A Summary of the Atlas of Lankhmer

The world of Lankhmer is a gritty world, set in a realistic and in-depth setting resembling the late renaissance of our own world. In this world, there are no fossil fuels - and no naturally occurring compounds that allow for easy access to firearms or grenades. In place of these technologies, pneumatic creations have taken their place, using hydraulic pressure to propel projectiles, or assail positions.

Similarly, magic and divinity exist plainly in the world, though it is a bleak - and impersonal thing. Divinity is present in the form of many, many gods that exist - and have existed. The mortal realm is often referred to as The Grave of the Gods - or the Material Plane, for all that exists in the mortal world exists from the eternal struggle of the Divine Plane. None know how gods come to die, and even the youngest of the gods appear to have existed far longer than humanity. Even still, gods that have existed before these gods, component to all that exists, make up the vast world that the mortals occupy. Their mysteries and portents will never be fully understood, and what one mortal can hope to grasp is little indeed.

All magic comes from lineage, powerful lineage. It is commonly accepted that all power of a magical nature comes from the blood. This blood carries the ‘spark’, as some peasants have taken to calling it. This spark carries power from one generation to the next. It can accumulate, wax, wane, change, grow, and behave… rather unexpectedly. The most powerful of lineages are extensive, hard to trace, but establish some of the most powerful rulers in the world. Others go dormant, or seem to emerge from nowhere - as what strange and unknown things that exist upon the face of the mortal world, not even the gods can know for sure.

In theory, since everyone has a lineage, everyone should have powers. Time has proven that this is not always the case, for though there is a certain power in the ‘life force’ of every mortal being, they are not wholly equal. Some argue the spread of powers from being close together, to outrageously far.

In short, Lankhmer is a place with impossible mysteries, wonders older than can be imagined, and a setting that can be both pleasant and heartwarming - or dreary, dismal, and hopelessly bleak.