CLOUD EMPRESS

Ecological Science Fantasy Roleplaying

Giant cicadas shape the world

In Summer, the Imago (giant cicadas) rise in great numbers to feed on the bones of the dead. Monks
and villagers dry corpses in huge burial piles to satisfy their hunger. In the winter the Imago bury themselves underground doing God knows what.

A few hundred Imago are spotted each summer, but once in a hundred years, the Great Brood
appears. Tens of thousands of Imago climb from deep soil and reduce the land to rubble.

Few folk are left (above or below the clouds).

A sizeable military force or a small city might be composed of a dozen living souls. Human progress has a bad back and a trick knee. Human ambition has been beaten back for a season or two. The land’s Christ-god left for the stars a long time ago and this place is no longer their dominion.

TRADE FOR WHAT YOU NEED

People pass, bargain, and barter for what they need with what they have. Inevitably, someone with
ambition will try to bring back old script or mint new coin, but even young folk are skeptical having
seen so many big plans turn to dust and bone.

THE CENTER OF THE PSYCHIC UNIVERSE

Don’t let simple lives disguise hidden power. Those that live here take for granted that the very soil teems with psychic power. Farmerlings bring it into their bodies in the meager food they eat, the smoggy air they breath, and the muddy stream water they drink. It’s no wonder the Imago treasure their bones.

SOME THINGS ARE SLIPPERY

Time and space are slippery. The road slips whenever people dare to make a map. Some things slip into our world from cousin realities. Floating water bears guide couriers. Wanderlings float on the horizon, just barely visible in magic hour. The chalk is the slipperiest though. A miracle soot, white drug, that makes magic possible.