23/08/2024
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The Illusion and the Borderlands explores the borderlands; the liminal places where different worlds bleed into one another. The machinery of the illusion doesn’t work properly in these places, and there our dreams might intrude reality, our fears are made manifest, and we find portals to worlds beyond human understanding. This is a toolbox replete with hooks, locations, NPCs, creatures, artifacts, and new Aware Archetypes that gamemasters can bring to the table to enrich their stories.
This book will be featured in the upcoming Kickstarter. The cover art was made by the master Bastien Lecouffe Deharme. Below are the different chapters in the book.
The Machinery of the Illusion explores the different components of humanity’s prison (the body, the mind, and Elysium), the influence of the Principles, and how it all comes together to keep us incarcerated. This chapter also sheds light on humanity's jailers: lictors. It explains what lictors are, how they operate, and what happens when a lictor turns against their original Principle, with a complimentary statblock template for lictors of varying power levels with a step-by-step guide to build your own jailer.
The Borderlands introduces gamemasters to the borderlands. Not only the physical locations that connect different worlds, but also the borderlands of Death, Time and Space, Madness, and Passion. What it means to live in the borderlands, and what happens to those who cannot leave it. This chapter expands the mythos of the Children of the Night, their different breeds, how they came to be, the nightmarish state they are trapped in, and with a complimentary statblock template to create your own Child of the Night NPC and new Abilities that are unique to each of them.
Elysium features exposed places in Elysium that border different worlds, NPCs to use in your games, and creatures connected to madness, Passion, and Death that live in our prison.
In the borderlands of […] chapters focus on the locations where different worlds meet. Individually, they expand the lore of different factions vying for control of these areas and the influence of the Principles. Beyond the description of these borderlands, each chapter features locations with their own mysteries and hooks, NPCs, creatures, and a palette with prompts that can be used to heighten the atmosphere of these places.
[...] Limbo focuses on locations where dreams become part of our reality. It talks about the influence of the Dream Princes in our world (for example, signs of their dream worlds) and how the Princes relate to other factions (our jailers and cults).
[...] the Underworld expands the upper levels of the Underworld as well as our inner darkness, that pushes us towards oblivion, driving us closer to She Who Waits Below and Achlys. It features a more comprehensive look on the Cairath and Gransangthir, giving gamemasters more tools to build unique flesh monstrosities to stalk the entrances of the Underworld.
[...] Metropolis features areas in our cities that border Metropolis, the influence of the Archons, and The Hallways, which are crumbling connections between Elysium and The Eternal City in the borderlands of Time and Space.
[...] Inferno expands the influence of the Death Angels and how they are slowly making advances to gain control over our prison. This chapter also sheds a light on purgatories, the tailored hells that hover close to Elysium, and Jackals, the Borderliners that have become agents of Inferno.
[...] Gaia explores not only where the nature of our prison borders Gaia, but also places in Elysium that are slowly being reclaimed by her, including, for example, parks in our cities. This chapter also expands the Sentinels, the guardians preventing humanity from wandering into the untamed wilderness.
