Disclaimer: I know not everyone is big on reading but my "lore pages" will be compiled here. This is just for people who would like to know more about Gutter-Delve as a setting and the world in which these characters live.
Avanguardian God War
"In the beginning there was the All-father Keldor & All-mother Ohna. Between them they created "The Will Of Creation", a giant crystalline entity made of amnellium that could solve complex equations and create life.
From The Will Of Creation, the first races (The first children of Keldor & Ohna) came to be.
The angelic averials were law makers and justicars, charged with the task of ruling over Avanguardian politics with fair impartiality.
The demonic esperlin were miners,blacksmiths,inventors,and builders, Avanguard's proud working class. With their knowledge of "devil forging" they could modify themselves with extra limbs,membranic wings,powerful barbed tails, and horns to increase their profiency. Additionally esperlin women (succubi) were very beautiful and erotic,often seving as concubines and entertainers.
The Dandalion grew Avanguard's sprawling gardens and forests, using their knowledge of cross pollenation and genetics to create a plethora of new plants and animal life. Though most dandalion merely looked like mixed variations of giant insects, their queens often took on attractive humanoid forms in order to negotiate and delegate with the other Avanguardian peoples.
Whereas the Dandalion had created the great gardens and great forests, the moon-touched were charged with maintaining them. A tribal people, moon touched had both humanoid and animal features, using their natural affinity for gathering,hunting,gardening,and agriculture to create a thriving society harmoniously in tune with their own environment.
Lastly were the Alu, the rarest race of all, a people who had the traits of averials and esperlin,both angelic and demonic in either appearance or their abilities. The Alu were in charge of maintaining balance and blending in with all rungs of civilization to observe its' inner workings. Many believed the Alu were "the first race" and may have been the species Keldor and Ohna actually hailed from themselves.
At first all the races got along and shared their knowledge,building a Utopian society. Unfortunately this was not to last......
The arch angel Jehovah and esperlin devil-forger Dahawk used their combined knowledge of politics, demonic soldier enhancement, technology, and tactics to create an oppressive army. Their goal? Take The Will Of Creation away from the senate to become the ultimate rulers of all of Avanguard.....
Yet this deadly alliance was met with resistance by Dracon Aluvia Knoss, an Alu freedom-fighter who struck down both his half brother Dahawk and Jehovah.
Wanting to distribute The Will's power equally amongst the people, Knoss used the star-shatter-hammer to shatter it into many shards so it would not remain in the hands of tyrants and despotic dictators....
Yet this very act of defiance and desired equality caused a cascade effect, destroying Avanguard as all Avanguardians were encased in amnellium crystal themselves,left to drift thru space.......
Simultaneously our universe was born into existence from the aftermath of Avanguard's fall as many planets and layered dimensions spun into an intricate tapestry across the cosmos. As stars burst into life this also created the phoenix-born,children of the stars who could wield cosmic energies and speak in any tongue......
Avanguardians and phoenix born would be found on various worlds after raining down from the sky. Upon awakening they would be worshiped as gods and goddesses or reviled as monsters.
On earth Avanguardians and phoenix born bred with humans creating many strands of new mystic races which our historians would label as "supernaturals". Upon the stage of history a new saga is born as Avanguardians, phoenix born, normal humans, and supernaturals endure periods of struggling for peaceful coexistence or genocidal dominance throughout our partially hidden and "classified" time-line. This is perhaps where your story begins......."
Eden lost
The multi colored glowing crystals rained from the sky. Wherever they struck ground lush sprawling jungles and strange geological formations would rise around them. Soon the bewildered humans encountered the shardlings, beautiful male and female deities encased inside these crystals. As these shardlings were worshiped, the crystals around them cracked and fell away, freeing them from their long slumbers.
Among the shardlings, the beautiful demoness Lilith remembered the most from "the forgotten time". From her we learned to grow bountiful harvests, use technology, and hone our bodies and minds to psychic and magical perfection. Within the valley of Eden those within our civilization lived thousands of years,nourished within the mystical life springs that had emerged from some of the sky-rocks that had cracked open.
We were told the shardlings were the remaining remnants of the first races. The Averials (Angels) had been the overseers. The esperlin (demons) had been the forgers,entertainers, and builders. The dandalion (space faring intelligent insects) had been the life carriers, the beast folk had been hunters,gatherers,and agriculturists, and The Alu (Who had the traits of both angels and demons) had been "the council", ensuring the rules and edicts created from the averial overseers were fair to the other races.
Together the races had created a sprawling floating utopia and at its' center had been "The Will Of Creation", a giant crystal shard of infinite possibilities. At first all had went well but unfortunately soon a war erupted as three distinct fractions fought over how The Will Of Creation would be used. This conflict destroyed the 1st city and the great shard yet ironically this very act had birthed our universe as well........
Lilith and the other shardlings had been refugees from that great conflict,encased within smaller crystals and put into hibernation as an after effect of The Will Of Creation's shattering. It was the remnants of that event that rained down from our skies, seeding our world with mystic energies,slumbering Avanguardians, and the damaged machines of the gods. Additionally the cascade of the big bang created the phoenix born,cosmic travelers and star children who could speak in many tongues.
Soon we helped Lilith create Ysidril, and from this great life tree other races were born such as the fey,dryads,nympths,gyphons,wyverns, dragons,goblins, and orcs. Still other races came into being when shardlings copulated with chosen human mates. Indeed, Lilith had fallen in love with a strong tribal chief named Adam and from them the lilim seers were born.
Yet even our age of peace and prosperity was not to last. Lilith's dear friend Sharea who had been a Dandalion shardling was driven into a grief striken frenzy by a painful mutating virus that soon spread among her hive. Creatures of pure devouring instinct and rage , these "turned dandalion" would become known as "the phage" and were responsible for the deaths of thousands of Edenites.
Though Adam had trained a contingency of valiant and resourceful male and female knights the so'jin were not quite prepared for their battle with the phage. Many fortified walls fell and many settlements were completely wiped out.
Going on a solitary quest Adam sought the answer to stop the phage once and for all. By this time he was a loving father of 3 daughters and 3 sons and he was not remotely ready to yield in defeat. During a dangerous climb up the side of a volcanic mountain, Adam found the dark gem, an unusual sentient stone. The gem said it would give Adam the answers he sought "if" he allowed the stone itself to lodge itself into his forehead. It was in this way the war-criminal and arch angel Jehovah who had started the great war in the 1st city was able to obtain a new host, Adam's body becoming the new battery for his own life force. Yet Jehovah was as good as his word, sharing schematics of "new weapons" that would help the so'jin and Adam in ending the phage threat once and for all....
With the final blow struck against Sharea by Adam's soul blade, all that was left to do was for Lilith to mourn the death of her once friend. Holding Sharea in her arms, Lilith wept stroking the hair of the woman she had loved like her own sister....
It would seem as if civilization continued as normal. We rebuilt our walls and our settlements. The mutating effect the phage had inflicted upon the animal and plant life had resided and our harvests once again flourished.
Yet a dark shadow had fallen over Adam's disposition. He was no longer the loving father and caring husband he had once been. All his energy went into using Ysidril to make living weapons so as to ensure future threats against Eden could be dealt with swiftly and proficiently. At least that what he told the citizenry. In truth he wanted to have obsessive compulsive control over every aspect of Edenite society right down to the smallest most inconsequential details. Jehovah had begun worming his way more into Adam's thoughts, manipulating the chieftain in such subtle ways he did not even realize it.
The so'jin became a fascist regime, extracting harsh punishments for the smallest of transgressions. Those who spoke up against Adam were outright silenced and slain.
Lilith could no longer sit idly by as Adam descended into madness. Secretly she gathered the so'jin who had expressed discontent and dismay over the change in their once gallant leader. These so'jin became known as "The Hazaad" and began organizing a grass roots rebellion against Adam,creating their own underground network. In the meanwhile Adam had grown so cruel and so merciless he had begun experimenting on his own wife,using Lilith's life essence and Ysidril to create ever more powerful bio-monsters under his command.
A violent civil war shook Eden to such an extent our primary content of Pangea was broken apart into smaller sub continents. The hero and young so'jin Enoch was forced to fight his father Adam in a bitter duel to save his mother Lilith. Though he had succeeded our once proud civilization lay in ruin. We would never be as prosperous as we had once been......
Human versus Supernatural 100 year war
"During the medieval ages the holy church was fighting a long drawn out war against the supernaturals. It was a time of bigoted fear-mongering when people were swayed by propaganda and petty superstitions.
Caught in a dead-lock and losing land to their enemies, the inquisition of the puritan order had divided into two fractions,each with their own outlooks on how to handle the situation. The silver-cross had grown sympathetic to the suffering victims and casualties lost from the endless battle. They suggested on reaching some kind of truce with the supernaturals and began devising plans to help supernaturals integrate themselves into human society.
However, the red-cross believed all supernaturals were hell spawn abominations. They insisted the only way to end the dark-ages of pestilence and plagues was to slay every-last non-human to ever have been born. They also believed in the theory of "Luring",that sentient beings of inherently magical or psychic origins attracted monstrous invaders and evil spirits into our realm from other dimensions.
Yet under the wise and progressive strategies of the kindhearted pope Christoph,the hundred year war between humans and non-humans finally ended. Priests used special malachite statues to create "The Veil", a mystic barrier that could make supernaturals look like normal humans. In this way they could live without fear of judgement and persecution. Under The Veil even paranormal occurrences would seem more mundane and less threatening.
Disgusted by the harsh actions of the blood thirsty witch-hunters,Christoph disbanded the red-cross. They were cast out as honor-less vagabonds and war criminals. But the red-cross did not die as it should have. In secret red-cross members created new cabals and plotted revenge both on the silver-cross and the supernaturals that had once been their quarry and sport. Soon many of them managed to infiltrate all rungs of society. Delving into the black arts, necromancy, and perverted alchemy, the red-cross learned to create homunculi and mimics,obedient undead shape shifting creatures who could smell out non-humans even through The Veil.
Unknowing of their own ancestral powers,many innocent supernaturals were slain by the reorganized red-cross hunter's guild and their loyal monsters. The very Veil that had once saved the lives of non-humans now locked away their means to protect themselves, becoming a lethal detriment against their overall survival....."
Modern Times
"In the 70's a loving married couple started their own game. This game was called "Soulmorphisis" and it used a combination of beautifully illustrated cards and a series of maps and miniatures that allowed young people to role-play out their wildest fantasies within a strategy format.
Soulmorphisis sold phenomenally well and during the 80's the Japanese company Pretendo bought rights to create video game counterparts of it. Soulmorphisis became a household name and gamers began to host large conventions and gatherings. However,tides changed with the tragic suicide of Wendy O'Sheely,the woman who had done the illustrations for Soulmorphisis up to the day of her death. Xander O'Sheely (who had designed the rules and created the lore for Soulmorphisis) fell into a melancholy grief-stricken silence after his wife's passing.
During Wendy's funeral gamers from around the world attended en-mass to show their support and to pay their respects. Strangely enough,Wendy's pale face and body within the opened casket looked just as young and vibrant as the day her and Xander announced the first Soulmorphisis publication in 1975.
Following this turbulent event, a series of strange occurrences suggested certain individuals who played Soulmorphisis regularly began developing strange unexplained powers and abilities. The press kicked up mass hysteria, resulting in a total recall of Soulmorphisis card decks and videogame cartridges from store shelves.
Shortly thereafter,the media declared war on gamers while promoting a negative image of gaming as a whole. The possession of Soulmorphisis paraphernalia became highly illegal. Yet the gamers rebelled,continuing to play Soulmorphisis in secret whilst fighting back against the slander simultaneously.
A game that awakens the dormant paranormal potential within its' players.....did Xander and Wendy create Soulmorphisis to give supernaturals a way to resist The Veil's constraints to fight back against the red-cross hunters? That very well maybe the case......."
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The Place
Known as a mining town,Gutter-delve was put on historical maps of importance for discovering a "strange meteorite ore". Supposedly the otherworldly new elements extracted from the ore could cause unusual supernatural phenomenon such as hauntings and dimensional rifts,especially where ley-lines crossed into nexus points. By 1904 it was speculated the deep valley the town was constructed atop of was initially a huge crater left by a piece of asteroid that had impacted in that area millions of years ago. Additionally the town is known for Blugoo lake (So deep in some places it has tunnels and trenches leading into magma hot pockets and subterranean caves ),abandoned theme park island from when Whimsy studios fell on difficult times, and has reputation for being a "safe haven" for unusual folk with strange talents.
In times past the most powerful families in the region kept a fragile peace,forming a council to protect its' eccentric inhabitants from outside influences. However,trouble within the Mackleigh household has possibly perked the curiosity of a sinister outside influence that has a troubling history with that lineage's current patriarch...........
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Introduction
Gutterdelve: closet cases (Bump In The Night) is its own unique setting. It's a dark version of earth where the supernatural and paranormal are less "hidden" and more brazenly up in our collective faces!
Technology has advanced by leaps and bounds due to found extraterrestrial artifacts and simply having to go toe to toe with other-worldly eldritch threats.
Being a "supernatural" comes with longer sustained youth and great power but with creatures and even hidden organizations that hunt them relentlessly, there's still plenty to be scared of for people who have psychic,shape-shifting, and magical aptitudes.
Most humans aren't even aware of the secret wars and skirmishes happening around them. However, those unlucky enough to get caught up in the horrors and chaos behind the veil of normalcy tend to come out of it changed forever or simply become another unsolved missing-person statistic in the event they meet a grisly demise.
Still, there are precious things worth living and fighting for....love,friendship,romance,and the erotic night-life of sex,flesh,spirit,and strange sensual secrets....
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Setting & Political Climate
In the modern day atheism,agnosticism, and social engineering have gained more leverage than religion and conservative values. Even though the supernatural world exists,people tend to be much more skeptical. The realm of the paranormal is perceived as "meta-physical-super-science" which simply has not been completely analyzed just yet. (But any day now "the labs" will have the answers!)
The civil rights movement of the 50's-70's ushered in freedom and humanitarian aid for minorities,homosexuals,and women. In the beginning this was a good thing that brought about many wondrous and long needed reforms to the labor force,public housing,educational system,justice system,and hospitals. Humanity as a whole advanced by leaps and bounds....
Unfortunately, certain members of the Global Unitarian Equality Syndicate Triumvirate began becoming radicalized, creating resentment and bigotry between different groups of people by using divisive language,identity politics,targeted hate campaigns,and revisionist history. "Morality Policing Extremists" had waved the flag of peace while simultaneously sewing the seeds of war. Without knowing it these zealous idealists had become their own monster,no better than the racist & bigoted pundits they once claimed to abhor.
Some believed this was done to destroy democracy,to shoe-horn in authoritarian martial law by ripping apart the family unit to make everyone more reliant on the government. Others believed that the rich and opulent feared that the midde-class and poor might unite against them due to a failing economy so they utilized their puppets to spread paranoia and distrust among the common wealth,making citizens segregate themselves into smaller more manageable sub-cultures.
It wasn't before long that the G.U.E.S.T. regime realized that "entertainment" could be used as propaganda. Measures were taken to manipulate musicians,celebrities,directors,writers,artists, and game designers into creating content that pushed their radical ideology. Works of fiction and historical records that didn't coincide with "the narrative" were burnt into piles of ashes,locked within vaults, and sunken beneath the ocean's turbulent waves . Imaginative creators who refused to promote a certain narrative were belittled,bullied,and vilified into silence and obscurity.
Only something unforeseen happened...."the gamers" fought back. Those who were considered anti-social,geeky,and weird yet "harmless" refused to let their hobby come under-siege. Most frightening to the opposition,gamers HAD NOT bought into their spin. Gamers were diverse yet united. They were every gender,every race,every creed,every political affiliation,every sexuality,every age,and every nationality yet "something" had strengthened their bonds of camaraderie exponentially.
Lackeys tried intimidation,insurrection,diversion, and terror tactics but the gamers would not budge. To the government it was a minor nuisance but to the hidden shadowy organizations behind the curtain "this" was a real threat.
"Gamers" tended to be sleep-walkers,supernaturals whose powers were held back by the influence of The Veil,a harmonic field that subdued psychic and magic energies. Yet the card-games and role-playing games based on "Soulmorphisis" By Xander and Wendy O'Sheely were subconsciously teaching gamers how to hack through the Veil's frequency to manifest their powers in reality.
Despite a recall and ban of all Soulmorphisis products,the gamer under-ground was still finding ways to distribute them quickly via the internet and more dubious shipping routes. The war between supernaturals,fascists, and "hunters" has begun.....
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