Hi, all -- long-time-lurker-first-time-poster here. I've been tinkering in my head with a Paladin setting for a couple of days and I thought I'd submit them for comments and brainstorming.

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Things Fall Apart

“I looked upon the scene before me -- upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain --upon the bleak walls --upon the vacant eye-like windows --upon a few rank sedges --and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees -- with an utter depression of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation more properly than to the after-dream of the reveller upon opium --the bitter lapse into everyday life -- the hideous dropping off of the veil. There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart --an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime.”

-- Edgar Allan Poe, “The Fall of the House of Usher”


Backdrop

This world was once home to a civilization of enlightenment and peace. Then something happened – exactly what, is lost to history – and the Corruption came.

Corruption causes – Corruption is – a nameless and bodiless force of decay, ignorance, madness. It is Corruption of flesh, of minds, of hope. Of wood, metal and stone. Once-beautiful cities are crumbling ruins. Once-great libraries contain only moldering scraps. Once-great heroes fall and become vicious madmen, or worse, twisted inhuman monsters. Few care anymore; everything rots.

Imagine a setting like Europe circa 1800, but left in utter disrepair for a few centuries. Decaying monstrosities of buildings, mysterious factories with rusted clockwork gears, abandoned churches, libraries, madhouses. The weather is always damp, encouraging rot.

The current scraps of civilization are deep in a new Dark Age. Remnants of technology (think steam-and-gunpowder era) and knowledge from the Time Before remain, scattered to the winds. More often than not, these are dangerous rather than useful.

Among this desolation move the dark-cloaked figures of the Paladins, like sparks among cold ashes. They seek what once was great and noble, sustain what remains, and hold it against the hope that civilization and light will rise again.

Organization, Faith and Charter

Still sketchy here so far. I'm imagining the Paladins as scholar-warriors in dark frock coats, questing for lost knowledge, but most importantly keeping the human spirit from descending utterly into decay and barbarism.


Code
Minor Laws
Never act out of despair.
[more ideas?]

Major Laws
Restore that which is broken, and sustain that which stands.
Recover and preserve lost knowledge from the Time Before.

Unbreakable Laws
Let no agent or source of Corruption go uncleansed.


Arms
Paladins wield long, elegant sabres or rapiers, always named for a virtue (e.g., Constancy, Enlightenment, Resolution, Courage). [I'd like some kind of "special effect" to these swords. The word "Darkfire" bubbled up from my subconscious, and I thought of blue-black fire flickering along the edge of a blade, but the whole flaming sword thing seems kind of done.]

Power
Perform amazing physical feats.
Heal that which is broken – bodies, minds, stone….
Inspire hope.

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That's what I've got so far. Any thoughts toward filling in the sketchy bits? (I wonder -- is this too utterly depressing to even want to play in...?)

Cheers,
Jason

Not that depressing. I mean the characters are all about hope and rebirth. It's all good. :-)

How about for a Minor Law: Learn something new each day.

Mike

Bonus minor law ideas:
Corrupt not your speech (tell no lies)
Confess to each prior you meet (as a check against the madness that corrupts heroes)

Arms special effect: (low key)
Blued steel that never rusts nor shows any mark of corruption.

Hope they're of some use,
Scott

Not that depressing. I mean the characters are all about hope and rebirth. It's all good. :-)

How about for a Minor Law: Learn something new each day.

Bonus minor law ideas:
Corrupt not your speech (tell no lies)
Confess to each prior you meet (as a check against the madness that corrupts heroes)

Arms special effect: (low key)
Blued steel that never rusts nor shows any mark of corruption.

The corrupted fall into a terrible state. Their flesh hangs loose and grey. Their teeth rot, their hair falls out. But the worst aspect is the hunger. A corrupted being seeks more corruption, more rot, more decay, more death. They feed on the dead. They feed and they feed, but it is never enough.

Or perhaps the corrupted hunger for that which made them pure in life. A scholar hungers for knowledge and so eats moldering books (or, um, brains). A priest hungers for carnal pleasures, and so forth.

Yes, the corrupted's blades do tarnish, yet they also curve with more wickedness. Growing sharp with infections barbed bits.

I so see this setting. Very nice.

Jhilahd

A very atmospheric Setting... cool stuff.

I can see some cool conflict between uncovering old knowledge...and having much of it be so dangerous that it could aid corruption.

Do you delve into the knowledge, or lock it away from use?

Cool stuff,