Requiem:
A dark scifi/fantasy updating daily
1. What the hell is Requiem?
Back in 1987, I had became bored with the traditional AD&D worlds (Greyhawk, The Realms, Krynn) and yearned to create something original. At the time I had recently reseen the Mad Max trilogy and it dawned on me to try an experiment with something post apocalyptic. Also I had been recently corrupted :) by exposure to the Lankhmar sourcebook and supplements, the first edition of Cyberpunk, and book 1 of Stephen Kings Dark Tower. At the time I decide to undertake the ambitious task of merging these disparate influences into one coherent campaign setting.
I toyed with this for about a year and a half until in early 1989, I began to work in earnest, juggling the work between high school (freshman year) and a budding social life. By the beginning of the '90-'91 school year, I had the framework laid down. It was time for the fleshing out of a world that had slowly begun to enthrall me. With a disparate group of people I fleshed out much of the later history of this world, setting my campaigns approximately 1000 years after the end of the modern civilization that resided on this world.
Now it's 2004. In the real world my life had changed drastically, I am cohabitating an apartment with a wife and a cat. Most of the original players in that world had lost track of one another and had moved on in their lives. Gaming interests had shifted with the advent of Web RPG's and our interest in the White Wolf system. Hell, TSR doesn't even exist as an independent entity anymore, having been absorbed by Wizards of the Coast. In WW I found that I had finally found my niche, and discovered a system that successfully addressed every grievance I had ever had with the d20 system. Still this world I had created had never really escaped my mind.
Over time though, I became curious as to what led up to the end of everything, and as I figured out more about what happened in this world, I decided to begin chronicling it in a different way.
"Requiem" is the result of those questions, and through it I hope to find the answers.
2. How is it produced?
The plan with "Requiem is to render everything out with Corel's Bryce 5, and Curious Labs "Poser 5". The discovery of these two tools has finaly enabled me to capture the images I have seen in my mind of this world. I have never had the aptitude to accurately produce art by hand, and with my growing proficiency with these two programs..."Requiem" can now be a reality. All models and textures are either original creations of James Roden, public domain, or licensed for commercial use. Now for image optimization and postwork I have been using Macromedia Fireworks and occasional touches of Photoshop.(Mainly Fireworks though, I love Fireworks)
On the modelling front, as of today (March 12, 2005) I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my advance order for Poser 6 and Shade 7 which as soon as the basic reinstall and transfers are done, we will be moving over to.
3. When is it updated?
The plan is to update Requiem every other day. That schedule may vary depending on the complexity of the image and real life issues. 4 to 5 updates a week seems like a fairly safe schedule to keep under the circumstances.
4. What's the backstory here?
The first settlers arrived here by boat over 6,000 years ago... and promptly found themselves in a strange land. It wasn't the world they knew, that was certain from the first. A different moon in the sky, strange animals that wandered the plains, and even stranger people roamed this new realm, most of them speaking languages that were as alien as their appearance. Adaptation was the key to their survival. The travelers had been traders and explorers in the world that they had called home, and once the shock of dislocation wore off, they traveled farther inland from the northern coast where they had landed. All around them they found mysteries. A clock tower standing ten miles into the sky, a great ship buried underground that seemed to be the towers counterpart. Winged creatures that breathed fire and ice. Creatures that changed their skin and shape at will. Beings out of the legends and tales that had heard from travelers all over their world. It took hundreds of years to adjust and begin relations with the people of their world. Eventually the explorers separated and settled where they would. Calling themselves Merchant Houses, they formed from the family units that had originally arrived in this world, or had formed shortly after. They never lost track of their origins though, and always gave thought to the world that they had left behind, and the green isle that had been their home. Over the millennium the Houses prospered and expanded throughout the world. Holding fast to their ancient laws of hospitality, fairness and ethics ...they became a respected moderating force in society and eventually became the society.
The society they ended up producing mophed into a hybrid of the Celtic clan system, and that of the Venetian merchant princes. Conflicts were minimal as things government evolved into a triumvirate system of Merchant Houses/Clans, Municipal Government, and a functioning Judiciary.
Requiem picks up from this point...6000 years after the arrival of the first voyagers.
5. Where the hell is everybody at?
I finally got my notes together and put together a map of the main continent of this world. So far all of the action has been taking place here. You can check out the map by clicking here.