New Age Mercenaries II
No heroes, no generals, no soldiers. Only expendables.
Ancient nations of dwarves, elves, Dragonborn, orcs and a lot of other respected creatures dwelling all over the world were in balance with men for a long. Too long. That made them think things are going to be the same all the time, that the true balance of the world was finally achieved. That was not true.
First, men invented gunpowder. Dwarves followed the current of modern technology. Elves disregarded that as an obvious waste of time and resources. Then came working specialization, food-canning technology, pasteurization, steamworks, trains, railroads, mechanized mining and many more, all in less than a century. From individual production and barter to factories and banking systems, from disorganized and ill-connected communities and villages to completely urbanized society. From handwritten letters to telegraph. From sword and shield to rifles. From feudalism to imperialism. From moralism to almost complete atheism. Dwarves were hardly able to follow locomotive of men's science, for they always preferred to make their current technology perfect before starting working on new one, but still made good. Elves, Dragonborn and other nations now had a very serious choice to make - follow men's way, partially losing their own, or be completely suppressed. Elves and Dragonborn chose to follow, others perished.
But technical progress was followed by a huge wave of new ideas, all dragged by men's feel of complete superiority - they beated dwarves in technology, beated elves in prestige and equaled dragonborn in power. First, the monarchy fell. The revolution exploded the society of men from inside, making everyone think that the threat is now neutralized. If the only knew how wrong they were. The Empire stayed the Empire, but under the strongest military control. The Supreme Commander named himself the head of the Empire, avoiding the Emperor’s title. The Parliament was established. However, the average literacy grew, and peasants and workers finally began to gain education. Process of urbanistion went full steam ahead. Idea of man’s superiority grew into a radical racial movement, which followers formed a political party with rhetoric based on technical progress success. The party got the dominant number of deputy’s mandates via very doubtful methods. As the time passed, the party gathered strengths. It proved itself to be effective in managing everyday life of every citizen - finally legalized trade unions, ordered generous subsidies to really hard-working factories, increased the wealth and prosperity of men. So the party’s doubtful origin was quickly forgotten. Racial hatred was fueled by wise use of propaganda, and people were lynching “xenos” all by themselves. Separately went the Secret Police’s arrests. Men hang halflings who were thiefs, they killed dwarves and tieflings who were making dirty money in financial affairs, they were tearing the elves apart for their horrible selfishness and obviously treasonous and cowardly nature. At least that’s what men believed in.
Next, remarkable party motto was "No kings, no wizards, no clerks." They already did well with the first part. They were hunting down any church as an organization that
fooled the naive people and got their money for priests’ personal needs, which was often true, in fact. The priests and most faithful fled to Wildlands seeking for a new home. Along with racial cleanses, mages were repressed very hard - some just disappeared, some were executed in public. Any child born with magic abilities in territory under men's reign now must be immediately reported and is treated with special care by a personal tutor, who usually inspires him to serve his country and mankind, and then disappears with the child. Nobody likes that, but parents are always dealt somehow. Sometimes, it is money. Sometimes, it is false diagnosis given to them that assures them their child will soon die. Sometimes parents are never seen again as well.
Finally, Men's Empire has grown so much above the others, that it openly declared a whole world as their realm. Which meant war, of course. Great War, where no one stood aside.
Officialy, dwarves were involved, too, but actual military actions on the border were almost absent, except several local conflicts - dwarves knew that the siege will last eternally once began, so did the men. Some kind of non-attacking pact was unofficially set. In fact, dwarves agreed to feed men's war machine in exchange for peace. That created a whole bunch of inner problems and caused a lot of discussions.
Elves were smashed - nearly third part of their territory was occupied by the end of First Great War. They could not withstand an organized machine with their archaic methods. Concentration camps were formed on the occupied territories. Almost nobody knows what is happening there. But some of the soldiers who were sent there to guard the camps and then returned home came back in apathy, with their tongues removed and their hair snow-white in age 27.
Dragonborn once more proved their superiority by holding the men’s charge, and driving men back with the might of their force and courage. They reconquered lands once belonged to them and unrightfully declared Men's.
The world is set anew. Era of Men, long-ago foretold, has begun.
After the War, some of the politicians among men were whispering about how the military expansion is impossible for now, and everyone, in every country understood that this is true.
And then the decision was made. Due to huge number of fine militia produced after war and a lot of men who returned from war to find out there is no job for them, the government started a campaign of taming the Wildlands. Huge territories lied to the east, and nobody needed them. Until now. So, the Auxiliary Force was created – Military Command promised 10 Imperials to everyone who signs as in advance and 90 Imperials more to anyone who will serve the Empire until the Wildlands will be successfully colonized. Such an opportunity is not the one you are to miss, moreover, even if you are not human, you can show yourself and acquire the
citizenship as a token for your courage and loyalty.
And now I want you to Auxiliary Force!
Imagine yourself a DnD setting (let's say it's not the hardcore 3,5 setting, just a mere 4). Dragonborn, dwarves, elves, halflings, tieflings, half-bloods, etc - all that fairy-tale stuff. Magical artifacts are hidden deep in forgotten citadels filled with undead, liches and demons are lurking deep and making their plans, beasts rushing cities, just a normal life.
Now make a pause, take a minute to think about the DnD setting.
Now Imagine quite another situation: imagine a picture of Europe in the early 20th century - industry spreading everywhere, new ideas and ideologies flying in the air, emperors greedily looking at their neighboring "friends" lands, colonies spreading, integral railroads all over the continents, smoking chimneys so numerous that their smoke covers the skies completely. Steampunk, steampunk everywhere.
Once again, think of it for a minute somehow.
Now try to merge those two in equal portions.
I guess now we understand each other.
Here I'll list the nations that are considered "civilized" - that means, they're all able to interact under common rules of politics.
HumansThey're running the show. Their population has increased so badly that they're now seeking for expansion to other nations' core territory. They failed to conquer the whole world, achieving only minor expansion. They also earned hate of everybody except Dwarves, who remained neutral, and Tieflings, who didn't care about human conflicts. However, they learned to get best from interactions with other nations - multinational companies are the most effective business running since slave-trading. On the edge where cultures merge there discoveries are spitted like if it was a fountain in all the spheres of life - from industry to philosophy.
You can find at least one human almost everywhere.
Men are considered differently by other cultures - some think of them as of oppressors, some consider them as business partners.
Most humans tolerate other cultures, but that doesn't preserve you from meeting a group of nazis in a dark narrow street.
DwarvesThey found a common language with men very quick, so they escaped the War. Mostly, they live in their fortress-like cities, but still lots of dwarves live in cities of men and vice versa.
Dwarves are considered as the main industry-runners of the world, besides being short sturdy creatures fond of drink.
Dwarves also tolerate almost all the races, except elves.
ElvesThey were not able to defend themselves during the great War, lost a lot of their borderlands and lots of their territories are still occupied by armies of Men.
Elves are considered now not as exalted aristocrats as they used to be, but as a free nation suffering from oppression.
They tolerate all the cultures except Men.
HalflingsTheir whole country was conquered by men and turned to a colony. Now, with their homelands taken away, they're scattered all around the world.
DragonbornThose proud heirs of ancient Empire of Arcosia are the only ones who were able not only to withstand the war machine of Men's Empire, but to regain control of lands they once owned long ago. They prefer to live in their homelands and you're lucky to see one outside of it.
They tolerate anyone who fits their image of honor. Though most of living don't know exactly how to do this.
TieflingsThey're scattered around the world since their empire broken long ago. Tieflings all seem to end up aristocrats of Men or elves somehow.
They make no preferences in races, but they seem to sympathize with each other more than any other nation.
Other races are uncivilized, considered as dangerous outcasts and hardly speak Common. (Don't you think I'm trying to prohibit using them
)
A few words about half-bloods. You can be a pureblood, what means that all your ancestors were the same race; then, you can say that your ancestors merged with men in some proportion - for example, if most of your ancestors are men, but you have some elves among them, you may suffer from nazis, but elves will recognize elf-blood in your veins and change their attitude, and vice versa - if you're an elf with a man among his ancestors, you may suffer some alienation among your own kind, but still will be treated good, and some humans change their attitude to you if they know you have some blood of their kind in their veins. However, not all the races are able to recognize their kind. And all of them treat half-bloods differently.
Parameter roll is successful if [d20] is rolled under or equal to your parameter. With each level you will gain 4 more points. Levels are given after specific plot points are passed.
Action roll includes one or more parameter rolls.
Shooting – [conc] (may also need [str] for specific weaponry)
Close-quarter fighting – [str] (or [agi], depending on weapon; may include [sta] for certain weaponry)
Persuasion – [will]
Repair – [edu] + various parameters, depends on object
Etc. Questions may be asked.
Here is a charlist. You know it, you love it.
Race: well, choose any
Age
Gender
Bio: here should be your backstory and your appearance
Reason to join Auxiliary Force:
Inventory
Magic abilities: Yes/No
If you want to give your character magical abilities, think twice. Mages have no education because of their significantly decreased population, so they just can’t meet each other.
No, making a dragonborn mage doesn't mean you will be running a mighty archmage. Maximum level is an ever-failing apprentice. Otherwise, you wouldn't end up like a mercenary.
Each charsheet will be rated according to following criteria (each parameter varies from 0 to 10):
Integrity: how much your character is bound to the world around him. If he is an orphan without any relatives and friends, you are very likely to get 0 on this criteria, unless you use your…
Creativity: pretty obvious, isn’t it? How interesting is your story is rated here. But don’t forget about…
Sense: Of course your character might be one-of-a-kind, but maaaaaan. I hate munchkins. So please, try to balance on the edge of uniqueness and conformity.
Five characters with best ratings will be partied, others waitlisted.
Your parameters:
Strength
Stamina
Agility
Concentration
Will
Education
You have 30 points to spend. Maximum for each parameter is 20.
If you want to have a party of NPCs with you, think thrice. They are GM-controlled. Nuff said. From now on, NPCs are prohibited to create. Fucked up with those.
If you want a personal transport, go on. I will welcome a biker, or a horse rider, or a panzer hijacker.
Just sign up here.
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