Hollow Deeds Worldbuilding Part 3 Light Being Eclipsed Edition

It's hard to garner interest for stuff like this, which is why I regularly post the discord discussion link. Not that it's more active.

discord.gg/PyAH7nb

At the very least OP should have started with a link to the Google Doc, a 1d4chan page (seriously, how'd you manage three threads without someone putting something up), and a brief description of what you're trying to do along with a few bullet points for major themes and atmosphere to get new people up to speed quickly.

Yeah it's pretty difficult getting discussion flowing, especially since quests got moved off the board. Now we have several dozen 40k threads on the catalog, and original discussion hardly ever pops up.

Adding in two dozen quest threads to the catalog wouldn't make discussion come any easier. You want to run a quest in this setting then go to /qst/. Really want to get discussion flowing? Pick a topic, preferably something that's still a little sparse, and focus on that initially and go from there.

You are right my friend. Currently we have not expanded upon most of the worlds geography or just how many continents there are. That's something that can be expanded upon.

A side note to the geography, wouldn't the railroads created pockets of increased safety in areas that are bounded on all sides by them?

Probably not against things that can move through them, fly over them, tear through them like tissue paper or just flat out ignore their existence. A lot of things in this setting can do those things.

Hey is it just me or does this all sound a lot like the more of the Destiny games?
>Imprisioned/Incapacitated holy being
>Different branches of warriors to fight the darkness
>Extremely odd and brutal weapons being used
>The Darkness and Evil force is actually semi sentient
>Forces of the Light are all that remains after a cataclysmic war
>The Light is an actual physical source for good
Actually fantasy Destiny doesn't seem that bad. Give me some more exotic guns too anons.

Hence why I said, "increased safety." I can imagine a city with multiple lines running through it and the wealthy/important parts of the city being located at the center of all these rail lines as it's statistically the safest place in town.

I'm personally not a huge fan of the odd weapons. I'd think you'd see a wide variety of basic weaponry extensively customized over the years by its owner with really unique weapons being an upper class thing.

It was said that the homunculi who survived The First Thaumaturgic War became mercenaries because fighting is the only thing they can do.
But since the war was long ago and homunculi do not age, wouldn't at least some of them learn how to do different jobs in the time that passed between the war and modern day?

Yeah, I can get that. It's just some of the more "unique" threats wouldn't be bothered by the railroads. Definitely wouldn't stop the Crooked, or an enraged Therian. Might slow down the latter however though. Also, a lot of the more dangerous creatures need exotic weaponry for the Hunters to even stand a ghost of a chance against them. Normal weaponry just doesn't cut it, especially against things like Vampires, or Abominations.

>To prevent decay, a vampire must feed at least every 24 hours
>A ghoul must feed every 12 hours
>A zombie must feed every 6 hours

>Most cities are built inside mountains for increased protection
>Most inhabitants of these cities never leave the confines of the mountain

I disagree. I think a lot of places would want to get every bit of daylight they can, especially on the One Sunny Day Per Year, and moving and staying inside a mountain is pretty counterproductive to that.

Speaking of weapons, seeing as the tech level is approx. WW1ish, I just want to know how many things the good ol' kill it with fire method works on.

I would assume that fire is reasonably effective against most living things, just like in real life, but when it comes to things that are related to the Border it's probably incapable of actual killing, instead lessening the efficiency of their regeneration capabilities.

It's safer to live in a mountain than out in the open, inside a mountain you don't face dangers like the Dark Construct, the Border Guard and anything that both flies and kills. Also, by living in a mountain you get easier access to underground resources.
It's most likely that cities can be divided into two groups: those which are more concerned with safety and are built in mountains and those which are more idealistic and are built aboveground to get sunlight.

How about a compromise: Most cities are built into mountain sides and/or have two levels. The 'outer' areas designed to catch the maximum amount of sunlight where people go about their day to day, and an 'inner' fortified areas where people sleep and retreat to in times of danger.

Happy to know you folk liked it!
Yeah, for the creature I just had a human-based abomination in mind, maybe people unwillingly warped by the border influence. But it could just as well be a very ancient vampire, that would be neat too, indeed. Feel free to come up with your theories on what it might be.
Huh, I think this may be how it works in the setting when you come across a new creature... Hunters just try to sort out what exactly it is, out of all possibilities.

hmm in most games it is the other way around. The more powerful you are the often you must feed.

In this setting ghouls are shitty knockoff vampires and zombies are shitty knockoff ghouls, so it's justified.

What I meant was that the demand for weaponry to fight the monsters would mean mass production, which would in turn lead to simplicity of design and manufacture. Aristocratic hunter from a wealthy family with connections and a distinguished pedigree? You get the chainsaw scissors with built in flamethrower. Regular guy who has only started hunting? You get a circular saw on a pole.

It's a Black Brotherhood, a foul beast of the border composed of amalgamated nightmares.

It's a Ther-King, therianthropes who whose nested connected and they became fused during transformation.

It's a Vitruvian, a blasphemous mockery of life animated by magic and made of random corpse parts.

It's a Nightcreeper, a malevolent servant of a vampire built from ghouls and zombies that displease their master.

It's a Multi-Man, the unnatural offspring of depraved science.

I'm the guy who drew the chainsaw scissors, and the built in "flamethrower" isn't exactly a flamethrower. Unlike a flamethrower, before igniting the flammable fluid, it injects it into the victim's bloodstream first.

Are there any dragons in this setting?

Not yet. However, if you have any dragon-related ideas feel free to post them.

Damn awesome concepts right there, user! Especially love the Ther-King, the Nightcreeper and the Vitruvian, but all are very fitting, I'd be very pleased with it turning out to be one of these!

Lore for the weird orange stuff inside the chainsaw scissors:
>Solarium is a liquid that is produced through contact of a different magical liquid with direct sunlight
>Solarium is an incredibly efficient fuel source, and as such is used in most non-magical engines

Some homunculi almost positively went on to learn different things. In some parts of the world they've gone to integrate nigh seamlessly into certain communities, and in large cities they'd build shelters/prisons for them during the moon of the Dark Construct.

But they're bred for war, and it's not something you just ignore. Take for example Pitbulls. They're big, cuddly dogs, and perfectly fine around people. But put them with another dog, and they'll fuck that pooch up, because that's what they were bred for.

It depends on whether or not a creature can actively fuck up the tracks of a railroad. I imagine a more common tactic would be to just latch onto the train, and kill the people inside. Which would make for an interesting encounter.

>During the Day of Daylight, Solarium refineries go into a manic overtime, creating almost half the store for the year.

WIP vampire hunter armor

Bonus ELDRITCH LORE POINTS to anyone who knows where I copypasted the purple magic runes from.

Bump before I go to sleep.

Stealth Bump.

To be fair, three out of the five are riffs on Frankenstein's Monster.

The Brush Drake is commonly found, as the name suggests, in areas with extensive brush and scrub. Growing upwards of six feet long excluding tail, these lizard-like creatures create camouflaged nests near natural shelters or food sources. From these nests they act as ambush predators, though research has shown that plant material and carrion can make up a significant part of their diet, ambushing prey until animals begin avoiding the areas surrounding the nest, at which point they will relocate and build a new nest. Despite this brush drakes are not territorial and, following feeding, rather lethargic and fearless around animals, even humans, they do not perceive as a threat.

While I can see the parallels to Frankenstein's monster and flesh golems overall, the ideas are neat nonetheless. Also what I particularly like about the vitruvian is it's name, quite clever.

That was actually the first thing I thought of, then had to fill in everything else.

>There are reports of encounters within forests or other wooded areas with strange entities that have been dubbed as the Wood Folk
>These entities whilst very similar to the creatures that infested the colonies of Celticernon, are not evil or amoral, instead possessing benevolent qualities and a desire to help those in need
>Those who end up lost in forested areas and are lucky enough to encounter them are brought back to a safe area by the beings, and are usually given a gift or boon from them that may aid them later on, be it some mystical item or simply a trinket or token of fortune

>Reality manipulation can be accomplished through two methods: magical influence and eldritch influence
>Magical influence has the advantage of doing precisely what the user wants, but can be easily tampered with and requires magic affinity
>Eldritch influence does not require magic affinity and cannot be tampered with without usage of influence, but accomplishes it's task at a terrible cost
>Both can be used in Alchemy and both work through affecting concepts, but in different ways

Do you think that cars are used in this setting?

BUMP

Given the time period it's supposed to mirror, cars are pretty rare.

>Spikeweed is a type of plant with a single, conical leaf that spends almost all year underground
>During the Day of Daylight, it launches it's leaf upwards to soak in sunlight
>Anyone who was standing above it at that moment is stabbed

>Sometimes weapons are too heavy to wield and abominations are too hard to kill
>In these situations The Order employs the Power Armor
>Powered by the most efficient engines science could create at the time, made from the toughest materials and enhanced with ancient runes, the Power Armor is an enormous advantage in fights
>However, it is also incredibly difficult to produce, and as such only those hunters who have proven themselves worthy are allowed to wear Power Armor
>Having your Power Armor destroyed is considered to be worse than dying

Fairly commonplace in large cities

Otherwise, rare

Evil counterpart

bump before I go to sleep

What percentage of the population do you think is composed of magic users?

I doubt there's a solid number, but it should be an absolutely small amount. Like, seeing Human magicians and wizards should be shocking for the players, if they're not a magician themselves.

I wonder what that symbol on it's chest represents. Perhaps it's just used to represent the forces of Eternal Night universally?