Manola at Against the Wicked City. It discuss the 'criminal man' theory from Cesare Lombroso and his idea that some people are just born criminals. The post goes on to postulate about the backstory of the Criminal Man: monstrous, atavistic ogres who live a life of carnage and destruction in the primordial past which became replace by the softer, weaker but more restrained humans. This connect well with Vendramini's version of Neanderthal as a strong, vicious and carnivorous rapist which drove humanity to eventually fight back and destroy them, fading into myths. In the Joseph Manola story, the soft mutants (early Men) are cursed to always carry the blood of the atavistic monsters. In modern genetics, we carry in us the touch of Neanderthal.

Really makes you wonder about the implications if we mix both stories huh?

Exalted/Godbound: The Age of Brass

Oh, Exalted: my eternal love-hate relationship of liking more the ideas of a game than any execution and certainly disliking the mechanical end of it all. Every few months my mind is inevitably drawn back to it either by something or by someone mentioning or discussing the game, reigniting my endless love-to-hate/hate to love feeling for the game. That's just the way it is for me, it seems.

Exalted: The Third Age

Artist unknown.

The best way to use Exalted, in my eyes, is to reuse the setting but at the same time wipe the slate clean. This may appear a bit counterproductive, but my primary issue with Exalted (okay well, to be fair I have so many issues its hard to list them all, let alone put them in order!) is that its interesting concepts are invariably screwed over by having too much lore written for it. I get that said lore is obviously the appeal but the issue of a setting being too written about is that it never seem to leave much room for a Game Master to interpret and use things in a way beneficial to his game. There need to be space to make shit up.

The name 'Age of Brass' come from the final comic in Return of the Scarlet Empress, which I've discussed before and called the second worst thing to happen to Exalted. It might seem strange to create a hypothetical take on Exalted which follows the events of the Second Edition metaplot I so often malign but the possible list of events described and outlined in that book are designed to utterly shake Creation and break it. As a result it makes a rather good starting point. The main ideas are as follow:

• The Yozi attempted the Reclamation with their Infernal Exalted. While it did temporarily 'work' in a manner of speaking and did immense damage to Creation, this 'second Primordial War' ultimately still ended in a victory for Heaven. At a price.
• Most of the powerful NPC are long dead and/or missing in some shape or form. All 100 Sidereals ended up dead either before, during or after the Reclamation. This mean there is not a single Sidereal alive in the Third Age who wasn't born after it.
• The same applies to all other Celestial Exalted. All Solars died during the second Primordial War or they became one of the few survivors, who then were killed by some other threat in the era of reconstruction that followed. No Solar or Lunar exist today that wasn't Exalted in at the very least the aftermath of it.
• A sizable portion of the already low in number Infernal Exalted are now lost, their Exaltations having been captured during or after the war and returned to their original Solar parameters. The remaining few (less than ten) Infernals are the 'neutral' Devil-Tigers, which are Primordials 2.0.
• The map has changed quite a bit from the ensuing damage, changes and then repair made to Creation. However the five Elemental poles remain.
• The original Realm has been dissolved and the Scarlet Empress is dead, having been turned into the new Earth Pole as eternal penance. There are competing forces of Terrestrials who would want to return either the Realm or Shogunate or something similar.
• Heaven is a mess with most Gods dead and thus replaced by their successors, some of them former mortals or even dead Exalt (previously Ghosts, now elevated to proper Spirit status). Heaven is ever-busy, messy and generally unlikely to ever assemble. Basically, beside calling personal favor if they can, PC cannot count on Yu-Shan and the Incarnae to fix any mess.
• Creation is not ruled by any singular force: there are scattered domains ruled by Exalted, some by Gods eager to retake their role now that the Immaculate Faith is fading, some places are Shadowlands ruled by ancient Ghosts and others are 'garden', invaded by the Fae/Raksha.

This new Creation is an even more broken and diminished one compared to the Second Age but that doesn't mean hope cannot spring eternal. With the few surviving Yozis locked back in their prison and the Ebon Dragon gone (but is he really dead?), this new era of Creation is more open to sandboxing.

The Missing Exaltations

In Second Edition, the total and exact number of each Exalted type was given. In order to return a sense of mystery, such knowledge is lost in the Third Age. When the Solar, Lunar and even rogue Abyssals went to war against the rising threat of the Reclamation, most of them perished in the conflict. While their Exaltations did return to Heaven in some capacity, many more have become missing. Exaltations are believed to be indestructible but it is known they can be contained. Some have speculated that the dying Primordials could have uttered a second Great Curse while others believe these Exaltations are simply 'trapped' in the death throes of dying Yozis, especially the Ebon Dragon's black hole-like corpse which at one point covered the land in such metaphysical darkness and deceit that no one can even remember who it was that struck the blow which finally killed him. Or perhaps cowards fled into the Wyld rather than fight and simply never returned. Who can say?

The Sidereals are the only ones fully accounted for in numbers, being fated and all that stuff. However even their ranks are diminished as the loss of old factions and mentors have scattered them, with many younger Sidereals now pursuing their own agenda, often in defiance to a lot of other factors. Meanwhile most Infernals are gone, having been destroyed and their Exaltations taken back by Heaven to return to their Solar selves, safe for the remaining Devil-Tigers which will be detailed in a bit. To recap:

• Nobody knows how many Solar, Abyssal and Lunars are left. There might be one or two original Infernals around but that is unlikely.
• Sidereals aren't remotely united, many of them having gone rogue.

The Devil-Tigers and Asura

Art by Peter Mohrbacher

The Devil-Tigers were heretical Infernals, who came to resent their hellish masters and sought to transcend. Heretical Infernal Charms allowed them to reshape their own nature, powers and even Exaltation while also allowing them to create sub-souls like a Yozi. Befitting a slightly more optimistic take on Exalted, the Devil-Tigers are a neutral force in Creation, allowed to exist with the somewhat reluctant agreement of Heaven, even if the two clash just about every single day. Across Creation are pocket empire, cults or other organization and structures centered around the Devil-Tigers, the transcendent ones and the great Asuras. The name is taken from the pre-imprisonment name of Demons, which was Devas, as a nod to Hindu mythology. These beings are the New Titans, quite limited in power and scope compared to their predecessors but still dangerous to face. They are a new power in Creation, one which no one is really sure what exactly it will create in the long run.

The Devil-Tigers are the reincarnated Infernal Exalted whose Exaltation has become redefined by their own nature. They are exultant beings, newborn embodiment of Human will, desire and thoughts ascended to cosmic heights. Wherever their influence spread, the world is slowly reshaped either by their own hand or that of their Asuran sub-souls. The best way to explain them would be to see them as the Neutral or Chaotic Neutral alignment, in a way. They are capable of great feat of rage and destruction as much as grandiose feat of love and passion, creating wars as much as they destroy empires to usher in new peace in a region. Their purpose is to be a 'wild card' distinct from Heaven, the Underworld or the Wyld. Each of them is very much their own Faction and they can be allies just as much as they can become a major antagonist. Some of them work (with great difficulty) with Heaven an other Exalted to help push back ever growing tides of the Wyld, while others seek only material gain and to expand their would-be Empire because that is the nature they have chosen. Yet, fortunately for all, Devil-Tigers being born of once-human beings mean they are tied to Creation and human nature. Which, perhaps, is their only weakness?

Tellus: On break, but not dead

Tellus is on a long overdue break. It's not dead and the setting concept is still one which appeals to me but right now my 'headspace' just isn't in an attempt to recapture fun, whimsy and the bizarre nature and charm of mostly 16-bit era JRPG. The world has become a very, very dreary place in 2020. Now to be frank I'm not part of the people most suffering from the insanity rollercoaster that 2020 has been but it has severely impacted by mood, which is why my two recent setting ideas have been the much more depressing and bleak Slay The Ascended! and Lands of Mirhne, which marinate in a morass of darker themes and ideas. This just doesn't seem to be a time conductive to bright and colorful worlds but rather one which is bleak, violent, hypocritical and/or a representation of a doomed humanity and its worst nature.

Yeah, its depressing but that's where I am right now.

Slay The Ascended: Full Premise

This is a rework, rewording and expansion of my Slay The Ascended! post which, hopefully, better outline the ideas and concepts since that original post was an old draft I one day decided to just overhaul a bit and finish just because it was the mood for the day, not knowing it would become one of my most viewed posts. The original ideas, outlined less formally, can be found in that post and its recommended to read it first.

The Time of Ending

On some fundamental level, Mankind always understood there would come a time where our species would end. It could be a species-wide fear of the inevitability of Death as every civilization out there, every culture, speak of the end of time: be it a permanent end or a great cataclysmic era which will usher in a new era. From the Mayan Calendar to the Book of Revelation to the cycles of the Kalpa to Ragnarok. On some level we always knew it was coming. Or maybe its just species-wide neurosis and fear of death and change or, perhaps, we knew that whatever great unknown would follow would cause is great distress and reveal to use new fears beyond our imagination.

Art by Mario Alberti.

The Ages turned. Around 2030, it just seemed humanity was falling apart: pandemics were in increase even after the somewhat hysterical (at times) response to the 2020 pandemic. The first superbugs arose in the following years and made a Chinese flu look like a complete joke. Entire species of animals and plants died in a mere year or two. Those were the easier times. As the world seemed on the verge of collapse, political and social tensions of all stripes just seemed to unravel at an ever escalating pace, with every continent erupting in either war and/or civil disorder and millions died. More died from the superbugs. The rest? It was merely the start of a new nightmare in a depleted world. The voices started. There were spikes in mental cases which many attributed to the decade of chaos but as time progress, it seemed as if some deeper madness was gripping humanity as mental breakdowns escalated and turned people into monsters: cannibalism, cults and the likes arose in this period which only fueled the chaos.

By 2040, the brief Age of Monsters had begun. Unexplained freak mutations had dramatically increased in the past decade but by the 2040 it had reached a boiling point as nature itself seemed to unravel in ways which past science could not explain. Cancerous growths of unexplained fleshy matter, parasitical worms with mind control and farm animals reverting to an almost primal state, such as chicken growing teeth and a taste for flesh. As mad dreams and visions kept increasing, the humans changed as well, only further driving humanity in a frenzy. Entire new religious branches were born then, only to fuel the fires of war, as entire population began accusing each others of devil worship or similar concepts. Others blamed the government mandate vaccines of the 2030 which had prove ineffective at best or dangerous at worst. It seemed humanity would never catch a break. The wheel of the Ages was turning. There was a new reality boiling on the surface of the world which seemed ever stretched. Night kept growing darker. Madness kept running deeper. Stars burnt out in the sky. Freak or still births peaked to three quarter of all births in a single year. It rained blood. Entire populations shuffled into the wilderness, naked and screaming the names of what could be alien gods. The end of days had come.

The Ascended

No one knows for sure when exactly the first of the Ascended arrived. Perhaps they had always been among us, even if this seems unlikely or, more likely, they are the byproduct of those times of ending when the ages of the world turned. When they appeared it didn't take long for people to take notice and, within days of their appearance, small towns and outpost had fully surrendered to their new master without a single weapon being fired. There was something so fundamentally perfect about the Ascended which, combined with their innate gifts, just made them natural leaders. Some were gurus and philosophers while others presented themselves more akin to warrior-gods who would help their faithful reclaim their lands from raving bands of lunatics or particularly dangerous bandits and traffickers. One by one, the various remaining pockets of human civilization bent the knee to their new masters, the new rulers of mankind and our species direct successors: the Ascended. Their reign had come.

Ascended Culture and their Thralls

Art by Anthony Jones

The Ascended are called that way because they are above and beyond the mere humanity they emerged from. They do not hide that they were once human, because much of their perfection is an improvement upon humanity. Ascended have a language of their own and their own word to describe themselves but this language cannot be spoken by human or even understood by our puny, primitive minds. They communicate in a language with concepts utterly beyond our understanding but beyond that little is truly understood of their emergent culture. Ascended see themselves as above and beyond human failings and the natural leaders of our species from here on out. They have emerged across all human cultures and all creeds and claim to be beyond and above petty distinctions of mankind, even if many speculate they must have their own cliques, philosophies and beliefs but we would not be able to understand them.

An Ascended is the master of any settlement, with the largest settlements on Earth hosting a population of Ascended in a certain hierarchy which vary depending on the local culture. Different Ascended groups, called either pantheons or cabals have different societal organization depending on the ruling Ascended's specific plans for humanity, as they organize mankind and tend to them much like in a way we would tend a garden. Some Ascended have created military-like places, ruled with an iron (but just?) fist, with a meritocratic system rewarding skill and loyalty for the human soldiers as to encourage them to see themselves as mankind's defenders. In other places, they create almost anarchist commune of pot-smoking pseudo hippies which encourage free love while in others they could create religious cults or even hyper traditionalist places with the goal of ensuring a steady breeding of new humans for generations to come. War between different pantheons and their thralls should be seen as non-existent, even if in reality it is more complex.

Those who serve the Ascended are wholly devoted to their new masters. After all, are they not perfect? All Ascended have an innate charisma and magnetism which borders on mind control and they are able to draw strong emotions from entire human populations. This is not pure mind domination, however: very few Ascended (if any) can truly order a human like a full puppet. Rather, they built their devotion through the years by engineering a culture where the Ascended are not only seen as infallible gods but also by ensuring people have a reason to believe it. Ascended-ran settlement are the most prosperous, stable and safe of all the world's remaining human cities. Any mutated monster in the area is slain in glorious combat by the local Ascended, their heads display on pike or their skins turned into coats and capes. The Ascended cultivate an image of heroism and godhood which help reinforce the belief system they have created. Slowly but surely, humanity has slowly changed and simply accepted that they must defer to the superior Ascended, much like how a child defer to their parent because their parent knows more. To be a second class citizen and chattel to the Ascended is a gift and a privilege, for who would not want to be loved by living Gods? Some are driven by love, by faith or even by lust as many Ascended have such a perfected physique and raw animal magnetism that entire crop of humans willingly surrender to become their sexual slaves and perhaps one day hope to help them birth Ascended children.

Ascended Biology

Art by Nyctoinc Illustrations

Each Ascended began its life as a mortal human and was transformed into another Ascended through infusion of genetic material. The process is dangerous and unstable as well as excruciatingly painful as well as utterly destructive to a human sense of self and identity. After days of agonizing with a body riddled with ever creeping cancerous, alien growth the flesh will slowly dissolve and the body will seemingly melt and then harden into a crystalline cocoon, at which point transformation into an Ascended can begin. Nothing of the original body remain unchanged and the individual is changed at a cellular or even molecular level. The trauma and confusion of Ascension leaves the individual original humanity behind no matter what. There are no 'friendly neighborhood Ascended' who secretly retain their old personalities. While they can retain their memory of past lives, most willingly discard them as their newly born body continues to mature.

Ascended appear, at least initially, as physically perfected humans even if this can somewhat vary. They are tall (most start at six feet and a half and can grow to eight feet tall), clean limbed and perfectly symmetrical. Some appear eternally youthful while others have a completely cosmetic age, appearing as well formed and well preserved older individuals: these tend to radiate more a sense of wisdom, kindness, paternal love or intellect. Yet even the 'old' looking Ascended have a supernatural, nay, unnatural beauty and perfect to them. Their skin tone and hair color can vary and can include all human permutations and even colors or traits which do not exist in humans, such as green hair, pure white skin or even blue skin. Their eyes tend to almost shine in the darkness, with some even having flat out glowing eyes. Some are elfin, with a thin and tall wispy beauties while others are brawny, with a perfectly sculpted physique no human could ever hope to match. Different strains of Ascended have different styles or even fashion to their biology, such as those who prefer a more divine or even almost 'demonic' appearance, with horns and fangs or even growing an extra pair of arms. One must keep in mind that the subtle mind warping of Ascended ensure that human thralls are not bothered: indeed, should a particularly popular Ascended decide to reorganize their biology on a whim, expect sycophants to self mutilate to emulate their master or mistress. To some extent, Ascended biology is just as much sculpted and engineered as it is part of their biology, as each represent an idealized form of perfection to their old human selves. Several Ascended are also hermaphrodites or, in some odd cases, utterly lacking in sexual organs if such was the perfect the individual desired.

This, however, is a lie.

Art by Marcus Siergiejew

The idealized human form of an Ascended is not their true form. Their 'godly' form is a coping mechanism of the newly reborn Ascended, as their real form is utterly alien and disgusting. While there is an eldritch, unnatural and alien mindset inside every Ascended they retain enough of their humanity for vanity. Indeed, such vanity is generally enhanced to an absurd degree. The true form of an Ascended is always unique and always alien and disgusting to look upon, with some even lacking a human form at all are nothing but a head and snapping, razor-tipped tentacles or stretched multi limbed bug-forms with ephemeral wings or floating piles of organs held aloft by gaseous excretion. The Ascended never show these forms to their followers and most, if not all, are unaware of them.

Ascended are eldritch monstrosities, with an unnatural physiology. They are by default stronger, faster and smarter than the average human and able to heal extremely quickly without any lasting consequences, even if healing larger wounds require consumption of human biomass. As one would expect given the thematic, the Ascended are vampiric creatures and they sustain themselves off of humans. Actual consumption of flesh and blood is rare, usually every few months and rather they live off the mental energies and devotion of their human thralls. Through a mixture of pheromones and psychic abilities, the Ascended inspire the blind devotion in humans they crave so much and in turn slowly feed the mental energy this generate as human minds are slowly warped and sucked of their sanity. The full abilities of the Ascended are unclear and it is likely even they are not aware of their full potential and limitations.

Despite their clear advantages, however, Ascended are not immortal (even if its likely they do not age). They are still flesh and blood, even if said flesh and blood can sometimes appear to bend the rules of reality a bit. When not surrounded by their entourage of thralls and servants, an Ascended can be cornered and killed with human weapons. Blowing their brains out and then setting the twitching remains on fire usually works, as does hacking or blowing them apart. According to their own propaganda they are true immortals but this is false: around the world, some have already been killed in gruesome manners. They are not Gods. They are creatures of flesh. They can be killed.

The 'Slay the Ascended!' Sandbox

Art by Lina Porras

A 'Slay the Ascended!' campaign is very well suited to a sandbox and a lot of it can overlap with typical fantasy setting sandbox, even if it is set in the near, post apocalyptic future. There are ruins to explore (the lost cities, full of mutations, madness or cults) and there are monsters roaming around, namely the remaining mutations from the Age of Monsters. The key difference, however, is that player characters plays the part of the 'Rogue Humans', which are these human populations which have either not submitted to the Ascended or composed of people who have slowly broken away from the brainwashing and fled their fellow thralls. The key locations in a Slay the Ascended campaign are the various settlements under Ascended control, which own the most resources be it food, water and/or guns. Functionally, this mean players are either going to be functionally bandits and raiders or they will be saboteur, spies and 'fifth columnist' inside the Ascended-ruled settlements.  The more characters attack Ascended stronghold the more they will be hunted. This can be a good chance to take down an Ascended for good, should they be goaded to attack themselves.

One issue they will need to deal with is that most of their enemies are humans too. A life freed from the Ascended is not an easy life nor is it a good life. It requires, more often than not, to kill and steal from fellow humans and to uproot their way of life and ruin their day. The world of 'Slay the Ascended' is a bleak place and doesn't shy away from the realities that a resistance group can be a particularly violent and dangerous group that often cause more harm than good. To oppose the Ascended may be morally right in terms of human freedom but it requires one to actively harm other humans which is a difficult moral choice to make. Rogue humans are seen, by the thralls, much in the same way we see dangerous fringe groups and/or insane preppers who amass guns in their bunkers for the 'coming race war' or similar concept. From the POV of a Thrall civilian, a 'Rogue Human' is a dangerous, narrow minded, bigoted and irrational unbeliever at the best of times and an absolute monster at worst. Even those few in the Thralls who know the Ascended brainwash (and sometimes eat them), the life of a Rogue Human seems dangerous or even destructive: after all, modern society of the 21st century generally required us to accept that sometimes, things are rather imperfect and that we sometimes work for bad people doing morally dubious things. To those folks, serving a flesh-eating alien man-god isn't really much different from their parents who worked for a soulless global mega corporation which exploited uncertain child labor laws in foreign countries while pretending to be virtuous. At the end of the day, its meet the new boss same as the old boss, right?

Who is really in the right here, anyway?

One difference, of course, is that the Ascended are not human. Not anymore. They are creatures of an alien origin, even if they were derived from human stock initially. Many 'Rogue Humans' are individuals afflicted by some odd form of 'madness' which fills them with a revulsion for the Ascended. Perhaps this is akin to a species-wide immune response to a parasite having entered the body of collective humanity. The same alien dreams which drove people mad in 2030 and onward are still there. There is an unspoken fear that the Ascended are but the first step toward...something? Slowly the Ascended are changing humanity society, creating these assemblages of human civilization toward a certain goal they themselves perhaps don't understand. They have only ruled for a few decades, after all. Whose to say their existence is not the mere first step toward a horrific transformation for humanity, as we are turned into food, cattle or who knows what else for alien powers. After all, where did the First Ascended come from? Who created them? And why?

You can feel it gnawing at your brain. The wheel of the ages hasn't finished turning. You know it in your gut: this is just the start. The parasites must be removed from humanity before its too late, before they consume us and make us into something else.

Grimdark Army Concept: Obliterator Cult

Art by Filip Čekić.

Obliterators are a monstrous variation of Chaos Space Marines: former Techmarines and/or Terminators who have become infected and corrupted by the terrifying and bizarre 'Obliterator Virus' which slowly grant them the ability to fuse with machinery and reshape their techno-organic flesh to replicate whatever they absorbed. And yet, a less known fact is that they are not the only type of Obliterators. Certainly the most infamous and advanced form of the mutation but as it turns out, the virus can infect more than Space Marines.

While the virus can only slowly spread in the material world, the Inquisition is starting to fear that it may be spreading across Imperial worlds and creating small pockets of what are termed 'Obliterator Cults' as ordinary individuals become carrier for the disease and are slowly overtaken by it. But, surely, the average Imperial citizen is a far cry from a monstrous techno-organic Terminator bristling with heavy weapons, right? Well, as it turns out there's a lot of machinery one can come into contact on your average, developed Imperial World. What if such a cult did form in secret, its members hiding in the darkness and collecting all the scrap of useful machinery and weapons they can: first lasguns, autopistol and armor to add to their flesh, then vox transmitters, auspex and eventually industrial equipment. In time as the cult grows bolder they would attack tech adepts and servitors, dragging them in dark tunnels to rip the precious machinery off their flesh.

Codex: Obliterator Cult?

Well, not quite. This is an idea on how I'd flesh out an Obliterator Cult army for use in the rather rule-light and easy to play Grimdark Future, which is a lot like a free bootleg wargame system which just so conveniently happen to have armies which just so happen to resemble those from a certain British company! Since Grimdark Future allows to merge armies more easily, this list will combine from two different army lists to create what could be a hypothetical form of an Obliterator cult harvesting resources and gadgets from an Imperial world to start their uprising.

The core of the army are the Soul Snatcher Cults, which are absolutely totally not Genestealer Cults. These guys are fairly human-like, are a cult and have access to heavy duty equipment including heavy weapons, military gear and mining gear. Perfect! However, Brutes aside this list just isn't quite monstrous enough. The Obliterator virus make the host stronger, bigger and heavier from all the flesh-metal their mutating body starts to pack on. The easy answer would be to combine this list with the Chaos Marines Havoc Brothers and, sure, that is valid but the idea is that this is an Obliterator Cult which has arisen from ordinary human and not chaos marines. As such this list is combined with Orc Marauders to add a few more monstrous techno-brutes!

Obliteration Initiates

Base Units: Minions, Support Minions, Neophytes, Minion Bikers, Minion Quadbike

Strogg concept art.

At 5+/5+ with fairly basic weapons, these guys represent the bulk of the Obliterator cult. They are physically mostly still human, ranging from almost un-mutated to showing the initial stages of the mutation. The primary source of bitz for these models would be th Imperial Guard, Genestealer Cult and/or Necromunda range. They would appear to be mostly human, but with what would appear to be cybernetic enhancements crudely sticking out of them and their skin would have a somewhat reddish and/or grey tinge to it, either looking sickly or strangely raw and bloody, as a nod to the older Obliterator miniatures and their Dawn of War 1 3d model. Squad leaders and heavy weapon users would be partially merged with their weapons, with fingers and hands extending into techno-flesh melding into the gun. The bikers and other vehicles of the Genestealer cult around found at this 'level' of mutation. Vehicle crews are also assumed to be among those rank and files.

Obliteration Disciples

Base Units: Acolytes and Morphs

At this stage the individual is clearly more than a cybernetically augmented individual with some skin condition, as the virus has progressed enough to make the mutation of flesh and metal obvious. These models have 4+ quality and better access to close combat weapons. What would be Tyranid bio weapons are instead grotesque and swollen limbs, thick with cable-muscles and strong with metal bones. Horrid, H.R. Giger-esque tubing has started to form and these guys, equipped with the cutters, chainsaws and drills have fused with their weapons. Bitz could be taken from servitors and even arco-flagellant however at this stage the part where the flesh and machine meld would be smoothed out with greenstuff and have cables, tubes and wires going in and out, melding with the machinery in some chaotic ways.

Obliteration Brutes

Base Units: Brute Champion, Mutant Brutes, Orc Mob and Boss Mob

Those who have made it to this level have truly grown beyond their human limitations. Flesh has swollen with thick cords of plastic and metal fused with flesh at the cellular level, while bones have lengthened and thickened absurdly. Some might have taken a different path, however, simply gathering machinery to replace their flesh, becoming nothing more than a fetal mass of flesh and organs in a large body made of scrap and demonically-tainted flesh tendrils. What make this category clearly defined is that these individuals have grown larger, more powerful and noticeably heavier.

Art by Ricardo Robles.

• Mutant Brutes and Brute Champions are particularly large and deformed individuals which have lost much of their sanity and humanity in the process, having become oversized piles of mutant flesh fused with whatever scrap of technology they could acquire. These creatures lumber forward, waving massive flesh-metal fists, amalgamation of razors and chainsaws or even the stubby end of what used to be guns.
• Orc Mobs are used to represent those who have significantly bulked out but have otherwise retained their sanity. While somewhat clumsy shooters they have access to a variety of crude weapons and relish in close quarter combat. Think of them as a more human-sized version of the Mutilators. Model-wise they would be as mutated as anything else on this 'tier' but primarily use Arco Flagellant models with added thick layers of spiky bits and machinery bulking out their bodies and with one gun for an arm. These can also be equipped with better armor to increase their saves.
• Boss Mobs are the ultimate evolution of these still-sentient brutes, having grown to almost the size of a Space Marine (if not larger!). Since Boss Mobs can take weapon attachments (read: combi-weapons) this make perfect sense, as it represent the Obliterator fully developing its powers, gaining the ability to regrow multiple weapons out of their flesh at will. Not to the same extent as a true Chaos Space Marine Obliterator but still enough to have flamethrowers and flesh-rockets.

Cult Leaders

More Strogg art.

The way I see it, the leadership of an Obliteration Cult is purely based on whoever is most 'blessed' by the virus, meaning who has managed to retain most of their sanity while also having grown the most powerful. Lower rank officers and demagogue do exist, presumably selected out of the ranks for their leadership skills and military knowledge.

• Commanders, Alpha Bikers, Mad Scientist and Prime Neophytes are all taken from the lower stratum of the mutated masses. These may not be the most advanced of the Obliterators but they stand apart from the cult as first-among-mostly-equals. Their raw skill supersede any advanced blessing of Chaos.
• Meanwhile the Warlord represent the most advanced form of Obliteratorhood: a massive pile of daemonically-infused techno-flesh bristling with weapons. His strength is on par with that of an Ork or Space Marine and he easily tower over them. His form could be mostly symmetrical and humanoid (if he's managed to retain that shape) or he could have dozen of techno-arms tipped with claws, sensors and maybe even spare heads. Others might have fused with a vehicle (if the 'Bike' upgrade is chosen). No matter the option chosen, he is a nightmare to behold. While the Warlord could be upgraded with heavy armor to reach a staggering 2+ armor save part of me think it doesn't quite fit this list.

Game Concept: Monster Slayers(?)

Oh look, its yet another Amateur Dungeoneer post where Bob Something outline a pretty cool concept for a game and odds are end up never running it. That's my life people: too many unbaked ideas and even those that I do end up baking there is a good chance I'll never run them. Especially what with being (as of writing this) busy with both urban fantasy and my attempts at learning to run modern D&D just for the sake of it. Granted once I'm happy with that one and got a good-sized group that mean the JRPG game will start so...wish me luck?

I'm a guy with too many ideas for games and not enough time. Some people claim they got groups running weekly or twice a week and have been running and playing in multiple games for years on end. Me? I ain't so lucky because I can't align my schedule with anybody and it fucking sucks. Anyway enough ranting into the void of the internet.

Monster-Slaying Videogame/Anime

The God Eater 3 cover.

There's a certain genre that's been present in videogame and anime which I find is quite gameable as a concept. This is the genre found in the likes of God Eater, Attack on Titan, Kabaneri, Terraformars or even the likes of Persona 3, Symphogear or even X-COM (for a non-Japanese partial example). These are the 'monster slaying organizations' and its very much a genre when it come to anime and videogame. The key elements of the genre are:

• Humanity is under siege from some force, which is (usually) monsters of some kind.
• This battle is near hopeless, with humanity constantly losing ground or achieving at best some kind of stalemate to fight another day. The overall tone is either bleak or one of defiance. "Rage, rage against the dying of the light...."
• There is an established organization which hunt and destroy these beings. This organization is a useful plot device to justify why humanity has access to gears and the infrastructure to even put up a fight.
• In Japanese media, the characters are teenagers because that's just what anime does. Usually there's some in-setting justification. Which brings up the next point.
• Often the characters are enhanced in some form, possibly at the cost of their humanity and/or lifespan. There is often a risk of some form of corruption.

Its both a very specific genre but also one which has quite a bit of breathing space within the concept to allow for some interesting elements. What we have is a pre-existing, built-in reason to fight monsters and risk one's life. There is also a built-in method to allow characters to join together and even have something akin to hirelings (in this case, rookie squad members) and an easy way in for replacement characters when someone dies. Now in anime, usually the protagonist has impossibly thick plot armor but in tabletop this doesn't apply and make things more interesting.

The concept itself is quite interesting while at the same time very much drawing from similar roots to the many games I've ran before, ranging from Dungeons & Dragons (hunt and fight monsters, get loot) to Dark Heresy (investigation, horror, madness and dying to keep the light alive) to Adeptus Evangelion (same thing but with more anime and giant robots!) and of course that mecha game I ran last year. In many ways it is the non-mecha successor to that game, refining on what did and did not work there.

Game Concept

Playing God Eater Resurrection and XCOM2 has really given me ideas on what I'd want to do with such a game and how it might work and play out. The above points are more or less unchanged, with the following additions:

• The character's weapons are somewhat ridiculous, making use of the admittedly insane imagery found in the likes of God Eater, Monster Hunter or even RWBY (even if that show is garbage and has some of the dumbest shit ever). These are big, stupid impractical weapons driven purely by a juvenile sense of 'cool' and that is okay. Its the point.
• The initial batch of weapons are semi mass-produced and while they function off the same absurd principles which the monsters (and the player character) abilities use, the initial batch of weapons are relatively basic mechanical contraptions which can be produced in enough quantities to allow a squad to be armed and for any new character to get his or her starting weapon.
• More powerful and/or unique weapons fill a role similar to magic items and are created from the remain of monsters, intertwining their flesh and/or essence with technology to create a more powerful weapon. These weapons could end up 'locked' to a player character but I'm not sure yet.
• Weapons make use of the mode-switching found in God Eater and the likes. By default, this could be ranged and melee but I could see other options such as a mix of melee or ranged with a shield mode or maybe even a mode that become a static weapon emplacement.
• Basic abilities (granted what count as these is still up for debate) are simply part of the characters while more advanced abilities and even gear require resources harvested off monsters. Presumably this would mean adding a small 'tithe' to a squad's action as some of it is donated to their organization both for a mixture of research, fueling as well as making a small stockpile so other squads (or even the same squad) can use it later.

Character classes (or their equivalent) would probably be built more around fighting style rather than something closer to Fighter/Mage/Thief even if there might be an option or two more geared toward skills, I suppose. In general, each character should be at least able to do the basic stuff and hold their own against the weakest enemies when separated from the group.

Monster Design

One clear deviancy from the more bare bone, basic statblock of (most) OSR games is that I'd take more cues from the more abstracted or crunch-heavy statblock of monsters found in games like D&D 4e or 5e, with abilities less geared toward being basic and more being about what that technique does within the limited confine of a battle. This wouldn't be for every monster of course, but anything big enough to be a decent challenge to a squad is going to have more going for it than just an attack bonus and some damage.

Tellus: Assembling the World, Piece by Piece

So I've got (some) races, an implied status quo of sort of their relationship and finally hints of a general metaphysics of the setting. So clearly this would imply me method here is to make a more fleshed out and realistic universe for characters to inhabit, right?

Well, not really. At least not completely.

While I'm all in favor of solid, consistent and in-depth worlds (when its usable game material anyway) some sacrifices must be made when taking into account the worlds which JRPG tend to be set in. In general, while there has to be internal consistency (or else you get a clusterfuck of a story) the world is always somewhat second to the 'rule of cool' and a story which is generally around PG-13. Yes, many games do handle very mature themes but most of their story is spent generally around the level of allegorical and in service to a fun adventure rather than getting bogged down into extremely complex geopolitics, history and society. As previously outlined, JRPG took many cues from the likes of Star Wars and more specifically the original trilogy (aka 'the one people like') which was far more focused on telling an interesting and enjoyable hero's journey than being bogged down in the complexity and volume of the massive and sprawling universe these movies told us exist but that we only briefly see.

In addition I'm taking cues from this, even if I expect my work to be not even a tenth of that quality.

The Goal and Structure

Running a tabletop campaign inspired by the likes of JRPG, especially those of past generations such as pre-XI Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest. Chrono Trigger and others in that style.

• The JRPG elements are the stylistic choice. I'm well aware that running a tabletop game which is 'like a JRPG' would in actuality be very boring, railroady and filled with insane amount of grindy combat. However there are stylistic elements to this genre which are very recognizable to those who played them.
• The Disc One system. Basically, I suck at sandbox games, I really do. However there's a lot of good to be found in sandbox style. The 'Disc One' system refer to the first portion of the game's 'story': mixing a bit from sandbox, pointcrawl and other styles this is the part of the game where the players go around with their much more 'down to Earth'. They could be part of some resistance faction, mercenaries, airship pirates or whatever. This period is a bit more freeform and akin to more ordinary tabletop fare.
• Disc Two is when things shift into a different gear. By that point, the setting, NPC, characters and other matters should have been suitably well established. This is when the mandatory big JRPG final boss begin being hinted at and how his (or her) actions begin to affect the world as they start their quest/master plan which will culminate in some 'save the world' plot.
• Much like what Hmm Marquis outlined, each location should be as unique as possible. Yes there would be thematic and aesthetic similarities in all Ulma or Zhulen cities but I like to think I've made each race unique and interesting enough to allow for such a wide variety. For example, Ulma city tend to be either small towns with an 'early game JRPG' feel or fortified cities. How each city is built, fortified and ruled varies. Meanwhile the Zhulen city are open, crowded but also high on low-level magic...but also likely to erupt into violence, ranging from hooligans to bar brawls. Sky-Folks cities are all isolated and aerial but beyond that could vary immensely in culture beyond their 'cloistered hidden elf village' shtick. In addition this is very much in line with JRPG who love their weird locales and set pieces.
• Each location should have some unique challenges and/or enemies. When it come to enemies this is a no-brainer, as JRPG almost means to expect wide enemy variety. As such it is perfectly fitting within the style of the genre to ensure each locale has a crop of enemies. Not only can the environments affect which monsters appear but there is ample room for enemies themed around certain monster categories like 'fey' or 'undead' and have this tied to the location.

The reason for this structure is obvious: on one hand I need that type of plot for the JRPG feel. On the other hand, committing to a massive world-shaking plot right from the get go has some issues. For one thing it lead to too much railroading. Second there is a strong possibility that whichever character I set up to be the long-last villain might not work or be enjoyed by the group.

Thus, the 'Disc One' phase is dual purpose: on one hand it absolutely is part of the campaign and should live up to the same standards as everything else but on the other hand it is not a rail road. It give time to introduce various elements and test them out. If this was a videogame it would be the series of shenanigans which tend to populate a JRPG's first few acts before the sheer immensity of the world-saving plot occur. Of course in a JRPG a player doesn't have the freedom as these are very linear games but at the same time the characters within the story do have a choice in theory even if the game plot doesn't let them have one. So, there you go, simple explanation: if this was a game the player would not be able to deviate from this plot but its not a videogame. Thus whatever options the players at my table DON'T take would be, if we look at it in a 'meta' way those options the player holding the controller lack.

Tellus: The Ulma (Humans)

A new series and a new world. That doesn't mean the others won't keep being expanded upon but it does mean these disparate ideas related to JRPG are being finally brought back again. After the worldbuilding of the Random World I've started to feel inspired in working on something where I am not quite as constrained by the ideas born of a random generation algorithm.

Down the line there is a chance I might end up running D&D 5th edition (for a change) and increasingly I've been tempted to run it as something loosely inspired by Pointcrawls. The setting style and trappings, meanwhile, would be that of the JRPG of old.

Edit: The world has been named Tellus, which is the Roman name for Gaia.

The Ulma

Art by Simon Jude Albaran

Or Human as we know them, because using stupid names for humans is a thing that Final Fantasy has done before. The Ulma, singular Ulm are the current dominant race. They are defined as being industrious, ambitious prideful and sometimes self-destructive. The least magically-inclined of the current races, they are nonetheless an increasingly dominant race in nearly every aspect: society, technology, military and more. They have raised great cities, greater than any in the modern era, vast metropolis of stone and metal. They have begun deeply researching into the true nature of magic and reality and begun to pull the world out of its faux-antiquity roots.

The largest Ulma nation is the Sheradil Empire and it is exactly what one would expect: highly organized with a vast military combined with magic and technology more advanced than other nations. From humble roots as a besieged people in a hostile land they have developed into mighty conquerors and where the Sheradil don't rule by force they rule through culture and money. There was a time people saw the more positive side of their empire but, as clichés demand there might be dark days ahead and the Empire might be on the cusp of spiraling into a totalitarian, world-consuming engine of wrath and hubris.

Appearance

Imperial class from Etrian Odyssey IV.

The Ulma are, well, human. They cover a wide range of ethnicity but the vast majority of them would appear somewhat racially ambiguous to us Earth human, as a nod to many JRPG characters being depicted in art as alternating between being vaguely Asian (hey, these games were made in Japan!) but at the same time sporting features one would generally not associate with Asians. Most Ulm have black, brown or blonde hair and these are generally unrelated to skin tone and southern Ulm with bright blonde hair clashing against darker skin is hardly implausible. Red hair is quite rare and while called red it is really more that rusty brown we see in real life.

Ulma clothes are a combination of the functional clothes one would expect the city worker and pastoral farmers to have. They frequently augment these drab colors with jacket, capes, scarves and turban of bright colors and those who are of noble blood or rich will no doubt try to go for even fancier clothes. Their armor and weapons strike a delicate balance between plausible and the more ludicrous, fantastical style we associate with the genre. They tend toward using metal armor which combine the appearance of baroque medieval plate with a somewhat 'dungeonpunk' look for good measure. It is not uncommon for Ulm nobles, especially those who are married, to have increasingly elaborate hair which extend to facial hair for men. It is a sign of maturity to have a well-trimmed, suitably elaborate mustache or beard. Young Ulm, however, are generally clean shaven and a bit more androgynous for the men when it come to their styling. Both sex are known to use some form of makeup but this is not universal. Very campy, almost clownish makeup is not unheard of for particularly goofy Sheradil nobles.

Culture

Forming the 'base point' for the world, the Ulm culture is recognizable as fairly standard fantasy fare. They are primarily organized either in a semi-feudal system or into city-states with a few independents in between. They prize the core values we expect of a civilization and are, ultimately, fairly ordinary people with ordinary wants and needs. At least, for the average Ulm, anyway. Seen as a race of extremes by others, the Ulma as a whole have produce many great heroes and equally as many villains. Their core societal unit is the family.

Art by Yunjin Jung.

The Ulma have many gods and even more religious branches and sects. The Gods of this still-unnamed world (I am bad at naming worlds, aren't I?) are abstract and non-personified. Many Ulm worship deities which embody abstract concept as as 'the Light' or 'Justice' or 'Protection' and it suit them just fine: so long as it keep their bellies full and their family safe that is all that's needed. However, the Sheradil Empire has increasingly been treating spiritual matters as nothing more than fuel for their growth and ascendancy to the point of increasingly alienating their priesthood. Some fear they might destroy the planet in trying to harness forces best left untouched.

Only about one in several hundred human has an innate gift for magic, be it being able to tap into (or contact) divine/cosmic forces or to wield complex spellcraft. Many of these powers have ended up eternally mingled with human mythologies and religious rites and it is from human that terms such as 'White Magic' and 'Black Magic' have emerged, as human tend to ever-so-slightly favor the more constructive and protective side of magic when it come to their religious ceremonies, finding the power to heal most effective. The other, more chaotic side of magic, is seen either with suspicion and fear or as a deadly tool of war to rain down hail and fire on hordes of enemies.

Godbound In Space: The Arcem Sector, Part 5

More Space Godbound weirdness for the Arcem Sector or beyond.

The Ascended Masters - Not-So-Omniscient Smugness

"Ooh aren't I mysterious?"

The people of the Arcem sector (and beyond) know that the soul is real. The soul, combined with the mind and body, form the multi-dimensional 'data' which compose a being. It can be changed by soul-alterations and graft, additions of soul-genes and deliberate cultivation of psionic powers. The soul-data can far exceed in volume it's original size. There are those who grow in spiritual power so much that when they die the sheer mass of their souls does not dissipate and/or isn't gobbled up by the datastream of the Celestial Network to be take elsewhere.

The Ascended Masters have transcended life and death, becoming soul and mind singularities. Each time they die their minds reincarnate into a new body of a near-human xenotypes (often of the same type/species but this is hardly an unbreakable rule). As they age they reawaken to past lives, becoming ever more potent. The Ascended Masters have reached such a level of enlightenment and power that they mechanically are Godbound. They have escaped beyond the wheel of life, death and causality. They are statted as Undestined. Their reincarnation ability is not a Gift simply because it take so long that it merely is a plot device with a payoff within the next few decades.

There is no central agenda to the Ascended Masters: they can go entire incarnations without meeting back with their allies or enemies. Most are incomprehensible: they call this transcendental wisdom but saner beings just call this 'bullshit': most of what comes out of an Ascended Master is complete bullshit. It isn't that they're pathological liar it's just they've become more often than not incredibly detached from mortals or even other transhuman gods who are limited to existing in mostly three dimension and a single, linear existence. Trying to explain to an Ascended Master that one need answer about a currently ongoing situation can be a headache because they've set in motions plan they think will only pay off in the next thousand years. Of course there is also a good chance this otherworldly goofyness is also a ploy on their part to hide a real agenda.

The Techno-Liches - Immortality At All Cost

Lich Cyborg by Jaro313

Death sucks, hat much is obvious. Nobody wants to die yet we all eventually do. Or, at least, that would be how it is but technological and theurgical means have long allowed individuals to far exceed their extended lifespan through gene therapies, organ replacement, synthetic enhancements and even full body cybernetic replacement. There is also cloning and memory copying as forms of immortality if one see it that way. For some people that's not enough, however.

The Techno-Liches are not a unified group in origin nor purpose, they're merely a category of similar beings. There is only so much genetic and synthetic enhancements can take someone and quite a few powerful individuals came to dread their own death: at best they could hope for a lineage of clones and genetically-engineered descendants maybe overseen by an AI copy. All these things are obviously of questionable legality in the Arcem Sector so ambitious people must turn elsewhere. Becoming an Arrayed is an option but there are limits to the process and many ambitious, rich individuals find themselves turned down by all experts as being unsuitable to the process. Some pay anyway and die doing so. And some...find other means.

These beings use the Lich Lord Concept Word from Lexicon of the Throne. When money, ambition, madness and resourcefulness meet the end result might sometime enable one to finally ascend to the form of immortality they always wanted. Of course, its all a sham. These beings are biologically dead and twisted. What one need to do, to become a Techno-Lich, is essentially put their bodies and souls in some kind of messed up quantum state. They are not alive and they aren't dead either. Most of them look horrible and disgusting, rotting corpses, cyber-skeletons, twisted mass of necrotechnical life support or worse.  None of these process are safe. None of them are suitable but the important thing is that they work. The question worth asking is: was it worth it to 'bug' oneself out of the cycle of life and death?

Despite what one might think, the Techno-Liches don't really need to rely on the Word of Death. Nothing in their creation and existence mean they need to be able to influence Death itself, as they are the result of forbidden and twisted science that doesn't necessarily have to include necromancy or even spellcasting (via Sorcery) in their power suite. While some absolutely are necromancers others are byproduct of more technological means.

The Shin Megami Tensei Franchise and Tabletop RPG

Something I've been wondering now that I've gone on a serious Shin Megami Tensei binge is: why don't we see people in the tabletop RPG circles talk of that franchise? Especially around the OSR this is a bit puzzling as there is a lot in the Shin Megami Tensei that can be ported wholesale or used as inspiration. However it hit me that its very likely a sizable chunk of the OSR blogosphere is a bit too old to have gotten into that franchise. While it is an old JRPG franchise it has only (officially) made its way in the western world in the past decade or so which would explain why grognards who haven't touched a console since the SNES era wouldn't know of it. Which is unfortunate.

The cover to the original game for the
Famicom (NES)

Shin Mega-what?

Now maybe I'm wrong and short-sighted to assume people don't know about it. But my gut tells me that, with its niche status in an already increasingly niche market (classic-styled JRPG aren't really found among AAA productions who tend to favor action-RPG or games-with-RPG-elements) and its rather underground status until relatively recently.

The Shin Megami Tensei franchise is a series of vaguely-connected Japanese RPG produced by Atlus, with the first game in the series, Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei, being released in 1987. That game was based off a Japanese Cyberpunk/Fantasy novel called Digital Devil Story by Aya Nishitani. There was a direct sequel, a spinoff and a remake/re imagining and these games formed the core of the franchise's identity as a whole. Where (most) JRPG of the time focused on fantasy worlds, Megami Tensei focused on the then-present and near-future, blending science fiction and urban fantasy.

One look at the plot and setting and you can immediately tell why these games never made it to the United States in the 1980: focused on demon summoning, the occult and post apocalyptic themes it was just way too saucy and controversial for the Western World. The fact that God is a recurring antagonist in those games and Satan is sometimes on your side didn't help. With its strong occult themes, darker and more mature themes and tackling of religious and philosophical matters this was just a game that was never going to get  chance outside of Japan. No one wanted to touch and with good reasons.

This is God/YHVH and HE is (usually)
not your friend.

The SMT franchise is also a bit of a predecessor and ancestor to the Pokémon games, as a central game concept is the summoning of Demons to serve you. These demons have a variety of trait, skills, elemental weaknesses and resistances. They can be recruited to your cause by talking to them in combat and negotiating. Demons don't level up as fast your human character(s) and as such must be fused together, sacrificing both of them but creating a new and more powerful demon who can inherit the skills of the demons sacrificed in the fusion. The exact details and mechanics of this has changed a lot over the years.

This is a sprawling franchise and talking about each individual game is impossible but I'll try to give quick descriptions of (some of) those legally available in English for those interested:

• Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne: The first mainline SMT available outside of Japan and forever made infamous for featuring Dante from Devil May Cry! The world end, creating a nightmarish post apocalyptic world full of demons. Your character is transformed into a half-Demon and left to puzzle out wtf is going on. The game is fairly low on dialogue and very harsh, creating this foreboding sense of utter loneliness and isolation.
• Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey: A game which should have been the fourth game in the franchise but was eventually called a spinoff. SMT:SJ draws inspiration from American action and horror movies with the classic SMT formula. You play a marine sent to Antarctica  as part of a team hoping to reverse an anomaly which will end the world.
• Shin Megami Tensei IV: After years of spinoffs, SMT IV is released for the Nintendo 3DS. Unlike the other games it take place in a (mostly) peaceful, pastoral medieval-ish world and....yeah obviously ten minutes in you'll notice a suspiciously high amount of technology around indicating things are not what they seem.
• Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse: A spinoff/side-story/alternate telling of SMT IV.
• Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner 1 and 2: These games are a duology meant to be two games played back to back. More post apocalyptic weirdness which is hard to explain without spoiling quite a bit. This one has no recruitable demons and focus on your party members more like a classical JRPG.
• Devil Summoners: Soul Hackers: You play as a hacker in a near-future (for the '90, anyway) city. This is by far one of the oldest and most 'retro' of the legally-available SMT titles as it is a remake of a 1997 Sega Saturn game for the 3DS.

Those who are already aware of this franchise history know I'm leaving out a very, very famous and popular spinoff series. One which has become so popular it has eclipsed the mainline series all around the world. A series which needs no introduction to anyone vaguely into JRPG and/or anime: Persona. The Persona series is an SMT spinoff but it has become so different in style, tone and concepts that it isn't covered by this basic guide.

Gameable Material

There is a lot to take from the SMT franchise, so here's a few key points I would definitely take note of and make sure to include if I was to run an SMT-inspired game:

• Law vs Chaos (and Neutral) Alignment: With so many cues from tabletop RPG, it is no surprise that SMT features an alignment system in most games which can vary from an actual game mechanic to simply which side you choose which affect your ending and maybe final boss encounter. Law is usually associated with YHVH while Chaos is associated with Satan. The Neutral routes range from anything between balance-of-both-sides to the main character giving the middle finger to both sides and siding with humanity. If one like their Moorcockian-ish cosmic struggle, then the SMT alignment should be appealing.
• Its a monster mash: In SMT, just about every creature from myth and pop culture exist, implied to possibly be made manifest and born from the human psyche. Its the kind of world where Oni, ghosts, angels, Cthulhu and Thor can meet. And most likely fight, too.
• The Setting(s): From modern day Tokyo with demons to the future to the past to post-apocalyptic cybernetic hellscapes the SMT settings are always interesting, especially the post-apoc ones. Good for sandboxing and exploration.
• Reaction Tables and Talking: An SMT-inspired game would definitely benefit from a reaction table, as some demons are more likely to want to have a chat with you while others will want to rip your face off. Sometimes it is a matter of alignment (yours and the demon) and sometimes it depend on other factors. Demon negotiation make for a valid random encounter, as not every encounter is combat-related: some demons will want or give info as well as items. Of course, if something goes poorly then the fight is one.
• Its Hard: The older the SMT the harder it gets. These games have punishing combat and, infamously, quite a bit of Save-or-Die type spells.