Either Needed [[Nuclear Fantasy]]

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Either Needed [[Nuclear Fantasy]]

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Malice

Malice

Goblin King
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Hihi!

This is more of an interest gauge before I put together something a bit more concrete for the new year. I'm looking for a small group (no more than four, including myself) for some sort of high fantasy dystopian story. Think Lord of the Rings meets Fallout. So we have elves, orcs, goblins, etc., but this world has been ravaged by a nuclear (or nuclear-esque) disaster. Dark magic gone wrong, resulted in a poison leeching into the earth and mutating those who stay in the miasma too long. This wasteland isn't only dangerous, its become a lawless landscape. There's also some political drama as to who started what and who killed who. I may even pull a bit of an Akira with 'the incident' being a cover up.

There will be several factions involved, but whether we play characters from all/opposing sides or a small band from the same place is too be decided.

I sort of have a drug addicted spy I may use for this, or I may write someone else. All things to be discussed if there is enough interested.

Drop a reply here if interested and I'll look at putting something together in January!
 
Razz glanced down at the day’s haul with exitement. It was good. No. It was great. Better than she’d done in weeks. She clutched her treasure to her bony chest, sinewy muscles bunching in fierce protectiveness. Noticing the faint grey mottling to her normally green skin, she tugged down the tattered scarf covering her mouth and nose and sniffed the air delicately. It was bad. Very bad. It was time to go. She replaced the feeble piece of cloth, took a deep breath and ran.
 
EDIT: Thanks to @GremlinSage for rewriting my plot to be a bit more eloquent. Still my ideas, but it sounds much nicer than my rough drafts.

Tensions between the dark and high elves have always been rife. As the war loomed on the horizon and skirmishes grew more frequent, something unprecedented occurred. A catastrophic explosion rippled through the dark elf kingdom, obliterating everything it touched. What remained of the kingdom stood broken, its destruction swiftly and almost universally blamed on the high elves.

While neighboring kingdoms turned against them, offering sympathy and resources to the surviving dark elves, only a few knew the truth. Deep beneath the dark elf capital, the heart of a sleeping Old God had been discovered, an ancient, almighty source of arcane power. In their attempt to study and wield it, the dark elves instead triggered the very catastrophe that destroyed their homeland.

To reveal the truth would have turned their own people, and the world, against them, so the blame was allowed to fall elsewhere.

What was once the heart of the dark elf kingdom is now a desolate wasteland. In the years since, the land had become lawless, repopulated by outlaws and fugitives, and those fleeing past sins from across the realms.

Arcane radiation still bleeds from the epicenter, warping all who linger too long. Flesh and mind alike are twisted by prolonged exposure, and whispers spread of people seen walking as if their bodies rot from within. Spires of glass rise from the earth, pulsing with a sickly glow. Ash coats the ground where towns once stood, and the air itself burns the lungs with every breath.

Rumor says that within the high elf kingdoms grows a rare plant capable of slowing degenerative effects of the arcane radiation, but at a cost: death by arcane or the plant, but at least the latter will keep your mind sound — so they say.

The high elves have capitalized on this, using it to broker favor and alliance with neighboring kingdoms. At the same time, it became a valuable commodity on the black market, smuggled into the wastelands and sold beneath the watchful eyes of the authorities.

As with every great catastrophe, belief has taken root alongside fear. A cult has formed among those who view the destruction as divine revelation, drinking from the radiated waters willingly, embracing mutation as the next step in evolution. Their goal is nothing less than the creation of another, deadlier explosion, one they believe will unite the world in the light of the arcane.

There are also whispers of a different possibility: an artifact rumored to lie somewhere deep within the wastelands, said to possess the power to heal the land. Whether it truly exists, or whether it would bring salvation or further ruin, no one can say. But if such an artifact were to exist, whoever claimed it would hold the fate of every kingdom in their hands.​

Okay, okay, so this is the broad strokes of my world building thus far. I can write more cohesively, but world building never was my strong point and this is very much a first/rough draft. I'll start putting in actual names of places and factions at a later date (I may also switch the races of dark/high elves, I kinda used them as place holders) but this is, more or less, the backdrop to the story we will be telling.

Essentially: warring factions, one gets blown up, other is falsely blamed leading to other kingdoms fearing them. We now have a lawless, mutated wasteland, refugees from the destroyed faction and the opposing faction trying to find out what happened. Also drug trade (probably slave trade), a pro-nuclear bomb cult for a good measure and people who want to try and heal the land. Also an old god because why not.

If you've read this and are still interested in writing together, start dropping character ideas in the thread and we can get things rolling. :)
 
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I want to allow people a certain amount of creative freedom here, so I'm not wanting to impose too many rules. I think, in terms of races/jobs/etc., if you could conceivably see them in a typical D&D game, they'll be good.

Again, I know I listed dark elves and high elves in the pitch, but if you absolutely want to play (for example) a refugee from the kingdom but would rather they were orcs than dark elves, that can absolutely be changed at this point.

I'm open to people creating characters who are more involved with the world building (e.g., the Cult Leader), but would probably want a bit of a discussion rather than handing over the full reigns. On that same note, I think I'd prefer if, at this stage, no one is 100% certain on what caused the explosion or the existence of the Old God; we know, but the characters at large do not. However, I'm open to this not being the case if someone proposes a good enough reason for their character knowing.

In terms of technology, again, fantasy first, nuclear wasteland second. Technology can exist, but will be rare, and should have a magic flare to it (so, Dwarves might have built a machine to help with mining, but its powered by crystals instead of electricity, for example). The arcane/nuclear power in this scenario is a form of magic, but is unstable and dangerous. I suppose we could get technical here and say it is messing with the fabric of the universe caused atoms to split, so still more nuclear than magic.

I'm also happy for people to have multiple characters. I'm imagining we'll probably start in the wasteland as a mishmash of races from different backgrounds with different reasons for being there. The plot going forward will be decided as people start giving character ideas and we can build it from there; no point in saying everyone will be going after the cult if half the players want to be pro cult, for example.

That's a lot of waffle, I do apologise, but hopefully gives you a better idea of what I'm hoping for from this!
 
Pondering on the different reasons as to why everyone finds themselves in this wasteland is an interesting place to start with a character build. I am actually thinking I would like to be assigned a basic role or character that is needed and expand from there. Though if I am to play a male…you are likely to end up with an overly buff and inked high elf that mostly scowls and smirks and occasionally has one liners along the lines of: “Who did this to you?” So perhaps I should stick to female.
 
I would LOVE to play in this plot if there is still room.
As a character I would like to play something I'm not sure is on your list, a male rat folk ( rat furry I guess)Basically a Mutated rat (Think Skaven, but less warp crazy) a rat mutated by the Event into a humanoid form.
Class would be something like a scavenger. Tinker, mad scirntist.
 
This is so awesome, I love it! I did have a question, if it's alright to ask. You said the cult embraces the mutation by drinking the radiated waters from the wasteland. How quickly would this mutation occur?
 
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