Theme and Setting Guide

The following is a guide on general theme and setting. It is susceptible to change, and the writer will try to keep it up to date with in game events.

General Setting Information

Rusted Promises takes place on a planet called Promise. This planet was colonized by animals of earth who had been uplifted by humans, who these animals call the Creators, making them intelligent. In addition they were given various adaptations to aid in accomplishing things with this greater intelligence. The ability to walk upright, speech, opposable thumbs, or the ability to breathe on land where applicable. These animals are you, the player! As well as the various NPCs and such.

The game does not take place right after the colonization of the planet, but rather several hundred years in the future. There are no Creators on the planet with the animals, but there are several ruins left behind by them. All this may have you thinking the game is futuristic, but that is not so. The setting is more colonial or Renaissance. To clarify the following section will discuss tech level.

Questions about theme and setting for the game can be asked at http://ask.rustedpromises.com/

Tech Level

The general level of technology in this game is a bit wider spread than one would think. The most advanced actual technology available is colonial level. There are muskets, and blunderbusses and cannons, but not yet cartridges and the like, so no revolvers. Though that is being researched. So one would think that's the tech level. But there are other factors to take into consideration.

The first is mathemagic. This is a type of magic accomplished through advanced mathematical equations. This allows for more advanced things, that would normally be beyond the ability of the time, to be accomplished by cutting out a few intervening steps. An example of this is indoor plumbing. Normally there needs to be knowledge of how to transport water through a pipe through the use of a pump, creating a vacuum that the water fills, allowing it to travel in methods other than running downhill. However instead of learning about vacuums and how to create them using a pump, then learning to automate the pump to supply water on demand to a faucet or toilet, mathemagic lets one place an equation on a bathtub that causes it to condense water from the air around it. Or that manipulates the water into traveling along the pipe without a pump driving it. The same can be accomplished with fire mathemagic for lighting, or earth mathemagic for excavating large areas of land.

The second is Creator tech. Those Creator ruins mentioned? They often contain things the Creators left behind. This are far, far more advanced than anything that can be created on Promise. Holographic displays, robots, laser guns. The works. However, just because these are around doesn't mean everyone knows how to use them. They are so far beyond anything able to be created on Promise that making use of them is a tricky proposition. It requires special training, and even then you are not likely to understand WHY they do what they do. Just that pressing button A gets result B.

Locations

There are three major locations of concern at the moment. Sweetwater, Cliffside, and Shralesta.

Sweetwater

• Wiki Link: Firmament setting page
• A nation ruled by a monarch, referred to as the Good King(Good Queen for a female)
• Main setting for the game, with the only city in the game thus far being it's capital, Firmament
• Named for the Sweetwater river that flows north to south through it
• Has mandatory militia time
• Main home of the Free Swords guild
• Has a Council that speaks for the people, though the King or Queen is still responsible for writing laws and the like

Cliffside

• Wiki link: Cliffside setting page
• Located on the literal side of a cliff.
• A rival of Sweetwater; Occasionally goes to war with them.
• A nation-state with the city of Cliffside being its main feature.
• Location of many colleges, including one considered to be the final word on magic.
• Run by a council of Elders. Often researchers or mages.
• Army is professional. No mandatory time needs to be served.
• Political intrigue abounds, as elders vie for position on the council and once there, fight to hold it.

Shralesta

• Wiki link: Shralesta setting page
• A desert city by the seaside.
• Highly religious, and is, for all intents and purposes, a theocracy
• Due to the high amount of creator ruins nearby has advanced mathemagics
• Thus far neutral in regards to the conflict between Sweetwater and Cliffside

Clarification on Religion

The main religion of the land is worship of the Creators. All Creators are revered, but there are six Creator Saints(though only five are actually Creators.) They are as follows:

Saint Erick

The foremost Creator Saint. He is the one responsible for the discovery of how to uplift creatures. The first uplifted animal was a canine named Benna. He paved the way for all that followed.

Saint Patricia

This Saint is responsible for adding plants to those creatures uplifted. She gave them intelligence, and mobility, and so many other things. She also wrote the Rite of Meal; No plant is to be hunted for food, and in turn no plant will deny a ripe fruit or vegetable when it can be given without harm. Though with the prevalence of farming this is less practiced than it once was.

Saint Leon

Saint Leon is responsible for making it so that the uplifted animals could use the divine equations. Mathemagic. Not the one who discovered or created mathemagic, he simply made it accessible to those who had been uplifted.

Saint Hiroshi

The Saint responsible for sending the uplifted animals to the stars. Not the colonization of Promise, but their use in helping to tame worlds for the Creators.

Saint Alan

He is the one who enabled the uplifted animals to have a planet of their own. He argued among the other Creators that these animals deserved a choice in if they wished to continue serving the Creators, or develop on their own paths. Those who decided the latter were given Promise, a planet to tame for themselves, rather than the Creators.

Saint Theodore

This Saint is not a creator, but an uplifted animal. The one responsible for the founding of the clans.

Important events

There are many important events, established in lore and in roleplay on the game. Here are some of the more notable highlights, though not necessarily in a specific order.

A more in depth timeline can be found at: Timeline

• Arrival on Promise. The start of the timeline.
• The shattering of the moon, where souls were stored. These shards fell to Promise and brought two important things. The first are the soulless, now called the gifted. These beings are capable of using specially created soulgems which give them greater potential than many other beings. These are what the players are. The second thing the shattering brought are Shadows. Malicious beings.
• A message from the Creators stating that the Ritual of Receiving needs to be done, and is decades late. A follow-up message speaks of a visit from the Creators, the time of arrival close to the shattering.
• Destruction of a Shadow-nest. This is notable in that it helped lower the amount of Shadows attacking the beings of Promise. Also it revealed that there were other factions of Shadows, those who would like to coexist peacefully.
• Kindcraft mines infestation and spread. The Kindcraft mines dug too deep or something similar and bright the Kindcraft Horrors into the world of Promise. These are Old Ones reminiscent of(and possibly direct representations of) Lovecraftian horrors. More commonly known as the Cthulhu mythos. So for all your tentacle-filled, insanity-driven goodness, look no further!
• Kilsa Ironsoul being named a noble and founding the Ironsoul house. Notable for being the first appointed a noble in modern times.
• A message from a new group of Creators has the religious world abuzz. And possibly other factions with their own interests in the Creators. And the valuable tech they'd bring. The message mentioned a visit from these Creators. There was more, but it involved Creator laws, which are beyond the understanding of the beings of Promise.
• Cowbell. Because Nuku.