Help me brainstorm a setting, Veeky Forums. Taking inspiration mostly from 9, to start with

Help me brainstorm a setting, Veeky Forums. Taking inspiration mostly from 9, to start with.

Some time in the distant past - more than a hundred years, less than a thousand - humanity went extinct.

The cause is unknown, though there are scattered rumors of a great war, of strange science and deadly magic turning on their creators and wiping them out.

Their cities crumbled, taken over by nature - but much of it twisted, mutated by exposure to unearthly forces, or enhanced by experiments, bioweaponry gone feral.

But not all that humanity left behind was vicious or broken. Creeping in the ruined cities, ekeing out lives and new tribes, the ragmen - tiny homunculi of sackcloth and wire - learned to create children, assembled and given the spark of life via cobbled-together alchemy.

Now, you are a young scavenger - new to life, sent out into the wilds to find supplies, to scout out encroaching threats, to make something of yourself.

How wyrd is it?

Not sure what system would work best, but I think it needs an emphasis on customizability of character - building weapons and gear from scavenged materials, repairing and even replacing parts of yourself.

But alchemical monsters roam, too, always hunting for new sources of energy and components.

Not sure I understand. Like Wyrd Games?

I like the idea of tiny heroes in a huge world. A mission could be "sneak across the street to the rubble of that department store and find enough wire to replace the burnt-out section of our electric fence, before the colony of feral cats realize they can get through".

The Tinmen-parallels to the Ragmen- consider themselves the true heirs of Humanity; made of metal and wire, these automatons adhere to the humans as gods, following rigid laws and dogmas set out before them by their long dead masters.

In comparison to the bold and innovative Ragmen, the Tinmen are fewer in number, and prefer the protection of their FortTowns. However, unlike the clans of the Ragmen, Tinmen are a much more cohesive, and have more centralized populaces. Due to their sturdier constructions and focus on duty to those who came before, they are more suited to long term campaigns and settlement.

To further differentiate, they also share common designs amongst themselves. Most start off as spindely little constructs, that change their forms to better suit their needs and wants. Some add more plate to their bodies, becoming walking bulwarks. Others apply themselves to the arts, and focus their forms on that which humanity considered beautiful.

If we are going to be following 9 closely, then it would not just be humans that are extinct, but all organisms as well (including bacteria).
The movie ended with alchemical abiogenesis reseeding the Earth with life.
I think this is a good place for this setting to start working from, with homunculi forming pockets of civilization and tending the growing forms of life that might be springing up.
I had an idea a long time ago that involved the evil AI surviving destruction by radioing their mind out to a backup at the last minute.
But the mind was split between 5 or 6 backups and fractured their mind into multiple entities with different personalities, not all of which are hostile to homunculi.

Oh, I LIKE that. A different philosophy leads to different bodies, or vice versa?

I didn't want to stick too close to 9 - for one, I definitely want the ragmen to be able to make more of themselves. Nine sentient beings in the world works great for a movie, not too well for a tabletop.

Do you think the setting works better with animal threats, or nah? I suppose thete could just be feral robots and alchemical constructs roaming an otherwise dead or just-revived world.

Holy shit, someone actually remembers 9? I don't think I've seen it mentioned since it was in theaters.

Remember and love it! It's one of those things I forget about, then am reminded of years later and rejoice in the remembering.

Children of the Sky - half a tribe and half a religion, these ragmen seek enlightenment through elevation, claiming the tottering spires of the few intact skyscrapers, building up higher and higher with what scraps they find.

Their gliders carry them on long expeditions across the wastes, and they are among the most widely-spread tribes - though being blown off course is an all but guaranteed death sentence.

Low Life: Rise of the Lowly