I used 'Satan' to generate illustrations for someone's setting!

It is a known fact that Noism consider AI to be SATAN. I've got my own intensely mixed feelings on the matter, especially when it come to who control the AI, deepfakes, media manipulation and whatnot. At the same time, it is a relatively cheap tool to get disposable illustrations done.

With that in mind, I decided to have Midjourney AI generate illustrations based on Yoon-Suin. These beings my own prompt ideas, choosing the best or most interesting images for what, in my head, Yoon Suin could look like if it was illustrated more like a modern big budget fantasy book. I did not generate them all with the same settings, as I wanted a broader palette of styles to vague simulate the illusion of different artists doing their own unique take.

A post where I rip off someone's post and mashup some tabletop RPG with bad(?) anime stuff

One thing I sometimes like to joke and self mock is being a not-so-closeted weaboo, albeit one who generally tries to keep his anime tastes separate from the general fantasy focus of the blog. However Gundobad Games wrote a pretty amusing post on some unholy setting/games mashup. This got me thinking about my own tables for unholy mashups. Some of these are random tables, some are observations and most of it is quite incoherent since 'anime' is not a genre, its a medium. Albeit one steeped in a variety of its own unique twist on certain genres and others mostly unique to it.

I know posting this one on the OSR MeWe will give people cancer. I'm sorry. Except not really.

Of course, making things anime-like requires more than just genre-blending. At a face value, if described in their simplest terms quite a few anime appear to be much more basic than they really are. The truth, in my opinion at least, is that what makes anime as amazing (and as reviled) is how so many of them have such utterly corny or balls to the walls insane presentation that floors people. Sometimes, that presentation isn't always obvious and just how insane, corny, bizarre or flat out trashy/raunchy can vary immensely from show to show. Some can be legitimately amazing works of fiction deserving of praise, others are utterly terrible and corny. Most exist somewhere in the middle and just become weirder from there. Take the classic shonen fighting manga and grandfather to the genre's entire modern formula, Dragon Ball. It's simply, at least initially, a retelling of Journey to the West but somehow its in a world which is bizarre and anachronistic, where advanced technology coexist with humble farmlands. Where the King of the World is a dog-man and talking, shapeshifting pig-men exist. And then it spirals into wuxia and space opera territory. Anime and manga often laughs at the idea of genre conventions.

Option A: Isekai

The cancerous genre which overtook anime and is only just slowly, maybe, ever so slightly dying down. Now as a concept, what is labelled as Isekai is a perfectly valid concept for a fantasy game and has roots in older works such as Alice In Wonderland, the John Carter novels or even Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions. However, the modern 'Isekai' genre which is total ass cancer was born of the boom in popularity of Light Novels. They are cheap, the barrier to entry is low and the lowly trash of this world will eat up that garbage like I eat a box of Cheez-It when depressed. Isekai is simply, overall as a genre, the transposition of someone from one world to another, generally our world to a generic fantasy land. As a result here are some settings one could use for Isekai. The second table, called 'Set Up or Modification' combines one or more Isekai trend and/or quirk of its (more often than not crappy) writing to spice up the setting and add a level of anime-ness, for better or for ill.

1d8	Setting/Game	Set Up or Modification
1	D&D Setting: Could be Forgotten Realms, Eberron, Greyhawk or even Athas.	Chosen Hero: The characters (or just one of its a solo game) have been chosen to become great heroes and given powers/tools to help defeat a great evil of said setting. The PC are either really powerful by setting standard or more easily eased into/instantly raised to the higher tiers or levels.
2	Exalted
3	Wolves of God	The Overlord: Like the above, except instead of being heroes the player characters are cast into the role of a great evil which must destroy that world for one reason or another. Alternatively they are just overpowered assholes.
4	Tekumel
5	Talislanta	Bringer of Modernity: For whatever reason, the player characters are allowed and/or encouraged to bring in their knowledge or technology and somehow apply it or they have means to use advanced technology in the setting.
6	Pendragon
7	Legend of the Five Rings	The Waifubait: For some reason, a sizable portion of the cast are now cute girls and lovely women (more of the latter if you don't want jail time), including possibly a few major NPC now gender bent. They are both as cute/sexy as it gets yet somehow retain any badassery and skill of their canon counterpart no matter how implausible their age or gender may be within the setting rules. Reroll on this column and combine. If you rolled Exalted for this one, just increase the amount of waifus instead.
8	Go to your book/PDF dump and start looking for something you'd never expect to run!

Option B: The 'Legally Distinct Dungeon Fantasy' Mashup

This one is more directly in line with Gundobad's post. I call it the 'Legally Distinct Dungeon Fantasy' as a joke but what I really and, obviously, mean is Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, OSR and any and all games which are at least partially derived from the original games designed by Gygax and Arneson, which generally involve the Fighter/Mage/Thief archetypes, a group or 'party', monsters, dungeons, traps (not the anime kind, hopefully! Then again...) and generally a lot of fighting if or when things go sour.

Imagine D&D, but with elements of...
1d8	Genre A	Genre B
1	Fighting Shonen: If you are even vaguely familiar with anime you know this genre all too well as it's one of the most famous. These are your Dragon Ball, One Piece or Naruto. If you’re a bit older, it's Fist of the North star. People fight. A lot. They get stronger to fight more and fight more to get stronger.	Idols
2		Mecha
3	Monster-Hunting Organization: Also a fighting genre, but it generally involves humanity under threat from a specific type/category of monsters, a special organization which fights them and usually a ton of grim secrets. This genre can range in style/genre combination from Neon Genesis Evangelion to God Eater or even, arguably, Attack on Titan.	Slice of Life
4		Magical Girls
5	Death Game: There is a big event, tournament or whatever where the characters are involved (by choice or not) where different individuals or teams of individuals fight each other to the death for a prize. Technically Highlander would count in this category.	Urban Fantasy
6		Pseudo-Historical
7	Magical School: Okay, I honestly HATE this genre but it's so damn common it needs to be put in here. While the word ‘magical’ may imply fantastical elements, technically there are plenty of these which overlap into scifi, cyberpunk and even superheroes. Oh and don't forget to add some harems in there to be as cancerously anime as possible.	Cyberpunk
8		Reroll on this column and combine, ignoring this result. Alternatively reroll on Genre A too, I don't know?

The Result: Magical Dragon Idols & Cybermagical Dungeons

So I made those half-assed tables and tried to see what abominations I could come up with. By themselves many of these results aren't that weird, so keep in mind it required me to stretch the premise by taking time to develop what sort of anime insanity and awful/amazing nonsense could exist under said premise, possibly even character concepts.

In the end, I settled on a single concept. Its stupid.

"Imagine D&D...but with elements of Monster-Hunter Organizations, Idols and Cyberpunk"

Okay this one is kind of easy, but still a bit weird. The thing which immediately just to mind, at least to me, is the Symphogear franchise. In a world combining fantasy and dystopia future, the player characters belong to an organization which hunt down a specific threat to mankind. Now, perhaps the best way for this to go is to go down the darker path that Idols are very corporate and make them an Idol group which is back by a mega corporation or some shady organization with ulterior motives.

In a grim, gray and neon-lit far future world where mankind learned to tap into higher/lower dimensions for near infinite power and technological advancement, bubbly and nice idols exist as a ray of sunshine which bring hope and joy to those living in this gray and gloomy world. Yet under the surface, things go run much deeper. Reality is shattered by the multiple cataclysm which mankind endured and self-inflicted. Thaumaturgic Technology was once so advanced as to functionally make humanity's overlords nearly gods but mankind's greed and despair grew too much and many cataclysm endured. Humanity in the current age is still trying to advance but the government and medias keep a tight lid on the true historical origins of why cities were built upon layers and layers of ruins, why the the few non-arcology forests are cancerous masses of living trees and why dimensional wastelands exist. Beyond the grey and neon-lit cities, the world is a techno-magical wasteland.

The monsters from beyond the veil are drawn to despair and negative emotions, which are naturally plentiful in such a depressing world filled with salarymen with little to live for. And so young girls trained as idols are given the ability to tap into supernatural powers. In between their bubbly antics and idol shows, they repel the darkness just as much as they dive into the cybermagical ruins to recover artifacts so mankind is able to sustain itself and, hopefully rebuild.

Some random thoughts about all this:

• Do the fantasy races exist and, if so how do they fit into the setting? One option is they are similar to the Meta-Humans of Shadowrun and born of human tampering into Thaumaturgic Technology over the centuries.
• Perhaps the fantasy races, being mutants or reincarnation of beings from the 'other side' are the only ones with innate magic of some kind? Perhaps they exist outside the human arcologies. In that case, the idols may in fact be recruited from these changed people and given a new chance at life and luxury (at a price) inside the much safer arcologies in exchange for their services. Its possible some races may exist and be integrated into human society, possibly as elites or in secret. Elves come to mind.
• Perhaps the Magical Girls can hide their true race somehow, if needed? And if such an angle is pursued then each race is suitably redesigned to be more anime-like and this is where the so-called 'bad' races of modern D&D can come in handy. Tiefling are just cute anime people with little Oni horns which tend to produce delinquent idols. Halflings are stuck looking small and cute their entire life, be it as looking underaged or alternatively being shortstacks. Same and more so with Dwarves. If one is degenerate as shit this could easily escalate into monstergirl territory.
• Is there an Idol class everyone must take levels/be a hybrid of? Is it more like a Bard. That doesn't seem all that great when one think about it. Instead perhaps the Idol class is more like a form of singing-focused Paladin, complete with some Idol Code about always being bright, shiny, happy and all that?
• I'm going to hell for writing all this.

Thoughts on the Monsters of Magic The Gathering

In spite of how crappy the game has become in so many aspect over time, there is no denying there are aspects of Magic: The Gathering which remain quite fascinating, in spite of how much recent set and settings/planes show that the game is way past its prime when it come to interesting ideas. Yet hidden in the rehashes and lack of ambition there are still monsters which are interesting. Many of these creatures exist either on a scant few cards or as a larger established creature that still has untapped potential. Now some of these I will skip, especially many of the Iconic/Characteristic creatures (such as Angel, Demons, Goblins or Elves) since I don't have anything interesting to say about them or they are established fantasy staples. Other are stranger, more nebulous and despite being established in some capacity across the lore of the multiverse they just haven't gotten their chance to shine.

Archons

Archon of Falling Stars by Victor Adame Minguez

The word Archon is one which I find mainstream D&D has always mistreated. The word Archon means 'ruler' in Ancient Greek and this has powerful connotations yet mainstream D&D has treated them as a fairly bland and interchangeable flavor of Celestials (lets face it, D&D Celestials fucking sucks!). In Magic, however, Archons are creatures of White mana which seem to embody the more Lawful aspect of the color. They are creatures of celestial might, wrath and most importantly of order. Archons in my opinion offer an interesting design space for a glowing, celestial being that is most definitely not one of our modern definitions of good, but rather closer to Old Testament or Pagan sense of judgment and wrath. Physically, Archons appear as luminous beings on a (usually) flying mount and they lack faces, either because it is obscured by their hood or helmet or flat out because it lacks one period.

So far, Archons have appeared a few times in Dungeons & Dragon 5th edition which can give us some limited insight into how they would function and behave as a monster beyond the scope of a playing card. Archons are (usually) resistant or flat out immune to radiant and mental effects as well as non-magical weapons. They are either fused or bonded with their flying mount and they all have some sort of compelling/control spell or a geas. Their thematic as axiomatic beings of celestial/cosmic law with power over mortals is thus well covered by their mechanics which I think make them solid monster and their varied choice of weapons (spear, swords or else) as well as suitably impressive mounts (winged lions, bulls or anything else such as a giant bird) make them quite awe inspiring. Perhaps the prevalance of flying beasts in a setting hint that, in ancient time, these were created and raised to serve as mounts to the ancient Archons? In addition, one interesting and often overlooked aspect of Archons is they are the White counterpart to the Specter type, at least visually.

• Archons as rulers of ancient humans and establishing civilization, bringing order from chaos, make for an interesting setting role especially since this can be both positive and negative depending on many factors. While an Archon brings about order, they might also be seen as little more than glorified tyrants.
• In addition to this, Archon make for a suitably varied and interesting replacement for the much more boring and specific Modrons and Inevitables, which are these days very much associated with the major mainstream D&D settings. Not only that, but Archons embody a different type of cosmic law, which is to say order, rulership or even tyranny as opposed to cold mechanical logic.

Baloths

Leatherback Baloth by Dave Kendall

I love Baloth, even if they admittedly aren't very interesting. Now technically 'Baloth' is not a distinct creature type as cards named Baloths are classified under the Beast creature type. Visually, a Baloth is a big pseudo reptilian monster, usually covered in spikes, horns and/or armored plates, however Baloth from Zendikar have hooves and resemble more creatures such as rhinoceros. It is possible that they aren't purely reptilian as infant Baloths are called 'pups' but this could also mean nothing. Baloths are huge, dumb and destructive monsters with a particularly huge appetite. In fact, its the flavor text of Enormous Baloth, in the first MTG starter set I bought, that immediately jumped to me:

"Its diet consists of fruits, plants, small woodland animals, large woodland animals, woodlands, fruit groves, fruit farmers, and small cities."

Baloth, to put it bluntly are very much mini-kaijus and sometimes you don't really need more in a monster. Their key, nay, only motivation is hunger. Baloths are very, very hungry creatures and this all consuming hunger make them omnivorous. This could open up some interesting adventures, as it is likely that magic items eaten by these monsters are simply swallowed whole and left to fester inside the monster's gut. Baloth, in my opinion, are a good monster that walks a fine line between plausible and magical, such as the owlbear. Interestingly, they appear to be something that can be tamed by druids. Interesting tidbit, there!

• Baloth make excellent random encounter monsters. However, it is very likely that astute characters might be able to guess they are in the territory of one as basically everything has been eaten, with truly massive specimen eating even entire woodlands.
• Baloth are nearly exclusively Green creatures and spellcasters of Green mana are usually classified as Druids. As pointed out above, it is very likely that Druids can tame lesser baloth and use them as guard animals, mount or even some sort of terror weapon against their enemies. A druid controlling a rampaging horde of Baloths could easily destroy an entire region in days. Baloth can also be made into undead.
• What use could players have for a dead Baloth? Quite, a few things, actually. Baloth are massive, presumably the smallest adult Baloths would be Large-sized in modern D&D. Their meat and hide may have good enough value; non-magical use might simply be to make super tough leather and scale armor while those used as reagent for magic potions could likely be used to make potions which temporary boost strength or size.

Specters

Abyssal Specter by 'Daarken'

Let's face it, these guys are pretty much a riff on the Nazgûl of the Tolkien legendarium. Mind you there is nothing wrong with that, as the Ringwraiths are iconic monsters of fantasy yet we don't really see much creatures which carry the legacy of terror these creatures once inspired. Physically they are, as pointed above, a dark mirror to the Archons or rather from a real life chronology the Archons are the light mirror to the Specters. Unlike Archons, however, Specters are definitely of human origin rather than some being born of mana and as such as Undead. Beyond that we know very little as only a few Specters have 'flavor text' which speak of their nature and isn't entirely plane-specific.

Specters as depicted in Magic, in my opinion, make for a much better Wraith than those usually depicted in D&D. Their flying mount are way more impressive than just being some flying blob of darkness. Assuming they share mechanical similarities to the Archons when it come to their mount bond, it open up some interesting ideas. Finally, Specters are infamous for their 'deal damage, discard a card' effect which clearly represent them draining mental abilities from the target which is likely carried by any weapon they use as well as the claws or beak of their mount. In a high power game where players have access to flight, Specters make for a great and dangerous airborne encounter. Given the association of Discard mechanics with madness or mental attacks, the Specters abilities to cause discard and Undead nature it might be possible that Specters are the undead form of powerful beings driven to madness. This, at the very least, is part of their lore Ravnica but, again, hard to say beyond that plane. Perhaps, then, their 'mount' is a part of their psyche which is dissociated with them. The two serve the same goals but have different personalities which could cause Specters to have rein in their overly eager or even sluggish mounts. One mind, but two personalities and attention spans, perhaps? Finally unlike Shades, very few Specters have any evasion abilities which make me believe they are at least primarily corporeal despite their name.

• Specters can work both as major antagonist in their own right or as minions. However, as a creature type in Magic they are somewhat lacking in Legendary Creatures; there is not a single (as of this post) Legendary Specter. This is a bit of a disappointing oversight or, perhaps, it may hint that these creatures are invariably minions, albeit powerful ones. This certainly ties back into their Ringwraith inspiration, even if I'd argue the Ringwraiths would certainly fit the bill as Legendary Creatures.
• Fighting a Specter is never going to be fun, as their iconic discard ability very clearly represent some form of mental attack. This make Specters a strong contender, among MTG's creatures, as being quite strongly tied to the iconic level drain (or their counterpart in later editions). At the very least, all Specter should have some mean of draining mental stats and/or the ability to disrupt a spellcaster's abilities, possibly making them empty their spell slot!

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?

Revisiting Fighting Fantasy

Few book series were as influential to my love of tabletop as the Fighting Fantasy books. Despite ending and going out of print in 1995, the series saw a revival in 2002. Of course, to me, the temporary 'death' of the series was meaningless as their staggering popularity in the French market on both sides of the ocean meant that the actual Fighting Fantasy as well as a slew of related or similar books all saw continious printing under the base of "Un livre dont vous êtes le héros". These included the original Fighting Fantasy originals, Lone Wolf and too many sub series and spinoffs I cannot remember. It is possible some were original creations of the French market, leaving many of these series as nothing more than vague memories of my childhood.

These books were everywhere in public libraries and I don't mean just in the sense they had a lot but, rather, that for some inexplicable reason you could always find one you hadn't read before. These weren't new copies either, but older prints that had seen so much wear and tear they turned yellow and had to be repaired with duct tape. Truly a magical find for any kid and teenager, plus I'm willing to bet my neighborhood's library somehow still has a few I never found or read, somehow hidden between old manga or a Breaking Bad DVD. These books introduced me to tabletop RPG mechanics, including the dice rolls and character sheets which made me try to invent my own systems where I could run adventures I'd invent for my friends. Its only several years later that a creepy and shady uncle I haven't seen in decades (Is he dead? Or in prison? Who knows?!) gave me a D&D Player Handbook. The rest was history. However, with the boring lockdowns that will never end and the creep of Canadian winter I'm left to wonder: were these books any good, really? Surely it can't be just nostalgia given how these books are held as classics and have since been given an IOS release. If I was to read one to see if I still like it, what should I pick? One considered one of the old gems, such as the original 'The Warlock of Firetop Mountain'? A timeless classic like 'City of Thieves'? A more experimental work such as 'House of Fear' or 'Creature of Havoc'?

Oh my...

Yeah, no. Fuck it. I'm going for the one where I can ride a Gundam wannabe to fight dinosaurs. I mean, come on!

Worlds Without Number and the Sine Nomine Shared Universe

In an era of franchises and 'cinematic universes', having a large shared universe is all the rage for companies. The wider and larger a universe is, the more one can produce additional movies, books, comics, videogames and more. While Worlds Without Number isn't out in its full form yet, there's plenty of material found in its pages which hint at an interesting prospect which may or may not be expanded by Kevin Crawford. Namely, that most (or perhaps all?) Sine Nomine games share a universe or at the very least a multiverse. Now perhaps this is just theories. Maybe its me digging too much into the pre established lore of his games, the myriad sandbox tables and, of course, all the repeating themes and ideas. Maybe Kevin Crawford never intended for these games to be connected and is merely recycling ideas that work as his personal tastes, likes and dislike create a tapestry of repeating and reused concepts.

Or perhaps it IS all connected after all.

The root of this connection lies in the beginning and the 'end'. They start with two games, one of which got an updated version: these are Stars Without Numbers, which is the 'central' and most popular Sine Nomine title and the setting for Labyrinth Lord called Red Tide. At a glance these two settings could not be more different, even if both are mostly mechanically compatible. One is mostly hard Scifi set in the future and the other is set in a fantasy world with Elves and Dwarves. However, given what we know of the latest Sine Nomine game, Worlds Without Number, we can see the two share an extremely suspicious amount of lore. We know the setting of Worlds Without Number to be the impossibly deep future of the Stars Without Numbers universe, which itself included that game and Other Dust. Combine the information we know from the Alpha of WWN with various Sine Nomine games and supplements and a clearer understanding of that multiverse emerge. These games are:

• Stars Without Numbers and Stars Without Numbers Revised
• Other Dust
• Red Tide
• Godbound
• Worlds Without Number

In addition there are two other Sine Nomine settings whose position within that universe is a bit harder to ascertain, which would be Spears of the Dawn and Silent Legion. It is likely they fit in, but the exact details are a bit more blurry due to having a bit less lore. One could very much treat Spears of the Dawn as a specific realm/continent/Iterum, but Silent Legion is a bit weirder. It could be that Silent Legion is a prequel to all this and that 'Meta Dimensional' concepts were never truly rooted in mostly modern soft science fiction but, rather, Lovecraftian madness. This can be up to interpretation.

Mankind's Expansion To The Stars

Art by Col Price

As established in Stars Without Numbers, humanity expand into the void of space. This may seem like an odd or even mundane place to start for a multiverse which will span alien realities and mechanical gods but big things often have small beginning. SWN gives us a date and general series of events, including The Scream. Around the 2100 humanity leave its homeworld to colonize the stars using the Spike Drive technology and humanity splinters into countless budding cultures and religious movements while Earth forms the Terran Mandate to oversee and control colonies, afraid of letting their resources and power slip through their grasp. Humanity make contact with aliens and Psychics first emerge from humans who were exposed to the Metadimensional Energies of the Spike drive and similar technology. This is the Golden Age of Man and it last until 2665. The Scream damages warp gates and humanity become one of isolated space sectors. This is the setting of Stars Without Numbers while the events which occur on the post apocalyptic Earth are covered in the game Other Dust. This era last for an unknown amount of time before leading into further, ill defined and ill explored eras. Both before and after this era, massive technological leaps are made, which sometimes depend on the 'Meta-Dimensional Climate'. Which I'll get into in a moment. In some forgotten corners of space, various branches of humanity began to diverge in form greatly from their cousins, including in some locations the ability to transfer or even duplicate minds. The details on this posthuman lifestyle can be found in the Deluxe version of SWN Revised.

Meanwhile, the SWN Revised supplement Codex of the Black Sun offers some optional material to add magic to a space science fiction game, as well as expanding on how such concept could work within the canon of Stars Without Number. There is a lot of technobabble involved but the long story short is that the Metadimensional Energies which created Psychics could be studied, harnessed, modified and used through a variety of interfaces and mental pathways to create what was functionally Magic. This is where the SWN universe radically diverges and cut ties with harder science fiction and goes fully into fantasy. One can surmise that, should humanity one day be reunited after the Scream and the following Silence that would include an incredibly varied array of subspecies, some of which have radically diverged through their use of Meta Dimensional energies and how they developed their arcane sciences. Ultimately the time scale of these successive eras is difficult to ascertain.

Art by Jeff Brown

The Outsiders of Worlds Without Numbers may have in part appeared in this era. While it is true some might be aliens, it is possible at least some of them are human-derived in some capacity, from posthuman who developed and re-engineered their bodies to adapt to impossible environments to alien crossbreed or even 'uplifted' alien animals. How and why such beings would one day attempt a takeover of Earth and enslave humanity is unclear but presumably it may involve some deep seated grudge against mankind, either completely justified or the result of xeno politics far beyond our understanding. It could simply be that two or more vastly different branches of mankind met and, not understanding their common root (and the Outsiders being too divergent to interface with the Legacy, having splintered off far before) they fought.

The Far Future and Latter Earth

Art by Jeff Brown

There's a lot that happen in between Stars Without Numbers/Other Dust and Worlds Without Numbers. Mankind advances to a level as to basically be Gods. Key to this is The Legacy which goes far beyond the primitive nanotech and psychic powers of the SWN era. The Legacy is all encompassing and is the term which is used describe the very reality-rewriting which mankind once integrated into both the world itself, humanity and all life. How far it goes and how long this perfect era last....is unclear. The central interface of the Legacy itself is housed in a meta-dimensional realm, which forms the underlying mechanism of creation itself. These are the Celestial Engines as described in Godbound, with the central processor of all reality being the Throne of Heaven.

Where exactly in the timeline of WWN that Godbound fit is difficult, if not impossible to ascertain. It does require one to somewhat 'retcon' that the Throne of Heaven tale is partially allegorical and that fighting for God's throne may have meant fighting for the control of the Legacy and its interfaces. The beings described in WWN lore as Imperators could have been the greatest Theurge as well as Made Gods of this era, each a God-King in its own right, fighting over an ever splintering reality. The Realm described in Godbound's core book, Arcem, makes no mention of beings which could be comparable to the Outsiders but it could simply be that the lands which Arcem was part of did not suffer their invasion and repelled them. It could also be that the era of Outsider rule of mankind predates what is called the Former Empires, which are post-Outsider rule. The splintered nature of time and realities make things extremely difficult to properly pinpoint.

Both WWN and Godbound's humanity are rather similar: they live in a broken world where the natural laws have degraded and become unstable, making advanced technology difficult to maintain. They both feature advanced magical-technological modifications of the human form, which have degraded and become lost, leaving behind often dangerous splinter groups of beings which are difficult to envision as truly human. It is likely these worlds are part of a shared multiverse/realm system (which WWN call 'Iterum') and are merely the same worlds from the point of view of mortal versus the point of view of Imperator-level beings. Any slight difference in setting material is quite easy to explain, as in-universe information is quite shattered, incomplete and has been subject to thousand and thousand of years of  information drift and the changes in language.This is also true of other Sine Nomine games or, at the very least, of Red Tide (and Scarlet Heroes which use the same setting):

• Dwarves claim that, in their history, their ancestors were humans enslaved by an evil goddess called the Mother Below. In truth, she was probably one of many Outsider overseers and would-be gods. The Dwarves described in Red Tide are clearly a major cultural group within the created race of living Legacy Interfaces which are known as Dwarves.
• Elves in both Red Tide and Worlds Without Numbers share many traits, including the fact they reincarnate. It is possible the Elves described in Red Tide are a splinter group which attempted to ascend to godhood through the Legacy and 'merely'  managed to install their souls in the decayed system of reincarnation or it could be that the Elven origin myth is only partially true. Either way both types of elves are clearly beings of a near identical nature.
• The Shou of Red Tide and the Anakim of WWN, however, are NOT the same type of being. While on the surface both are aggressive, engineered 'savage humanoids' they share completely different origins, with the former also being a form of living Legacy Interfaces similar to Dwarves while the latter are bio-engineered living weapons. If Spears of the Dawn is connected to all this, then the Night Men are a form of Anakim.
• The Red Tide and the Uncreated Night are similar and related expressions of either massive decay to the Legacy/Celestial Engines. Both 'unmake' worlds and both produce abominations which disrupt reality.
• If all Sine Nomine games are connected, then a recurring theme of Hell appear. Red Tide/Scarlet Heroes has one, as does Godbound and Wolves of God should it somehow be connected. It is likely Hell was once some sort of mechanism for souls and identities to be recycled by the Legacy but it has since become perverted and exploited.

The Missing Games?

Art by Igor Kirdeika

As mentioned, there are other Sine Nomine games whose place within the timeline is unclear. Spears of the Dawn is most probably a specific realm within Latter Earth. However, this still leave a few others without a clear location within the shared 'verse'. It is possible, as mentioned, that Silent Legions is a prequel and that the SWN universe was always one of Lovecraftian madness lurking below the surface. A strange universe which, in utter defiance to its themes, mankind would conquer and then prosper in. The Kelipot and other weird arcane secrets would all likely be harnessed and form the basis of SWN-era magic which would one day form the complex workings of the Legacy.

Alternatively, Silent Legions could take place inside an Iterum where one or more Imperator has reset history and is studying humanity in its pre-FTL days. Unfortunately, the simulation has broken down and allowed many different Outsiders and other strange beings to 'leak' into it. Under this theory, Wolves of God could also be in a similar situation. If that's the case, then it is going to be immensely depressing to its people to find out that God doesn't really exist as they understand it. Spears of the Dawn could also have been such a simulation, albeit one which had enough time to decay and diverge into more fantastical things or it could simply be its own Realm and not have been engineered as a simulation.

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.

Game Concept: Slay the Ascended

Edit: A more in depth description of the concept can be found here.

The idea of mankind now ruled by Vampires or vampire-like beings is hardly new. In fact, it's been done to death and then some. The same way that reimagining or expanding on the idea of 'utterly alien Fair Folks' elves with a superiority complex has also been done to death. That doesn't make the idea bad, however. If you twist it a little more you get something which, at least to me, is even more disturbing. Suppose the world was now indeed slowly but surely ruled by a race of super beings (albeit not that super compared to other settings) who are better than humans in every way. Suppose these beings were once human. Now suppose that their perfect, ethereal, godly image was born of their twisted, all too human ambitions? I mean, why else would such beings invoke beauty, awe or power and authority as humans understand them? There is a concept which I'm quite fond of, as bizarre as it seem, and that is to take a being which is 'eldritch' and make it all too human. What if you stared down the eldritch abomination and realized that, underneath that mask it's actually too human? What happen when human ego and abomination is given eldritch form and power?

We've seen this garbage plenty of times before in RPG, movies, literature and more. Now let's wrap it up into a bit more layers of horror. This is also me flipping on its head the general ideas I've often outlined for urban fantasy or Godbound.

The Ascended Arrive

They arrived as the world was falling apart, at the turning of the Ages where our reality slowly slipped into a period of greater cosmic connection. There was a brief period (a mere decade or two) of societal and environmental decay which simply exceeded any blame we could place on mankind. Seas churned, animals birthed abominable offspring and people became so haunted by visions they became mad. You know, the usual Lovecraft-lite slow apocalypse.

Then came our new masters, the Ascended. They call themselves something else, of course, in a perfect language only they can speak. Their form is human but better: stronger, faster, taller and able to regenerate from wounds much more easily and immune to all known sickness. They are smarter too, and more spiritually enlightened. In fact we should count ourselves lucky that, as the ages turned, a new race emerged. They ascended from the rank of humanity (for they admit as much), with no particular roots or ties to any specific ethnicity, country of origin, creed or religion. They formed the core of our new society and rule as just and merciful. They only demand our love, admiration and sometimes sacrifice but who would dare to say no? They are elfin creatures of myth reborn or towering demigods. Some are man, some are woman, some are something else. No two is alike but they all radiate perfection, awe, wisdom or virtue. We are all their lesser. They are the Ascended and each is a goddess, a warrior king, a rock star and guru rolled into one.

That's a bunch of horse shit, however.

The origins of these beings is unknown but we know they emerged when the wheel of the ages turned. Was it sorcery, suddenly unlocked by a new era of magic? Was it some sudden metaphysical mutation? Nobody know, but those of us in the know understand that the Ascended only appears to be so perfect out of their own hubris. Their 'human' form is but a veneer. Each one is unique but truly monstrous in form: tentacled monsters, gangly cicada monsters or towering hulks of bone and sinew. The worst part isn't that Ascended are transformed into monsters but rather than they retain their humanity, albeit in some twisted form. That perfected 'shell' they present to us? It's born of human ego and one's idealized self. Some people speculate it's a coping mechanism, because they hate their monstrous true form. Their minds are twisted and alien but not alien enough. Their entire society is a lie they tell not just the masses of humanity but themselves. Behind both faces (god and monster) is a human unshackled from their old limitations and experiencing the same old emotions and thoughts we humans experience every day but pushed to a new extreme. They still feel love, sadness, hate, rage, greed and jealousy and all that.

The Ascended are the 'smug dickass elves' who believe they have some omniscient morality but due to bad writing come off as aloof assholes. They are the smug aliens. They are the asshole vampires and fey and the abusive Gods of mythology. The Apostles from Berserk. The Scions and Exalted. They are things which, in another game, could almost be the player character option. This is not one of those games.

Ascended Nature

Its like Wreathu but without
the weird sexuality.

Each Ascended was once human but they've been transformed into another ascended through a ritual of implantation, which requires the flesh of one or more Ascended to be implanted inside their body. The process is messy, painful and maddening but those who survive will dissolve and reshape into a cocoon of flesh-crystal. After an extended period of time they will be mutated in body into something else entirely but retain all of their memory and personality. The fact the event is so traumatic helps with the mind screwing involved to ensure loyalty. Whatever emerges is no longer human. It has become both more and less. Over the next few weeks they will slowly awaken to whatever supernatural powers their might have, in addition to grow ever stronger, faster and smarter. Of course the reality is that these beings aren't quite as powerful as they believe themselves to be.

As previously explained, their external 'Godly' form is just as much a tool of predation as it is a coping mechanism. These creatures appear to be over six feet tall, with very little cosmetic flaws. The exact 'vibe' each gives varies depending on their nature: obviously those with more, shall we say, carnal desires exude sexuality but the Ascended aren't limited to forms like these. Those who radiate wisdom and authority can look quite old, for example: however they still are very dignified and statuesque and none of them suffer from the effects of old age. Think a very tall and buff old wizard guy or Zeus in a toga, with booming voice and glowing eyes.

The Ascended have an innate aura of near inexplicable 'magnetism' or 'charisma', which varies from individual to individual: sexual magnetism that transcend sexual orientation for those driven by carnal desires or a brainwashing religious aura which fills the mind with 'higher thoughts' and make individuals believe whatever crap the Ascended peddles. This is a key thing with the Ascended. No matter how insane their personal ideology and bullshit it is, they emit this aura (pheromones? psionics?) which slowly worm its way into human brains and make them believe it, filling human minds with a fundamental and innate understanding of their place in the world and that the Ascended are not only stronger, faster but also more moral no matter what they do.

Slay The Ascended!

The Ascended are assholes, that much is obvious. They have become the self-appointed master race. They are smug monsters who believe themselves to be beyond and above humanity but under that veneer they are nothing but parasitic monsters and predators. The obvious is coming: humans will rise up and start to fight back. Under their rule, the new unstable countries and demented religious cult they have created are ruining humanity. They see themselves as healing the perceived 'past wounds' of human nature: war, violence and more. However, it is worth remembering that Ascended are basically all insane and filled with hypocrisy. They still wage war, they still kill and they still take slaves, the only difference is that under their brainwashing humanity sees it as fair, just or 'better'. Some people are bound to see through their bullshit or innately resist it. The Ascended are powerful but they aren't invincible: they might heal without scarring and be able to take a serious beating but, cut one off from its minions and assemble a mob with torches and pitchfork and it will die. And if that doesn't work? Well, its fine: we invented explosives for a reason, right?