proposedsettings

Numerous people have proposed reasons why 27 Spruce St. seems to be a focal point for paranormal activity. Some claim the constant occupation by occult groups throughout the '20s spritually marked the land. Others think that the plot was cursed to begin with, which attracted such people in the first place. The only concrete fact is that, since the first academic interest in the late '60s, the house and the surrounding neighborhood has remained largely unoccupied.

The ISS Tiburon was found derelict almost four months after it had failed to arrive at the refueling station near Io. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the ship. All systems were running optimally in standby mode on autopilot. The stores were full, enough food and water for years. No damage to the ship in any form. The 265 crew and passengers... slaughtered. Mercilessly. Ruthlessly. Senselessly. Horrible, violent deaths. Our only indication of what happened comes from the logs of the crew members found in individual quarters. These few men and women recorded what few messages they could before they met their fates.

The world, we see it now for the first time. We are only one of the few races that inhabit it, but we have now achieved what was once thought impossible, we have gone into the stars. This world is now ours, for they cannot defend against what comes from the skies when night falls on their lands.

It is a world of layers. Atmospheres seperated by thin layers of rock and metal. It is a place made long ago, but forgotten by those who made it. Between the 4th Stratum and the 9th Stratum, a series of Empires, Federations, Castes, and have stretched without ever knowing another existed. Then came the Rifting, and all of these civilizations and layers fell together into war, which raged for some time. Now, scholars look back, trying to establish whether it was magicks or technologies which truly won the struggle, and whether it was an ominous outside threat, or the intermingling of lizardmen culture and robotechnic society which brought about the current age.

When the volcanoes erupted—all of them, all at once—we thought it was the end of the world. Millions fled and died; millions waited quietly and died just the same. Some few—accounts differ as to the total number worldwide—miraculously survived. Somehow merging with the molten mountains that had destroyed their families, friends, and homes, they struggled to rebuild civilization.

The first of the colonists were the rich and Romantic, with a capital R. Their reports back to earth have described their world as a paradise, though only a person of very particular aesthetics would describe it that way. There are alien life forms they call ghosts, vampires, and werewolves, they say it's enough to make even the most stout-hearted woman get a horrible case of the vapors. Cities are built in the Gothic ideal and ruled by rich and powerful families. Murder, corruption, and intrigue abound. Welcome to the planet known as Blackwood.

Some of y'all city folk might not be entirely familiar with the Great Humdingin' Whopper Quad-State Fair of '84, and might think the Vegetable Man was just country gossip. Y'all might never have heard about Cousin Ned's "special" potatoes, or how all the cows started talkin' one morning, or the whole mess over the quiltin' contest. Lucky fer you, we done collected all the facts from them as saw it with their own eyes.

We—ha ha—we've come across this—hee hee—terrible device in an—snort—abandoned quarry. I'm sorry, it's very difficult to—giggle—get anything down with this—HAHAHA—infernal merriment. I just want—hehe—the record to reflect that the—gasp—Red Guild was responsible—chortle—for this disaster and—choke-- . . .

June 2007 Lexicon: proposedsettings