Ancestry - Role Play

Written in organized writing with what appears to be charcoal:

And so, like a dagger in the night thrust into the back of the unwary, the world so did come down around our ears. Xaltion shrieked his horror from land and sky alike. So did it rain fire and so did the world shake. Oh did the world shake. It shook until boulders the size of wagons rained down from the cliffs. It shook until the very ground broke apart and the fumes of the belly of the world fouled the air. It shook until the grand spires of the temples were dust. Until the great cities of our times were memories. Oh he shook us until those that still lived wretched and heaved in miserable heaps upon the fluid ground, the last meals of our lives now reclaimed by our enraged deity.

Fire. Dust. Pain. Fear. Endless.. endless fear. Chaos. These are the last glimpses of our civilization. The night that Xaltion did rouse his mighty wrath and smash it down upon the ungreatful and spoiled beings that were his. We had angered our great God. Our great and glorious God. To ask why would be like a child asking to a parent why they were cross. The answer is unclear. It could be so many things, so many. But the why is the answer we seek. Huddled now in crevices and caves, the brave in make shift shacks of piled rubble. We huddle and we whisper. We whisper about the golden age that had born us. We whispered in speculation of the Clerics who constantly pestered Xaltion for the petty things that used to be so important in our lives. Many of us certain it is they who brought this upon us.

It has not been long enough since The Ruination of Xaltion came down upon us. Since the Clerics brought his wrath. We slink about in the shadows and the cover of jagged rock. Begging with each step that the mighty Xaltion does not strike us for infesting his property. It is as though we went from a favored pet to an insect that must be exterminated. And like insects, we scurry. Barely surviving, peering out from our holes waiting for just the right time to dart out and perhaps find a morsel to give us strength to continue breathing for just one more day.

What will the next day bring? More of the same for so long now. Killing small creatures with our bare hands, hiding from the predators that seek to survive as desperately as us, but are much better equiped to succeed. It all seemed hopeless. So hopeless. But as time has passed and the brave have become braver, slivers of possibility have begun to show through cracks in our tightly sealed fate. We hear of gatherings of peoples, coming together to live as a group. We hear of a band of master craft folk who have also banded together but not to live. No, but to travel. They wander, marking stones and trees to guide their path. They wander between these groups of gathered peoples trading between them and offering their skill to help us obtain tools and crude weapons. But they bring something so much more important than their bobbles and skills.

They bring news.

News of other groups of peoples and their locations. Of green grass shoots and sappling trees. Of clear running rivers and patches of mature forest that survived. No one can ever estimate how powerful knowledge of your world can be. I have slunk from my cave, leaving the others who are still too frightened to come out. I have found my way to Dawnville. Do not let the name fool you friend, its nothing like the times of old. But it is our place and the Crafters do come with their news ever so often. It is small enough so far to avoid angering Xaltion, hidden against a cliff wall and sheltered from his view by a large overhang. May he have pity and forgive me, but I implore you to come. Shake off your fears and bring your strong back and willing hands. Help us to survive these days we now struggle through.

A small map and an arrow show the way to Dawnville.

Will you take the challenge of The Ruination?

Tips for Role Playing in Ancestry - The Ruination:

• Sketch together a background of what or who your character was prior to The Day of Ruin. REMEMBER: There were no warriors, mages or classes really of any kind. There were common folk, trade people and Clerics.
• Determine where your character was and what they were doing when the ruination struck.
• Determine what your character has been doing to survive.
• Consider forming a Family with friends or other players.
• Remember that there is no magic in the world yet!
• Determine if you will be an Ancestor of your future Live Character or if you will be no relation at all. (Ancestry runs under the premise you will be playing the Ancestors of your eventual live character and passing the things you earn down to them.)
• Will you make a new character or play the same one as Alpha/Beta moves through the History, which will span thousands of years.
• Will you be a Fanatic, a citizen of Dawnville or a loner?