Would love some feedback and ideas for a post apocalyptic setting

[Sabeki]

Looks right. I approve!

[BRC]

Scalies sound awesome.


Also, I think we should have two varients for different races: Savage and Civilized.
For example

Civilized Privs tend to be somewhat haughty, their longer lifespans giving them time to master plenty of skills and giving them a sense of superiority. Plus their need for additional food gives them a reputation for being greedy and hedonistic. They're not all that way, there are generations seperating the modern Privs from their wealth ancestors after all, but plenty of people assume every Priv they meet is going to be a greedy luxury loving *******.

Savage Privs, those who live out on the wastes, have a terrifying reputation. Their speed, agility, and need for little sleep make them excellant ambush raiders, but it is their metabolism that gives them their most dangerous quality: Desperation. Driven mad by their hunger, savage Privs are especially dangerous and prone to attacking settlements and caravans in the middle of the night, raiding their food stocks. Some may have even turned to cannibalism to sate their hunger in the sparse wastes.


By contrast, Civilized Vaxx are usually seen as stupid brutes, working as either menial laborers or enforcers for the local authorities. While plenty of wasteland settlements rely on Vaxx millitia for protection or Vaxx laborers for work, the Vaxx are still seen as little more than dimwitted thugs. Some communities will gladly invite Vaxx in to help fight against raiders, only to drive them out when the danger has passed.

Savage Vaxx on the other hand are especially suited for surviving out in the Wastes. Their ability to consume contaminated food and water means they have little trouble living off the land. When Vaxx go on raids, they usually do so for goods or territory rather than food. Vaxx raiders are therefore a threat to caravans and settlements, but they generally have no incentive to attack lone travellers, homesteaders, or small communities of waste dwellers. In fact, many travellers tell stories about being lost in the wastes, only to be saved by a band of Vaxx nomads who took the traveller in, gave them food and water, and helped them find their way to safety. In addition, Savage Vaxx tend to hunt and kill the more dangerous predators in the Wastes.

Because the Vaxx can live off the land, those who survive a Vaxx raid are usually left with food, water, and other neccessities intact. Meanwhile an attack by Priv, Human, or Scale raiders can condemn the survivors to a slow death, usually causing them to turn to Banditry themselves.

The real danger of Vaxx raiders comes when they fall under the influence of a charismatic leader: sometimes another Vaxx, but more frequently a Human or Priv who takes advantage of the Vaxx's genetic programming to follow orders. The Vaxx were created to serve as foot soldiers after all, and when under a directing intelligence, they can be incrediably deadly.


Sample group: The Sandtop Raiders

Sammy Sandtop they call her now, I'm not sure she had a name back then. She was one of them savage Privs, hid out in the wastelands preying on caravans that came by near the settlement of New Redmont. Well, one night Sammy and her crew got ready to hit Redmond and steal the harvest that had just been brought. What they didn't know was that the good people of Redmont had just got themselves a Cybermage Sheriff, called himself Rusty Blaze. Anyway, rusty gave those bandits what they deserved, just about wiped 'em out, except for Sammy. Sammy was apparently smarter than her friends, maybe she'd just been eating better, either way she wasn't stupid enough to try to take on a Cybermage with nothing but a hatchet and a peashooter. While Sheriff Rusty was killing the rest of her pack she got away and went back into the Wastes. Obviously, a lone Priv can't survive in the Wastes for very long, but Sammy got lucky, a band of Vaxx found her, and like fools they took her in. Pretty Priv girl that she was she is she was running them before long. They hadn't been so bad before, but Sammy had a mean streak, she turned them into the most vicious band of Raiders this side of Aberdoon. Sheriff Rusty and his deputies have managed to protect Redmont so far, but more farms and caravans are being taken out every day, and more Raiders: Vaxx, Priv, and Human, have been flocking to Sammy's banner. Unless they get some help fast, even Rusty won't be able to stop Redmont from being wiped off the map.



Edit: let's elaborate on Rusty.

Sample Character: Sheriff Rusty Blaze
Bound to a protector spirit, Rusty Blaze is determined to protect the weak from those who would take advantage of them. Rusty is extremely heavily augmented, he stands about seven feet tall on bulky mechanical legs, and most of his body is covered with impanted armor plate. His arms are strong enough to crush a boulder and have a built-in flamethrower. His weapon of choice is either his fists, or a comically oversized shotgun he calls Diedre. Diedre is too heavy for anybody else to wield with any real effectivness (although an especially strong Vaxx might be able to do it), but Rusty barely notices the weight. He's also got a pair of cybernetic eyes that let him see in the dark. Most people think Cybermages are either cold, emotionless shells or psychotic killers. However, Rusty is constantly cheerful, smiling down at the townsfolk and laughing at everybody's jokes. He enjoys dressing the part of an old west Sheriff, with a cowboy hat perched atop a head that looks tiny on top of his massive body, a grey handlebar moustache, and a custom-made long leather duster. Though he's not all that fast, no raider has managed to find a weapon that slows him down. Outsiders find the hulking giant intimidating, but the townsfolk of Redmont love him. And no, his real name isn't "Rusty Blaze", but that's what he calls himself, and real names arn't that important anyway.

Rusty's right hand man is a quiet Priv named Mister Clancy who arrived in town with the massive cybermage. Nobody besides Rusty knows Clancy's story,though some people suspect he used to be a savage raider. Clancy rarely talks, but he's an excellant marksman. He spends most of his time on the town water tower with a rifle, sounding the alarm whenever he spots Sandtop Raiders and picking off targets at a distance while Rusty wades into battle. Most of the townsfolk are scared of Clancy, he keeps to himself (unusual in a small town), is constantly looking into shadows, and never seems to buy as much food as a Priv should need.

[Rasch]

Wow, you guys have really been posting

Savage Vaxx on the other hand are especially suited for surviving out in the Wastes. Their ability to consume contaminated food and water means they have little trouble living off the land.

(...)

In fact, many travellers tell stories about being lost in the wastes, only to be saved by a band of Vaxx nomads who took the traveller in, gave them food and water, and helped them find their way to safety.

Just too bad their food is contaminated I bet those stories would continue with how people were sick for weeks afterwards.

Anyways, I've looked into the whole blood sugar powered robotics. I googled robotic arms, and found this (you don't actually have to read anything from there): http://kinovarobotics.com/products/j...earch-edition/

It’s called the Jaco, research edition.
Power consumption: Same as a light bulb.
Let’s assume that means an average 60 watts bulb. 60 watts all day equals 60 watts * 60 sec * 60 min * 24 hours = 5 184 000 Joules. That’s 1 239 k calories. An average and normally active male consumes about 3000 kcals per day, while a female consumes about 2500 kcals. Conclusion: A person would need to consume around 50% more food than average to power this arm using food. Remember this is without removing the consumption loss from removing the organic arm. It's harder to find good numbers for that. An arm is said to make up about 6.5% of the body mass, and may have a comparable portion of the energy consumption.

Weight: 5.7 kg. The arm of an 80 kg human should weigh about 5.2 kg, so I would say it’s comparable. Generally, an arm would weigh in between 3 and 7 kg for a normal sized human.

The bad news is that its payload is about 1.5 kg, which will be good for picking up small everyday objects, and not much more. But hey, this is with today's technology.

(Generally, a six degree hotter world could be 50-150 years off with today's release of greenhouse gasses. With a world in collapse, development of new technology may be halted, as people die off or become refugees.)

Myth plausible!

Also, I think we should have two varients for different races: Savage and Civilized.

I agree that you would find both types, but I'd say this would be more like flavor text for the race. I keep thinking in terms of a video game, and I don't see quite how they would mechanically be different from each other.

A Compilation of The World of Aberdoon A work in progress... Flavor text is generally in italic and is told in first person.

I really appreciate that you keep compiling the info we have. For the title, we decided to use Project Six a while ago. Eventually, this stuff can go up on http://projectsix.net/, which I booked a while ago. I just haven't made something decent to put there yet.

Also, I think we should try to keep the race list the way we got it now. Privs would look like human cyborgs. From light modification to cybermages. Not quite sure what I think of magic as a power source yet.
Vaxx would also look human, but what if we swap stupidity for agressive and submissive? Should they look different? I kinda think the "race on steroids" look is a bit overused by now.

Question, how do we explain the Scalies? Organic evolution isn't fast enough to let it happen naturally.

[BRC]

I agree that you would find both types, but I'd say this would be more like flavor text for the race. I keep thinking in terms of a video game, and I don't see quite how they would mechanically be different from each other.

Agreed, I just think that it should be established. The Priv's high metabolism is an inconvenience in civilization, but in the wastelands it can turn them into monsters.

Also, I think we should try to keep the race list the way we got it now. Privs would look like human cyborgs. From light modification to cybermages. Not quite sure what I think of magic as a power source yet.
Vaxx would also look human, but what if we swap stupidity for agressive and submissive? Should they look different? I kinda think the "race on steroids" look is a bit overused by now.

Question, how do we explain the Scalies? Organic evolution isn't fast enough to let it happen naturally.

Priv's don't neccessarily look like cyborgs, cybernetics is totally seperate from genetic modification, and its not like they all made it through the Apocalypse with their wealth intact (however, the wealthy did have a better chance of surviving, moving to safe zones, or simply being able to stockpile resources, which is why there is a disproportionate number of Privs alive today compared to pre-apocalypse).

Privs should look like attractive humans, but it should be an artificial attractiveness. Privs are identifiable less because they have any features that make them distinct from humans, and more because they all look more-or-less the same, assuming they've been getting enough food. If you had never seen one before, you would think they were human. A starving Priv (like most of the savage ones) should look emaciated, feral, and almost skeletal, since they don't retain much body fat and burn it quickly.

Vaxx should look strong, but they don't look like bodybuilders or professional athletes, more like old-timey boxers, with a layer of fat over muscle. I see them having a build somewhat like Babe Ruth , they look a little bit pudgy, but are certainly strong, plus that pudge gives them more room for an enlarged digestive track (needed to handle contaminated food).
Vaxx are probably a few inches shorter than average, with wide shoulders and big, extra-long arms. They tend to walk with a hunch, making them seem even shorter. Imagine them looking slightly like Gorillas.

As for the food the Vaxx would feed travellers, it wouldn't neccessarily be contaminated, and an ordinary human (or priv) could survive on contaminated food for a short period of time. It wouldn't taste very good, and they would get sick afterwards, but it would keep them alive long enough for the Vaxx to wander by some outpost or somthing.

Also by 'Contaminated" I mean everything from irradiated to spoiled to plants that a human digestive system couldn't handle. Vaxx might be able to digest certain leaves for example. Fruits, berries, or meat that might poison a human would just give a Vaxx an upset stomach. In the same way they can also handle bad air with little difficulty.



As for cyborgs:

Any cyborg who goes so far as to replace an entire limb likely has some sort of external power source besides their own body.

Let's group Augmentations into three categories.
Minor augmentations can be powered by the user's body with only a minor increase in food consumption. This might be stuff like simple cybereyes/ears, cyberhands/fingers (More useful for the nifty gadgets they may contain than for the additional strength), implanted communicators/radios (though not very powerful ones), ect. These are hardly life-changing augmentations, and somebody with these is rarely considered a "Cyborg", just a person with a few augs.

Moderate Cybernetics include full Cyberlimbs, dermal armor, high-energy gadgets or weapons (Like taser-fists or long range communicators), more complex cybereyes (with additional features like Infared or thermal vision), this is the stuff you usually see a Cyborg with. These cannot be powered by a human body, so Cyborgs usually have some source of external power to recharge their batteries. Cyborgs are usually very good at getting electricity out of things, some may just carry a sack of batteries to drain, others may wear wide-brimmed hats or cloaks coated with solar panels and hooked directly into their implants.

Major Cybernetics are almost exclusivly the domain of Cybermages, and may have started life as part of a larger machine. This is where you get full-body impanted armor (Takes little power itself, but you need to reinforce all joints and bones, plus have extra strength just to walk around), massive cyberlimbs with built-in machineguns, buzzsaw hands, and the strength to smash through concrete, the armor to withstand gunfire, sonic cannons, you name it. While technically you could power these through mundane means, unless you've got a big generator and a steady supply of gasoline to plug into every few minutes you're going to run out of power fast. Of course, once you've got a spirit providing you with energy you don't have much incentive to limit your power consumption, so Cybermages go all-in with the biggest, nastiest implants they can get.

[Rasch]

Priv's don't neccessarily look like cyborgs, cybernetics is totally seperate from genetic modification (...)

I forgot about genetic manipulation there. I totally agree.

The vast majority of people prefer dealing with heavily enhanced humanoids (cyborgs) rather than orcs, since cybernetics are more common and generally accepted. Playthings of the rich and all that? A lot of them won’t really care unless faced by such an individual.

[Eulalios]

Wow, you guys have really been posting

Question, how do we explain the Scalies? Organic evolution isn't fast enough to let it happen naturally.

like this?

[Lord of Shadows]

Ok, I think I got most of the new stuff shoe-horned into the compilation. It's still on Pg.2, Post #54 for now.

I also re-arranged the material and updated it with references to Project Six.

Let's keep this baby going.

[Eulalios]

Kinda want to run a game in this setting. But it's not quite baked yet.

[Lord of Shadows]

Vaxx would also look human, but what if we swap stupidity for aggressive and submissive? Should they look different? I kinda think the "race on steroids" look is a bit overused by now.

What if we keep the low intelligence but give The Vaxx some kind of affinity for weapons? For example, an internal combustion engine would mystify them, but give them something with a blade, or a barrel and a trigger, and they are ready to rock 'n roll. Sort of idiot-savants when it comes to hand-held weapons and combat. They can even cipher out how to re-charge energy weapons if given enough time.

I suppose to be fair the Priv should have some kind of affinity also, maybe magic, maybe Spirits...

And the Scalers maybe Elemental powers of some kind...

[Eulalios]

What if we keep the low intelligence but give The Vaxx some kind of affinity for weapons? For example, an internal combustion engine would mystify them, but give them something with a blade, or a barrel and a trigger, and they are ready to rock 'n roll. Sort of idiot-savants when it comes to hand-held weapons and combat. They can even cipher out how to re-charge energy weapons if given enough time.

I suppose to be fair the Priv should have some kind of affinity also, maybe magic, maybe Spirits...

And the Scalers maybe Elemental powers of some kind...

Maybe don't go so wild over "balancing" everything so precisely. That's kind of a problem with D&D lately. Wouldn't it be equally good to give each race its own flavor?

e.g.:
Privs are attuned to the Spirits, super athletic high metabolism, and generally charismatic, but tend to crave particular things;
Vaxx are hardy and strong, can live off anything, gullible / biddable (penalty to saves vs Charm, Diplomacy, Bluff) but prone to aggression when threatened;
Scalers breathe water and regenerate, but are prone to madness.

[Sabeki]

Bit more elaboration on Scalies:
Scalies are very good traders, due to having an abundance of Underwater resources and food. However, the sea has been contaminated with the Rot.
The rot drives you mad in 3 stages. The first stage is The Dreaming. The infected sees things in their sleep. Mad and terrifying, ancient spirits. In the depths, they mutter words of madness. Sometimes, a spirit from this mad place will bond to them.
The second stage is the Madness. They rampage among themselves. Violence and horror is commited against hallucinations that only theu can see. Many are hurt in this stage.
The third stage is The Rot, which the disease was named after. A strange moss starts to grow on their gills, and they start to have limbs fall off, one by one, until all that's left is the skeleton.
Civilized: Civvie Scalies are mostly merchants, thriving on trade. However, there are groups who go diving for treasur in the deeps. Because these are infested with Rotters, ot is a dangerous job.
Savage: Savage Scalies ate pirates, rogues who overtake fishing vessels or trading ships and loot them. While most are somewhat nice about it, there are a few ships that will rape, loot, and burn it all down. These are called Ravagers, and for good reason.
Also, had an idea for a wondering carnival... Work on that later.

[Sabeki]

CARNIVAL TIME!!!
Step up, ladies and gentleman! Enter a vivid nightmare of your wildest dreams! And remember... Every privilege comes at a price.
- The Ringmaster

The Carnal Carnival: You sure you want to know boy? They don't have a spell to cure nightmares, you know. The carnival is perhaps a diamond of pure, shining evil. The only reason we let them in is... Well, you hear about The Great Fire? That was them. They claim to have everything you could want, but really they just shoot you up with... Well, something, and do things to you.
There was thus one guy, Samue, who was stupid enough to go with them.
Let's just say it didn't go well. When he came back, his mouth was stitched tight, and they'd cut off his finger so the poor fella couldn't even write what they did. But his eyes said enough.
Carnival of Wonders, my ass. They do have shows though. Horrible shows. When I was young and idiotic, I went to one. There was this guy, walking across a tightrope, with nails driven in it. While he wore handcuffs. He fell off, and they all just laughed. Hope he never got back up. Nobody deserves that fate.

[BRC]

Why exactly do Privs have a natural affinity towards spirits? Are spirits very shallow and easily impressed with 21st century standards of attractiveness?

if you must give each race a special affinity (Which I don't think you should), Privs should have a social affinity.

Speaking of which, I don't think Vaxx should have a special weapon affinity. I don't think skill with weapons is genetic. As for the nature of their stupidity, I imagine it's mostly about a lack of good judgement. In terms of academics and developing skills Vaxx may do just as well as everybody else. Their stupidity is more like low Wisdom, they're gullible and have poor judgement, they were supposed to. Soldiers are not supposed to question orders, they're supposed to march blindly to their deaths.

However they're also supposed to be able to know which part of the grenade you throw. Vaxx may also be low-intelligence, but they should be more fools than simpletons. "Stupid Brute" races are a dime a dozen anyway.

[Sabeki]

Agreed with TPAY. If any species should have a spirit affinity, I think it would be humans, seeing as how we came up with every religion, ever.

[Eulalios]

Why exactly do Privs have a natural affinity towards spirits? Are spirits very shallow and easily impressed with 21st century standards of attractiveness?

if you must give each race a special affinity (Which I don't think you should), Privs should have a social affinity.

Well, given that they were among the privileged classes, one would imagine that pre-Event, they had the best access to fancy stuff like book larning and technology and summoning circles. The elite tend to lock-in their advantages (that's the whole point of Trusts & Estates law, which dates back to Babylon). One might imagine that the Priv's ancestors established familial spirit pacts. Most likely (regardless whether we want the sort of technofluff that I put up), the Priv's ancestors were the ones to first summon the spirits, just as they were the ones to inoculate the Vaxx.

Precisely because of their backstory, a "social" affinity seems strange for the Priv. If anything, I would expect they might have a reaction penalty. Mitigated(?) by their uncanny perfection.

Speaking of which, I don't think Vaxx should have a special weapon affinity. I don't think skill with weapons is genetic. As for the nature of their stupidity, I imagine it's mostly about a lack of good judgement. In terms of academics and developing skills Vaxx may do just as well as everybody else. Their stupidity is more like low Wisdom, they're gullible and have poor judgement, they were supposed to. Soldiers are not supposed to question orders, they're supposed to march blindly to their deaths.

However they're also supposed to be able to know which part of the grenade you throw. Vaxx may also be low-intelligence, but they should be more fools than simpletons. "Stupid Brute" races are a dime a dozen anyway.

This. I also support a WIS penalty, which would balance boosts to STR and CON. But don't mess with INT or CHA; the Vaxx seem militaristic, and a low-CHA would have a tough time maintaining chain of command.

[BRC]

This. I also support a WIS penalty, which would balance boosts to STR and CON. But don't mess with INT or CHA; the Vaxx seem militaristic, and a low-CHA would have a tough time maintaining chain of command.

The Vaxx were supposed to be foot soldiers, not officers. The idea was that refugee populations were draining scant resources, so they dosed the Refugees to make them stupid enough to march off to their deaths, simulteneously getting rid of the refugees AND giving the nation in question a millitary advantage.

That said there was no particular reason to make them uncharismatic. They could be so anyway, as other races don't respect them.

[Eulalios]

The Vaxx were supposed to be foot soldiers, not officers.

Good point. Maybe the Priv should get CHA bonus when dealing with Vaxx?

lit crit

Spoiler

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From an anthropology stand point, primary sources include contemporary works of fiction.

Tolkien constructed a warrior-servants origin story where Big Bad stole good guys and twisted them all up. He was a child of the Late Victorian era. Here we are, gen x/y, building a story that the "good" guys (as Tolkien would have seen any elite - his elves mimic the ideals of Victorian gentry and his hobbits the dutiful rural yeomanry, while his orcs are the dirty laboring urban poor) took their own disposables and enhanced them.

[BRC]

Good point. Maybe the Priv should get CHA bonus when dealing with Vaxx?

Probably not, I'm hoping to keep the genetic modifications more along the line of "strong tendencies" rather than "Genetic Programming". The Vaxx are still mostly human, they're not robots with a line of code somewhere that says IF SPEAKER==PRIV OBEY=YES.
Plus Vaxx would probably be aware of their own history, so you may find Vaxx who are hostile towards any Privs they meet.

[Eulalios]

Probably not, I'm hoping to keep the genetic modifications more along the line of "strong tendencies" rather than "Genetic Programming". The Vaxx are still mostly human, they're not robots with a line of code somewhere that says IF SPEAKER==PRIV OBEY=YES.
Plus Vaxx would probably be aware of their own history, so you may find Vaxx who are hostile towards any Privs they meet.

That's why I propose a (genetically encoded strong tendency) CHA bonus, rather than an always-On "command Vaxx."

Spoiler

Show

I like the look of your comic.

Bit more elaboration on Scalies:
Scalies are very good traders, due to having an abundance of Underwater resources and food. However, the sea has been contaminated with the Rot.
The rot drives you mad in 3 stages.

Maybe stage zero is "big fever and coma, wake up as a scalie?"

flavor text
Kadeem crouches in the tangled overgrowth among spindly trees and broken assemblies of metal and fiber composite. His rifle rests on the rotten tire before him. His eyes and fingers twitch. He mutters the invocations: "bash. Su do. Three seven hash mark bandit. skyeye. Prezlok. Zoom. Eye are. Friendly mark, mark, mark. Target mark.Kilroy. switch. import global var target. Set five. Launch. Tsr."

In his left eye, a distant bird's perspective overlays the ruined buildings and the humans searching through them. The bird sees dots of color: Hashim, Kadim, and Lenny are blue among the tangled plants; the six humans are five crawling dots of yellow, and one bright pulsing red.

The tattoos swarm along Kadim's arms. Around him the air stirs, tingles, inaudibly buzzes. The spirits possess him; he commands them.

A moment and another moment. A brief shriek of pain.one of the humans collapses amid the rubble.

"resume. New target, mark."

[Sabeki]

Well, seeing as how I thought the disease affected Scalies for the most part, I don't see how that work. A Scalie is already a Scalie, so he wouldn't turn into one.
Though it is a good thought of how they came to be.

[BRC]

I think the idea is that Scalies came from this disease.

Personally, I like the idea of giving Scalies a mystical origin, to contrast the Scientific orgins of the Vaxx and Privs. Maybe Scalies were people trapped by floods and rising water when the Megastorms started to hit the coast. Water spirits took pity on them and intervened to save them, or a bunch of people started making contracts to survive in the water. I'm not sure wholesale transformations fit the realm of what Spirits can do in this setting though.

We could also say the Scalies are people who genetically modified themselves to live in the ocean, but I like the idea of the Scalies being somehow throughly distinct from the humans and human-varients on the land.

[Eulalios]

the idea of giving Scalies a mystical origin, to contrast the Scientific orgins of the Vaxx and Privs. ... I like the idea of the Scalies being somehow throughly distinct from the humans and human-varients on the land.

Point well made and echoing my whole thing about "don't over balance!" Inconsistency is organic and makes better art.

[Rasch]

Bit more elaboration on Scalies:
Scalies are very good traders, due to having an abundance of Underwater resources and food. However, the sea has been contaminated with the Rot. (...)

You guys should probably read through this:
http://akarlin.com/2009/06/10/notes-lynas/

It's a summery of what our world would be like, degree by degree, when heated by six degrees. Well, its a summary of a book.

Anyways, this kinda made little sense after reading this:
The oceans will become too acidic to support calcerous life, further depleting the world’s fishery stocks and corals. The demise of plankton ecosystems will diminish the ocean’s role as a sink absorbing around half of the world’s CO2 emissions. Here, calcareous life means creatures with a protective shell of calcium. That's pretty much everything living in the water, or something that eats it. (This btw, is pretty much one of the big points of no return in global warming)

As you can see, there won't be an abundance of oceanic life. It will actually probably be mostly wiped out. One idea I can think of is that some scientist (they are always to blame) put some chemical in the water to try to let sea creatures evolve to "catch up to the climate" or something. It somehow found it's way into some coastal humans' drinking water, by flood or tsunami. Result: some humans evolve into Scalers. Thoughts?

EDIT: BTW. I kinda imagine the scalies something like this:
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/3001/misso.jpg
With a low cha, something like this: http://danger99.deviantart.com/art/Shark-Girl-14083081

[Lord of Shadows]

You guys should probably read through this:
http://akarlin.com/2009/06/10/notes-lynas/

It's a summery of what our world would be like, degree by degree, when heated by six degrees. Well, its a summary of a book.

Quoted from the above referenced work: "...Mad Max in Death Valley surrounded by Waterworld."

Quite the visual, there. Also lots of good source material in that summary.


.

[Rasch]

The summary has some good notes in it. I started doing something similar when reading through the same book. Bought the ebook here:
http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Six-D...uHgxN1u4LQ&r=2

It's a good read for a project like this. I was hoping to be able to eventually make a second read through the book, and make a list of adventure hooks.

[Lord of Shadows]

Bit more elaboration on Scalies

Ok, shoehorned this into the compilation, with a little more extrapolation (such as the final stage of The Rot condemning its victims to a life without limbs in the water).


Edit: Carnival added as an Adventure Hook

Edit 2: or more of an aside, I am shying away from things "mechanical" in the compilation right now. Its mostly descriptive and meant to show what life is like in this world. I just didn't want anyone to think they were being left out. I am sure at some point the crunchy bits will come into play. So to speak...


.

[Sabeki]

I think the idea is that Scalies came from this disease.

Personally, I like the idea of giving Scalies a mystical origin, to contrast the Scientific orgins of the Vaxx and Privs. Maybe Scalies were people trapped by floods and rising water when the Megastorms started to hit the coast. Water spirits took pity on them and intervened to save them, or a bunch of people started making contracts to survive in the water. I'm not sure wholesale transformations fit the realm of what Spirits can do in this setting though.

We could also say the Scalies are people who genetically modified themselves to live in the ocean, but I like the idea of the Scalies being somehow throughly distinct from the humans and human-varients on the land.

Yeah, I was going for this. I was thinking that something like the Cult of Dagon came in and offered this. The fever dreams are more or less a presentation of the thing that gave them power, and maybe an Eldritch Spirit of great power made a deal with them. Speaking of Spirits, I feel like we should work a bit on them. Like, a power listing, or types, or something like that.

[Lord of Shadows]

flavor text
Kadeem crouches in the tangled overgrowth among spindly trees and broken assemblies of metal and fiber composite....

I think this has possibilities... perhaps not as Scalers, but how about this for someone with a Spirit bargain, or maybe implants and a Spirit:

Kadeem crouched in the tangled overgrowth between the spindly trees and broken assemblies of metal and fiber composite. His rifle rested on the rotten tire half buried in the sand before him. His eyes and fingers twitched. Slowly, he began to mutter an invocation: "B'ash. Su. Do. Three seven hash mark bandit. Skyeye. Prezlok. Zoom. Eyes 'are."

He gazed upon each of the creatures in the ruins below him, "Friendly mark, mark, mark." Then his gaze fell upon an enemy, "Target mark. Kilroy. Switch. Import global var target. Set five. Launch. Tsar."

In his left eye, a distant birds eye perspective overlayed the ruined buildings and the humans searching through them. The bird saw dots of color: Hashim, Kadim, and Lenny were blue among the tangled plants; the six humans became five crawling dots of yellow and one bright pulsing red splotch.

Then the tattoos swarmed along Kadim's arms. Around him the air stirred, his skin tingled, in his ears were inaudible buzzes. The Spirits possessed him; and he commanded them.

A moment and another moment. A brief shriek of pain. One of the humans collapsed amid the rubble.

"Resume. New target, mark," he muttered quietly, and crouched lower to the ground.


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[Sabeki]

Nice flavor text. Though some of it doesn't make sense to me

[Lord of Shadows]

Yea, it's kinda... different.

I picture a character with implants for targeting and a Spirit for pounding his enemies. I guess it's a little heavy on the targeting part.


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