The Lorekeeper

The Lore Keeper

• The Poet and the Pendulum

  The Lorekeeper is not a character, but a humble storage of worlds that have yet to come, or worlds that have yet to be. This is where BSODING keeps track of settings and DM stuff that way she doesn't lose it.
  
  ToC
  -Tal Degre (DARK FANTASY. MATURE WARNING)
  -Minz
  -Shadani
  -Culluri'oh
  -More Worlds Coming Soon

• The Dreams of Another Day

  Tal Degre Lore

  
  
  So we are in the year 2050ish or so. Like the previous decades before, humanity has made leaps and bounds in the realms of technology, being able to surpass and do things like they had never had before. Thinking a nice delicious cross between modern and fantasy. Now, I do actually have a 'world' wrote up for this with it's own continents and what have you, but this can also be played in our world as we know it for cultural effect. But essentially, two things happen that cause the world to change as they know it.
  
  1. Science: Humans learn that souls actually exist in another realm of existence beside our own, much like string theory. Now being capable of reaching out to that realm, we can manifest the properties of the soul, bringing it to our realm.
  
  2. Religion: God lost his faith in humanity, and surrenders his dominion on souls, causing them to be manifest with the bodies that own them.
  
  As a result, people are now able to do a bunch of great things, like magic etc, because the soul is on the physical plane inside them instead of elsewhere. Regardless of the case.. the 'cataclysm' as they will later call it, was originally heralded as a blessing. By being able to access another person's soul, people can share pain, experiences, as if they had endured them, themselves. They can take the memories of others, or change properties of themselves that they love or hated. They can defeat death, by modifying their souls to ensure longevity. And as the humans continued to learn more about the new ability to modify souls, the sanctity of the human soul diminished. No longer did people view each other as other human beings.. but as assets to be acquired. Society started to fall apart. Wars were started, but not for God or the right cause, but for the possibility of acquiring more material to make the winning side stronger. Countries started to fall. The world's biggest superpowers collapsing under their own greed, some realms of the world becoming uninhabitable as a result of war. And the idea of a 'normal' human is far.. far gone.
  
  Flash forward around 50-100 years after man's fall from grace, we are in a region known as Tal'Degre. It's one of the most populated regions (that people are aware of) post-apocalyptic. Most of the people here are living in the remains of a dead city, with the center being home to the elite, living with the finer nuance of life, such as running water, and electricity. Crime syndicates primarily rule here, and as such, there really is no sense of 'law' or protection for the weak-hearted
  
  Setting: Tal'Degre is a city that isn't very large, but once upon a time was previously developed. A lot of the skyscrapers have fallen to decay, and debris/litter cover the entire city. The outer edges are nearly inhospitable, where the poor, or those with damaged souls exist, constantly in fear of being exploited by various parties that wish to take that soul from them, and use it for whatever needs they have. It's very dangerous to live around out in this part of town, as 'damaged souls' that are far beyond repair also exist, and may not necessarily be in the right mind. (Think mindless zombie)
  
  The inner maze of the city is where most of the business exists, be it soul related or not. Usually, people who offer a service can be found here. This part of city is walled off, to keep the untouchables out of what little normalcy can be found here, in addition to where most food is grown/sold. People in this region are at much more risk of being abused by other powers, but only if they're not providing anything useful. This region is fairly feudal, with crimelords acting as leaders of regions to better capitalize resources, and is often the hotspot for many a fight.
  
  The center is where the elite live. Powered by electricity, reserving the most resources for themselves, the crimelords make their homes here in the intact remains of the city, free from danger (To some degree) from the sickly winds of their world. Here, while considered the safest, physically speaking, is also the most volatile. Politics is power, and the wrong words can cause a shitstorm you can't control. Slavery is common in this region, and it shouldn't surprise anyone to see slavery being exploited. This is, frankly, one of the more disgusting regions of the area from a social standpoint (PS: This world is very dark, with some really dark themes and stuff. However, I try my best not to shine lights on these parts for mental sake. If you are fine with them being mentioned, okay, not a problem. Just bear in mind it's not a personal reflection of how I think the world should be, nor will we be emboding any of this in the roleplay.)
  
  Magic: Magic, (depending on world pre-apocalypse) either always existed, or just NOW existed. The reason for this; is because magic is drawn from the soul. It turns out that souls are very powerful. They channel more energy then most star systems. And now that souls can be modified, the properties of the soul can be changed and amplified to change the characteristics for a being. For an example; someone could change their soul to allow them to manipulate fire, at the price of damaging their soul or letting something go. By modifying the essence of their soul, they can change their soul into something else. But since souls are no longer restricted to the body that owns them, they can be pulled out, and manipulated to do other things. An example of this is a necromancer. Instead of being yolominioners that worship death in this realm.. necromancers actually gather corpses, use what magic they have gained from modifying their souls to repair dead or 'used' bodies, and sell them to the rich or elite for the purpose of continuing their existence past their time. This magetype specializes in the prolonging of souls through manipulating physical material. They may even have harsh things like special graveyards where they find unborn or hollow children (Bodies without souls, either taken before birth or not present) and set up a 'backup' for the richer, or those without physical forms. Depending on the skill of the necromancer, they can tailor a body to perfectly meet the needs of the soul going in.
  
  It doesn't just extend to bodies. It also extends to minds and memories. Witches and animancers are responsible for the modification of souls. By using hexes, charms, witches can change the property of the soul, going as far to modify the memories of those within, or changing personality, changing which souls are attracted to what, and other similar things that can only be changed at the soul level. Animancers can move, split, add, and take souls. They often use this to enhance their own powers, or upon request, can merge a soul together (Giving a whole new meaning to the word soulmate) or create 'custom souls' by taking apart a bunch of damaged ones and using them to create a 'better soul', like taking the part of a wolf soul and the rest of a human soul to create a... human with wolf tendencies. This is actually where were-creatures come from in this world. They are humans that had modifications that were amplified to a degree that they can no longer keep their soul steady. The magic distorts the body to the soul half in question, and with every transformation, the soul risks splitting from such violent energy being thrashed about. Thamurgists actually arrange and make contracts with angels and devils (As they are called, as no one knows exactly where they come from, only that they are powerful..) to place them in their existence by merging souls or taking them apart and adding them to other souls.. and vice versa.
  
  Souls can be added, subtracted, merged, changed, can move between bodies and vessels, and can be swapped with others. In addition, souls are so powerful, that they have manifested 'subraces' within the human race. For an example, a vampire is a soul that has devoured so many souls to a point where it is able to maintain a physical existence in this realm. They start off as wisps, then move to ghosts, then wraiths, before materializing as a vampire. As stated above, were creatures are created from such manipulations. Demons and angels have been known to consume weaker souls and manifest on the realm as well, in addition to zombies and ghouls, which, are souls that have been ripped, torn, and destroyed to such a degree, that the only thing that exists in their 'coding' per say, is to survive and usually that means eating everything.

  
  
  Tal Degre is a setting for a dark fantasy world that focuses on the concept of what would happen of we devalued human souls. Dark. Gritty. A bit tough. If you're a fan of edgy subjects like Repo! The Genetic Opera, Path of Exile, Silent Hill, etc, then you will like this world.
  
  Note: Tal Degre is a much more darker world then fantasy worlds go. There are mature subjects discussed in that world that some may find unsuitable. Any RPs that take place in this setting will NOT be exploiting those gruesome settings, and they are not a personal reflection of the creator, the player, or anyone in particular. It's just a scary world to live in. Don't let it bother you, and more importantly, don't aim to emulate the content found within.