Game Information

**Character Race:** The world of the Maelstrom is a human world so we ask that all starting characters be human. If you have an idea for a race variant then a moderator will contact you to discuss their fit in the game.

**Starting Location:** Your character will start somewhere in the city of Dusk. Please read the Dark City opening post in game before choosing your starting location. The city is vast and varied so there are plenty of things to do and discover. Other areas will open up later as players venture out into the Darklands, the Delve and Elesium.

**Magic in Maelstrom:** Maelstrom is not a game of magic it is a game of fantastic science. To misquote a famous expert on the subject:
There will be no foolish wand-waving or silly incantations in this game. However, for those who possess, the predisposition we can teach you how to ride the winds and harness the elements. We can tell you how to bottle fire, brew power, and even put a stopper in death.

**Religion in Maelstrom:** There is no legal state religion in either Dusk or Elesium. Science, wealth and power are the gods of this world and religion is outlawed as a heresy against the state. It is seen as dangerous and stamped out where ever it is found.

There is an underground of strange cults however, and they go from the slightly odd to the bloody terrifying. There should always be plausible deniability when dealing with matters religious, meaning that there should always be room for doubt when dealing with the occult and an alternative rational explanation for what has occurred in the setting.

**Technology in Maelstrom:** Steampunk technology is fantastic in nature. We are sticking to a Victorian meets Western theme and inventions should follow that aesthetic and genre. There are plenty of resources and films out there to draw ideas from but whatever you do should be in keeping with a world of fantastic science and definitely not OP. The same applies to weapons. That said you have plenty of options for technological shenanigans:

Steamtech = using machines to do cool stuff
Alchemy = using chemicals to do cool stuff
Thaumaturgy = using energy to do cool stuff

You also have Flagesium a precious ore mined from the Delve that in its refined steam state can make an entire city fly. We have only scratched the surface of what Flagesium can do, but one might wonder why the world is a desolate wasteland shrouded in a violent black canopy of cloud... tread carefully. Also, flagesium is not in common supply so you will have to work to get hold of it.

**Writing rules:**

We all hate god modding, but I think we also all hate having to wait a week to find out whether sally would like a bite of Johns pickle and then another week to find out how John feels about that. Two months later the pickle jar is empty and they start a one month conversation about whether they should order a coffee...

So in the interest of good story telling and pace we propose the following.

In most cases writers can write words and actions for ANY character, even somebody else’s character, although when writing for someone else’s character, please don't make any big decisions or make anything drastic happen to them without the owner's permission. Also, please try your darndest to write EVERY character in a way that they would realistically act.

• Whenever someone creates a new character, that character has three post grace period during which only the creator can write actions and words for the character. This is so that the character's owner can get a feel for and characterize their character the way they want too.

• If someone wants to retain exclusive control of their character, they can put a (P) at the end the character's profile name.

• If someone wants to make a character that they feel should exist, but they don't necessarily want to use the character, they can make the character and put (NPC) at the end of the character's profile name. This character will then be public domain and can be freely used by anybody.

All of that said using other characters is optional and if you do not feel comfortable doing it, or have any doubts about it then you don't have to.

**Posting :**

Please indicate in your character sheet how often you are likely to post and highlight if you favour weekends etc. This will help us time game events and manage situations with groups of players much better.

Also please start all posts with : Location – Date – Time of day

For example : The Centrum – 2nd June – Morning. No need to be too specific, but it is a big game and we want to be able to keep track of people, and yes we are using the standard Gregorian calendar so no need to memorise a whole new bunch of names for months and days.

**Locations :**

• Dusk, a massive city bursting at the seams is made up of seven districts, which are: Highholm, Paramount Hill, The Twins, The Steamworks, The Centrum, The Rose District and The Sprawl.

• The Darklands are a desolate wasteland outside of Dusk. Going out there without a permit from the state is illegal, and they say there isn't anything out there, but... well, what if there is something? Some people might be willing to pay you good money to retrieve artifacts from ancient, pre-war civilizations.

• The Delve is a massive mine where humanity gets its Flagesium from. It can be accessed by airship or by the railway which runs out of the Steamworks to the north east.

• Elesium is supposedly a utopia where clean food, water, and wealth are abundant. Barely anyone who lives down below has ever actually seen Elesium, let alone explored it at all, so its hard to say what exactly is up there. But the good food, water, and medicine does come from there, so it has got to be great, right?

• The Nexus is the only known hole in the Maelstrom that people and machines can safely travel through in order to get to and from Elesium and the earth below.

WARNING : This game does contain mature scenes and though not a central part of the plot you will encounter strong language and scenes of a violent or sexual nature.