Exploring Histories: Carnie
almost 4 years ago – Wed, Jul 08, 2020 at 11:46:52 AM

Let's have another Waypoint Wednesday update! We have another History for you to check out!

Histories define where a drifter's story began and shapes the way that drifter sees the world. Some drifters embrace their history, relying on the lessons learned in those formative years. Other drifters rebel against their history, trying to escape the difficult memories of their past by becoming someone or something else. Regardless of how they feel about where they came from, a drifter's history will always inevitably be a part of them one way or another.

The Carnival is a staple of life outside of the Manifest factory towns. These traveling entertainment caravans of all shapes and sizes bring a taste of wonder to settlement citizens without exposing them to the risk of wandering too far from home. 

On their circuit, the Carnival brings with them amusement rides, food vendors, exotic wares, games of chance and skill, animal acts, burlesque shows, daring feats, and much more. Each Carnival is a unique sight to behold, and the excitement as they pull up to the town outskirts is always palpable.

Most carnivals can trace their heritage back to entertainment brigades sent out to the troops during the Factory Wars to entertain and distract the militias from the anguish of battle. After the Treaty of Alanastead ended the war, the Factory Towns didn't have much use for a sponsored traveling band of entertainers. The troupes were cut off and left to fend for themselves.

These tried and true entertainers had honed their skills and refused to be swallowed up by the disillusionment that they had fought so hard to combat. Instead of dispersing as the governors had expected, these troupes took their shows on the road. They negotiated contacts, booked their shows with camps and settlements, established circuits, and forged traditions that lasted even to this day. 

Most modern Carnivals make contracts with the locals on their circuit to ensure a peaceful and profitable relationship with their patrons. Town councils will often book the Carnival in return for a percentage of the revenue. Additionally, these officials agree to not look too closely at any of the Carnival's activities or members. This serves to raise more spurs for the town to spend on public works as well as protect the Carnival from otherwise nosy do-gooders concerned with the ‘fairness’ and ‘honesty’ of Carnie attractions and games.

In addition to the entertainment that can be found there, the Carnival often brings much-needed goods and services to small communities that might otherwise go without. A top tier Carnival will bring with it several market stalls selling difficult-to-find and exotic items as well as professionals with rarer skill sets like doctors, preachers, and master tinkerers. The staple of a truly prestigious Carnival is the inclusion of an artisan tattooist among their ranks, and many people across Manifest will proudly set spurs aside to splurge on such a luxury when the Carnival comes through town.

To the public, a Carnie's life might seem out of the ordinary, and this is by no mistake. While not reclusive, the Carnival players tend to carefully curate the difference between their 'on-stage' persona and their backstage reality. Breaking character, while in view of the public, is a faux pas that can ruin the splendor for their customers and find the offender in a bit of hot water with their ringmaster.

Life with the Carnival is one that is always on the move. It's rare for the Carnival to stay longer than a week or two in one place before packing up to head to the next stop on their circuit. This kind of travel forms tight-knit and sometimes overprotective communities. 

The one thing that is true of all Carnivals is that they live by the motto 'it takes all sorts.' A person in need of a community asks to join the Carnival, they are happily taken in, trained up, and put on a stage (or in a booth). Most Carnivals ask nothing more of their players than a hard day's work for the Carnival's betterment. That promise is enough to join the Carnie family. 

Like all families, the players can definitely have their disputes, but when one of their own comes under fire from outsiders, the Carnival will always protect them.

In the Carnival's early days, many troupes fell on hard times and used their talents to swindle the public of the contents of their pockets. This earned them a bad reputation that they have not yet been able to shake. The majority of Carnivals at least appear the epitome of integrity and even flirt with being truly legitimate businesses; even so, those nasty rumors have yet to fade completely. This bad rap is due in part to bias against the unique and unknown, and partly because many a Carnie will still pick a fat pocket every now and then.

Critter Sightings: Roperite and Copper Bird
almost 4 years ago – Mon, Jul 06, 2020 at 02:56:00 PM

Another Manifest Monday means a look at two more of Manifest's fearsome critters! Manifest is home to all sorts of fascinating wildlife. Ranging from the curious to the outright terrifying, the native fauna is just one of the reasons the life of a drifter requires immense skill and luck. Only truly talented individuals can survive the wilds between settlements.

Roperite

Roperite are soft-feathered, flightless birds with long necks and legs. They can reach up to 7 feet in height. Their plumage is mostly red-orange, gold, and dark brown with bright blue or teal plumage under their vestigial wings and under their beaks. 

They have extremely powerful legs and can travel great distances without rest. When necessary, they can sprint at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour. While most creatures have two or three muscles on the backs of their legs, Roperites have six, allowing them to spring and sprint with greater ease than any other known beast. Their legs are posited to be the strongest on Manifest. This anatomy allows Roperite flocks to travel the long distances in the badlands between their roosting grounds, which are the fertile and lush places in the badlands.

Roperites travel in groups of four to five called a tangle. These tangles migrate between as few as three roosting grounds to as many as ten. This migratory pattern is always in a counter-clockwise circuit. Distances between roosting grounds can vary widely from a few miles to over 200 miles. The reason for the migration is unknown despite being studied by teachers and trappers alike.

Though they will eat at every opportunity, Roperites are known to go weeks without eating or drinking, and even when water is abundant, they have been observed to drink infrequently. However, when they do drink, they take in copious amounts.

Each clutch of Roperite eggs is roosted by a fertile male, and for the eight week incubation period, the male will not get up to eat, drink, or defecate, except as a last resort to protect the clutch from an imminent predator. Roosting Roperites will be protected by a few of the flock that will stay behind in the roosting grounds. These flockmates will bring water and small amounts of food to the roosting males, and engage with any threats to the clutches, fighting to the death if necessary.

Roperites are active during the day and will sleep at night, this is notable because it is the opposite of most wildlife in the badlands. When they sleep at night, they do not sleep continuously. Instead, they rouse themselves several times during the night. As they fall asleep, they squat and on the backs of their feet and enter a light sleep, this allows them to rest while still being alert enough to quickly spring to action if disturbed. Because of this phased sleep behavior, a Roperite tangle is never wholly unaware and extremely difficult to surprise. 

Roperite are curious beasts and have been known to veer off course to follow and observe people or vehicles. If given the opportunity, they will occasionally attack these people, though more often they can be found overturning an unobserved tent or camp as they investigate the mysteries of human possessions. If attacked, the Roperite tangle will fight back until the death or until they have a trophy they can run away with.

And taking down a tangle of Roperite is no easy feat! A single bird may not be much of a challenge on its own, but the tangle is a practiced and deadly tactical unit.

Roperites fight with precision use of their massive muscular tongues, the bulk of which they contract and store in an extendable throat pouch. This pouch is filled with a viscous, sticky serum it produces. The entirety of the tongue and its extendable papillae are soaked in this serum while resting in the pouch. In the blink of an eye, a Roperite can lash out to entangle their prey with this excessively strong and sticky tongue so that it cannot escape. The other members of the tangle will follow suit until the prey is completely subdued and can be killed. The coordination of a Roperite tangle hunting and subduing much larger prey is both a remarkable and terrifying thing to behold.

When the danger is too great, a Roperite will flee in a zig-zag, using first one wing, then the other similarly to a rudder. This escape method is especially effective against the firearms of human hunters. This has led some Badlands bandits to yell “Roperite!” as a shorthand for scattering in an unexpected way to avoid capture by the law.

Copper Bird

The swift, smart, and shiny birds of prey known as Copper Birds, are considered the jewels of the Badlands. Named so for their layered copper-like feathers that serve as both weapon and armor. Their bladed wings are serrated with thousands of tiny barbules that can easily tear armor to shreds with a single slash. They dive-bomb with alarming swiftness and coordinate magnificently with others of their kind.

Social creatures, Copper Birds travel in flocks of threes, often referred to as a three-penny terror. This serves not only a survival purpose but also a hygienic one. It is estimated that a Copper Bird spends about a quarter of its life preening, polishing, sharpening, and buffing. Much of this care is done communally, with flock mates helping each other reach the optimal mirror shine. 

Due to their metallic nature, Copper Bird bodies conduct heat and electricity very easily, and their feathers can be melted down for use in technology. Copper Birds prefer to be kept hot to the touch, and are often found roosting on sun-exposed mountainsides. Conversely, the less often seen Bronze Bird subspecies of the Copper Bird most often nest in the caverns of the iron-rich mountains in southern Badlands, where they warm in hollows they have carved out with their bladed wings. 

Copper Birds are often considered noble beasts, due to their predation of carrion creatures and scavengers. This perceived morality has led Badlanders to call them “coppers” and “the law of the sky.” This is only reinforced by the extreme degree to which both the Copper Bird and the Bronze Bird guard their territory. Anything that strays too close to the nest will find themselves suddenly and viciously attacked, quickly learning the meaning of the three-penny terror. Though they do seem to tolerate other Copper Birds in the vicinity, as long as they keep a respectable distance.

The eggs of a Copper Bird are considered a delicacy across Manifest. The beautifully patterned copper eggs gain a patina throughout the incubation period, becoming fully green or brown by the time of hatching. The incubation lasts about four weeks, and only one of the flock’s females incubates the eggs. The other two of the trio are responsible for providing her with food. This behavior pattern continues for some time after the hatching. Later, all three share brooding and hunting duties until the young fledge after another four to five weeks. The entire family stays close together for a few more weeks, during which the young learn how to fend for themselves as well as hunt prey before leaving the nest to find and form their own flock. 

Copper Birds are remarkably intelligent, communicating to others through a highly evolved syntax of song and dance. They also demonstrate an elevated level of reasoning as they can utilize tools and terrain to solve problems. Copper Birds also can be trained to respond to complex commands. All of these things make them a pet of some status, assuming one can manage to tame a wild Copper Bird as they refuse to breed in captivity.

Copper Birds thrive in the Badlands and can survive in parts of the Garden as well as in manufactured habitats in the Tundra. However, they cannot survive in the Wastes, even in artificial habitats, due to the extreme humidity. They will corrode and die if kept in such an environment.

Drifter's Choice: The Path of the Peddler
almost 4 years ago – Fri, Jul 03, 2020 at 11:38:37 PM

It's Folklore Friday, and a holiday to boot! Tonightwe're sharing another one of the Paths you can choose when making your character. 

A drifter's path defines how they've chosen to interact with the harsh realities of life on Manifest. A path could present itself as a chosen profession or a way for the drifter to make a living. Other times a path is more like a set of values the drifter follows. As a drifter's story grows and adapts, they may even find a new path to follow as their outlook on life changes.

Path of the Peddler

The path of the Peddler on Manifest is a meandering one. Instead of setting up a permanent shop in a factory town or a settlement, Peddlers prefer to travel from town to town and market to market selling their wares, trinkets, and services.

Whether they’re selling legitimate medical supplies or a bottle of colored saltwater that’s ‘sure to cure what ails ya,’ all Peddlers thrive on supply, demand, and know-how to bargain for the best deal. As they travel, they’ll either craft, purchase, or barter for items to stock their inventory with, and in the next town do everything they can to turn a profit with whatever they’ve got in stock. 

Peddlers, like nomads, are an integral part of Manifest’s economy. To smaller settlements, and especially homesteaders, Peddlers are a necessary lifeline. They bring with them crafting supplies, tonics, tools, weapons, and entertainment hard to come by in the more remote parts of the planet. The less than honest Peddlers might sell a needed item at an unreasonable price or sell outright defective or fake products, but honest, hardworking Peddlers vastly outnumber the opportunistic con artists. 

A Peddler will roll into town, perhaps with a nomad pack or in their own vehicle, and set up shop in a settlement’s main thoroughfare or market. Many will even try to draw a crowd like a barker at a carnival, entreating shoppers to peruse their wares, extolling their quality, and the discounts to be had for the savvy shopper. Peddlers who trade in less tangible products, such as entertainment or other services, will often coordinate with the settlement’s established leaders and businesses for mutual profit. For instance, a musician may strike a deal with the saloonkeep to draw a crowd and split the bar’s take for the night, or a travelling acting troupe may convince a town’s mayor to make their evening show a big to-do for a modest fee.

Many Peddlers will find a route that works for them, cultivating regular customers in the homesteads and settlements that they return to, and in turn, they’ll tailor their wares to the needs of these regulars to turn the best profit. That being said, most Peddlers also have a knack for convincing their customers to spend an extra spur or two on items they may not actually need or particularly want. However, spurs aren’t the only currency Peddlers deal in, as they’re usually willing to accept a trade if they think they can turn the newly acquired inventory into a profit at the next stop.

Whatever moral scale the Peddler subscribes to, their survival depends on the whims of commerce. A wagon full of supplies isn’t going to do the Peddler any good if they can’t find people willing to pay. Furthermore, a Peddler’s inventory can easily paint a target on their back if they’re unfortunate enough to catch the eye of bandits and road agents. 

Peddler’s often walk a fine line between fortune and famine. They’ve got to stay savvy to what does and doesn’t sell if they want to keep drifting with a full belly and a healthy hoard of spurs.

Exploring Histories: Urbanite
almost 4 years ago – Wed, Jul 01, 2020 at 09:12:12 PM

How about a late night, Waypoint Wednesday update? Let's check out another History you can pick during character creation!

Histories define where a drifter's story began and shapes the way that drifter sees the world. Some drifters embrace their history, relying on the lessons learned in those formative years. Other drifters rebel against their history, trying to escape the difficult memories of their past by becoming someone or something else. Regardless of how they feel about where they came from, a drifter's history will always inevitably be a part of them one way or another.

In the beginning, before The Departure, humanity dropped from the skies in massive prefabricated cities built around the functions of one to a dozen factories. Throughout the Year of the Wormhole, people arrived on Manifest in greater and greater numbers. Companies hired people in droves to relocate from the homeworld for a rotation to work in the factories and harvest luminescence. An entire support system of housing, food, and entertainment grew around the workers who had nothing to spend their hard earned credits on during their off time.

Despite the overcrowding, very few people ventured beyond the walls of these Factory Towns. To most, Manifest was an untamed and dangerous land, and the Factory Towns provided safety and constant work. However, after The Departure, things changed dramatically. Without an influx of rations and supplies coming through the wormhole, the economy ground to a halt. 

To regain control, governors claimed territory outside the cities for farming, mining, and reaping other resources. But the territory lines were fuzzy at best, and where one Factory Town's land ended and another’s began was highly, sometimes violently, disputed. These disputes came to a head as the greatest conflict on Manifest to date: The Factory Wars. 

During this 16 year conflict, the Factory Town gates were shut to all but those who could prove useful to the war effort. Millions of people were locked in and isolated within the overcrowded, sprawling cities and they had to adapt to survive. This communal isolation solidified what it meant to be an Urbanite. 

Urbanites are molded, inspired, and influenced by the unique struggles of their city, creating a spectrum of economic and social subcultures within each Factory Town. And while they may have a shared identity based on their history, a Factory Town’s citizens are as unique and diverse as anywhere else on Manifest.

An Urbanite might belong to the upper echelons of a Factory Town's social strata, attending social events and living above the woes of the ordinary citizen. But life in the upper levels of a Factory Town means being subject to the whims and dangers of intrigue and the above-the-law violence of one's peers. 

Other Urbanites may be fortunate enough to work, live, and potentially own one of the shops in the city. These folks have a fraction of security upon which they can rely and a degree of social currency to live in modest comfort. If their store or career is successful enough, they may even be able to buy their way up into a higher social stratum, removing themselves from the struggle of keeping a business afloat while avoiding debt to one of the more powerful factions in town. 

An Urbanite with a particular set of skills might find themselves able to get a position within the militia or marshal service. If an Urbanite is lucky enough to have some connections, they might enlist into a better position than an average recruit. This could result in a cushy job on the wall, a notable position with the ranger corp, or could secure a place fighting crime within the city walls, going head to head with the criminal syndicate known as The Family.

However, the vast majority of Urbanites will partake in the namesake of their city, Factory work. While most of the Factory Towns were once designed as luminescence mining complexes, those days have since past. Ages ago, the factories were repurposed to run the gamut of industries, though each city has its own specialty trades. Working on the factory floor or, through hard work and posturing, overseeing the day-to-day operations is the working class's backbone. Many factory workers will live in factory subsidized housing and shop at factory subsidized stores. A distinctive company loyalty applies to those who are employed by the factories because without their jobs, they'd be left with little else to their name.

And even still, the most unfortunate of the Urbanites will live, work, and attempt to survive in the underbelly of the Factory Town. This underbelly may be literally abandoned and repurposed mining tunnels or just the street level where 'no one ever goes.' Those stuck in the lowest societies of a Factory Town are capable of doing whatever they can to get by, including for the most unsupported and desperate: crime. 

No matter who an Urbanite is, their adaptability ultimately determines whether or not they can benefit from the blessings of living in Manifest's truly urban environments. They may be free from the immediate dangers of the wilds outside of the city walls, but they are shackled by the dangers within.

Critter Sightings: Ball-Tail Cat and Axehandle Hound
almost 4 years ago – Mon, Jun 29, 2020 at 09:36:58 AM

It's Manifest Monday and you know what that means! Today we're showcasing two more beasts! Manifest is home to all sorts of fascinating wildlife. Ranging from the curious to the outright terrifying, the native fauna is just one of the reasons the life of a drifter requires immense skill and luck. Only truly talented individuals can survive the wilds between settlements.

Ball-Tail Cat

The Ball-Tail Cat is one of the handfuls of feline-esque beasts of Manifest, and it’s the one that’s most likely to be seen when traveling outside of the Factory Towns. 

Nearly as common as fellow scavenger the Axehandle Hound, the Ball-Tail Cat is less a hunter than an opportunist. While it will stalk smaller prey, it prefers to fight off tired hunters from their successful kills than to hunt itself. They’ll attack with vicious fury to claim a freshly slain meal from a competitor, attacking and defending from all sides with their lethal claws and spiked tail club.

The Ball-Tail Cat is distinguished from the other feline-like critters from their plated body and the spiked ridge that grows along their spine from head to tail club. 

This plating makes them incredibly tough for their size. These ossified plates begin forming when they are young cubs, and continue to grow throughout their lifetime. The plates grow into a set of interlocking armor, and when damaged, they break-away plates to absorb the blow, often without the critter having taken any damage at all. And once the Ball-Tail Cat reaches maturity, the ridge-spikes along their spine begin to grow in earnest, providing adequate protection against other competing predators.

While the Ball-Tail Cat may be considered by some to be less bold than other beasts on Manifest, these cats won’t hesitate to strike out at a small group of travelers or even an isolated larger creature such as a jackalope if they’re hard-pressed for a meal. 

Ball-Tail Cats primarily operate in nomadic family groups, also known as a destruction, made up of multiple polyamorous cells of three adults, but can also occasionally be found in the wilds as paired operatives. The dominant cells in a stalking territory are often loosely related through the maternal line and will actually interact with each other on an infrequent basis. This interaction mainly occurs when mothers have finished weaning their cubs and hand them to a solitary Tom outside of their immediate cell to raise until maturity. 

Handing off the cubs relieves the mother of the rearing responsibilities and allows her to move on with her mates to create a subsequent litter. Sociologically speaking, this keeps the cells on friendly terms and has had a surprising, perhaps unintended, and positive effect on the Ball-Tail Cat population. Even now, with more Ball-Tail Cats than ever being hunted by drifters, drivers, and trappers: there’s always more Ball-Tail Cats to be found on Manifest.

Axehandle Hound

The Axehandle Hound is a stocky, scaled canine-like creature. They can commonly be found everywhere on Manifest, except for the extreme Northern Tundras and the burning sands in the Southern Badlands. And while their coloring has adapted over time to suit their habitat, one thing that makes the Axehandle Hound unforgettable is their ax-like snout. 

This bony protrusion is its primary weapon attacking with a charge that will knock a grown person to the ground and then bludgeon them with gross proficiency. However, because the Axehandle Hound is primarily a scavenger and a hunter of small creatures, it uses its bladed muzzle more frequently to dig out the elaborate dens it makes to keep the pack safe. 

The Axehandle Hound is a gregarious creature and enjoys a social atmosphere within its pack. Unlike the Warakin, which have a strict social hierarchy, the Axehandle Hound pack is more of a communal experience containing a biologically related group, and adopted family, which choose to join the pack for companionship and hunting prowess. These unrelated Axehandles are usually the most loyal pack members having chosen their new family over their extant blood relatives. 

Often, as Fire Night approaches, a pack will gather together in their primary den from all over their hunting territory, and from Fire Night to the First Melt, pair-bonding occurs. A fertile female may attract a large group of reproductive males, but once the female selects a mate, the rejected males protect the couple from anything that may intervene. In service to the pack, the couple and the rejected mates will dig or construct a separate den off of or near the pack's primary den. This is where the female will lay during her pregnancy and where the pups will live for the first year of their life raised by the mother, biological father, and the rejected mates. Unlike the Warakin, the Axehandle Hound is not prone to pair-bonding, and each denning time the female will likely choose another male to mate with once their pups are grown. 

Once pups reach adulthood, they are taught to hunt with the pack, which is a wild and unpredictable experience. The puppies learn to attack by emulating their packmates, running at objects headlong and often becoming stuck at the snout from having cleaved too deep a gouge, only to be pulled out by their tails. This lends credence to the theory that an Axehandle pup's tail will regrow if it's lost or removed before their second winter. 

Axehandles will scout primarily in pairs, and either attack vulnerable creatures if the fight seems easy to win, or leave and return with an entire hunting party to take down a worthy prey. When Axehandles are granted a windfall, either by fight, hunt, or find, they will immediately urinate on the remains. This is intended to deter other scavengers or predators from taking it from them. This behavior inspired the famous saying among prospectors defending their finds with self destructive zeal: “Claim it like an Axehandle.”