Cataclysmic Conception (new game)

[rhoenix]

(Preface: I rewrote this post because it was entirely lacking in interest or content. This rewrite will attempt to fix that. I'll run this game if enough people are interested, as I'd be interested in seeing how it develops with others' points of view. Otherwise, I'll try to write it out as a story. Who knows? I might do both.)

"I hereby write down an account of what happened with me, as best I can. I know not if anyone will find this journal, or if there will be anyone who can read it once all is said and done. For hubris, for ego, for posterity; I know not even my own reasons for trying to write this out. Perhaps its simply to feel as if someday, things might be normal again; whatever that may mean.

The date of Thursday, April 12th, 2008 at 11:43am will remain burned into my mind until the day I die. That was the day and time I was waiting for a plane to Chicago to visit my sister for her birthday, and millions of others were milling about the San Francisco Airport, each attending their own lives - none of us suspecting anything. What happened made us wish that a terrorist attack had happened, or an earthquake 9.0 on the Richter scale; some understandable event that we could be afraid of and yet be angry at. No, what happened then was nothing we could have even conceived of.

An odd and fitting word, 'conceive.' I've heard that word bandied about by the people left who are somewhat sane, referring to the 'Conception' of our world that began at the moment that our watches stopped, that all technological devices stopped working, that the Hellmoon appeared in the center of our world with a blinding and explosive birthing cry, that our world turned inside out. This was the moment that we all heard the voice; the voice that sounded both human and...something else, and undertoned with a note of enjoyable malice.

I don't remember what it said exactly, but everyone heard it. Nobody who is willing to speak now remembers exactly what was said either - but everyone remembers the deafening silence right afterwards, the sort of silence normally reserved for the center of tombs. And everyone remembered how that silence was broken a few seconds later by an orgy of screams, blood, violence, yells, and hideous laughter. On that day, I'm sure at least half of all the people left alive after the Conception died.

On that day, everyone changed into...something else. Most of us are still recognizable as once human, though the ones who've been tempted by power outside of themselves look less so as time goes on. I don't know how long it has been - the Hellmoon waxes and wanes, hanging in the center of our world everpresently. There is no sun or moon to tell time with anymore - at least, not that we can see.

Who has done this? Who did that voice that we all heard and understood, regardless of native tongue, belong to? What has happened to all of us? What will become of all of us, who have watched friends and compatriots torn apart and devoured before our eyes?

I will try to find the answer to all of these questions, and maintain my stolid grip on humanity. Perhaps the two are mutually exclusive."

- From the Diary of Saiket Faraji

In this game, everyone will begin as ordinary people - though all of you will be intelligent people, as all of the player characters will survive the initial self-immolation of what is left of society.

What you choose to do, who you choose to band with for companionship or protection or service, what secrets you choose to try to uncover - all of these questions will be up to you to solve.

There will be fighting and conflict in this game, some very inhuman beings, some metaphysical abilities, and many secrets to uncover - if you can survive long enough.

Leave your questions, comments, and desires for this game in this thread, and we shall see where it goes.

[rhoenix]

This scene is from the PS2 game that this game was inspired by. This is a one-minute video, just showing how the Conception happens in this game, SMT: Nocturne.

As I'm imagining it, the Cataclysmic Conception would look very similar to this. The world goes eerily silent for a moment to those observing - then the Hellmoon suddenly appears, scorching parts of the landscape at random with unearthly lightning. The world in a radius of more than twenty miles away from the Hellmoon simply fades out of existence - that which still remains shudders, and begins to form a sphere with the Hellmoon at its center.

This is the Vortex World now formed, that has no name. Strange beings and creatures appear, some acting mad, or bloodthirsty, or frightening - but none as terrible or predatory as the beings who were once human that they share this Vortex World with.

People who fall into their fear, their base desires, their need to control and devour the world without to feel control within - these are far more terrible and unearthly than any demon that might appear.

And these, among others, are trying to find a Reason for the world to be reborn...

[rhoenix]

Monsters, Fiends, the Vortex World, and You

The following are things your characters will discover within their first day after the Conception occurs. Details of how they happened, and especially why would be sketchy at best at the beginning - they would have to be discovered during the course of gameplay/story.

- The Vortex World is essentially a world in an embryonic state, waiting to be reformed with a Reason (a powerful inner philosophy that encompasses a set of natural laws that the new world would be based upon) by the strongest. It is known that mere monsters cannot hold Reasons, and suspected that fiends cannot either.

- The Hellmoon waxes and wanes similar to how Earth's Moon does, though at a much faster rate. Since the Hellmoon is the primary source of light for the Vortex World, its ebbs and flows affect life within the Vortex World. When the Hellmoon is in its "New" phase, the Vortex World is shadowy and dark, and monster activity is greatly decreased. On the opposite end of the scale, when the Hellmoon is in its Full phase, the Vortex World is at its most illuminated, and monster activity is both manic and unreasoning.

- Streams and tendrils of reddish mist rise out of the ground and move in rivers and streams in various places within the Vortex World. This ghostly, reddish material is called "daemonsblood," and is raw energy of some sort. Some are attempting to collect large amounts of demon's blood for an unknown purpose.

- Right after the Conception finished, the buildings and structures have either decayed at a remarkable rate, or been modified or rebuilt outright into other structures. Though technological devices as humans understand them do not work at all; elevators, lighting, and some remarkable architecture has nonetheless been achieved.

- A form of currency has already been established - small round stones called Makka (in a few varying denominations); and with it, merchants of a few sorts have sprung up. Such merchants are either well-protected, or don't last long. Human currencies of varying sorts are worthless, apart from as curiosities.

- Many creatures have appeared somehow within various parts of what used to be San Francisco and its environs. Though most are intelligent enough to speak, none of them have any concept of moral dilemmas. They will kill and eat what is weaker than they, (try to) run away from those stronger than they, and occasionally satisfy their curiosity about shiny things once well-fed. Names for these creatures vary, but "monsters" are a relatively widely-understood term. Some monsters have been observed accompanying or even serving fiends, or even demi-fiends.

- Some rarer creatures are known as fiends. Fiends are uniformly stronger than their monstrous brethren, as well as far more intelligent. Almost all are malevolent, treating schadenfreude as an art form. However, as a general rule they ignore their monstrous cousins, intent on an unknown purpose.

- What is left of the once-human population are collectively known as "demi-fiends." Demi-fiends are unique even among the fiend population, as they have the potential to grow stronger as fiends do, though still have human hearts, and the capacities for compassion, sympathy, love, and other uniquely human emotions. It has been whispered that it is necessary to devour others and eventually somehow shed one's human heart to become a much more powerful true fiend. It has also been more rarely whispered that other possibilities exist.

- For both Fiends and Demi-Fiends, it is said that the quickest route to power is to devour others - this both removes competition and gives the devourer a measure of the power of the one devoured. However, it is quietly whispered that this seductive route to easy power leads only to have a true Fiend's heart for the Demi-Fiends. However some Demi-Fiends, most notably escaped prisoners, have shown no hesitation whatsoever in devouring their brethren, seemingly unconcerned about the potential loss of one's human heart.

(EDIT: I rewrote this post for clarity on Demi-Fiends, and daemonsblood, added sections on the Hellmoon, and a section on devouring & gaining power. I spoke of a few of these things with Havoc and Agent Fisher, and after some thinking & editing, these explanations I like far more.)

[rhoenix]

Consider this closed as a game concept. This is going to become a story instead.