Well. When I started this it was meant to chronicle my journey through my first ever indie published RPG. Since then everything seems to have gone pretty mental.
I am working on an adventure for a friends setting which is awesome. More on that when they have seen it and decided they are including it 😀
I have the first couple of pieces of art for the Carnival of Dreams which really set it off.
I have decided to run a new group with my local gaming group, with the first bits on that coming together. I have done a map, but I need to iron out some wrinkles before that's all ready!
At the same time one of the group has asked if we can re-visit a post civilisation downfall setting I originally started a year ago, but was mothballed when everyone sort of got caught up in real life. That one has some back story to it ... I'll post it if I can find where I put it!
In fact I just dug it out. So here for your perusal is the background history that my players asked for. I give you Re-Rio the setting.
Two hundred years ago the world was poised on the brink of greatness. Scientists were beginning to unlock all the key secrets around ageing and life. NASA had begun the first forays into space travel with key tests of a warp engine yielding positive results. 20 years on and ISIS had consolidated the Arab states under one united banner. The United States was still recovering from the economic shock of losing the Arab states oil and investment, being slowly bled dry financially as money was slowly withdrawn from their economy. Russia had moved back into a Communist state, as capitalism continued to fail to deliver food and jobs for the masses. Forced by starvation and anger at home all three major powers looked to direct that anger at external sources. The ensuing wars consumed most of the known civilised world. A computer virus known only as "The Peace Worm" had infiltrated key government systems for all three major super powers and disabled their ability to launch nuclear weapons. However their massive arsenals of conventional weapons soon laid waste to all major cities. With water purification plants and power plants targeted first the loss of power and clean water spearheaded a rapid decline in society as people turned feral fighting for the most basic of resources. Through all this some cities managed to hold onto the vestiges of science and technology. Hiding their books underground and coveting the scientists who could make things work. Rio De Janeiro managed to survive through the control of three strong families. As the politicians fled to underground bunkers the criminal overlords took control. 100 years full devolution of society was under-way. Keen to ensure their standard of living didn't decline the three main criminal societies met. No one knows the full details of that initial meeting, those have been lost in the mists of time. However there are some facts that are true to this day. The three families each took responsibility for one of the key resources (Food, Water, Energy). By doing this they ensured none of them had total power of the others, and all were reliant on the other families to survive. As the families moved forwards they consolidated their power base on the top of the old Rio Hill around Christ the redeemer. As the years passed and the families grew in number their need for servants also grew. To feed the supply of servants and to ensure they didn't get ideas above their station the families instigated the Delta project. From each generation the families selected members to be promoted into the servant classes. These were then sterilised to ensure they couldn't breed and create a new sub class. This also ensured that those in the slums always had the hope that their children, or their children's children would be promoted to the servant class with all the privileges that would entail. Each surviving city built walls to keep the wilds out. After 200 years no-one is really sure what the wilds are, but they do know they don't want them inside the walls! The surviving cities remain in communication with each other, however with all major forms of transport and the technologies that supported those gone they communicate via radio to share information. Just inside the walls are the slums. The shit pits of the city. If shit rolls down hill, and it does in Re-Rio, the slums are where it all stops. Large iron barred channels allow the shit and piss to run free of the city, the sewers and sanitation of the past long since collapsed or filled in to secure the city from everything outside. The shit pits are where the slums lie, and where most of the people who live in Re-Rio live and eke out their miserable existence. Each "layer" of the city rings the once great hill overlooked by christ the redeemer. Once a great symbol of Christianity but now a symbol of the Re-Rio uber religious Christian faction, who are police, judge, jury over all military matters. Above the slums there is a blank of no mans land. Long since scoured with flame it is kept barren as a sign of the split between the masters of this city and the poor. Several people have tried building houses in no mans land, only for swift retribution on them and their families from the Christian soldiers. Four roads lead up from the slums through no mans land to the next ring of inhabitants. This is where the servants live. Although basic they live in brick houses with basic sanitation (pipes that flow their piss and shit down into the slums) and heating that stops them falling ill and potentially passing on contagions to their masters. Upon being selected as a servant the lucky slummer is implanted with a cybernetic device called "the worm". The worm burrows into the slummers brain and integrates itself into their spinal column and nerve centres. This allows the masters from the families to deliver punishment to servants who fall below their expectations. It also acts as a tracker device that ensures that the servants never go where they are not expected. Above the servants quarters is what is called the Oasis. Ringed by a glistening white wall (kept pristine by hundreds of servants whos only job is to keep the wall clean). Although they hold the keys to technology that could replace the servants the families feel its good to keep them close at hand, to give slummers hope they may achieve something better, but once there to remind them that they are nothing more than animals there to do their masters bidding. Inside the oasis are multiple sprawling mansions with perfectly kept lawns and fountains. Each mansion is an individual palace constructed to the personal whims and fancies of the family who own it. A lot of their inspiration has been drawn from the archives that show the palaces of France and England when in their prime, with large ball rooms and huge chandeliers. Each main family mansion has what they call the key room. This is the most heavily guarded room in the mansion and allows access into the underground. Here the factories and facilities and labs that keep everything running, and the families in power are kept. Not much information is generally available on these locations. Slummers often tell myths of people being dragged off in the night and never seen again, but those are just urban myths... they hope. One thing is however certain. Re-Rios natural climate doesn't support the type of gardens and lands that the families have in place. Somehow they have access to some form of technology that allows them to keep the flowers blooming all year and the grass green. Behind the families is the ever present Re-Rio Church. No-ones sure if the church is behind the familes, or the families are behind the church. The church controls all the security and military style forces within Re-Rio. The religious order sends its warriors of the faith into the slums to protect them from themselves. Times are changing. Food seems harder to come buy. Brownouts are covering areas of the city and water doesn't seem to be as clear as it once was. The religious warriors are on the streets more, and the families are even more reclusive than they once were. However one thing is certain. Things are changing, powers are moving and no-one seems happy.
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