Otherworld:Introduction

This Book

This book is a supplement for the Elysium Role-playing Game. This book fully outlines and details a unique world setting in which your games can be set: that of the Otherworld. In order to use the information inside this book, you'll first need a copy of the Elysium RPG Rulebook to teach you the rules of the game. This book contains information on new and interesting races, strange technology and innovative equipment, exotic locales and cultures, and improved character building tools. Welcome to Otherworld: Dieselpunk.

Dieselpunk

What is Dieselpunk?

Dieselpunk is a vision of an alien, future world from the standpoint of someone living in our own 1940's. Back then there was war brewing in the midst of an industrial age, television was a brand new thing, and you had to build it bigger to build it better. The science fiction and fantasy stories of those days are very different than the ones we imagine today, but they were the products of a vivid, exciting, and sometimes terrifying age in history.

To give you an idea of what the world was like back then, this era was responsible for such things as King Kong, Glenn Miller, art deco, sidecars, whiskey bars, fedoras, big bands, femme fatales, machine guns, pin-up girls, bomber jackets, private detectives, tanks, patriotism, Humphrey Bogart, the a-bomb, biplanes, Rosie the Riveter, propaganda, "the cat's pajamas," nationalism, diners, the Red Scare, trenchcoats, Bing Crosby, cigarettes, jukeboxes, genocide, archeology, Superman, the occult, and of course, the diesel engine.

Some good movies to watch in order to familiarize yourself with Dieselpunk elements are The Maltese Falcon, the Indiana Jones series, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, The Iron Giant, Band of Brothers, Mad Max, The Rocketeer, Dark City, The Shadow, Astroboy, Steamboy, War of the Worlds, Hellboy, V for Vendetta, and 1984. Some of these are highly fictionalized accounts set in other worlds, and some are closely based on our own history.

What Dieselpunk Is Not

• Steampunk - Steampunk is a vision of the future from the standpoint of the Victorian Era, which came before World War I, instead of after it. Steam-powered technology is the focus of this genre and the atmosphere is one of armchair philosophy in parlor rooms. Most Steampunk stories are set against the sooty, rainy backdrop of a world resembling Great Britain. The lofty air of Steampunk language and dress doesn't fit well with the streamlined and sometimes gritty feel of Dieselpunk. Steampunk has too many frills, too much lace, too much pomp to be Diesel.
• Cyberpunk - This genre centers around dark, dystopian worlds where computers and cybernetics dominate the landscape. Cyberpunk worlds most aptly deserve the title of "-punk," since rebellious, law-breaking attitudes and other punk aspects feature prominently. Cyberpunk is a vision of the future from the standpoint of the last years of the twentieth century and is too heavily wired and vandalized to be Diesel.

Important Aspects of Dieselpunk

1. War - Whether the world is currently at war, in the post-war (possibly post-apocalyptic) phase, or whether war looms like a stormcloud about to break, war is an important theme in Dieselpunk stories. Men in uniform are a common sight and joining up was a matter of personal honor and pride.
2. The Bomb - In an effort to establish military supremacy and ensure national security, the nations of a Dieselpunk world will likely engage in an arms race to outdo each other. Some of the weaponry thus engineered can be a deterrent to aggressive nations, but can also create a sense of unease with the rest of the world.
3. Prejudice - There are some areas of a Dieselpunk world where certain races or backgrounds are persecuted or unwelcome. This could take the form of discrimination, segregation, or genocide. These atrocities played a large part in our own World Wars and they will likely rear their ugly heads in Dieselpunk stories.
4. Advertising - Wherever you go, an ad for some product or another should not be far away. Radio jingles, billboards, and newspaper ads pepper the landscape. Propaganda is also used to great effect in Dieselpunk stories to encourage morale in one's own nation and foster animosity toward those it vilifies. Posters, flyers, and oft-repeated slogans such as "Loose Lips Sink Ships" or "Give Em Both Barrels!" were liberally distributed all through the war.
5. Punching - If you watch a lot of Dieselpunk movies, you'll notice that there is a lot of punching going on. Working with one's hands and settling problems with one's fists was the preferred method among the working class. A little scrappin' and brawlin' never hurt nobody, did it? Well, it never hurt 'em that much, that is.
6. Big City Life - Suburbs didn't really exist until the economic upturn of the postwar years when returning veterans settled outside the cities for a quiet life. Before then, most working-class folks lived in the cities, leaving acreage to the farmers and wealthy landowners. The cities are where the action is, boyo, and the well-to-do live in their towering skyscrapers, sequestered above the bustling din of the working class. Those who have money will seek to literaly elevate themselves above the plight of the lower class. There's high-rises here, there and everywhere and penthouses a'plenty.
7. Transportation - Some lucky folks own cars, but for those who don't, public transportation like cabs, buses, trolleys, and ferries, are clean, affordable, and plentiful. Then there are the zeppelins, trains, ships, and planes which got people from city to city.
8. Superpowers - In a world where industry and war carries significant weight, the farthest-advanced nations will develop into superpowers, reaching out with imperialism to snatch up strategic territory, precious raw materials, and new technology as they grow larger and more powerful. It's the perfect day to build an empire.
9. Diesel - Fuel is a commodity which is highly prized and new breakthroughs in how to use it should factor into Dieselpunk stories. And sooner or later, everybody runs out of gas.
10. Punk - While the well-to-do were busy with their big bands and fancy bars, the homeless and poor invented the flying v and electric bass, and carved punk-rock hovels in the bowels of the cities. Since the historical reality of the post-Depression era is rather bleak for the socially downtrodden, it just feels right to arm their Dieselpunk versions with studs, spikes and chains.

Otherworld

What is Otherworld?

Otherworld is the abode of the dead, a place to which souls gravitate after shedding their mortal coil. Originally, these souls were the only inhabitants of the world, but at some point living beings found their way into Otherworld as well and there they now live, in tandem with the dead.

At the center of Otherworld is Jaeis, a planet with limitless powers of growth and regeneration, a place of life and light, but haunted by the dead. The planet itself is alive, that is, it possesses a mind and will of its own. As time goes by and the industrial world encroaches on more and more fertile land, the sentient planet becomes more volatile towards all those who inhabit it.

The Wilds

If the cities of Otherworld are dangerous because of the people who live there and the things they make, the wilderness outside of the cities is dangerous because of their absence. As the skyscrapers shoot skyward within the confines of the concrete jungle, the actual jungle grows more tangled and dangerous as Jaeis herself fights back against each encroaching metropolis.

• The Animals
• The Feral Gods
• Black Woods

The Old Ways

There was once a time when the peoples of Jaeis practiced magic. Then came the Triadan Civil War and when the Triadan Empire collapsed, so did the world's reliance on magic. The Civil War was devastating and the resultant cataclysm turned an entire nation into a smoldering, haunted ruin--the City of Rune. Currently it seems that technology has taken the place of magic for most people, but not all. Some anachronistic types still practice the Old Ways, casting spells and using powers long-forgotten by the rest of the world.

Spirits and the Dead

The dead had been coming to Otherworld for ages untold before the first living beings stumbled their way there. Being dead there wasn't much use in keeping records of what went on during that time, so there isn't much known about this period on Jaeis. It wasn't until the dead had living beings like their old selves to interact with that they rediscovered their humanity. At that point, the first historical records of the world surfaced.

Not everyone who dies makes it to the Otherworld. Furthermore, not all inhabitants of Otherworld are dead. The dead take many forms in Otherworld. The important part of being dead is the soul. The stronger the soul, and the more attached that soul is to the physical realm, the greater chance there is that the soul will find a way to carry on after the body has died. Some who were attached to their bodies become zombies, creatures with all the intelligence of their former selves but trapped in a rotting bag of bones. Others linger as ghosts.

I personally think most role-playing games skip over a cool idea for undead beings because the undead make for excellent straightforward bad guys. They don't need to have personality because their endless lust to destroy living things is enough.

Factions and Philosophy

Jaeis is a world where science and religion make strange bedfellows. The belief systems of the world are philosophical in nature; something less time-honored than true religion, but at times more fervent. Some of the citizens of the world possess only a passing interest in these philosophical movements, and for others it is their only driving purpose in life. Some nations adopt national philosophy while others remain neutral, maintaining a separation of state and belief. In addition to the four main factions, there are constantly emerging cults, movements, and power groups which merge some of the beliefs of the major factions or determine their own values. Defined here are the four main factions of Jaeis.

Naturalism

Belief in union with the natural world. Many of the early humanoid cultures of Jaeis continued to live off of the land long after the promise of better living through magic, alchemy, and technology was offered. These Naturalists view the other factions as blasphemers and their practices as profane. To the Naturalists, Jaeis is a natural paradise and a near-perfect home and to survive there, a truce must be kept with the planet.

The Industrialists pollute, the Entropists destroy, and the Alchemists twist the purity of the world. They must all be dealt with eventually: Jaeis commands it.

Industrialism

Belief in technology and mechanically aided prosperity. In the wake of the Technological Revolution, the largely godless world of Jaeis gravitated to worship of their gadgetry and gizmos. The notion of the Builder emerged: industry personified and then deified. The Builder stands for all endeavors undertaken in the name of the spread of technology.

The Builder encourages his people to build and spread, so to an Industrialist, the Naturalists have turned away from their calling and live ignorant, savage lives like animals. The Entropists are outdated nutjobs obsessed with destruction for destruction's sake and must be watched carefully. The Alchemists have the right idea, but their methods are dangerous and strange. They seek to alter instead of augment, and they could lead the people down a dangerous path.

Entropism

Belief in the Old Ways, divine beings, and cosmic forces. Somewhere out there, in the farthest reaches of space, the old gods drift, just out of reach of the inhabitants of Jaeis. Contending that humanoids are stranded on a hostile, alien world, the Entropists are certain of that world's eventual, necessary and inevitable destruction, either at the hand of the old gods, or their own. When the world ends, life will continue on, or it won't, but the Entropists refuse to bow their head to Jaeis in return for a slave collar. Entropists practice the Old Ways, the ways of magic and of oath-bound orders. Magic is the conduit through which communion with the old gods is possible, so those ways must be preserved. Entropists also maintain a fascination with the realms of death and afterlife, as it fits with their interest in the things which wait outside the known world, but

To Entropists, the Naturalists are dangerous because they add weight to the side of Jaeis in the coming conflict between the old gods and the violent planet. The Industrialists waste their time building their castles in the sand in the face of the changing tide when they could be helping the Entropists out with more important matters. The Alchemists are saddest of all since all their time spent transforming the world will come to naught when it is destroyed.

Alchemism

Belief in engineered evolution. Alchemy is the process of turning one thing into another. The concept and practice has been around for ages, but not until recently has it gained momentum as a philosophy with the people of the world. This is mostly due to breakthroughs in science which led to hybrid food and animals, genetically altered or engineered beings, and exciting new compounds not found in nature. Alchemists have taken this idea of transmutation to the extreme, and seek to elevate all life into another higher, purer form. In order to survive, so say the Alchemists, the shape of life must change and adapt, and quickly. To this end, the Alchemists endeavor to create new forms of life, food, and materials.

In the eyes of Alchemists, the Entropists have lost all hope in the light of their primitive belief system, the Industrialists are just covering up and weighing down that which should be transformed, and the Naturalists are too pig-headed and afraid of the primordial world to accept change, and so they have entered into an unholy union with Jaeis.