Fractured: Heroes of all Times against the Darkness

Have a setting you like or a home brew you want to share? Do it here.
Post Reply
Neo-Paladin
Posts: 3349
Joined: Sun Dec 11, 2016 8:48 am

Fractured: Heroes of all Times against the Darkness

Post by Neo-Paladin »

For now, this is mostly a placeholder.
I hope, a D&D setting is okay here, too.
Recently, I have been working on a setting for D&D with a premise somewhat inspired by the wonderful board game Shadows of Brimstone and the RIFTS setting.
Basically, during the Third Crusade, a starship crashlands on Earth near Jerusalem, a prison transport carrying some of the most dangerous warlords and criminals of the known universe. As the ship breaks apart in orbit (possibly due to sabotage), the reactor goes catastrophically kaput, overloading and ripping apart the fabric of the space-time-continuum. As a result, portals to other dimensions and other times appear, not only causing a variety of monstrous beings from myth and folklore to appear but also for the people of many different times to meet and interact.
I am using the many-worlds-hypothesis to keep the timelines intact (basically, the portals appearing split off alternate timelines to keep things coherent).
The times and places the portals have appared in are:
Ancient Mu, 35,000 BC
Norway 950 CE
Palestine 1191 CE
Great Simbabwe 1250 CE
Japan 1575 CE
USA 1874 CE
Mexico 2056 CE (Post-apocalyptic)

Science-fantasy with a lot of pulp and hopefully a lot of fun as Crusaders duke it out with alien horrors alongside honorable Samurai, Shield Maidens and Road Warriors...
Last edited by Neo-Paladin on Tue Feb 23, 2021 2:50 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Neo-Paladin
Posts: 3349
Joined: Sun Dec 11, 2016 8:48 am

Re: Fractured: Heroes of all Times against the Darkness

Post by Neo-Paladin »

I consciously omitted our present-day because I want modern guns to be somewhat precious. Modern-day firearms that have survived the apocalypse into 2056 are precious heirlooms and usually well-cared for, with either revolvers or slapdash scavenged and jury-rigged firearms being much more common.
Of course, then you have the stuff that was either brought in from another dimension or from the ship's wreckage (parts of which landed in all time periods), which is about as valuable as moderate-to high-powered magic item.
Neo-Paladin
Posts: 3349
Joined: Sun Dec 11, 2016 8:48 am

Re: Fractured: Heroes of all Times against the Darkness

Post by Neo-Paladin »

Besides portals in time, some portals also lead to other worlds with their own inhabitants and perils. These are:

Sselgax: A massive swamp, full of giant insects and deadly but also beneficial plantlife. It's the origin of the Black Fever, a sickness that can raise the dead as shambling abominations. Sselgax is ruled by snake-people who react violently to intruders. But even they, with all their sorcerous might, respect the mighty dinosaurs that still call the world home...

Akaross: A red and dry world, cold and inhospitable. However, there is life here - the tribal Karossi, who manage to wrest life from the deserts.
All over Akaross, there are signs of an ancient and powerful culture using a mixture of magic and science...but these ruins are protected by ever-vigilant guardians.

Iskaton: A world wracked by a generations-long war between two civilisations who, despite being decimated and fighting only over ruins now, cannot think of peace. The remnants of horrible military experiments and abominable weapons haunt both parties, no longer able to tell friend from foe.

The Plateau: If the darkness that has spread with the opening of the portals has an origin, it is here. A place of eternal twilight underneath cold and pitiless stars, it hosts inconceivable terrors and temples to nameless things that burrow through dimensions as easily as through earth and sky. Some Jewish scholars describe this world as one of the Qlippoth, an unfinished universe God abandoned. Others call it Hell or the Nightmare Realm, equating it with places like lost Carcosa or Leng. But as always...nothing in the cosmos really cares what we humans call it.
Last edited by Neo-Paladin on Tue Sep 28, 2021 2:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
MacynSnow
Posts: 5631
Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2016 2:56 pm

Re: Fractured: Heroes of all Times against the Darkness

Post by MacynSnow »

Forgot to put the Lamplighters down...
Neo-Paladin
Posts: 3349
Joined: Sun Dec 11, 2016 8:48 am

Re: Fractured: Heroes of all Times against the Darkness

Post by Neo-Paladin »

The Lamplighters

The opening of the portals and the re-emergence of monsters and mythical beasts brought with them months of upheaval and tragedy for many. Some found themselves without a home, without a family or, in some cases, even outcasts from their home communities after showing an aptitude for magic.
Many of these drifters met tragic ends, unable to find peace in this new world.
But some banded together, finding in each other a shared pain and a shared drive, despite coming from such different cultures. They became the Lamplighters, a group dedicated to aiding those who were lost and making sure that no others would suffer a loss such as theirs. The founding members are:
Tomas Eberborn: A member of the Knights Templar who'd become disillusioned with the Crusades when his superiors wanted to continue the war against Saladin despite there being real demons to fight now and innocents on both sides suffering.
Sven Ingvarsson: The last survivor of a small fishing hamlet destroyed by something unnatural in the guise of a bear.
Isabell Walker: A rough no-nonsense woman who could no longer find peace after the demonic possession of her son and a terribly botched exorcism attempt.
Greg Carmody: The horribly-scarred priest who botched said exorcism.
Alejandro Martinez: Once a trusted member of a warrior clan in 2056, he was exiled when he showed magical powers. In his absence, his clan succumbed to Black Fever and turned into roaming bands of flesh-hungry dead.

The Lamplighters have a safehouse in every portal town, usually a small affair with a couple of bunk beds and some necessities. You're expected to donate some of your supplies when taking shelter there.
To ensure both their ability to continue their work and to have the funds to provide a future for those who are lost, the Lamplighters offer their services as mercenaries or troubleshooters. They do their best to avoid political entanglements, but sometimes cannot avoid it.
They do their very best to remain on the side of good, however, they do have the failings of men and for some, their own trauma may lead them down darker paths..
Neo-Paladin
Posts: 3349
Joined: Sun Dec 11, 2016 8:48 am

Re: Fractured: Heroes of all Times against the Darkness

Post by Neo-Paladin »

The Darkness

And God said, Let there be Light.
And the Darkness spoke: No.

Biblios Kosmoi, the Book of Worlds

The Empty Paths. The Road to Perdition. Leng. Carcosa. Hell. The Bleak Quarter. Darkness. The Void. The Inverse Tree. Qlippoth.
There have been many names for the dark force that has beset the universe from the beginning. They describe a presence, a place, a being and none of the above, for the Darkness will not be so easily quantified.
It is not merely the absence of light, for even the night is sacred, a time of rest, of sleep, of peace.
The things the races of the cosmos know about the Darkness could fill a library, but not all the libraries in all the worlds could hold that which the sentients of the universe do not know about it.
It has threatened existence nearly since its inception, when it cast its lure into the newborn sane universe and seduced the greatest minds of the Ancient Ones.
After the Impossible War, the surviving Ancients shackled it, dragging it into the gyre between worlds, throwing their warped brethren in after it. Seals placed upon space-time should keep it from ever being free once more while chains of thought and concept would keep it docile, allowing the Ancients to safely draw upon its power for their science-sorceries.

But the time of the Ancients is long gone and the seals had weakened for eons without their caretakers. Some rare few individuals could hear the whispers of the Dark and tap into its power. Not all of them used it for ill, but many did, often accidentially unleashing terror and monstrosity upon their people.
Usage of this power is what many call magic.
By tapping into the power of the Inverse Tree, one can overcome the limitations of the physical universe. The Ancients made great use of the shackles they had placed upon the Dark, allowing them to use it safely by observing certain rites, by not allowing too much of its power into themselves, by carefully increasing one's own understanding.

With the Darkness shackled, there was little risk of corruption and its whispers could be easily ignored. In the eons that followed, other species learned to use the Dark, to craft rites and sorceries of their own and for a long time, everything was alright. But the Dark was patient. The seals weakened bit by bit and the whispers of the Dark and the corrupted Ancients trapped with it become more urgent. Corruption soon seeped into many sorcerers' souls, the urge to forgo the careful rites and protocols and just reach out and touch the raw power of the Qlippoth.
Fortunately, many failed. Other burned out, their minds erased by the sheer power they touched. But a rare few thrived, prospered even, their powers growing as their bodies warped.
Great wars were fought in the depths of space and whole civilizations succumbed to the Dark before mankind even began to learn to walk upright.

When mankind ascended, they, too, felt the power of Darkness and some used it for good while others brought atrocity, birthing monsters and hideous mutations before being cast down and consigned to the stuff of legends. For a long time, it appeared as if, in the end, the forces of sanity and order would prevail.
The destruction of the ship, however, changed the balance. Space-time broke down, for the first time in eons letting the Darkness in. Creatures that had slept for a long time within the earth, the clouds, the forests and the deep waters were awakened and often stirred into a frenzy while all those who had used the Dark to work magic found their powers increase tenfold...and the promise of more power in their ears...if only they would give in...

Calling the Darkness evil is certainly enough for many to comprehend its actions and intentions, but it's a somewhat simplistic view.
The Darkness hungers for something it can never have: The spark of true creation. It is unfinished, unwanted by the Prime Mover and abandoned but imbued with enough divine power to survive in a wretched half-existence.
The Dark wants to replace creation, hoping that it will thus become complete. But it does not understand that it taints everything with its own half-real substance and would merely wound the universe, creating another broken world.

The fallen Ancients, the ones who were first corrupted by it, are still there, still alive, for the Inverse Tree does not know death as mortals do. By now, they are wholly transformed into beings of the Qlippoth, each wielding the power of a god. Their essences are still trapped in the void gyre, but have the ability to reach out and split off smaller chunks of themselves, turning mortals into thralls or spawning avatars of their power. If even one of them got out, they would turn the world into a wasteland to rule over, destroying the cosmos simply to spite their brethren.
Last edited by Neo-Paladin on Tue Sep 28, 2021 2:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Neo-Paladin
Posts: 3349
Joined: Sun Dec 11, 2016 8:48 am

Re: Fractured: Heroes of all Times against the Darkness

Post by Neo-Paladin »

The Prisoners, part 1

The ship, the Galactic Alliance Enforcement Vessel Amber Fury, did not just rupture space-time on Earth when it crashed, it also lost its cargo. Said cargo were nine of the most feared, most dangerous criminals known to the galaxy. Originally, they were to be shipped to the prison planet Zherba, a lone globe trundling around a black hole. It is a hellish wasteland and to be sent there is the closest thing to a death sentence the Alliance uses. For a day on Zherba equals a hundred years in the rest of the universe and the gravity of the black hole makes liftoff all but impossible.

When the ship was destroyed, three prisoners died, but the others managed to flee. Gathering their strength, they will certainly use their dark science, sorcery and malignant will to bring death and chaos to the people of Earth.

Tokru Bloodbather
Tokru would be a psychopath even by the standards of his warlike species, the Orrdh. Where other members of his species are content with being soldiers and mercenaries, to survive and tell of glorious conquests so songs about them will endure throughout eternity, Tokru was different. He loved battle for battle's sake. Violence was its own reward for him and by the time he had reached maturity, he had slaughtered his whole tribe.
Eventually, he found others of like mind and set out to wage war on the whole galaxy, just for his own amusement.
His army was stopped after his war had caused the deaths of 500 millions and he had personally killed more than 30 millions of sentients.
It was a foregone conclusion that he would be consigned to Zherba and forgotten.
Then, the crash happened and he was freed from the wreckage by a group of all-too-curious farmers near Kanazawa in 15th-century Japan.
The farmers paid with their lives and Tokru fled inlands into the mountains. His whereabouts are currently unknown, but it's quite possible that he is merely biding his time, gathering monsters and evil men to raise a new army, bringing war to the Earth and then, once more, to the stars!

Cherrak
Cherrak is not a criminal per se, but a biological weapon. Created by an unhinged scientist out of tissue samples from the galaxy's hardiest and deadliest creatures combined with Void-touched technology, the result was an unstoppable monstrosity, a terror weapon that had enough self-awareness to evade attempts to capture it for decades. Killing it proved to be nigh-impossible, with it always regenerating into new horrendous forms with new abilities and so, despite it not being classified as a life-form by the Alliance, it was sent to Zherba, where it would only stalk the worst of the worst anyway until the stars grew cold.
But that was not to be and the isolation unit containing Cherrak slammed down in the sea near Akkon during the time of the Third Crusade.
Tales of a silent, inhuman killer have been whispered along the coastlines, rumors of a lurking, unspeakable fear...
Neo-Paladin
Posts: 3349
Joined: Sun Dec 11, 2016 8:48 am

Re: Fractured: Heroes of all Times against the Darkness

Post by Neo-Paladin »

The Prisoners, Part 2

Orrshah, Prophet of the Void
Born on a mining colony at the edge between the lights of the galaxy and the endless darkness of deep space, Orrshah was a child given to introspection and daydreaming, qualities not welcome on the rough world he had been cast into. Toil under the eyes of oftentimes cruel, exploitative taskmasters was the order of the day. But Orrshah was frail and the hard work in the mines sapped away at his vitality instead of urging his body to grow and become strong. From his childhood on, he was bullied and often, he fled into the dark corners of the mines where he would be alone with the shadows and the whispers, his only companions.
One day, one of the other workers who had come to bear an irrational hatred for the frail youth, followed him. Witnessing Orrshah speak to seemingly no one, whispering of his dreams and misgivings to the dark, he first laughed at him before starting to beat the youth down, sating a desire he couldn't name.
But in the dark, he misstepped and Orrshah, who had become a friend to the darkness, was able to overpower his tormentor, bashing his head in with a sharp rock. And as the life left his bully, Orrshah saw something in his eyes - the Void opened up to him, filling him with its whispers...and with power.
Orrshah returned from the mines filled with new strength and a new purpose.
Now, when he spoke, he was not ridiculed. They listened. And his words paved the road to damnation and madness.
Within weeks, the entirety of the planet had turned to worshipping the Void. Those who had resisted suffered atrocious deaths, their screams sacrifices to the Dark and the fallen Ancients.
The cult spread like a cancer, overthrowing planetary governments, turning military units against their comrades, causing violent uprisings...
And Orrshah continued to preach, his words full of power, his body strengthened by shadow and cold.
Finally, he was brought down by the efforts of the Alliance's most holy knights, the Order of Ashinaz, and sentenced to imprisonment on Zherba.
The ship would never arrive, however, for there were agents of the cult among the crew., their hands guided by whispers from the Dark. Sabotage caused the ship to crash and explode, ripping open the fabric of space and time. Orrshah's prison container slammed down in the Mojave desert in 1874.
He is currently biding his time, healing his injuries. Looking like a pale, tall and bald human with milky white eyes, he has been able to blend in and has already started to gather a small cult once more...
Neo-Paladin
Posts: 3349
Joined: Sun Dec 11, 2016 8:48 am

Re: Fractured: Heroes of all Times against the Darkness

Post by Neo-Paladin »

The Prisoners, Part 3

Ech'ydnaa, Progenitrix

Ech'ydnaa has plagued the galaxy for more than two thousand years. The Progenitrix started out as a promising scientist tasked with finding a cure for a mysterious illness that was burning its way through Alliance territory, a sickness that seemed to be guided by an invisible intelligence.
It's not known what it was that she discovered, but something appears to have unhinged her, for instead of developing a cure, she destroyed all records of her research, murdered her colleagues and disappeared.
Since that day, she has terrorized the Alliance, performing horrifying experiments, warping creatures into mindless machines of murder or " improving" upon sentients by forcing an unholy enlightenment on them, crushing their minds. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to her acts of genetic vandalism and terror, but her name became so feared that even on Earth, an absolute backwater, it became synomymous with the Mother of Monsters.
Only a standard year ago (2 years Earth time) was she finally apprehended and sent off to Zherba - where she would never arrive.
Her cell crashed down in the ruins of 2056's Mexico City where she hid, fearing that the Alliance would come after her. Only after finding out that space and time had been torn and the Alliance would likely never know where she was did she resume her activities, the irradiated and pollution-riddled mutants perfect speciments for her experiments...
Ech'ydnaa has the green skin and grass-like hair of her species, but the numerous treatments to prolong her life have caused her to become pale and gaunt, her spine twisted, her limbs thin and spindly. If she hadn't removed her pain center ages ago, every single motion would be excruciating for her. Still, her body is surprisingly strong and durable, although she never was much of a fighter, preferring to surround herself with numerous monstrous creations.
Post Reply