The Judges of Tehom

This is a Setting in progress by RPGnet user Nick the Nevermet.

A Brief Introduction to the Game Setting

Welcome to Tehom

Full Article: The World of Tehom

Tehom is an planet hospitable to human life with an average temperature slightly colder than Earth that is dominated by large oceans (roughly 87% of the surface is covered by water). The majority of dry land can be found in a large equatorial archipelago called the Set Islands.

The human population of Tehom is heavily concentrated in large mega-cities called “cosmopoli.” Generally, each cosmopolis is an autonomous political entity that controls several less populated nearby islands that are used for agricultural production and other natural resources. The Course is the name of the most populated, and prosperous region of the Set. Human society on Tehom is highly industrialized and developed, and a vast information network links the cosmopoli together, ensuring a highly integrated culture. Even the Duidainian Anarchy (The Duidainian Commune) is easily identified as Tehomin in style and culture.

The Archons and Tehomin Kleocracy

Full Articles: Archons, Kleocracy

The cosmopoli of Tehom are dominated by Archons – superhumans with powers and abilities that are often fantastic in their scope. These powers may be something they were born with, developed later in life during a stressful event, the product of scientific experiments, or based on super-scientific items in the individual’s possession. Powers are exceedingly diverse, and many seem to defy the laws of science as understood by mortal humans.

Tehomin society revolves around the lives and struggles of the Archons. Partisans support specific Archons. Daily streamcasts document the latest public and personal activities of Archons. Popular Archons inspire the public, and the people live in fear of notorious Archons. In a very real (if flawed) sense, social order is created and maintained by the many watching the few. The spectacle of the Archons binds society together.

History

Full Article: History of Tehom

We are the descendants of a planetary colony created by The Garden, an interstellar empire that came to Tehom to terraform it. The Garden failed in its efforts: The climate of the planet destabilized, undetected alien life awoke, and disease engulfed the human population. The Garden quarantined the entire star system, abandoning the colony to its fate. Death and ruin were commonplace. Then a miracle happened: meta-humanity emerged. There is no record of superhuman traits within the Garden, but soon after Tehom was abandoned a small segment of the population began to exhibit abilities and powers beyond what humanity was capable of. The greatest of them created the Stormward Council. A handful of colony centers survived thanks to luminaries such William Goodguide, Sunbringer, and Dimday Dragoon.

That was generations ago. Since then, the cosmpoli have been built and the Set has been tamed.

Current Challenges and Obstacles

The world of Tehom is full of many threats that require the attention of Archons.

Hadalians and the Monster Tide

When humanity came to Tehom, it was a frozen world and humanity was unaware what slept beneath the ice. As the terraforming proceeded, a dormant ecosystem came to life, and generally the indigenous life was actively hostile to humanity and its ecosystem. Today, most surface life is terrestrial (or at least compatible with terrestrial life). This is especially true within the environs of the Set. As one moves toward the poles, or into open waters, or goes toward the abyssal plains under water however, life becomes alien very quickly. Many of these lifeforms are antithetical to terrestrial life. Many are dangerous and hostile. This other, pre-human ecosystem has become known as “Hadalian”.

A “monster tide” is when Hadalian organisms attack a human outpost, such as a mining rig. Sometimes, like the Urchin Tide, Hadalians attack a cosmopolis. The word “attack” is used because while some incidents appear random, others are very much planned. On occasion, a monster tide will take the form of a Leviathan, a gigantic creature, often a unique mutation, going on a rampage. Many Archons watch the sea, waiting for the next monster tide.

The Mad Legion

As Archons became more common among humanity, so did another phenomenon: the Mad Legion. A madness takes hold of people, giving them twisted versions of Archonic power, but making them sadistic creatures bent on destruction. Some cosmopoli spend resources trying to cure members of the Mad Legion (with some success), while others have a standing kill order against anyone so afflicted. The Mad Legion are a boogeyman that keeps many an citizen and Archon awake at night.

The Duidainian Anarchy

Full Article: Key Tehomin Polities The single largest landmass on Tehom is the island of Duidain. It was large enough to sustain three independent and very powerful cosmopoli. Eventually, these three polities went to war, destroying their economies and the island in the process. In an act that shocked the rest of Tehom, the citizens of Duidain rose up and overthrew the Archons, creating the Duidainian Anarchy (literally “Rule of no Anarchs”) in what has become known as the Waste Rebellion. Other Archons would have moved in to reestablish order if it wasn’t for the Anarchists acquiring control of a cosmopoli’s nuclear arsenal very quickly and publicly. Now , the Anarchy (they refer to themselves as the Duidainian Commune) is officially cutoff from the rest of the world, with few cosmopoli willing to recognize it as a sovereign state. It has rebuilt itself without the help of the Set, and one only wonders what they plan next.

Archons

Cosmopoli rarely go to war in a conventional sense. The expenditure of resources is too great, and the memory of the Waste Rebellion is deep. Instead, disputes are handled by Archons, diplomatically at first, and then in personal combat. While the collateral damage of two sets of Archons fighting can be dramatic, it pales to what a modern military could do. Of course, not all conflicts between Archons are affairs of state. Some conflicts between Archons are at their core personal matters. When one has developed a celebrity-aristrocracy around the lifestyles of the superhumanly powerful, many things can become the cause of conflicts. Romantic entanglements and personal insults have lead to more than one popular Archon match vidcast. Finally, Some Archons only have the name because they have power. These villains either sell their services as mercenaries, or commit piracy and banditry on outlying areas.

Concept

Superheroic celebrity-aristocrats rule high tech city states in a world with supernatural forces reminiscent of "Lost". In this world, the characters are Heroes who will either use their public personas for public and personal benefit, or become consumed by fame and the planetary consciousness.

This statement can be unpacked further:

Superheroic rulers

• The PCs are connected to a location, a group, or an institution. In classic legends, the king of one city is a great hunter, the princess of another is a sorceress, and a baron two kingdoms over is unbeatable in single combat.
• In-setting, the PCs are Cerenim, or "lords", and they have been chosen to wield immense power, and they will decide what to defend, what to exploit, and what to disavow.

Supernatural forces

• In the TV show "Lost," The Island appears to have an agenda and it manipulates events and coincidence to slowly have it happen. This is the state of affairs on Tehom, only instead of discussing The Island in hushed tones, one talks of the Tide's Eye.
• The Tide's Eye has several names, but the world of Tehom seems to take an interest in humanity as a whole. Certain cities have improbable weather patterns , some sea lanes are calm whereas others become stormy as soon as a ship comes close. The Tide's Eye only works on an environmental level, however, unless Cerenim is involved. Cerenim are often saved from death by improbably coincidences, for example, above and beyond the powers they wield.
  • There are many debates about what the Tide's Eye is. To the degree there is religion found on Tehom, it often is involved in trying to explain what the Tide's Eye is or wants. For some, it is a purely accidental force that aggregates psychic energy, focusing on commonly thought about topics (celebrities, weather, war, etc.). For others, it is a conscious mind actively moving humanity toward some state of affairs for its own reasons. Those who specialize in trying to interpret the actions of the Tide's Eye and decipher Tehom's will are Mystics, and they range from con artists to truly otherworldly individuals.

Celebrity-aristocrats of high tech city states

• The world of Tehom is one of sovereign city-states (called cosmopoli) built within the archipelago of a vast ocean, and the Cerenim are the center of not just the political system, but a public sphere dominated by social and mass media. Adoring fans follow the every move of the Cerenim, and this fixation is woven into the political structure of the cities as well.
• While a bureaucracy exists, the masters of society are those with personality, name, and power. This is a world where power (political, economic, military/violence) is extremely personal.

Personal and Public Good

• In a perfect world, heroes are exemplars of what a society holds as good and admirable, heroes are rewarded for this, and everything fits together in glorious harmony. Tehom, however, is not a perfect world, and that creates several lines of tension.
  • What does the perfect world look like, and what is you character going to do to make the world (s)he lives in look a little more like that perfect world?
  • Even before we get to championed warfare, being a superhumanly public persona can be an exhausting task. How much will your character selflessly give? What will they try to bracket as being "off limits" and private? Also, your character is a HERO, and arguably deserves some compensation for being so. How does (s)he go about ensuring they get their just reward, and how are they defining that?

Mode

This game will be a hybrid of some degree between 3 modes:

• Epic: a sweeping tale of heroism, against a backdrop of great historical events
• Chronicle: the lead characters manage the economic and political affairs of a community (or other unit, such as a corporation), often over a large span of time.
• Procedural: as part of their job, highly competent professionals solve a succession of problems, perhaps interspersed with ongoing stories of their personal lives.

Setting

• Tehom is a world that was settled and terraformed generations ago. The project (and the colonists) were abandoned when the world's psychic consciousness took notice of humanity and began to resist terraforming efforts.
• Society has since stabilized, though the Raquiya System and the planet Tehom are still cut off from interstellar human civilization.
  • A thin band of ocean and islands near the equator have been fully terraformed, though the colder reaches of the planet are a hybrid of the planet's original ecology and the Terran one engineered by humans.
• Tehom has a "world mind" that amplifies and aggregates psychic energy. A population's conscious and unconscious desires effect the world.
  • The primary effect of this is that entities gain tangible benefits (or problems) from reputation. Some places are "cursed" while other cities just seem to be cleaner and healthier.
  • This can happen to people (and lineages of people) as well. Heroes gain power with their renown, pushing well beyond what is "normally" human. Overtime, these heroes, called Ceren / Lords and Shoftim / Judges, have become the political elites of society.
• Contemporary human society centers on densely populated cities supported by teh resources they can find on the small islands and vast oceans of Tehom. The population is ruled and fixated on the celebrity hero-aristocrats, the Cerenim, who the world is quite literally watching.

Links

History of Tehom

System information

The following is a quick profile using the stats for systems from Diaspora

• System: Raquiya
• Technology: 1/-1 (“Cerentech” vs. standard society)
• Environment: E0 – 1 garden and several barren worlds
• Resources: Rich

Primary Actors

• Ceren – the Lords
• Shoftim – The Governors – leaders of the Lords
• Tehom – the world of Raquiya IV
• Mevakeret Tavul– The Fascinated Traveler, The Tides' Eye, the world mind or psychic aggregator of Tehom

Political entities

• The Ten Horns – The ten great cities of humanity
• The Little Horn – The Commune, aka, the Communal Republic
• The Seven Crowns – the Seven great Shoftim