The Emperor Protects!

So I'm gearing up to run a new campaign that takes place on the "last world"...

The last world is just that - the last place humanity and will stand before extinction

Now today in the timeline being around 100.M41 this world has been identified (using otherworldly means available to mankind) and as such - this last world - has been cordoned off and made secret by the Inquisition - who have extended their power as a Faction in order to not only keep the information / location clandestine but also the esoteric knowing (i.e. Consensus - see Mage from Whitewolf publishing for that definition).

Why keep it a secret why not strike now?!

Preordained events and the whole otherworldly nature of things not fully realized or understood by man namely be the first reason, second goes to mankind's fertile mind. (The Mythos Connection) So as on Earth those creative minds found traditionally within the enclaves and demographics of artists served well forces beyond the ken of our third dimension. Of that - to know is to acknowledge - and to acknowledge is to draw forth the attentions of such forces...

They are to be kept at bay from The Black Man, Haunter in the Dark, the All-Seeing Eye, the Crawling Chaos, Khephnes, Mighty Messenger, Great Messenger, Father of the Million Favored Ones, Stalker among the Stars...

For it has imprisoned mankind's Earthy Gods of the past; gods they could fathom and most importantly "stomach" for much of their host took on the confirmation of man commonly found in various pantheons from the Norse to the Greek to that of the Egyptians.

<Secret Gist> Nyarlathotep caused the ruin and downfall of Earth's human-like gods whom they sought succor from those things Mythos born or otherwise familiar to the 40k Universe - the Ruinous Powers as described as Psychic entities are/were born from the sentience of other beings rather than being wrought from its own source like the god-things of the Mythos.

Moreover - it was been suggested that every galaxy has differing "Chaos gods" who fall into shape based on those populations found therein. In our galaxy we have whats familiar as <Khorne, Nurgle, Slaanesh, Tzeentch> but in other places far removed from these angles of our space time there are and have been things of a different bent. If Nyarlathotep "discovers" that last world then those new gods that man has made for himself there will fall to the way side more importantly the Crawling Chaos will be able to usher in the end of what all races known now as third dimensional space - it is in this role where mankind beyond the aarogance of ego has it place in creation and a vital stake to play. So the secret is kept, for like a malady this gnosis has the weight to doom all...

That's the big picture (Mythos) things are rare and hard to come by in my 40k campaigns - but this marries it all together with a purpose for all sides of the story. For me the Chaos Gods are like "Horrors" from Earthdawn albeit very very powerful ones associated only to the Milky Way Galaxy (think cosmic Horrors). Where the Great Old Ones, Old Ones, and the like (Yogsothoth comes to mind) are things beyond which dwarf the concerns and struggles had against the Chaos Gods. Aloof and supreme these beings commonly overlook our dimension amongst others and only manifest when the stars are right - FIN

In this framework the Emperor is an avatar of Nyarlathotep - the sleeping god...

There will be more to come - figured I'd share some first before going on!

Stay GAMING

Morbid

Of Reincarnation & the Star Child...

As it has been decreed - the Emperor was/is consistent of many of Terra's first and most potent shamans. What would not be understood till later time was his/their ability to split the spirit - during the mythic age of Sigmar this would occur in on Terra. When the Star Child split - it was jaunted across the breadth of the galaxy all the while influencing the minds of many in those days and the time of the Imperium to come!

That subtle prevalence will would in time cause many wheels to turn - the final cumulative result being the invention (during the Dark Age of Technology) of the *Providence Device and its subsequent deployment - as it was "aimed" and sent outward towards the Halo Stars in time to come - unbeknownst to humanity the apparatus would "veer off course" and go lost (as intended by the Star Child). On this course it would stay in dormancy for millennia - in time the mechanism would find its intended target - a nameless unknown world on the very fringe of the Galaxy - there it would germinate once impacted...

*(i.e. the Genesis Device from Star Trek) The device initiated a process of rapid terraforming , by which previously uninhabitable planets could be turned into habitable worlds ready for colonization. This was accomplished by launching the Genesis Device, a torpedo-shaped projectile, into a lifeless planet. Upon impact, the device caused a massive explosion, reducing the entire area to subatomic particles. A preprogrammed matrix then reassembled these subatomic particles into the desired configuration, creating an atmosphere and environment habitable for Humans within a matter of hours, regardless of the test area's original composition.

Once the last world was born more of mankind would be influenced outwards - this coursing would be realized when those first few explorers ventured in time to the Calaxis - beyond the era of Haarlock nothing definite can be determined - only that "people" arrived upon what would be known in days to come as "The Grim" polarized by its dual stars - washing the last world in those umbral reaches in the half light of the Eclipse.

As the survivors lived and multiplied - the Star Child was reborn amongst mankind (when the Emperor was entombed in his Golden Throne); the fractious spirit was made whole again! From that clay his spirit was potent and as such called forth the unrealized lives of many from the first days of man (WHFRP Era - caveman) to those extents when his old empire finally fell and Terra ushered in a more prosaic age...

When the Star Child jumps from one world to the next - it takes the baggage of countless spirits (i.e. millions of "souls" of people) within in its wake - like a tide; this tide of reincarnation has caused this final world to mirror culturally certain aspects of Terra's historic record. <this is the mechanism that explains why there are all the analogs of Old Worlders, Norsemen, Arabians, Steppe Nomads, Orientals, and Southrons; represented here from on this world!

In time after the crash humanity would forget its place amongst the stars and regress to a more simpler expression as old lives were reborn into the next; the Star Child had thusly accomplished a singular aim amongst multitudes of purposes - as Nyarlathotep has seemingly manipulated the cosmic stage in the form of the Emperor...

The whims and desire of the Crawling Chaos can be little understood; when the stars are right and Cthulhu rises on Terra - this pocket of potential (i.e. humanity) held in reserve has been done with purpose - what that final aim is - comes from the unfathomable manifested!

GIST: Nyarlathotep is the Emperor - who takes a portion of humanity with it to an unknown world veiled from the attentions of the Great Old Ones - here the Crawling Chaos has promised a kingdom for the Gods of the Earth (by tricking them) while keeping the hearts and minds the man safe for the time being...

Trope: I want to be alive (in our case "stay" alive - whatever that means to Nyarlathotep)

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PinocchioSyndrome

If Nyarlathotep is in essence the hand maiden / manifestation / avatar - then like an A.I. it wants to stay alive / "on" is the gist...

Nyarlathotep enacts the will of the Outer Gods, and is their messenger, heart and soul; he is also a servant of Azathoth, his father ^, whose wishes he immediately fulfills. Unlike the other Outer Gods, causing madness is more important and enjoyable than death and destruction to Nyarlathotep...

Terra Bound Activity

By the time the era of 30th Millennium rolls around a number of things have occurred on Earth that should help explain away - where did all the servitor races and Mythos beings go?

1. For some they died out with mankind's advances in both technology and metaphysics

2. Other races / species like the Mi-go left earth
3. Some races and individual "things" went into torpor (i.e. long hibernation or sleep)
4. While other things slipped sideways (i.e. went to places like the Dreamlands of Earth)

Most of the gods and powers of Lovecraft Mythos are not earth born and as such are easily explained away...

Of the Players...

Each of the acolytes was chosen from the native stock of the Grim - these individuals culled from the best and worthy.

So the players are each members of some sort of secret club, cabal, society, and or the like - of which at the surface was/is a prosaic institution, though each of which serves to seed the needed stock of acolytes to come.

Real World Analog: Say you join the Free Masons (the York Rite) - stay in with them for say 10 years and then get invited to join something called "The Blind Eye" - which takes up a further say 5 more years which then graduates up to something along the lines of a Delta Green organization (from COC). So by these degrees of initiation the player characters go up the ranks and become knowledgeable of things beyond the reckoning of normal (medieval) men.

Originally when it was discovered that mystical "consensus" was to play a role in the fate or this last world and humanity's outcome - a special force was created to keep the stage manageable for the days to come! What this means - mystically the world must be kept from the attentions of chaos whether than be from the four Ruinous Powers (described as cosmic level "Horrors" derived from sentient beings) or the inter dimensional god-powers of the Mythos. For if either were to become wholly "aware" then it would manifest there - thus polluting the stage for the days to come.

So each career as expressed in DH except for Mechnicus has a founder who hence since has had their knowledge (i.e. skills, talents, etc) passed down from man to man in the vein of something like "Zorro" or "Batman" if you will.

Having established that - each of the players at the campaign start comes from the corners of the world all of whom had been sent to a specific locale - aka a starting point for the campaign - there they meet each other and more importantly learn of various "handlers" - the lowly folk who were choosen as retainers and menials by those first few who landed so long agao - today the descendants of these "handlers" live in the lands as sleeper agents awaiting destiny.

The characters meet with their first handler who instructs them to a "cache" in the mountains over yonder - when they get to the blasted heath - the players discovered it to be a wrecked voidship - within once they explore they find the bridge and more importantly the vox - from that eventually they get to speak with their Inquisitor for the first time. That Inquisitor indicates that his "seat" of office has been awaiting transmission - and how he's the fifth man to await broadcast from below (four other inquisitors evidently lived and died in seat waiting - aka four life times); from there the Inquisitor tells them all they need to know - finishing with a directive...

Go to see this sleeper - that sleeper is a collector of malefaction - aka takes notes of threats and legends that the acolytes will need to clean up during the course of said campaign!

And that's it in essence - the framework set - our acolytes are now headed to the capital of the land to seek out a Stewart to the mad House of So & So - there our players will be made privy to the blacklist!

Stay GAMING

Morbid

Of Influence & Subtly

In keeping with the theme herein - the acolytes must play a fine game of balance between those who would know and those who know not the glory of the Imperium...

Of Influence

Originally when the Grim was still be explored after its discovery by Imperial agents - a governor was installed who was then supported by a grand council of 36 who would in time after the governor's era become kings in their own right thusly - today those in the know regard this lot as the 29 Columns or " the Columns of Knowledge " having lost 7 of its number since inception.

Details are scant to nonexistent, all that is known and expected - as one King turn over power to his next in line special council had been given to each generational sovereign - such is the way of kings. This special council would divulge the secret of the stars onto the pontiff revealing their place in the Imperium, more importantly how they are merely shepherds of humanity here awaiting that final course to come and as such these individual rulers are taught High Gothic and smatterings of lore related to the Creed, the Emperor, and his Imperium!

Because of this all Kings are to pay fealty to any who bear the proper symbol - in this case being the Inquisitorial Rosette and the seal of Bahn; this icon is known to most all Kings of Grim only being obscure to those who took their throne by force or otherwise having gained outside of the normal line of succession...

In game: So the players are taught and aware that they may go to any King on the planet and reveal themselves in order to appropriate any manner of service or bauble needed to complete their works. As stated most Kings are to bend a knee and recognize the awesome glory of the Emperor or moreover the acts of his agents in this case. Relations can run the gamut from friendly and warm to cold and outright hostile depending on the ruler in question, in the worst case scenario a King might try to have the acolytes killed, imprisoned, or otherwise banished from his borders - as some might feel threatened as their base of power has seemingly been usurped - in the most diabolical circumstance a King may actually prepare generation after generation for the enviable visit their are expecting, such individuals pose the greatest threat to the acolytes on the world stage!

Gist: Players when making an Acquisition may only do so through a King - it is by these Kings that the land's population trades, works, and moves the items, ideas, or acts decreed by the Acolytes. Those under the king will be unaware of such lofty whims and will not know / can not know the impeding days to come when the world will play host to mankind's last stand. So people like the "mayor" or "duke" or otherwise official personage will have literally no idea of what any Acolyte is talking about if/when referencing the "big picture" and their authority within that tapestry.

Because of the fractious nature of making an Acquisition Acolytes must come to rely upon the conveniences of coin - moreover gold, silver and copper. Such minted monies will be used to procure all manner of goods and deeds needed by the Inquisitorial agents - thusly helping to maintain they're air of secrecy known as Subtly...

Of Subtly

So the Acolytes are native sons born of this last world but differ from the men of their age due to the knowledge, training, and kit afforded to their lot...

Players at the onset of the campaign should be outfitted with all manner of trappings indicative of the setting - being medieval; things like weapons, armor, clothing and gear should all reflect this level of technological. If and when present with the option to "bring" or "carry" the fabulous trappings of the Imperium such vulgar display of outlay can only result in eventual ruin; sort of like burning out fast and hot but never living out long is the logic / theme therein.

And that in essence is the fine balance these throne agents must play - earning enough coin of the land from the land in order to work the land under the noses of its Kings - only revealing themselves in most dire or needed of outcomes!

FIN

Morbid

Of Governance

So each King has been vested with secret knowledge and moreover a physical vestige from those founding days...

Each king of the last world wears a Royal Gorget rather than the Crown traditionally worn elsewhere in time and space. These baubles of title and status are in fact special devices given out by the first and only Governor of the Grim - each is a bomb ( an explosive collar that kills) - but to the native born they are objects of adoration and high esteem - without one a man is not a King!

These collar bombs are or where controlled by the planetary governor who actual existence has faded from Imperial record - today no one knows who that person originally was or what was don't after their time?! In normal circumstances the governor in place would be in direct contact with the Vanguard Agent (i.e. the player's Inquisitor) in order to enact any justice needed upon the last World.

FIN

Of the Land Today

The Acolytes have been gather in a "holy" land (it is holy only because this is where the only surviving voidship can be found by those in the know) - otherwise the kingdom of <INSERT YOUR OWN KINGDOM NAME HERE> has been without a king for over 40 years; a secessionist realm who broke away from the Empire (the Grim has an Empire just like that found in WHFP - albeit with no "Emperor" but rather a Regent) located across the hemisphere in the realms of <INSERT YOUR CONTINENT NAME HERE>.

This kingdom must be kept in check as the future staging ground for the Days of Doom.

Investigate & Quell

Sleeper Agent "Dispatcher" logs all manner of heresy and or troubles:

• Afterdale : in recent time it has come back by rumour that all the King's game has gone missing within 24 leagues of the locale in question; if this is discovered by the authority our tithes from Afterdale will go dry and one of our sources of income will become defunct!
  
  Players are to go to Afterdale and investigate a monastery (see Raveloft's Book of Crypts - Page 50 "The Rite of Terror")
  Players receive income of a few Gold per season if they keep/safe this resource (aka pocket money every 4 months), this would star them off with a guaranteed purse in the days to come - SEE Of Influence & Subtly above
  
• In recent weeks trouble has come to the village of Fargo - a small band of misfits began raiding the outskirts of the village and the surrounding farmland, normally a job for the local Sheriff and his gang - but in this case, a local bauble of dubious origin now stands under threat - this souvenir is claimed to be the reason why our Kingdom still prospers while all others fail (ATM the world as a whole has been experiencing a Volcanic Winter of 2 Years); if the peasants leave those fertile grounds lands the kingdom including yourselves shall suffer want as foods dwindled before the onset of coming winter.
  
  Players go to Fargo to investigate recent action (see the Crucible of Freya Necromancer Games D20)
  
• Blacklist Addendum PENDING

Conversion Concerns

So in the adventures presented above - by the exact vanilla of the fluff provided details lots of strange and wonderful things not readily found in 40k let alone WHFP. Here I will explain what was done in keeping with the Warhammer/Mythos flavor...

D&D Orcs; these are humans who in this case - after a year of Volcanic winter (which no person could explain nor understand) the local bandits of the kingdom turned to infighting over territory and resources eventually whittle down their own numbers across the realm in back country squabbles and skirmishes. Today some of those survivors have exhausted all manner of resources once held by the meeker brand of bandit that once worked these climes. The former "softer" bandits of yesterday had maintained a balance with the land - eating the game well away from the roads and purvey of the king's wardens. For some this meant eating the game found in and around fell places, resulting in shorter lifespans marred by malady. Once the sterner lot of men took over - they took went for the game available and when that was gone some moved on to hunting the last of the meek survivors turning into cannibals. The concentrated "pollutants" of those fell places where the game was had now manifest in some of today's bandits - resulting in gross mutations of spouting tusks, loss of hair, and overall molding of the divine clay to an extant that now those men stand apart. Unable to return for trade - there's is a desperate lot standing upon the fringe awaiting any opportunity to take and prosper! (just to clarify this didn't mean I'm converting 40k's Orks);

Freya; this god of Earth was brought / tricked here by Nyalrathotep - see Dreamlands / The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (Excerpts below)

Carter arrives at last at the abode of the gods, but finds it empty. Finally a great procession arrives with much fanfare, led by a pharaoh-like man who explains to Carter that the gods of earth have seen the city of Carter's dreams and decided to make it their home, and have thus abandoned Kadath. The gods walk no more in the ways of gods, and have become instead mere denizens of the jewelled city...

This mysterious man then reveals his identity—he is Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos, the emissary of the Other Gods who dwell in the blackness of space.

The final lines of the story find Nyarlathotep brooding over his defeat within the halls of Kadath, mocking in anger the "mild gods of earth" whom he has snatched back from the sunset city.

Malar (God from Forgotten Realms); is is an aspect of Shub Niggurath - worshipers here have changed her gender generations ago in order to thwart interlopers of the past...

Our Latest Game Confirmation...

Grim Calendar

Ænterime JAN
Midrime FEB
Widerime MAR

Seedow APR

Firstbud MAY

Allbloom JUN

Soonaze JUL
Highaze AUG
Latterhaze SEP
Tintime OCT
Lastleaf NOV
Stormwind DEC

Our Campaign Map

The link below will take yo to a map with clickable links in some of the locations (this is a work in progress)...

The Free State of Fallwick Map

Some of the names used for "Secret Societies" and the like...

Novus ordo seclorum (New order of the Ages)
Oculus Providentiae (Eye of Providence)
Aspída ti̱s Voulnkáta (The Shield of the Vulgate)
Phratry tou Parousia (The Brotherhood of our Presence)

I am open to GM suggestions on what can be populated in the Campaign Map...

Think of it like a Fallout Map (that was the source that got me started)

The aim is to provide a place that on the surface is mundane & perhaps prosaic - but underneath its a hot bed of hidden threats stemming from an omnious past!

You'll note I borrowed heavily from Lovecraft's works when you read some of the location links!

Enjoy & I await your Worst LOL

Morbid

TEASER

Witches Hollow

The moment you pass among the trees the wind ceases shouting and a stillness drops upon the world around you. So dense is the growth that the sun - shine only comes through in isolated patches. The air is close. There are flowers along both edges of the little path; glades that open on either side; ferns curve about in damper corners, and the smell of earth and foliage is rich and sweet. It is cooler here as you advance. What an enchanting little wood, you think, turning down a small green glade where the sunshine flickers like silver wings...

Campaign RECAP:

First Session:

• Westbrook Lynch Mob ( Exerciseman Pahl Brec was alerted to new comers with much money to spend causing his inquiry and subsequent action against the foreigner PCs)
• Elk Meadow Bandit Camp (PCs came in and around the camp with one instance of intrusion that was detected by the host there)
• Pack of “sick” Wolves ( Trapper Whytmon indicated normal wolves don’t stalk and hunt whole groups of men)

Second Session:

• Elk Meadow Bandits (a warband tracked the hills and slopes in search of the interlopers who undermined their camp / home)
• Unidentified Fiend (Some sort of Temptress who belayed strange and terrible talents sought to molest one of the acolytes)
• “All Awful” Brigand Bulwark (The road east of Eastbrook is cordoned off by a sizeable group of desperate men – former fighters from various corners of Fallwick)

Third Session:

• The Acolytes are headed to the Capital city of Ozwold – there they are to seek out a House & its resident Sleeper Agent who is your “Dispatcher” (Bellum)
• Go to see this sleeper - that sleeper is a collector of malefaction - aka takes notes of threats and legends that the acolytes will need to clean up during the course of said campaign!

Fourth Session:

• Steph & Mark arrive at Ozwold – learn a few things about the local law – declare their costume (i.e. disguises) and enter in to the Earlshae Lane (i.e. the richest part of the city). There they find House Thassa and more importantly meet with their sleeper agent therein.
• The duo departs for a 10-day journey through the wilds along the river south of Ozwold to a thorp called Aferdale – the duo were assigned there for two reasons;

1. House Thassa in essence is owned by Vaevictus ( your Inquisitor “master” / Conspiracy) and as such the PCs allotted income (i.e. small monies; pp, gp, sp, cp) is derived from the House’s holdings – in order to get an allowance the PCs will need to fix the situation and get incoming flowing again to Thassa from Afterdale
2. Dubious activity had come to be known by Bellum in recent time – that of people disappearing and of funeral rites being held without bodies and or graves – this coupled by the income situation has prompted your Conspiracy to look into the matter and quell all threats whether they be earthy or otherwise!

• Mark & Steph arrive and talk with a “spirited” peasant + have the opportunity to witness for themselves a funeral that day! Which subsequently lead to them questioning the local lay priest. Directed back to the “spirited” farmer – he tells them of a young lass he had hired the previous season to overlook his alfalfa patch (keeps the birds away) – she disappeared (being his best friend’s daughter) this prompted the farmer’s action – as he starts to investigate form himself the happenings and going ons in and around the Thorp. This farmer can only direct the Players to the alfalfa patch itself (as the disappearance occurred several months prior), so they go there and set camp. That very night as the two lay under the summer stars Mark was on watch when he dozed off – only to be awakened by a cool winter’s kiss followed by him opening his eyes only to see a wafting light trailing from his position under a tree to the alfa patch itself – the otherworldliness of it all put the acolyte on edge as he stood stupefied by the spectacle before him! FIN RECAP

I'm just not sure about what I've read. In the end, is it really set in the 40k setting (even if very morbidverse?)

Yes the Morbidverse (almost sounds like the Mojo-verse LMFAO) - I've married Lovecraft with 40k - I'm opting to do "canon" in my own way - what the lofty god-things do matters not - as long as all the facets in the greater galaxy are there (i.e. Eldar, Orcs, Tyranids, Heretics, Etc)

I have never run a game of any sort where the players had a complete and concrete understanding of the most esoteric god activities - let alone meeting a god or its avatar... or fathoming the architecture of the reality (btw THATS what I liked about Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard)

As far as I can tell Gameswork Shop doesn't even know what to do with its own IP (soooo I lost a lot of respect for them and their works)

I could go further in - but explanations aren't necessary at this point

Rather think of it as a What If Campaign (like the comics) or a Mashup - alternate fluff/setting as seen herein.

Keep in mind the campaign is intended to start off on a prosaic approach and get loftier as things progress along (from the mundane to obscenely supernatural)

God forbid I introduce Cthulhu Tech ROTFL!

I also use lovecraft elements in my games (well, DH1 did, I can also, nope?). But I was curious about how much this all take place in the 40k universe.

Hell, my last game, my players tried to build a warp portal to jump thourgh space easily. Their radical inquisitor authorised them to create the machine and they met with some kind of stargod of my invention, and then where faced with deep ones that attacked with hordes of fanatics, trying to use the portal to open up in the depths of Holy Terra to let Cthulhu bask in the light of the right stars aligned on the margin world where the portal was created.

Players killed them all, but that was a nice crossover.

For me the 40k Universe and Mythos were always the same - as explained the Ruinous Powers are like "Horrors" from Earthdawn derived and or born of emotion... Whereas the Old Ones, Great Old Ones + etc from the Mythos have occupied the same Universe as all else that you know to be 40k. Between say the 1920s and the 41st millennia much time had passed and as such provided the excuse - if you will - to allow glossing over the specifics of who or what was around and what was it doing... Rather with the rise of Nyarlathotep (aka the Emperor) many things of the Mythos have been manipulated to best benefit the Crawling Chaos' plans...