The entire world is at war.
Instead of playing in the current Tainted Cosmos setting, players may want to play out the last days of the Great War in contemporary times. This will usually involve staying alive in chaos and coping with the consequences of many disasters in rapid succession, followed by coping with supernatural beasts and beings. Picking a side is in utmost importance. Staying hidden is another. Once things get really disastrous and weird, mere mortals may be little more than cannon fodder. The players could also play the Paragons, or even Great Ones, if the GM is really ambitious. These characters would be mostly aware of what is going on and are preparing for the battle between the hosts of Celes and the nations of Earth. These two types specifically target buildings, stadiums, bridges, dams, power stations, oil fields, coastal beaches, or anything that, if destroyed, will cause widespread destruction and distress. In the beginning, they conquer in a manner more like ancient Mongol hordes than a modern army. They wage war, it seems, simply for the sake of waging war. Their goal appears to be destabilization, in an already destabilized world. Like the voracious hordes that decimated the combined armies of the European continent centuries ago, they have no interest in rebuilding the governments or infrastructures of the defeated. They have come to destroy, to kill to loot, pillage and burn.
Atmosphere:
Futility:
Everything we know and believe, of course, tells us that the other nations cannot possibly win in the end. In the fullness of time, less than a year, the only possible victory is that of Caspian. In the fullness of time, the only possible fate for humankind is decimation and enslavement. And yet people fight on - and who knows what petty victories they might win in the meantime, or what the value of those petty victories might be? Just because the war between humanity and Celes is hopeless doesn’t mean it cannot be glorious. The overwhelming power of Caspian and his forces make every minor victory against them that much more exciting. In this race, salvation is strictly temporary and conditional, and even at ultimate personal cost.
Religion and Blasphemy:
Throughout most of human history, the end of the world was something that was brought about by God (or the gods, depending on who you were and where and when you were living), something determined by invisible forces that moved beyond the secular realm, something that was out of the hands of mortal man. For those living during the greatest war, these are the “end times". As the world grows increasingly unstable and human society splinters under the strain, a growing atmosphere of apocalyptic fever hits the media. Well before the Great War begins, there are hints that the world is coming apart.
There will be some who say, for a time, that the coming of Caspian and his minions --- their random destruction, in daylight as much as night --- is a fulfillment of prophecy. If the commentator is Christian he says it fulfills Revelations. The Jews, the Sikhs, the Muslims point to other prophecies. The Fundamentalist Christians are easily refuted: The Second Coming part never comes about. They wait and wait for the Judgment; for the angel with the flaming sword, for the Rapture, for the dead to rise (now and then Caspian raises the dead, but not the way the Christians expect) for Jesus to come in his glory.
Jesus is a no-show. Naturally, the evangelists rationalize his conspicuous absence: The Sacred Timetable is a little off, that’s all. In the meanwhile, armies of servitors and cultists destroy houses of worship, leaving the terrified population without any sanctuary to turn to.
The Result: Second and First World nations vow to go down fighting. Major highways, tunnels and bridges are shot, or more precisely blasted; Celestial armies destroyed them to keep to disrupt transportation and to prevent humans from escaping. Emergency broadcast system stations drone on with the chaos, devastation, terror and destruction throughout the world. Telephone company installations are targeted to throw communications into chaos. Fear and panic grips the world, and civilization becomes paralyzed by the Celes' reign of terror.
To come up with a completely random campaign setting, determine where a military force was stationed, a tourist was visiting, or where a ship, plane or helicopter has landed – or the geographic location for a cult base, distant Safe Haven or broadcast site of a radio transmission – first roll or choose from the Random Continent Table below for a continent/wider setting.
Then roll or select from the corresponding Random Region Table for a more specific location. The rest is up to the Game Master and his players’ imaginations.
Random Continent Table
01-11% United States
12-22% Canada
23-33% Mexico
34-44% South America
45-55% Europe
56-66% Africa
67-77% Middle East
78-88% Asia
89-99% Australia
00% Antarctica or Greenland, Siberia or other desolate and isolated location of choice.
Random Region Tables
United States
01-10% Northeast/New England States
11-20% Midwest
21-30% Florida and the Southeastern Coast
31-40% Deep South
41-50% Texas and the Southwest
51-60% Colorado, Utah, Nevada and the Western Interior
61-70% California
71-80% Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington)
81-90% Alaska
91-00% Caribbean Islands
Canada
01-20% Eastern Canada (Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, New Brunswick)
21-40% Southeastern Canada (Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa)
41-60% Ontario (Toronto, Windsor, etc.)
61-80% Canadian Southwest (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta)
81-97% British Columbia/Vancouver
98-00% Northern Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut)
Mexico
01-16% Tijuana and the Baja Peninsula
17-32% Chihuahua, Hermosillo and Northwestern Mexico
33-49% Monterrey and Northeastern Mexico
50-66% Mexico City and Central Mexico
67-83% Southern Mexico/Acapulco
84-00% The Yucatan Peninsula
South America
01-10% Central America (Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, etc.)
11-30% Northern South America (Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, etc.)
31-60% Brazil
61-80% Paraguay, Bolivia, Uruguay and Amazonian Interior
81-00% Peru, Chile and Argentina
Europe
01-10% Scandinavia and Finland
11-20% The British Isles
21-30% France
31-40% Germany and Austria
41-50% Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg
51-60% Spain and Portugal
61-70% Italy
71-80% Greece
81-90% Poland and Eastern Europe
91-00% Western Russia (Eastern Russia see Asia).
Africa
01-20% North Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco)
21-40% East Africa (Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, etc.)
41-60% West Africa (Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana, Cameroon, etc.)
61-80% Central Africa (Chad, Angola, Tanzania, Zambia, etc.)
81-00% South Africa
Middle East
01-15% Israel and Palestine
16-29% Syria, Lebanon and Jordan
30-44% Turkey
45-59% The Arabian Peninsula (Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman)
60-74% Iraq
75-87% Iran
88-00% Afghanistan
Asia
01-10% Eastern Russia
11-20% Kazakhstan and the Caucasus
21-30% Western China/Mongolia/Tibet
31-40% Coastal China (Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Canton)
41-50% Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand)
51-60% Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines
61-70% Korea
71-80% Japan
81-90% Taiwan
91-00% India, Pakistan and Bangladesh
Australia & New Zealand
01-16% Northern Australia
17-33% Western Australia (Perth)
34-50% Southern Australia (Adelaide)
51-67% Eastern Australia (Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane)
68-84% Tasmania
85-00% New Zealand