The Decaying Ones
Intro
Anarchistic, eccentric, diseased, nihilistic, semi-human monstrosities, caged for their dark appetites and condemned solely for having been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Decaying Ones are the descendants of a cursed people, blighted with a decay that rotted away their flesh and bone. They responded not by asking for pity, but laughing at their fate and taking from others what should have been theirs. Nowadays, the Decaying Ones are masters of the magical art of Somaticism; the augmentation of the body by adding beautiful and terrible new pieces to themselves. Their bodies are as wildly diverse as their moods and madcap ideas, but only a fool underestimates them for their silly customs.
Play a Decaying One if you want to...
be an eccentric and bizarre looking creature with a patchwork set of replaced body parts.
do very little that makes sense to others.
fight against a cult of interfering, hypocritical philosophers who locked your people in a drab prison plane out of fear and envy.
be motivated by whimsy, obsession, and a love of your own malformed body.
be divided by your own individualistic natures and divergent obsessions.
The Decaying Ones are not...
History
Countless generations ago, in the Kingdom of Torna, the originators of the Phalre attempted a massive ritual. The intent? To elevate themselves beyond their bodily forms and exist as purely mental beings. The result?
It took a few days for the symptoms to become obvious. Several hundred citizens of the capital city began to suffer from an incurable wasting disease. Their skin was the first to fall away, followed by limbs and internal organs. Dozens perished.
Those suffering from The Decay, as it became called, were forced into gated off sections of the city, in case it proved contagious. It was quickly established that the early Phalreans were responsible, and the more vocal members of the Decaying community shouted from behind their bars and gates that they be punished. However, the influence of one Prince Reanus, himself a convert to the Phalre, prevented justice from being done.
Wasting away, and locked behind the quarantine walls, the Decaying Ones became angry.
Some of the cleverer and more proactive Decaying Ones tried surgical recourse. They sent agents sneaking out of the quarantine at night to butcher unsuspecting, healthy people, providing organs for experimental grafting. None of these efforts were successful, so a few of the Decaying Ones attempted a magical solution. Some study and experimentation indicated to them that they could grow new, stronger body parts, if they harvested the souls of other humans.
These efforts were successful.
Soon, many among the Decaying Ones were looking visibly non-human, having grown scales, feathers, tentacles and so on, in open defiance of the fate shoved upon them. The public panicked, pressure mounted on the Phalreans to do something.
And one night, the Decaying Ones went to sleep, and woke up somewhere else.
Being free of the bars and chains and outraged stares of onlookers was gratifying, but the new world to which they had been somehow transported was foreign and cold; not so much in temperature, but chillingly alien to the soul. Worse still, they had no choice, just as they never had before, over this bloodless and “merciful” condemnation they were expected to suffer.
Generations have passed in this absurd place, this so-called Casket of Nightmares, and the Decaying Ones have continued to perfect their art of body modification, the only cornerstone of what might be called their culture. They have become nihilistic and bitterly eccentric in their imprisonment, although the boredom has been alleviated by the addition of their neighbours, the Werewolves and the Ollath. More than anything, the Decaying Ones seek the freedom to return to the world en masse, and to punish the Phalreans for crimes that can never be forgiven.
Beliefs
If asked, a Decaying One will usually emphatically state they do not have a “philosophy” or “beliefs”. This is not strictly true, as Decaying One society is based on a few commonly held principles. Primary amongst these is the importance attributed to the body, rather than the mind or the soul. Decaying Ones believe that the body is the self, and the mind is simply an overwrought tool for animating it so that it can walk about and such. Given that they habitually replace their body parts, this has important consequences for their continuity of self. The first time in a Decaying One's life when they have finally replaced all of the body parts with which they were born, they change their own name (usually with an improvised ceremony), to signify the fact that they are literally a completely different person than when they were born. Each time they then cycle through a full new set of body parts, they change their name again. The fact that they may have the same mind and personality is entirely irrelevant to them.
Decaying Ones are political anarchists and philosophical nihilists. They reject all forms of artificial social structure and do not believe that life has any essential meaning. They have no afterlife beliefs, and view the death of the body as the end of all meaningful existence.
Culture
Customs
The Decaying Ones are all dying; a slow, bitter, ugly death, with only the relentless pursuit of Mortal souls standing between them and their rotten fate. Fuelled by resentment against the ones who cursed and caged them, they are keen not to let this visibly bother them. As such, Decaying Ones make an art form of affected eccentricity. Even in simple greetings, they make an effort to confound expectation, making a particular show of it with outsiders. Their capacity for boundless interest in the world, narrowed to sharp points by the restrictions of living in the Casket, has given them an obsession with making collections. Decaying Ones collect all sorts of things, small stones, particularly shaped leaves, pictures of people's little fingers- you name it, there's a Decaying One curating it somewhere.
Physical flattery is one expected custom which the Decaying Ones do take very seriously. Complimenting somebody on their fine scales or delightful tail is the height of politeness in Decaying One society, a piece of etiquette that it is best to observe, or be left a total outsider. Beneath this quasi-formality, however, Decaying Ones are easily driven to envy, and competition in how much a person can alter their body to become more “beautiful” can become vicious.
Art
The most common, and actually taken seriously, form of artistry in Decaying society is portraiture. Given that Decaying Ones consider their augmented bodies to be the most beautiful objects in creation, a number of them spend a long time drawing portraits (often self-portraits) in a variety of media.
Decaying Ones also enjoy music, and most are in possession of a homemade musical instrument (sometimes no more complex than a cardboard box and a stick to hit it with). They will assemble to perform improvised, instrumental “pieces” with great enthusiasm, to the considerable annoyance of their neighbours. Occasionally, a small group of Decaying Ones will actually take their music seriously, and practice together, and perform music reminiscent of real world jazz.
Decaying Ones are also known to tell stories, which often focus on their hobby or obsession. They also enjoy humour, particularly of an absurdist nature.
Marriage and Funerals
Ceremonies are rarely the same from instance to instance, and are more commonly improvised on the spot. Made-up customs and traditions are taken very seriously, and typically bought into by all present. Marriages do not contain two individuals any more commonly than they contain any other number, and one- and zero-person marriages are not unknown. Divorce can occur at any time.
Decaying Ones are likely to announce impromptu rites and celebrations for odd reasons, such as their fourty-seventh sneeze of the day, or having gained officially too many round stones to fit in one bag. Non-participation in another Decaying One's spontaneous events is quite a serious cultural snub.
Funerals are the only events with a few regular elements. When a Decaying One dies, their memory is celebrated by a series of comedic, exaggerated impersonations of their mannerisms and behaviours. This is followed by a reading of their will. A Decaying One will have a detailed will, which they will ensure is left in a safe and accessible place in the case of their death. Their collections will be distributed to their friends, who are expected to take great care in their curation.
Nation
Politics
The Decaying Ones have no formal politics, their society being individualistic and anarchistic, which they like just fine. They tend to have a lot of respect for one another, as they view the Decay and the associated tendency to modify their own bodies to be a sign of being a superior life form, and as such, they are rarely violent to one another.
However, when interacting with other groups, particularly Ollath and Summoners, it is common for them to pretend to have a complex governmental and bureaucratic system, which they improvise during conversation and force unwitting outsiders to navigate for their amusement. “Ah yes,” they will say patronisingly, as though explaining to a child. “If you want to trade for Mirrorfrost you will have to speak to her over there, the Grand High Mirrorfrost Administrator-in-Chief...”
And so on.
Genuine political activity between the Decaying Ones is focused on one arena; competition for resources, particularly souls. From adulthood, the Decay requires them to replace parts of their body in order to survive, requiring Mortal souls as fuel, and these are hard to come by in the Casket of Nightmares. Raids facilitated by random weak spots or the intervention of Summoners keep the Decaying Ones supplied with enough souls to keep them from extinction, but distribution is markedly uneven. Whilst some Decaying Ones, those lucky in raiding or clever in trade, may flaunt a majestic plethora of exotic augmentations, others are dead by their mid-twenties. Compassion is thin for such unfortunates, and Decaying Ones are generally too pre-occupied with attempting to get ahead in the "soul economy" to even consider charity.
War
The Decaying Ones don't exactly organise themselves down military lines. Whilst they are happy to band together in small groups when hunting souls, they don't do a lot in the way of conventional tactical planning. Rather, they prefer to behave erratically and unpredictably, surprising opponents (and allies) with half-baked, improvised strategies invented in the moment. Often, this leads to the Decaying Ones being underestimated in combat, right before they start slaughtering their foes and gleefully extracting their souls.
Relations
The Decaying Ones are amicable towards the Werewolves and the Ollath, and find their customs curious. They see all entities that have been trapped in the Casket as being bound by a common cause; escape and revenge. However, they typically irritate their neighbours with constant comments on how they would look so much better with scaly skin. Or an extra head.
The Decaying Ones bear no end of hatred towards the Phalreans. Not for originally having cursed them, as they now see the Decay as a blessing in disguise, but for trapping them in the boring world of the Casket. They take great enjoyment in killing Phalreans they encounter, typically laughing hysterically with one another about it afterwards, but occasionally take one captive if they can. They then gather around as their captive's circlet is unceremoniously removed and discarded, as their flesh is drawn and carved on, and attempts are made to induce the prisoner to cry. Once sufficiently humiliated, the Phalrean is typically released back to their friends to share their sob story.
The Decaying Ones' few interactions with the Tanelim have all ended violently, and the Decaying Ones did not appreciate being referred to as “unholy abominations” by these uppity tinhead soldiers. The Decaying Ones have little particular hatred of the Koth, and find their history and cultural relationship with the Werewolves fascinating. More than once, as a Koth warrior and a Werewolf are deep in a vicious battle, a falsetto voice from the undergrowth screaming “Now kiss!” has been heard...
Magic
When they were first blighted with The Decay, the first Decaying Ones busily devised a new form of magic; one that directly utilises human souls to grow and augment bodily organs. Given the damage that The Decay does to skin, many Decaying Ones have a fine new layer of scaly, furred, feathery, clay-like, or other unusual skin. Others have altered arms with claws, pincers, or tentacles as appendages, internal organs with assorted capabilities, venom sacs, or additional eyes. Those amongst the Decaying Ones who learn this kind of magic are known as Somaticists, and they are treated with considerable esteem by their grateful peers.
In order for a Somaticist to work their magic, they require at least one soul, and a small amount of other magical resources, dependent on the desired outcome. They must then draw a sketch of the new body part they seek to create, depicted either on the ritual target or by itself. The quality of the drawing is of little importance, the purpose of the sketch being to focus the magic, but high-quality Somaticist drawings are considered valuable collectors' items by Decaying Ones. The new body part then appears, sometimes within minutes, sometimes days, seemingly randomly.
When a new body part is crafted, it is strong and imbued with fresh magic, generally performing much better than a normal arm, leg, face, or whatever. After a few months, the Decay starts to greedily target this infusion of healthy flesh and bone, and the extra power is quickly sapped away. It takes a few years, sometimes over a decade for very fine work, for the piece to require replacing or decay fully.
Names
Decaying Ones are known by a combination of sounds that they personally find pleasing. They avoid adherence to the naming conventions of other cultures. They are spelled phonetically.
Examples: Doolop who likes Trees, Mirria Mirria Nor, Hadavalakalamar.
Costume
Anarchistic, eccentric, diseased, nihilistic, semi-human monstrosities, caged for their dark appetites and condemned solely for having been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Decaying Ones are the descendants of a cursed people, blighted with a decay that rotted away their flesh and bone. They responded not by asking for pity, but laughing at their fate and taking from others what should have been theirs. Nowadays, the Decaying Ones are masters of the magical art of Somaticism; the augmentation of the body by adding beautiful and terrible new pieces to themselves. Their bodies are as wildly diverse as their moods and madcap ideas, but only a fool underestimates them for their silly customs.
Play a Decaying One if you want to...
be an eccentric and bizarre looking creature with a patchwork set of replaced body parts.
do very little that makes sense to others.
fight against a cult of interfering, hypocritical philosophers who locked your people in a drab prison plane out of fear and envy.
be motivated by whimsy, obsession, and a love of your own malformed body.
be divided by your own individualistic natures and divergent obsessions.
The Decaying Ones are not...
- Harmless. Whilst eccentric and often amicable, Decaying Ones pursue their habit of modifying their bodies by killing Mortals and using their souls for the necessary magic, a requirement they typically feel no remorse about.
- Lovecraftian. Despite certain surface similarities, Decaying Ones are distinct from all entities in Lovecraftian fiction, and directly importing elements of the Cthulu mythos into play is not suitable.
History
Countless generations ago, in the Kingdom of Torna, the originators of the Phalre attempted a massive ritual. The intent? To elevate themselves beyond their bodily forms and exist as purely mental beings. The result?
It took a few days for the symptoms to become obvious. Several hundred citizens of the capital city began to suffer from an incurable wasting disease. Their skin was the first to fall away, followed by limbs and internal organs. Dozens perished.
Those suffering from The Decay, as it became called, were forced into gated off sections of the city, in case it proved contagious. It was quickly established that the early Phalreans were responsible, and the more vocal members of the Decaying community shouted from behind their bars and gates that they be punished. However, the influence of one Prince Reanus, himself a convert to the Phalre, prevented justice from being done.
Wasting away, and locked behind the quarantine walls, the Decaying Ones became angry.
Some of the cleverer and more proactive Decaying Ones tried surgical recourse. They sent agents sneaking out of the quarantine at night to butcher unsuspecting, healthy people, providing organs for experimental grafting. None of these efforts were successful, so a few of the Decaying Ones attempted a magical solution. Some study and experimentation indicated to them that they could grow new, stronger body parts, if they harvested the souls of other humans.
These efforts were successful.
Soon, many among the Decaying Ones were looking visibly non-human, having grown scales, feathers, tentacles and so on, in open defiance of the fate shoved upon them. The public panicked, pressure mounted on the Phalreans to do something.
And one night, the Decaying Ones went to sleep, and woke up somewhere else.
Being free of the bars and chains and outraged stares of onlookers was gratifying, but the new world to which they had been somehow transported was foreign and cold; not so much in temperature, but chillingly alien to the soul. Worse still, they had no choice, just as they never had before, over this bloodless and “merciful” condemnation they were expected to suffer.
Generations have passed in this absurd place, this so-called Casket of Nightmares, and the Decaying Ones have continued to perfect their art of body modification, the only cornerstone of what might be called their culture. They have become nihilistic and bitterly eccentric in their imprisonment, although the boredom has been alleviated by the addition of their neighbours, the Werewolves and the Ollath. More than anything, the Decaying Ones seek the freedom to return to the world en masse, and to punish the Phalreans for crimes that can never be forgiven.
Beliefs
If asked, a Decaying One will usually emphatically state they do not have a “philosophy” or “beliefs”. This is not strictly true, as Decaying One society is based on a few commonly held principles. Primary amongst these is the importance attributed to the body, rather than the mind or the soul. Decaying Ones believe that the body is the self, and the mind is simply an overwrought tool for animating it so that it can walk about and such. Given that they habitually replace their body parts, this has important consequences for their continuity of self. The first time in a Decaying One's life when they have finally replaced all of the body parts with which they were born, they change their own name (usually with an improvised ceremony), to signify the fact that they are literally a completely different person than when they were born. Each time they then cycle through a full new set of body parts, they change their name again. The fact that they may have the same mind and personality is entirely irrelevant to them.
Decaying Ones are political anarchists and philosophical nihilists. They reject all forms of artificial social structure and do not believe that life has any essential meaning. They have no afterlife beliefs, and view the death of the body as the end of all meaningful existence.
Culture
Customs
The Decaying Ones are all dying; a slow, bitter, ugly death, with only the relentless pursuit of Mortal souls standing between them and their rotten fate. Fuelled by resentment against the ones who cursed and caged them, they are keen not to let this visibly bother them. As such, Decaying Ones make an art form of affected eccentricity. Even in simple greetings, they make an effort to confound expectation, making a particular show of it with outsiders. Their capacity for boundless interest in the world, narrowed to sharp points by the restrictions of living in the Casket, has given them an obsession with making collections. Decaying Ones collect all sorts of things, small stones, particularly shaped leaves, pictures of people's little fingers- you name it, there's a Decaying One curating it somewhere.
Physical flattery is one expected custom which the Decaying Ones do take very seriously. Complimenting somebody on their fine scales or delightful tail is the height of politeness in Decaying One society, a piece of etiquette that it is best to observe, or be left a total outsider. Beneath this quasi-formality, however, Decaying Ones are easily driven to envy, and competition in how much a person can alter their body to become more “beautiful” can become vicious.
Art
The most common, and actually taken seriously, form of artistry in Decaying society is portraiture. Given that Decaying Ones consider their augmented bodies to be the most beautiful objects in creation, a number of them spend a long time drawing portraits (often self-portraits) in a variety of media.
Decaying Ones also enjoy music, and most are in possession of a homemade musical instrument (sometimes no more complex than a cardboard box and a stick to hit it with). They will assemble to perform improvised, instrumental “pieces” with great enthusiasm, to the considerable annoyance of their neighbours. Occasionally, a small group of Decaying Ones will actually take their music seriously, and practice together, and perform music reminiscent of real world jazz.
Decaying Ones are also known to tell stories, which often focus on their hobby or obsession. They also enjoy humour, particularly of an absurdist nature.
Marriage and Funerals
Ceremonies are rarely the same from instance to instance, and are more commonly improvised on the spot. Made-up customs and traditions are taken very seriously, and typically bought into by all present. Marriages do not contain two individuals any more commonly than they contain any other number, and one- and zero-person marriages are not unknown. Divorce can occur at any time.
Decaying Ones are likely to announce impromptu rites and celebrations for odd reasons, such as their fourty-seventh sneeze of the day, or having gained officially too many round stones to fit in one bag. Non-participation in another Decaying One's spontaneous events is quite a serious cultural snub.
Funerals are the only events with a few regular elements. When a Decaying One dies, their memory is celebrated by a series of comedic, exaggerated impersonations of their mannerisms and behaviours. This is followed by a reading of their will. A Decaying One will have a detailed will, which they will ensure is left in a safe and accessible place in the case of their death. Their collections will be distributed to their friends, who are expected to take great care in their curation.
Nation
Politics
The Decaying Ones have no formal politics, their society being individualistic and anarchistic, which they like just fine. They tend to have a lot of respect for one another, as they view the Decay and the associated tendency to modify their own bodies to be a sign of being a superior life form, and as such, they are rarely violent to one another.
However, when interacting with other groups, particularly Ollath and Summoners, it is common for them to pretend to have a complex governmental and bureaucratic system, which they improvise during conversation and force unwitting outsiders to navigate for their amusement. “Ah yes,” they will say patronisingly, as though explaining to a child. “If you want to trade for Mirrorfrost you will have to speak to her over there, the Grand High Mirrorfrost Administrator-in-Chief...”
And so on.
Genuine political activity between the Decaying Ones is focused on one arena; competition for resources, particularly souls. From adulthood, the Decay requires them to replace parts of their body in order to survive, requiring Mortal souls as fuel, and these are hard to come by in the Casket of Nightmares. Raids facilitated by random weak spots or the intervention of Summoners keep the Decaying Ones supplied with enough souls to keep them from extinction, but distribution is markedly uneven. Whilst some Decaying Ones, those lucky in raiding or clever in trade, may flaunt a majestic plethora of exotic augmentations, others are dead by their mid-twenties. Compassion is thin for such unfortunates, and Decaying Ones are generally too pre-occupied with attempting to get ahead in the "soul economy" to even consider charity.
War
The Decaying Ones don't exactly organise themselves down military lines. Whilst they are happy to band together in small groups when hunting souls, they don't do a lot in the way of conventional tactical planning. Rather, they prefer to behave erratically and unpredictably, surprising opponents (and allies) with half-baked, improvised strategies invented in the moment. Often, this leads to the Decaying Ones being underestimated in combat, right before they start slaughtering their foes and gleefully extracting their souls.
Relations
The Decaying Ones are amicable towards the Werewolves and the Ollath, and find their customs curious. They see all entities that have been trapped in the Casket as being bound by a common cause; escape and revenge. However, they typically irritate their neighbours with constant comments on how they would look so much better with scaly skin. Or an extra head.
The Decaying Ones bear no end of hatred towards the Phalreans. Not for originally having cursed them, as they now see the Decay as a blessing in disguise, but for trapping them in the boring world of the Casket. They take great enjoyment in killing Phalreans they encounter, typically laughing hysterically with one another about it afterwards, but occasionally take one captive if they can. They then gather around as their captive's circlet is unceremoniously removed and discarded, as their flesh is drawn and carved on, and attempts are made to induce the prisoner to cry. Once sufficiently humiliated, the Phalrean is typically released back to their friends to share their sob story.
The Decaying Ones' few interactions with the Tanelim have all ended violently, and the Decaying Ones did not appreciate being referred to as “unholy abominations” by these uppity tinhead soldiers. The Decaying Ones have little particular hatred of the Koth, and find their history and cultural relationship with the Werewolves fascinating. More than once, as a Koth warrior and a Werewolf are deep in a vicious battle, a falsetto voice from the undergrowth screaming “Now kiss!” has been heard...
Magic
When they were first blighted with The Decay, the first Decaying Ones busily devised a new form of magic; one that directly utilises human souls to grow and augment bodily organs. Given the damage that The Decay does to skin, many Decaying Ones have a fine new layer of scaly, furred, feathery, clay-like, or other unusual skin. Others have altered arms with claws, pincers, or tentacles as appendages, internal organs with assorted capabilities, venom sacs, or additional eyes. Those amongst the Decaying Ones who learn this kind of magic are known as Somaticists, and they are treated with considerable esteem by their grateful peers.
In order for a Somaticist to work their magic, they require at least one soul, and a small amount of other magical resources, dependent on the desired outcome. They must then draw a sketch of the new body part they seek to create, depicted either on the ritual target or by itself. The quality of the drawing is of little importance, the purpose of the sketch being to focus the magic, but high-quality Somaticist drawings are considered valuable collectors' items by Decaying Ones. The new body part then appears, sometimes within minutes, sometimes days, seemingly randomly.
When a new body part is crafted, it is strong and imbued with fresh magic, generally performing much better than a normal arm, leg, face, or whatever. After a few months, the Decay starts to greedily target this infusion of healthy flesh and bone, and the extra power is quickly sapped away. It takes a few years, sometimes over a decade for very fine work, for the piece to require replacing or decay fully.
Names
Decaying Ones are known by a combination of sounds that they personally find pleasing. They avoid adherence to the naming conventions of other cultures. They are spelled phonetically.
Examples: Doolop who likes Trees, Mirria Mirria Nor, Hadavalakalamar.
Costume
- Decaying Ones like adding other body parts to their own body. When it comes to phys-repping this, pretty much anything organic looking goes, within the bounds of safety. Want an extra eye? Sure. Tentacles for arms? Not gonna stop you. Scales? Sounds fun! For obvious OC reasons, we would like Decaying ones not to have wolf heads.
- If Decaying Ones are wearing clothes (you must be covering at least the legal minimum) those clothes will be full of pockets, in order to allow them add to their collections. They are also likely to be very bright, or coordinated with the Decaying One's body mod.
- Any flesh which hasn't had something attached to it, or changed, is likely to be bandaged up in preparation for the next alteration. If a player is planning to do body modding in uptime as part of a ritual, they will need to bring spare kit, or make up. Human skin is considered unfashionable, and will be covered up or modded where possible.
- Decaying Ones will likely have lots of scars and stitches. If they have hair, it is likely to be spiked, or beaded.