The Way of Exile Swirling, writhing, rippling and steaming, the Chaos that looms over the Fringe is composed of... everything. Unmade and unwanted technologies, broken and screaming consumer goods, muted and twisted organics, gods composed of mountains, and mountains formed of avarice. Oddly, for an group so close to the infinite masses of improbability and madness curling about the mortal and semi-ordered realms, the Fringefolk are in a privilged position: in the metaphysical cracks and crevices of the mighty, unseeable, ageless bulwarks of order and power that hold what can be said to truly be in place, they enjoy the bounties of Chaos, rich foods, fine trinkets, ingenious devices and infernal contraptions, while the things that wash up on their many-layered, strange shores reaching out directly into Chaos itself are weak and harmless enough, at least at first, to bear them no threat at all, filtered by the forces of existence.
Composed of disparate tribes, the totality of which a overseen by the Elders, immensely powerful custodians of dangerous and octane artifacts and weapons, the Fringefolk lead an easygoing existence, relying on a few half-hearted crops and the measureless bounties of the Fringe for survival. Many live in temporary structures like tents, some sleep outdoors, as rain never penetrates the pristine skies above, while yet other make their homes in the skeletons of washed up megabeasts or rusting airliners. The Fringefolk have everything, if they can be bother to look hard enough.
They are protected from the ills and turmoils of less fortunate lands further from Chaos, past the Great Dune, where the currents of sheer power flowing through the world do not move so firm or concentrated, in order to crash againsts the eddies of Chaos and hold it at bay, flattening any great act of magic or entity. They are also protected by the Dune itself: a mighty comglomeration, higher than the sky itself, of rubble, sand, paperbacks, coathangers, dead geese and all else granted by Chaos. The lands beyond are less peaceful, and do not feel the protection of the forces of the world or the Dune, are still influenced by Chaos, a huge variety of things developing there, some parts mad and unstable, others as normal and everyday, in some ways, as other, stabler worlds.
First come the badlands, the Discarded Edge, odd but weakened by the weight of power on them, some tribes scraping out a meager existence there, then the Middle Belt, the realm of city-states, with stronger societies dominating their lands and stranger wildernesses lurking in between. Beyond that: Empire's Cradle, a yet more puissant zone, the mighty land-octaves tamed and wrestled with by wrathful emperors and noble kings, sprawling civilistaions ruling the lands, squabbling with one another and seeking dramatic extremes of power. And beyond that? The Godlands, where few mortals dare set foot. Inhabited by beings of incredulous power and scale, there is nothing there but idle gods and their domains, prevented from reaching the other lands by forces unknown.
And if one travels through all that: the final destination, the exile's Jerusalem, is the Low King's Hall at the foot of the Last Peaks. Nothing is permitted to enter the Fringe through the Great Dune's single passage, and this is the only other way to return to home, safety and luxury and cast off the pallor of the wastelands. The Low King is the only one capable of getting people into the Fringe.
You already know all this, as Fringefolk, of course, but it's about to become a lot more important. You're up before the court of the Fringefolk, and however fabricated or unfair the charges against you may be, it looks like you're about to be on the receiving end of the Fringefolk capital punishment: Exile.
Exile is seen as a spiritual, purifying duty, of course, but few are likely to survive the perils of the outside world, and fewer still ever make it back. You're going to have to follow the Way of Exile, though... or die trying.
An RTD set in a vast, complex open world built fractally with dicerolls and random words from the excellent Oxford English Dictionary, as well as other handcrafted generators. Surreal, gigantic, inexplicable objects dominate twisted landscapes, and strange creatures build empires on stagnant, chaotic plains.
Objective: find your way to the hall of the Low King, across the land-octaves, without dying, to return to your tribe on the Fringe. But I'll be trying to create complex, surreal and maybe beautiful worlds, so it's the journey that counts. You can gain 1 point to attribute every time you find the focus of a land-octave, which may be a bonfire, totem, cairn, etc.
Every time a player dies, someone from the waitlist goes in to the group with their position, so there is a rollover there. Also, if you want to quit at any time, just find a nice place for your character to retire, so we can RP that. I may even be able to throw you back in at some point.
Items and such will sometimes be made from mismatched combinations of descriptors and nouns, which will decide their abilities and shapes, and this creation method applies all the way up to the level of land-octaves. I may not tell you the names. I will either roll or take random descriptors, animals, etc for many things, so expect a fractal, surreal universe. It WILL get harder as you get stronger, and further from your original point of exile.
If you can stay, and settle down with some long term goals or something, you can do so, ruling a tribe, for instance, or trying to change the worldscene by inventing things. Think like a permenant tinker or council or Hephaestus from Einsteinian Roulette.
0/4 players. Waitlist available. It is simpler than it looks, what with all the textwalls.
While this will be RtD, not roleplay, mainly (not that talking isn't a free action), please do try and make a reasonably thought-out, interesting but not overdone character - I could be putting a fair bit of effort into this, and may simply ignore characters I feel don't meet minimum thresholds - basically, don't use some random anime character you like.
Name:
Tribal positions (tribes have a high turnover, and they exile leaders and officials as soon as anyone else): Alchemist/Warchief/Exile Delete as appropriate
This will be decided by postclaiming, first come, first served
Ability
Alchemist: One crafting or one arcane (I'll decide these)
War Chief: One arcane, or one strictly combat (As above)
Exile: None yet
Exile: None yet
Items
Alchemist: Random weapon (alchemical/ thaumaturgical), or random
War Chief: Combat technique (scroll) or Random Weapon Item - I'll choose this too. Combat techniques vary based on what they are modelled on, but can be used generally unarmed, and can end fights in unusual ways that wouldn't be otherwise available, with special moves, stances, grips, etc. A weapon is just that: a randomised, probably semi-alchemical, magical or thaumaturgical in some way, weapon.
Exile: Food and some gold/currency, full waterskin
Exile: Food and some gold/currency, full waterskin
Re the food/water: you will have to gather stuff to some extent and keep hold of provisions to survive, so I recommend making sure you have some when possible.
Attributes: 1 point, to invest in any category. This is a +1 to rolls, and a general increase in aptitudes.
Strength,
wisdom,
insight,
agility,
endurance,
thaumaturgy,puissance.Alchemists get one free point in thaumaturgy.Character actions (not a resriction, just something you can do as these roles), you can't change these, just telling you.
Alchemist: Analysis: break down an object into its component parts, or materials, discovering something of the nature of its workings.
War Chief: Assumption of Command: may recruit individuals to their cause.
Exile: More flexible, may learn or assume skills based on stuff found.
Exile: More flexible, may learn or assume skills based on stuff found.
Object of Worship: the deity from among the many thousands available to you that you have chosen. You can make one up, preferably no current day real ones, Flying Spaghetti monster or Armok or something would be fine too.
Once in your lifetime, you may ask for an intervention from this deity. It may be refused, but if acts of great valor are performed, another may be granted. The deity will intervene in whatever manner seems appropriate to them, often granting you great gifts or powers.
Description of character (human, please) :
Reason for exile: a bit of backstory. Did you get up to no good with the High Priest's daughter? Summon a snowstorm to cool your drinks and bury the entire village in snow? Or just steal the tentpole supporting the entire latrine network for firewood?
Name: Joe Boring
Position: Warchief
Ability: one arcane
Item:Combat technique scroll
Attribute: Strength: 1
Object of worship: the office printer
Description: a boring guy, with a tie
Reason for exile: boring people by talking about the printer all the time.
Only one person can occupy a tribal position at any one time, except for the number of exiles, which can make up the entire group. First come, first served on this, to some extent.
Nunzillor:
Waitlistin'.
Name: Tier the Starbound
Position: Exile
Abilities: None
Item: Rice, chaos-infused cider, glittering gold nugget.
Attributes:
Thaumaturgy: 1
Object of worship: Thal'talmok, Celestial Light Bringer and Drinker of Chaos
Description: A young man with intense eyes, always wide with wonder. He clothes himself in disparate scraps of cloth and leather, speckled with white dots.
Reason for Exile: He saw it in the stars: a great journey. The end of one age, and the beginning of another. A time of great peril, great reward, and great transformation for his people. But his tribesmen were blind to Tier's sight when they cast him out into the wastes, a place for him to meditate, they said, on his sacrilege until he dismissed this foolish notion of a god among the stars. They are fools, of course. To ask a Starbound to change is to ask the stars themselves to fall from the night sky.
Edits complete.
This looks very interesting.
Name: Odelyn
Position: Exile
Ability: None yet
Item: Pastries decorated with bits of gold leaf, as much gold coin as she is able to take, and a full waterskin
Attribute: +1 puissance
Object of worship: Cappon, the god of money and market forces
Description: A tall, thin woman with long black hair. She wears beaded and jeweled necklaces, bracelets, and anklets. Her decorated cloth dress seems a bit inconvenient given the journey ahead.
Reason for exile: Fraud, essentially. She solicited donations for the poor and took the money for herself.
Terrahex
Author
Topic: The Way of Exile [A Procedurally Generated Surreal RTD] 4/4 (Read 8393 times)