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Aberrant: Nova World - [Nova World] Zones


Justin OOC

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This thread is a fun special project (free xp situation) for you all the players. What I propose is to let each of you create a single zone for the game. A submission is worth 3xp. A submission that I actually use in game, and officially declare Canon, is worth another 3xp. Los Angeles, and New York City are already done, but the rest are open to do. So far Miami, London, and DC are not zone areas. Have fun with this.

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Paris Below

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The labrythine catacomb system beneath Paris has always been a subject of fascination for the city and the world. Constructed over centuries, dug and redug and repurposed over time, it hosts millions of interred bodies and water flow systems alongside more modern additions of pipes and mass transit systems. Until the Surge, the favorite activity of hip Parisian teens and twentysomethings was to host or attend literal underground clubs in the tunnels. After the Surge, all the ghost and monster stories became far too real even for the most foolhardy of adolescents.

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Paris Above is mostly left untouched by the presence of a Zone beneath the ground. The city thrives and continues to be an international gathering point of culture and cuisine. But the Subway system is now only used by the most desparate or criminal of elements and has all but been abandoned by the government. The layers closest to the surface, sometimes dubbed Paris Between, is host to mostly human things - the homeless, the criminal, and those unlucky novas for whom eruption in the City of Lights was the worst day of their life. Adventurous (or stupid) tourists sometimes venture into Paris Between, but most come to their senses within minutes, either from the oppressive feel of the stone walls around them or their first encounter with a Paris Between denizen. Venturing below the subway level is considered a special form of suicide by most, and indeed many that do go that deep never return.

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Paris Below is everywhere below Paris Between and the boundaries are not clearly marked. Few baselines that venture into Paris Below emerge again, and many of those that do are immediately committed to the nearest sanatorium. Paris Below is a Zone, infested with creatures of nightmares and feeding on the fears and imaginations of those above. Even the novas that inhabit Paris Between do not delve lightly into the true Zone beneath them. No one knows for sure how deep Paris Below actually goes, nor how far out it extends. No maps exist of the area and most are just happy that whatever exists down there seems content with their underground kingdom.

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Incursions into Paris Above usually come from those in Paris Between, though there have been two "incidents" where creatures have surged upward from Paris Below, killing indiscriminately as they made their way through Paris Between and up into Paris Above proper. These events were called the Night of Terror and the Torment of Paris. Because of this, entrances into Paris Between are often well-patrolled and Qunatum Detection machines are set up throughout the interior of the city, instead of along the boundaries like in most other cities. Novas in Paris are also required to check in with the Parisian HomeGuard, so that their movements can be discounted while monitoring the city for Zone activity.

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Sleepy Hollow, NY

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The quite little Village of Sleepy Hollow is located on the eastern shore of the Hudson River, 25 miles north of Manhattan. its home to a diverse & vibrant community housing about 10,000 people who commute about 45 minutes by train to Manhattan.

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While in its beginning it was an agricultural district, it later became a manufacturing center for items such as steam-powered automobiles, shoes, and batteries. Around the turn-of-the-century its rural setting and proximity to Manhattan attracted millionaires like Anson Phelps, Ambrose Kingsland and John D. Rockefeller, who built beautiful mansions in the area, some of which are open to the public.

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In its current state where Sleepy Hollow once thrived upon tourism using the fable and myths of the headless horseman for profiteering it is now being held under siege and constant fear from the very myth that made it famous for the Horseman rides again.

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I haven't seen where it says that Miami was a Zone. In my character's background I'm saying that Miami was hit by a Q-Storm on S-Day, but it was not made into a Zone, the storm settled in the Everglades and made a large portion of that is now a Zone, chock full of aberrated gators and mean ol' fauna.

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Klondike, YT, Canada

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Centered around the small, seasonal community of Dawson, this Zone extends many miles in every direction, encompassing many of the largest gold producing mines in the Klondike. This is a Zone unlike any other, where the laws of physics have been rewritten and broken like nowhere else on the planet. When the waves of quantum appeared, the air in this zone turned to sparkling water, the water turned to flowing topsoil and gravel, and the soil and rock turned to crystal clear mountain air.

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The water that was once air covers everything that the air used to cover, and makes the upper extent of this Zone very easy to distinguish. The people who were unfortunate enough to be caught in the creation of the zone and not completely changed by the Zone all drowned. One of the most unique properties of this water that was once air is that it's surface is semi-solid. Sentient-solid would probably be a better term, because it allows what wants to pass through to pass through with no more hindrance than normal water, but to those beings, whatever their mental capacity, that want to 'walk' across the surface, they may do so as though it were solid earth. This is enhanced by the peculiar fact that gravity is always pointing toward the surface of the water. Meaning that someone can walk across the bottom or side of the surface of the water just as easily as they could walk across the top. Other than that, it seems to be fairly normal water.

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The air that was once earth goes down further than anyone has been able to accurately determine. There are several interesting properties about this air, just as there are about the water that is now above it. First off, the air is viscous enough to 'swim' through, which is good news for anybody brave and stupid enough to try to explore this area. Secondly, everything that wasn't turned to air, such as the precious metals, gems, trash and man made objects (foundations and the like) are perpetually suspended exactly where they were when the wave first hit. That means that the foundations of the buildings that are now filled with water extend down into the air like sharp spikes and columns, and the veins of gold and other metals are now exposed and 'floating' freely in the air.

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The soil that was once water flows through the boundary between the water and air just like the water it used to be did. It is rich topsoil of the kind that flew away during the dustbowl era of the central plains of the United States down south. The interesting part is that as soon as water enters into the Zone, it turns into soil. The bad news is that once the soil leaves the Zone it doesn't turn back. That has caused some issues for those downstream, but it has also presented an opportunity for those brave enough to collect it and sell it (far, far away from where they got it).

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The plants, animals and people (who didn't immediately die) have all been transformed and otherwise adapted to the new environment. The grass has withered and died, but the trees now grow up though the water with their tentacle like roots stretching out into the air. The branches of the trees actively attack anything that comes near, including other trees (the first few hours after the wave hit was complete carnage as every tree attacked every other tree). Their roots hang down into the air like the tentacles of a jellyfish. All of the animals and 'people' have turned into feverishly gold crazed, deformed monstrosities (claws, spines, armor plates, oddly bent joints, long needle like teeth, and other variations on the theme). They actually need to eat gold to live, but they don't actually absorb it, it just collects in their bodies. They have also developed a 6th sense that can sense the presence of gold (some out to several hundred yards). When they need to feed, they use this new sense to track down the largest source of gold in the area and then go and try to kill it (most actually prefer to kill another animal for its' gold rather than just eat raw gold. Some prefer raw gold, but those are generally the smaller animals on the bottom of the new food chain).

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The new diet and feeding habits of the creatures within the Zone has created yet another business opportunity for those desperate, stupid, brave and/or foolhardy enough to try. All they need to do is take a small jar of gold (most can sense gold even down to the small amounts used in electronics) that has been processed and refined, and just wait for a creature to emerge and try to kill it. This can be very lucrative, as only the strongest (and thus most gold laden) animals venture out of the Zone, but only about 10% of the people who try it actually make it out alive, and only half of them actually manage to kill the creature(s) and thus turn a profit.

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Okay I have two ideas for Zones one is based off of two geographical areas and the other is more of something that is more generic and could be place in a variety of areas, but I will give an example area.

,, 1.Bermuda Triangle and Dragon's Triangle, basically Vorticles:

This maybe something that is cliche, but there are various natural causes for some of the stuff that goes on in those areas. What if the surge cause some of the more bizzare if not odd theories of such places to occur. I know Long mention that the seas were mess up, but what if certain areas were more mess up. Like objects and people dissapearing and then reappearing where they shouldn't and if allow when. Also strange weather patterns and occurances happening.

2.Ghost Towns:

In certain areas where a large amount of resisdual energery of the past are stored and was changed in the surge to be more more prevailant in the world. Certain areas of the world have become living video and audio tapes where the past comes alive and often dangeriously. Many such events often occur in areas where large amount of life was lost, often in large battles or certain geomagnetic areas. Often with this effect the area becomes more like the area it was at the time of the event occurance.

People whom were there or go to these areas suffer differently. Mostly people suffer headaches and other mild mental occurances while in the area. More prolong exposer to the area leads a person to slowly believe they are from or living in that time or worse case senario believe they are a particular person from that time period. Even worse some people do the same thing everyday like a broken record. That eventually leads to a person's death and become a “ghost” thesevles.

Rarely does something from these areas become actually intelligent enough to be more independt and go out of the area of it's haunt. Often these intelligent ghost can explore past the area of their creation and like all people either gentle or dangerious in their nature. As said before often due to the more violent nature of these areas they are often very dangerious and vendictive. Even worse these ghost can create more of their kind.

Example area:

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

The site where one of the largest battles occured in the civil war, a large amount of death had occured over three days. Also several of the old houses still stand in the town. When the surge hit the area was devistated and slowly transformed into the area it was during the civil war. As such the battle has become a continual loop in the area. Several other areas around that state have become such or experience other similar occurances.

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The Underhive

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After the Surge the sprawling mess that was once Gary Indiana was wiped clean from the earth, leaving only a rocky field where there was once a decaying blight of a city. As the event was sudden, very few of the indigenous residents were left after the disappearance. When those few returned to what should have been their homes they found nothing but open fields and grass with scattered rocks here and there. It was during an initial exploratory effort that the zone was discovered. Groundwork was being laid for purposes of rebuilding the highways that led through the area (now erased by the event) and this work uncovered a subterranean tunnel system running beneath the area where the city and its surrounding suburbs once stood. Stretching out for miles these Stygian tunnels crisscross in nonsensical patterns, eerily quiet as though the air itself stands still. A person moving through these tunnels can hear the sound of their own footsteps echo though the darkness, creating the unsettling feeling of trespass.

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Within the tunnels, the walls are composed of shredded bits from former buildings, demolished vehicles, and utility lines. All forms of electronic communication within the tunnels are scrambled by a fluctuating magnetic field, and certain sensitive electronic devices (computers, smartphones, etc) may be permanently damaged from prolonged exposure unless properly shielded. In some places the streetlights or neon signs may spontaneously come alight as if receiving electric current from the walls in which they are grafted, but this phenomena is neither reliable nor lasting. Furthermore, the sudden illumination attracts further dangers to those in the immediate area.

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The first survey team was destroyed while setting up base camp near a lit up streetlight cluster. As if summoned by the lights themselves, swarms of quasi-humanoid creatures descended upon them, tearing them and their equipment to shreds. To this day no useful footage of the creatures has been taken, but of three survivors from the third survey team one is lucid enough to have left the description below:

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"All of them...stuck together with scabs like glue. Arms, legs, heads...God! Too many eyes, all dark...they can see, they can see us, they KNOW US! And their voices, all scratch, and click, and buzz...they're bugs, but they're people too! And they HATE! THEY HATE!!!"

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The Tunguska Zone (Home of the Siberian Yeti)

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Running along the Tunguska river for almost a thousand miles and reaching out about 50 miles on either side, this zone has majorly altered the many living beings found within, and while no one knows were many of them came from, thousands of mammoths once again walk the earth, though these are about 200% bigger then any such creature in the fossil record. However, they are but one of the many beings that came out of this area, or were changed by it, for example, the trees in the area have grown to sizes that have put even the redwood forests to shame, and their bark has hardened to be almost as strong as iron, collecting the wood from these trees has become a useful export, if you can deal with the less savory beasts, which often have much nastier abilities then their more normal cousins. The Siberian tigers in this region now possess a camouflage effect on their fur that makes them nearly undetectable, as it shifts and alters to make them almost invisible, the flying squirrels from this region can now fly for miles, their wing flaps have somehow evolved into a extra set of limbs more akin to bat-wings, but without losing either front or rear paws, making them a mammal with six limbs..

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The real problem is not the many beasts however, it's what happened to the humans in the region, they have somehow changes into feral Yeti like creatures, nine feet tall with a serious temper, thick skin, tough bones, a stronger muscular system, and natural claws. Furthermore, they are also cunning, quick witted and possess considerable intelligence, enough to deal quite well with intruders into their domain, and they seem to be exceptionally territorial. No one is quite sure how much of their former intelligence and memories that they possess, but without a doubt they do remember how to make tools and weapons, if crude ones, though their hands are too large for human guns, their fingers will not fit into the trigger guards, they clearly know what they are, and their thick skin, tough bones and fur means that one needs a powerful caliber weapon to bring them down with guns. However, they have been found using spears and can throw them with more strength and power then a human possibly could, and they have occasionally be found riding one of the great mammoths. The incredible territoriality of these creatures has made any sort of work in this area very problematic, whatever resources can be harvested, and folks have taken to calling these beings the Siberian Yeti. Some discussion has been made about trying to make some sort of diplomatic contact, but they don't seem to be willing to do anything but attack humans in their area of the world.

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The Ring of Fire
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When the Surge came, it changed the world. No less changed was the infamous Ring of Fire in the Pacific Ocean. However, the Surge here was particularly insidious. It took longer for it to surface as well but when it did, it was catastrophic.
Deep in the crust of the Earth, the quantum forces of the Surge found and infected the bacteria that had flourished since the formation of the earth. These strange microbial creatures, largely unknown to science and unlike any other form of life on earth, began to mutate. The asymmetrical creatures that grew had three legs and soon were expanding beyond their caverns and caves. The first of them to come in contact with lava changed them by bonding with the molten liquid.
The first of them taught the others to use quantum to survive and tame the lava. They began the swim in the burning seas of the mantle, mostly in the Asthenosphere. It was six months after S-Day that the first of the Lava monsters found an opening to the crust: the Tungurahua volcano.
There was little to no warning. The first to see the monsters thought they were made of fire, as they ignited the very air around them. As such, the horrors were called Phoenixes, as they ravaged village of Banos and burned the outskirts of the Ecuadorian capital Quito before being stopped by South American novas.
After that, the Phoenixes have crawled out of volcanoes on occasion. They set fires indiscriminately, burning anything they touch. They stop only when they are killed, usually by being utterly destroyed. They remain a constant threat on the Pacific Ocean, and last year, a nova claimed he saw one in the cone of Mt. Nyiragongo in the Congo. The fear now is that they are moving through the Earth’s crust and will become a threat everywhere.
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The Giant's Causeway (Tír na nÓg), County Antrim, Ireland - Fingal's Cave, Staffa and Ulva, Inner Hebrides, Scotland

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When the Surge hit, some people were inundated with quantum forces, transforming into Novas with fantastic powers and often drastically altered appearances. In many cases, their transformations were influenced by unconscious or subliminal desires. Likewise, some of the Zones, areas where quantum energy from the Surge has lingered, twisting the landscape and its inhabitants, appear to have their effects influenced by legends and myths of the area or by the dreams and desires of the collective unconscious.

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Few places is it more evident than The Giant's Causeway. Once a World Heritage Site found three miles north of the town of Bushmills, consisting of tens of thousands interlocking basalt columns, it is now a true causeway, blocking the North Channel, linking Northern Ireland with Scotland. The basalt columns, now sharp, unweathered, and level, form a bridge 81 feet wide and rising 9 feet above the surface of the Northern Atlantic. From Ireland, the Giant's Causeway curves around the isle of Islay and links to Fingal's Cave on the Isle of Staffa and from there to the Southern coast of Ulva.

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Impeding Sea Trade, there have been attempts to destroy the Giant's Causeway, but the basalt columns - now all dark-grey to black - are abnormally resistant to damage, and even when one does give way, a new column sprouts from the sea floor to replace it. But this is far from the most unnerving thing about the Giant's Causeway.

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Seen only by those who traverse the Giant's Causeway itself, roughly due West of Loch Gorm on Islay lies an everlasting bank of thick fog, about five kilometers in diameter. Those who peer at the fog long enough begin to discern shapes, but not all agree as to what they see. Some claim to perceive the trees of a great forest, others spires of fantastical architecture, others the resolute shoulders of ancients barrows, and more. The very few people who have entered the fog and returned have all claimed to have seen various things as well.

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Regardless, the land within the fog, which extends much further than the 30 meter width of the Causeway, has acquired a name: Tír na nÓg, the Land of the Young.

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It is so named for two reasons. One, all that lies within the fog appears to exist in an temporal anomaly, with time flowing in mysterious and chaotic ways, so far with no known way to measure or predict its vagaries. The temporal effect also seems to affect those outside the fog on the Causeway to a limited degree - regardless of the means of travel, if you leave during the day, you reach Tír na nÓg at Dusk. If you leave during the night, you reach it at Dawn. The effect is likewise if you leave the proximity of Tír na nÓg for either end of the Giant's Causeway.

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The other is because of what happened to the first person who entered the fog and returned to tell about it. Deirdre Duffy was a hundred-and-nine year old great-great-grandmother who had lived in Bushmills all her life. On April 9th, during the full moon, she claimed she had heard the song of the Sidhe and felt compelled to follow it. Alone and using a cane, she traversed the Causeway. She wasn't seen again until the next full moon... now a vivacious red-head of no more than sixteen years of age.

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Deirdre was one of the fortunate ones. The vast majority of those who enter Tír na nÓg are never seen again. The few that are come out aged older - from a decade to a century - turn to dust as time catches up with them, or are driven mad. A tiny minority come out unchanged save telling unbelievable stories or changed in minor or less malign ways, such as growing younger, developing pointed ears, or hair or eyes changing colours, including unnatural hues.

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Despite the overwhelming risks, this didn't stop a flood of people from wanting to enter Tír na nÓg, hoping to be one of the fortunate few. Three months after the Surge, the British Government was forced to sent in the army to cordon off the Giant's Causeway, who have maintained their post ever since. Still, some still try to run gauntlet to see the Land of the Young for themselves.

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The army serves another purpose as well. Though most who enter Tír na nÓg never come out, that says nothing of the things that do. The most common at twisted and deformed giants, their very sight causing instinctual terror, tagged with the name Fomori. They assail the coastal garrisons at infrequent intervals, usually in bands of six to a dozen, but there have bigger assaults. They eat anything of meat they catch, dragging their victims, or the remains of their victims, back to Tír na nÓg. Sometimes, the Fomori are accompanied by great white hounds with red ears, the size of horses, who are called Cwn Annwn after the mythic hounds of the Wild Hunt.

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The most rare are the alien beings dubbed the Aos Sí. They are pale, androgynous beings with no mouths and eyes of solid, gem-like hues, hair to pale as to be colourless, and a haunting appeal, their voices sibilant, enticing whispers. They can spin illusions, can appear as a loved one, and those who fall into their embrace are taken back to Tír na nÓg or seem to have the life drained from them. The Aos Si hunt alone.

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Myth and Legend are alive in the British Isles... to the regret of most.

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Johannesburg, South Africa

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Joberg is now a ghost-city. This zone encompasses the entire city, and extends for roughly 300 miles in every direction. Within this region, all organic matter has crystalized. People, animals, vegetation, even bacteria, have all been transmuted into a previously unknown type of crystalline mineral with unique quantum properties. Any baseline human or animal that enters this zone begins to crystalize within a matter of minutes, becomes immobilized within hours and completely transformed in under a day.

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Given the immense value remaining, both in terms of man-made and monetary resources, as well as the regions incredible natural wealth (South Africa is one of the largest producers of platinum, and has a wealth of gold, palladium, diamonds, and other minerals vital for modern technology), several expeditionary teams of novas have been sent in to survey the area. Unfortunately, while novas seem to be immune to the crystalizing effects of the zone, they have their own complications. The quantum resonance of the crystalline fossils within the area seem to wreak havoc on other signatures, rendering quantum scanners useless. What's worse, novas find that their powers are affected in seemingly random, unpredictable, and potentially deadly ways.

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Passive abilities, such as increased strength, or armored skin seem to be unaffected. However, every time a nova attempts to use one of their active quantum abilities (including enhancements), there is a chance that it will manifest as a completely different power manifestation. Other times the power will simply not work, but the "juice" that was used to power it is still drained away into the saturation of the zone. Worst of all, the nova may find that their power works as intended, but that their innate immunity no longer applies, which has proven fatal for more than one would be explorer.

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Those novas who have avoided using their abilities have returned with samples of the crystal fossils. Once removed, the crystals seem to lose their quantum-effecting properties (so no "kryptonite" can be salvaged), but they retain their form, and so far no one has found any way of reversing the process. The crystals themselves are harder than diamond, but given the source, both governments and corporations have been hesitant to begin exploiting it as a resource.

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  • 9 months later...

New Orleans, Louisiana

 

 With the passing of the Surge the marsh and bayous rose up and claimed the city and much of southern Louisiana, drowning the inhabitants or transforming them into shambling swamp creatures. Those who died were soon risen from the swampy graves as zombies under the control of the Witchqueen. Making her home in the ruins of New Orleans this self proclaimed Withqueen commands her undead army in what seems to be a perpetual war against the hulking swamp monsters which seek to over run the city and dragging all back into the swamp.

 

It is presumed that this "Witchqueen" a woman of African descent, who claims to be Marie Laveau a famous voodoo practitioner of the 19th century, is in actuality a nova who is able to survive in the zone. She is not overtly hostile and has been cooperative in allowing some study of the phenomena occurring in the zone, however caution is advised as there has still been a high casualty rate among Novas who have entered the zone and she is suspect as complicit but nothing has been proven. The zombies she commands and which those unfortunate enough to enter the zone are transformed into are the more traditional voodoo zombies of pre Night of the Living Dead era.

 

The swamp monsters are large humanoids but appear to be made of plant material (much like marvel comics Man-thing). it is not verified if these creatures are indeed transformed humans or something else entirely.

 

The  flora and fauna (including marine life) in the zone have also been affected taking on a general size increase as well as becoming more aggressive in nature. These life forms are capable of leaving the zones and have wrecked havoc on wildlife in areas surrounding the zone. Gators larger than 20' are the norm with others growing much larger approaching prehistoric sizes.

 

The zone encompasses all of New Orleans and the area west of the Pearl River, south of Lake Pontchartrain, the Mississippi and Red Rivers and east of the rivers feeding into the Atchafalaya Bay.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Oahu - The Ford Island Zone

 

The area of Ford island and the surrounding Pearl Harbor has been conquered by quantum backed nature. Plants with beautiful flowers dangerous to be near as they can expel sharp poison tipped darts, creatures fast and deadly mutated from the animal life of the island, and the very atmosphere charged with quantum energy dangerous to humans. When the zone formed the initial rush of Q-mutated creatures wreaked havoc with the surrounding area, but many died out from the painful and non-beneficial mutations in a matter of a few months. Those that remain are uniquely adapted, and have started breeding...

 

The creatures of the zone are worth entering the zone for, as the plants produce many unexplored chemicals that could be useful for medicine, and animals that are worth studying for simply researching the effects of quantum energy on a life form, or potentially to find ways to adapt against quantum poisoning.

 

The ambient quantum while not dangerous to a Nova can kill a human or horribly mutate them unless they have some means of protection, and a Nova can suffer injury in the form of Aberrations if they run out of quantum energy. Luckily novas can draw from the ambient quantum here, reducing their time needed to recharge by half, although if they somehow ran out of energy before resting they will suffer temporary taint at the rate of 2 temporary per half-hour in the zone while out of juice. If something is developed to protect a human in the zone, a nova can exist there on empty without the taint injury.

 

The zone extends 25 miles from the center of Ford island, with quickly weakening quantum energy starting at 5 miles from Ground-Q. Humans can safely stay 10 miles out from it, and underwater the energy does not reach for some reason.

 

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