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| Artwork by Louis Glanzman |
Let's check out a bit more of the 10 characteristics of the setting of Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells?
It’s a Brutal Universe
Even though the Cleansing Wars ended, the Galactic Overlords maintain their power through the use of force and fear. The armies of these tyrants keep the people of their domains in a state of constant fear and submission. Signs of independent thoughts are treated with immediate violence, and rebels are executed in public spectacles.
Even outside of the Galactic Overlords domains, brutality has a strong hold. Without a strong force to keep peace, and the scarcity of resources all around, many believe it’s within their right to take what they want from others.
In the whole universe, people have to choose between living in the oppressive safety under the rule of Galactic Overlords, or the perilous freedom of trying to survive outside their influence.
1d6
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Signs of the Brutality
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1
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A great tower of dark metal with dozens of spikes with impaled bodies of many different species. A sign nearby reads “infidels shall find a painful death”.
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2
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A public execution in a ramshackle community of a whole family by mercenaries in service of the local Galactic Overlord.
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3
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A derelict lies abandoned in space. Inside, mutilated corpses litter the floor and the cabins are sacked, as if someone was looking for something.
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4
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A gigantic space station of Star Death, where fanatics capture victims to throw inside for a endless game of death and dismemberment that is broadcast to many sadistic worlds.
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5
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Instead of dust and ice, the rings around the planet are made of corpses and skeletons in varying stages of rot.
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6
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In a space station, the alarms suddenly sound as a sinister ship approaches. Voiders, crazy murderers whose minds were shattered by the Void. Now they fly through the cosmos spreading death and chaos.
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Technology is a Wonder of the Past
Since the raise of the Galactic Overlord, technological advancements have stopped, and the advanced artifacts of previous eras have been sought like legendary treasures, especially by them. These tyrants now that there is great power in technology, and that if their subjects would get a hold of enough artifacts, they could challenge their rule.
Thus, even though many have access to some technological devices and equipment, they are usually quite old, in bad shape and has been tinkered or modified in various ways. Weapons, objects, vehicles and starships look like they are old and battered. If an individual has a piece of technology, the servants of the Galactic Overlords probably have a more advanced version of that object too.
In this scenario, the search for technological artifacts is a main driving force behind many adventurers across the galaxy. The sorcerous tyrants will also employ their servants in this quest, and will hunt down those they see as a threat for owning too much of them. Having a laser rifle can be a big advantage, but it may attract unwanted attention as well.
1d6
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Signs of the Old Tech
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1
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Across the ruined landscape, elevated platforms and bridges mark the spot of an advantage transportation system that crisscrossed the whole planet. Now, only small parts of it can still be seen in place.
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2
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While everyone around use and sport old battered items and vehicles barely holding together, agents of the local Galactic Overlord appear piloting a hovercar and wielding deadly energy weapons.
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3
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A great junkyard of discarded parts of various devices cover a gigantic area in the horizon. Mountains of trash and broken devices block your vision. Who knows if there is anyway that could still work in there.
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4
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A group of rough looking individuals come to your direction offering to buy a piece of your ship they need. They won’t take no for an answer.
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5
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Natives of a backwater planet are mesmerized even by the simplest artifacts the group possesses, and may even try to steal them.
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6
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Everywhere, conman and other charlatans try to sell useless babbles as some technological marvel to the unwary. The commerce of maps and coordinates to ancient ruins rumored to hide ancient artifacts is also widespread.
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Sorcery is a Force of Evil
The manipulation of reality and the energy of the Void is not natural, and thus is feared by most mortals. Sorcery is relatively new in the universe, and it’s rumored that the First Sorcerer thought all the Galactic Overlords the secrets of the Void.
Because of this, most sentients not only avoid sorcery, but some actively try to kill sorcerers and other individuals who demonstrate unnatural capabilities. Although this seems drastic, these people are not totally wrong to fear and to want distance from these forces.
The Void corrupts and destroys. Those that dabble with sorcery and even psychic powers have to exercise great mind control to avoid being affected by the will of that dark and sinister dimension. Those that are not so strong soon find themselves completely dominated by the will of the Void, and their bodies reflect that corruption, turning them into veritable monstrosities.
1d6
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Signs of the Void
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1
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A large area in the landscape lies bereft of vegetation and animals, as if everything in its vicinity just died. Rumors talk about a great sorcerer that lives nearby.
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2
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Near the place where a Galactic Overlord rests, a great dark storm covers the sky, with purple lightning and acid rain blasting those not protected.
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3
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Servants of the Galactic Overlords possess strange and powerful abilities but also sport many and disturbing corruptions, like extra limbs, eyes around their body and tentacles.
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4
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A breach to the Void from where terrible amorphous creatures ooze and mind shattering whispers sip to the consciousness of everyone nearby.
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5
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A great portal to the Void lies open near a planet that is now completely covered by darkness. All the life that once existed there is extinct or utterly corrupted, serving the entities of the Void.
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6
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In their sleep, a shadowy entity from the Void speaks to the characters, offering them their most inner desires, saying that everything they want can be theirs if only they let the Void inside.
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