World of the Daeva

[Paradoxdruid]

Here's a setting I threw together last night. I'm going to be running a WT one-shot to test out the game (got my book last week), so I needed a space to play in. The PCs will be 250 pt character, and the adventure will be gritty with a bit of cinematic, but definitely not four-color.

It's not terribly original, but it should be fun.

World History in Brief:

The history of this world is much like our world, diverging only in the early 80s, when the growth of the computer industry and resurgence in Russiaís interest in space sparked further funding and interest in astronomy, rocketry, and high energy physics. This caused the internet to begin a little earlier, secured more funding and tenure positions for physicists, and resulted in another manned mission to the moon in 1996, where Americans (using technology partly developed in Europe and built in Chinese factories) showed up mother Russia by beginning construction of a permanent Moon station, scrapping plans for an orbiting space station.

In 1998, a joint consortium of German, Russian, Israeli, and American scientists completed D.E.V.A., the experimental Dark Energy Variance Array facility. D.E.V.A. was a stacked series of high-energy super-colliders whose interactions were precisely tuned to allow investigation into dark energy. Nestled in a top-secret facility on the outskirts of New York City, D.E.V.A. and its associated power plants and relays hummed with power in preparation for the first experiment to begin.

March 27th, 2:31 am New York time, 2000- D.E.V.A. is switched on by graduate student Maresh Asura. The system performs perfectly, high energy particles forming a 4-dimensional array to capture transitory interactions with dark energy. This ìinteractionî unfortunately takes the form of massive energy surges shorting out the entire facility, setting numerous fires, killing 11 technicians, vaporizing Maresh entirely, and causing a wave of rippling white energy to radiate outward from the facility across the Earth. In a matter of seconds, the entirely globe is washed over by the white energy, which collides with its own shock wave on the opposite side of the planet, causing several earthquakes and tsunamis before dissipating to nothingness.

This effect is almost unnoticeable in the daylight portions of the earth unless you happened to be outside. For the nightside of the earth, the effect is dramatic and terrifying. Religious fervor and terror, confusion, and fear result in unimaginable catastrophe as victims of the earthquakes and waves on three continents receive inadequate aid. Nevertheless, the world returned slowly to normal. D.E.V.A. was shut down amide widespread public concern, the lead scientists shamed and threatened into hiding. Indonesiaís government collapsed, and the fledgling EU stepped in with aid, establishing the Republic of Indonesia as a EU sister-nation. Things got fairly back to normal.

Then, in June 2002, all that changed. Maude Materson, a London widow, was walking back to her flat when a cabbie lost control of his vehicle and ran straight into her. Her body didnít even move as the car wrapped itself around her as if she was a reinforced steel pole. She was the first of the ìDÊvasî, but more began to manifest almost every week, all around the world. Feared at first, DÊva have slowly gained acceptance. Despite dizzying barrages of tests, no factors (DNA, physiology, upbringing, religious beliefs) seem to correlate with who becomes a DÊva. Usually, a traumatic experience brings forth the power. Disturbingly for those who hate them, most DÊva cannot be told from anyone else unless they are actively exhibiting a power. For every one DÊva with powerful abilities, 20 manifest minor talents (the ability to stay dry in even torrential rain, the talent to make sparks with their mind to light tinder or cigarettes), who have been nicknamed ìDivsî.

Newly found DÊva immediately have the world spotlight thrust on them, and as such, tend not to live ordinary lives. Magazines and shows focus on the lives of the DÊva. Some have become entertainers. Many have become soldiers or police. Some have become criminals. What does the future have in store for the world of the DÊva? None know. But a few DÊva have been contacted by a voice from their past-- a shadowy contact who goes by the name Asura.


The World of the DÊva, in Wild Talents terms:

Red (Historical Inertia) 3 Changing history is hard, even for a DÊva. Other DÊvas oppose them, modern weapons are still a match for most DÊva, and no ìhyper inventorî DÊva have been found to make crazy technology.

Gold (DÊva Inertia) 4 The role of DÊva is still being sorted out in society, but many gravitate to certain roles- protector, celebrity, criminal. There are few ìordinaryî DÊva in ìordinaryî jobs.

Blue (Weirdness) 1 The world, except for the DÊva, appears normal. There is no magic, alien contact, or accessible Gods and demigods.

Black (Moral Clarity) 2 There are no absolute embodiments of good and evil, but generally ìgoodî and ìevilî can be seen. Sometimes, things get murky, and often solving the moral problem is the hardest part of fulfilling your objectives.

--
Paradoxdruid
http://www.paradoxdruid.com

[Shane Ivey]

Pretty cool. Tell us about the adventure when it's safe (i.e., no risk of spoilage for players).