The Coast is a tiny, dark world, damaged and frayed by ancient hubris
March 2, 2019 7:07 PM Subscribe
"Incunabuli is an RPG gameworld told through prose. Use this site as you would a sort of weird campaign setting book. Treat it as a source of ideas or as a reference for a campaign in the Incunabuli setting: The fairytale land of the Coast."* "Incunabuli content is written by Benton, 'Chief Producer of Typos at Incunabuli.com,' a narrative design student from the US." [Content warning for dark, potentially disturbing fairytale imagery, violence, and generally amoral fictional subjects, including in excerpts under the fold.] Reading guide under the fold.
*"The Coast is a tiny, dark world, damaged and frayed by ancient hubris."**
**"Footnotes are great."
Start here [from the guide at the top of the site]:
Plague: "At this, she upended the bowl over the corpse. It seized, jaw clacking. A plume of rotten smoke erupted from the slab, turned the beam of gaslight into an opaque pillar of blue-grey."***
***See The Worth of Salt below.
Adventure Capital: "The word "cutter" is a relic of naval privateering, in which independent parties licensed themselves as freelance combatants and raiders for war and security. Such privateers frequently commanded small, fast ships known as cutters. A hundred years after the decline of privateering, the name remains."
Of Mice and Humanity: "Round the door frame hopped three well-dressed mice. Spitze, a brown creature in a houndstooth waistcoat, led the party. He wore a handsome black ribbon midway down his prehensile tail. The others wore neutral, dark grey suits. The delegates' bounding gaits pattered softly on the warm tile of the room.
"Approaching Capard, Spitze rose from all fours, straitened to the height of the woman's knee. He offered a paw. Capard grasped the furry limb, bending low. 'Bonne gionro, Chancellor' she said."
Who's Afraid of the Ragwretch: "'How,' said Peral, leaning forward, curious. 'Do your cousins spoil your name?'
"Beside Milne, the ragged sailors put hands to their covered foreheads, made signs like pointed horns.
"'You see,' said Milne, baring his teeth again. 'They eat people.'"
A Second Coming: "The faithful know Aveth's dictates by a book called the Lord's Writ. This seven-hundred and seventy-seven page tome is regarded as the unaltered and final revelation of the Lord. †
"Within these pages, the canon of Aveth and humanity's origin is detailed. It is, as Avethans would have it, the story of the Coast and the World."
"†Scholars at the Arterton Academy posit that the Writ was, in fact, compiled by Avethan priests."
"What's with the name of the blog?"
All are Writ in Blood: "'We are not putting him back,' said Mathilde, scraping her dripping thumb for ink. She scribbled another line.
"My friend and I are students at a school. They don't teach us what we want to know.
"Mathilde turned the page. Her eyes went wide. The next, once blank, was filled to the margins: Symbols and formulae, text and diagrams; all bright red, as if just penned. On the top margin, in large text, was one more line.
"I will teach you what they will not.
Further reading:
The Worth of Salt: "Grisodate is a precious salt dredged from the eponymous Bay of Grey. It is treasured for its antibiotic properties. Grisodate wards off a plethora of maladies, banishes latent plague infection. Without their salt, human populations would be ravaged by disease and murderous grues."
Masters, Messieurs, Señori: "'Though I must continue to mingle, I look forward to speaking with you at dinner, Erin. We have been seated together' he said. He turned on his heel, still smiling.
"They watched him go. Auntie puckered her lips. 'Bloody hell, Erin.' Erin frowned at her Aunt's flushed face.
"'What ever is the matter, Auntie?'
"'You addressed him by his first name. I thought you knew better.'
"'That's bad?'
"'Well, I wouldn't say 'bad,' but it was very forward.'"
All the Money in the World: "Not all the money in the world is yet exploited. In the antique depths of tombs**** and hidden places, untapped sums languish in the dark, ownerless and ripe for the picking. All an enterprising financial institution need do to make a bit of extra wealth is pay some fools to go and pluck it."
****"Tombs are a notable historical phenomenon. Few cultures bury their dead (rather than burning them) due to the prevalence of necrocyte phage. A tomb is, rather, a place for secrets best forgotten, but too beautiful to bear destroying. The ancients, though they dearly wished to, could not kill their secrets. They built Tombs, that they might die and slip from memory. More on this, another time."
Dvergr, or Homunculite: "If, while delving in a deep cave, you find a large, red gemstone under some moldy bones and an old woolen hat, know that you have found a dverg.
"Simply pick it up (taking care, it's likely as large as your head) and take it home. Wash off all the old mold, then put it in an urn. Fill the urn up with whey, a fifth of whiskey, a dozen eggs, and a side of fatty bacon. Cover it up, put it beside your fireplace, and wait a while. Pay no heed to any noises or smells it produces."
All in the Golden Afternoon: "Horton beckoned to the tabby. 'Come 'ere, Dick. What's that you've got?'
"The cat strutted to Horton's rocking chair, tail held high. It dipped its head, deposited a sticky, twitching yellow thing at the old man's feet. Horton squinted at it.
"It was a chewed up tulip pixie, covered in its own sticky, yellow fluids. Its delicate, waxy pale arms were snapped, bent askew. One leg was gone entirely. It wriggled in distress.
"'Oh, ye damn cat' said Horton. 'I told ye not to kill me tulips.'"
Includes a d100 table of flower pixies.
Knucklebones: "He lunged, seized Row's wrist. The other soldiers leapt, too, dove to tackle the cutters. Stools clattered to the floor. Glasses smashed and bounced. Row staggered back, thrust her free palm at the soldiers.
"A series of loud, energetic clicks split the air, fast as a fluttering heartbeat. The broken-toothed man abruptly ceased his assault, winced, released his grip. Behind, his fellow Lothrheimers recoiled, began to cry out.
"Row snarled, thrust both scar-spidered hands at the shirking soldiers. The clicking intensified, quickened. Red blotches sprouted on the trio's flesh, grew to burbling blisters. They screamed, gasped. One, the pimply woman, bolted. Ewan seized her by the belt, swung her cross the room into the blazing hearth. Ash billowed. At the bar, hanging bottles burst their corks and spewed under the boiling scour of the cutter's crooked hands."
For those of use who enjoy reading tabletop RPG rulesets, Incunabuli has an open playtest document.
*"The Coast is a tiny, dark world, damaged and frayed by ancient hubris."**
**"Footnotes are great."
Start here [from the guide at the top of the site]:
Plague: "At this, she upended the bowl over the corpse. It seized, jaw clacking. A plume of rotten smoke erupted from the slab, turned the beam of gaslight into an opaque pillar of blue-grey."***
***See The Worth of Salt below.
Adventure Capital: "The word "cutter" is a relic of naval privateering, in which independent parties licensed themselves as freelance combatants and raiders for war and security. Such privateers frequently commanded small, fast ships known as cutters. A hundred years after the decline of privateering, the name remains."
Of Mice and Humanity: "Round the door frame hopped three well-dressed mice. Spitze, a brown creature in a houndstooth waistcoat, led the party. He wore a handsome black ribbon midway down his prehensile tail. The others wore neutral, dark grey suits. The delegates' bounding gaits pattered softly on the warm tile of the room.
"Approaching Capard, Spitze rose from all fours, straitened to the height of the woman's knee. He offered a paw. Capard grasped the furry limb, bending low. 'Bonne gionro, Chancellor' she said."
Who's Afraid of the Ragwretch: "'How,' said Peral, leaning forward, curious. 'Do your cousins spoil your name?'
"Beside Milne, the ragged sailors put hands to their covered foreheads, made signs like pointed horns.
"'You see,' said Milne, baring his teeth again. 'They eat people.'"
A Second Coming: "The faithful know Aveth's dictates by a book called the Lord's Writ. This seven-hundred and seventy-seven page tome is regarded as the unaltered and final revelation of the Lord. †
"Within these pages, the canon of Aveth and humanity's origin is detailed. It is, as Avethans would have it, the story of the Coast and the World."
"†Scholars at the Arterton Academy posit that the Writ was, in fact, compiled by Avethan priests."
"What's with the name of the blog?"
All are Writ in Blood: "'We are not putting him back,' said Mathilde, scraping her dripping thumb for ink. She scribbled another line.
"My friend and I are students at a school. They don't teach us what we want to know.
"Mathilde turned the page. Her eyes went wide. The next, once blank, was filled to the margins: Symbols and formulae, text and diagrams; all bright red, as if just penned. On the top margin, in large text, was one more line.
"I will teach you what they will not.
Further reading:
The Worth of Salt: "Grisodate is a precious salt dredged from the eponymous Bay of Grey. It is treasured for its antibiotic properties. Grisodate wards off a plethora of maladies, banishes latent plague infection. Without their salt, human populations would be ravaged by disease and murderous grues."
Masters, Messieurs, Señori: "'Though I must continue to mingle, I look forward to speaking with you at dinner, Erin. We have been seated together' he said. He turned on his heel, still smiling.
"They watched him go. Auntie puckered her lips. 'Bloody hell, Erin.' Erin frowned at her Aunt's flushed face.
"'What ever is the matter, Auntie?'
"'You addressed him by his first name. I thought you knew better.'
"'That's bad?'
"'Well, I wouldn't say 'bad,' but it was very forward.'"
All the Money in the World: "Not all the money in the world is yet exploited. In the antique depths of tombs**** and hidden places, untapped sums languish in the dark, ownerless and ripe for the picking. All an enterprising financial institution need do to make a bit of extra wealth is pay some fools to go and pluck it."
****"Tombs are a notable historical phenomenon. Few cultures bury their dead (rather than burning them) due to the prevalence of necrocyte phage. A tomb is, rather, a place for secrets best forgotten, but too beautiful to bear destroying. The ancients, though they dearly wished to, could not kill their secrets. They built Tombs, that they might die and slip from memory. More on this, another time."
Dvergr, or Homunculite: "If, while delving in a deep cave, you find a large, red gemstone under some moldy bones and an old woolen hat, know that you have found a dverg.
"Simply pick it up (taking care, it's likely as large as your head) and take it home. Wash off all the old mold, then put it in an urn. Fill the urn up with whey, a fifth of whiskey, a dozen eggs, and a side of fatty bacon. Cover it up, put it beside your fireplace, and wait a while. Pay no heed to any noises or smells it produces."
All in the Golden Afternoon: "Horton beckoned to the tabby. 'Come 'ere, Dick. What's that you've got?'
"The cat strutted to Horton's rocking chair, tail held high. It dipped its head, deposited a sticky, twitching yellow thing at the old man's feet. Horton squinted at it.
"It was a chewed up tulip pixie, covered in its own sticky, yellow fluids. Its delicate, waxy pale arms were snapped, bent askew. One leg was gone entirely. It wriggled in distress.
"'Oh, ye damn cat' said Horton. 'I told ye not to kill me tulips.'"
Includes a d100 table of flower pixies.
Knucklebones: "He lunged, seized Row's wrist. The other soldiers leapt, too, dove to tackle the cutters. Stools clattered to the floor. Glasses smashed and bounced. Row staggered back, thrust her free palm at the soldiers.
"A series of loud, energetic clicks split the air, fast as a fluttering heartbeat. The broken-toothed man abruptly ceased his assault, winced, released his grip. Behind, his fellow Lothrheimers recoiled, began to cry out.
"Row snarled, thrust both scar-spidered hands at the shirking soldiers. The clicking intensified, quickened. Red blotches sprouted on the trio's flesh, grew to burbling blisters. They screamed, gasped. One, the pimply woman, bolted. Ewan seized her by the belt, swung her cross the room into the blazing hearth. Ash billowed. At the bar, hanging bottles burst their corks and spewed under the boiling scour of the cutter's crooked hands."
For those of use who enjoy reading tabletop RPG rulesets, Incunabuli has an open playtest document.
OMG, the little adventure vignettes in RPG manuals are my favorite part! This is that over and over. Thank you thnak you thank you!
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 9:38 PM on March 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 9:38 PM on March 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
This is great!
posted by freethefeet at 12:41 AM on March 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by freethefeet at 12:41 AM on March 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
This gave me chills and I also have the same love of the vignettes. Thanks!
posted by abulafa at 5:28 AM on March 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by abulafa at 5:28 AM on March 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
So excellent, this is almost interactive fiction or a game in it's own right, just flipping around reading about the world.
Can't wait for luxury automated socialism, because doing work like this is my path to self actualization and I do not see it paying the bills.
posted by Meatbomb at 6:08 AM on March 3, 2019 [6 favorites]
Can't wait for luxury automated socialism, because doing work like this is my path to self actualization and I do not see it paying the bills.
posted by Meatbomb at 6:08 AM on March 3, 2019 [6 favorites]
I think one of the conceits of RPGs is that the players are the Heroes Who Will Make Things Right. RPGs that suggest that thing will never be Right (Call of Cthulhu comes to mind) are difficult for some players to get into. But with players that aren't afraid to embrace the setting, a "distressed" setting can be great.
posted by SPrintF at 7:47 AM on March 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by SPrintF at 7:47 AM on March 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
Love this! Thanks!
*goes back to reading*
posted by darkstar at 7:47 AM on March 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
*goes back to reading*
posted by darkstar at 7:47 AM on March 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
I've always thought that the plot was kind of the least important part of story-telling. I was always way more into the world-building. This place is perfect: all the joy of discovering a new world, no need to remember what anyone had for breakfast. I read the entire thing last night.
posted by meaty shoe puppet at 9:09 AM on March 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by meaty shoe puppet at 9:09 AM on March 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
Also, this comment was definitely worth reading:
So, God is back, and she's an atheist.
posted by meaty shoe puppet at 9:26 AM on March 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
So, God is back, and she's an atheist.
posted by meaty shoe puppet at 9:26 AM on March 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
What a lovely surprise. My best thanks to Caduceus.
posted by Incunabuli at 10:57 AM on March 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by Incunabuli at 10:57 AM on March 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
This is filtered at work, but all the vignettes in the FPP make me intensely curious. And your comments make it seems like actually clicking on them is not a letdown. Patience!
posted by Harald74 at 12:44 AM on March 4, 2019
posted by Harald74 at 12:44 AM on March 4, 2019
While I've had some inkling of the porcelain people for a time, this article was surprisingly challenging to compose. Only at the end did the final points come together. Even yet, we may yet hear more about the animunculi (and certainty about Illa Corvoy.)
This article was requested by Nathan, one of Incunabuli's generous patrons.
If you, too, wish to influence the lore, support Incunabuli on Patreon.
Wow, so many mixed feelings... I have no idea of who this guy is and yet am insanely jealous, and in awe. I hope that this world of his makes him rich, or at least brings in enough $$$ to keep him fed and keep the writing moving along.
It is one of the coolest worlds I have read about in a long while. There are novels and movies buried under these little vignettes, no question.
posted by Meatbomb at 1:41 AM on March 4, 2019
This article was requested by Nathan, one of Incunabuli's generous patrons.
If you, too, wish to influence the lore, support Incunabuli on Patreon.
Wow, so many mixed feelings... I have no idea of who this guy is and yet am insanely jealous, and in awe. I hope that this world of his makes him rich, or at least brings in enough $$$ to keep him fed and keep the writing moving along.
It is one of the coolest worlds I have read about in a long while. There are novels and movies buried under these little vignettes, no question.
posted by Meatbomb at 1:41 AM on March 4, 2019
MeFi's Own™ apparently, as of the 10th comment in this thread. Welcome, Incunabuli!
posted by XMLicious at 3:53 AM on March 4, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by XMLicious at 3:53 AM on March 4, 2019 [1 favorite]
Yes, welcome!
I'm suddenly at home, as my youngest was not feeling well and I had to pick him up from school. I had a little poke around the rules document, and there are several interesting things there. For instance the wounds system with "wound tickets" to speed up play.
posted by Harald74 at 5:13 AM on March 4, 2019 [1 favorite]
I'm suddenly at home, as my youngest was not feeling well and I had to pick him up from school. I had a little poke around the rules document, and there are several interesting things there. For instance the wounds system with "wound tickets" to speed up play.
posted by Harald74 at 5:13 AM on March 4, 2019 [1 favorite]
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posted by Caduceus at 7:10 PM on March 2, 2019