Und was ist Scourged Earth? ^^
The Scourged Earth ist der geplante Name für die etwas düster und "weird" gestaltete eigene Fantasy-Welt von Pete Nash und Lawrence Whitaker, für die sie eher bei Jack Vance und Gene Wolfe geklaut haben. Also quasi eine fantasy-artige Welt mit Monstern und Ruinen, die aber etwa mehrere zehntausend Jahre in der Zukunft liegt. Also eine Erde in extrem weit entfernter Zukunft, so in Richtung science-fantasy. Das Setting wird einmal in einem der Einstiegsabenteuer im PDF Games Master's Pack erwähnt.
Ich habe den Textabschnitt dazu gerade noch mal herausgesucht, weil er mich letztes Jahr so fasziniert hatte:
The Scourged EarthThe Scourged Earth background is a vague set of notes currently under development for a possible RuneQuest setting book. It draws inspiration from, amongst others, Clark Ashton Smith, Jack Vance, Fritz Leiber, Michael Moorcock, Mervyn Peake and Philippe Druillet. What follows is the briefest of backgrounds, ideas more than anything else, but against which the Exodus Matrix scenario has been developed.
What Went BeforeThe Earth had passed through many cycles of time, many cycles of evolution, and came, eventually, to a point where science and sorcery had become indistinguishable, not least in the minds of their practitioners. These individuals, often misguided, sometimes evil, probed the barriers between the myriad worlds and found, to their wonder and dismay, that the universe was ruled not by one, but by many beings, some of which could be termed as gods. In their infinite arrogance the sorcerer-scientists of Earth sought to challenge these beings and to either take their place amongst them or supplant them altogether. Such was their craving for power.
Angry and disdainful at Earth’s impudence, the Elder Beings visited a prolonged and terrible punishment upon this upstart world. First they delivered upon the sorcerer-scientists a purge of the worst of their knowledge, reducing them to mere shadows of their previous notoriety. Then they sent their agents, some of demonic presence, across the Earth to quell those who would attempt a more warlike stance. Finally, to prevent Earth from future challenges, and to guard against the possibility of other, more innocent worlds being corrupted by its influence, Earth was isolated from the remainder of the universe by magics and sorceries infinitely more powerful and terrible than even the sorcerer-scientists had thought possible.
And thus was Earth scourged: battered, cleansed and alone, hanging in a night with only those stars the Elder Beings wished the humans to see. No one came to help it. None could hear its plaintive pleas. In time – aeons – Earth was forgotten by those that knew it. But the Elder Beings remembered and their memories being long, acute and vindictive, they maintained Earth’s isolation with the intention of keeping it hidden and forgotten in perpetuity. For as long as the universe might exist.
... Das geht noch ein kleines bisschen so weiter, ungefähr 2 Buchseiten. Doch das Abenteuer dazu ist ein relativ normaler geradliniger Dungeon mit ein paar Gegnern von einem gegnerischen Kult. Ich fand es trotzdem sehr gut.
