The Reign of the Cruel Emperor Tzon Chon - Codex historiae antiquae

 The Twenty-Thousand year reign of the

Cruel Emperor Tzon Chon

"YouuuuuuUUUUU!" the deep and terrible voice blows from the great machine fueled tubes that echoed from the palace in the City of Perfect Celestial Order.

"YoouuuuuuUUUU!" the voice unmistakeably the voice of the Divine Imperial August Wisdom Mandated by Heaven Tzon Chon of the Eternal Red Dragon Empire.

"You...!" the deep voice hissed

"I have a question for you, you who conspire against me...  You who think even if you have never spoke a word against me conspire against the Mandate of Heaven and perhaps vandalize my kingdom, disrupt my productivity schedules, somehow even if in your mind work a way to try to thwart my rule...  I have a question...

"How great is your HATRED of ME!?"

"You may think you can do injury to my right rule.  You may think I have not caught you.   Perhaps you are right, my Mandarins in charge of Justice are very busy and a few of the lesser filth slither by even my best of servants of my Justice.  I am forgiving to those whose every breath and act is to support me.

"But know this;  I will know.  If I do not know now I shall find out.  I have much time and my servants are tireless and many.  Go ahead, think you can sabotage my rule and defy the Mandate of Heaven...  Have a nice life, a warm family, much rank and recognition...

"I will know.  I will find out.  I will suspect.

"One day, like any other harmonious day you will fall asleep.

"You will wake in the Ministry of Punishment with your bones bolted to a vivisection table.  My agents will have come for you and your family in the night and anesthetized you.  Then we will remove the sleep and inject drugs which magnify pain and those that keep the heart from stopping.  You will wake when we put the scalpel in you, perhaps to cut across your chest, perhaps to remove the cornea from one of your eyes...!

"You will awake screaming to see your family including your children and servants also being slowly worked upon by my State Torturers.  You will awake to your screams!

"And - you will be honored to an audience with me, your Emperor!

"You will see my eyes staring at you and you will know then you know nothing of Hatred!"

--Recordings from daily broadcasts during the Twenty Thousand year Reign of the Cruel Emperor Tzon Chon who came into absolute power approximately five thousand years after the first space flight.  Cited from "Histories of the Far past by an anonymous monk of the Agnost Orthodox Church..."

I have up to this point talked about the mostly legendary "Dawn Age" of Mankind's long past times.  I have discussed creation myths and historical supposed facts and have tried to keep them in appropriate eras.  However all of this has been wiped out with the Reign of the Cruel Emperor and what has become agreed upon as the beginning of history from our perspective.

The Cruel Emperor Tzon Chon began his rule a mere five millenia give or take a few decades after Man's first known spaceflight.  By then Mankind had sailed through the dark between the stars on ships and crossed the distances that make our nearness to Sol infinitesimal.  Our world was becoming a backwater an 'ancestral homeland' already when Tzon seized power.  The Empires of the East had been dominant and had naturally returned to their orderly dictatorship of Mandarins and officials.  He did this in a mass-murder of his relatives and a particularly bloody coup amongst the bureaucrats in a move so perfect and bloody a city was literally flooded with blood that killed thousands more.

A tyrant seizing power is nothing new but the scope of the Cruel Emperor's wrath was beyond measure.  He managed to control through fear and brutal tortuous execution and a network of spies and counter-spies to keep each individual alone and frightened even up to top Mandarin level.  None could trust another enough to express any discontent much less plot a coup.  He used the advancing technology of his time to make himself effectively immortal.  Then came the final murder of the entire Imperial family and the purging of history and the conquest of the world.  This was all done with brutal efficiency.

What followed was twenty millenia of pain and fear.  His rule was absolute, his word law, his justice swift and without mercy.  He would have no heirs for he would live forever and he would have no family for they would betray him.  His society would simply obey him, the perfect Emperor who would hold the Mandate of Heaven forever.  Those that opposed him were mere cancer that he would often assist his torturers in cutting out himself.

I shall not go into much great detail on the particulars and years of his reign.  In the dim far past they talked about earlier tyrants sometimes saying "To know his atrocities would destroy you."  All of these past despots were as children compared to the Cruel Emperor.  To live in his realm was to live a life of utter fear from the humblest of peasant to the highest official.  Life was regimented and decided by his complex bureaucracy and save slight variances such as by success in education or performance one had no say in how their lives would be lived, save the option of voluntary suicide by public booth though a few of those were reputed to lead to torture chambers for even ending one's life was in a way a betrayal of the Emperor's will.  His crimes are cataloged in a matter that perhaps approaches a third in the "Codex of Jade and Blood" or the allegedly self penned "I hate my enemies - they shall scream!" book of Asian poetry.  Both are restricted as reading them can cause insanity it is said and "Ill" advised on many levels to pursue.

Of note I shall say he made countless walls to protect his empire as did the Lord Mandarin Emperors of Far Cathay in the dim past of Man's pre-history.   Those walls were made with their own people allegedly enslaved and when they died working they were cemented into the walls.  That was unlikely given the technology of the times.  It is undeniable - and an archaeological milestone if an official building in FarCathay was from before or after the times of the Cruel Emperor in that his buildings indeed were made of substances where the countless persons executed by him were incorporated.  This is a material alchemists use and man has used en-masse during times of Technological waxing called "Poly-Mer".  He simply converted the flesh of his endless victims into this and sealed them in a type of artificial resin which was mostly dyed Jade Green.  The great defensive walls had crystal hard dark green rock while the paper on sliding doors was replaced by thin and flexible light jade green of this hellish substance.  His workers of course did their best to twist the bodies and faces of his victims into expressions of horror and pain.  Even after the end of his reign the material was used though rarely with any human remains if ever.  Thus digging in some ancient ruin one can tell if it was after, during or before his reign by this substance.

All Empires are immortal in their own eyes and all fall.

His terrible reign lasted for at least Twenty-Thousand years.  It is difficult to find any truthful record of its end and the particulars.  This is even considering how monitored and recorded each and every day of each and every citizen his monitoring was and how these records have been kept in documents that do not wither with time written in the unflinching 'Asian Basic' as we call it, or the old devices that contain moving pictures and sound - of the daily lives and countless horrific deaths of his subjects.  His death and the end of his empire is unknown.

On that note - if any who read this are of Adventuresome spirit and seek to plunge the Entropic Ruins those of his era are especially ancient, full of exotic treasure and utterly deadly!  If you encounter the Jade-like reisen with slices of humans in horrific pain in a simple room with scrolls and ink seals (often carved from compressed infant bones) and see a 'projector' - a metalized and poly-mer like device the size of a loaf of bread - do NOT manipulate it.  These usually show historical records of the day;  Men and women marching in unison on day to day business, recordings of street activity - a window to this far past.  The scenes will then cut so to speak to the horrific tortures and slow agonizing executions and prolonged mutilations and maiming....  I have had this experience myself....  I think it not some cruel trick;  The era was so full of such suffering day to day images of children playing, men working, monks chanting, armies marching and horrific executions and tortures were part of the normal day.  The 'poetry' I crudely translated was broadcast several times a day as were the screams of the days victims.

Oh, by the Increate, I have faltered in my penmanship and the Fuligan ink is smeared.  I care not.  I shall not erase.  Let me warn you if any warning will do you do not wish to see infants blinded with acid and their parents forced to praise the emperor as he continues the atrocity at the slightest rumor of disloyalty...  IF you encounter a "Device of Public record" from his era I urge you to wrap it up and bring it to some official who can appreciate it with this warning.  I shall vouch for the "Agnost Church" being an ordained priest perhaps bias - we pay not too much but a tidy sum and give a blessing.  Some people rich in coin but sick of mind do wish to see these and other who merely have much coin and foolish curiosity.  We often consul the latter but fear the former.  Again the Agnost church holds much of history to study by trained professionals like myself, we should be the caretakers even as I shudder to be given another "Box of Yellow Hell" and ordered to at least skim its horrific contents...

His death and the succession wars that replaced him seem gone from this history.  Some argue there was an effort to erase his name as he had erased much of the history before him also.  However there is no attempt recorded or uncovered to do so.  In this age the problem is usually there is too much history save Mankind's Dawn Age and the difficulty is to sort it.  There is nothing on his end or a century or so after.  We have even tried to ask people of the Far East and they only respond "The monster was destroyed..." and give no details.

Unless my superior forces me to erase from the Algal parchment my Fulligin ink and re-write I shall also leave my unprofessional opinion on this sloppy page; 

I  do not think the Cruel Emperor was a sadist in the manner much of us define the term.

You are likely aware of the term from Ribald Tales of decadent Noblemen taking a young maid to a punishment room and ...  I hope that happens be it silly or serious a thousand times versus real life but the Holy Agnost Church tries to get people not to read such rubbish.

Again I do not think Tzon Chon was a sadist.  I think he came to power in very brutal times and history does back it up and merely killed those he saw as enemies first and never stopped.  There is no indication he gained any personal pleasure from this but saw it a mechanical duty.  He saw himself as the right Eternal Emperor of all humanity or at least all Earth though was biased towards the realm of Far Cathay of the distant past and did whatever was necessary to achieve some far off goal.  He was full of hatred for those he assumed worked against his plan but to destroy them in agony was merely a chore of the endless burden a 'true' Emperor must bear.

There was no attempt to erase him from history for he had ruled as long as those in the late "Dawn age" recognized mankind's official history to be - Twenty Thousand years.  There are legends that man's history goes back nearly a thousand thousand years before that, almost as far behind as the age I write in is ahead.  Ancient empires destroyed by flood, wars of giants and divine beings ravaging the earth much like the end of the Age of Wizard-Lords that occurred long after the Age of the Cruel Emperor.  Man would love to forget him but would only erase their own history and ensure the next one has no warning to hinder him.

Furthermore the Cruel Emperor left his mark on Humanity far deeper than any historical record and even across the world that suffered the least of his evil reign he is still known today many thousands of years after his time.  He cut into mankind much as one of his State Torturers did with a scalpel and left indelible marks.

Of the most note is that even many thousands of years later the East and West are still different cultures though logically they should have merged so many times as to be unrecognizable from that dim age in the far past.  There are occasional wars and periods of merging.  Travelers go to distant lands and we have those from there come here.  Sometimes they settle and live their final days among us as one of us.  However the West is still West and East still East.

Another aspect is what he taught us by his negative example - to respect life and dignity and true justice.  We have had tyrants and despots West and East since but most have been deposed.  The Wizard Lords achieved far more power and did abuse theirs but not to a scope even approaching the Cruel Emperor though even attempting would be an unthinkable endeavor such as an immortal building one of his many walls with bricks by hand over tens of thousands of years.  As a general rule those who fall to tyranny and cruelty usually get deposed much faster than those who show reasonable mercy.

"I claim safe passage" - an ancient saying from before the Dawn Age but it is a boon to many of those of Adventuresome spirit;  In the Reign of the Cruel Emperor moving anywhere without permission was instant painful death though at least quick execution like slow hanging.  Permission could be asked for and was usually denied.  One would not be executed for a mere request, their butchers were busy all day and night, but if one made a few unusual requests and a negative rumor popped up the requests would ensure the death of the individual.  Thus it became a point of just rule to respect the right of persons to move at will including those from different nations and different cultures.  Unless there was good reason such as with evidence to assume banditry or espionage any could claim this and any ruler who denied it was marked a tyrant and had a much greater chance of being dethroned quickly.  Most lords of any fiefdom or Provence usually respect the Right of Safe passage and have their officials talk to those from far away to prevent problems with culture and language from creating a disturbance.  Powerful travelers get more scrutiny but it is often to be invited to the Lord's table to feast with him so they have a soft bond of loyalty with him and he can then set them to task chasing bandits for coin or otherwise providing services.  Often maids and attractive peasant girls will chase the most heroic and can bond a hero to their fiefdom or Provence.

Those truly untrustworthy try to steal his silverware at the table and can be justly dealt with!

A final note is the horrific Isle of Uccastrog aka "The Isle of the Torturers"...

It is a mid size island somewhere in the Sea of Cathay where there should be no islands for the Black Oceans are terrible and deep.  These islands are jagged peaks of rock with sharp edges sticking almost vertically out of the deep black ocean and many are just under the water only coming just above the surface with rare extremes of the Moon and tides.  These destroy most ships venturing nearby who sometimes are unlucky enough to swim to shore or float on driftwood or the many 'safety rafts' the inhabitants 'generously' launch when they see a ship with their spyglasses.

This island is full of a special race of specialized "Torturers" that in his last Millenia the Cruel Emperor twisted the life-matrix of some of his Asian people into beings specially toned for torture as he was increasingly demanding more and more of mere human agents of pain and even after millenia finding atrocities they'd hesitate to commit.  The Torturer race was too pure for this, their humanity removed save appearance and re-shaped to be perfect instruments of the Emepror's Justice.  They were like Asians but slightly larger with in the males a slightly bunched and hunched chest that caused them to naturally lean forward.  Their skins were pure yellow with very slanted eyes and fanged teeth.  Their arms spindly and long with long and strong fingers ending in almost claws.  Beyond their bodies their minds were stripped of any empathy and turned into analytical machines only capable of following orders and traditions with a passion and those were to be of course to re-commit the Emperor's countless atrocities.  

The women tend to be more normal in appearance except that they have idealized beauty and often larger breasts and hips than normal Asian women.  They also have natural makeup of pale white faces with blood red lips and natural black teeth that are fanged also.  The women assist both in the tortures but also to give false hope to the captives, sometimes pretending to visit them secretly to massage them, heal their wounds perhaps even have sexual relations with them - anything to give them hope for a few days then as the final tortures are applied they greet them to laugh at them and leer at their despair.

He then left them on this Island as "Perfect Followers" and they merely waited for his sky-ships to drop off those he felt the need to express his justice upon but not waste his personal attention.  It was assumed that any who arrived on the island without being the Emperor or one of his officials with an official edict and guards was sent there for a prolonged tortuous death.

These "Servants of the Divine Emperor Tson Chon" have never wavered in their devotion and even many thousands of years later they merely chuckle at shipwrecked victims who try to tell them that the "Cruel Emperor" is long dead - it is merely proof of their treason and why they were sent there.  Like their emperor they seem mostly polite and courteous though perhaps some sadism is emerging without his hand.  There are few survivors of that island so details about it are rare.  The various empires of the East that came after have often tried to send their Navy there to purge the isle and its horrific inhabitants but the unique geography and perhaps some ancient magical machine has kept the isle hidden and every expedition has been lost.  It seems to be quite easy for ships blown off course by sudden black clouded storms in the Cathay Seas to find however...

The only reason there are records is that some have escaped the island - including inhabitants!  They live in harsh laws and when no ship-men paddle to shore to be greeted warmly then slowly murdered they can often turn on each other, finding an 'odd man out' who violated even the most mild of their endless laws.   Thus sometimes a Torturer escapes what some would consider "Poetic Justice" though be it his or her fault to be born there?  They usually will take a captive to hidden boats that many construct or salvage from wreckage and use their sailor skills to reach the mainland, guiding them through the sharp rocks.  It can be a male torturer seeking escape lest he be the next victim during idle times or a female perhaps angry her brother was so killed.  Sometimes they are bored with their lot in life and like those with the "Adventurer Spirit" do seek to escape their chosen role and risk all on the road to adventure.

Note that most of the Isle try to reach the Western lands.  They would be put to death on the spot if they land in the East.  Even in the West most visiting "Asians" will try to kill them or shout to officials they must be killed and why.  Th

ey tend to be very intelligent and resourceful people who while trained in the arts of torture are rarely dangerous sadists or else why leave their Isle?  Most of the Eastern lands are very tolerant of Western mistakes;  Mispronouncing everything, assuming wild and fanciful behaviors and customs...  But to say an Easterner is from that Isle they will often become enraged and attack even if they said nothing to one not taking off their boots entering their homes, eating with both hands, asking if women of the house could sexually service them...  Do NOT do any of that in the last sentence - try to be respectful and polite and if they seem hesitant just ask them - they will teach you much if you are willing to learn and will reciprocate kindness and courtesy.

What follows this dark chapter:

The Second Age of Wandering Heroes

The Rise of the Wizard-Lords

From "Codex historiae antiquae"

--Written by MaxxFeral for Orange Sun / Far-Tomorrows TTRPG project - all rights reserved

A cure for a Malady of the Minde - a tale in which the Wytches of the Eros Cult do a good service for a family...

"Mother!  Father!  Enough...  I'm ...sorry (he choked back tears...) but I love Pietor and he will be my partner for life no matter the Increate said we would be both males in this lifetime.  Let the Speaker try to scare us with Dawgma all day.  And if it be I must seek my own fortune, so be it, I shall go to Tipor the coastal city with Pietor.  He is an artist and artisan and I've learned my trade in Wares to be Journeyman so I shan't ask a sovereign coin from you...

"Son..." his father said, "It is that you are the only Male besides me in our household.  The name must continue.  You can just be best friends with Pietor and once in a while ... go camping.  Some men do that and almost every woman has a friend she shares ...secrets... with...?"

"Like Mum and my non relative Aunte Bernicey?"  he said, "I suppose that is who I got my ... nefarious malady from..."

"Siemoen...!  Don't you dare leave this house...!?"
But the lad picked up his already made pack and left the door closing loudly on the way out.

"I shall pray for him..." said Father Speaker Thomas, the local Agnost Priest.
"What good will that do.  Your Dawgma scared him nothing?"  Simeon's father, Donovam said as his wife held him and wept.

"The Increate has allowed Mankind his Free Will, that is Dawgma.  We speak and interpret his will and counsel men but if there be direct reward for virtue and sure punishment in life for sin then there be no Free Will.  I can give tongues to speak his word, I can smite true enemies but the miracles I am given do not allow me to force one's mind."


A knock on the door and a voice called from the street through the viewing bars, a low soft but powerful feminine voice; "I see your sign say ye be not to be disturbed on this day but I was given word you might need to consult my order...?

"Enter!" Donovam almost shouted,  The door opened and in strode several females in robes that almost covered their strong, voluptuous bodies and shrouded their faces.  They were wrapped for modesty but their curves and especially hips and enormous breasts were neigh bursting the thin soft fabric.   They wore sparse jewelry, sandals advertised their perfect feet and they carried staffs carved into a wooden double phallus cardecus

"Wytches!?  Of the Eros cult!?" Speaker Thomas spat out, "No!  The Church does NOT approve....!"

"You yourself said you can not force free will.  And the Wytches are an option of any free citizen per the treaty...."

"Please...  Your daughters know your craft well and I could find an orphan.  Or we could wait a while?"
"A man must succeed me, Speaker, to carry on my lawful name and I doubt any adult male I could train in my crafts in time could be found.  I know it be a sin to consul the Wytches but I will bear it if need be to protect my household!"

The Agnost excused himself in disgust and walked out the side door to come not near the Wytches who were greeting with kind gestures but of a fleshy kind.  The head witch made an arms out bow and if by will alone the Hausfrau, Donovam's wife was the one to talk to despite it being a matter of defending a Patriarchal issue."

"A quick chat we shall have, Daughter, over obligation and recompensense but we must make reasonable haste...  May I assume the young man running out of the house is the one you wish us to give ... Consul?"


Later - in the forest - the two men were keeping a brisk pace.
"I know these woods well, Siemon, we'll be in HansForge before the moonrise and in a week or so's walk the Coast.  I have coin and hard sausage saved well.  Don't look back, I've shed too many tears also.  Won't it be fun to settle in the coastal city instead of just visiting once every other year and be too busy on business to enjoy oneself?"

They stopped in their tracks seeing a strange green mist...
It wrapped all around them and it was like blackest night had fallen and the only light came from the glowing green mist at their feet!

"Little lost lambs....." a feminine voice cooed.
"Little Sinners..." another spake.
"We are here to cure you..." a third hissed!

"Wycthes!?" Pietor gasped.  Simeoen took front and pulled his short-sword.
"I be of legal age and by guild of Journeyman status...  I may go of my own by right of way and with me..."

He was standing alone in the mist, though shadows of voluptuous ladies seemed to dance around him.
"Ye be young madmen...  Your parents both asked us to cure your sickness of the Mind..."

"No!  I will..." - Simeoen grunted as the short sword was knocked from his arm by an unseen hand.  He could tell that the had had such strength and speed it could have pierced his chest casually if it had wanted to.  Immediately two of the Wytches were holding him and he heard a suppressed scream of his lover Pietor off somewhere in the mists..  "You cute little Sinner!" a Wytch giggled.  She reached into his pants and undid the leather straps to hold his front but her other hand was on his head and held him in paralyzed shock, sparks from her body entering his mind.  Another Wytch had grabbed him by his arms but when her syster had held his mind had moved to his legs, helping her fellow manipulate between his legs.

 

"It is not your fault, little Sinner..." the Wytch cooed, her breath breathing into his from sweet lips and he noticed her curly red and auburn hair - the smiling lips, the short kisses...  "Oh, some perhaps are born your degenerate way, others choose to sin...  But no matter, we are here to help you..."
Simoen gasped as his manhood became full and started quivering.  He noticed again the sweet breath, the kisses, her enormous breasts squeezing against his chest.  Milk squirted when pressed and the warm milk soaked onto his skin through his clothes and seemed to burn.  He'd have tried to fight but his body was held without his will as both Wytches held him and manipulated his body.

Simoen screamed as his manhood erupted and kept erupting in a wave of pleasure and pain as the strange magicks from the Wytch's hand burned his brain.  He lost consciousness...

Later, in the Donovam household.  A bed and darkened room.  A dim fire with some books and Pfennig-dreadfuls of questionable lifestyle advocacy burning.  In the room with Simoen were his parents, the Agnost speaker, the Wytch and now Anette, the young woman whom Simoen was betrothed...

"So we've worked with Pietor's household, he'll go to the Pine Mountains and a year's stint in the guards but the unit he's in is strict and there are ... women there?"

"Yes, and thus he will not meet Simeon for quite a while to complicate things.   His parents owed me a lot or we'd be sending our son off but better the bond with Pietor be broken and heal in a normal presence."

"I must take my leave now.  Have the young lady hold his hand.  She should be careful, he'd be the last to hit a woman willfully but might thrash in nightmare.  The spell I cast will take time and better he form a bond to her than chase any woman with newfound passion.  May I assume that as she was matched with him, an excellent one at that besides his malady, you consent with him cohabiting with her?  Excellent.  He may be needy in an obvious way.  Blessings of our God be upon this household..."

"I still oppose this utterly." the Agnost Speaker said to the Father of the household.
"I know it be a Sin, to turn to the Wytches, but I'll risk my judgement to protect my household."
"It is not that," said the priest, "I did not think your household could easily afford the Wytches...  Consulting a Wytch for a fortune is bad, paying for a lesser service is also bad but such a service costs very much...  More than a tradesman even of your good status can easily afford.  Did you...?"

"Suspect them not." said the young woman at Simoen's side, a raven haired lady in a nice tradesperson class dress.  "I took the full price." and she bore her chest with breasts only small in comparison to the Wytches.  The mark of Luna in crescent form and tiny dot of her daughter was upon them, small and almost under the left breast.

As the priest gasped and stared she said - "I was his betrothed.  I'd asked my parents to set me up with him as I had eyes for him since we were children.  We tried to make it work, even ... did things before just to see.  But he only had passion for his male friend.  I paid the price so if you denounce anyone as Apostate it be me!"

The priest held his own staff out, the Cross of the Great Wheel in the Sky with its twelve houses for the drivers of the Age in between its spokes, the cross in the center representing the Great Son.  He tapped her lightly on the head;  "I grant thee lesser Martyr status.  You threatened your soul and status in pure love not greed nor evil.  You must increase your efforts to behave in accordance with universal law but I shall not denounce you for this deed."

The priest bowed and left.  They noted the Wytch was still there.
"What will you ask in exchange...?" she started, covering her bosom up.
The Wytch helped her with her dress and put her hand back on her Beau's as he twisted in uncomfortable dreams.
"Nothing that will hurt another or even embarrass your poor Speaker.  You'd think he only knew of us from fairy tales wanting you to drug the sweet juice at the party and tuck curse-dolls under beds.  We'll only ask mild favors for our order now and again, nothing too taxing nor illegal or any of that.  And we'll check in from time to time to make sure your Husband's malady does not return, it is not a debt but a bond and obligation.  I have many myself and must be off." - and the Witch left the room, leaving a relived set of parents with their 'cured' son and his bride to be.

As she left the door her voice carried, "And you may even bear a Hero of this age amongst your children...!"

---End

---FYI - "Mark of the Wytch" in this far age vs a simple crescent as in the past (and a REH story!)

Luna under its thin atmosphere in the waning period with the rare and either malefic or benign appearance of her 'daughter' a new satellite that's usually invisible.  When the tattoo is done by a Wytch proper, taking some materials and secret techniques it appears as a blue ink but will shine under the moonlight and the dot for the Moon's "Daughter" will sparkle.

-----Note - the two illustration images are cuts of a larger image - which will be in the full book.  A commission by "Gulavisual" for this project - if you wish to see the full image earlier and perhaps more images from this project I have no problem with you logging into his site and signing up to see these and many more erotic and fantasy/science fiction based drawings!

Gulavisual's Patreon

The Witches of Eros

A cult in the Far-Tomorrows of immense power and influence, the Witch cult guards secrets and provides services to society in pursuit of its long term goals.  It centers around worship of the Elder God, Eros, once depicted as an infant in an ancient Pantheon of Gods from Man's pre-dawn age now an elder being usually only depicted as a face from an ancient statue and these are often crumbled with age.

Most of their social influence revolves around women, femininity, harvests, festivals and health especially that of women.  They provide many services for free or a trifle, such as advice on harvest, health, cycles of nature and of body, simple potions (non-magical), women's health and services of, fortune telling, fitness and martial arts.  They have little if any official political power but it is said they can whisper into half the ears of all women and influence them greatly so that the beds are burning for men who tend to have the power decide in the way the Witches suggest.  What they ask directly is rarely anything that seems to affect any power structures or economies so officials usually cater to them.

The Greater Path

A Witch of Eros is not just about spooky behavior, sexual feats, transformations, secret rituals in deep elder forests - though that's a good part of it.  A With has a lifelong mission to fulfil long term goals that are secretive to all but the heads of the order and perhaps the God Eros himself.  It seems to be around mostly breeding humanity so that he stays largely human as he was in the past but slowly might be ascending to a transcendant state.

A Witch of Eros thus sometimes needs to explore ruins and wildplaces to collect samples and perhaps enrich herself with treasure for her own comfort and to donate to her order for minor status.  However she is always working on the order's goals - thus she has a steep cost in actions she must perform or face higher ego loss and some power dampening until corrected.  There is always a "Witch Mother" who trained her and can control access to greater ascension in the ranks and greater powers who seems to know her every move and somehow suggests what she needs to do.

There will be tables of suggestions for in dungeon adventure conditions and between adventure missions.  They can't only just relax, play, have sex waiting for the next Dungeon Crawl.

Role-play advantages:

Witches of Eros are a good effective Fighter+Magic User+Cleric combo - powerful both with magic and combat

They get to be "As sexy as they want to be"

Have lots of perks and powers

Disadvantages

High responsibility - so most between adventures are mini-solo adventures to regain ego and if missed have a reduction in ego, even powers until the balance is met.

Set of rules - and tables - on what to do/not do

Hierarchy of power and command - has "Witch Mother" direct line that can control or command

Higher experience/levelup and while the highest levels are certainly in "Epic" category the "Archmages" or free traditional magic users are certainly more powerful.  They need more XP to advance but have more demands so they are challenging but not a long grind to get powerful.

neutral:

Spells are non-"Vancian" meaning can cast more based on other factors (HP, Blood, special rituals or components) than the study, use, forget method but also less flexible.  Note this game tributes back to original source where the limited spells had more flex for focus versus power.  A "Shield" spell could be tweaked to be 10x more powerful say against metals at the cost of being vulnerable to wood or anything else really and it'd be the Mage's gamble to do it.

ONLY female characters to be a Witch of Eros.  Males certainly are part of the "Eros cult" truly anyone bound to them in any way is a welcome part, but plenty of laypersons live their lives with the religion being their background but those with power are women priestesses.  They have Dawgma to not see themselves superior to men, it is a matter of Men's roles and Women's roles.

Role-play tips:

Be mysterious and feminine - 

They have great influence but it is carefully used for some far in the future goal and so care must be taken in each step.

Avoid direct fighting and initiating combat unless it is clearly the right action.  Being able to shape-shift into a warped but pretty hyper feminine powerhouse after a few levels helps said confidence.  Be direct and deadly when force must be used.

You drip sex and sexuality but are not a whore or a slut.

You are a woman's potential best friend and even a man's if they will come to you and be of use to the Cult.  Certainly one they want as an ally and never an enemy.

You also certainly are not without personal desire - and as long as it doesn't hurt the cult and might help it you may indulge - such as a liaison or going on a fun trip with explorers.  On the latter, gold, jewels and artifacts aid personal luxury but sometimes some deep secret is found and it is great status to share it with the Mothers...

Bridges of Time - bringing characters into FarTomrorrows

"Still Waters run Deep" from Rick Wakeman's 90s "Return to the Center of the Earth" album.

One advantage of embracing the Jack Vance and Gene Wolfe paradigm (1) is that a "Fantasy World" of the Far-Future can deal with many things a real "In the mythic past" or "Alternative world" (even if IN a basement universe!) simply could not.

"Heroic Adventurers" are tolerated as long as they don't turn to banditry, robbery or killing non-monsters without legit cause because mankind realises that there always will be people who can not stand nor will fit in their station and must seek more.  It's a rare thing which most envy as children but thank the Increate it was not their fate as an adult.  Likewise though the Children of Adam still fill the Green Hills of Earth with their tragedies and triumphs, laughter and tears they understand the "Long cycle" history is in and though they mostly live in a late Renissance or Pre-Industrial time there is no hurry on progress for they somehow know they've done this many times now.

Also - and this is one of the best parts - you can put in a character from almost ANY campaign... (2) 

Gunslinger?  They know about guns, some use muskets.  He'd better save bullets and know how to self-load cartridges and find metals to cast them and likely need to adventure to find materials to make them - notably the high quality steel as most of the planet has been mined deep.  But if he's civil. and polite might get offered a guard job and would be welcome at most farms or ranches.

Space-Man?  As he's wondering how "Boned" he is looking over his crashed ship a local farmer will ride up and invite him in for dinner, likely forgiving him as charity if his ship landed in part of his field.  He'd know about Man's children amongst the stars in neat blcok printed "Wonder Tales" books tucked away in a small bookshelf - those are bizarrely distorted tales that loosely resemble 40s to late 80s sci-fi and fantasy.  The farmer will point to the moon and talk about how it's green now with shallow oceans and its shimmering atmosphere and how man used to sail on the moon.  This won't "Change the World" - the local Boyar will try to help him get started (3) finding some parts to repair his ship.  Yes, he's found "Mankind's lost homeworld...!" but when he gets back officials from his society will quietly lecture him not to rave about it because they are NOT going to fight a "Galactic War" over an ancient world that's been mined to the core along with most of the Solar System stripped for a populace of "Primitives".  Also there are some odd defenses put up with near Level 4 tech...they'll shut themselves up and go "Uh, classified"...  Then they'll finish it by saying "This is Mankind's backup plan.  IF we get wiped out we'll emerge from this world every few  ten thousand years.  If we need genetic legacy or to find some history, it's there."

Frozen person?  Unpack and thaw and ready to be mind-F*cked!  (4)  There are TONS of Frozen people who pop into place.  They wander around and usually by charity of fellow men, especially through the Agnost Church they are placed.  Their stories of their past life often help them work with their new family group and sometimes make fodder for new "Wonder Tales".  A few can become "Adventurers".

Dimensional shift or exile?  Maybe the science experiment went wrong.  Maybe they were some space overlord dictator who froze himself to escape the legacy of his crimes - launching himself into space or burying himself in the tallest mountains....  Perhaps they are a gentle exile of a society based on reason but their philisophical views while too advanced for most were just slightly off and created such a disturbance they had to be put into a time field.  These are like (and often are) the "Frozen Persons" except those deliberately exiled were done so as a good reason - from crimes of being a world conquerer who eventually lost the battle for domination to gentle philisophical exiles - they are sent Aeons into space and time and end up on Earth.  These rarely are able to acclimate like "Normal" people from another time.  Many do try to start where they left off as Warlords or great thinkers of new ages now long past - but the oppression of the long hand of time wears their ambitions down.  Most conquerors find themselves mere "Boyars" and more than satisfied while many great thinkers join the Agnost Church as a Scribe to spend their lives reading the vast weight of history.

Adventurers - Getting to this - yes you can bring your older or current "Murder Hobos" to this game.

Maybe they stepped through a portal or a Dimension Door spell went awry.  Maybe they died and got re-incarnated?  Maybe they died long ago but somehow were re-created as if they were still alive by devices hidden in the deadliest Entropic Ruins called "Flesh Looms"?  Or perhaps they visited the Chronal Shrine or a strange house on the borderlands or found an odd Lighthouse on the edge of a desert...

It's a Late Renissance or Pre-Industrial feeling world - NOT "Mideval" like functional D&D basically is - just the far future.  If your characters from any baseline RPG world they can adapt and thrive.  Unlike the REAL far past there's not the high level of Xenophobia of really anyone outside town or nation regardless of racial issues that'd make a standard RPG town crawl into a gruesome public execution in a heartbeat.  They can still have that happen to them if they go "Murder Hobo" such as killing a shopkeeper who tells them to leave after being rude but if they treat people with basic respect they'll get it in return and only have negative consequence if they are disruptive.  Most 'common' people will like to hear traveller's tales and the nobility will just make sure they aren't a threat then perhaps hire them if need be.  The same with Magic or odd cultures - these get more attention but not instant hostility without good reason.  This is something near unthinkable if set in a real past era.

Again, this is a tribute to Vance, Wolfe and others - (1) - in great thanks.  This is not "Science Fiction" though it is - rather it's what a far future might be.  One both unrecognizable from today and at the same time familiar.  Magic of tranditional #ttrpgs works as such - but the people while looking pseudo mideval are not they'd be more compatable with a 'modern' person beyond the surface.

Far Tomorrows / Orange Sun will of course have much more details and some fun tables for suggestions and mechanics for these transitions.  A complete cross of all RPGS is quite impossible but to any experienced player the guidelines should be easy.

Notes -

1 - and Clark Ashton Smith, William Hope Hodgeson, 

2 - Well Kaijiru characters might end up hunted by NPC adventurers as "Monsters" with local authorities placing a bounty by reaction...  AI beings might be confined to the bottom of VERY dangerous "Entropic Ruins" with already existing and far more advanced AI (think "In the year One Hundred thousand twenty five twenty five...") that are ancient and nearly transcendent in ability in their decaying but active ruins of some far future now far past civilization...

3 - Via the "Murder Hobos" or the Player Characters!

4 - Disclaimer - IF cyrogenics becomes a legit option do NOT freeze yourself for many thousands of years - you'll die.  I mean if you can get the resources for a freezer tube that will last that long, make a chamber where you can wake up for a while and have food, drink, stretch out and exercise lightly for a few weeks then go back in if whatever you are seeking hasn't come yet...  Natural radioactive breakdown in your own body will kill you unless you thaw out for a few weeks every thousand years or so.  Hopefully this will be corrected.  Since this world is set in the very far future we'll assume it has somehow.  Most of us accept a "Transporter" concept thanks to Trek, this would be less difficult save the long times needed to keep active.

5 -  Fantasy, Wild West, 70s Era Science fiction feel, Post Apocalypse, super spy

You will not be missed...

 

To the "Woke" attempting to ruin gaming - FUCK OFF

"You will NOT be missed" 

---to paraphrase your triumphant banishment/banning to any not agreeing with your treacly snowflake diatribes of garbage declaring how you are going to file off the rough edges and focus on 'inclusion' so much any coherent game, gameplay, enjoyment or appeal is going to be a shadow of itself and anyone disagreeing with you is a 'hater'...

Your LIES have been exposed - no longer just "One Man's Opinion" you are a fake movement created by elites to distract attention from real issues; Unfair tax breaks to the wealthy, jobs overseas and illegals hired, corrupt politicians and no media just entertainment...

There never really was any problem with Video Games, Comic Books and TTRPGs.  Especially the latter.  They reflected society which was on a progressive bent but especially the Role Playing Game market was the most open the most "Liberal".  This "Social Justice" flood of fecal lies has done no good and likely benefitted racists far more than any old school "Boys in the Hood" group ever could.

The "Anti-Woke" gaming community is NOT racist, sexist or demanding of any political, religious...lifestyle or whatever stance.  We reject your "Divide and conquer" strategy.  You just want to keep people arguing to distract from real political issues.  Having pathetic adult babies break one set of toys - the hobbies many of us sheltered in - then turning the backlash into an issue is what you are doing.

Anti-Woke gaming will have none of it.  Anyone is welcome to play or buy our products but we will not censor or curtail our vision.  Likewise we might even include MORE of the "Problematic" stuff - not to send any negative message but tell the LIARS to fuck off and MELT their pathetic snowflakes who might believe their lies.

To the SNOWFLAKES - the people who actually believe the "Social Justice" LIE...

Uh - ever hear of a term; "useful IDIOTS"?  

That's what you are.  You are NOT going to change the world.  Likely you'll bleat with a 'fashionably radical' crowd and make soemone else rich then be cast aside and forgotten.  Perhaps you'll be baited to do criminal acts and then get no legal help or assistance after punishment if caught.  Later your actions now could haunt you - after your parents are gone and not able to bail you out again and your 'gender studies' degree hasn't even prepared you to work at Starbucks.

This world has 1,000,001 major problems and even in good times it always had.

Orcs, Dark Elves, Chicks in Chain-mail bikinis, Damsels in Distress in ROLE-playing GAMES - and comic books, video games - are NOT on the list.  In being an adult baby and trying to break other's toys you hit the few otherwise functional and normal adult males who might have tolerated you and helped you without being blood relatives or paid care providers.  You only hurt your 'cause' doing this.

I suggest fucking off to a real counselor who doesn't send you to TTRPGs as "Cheap Therapy" and find someone who can help you handle LIFE.  And I suggest finding someone who'll teach you the basic rules of respect to others since you demand so much yourself.  You aren't going to change the world trying to break another's toys - you'll just end up in a situation where your parents, teacher, counselor can't protect you and a lot of people want to smack you.  This isn't a "specific threat" or any sort of direct threat from me - it's an assurance of what said behavior can bring and your type can't even handle negative comments on the internet.

The TTRPG world is a very rich, diverse world already and decades ahead of the social curve.  It'll always be ready to explore new horizons and options - but forcing false "Tolerance" and "Diversity" will only lead to backlash.  Indeed this anti-woke is part of it - but hopefully to scare away before things flip and the corporate puppet masters make equally bland stuff with a 'right wing racist' face to keep "Divide and Conquer" going.

Go and find a cause, a real world cause, even if it's not "Fashionably Radical"

Leave other's hobbies (TTRPG, Video Games, Comic Books...) ALONE - you do no good.

You will not be missed.

Going forward I'm going to make this game more about a neat new revision for TTRPGS especially "The Core" - assuming an ADULT audience that can handle sexual, racial, social issues not as 'causes' but as they blend into the RPG world in a new and flexible visions.  Due to the "Social Justice Warrior" assault - again "Social Engineering" by Wall-Street as a distraction not a real movement -

 I'm going to deliberately include TONS of naughty stuff just to make the "Woke" scream - stuff that I might not have been so extreme with if they weren't around.  Not as bad as "F.A.T.A.L." but a bit here and there - no real racist or sexist message intended just "Hey, WOKE, you tried to fix what ain't broken, now you have MORE chicks in chainmail, slavegirls, drooling monsters that resemble old stereotypes and the hobby is R rated when it had been G-rated...Nice going, DORKUS!"

But - in doing so I'll try to make things more FUN than just an 'anti-woke' response!

------------------------

Any other TTRPG designers?  Video Game, Comic books?

Any creative sick of the shadow censorship this modern "Woke", formerly known as "Political Correctness" has?  Worse than Big Brother or Stalin, you worry someone somewhere will be "Offended" and shriek for censorship?  You don't do any good to anyone by catering to them.

Just reject the narrative...  It is NOT "Left V Right" nor "Racist v Non-Racist" and all the garbage.  It's lies.  A distraction.  The "Woke" are "useful Idiots" bleating and a few con-artists.

You are welcome to use these and pass them around - on websites and on and in products-

Only conditions:

1 - you are opposed to censorship and for free speech, press and market

2 - you won't bend the knee to complainers nor save the most basic of decency self censor in fear

3 - you'll do your reasonable effort to support others in free speech, press, market regardless of 

any real 'politics' - in short I'd even be for "The Woke" making their own games, etc.

just I will NOT cater to them in mine.

The Far Tomorrow products and works of associated writers and artists are open to ALL - unlike the "Woke" trying to ruin the hobbies by being vicious, hateful, bigoted and inclusive...  That's what they accuse us of being but they should look in the mirror.  We just know the evils of censorship by bending the knee in fear of vocal liars and delusional followers.  It was "The Satanic Panic" of the 80s - and note "Divide and Conquer"...?  While Geraldo and Chick got parents to burn their kids D&D books and Grandparents had to watch kids for fear of any Day-Care center the S&L Scandal blew through with a micro fraction of anyone getting in trouble.  Real Satanists and nutbags who maybe played D&D killed a FEW people but a good portion of our country's wealth was STOLEN - this was a distraction.  Also the news probably made Satanism more popular than ever in history...

Elves, Orcs and Morlocks in the world of Far-Tomorrows...

 Will this thing have Orcs and Elves....?

Yeah, but NOT like you think - even if on the surface they are like you think...

Just to piss off the "Woke" this scenario will have plenty of room for Orcs and Elves - including Dark Elves, savage hugely endowed lusty Orks who might assault women, etc.  I'd have actually tried to move away from them without it so credit the "Social Justice Warriors" bleating and shrieking to get a "Trope" not only perpetuated but LOCKED IN... 

Having said that, one trope I want to break from is the leeching off of Tolkien the "baseline" TTRPG uses.    Really I think they whacked off to fantasies about sodomizing little hobbits and the Tolkien coffin feeders brought in their lawyers in self-defense sometimes...

No disrespect intended to JRR himself, his impact on fantasy and literature is unquestionable and deserves great thanks... - matter of fact I like his "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" translation and the Sean Connery movie "Sword of the Valiant" made from it.  However for "Old School" fantasy I prefer Lord Dunsany - heard of him?  No?  Shame - try "The Fortress Unvanquishable save for Sacnoth" arguably the first modern Sword and Sorcery pure fantasy (vs historical) story...  Quite debatable but he was a level above so many others...

Most of this TTRPG paradigm is to borrow from Gene Wolfe and especially Jack Vance - that such a world is that of the Far, FAR future to explain the Magic, the creatures, the overwhelming number of Dungeons and wild places and the seemingly primitive/mideval but "Modern" people and attitudes...  Another reality - well if a cosmological constant is changed the universe is either thinner than two atoms across all space as we know it or is a burning rock a tenth of a milimiter across.  The past as it never was, no way...  The future remembering the past in long cycles however....

I'm not stealing from Dunsany here, or Vance, rather H G Wells for an explanation for any Orcs, Goblins, Dwarves, Elves and such creatures in this fantasy TTRPG setting...

H.G. Wells, rather!

You see this is set about a million years in the future and the Elves are akin to the Eloi envisioned by Wells in "The Time Machine" and the Orcs and underground races are the "Moorlocks".  Given later knowledge of real genetics and technology we can deviate a bit from Wells's story meant for social analogy more than real speculation of the future.  I recommend reading it, short novel and should be read as an adult but NOT forced on a kid in school.

The Elves are the inheritors of some "Upper Class" of perhaps five hindered thousand years hence but that also before the 'current' year.  They managed to establish some kind of system to keep themselves in power and wealth but free of the need for any labor that lasted a long time even enduring the latest "Wizard Lord" era between that and the present time.  Like the joke of the American Businessman and the Hispanic Fisherman what would you do if worked really hard so you were so rich you didn't have to work?  They made a new Garden of Eden that stretched over many many miles that their descendants could run and frolic in beauty the environment protecting them from danger and aiding them.  They lived in great Jade cities that were almost immune from the ravages of time while "Deep Elder Forests" served them and protected them.  Now the Jade Palaces are just large domes and mostly open structures but the woods live and breathe and respond to them and ensure always nice weather and bountiful food and protection.

Unlike Wells's vision they did not degenerate mentally or evolve completely outside humanity - too many safeguards built into their DNA including secondary mechanisms in their cells kept them stable.  Like the movie "The Fifth Element" a being from this age would give a modern genetic test a crash for there have been countless edits over the Eons.

These "Elves" as known in this far age also came about in a civilization post - magickal development by the "Wizard Lords" so indeed they and their forests had this advantage built into them too - effects we would consider Magic in this day and age.  Per Clarke any technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic.  This is also why elves have both a natural affinity but an upper limit for the Magic they can weild - the safeguards that allow them some level of power but prevent them from fully ascending to perhaps challenge the Wizard Lords but most likely disrupt their existing "Eden" with foolish abuse of 8th level and above spells.

YES - in this game if your character's "Race" is "Elf" you have natural affinity for some Magic most being able to cast at least a cantrip without studying - BUT - you have upper limits on spells and won't ever become an "Arch-Mage" and don't even think about being a "Wizard Lord" even if this setting gets an "Epic Level".  It'd be easier to get a Goblina's skin not to have a tinge of green.  Ten times.  This is in "Unfair Balance" with other classes that do have a higher magic affinity but none of the Elven legacy of Nature, Natural Magick, Nobility template, Wisdom, beauty and ability to fight with speed.

The Eloi or Alloi or Elves did not become mentally retarded but over Eons lost their identity and now they merely assume they are a superior race perhaps only loosely linked to mankind living in their elder forests and ancient now crumbling Jade domes overcome with special breeds of trees that keep these from falling apart and grow into vast cities in the deep forests and excrete nourishing sap and fruit.

The Orks, the Goblins, the Dwarves are the Morlocks... The latter are "The Great Northern Whites" a playable race of northern beings that live in the frozen north and inside great underground Liminal Arkologies...  

However, like Wells the Moorlock races were the "Workers" - unlike them they weren't really some mass underclass.  Most were highly skilled professional workers who were well paid.  Since the elites wanted a new "Garden of Eden" they accepted well paid positions maintaining it.  They liked the endless high tech corridors, having more credits than they knew what to spend at the great shopping malls, occasional vacations to the Islands though the sun seemed harsher and harsher till they stopped going...

Most of the machinery was self-repairing and artificially intelligent.  Over time the "Ghosts" in the machines became "Guardian Spirits" that guided them in their labors.  The great underground machines mostly kept the endless corridors inhabitable and boosted the environment for the "Great Elder Forests".  These machines might also be part of some ancient systems that slowly move the earth as the Sun gradually grows brighter to help keep the climate stable and can trap or emit carbon and countless other operations as needed.

Instead of Moorlocks proper there are "Great Northern Whites" who mostly live underground and/or in the frozen north.  They are not stunted but tall, muscular, beautiful humans who can stand cold to 80F below casually with no fear of frostbite.  Their skin is usually white along with their eyes being mostly white save tiny pupils which widen to turn jet black in near total darkness to see with minimal light.  They do NOT like high heat or harsh sun and can get heat fatigued or sunburned easily if and when they venture south.

A few often do venture south, their warrior skills and instinct for machinery and problem solving helping them out.  Sadly there is an ancient racist stereotype that "Whites from the North" are murderous conquerors and slavers so they face some social penalties.  Very few if any delude themselves to be "Superior" at anything save their own adaptation to the far north.  They find the darker, shorter people of the wider part of the world to be very cute and like to have sex with them, but only voluntarily.  They'd fight to defend themselves and slay any real threat no matter the race, species, skin color but rarely if ever start a fight.

The interaction between Great Northern Whites and Elves is usually not favorable.  It is rarely hostile because their lives are so far apart now they do not hate each other but want to be distant.  Many "Liminal Arkology" tunnels lead right beneath Elven glades but when discovered both sides expertly seal these connecting portals.  Sometimes in foreign ground the Great Northern Whites joke the Elves look "Tasty" but there hasn't been any such incident and even such a remark is only after a LONG diatribe about them being "Savages"...

The other Orcish/Goblinoid are the lesser workers - those assigned the true worst jobs such as being above ground or outside after world wars and epochs of poison - where the surface of the planet was mostly toxic (save the protected Elven Glades) and the sun beat harsh and deadly.  The Green is a self-reinforcing symbiote derived from Blue-Green Algae that gives a microscopic boost (.01% food energy if in the sun) but also absorbs excess radiation and filters toxins from the body growing darker until nearly black green.

Sadly the social conditioning did not hold and the Orks, Goblinoids and miscellaneous "Lessers" are indeed savage and dangerous.  Bandits.  Ambush predators.  Violent tribal savages.  They do target Elves out of some deep seated jealousy not knowing why while Elves tend to be very cruel to them somehow knowing they are 'lesser' beings.

These types, Orcs, Goblins, and Dwarves also have both stricter limits on Magic use but also a high resistance to its effects.  Magic that affects the world such as lifting up a rock and throwing it would still do the damage a rock thrown by natural means would do but trying to charm them or use a bolt of 'magical' energy might work less.  Dwarves have the most resistance, Orcs and Goblins the least and various other creatures different levels.  They also have that from great to mild penalties for learning it themselves.  Most "Magic" from these peoples are "Shamans" who call on lesser Gods and spirits to give them powers aka "Clerical" spells.

In between all of this - almost inexplicably (A Wizard did it!!!) the "Baseline" humans exist and might slowly again outnumber the "Old Races" even though said groups are divergent from Humanity proper.  Humans act as a bridge because Elves and Orcs cannot interbreed but they can with Humans and "Great Northern Whites" are accepted as a race of mankind.  

Humanity proper tends to be enthralled by the Elves who seem to be aloof ancient guardians of wisdom and nature - though their "nature" is a construct and far removed.  They tend to conflict with and hate the Green races and this reduces racial conflict among baseline humanity -like an ancient bard of the dim past mentioned - "Black and white team up on Green".  The Great Northern Whites tend to be treated with awe and fear but once they establish they are not going to "Conquer" them become nice curiosities and welcome partners for adventure or friendship.

The recent addition of the "Domesticated Goblina" - tiny petite sexual slaves created by a depraved Archmage from female goblins and human male breeding is upsetting a lot of "Traditional" notions for it proves that all of these beings clearly come from baseline humanity but were edited somehow in the past in ways their "Sacred texts" do not tell about at all.  Most simply deny this and if disgusted simply chock it up to a Wizard's sick experiments and creations.  These petite sex slaves are quite disruptive - mostly from eligible women facing tiny easy to obtain competition.  They are usually sold as sterile but this is due to a "Womb Tattoo" enchantment that is defeatable and most seek to have this undone so they can bear more human children when they have a master who is kind to them.  Most human males are unthinkably kind compared to Goblinoid behavior as they tend to not be violent to them, attempt to please them during sexual interactions, provide good food for them and shelter.  I'll not describe regular Goblinoid behavior but it is the opposite of the last sentence especially to their women.  The Goblinas being bred in the depraved Archmage's dungeon 'factory' are repeatedly told this by Grand-Mothers and Great-Grand-Mothers so they urge them to be the best and find a Human Male, any one save legit brutes or freaks.

Mention of a Goblina girl or seeing one of his flock carrying one in tow is often enough to set an Agnost Orthodox priest into the proverbial "Heebie Jeebies".  More on that great faith and their "Clerics" will come later.  However Dawgma is that it is a good deed for them to encourage a marriage and family if there is a stable sexual relationship between two people under their influence - a town, region, band of adventurers.  They have often dealt with tearful conversations telling that normal human and Beast-Person can NOT marry by strict ancient Dawgma.  There is no Dawgma on goblinoids so it is not forbidden, just it was unthinkable until recently as normal goblins are quite hideous in appearance.

This is also hipocritical as they tend to bless Elven - Human unions if it seems stable after much councilling and rarely give the "Closer-Abhumans" such as Northern Whites, Super-Persons, Tall Folk too much trouble save to test resolve.  Goblins have in general a negative history of interactions with the other races so the stigma is there and very unfair to the Goblinas.  There will be a chapter on these of course, in Orange Sun and Revealed Vulgaria. 

This is far from the first time humanity has done such a questionable deed of course.  The "Half-Size" races were created as diminutive servants for amusement and sexual relief.  Like the origins of the Elves and Goblinoid races this is lost in the weight of endless time and if confronted by "Historical Archives" they'd angrily assure it was "Balderdash and some vile fiction...  Surely Humans are just those of us who got restless and ate too much, grew too big for a proper hill home and ran off to conquer the world.  Some of us might take a fancy to you but we are so different, how would we ever introduce you to our clan as a deep friend?"

Oh, and yes there are rumors of "Dark Elves" the Eloi or Elven who in the past committed some unspeakable sin so were banished with the "Gods" burning their skin BLACK to warn others of their evil and making them so intolerant of the sun and most light they fled into the darkest depths of the earth where even the other subterranean humans fear to tread to practice the darkest of rituals.  YES if an "Elf" becomes truly evil such as the greater range of evil on the "Planar" spectrum and commits atrocities they can wake up after a night of hellish nightmares of being judged by the "Gods" and find themselves a Dark Elf that runs screaming as his or her skin and eyes burn in even the full moonlight into the nearest cave to try to reach the darkest depths.  They flee screaming past any Great Northern Whites they find the "Liminal Arkology" tunnels too bright and with "High Elves" in pursuit, the pursuers pleading a "Truce" and aid in capturing to kill "The evil one judged black..."  Most Dark Elves only hang out in "Entropic Ruins" as only there in areas the sun seems never to reach the surface proper and among horrific abhumans can they hope for any brief respite as Elves and Humanity, even Orcs fear to tread there...

This can also happen to the worst of the Dwarves, Orcs, Goblins forming truly terrifying things - again usually confined to "Entropic Ruins" as so evil almost all seek to instantly destroy them.

Also, rare as it is, there are "Dark Elves" who have rejected their depraved society of sickest perversions and evils and have braved the Sun and done all possible to redeem themselves.  They have a very LOW survival rate as the Entropic, dark forces do not release their hold casually and the others fear their enclaves secret location might be revealed.  The few who have redeemed themselves the sins of their Fathers have turned Light skinned and been welcomed back to the Elven Glades as "Pure again"...

Stories of this might make some humans with brown skin of that far future age wince without knowing why, but if they inquire the Elves and Northern whites will say has nothing whatsoever to do with them...

Thus - up to the DM and players - but we can put Elves, Orcs, Hob-wer short people, Dark elves, etc. into the game.  No real issue there!

MaxxFeral - new writer on the project.