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Concept: Far future low-tech post-apocalyptic. Humanity split between 6 species who are beginning to encounter each other.
In the tale the elders tell, the fall happened with hubris and greed. The people saw what was in front and behind, but never ahead. They didn't look to the stars to see outside, nor to the ground to feel their life's rhythm. They watched the water flow, but did not wonder where it flowed to. They grew mighty and thought that this strength made them invulnerable, all the while they dug beneath themselves and removed the foundation that held them up.
At first came the anger. They held anger against themselves and against others. Much as now, they had tribes, and also as now sometimes those tribes warred. They killed others, and when others weren't near they killed their own tribe members.
Then came fear, in a continuing cycle with anger. They feared what they didn't know, and then were angered by the strangeness. Not understanding the interdependence of all beings, they were quick to fight and kill and undercut the life they themselves lived. They used weapons against each other that also injured themselves, but gloried in this, thinking again that their strength made them immortal.
These weapons…creations of fire and impact, but also of sickness. The people were weapons. The water was a weapon. The air was a weapon. The space above was a weapon, and their untold millions of people suffered, not knowing moment to moment whether they were about to die.
In the end, even the dreams people had while they slept became weapons, and the people screamed at the skies before they took their own lives.
While the millions raged against each other and then against themselves, a very few people withdrew. The shunned the others and hid. Some covered their minds with poisons that calmed them at the expense of experience. Some buried themselves deep, hoping never to be discovered. Some found a way to make the ice force them asleep for incredibly long times. These people knew of the bad ways and did whatever they could to avoid continuing them. Their nature is ours, and we should not blame them. The wisest of us would do the same, given the same choices.
As those who chose poisons ran out of them and forgot the ways to make more, they rebuilt their tribes. As those who buried themselves sought the sun, they found others who did the same. Those who froze themselves eventually thawed. All those who did this came back to the world and found it empty. But they were widely separated, not knowing that the world was wide and large, and that the oceans separated the land. They all had children, and children's children, and the memories of what was were lost…like the leaves that drop in the fall and become fresh dirt in spring.
The children of the people grew separated and different. We, the Thall, the Stamb, the Delling, the Konxa, the Hyunpe, and the Lalent…we were once the same. Our children were like the rocks shaped by wind and water, and became strong, each in their own ways. We now acknowledge our differences, but as I said, we are born from the original people and still struggle not to exclude or oppose those who do not look or act like us.
We can never once again become the original people. We are too different now. When the races attempt to merge their children never live long.
Core abilities: All abilities are between three and ten points. Roll a d10 until within that range.
Derived abilities: These are simple averages between the listed core attributes (rounded up).
The game works by only the derived abilities and role-playing. If a situation does not fall into the derived abilities, role-play it to succeed.