Beyond

The Scarred Face Woman is a shock to you, as she holds herself with a confident bearing, ruffling her short hair which does nothing to hide the notches across her cheeks and her damaged ear. She seems proud of them- strange, even children know that you should not demonstrate your clumsiness so brazenly and openly. Her eyes are harsh and hard, like some of the beasts you have seen in the outskirts. ‘Heh, you wish to be an explorer, Kinde?’ She laughs, a harsh tone to the note. ‘You would not survive a single moment beyond this utopia. You are soft… And the people out there are cruel.’ She says, the first fear visible in this mountain of a woman as she unconsciously grips her arm. ‘There is no night light from the world left behind, like your Citadel, out there. There are only ruins, and sickness, and quiet. So much quiet'

Part of a series about the world of Outlook.

• The Outlook
  • Outlook Geography
• The Citadel
• The Beyond
• Creatures
• Artificial Intelligence
• World History

Summary

Occasionally, people from foreign climes visit The Outlook, drawn by tales of splendour and civilization. Despite not encountering the open doors to a land of milk and honey, a lot stay- the rumours they bring are that the far-away places, or The Distance, are a lot less pleasant than the land around The Citadel, where resources are more keenly fought over, and groups of people are far rarer and further between. The land stretches to the horizons, at which point Expanses mark the end of the world - their waters are black and cold, and little lives in them. There are empty remnant cities on the edges of the Expanses, piers jutting into the water fallen into disarray. Thanks to travellers, the edge of the world is known about - though there is still dispute whether there is anything beyond the Expanses. A few have highly religious views on the matter.

Society in The Distance

One common fact is that there are no buildings like the Citadel- only ruins of wide areas built of similar materials, but that seem to have died long ago. A lot of the groups of survivors in these areas live under these ruins, and rarely leave to go to the surface- for many of them, the safety of the Outlook is a myth, one that they will not leave the lives they have carved out to pursue.

There are also stories of dangerous cults that have formed in the outside world- particularly those who argue that humanity should have ended years ago, and this is the death throes of the species. There are others who oppose the concept of AI, and would like nothing more to see them all dismantled, and attack . These people are rarely entertained in the Outlook, and thus any visitors with these views are given a short schrift, unless they can camouflage them successfully.

AI and the Distance

AI are mostly found in congregated areas outside of the Outlook, regularly haunting the ruins that they once tended to. They are regularly more worn down and faulty than their Outlook counterparts, having not been offered the resources that allow them to keep up their processing power. Networks of traders do exist though, allowing those who offer AI enough tokens to get objects and news transported over very long distances. One break in the chain, however, and such communication lines quickly fall apart.

Forces from The Distance

Invaders occasionally arrive from the outside world to the Outlook, but are fought off by the combined forces of the Tribes of the Outlook, who do not find it difficult to put apart any small differences to fend off those who refuse to fall into the pattern of coexistence and easy peace. The last known attempted Tyrant was Eirin D’Elmet, a petty Warlord, who arrived around fifteen years ago with a heavily armoured tribe of Gene-Strain fighters, as well as some harnessed creatures that they had managed to, if not tame, at least point in the right direction. They were thoroughly defeated in the first engagement, having made the common mistake of trying to take the road - the death of many of their troops against the AI guardians has made this event known as Eirin’s Folly. Their followers still hang around the outskirts of the Outlook and in the ruins up above, and may attack those who wander without protection.

A few of may have heard rumours of the Divine Empress of the Techgnostic Network. Presumably a she, there are rumours that come from travellers of a figure who is followed around the ruins of the old world by an army of AI who worship her - to some a blasphemy that AI would worship a human. She keeps to the ruins in the lands outside, though there are rumours she is hunting for something.

Playing a character from The Distance

Characters may not start play as characters who have just come from the Distance. It is possible to play a character who was originally from here, but got absorbed into the Tribes. Later in the year, playing someone from the Beyond may become an option, at ref discretion.