Last post I said I would come up with a some short descriptions of the different factions (called Cults) in Degenesis to make it easier for players to build a character without having to read hundreds of pages of lore, using the system hidden inside the old World of Darkness. First, a short sentence or two description of each faction, then a short paragraph, then the multi-page description for those players who are really interested in that faction based on the previous descriptions.
At first, I was thinking I'd have to write the short sentence and the short paragraph, but it turns out Degenesis already has a short paragraph on each Cult, and I had just forgotten that they existed after reading another 300 pages past that point. A glossary helps though, so I made up at least the start of one (I'm sure I missed something somewhere).
By the way, the edition I'm using was downloaded in April 2020. The edition currently available is in one combined volume, so I don't know how my page numbers will match up, but hopefully it will help to get you started if you choose to look into this game.
So, without further ado:
Spitalians – Healers, doctors, medical researchers; the front line against the Sepsis and the Psychonaut threat to Europe
Chroniclers – Information dealers and hackers; they pay for technological relics, with the end goal of setting up a new Stream (global information network)
Hellvetics – The most advanced military force in Europe, armed with triple-barreled assault rifles and full-body armor; often hired out as mercenaries
Judges – Bringers of law and order to northern Europe, by might of their hammers and flintlocks
Scrappers – Recoverers of the past; whether they work alone or as part of a team, Scrappers know where to find relics and technology from before the apocalypse and how to put it to use
Clanners – A catch-all term for any number of relatively small groups; Clanners can be stone-age hunter-gatherers or motorized nomads, but in any case, their Clan is their family
Anubians – African mystics with seemingly magical power over the Psychovores as well as cultural power over other Africans
Scourgers – African warrior caste armed with assault rifles and armor from before the apocalypse, and traditions extending much further back than that
Neolibyans – Followers of a creed first espoused by “the Libyan”, Neolibyans seek economic and political power through exploration, diplomacy, and trade
Apocalyptics – Dealers in all sorts of vice and crime: gambling, drugs, prostitution, human trafficking, piracy, and more
Jehammedans – A new Abrahamic religion, devoted to raising sheep and waging war; their destiny within the Cult is determined at birth
Anabaptists – A religious Cult devoted to wiping out the evils of the Psychonauts and making the Earth into a Paradise once more
Palers – The guardians of the Dispensers, servants of the Sleepers, heirs of the Recombination Group, phantoms in the night
Short paragraphs: pp 50-53 of Degenesis: Primal Punk (Book 1)
Main descriptions: all from Degenesis: Primal Punk (Book 1)
Spitalians: pp 150-163
Chroniclers: pp 164-177
Hellvetics: pp 178-191
Judges: pp 192-205
Clanners: pp 206-219
Scrappers: pp 220-233
Neolibyans: pp 234-247
Scourgers: pp 248-261
Anubians: pp 262-275
Jehammedans: pp 276-289
Apocalyptics: pp 290-303
Anabaptists: pp 304-317
Palers: pp 318-331
Character creation rules: all from Degenesis: Katharsys (Book 2)
Spitalians: pp 46-49
Chroniclers: pp 50-53
Hellvetics: pp 54-57
Judges: pp 58-61
Clanners: pp 62-65
Scrappers: pp 66-69
Neolibyans: pp 70-73
Scourgers: pp 74-77
Anubians: pp 78-81
Jehammedans: pp 82-85
Apocalyptics: pp 86-89
Anabaptists: pp 90-93
Palers: pp 94-97
GLOSSARY
Aberrant – another name for Psychonaut
Alcove – a small Chronicler enclave
Ambrosia – a nanite fluid that gives Marauders their power
AMSUMO – a security robot; most have been infected by a virus and have corrupted programming
Ascetic – the laboring caste of the Anabaptist cult
Bedain – formerly known as Sicily; now a staging area for African forays into Europe.
Biokinetic – a Psychonaut with the power to reshape its body; generally found in Pollen and associated with Pandora crater.
Burn – a drug found in spore fields, trafficked by Apocalyptics; use of it contaminates the body with Sepsis
Bygone – people, technology, or times from before the Eshaton
Chakra – an early Hindu concept concerning energy centers in the human body; the Chakras seem to correspond to the Earth Chakras and the different Raptures
Cluster – a large Chronicler enclave
Codex – the system of laws enforced by the Judges, as set down by the First Judge and amended ever since by the High Judges
Corpse – the landmass formerly consisting of Sardinia and Corsica; now a stronghold of Apocalyptic pirates
Cusp – a papery growth found in spore fields containing Burn
Demiurge – in the Anabaptist tradition, the enemy of God and source of all evil
Dinar – the major currency of Africa; a gold coin
Discordance – a zone between the Earth Chakras of Europe and the Psychovore forests of Africa; the Primer creates strange, ethereal, membranous creatures here
Dispenser – cryogenic sleep chambers set up by the Recombination Group; Sleepers are supposed to emerge every hundred years from the Dispensers, although something seems to have gone wrong with the plan
Draft – the major currency of Europe; fiat currency issued by Chroniclers and pegged to the Dinar
Druschinnik – bodyguard of the Piast of Wroclaw (Pollen)
Dushani – Psychonaut with a sound-based powers that exert wave forces and manipulate minds; associated with the Balkhan and Usud crater
Earth Chakra – craters from the asteroid bombardment of the Eshaton; so called because they seem to correspond to the Chrakras of the human body from ancient Hindu beliefs
Elysian oil – oils made by the Anabaptists which enhance various mental or emotional faculties
Enigmate – Pregnoctic prophets who aid the Hybrispanians against the African conquerors
Eshaton – the apocalypse; caused by asteroids containing an alien mutagen 500 years ago
Famulancer – low level Spitalians, just beginning their study of medicine
Filament – a sharp force-field generated by Psychokinetics
Fractal Forest – strange forests that spring up from dead spore fields; revered by Anabaptists, distrusted by Spitalians, burned by Apocalyptics
Garganti – a Clan whose lifestyle is based around mammoths, which were genetically re-engineered before the Eshaton
Gendo – a wolf-like predator
Guardian – the technicians maintaining the Dispensers; Palers and their ancestors
Guerrero – a Hybrispanian Clan fighting against African conquerors
HIVE – Human ImmunoVirus Extreme; an airborne version of HIV
Iconide – Jehammedan mystic and maker of holy icons
Imiut skin – the skin of a jackal or Gendo, which an Anubian can sew a recently dead body into to return it to life
Janite – foreign mercenary soldier of Osman (Borca)
Kom – battle buggies used by Scourgers
Leperos – a person afflicted with Sepsis beyond help or hope; usually a Burn addict
Marauder – a creature (person?) of godlike power, powered by Ambrosia
Marduk oil – oil created by the Anubians; a layer of it on the skin blocks the effects of a Pheromancer's power
Mirar – the Earth Chakra of Hybrispania; associated with Pregnoctics
Mnemonid – a type of Pregnoctic
Mollusk – a biological device created by the Spitalians to detect Sepsis
Node – a powerful type of Pregnoctic
Nox – the Earth Chakra of Purgare; associated with Psychokinetics
Orgiastic – the warrior caste of the Anabaptist cult
Pandora – the Earth Chakra of Pollen; associated with Biokinetics
Pheromancer – a Psychonaut with pheromone based mind control powers; generally found in Franka and associated with Souffrance crater
Piast – the leader of Wroclaw (Pollen)
Pregnoctic – a Psychonaut with time based powers; generally found in Hybrispania and associated with Mirar crater
Preservist – a member of the security branch of the Spitalians
Primer – the name given to the alien mutagen which has given rise to the Earth Chakras, Psychovores, and Discordance
Protectorate – the area governed by the Codex of the Judges; capital: Justitian; stretches across parts of Borca and Franka
Psychokinetic – a Psychonaut with telekinetic and force-field type powers; generally found in Purgare and associated with Nox crater
Psychonaut – descended from humans, but no longer human, Psychonauts have strange powers that threaten humanity as we know it
Psychovore – Primer-altered plants from Africa; their thorns cause Raze
Rapture – any of the five main categories of Psychonaut powers
Raze – a type of poisoning from Psychovore thorns that inevitably leads to death if left untreated; Anubians are resistant to the Raze
Reaper's Blow – a long scar across Europe left by an asteroid strike; a region of magma flows, only crossable at certain points
Recombination Group – a Bygone cult based on memetic manipulation; built the Dispensers and the psychological environment of the Guardians just before the Eshaton so high-ranking members would be kept alive cryogenically and reborn into a world ripe for their takeover
Sepsis – contamination by the Primer
Shutter – a Chronicler assassin
Sleeper – Recombination Group cult members who were supposed to be released from cryogenic sleep in waves to take positions of power in the post-Eshaton world
Souffrance – the Earth Chakra of Franka; associated with Pheromancers
Soulless One – a Psychonaut
Spital – the headquarters of the Spitalians
Spitfire – a flamethrower used by the Anabaptists
Splayer – a spear-like weapon with scissoring blades used by the Spitalians
Stream – pre-Eshaton information network
Sun Disk – electronic tools that can be used to control technology and systems within the Dispensers
Usud – the Earth Chakra of Balkhan; associated with Dushani
Voivodate – a part of Balkhan ruled by a voivod (warlord)
Voivodule – a member of a Balkhan Clan of old (supplanted) nobility
Warpage – an area of Hybrispania where time doesn't work right as a side effect of the Pregnoctics and Mirar crater
Warui – a side effect of the Psychovores that creates a natural understanding to those affected; they can express complex thoughts with very few sounds, regardless of whether they share a common language
Loving the glossary. It actually caught our attention to make one for the community in the Degenesis discord!
ReplyDeleteA slight correction though, Famulancers are medical school graduates, and are considered fully fledged into the cult now.
Would you like to speak a bit further about collaborating with the community about making a glossary?
Thanks. I don't know that I have a whole lot of input into a glossary. I just went through and grabbed up capitalized terms, leaving out Cults, most place names, and a few Clans, as I thought they were explained well enough wherever they were mentioned (and this is just my opinion, others may find my choices as to what to add and what to leave out completely unintuitive).
DeleteSo Famulancers are full doctors, then? I got the impression from my read-through that they were well established as medical professionals, good enough to give first aid and to act in the absence of a doctor, but without having been trained in a specialty they still have a way to go for that doctorate.
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DeleteLet me rephrase that, they're still medical students in the academic sense. They need to either specialize or be shipped to the front lines (or become a preservist and bypass the whole system). But they still make a good general practitioner of medicine and can make actually good doctors in the practical sense in a real situation.
But yes you are right that they are medical students still despite passing their recruit exams and graduating from being an orderly.
Here's an invite to the Degenesis Community discord by the way! Myself and others are willing to answer any questions about the setting and generally have a good time with the setting and system! https://discord.gg/degenesis
Ok, yeah, that lines up pretty much with my assessment. They may not be full doctors, but in a world where civilization has taken that much of a beating, I wouldn't turn a Famulancer away if I needed stitches, or a bone set, or a transfusion.
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