Post by Notum Ghost Hunter on Aug 27, 2007 0:24:56 GMT -5
Condemned Subways
Many years ago, during the construction of the populated areas on Rubi-Ka, Omni-Tek was building a network of subway systems. It was said to be a pet project of a former CEO of the corporation.
After years of planning and development the project slowed down and eventually came to a halt after excessive build-times and sky-high costs. The final nail in the coffin for the retro-romantic project was heralded by the arrival of the Whompah travel system. However, large networks of tunnels had already been dug, and several stations completed before the order to abandon the project was in place.
Soon after, Omni-Tek closed down all the subway entrances across the populated world to stop people from venturing into a hazardous underground building site. These subterranean networks have over the past years become an unpleasant refuge for outcasts and misfits of Rubi-Ka’s cities. The mutants, dysfunctional robots, horrible biological experiments, thieves, vagabonds, drug addicts, murderers and vicious critters all found their way into the stations, creating a crooked society of the life Rubi-Ka would have preferred to put out of its mind.
The subways are an embarrassing reminder to Omni-Tek that their decision making is far from the image of perfection they like to portray. Clan officials of course spare no chance to use this as an example of the corporation’s mismanagement of Rubi-Ka’s resources, though they say little about their own failure to clean up the problem in their clan territory.
Many years later people had pretty much forgotten about the subway and only the locked entrances remained in clear sight. Until one day several engineering companies were hired to open up the finished stations to evaluate what use the cities might have of the subways. Much to their surprise, they found them teeming with life, but it was a very hostile place, and the engineering companies soon pulled their workmen out, claiming their contracts were invalid and left the sites without sealing them up again. Ever since, adventurous people have gathered around the entrances, keen on exploring the deep, dark stations and perhaps finding something they may put to use.
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The subway stations are located in Borealis, West Athen and outside the walls of Rome.
The Temple of Three Winds
The cult of the Three Winds was founded in 29324 by Nathaniel Gerardson. The belief system of the cult is that there are three winds that control time – the wind of the past, the wind of the present, and the wind of the future. It is their belief that they have been given knowledge of the three winds to be able to control them, and to control time itself.
“...and He shall say, 'It is I, Hezak. I have returned.' And the barred gates of Paradise shall be shattered by his wrath, and His enemies will know terror. For His return seals their doom. Mighty shall be His vengeance upon those who caused his exile. To the last will they be hunted, and none shall offer them refuge. For the Immortal One has returned to power.”
A charismatic speaker, Nathaniel was able to accumulate a small but fanatical following, and set about the construction of the Temple. The Temple was their attempt at harnessing the power of the three winds to try and gain mastery over time itself.
“...and with the coming of the final darkness will the Unbeliever know their error. Their Disbelief has earned them an endless punishment. They shall never know the beauty that is the Immortal One's love. They shall never share in the Immortal One's wisdom. They shall be fed into the fire and left to burn for all eternity.”
In 29437, Nathaniel finally died of extreme old age. Dominus Inobak, who had been leading the cult in all but name for the past decade, ascended to become the leader of the cult.
“He has many enemies, for they are jealous of His power; jealous that He has come and shown us the path back to Paradise; jealous that He has shown us the power that is available for those in Paradise that are willing to take it. But we shall return to Paradise, and take the power that is ours by right. We will crush His enemies, and He shall rule over Paradise. And we shall be the first amongst His chosen, for He loves us.”
In 29450, a being calling itself Hezak the Immortal appeared before Inobak in the Temple’s Inner Sanctum, proclaiming itself to be a deity sent to guide the cult. It dominated the will of Inobak, and quickly took control of the cult. The cult closed the doors of the Temple in 29451 and shut itself off from the rest of the world.
“There is no escape from the dark, for it is everywhere. Nowhere is safe. The Unbeliever can never rest, for in the dark we reside. Waiting. Ready. Eager. Beware Unbeliever, for we come for you.”
After 30 years of his dominating presence, the cultists are completely enraptured by Hezak and his assistant Aztur the Immortal and are utterly devoted. They will lay their life down for their master. The Temple is run by Aztur, whereas Hezak has confined itself in the temple’s Inner Sanctum.
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The cult resides in the Temple of Three Winds, located in Greater Tir County. The portal to the temple in Greater Tir County resides near the jobe whoompa in Rome Green.
Steps of Madness
Deep inside the forest outside Omni-1 Entertainment district lays a cave of mysterious origin. Some say that only those who have some sort of unhappy memory from their lives can see it, for instance a bad childhood memory, others say everyone can find it.
The entrance itself is in the shape of a giant eye, always revolving, looking around and closely watching those who approach. It is assumed that this eye is fully engineered, that it does not serve any purpose other than cover the entrance to the cave. The scene is quite eerie, and you find yourself wondering what sort of thing goes on in this place. There are rows of torches welcoming you to the cave…or perhaps condemning you.
Inside, the cave stretches down and deep, filled with creatures which should never see the light of day. It is said that many travellers who enter here experience waves of depression, delusion, despair and anger. Perhaps it is the constant attacks from the creations in here, or perhaps it is the weight of the bad memories one brings inside. We may never know.
What we do know, however, is that there is a man living inside these caves, deep down. He calls himself Neleb the Deranged, and is a Meta-Physicist who has fallen deep into mental illness. His nightmares and thoughts have taken on physical form.
It is believed he is the creator of all the apparitions and creatures in the cave and that he is unable to control his emotions when creating them. Neleb lost grips on reality when he was experimenting with notum, and his insanity had led to his imagination taking physical form. He is now holed up in this cave system, suffering from his madness.
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Steps of Madness lies in Omni Forest, east of Omni-Ent.
Biomare (Foreman's)
Biomare was previously one of the earliest notum mines Omni-Tek ran and was constructed into a large complex in the early days of mining on Rubi-Ka. It once employed several thousand people and functioned as a small society on its own.
Because the workload was so heavy, Omni-Tek assigned huge numbers of atrox miners to the job. The complex finally applied to build their own reproduction labs to alleviate the pressure on the other bio facilities. The application was approved by Omni-Med, and the Biological Material Research (Biomare) center was founded, with the addition of hundreds of scientists working on top secret projects regarding the human genome aside from cultivating atrox.
Over the years, the research labs grew larger while the amount of notum in the mines decreased. Soon, the labs were the bigger part, with only a few hundred tons of notum being brought out of the mines every month. Many moved away from the facilities and on to larger mining sites or to the cities, but all those who worked in the labs stayed.
In the early 29470’s, central Omni-Med directors became suspicious that everything wasn’t as it should be in the Biomare labs. The reports the facility sent were showing little progress, virtually no production and there were several discrepancies in the expense forms. A team of Omni-Med investigators were sent to inspect and when they reported back to head quarters. When they returned, they reported that the lab director was taking the lab in a much too radical direction and as a result, Omni-Med turned down the director and the institution’s plans rather harshly.
The argument between the lab director and Omni-Med went on for many years, until in the late ‘70s the director stopped barraging the home offices with his insane ideas. It was quiet for a while, perhaps too quiet for comfort. Little did the officials know that the director had been contacted by another group, one that funded all of his radical ideas. The lab director continued to work on the projects assigned by Omni-Med as before, but in addition he used the resources at hand to start other projects. The people working for him believed it was a part of the tasks given upon them as a research institute by Omni-Med, and would do as they were told. The few asking questions simply disappeared – officially being transferred to other divisions of Omni-Tek.
The lab director started experimenting with new substances and their effect on the human body and mind, encouraged by his new benefactors. Using and creating mutants, he soon had to dig out a whole new test subject containment area, in order to keep the mutants away from the official parts of the facility, which was regularly visited by Omni-Med inspectors.
A big change happened when after years of scrutiny and secret investigation, former CEO Philip Ross surprisingly made an official statement that the Biomare institution no longer was a part of Omni-Med, or Omni-Tek for that matter, and that a rogue operation was currently running the facility. He went far in claiming that the operations in the institution had received funding and support from a militant, outside group.
Shortly thereafter, Philip Ross was shot during a speech in Omni-1.
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Biomare/Foreman's can be found in The Longest Road.
Cyborg Barracks
Historically, the cyborgs have been a thorn in the side of Rubi-Ka for a very long time. With large bases all over the planet, these half-man, half-machine creatures have the technology and ability to take their evolution into their own hands.
One of the cyborg leaders, known as The Vivisector, is reportedly trying to create a new type of cyborg altogether, one that is much more powerful than the existing ones. Her experiments have progressed quite far with the creation of some new cyborg models. Her goal is to create the ultimate cyborg and rid the planet of the human vermin.
With the design of the Prototype Inferno and Commander Jocasta, she is one step closer to her goal. In the cyborg barracks in Greater Tir County, the cyborgs continue to research new designs as well as plan new frontal attacks. The barracks themselves are small, which gives the cyborgs a good overview of what’s going on there at all times. Those who dare venture inside should take precautions to the extreme aggressiveness of the cyborgs and know that they seldom fight one on one, using every dirty tactic in the book.
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The Cyborg Barracks can be found east in Greater Tir County
Smuggler's Den
In the early years of the civil wars and before the insurance technology was finished, being a criminal on the run was a very dangerous situation. There were few places to hide, until a group of smugglers built a large underground complex in Southern Foul Hills.
The complex grew huge over the years, housing all the small time criminals that could find their way there, opportunists and smugglers. In truth, the irrigation system that makes up the Den is one of Rubi-Ka’s oldest and forgotten water reserves, successfully converted into storage, living space and hangar by the smuggler organization.
Experimenting with technology to build special weapons and armor, the criminals soon began smuggling their wares out to whoever would pay the extreme prices they demanded. There was a lot of contact between the Den and the neutrals of Rubi-Ka at one time, enough for the smugglers to build a one way transport from their facilities to Borealis.
A few years back, the smugglers got a cargo of illegal herbs from the agricultural planet Tillagos. Normally this would be business as usual, but circumventing the ICC quarantine can sometimes have its price and this time the smugglers got paid in full. Not long after the fateful shipment arrived the first Rubi-Ka born Mantises hatched from the Tillagos crates.
Though the smugglers eradicated most of the budding insect colony, some disappeared deep into the den’s neighbouring cave system. Only weeks later the first reports of Mantis colonies were emerging. The insect has since spread at an amazing rate and now exist throughout many of the terraformed regions of Rubi-Ka, threatening the carefully engineered eco-system.
In the years since the Mantis arrival, the insects have made the dank caves beyond the Smuggler’s Den their main breeding ground. A young insect queen and her subordinates have infested the caves completely. Though the smugglers aware of the threat the mantises represent, they have too much invested in their den to abandon it. The crew of hardened mercenaries will fight to the death to defend their loot.
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Smuggler’s Den can be found south in Southern Foul Hills
Crypt of Home
The Home Crypt was originally built a very long time ago by a religious cult that was based in the Home City area. It functioned as a holy sanctuary and base of the priesthood led by a high priestess.
The priestess was a great prophet and alleged oracle for the cult, and remains of her inscriptions can be found throughout the crypt. The priesthood’s glory ended when it was hunted down and driven away into the inhospitable west by Omni-Tek. The high priestess was executed under claims of conspiring against the corporation and her writings were either lost in the west or kept by the corporation for research.
A long time has gone by since Omni-Tek pulled out of Home and let the remains of the original inhabitants resettle. The cult had turned dark and evil and the cultists had developed several mutations, some of them disfiguring, some of them granting awesome and dangerous powers.
Three powerful and heavily mutated brothers grew up to rule the city; Faldrion, Oquon and the eldest of the three, Cerubin. As they grew older they became leaders for the cult and ruled it firmly together. However, after several years of stability, the friction between three strong personalities started manifesting, and the brothers would constantly fight. In fear of becoming obsolete, the two weakest rebelled against the third, but they failed because the third one was stronger than their collective power. It left him weakened, however, and he was no longer able to care for the cult. Seeing the weakness in the leader, the priests and priestesses began suspecting that the brothers and in particular Cerubin had no special powers, that they had been hoodwinked by their charismatic personalities and strong leadership. Their discontent soon manifested in physical attacks on the place Cerubin lived, and it was not long before he realised he could no longer stay in Home.
With his two younger brothers killed, Cerubin fled out into the desert and settled in the old crypt, not far away from the city. Some of the followers came with him from the city and the new renegade cult has taken the name The Revoked. Cerubin now sits deep in the dark with his followers and ponders in bitterness, trying to find a way into the knowledge of the cult from the old times.
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The Crypt of Home can be found in Broken Shores, northwest of the city of Home.
Inner Sanctum
Those who thought the Cult of the Immortal were restricted to the temple in Greater Tir County are wrong. Recent discoveries show that there is another tier of this bizarre cult.
GREATER TIR COUNTY (RKHS) – The ones who have seen the monstrosities the cult practice within the Temple and lived to tell the tale may find it interesting to know that researchers have discovered there is another level of the temple called Inner Sanctum. Apparently, the cult welcomes outsiders there, but the underlying tone of the welcome message you get when you enter the halls of the Sanctum rings menacing.
We talked to one of the project assistants of this research group. He wishes to remain anonymous and it was evident that he was shook up when he met with us. “We must understand that people like these cult followers are delusional, they are a product of teachings of harm and anger. Just look at some of the inscriptions on some of the Sanctum artifacts we have found,” he said.
As he showed us, the research group has found clear evidence that it is the same cult. We were shown alarming inscriptions:
“...we rage at death, for we are cheated of His presence until He calls us. But His power is greater than death, and we are bound to Him for eternity, so we heed His call. We long for His call...”
Our contact went on to show us some of the weapons or descriptions of weapons found within the Sanctum. It is evident that these cultists are fully capable of building their own arsenal, no doubt to be used against all those who venture inside, or ‘Unbelievers’ as they refer to outsiders as.
“...the path back to Paradise is lined with the bones of my enemies. Their screams soothe me during the long nights, when I dream of what I have lost. I laugh when I recall their writhing anguish, their groveling to please me, the hope that their suffering will be put to an end. But I feed from their anguish and the begging look in their eyes as they grovel at my feet, hoping for a cessation...”
Until recently, it was believed that the one calling itself Aztur was the leader of the Cult of the Immortal. But, there seems to be another, higher standing Immortal one, as reports show the ‘throne room’ of the Sanctum is home to one named Hezak. Perhaps there is an inner rank system or perhaps it is the same being as in the Temple but in a different embodiment. We may never know. What we do know, though, is that the Sanctum holds many dangers and any visits there should not be taken lightly, as one of the inscriptions warns us:
“...and He shall be triumphant, leaving behind a dead world...”
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Inner Sanctum can be entered through portals found in Borealis, West Athen and outside the Temple of Three Winds.
Camelot Castle
In the barren lands called Avalon, far north in the terraformed bio dome, lies a small keep built in ancient medieval earth architecture. The crown of the keep is a castle fittingly named Camelot, built by a man called Lord Galahad.
Up until recent years, very few took this eccentric man seriously. He was an extremely wealthy merchant who bought up vast land areas on Rubi-Ka, dubbed himself Lord Galahad and went on to build his own version of the mythic Camelot castle. He is an inspiration to the rest of his men but an oddball to everyone else. He speaks in a faux-archaic language and is considered unsociable and self-obsessed by the other legacy clan leaders.
He managed to find others who shared his dream of Camelot and collected them under his banner, recreating a form of ‘Round Table’, as one could read about in ancient myths. His goal was to find the ‘Lost King’ and return him to his throne. The castle is a truly magnificent place.
Stepping into the castle is like stepping back in time. The walls are covered with coat of arms, all the guards are wearing full plate armor and in the deep dungeons of the castle lives creatures that one may assume Galahad had created to fulfil the vision of a magical Camelot.
Among these beings is a huge bio-mechanical creature known as the Tarasque. This creature was built in the shape of a dragon, perhaps to fulfil a child hood dream of being a dragon slayer.
A medieval style castle like this would not be complete without the arch nemesis of the old Camelot, and so Lord Galahad had a rendition of the wicked witch of the old tales built. Another bio-mechanical device, Morgan Le Fay can be found in the torture chambers in the castle.
Adventurers that risk entering the castle may find that the contraptions are all but friendly, as are the other travellers who venture there. Apparently, people will willingly fight each other over the treasures of the keep.
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Camelot Castle can be found north in Avalon.
Biodomes
The three bio domes in Belial Forest are leftover buildings from an Omni-Med research facility. The projects taking place there were shut down because of lack of funding and other priorities.
Not long after, reports came in concerning violent deaths in the swamp area where the bio domes are located. Neither Omni-Med nor the clans had any interest in investigating the claims, so ICC hired a freelance group of meta-physicists called Channeled Force to inspect the area.
They found that the domes had not been sealed properly after the research teams left, and some of the creatures inside had escaped, running amok in the nearby swamps. The meta-physicists sealed the domes, but they found the power of the creatures was difficult to handle and as such, they need a constant link to keep them at bay.
None of the old key passes or codes were in existence still, but the group was able to alter the system so they wouldn’t be recognized by the doors, just in case someone happened to stumble upon the old codes. They wanted to reduce the risk of people entering the domes without knowing what damage they could do to themselves and others.
The old security systems are still in place, and unless one has an activated security pass, the system will assume people are hostile forces and gun them down indiscriminately.
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The three Bio Domes can be found in the central swamp in Belial Forest.