What is Gravespark?
Placed untold centuries after some huge calamity, it would be easy to imagine a bleak and merciless wasteland where there is nought but ruins and bones... but there is so much more. Oh, there are ruins and bones aplenty, but the setting is at its core about hope. About rebirth, as something unknown is causing life to once again spring up even in the most inhospitable of locales. Players can unravel the mysteries of the past, blaze a new course for revival, or perhaps just carve out their own little spot of safety and comfort in this shadowy world. It is my hope for both DM's and Players to have an active role in shaping and building the very world and societies of their stirring surroundings, as befitting a setting designed around rebirth and restoration!
The titular Gravespark. These mysterious chunks of glittering crystal contain the very force of life itself, something long missing from the world at large and are critical to the rebirth of this world. A single shard is enough to bring even the oldest of the withered undead back, infusing them with the vital essence that their animate bodies have been lacking for so long. It also appears that the Gravesparks do not spring from nothingness, as each creature gains some fragment of a long lost soul. Each has some memory, or preference, or quirk as if preserved perfectly in amber until once again finding a suitable vessel to fill. In a very real way Gravesparks are like echoes from the path, gifted to bring life to a long barren world.
What is the world like?
By all accounts, Renastere is a dusky world. Night and day are concepts long lost to the mists of time, the sky always lit by the scant illumination provided by a blistering white ring surrounding a disk as black as the void itself. This perpetual eclipse has kept the world in unceasing twilight for as long as any can remember, and the brightest stars are always visible in the dark blue sky.
The land itself is, at a glance, a wretched place. When the catastrophe occured centuries ago the Oceans rose up, bubbling from the depths to cover most of the world's landmass. Only recently have the waters begun to recede, leaving vast salt flats and murky swamps for miles in every direction. Those realms not completely swallowed by water are often barren chunks of rock, assaulted by heavy winds and pelted with ice cold rain with only the odd ruin offering any real shelter. Bones and broken weapons litter much of the world, a testament to the horrific conflict that once brought Renastere to a painful end.
It is only when one looks closer that you can see beyond the apparent wasteland. With the receding Oceans and lighting of the first Gravesparks life is starting once again to not only scrape by, but flourish. The swamps, while treacherous, are positively teeming with new creatures never before seen. Exotic and brilliantly bio-luminescent plants and flowers are blooming, and new groves of trees are once again sprouting out of the soil. Great beetle-like creatures stride the salt wastes, feeding on the Ocean's leavings and in turn are hunted by spindly lizardbeasts with glittering white scales. New ruins, some almost preserved by time dot every known inch of the world, each one full of secrets and forgotten knowledge.
It is a dangerous world, an austere world- but there is beauty to be found. Life once more.
Who lives in this world?
The dominant species by far, if one could call them that, are the poor bodies known simply as 'The Remnant'. Hundreds of thousands or more walking corpses who do not rot, who do not decay- emaciated husks they may be. They come in all shapes and sizes, and it is widely believed that they are all thats left of the people who populated the world. Tall and willowy, short and strong, slender, twisted, hulking- every bodytype and feature imaginable, all reduced to the same fate. They are not sentient, barely animals in their intelligence most of the time. Some are hostile, some harmless and if killed they will often rise again in weeks or months to consider their aimless trek across the landscape.
However there is a key to some level of salvation. The Gravespark, consisting of raw vitae, can be possessed and infused by one of these Remnant's. Once inside, the spark animates the mind and revitalizes the body! In many ways the individual is 'reborn', though with only the faintest shreds of memory to call upon. Relearning how to be alive is difficult, but most find their way to others who hold a spark- prompting the growth of impromptu communities in every nook and cranny of the known world! What's more, one spark is good, but with each additional shard a Remnant absorbs they grow stronger- they become more alive. Their flesh fills in, their hearts beat all the stronger as they become flush with this new energy. Conversely if they are to be struck down they often lose one of their precious shards of life, perhaps even reverting to the beasts they were before.
Other than the Remnants, other life does exist. Strange fishlike beings crawl out of the waters along the Oceans edge to infest the swamps and coastlines, long forgotten chambers beneath ruins teem with mutated primatives of startling variety, and strange creatures of animated stone populate many caverns. More creatures could inhabit any number of unexplored locales, and there are even rumors and myths of sealed cities beneath the Earth that hold living survivors of the Catastrophe. Only time will be able to tell for certain!
Who are the players?
The players are, more than likely, one of the recently Enlightened Remnant who through luck or design have found their own spark to call their own. Through a few tables I hope to provide they will role to see what sort of echo they have inherited and which of several broad subraces of Remnant they fall into. From there, they will adventure to grow beyond the simple hollow existance of most of their race. They'll search for more Gravespark's to absorb, for secrets to uncover, for artifacts to master or- just perhaps, the secrets to craft their new world in a new image.
Their image.
What's Coming?
I hope overtime to flesh out the setting. Describe what Remnant culture might be like, give some fun locales and fun treasure for a unique little experiance. We often see a world going to hell in literature- but rarely do I find a little hope in the bleakness, and I would like to explore that further! If you have any ideas, comments, or criticisms please let me know!
