The End

The End by Ed Pastry

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 (( No currently active thread )) Discussion Thread

Authored by Ed Pastry.

One of the grandfather quests of tgchan. X days until The End is a quest about Simon, an astronomer who discovers that the world will end in 30 days. He figures he should do something about this.

Overview

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This article contains spoilers! You were warned.

Setting

The End takes place in the world of Caelum, a world it shares with Ed Pastry's other spinoff quest, Antisex Quest.

World

Caelum is a flat world...describe geography and cities...creation myth here too or seprate?

Races

Caelum is inhabinated by six distinct races:

Strawmen

Made from mud

Sculptor had great difficulty in creating the first Mudmen; they were very weak and short lived. Eventually he covered their soft bodies in grasses and cloth to protect them, turning them into the Strawmen. The Strawmen cannot heal injuries to their skin-cloth naturally; they must sew it back up themselves and use new cloth for damaged parts. Grizzled war veterans often resemble patchwork quilts.

Strawmen history is filled with constant hardship and strife. Plagues, floods, earthquakes and war threatened time and time again to remove their race from existence. Through determination and ingenuity, the Strawmen have overcome these hardships one by one and have finally unified themselves into a single political entity, the Gran Imperio.

The Strawman military is very strict and rigid organization. Each citizen must serve 2 years of service in the Imperial Navy. Strawmen lack the technology and skill of the Cobble or Kiln, and the sheer might and agility of the Clockworks, Arids and Cremates. Their real strength comes from their Navy. The Imperial Navy's dominance of air and sea is unmatched, containing the most advanced airships and aquatic vessels in Caelum.

The notorious Strawmen pirates consist mainly of rebellious ex-Navy soldiers and bands of brigands who have managed to get their hands on an airship. These outlaws have their hideouts scattered throughout the world, away from the prying eyes of civilization. The pirates generally work independently, pillaging and looting undefended merchant ships and towns, but occasionally they will accept a contract offered by the less scrupulous governments of Caelum and work as mercenaries.

Kiln

Made from clay

The Kiln have virtually no major cities, they are entirely a guild based society. Each guild functions like a tiny nation, electing their own leaders, setting laws and regulations and managing contact with the rest of the world. Halltown is the closest thing the Kiln have to a city, and even then it is just a very poorly organized cluster of guildhalls. Most guilds fit within these four categories: research, craft, mercenary, and service. The Kiln are a very inventive people; most guilds have well-funded and highly active R&D divisions. These guilds are responsible for most of Caelum’s inventions, but in reality very few are practical at all.

Mercenaries make up the entirety of the Kiln fighting force. These particular guilds range from simple market guards to powerful paramilitary organizations. The real power of Kiln mercenaries is that they generally use the best equipment they can afford, which is almost everything on the market. The Condotierri is the most largest, most powerful and wealthiest of these organizations. They are also the most difficult to draw, which is why you probably won't see them in Simon's adventures.

Mechmen (Clockworks)

Made from ore

The Mechmen (more commonly referred to as “Clockworks”) are a strange race. Their skin is a series of thin, flexible metal plates. Their muscles are hydraulics. Their organs are complex mechanisms of gears and axles. Their brains are intricate machines made of incredibly small mechanisms, allowing them to mentally function as well as that of the (arguably) more organic races. Clockworks are created, not born. It is a process that only other Clockwork can (or bother to) comprehend. The process of making a Clockwork child takes up to a year of extremely hard work. When fully made, the Clockwork will slowly grow by consuming small parts and having their bizarre metabolism integrate those parts into their body until they are at their adult size.

Clockworks do not feel sexual attraction, thus their society has no real romantic relationships, and instead they have a much higher focus on friends and family. Though Clockworks technically have no genders, nearly all of them identify themselves as either male or female. The gender schema is likely to have been adopted due to early interactions with other cultures. Clockworks mostly live in small city-states; there are no political ties between separate Clockwork cities. These are ruled by a popularly elected Mayor or Governor.

Clockwork soldiers are entirely volunteer forces. Each city-state has its own military, which is split into two branches. The Militia is comprised part time soldiers/policemen. They are given basic training and standard equipment and always stay within the city-state’s territory. The Guard is made up of full time soldiers who receive advanced training at a military college and are armed with superior equipment, who can also be sent abroad if necessary. The soldiers in the Guard often have their weaponry and armor attached directly to their bodies.

Arids

Made from sand

The Arids are split into two major nations, the Southern Alliance with its capital in Mahbuht, and the Northern Union and its capital in Manham. Both nations have been quarreling over ownership of vast plains of worthless sand for well over a century. The nations are both virtually identical in politics, culture and economy. The only reason they hate each other is because of a dispute in a world tennis tournament decades years ago.

The Arids are a resourceful bunch, as they have an eon of experience of building impressive empires in the middle of a desert. Arids are generally amiable and friendly except when it comes to conversations about sports. Arid stadiums often have more action going on in the bleachers than in the field itself.

Though generally preferring passive diplomacy, the Arids are not unfamiliar with warfare. Influenced by life on the open desert, the Arids have developed many of their tactics on mobility. Various types of cavalry make up the main fighting force of the Arid arimes. They also often utilize various wild animals controlled remotely by an electronic implant. Arids appear float in midair upon a small twister of their body sand. Numerous theories have sprung up on how they manage to do this, ranging from magnetic fields, to manipulation of air currents to "the author just doesn't care".

Cremates

Made from magma

Cremate bodies are large and stout, covered in tough, red skin dotted with brightly glowing orange spots. The single gelatinous eye in the middle of their head also functions as their mouth, absorbing food they put in it in a highly disturbing manner. Cremates can control their surface body temperatures, ranging from 30-250 degrees Celsius.

Cremates are rather reclusive, preferring to keep to their own kind whenever possible. Most of them live in The Sear's barren wastes, easily surviving the harsh temperatures and perpetual smog. They are able to consume the strange chemeosynthetic plants that grow there which no other race could stomach. The Cremates are divided into 4 smaller nations, who generally spend their time bickering over lands and resources.

The Cremates value honor and dignity very highly. As a result, their armed forces consist of knights and paladins who are often of noble birth. These warriors carry heavy armor and generally prefer close combat to ranged fighting. They make use of strange and terrifying energy weapons.

Cobbles

Made from stone

Cobble society is centered on businesses and corporations. The United Trade Bloc is the closest thing the Cobble has to a Federal government, protecting the rights of citizens and corporations by defining laws, but even then it could be considered as another corporation itself. The UTB has numerous secret police forces under its control, but won’t hesitate to resort to hiring out other races to do their dirty work. The Cobble are cautious nearly to the point of paranoia when they believe they are threatened, which means they will quickly move to eliminate any perceived threat as swiftly as possible.

Despite measures taken by the UTB and many other of the morally upright corporations, crime remains a serious problem. Unscrupulous businesses use underhanded tactics to increase their profit margins, and crime syndicates tarnish Cobble society with strings of theft, violence and manipulation.

The Cobble themselves are generally reserved in temperance and straightforward in conversation. Written language is especially important in their society, where every printed word is considered to have the power to change the world around it. Physiologically, the Cobble are very tough-skinned yet rather inflexible. Their bodies appear to be made of unbending segments of stone, their hair is like needles of volcanic glass and their innards feel like wet and slightly elastic rock.

(( This section should be a bit more filled out. In particular, info about the world itself, the races, and... oh yeah, that map image would be nice. ))

Characters

Simon

Full Name: Simon Betelgeuse
Race: Kiln
Profession: Astronomer

Slater

Full Name: Sam Slater
Race: Clockwork
Profession: Butler

Io

Full Name: Io Adhara
Race: Kiln
Profession: Director of the Astronomical Studies Society (A.S.S)

Gallery

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  Best pic, hands down.

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