Razorwing wrote:Premier wrote:Ya just had to go and find a way to inspire me from something I would have easily waved off.
Now I am envisioning some Retro village in the Northern Islands along the Victorian coastline, near the Barren Sea, that has been abandoned by NEXUS support and discover by the Tundra Dwellers. Years later the first hard core cadre surfaces (thinking Pathfinder & Spartans meets Splicers.) Massive War mounts that are a mixture of moose, elk, and polar bears for the Beast Guard, Grizzly brownies, Shark and river otter fused with alien for the amphibious Warmounts, Seige Boar tanks, Ivory Draconian Wolves for aerial mounts......
Sheeeshhhhh Kaid, Thanks a lot.
It's funny that this has come up... let me introduce you to a little project I've been working on for a while now... House Ragnarok.
House Ragnarok is more of a collection of Splicer Clans based in the Northern Mountains, far from the main Houses of the Resistance. Within the Mountains are a series of valleys and highlands where the main Clans are based.
At the center of the valleys is the Yggdrasil Nature Preserve, one of the largest in the world... and virtually unknown to the outside world due to the fact that it is so isolated. It is an oasis of perpetual spring in an environment where winter lasts almost half the year.
To the south of the Preserve is the vast boneyard known as Helheim which marks the border with the Machine Complex known as Musphelheim. Musphelheim is built to fill the main pass into the valleys and was situated there to take advantage of the raw mineral wealth of the Northern Mountains... allowing the Machine access to the raw materials it needs to build machines to send to other complexes around the world.
The various Retro-Villages set up within the valleys are collectively known as Midgard to both the Machine and the Resistance in the area. Most inhabitants appear to be of Northern European stock, though there are a few examples of other ethnic groupings (most likely from travelers who have stumbled upon lesser known passes and found their way into the villages but were unable to leave).
The two main Clans the area are the Aesir and the Vanir... each based in their own hidden Seedling fortresses (Asguard and Vanaheim). These two clans formed an alliance a generation ago to fight a third clan, Clan Jotun that had been forcibly converting people from the Midgard retro villages into biotics and other monstrous warriors with their splicer-tech. It is believed that Clan Jotun was completely destroyed, though at least one Librarian was captured by House Aesir. The alliance between the Aesir and the Vanir has remained strong and the two Houses are beginning to merge into one unified resistance movement.
Another smaller clan has recently begun to take a more active hand in fighting the Machine. Clan Alfar has created a encampment high in the canopy of the Yggdrasil Preserve (which they have named Alfheim) and have some of the most advanced Biotech in the area... which they have been slowly trading to House Aesir and Vanir for some time. The fact that they operate within the Preserve gives them access to genetic samples the other Houses find difficult to acquire, which give them a valuable commodity to trade with the other Houses for more refined biotech that is difficult for them to develop. However, a splinter group of the Alfar has broken away and made an alliance with the Gaia personality to keep the Resistance out of the Preserve in exchange for exclusive access to its wealth of genetic samples. This splinter group calls itself the Svartalfar and have create their own realm (Svartalfheim) in the volcanic caverns that run under the preserve (and most of the mountain valleys).
The last portion of the resistance is the Technojacker clan known as the Dergar, based in their mountain fortress (old military bunker) of Nidavellir. While they tend to be isolationists, they are firmly against the Machine and will side with the Resistance if asked or needed. Most often though they are only seen when they come to the various villages to test new born and young children for the potential to become Technojackers. The tests are done under very controlled conditions to minimize the risk to those who would trigger a Plague reaction. Even the various Houses have begun to screen new children for the potential and any that are found are given to the Dergar (and the Dergar turn over any children born to them that aren't technojackers to the Resistance or a Retro Village to be raised). While the Rergar and the Resistance rarely work together (for obvious reasons), they do tend to respect each others abilities... but there is an underlying air of pity for the Dergar that makes some Resistance members seem a little arrogant to these technojackers.
Unknown to all, a portion of Clan Jotun survived the blood feud and have hidden themselves in the old service tunnels running under the Helheim Boneyard (they have begun to call these tunnels Jotunheim). Reduced to a single young Genepool (it grew from the only Saint to survive the blood feud) and a handful of other members, they are fed information on both the Aesir and the Vanir from the captured Librarian that now works with the Aesir. Slowly they are rebuilding their forces using the same techniques that lead to the blood feud... abducting people from the retro villages and turning the majority into Biotics and other modified human creations. This time however, they are being more careful and keeping the number of abductions low and spread out so as not to draw attention to themselves just yet. They are also perfecting new warmounts unlike anything the Resistance has yet seen.
I will go into greater detail as I finish ideas I am working on, but I'd still like to hear feedback on just this little introduction to this small corner of the Splicer World. Oh... and feel free to as questions or offer suggestions... they may be better than what I had in mind.
