Yes sir, it is. I cannot take credit for that name, though, as it was not my idea (I hadn't came up with one, but was tossing around some sort of alliterative name.)
Introduction wrote:
In the beginning, there were bangs. Fire followed. Life as the world knew it vanished in the few seconds it took to realize pure radiation burns. Few, who had foreseen the coming storm, took refuge in hidden bunkers deep in the earth they huddled and waited, surviving with inhuman tenacity. Of these, some turned to cannibalism, showcasing the epitome of human nature. Others eked by the same technology that sealed their fate, escaping to the stars, their new home; they discovered new dangers, but also new hope for other forms of intelligence waited. The rest, the ones who remained, were consumed by living heat, leaving the shells of civilization to stand; some ruins still mark their passage, a foreboding welcome to hell.
The unlucky saw the darkening, the twisted demise of the sun and perished in masses. The wrath of millennia had come. Earthquakes. Volcanoes. Hurricanes. Disaster after disaster slaughtered the brave Uplanders. Still, they struggled, each generation birthing new atrocities, the land savagely denying them peace. The effort to survive affected the Uplanders, each succeeding child deformed at birth; in time, these mistakes would become potent tools of survival, a symbol of strength.
It took years to settle, barrage after barrage revisiting. A white age descended. Snow and fog crept, blanketing the mutilated landscape. Plague oozed, buried to the flesh of the ground, scarring it further. Time continued to ache. The Uplanders sought shelter, and found it in a haunted labyrinth of the fallen past, but awoke terror in doing so, starting with a beep, and ending with a roar.
Steel moved on its own the return of the robots arrived. Hundreds of people scattered, cut down by red light and quick lead. The machines marched, sensing others of their kind, activating them, and continuing. It did not take long; soon, the halls of yesterday were greeted by a second exodus.
Still, underground, the Inworlders, those who had cored the earth and survived its devastation, thrived. They had machines, knowledge, and an aggression to match the fury of the world, ignoring the Outworld, at first, until supplies dwindled and inbreeding proved less than satisfactory. A strong leader arose, and the flock obeyed slavishly. The seals between Inworld and Outworld were broken, and a new nightmare started.
It began as a war. The Uplanders were outmatched, but had numbers, magnified by the addition of allies: animals and plants of all types came to their side, morphed into sentient form by decades of radiation exposure. They battled ferociously against the onslaught of the Inworlders, losing ground but winning through attrition.
Entire settlements were laid to ruin, rebuilt from the ashes of the ancients, scavenged for useful items. The Inworlders took everything they could find, capture, or control. When they met the Army of Metal, the tide turned, and the Uplanders struck from the rear. Many thousands perished.
The Army of Metal had been stopped, but at a great and terrible price. The two foes turned to each other, neither knowing what to do, both weakened to near annihilation. It was then peace finally rested.
Pacts and agreements were made. The Inworlders would use their knowledge to build anew, and the Uplanders would secure safety, their newfound allies having proved an effective, if small, force.
So it was for a hundred years.
Time started to heal its wounds, the scars receding. Additional settlements sprang up, inspired by the success of the first, but needed by population. The warmth of the glow abated in many places, and they were excavated. It seemed as if the troubles of before were over, forgotten.
In many ways they were, for none living knew or remembered. Slowly, inherent tendencies took over, and the Inlanders, now known as Ces, began to feel superior to their brethren who were all different (in truth, it was not superiority that drove them, but a vile hatred and jealousy), exiling them from their homes. The Uplanders, known collectively as the Altered, resisted at first but eventually gave way and left, taking refuge elsewhere (some retreated to the abandoned ruins of the Ancients, and others formed settlements of their own). Other mutants, once seen as a powerful military, were offered enslavement or death; they chose death and a new war started, ending decades later in stalemate.
It has been half a century since those times, and again, the past has been forgotten. Life is crawling again. How long it survives is in your hands
This is the age of Ruins and Radiation, a SIEGE Engine Science Fiction Roleplaying Game.
