◈THE GREY ◈
These woods and its creatures...
Twist, Claw, Grow
The one thing they wont do is die
INTRODUCTION
The Grey is a supernatural location that does not follow the ground rules of Durus.
The best comparison that can be made from a 'gameplay mechanic' perspective is that it acts like the rogue-like dungeon of this world setting and a place extra-spectacularly terrifying monsters can come out of.
It functions as a vicious and protective threshold for anyone wishing to walk through its twisting paths to other places or worlds and is the reason other-worldly beings and their unknown powers are decimated.
Its true nature is that of a psuedo-dreamscape and shifting mystic land filled with mystic natured vegetation and creatures known for their extreme resilience. The land within the Grey mimics locations it has taken root in and other structures and land grows based off the psyche of its brave visitors.
It exists everywhere and is accessed via liminal spaces. Some entrances found are consistent, others suddenly appear, causing people to be suddenly dragged into the other world and making mysterious disappearances OR sudden horrific appearances of creatures literally crawling out of the woodworks.
OOC FUNCTION
From an OOC technical point;
The Grey functions as a barrier around the world setting 'Durus' which is the world Markus and Nikolai come from. Its protective in the sense that there are large supernatural entities and the ground itself that will sap things down to a relatively human-state and attack/eat or push things out if they seem too powerful.
METAVERSE NOTE : THIS 100% AFFECTS THE METAVERSE ADJACENT ASPECT OF THE RP
(aka its my way of managing powerlevel) There is also interesting things that happen if people still try to bring intense powers in despite the sap. Doing so It will put lower-level players present in immediate danger but its still a player choice.
DEATH IN THE GREY
The Grey doesn't allow visitors to die on its grounds.
If you die you will eventually be put back together either where you fell or appear elsewhere in the forest.
If you have a death-case it is prevented before its triggered, if your character has an afterlife they aren't there even for a moment, maybe a sensation of being at the door or seeing that you are being kept away from it for a brief moment.
The only types of death in the grey is to become grey-scorched or "give up".
Greyscorch is like bloodbourne insight, Moonscorching , low sanity consequences from other games and cyberpsycho, mental deterioration etc
Going down this path or taking on the consequences means to literally get twisted into something monstrous or symbolic to the individual, a true horror and it is not a fate one can simply return from.
so tldr mechanics wise; You dont die. If your body is destroyed it tries its best to heal you. You only die when you give up
GEOGRAPHY / EXPANSION
It is heavily 'MYSTIC' in nature which I'll define soon cus the magic systems allowed within the setting is limited because of the Grey and other forces. Everything in it is physical but the forest can shape or add onto itself and expand based off the psyche of those who enter and it decides to take impressions from. It branches out and grows into other places or worlds which is how 'outsiders' can enter Durus and the other way around
In the context of metaverse-adjacent content;
This means eventually it will form places or environments based off outsiders depending...
INSPIRATION & LARGER SETTING
Inspirations and vibes you can take from would be things like dead-by-daylight, silenthill, resident evil, wolfenstein, iron-harvest, bioshock, hunt : showdown, Darkwood, Fear & Hunger, Pathologic etc.
Durus is a world set in the 1920's as a steampunk - dieselpunk grimdark survival-horror setting.
The Grey keeps bringing things back to life so some Bio mutants and Mystic creatures are like 10x worse because they twist and die and come back.
Tech also experiences weird animation or malfunctions so we have many types of horrific flavour of monsters and creatures that can come out of the woodworks from Durus and other worlds (outsiders) depending.