catnipped's blog

Meteorite World Doc

This document

This document is for internal use — to help come up with content such as cards and items, and to make the setting and narrative cohesive.

Introduction to the Meteorite setting

This world — a planet similar to ours, with humans of many cultures and groupings — has recently entered a new renaissance era, where small war bands are scrambling to find and secure precious meteorites. For the past few years, these meteorites have started descending from the night sky. There are many theories to what they are: angry stones of the gods, sources of untapped power, relics of some kind of sky civilization perhaps? It's a kind of gold rush that has thrown the world into disarray. Where before most factions kept to their own in peaceful ignorance, now they're eagerly fighting, leaving so much bloodshed in pursuit of these strange rocks. It's not just humans either, other species have taken interest: cats have started glowing in the dark, undead bodies are sparking with life, there are rumblings of titans awakening from some deep slumber, and there have been sightings of strange gray "celestials" emerging from impossible geometry...

Tone & aesthetic

This world is one of fantasy, horror and a dash of space opera. Almost any classic horror theme or trope will be found in the world Meteorite, it's fantastical, but the game's POV is centered on humans: grounded and realistic, with all the fantastic elements at the fringes of their life. When a human in Meteorite encounters some monster, magic or other paranormal or strange, it is probably the first experience of that type in their life.

Although a lot of horror elements can be comedic or goofy, everything in the Meteorite setting is played straight and serious.

References

The lands

This world is vast, even interstellar in scope, but the game is set and focuses on mostly "outback" spaces. Your densely wooden forests or open plains or desert. The war bands that you play as have been traveling far and wide to find these meteorites in the middle of nowhere. So, rarely do we actually see the larger cities and civilization that dominate this world, but rather people "on the road": traveling merchants, knaves & rogues, grazing wildlife, stalking predators, knights on a mission, that kind of thing.

The meteorites

The meteorites themselves are mystical things. This era that the world has entered, is a cosmic event, a kind of prolonged meteor shower because the planet is passing through an asteroid belt. People in this world don't know this — they have cosmology compared to astronomy to explain these things. The meteorites are also sources of magical power - although tapping into that power no one really knows. The rocks give off a kind of aura that is hard to describe. Some say that they can hear them hum. Are there ghosts in them? The meteorites are extremely rare and valuable, but not so rare that they haven't already found their way into society — like diamonds, pieces of them are turned into gemstones, and sold for enormous sums. Some cultures grind them into a salt, which is used for all manner of things, medicinal or as fertiliser. Some religions want to lock them away, because they evoke some heretic notion, while other worship them like incarnations of their gods. There is one or more alien species (as in not from this world) that have come to this planet to retrieve the meteorites, and they seem to be connected to the world in extreme, ancient ways.

Folks & factions (Very WIP!)

Templars

These are your traditional knights in shining armor. One of the more prominent civilizations of this world has sent these champions to obtain the meteorites, to study, but also to keep out of hands of others — they see the stones as blasphemic and dangerous.

Example units:

New necromancers

These are doctors and scientists that have quite recently discovered the key to reanimation, through a new invention called 'electricity' (and maybe with the help of those stones...) they are making what is dead walk again. These people are considered morally and ethically bankrupt, literally stealing corpses and turning them to forbidden horrors. They meet in dark places and trade their secrets in hushed voices. Their horrible creations spark and jolt as they move.

Example units:

References:

Rock mongers

These are wandering traders and merchants, with an eye for precious gemstones and jewelry. These folk are often targets of raiders and robbers, and so they tend to also hire knaves and loose hired hands as protection, and to take from other merchants!

Example units:

Scholars of alchemy

They are learned wise men and women, who think they can achieve their alchemic aspirations with the meteorites that seem to have some peculiar elemental properties! These people can concoct potions with explosive, cooling or acidic elements. They have a thirst of knowledge, the more strange and esoteric the better, and will often confuse their religious beliefs for scientific truth.

Example units:

References:

Botanic magicians

Strongly spiritual, these are humans who have a deep and strong connection to plant life. Through some unknown source of magic (meteorites...) have mastered the ability to grow and bend the very earth to their will. They can seed and grow dangerous and toxic plants in the heat of battle. They can also raise shapeshifting golems from mud and earth. They believe in the balance and cycle of life and death, and will if needed make sacrifices to feed their creations. Sometimes they even fuse together with them!

Example units:

Spectra

These are non-corporeal entities, lost souls that seem to gather around the meteorites. Or maybe they were always there but, the stones aligned them with the physical world. They can take shape of humans, wildlife, but are usually formless, radiant but eerie. The more power they have, the stronger physical properties they have. They technically can't die, but they can drift off completely.

Example units:

Ancient automa

Some extremely ancient and long since extinct civilization had the knowledge needed to build these machines. They are angular, bulky, made of cement and unsophisticated materials, but they're innards are highly advanced. Since the meteorites started falling they have awakened, as if the vicinity of the stones switched them on.

Example units:

References:

Wildlife

Ordinary wildlife seem agitated by the presence of the meteorites, so basically any animal can join the fight. Some species are even more active though, and will actively hunt the stones. There are also other old, legendary monsters, like something out of a folk tale, that have crept out from their dens.

Example units:

References:

The celestial empire

Above the night sky, far above, live the celestials. There have been some sightings of these angelic beings by regular humans, and they are sometimes described in religious texts, but generally people don't know about them. The truth is that they are people from a great interstellar alien empire. They look like gray humanoids, and visit the planet in vessels that look like "impossible geometry" in human eyes. Somehow they are responsible for the meteorite showers, the stones might even be of alien-made origin. And they have sent their people to retrieve them. They are secretive and murderous, as they don't like to leave witnesses. They communicate using telepathy.

Example units:

References:

Technology (fill this later)