CHAPTER ONE Welcome
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CHAPTER ONE Welcome Welcome to CthulhuTech. Ahead of you waits a universe of giant mecha, arcanotechnology, eldritch magic, and unspeakable J;HCI horrors from beyond time and space. It is our world many Storytelling games have a language all their own. Both the years from now. It is the Strange Aeon – the time when the stars rules and the setting use new terms with which you may not be have come right to once again release the Old Ones from their familiar. Just to help make things a little clearer as you move on, prisons outside of our universe. It is the Aeon War, where what we’ll detail a few of those here. Each of these terms, and others, remains of Humanity fights a desperate battle against their are fully explained in the text. own extinction. =Wc[J[hci CthulhuTech is a hybrid genre, fusing together two separate Dramatic Character: The fictitious characters portrayed by the paradigms. On one hand, it is an anime world of mechaSample – giant participants file of a Storytelling Game. They are the main characters piloted robot war-machines. It’s a world of high adventure, of the story and the focus of the plot. plucky resourcefulness, and the hope that a brighter day is on Storyguide: The person who chooses to create the plot, portray the horizon. On the other, it’s a world of eldritch horrors, where the Supporting Cast, adjudicate rules, and generally steer the unknowable things dwell outside the world interactiveof man. storytelling A place experience. where the gods are horrible creatures with malevolentStorytelling Game: agendas, An interactive storytelling experience, which unsympathetic to lesser beings such as man –takes a placedark solely world in the ofimaginations of those participating. One shattering revelations and insanity. person takes on the role of Storyguide to manage and direct the experience, while the others take on roles as Dramatic Characters This chapter will give you a road map to thisof coretheir own book, design. teach you terms, detail the physical structure of theSupporting text, and Cast: reveal Ancillary to characters that appear in the story you a few of our inspirations. Good luck, andwho enjoy. are portrayed by the Storyguide. I[jj_d]J[hci Aeon War, the: The greatest of all wars; the war of the Strange ?\Oek:emdbeWZ[ZJ^_i8eea Aeon. Humans and Nazzadi fight for survival against the invading So if you’re one of the people who has downloaded this book alien Migou and the threat of the returning Old Ones and illegally off the internet, let’s talk. We want to stay in business. their Cults. We don’t get to stay in business if you don’t buy our products but you use them anyway. In more personal terms, if you like Arcanotech: A fusion of scientific and mystical principles. CthulhuTech, please go out and buy the books, because if you Currently, arcanotechnology is based around certain non- don’t we go out of business or we kill the line because sales suck Euclidean concepts that result in the application of an and boom – no moreCthulhuTech . You lose, we lose, everybody inexhaustible power source. Certain arcanotech side effects have loses. Everybody loves something for nothing, but this sort ofled to the creation of mecha as the main-line war-machine of the thing comes with a price whether it’s money or not. Aeon War. However, secretly theyare controlled bythe However, the to havesurvived the Chrysalis Corporation, the: be responsible for the will andagendaofthemysterious Nyarlathotep andare saidto of creating the Thetwoare nowoneandarecontrol capable ofthecompany. the of Transfiguration, Endless One Children ofChaos,the: government inothermatters aswell. Earth Government is thekeyresearch anddevelopmentorganization for the organization responsible for thecreation of to havesurvived the Ashcroft Foundation,the: within the Death Shadows,the: and the Government to anyoneofthethree majorcultsthreatening the Cults, the: the to return, scholars generally agree thatitwouldspelltheendof inthesunkencityofR’lyeh.Ifheweresleep ofthedeadtrapped Cthulhu: work tounderminethe body. it. Itmaynotbepoliticallycorrect, butyoucan’tpleaseevery- pronoun isthestandard andrightorwrongwe’reusedtoseeing the bookiswrittenfor twodifferent audiences.Themasculine pronoun genders withinthesamebook–itmakesfeel like about peopleplayingthegame. Itjustseemsweirdtoalternate hereitis – weusehe,him,andhiswhenwe’retalking Okay, Aeon War New Earth Government Esoteric Order ofDagon Order Esoteric When spelled with a capital letter, the term refersCult capitala spelled with When letter, Themostfeared ofthe –the andthedestructionofall Disciples oftheUnnamable , andoften serves asanadvisory bodyfor the Children ofChaos . Uponthe Aeon War TheDisciplesofDeath’sShadow; thesect New Earth Government ChildrenofChaos . Dhohanoids anditssocietyinavarietyofways. Thesecret cultof One ofthefew large corporations . TheAshcroft Foundationisthe , the Old Ones Aeon War. Chrysalis Corporation’s thatbelievesmortals Aeon War DisciplesoftheUnnamable mortal –theirelite soldiers. Theyfollow the . Cthulhusleepsthe Children ofChaos from within. Oneofthefew large corporations life onEarth. arcanotechnology. arcanotechnology. New Earth Nyarlathotep J^[Fhedekd=Wc[ The . Sample infiltrated andtook file , Chrysalis Corporation and New It , the the Dhohanoids: suitable servants uponthereturn ofthe must bethoroughly degraded andcorrupted sotheycanbe the originalGerman. Earth Government’s of thesegiantcyborgs. Theyare themostfearsome ofthe a livingmecha.Pilotsjackinthrough thecentral nervous systems Engel: they havehadlittledealing with primal energies oftheuniverse. Withtheexception of secret gods. TheEndlessOnesare seeminglymadeofthemost Endless Ones,the: of creating Children ofChaos the the: Society, Eldritch neither sectovertheotherbutbothoperate underhisaegis. the Death Shadows Unnamed One)whichissplitintotwosects.Thefirst are the Disciples oftheUnnamable,(DOU): horrible monsters –orperhaps viceversa. areDhohanoids Transfiguration, plots ofthefirst yearofthestory. • andmagic. on mecha,Tagers, chics, expands ontheagenciesofNewEarth Government, • society rightoutsideyourdoor. • the universe of This corebookisonlythefirst ofmanybookstocomethatdetail The DamnationView Dark Passions Vade Mecum: the CthulhuTech Companion Mecum:theCthulhuTech Vade discovery oftheRite Rapine Storm New Earth Government Chrysalis Corporation Acybernetic Tagers introducesthecultsthathideinsidefabric of and their and CthulhuTech , whobelieveindestruction.Hasturhaschosen Theelite agentsofthe –theirsymbioticholywarriors. arsenal. Plural isEngels–abastardization of , whobelieveindegradation, andthesecondis mech Asecret organization dedicated tohelping is aresourcedetailing themajorevents and Thegreatest and oldest ofallthetrueand thatispart-machine andpart-creature – serves . Theywageashadowwaragainstthe Dhohanoids . Hereisalookatfew ofthem. Created bythewarping Rite of J^[9j^kb^kJ[Y^FheZkYjB_d[ and alone hold the secrets andaloneholdthe mortals Children ofChaos introducespara-psy- The cultof mortals . that can shapeshiftcan that into Nyarlathotep Hastur Old One and (the New s. , 9>7FJ;HED;$$$M[bYec[9>7FJ;HED;$$$M Engel Project, the: A special cooperative project between the reader) and once again visit their predations upon the Earth New Earth Government and the Ashcroft Foundation to create a mech – the time of CthulhuTech. that is part-machine and part-creature known as an Engel. Tager: A warrior of the Eldritch Society. A Human or Nazzadi who Esoteric Order of Dagon, the (EOD): The cult of Cthulhu and has undergone the Rite of Sacred Bonding and fused with an his minions. They exist in coastal regions and on islands and are extra-dimensional symbiont to become something more than mainly populated by the batrachian fish-men known as Deep Ones mortal. Monsters with the hearts of men. or those tainted with their blood. The EOD hopes to find the lost island city of R’lyeh to once again awaken their god Cthulhu. Forgotten Ones, the: The least known and least understood of J>;8EEA the secret occult deities. Some stories say that they are thought This book is divided into a series of chapters, each addressing an to be responsible for the exile of the Old Ones long ago. important part of the setting or the game rules. Here’s a breakdown Hastur: Also known as the Unnamable and He-Who-Shall-Not- of those chapters, both to give you an idea of what’s ahead and to Be-Named. The Dead God Hastur is perhaps the most enigmatic help you find something specific if you’re interested. Interspersed of the Old Ones. Through his tattered regal avatar in Leng, Hastur between these chapters are short pieces of fiction that help you is the figurehead of his cult: the Disciples of the Unnamable. get a better feeling for what the CthulhuTech setting is like. Magic: The studied ability to manipulate the energies of the universe in defined ways, known as rituals or spells. Magic is Chapter One: Welcome is what you are reading right now. It’s dangerous but very powerful. Its practitioners are known as meant to help ease you into the vision for the setting and give sorcerers or magicians. you a reference for what this book contains. Magician: Any creature who has learned to harness the power Chapter Two: That Was Then, This is Now introduces you of magic through complex ritual. It is mainly used as a title for to the setting. It gives you an historical timeline, explains how dabblers. See also Sorcerer. things came to be, and gives you details on each of the major Mecha: Arcanotech-powered, piloted giant robots used as war- players