User:Zeromanicus

Not many know what scorched the sky, land and sea. We did of course, we sacrificed a verdant world for our liberty and for the sanctity of our souls. The world of Diktat is a desolate realm, shattered megacities dot a landscape of grey earth, patched with struggling greenery and dangerous ancient forests who bathe in the harsh light of the sun. The Federated Convoys are scattered across the supercontinent that still supports human life, wandering in vast and ancient Wagon-Trains whose aging systems provide life and protection in a dangerous world of feral creatures and radioactive rainstorms. The Vault Dwellers reside underground refusing to deal with the overground world, while in the ruined capital of Autoc, evil is said to stalk the streets.

The True History: Known by the Vault Dwellers and the Night Stalkers, the following is the true history of the world. Over a thousand years ago, Diktat was a world of promise, commonly known as Prospa. It had one principle continent and a subcontinent attached by a thin peninsula. The subcontinent was Autoc and was completely covered the megacity Capital of the planet. To the outsider observer, the planet appeared normal, but behind the scenes Prospa was ruled by the Night Stalkers, through their intermediates, the vampires and their familiars. Across the stars, on the world of Heaven’s Gaze, a prophet was born who declared that the Federated States of Autoc was a nest of unnatural creatures and it’s the Crusading Paramilitary forces of the ‘Fellowship of the Sun’

THE FEDERATED CONVOYS Descendants of both survivors of the apocalyptic war and the invaders, the Federated Convoys are a nomandic group of humans who wander the wastes of the main continent, never stopping.

The Federated Convoys practice ritualistic tattooing, a demand of their binding religion, The Tableau. They believe that their world is infested by the Night Stalkers, who prey on the living and corrupt and doom their souls to oblivion. Though this knowledge is lost to them, it stems back to the original Stalker hunters who’s magical tattoo’s warded them against Night Stalker manipulation and magic. The religion has remained strong, as those who forgo the wards do succumb to madness, often wander off into the night where they die or babbling incoherently in cells. The Vault Dwellers do not share this practice, but they never leave the Vaults, to those that look closely, the vaults themselves are warded in a similar manner.

THE VAULT DWELLERS The Vault Dwellers were once the intellectual and economic leaders of Prospa, they are fully aware of the true history of the planet and the war and are absolutely terrified of the Night Stalkers. Before the opening of the ways, they exerted all their efforts into tunnelling deeper into the ground, while fortifying all access to the surface. The Vault Dwellers lie in a maze of underground bunkers, with countless defence barriers, automatic turrets, kill corridors. Every Dweller is a soldier from birth who is dedicated to defending the home caverns from any invader.

THE NIGHT STALKERS The Night Stalkers are buried deep within the Earth, in the old capital of Diktat known as Autoc. As the human population around them died and many vampires were purged in the nuclear flames, one old one took his brethren deep into the ancient tombs they had originally risen from and committed them to torpor along with thousands of human slaves. Even in their sleep, the powerful psychic forces of the Night Stalkers manifests on their world.

A century ago they began to awake, sensing that enough mortals existed to sustain their appetite. Night Stalkers are roughly human in appearance, with white marble skin and blood red eyes. They are entirely hairless and possess sharp clawed fingers. Though many apt a more human appearance in order to blend with populations, they possess a variety of magical and mundane techniques to achieve this. Central to the Night Stalkers is the Veneration of the Blood, it is not merely a dietary requirement, it is a compulsion and key to their mystical existence. A Stalker denied blood who cannot enter torpor regresses into an animal, losing much of it’s humanoid appearance and sustaining itself on any mortal food source. Blood teems with mystical energies not perceptible to humans, but keenly felt by Stalkers.

Stalkers are analytical creatures, the emotional centres of their brain are capable of being shut off and exist mainly to facilitate empathic responses for the purposes of infiltrating human society. Night Stalkers are capable of creating foot soldiers from humans by infecting them with a parasitic organism that alters their genetic structure to be closer to that of Night Stalkers. Nominally human but stronger, longer lived with a small appetite for blood but mainly requiring the same nutrition as human beings. These are what are commonly referred to as vampires.