Wanderers in the Rift
The ancient legends say that the Great Rift was the birthplace of mankind. It was here that the old gods walked among men. In this once fertile valley that bisected the continent, the first empires, whose names are long lost to history, rose, fell and expanded across the lands leaving only ruins. Civilation marched on and countless new kingdoms rose and fell, building over the first ruins. Today the Rift is a miserable place to live--it is no longer fertile due to depleted soil and constantly plagued by heavy rain and other foul weather. The Rift is divided into thousands of warring fiefdoms little more than squatters in ruins older than recorded history, each struggling with all their might against the inevitable forces which seems to drag them back down into the rubble they emerged from.
You are travelers who took shelter from one of the Rift's legendary thunderstorms in the half-collapsed shell of an ancient keep. You forced down the feeling in your gut that this place was unnatural...evil even. Yet no sane person would wander the sheer cliffs of the Rift at night. Particularly not in a thunderstorm. Gathered around the roaring fire you built to keep the shadows at bay you slept restlessly with unnerving visions that did not fade with the morning and a feeling in the back of your dreaming mind that you were damned to wander the Rift until the end of your days. Indeed you could feel that you were somehow connected to the place, particularly the ruined keep itself. When you woke up disoriented with dark visions still in your mind you could feel the same connection as if you had become a part of the Rift. You knew that you and the companions you had barely met would never leave this place, but there is still fame, honor, wealth, and even comfort to be had; even in a place like this. Perhaps you can escape this curse and escape, but even if you cannot you must make what you can of your new life.
A few notes:
The PCs are travelers who are passing through or going to the Rift (not natives). This world is delibrately open, and you have considerable freedom when creating your character's background and country of origin. This game will be a mix of gritty action and Lovecraftian and traditional horror elements. Expect interesting and mapped-out combats in a surreal and tacticaly complex environment--any enounter will be sure to be interesting.
PCs will have a considerable amount of freedom in setting their goals and adventuring, but I would hesitate to call the game a true sandbox. There are no magic using classes available. Besides being extraordinarily rare they are viewed with fear at best and killed on sight at worst. I will not use alignements in this game. Characters should be well-developed and neither heroic or saintly. It is a matter of personal taste, but even in a game like IH when heroes are fairly exceptional, a 2nd level character should never be the best at anything or renkowned across the land. Keep it plausible please.
I am looking for 5-7 PCs for this game, but if an app does not meet standards it will not make it into the game. I expect a post rate of 1-per day. Note also, I apreciate it when you post WIPs before the deadline. It lets me start thinking ahead about possible character related plot hooks and such.
