literature

WtO: the Tempest

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A place of dread and constant change, the Tempest is the crossroads between reality and Oblivion. Here, the citadels of various necropoli are made manifest, their walls constantly battered by howling winds and bestial terrors alike. The skies are ever clouded in gloom, and as one ventures deeper therein, they find themselves closer to the walls of Oblivion’s Labyrinth.

Author's Note:
Due to fear of confusing the players with having so many unrelated things with the term "shadow" in them, I felt the original Shadowlands would be best represented by merging it with the Tempest. We could argue that the destruction of Stygia (or some such cataclysm) caused the two realms to mutate with each other. Also, it felt wrong just making up a new name for the place, since it would be blindingly obvious to players already familiar with Wraith. In any case, please enjoy what I've gotten done thus far.

--Getting there
For wraiths, access to the Tempest is easy enough. All they need to do is spend 1 Pathos to shift between it and the Skinlands. However, doing this in places not strongly tied to death risks appearing at a random part of the local Tempest, often completely out in the open. Most necropoli label “safe zones” in the Skinlands. Such areas are where wraiths can be sure that they’ll appear within the confines of their given citadel or nearby outpost.
Leaving the Tempest is slightly different. Costing 1 Pathos, the wraith has a few options on where they’ll turn up. Either they reappear at one of their fetters in the Skinlands (their choice) or they end up at the last place they were before entering the Tempest. Note that the closer a wraiths gets to Oblivion, the harder it is to pass back into the Skinlands. If a wraith attempts to shift while in the Sea of Shadows, they must roll Resolve + Composure, as the influence of the gloom tries to keep them from leaving.

Geography
To wraiths and natives alike, the Tempest is a dark realm of infinite sky and floating islands, most of which are representations of places in the Skinlands that have strong ties to the deceased, such as cemeteries, memorials, sites of slaughter, and so forth. Even if such areas are destroyed, so long as its memory holds significance to either living or dead, it will remain present in the Tempest.
Other such islands have become settlements, nihils, or barren rocks made from raw plasm, naturally congealed together by the chaotic winds. It is for this reason that such islands are more often found above the Sea of Souls, as the Tempest grows in strength the higher one climbs. Wraiths venturing downwards find the howling winds to lessen the further they go, to the point of complete and utter silence. Unfortunately, this means that the wraiths in question are nearing the Labyrinth, the domain of the Malfeans and their Spectral minions. To bypass it, and continue on, is to face Oblivion itself.

Chart of Descent
Tempest
--Sea of Souls
Umbra
The Labyrinth
Oblivion

The Sea of Souls
Not so much a sea as it is a visible barrier between the raging Tempest and the silent Umbra, the Sea of Souls is made up of discarded memories, emotions, and plasmic debris torn from necropoli during maelstroms. Ordinarily, one would think having access to so much of the stuff would mean the Restless never ran short of building materials, but due to its close proximity to the Umbra (and everything beneath it) few wraiths dare risk a spectre pulling them in.

Nihils
Unlike the Avernian Gates found in the Skinlands, nihils are natural byways within the Tempest, most forming above or right atop the Sea of Souls, often leading straight to the Underworld, and whatever lies beyond them.

Rivers of the Underworld
High above the Sea of Souls, where the emotions, memories, and thoughts of the dead are believed to converge, the Rivers of the Underworld begin their deluge. From the veiled heavens, they descend, like constant waterfalls leading towards the sea below. But rather than remain a constant whole, the rivers divide across the Tempest, sometimes bending away, other times falling downward till they land upon an entrance to the Underworld. Only the Ferrymen know where the Rivers flow, and for a price, they can grant safe passage to those seeking a place within the Tempest or realms below.

----

Maelstroms
While the nature of the Tempest is already one of psychic winds and hidden dangers, a maelstrom is an event that amplifies these qualities tenfold. When a fatal disaster occurs within the skinlands, or the spectres of Oblivion gather for an assault, a maelstrom erupts from the Sea of Souls, enveloping the nearby area of note in a wave of destructive chaos. These storms are incredibly fast, and only the Ferrymen or wraiths trained properly in Argos have a chance of outrunning them. In most cases, the best option is to simply try and weather them from the safety of a haunt or Citadel, especially since spectres will often use maelstroms to cover their approach.

Mechanics:
For every round a wraith stays out in the open during a maelstrom, they suffer a penalty of -1 to all dicerolls (to a maximum of -5). They are also vulnerable to debris, surprise attacks, and being pulled deeper into the Tempest.
Disclaimer: This is homebrew stuff, converting material from classic WoD's Wraith: the Oblivion, as well as Orpheus, into nWoD.

Continued from Character Creation Rules: www.deviantart.com/art/nWoD-Wr…

This piece is also not entirely finished, so please feel free to offer any ideas on how to improve. :)
© 2014 - 2024 MrParaduo
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