Project Homunculus
From Their Malformed Bones Shall Grow
a desperate grasp from a dying empire
a desperate grasp from a dying empire
The Preamble
Across the Frontier, upon the lands betwixt the Free States and the Empire, the line of Imperial claim crashes and crumbles against Free State sovereignty. Praetored Cities once held firm by the Karmic Legions of the Raj Imperatus run rampant with whispers of cessation. Hairlines and fractures spread across the old stone fortresses and monoliths that were raised to give glory to the light of His rule.
Problems for their Praetors to solve.
Whilst Jaghic Command pushes banners across their great maps. Golden Jackals of Argun race across blood red fields. The Five Green Spears of Panj lay in pentacle across the golden cascade of hills. The legionaries beneath the snapping banners tear down trees. Build fortresses. Holding cells. Roughshod strongholds to pin down burned lines across the earth.
They crush those caught underfoot upon those lands. The aim of their brutal contest.
By edict of the Raj Himself, Indarius Mahan Kotek X, Resplendent be His Name, any and all Mortal Material harvested along the frontierlands must be put to service to preserve Arshakan Sanctity. From the Gulf of the Boiling Sea, across the Forests of Chandrakanti. May His Light Shine Bright Upon All Souls.
Premise
South Ilica, Betwxit the Free States and the Arshakan Empire
Kharmic Legions slash and burn across the Frontierlands. Claiming lands and peoples broken free from the Light of the Snarling Sun generations past. Fields burn. Villages sacked. Bands of militia become rebels, turn to outlaws. Labeled apostates by the Imperial Mouths just before the gallows doors drop and the noose snakes tight.
Heavy heads, those who rule their Free Cities. Plot. Plan. Move their coin towards those that stand against the Empire and its reach. Stand by and watch as the banners rise and fall. Waiting. To see how it all falls.
Shout, does the populace. Scream, do the people. Fight. Burn. Die. Just to try and live. To try and run. To try and find some desperate verdant peace one can still hold on to.
Whilst the Empire seeks to harvest. Afield. At home. Wherever the opportunity might present itself. All under His Light. And in His Shadow. Scape every goat, until there is no herd left. And where those imprisoned are so hoarded. Something wicked doth brew.
Project Homunculus.
Where do you stand?
The Free Cities fight for their own motivations. Sovereignty. Power. Influence. The Empire fights to root its waning legacy. Take back what is rightfully theirs. Reclaim fallen glory. Maintain those myths upon which it is built.
And there between it all is everyone else. The innocent. The opportunistic. The desperate, and the distant.
The lines are never quite so clear. Friend and foe change with the turn of a coin. A whisper delivered to the right ear. A song sang in one tavern, carried across villages all along the bloody Frontier.
Jumping In:
Anything goes. If you feel like you can fit in, get in this.
There will be one central dmed thread. Currently that thread is “All Roads Lead to Hestio” where the darker machinations of the Empire and its Brahman Magisterium are beginning to unfold.
As the plot progresses, there will be new “dmed” threads opened up for people to join in. These will be public, and always open threads. All player created content is encouraged!
The goal is to explore the ideas and themes laid out on this page, and whatever sprawls out of it. Your characters will help dictate the twists and turns of this plot. What your characters support, the actions they take, should create ripples in the world around them.
This is a long term plot. With no definite end point planned out. We have an idea of where to take things, but want to see where they go. Even a single cameo post, or generating and controlling some sweet npcs are absolutely ways to get involved!
Post below if you would like to get involved, or chime in in the plotting and planning channel on the discord!
The Thread List
The Plot as it Unfolds
ACT 1
ACT 1
All Roads Lead to Hestio
(The Prisoners of Hestio, Vincus Shan, Jadzia, Tool, the Guards of Hestio, Aurelian Vaidyan, Zalan)
An ancient super structure, Prison Fortress Hestio is held by Clan Panj, of the Arshakan Empire, and feeds prisoner conscripts to the ongoing Frontier efforts. Therein are imprisoned thousands of souls, deemed mortal material, collected from all across the Frontier. All are to be used in service of the Empire. Less they find their way to freedom.
Dramatis Personae
Will expand and shift as the plot develop (and you can absolutely add your own acting party)
The Arshakan Empire
Expanding outwardly, Crumbling inwardly.
The Arshakan Empire
Expanding outwardly, Crumbling inwardly.
The Brahman Magisterium
Spearheading the development of Project Homunculus, and the development of new weapons to unleash upon the Frontier and all who oppose His light.
Auerelian Vaidyan
An Imperial Brahmus doing important work. Currently experimenting in Hestio.
Clan Argun
Headed by the young Primus Ortan Argun, and commanders of the XIIIth Karmic Legion, along with the great landwhale ship, Haramun, their banner is of three golden jackals, tearing across a field of red. Expansionary, and Ambitious, Clan Argun is amongst the most aggressive of the Imperial banners along the frontier, employing conscript cohorts on the front lines.
Clan Panj
Headed by Praetor Armati Panj, and commanders of the XLVIIrd Karmic Legion, it is their banner of five green spears laid in pentacle across rolling hills of gold that flies above many a fortress along the Frontier. Famed for their engineers, Clan Panj holds and operates the Prison Fortress Hestio.
Jack and Sammy Tooths
Just doing their job. Currently in Hestio.
Clan Setra
Headed by Praetor Kalinus Setra, and commanders of the XXXIIIrd Karmic Legion, clan Setra remains largely behind the walls of their recently claimed city, Karamatun. Well positioned, and well supplied. The city serves as a vital point of logistics in the perpetual conflict across the Frontier. Their banner is a descending white tiger, roaring down a blue field.
Kalinus Setra
Head of Clan Setra and Praetor of Karmatun.
Jaghic Command
A military council formed by a mix of Interior Senators, and Praetors of the Frontier Territories. Jaghic Command acts as an extension of His Will, and thus answers directly to the Raj Imperitus.
Traitors, Apostates, Heretics
Jadzia
Mortal material. Currently imprisoned in Hestio.
Vinicus Shan
Ex-Legionnaire, Great and Noble Scion. Currently imprisoned in Hestio.
The Free Cities
Act or gain a better position?
Seax
Has hired bands of mercenaries to try and stymie expeditionary efforts by Imperial Legions. Rallies for support of the other Free Cities to stand against the Sneering Sun’s encroachment.
Crorefell
Hive of mercantile murder work. Innumerable are the ways the Steel Rabble might see their blades profit when the bleeding is so far from its walls. For the Empire. For the Staters. For whoever pays the greatest bounty. Who can really say. So be the City of Fools.
Tool
Sapper of the Salamander Squadron. Currently working as a bakers in Hestio.
Zalan
Member of the Emberic Cabal, Captain of the Salamander Squadron. Currently Imprisoned in Hestio.
The Peoples of the Frontiers
Fight, Flight, Survive.
Scattered across the span of territory. Villages, towns, cities unwalled. All face the naked truth before them. Lost to flame, abandoned, occupied, still holding together.
Beyond the Borders
Far flung, but no less impactful.
Look on. Dip in. Profit. So say those who benefit from conflict. Or might be your heart is of the more bleeding?
Build Up/ Optional Reading
His Master’s Voice
(Aurelian Vaidyan, Kalinus Setra)
Brhamus Aurelian Vaidyan speaks with the Praetor of Karmatun, and head of Clan Setra, Kalinus Setra on recent political developments within the halls of the Senate-elect. In particular, an edict involving Prisoner Conscriptions, and how they might benefit Vaidyan’s most important work.
Effigies of Power
(First Cohort of the XXXIII Karmic Legion of Clan Setra, XIIIth Karmic Legion of Clan Argun, The Prince of Tatters)
Amidst the ruins of the lost city, Raaklan, along the Frontierlands, First Cohort of the XXXIIIrd Legion searches through the ruins, when the XIIIth Karmic Legions makes contact, astride their great landwhale ship, the Haramun. The mysterious Prince of Tatters is discovered, disguised amongst the ranks, and captured.
A Matter of Minutes
(Forces of Ceax: Iron Fists, Red Hairs, the Salamander Squadron: Tool, Zalan.)
Embedded within a larger host of mercenary forces hired by Ceax, the Salamander Squadron of the Emberic Cabal is pit against an expeditionary force of Kharmic Legionnaires.
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