The Realm
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Scope
The motivation behind building The Realm
This world is being created for two projects: a village-based survival RPG, and the Gatchdak conlang. My goal is to have no less than 50% of an article describing things which are directly relevant to the RPG, unless I plan on translating a part of the article.
The goal of the project
I am creating this world to guide the mechanics and focus of my RPG and to guide the vocabulary development of my language.
The Realm's Unique Selling point
I think it's cool :)
Theme
Genre
In simplest terms it is post-apocalyptic fantasy. The magic / technology has a steampunk feel.
Reader Experience
The world is dark and scary and suspenseful.
Reader Tone
The tone of the world is in the middle: while life is difficult and dangerous, there is a lot of heroism and companionship that can happen.
Recurring Themes
The theme of the world is survival.
Character Agency
The characters / players have very little ability to change the outside world - they can really only focus on the survival of the village by protecting it from monster attacks and long winters.
Focus
Drama
Long before living memory, the world was cursed with eight plagues by eight gods. Each plague turns an affected human (or sometimes another animal) into a terrifying beast. Many of the beasts are still contagious to non-immune humans, and all of them will kill any human on sight. Even immune humans who anger the gods can be turned into beasts, and there is no known cure for an infection once it starts.
In recent years, mages in some villages have begun experimenting with old-world technology brought back into the realm by expeditions. It is sometimes possible to get the old steam- and magic-powered machines working again, but usually at a very high risk to the village attemping such a feat. While a steam cannon can wipe out a beast with a single shot, one also risks destroying the villages defensive walls and a number of innocent bystanders.
All artwork is created by pizzapocalypse unless otherwise stated (including AI art). All stock images are from Pixabay and under the Pixabay license unless otherwise stated.