Primal Twilight

The land and the verdant forests that cover it are ancient and untouched. Great trees tower towards the heavens, their roots reaching down too deep, and their boughs burdened by the millennia. Beneath these dark eaves prowl animals bloated in size and age and power. But this is a land that is damned and its fate sealed, for the instruments of its destruction have only recently appeared: humanity and the weapons that call out to mortal souls. And thus the world and its forests enter their primal twilight, but not peacefully, but with a vengeance, for the creatures and the forest itself begin to stir…

I'm hoping to play a bit this summer and want a few epochs lined up for the future. I tend to overdevelop a setting, so I'm trying to provide a rough sketch - this is where I'm asking for you to help. I'd like to hear your first thoughts and contributions...

What does the above description suggest? What does it evoke? What would you populate this world with? What kind of characters do you envision? What sources or inspirations would you recommend?

Basically, I'm just looking for different perspectives on this setting than the one I already have...

Thanks!

--==--
Garett

It reminds me of the Corum series, books that I have just recently gotten into re-reading.

Its first paragraphs are:

"In those days there were oceans of light and cities in the skies and wild flying beasts of bronze. There were herds of crimson cattle that roared and were taller than castles. There were shrill, veridian things that haunted bleak rivers. It was a time of gods, manifesting themselves upon our world in all her aspects; a time of giants who walked on water; of mindless sprites and misshapen creatures who could be summoned by ill-considered thought but driven away only on pain of some fearful sacrifice; of magics, phantasms, unstable nature, impossible events, insane paradoxes, dreams come true, dreams gone awyry, of nightmares assuming reality.".

I picture a boy in the forest who has never aged, carrying a katana that used to be made of living wood but has died recently, so now the wood is petrified, hard, sharp and brittle.

A Lady in the Lake who holds a sword she has bequeathed to countless kings with her right hand, still clad in finest samite, her left hand, nothing more than a bloated tentacle was always deep underwater.

A woodsman who has killed countless cities in the name of cities and civilization. Now there are no easy trees left to cut down, only old, brutal bastards and his axe, it hungers.

A decrepite lion, last of his ilk, with only one eye and whose teeth have fallen out of his head. His roar can still summon all of the creatures of the forest but when he summons them, will they listen to their ancient king anymore, now that he is old and dying?

Cool shit as always, Old Scratch. Some day we've gotta game together.

Thanks Paka for the feedback. I was hoping for some more ideas and the like, since I've sort of found myself running down a single track. I particularly like your focus on potential PCs and NPCs. (Paka: Hope you're enjoying Corum, I really enjoyed the first trilogy - it gave my the idea for our first Sorcerer game. And as for meeting up and gaming - if you're ever out on the West Coast, I'll take you up on that offer! Likewise, if I make it out to NY any time soon, expect a drop-in player!)

Anyhow, I hope more of you contribute. Here were my rough notes on the setting:

World is young – for mortals that is… For the animals and the forests, they waited with dread for millennia for humans to arrive – and the animals have not forgotten their long period of dominance, they have awakened, and they fear the weapons and secrets that the humans will unearth.

The Animals

Powerful, fell beasts, centuries old rule the forests, the mightiest of them giant dire creatures, some with the powers of speech and reason.

Giant animals who speak laboriously from dark caverns or from the hearts of darkened forest glens.

Most animals can not speak, but can act through the will of the Elders.

Some animals are needy – ancient rivalries still torment them, animals craving to become the eldest, who might turn to humans to undo their rivals.

Animals can fall under control – become Tainted in a sense and rejected – bands of these rejected animals become a menace to others…

The Forest

Giant trees towering above the mortals – trees thousands of years old with no time or patience for the younger races… Some have turned dark and menacing as their roots dig into the Charnel Fields – and thus the old forests are the most dangerous. Sometimes pools of dark fluid, god and monster blood rise to the surface – what if an Elder Animal partakes of it? Some animals, perhaps dying, go there, and come back transformed and monstrous.

Some of the ancient trees have roots that run deep… very deep… so deep they feed off the dead gods and have awakened with terrible knowledge! What do they urge the creatures of the forest to do?

The People

Many human societies have totems, worship the Elder Animals who make demands of them: no writing, no venturing into the Old Lands from which the animals and humans came. Old, haunted creatures guard the entryway from the Old Lands. Those foolhardy souls bringing back artifacts from the Old Lands are reviled and pursued from their people. The people of the forest may live in the bared root systems of trees, in tree houses, or in great communal mounds from which they war against the People Who Have Forgotten.

The People Who Have Forgotten are those who mine and till the soil and make crude iron implements. They cling to the mountain and hillsides and have emerged from their caves in the hillsides, some bearing terrible weapons and knowledge. Using these terrible weapons as inspiration, they burn down forests and rip up the earth in an effort to create similar weapons with which they war against their own kind and forest.

The Nameless

The Nameless lurk, revealing secrets – a trail of footprints may lead to the Charnel Fields, or an ancient crone may offer prophesies to entice and command.

Some Inspirations:

These have images or ideas that contributed in some small manner to the setting...

Princess Monoke and the giant boars

General Woundwort from Watership Down

H. R. Pufnstuf

The Pig Head and The Beast from The Lord of the Flies

Nicodemus from Mrs. Brisby and the Rats of Nimh

RE Howard’s Conan vs. the Pict stories.

Hunter and the Beasts in Gaiman's Neverwhere (Chapter 15).

I want to include The Land of the Lost because it would be cool to have some creepy reptilian Sleestacks running amok beneath the forest, but I want to avoid any giant dinosaur type things. I like the idea of the Sleestacks being survivals from a past epoch and working against humanity in an attempt to stave off the inevitable...

Yep, I was going to say Princess Mononoke. I was watching Miyazaki while Charnel Gods was coming together, and I think the imagery in Mononoke is well-suited to the game (plus the hero is badass with that bow, and has a cool animal companion to boot).

One of these days I'd like to track down the original script to that film and find out what Gaiman did to it.

- Scott

Aye, Old Scratch, what are the one-sheet details?

Humanity?

What are demons and what are sorcerers?

You know the drill.

I'm curious, what is the conflict in this game?

One of these days I'd like to track down the original script to that film and find out what Gaiman did to it.

Humanity?

What are demons and what are sorcerers?

Duh, its Charnel Gods.

Sorry, dumb question.

Paka wrote: Aye, Old Scratch, what are the one-sheet details?

Humanity?

What are demons and what are sorcerers?

I'm curious, what is the conflict in this game?

A sinister in-bred nature cult populating the deepest of the forest led by a scruffy, soft-spoken charistmatic wild man with signs carved into his face. Kind of a Manson family in the trees.

Did you want me to expand a bit on the nature-cult-thing? I could do so later if you want. Here's some other ideas:

Among both tribal and civilized folk, the elders warn of the wanderers of the woods. Their presence is known by the an often-played flute melody which echos off of beaten paths from a traceless direction. Their presence is also noted by any spell of good or bad luck that occurs to the people.

These wanderers have an amazing variety of roles in local stories, from bandits, to lost children, to rapists, to romantic lost spirits, to deranged lycanthropes, to any and all combinations of the above.

--------------------------------------

There's a whole lot of awesome things you could do with corpses of past epochs... ingrained into the roots of the trees so that they make twisted wooden forms hardly recognizable as their past selves, both human and monstrous. A Fell Wwapon held by its former bearer(Better if its an old PC) in a battle pose. His wood-coated body's shape the most preserved of all the other corpses. A halo of spiraling tendrils surrounding him, the oak grown between his mouth obscuring what must have been his last wail, now silent.

A torso of a woman from another epoch, covered in vines which still slowly feed from her decomposing frame, her bust barely a clump with the remnants of arms attached, but her face preserving clearly an expression of pure agony. A shaman took her body and relocated it to his hut, and begs for the revelation of the ancients every day, but she constantly denies him.

-------------------------

A mythic land that lies above the clouds, made of a humongous nest of giant bramble. There sit monks contemplating the nature of the apocalypse, and hatch half-hearted plans to preserve the relics, art and beauty that they hold with them tightly, saddened at the thought of their future.

----------------------------------

I'd really like to see some Descriptors and Pasts. Here's some of my own:

Stamina:
Animalistic: Your mind and body is constantly unfurling into action. You're inspired by some combination of insanity, adrenaline and zest for life.

Youthfull Exuberence: The natural bounce and electricity in your step has not yet faded away. Can be applicable to many ages.

Iron Soldier: You benefit from weapons of Iron and sophisticated warrior training.

Will:

Serenity: You have a powerfull sense of calmness and ease around you. You can say quite abit with very little.

Bold: Afraid of neither what lies beyond what you call home or to make your mind known.

Mature: The forests engender a certain subtle, often jaded kind of wisdom when one has progressed mentally above one's surroundings. Can be applicable to many ages.

Pasts:

Miner
Politician
Wanderer
Monk of the Bramble

This setting is reminding me a lot of Mirkwood in LotR, where, IIRC, the number one rule is "don't screw with the trees".

The archetypal Fell Weapon is the ax, of course, and all the creatures of the forest recognize and hate the man who bears one. The Fell Ax represents the purest negation of the forest, and the mere threat of its use drives the spirits of the forest mad with fear and anger. They warp themselves in terrible ways to strike back at the Sorcerers.

If you're going with this idea, then the most interesting flashpoint of conflicts are those villages and dwellings at the edge of the forest, or even a bit inside... those groups of nomadic or sessile people who live in some sort of balance with the forest. That balance will tip one way or the other as the Sorcerers and the champions of the Forest come forth: some Villages will thrive, undergoing a population explosion as they bring more land under cultivation, and others may become ghost towns, nearly depopulated except for a few wretched survivors.

So are there 2 types of Fell Weapons in this setting - and therefore 2 different types of Apocalypse?

The Fell Weapons of Nature envy and hate the humans and their cities. They long for the ancient trees to swarm over the towers and temples, crack them into ruins and leave the land in the silence of the wilderness, uninterrupted by the babble of civilised tongues.

The Fell Weapons of Civilisation (Axes, fer instance) demand progress. They want a sterile land devoid of green ... and eventually incapable of supporting life.

Having two types of Fell Weapons seems inelegant to me; if it were my call, I'd probably make up some sort of "Fell Beast" using the beastmaster rules someone posted on this forum a while back, and have huge hoary legendary beasts from the deep o' the wood as the other flavor of Demon. For added fun, make them Immanents that can only be Pacted with.

I know what you mean about inelegant. Originally I thought this setting was all about nature ripping things apart - then I saw the opportunity for a mirror.

Anyway, I'm off to look for these beastmaster rules. And "Immanents" and "Pacting", ... that's & Sword, right?

hix wrote: I know what you mean about inelegant. Originally I thought this setting was all about nature ripping things apart - then I saw the opportunity for a mirror.

Anyway, I'm off to look for these beastmaster rules. And "Immanents" and "Pacting", ... that's & Sword, right?

I just want to point out that Charnel Gods loves pacting! You can't pact with Nameless, but Ancients and Bygones are fair game, and that's exactly what these legendary Beasts sound like to me.

And remember, Bygones and Ancients (especially Ancients!) have been through this Fell Weapons business before. They'll have wisdom to share and grudges that might span many Epochs.

- Scott

hardcoremoose wrote: I just want to point out that Charnel Gods loves pacting! You can't pact with Nameless, but Ancients and Bygones are fair game, and that's exactly what these legendary Beasts sound like to me.

And remember, Bygones and Ancients (especially Ancients!) have been through this Fell Weapons business before. They'll have wisdom to share and grudges that might span many Epochs.

- Scott

Judd,

Yes! That's awesome stuff.

Consider these animals, who in a previous time were just regular ol' animals, but somehow survived on the fringes while doomsday came and went. Now these few have grown in size and intellect and have made it their goal to keep humanity from ever rebuilding, because they've seen it all before...

The Fell Weapons want to destroy man's civilization, and the legendary beasts want to prevent him from ever having one in the first place. I know that's where this thread started, but I'm just now seeing the symmetry.

- Scott

hardcoremoose wrote: Judd,

Yes! That's awesome stuff.

SNIP!

The Fell Weapons want to destroy man's civilization, and the legendary beasts want to prevent him from ever having one in the first place. I know that's where this thread started, but I'm just now seeing the symmetry.

- Scott

empty post...sorry about the flub.

- Scott

If you're talking about the Charnel Gods pages at my site, then probably not. If you're talking about the Charnel Gods Resources page that Bryant Durrell set up, I sure hope to see some extra content there. I've been kind of lazy about submitting my own new material to the Resource page, but I haven't played Charnel Gods since last year's GenCon. Even so, I've got Weapons and critters around here somewhere that would be cool to add someday...

In any event, once you've played you should submit this material for posterity's sake, because it's very cool.

As for an Epoch where the people have accepted their own doom, I think I was imagining a Scandinavian culture with a sort of Ragnarok-is-around-the-corner feel to it. I wasn't that far removed from having written WYRD when I started with Charnel Gods, and I think it's obvious that the former influenced the latter quite a bit. There's actually a fourth sample setting that never made it into the book, which was the Lands of the Spear Kings, and it's very much Beowulf. Their whole people were terrorized by a single monster (one of the Nameless), and they turned to the Fell Weapons to fight the beast, even though they knew what the end result of that would be. I forget why I ended up ditching that Epoch...time constraints probably, and maybe because I didn't have any art for it. That would be one for the Resources pages, if I could ever find my notes for it (or felt like rewriting it from memory).

- Scott