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'''Desert Country''' is a country in ''[[Epithet Erased]]'' known for its desert and party going culture. | '''Desert Country''' is a country in ''[[Epithet Erased]]'' known for its desert and party-going culture. | ||
{{Location_Infobox|image1=Longshot Postcard.jpg|caption1=The Capital city, Longshot|notable_residents=[[Indus Tarbella]] (formerly) | {{Location_Infobox|image1=Longshot Postcard.jpg|caption1=The Capital city, Longshot|notable_residents=[[Indus Tarbella]] (formerly) | ||
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== Population == | == Population == | ||
There are two main types of people that live in Desert Country they are | There are two main types of people that live in Desert Country they are solitary monks who live isolated in the sand and the party-going new-age culture obsessed with neon lights and city life.<ref name=":12">[https://jelloapocalypse.tumblr.com/epithet-faq Epithet FAQ]</ref> People now make a living studying martial arts in monasteries built into the ruins, <ref name=":0">[https://twitter.com/EpithetErased/status/1498201352199184391?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Eembeddedtimeline%7Ctwterm%5Eprofile%3AEpithetErased%7Ctwgr%5EeyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3NwYWNlX2NhcmQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib2ZmIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19%7Ctwcon%5Etimelinechrome&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fepithet-erased.fandom.com%2Fwiki%2FEpithet_Erased_Wiki https://twitter.com/EpithetErased/status/1498201352199184391]</ref> Desert Race people have tanned skin and grey hair from birth.<ref name=":12" /> | ||
'''Whims''' | |||
If you keep your ears open in the marketplace, you might hear strange stories from people returning from trips out in the heart of the desert. They say strange figures were watching them from far off in the dunes, there one moment, gone the next. Tall strangers in mysterious blue robes with litham covering their faces. Some travelers claim they passed out from heat exhaustion and would’ve died had these mysterious figures not given them food and water. Others claim these indigo-blue wraiths nearly killed them while exploring a forgotten temple. | |||
There have been dozens of sightings of these blue-veiled men living out in the desert over the centuries. Sometimes they’d appear to save a life, sometimes they’d appear to attack you, but they almost always appeared near treasure. The people of the desert gave them the nickname “Whims”, spirits of luck, good and bad. If you’re making a big gamble, you always want the whims to be on your side. Does someone steal your wallet? Blame it on the whims! Originally seen as portents of disaster, they’ve recently become something of a phenomenon in Longshot. You don’t have to search long to find a stall selling “whimsical merchandise”. “Be sure to buy one before visiting the casino! You want to win? You need a whim!” | |||
These adorable blue cryptids pepper everything from dollaramas to billboards to playing cards. Are they specters of souls lost in the desert? Genies? Aliens that rode down on the meteors to study our ways? No one knows! But one thing’s for sure: They’re good for business! | |||
In truth, these desert wraiths are humans. There’s a reason they appear near the ruins of Constellation. After all… they’re the survivors.<ref>https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937770156338315330</ref> | |||
Hundreds of years ago when the sky began to fall and meteors burned the city of Constellation to the ground most of the citizens fled in the initial attack. The stragglers made their way to the coast when the Sand King’s curse began turning the land to desert beneath their feet. No one would dare venture back into the dying city. | |||
No one except for a handful of devoted scientists. | |||
Between the curse and the desert, most people working their way back to the ruins in the Valley of Fallen Stars didn’t survive. Only the talented and the clever managed to find ways. In a single generation this unnatural, grisly culling practice left behind a small group of survivors. Not all of their work survived, but what they managed to save was beyond priceless. The innovation of a thousand years ago, writings otherwise lost to time. They waited for the return of Constellation’s people, excited to build the city anew… but the people they were waiting for never came.<ref>https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937770211891900446</ref> | |||
Years later, when the citizens of the ruined nation began to trickle back into the desert they were changed. They had been scarred by the disaster, terrified that their nation “upset the stars”. They believed in the same skybound fate as their late King, and they thought that some hubris within their city had brought on the disaster. Divine punishment. | |||
Now, the scientists who worked under the Sand King had never particularly believed all this “fate” mumbo jumbo. They were here to discover and experiment, and if their boss’s weird religion allowed them to do that then all the better. But here now the people shunned their advancements. They looked at their life’s work, the things they had run back into the ruins to save, and claimed that this was what had brought on the meteors. This was what had ruined them. No, they had to cast aside all the city’s advancements. The risks were simply too great! | |||
The scientists thought they were fools. This was an untold wealth of knowledge! And here these people were content to throw it all away so they could live in the sand? No, that wouldn’t do. That wouldn’t do at all.<ref>https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937770254526992474</ref> | |||
A group of scientists came together and decided to make a new life, one away from the prying eyes of the neanderthals living in the sand. People like that didn’t deserve their innovations anyways. Instead, the scientists renovated underground ruins, mining the vast wellspring of meteorites that had fallen for the material. As time and sand eroded the memory of Constellation for the general public, they created a new network of cities underneath the sand. Small, but smart. Economical. Hidden from prying eyes so they can continue their work in peace. They called their new order the Shattered Stars, and for hundreds of years, their descendants continued to innovate the foundation their ancestors had built for them. | |||
Their underground walkways are lit with glowing rocks from the meteors that make up their homes. Special artisans called “starsmiths” outfit black blades with glowing ornamental gemstones that deal more damage at night. The distinct blue cloaks they wear are also a gift from the meteors, dyed with a unique resin to make them almost invisible at night. | |||
If they ever need to escape danger or detection they can dive back into the sand, squirming into ruins through secret passages like prairie dogs. Secrecy is key in this society and interacting with the outside world is forbidden… But, these are the sons and daughters of scientists. They are naturally curious, and sometimes they can’t help but spy on travelers. On rare occasions they will even hide their blue cloaks and make direct contact, speaking with strange, stilted accents (a rarity in this monolinguistic world). Of note: Whims are a rare exception to the usual Epithet distribution rule. Because their language still has a large amount of its own nuance, unlike the rest of the universal language, the rate of inscribed Whims is significantly lower. More than 95% of Whims are mundies. Whims know what epithets are, but having one is still a significantly big deal.<ref>https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937770294746157116</ref> | |||
There are two job classes in the Shattered Stars: Researchers and guardians. Researchers carry on the endless work of studying the world and its mysteries while guardians stalk the ruins, making sure no one can steal them. The most common interaction with outsiders is, unfortunately, combat. Sometimes adventurers come too close to discovering one of their highly-populated ruins. The only choice is to fight them off, and, if they’ve seen too much, secure their silence through more lethal means. | |||
For centuries the shattered stars were uninterested in making contact with the above-grounders. Too many of them still clung to the idea of “Fate” and “Predestination”, which was all hogwash. But recently, a city had been erected on the far edge of the desert. Small at first, then larger, and larger still. Now it was so large that it glowed in the night like a beacon. The Stars had thousands of innovations, but nothing that could create something that large. They began to investigate, and, to their surprise, they saw… themselves. Strange blue figures with cartoony proportions displayed on signs and dolls. Odd totems. | |||
Why? | |||
Were the above grounders… trying to make contact?<ref>https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937770334927585320</ref> | |||
More and more the Shattered Stars had to investigate. More and more they were spotted. More and more the whims took over the face of Longshot, becoming its unofficial mascot, and the cycle would fuel itself infinitely. Certain members of this secret order have been to the city, going so far as to visit its gambling halls and buy an “ice cream cone”, a delicacy they had never experienced before! This was nothing like the primitive monasteries. This city had rides and lights and sights and sounds, unlike anything they’d imagined. Perhaps here, now, they would finally find intellectual equals with which to share their knowledge. | |||
Some of them have already found their way into the city, disguising themselves as ordinary passersby and integrating into society to study us. You might have even spoken to them at a restaurant or played cards with one at a table. Why would they choose to show themselves now? …Well, honestly? | |||
They did it on a whim.<ref>https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937770361834078209</ref> | |||
== Geography == | == Geography == | ||
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=== Past === | === Past === | ||
It was | Hundreds and hundreds of years ago, so far back that the stones of history were once etched in have been eroded by time, the land that is now called “Desert Country” was once considered the cradle of humanity. Fertile river valleys as far as the eye could see with amber fields of wheat and barley flowing in waves like a golden ocean. But here, like in all places, there was conflict. Small quarrels between city-states, leaders rising and falling. The borders of the nation ebbed and flowed like ripples in a pond… Until one day, a man appeared. His actual name has been lost to the annals of history, so today he is known by the title given to him by his people. A simple title: The Sand King. The Sand King was one of the first inscribed. The oldest on record. His power was known to his people. In their writings, they called it “Undeath.” Simply put, the Sand King could not be harmed. There were stories of swords dinging against his body as though his skin were made of armor. Arrows striking his side would fall to the ground like useless sticks. Even hunger and thirst were unknown to this man. This incredible power was not without cost, however. Whenever he was meant to take damage, his epithet would sap the life force from nearby living creatures. Plants, animals… even people. He could take a mortal blow only for his attacker to fall dead moments later, his own life taken to restore the King. There were stories of the man walking onto battlefields unarmed and defeating entire squadrons simply by taking their blows. If the damage he took was worth more than one life, it would sap away the grass at his feet, leaving nothing behind but sand.<ref>https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937768210151919627</ref> | ||
Inevitably, the country fell under his rule. Of course, it did. How do you stop someone who can’t be killed? The nation that would become Desert Country was finally one, united for the first time. On the day of his coronation, a star fell from the heavens and smashed against the earth, shattering into precious gemstones. In the center of the crater was a series of gems in the exact shape of the constellation he was born under. A sign. The King took the gems, fashioned them into a crown, and wore them. | |||
The King was a believer in fate. After all, what else could his power possibly be? The concept of an “epithet” was completely unknown at the time. No, this magic was simply a manifestation of his fate. His divine right to rule. | |||
He became obsessed with the concept of “fate”, certain that everyone’s fate was written somewhere in the stars. He had met his fate and the stars rewarded him with a kingdom and a crown. But what of his kingdom’s fate? What of his subjects’? No, he had to know it all. He invested heavily in science and mathematics, desperate to find some way to unlock the riddles of the cosmos that he was sure were nearly at his fingertips. The key had to be somewhere. Physics, maybe. Calculus, astronomy, architecture. Somewhere. | |||
With the boom in sciences, the Sand King’s country flourished. His workers built roads connecting all the cities like stars in the night sky, forming a kingdom that he called “Constellation.” It was a golden age. Aqueducts and chinampa feeding his people, poets teaching them, the night sky guiding them. His subjects were the first to discover the motions of other planets. The secrets of the sun and moon. They learned to navigate the sea using only the stars as their guide, some of his subjects discovered an archipelago to the east and decided to settle there, eventually founding Island Country. | |||
But still, no discovery of fate. No way to read the future.<ref>https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937768271686561802</ref> | |||
It became apparent that the march of time had as little an effect on the Sand King as fire and steel did. He was decades into his reign and he hadn’t aged a day while those who served him at court seemed to age faster than ever. | |||
Eventually, his heirs grew old… and they grew impatient. At this rate, this land and all its riches would never be theirs. They knew they could not kill the Sand King, and so they trapped him in an obsidian sarcophagus while he slept, whisking him away in the night to a secret location outside the city where they buried him alive. | |||
The throne passed to his heirs who split the country amongst themselves, each governing a different star on Constellation’s map of cities. However, unlike their father, they were not invincible and they did not command respect. Their treasures were sought after by bandits, and many of them were killed. The heirs that remained had their astrologists and architects outfit their castles with elaborate traps and puzzles to hide their wealth so the thieves could not steal it… but while they were focused on their greed, another plague began sweeping across their kingdom. | |||
Sand. | |||
From the spot where the King was buried, the grass began to die. The lush gardens sifted away to nothing and those who came to investigate fell ill and collapsed. The Sand King was not dead. The Sand King would not die. His epithet would not allow it. He would not asphyxiate. He would not starve. Whether he wanted to or not, his power crept its invisible fingers across the land and slowly the golden sea of grain turned to a barren ocean of sand. As barren as the night sky above. | |||
Then… the stars began to fall. A catastrophic meteor shower rained down from the heavens and shattered against the land, exploding in the newly formed sand and crushing the city of Constellation beneath them.<ref>https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937768423784599573</ref> | |||
The land was cursed, the people said. The mathematicians looked to their abacuses and the scientists turned to their books, but no one could figure out why the desert continued to spread. Some of them took to the sea to join those that had retreated to the Island nations to the south and west. Others turned inwards, hoping to find some trace of the treasures left behind in the vast desert before they were consumed whole by it. They prayed to the stars to spare them. They took chunks of space rock, and glass crystals left by the meteorite and fashioned them into glowing jewelry, hoping that if their bodies glowed like the stars then maybe the sky would see them as one of its own and guide them to salvation.<ref>https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937768441950117920</ref> | |||
Eventually, desertification stopped. No one was sure why, but then again, no one was sure why it had started in the first place. Slowly, the people returned to the desert. They learned to live in small pockets and became convinced this was all some divine retribution. They betrayed their King’s expectations. They stopped looking to the stars for the answer and the stars punished them for it. Sects of Traditionalist monks began to pop up in the desert, training their bodies and minds amidst the sand, hoping one day they would be able to find the fate the stars had in store for them. | |||
They rejected the discoveries of the great city of Constellation. What if one of these fields of study had been the thing that angered the stars? They were nearly destroyed for their hubris the first time. To gamble a second time would be foolhardy. | |||
And so it went, for a great many years. The people of Desert Country searched for their futures by looking to a past that no longer existed, living in literal ruins. And so, they found nothing. The culture stagnated.<ref>https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937768494718652496</ref> | |||
Eventually, about 30 years ago a group of bandits raided a series of temples in the Valley of Fallen Stars. They took all the valuables they had gathered and invested everything they had into a remote peninsula on the far eastern edge of the country. There was a small town here with an old theater community, but not much else. Those bandits were going to take this place, and they were going to build a city. A new city. A city with all the glitz and glamor and fantasies they’d dreamed of since they were kids. Amusement parks and roller coasters and casinos. The biggest, brightest, best town this country had ever seen! It was going to be a Longshot… so that’s what they named it. | |||
[[Indus Tarbella]] was born here<ref>https://jelloapocalypse.tumblr.com/post/189412214507/outta-curiosity-does-ee-take-place-in-a-specific</ref>. At some point he lost a duel with [[Mera Salamin]]. He would end up eating sand with her before they left the country.<ref>[[Epithet Erased]] | EP 3 - [[The Doctor is In|''The Doctor is In'']]</ref> | Their gamble paid off. After Taiga Country won the Transport War they were looking to construct a massive bridge spanning the ocean that would connect their nations. After some consideration, they chose Longshot. The bandits had gambled. And that gamble had paid off. | ||
Cut to the present day. Now everyone’s gambling in Longshot. A city of smiles and lights so bright you can’t even see the stars in the sky. Who cares what they think? See the stars on stage instead! Catch a show. Catch ten shows. The brightest stars of the theater world could all be found right here. Spend your money in the casino. Got kids? No problem! Take ‘em to one of the two dozen amusement parks that line the city streets! | |||
The influx of Taiga tourists even revitalized interest in the Desert country’s ancient cities and temples. Treasure hunters search for lost artifacts buried in the sand while anthropologists travel to remote outposts to speak with the monks who are still searching for answers in the stars. The travelers ask the desert monks why they don’t just give up this difficult life and move to the big city. Wouldn’t it be easier to give up their traditions? | |||
The monks laugh at the question. After all, the people of Desert country know better than anyone that some things… simply refuse to die.<ref>https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937769544213229598</ref> | |||
[[Indus Tarbella]] was born here<ref>https://jelloapocalypse.tumblr.com/post/189412214507/outta-curiosity-does-ee-take-place-in-a-specific</ref>. At some point, he lost a duel with [[Mera Salamin]]. He would end up eating sand with her before they left the country.<ref>[[Epithet Erased]] | EP 3 - [[The Doctor is In|''The Doctor is In'']]</ref> | |||
== Locations == | == Locations == | ||
==== Longshot ==== | ==== Longshot ==== | ||
It is the capital<ref>[https://twitter.com/EpithetErased/status/1521226926748147714 Mundie Monday - May 2, 2022 - Epithet Erased on Twitter]</ref> | It is the capital<ref>[https://twitter.com/EpithetErased/status/1521226926748147714 Mundie Monday - May 2, 2022 - Epithet Erased on Twitter]</ref> and is very similar to the real-world location of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Vegas Las Vegas] as such it's filled with carnival rides, casinos, games, and theater. <ref name=":12" /> | ||
The bright and bustling capital of Desert Country is a utopia of casinos and carnival rides. Despite being founded by wayward desert bandits and its abundance of gambling parlors and bars, Longshot makes an effort to brand itself as “fun for the whole family.” The whole city is one giant amusement park. Random game carts can pop up on any given street offering prizes in exchange for a ring toss or hitting a target with a BB gun. There are neighborhood-wide laser tag arenas with elaborately staged combat operations and tall buildings that house multi-level escape rooms with dozens of secret passageways. If you can imagine it, it can be found in Longshot. | |||
Most of the locals running stalls prefer games with a high skill ceiling rather than attempting to swindle their customers with cheap tricks. Carnies operate on the assumption that players would rather experience as many games as possible, moving on before they’re able to master a specific challenge. After all, the whole city is a giant neon overload of options. Who wants to spend half their night trying to win one teddy bear? You could spend five hours trying every game just once on a single street. | |||
The city is laid out and managed like a theme park with roads made exclusively for pedestrians. Most of the city’s hot spots are within reasonable walking distance. For those that aren’t, monorails and coaster track snake above the walkways, carting tourists to-and-fro with glorious previews of the attractions beneath them. If you came by car over the New Tomorrow Bridge then you’ll have to park it in one of the massive lots outside town and hop a tram to your hotel.<ref>https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937769770755973160</ref> | |||
Most of the hotels are located in the center of town in a bouquet of tightly-packed skyscrapers called The Diamond. This bright cornucopia of neon monoliths can be seen for miles out in the desert and it hosts all of the big-name casinos. Most “adult” entertainment in the city is centered here behind exclusive elevators that require a myriad of card keys: Casinos, brothels, and bars with penthouse views overlooking the city, perfect for VIPs and celebrities. | |||
Directly below the hotels is Diamond Street, a diamond-shaped walk around with dozens of theaters, opera houses, and concert venues featuring the world’s best shows. Longshot grew from a small theater scene out on the Rim, and to this day Diamond Street’s theater scene is the best in the world. Playing on Diamond Street is the end goal of every musician. Artists playing the Diamond tend to stay for at least a month-long residency, which means any old tourist on the street can usually book a ticket within the week. | |||
Dozens of monorail carts snake out from the Diamond, allowing visitors convenient access to the rest of the city. Just outside the ring of hotels and casinos are sprawling festival streets lined with games, arcades, and restaurants. On the east side of the city by the waterfront, you can find the boardwalks and beaches, race tracks, and waterslides. Desert-side there are petting zoos and launch points for investigations interested in braving the hot sand of the desert. Most people book a local tour guide for the duration of their stay to help them plan their trip. There are hundreds of blogs and videos online with experts talking about how to get the most out of your vacation. <ref>https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937769835864154152</ref> | |||
No role is considered more important in Longshot than the Operations Manager. These are the people who keep the cash and traffic flowing, finding the optimal way to move tourists from one area to another so nowhere is too crowded or too empty. Any kind of accident, blockade, or long line can be catastrophic. It’s up to the Operations Manager to keep things moving smoothly. Any setup worth its salt employs an Operations Manager, and most Op Managers are members of a board of trustees called the “Above Board”. This is where the power in Longshot sits. Forget casino managers and CEOs, if you want something done in Longshot, you go to the Board.<ref>https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937769846169550909</ref> | |||
'''Constellation''' | |||
Constructed over a thousand years ago by The Sand King, Constellation was the largest city ever built by human hands. At its height, it spanned almost the entirety of Desert Country, smaller city-states connected by long, walled roads and aqueducts. The cities were the “stars” and the roads were the connections that made up the “constellation” the city was named. | |||
Once the cradle of humanity and host to a golden age of science and education, the city entered a sharp decline after The Sand King’s reign ended. His many heirs split their father’s infinite wealth and treasure between them, building temples to greedily hide their newfound gold. They contracted the best and brightest of the kingdom’s many architects and astrologers to create elaborate dungeons filled with traps and puzzles so no one could find their gold, even if they were assassinated. Many of these treasure palaces were sacked and emptied, but more are being discovered every year. | |||
Gold and jewels aren’t the only valuables Constellation has to offer. The city was built during a golden age of learning. Forgotten advances in astronomy, architecture, mathematics, epithet science, and more lie buried in the desert, and many scholars will pay handsomely for their recovery.<ref>https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937769978973782066</ref> | |||
Unfortunately, the vast majority of what was once Constellation now lies in the hottest and harshest part of Desert Country, a region known as The Valley of Fallen Stars. At the end of Constellation’s days, a world-shaking meteor shower fell from the heavens and shattered the city’s enormous walls and buildings, killing thousands and causing the rest to scatter. As the desert spread, its secrets were swallowed up. Rarely the winds will shift, revealing a forgotten observatory or a bank vault from ages past, buried amongst giant remains of meteorites. They say that there are still glittering treasures that can be found inside… ancient coins and sparkling shards of fallen stars. Treasures for those brave enough to take them. These expeditions are dangerous, however. The traps in many of these hidden temples are still active, and not all adventurers who dare to search for them come back alive…<ref>https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937769986217353276</ref> | |||
== Trivia == | == Trivia == |
Revision as of 21:18, 26 August 2022
Desert Country is a country in Epithet Erased known for its desert and party-going culture.
Population
There are two main types of people that live in Desert Country they are solitary monks who live isolated in the sand and the party-going new-age culture obsessed with neon lights and city life.[1] People now make a living studying martial arts in monasteries built into the ruins, [2] Desert Race people have tanned skin and grey hair from birth.[1]
Whims
If you keep your ears open in the marketplace, you might hear strange stories from people returning from trips out in the heart of the desert. They say strange figures were watching them from far off in the dunes, there one moment, gone the next. Tall strangers in mysterious blue robes with litham covering their faces. Some travelers claim they passed out from heat exhaustion and would’ve died had these mysterious figures not given them food and water. Others claim these indigo-blue wraiths nearly killed them while exploring a forgotten temple.
There have been dozens of sightings of these blue-veiled men living out in the desert over the centuries. Sometimes they’d appear to save a life, sometimes they’d appear to attack you, but they almost always appeared near treasure. The people of the desert gave them the nickname “Whims”, spirits of luck, good and bad. If you’re making a big gamble, you always want the whims to be on your side. Does someone steal your wallet? Blame it on the whims! Originally seen as portents of disaster, they’ve recently become something of a phenomenon in Longshot. You don’t have to search long to find a stall selling “whimsical merchandise”. “Be sure to buy one before visiting the casino! You want to win? You need a whim!”
These adorable blue cryptids pepper everything from dollaramas to billboards to playing cards. Are they specters of souls lost in the desert? Genies? Aliens that rode down on the meteors to study our ways? No one knows! But one thing’s for sure: They’re good for business!
In truth, these desert wraiths are humans. There’s a reason they appear near the ruins of Constellation. After all… they’re the survivors.[3]
Hundreds of years ago when the sky began to fall and meteors burned the city of Constellation to the ground most of the citizens fled in the initial attack. The stragglers made their way to the coast when the Sand King’s curse began turning the land to desert beneath their feet. No one would dare venture back into the dying city.
No one except for a handful of devoted scientists.
Between the curse and the desert, most people working their way back to the ruins in the Valley of Fallen Stars didn’t survive. Only the talented and the clever managed to find ways. In a single generation this unnatural, grisly culling practice left behind a small group of survivors. Not all of their work survived, but what they managed to save was beyond priceless. The innovation of a thousand years ago, writings otherwise lost to time. They waited for the return of Constellation’s people, excited to build the city anew… but the people they were waiting for never came.[4]
Years later, when the citizens of the ruined nation began to trickle back into the desert they were changed. They had been scarred by the disaster, terrified that their nation “upset the stars”. They believed in the same skybound fate as their late King, and they thought that some hubris within their city had brought on the disaster. Divine punishment.
Now, the scientists who worked under the Sand King had never particularly believed all this “fate” mumbo jumbo. They were here to discover and experiment, and if their boss’s weird religion allowed them to do that then all the better. But here now the people shunned their advancements. They looked at their life’s work, the things they had run back into the ruins to save, and claimed that this was what had brought on the meteors. This was what had ruined them. No, they had to cast aside all the city’s advancements. The risks were simply too great!
The scientists thought they were fools. This was an untold wealth of knowledge! And here these people were content to throw it all away so they could live in the sand? No, that wouldn’t do. That wouldn’t do at all.[5]
A group of scientists came together and decided to make a new life, one away from the prying eyes of the neanderthals living in the sand. People like that didn’t deserve their innovations anyways. Instead, the scientists renovated underground ruins, mining the vast wellspring of meteorites that had fallen for the material. As time and sand eroded the memory of Constellation for the general public, they created a new network of cities underneath the sand. Small, but smart. Economical. Hidden from prying eyes so they can continue their work in peace. They called their new order the Shattered Stars, and for hundreds of years, their descendants continued to innovate the foundation their ancestors had built for them.
Their underground walkways are lit with glowing rocks from the meteors that make up their homes. Special artisans called “starsmiths” outfit black blades with glowing ornamental gemstones that deal more damage at night. The distinct blue cloaks they wear are also a gift from the meteors, dyed with a unique resin to make them almost invisible at night.
If they ever need to escape danger or detection they can dive back into the sand, squirming into ruins through secret passages like prairie dogs. Secrecy is key in this society and interacting with the outside world is forbidden… But, these are the sons and daughters of scientists. They are naturally curious, and sometimes they can’t help but spy on travelers. On rare occasions they will even hide their blue cloaks and make direct contact, speaking with strange, stilted accents (a rarity in this monolinguistic world). Of note: Whims are a rare exception to the usual Epithet distribution rule. Because their language still has a large amount of its own nuance, unlike the rest of the universal language, the rate of inscribed Whims is significantly lower. More than 95% of Whims are mundies. Whims know what epithets are, but having one is still a significantly big deal.[6]
There are two job classes in the Shattered Stars: Researchers and guardians. Researchers carry on the endless work of studying the world and its mysteries while guardians stalk the ruins, making sure no one can steal them. The most common interaction with outsiders is, unfortunately, combat. Sometimes adventurers come too close to discovering one of their highly-populated ruins. The only choice is to fight them off, and, if they’ve seen too much, secure their silence through more lethal means.
For centuries the shattered stars were uninterested in making contact with the above-grounders. Too many of them still clung to the idea of “Fate” and “Predestination”, which was all hogwash. But recently, a city had been erected on the far edge of the desert. Small at first, then larger, and larger still. Now it was so large that it glowed in the night like a beacon. The Stars had thousands of innovations, but nothing that could create something that large. They began to investigate, and, to their surprise, they saw… themselves. Strange blue figures with cartoony proportions displayed on signs and dolls. Odd totems.
Why?
Were the above grounders… trying to make contact?[7]
More and more the Shattered Stars had to investigate. More and more they were spotted. More and more the whims took over the face of Longshot, becoming its unofficial mascot, and the cycle would fuel itself infinitely. Certain members of this secret order have been to the city, going so far as to visit its gambling halls and buy an “ice cream cone”, a delicacy they had never experienced before! This was nothing like the primitive monasteries. This city had rides and lights and sights and sounds, unlike anything they’d imagined. Perhaps here, now, they would finally find intellectual equals with which to share their knowledge.
Some of them have already found their way into the city, disguising themselves as ordinary passersby and integrating into society to study us. You might have even spoken to them at a restaurant or played cards with one at a table. Why would they choose to show themselves now? …Well, honestly?
They did it on a whim.[8]
Geography
Located to the west of Taiga Country, and is mainly a vast desert[1]
History
Past
Hundreds and hundreds of years ago, so far back that the stones of history were once etched in have been eroded by time, the land that is now called “Desert Country” was once considered the cradle of humanity. Fertile river valleys as far as the eye could see with amber fields of wheat and barley flowing in waves like a golden ocean. But here, like in all places, there was conflict. Small quarrels between city-states, leaders rising and falling. The borders of the nation ebbed and flowed like ripples in a pond… Until one day, a man appeared. His actual name has been lost to the annals of history, so today he is known by the title given to him by his people. A simple title: The Sand King. The Sand King was one of the first inscribed. The oldest on record. His power was known to his people. In their writings, they called it “Undeath.” Simply put, the Sand King could not be harmed. There were stories of swords dinging against his body as though his skin were made of armor. Arrows striking his side would fall to the ground like useless sticks. Even hunger and thirst were unknown to this man. This incredible power was not without cost, however. Whenever he was meant to take damage, his epithet would sap the life force from nearby living creatures. Plants, animals… even people. He could take a mortal blow only for his attacker to fall dead moments later, his own life taken to restore the King. There were stories of the man walking onto battlefields unarmed and defeating entire squadrons simply by taking their blows. If the damage he took was worth more than one life, it would sap away the grass at his feet, leaving nothing behind but sand.[9]
Inevitably, the country fell under his rule. Of course, it did. How do you stop someone who can’t be killed? The nation that would become Desert Country was finally one, united for the first time. On the day of his coronation, a star fell from the heavens and smashed against the earth, shattering into precious gemstones. In the center of the crater was a series of gems in the exact shape of the constellation he was born under. A sign. The King took the gems, fashioned them into a crown, and wore them.
The King was a believer in fate. After all, what else could his power possibly be? The concept of an “epithet” was completely unknown at the time. No, this magic was simply a manifestation of his fate. His divine right to rule.
He became obsessed with the concept of “fate”, certain that everyone’s fate was written somewhere in the stars. He had met his fate and the stars rewarded him with a kingdom and a crown. But what of his kingdom’s fate? What of his subjects’? No, he had to know it all. He invested heavily in science and mathematics, desperate to find some way to unlock the riddles of the cosmos that he was sure were nearly at his fingertips. The key had to be somewhere. Physics, maybe. Calculus, astronomy, architecture. Somewhere.
With the boom in sciences, the Sand King’s country flourished. His workers built roads connecting all the cities like stars in the night sky, forming a kingdom that he called “Constellation.” It was a golden age. Aqueducts and chinampa feeding his people, poets teaching them, the night sky guiding them. His subjects were the first to discover the motions of other planets. The secrets of the sun and moon. They learned to navigate the sea using only the stars as their guide, some of his subjects discovered an archipelago to the east and decided to settle there, eventually founding Island Country.
But still, no discovery of fate. No way to read the future.[10]
It became apparent that the march of time had as little an effect on the Sand King as fire and steel did. He was decades into his reign and he hadn’t aged a day while those who served him at court seemed to age faster than ever.
Eventually, his heirs grew old… and they grew impatient. At this rate, this land and all its riches would never be theirs. They knew they could not kill the Sand King, and so they trapped him in an obsidian sarcophagus while he slept, whisking him away in the night to a secret location outside the city where they buried him alive.
The throne passed to his heirs who split the country amongst themselves, each governing a different star on Constellation’s map of cities. However, unlike their father, they were not invincible and they did not command respect. Their treasures were sought after by bandits, and many of them were killed. The heirs that remained had their astrologists and architects outfit their castles with elaborate traps and puzzles to hide their wealth so the thieves could not steal it… but while they were focused on their greed, another plague began sweeping across their kingdom.
Sand.
From the spot where the King was buried, the grass began to die. The lush gardens sifted away to nothing and those who came to investigate fell ill and collapsed. The Sand King was not dead. The Sand King would not die. His epithet would not allow it. He would not asphyxiate. He would not starve. Whether he wanted to or not, his power crept its invisible fingers across the land and slowly the golden sea of grain turned to a barren ocean of sand. As barren as the night sky above.
Then… the stars began to fall. A catastrophic meteor shower rained down from the heavens and shattered against the land, exploding in the newly formed sand and crushing the city of Constellation beneath them.[11]
The land was cursed, the people said. The mathematicians looked to their abacuses and the scientists turned to their books, but no one could figure out why the desert continued to spread. Some of them took to the sea to join those that had retreated to the Island nations to the south and west. Others turned inwards, hoping to find some trace of the treasures left behind in the vast desert before they were consumed whole by it. They prayed to the stars to spare them. They took chunks of space rock, and glass crystals left by the meteorite and fashioned them into glowing jewelry, hoping that if their bodies glowed like the stars then maybe the sky would see them as one of its own and guide them to salvation.[12]
Eventually, desertification stopped. No one was sure why, but then again, no one was sure why it had started in the first place. Slowly, the people returned to the desert. They learned to live in small pockets and became convinced this was all some divine retribution. They betrayed their King’s expectations. They stopped looking to the stars for the answer and the stars punished them for it. Sects of Traditionalist monks began to pop up in the desert, training their bodies and minds amidst the sand, hoping one day they would be able to find the fate the stars had in store for them.
They rejected the discoveries of the great city of Constellation. What if one of these fields of study had been the thing that angered the stars? They were nearly destroyed for their hubris the first time. To gamble a second time would be foolhardy.
And so it went, for a great many years. The people of Desert Country searched for their futures by looking to a past that no longer existed, living in literal ruins. And so, they found nothing. The culture stagnated.[13]
Eventually, about 30 years ago a group of bandits raided a series of temples in the Valley of Fallen Stars. They took all the valuables they had gathered and invested everything they had into a remote peninsula on the far eastern edge of the country. There was a small town here with an old theater community, but not much else. Those bandits were going to take this place, and they were going to build a city. A new city. A city with all the glitz and glamor and fantasies they’d dreamed of since they were kids. Amusement parks and roller coasters and casinos. The biggest, brightest, best town this country had ever seen! It was going to be a Longshot… so that’s what they named it.
Their gamble paid off. After Taiga Country won the Transport War they were looking to construct a massive bridge spanning the ocean that would connect their nations. After some consideration, they chose Longshot. The bandits had gambled. And that gamble had paid off.
Cut to the present day. Now everyone’s gambling in Longshot. A city of smiles and lights so bright you can’t even see the stars in the sky. Who cares what they think? See the stars on stage instead! Catch a show. Catch ten shows. The brightest stars of the theater world could all be found right here. Spend your money in the casino. Got kids? No problem! Take ‘em to one of the two dozen amusement parks that line the city streets!
The influx of Taiga tourists even revitalized interest in the Desert country’s ancient cities and temples. Treasure hunters search for lost artifacts buried in the sand while anthropologists travel to remote outposts to speak with the monks who are still searching for answers in the stars. The travelers ask the desert monks why they don’t just give up this difficult life and move to the big city. Wouldn’t it be easier to give up their traditions?
The monks laugh at the question. After all, the people of Desert country know better than anyone that some things… simply refuse to die.[14]
Indus Tarbella was born here[15]. At some point, he lost a duel with Mera Salamin. He would end up eating sand with her before they left the country.[16]
Locations
Longshot
It is the capital[17] and is very similar to the real-world location of Las Vegas as such it's filled with carnival rides, casinos, games, and theater. [1]
The bright and bustling capital of Desert Country is a utopia of casinos and carnival rides. Despite being founded by wayward desert bandits and its abundance of gambling parlors and bars, Longshot makes an effort to brand itself as “fun for the whole family.” The whole city is one giant amusement park. Random game carts can pop up on any given street offering prizes in exchange for a ring toss or hitting a target with a BB gun. There are neighborhood-wide laser tag arenas with elaborately staged combat operations and tall buildings that house multi-level escape rooms with dozens of secret passageways. If you can imagine it, it can be found in Longshot.
Most of the locals running stalls prefer games with a high skill ceiling rather than attempting to swindle their customers with cheap tricks. Carnies operate on the assumption that players would rather experience as many games as possible, moving on before they’re able to master a specific challenge. After all, the whole city is a giant neon overload of options. Who wants to spend half their night trying to win one teddy bear? You could spend five hours trying every game just once on a single street.
The city is laid out and managed like a theme park with roads made exclusively for pedestrians. Most of the city’s hot spots are within reasonable walking distance. For those that aren’t, monorails and coaster track snake above the walkways, carting tourists to-and-fro with glorious previews of the attractions beneath them. If you came by car over the New Tomorrow Bridge then you’ll have to park it in one of the massive lots outside town and hop a tram to your hotel.[18]
Most of the hotels are located in the center of town in a bouquet of tightly-packed skyscrapers called The Diamond. This bright cornucopia of neon monoliths can be seen for miles out in the desert and it hosts all of the big-name casinos. Most “adult” entertainment in the city is centered here behind exclusive elevators that require a myriad of card keys: Casinos, brothels, and bars with penthouse views overlooking the city, perfect for VIPs and celebrities.
Directly below the hotels is Diamond Street, a diamond-shaped walk around with dozens of theaters, opera houses, and concert venues featuring the world’s best shows. Longshot grew from a small theater scene out on the Rim, and to this day Diamond Street’s theater scene is the best in the world. Playing on Diamond Street is the end goal of every musician. Artists playing the Diamond tend to stay for at least a month-long residency, which means any old tourist on the street can usually book a ticket within the week.
Dozens of monorail carts snake out from the Diamond, allowing visitors convenient access to the rest of the city. Just outside the ring of hotels and casinos are sprawling festival streets lined with games, arcades, and restaurants. On the east side of the city by the waterfront, you can find the boardwalks and beaches, race tracks, and waterslides. Desert-side there are petting zoos and launch points for investigations interested in braving the hot sand of the desert. Most people book a local tour guide for the duration of their stay to help them plan their trip. There are hundreds of blogs and videos online with experts talking about how to get the most out of your vacation. [19]
No role is considered more important in Longshot than the Operations Manager. These are the people who keep the cash and traffic flowing, finding the optimal way to move tourists from one area to another so nowhere is too crowded or too empty. Any kind of accident, blockade, or long line can be catastrophic. It’s up to the Operations Manager to keep things moving smoothly. Any setup worth its salt employs an Operations Manager, and most Op Managers are members of a board of trustees called the “Above Board”. This is where the power in Longshot sits. Forget casino managers and CEOs, if you want something done in Longshot, you go to the Board.[20]
Constellation
Constructed over a thousand years ago by The Sand King, Constellation was the largest city ever built by human hands. At its height, it spanned almost the entirety of Desert Country, smaller city-states connected by long, walled roads and aqueducts. The cities were the “stars” and the roads were the connections that made up the “constellation” the city was named.
Once the cradle of humanity and host to a golden age of science and education, the city entered a sharp decline after The Sand King’s reign ended. His many heirs split their father’s infinite wealth and treasure between them, building temples to greedily hide their newfound gold. They contracted the best and brightest of the kingdom’s many architects and astrologers to create elaborate dungeons filled with traps and puzzles so no one could find their gold, even if they were assassinated. Many of these treasure palaces were sacked and emptied, but more are being discovered every year.
Gold and jewels aren’t the only valuables Constellation has to offer. The city was built during a golden age of learning. Forgotten advances in astronomy, architecture, mathematics, epithet science, and more lie buried in the desert, and many scholars will pay handsomely for their recovery.[21]
Unfortunately, the vast majority of what was once Constellation now lies in the hottest and harshest part of Desert Country, a region known as The Valley of Fallen Stars. At the end of Constellation’s days, a world-shaking meteor shower fell from the heavens and shattered the city’s enormous walls and buildings, killing thousands and causing the rest to scatter. As the desert spread, its secrets were swallowed up. Rarely the winds will shift, revealing a forgotten observatory or a bank vault from ages past, buried amongst giant remains of meteorites. They say that there are still glittering treasures that can be found inside… ancient coins and sparkling shards of fallen stars. Treasures for those brave enough to take them. These expeditions are dangerous, however. The traps in many of these hidden temples are still active, and not all adventurers who dare to search for them come back alive…[22]
Trivia
to be added
Gallery
-
Longshot's Postcard artwork from Epithet TTRPG
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Epithet FAQ
- ↑ https://twitter.com/EpithetErased/status/1498201352199184391
- ↑ https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937770156338315330
- ↑ https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937770211891900446
- ↑ https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937770254526992474
- ↑ https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937770294746157116
- ↑ https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937770334927585320
- ↑ https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937770361834078209
- ↑ https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937768210151919627
- ↑ https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937768271686561802
- ↑ https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937768423784599573
- ↑ https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937768441950117920
- ↑ https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937768494718652496
- ↑ https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937769544213229598
- ↑ https://jelloapocalypse.tumblr.com/post/189412214507/outta-curiosity-does-ee-take-place-in-a-specific
- ↑ Epithet Erased | EP 3 - The Doctor is In
- ↑ Mundie Monday - May 2, 2022 - Epithet Erased on Twitter
- ↑ https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937769770755973160
- ↑ https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937769835864154152
- ↑ https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937769846169550909
- ↑ https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937769978973782066
- ↑ https://discord.com/channels/396057667463806977/399703537992466432/937769986217353276