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Updated World Information; The TL;DR version of everything you need to know about ESPers before you make a character!
Topic Started: Mar 4 2013, 12:09 PM (145 Views)
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ESPers is the name of this modern urban fantasy/supernatural setting. It takes its name from two things: ESPers as a shorthand term for any human with preternatural powers (psychics, sorcerers, etc), and as an acronym for the Enforcers of the Shadow Paradigm.

(The following information is the updated, newer version of things, so it may be a little different from the other info pages, though I'm leaving those up since they're still mostly relevant. Please let me know via PM if I should update one of the older pages in order to avoid contradictions. It's been almost three years since I've touched this forum or written new material for this setting, so bear with me as I get everything sorted.)

TYPES OF ESPERS:


  • Mediums: Spirit Guides, able to cross between worlds, able to traverse the spirit ether.
  • Clairvoyants: your basic "psychic", able to see or hear things that they wouldn't normally be able to observe. This covers psychometrics, prophets, mind-readers, etc.
  • Telekinetics: ESPers that can move or affect matter with their powers. This includes telekinesis, pyrokinesis, teleportation, etc.
  • Sorcerers, wizards, witches, mages, priests, druids, clerics, warlocks, etc: human 'magic-users' who use their own innate talents to draw upon the powers of other worlds in order to enact change upon this world. Doing so always comes at a price, however, as they are technically breaking reality every time they use their powers.


THE OTHERWORLDS:

Imagine a great balloon, with sections of it mapped out in marker. Traveling between these sections would be as easy as tracing your finger from one part of the balloon to another, and the air within the balloon would be the 'spirit ether'. This is how the universe used to be.

Then, a great war between two particular sections-- known to Judeo-Christian mythology as "Heaven" and "Hell/Purgatory"-- burst the balloon into many pieces. Some pieces were lost forever to the void. Some remained attached to the largest piece-- the plane we know as Earth or Reality-- by tenuous threads.

Now imagine a pentacle, a five-pointed star, with Earth Reality at the center. This is how the multiverse is today. Each point of the star is another world, attached to the others through their common gateway of Earth. The Spirit Ether is all around it, no longer contained, but wild and dangerous and chaotic. Some beings can travel between worlds by way of the Ether, but that way is a suicide mission for all but the most powerful and canny beings. The other way to travel is through tears in the fabric of reality, or gateways.

The five otherworlds are, from top going clockwise, The Higher Plane (Heaven, Nirvana, Valhalla, etc), The Fae World (Tuatha de Dannon, Avalon, Nod, etc), The Nightmare Realm (Hell, Purgatory, Mara Nocnitsa, etc), The Beastlands (technically a pocket of Spirit Ether that is mostly populated by the animal spirits of Totems and Were-beasts), and Fantasia (a shattered, ruined realm where the great magical beasts of legend reside, barely surviving).

Most of these other realms are impossible for humans to set foot in, for their version of 'reality' is not the same as ours. They are more like the spirit ether in nature, home to beings of pure energy and magic. The plane of Human Earth Reality is the most structured and restricted form of existence, bound in by rules of physics and such. Thus, it is the most stable, and the most suitable anchor point for the other worlds. Some otherworlders are exiled to Earth as punishment-- others escape there as refugees. Most learn to blend in and live among humans, unnoticed. Some retain their monstrous nature and must be kept away from human society, or destroyed outright. Some feed on humans, some want to benefit humanity, some want to destroy it, and some just want to fit in and pay their bills.

The ESPers, or humans who bend the rules of reality, are the only native power to Earth Reality that have any chance of contending with the otherworlders. A band of ESPers (acronym for Enforcers of the Shadow Paradigm) drew up a treaty with the great leaders of the otherworlds (except for the spirit ether, which is ruled by none), and determined that the gateways between worlds would be carefully monitored. Any otherworlders visiting or living within Earth Reality would have to be registered, documented, and monitored as well. Unregistered beings would be recruited, deported, or eliminated.

ESPers is now a very organized operation, a sort of shadow government, that keeps the supernatural goings-on of the world out of the public eye. It is run by both humans (with and without powers) and a great variety of otherworlders who believe in the mission of ESPers: to maintain harmony and order in the multiverse.

DENIZENS OF THE OTHERWORLDS:

  • The Higher Plane is the realm of what humans would call gods, angels, genii, devas, etc. There are the haechi (fire dogs) of Korean myth, the angels of Judeo/Christian/Islamic lore, the Aeon Dualities (personified abstract concepts such as Life/Death, Chaos/Order, Fate/Choice, etc), and other such beings that are considered mostly benevolent to humanity. They are beings that belong to a higher state of 'evolution', beings that generally do not have what we would consider bodies or physical form, though they can take such forms in order to interact with Earth Reality. Most of the Higher denizens would say they support the peace of the multiverse, but it must be remembered that it was the war between them and the Fallen of the Nightmare Realm that shattered the worlds in the first place. A denizen of the Higher plane may travel easily between worlds, though they usually only have business on Earth. Quite a few work with the ESPers to maintain order. They have few weaknesses, though weapons forged from the essence of the Nightmare Realm can be fatal to them, and any weapon that pierces the eye of their physical form can banish them back to the Higher Plane. There are also magics and certain religious rites/objects that can affect them. Some priests, clerics, holy knights, shamans, and healers draw upon this realm's power, though they are sadly few in number.

  • The Fae World is home to what humans have known as fae, fairies, little people, elves, gnomes, sprites, brownies, selkies, pookas, tsukumogami, yumni tsundi, dryads, nymphs, goblins, kelpies, merfolk... the list goes on and on. These are creatures of a very old magic, and after Earth and the Higher Plane, their world is the strongest and most stable. They can be hurt by cold iron, and any other man-made material makes them very uncomfortable. Some are affected by certain plants or other natural items, such as oak, mistletoe, and toadstools. One can identify a fairy, even without any supernatural power, if one has a stone with a hole worn through it by water. One can look through the stone and see the fae's true form. Fae are as varied as humans in their personalities and motives, though most are free-spirited creatures with a streak of mischief in them. Some are kind, some are wicked, and some are simply self-serving. They often operate on their own specific codes, laws, and ethics, which they will adhere to vehemently, even if nobody else understands their ways. Some types of witch or warlock draw upon power from this place, but usually to draw upon fae magic one must be at least part fae themselves.

  • The Nightmare Realm is the birthplace of demons, vampires, wraiths, wights, devils, shades, hellhounds/cerberi, serapi, maras, succubi/incubi, and other creatures that bring to mind vicious predators that lurk in the shadows. The Fallen are former 'angels' that have been exiled to the Nightmare Realm after the War of Shattered Worlds, and because of their greater power they have been able to hold their own against the original inhabitants. Some of the creatures that originate here remain here always, while some venture into the human world, and others start as humans that are infected with the darkness (such as vampires and wraiths). The Nightmare Realm was severely weakened by the War, and so were its denizens. As such, they have been reduced to scavenging from the fringes of humanity, and they carry a deep and bitter resentment of those of the Higher Plane because of it. Their weaknesses range from certain holy objects imbued with the power of the Higher Plane to certain magic rites. The ones that belong to that plane specifically, such as demons, succubi, and hellhounds can be banished by killing the mortal vessel but not easily destroyed. The ones that are bonded to their human hosts, such as vampires and wraiths, are also difficult to kill, though sunlight and fire are anathema to vampires. Necromancers and dark sorcerers draw on the power of this realm in order to gain control over death-- and undeath-- itself.[A note on wraiths (because they're my favorite, not gonna lie), they are pretty much vampires except that they feed on human souls. There's more to them than that, of course, but that's the important bit.]

  • The Beast Lands are really just a pocket of spirit ether that survived the shattering. It is governed and held together by the ancient animal spirits, beings that have existed before mankind was even an idea. They are called totems by some, gods by others. It is a primal realm, and it is here that the beast spirits live until they are called to bond with a human. Werecreatures, bakemono, skinwalkers, shifters; these are all names for the humans that are bonded to animal spirits, either through birth, ritual, or accident. Blood is the vehicle for such primal spirits. Werewolves are the most common, though every other animal is represented. They have their own private societies and social structures, cultures and traditions, and not all of them get along with each other or other species of shifter. Their weaknesses include silver, which is a metal that can partially sever the connection between the werecreature and its beast spirit, thus hampering their powers of transformation and robust physical enhancements. Werecreatures have the ability to visit the Beast Lands through a sort of astral projection, in which their awareness can travel spiritually in beast-spirit form, though they cannot physically travel there or between the worlds in general. Some non-shifter shamans and holy people of older tribal religions still call upon the powers of the animal totems, but such practices are slowly dying out due to cultural assimilation.

  • Fantasia was once closely connected to Earth and the Fae World. It is here that the great beasts of legend have come to rest. Unicorns, dragons, griffins, manticores, pegasi, and other such fantastic creatures reside here. Their magic and the stability of their world was greatly weakened by the War, so such beings find it difficult to travel between the worlds. Earth is not particularly friendly to their brand of magic, either. A fantastic beast who traveled to Earth would feel its magic slowly disintegrating, its very being corroded by the banality of Earth Reality. They are unable to reproduce outside of Fantasia, and being away from their home world for too long is almost always a death sentence. There are exceptions, of course. Certain beasts of great power have found ways to survive on Earth, especially those that have no choice due to exile. Those that can harness the power of the spirit ether, for example, are able to create pocket realities that do not degrade their magic, where they can safely rest and 'recharge'. Such beings are, perhaps thankfully, very rare. They are, like fairies, harmed by cold iron, noon-forged steel, and other man-made materials. (Though, don't expect to beat a dragon to death with a styrofoam wiffle bat. You will, at worst, annoy it, and that's very dangerous.) Some wizards and sorcerers can call upon the old magics of Fantasia, though it is much more difficult, for the source is weak and the bridge between Fantasia and Earth is far more fragile than it used to be. No longer do kings go on reveling hunts for unicorns, or rescue maidens from the clutches of dragons, or answer riddles from sphynxes guarding treasures (unless you go down to the ESPers vaults...).
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