by Scott Robinson | Feb 20, 2015 | Recursions
Tunnel Aph “Jonan pulls himself through the rusty portal back to the safety of Tunnel Aph. He never thought he would escape the rampaging prime but the village desperately needed the spark cels he got from above ground. After a short rest here, he can make his way through the collapsed section of the tunnel back to the village. Whether it was his exhaustion or the steam rising from the rubble of the tunnel, something prevented Jonan from noticing the sign of the formless appearing above him. The village would never get the spark cels.” Basic Description The Tunnel Zone represents an alternative post-apocalyptic recursion. Humanity huddles in small enclaves underground while the surface is dominated by mindless destructive forces known as “primes”. Among the rubble on the surface, great technologies (now long forgotten by the remnants of humanity) may prove to be alluring… if one can survive long enough to harvest them. In the tunnels, humanity has carved out a relatively safe refuge from the primes but has succumbed to internecine tribal warfare. In this fragile moment, the Formless are gathering, possibly to make their move. The primary location in the Tunnel Zone are the series of subterranean tunnels that represent the hiding place of humanity. It is not clear what the original purpose of the tunnels were. They are too large to be simple sewers or maintenance tunnels. They snake for miles beneath the surface. Of course, they long ago fell into disrepair. Hubs in the network of tunnels have been filled with makeshift communities. Most people hide in the cloth tents waiting...
by Fabio | Feb 20, 2015 | Recursions
General Description Clocktown is metropolis similar to Victorian age London built on giant size moving clock gear. Greatest cogwheels are couple of kilometres wide and can sustain several city block while little ones got just a single house (probably not even a big one).Gears are not always on the same level, nor same shape: some of them overlap, form a 90 degrees angle, or are facing each other; some are spur gear while helical, bevel, crown or even worm gear are presents. Shaft are not generally presents, however sometime a couple of cogwheel share the same shaft, with lift and maybe even building rising around it and thus creating a path from one to another.Wheels spin around central axis, but most of time there is no sign of shaft, nor of an “external structure” where this gigantic clockwork are encased: it just float in a mist, which eventually degrade directly into the strange (thus creating a connection). This mist change colour according to hours, so it’s dark and black during nights and brown and light grey during day hours. There are no sign of stars, but in the “central” districts, where a lot of wheels are located, during clear nights is not uncommon to see across the skies the streetlights of a facing wheels, while on the “suburban” isolated cogs you can see a fractal shaped burst of lighter-than-usual-sky or single shifting point of light, blinking, moving or just disappearing (a reflection of the strange on the skies)All gears are connected, by direct meshing teeth, transmission chain, shared shaft or worm gear and even if they seems like steel...
by David | Feb 20, 2015 | Recursions
The entirety of Junkworld is mountains of trash, piled so deep that digging into the depths sheds light into the different epochs of the ancient civilization that created it. Junkworld is sparsely inhabited with a few scattered ramshackle settlements, and while it is unknown how these inhabitants arrived here, they all have the spark of intelligence. These inhabitants scavenge the lands for survival, braving the dangers that lurk just out of sight behind every trash pile or burrowed under-foot. They clothe themselves in assortments of plastic sheets, torn cloth, metal plates and scrap wood lashed together. Buildings and public areas are built out of the same. These inhabitants have also managed to collect and foster compost heaps for use in agriculture and use the indigenous plant life in gardens and small fields. Junkworld is populated by various species of animals that evolved from the vermin of the original civilization, and who ironically have now long out lasted it. These animals are the equivalents of the rats, pigeons and cockroaches of the society. Having lived in this environment over the ages they have evolved in grotesque and strangely beautiful ways. Some travel in swarms while others lead a solitary existence. Again some are benign and even domesticated, while others are predatory and violent. In addition to these life forms there are the broken automata that wander serving obscure functions. They organize and rearrange trash endlessly, hunt only specific breeds of vermin, or organize into armies around gigantic structures to process specific components of the trash and distill it producing different forms of matter. The inhabitants of Junkworld dig mines winding...
by Forbinproject | Feb 19, 2015 | Recursions
Wolf’s Wood is a recursion formed from the myths and legends of Robin Hood that has been invaded by a sentient mutagenic virus from the Strange. The virus, which calls itself Kymera, has the ability to infect, possess and mutate its hosts into fearsome, monstrous beings called daemons by the superstitious inhabitants of Nottinghamshire. The forces of the Sheriff of Nottingham have fought the alien invader’s infected hosts to a standstill, and a precarious stalemate currently exists. Kymera’s most powerful pawns are the former heroes of Sherwood Forest – Robin Hood and Maid Marian – now transformed into the monstrous half-animal Wolfshead and the arboreal fury known as the May Queen. Silver is the recursion’s main defence against Kymera. The metal is anathema to the virus. Silver weapons disrupt Kymera and silver talismans worn in contact with the skin protect humans from infection. The Sheriff has forced his serfs to mine for silver, increasing their suffering and oppression, but ensuring that they are protected from Kymera. Kymera’s daemons occupy Sherwood Forest, under the command of Wolfshead and the May Queen, while the Sheriff and his soldiers remains safe in Nottingham Castle. Those serfs who work the mines endure a punishing existence, and the yeoman farmers of Nottingham live in fear of attacks from the ‘daemon outlaws’. The Wound At the heart of Sherwood Forest is The Wound, a fractal vortex connection to the Strange formed when Kymera first breached the recursion. The fractal vortex’s energy and connection to the Strange allows Kymera to exist within the recursion, overlaying the law of Mad Science on top of the original law...
by Otterpoet | Feb 19, 2015 | Recursions
Description Although a young Recursion, The Red Lantern has been the beginning point for some of the most tremendous events in The Strange. Not that one would suspect as much upon entering the small izakaya (sake house). Created by Lord Tanstaafl, a recursion miner, the Recursion serves as a comfortable drinking spot for the movers and shakers in the Strange. It serves as neutral ground for its visitors, offering complete anonymity in the most peculiar way. On any given night, members of the Estate, the Quiet Cabal, the Chaos Templars, and the Beak Mafia could be sitting across from one another, discussing business, politics, or hiring mercenaries, recursions miners, or undercover operatives. Recursors arriving at the Red Lantern discover themselves on a small island, floating upon an island above the swirling chaos of the Strange. The island itself is a lush and immaculate Japanese garden, featuring trees, ponds teeming with fish, and miniature waterfalls. A stone path leads to the tea house structure at the island’s heart. Two Lion Dogs flank the building’s only entrance, and will demand an entry fee from all visitors – new or old. Generally, this fee is a small Cypher or something of equal value. Anyone trying to enter without paying will be forced off the property (Lion Dogs are equivalent to Golems, p. 270 of The Strange corebook); attacks being meant to push the offenders off the island and into the Strange, rather than inflict true injuries. They will also prohibit any and all weaponry from being allowed inside The Red Lantern. The center of the Japanese style pub is...
by Matteo Signorini | Feb 19, 2015 | Recursions
Hundreds of years ago some people tried to escape from Ruk aboard a lifeboat made from the recursion itself; maybe they hoped to find freedom or only to escape the endless conflicts of their home; unfortunately during the initial moments of the flight something went horribly wrong and they foud themselves stuck into another recusion wich was a glorius dream of everything the old Roman republic should have been: glorious, powerful, righteous and eternal. The survivors after the accident instead of rebulding their craft started a vicious infighting about who was to blame and how to best remedy their situation, fast foward to the present and the recursion has become a nightmare of mutant armies battling bioenanched legions for the supremacy, indeed the survivors used their mad science to usurp the various seats of power and after having established themselves as senators, dictators, tribal leaders or pharaons used their knowledge and newly aquired armies into foolish wars to determine who was in the wrong, who was to blame and especially who is rigth. Today the recursion is extremely different from it’s roots as an utopia of the ancient world; weird machine beasts bred by the nothrn barbarians roam the countryside, in the romans cities artisans try to blend their craft with that of their inhuman masters to build the best weapons and armors while the pharaons of the south alter their subjects to create the perfect soldier. To a casual visitor this recursion would seem like stepping into the past if one could ignore the mutated slaves, that strange crossbow that a soldier is carring or the strange pland...
