To: Deus Ultionis mailing list
Cc: Eric
Date: May 24, 2005 5:09 PM
Subject: Re: [[deus] preliminary campaign setting and scheduling information
Joey asks:
> Should I start thinking up a character concept now or will you be sending
> details on character concepts later?
Your character concept is totally up to you. I sent out the background today so that people have more information to work with for character concepts. If you feel that you have enough information to begin thinking about a concept, go for it. If you have questions, or need more information, feel free to ask, or wait for more background to be sent out.
Nearly anything is possible. Here are some ideas:
Human - unless they get disallowed during the ban phase… j/k :-)
Dwarf - like the D&D race; distrustful of magic but tolerant of technology; they are the keepers of the secrets of the spellbreakers
Gnome - like the D&D race; lovers of both magic and technology
Royal - a new race, as described; scientists working toward the betterment of all sentients
Halflings - like the D&D race, except that they disappear when they leave Earth’s atmosphere, making extraplanetary travel impossible for them
Elves - since they were recently reborn, only a handful exist, and their existence is a closely guarded secret
Magical creatures - Many strange creatures exist, such as pixies, dryads, doppelgangers, trolls, beholders and giants; many (but not all) of these creatures worship Gaia or an entity known as the Caretaker (said to be an amalgamation of Gaia and an extradimensional entity known as Emmanuel); if it’s a popular creature from Savage Species or the Monster Manual, chances are they exist
Crossbreed - something part one race and part another
Unique - something original, genetically engineered and grown in a laboratory
Cybernetic - a being that is biological in nature as described above, but with cybernetic enhancements
Soulmechs - a sentient whose soul has been transferred into a robotic body; a mystic thus transferred retains magical abilities; these can appear as anything from quite inhuman to nearly indistinguishable from biological life
AIs - a robot running a sophisticated artificial intelligence program; they do not have souls but are superintelligent, and are capable of taking full advantage of the Miller prophecy algorithm, netting them precognitive abilities; these can appear as anything from quite inhuman to nearly indistinguishable from biological life
Cyborgs and androids - a being that is part biological, part mechanical; cyborgs are mostly biological with machines embedded or grafted on (think the Borg from Star Trek), while androids are mostly mechanical with biological components embedded or integrated somehow (think General Grievous from Star Wars).
Alien - I will neither confirm nor deny the existence of extraterrestrials in the campaign; inquire if interested
Mystic - anything with a soul (a sentient) can possess mystic abilities, drawing mystic power from his surroundings to perform magic; there are three types of mystic magic: passion magic, empty magic and purity magic; passion is the common one, while empty and passion are more rare (ask me or someone else involved in the previous campaign for more information if curious)
Psionic - anything with a soul (a sentient) can possess psionic abilities, drawing mystic power from his own soul to perform magic; only a select few even know that psionics exists, and the art is a closely guarded secret
Genetic engineering - genes can be manipulated greatly; it is usually expensive but there are a variety of reasons someone’s genetic structure might have been "improved"
Nanotechnology - nanobots exist and can infuse anything, biological or mechanical, allowing for all kinds of weirdness
With Andy and Alex’s help, I have concocted a Merits & Flaws system that will allow everyone to play whatever combination of the stuff above they want without raping game balance too badly. So feel free to go wild with ideas.
-Curtis
P.S. I should clarify how space travel works. Gravitic drives accelerate ships to near-light speed by dropping their effective mass to near zero. These ships carry another drive storing a large quantity of mystic energy. It takes the ship years to reach its destination (a number of years nearly equal to the distance in light-years), but due to relativity, the people on board only experience a few short days or weeks. Once they arrive, the mystic energy is infused into the world, bringing it above the threshold (which is why lower-gravity worlds are chosen; anything near or greater than Earth’s gravity would require too much mystic energy for Earth to safely part with). Once the world has been infused, the mystics on board the ship can teleport mystically back to Earth, instantly (you cannot teleport to or from somewhere that is not infused with mystic energy), and things proceed from there. Let me know if this procedure is not clear.