We do not expect to be able to come up with a piece of lore every day for #lore24 – once a week is a more realistic goal for us. But we know ourself. We know even that might become a burden or a chore. We get burnt out a little too easy these days, and at this age.
To combat that, we’re going to also include some lore for something new – something that just came to us today. We’re anxiously awaiting the Cypher System Whitebook Rust & Redemption – a post-apocalyptic toolkit for Cypher System. We very much enjoy these sorts of settings – but haven’t really been sure what “our” setting might look like. There are plenty of post-apocalyptic settings out there, but we wanted ours to look and feel a bit different. We don’t need to make yet another post-nuclear wasteland, or another zombie virus ravaged world. Now of course most things have already been done, somewhere, so we don’t claim our ideas here are wholly original – but we have not seen them explored much.
So, our fantasy homebrew world is called Westmarch – and we will continue lore entries for that as we are able. Now, we introduce our own post-apocalyptic setting, the world of Cenotaph 1919. (Consider this a working title – we like it today but may not tomorrow!)
Influence and Inspiration
- War of the Worlds by HG Wells
- Roadside Picnic / STALKER by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
- The Road by Cormac McCarthy
- World War I by Earth
They came in the 1890s, surprising our fathers and mothers. They walked and flew across the landscape, seemingly unstoppable. We cowered before their tripods, their heat rays, their utter disregard for us, as if were were rats. And so we scattered, and ran, like rats. We hid, hoping it would all pass, but knowing it probably wouldn’t. And then we were saved – not by our own devices, but by our own greatest enemy – disease. We thought they’d never come back. We rebuilt and began our earthly squabbles anew – watching Mars for a time, but eventually our attention turned on each other. Armies gathered. Alliances were brokered. We forgot about Them. All the research into weapons and arms, to prepare, just in case of another Martian invasion…all of it found use in another invasion entirely. Bombs, bullets, airplanes. Poison gas. Horrors unfolded, worse than They ever inflicted upon us.
Finally, with a generation of boys and men lost, with the world straining to stay “modern” – whatever that is – and with our greatest enemy, disease, ravaging the planet – They returned. Again. They were immune now. They used their technology to somehow prevent the diseases of earth from affecting them. There would be a new peace, peace on earth – but not between the great powers. There are no great powers anymore – just Them. And us, hiding, like rats, among the ruins. As long as we don’t cause trouble, They don’t notice us. They just drill and mine for whatever it is they’re looking. Their patrols are easy to dodge, if you know what you’re doing and don’t gather in large groups.
November 11, 1918 was supposed to be the end of the War to End All Wars. Instead, it was Invasion Day, and the end of human dominance upon earth.
This is how we live now. The cities stand as cenotaphs, memorials to all that we have lost. The heat beams leave nothing to bury but ash. The world is blanketed with a thin layer of the remains our friends and families. We scavenge the land, looking for hope. Is there any to be found?
We don’t intend this blog to be ALL #lore24, but we’re enjoying the creative spark for now. We do have more reviews in the queue, and are working on some other post ideas. Those take time! So thank you for reading, and we hope you enjoy our creative warblings.
