Deathworld: Difference between revisions
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Canada is divided into four parts. The Soviet Owned West, the Nazi Owned East, the Ghost-Waste South and the Loyalist North. | Canada is divided into four parts. The Soviet Owned West, the Nazi Owned East, the Ghost-Waste South and the Loyalist North. | ||
The Loyalist North was created after WWII. The Canadian Government accepted elements of the British Government that did not go onto the Submarine. The Canadian Prime Minister at the time, William Lyon Mackenzie-King, attempted to make a deal with Natives to raise angry spirits to defend the nation from Soviet and Nazi invasion. This went | The Loyalist North was created after WWII. The Canadian Government accepted elements of the British Government that did not go onto the Submarine. The Canadian Prime Minister at the time, William Lyon Mackenzie-King, attempted to make a deal with Natives to raise angry spirits to defend the nation from Soviet and Nazi invasion. This went worse than planned, with vast sections of the land that was trying to be protected becoming flooded with ghosts and other horrors. However, there were enough Competent Shamans and determined fighters to hold the Northern parts of Canada - the places so frozen to make invasion difficult. The current capital of the Loyalist North is Churchill Manitoba. | ||
==External Links== | ==External Links== | ||
Revision as of 01:15, 6 December 2012
Not to be confused with Death World, a deadly planet in the universe of Warhammer 40,000.
Like so many troll threads, it began with a simple image and one word: ISLAMABAMA. Pretty soon /tg/ had agreed that Commubama looked pretty badass and work began on a setting that would make Commubama a reality. A couple of threads later and the whole thing had evolved far beyond its humble beginnings to become something far more interesting and wide-ranging. The name's a bit of a placeholder, but it will do until a better one comes along.
Excellent proof of /tg/'s ability to turn even the most blatant troll thread into something good and useful.
Background
The truth of broken secrets, and unending emotions.
I will tell you the lies of the heart undying, and the mind unyielding,
the lies of the cold steel, and desperate logic.
This is a time of unending pain, and boundless hope.
Your species, as young as it is, stands at the edge of extinction.
You have summoned forces you cannot hope to comprehend, and yet you serve them willingly.
You fight your ancient enemies, and yet they are human, understandable.
Could it be you are only now realizing that your kind are endless in their evil?
Could it be that to serve what is alien, is preferable to falling to your own nightmares?
I hope you believe so child.
For that is the path you walk now.
~Source Unknown. Parts of this have been found scrawled as graffiti in almost every part of the world, in almost every known language.Worse yet, the Soviets and Nazis, despite their dehumanizing superscience and demonology, are amongst the only powers able to truthfully claim that they are ruled by humans. Their opponents, supposedly "free" are ruled by alien horrors, spirits, Fae beings, and the long dead, if not some combination of the above. Will humanity enslave itself to undo these evils? Or will it be obliterated in the fires of hell and atom?
The setting diverges at around 1940ish, and present day for the setting is 2010ish.
Nations of Deathworld
Nazi Germany
By now, the Third Reich is well into its One Thousand Years. During the conquest of Europe, many in the Nazi High Command turned to questions of the occult and Demonology to grant them the advantage of their conventional foes. The Karotechia, the Ahnenerbe and the Thule Society all grew in importance as they mastered the arts of summoning Demons to do their will, as well as the science of the old magicks that had long been forgotten.
Now, most of the old High Command are gone, supplanted by the growing Magocracy. Hitler is still alive but has long since succumbed to insanity and now serves as a figurehead to be trotted out for public appearances but is otherwise locked away for his own safety. He's still incredibly popular, and is viewed as the Father of the Nation, but real power now lies with the Mages. Life for the average pure Aryan citizen is fairly good in the Reich, but the same cannot be said for the less pure members.
Races like the Italians and French are treated as second-class citizens, with access to the best resources like education, health-care and so on restricted to the Aryans. They can still serve with the Army, but in less important positions. Magically talented members of these races are refused proper training, but instead are often lobotomised and used as hosts for the Demon-Human hybrid soldiers that strike fear into the hearts of Soviet soldiery.
The Untermenschen are kept around mostly as a slave class, interred in work camps. They are often used by Sorcerers to pay the cost in souls that their Demonic Allies demand. The Jews in the Reich have almost been entirely wiped out.
In battle, the Nazis use a combination of tactics. Some conventional weaponry is still used, but it is mainly restricted to the low-quality penal and conscript units. The real power of the Nazi army lies in its Battle-sorcerers and their demonic allies. Some of these possess tanks and weaponry, improving their effectiveness, some serve as spies and others simply manifest themselves to rip and tear. These are aided by the aforementioned Demon-Human Hybrids, terrifying combinations of man and magic can tear through an entire Soviet infantry battalion.
The Soviet Union
Without the Nazi's skill in magic, the Soviet Union has turned instead to good Soviet Science to provide them with a worthy counter. The vast industrial giant strip-mines massive quantities of metal and ore to mass-manufacture the fruits of their research: massive, nuclear-powered tanks and power armour. While the core of the army is still its massed infantry, the way is led by these clanking, smoke-belching engines of destruction.
The Soviet Union is led by a gestalt mind constructed from Stalin, Lenin and Trotsky. Stalin and Trotsky rarely agree, so Lenin acts as a tie-breaker. The three's factions mostly work together for the benefit of the Union, but they are always looking for a way to seize power over the others.
Soviet society is split between three areas, the centralised administration cities (Moscow, Vladivostok, New Stalingrad on the West Coast), the immense industrial cities (Magnitogorsk etc) and the smattering of collectivist farm villages spread across the Union providing food. The central cities are towering piles of steel and concrete, a communist utopia on the surface. Beneath the streets, in a microcosm of Soviet life, is a vast support network of oppressed workers toiling in the undercity to supply the world above. The Thieves World is now literal, as are the "roofs" criminal gangs operate under. Industrial cities are a little better, the criminal element having been run out by brutal commissars long ago, but no less dangerous. War is a 24 hour business here, with the constant clanking of gears and rumbling of tanks preparing to ship out a constant noise anywhere in the city. The collectivist farms vary more, but tend to be small and efficient, like the minds of those who tend them. The traditional peasant class of Russia still thrives long into supposedly classless age of Nuclear Communism, but the people are so beaten down they accept their lot without complaint. However, rumours occasionally circulate of a strange robed man with a magnificent beard visiting small farms and curing the sick with but a touch of his hand. The KGB have reportedly killed this man a dozen times, yet the rumours always filter through to the Kremlin Komputer just the same.....
The Constitutionalists
One of the newest players on the world stage, but in a way the oldest. The Constitutionalists are all that's left of free America, formed by exiled dissidents from both Nazi and Soviet-occupied areas as well as the survivors that eke out an existence in the ruined No-Man's land between them. They worship the Founding Lords, Presidents of time gone past, who serve as an ideal of what America should be. But they are not just an ideal.
The Constitutionalists have mastered the art of necromancy, and with it, they hope to gain the advantage over the hated invaders, Soviet and Nazi alike. Preaching "Equality in Death", they have an ever-growing army of the dead building in the empty spaces of America. Society is fairly strictly divided, with Slaves at the bottom, being the reanimated corpses of Nazi and Soviet soldiers, those who did not choose Undeath, but had the Gift forced upon them. Above them are the still-living members, often used as spies and infiltrators and rewarded with citizenship if they serve well. Most sentient Constitutionalists have become Citizens, intelligent Undead with full rights who lead the masses of Slaves. At the top of Constitutional Society are the Founding Lords.
The Founding Lords are (or were) the dead presidents of times gone past. Some are still sleeping beneath the Earth, and their resurrection is a priority. Others now stalk the Earth, their minds warped from decades, even centuries, of death. The Lords are massively powerful, gigantic eldritch corpse-gods, the very sight of which is enough to drive any rational man mad.
Free Britain
As Europe falls under the bootheels of the Nazis, Britain prepares for an invasion from the continent. With the humiliation at Dunkirk fresh in memory, the Army prepares to dig in and fight to the last as the Battle of Britain erupts in the air. Britain holds out for a good while, just as in the real world, but in the end, without a second front to worry about, Operation Sea Lion begins and German troops begin landing on the south coast. The Army falls back to its defensive positions, but they can only hold out for so long and slowly, but surely, Britain too falls. The German forces are assisted by Fifth Columnists led by Oswald Moseley, who the Germans will soon appoint Governor of the British Isles.
The British Government had already seen this defeat coming though, and had begun work on a plan to keep the most important bits of Britain out of the reach of the Germans. Work had begun on a gigantic nuclear submarine, to evacuate the Royals, the heads of the Army and government as well as all the necessary support for them. As Britain fell, the submarine was made ready and, with the help of the last of the British Navy, managed to break free of the Nazi blockade and out to the open ocean.
But this was not the only preparation that had been made. The impact of the increasingly apparent defeat on the King was particularly acute. He became increasingly withdrawn and depressed, and his daughter Elizabeth, was desperate for some way out of their grim situation. It was then she was approached by a young stage magician named Jasper Maskelyne.
Maskelyne, an illusionist who had assisted in the construction of defences with decoys and cunning ruses, in a quest for real magic, had discovered an ancient book, detailing the Fae-spirits that used to live in Albion, and how they might be contacted and dealt with. He had spoken to one of these entities, and was promised the protection of the heart of Britain, if he could only obtain the consent of a Princess. The young Elizabeth was eager to hear of any solution, and together, she and Maskelyne made a deal with the Fae. Elizabeth was somehow possessed by the entity, and Maskelyne made immortal to serve under It, but the heart of the Nation was protected in the submarine which miraculously made it past the German Navy.
British society soon changed aboard the Submarine. King George died, and the Elizabeth-thing rose to the throne, taking Prince Phillip as an easily controlled husband. Parliament dissolved into insignificance, splitting up into various committees and sub-committees dedicated to the running of various aspects of the ship. The British government-in-exile was refused access to the Isolationist USA, and even its former colonies turned against it, especially as Nazi and Soviet influence spread round the globe. The submarine settled into its new existence.
Nowadays, there's effectively three main power blocs. The Queen is effectively in charge. The civilian government keeps most of the ship running, clamping down on dissent as much as it can. The Army is basically all that's left of the Armed Forces, the Navy mostly being destroyed in the evacuation, and the Air Force mostly being subsumed into the Army. The Queen has worked her Fae-magics over a substantial proportion of those in charge to keep them subservient. The Queen's magic serves as the Submarine's protection too, shielding it from hostile eyes. She also blesses certain of her servants, granting them boons that mainly manifest as Fate bending to make them safer, or more likely to succeed.
There is resistance to her regime though. From within, disaffected Republican terrorists plot to remove the Queen entirely, and deep in the slums and food vats, there's plenty of places to hide. And outside of the bounds of civilisation, there are the near-feral Scottish tribes, hidden deep in the ventilation systems and sewers. Originally only a small hardcore of Scottish Nationalists, their numbers have grown over the years, from disaffected Republicans or just people who wandered down the wrong corridor at the wrong time.
Outside of the submarine, the most commonly sighted Free British are commandos, raiding undefended sea-ports for the resources they need, or for bizarre and seemingly mundane items that the Fae Queen demands. The liberation of their Isles is the top priority, but no-one knows what plans the Queen has made in secret, not even Maskelyne.
Australia
Crushed by the Soviet War Machine, Australia would have been a non-entity, had it not been for the discovery of an amazing new power source. Though it could not be developed in time to stop the power-armoured Soviets driving deep in Australia, those who were able to flee managed to establish a base in Antarctica, powered by their new engine and protected by a powerful technological shield that hampered scrying attempts as well as disguising the growing polar city. Amongst the other nations, New Australia is often regarded as nothing but a myth.
Deciding that their low numbers meant that Physical resistance to the Super-powers would be impossible, the Australians have withdrawn into themselves, focussing on their own technological development. They were the first nation to put a man on the moon, and have a satellite in LEO. Cybernetic body modification is a fairly common way to maintain the dwindling population. It is the stated goal of the Australian government to build a base on the moon to which the population could be evacuated. The Australians may be safe now, and their custom-built technology gives them an individual advantage, but were anyone to make a serious effort to wipe them out, they wouldn't stand a chance.
Japan
Japan never attacked Pearl Harbor, and never dragged the US into WWII, guaranteeing Nazi/Soviet victory across the world. The Japanese were eventually pushed back on all fronts, and their Fascist military leaders lost favor with the people and the Imperial Family's primary branch. Following the examples of the few ties they had left with the Nazi occultists, the Japanese found their roots in sun-worship and Shintoism, rebuilding ancient traditions long lost after the mass conversion to Buddhism long ago.
The Japanese are a warrior culture to it's core. Every generation wishes to die gloriously in combat, to join the host of ancestral warrior spirits that all Japanese warriors are capable of calling upon. The longer the line, and the more powerful the spirits, the greater the power of the items and person those spirits are summoned to "possess".
Japan is guarded by the Kamikaze, a wall of hurricanes that prevent any and all intrusion onto their sacred homeland. These massive storms abate only long enough for their ships to either exit or enter the isles. Going forth to raid and pillage the world beyond, or to return with their plunder. Only a few traders are permitted past, and only at designated times, and all attempts to infiltrate the lands have been thwarted, even the mightiest of German Demon U-Boats, and Soviet Nuclear Warships founder and sink in the wrath of the Kamikaze.
China
China is a nation divided. On one side, the immortal chair man Mao, now only a head kept alive by soviet technology, leads his massed Clone armies to conquer the rest of the once united nation. On the other side, the zombified Chiang Kai-Shek, kept alive with a combination of Nazi demonology, Constitutionalist voodoo, and Daoist alchemy, leads the Nationalist forces, comprised of the ancient heroes of China summoned into Terracotta warriors, Geomancers influencing the very energies of the earth and predicting the future through hexagrams, and Daoist martial artists, such as the super-human Bruce Lee, hold the line against the never ending cloned communist armies.
Possible Inclusions
Some nations have not had background fluffed up for them to an adequate extent.
Finland
Ghostly freedom fighters that make life a living hell for their Soviet Occupiers? Perhaps they even are ghosts.
The Jews
An underground fighting force, using Khabbalism and a network of golems to act and pass messages, as well as attack their enemies. They seek to overthrow their oppressors by carefully searching for the name of god, which was once intoned before the Ark of the Covenant in the Temple of David in ages past.
India
Newly freed from British rule, India rapidly fell under the control of the Soviet Union(Or the Nazi's), but armed resistance there makes ruling hard. Do they have supernatural assistance?
The Mythics
Beings like Vlad Tepes and King Arthur, who derive power from the local legends of their homelands. They return to defend them, but are locked into their traditional borders, unable to leave them. Having little power beyond the ability to terrorize the oppressor's forces, they grow in power daily, from the fear of their enemies and the hope of those they defend. Should they ever gain an army of loyal followers, they may even be able to go beyond their own borders.
Canada
Freaking Mounties, Inuit, Canadian STALKER, we got no real clue. It was a testing ground for all kinds of bullshit demonology and nuclear weaponry. Yukonian tribes and mutant Bear-taurs and mounties on giant bear cavalry.
Canada is divided into four parts. The Soviet Owned West, the Nazi Owned East, the Ghost-Waste South and the Loyalist North.
The Loyalist North was created after WWII. The Canadian Government accepted elements of the British Government that did not go onto the Submarine. The Canadian Prime Minister at the time, William Lyon Mackenzie-King, attempted to make a deal with Natives to raise angry spirits to defend the nation from Soviet and Nazi invasion. This went worse than planned, with vast sections of the land that was trying to be protected becoming flooded with ghosts and other horrors. However, there were enough Competent Shamans and determined fighters to hold the Northern parts of Canada - the places so frozen to make invasion difficult. The current capital of the Loyalist North is Churchill Manitoba.