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Living in the Nether

  • Playable races / demography

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    • Human
    What it says on the box. There are laws in place to protect the human populace, and while the political system favors the undead, humans are privileged in other ways. Their blood pays well, and they have an easier time of climbing the social ladder than Netherlings.

    • Dhampir
    Half human or netherling, half vampire. May display one or several symptoms of vampirism, but doesn't have to feed as often, or at all. They may still crave blood, however. They're often marginalized and forgotten about in political debates, as they don't disrupt the delicate populace ratio of undead and human.

    • Netherling
    Netherlings are humans who have survived the Nether for 3-4 generations or more, adapting over time to the darkness. It could be evolution, but some say the Nether is corrupting... They are discernible from humans in a few, subtle ways- bigger eyes, longer teeth, slower metabolism, and they often have above-average eyesight and hearing. Even older generations have tapetum lucidum in their eyes, webbed fingers and sometimes strange internal anatomy. Netherlings statistically live longer the older the generation. There are far more Netherlings than humans. Supposedly they don't taste the same.

    The offspring of Netherlings and humans have a high mortality rate. Chances are they'll be stillborn or have defects like cleft palate or missing limbs, both detriment to survival in a society that often neglect those in need.

    • Vampire/undead
    Undead. Vampire. Sanguinarian if you're upper-class. They've got many names. They feed from humans and netherlings and make out about a fifth of the population. You may play a vampire, and with the exception of not allowing daywalkers, I'll very likely let you do it your own way after consultation. As long as your vampire doesn't have odd or too powerful abilities I'm likely okay with it. I have a way of writing them, but I wish not to stifle anyone's creativity, so I try to stay open-minded. I think of them as having different bloodlines to solve this issue. The general consensus is that they will degenerate into mindless monsters when starved.

    • Other
    Things that go bump in the night include all sorts of hideous creatures. None of them are desired by the church. Consult with me and I'll accept the occasional demon or mythological creature on a case-by-case basis. About one or two percent of the Nether population classify as other, and they're usually not an integrated pert of society, but a marginalized group.

  • Technology



    What we're working with is a haphazard blend of technology from the industrial revolution and earlier. Early 1800s science and technology make a good rule of thumb, but I may or may not make an exception on a case-by-case basis when players approach me to include something in particular, because you know, rule of cool may apply when it fits the narrative. Submarines are a new, fashionable but still unusual way of travel, and batteries are at the very brink of being invented! We've mostly got coal for fuel, though. Muzzle-loading muskets and swords for weaponry. Cannons, for those lucky enough to own a ship.


    If you wish to include something but are unsure, ask first! I promise I'm striving to not to be a wet blanket on your creativity.

  • But what's your story, chum?

    The first place you get to see is Netherwell if you arrived from the surface the legal way- the capital of the Nether! If you’re lucky they don’t confiscate your belongings, even when you behave. You get to endure a body search, then register your name, sex, and race (undead, human or other that is) before the authorities ship you off and leave you to fend for yourself. At this point, it really doesn't matter who you used to be. Please don't cause any problems.


    I didn't choose this. You poor thing. Throwing someone down the hole to fend for themselves is a good way for the church to rid the streets of problematic individuals, whether they be murderers, heretics, undead, or other types of degenerates- and so most people who end up down here don’t come by their own will.

    Adventure awaits! Does it, now? Some willingly take the plunge into Her dark depths, and may be looking for riches or a fulfilling experience. This naive gadder is quickly disenchanted and may end up regretting it, seeing how leaving this place requires either massive wealth or a combination of incredible luck and skill. Good luck beating the system, if you last long enough to realize the dire straits you're in.

    I'm an outcast, undesired by the surface dwellers. Mmmh, I understand. Some vampires come here looking to carve out a piece of the world for themselves. Few people down here hold prejudice against them. While considered a problem above ground, they're an integrated part of this society. Also, no sun! How neat is that?

    I was born here. You know little of the surface, then. Do you want to see it? Touching grass and looking at the clouds sound nice, doesn't it? Have you seen the moon or the sun?

  • Nether history

    The Black Death is the most fatal pandemic ever recorded in human history. It peaked in Europe from 1347 to 1351, at which point an estimated seventy-five to two hundred million people had already died.

    It is believed that vampires began integrating into our society around this time. Things that go bump in the night have always existed in the perimeter of our society. The church had made it so until then; out of sight, out of mind. There weren’t many of them, but turning was a quick way to cure the disease, and so many chose immortality over imminent, gruesome death. It didn’t matter that the church threatened with eternal punishment in hell once true death embraced them- they grew in numbers all the same, though still remaining a minority.

    Anno 1378 a sinkhole opened in London, swallowing nearly an eighth of it. It was the stuff of world news. A gaping, black wound in the earth, initially and popularly believed to be God striking down at the non-believers and heathens. The gates of hell were open! After all, the church was struggling to stay on top of it all, with two deadly pandemics thinning the masses. Okay, perhaps calling the spread of vampirism a pandemic at this point would be an overstatement, but you know what they're like by now, the bible-thumpers. Their propaganda seemed to stick whether it was true or not because people didn’t know better, and so the growing population of undead was further persecuted and ostracized.

    Vampires and humans alike ended up colonizing the massive underground sea that it lead to after the brave men and women who dared to explore concluded that it was not, in fact, the gates of hell (who would have thought!). It stretched southeast far below the English Channel, past Paris towards the borders of today’s Switzerland and Italy- turning out to be possibly bigger than France itself.