Wiki Page for The Felled Realm.
The Realm
The realm itself is dying. Think perpetual twilight under bruised, storm-choked skies.
Landscapes are dominated by ash plains, skeletal forests of petrified wood, crumbling necropolises, and rivers running thick with sludge or blood.
The air reeks of decay, disease, and burnt offerings. Natural life is extinct. Resources are scarce:
tainted water, blighted fungus, scavenged scraps from ruins. Everything feels heavy, oppressive, and slowly rotting.
There's no true day or night cycle, just varying degrees of gloom.
Oterum's Followers
The vast majority of remaining humans (and some other humanoids) are utterly broken.
Oterum's presence warps minds. They exist in a state of zealous madness, driven by visions and whispers.
Their "worship" involves grotesque self-mutilation rituals,
tending to zombies, chanting endlessly, and building horrific monuments from bone and rubble.
They see undeath as a blessing. Dissent or failure means becoming a zombie.
Zombies. They're everywhere;
wandering ruins, packed into decaying temples, used as labor or cannon fodder.
Created from the dead of the realm and failed worshippers. Slow but relentless and numerous.
Lesser fiends are drawn by the decay and Oterum's power.
They act as enforcers, tormentors, and elite troops for the cult.
Varied forms (imps, horrors, bruisers), all cruel and destructive. They relish the suffering.
Most liches in the realm have either succumbed to Oterum's influence or pragmatically serve him for survival/power.
They act as high priests,
necromantic engineers, and regional governors, commanding legions of undead and directing the insane cultists.
Their phylacteries are hidden deep within Oterum's strongholds.
Octo's Rebellion
Octo is an ancient,
powerful lich who retained his sanity (or developed a different kind of madness).
He views Oterum as an interloper and usurper.
Believes his age and power grant him the rightful rule over the Felled Realm and its undead legions.
He avoids direct confrontation with Oterum or his major demonic lieutenants.
Focuses on guerrilla warfare: sabotaging Oterum's rituals,
ambushing supply lines (usually soul shipments or captured resources), assassinating key lich-priests,
and trying to subvert or steal control of undead legions.
His rebellion is a persistent, gnawing threat to Oterum's absolute control, operating from hidden strongholds within the ruins.
The Doomed
A tiny fraction of the population somehow resisted Oterum's madness or escaped initial corruption.
Maybe divine protection, innate resistance, or sheer dumb luck.
Their existence is constant struggle and survival horror.
They hide in the deepest, most forgotten ruins, sewers, or caves.
Constantly moving, scavenging for uncontaminated food/water (almost impossible),
and avoiding everything: zombies, demons, cultist patrols, Octo's agents,
and even other survivors who might betray them for favor or resources.
Trust is non-existent. Alliances are fleeting and dangerous. Hope is a liability.
Their main goals are simply: don't get caught, don't go insane, don't starve.
Seeing others succumb to the whispers or get dragged off is constant trauma.
Many eventually break, join the cult, or simply give up. They are prey for every faction.
Their survival is a miracle measured in days. They know the realm is truly felled.
There's no winning, only delaying the inevitable, and hoping to escape.