Esoterica by COG

[halakay]

So, we’re closing shop. But before we go, we thought we’d have a big Ask and Tell, so that we can give a little insight into what we were aiming to do, what changes we had made to the original game and why we did it. Now, with the cancellation of our contract with Paradox, everything pertaining to the setting is once more the sole property of Paradox Entertainment, so we can’t copy/paste straight from the text we have. However, we hope to answer a few questions, and perhaps inspire you in your future Mutant Chronicles games.

Without further ado, here’s the COG take on:

Esoterica
Esoterica is a word we’ve used during development to encompass all the secret and supernatural entities in the world of Mutant Chronicles. Mainly this means the Darkness, the Symmetry and the Art, but also bordertech and the remnants of Cybertronic.

Descriptions of the Symmetry and the Art I’ll have to leave to Cold Clinch and Logos – there wasn’t really anything written on the subject and it mostly existed in various notes and in their heads. What I do know is that – at least with regards to the Art – we were aiming to have something more like general skills rather than particular “spells”.

The Darkness

Fairly early on, we dropped the name “the Dark Legion”, as well as “Dark Apostles”, “Dark Symmetry” and so on. It simply reeked too much of cheap fantasy. The Symmetry came to be used as a catch-all term for both the Dark Legion and the Dark Symmetry. We were however discussing whether we should change this, to separate the Darkness, the Legion and the Symmetry in much the same way that the Light, the Brotherhood and the Art are separated. Nothing really got decided, but for simplicity’s sake I’m sticking with Darkness to describe the entire phenomena.

The Darkness is an alien force, “leaking” into our universe from Nero and distorting our natural laws This is what caused the fall of the old high-tech society. When that alien force meets our universe, it manifests as the five Apostles – Illian, Semai, Muawhije, Algeroth and Demnogonis. Algeroth and Demnogonis can be called physical apostles, while Semai and Muawhije are mental apostles. Illian stands somewhat apart from the others.

Nullzones

Nullzones are areas where the Darkness manifests in our universe. It is the physical – or mental – embodiment of the powers of a certain Apostle. Within the nullzone, the creatures of the Apostle run free, and the flora, fauna and geography is twisted to reflect the nature of the Apostle. At the heart of each nullzone lies a citadel, ruled by a nepharite. At the borders of the nullzone its powers bleed through, distorting reality and affecting the inhabitants in the surrounding lands. If and when a nullzone grows outwards, those living in the borderlands will often be so used to strangeness – and their minds so twisted by the influence of the zone – that they will never notice.

The name nullzone comes from the quarantine zones set up by the Cartel, so-called Null Trade and Settlement Zones. The borders of the nullzones are often patrolled by Cartel, Brotherhood and megacorporate troops, and civilians are kept away. However, it is important to differentiate between Cartel nullzones and “true” nullzones. Cartel nullzones are areas set up and at least nominally guarded by the Cartel, while the true, Symmetrical nullzones might exist in secret, hidden away in inaccessible wilderness or in the hearts of megacities. Often the two overlap, but not always.

Algeroth
Algeroth remains the Apostle of Technology and War, but we’ve tried to emphasize the technology aspects. His nullzones are realms of burning plastic, smoke-belching factories and rivers of molten asphalt. They tend to attract war and conflict, or manifest where war and conflict is abundant. Megacorporate armies find themselves stuck in warzones they’re unsure how they got into, fighting an enemy they’re unsure is even there. Dead soldiers return as undead ghouls, and towering machine-monstrosities stalk the smoke-wreathed trenches and battlefields.

Demnogonis
“The Apostle of Disease” seemed a bit vague, so we turned Demnogonis into the Apostle of Life – Life in all its parasitic, carnivorous, cannibalistic, rotting glory. After all, maggots, mould, viruses, insects and fungi are all lifeforms, although highly unpleasant ones. He is also the Apostle of cancer and mutation. The nullzones of Demnogonis are grotesquely verdant. Slime-encrusted plants rot and decompose even as they grow to fantastic sizes. The ground teems with a million bugs, worms and slugs, and horrifying amalgamations of plants and animals hunt among the foliage. People living inside the nullzone quickly turn into crazed mutants riddled by parasites and infections.

Semai
“The Apostle of Lies”, likewise, seemed not only vague but also uninformative. We really strived for the Apostles to personify some aspect of the Mutant Chronicles society, so it seemed only natural to turn Semai into the personification of blind, inhuman bureaucracy and soul-crushing, meaningless rules. Senai manifests wherever the rules come to be more important than the goals – often, he perverts companies and institutions from inside. The nullzones of Semai are often impossible to identify as such from the outside – they tend to look like normal schools or office buildings. Inside, however, it’s a different story. Offices and archives are folded in on themselves, forming intricate labyrinths where those caught by the nullzone slave away at meaningless tasks, vaguely aware that something is wrong. Out of the corners of their eyes they can see torturers and monsters, but when they look it’s just their supervisor.

Muawhije
Muawhije is the opposite of Semai – he takes hold wherever people try to escape the grey reality of everyday life. His nullzones exist only inside people’s minds – however, as they grow they will start bleeding into reality, and memories and delusions will take physical shape around the “hosts” of the nullzone. A particularly powerful dreamer may create a nepharite of Muawhije in his mind. The nepharite will then draw others into the delusion of its original host, creating for itself a nightmare realm made out of their collective memories, traumas, and phobias. It is deceptively easy to enter a nullzone of Muawhije – a picture or memento might serve as a gateway, or you might find yourself there while you sleep and dream. Worse yet, if the nepharite is powerful enough, you might simply walk down the wrong alley and suddenly find yourself thrust into someone else’s madness.

Illian
Illian, the mistress of time and space, stands apart from her siblings and guide them according to the unknowable aims of the Darkness. She has no nullzones of her own, rather her servants come and go among the citadels and temples of the other Apostles as they see fit. Her realm is a timeless wasteland outside of the ordinary universe. Of all the Apostles, Illian is the one who promises the most power and influence, and she regularly takes cultists from the other Apostles and turns them into her own favoured servants.

We were still in the process of writing the Illian text, so there’s not as much information on her as the other apostles.

Soon to come: Bordertech and the Abominable Rustmen (Cybertronic)