Igniting the Spark
The Mortal Realm has been invaded by Nether forces, forcing humanity into the cities. As the years pass the cities become fortified and scale up instead of out as the masses retreat into what are now known to be prison-cities.
Old New York, once called New York City, leads the charge against the Nether forces with the silent help of the Wyld.
You are one of those souls sent to guide humanity to their ultimate win. Your entire life up until now has been training for this moment — this time to shine. And it's all on you. Your help will come from the foreign land upon which you now walk, the iron and the concrete buffeting your skin as a never ending annoyance.
Game Intentions
The campaign setup is geared towards a single solo player, however the game can easily be modified to have a Game Master and/or multiple players.
You and/or your GM may decide ONE of you is the chosen one. Or all of you.
We offer up game mechanics for the intended story of the campaign, you may however create your own species, types, and specialties. You can play as a moral human being, a rogue member of the Nether forces, a denizen of the Wyld. You could even choose to be working for the Nether — it is all your choice.
The Tone
The game is set in a psuedo-modern world if technology of the modern age stopped being developed in the 1950s. It is an urban fantasy feeling set in an industrial noir world.
Today's technology relies entirely on hardened analog engineering, heavy diesel mechanics, and biomantic monster harvesting. Because digital silicon and microprocessors are highly volatile and easily corrupted by dark Nether magic, standard computer chips do not exist.
Campaign Tags
Deep Noir Nostalgia: A feeling that humanity is trapped in a frozen, decaying past, desperately trying to preserve old-world normalcy inside a nightmare.
Claustrophobia & Industrial Grind: The atmosphere is physically heavy. Survival requires active pollution; to stay safe from the dark, you must choke the air you breathe.
High Tactical Friction: Nothing is automated or remote-controlled. If a perimeter wall wire snaps, someone has to physically go into the dark with a wrench and fix it.
Grim Survivalism: Highlights how desperate humanity has become. To fight the monsters, you have to dissect them and graft their corruption directly onto your tools.
The Tech
Mechanical Computers (Difference Engines): Mass calculations, city logistics, and grid routing are handled by massive, room-sized mechanical computers utilizing brass gears, punch cards, and humming vacuum tubes
Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT) Displays: Screens are bulky, green-phosphor or monochrome radar-style scopes used for tracking perimeter movement or monitoring factory pressure valves.
The Soot-Furnaces: Gigantic, multi-story diesel and coal furnaces burn constantly to pump out a heavy defensive canopy of ash, physically masking the city and keeping the Nether's creeping rot out.
Pneumatic & Hydraulic Power: High-pressure steam and hydraulic fluid lines run along every street ceiling and brick wall, hissing constantly. Elevators, automated factory arms, and massive blast doors are entirely fluid- or steam-driven.
Subterranean Infrastructure: Massive water-processing plants use heavy analog pumps, protected by hidden Wyld-infused flora deep in the plumbing to keep the water pure from Nether taint
Arcane Power Conduits: Organically harvested monster nerves, hearts, and bio-batteries are encased in lead glass and copper wire to power localized grids or hyper-charge the city's central furnaces.
Biomantic Weaponry: Firearms and blades reinforced with harvested monster plating, venom sacs, or kinetic-rebound muscles, allowing mundane soldiers to punch through supernatural defenses.
Where You Start
The Wyld had been your home for as long as you can remember. The magic on your skin and the air smelled of sweet pollen. As you stand before the glowing Tangleroot Tree and the portal that would whisk you away to the Iron Veil, your mother, Aura, smiles at you. "Remember this, my little one, you will not feel it again for some time."
She gives you one last hug before you step through the portal to the other side. The transition is gut wrenching, but you know the moment you are on the other side. The gnawning prickly feeling of Iron, Steel and Silver grated at your skin. The air is thick with smog even though there is no sky above you. The dim glow of the Tangleroot Tree is the only reminder that you are as close to home you'll be for a long time — maybe even ever again. Who knows you might die up there where the Iron and Steel are predominant.
You expected to be greeted by someone — but there is no one there when you look around. Only the dim glow of the purification flora in the distance. Flaming Lanterns flicker down a path. Smoke streams high into the cavern you are in. The way back is still a soft glow.
You could still go back. Forfeit your mission — your training. Or you could step forward find your path. Where there is smoke there is people, but the path is the other way.
What do you want to do?