Avvros
By: The Dark Wizard, Captain Heserpus, The World is Flat
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Avvros, to the best that the greatest of the sages can tell, is surrounded in a blanket of fire, and after that, a blanket of the deepest black, speckled with points of light. We have come together to call this expanse the void, and we do not know if anything indeed lies beyond. - Sage Ignotus Ferrel, 133 Avv.
Avvros is our home. Avvros is a living, breathing place. We live each day under the light from the Gate Tower, or in the darkness of the unlit reaches. Avvros is known by the creators who came before us as a Star. It is said that we are shrouded in an impregnable wall of fire, as the great sages have read from the works of the creators. Avvros is the seat of the Great Protectorate, who keeps us safe from the Adjunct, and any other things from the dark places.
As the myth goes, the first of us were born into the darkness, with only bare flames to light the dark places, alone, and cold we were, and would have died. But it is said that the city itself saved the last of us on the eve of our demise - lighting the Gate Tower and burning the hungry adjunct.
To this day, the statues of the survivors are given offerings by humble pilgrims, seeking solace and meaning in the warm stone eyes of the effigies. It is said they founded the first protectorate, making brave forays into the dark to find those others lost in the dark; saving some, burying others.
We give thanks to the city and the creators who have given us life - and we also give thanks for the challenges that they have presented us, to strengthen our resolve and prove ourselves the masters of this place - worthy of the creator’s accomplishments. - Pious Nome Altair
This city changes day-by-day, constantly evolving. Some days, I try and find an overlook in the Gate Tower to look out over the expanses and watch the city work. It’s a beautiful thing, the graceful pipes and slides slowly moving in concert, interacting in ways we can barely imagine. I’ve been able to identify some patterns - but other movements yet confound me. The creators were capable of such unimaginable genius, I cannot describe.
Last week, I observed a pipe in the outer atrium which had been leaking an amount of fluid for many years. This pipe itself began to tighten around the midsection and rotate vertically, unlike the slow and steady horizontal rotation that it usually occupied itself with. After a brief moment, the assembly shuddered, and the leak had disappeared. The station is just as alive as the Sages would have us believe. - Rium Daveikvy, 3rd undermechanic, foreman Darrow, 376 Avv.
It’s as if they wanted us to make this place the seat of our power. All the networks inevitably must pass through Avvros. In our modern age, it is natural that the trade between the Stars would pass through Avvros, but why? It is well observed that Avvros may be the largest of all the stars - certainly the most intricate in design and the most livable. It was the Ideal place to locate the center of the Protectorate beaurocracy.
My master often callinglling it the Protectorate was either a great act of self deception or a great act of cunning - maybe sometimes I think it could be both. We do as much as we can to protect people from the truth - that much is certain. I don’t know if i’d be here if it wasn’t for my Modulation. It certainly isn’t for the relaxing work environment and the stimulating company.
Then again, the choice “Join or Die” is a fairly easy one to make. - Magister Javidd Macheas, 411 Avv.
They said that the protectorate doesn't come looking for you if you live in a Free Star. They were right - for a time. Shas and I always loved to explore. It got us in trouble. It would always be safer for you if you lived in a state independent from the Protectorate. At least if you were caught the security would be so weak you could bust out without breaking a sweat. That or the guard would be your cousin and he’d sneak you out the first day.
I never realized how far the Protectorate influence reaches. Even in a so called “Independent Star” Avvrosian power-politics will find you if they think they can use you... Or take what you’ve got for their own.
When we found the Mechanisms we didn’t know what we’d gotten ourselves into. We’d heard of them. I heard some made you beautiful, or fast, or strong. The Protectorate says that they are potentially dangerous - it’s against the law to keep them for yourself. Shas and I didn’t realize this actually meant that they were potentially dangerous to the Protectorate.
The things she can do now! Oh man, if you could see her. Modulation is amazing. Some do make you faster or more beautiful. But some let you fly. Some let you punch through walls. Some let you give it back to those protectorate thugs and their “Independent Star” lackeys.
We’re lucky we found one of the right kind. Guess which? - Alan Montegro
The first discoveries of Mechanisms and the effect of Human Modulation is recorded in the hundredth year of the rediscovery. The discovery was entirely accidental. The effects, at first, were fear-inspiring. A single man could lift the weight of ten men. A modulated worker could haul as much cargo as an entire crew. A woman could change her appearance so as that any man might desire her - an imagine of beauty unrivalled. The effects never seemed to be the same, at first.
The Protectorate intervened, declaring all distribution and use of unsanctioned Mechanisms was illegal, and instituted a service that managed all modulations. This board is now known as the Mechanism & Modulation board. Many modifications have been deemed unsafe for distribution, and are only used by Protectorate Interdiction forces. Harmless ones, ones that make workers more efficient, women and men more beautiful, Sages more intelligent, have been released to the public via corporate sponsors.
If the Protectorate identifies an individual bearing an illegal Modulation, they are offered a choice - submit to extraction (the act of removing a modification, while painful returns the person to normal. Observed 66.3% fatality rate in unmedicated procedures.), sign on to the Protectorate, or sign on to an independent contractor, such as an accredited Local League championship or Avvros Society Services (A wealthy lobbying group with close ties to Protectorate Interdiction Command). The choice is usually among the latter pair.
Other individuals will attempt to subvert the system. These indviduals are known to the Protectorate and Independent Stars as “Hackers” or “Junkers”. They are dangerous groups known to subvert the stability and defense of the Grid. They are dangerous and often live short, violent, unhealthy lives. Any suspected Hackers or Junkers should be reported to your local official as quickly as possible.
The Protectorate’s Meritocratical Seat is always searching for members with great capability for key, high-ranking positions, and many Modulated hold key cabinet positions within the Meritocracy.
Tours are available between the hours of +4:00 Power Cycle to -2:00 Curfew.
To schedule a tour of the Mechanism & Modulation board, please fill out the attached form... - Protectorate Mechanism & Modulation board Pamphlet, 402 Avv.
1. The setting of Avvros is the eponymous Avvros, a city built within a star. The humans that live there do not understand their world, but they are slowly discovering a past and a city that are both living, evolving entities unimaginable in scope and complexity. The city is constantly changing. It evolves and repairs itself. The city is massive in size, spanning monumental distances and the extent of it’s size is currently unknown to the humans who live there.
The City and some of its outlying minor neighbors, often called “Independent Stars”, are ruled by the Protectorate, a Meritocratical Regime that seeks total order and unity among all residents of Avvros. Although often using martial force and brutal tactics, proponents argue that it has allowed for a safer and more tenable living experience for all.
The Protectorate’s name originates from the First Two, or the Progenitors. It is said that they were the ones who staved off the Adjunct and all humans are now born of them. Whether this is indeed true or not is unknown, although the modern-day protectorate uses the mythos to bolster its position, and it is also true that they manage the systems and defenses that keep the Adjunct at bay.
The Sages seek to study and understand Avvros, and often lead cloistered lives that establish settlements deep in the dark, unlit areas of Avvros. It is their conclusion that only a miniscule part of Avvros is currently active, and they hope that their expertise will enable them to reclaim more and more of the City.
The Junkers and Hackers are two competing groups that rule the fringes of society. The hackers have mastered methods of accessing and manipulating the city’s functions, and the Junkers often run forays into the unexplored sections of the city and return with Mechanisms, weapons, and equipment that they trade or use for personal gain.
Travel between parts of Avvros and the Independent Stars which house many of it’s criminals, grow many of it’s crops, and produce much of it’s commodities is enabled through the Medallions. The medallions are small metal discs, extremely rare, that enable travel to a particular star. Many medallions lead to Avvros, but few lead away to the more disparate tertiary stars that support Avvros’ economy.
To travel, one must first take a medallion to a particular Star’s Gate tower, and then place the Medallion in that Gate, which will instantaneously move them from one star to another. Some know that each medallion represents a unique identifier and sequence, that when decoded can be used independent of that medallion. Hackers manipulate this function to smuggle goods from star to star without the use of expensive and dangerous medallions, whos use and trade is regulated by the Protectorate.
Also we just wanted to make steampunk in space with medieval people who live inside stars. What. Too unoriginal?
2. Mechanisms & Skills
Character's have access to special changes in their genetic structure found within devices called Mechanisms. Mechanisms are found in two distinct types, the first are called Basics, and they are small improvements with a more minimal impact on genetic stability. The others are known as Advanced, and they produce a more dramatic and complex effect on the genetic structure. These changes are referred to as Modulations. Not all humans are capable of using Mechanisms to produce Modulations on their genetic structure. The two terms are sometimes used interchangeably.
Mechanisms take time to adapt to and train oneself to use, and as such, one must often decide to take the time to master skills or modulations as a child. Basic skills, such as training in an art or science, or a simple profession often require the same effort as mastering a basic modulation. Advanced skills, such as “Hacking” or “Junking” into Avvro’s complex mechanical systems takes often as much time as mastering an Advanced Mechanism.
As such, humans are limited initially to two basic Skills or Mechanisms (or one of each) and one one Advanced Skill or Advanced Mechanism.
3. Players will be allowed to submit as many characters as they want and are encouraged to suggest ideas and the such to the lore and setting to improve it.
Please note: If you have more then one character approved you are not allowed to use them in the same thread without an ST’s permission.
4. We encourage you to make any character you want to: If you want to be a member of the Protectorate, a Junker, a Hacker, a storekeeper, or a dirt farmer’s son from an Agriculture Star, you can be that. We encourage discussion and development with the storytellers on your place in the story. The more interaction the better.
If you are interested in joining please post below! We do not have any limits on players as of yet.
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