GreatCthulhu
First Post
This is the basic draft of a horror-oriented setting. Please give me opinions, suggestions, everything you can think of. It's still in the making but I can use any and all input I can get
Once, the world of Sharaa was much like many other worlds. Several races thrived on it, among them the Rathi, cat-like inhabitants of the steppes and jungles in the south, the Faen, desert and forest-dwellers with a mystical bond to nature and the short, gruff Ashkar, natural sailors with the ability to drink sea water. And humans, of course. Ambitious, adaptable humans. Forging many empires, warring with each other, prospering under the watchful eye of the Twelve, the gods that had created the world in the First Dance. Monsters were unheard of, not even the darkest depths of the world were home to anything worse but the occasional dire animal.
Magic was known but lacked the power it had on so many other worlds. Yes, a few were gifted with the ability to wield either arcane magic or the powers of the gods.
But these powers were severly limited. Priests could heal basic wounds and wizards were able to throw balls of energy at their foes or turn invisible...but not much more. The gods knew that too much magic in the hands of mortals could lead to huge catastrophes.
All that changed when the Stranger arrived.
No one knows where he came from or what exactly he was...a god, more than a god or less than a deity...or something else altogether. One day, he just arrived in the midst of a divine congregation...and with a few words, he drove an entire pantheon insane.
Thus began the Dance of Madness.
Entire populations were warped as the gods decided to remake them in their new twisted image. Ordinary animals were bombarded with pure magic until they turned into slavering monsters...mountains were shattered and seas turned to pure acid. Magic was suddenly loosened into the world in massive amounts...and no one knew how to wield it properly. Priests went insane from one moment to the other, committing indescribable cruelties...
And everyone feared that the final doom for the world was at hand.
But one hero changed it. One man, a human named Orlon, found a way to seize control of the flood of magic loosened in the world.
In a desperate feat unparalleled not only on this but many other worlds, he forged a seal, a mighty arcane construct designed for only one thing...to seal the world off from the influence of the gods.
He and thirteen others saved the world....or did they?
It had changed irrevocably. Empires had shattered, the churches were almost nonexistant. Monsters now roamed entire countries and the dark corners of the forests now were home to even worse things...
And magic has come to the world, allowing mighty feats hitherto unknown.
Fourty years have passed since the Dance of Madness has ended.
Priests have started to channel the powers of their gods again, adhering to principles their deities once stood for...but not all are able to withstand the touch of madness contact with the divine brings.
The relations between humans and the other races are strained. As a mutable and adaptable race, humans are the stock from which most of the horrible monsters in the world spring from...and while humans are envious of the other races who survived the Dance mostly unscathed, the other races react to this open envy and distrust with hostility.
And then there are the priests of the Stranger who try to subvert the whole world to the same madness their lord brought upon the gods....
In this world, madness is as much a force as are good and evil and some people have begun to call upon the madness that suffuses the gods and now their world. While risky, this enables them to call upon the darkest things lurking in our minds, the Horrors...
Well, that's it for now...as I said, I'd be grateful for any reply.
Once, the world of Sharaa was much like many other worlds. Several races thrived on it, among them the Rathi, cat-like inhabitants of the steppes and jungles in the south, the Faen, desert and forest-dwellers with a mystical bond to nature and the short, gruff Ashkar, natural sailors with the ability to drink sea water. And humans, of course. Ambitious, adaptable humans. Forging many empires, warring with each other, prospering under the watchful eye of the Twelve, the gods that had created the world in the First Dance. Monsters were unheard of, not even the darkest depths of the world were home to anything worse but the occasional dire animal.
Magic was known but lacked the power it had on so many other worlds. Yes, a few were gifted with the ability to wield either arcane magic or the powers of the gods.
But these powers were severly limited. Priests could heal basic wounds and wizards were able to throw balls of energy at their foes or turn invisible...but not much more. The gods knew that too much magic in the hands of mortals could lead to huge catastrophes.
All that changed when the Stranger arrived.
No one knows where he came from or what exactly he was...a god, more than a god or less than a deity...or something else altogether. One day, he just arrived in the midst of a divine congregation...and with a few words, he drove an entire pantheon insane.
Thus began the Dance of Madness.
Entire populations were warped as the gods decided to remake them in their new twisted image. Ordinary animals were bombarded with pure magic until they turned into slavering monsters...mountains were shattered and seas turned to pure acid. Magic was suddenly loosened into the world in massive amounts...and no one knew how to wield it properly. Priests went insane from one moment to the other, committing indescribable cruelties...
And everyone feared that the final doom for the world was at hand.
But one hero changed it. One man, a human named Orlon, found a way to seize control of the flood of magic loosened in the world.
In a desperate feat unparalleled not only on this but many other worlds, he forged a seal, a mighty arcane construct designed for only one thing...to seal the world off from the influence of the gods.
He and thirteen others saved the world....or did they?
It had changed irrevocably. Empires had shattered, the churches were almost nonexistant. Monsters now roamed entire countries and the dark corners of the forests now were home to even worse things...
And magic has come to the world, allowing mighty feats hitherto unknown.
Fourty years have passed since the Dance of Madness has ended.
Priests have started to channel the powers of their gods again, adhering to principles their deities once stood for...but not all are able to withstand the touch of madness contact with the divine brings.
The relations between humans and the other races are strained. As a mutable and adaptable race, humans are the stock from which most of the horrible monsters in the world spring from...and while humans are envious of the other races who survived the Dance mostly unscathed, the other races react to this open envy and distrust with hostility.
And then there are the priests of the Stranger who try to subvert the whole world to the same madness their lord brought upon the gods....
In this world, madness is as much a force as are good and evil and some people have begun to call upon the madness that suffuses the gods and now their world. While risky, this enables them to call upon the darkest things lurking in our minds, the Horrors...
Well, that's it for now...as I said, I'd be grateful for any reply.
