World AE2012

[taistelusopuli]

Welcome to the world of AE2012!
The world of AE2012 is a post-apocalyptic alternative reality with supernatural elements. In this post you will find all the necessary information to play the game. The world is new and young and will evolve as time passes. If you have any questions, please do direct them to my inbox, I will gladly answer them as soon as I can.

I hope you enjoy your stay in Alt-Earth.

Introdution Setting Character Creation Systems World Basics Additional Lore

• "Light and darkness cannot occupy the same space at the same time. Now nature makes us decide which one will occupy Earth."
  
  Through the beginning of the 21st century, the Sun had grown increasingly restless at an extremely rapid pace. Various researchers and organizations kept recording more and more solar flares and their side effects.
  
  September 13th 2012, Earth was hit by the most violent geomagnetic storm mankind had ever witnessed. It raged for days – straight, without pause. The storm did not only disrupt, but it destroyed all communication networks – radio, satellite, internet, everything was put to an end and the Earth fell silent.
  
  The whole digital world vanished. Connections between continents were lost as well as all the islands and far away places in distant countries became unreachable. All electronic devices died, which caused planes to fall, ships lose their way and innumerable traffic accidents all across the globe. Satellites fell from the skies with everything else that was man made. All of humanity was thrown back to the age before electricity.
  
  The Earth itself wailed and screamed. It was in pain. It trembled from core to crust destroying many great cities. Valleys turned into hills and mountains were leveled to fields. Many islands were swallowed and new ones emerged from beneath the sea.
  
  Unimaginable amounts of radiation swept the planet's surface with unprecedented brutality causing severe damages to humanity, flora and fauna. The greatest killers, in addition to natural catastrophes, were mutations that varied from instant to extremely rapid and aggressive. People died where they stood or by the end of the week, more or less deformed close to being unrecognizable.
  
  The storm, the tumult and destruction killed most of humanity. Then there were the lucky ones, blessed or whatever one may want to call them. Their genetic build was somehow immune or hyper resistant to the radiation, protecting them from what was deadly to so many others.
  
  Regardless, death didn't end with them. Those who did not die in the various accidents or from the mutations suffered all kinds of psychological and physiological reactions that would eventually destroy them: lethal headaches, complete loss of sleep, extreme mood changes and destructive violent behavior, to name a few. As if it wasn't enough, those that had not yet perished, soon would succumb to their injuries, lack of nutrition and shelter or were simply driven to a state of becoming mere beasts, husks, withered shadows of their former humanity.
  
  Since then the world has been different.
  
  Through it all a handful of people survived. Soon, once the storm had passed, reports of strange anomalies and supernatural accidents started to travel among the few that had survived the onslaught of the universe. Poltergeists, possessions, bursts of destructive energy. There were accounts of pillars of light, glowing shields, healing. Suddenly there were "magic" and miracles – things that should not be possible.
  
  The storm unlocked something in humanity. People began to manifest abilities to control supernatural powers. It was found out that the storm had amplified our emotions and deepest desires into a usable and visible energy. Something that could destroy and restore, harm and protect.
  
  As men often have it, these new powers divided the survivors. Those who harbored hate, jealousy, greed, sought control, desired more power, used their newly found abilities to get what they considered was rightfully theirs. Meanwhile those who cared, wanted peace and worked to restore the good that was lost became protectors and defenders of the weak. The growing conflict and unrest forced the peace-seeking population to flee and seek solace while the other side became hunters, thieves and pillagers.
  
  That is how this battle began. Not one of of faith or flag, or one to conquer nor to liberate. This battle is about preserving our humanity.
• This is the world you live in now: Earth, a world of clans and tribes, nomads and settlers – an age of survival and struggle. A world in which emotions and genuine feelings are a source of supernatural power.
  
  Years after the cataclysmic storm, humanity has begun to form into three groups: the people who choose light, the people who choose darkness and separatist tribes, clans who have gone their own ways and keep mostly to themselves, not taking sides and often resorting to a migratory scavenger lifestyle.
  
  The world is desolate and in ruins, mostly empty of human life. No one knows how many of us are left.
• AE2012 can be approached in many ways. You can, for instance, play simply as an avatar of yourself as you are and just act as you think you would. Alternatively, and more traditionally, you can create an original character who is a completely separate and independent entity.
  You may go as shallow or as deep as the game you play requires. The deeper you dive and the more details you can think, the more fulfilling your experience will be. This information also helps you as you play your character.
  
  1. Give your character a name.
  2. Describe the generic physical attributes of the character like sex, age, facial features, height, weight, body shape and so on.
  3. Assign personality traits to your character, habits and mannerisms, triggers, faults and weaknesses. Also strengths, drives, motivations and aspirations.
  4. Assign one primary skill or talent to your character. This skill is what your character knows best and in part defines them. The skill level is that of a professional.
  5. Assign one secondary skill or talent to your character. The skill level should be that of a hobbyist or enthusiast.
  6. Choose whether your character has darkness or light in their heart. Describe it, what is the root of it, where it comes from. Life shapes a person and their lived experience defines much of their persona.
  7. Describe how the darkness or light manifests, how much in control of it the character is and what triggers it uncontrollably. What damage or strain, physical or mental the manifestation causes to your character. Using a power is never a simple choice, there is always a cost to pay.
  8. In addition to their clothes, what does your character carry with them at the beginning of the game? What equipment they have and in what condition that equipment it. Describe how proficient your character is at using weapons or tools if they carry any. This is very important!
  Equipment proficiency
  
  • Non
  • Beginner
  • Intermediate
  • Advanced
  NOTE! Naturally it is impossible to describe proficiency of every single item that exists in the world. If your character encounters new items in the world, assign proficiency according to what would be logical with the skill set of the character. The narrator must confirm the proficiency.
• It is not necessary to play with these, but it is an option. In which case, agree on whether you rely on player's honor or if you report the roll results in some way prior to writing.
  
  
  Spoiler: Success

  If a player wants a character to attempt an action, like an attack, wall-run or cooking for example, the Narrator calls a success roll of the difficulty level they consider appropriate.
  
  A success roll is performed with a D12. The further away from success threshold the roll is, the greater and the more severe the failure is. On the opposite side, the further beyond the success threshold the roll is, the greater and the more glorious the success is. Actions are grouped into difficulty categories of
  

  • Impossible
  • Split
  • Extreme
  • Hard
  • Normal
  • Easy

  An impossible roll must match a number called by the Narrator.
  
  A split roll is a success on evens and a failure on odds.
  
  An extreme roll is a success from 10 and up. A hard roll is a success from 7. A normal roll is a success from 4 and the easy roll is a success from 2.
  
  The skills of the characters affect the rolls. A relevant primary boosts the roll by 2 towards success and a relevant secondary boosts the roll towards success by 1. Equipment skills alternatively affect the roll. Advanced user gets a boost of 2, an intermediate a boost of 1. A user with "non" proficiency -1.
  
  Split rolls are not affected by boosts.
• Knowing the basics about the world will help you immerse yourself more into the game. Studying the following information prior to your game will provide you with the basic logic and knowledge you need to survive in the world.
  
  
  Spoiler: Manifestations of Light & Darkness

  The two extremes, black and white, darkness and light, evil and good, are in constant conflict. The border between the two isn't absolute, but a gradient, an infinite variation of combinations of morals, desires, intentions, hopes and wishes. Not everything turns into action and not every action reflects the truth within a person.
  
  After the storm in 2012, emotions and genuine feelings of people started to manifest as supernatural powers that reflect either their malice or benevolence. Stronger emotions provide stronger manifestations. Who receives these powers, when or why, seems random and lacks any pattern.
  
  Not everyone manifests powers. It is uncommon, but not rare. Children born after the storm may or may not manifest powers. Powers may manifest themselves later in life as well as fade, weaken or disappear.
  
  A change in how the powers manifest is also possible. If a person genuinely changes, this reflects directly on their manifestation. The change often isn't immediate and can be a painful experience mentally and physically. Conflict and chaos within a person also reflects on the manifestation.
  
  The more powerful the manifestation, all the more rare it is. There is always an equal. A strong manifestation of light has, somewhere, an equal manifestation of darkness and vice versa.
  
  Stronger and more complex powers demand a higher physical and/or mental cost. Even death or disintegration of the mind, while it might not be immediate. Going overboard or losing control always has severe consequences for a character.
  
  To use a power, one simply wills it using the power of what they think and feel. Words are not necessary as the manifestations are not spells or magic. They simply are a supernatural extension of self.
  
  The manifestation of one's emotions is something people, both the person themselves and those around one, fear. Most good people think it is a burden and a risk. The evil ones naturally desire the power they bring. Regardless of what one thinks, the manifestation always reveals the truth of a person.
  
  Once a manifestation reveals itself, it naturally affects on how an individual is perceived. Maybe a friend becomes a threat or a foe a savior.
  Spoiler: Gray Disease

  Gray disease is a new illness that was discovered after the storm. There is no knowing who gets it. It isn't contagious and in itself it isn't lethal. There is no known cure or treatment to slow it down or lessen its impact.
  
  The theory that is commonly accepted as fact, is that a glitter, or oil-like sparkles in the air, only visible in direct moonlight is the cause. See "Ripples".
  
  The first signs of gray disease are general exhaustion and increasing mood swings, emotional instability and forgetfulness. Slowly the skin of the unlucky individual starts to dry and turns into ashy gray. This phase can last a long time which makes it difficult to detect. A common duration is a few weeks, but there have been cases where the change happened over a few days or a few years. There are no known patterns to predicting the duration.
  
  Once the skin of an individual is void of all color, they begin to lose weight and their ability to move normally diminishes. Their nervous system begins to degrade and they lose any an all sense of feeling. In a similar fashion to the after effects of a stroke, half of their face loses all muscle function.
  
  The final phase of the disease is the degradation of self, and eventual loss of all higher cognitive capabilities. In the end a person becomes reactive and functions only on basic impulses like animals. Heightened aggressive behavior is usual.
  
  The remains of humanity have organized various ways to deal with gray disease. It is not common, but it is not exactly rare either. Some execute at sight, some contain and some allow the disease run its course until a "dignified" goodbye at the behest of the sick themselves. At this point it is impossible to say if the current birthrate and loss of life are in balance or tipped to one or the other direction.
  Spoiler: Environment

  Once the dust settled in the cities, skyscrapers had collapsed, roads had been broken and bridges had fallen. Fires broke out devouring what they could. Without people to maintain and repair broken things, what remained quickly fell apart. Power plants shut down and eventually the unmaintained nuclear plants collapsed causing great damage to flora and fauna. Due to this, some areas of the world are still uninhabitable.
  
  Currently the ruins of humanity have started to give in to the forces of nature. Animals, plants and trees have found their way back to places from where they were long before driven out.
  
  The storm caused also some changes to the face of the planet. Every imaginable catastrophe caused by the movement of the tectonic plates happened. This gave birth new mountains and changed the old. Parts of the world disappeared under the sea, shorelines moved and the world changed. The remaining people are still discovering the changes.
  Spoiler: Weather

  The natural world, the laws of physics, have not changed since the storm. The world still behaves like it always has. It has just become more intense.
  
  The weather has been very unstable for a long time. Only recently it seems it has started to settle a little, but only enough for the change to be noticeable. The weather phenomena we know, rain, snowfall, storms and thunderstorms and so on, are more intense and strong than before the storm. Even the Sun, when it shines, it shines stronger causing wildfires even in places where they either were non-existent or rare.
  Spoiler: Ripples

  Ever since the storm died and the Moon started appearing again from behind the cloud coverage, people started seeing strange ripples, waves or colorful disturbances floating in the air. The phenomenon has been described as glitter or sparkles, colors of the rainbow just flickering like aurora borealis, or oil on water, for a moment and disappearing.
  
  The suspicion is, that this phenomenon is responsible for both the manifestations of darkness and light, the gray disease and electronics not working.
  Spoiler: Flora & Fauna

  The nature is intensely alive. The storm and whatever it left behind, gave the plants and trees energy and vigor they had not enjoyed before. The colors are more vibrant, scents more intense. What was tall and strong from before grows ever taller and stronger. Plants that had healing or poisonous qualities from before, are now much more potent and effective.
  
  Animals, like humans, were victims to the effects of the storm. The effects were random as they were for humans. Some animals remained as before, but many suffered mutations or many had their senses enhanced. Animals did not develop any manifestations of light or darkness. It is not known if any species went extinct.
  Spoiler: People

  Every now and then one might find clues, hints and signals of larger settlements. By rule, they are old and upon arrival at the supposed settlement, if ever found, the place is already deserted and uninhabited.
  
  People tend to be secretive, protective of their own and weary to trust new acquaintances. In this new, cruel world, the strongest survive and the strongest often are willing to cast aside their humanity in favor of surviving themselves.
  
  There are no governments, countries or laws anymore. There are only people who try to survive. If there are any regulations, they are mere agreements of the people involved.
  Spoiler: A Word on Technology

  Anything that would require electricity to work, doesn't. There is no way to restore or fix these devices. New devices that are supposed to work, do not. All other technologies work and function normally.
  
  Manufacturing of weapons and ammunition in factories stopped once the storm hit Earth in 2012. One should not waste this precious resource of self-defense.
  
  The manifestations of darkness and light have replaced some functions of technology, but due to their cost for the user, people are not always so willing to make the trade if possible.
• More detailed information about various subjects will be added here as the world evolves.