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Introduction and Setting (image heavy!)
Introduction
Premise
Xistentia is a sci-fi/fantasy jamjar game with a focus on intimate character relationships and optional action-adventure metaplotting.
SETTING | BESTIARY | EQUIPMENT
RETURNING HOME | MORE QUESTIONS?
Every canon, mythology, storyverse is a complex program. There are hundreds if not infinite iterations of each, running parallel to one another. Taken altogether, this multiverse is a supersystem called F.A.T.E.S., Front-end Alternacosmic Timeline Executive Server[1]. This server preserves time and space and the innumerable minute differences between world iterations, as well as the beings in them.
The multiverse is under attack.
The destructive vector is called D.E.S.T.I.N.Y., the Data Exception Scrubber Timeline Inquisition Network Yconivirus[1]. The virus manifests itself in a variety of ways, most commonly catastrophic natural disasters (earthquakes, electrical storms), bizarre monsters, and an invading army of beings in red armor. Sometimes the beings bear resemblence to creatures from the local universe; sometimes, they're so alien that a dimensional tear seems clear to those who are aware that other worlds exist.
The common factor is clear: the timelines are ending, derailed by massive apocalyptic events (that are not canon).
However, F.A.T.E.S. will not go down without a fight and your character has become part of that battle for survival. In each timeline, characters made parallel discoveries, of special technology or magic or unique physical phenomenon that would allow them to escape their dying world. Maybe it was black hole technology that could be integrated into a ship, or a mythological creature that will allow riders on its back. Whatever it was, your character became part of the escape just in time. And wherever they were expecting to end up, they were wrong; they could not have predicted this strange new world.
Welcome to Xistentia.
- Why make up so many words? Leave me alone.
Introduction
Setting
This brave new world is the multiverse's first line of defense and also its last sanctuary. You are now part of the firewall.
For a firewall, it's a picturesque place to live. Here, there is a sea and forest full of mystical creatures, as well as an empty city of incredible technology virtually indistinguishable from magic[1]. To the East, the air into a wall of raw light— this is the beating heart of F.A.T.E.S. Magical technology accessible from the city allows characters to influence it, both through specific devices and the passive influence of the characters simply being present. To the West, the sea seems endless... and from this horizon, through the interdimensional membrane, the forces of D.E.S.T.I.N.Y. may come to wage war.
North and South, the world simply ends at a wall of light. It's a small area the characters have to work with.
Beaches not to scale!
Most of all, Xistentia is about living. Maybe it's telling too, that the restoration technology designed to undo the damage wrought by D.E.S.T.I.N.Y. fosters connection and care.
However, even when the characters are merely building homes and community, they are still powering F.A.T.E.S. The system employs the use of receptor BEACONS (which appear as street lights) to draw strength and structure from the THOUGHTS AND EMOTIONS formed when characters interact. The stronger the thoughts and emotions, the faster and more efficiently the general firewall runs. Character Relationships (CR) is basically extra processing power/RAM.[2]
The city center is very safe, a zone protected by heavy reality coding. Physics is deeply unpredictable, with gravity weaker in occasional places, or light bending unpredictably. Importantly, characters are physically and psychically unable to attack each other outside of businesses marked as gyms[3] or for purposes such as feeding, tattooing, or surgery (note, great harm will still be subverted). At this point, residents have reclaimed the city and few brambles or animals remain in-town. Hospitals have automated tech for injury healing. There is an endless supply of furniture and clothing that spawns throughout the city, as if (as if!) in a video game.
Between the open sea and the city, the forest and shoreline act as a buffer where violence can happen. Both combat and training can take place here— and crimes of a more unsavory nature, for those who are willing to risk it. Animals may be hunted for food or supplies, and D.E.S.T.I.N.Y.'s agents can be killed or captured to help the recovery of the multiverse.
The days are 30 hours long, with night taking up 10 of those hours. Normal humans and other comparable beings will find this a comfortable adjustment, as it is consistent with the circadian rhythmes that we default to. Compared to RL, however, the day ratio is still 1:1 (with the IC 30 hours compressed into the 24), and calendar dates will be used accordingly. The default mod/app timezone is Pacific Standard Time (USA).
All four seasons are represented with the weather, including two months of intermittent snow during winter. The climate is generally temperate, but the flora and fauna are fantastical like nothing the characters have known before.
- If Arthur C. Clarke wasn't onto something, he wouldn't be so quotable.
- F.A.T.E.S. loves Pokemon Go! Do not play Pokemon Go! and drive.
- Thanks to Chris for the reword!
Introduction
Bestiary and Flora
Kirin
Aphrodisiac Flower
Common Moss Tortoise
Raptors
Auroran Elk
Dinner
Rock Troll
Green-backed Bison
Pegasus
Introduction
Starting Equipment and Survival
Every character who enters Xistentia soon meets their daemon[1], or a personal support program. These supports may take the shape of any object or animal up to 15x the character's body-mass, and are able to talk and provide information about the world. They are generally cooperative but may have personalities that have unhelpful quirks or remind characters oddly of other entities they once knew. These daemons are also the transmitter for network communications, although characters can connect them to smaller devices for convenience. They are not fully sentient, sometimes growing repetitive or odd, with limited ability to learn.
Everything else can be scavenged from the city or harvested from the forest. Daemons are particularly good at finding things. Their default name is Sharid[2], but their names can be customized. Note, daemon names will always automatically be suffixed with the letter d (e.g., Chainsawd, Bagheerad, Jarvisd).
Other items are available as well, but these are rather unpredictable in their quality and function. Generally, the more potentially harmful or destructive an object (especially weapons), the more difficult they are to find and needful for repair.
Food is best hunted, farmed, or bartered, but mysterious sandwiches have been known to appear at some empty buildings that seem to have restauranting as a sense of purpose.
- Yes, kind of like the companions in Pullman's His Dark Materials, but also this is an actual computing term.
- Reference used with permission.
Introduction
Restoration and Returning Home
Magical technology accessible from the city and forest allow characters to interact with F.A.T.E.S.
- The temple powers up at certain times through the year, allowing characters to create 'restore points' for their worlds based on shared memories, knowledge, or even their dreams for the future.
- They may also rebuild the multiverse's damaged databank sectors and components using their unique powers more directly, when granted physical access to the hardware.
- Finally, the characters can take missions to strengthen the world's defenses against D.E.S.T.I.N.Y. This can be dangerous. They may visit worlds under attack to gather information on its ever-changing tactics and manifestations, or even collect physical samples from attacking enemies (furs, technology, etc.).
However, true to its namesake, F.A.T.E.S. offers multiple other options for the future as well. Characters can find a different world to go home to, or choose to stay in Xistentia and continue to protect and repair the multiverse. Timelines can be adjusted to account for their disappearance.