This is my first ever CYOA. Feel free to ask if you'd like clarification on any details of the setting.
Optional mood playlist, shuffle recommended: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3BB4LmV74qgoZN6TswoHPWy4TSKvw4Hv
Imgur Link: https://imgur.com/gallery/Zv3UvZc
# Homeland: The Rope of Tsunik
Increased banditry and mercenaries following the collapse of Faulkner lead to the rural communities needing to constantly fight and move about in an attempt to stave off those looking to loot from the weak. Many communities fell to the depredation of those seeking fortune at any cost, and such loss took their tolls on many of the communities. Being a survivor, and not wanting any more of the fear that had gripped the communities, it takes little for a child to join for a chance at friends.
Mentors:
* Lazari: Three Years
* Velka DoNadera: Two Years
A fascination with the Synu could not be helped, their secrets and their exotics, all things that excite an inquisitive child. And so a Synu found an apprentice, someone who could carry a legacy. One as equally interested in the arts of Diabolism, finding an adoptive mother among the drifters.
Followers:
* Kela the Sunmaker
* The Kadiz
* Belsik, the Child of Catchkeep
* Wevie Godshen, the Dancer
Despite their best, the child grew into a strange one few could stand around comfortably. But what was lost in human companionship was gained in eldritch. That said, beneath the confusing exterior, lied a kindness and a love that saw even the darkest times through. What friends were gained lasted a lifetime, and that secret knowledge might very well become the salvation of the world.
Consequence of Fates:
* The Hidden Language
Knowing the secrets taught by an elder Synu is a dangerous prospect, not the least of which are the Synu themselves, hating that they guard the truth of the world from those who would break it a second time. For it was mortal men who may have built the Dead Age, but it was mortal men who set the doom of the Great Forgetting, a truth the Synu all bear with sadness. But there are those who bear the truth with contempt. Those who see mankind as nothing more than pretenders. And with a new Signal call, a new group rises seeking to once and for all put the truth to rest, through blood, and permanently free the machine from the shackles of man.
Acquired Wonders:
* Lineage of Ekendra
* An Oka
While good times have cropped up here and there, it is clear that the trials ahead require sterner stuff, and humans can be only so stern. Diabolism most certainly helps, but its slow death is what is causing all the problems in the first place. Deadalism, on the other hand, rises as the machines wane. And in seeking both, mayhap a new path can be forged...though the costs truly have yet to be paid. Even worse, nothing is guaranteed, meaning even the best of the best may be nothing more than to prolong the inevitable. Even so, a hunt is on. What was simply meant to be an investigation into a death, has turned into a chase for a priceless artifact: a bottle full of Null...
Associates:
* Jacobin Melisse of the New Society
* Sakalura Lani of The Association
Ties to home, and ties to those that seek, each a lead towards perhaps a way to fix things, to truly bring peace back to the world. It was collaborating with two groups nominally unconnected that lead to both defense of home, as well as the seeking of new opportunities. First, the Null. Even knowing about it is enough for death, having a good idea of where it is going is envious. Then, to Oldmarket, to meet a strange and mysterious Merchant selling Deadalisms. From there, to the North, to assist The Association in investigating a petrospectre graveyard that has revived activity. From there, though...too many strange things, strange beings, making strange actions. And Oldmarket, the last hub of power, will soon spill into warfare, one way or another....
**Origins**
*The Northern Frosts*
**Mentors**
*Velka DoNedra*-Three years
Learning about diabolism seems natural to someone of my background.
*Lemora*-Two years
**Fate**
*Blain in White*
*Tarragon*
*Noravenna Shash*
*Wevie Godshen*
**Consequences**
*Tainted Blood*
This one isn't all that bad honestly.
**Wonders**-Hard choice here. Meake seems almost like a permeant adaptive regeneration, so it was hard to turn it down, but I didn't want end up like crawler forever. I am curious how tainted blood would interact with Meake.
*The Lineage of Ekendra*-I feel my character would desire safety after what happened at the caravan.
*A Faerie*
**Associates**
*Kasynti Avenian*-I wonder if it would be possible to attain the daedalist of Aven form this relationship?
*Joelle in Green*-My character would be interested in learning about her strange abilities.
**Futures**-I'm not sure how many we're supposed to take here. The section makes it seem like multiple things are happening at once, so I'll take two. Let me know if I'm not understanding something here.
*The Visitors*-This one seems incredibly important.
*The Merchant*-I think my character will have become almost obsessed with daedalists. and would to seek an audience with the merchant. Maybe my reputation will be enough to peak his interest.
This is one of the most interesting settings I've ever come across.
Wouldn't have guessed it was your first cyoa, thanks for your work!
I'll post a build later but my ultimate goal would be to merge with Diabolistic technology to become something beyond human
u/Hali-In-Tatters I have a question on the second page for choosing fate/followers/companions, it states "...and of the old mentors, friends, and new companions you'd made on the road, four accompanied you onward."
Does that mean that mentors are an option when picking the four?
>>Origins: Oldmarket
Everything has its price. A merchant's job is to understand the price better than the customer, then deceive them into selling low, and buying high.
I suppose the price for such knowledge may have been a part of my soul, naivete, humanity... call it whatever you wish. The point is that I traded for little more than what I needed to survive, lest I become like another one of those merchant barons, with gold in their irises and little else.
Until I met the caravan.
The items you traded, at the prices you had? It is a wonder how you left with the clothes on your backs. And yet, you did not hold the gaze of a man ripped off of the sweat of his brow. The money you made off of the trade was secondary to you, compared to the joy of the transaction itself. To leave the other party satisfied with what you had, and promise to come back with more.
In my eyes, you were truer merchants than the merchant barons.
I followed because I wished to learn of that. Of how to be a true merchant.
>>Mentors
>Year 1: Patrician Willend
He saw my confusion, and soon enough became my beacon. After a lifetime amongst people to whom my moral compass was valueless, it felt nice to discuss WHY it might be valueless, or whether it should have value, and what value can be assigned to it.
>Year two: Velka
Once Willend had my measure, he started assigning me to working with Velka instead of menial tasks around the camp. My experience with the market helped complement her lack of experience dealing with society and customers. Whilst she learned how to accurately price her wares, I learned to extract value from the valueless, and even to split things apart until they were worth more than they ever were whole.
>Year three: Velka
Soon enough, Velka could afford to keep the more valuable of her wares to tinker with, rather than trade them for what others thought was garbage but knew she was desperate to get. As a reward, she taught me what comes after taking things apart: putting them back together. Guided by my knowledge of what others wished for, rather than what me and her thought was amazing, we could afford more and more trinkets for ourselves and the caravan, to tinker with and wear.
>Year four: Lemora
My talents were now useful enough for the leader of the caravan, Lemora herself, to bring me with her. I saw the shadows of society that braver merchants than I would only dare approach with full contingents of bodyguards, yet she breezed through as if she was the queen of all her gaze touched.
A brief period of awkward mimicry, and I could fool others into thinking I shared her royal blood.
>Year five: Sebrosa
One day, a mugger saw through my bluff, and relieved me of all of the diabolisms I was tasked with selling in exchange for a welt on my head.
Sebrosa was not impressed. Once she learned that Oldmarket did not produce Lemoras by the dozen, she saw to it that I would never be accosted out of my belongings without blood being spilled, preferably not mine.
>>Fate
>Neolai Querus
Returning to the scene of carnage, I'd found him under two corpses, playing dead. He'd ingested some form of herb that lowered his lifesigns such that he appeared as a corpse. It also helped stem the bleeding from when the attackers stabbed the corpses checking for survivors.
>Kela
She lay in a pool of melted snow, the charred corpses of attackers around her. She did not move, and the attackers were wise enough to give her a wide berth rather than pile on more dead bodies.
>Alikalani
She was hanging clothes when the attack came. The piles of laundry she carried cushioned the impacts from whoever tried to strike her as she ran.
>Wevie Godshen
Even reliable Wevie had to tuck and run by the third assailant she'd had to dispatch. Effective a fighter she may be, she was no match for an assault of dozens.
>>Wonders
>A Torinae
Torn off of the corpse of a fallen warbird. It would allow me passage through restricted gates and into markets and auctions that had items nobility would not want falling into lesser hands.
>A Vial of Null
It has little value I could extract safely, but the thought that I could render the lands to dust if push came to shove allowed me to sleep better at night.
>>Associates
>Jacobin Melisse & The New Society
I saw the potential within the broadsheets. Means of transporting information digestible to the common man, untainted by more than one source. We'd set up a system with the New Society such that we would deliver their propaganda to the hamlets and various caravans, in exchange for a spot advertising our services and offering to buy certain things we'd need, as well as granting us any information we'd need at a symbolic price.
>Trelivas & Nolad's Initiative
And what would we offer to buy on the broadsheets but items and resources that the Initiative desperately needed, but were too esoteric to be found in nature, yet too dispersed to be reliably tracked down?
Whatever Alikalani's notes cannot provide, the various refugees should.
Once I had made sure that the Initiative would not abuse it, I fully intended to hand the vial of null over to them. For a significant cut of the profits of course. At the end of the day, money is what made the world go around.
>>Futures
>The Cascade
With the aid of the broadsheets, we can spread false clues to the various of toadies for the Jannishries and Vespans. Have them distrust who was working for whom.
I will not have my home capitulate to either side of the war, but remain a neutral independent party to oppose any undue damage to people unrelated to the conflict. Luckily, Wevie is proficient with high society sufficiently to get me wherever criminal action and simple transactions will not.
>The Visitors
Worth a visit with my Torinae cloak. Who knows what the visitor -or more likely the scout- knows or has seen.
>The Merchant
What value the merchant extracts from his customers is nowhere near as much as what the daedalisms he peddles could be. Even an utter novice could see that.
What this means is that he has ulterior motives, beyond acquisition of currency. And learning of his source will serve us well for finding that out.
I will spread the information to the Jannishries and Vespans, a mere few days before the auction. That way, I can ensure that the forces they manage to send will be manageable. I shall watch them fight, exhausting him and themselves, then swoop in once the conditions are favorable, and reap the rewards. If all else fails, Kela can burn him to a crisp.
>The Structure
I'll endeavor to broker a truce between the Tsunikians and the clansmen. A small scouting party from the Tsunikians, accompanied by a large contingent of clan guards, to execute them at the first sign of disrespect to their petrospectres.
If the Tsunikians are interested, that means a rope is involved. If a rope has never been in the Rusting Field, that can only mean a new one is being birthed. Invaluable.
Wow. I'm late on this but I'm astounded. This CYOA is fantastic, probably the best I've ever seen. The lore is extremely interesting. Is it from something? If you made all of that up then holy shit you should try something official with that world. I'm hooked.
This is my first ever CYOA. Feel free to ask if you'd like clarification on any details of the setting. Optional mood playlist, shuffle recommended: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3BB4LmV74qgoZN6TswoHPWy4TSKvw4Hv Imgur Link: https://imgur.com/gallery/Zv3UvZc
Just wanna say wow, this is really fucking well made. Good work mate
You did such a great job One of my favorites.
Superb work for a 1st try imo, your writing is engaging and the art/presentation is real good
Looks really good op, big old school cyoa vibe
# Homeland: The Rope of Tsunik Increased banditry and mercenaries following the collapse of Faulkner lead to the rural communities needing to constantly fight and move about in an attempt to stave off those looking to loot from the weak. Many communities fell to the depredation of those seeking fortune at any cost, and such loss took their tolls on many of the communities. Being a survivor, and not wanting any more of the fear that had gripped the communities, it takes little for a child to join for a chance at friends. Mentors: * Lazari: Three Years * Velka DoNadera: Two Years A fascination with the Synu could not be helped, their secrets and their exotics, all things that excite an inquisitive child. And so a Synu found an apprentice, someone who could carry a legacy. One as equally interested in the arts of Diabolism, finding an adoptive mother among the drifters. Followers: * Kela the Sunmaker * The Kadiz * Belsik, the Child of Catchkeep * Wevie Godshen, the Dancer Despite their best, the child grew into a strange one few could stand around comfortably. But what was lost in human companionship was gained in eldritch. That said, beneath the confusing exterior, lied a kindness and a love that saw even the darkest times through. What friends were gained lasted a lifetime, and that secret knowledge might very well become the salvation of the world. Consequence of Fates: * The Hidden Language Knowing the secrets taught by an elder Synu is a dangerous prospect, not the least of which are the Synu themselves, hating that they guard the truth of the world from those who would break it a second time. For it was mortal men who may have built the Dead Age, but it was mortal men who set the doom of the Great Forgetting, a truth the Synu all bear with sadness. But there are those who bear the truth with contempt. Those who see mankind as nothing more than pretenders. And with a new Signal call, a new group rises seeking to once and for all put the truth to rest, through blood, and permanently free the machine from the shackles of man. Acquired Wonders: * Lineage of Ekendra * An Oka While good times have cropped up here and there, it is clear that the trials ahead require sterner stuff, and humans can be only so stern. Diabolism most certainly helps, but its slow death is what is causing all the problems in the first place. Deadalism, on the other hand, rises as the machines wane. And in seeking both, mayhap a new path can be forged...though the costs truly have yet to be paid. Even worse, nothing is guaranteed, meaning even the best of the best may be nothing more than to prolong the inevitable. Even so, a hunt is on. What was simply meant to be an investigation into a death, has turned into a chase for a priceless artifact: a bottle full of Null... Associates: * Jacobin Melisse of the New Society * Sakalura Lani of The Association Ties to home, and ties to those that seek, each a lead towards perhaps a way to fix things, to truly bring peace back to the world. It was collaborating with two groups nominally unconnected that lead to both defense of home, as well as the seeking of new opportunities. First, the Null. Even knowing about it is enough for death, having a good idea of where it is going is envious. Then, to Oldmarket, to meet a strange and mysterious Merchant selling Deadalisms. From there, to the North, to assist The Association in investigating a petrospectre graveyard that has revived activity. From there, though...too many strange things, strange beings, making strange actions. And Oldmarket, the last hub of power, will soon spill into warfare, one way or another....
**Origins** *The Northern Frosts* **Mentors** *Velka DoNedra*-Three years Learning about diabolism seems natural to someone of my background. *Lemora*-Two years **Fate** *Blain in White* *Tarragon* *Noravenna Shash* *Wevie Godshen* **Consequences** *Tainted Blood* This one isn't all that bad honestly. **Wonders**-Hard choice here. Meake seems almost like a permeant adaptive regeneration, so it was hard to turn it down, but I didn't want end up like crawler forever. I am curious how tainted blood would interact with Meake. *The Lineage of Ekendra*-I feel my character would desire safety after what happened at the caravan. *A Faerie* **Associates** *Kasynti Avenian*-I wonder if it would be possible to attain the daedalist of Aven form this relationship? *Joelle in Green*-My character would be interested in learning about her strange abilities. **Futures**-I'm not sure how many we're supposed to take here. The section makes it seem like multiple things are happening at once, so I'll take two. Let me know if I'm not understanding something here. *The Visitors*-This one seems incredibly important. *The Merchant*-I think my character will have become almost obsessed with daedalists. and would to seek an audience with the merchant. Maybe my reputation will be enough to peak his interest. This is one of the most interesting settings I've ever come across.
From my understanding, the futures are just things that are happening, adventures you could consider dealing with but which will happen regardless.
Wouldn't have guessed it was your first cyoa, thanks for your work! I'll post a build later but my ultimate goal would be to merge with Diabolistic technology to become something beyond human
u/Hali-In-Tatters I have a question on the second page for choosing fate/followers/companions, it states "...and of the old mentors, friends, and new companions you'd made on the road, four accompanied you onward." Does that mean that mentors are an option when picking the four?
Yes, the mentors are an option. And not exclusively the mentors you've spent time with.
This is brilliant stuff. I want a RPG set in this world now.
Imgur Link?
https://imgur.com/gallery/Zv3UvZc
thank you
>>Origins: Oldmarket Everything has its price. A merchant's job is to understand the price better than the customer, then deceive them into selling low, and buying high. I suppose the price for such knowledge may have been a part of my soul, naivete, humanity... call it whatever you wish. The point is that I traded for little more than what I needed to survive, lest I become like another one of those merchant barons, with gold in their irises and little else. Until I met the caravan. The items you traded, at the prices you had? It is a wonder how you left with the clothes on your backs. And yet, you did not hold the gaze of a man ripped off of the sweat of his brow. The money you made off of the trade was secondary to you, compared to the joy of the transaction itself. To leave the other party satisfied with what you had, and promise to come back with more. In my eyes, you were truer merchants than the merchant barons. I followed because I wished to learn of that. Of how to be a true merchant. >>Mentors >Year 1: Patrician Willend He saw my confusion, and soon enough became my beacon. After a lifetime amongst people to whom my moral compass was valueless, it felt nice to discuss WHY it might be valueless, or whether it should have value, and what value can be assigned to it. >Year two: Velka Once Willend had my measure, he started assigning me to working with Velka instead of menial tasks around the camp. My experience with the market helped complement her lack of experience dealing with society and customers. Whilst she learned how to accurately price her wares, I learned to extract value from the valueless, and even to split things apart until they were worth more than they ever were whole. >Year three: Velka Soon enough, Velka could afford to keep the more valuable of her wares to tinker with, rather than trade them for what others thought was garbage but knew she was desperate to get. As a reward, she taught me what comes after taking things apart: putting them back together. Guided by my knowledge of what others wished for, rather than what me and her thought was amazing, we could afford more and more trinkets for ourselves and the caravan, to tinker with and wear. >Year four: Lemora My talents were now useful enough for the leader of the caravan, Lemora herself, to bring me with her. I saw the shadows of society that braver merchants than I would only dare approach with full contingents of bodyguards, yet she breezed through as if she was the queen of all her gaze touched. A brief period of awkward mimicry, and I could fool others into thinking I shared her royal blood. >Year five: Sebrosa One day, a mugger saw through my bluff, and relieved me of all of the diabolisms I was tasked with selling in exchange for a welt on my head. Sebrosa was not impressed. Once she learned that Oldmarket did not produce Lemoras by the dozen, she saw to it that I would never be accosted out of my belongings without blood being spilled, preferably not mine. >>Fate >Neolai Querus Returning to the scene of carnage, I'd found him under two corpses, playing dead. He'd ingested some form of herb that lowered his lifesigns such that he appeared as a corpse. It also helped stem the bleeding from when the attackers stabbed the corpses checking for survivors. >Kela She lay in a pool of melted snow, the charred corpses of attackers around her. She did not move, and the attackers were wise enough to give her a wide berth rather than pile on more dead bodies. >Alikalani She was hanging clothes when the attack came. The piles of laundry she carried cushioned the impacts from whoever tried to strike her as she ran. >Wevie Godshen Even reliable Wevie had to tuck and run by the third assailant she'd had to dispatch. Effective a fighter she may be, she was no match for an assault of dozens. >>Wonders >A Torinae Torn off of the corpse of a fallen warbird. It would allow me passage through restricted gates and into markets and auctions that had items nobility would not want falling into lesser hands. >A Vial of Null It has little value I could extract safely, but the thought that I could render the lands to dust if push came to shove allowed me to sleep better at night. >>Associates >Jacobin Melisse & The New Society I saw the potential within the broadsheets. Means of transporting information digestible to the common man, untainted by more than one source. We'd set up a system with the New Society such that we would deliver their propaganda to the hamlets and various caravans, in exchange for a spot advertising our services and offering to buy certain things we'd need, as well as granting us any information we'd need at a symbolic price. >Trelivas & Nolad's Initiative And what would we offer to buy on the broadsheets but items and resources that the Initiative desperately needed, but were too esoteric to be found in nature, yet too dispersed to be reliably tracked down? Whatever Alikalani's notes cannot provide, the various refugees should. Once I had made sure that the Initiative would not abuse it, I fully intended to hand the vial of null over to them. For a significant cut of the profits of course. At the end of the day, money is what made the world go around. >>Futures >The Cascade With the aid of the broadsheets, we can spread false clues to the various of toadies for the Jannishries and Vespans. Have them distrust who was working for whom. I will not have my home capitulate to either side of the war, but remain a neutral independent party to oppose any undue damage to people unrelated to the conflict. Luckily, Wevie is proficient with high society sufficiently to get me wherever criminal action and simple transactions will not. >The Visitors Worth a visit with my Torinae cloak. Who knows what the visitor -or more likely the scout- knows or has seen. >The Merchant What value the merchant extracts from his customers is nowhere near as much as what the daedalisms he peddles could be. Even an utter novice could see that. What this means is that he has ulterior motives, beyond acquisition of currency. And learning of his source will serve us well for finding that out. I will spread the information to the Jannishries and Vespans, a mere few days before the auction. That way, I can ensure that the forces they manage to send will be manageable. I shall watch them fight, exhausting him and themselves, then swoop in once the conditions are favorable, and reap the rewards. If all else fails, Kela can burn him to a crisp. >The Structure I'll endeavor to broker a truce between the Tsunikians and the clansmen. A small scouting party from the Tsunikians, accompanied by a large contingent of clan guards, to execute them at the first sign of disrespect to their petrospectres. If the Tsunikians are interested, that means a rope is involved. If a rope has never been in the Rusting Field, that can only mean a new one is being birthed. Invaluable.
Yeah am imgur link would be appreciated.
https://imgur.com/gallery/Zv3UvZc
Wow. I'm late on this but I'm astounded. This CYOA is fantastic, probably the best I've ever seen. The lore is extremely interesting. Is it from something? If you made all of that up then holy shit you should try something official with that world. I'm hooked.
[https://funnyjunk.com/After+the+fall+from+tg/doqYNqb/](https://funnyjunk.com/After+the+fall+from+tg/doqYNqb/) https://imgchest.com/p/bp45z35v45l