When you’re in a Hollow but you’re not in a fight against an Entity, you’re in the Exploration stage of the game. Surrounding each Entity in a Hollow are blasted hinterlands of rotten unreality where people, places, and things have been absorbed from the real world and remade into unsettling new forms. Exploring them is […]
This country is built on our bones. Labour made The Isles strong. The Empire couldn’t have existed without mills, shipyards, factories and foundries, and the owners and workers (but mostly the owners) of the nation forced the Crown to recognise their value, and reward them with democratic representation. For a while, things were good. Elected […]
Dead gods make fertile soil. Before the rise of the empire, the average Islander believed dozens of malevolent gods and spirits were ever-ready to punish them for transgressions against inscrutable laws. Ramshackle amalgamations of folk beliefs coalesced into a broad tradition of fear, obfuscation and appeasement; churches were carefully-maintained divine blind spots where births, marriages, […]
Nothing is meaningless. The Conclave is older than Hollows. In fact, it’s older than most institutions that persist in The Isles, but the fact that it specifically predates the first known Hollow is significant. It’s almost as if their long-irrelevant royal founder was prescient when she formally acknowledged The Isles’ disparate circles of sages and […]
The Crown We were great, once. Before smokestacks and presses, before looms and workhouses, before cutting-edge science and an empire that spanned the globe, the Isles were a place of quiet majesty. Of noble knights, gleaming armour, slain dragons and momentous destinies. The Crown clings to this ingrained mythology tighter each decade, and as the […]
The Isles are a state in mid-collapse – it might even have collapsed already, depending on how high you set your standards. In recent memory the Isles had an empire and industry; it had pride. But first it ripened, then it began to rot. The four factions of the Isles are the people in charge […]
“You’re strong. Smart. Capable. The world’s set against you but with the Pistol resting on your hip or howling in your hand you can weather any storm. You’re a force to be reckoned with, and those fools will be left in your wake when you show them what you can do.” The Pistol is chief […]
“There are fighters and there are warriors and you, friend, are a warrior. You are a professional. You have earned the right to lead an army, to seize the reins of civilisation, to cut and stab and kill. In your hand is the Sword, the tool of a master, and the key to victory. Show […]
“You are strong. You are the strongest. The alpha. A perfect machine. An irresistible force. The world breaks around you. Don’t hesitate. Don’t think. Destroy those who would try to slow you down.” The Bludgeon doesn’t consider itself technology. Technology is unpredictable, fragile, and – honestly – an unfair advantage. It wants you to grab […]
“There is a line between us and them. Across that line is the Spear, keeping them away from us. Protecting the sacred from the profane. Defending right and killing wrong. The world is trying to swallow you and those you care about, but it’ll have to get through you first.” The Spear is, in all likelihood, the oldest […]
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