Re: [DL] Re: (DL) Weird Concept

[Munch Wolf <munchwolf@yahoo.com>]

--- Max Trebilcock <max.trebilcock@virgin.net> wrote:
> Hi List,
> Firstly what are Demorians, secondly 
> 

Sorry it took so long to respond, I've been focusing
most of my attention on another project which should
be appearing at Max Trebilcock's site soon (let's just
say it has to do with the Fear Effects question I
asked a while back).  

Time Master is a RPG in which people from the future
(around 7128 AD) use ships similar to H.G. Wells' time
machine to travel back in history to stop evil forces
from changing events (Rogue Time Travellers and
Demoreans).  Part of the concept of the game is there
are an infinite number of universes.  The Time Corps
is located at universe T-0, and the Demoreans come
from a realm calls A-217.  T universes are places
extremely similar in time line to T-0, while A
universes are drastically Alien in nature, having
changed a long time ago.  The goal of the Demoreans is
to slowly influence T-0 until the Time Corps is
destroyed and they can take over.  

Demoreans are humanoid in appearance.  The differance
is they have four arms and slightly buggish eyes.  A
good picture can be seen here:
http://www.orphyte.com/catalog/images/partisanssmall.jpg

Their society is based off of the concept of
perfection.  Everything must be perfect, failure is
unacceptable.  The worst Demorean to encounter is a
wounded Demorean, because now he is no longer perfect
(scarred).  All failures and imperfect Demoreans still
have a function in society, they get put into the food
vats to feed the younger Demorean.

Now it may seem odd that 4 armed vaguely humanoid
creatures are able to secretly influence the time
stream since they would stick out ... well, Demoreans
have a few advantages to help them along.  For one
they don't need any form of time machine to travel
between dimensions, they are allowed one free hop out
of their original universe to any point in time in
another universe, and one free hop back.  Most don't
opt for the return trip because it means they failed,
and therefor they become chow (not unlike Manitous who
fail Reckoners).  Good news is part of their weird
beliefs is that any attempt that failed will NEVER be
repeated.  Another advantage is they can change their
appearance to look like any one person they have
captured.  I forget why, but the victim must be kept
alive, and is normally held in stasis.  Some Demoreans
have master the ability to change multiple times on
one trip (but they are extremely rare).

The easiest way to spot a Demorean is their obsession
with perfection.  Any person they become changes to a
perfect version of that person, so if a Demorean
wanted to imitate Santa Anna, he would appear to still
have both his legs.

> Spoilers
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How this all works with Deadlands.  Well Demoreans are
attempting to master the continuum.  Their biggest
treat is time travellers.  Anytime a universe's time
line changes, it sends ripples out to all the nearby
universes.  Because of Stone's actions the Demoreans
might decide that this is a universe to investigate
for potential threats to their domination.  This could
lead to some small skirmishes between the two forces,
with the posse caught in the middle.

Advantages of the Demoreans:  They can enter the
universe at any point in time and make observations
about what has happened to decide the best method for
assault.

Disadvantages of Demoreans:  Deadlands is a dual
universe.  Although the earth and Hunting Ground are
two different universes, they are so closely
intertwined that the Demoreans (and any outsides) will
reckonise it as one universe (completely ignoring the
Hunting Grounds exist).  Because of this, they won't
even acknowledge that the Reckoners or Manitou exist. 
They will think the dead rising, and all the weird
monsters are just another aspect of the universe, and
not understand the master plan behind why the timeline
was changed.  They are also limited to information
gathered from reported events, and most weird
happening are not recorded.

Advantages of the Reckoners:  Completely disregarded
and underestimated by the Demoreans.  Manitous can
keep tabs on known Demoreans without fear of being
observed.

Disadvantages of the Reckoners:  Finding Demoreans. 
Unless a servant of theirs spots a Demorean shortly
within entering this realm, they will be difficult to
locate (as they appear like normal people to the
Manitous).  They are also unable to control or
influence Demoreans (but maybe they could make a
Harrowed version?).  If a Demorean successfully
changes a temporal event, the Reckoners can not undo
it (it took a lot of effort to send Stone back in
time, trying to undo each minor event would be a major
pain and waste of resources).

> Could they be linked in with the Heart O' Darkness
> Master Aliens,
> without cutting across anything revealed in Lost
> Colony.

Confession, have not read Heart O' Darkness.  Can not
answer that question.


Ideas for adding Demoreans:  At present, Demoreans
would only be interested in gathering information and
'testing the waters' by trying out some minor changes.
 The Reckoners are slightly afraid (if that's
possible).  They were looking at complete victory, and
now a new force has entered the game.  They know
nothing about these intruders and have as difficult a
time finding them as the posse will.  Their goal will
be to destroy all Demoreans (since they can't be
turned).

Not sure how to use this as an adventure.  The only
one I really thought up was having a Monster Hunter
hire the posse to help him kill a few 4-armed
monsters.  The truth is that the Hunter is an advanced
Demorean sent on a mission to clean up a failed
expedition in which all the Demoreans went Harrowed.

Just for snicks and giggles you could also play a
premade adventure and have one of the people who dies
(major villian or random extra) change into the
Demorean form.  This only really works if some of the
posse have played TimeMaster before.

-Munch Wolf

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