Netepic background project

From: Peter Ramos <primarch_at_...>
Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2001 20:43:27 -0500

Hi!

As the discussion continues I'll throw in the two easiest Eras so as to
start building consensus on what we want as background. The first two Eras
(Era of legend and guidance) are simple from the gaming perspective since
there is nothing to do rules-wise (these Eras are beyond netepic game,
although not other types of gaming).

I'll list the fluff as it is presented on the link provided by Tom
(www.role-play.co.uk). This source is true to the original fluff as I
remember it.

Era of Legend

THE EMPEROR

Thanks to the Imperial Cult millions upon millions of people are familiar
with the traditional fables about the Emperor. Children sing his praises and
listen to stories about his life. This is the Emperor that humanity knows -
the Emperor of the Imperial Cult. Such is the power of the cult, and so
great is the need of man to believe in its authenticity, that no-one
questions its authority. As for the Emperor himself, he has neither spoken
nor moved for ten thousand years. Thus the true story the Emperor's
extraordinary life prior to his incarceration in the life-preserving Golden
Throne is now almost wholly submerged by the pious doctrine of the
Ecclesiarchy.

...The Emperor was born in the region of Earth known as Central Anatolia (a
region of Turkey) in the eighth millennium BC, a place of barren mountains
and cold streams.

With the waking of the warp, humanity was laid bare to its energies. The
warp is an alternate universe composed entirely of psychic energy generated
by the thoughts, emotions and intellectual activity of living beings. The
warp, to a much lesser extent, is also influenced by plants and animals. It
is sometimes known as the Sea of Souls because of its spiritual reflection
of life, but it is also known as the Realm of Chaos.

When the universe was young, the warp was filled with the energies of plants
and primitive animals and these psychic energies were relatively harmless;
they flowed harmoniously and fluidly through all living things. With the
evolution of intelligent beings, their potent minds filled the warp with new
and very powerful energies.

The natural energies of the warp was harmonious but the souls of men were
troubled, obsessive, guilt ridden, or imperfect. These negative energies
congregated together in the warp, drawn to each other by mutual attraction,
until they formed troublesome spots of disharmony, rather like a tumour in
an animal. These disharmonious forces eventually became the Chaos Powers,
the psychic entities we now face today. They were created from the fears,
repressions and inadequacies of intelligent beings.

In the Emperor's early life the Chaos Powers were not strong and only
achieved power many, many, thousands of years later.

Since the first primitive humans evolved, the species developed a special
relationship with the warp. The simple hunters and harvesters of early times
recognized the natural forces which flowed through all living things. Those
of them that could predict the future and sense the flow of warp energy were
known as shamans or tribal witch doctors. They used their powers to benefit
their people.

As human numbers increased and human civilization grew away from its natural
roots, the particular warp energies created by humans began to dominate the
warp. Where the energies of nature were harmonious and benign, those of man
were often unpredictable and dangerous. Power, ambition, greed, lust and a
thousand other human feelings took root in the warp and began to grow. As
the thoughts of men became stronger, the natural rhythms of the warp were
disrupted and became less accessible to the shamans. Inevitably, the process
of civilization severed mankind's links with the natural forces of the warp,
and created new ones based upon his own character. In time disharmonious
forces were to grow into the Chaos Powers.

The Emperor was born while the rhythm of the warp still flowed strongly
through all natural things. The old shamans were guided by the warp and in
their turn guided their people. But even then the growing power of humanity
was making itself felt, and the shamans feared that all their knowledge
would pass away. The energies they depended were becoming more and more
difficult to control. Worst still, they were losing their ability to
reincarnate. When a shaman died his spirit would flow through the warp,
bathing in its energies, awaiting for the time when it would find a new
body. With this the shamans would never die. But now these souls were being
consumed by the malignant Chaos Powers.

Terrified for the future of their race, all the shamans of Earth gathered in
one place and began the longest and most important debate in the history of
humanity, lasting centuries and leading to the birth of the New Man - the
Emperor.

After hundreds of years of debate and research the Shamans realized that
they were doomed, and that without them the human race would not survive. If
they continued as they were they would only be able to survive for another
one of two incarnations and the psychic entities of the warp would
eventually consume the planet.

The Shamans decided to pool their own energies by incarnating into a single
body. In their thousands the Shamans took poison, and in their thousands
they died, and their kind was gone forever from Earth. A year later the man
later to be known as the Emperor was born...


What else we need to add?

Era of Guidance

The Emperor and Human History

The Emperor had many gifts. He could ease the suffering of others and read
people's minds. Most importantly he was immortal and would live forever,
this the shamans made sure of because reincarnation would be impossible many
thousands of years later. With the New Man being immortal he would have no
need of reincarnation. He would remain unchanged through eternity.

For thirty eight thousand years the New Man wandered over the Earth and
through human history. At first he merely observed the world about him, but
soon he began to help where he could, using his ancient wisdom to spread
efficient government, crop management, animal husbandry, technology, and
peace. He always used his influence carefully, adopting the guise of a
normal man, and without revealing his true nature.

Over the millennia the Emperor watched the human race develop. He traveled
the entire globe, watching and helping, sometimes adopting the persona of a
great leader or advisor. In times of trouble he became a crusader, a
religious leader or messiah, at other times he remained a back-stage
contributor to events, an advisor to kings, a court magician, a pioneering
scientist. Many of the guises he adopted were humble, others became
monumental figures of world history or religion. At times of crisis he would
be there, steering the human race along a narrow survival path that he alone
could see.


This era has very little GW fluff. What do we want here?

Peter
Received on Fri Nov 02 2001 - 01:43:27 UTC