First Nowhere Has an Underside
We have talked about how Nowhere is a flat table top of a world floating in the Nothing. It also has an Underside.
Underside
The Underside of Nowhere is an upside down world. From the
bottom, mountain sized rock spires reach down, their tips pointing to the
Nothing. Water drips from above, or even pours in vast falls carried from the
surface world from fissures large and small. The underside of cliffs provides
the surface for paths- for things do live there. Terrible things in perpetual
dark. Strange mosses, the roots of mighty living things from the top, and
thousands upon thousands of caves can be seen.
Fungi grow wherever there is water and a place to root. Phosphorescent
lichens and algae provide what little light there is. In some places, lava
drips from the world above into the Nothing. Oddly, ruins can be found even in
the perpetual dark and upside down world of Underside. Who built them, who
lived in them, and why is just one more mystery among the million other enigmas
of this strange place.
Second: A Picture of Creeps
Me- "Oh, go on and put up some pictures"
Marketing Guy- 'But the models aren't quite done and these are just test shots"
Me- "Oh, go ahead and put up some pictures
Third: Some More Pictures of Creeps
Marketing Guy- Should we show a picture of the Creepy Mother too?
Me- "No not yet"
Marketing guy- "What about their background?"
Me- "Well, how about this great bit of fiction form Skye? We can talk about the Hole later...."
Marketing guy- <sigh> "Ok, but its not a complete picture and people want to know more about the rules..."
Me- I left to paint some more models for tonight's playtest.
Fourth: A bit of fiction from the Rulebook
Far From
Home
Skop
stood in silence as he observed the smoldering remains of his people’s last
hope. The Star Machine lay in a few
hundred pieces. Debris stretched across
several miles of glistening sand, and for Skop it represented the broken future
of the Skree. He thought wistfully of
the people who had seen him off at the launch, their eyes shining with the
naked hope that Skop, one of the bravest and most brilliant of the Skree, would
find them a new home. He was to return a
hero, his arms and ship laden with the riches of a new land, a fertile land
which would embrace the Skree and willingly let them plunder her
treasures. Instead, it seemed, the land
he had crashed onto was barren, with nothing but useless quartz under him and
stretching as far as his eyes could see.
The only break in the bleak landscape was the vortex swirling savagely a
mile to the north. It pierced the desert
like an eternal lightning bolt, a vast toiling blackness that seemed to absorb
all light which dared to come near it.
It was this blackness, this void that
had caused Skop’s fall. It had grabbed a
hold of his Star Machine, plucked it from the heavens like a small toy, and
tossed him carelessly to his fate in this empty and barren land.
Despair pushed at the edges of
Skop’s psyche, but he pushed it back with determination. He folded his long legs beneath him, closed
his eyes, and forced his mind to rest.
He entered the dreamenra, where
he could find oneness with the Maker, and his thoughts crystallized and peace
entered his being. The power cell was
still active, Skop knew. He could send a
message back through the vortex, let his people know that the Star Machines
worked, that he had traveled into the sky and found another land. Perhaps, with the Maker’s blessing, they
would try again; send out another brave Skree to explore the heavens. His people need not become extinct.
Skop held onto this thought as he
opened his eyes. The light in the cursed
land was fading, but his eyes quickly adjusted, as his home planet was perpetually
dim. Skop perceived the faintest of
noises behind him, just a slight rustling of the sand. He pivoted one of his eye stalks to look and
was stunned to see a life form. He rose
slowly from his seated position and turned, keeping his motions fluid and
gentle so as not to startle the creature.
He perceived a strange being, approximately two feet tall, with one
huge, single eye staring at him. The
creature had just one set each of arms and legs, and it held a rock in one
hand. Beneath its single eye was a
mouth, slightly agape, with rows of teeth just visible. It made no sound and did not move, but stared
at Skop, unblinking.
The scientist in Skop felt a huge
thrill of delight as he regarded the being in fascination. His first encounter with an alien life
form! How did such creatures exist in
such a barren land? What was their
source of sustenance? He felt a shock of
hope run through him. If he could just
communicate, perhaps the creature could help; provide him with food and
water? Was the being intelligent? Skop spoke to the creature in the language of
the Skree, a series of clicks and whistles that communicated his peaceful
intentions and need. The creature tilted
his head slightly but emitted no noise, and continued to watch Skop intently. Skop tried again, and added some motion,
moving his four arms in a few gestures, careful to do so slowly so as not to
startle the creature. Still, the alien
did not react. Skop felt the hope slide
away, leaving a chill in its wake. These creatures are not intelligent, he
thought to himself dismally.
Another slight sound behind him, and
again he swiveled an eye to observe another creature’s arrival, this one only
as tall as his first knee cap. Still, if they survive here then there must
be sustenance of some kind, Skop told himself. Perhaps there was hope for his survival yet.
Bending down, he gathered the power cell into his arms and began to search
through the debris, seeking the equipment he needed to send a message to the
Skree. As he worked, he noticed more of
the beings arrive. They varied greatly
in size, some as small as the first two and others nearly approaching Skop’s
height. They seemed harmless enough, just
curious about the stranger in their midst, but he felt a flicker of unease as
their numbers grew, all bearing a stone or crude club of some kind. Skop tried a few more times to communicate,
but to no avail. Their silence and
unblinking gaze unnerved him as he began typing his message into the power
cell.
Suddenly the beings became agitated,
and they scurried around as if anticipating something. Skop looked up from his work to see a massive
creature approaching unhurriedly through the sand. It was identical to the aliens that
surrounded him, yet the creature was so much bigger that its height dwarfed
Skop, and its teeth were as long as one of his arms. As he watched it approach, its skin bubbled
in several spaces, and he observed with fascination as several cysts formed on
its body, and then erupted in a spray of puss.
From the cyst crawled out a tiny being with a single eye, and a set of
arms and legs. A revolting form of reproduction, Skop thought, and he could not
repress a shudder. The babies dropped to
the sand and then scurried around the feet of their mother, who seemed oblivious
to the birthing process as she continued towards him.
Skop began to talk and gesticulate
now that the Mother was close by, hoping that perhaps she possessed the
intelligence that her offspring lacked.
As he did so, he reached for a long, cylindrical piece of debris near
his foot, trying to do so subtly and slowly.
At this point, the number of beings surrounding him was alarming, and
his flicker of unease was turning to fear.
The Mother stopped a few feet in front of him and regarded him, her
huge, gelatinous eye observing him silently as his fingers frantically searched
for the button to activate the light stick in his hand, while also swiveling
his eyes in all directions to keep the aliens in sight. He heard the reassuring hum of the light
stick booting up as his fingers finally found their target. Still, he kept it pointed at the ground, so
as not to appear hostile. They stood
that way for what seemed to Skop an eternity, a bizarre and silent panorama in
the deepening twilight. Just when Skop’s
nerves were completely frayed and he was about to attempt to shoo the creatures
away, the Mother opened her mouth. In a
hideous mimicry of speech, her mouth moved, yet no sound was emitted. Her breath washed over Skop with a warm,
fetid wave of rot and decay and Skop felt instantly ill. Then as one, the beings moved towards
Skop. He raised the light stick and
those closest to him vaporized with a loud, wet pop. Skop felt a ripping pain in his back and
dislodged a creature, blasting it with his light stick. Steam filled the air from the vaporized
beings, yet still they came. Hundreds,
perhaps thousands silently swarmed him, pulling him to the ground and ripping
at him with claws and crude weapons.
Pain wracked his body as a strip of flesh was removed from his leg, and
he finally allowed the scream in his throat to erupt as he watched the alien
creature slide his flesh into its mouth.
For a time, Skop’s screams were heard across the desert, but eventually
they tapered off, and finally, stopped.
The creatures silently and efficiently removed his skin and consumed his
flesh, their eyes never blinking, their mouths never uttering a sound. Skop gazed up at the stars, the light in his
eyes dimming, the fate of his people certain.
And time passed, perhaps a week, perhaps
a century, or perhaps a thousand centuries.
A strange skeleton lay in the desert, multi-jointed and with too many
limbs, picked clean either by time or by scavengers. A young Liberi, traversing the sweltering
desert for his Trials, paused by the strange sight. Near the bleached bones lay a cylindrical
object which glinted in the sun. He
picked it up gingerly, and lovingly dusted off the sand, for he knew the object
for what it was- a Relic from Far Away.
With agile fingers, the Liberi youngling found three small buttons
indented in the side. He pushed one and
a rock in front of him instantly shattered and vaporized. The Liberi’s face broke into a broad
smile. Not only had he found a Relic,
but a Relic weapon. Now his place in the Tribe was assured, his
success at the Trials guaranteed. For
one such as himself, a Relic weapon would mean a long life as a Warrior of his
herd. The Liberi cantered across the
sand with gladness in his heart, unaware and uncaring that the Relic was the last
remaining piece of the Skree civilization.
Lots, lots, more from Skye is going into the Rule book. Good to set the tone so to speak.
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