[Ye Olde Dusty Archives] The "theme" of Brookshire

The ancient heartland of the Imperial Republic; time worn and beset by the troubled legacy of feudalism and the former tyranny of Liches. Now a personal domain of the Kaiser, restored to statehood and struggling to forge a new democratic identity.

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Continuator
"The devil in the details"
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Joined: Sun May 10, 2015 8:28 pm

[Ye Olde Dusty Archives] The "theme" of Brookshire

Post by Continuator »

Source: Shyriath, 12.X.1503
This is a little place for me to try to gather my thoughts and try to do some stuff with Brookshire. I want to try to flesh it out, to make it a bit more substantial, like Benacia is (though probably not as detailed... and without the same force of "canon" that speculations by Erik might have).

Some basic thoughts to start off:

-Brookshire is the ancient homeland of the Kaisers and the nucleus from which Shireroth was formed.

-Of all the Duchies, except possibly Goldshire, it thus has probably the greatest sense of "Shirerithianity"; that is, the people who live in it probably consider themselves good and traditional Shirerithians. This may go to the extent of actually identifying far more with the nation as a whole than with the Duchy itself, whereas the other Duchies are more likely to think of themselves as distinct entities within Shireroth.

-This would probably lend to the people of the Duchy a certain sense of conservatism. The feudal structure would be well observed; Cedrist religion would be an important part of everyday life, particularly as regards any ritual facets; old-fashioned customs less used elsewhere in Shireroth might be retained. I particularly envision an emphasis on honor and duty over material success.

-These sorts of characteristics might predispose Brookshirians to look upon residents of other Duchies (except, again, for maybe Goldshire), or minorities within their own Duchy (i.e., Benacians) as strange at best, and perhaps corrupt near-foreigners at worst. Of course, the more extreme the view, the less common it'll be, but one gets the sense that Brookshirians really just don't know what to do with the rest of Shireroth.

-This kind of view is sadly common of those at the centers of power. Still, that same position is likely to make Brookshire a more cosmopolitan, less purely traditional place than its residents are likely to admit. There will likely be a large number of outside ideas or other elements floating around in the Brookshirian human landscape, but "adopted" by locals as their own, their distant origins either forgotten or ignored.

-Of course, this sense of inclusiveness is likely to vary from place to place. Near Shirekeep, one might expect conscious and more-or-less welcomed mixing of local with outside characteristics; other centers of population would appear more distinctively Brookshirian and less consciously inclusive, with the more rural areas being the least willing to compromise.

Mmmmmm... stream-of-consciousness rambling goodness. Yum.

Continuator
"The devil in the details"
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Re: [Ye Olde Dusty Archives] The "theme" of Brookshire

Post by Continuator »

The only cogent thing to come out of "Machinaria"

Source: Ari, 22.I.1568
The Meshed Lands

It is the nature of the world that everything is itself. This may seem a truism, but it does not hold in the Meshed Lands. The Meshed Lands connect everything together, in the Meshed Lands things *blur*. Notably the line between death and life. There is life, of a sort, found in death and death, of a sort, found in life.

Eating anything grown within the Meshed Lands is very difficult. The grain may screech when harvested and make bread that crumbles into something like silicon dust when baked. Its beer could taste and smell of decay. Cattle tend to be stillborn, which makes it all the more disturbing as the herds continue to grow.

Nevertheless there is much wealth to be found in the Meshed Lands for the brave of heart and strong of stomach. Examples: A tree with branches that when aged and dried suffice as nuclear fuel, after being killed and ashed, of course. A stream in trainable, watchful motion. A pit full of knowledgeable darkness.

The Meshed Lands exist and spread for some unknown reason, perhaps by the dictates of the Machine God. They are not well suited for the merely living. The eldritch powers of the Meshed Lands often frighten, attack, or drive the living to various forms of insanity.

Those close to the spirit of the Machine God have a natural affinity to the Meshed Lands. The Adepti and the Countless can exist free and undisturbed in the Meshed Lands. Their senses are sharpened, their arms strong. The Meshed Lands are also a source of many wonders... often grotesque or terrible. The useful ones can be kept or traded. The useless ones - and there are many - can be a burden to any nearby living land. Many substances found in the Meshed Lands are enticing and addictive, and so the mere closeness of Meshed Lands fosters unhealth in nearby areas.

Perhaps most disturbing, at least to those who have not reached true freedom of form, is that those bearing wounds in the Meshed Lands do not always heal true. The substance of the Meshed Lands, or the lack thereof, enters their flesh. They take on the form of clockwork devices. Some carry on afterward, cleaving to their old principles and loyalties. Some go strange, eventually raising their hand - or whatever it has turned into - against all others.

The Countless can undergo a different transformation with the Meshed Lands. They share out part of their own substance and humanity to the surrounding terrain, drinking even more of the territory's inhuman nature. They become Swarm. Insubstantial, but hardly less terrible for that. Whip-fast, hard to see until it's right on top of you, a Swarm's airy frame can't take your head off, but this is hardly a comfort when it roars through your army and sinks its claws into your skull.

Mending nature

Sometimes, some unknown intelligence contacts certain persons and bids them to "mend" some location, often but not always a forest distant from any human habitation.

Countless - the already mysterious and withdrawn Countless might sometimes simply disappear. When they one day reappear, an area of Meshed Lands is always known to soon be found somewhere close.

Adeptus - the Adepti, being closer to society's functions, rarely just disappear. However, this is not needed for them anyway: Should they wish to, they can introduce the Meshed nature to hectares of land with what seems a mere thought to others. Still, after effecting such a transformation, they often do not remember having wished it.

Finally, the mere existence of Adepti and the Countless, it seems, allow Meshed Lands to spontaneously wrest themselves from non-existence. The more life, the more likely the transformation: Wooded areas are the most likely to change, deserts the least.


For now, the Meshed Lands are small and scarce, found only in a few distant passes of the Crestfallen range. Similarly, the Countless, named not after the number of individuals but after the nature of each so-called individual herself, only barely skirt the edges of society, devoid of a Will or participation in the Machinarian life. However, both are known to Machinarian society, and there are some who take the existence of these things as a call: That the proper destiny for Man is not to just protect and conserve nature, but seek to return it to a state of true oneness. And maybe, eventually, to join with it themselves.

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