different worlds · same Chapter
Different peoples. Different worlds. Same problem: Anima found them. Now their Kingdoms meet inside a Chapter and compete.
The premise
Races do not need to come from the same world, history, religion, or economy. They only need to be Anima-touched and present in the same Chapter.
Race = the people your Kingdom represents.
Guild = the institution your Kingdom aligns with.
Patron = the divine or mythic relationship your Kingdom cultivates.
Chapter = one competition cycle.
The Game = the voice telling you all of this.
Who created the competition.
Why Anima causes civilizations to become involved.
Whether anyone volunteered.
What winning ultimately means.
Whether the Game itself knows the answers.
Contestants
Open a card.
Contestants, not neighbors.
The Forest Folk do not need to come from the same world as the Dewlers. They only need to be Anima-touched and present in the same Chapter.
Current design direction: mostly squirrels in the visual language, food-centric economy, no true gold economy, population growth, reduced food losses from theft and pillage, stronger spoilage pressure, and a coinless/barter-style system where military and building logic do not work like everybody else.
Contestants, not neighbors.
The Dewlers are an underground warrior society built around wealth, mines, and combat rather than agriculture.
Current design direction: blind or covered eyes with muted red/black glow motifs, stronger gold production, expensive slower troops, doubled specialist-credit value, battle-earned elites, no farming, no horses, and restricted thievery/anima access.
The Pantheon
Kingdoms choose patrons, build Favor over time, make sacrifices, invoke rites, and can abandon one patron for another. The abandoned patron may have opinions.
The Church teaches children that the Orphan’s Keeper comes for those who misbehave.
It is a useful story, as children disappearing are often difficult to explain.
Monsters are however…. considerably easier.
V either doesn’t know or doesn’t care about the stories. She steals from the Church, brings what she can home, and protects the children it has abandoned, exploited, or simply failed to notice were still alive.
She hates the name “Orphan’s Keeper.”
She died to keep it.
Heroes traditionally announce themselves, how else would you know they were a hero?
Killed a giant beast, why not drag its rotting head around to show off.
The Silent Stranger doesn’t see the point. He walks into places the Church has abandoned, does what needs doing, and continues on.
When asked why, his explanation remains: “it’s not that much work.”
People have begun calling him the man who says nothing, but always shows up.
He declined to comment on the name.
Most heresies begin with conviction.
His began with a thesis deadline.
The Scholar was supposed to explain how Anima changed the world. Instead, he kept noticing who controlled it, who was allowed to use it, and how remarkably often those two questions had the same answer.
So he wrote it down.
This is generally considered a poor career choice when the institution grading your work is also the institution your work is questioning.
He never intended to become a heretic.
He just couldn’t keep his mouth shut.
Ralgas prayed for peace every morning.
This did not help.
His parents loved him enough to hide what he was, scar what they could not hide, and they truly believed they did this all for him.
All Ralgas wanted was to go to a festival.
By the end of the night his mother was dead by his hand, father hung by his own,
Leaving Ralgas was walking into the storm carrying the hammer his father once threw away in search of peace.
History remembers what came afterward.
The Destroyer of Peace.
Ralgas remembers wanting to see the fireworks.
Gods have traditionally been very enthusiastic about sacrifice.
Gavin Hopps learned to ask what they intend to do with it.
He spent most of his life making things: toys for children, and eventually found love and the family he never expected to have.
Then Judy died.
When Gavin was told blood demanded blood, he offered the thing that had built everything worthwhile in his life.
His hands.
Judy remained dead and he wanted to join her.
He found his way cooking for those in harms way. Preparing every meal as if it were there last, and he hoped it was.
But then again… someone has to make breakfast.
The sixth patron exists. The short-form patron text does not.
What is established: the Prophet is tied directly to the foundational revelation of Anima.
What is unresolved: whether the Prophet was a god, became one, was Anima incarnate, or simply became impossible for later doctrine to separate from the thing he represented.
Guilds
Open a card.
Elephant in the room, if you came here thinking you would find a bunch of pictures of Japanese school kids with impractal hair you came to the wrong room... Probably.
The Anima Club can be thought of as the opposite of religion? Its not that they don't believe in the gods they just think with enough study and sacrifice they too can asend to god hood. I honestly have no idea if they can or can't.
But what they do is focus on Anima and Anima production. Take an industrious dwarven city right, and keep all that drive, focus dediation and obsession only replace gold and gems with "anima production" and "fireballs so big you think the sun is actually falling".
So you found god huh? Congratulations. And not just a god either. No no no. You found the right god. Amazing how that always seems to happen.
Sure, there are hundreds of religions, thousands of interpretations, centuries of arguments, contradictions, scandals, schisms, holy wars and at least a few scriptures that directly disagree with themselves... But yours? Yours is definitely the correct one. And here's the really annoying part, you might actually be right.
Because when one of the Pious kneels down and asks their god for protection... Something answers. Cuts close almost as quickly as they open. Disease struggles to take hold. Soldiers who should have fallen somehow stay standing. And inside their holy cities, killing one of the faithful can become a surprisingly complicated fucking process.
Of course divine protection does come with a few drawbacks. Turns out a body constantly being protected from poisons and impurities has a rather loose definition of what counts as a poison. So if you were hoping to drown your sorrows after your cat dies? Bad news. Three pints in and you're still stone-cold sober.
But don't worry. The priest in you knows the cat dying was all part dear old god's plan.
You know... depending on perspective this could be called "The Villains Guild". But those joining the hero's guild all share that one thing in common, their need and desire to lift their fellow man through their own heroic deeds and actions.
Why Sr. Murder just the other week brought in the heads of a rival castle's king and queen and the casks ran dry in celebration. No one paid too much attention to the fact that the rival cast's king and queen were only 11 years old and really just figure heads....
Sometimes the deeds really are heroic, avenging a loved one, saving a damsel in distress, your deeds follow you around bolstering your honor and invigorating the men who fight by your side.
What you think a thieves guild is going to say "Hey we are the thieves guild"? That wouldn't be very smart and if anyone starts complainging about the number of rats in the city... well we have ways of handling such complaints.
You would think a bunch of thieves in one place would be an anarchist heaven. WRONG. These sticky finger bastards love rules, they also love breaking those rules but as someone probably said somewhere:
"You can't break the law if there aren't any laws" and the more popular "you have to know the law to break the law" which speaks to a deeper slightly and concerning philosophical nature to the thieves ... sorry "Rat Catchers Guild".
So you want to be an engineer huh?
Well let me tell you, Anima Engineers are NOT what you are thinking of. Sure they are great builders who F'in love to study and boy do they... bunch of nerds. But that comes with a few umm shall we say... draw backs?
They stink like makes your eyes water and somehow your tasting it stink. And its no secret why. They don't shower. Like almost ever. Their hygiene would be a real cause of concern if there was ever a plague... boy would that suck.
Why? Because unless they think there is a distinct possibility of getting laid (which isn't often because obvious reasons) it's just not worth their time. So, what do they do with this treasure trove of newfound time?
I'll let you ... take a guess at that.
OooOOoo Someone has an important mommy or daddy, that or your one of the few freaks who's actually qualified to be here.
The officer's club is a great place to rub shoulders with various trust fund babies learning all the novel and new ways "reduce costs". But it's not all bad!!! Over the years the Officer's club has accumulated quite the study so military sciecnes are pretty easy for those who take the time.
Most don't. Most just use their connections to better equip themselves and their troops because everyone born with a silver spoon in their mouth knows its "pay to win" and daddy dearist has the dollars.
Teaser
Races, patrons, guilds, war, theft, magic, economy, and a Game that already has opinions.