You may have heard of Babylon. The great city is credited with many inventions that molded the world into what it is today. But what you have never heard of is what proved to be their greatest contribution to our world as we know it. One priest was charged with the task to make one decision that would shape the whole course of history for the next 3000 years.
Babylon’s knowledge and power was greater than we could have ever guessed. In fact, there existed a council tasked with the role of shaping the future of mankind. This council spent their days gazing into the Fates and poring over charts and numbers to make sure mankind was on a course for peace and abundance.
And that is why it was troubling when one day Ishme Imar-Dagan gazed into the fates and saw the destruction of mankind. The destruction was not what bothered him the most - for all things must come to an end - but the way in which it came about. In 3000 years mankind would be destroyed by its own greed and ignorance and lust for power. One by one the greatest kingdoms would be destroyed in greater battles than the world had ever known along with all of their knowledge and arts and precious treasures of history until the world was left in ruins.
Amar-Dagan hurried to the council and showed them his findings - at which they were incredibly dismayed. They had pulled the fates before - here and there for minor incidents in time - but they had never worked a fate so serious as this. Human greed was a difficult foe to battle - after all, how do you stop a free will bent on its own destruction?
An emergency meeting was held and it was decided, with grave caution, that the only solution was to consult the Vessel of Marduk. The vessel is what many today would know as a sort of a Schrödinger’s Box. What it contained was a single Quantum Being. The being exists as a paradox. It is made up of all of the possibilities of everything that could possibly happen. Each possibility exists in its own separate dimension, and the Being exists in all of these dimensions at once. Now, when a small event happens and all of the other possibilities of what could have happened are now moot, the dimensions that the other possibilities existed in turn to Nothing. For example, you have the choice to continue reading this or to stop. Currently both of those possibilities exist - however when you choose to keep reading, everything that would have happened as an effect of you halting your reading is no longer a possibility. So it happens that when a sentient being makes a decision the fates are solidified into a single dimension and they rest turn to Nothing. Our world (our “dimension”) is the summation of all of the possibilities that ever happened.
What the council did not know was that there are some possibilities that are so inter-weaved with the fates of every sentient being in our world that when a decision is made it rips the very fabric of our dimension in two - creating a parallel dimension exactly opposite the possibility in our world.
So on that fateful day the Council consulted the Vessel of Marduk and the possibilities were laid out to them as this: In order to waylay the destruction of the world the council would need to put up great barriers of magic, dividing the world into kingdoms that would no longer be able to have any contact with anything outside their kingdom (and in fact would in time forget that anything beyond their kingdom ever existed).
The council was in an uproar. No one had ever intervened in the fate of mankind to such an extent as this. No one was even sure what would happen if such drastic measures were taken. They deliberated for months. They consulted the wisest men and women in the city. They studied their charts and gazed deeper into the fates than they had ever done before.
Finally it was decided that nothing else could be done - the barriers had to be raised. As a precaution, the barriers would have an expiration date: In 3000 years the barriers would come down and mankind would have a chance to start over and prove themselves worthy of once more running their own fates.
By now you may have figured out why our world has never had these barriers. At the decision of the council, our world was forever split from the world of the barriers. At this very moment, in a parallel world to ours, the barriers are coming down. For the first time in 3000 years the mighty kingdoms formed in ancient times will be meeting and a new age of discovery and enlightenment will begin for them.
Will mankind prove themselves worthy of running the world they live in or will human greed and corruption once again spoil the beauty that is our world?
….
Your journey starts on the continent of Africa. Due to its abundant natural resources, Africa has advanced to a land of bustling metropolises. When the barriers came down Africa was one of the first homelands to begin exploration. You will be joining one of the first ever expeditions across the high seas.
Gameplay Notes
I’m looking for a diverse cast of around 8-10 players, so hopefully there will be moves daily with 2-3 challenges accomplished (or failed!) per week. Game is semi-casual on the rules - some playing for other characters allowed when necessary as long as it’s ok with the other player. I like to sculpt the game around the players so you’ll have ample opportunity to decide what direction the game takes. I’d like well-written and well thought out characters, feel free to be creative and make your own cards! Don’t worry, the moves won’t be as long and complicated as the background info ;)
Hosted and narrated by:
ceejy
Started 07/08/14.
Scenes played: 4
License: Community License
