[UA] [MUAC] Cosmic Underpinnings of my UA Campaign

[James O'Rance]

Hullo ~

I've been writing for my campaign today, trying to get more of the 
information out of my head and into the much more reliable (erm...) 
electronic format. Hopefully this will result in the lamentably un-updated 
campaign journal being brought up to date soon (it's got two-and-a-half 
sessions out of six so far).

Doug Stalker shouldn't read this post, in case he's forgotten... :)
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Some may recall that my UA campaign is based on the premise that the PCs are 
a team of Sleeper assassins, who lead "normal" lives due to extensive 
hypnotic conditioning by their parents from a very young age. The players 
are starting to realise the extent of this. To keep things interesting, I've 
also incorporated elements of the Stephen King series "The Dark Tower" into 
the cosmology of my UA campaign; in a way, the first session was not Bill in 
Three Persons but rather, And I Feel Fine from One Shots:


The Dark Stalker is also known as the Faceless Man; sometimes, it is called 
the Ageless Stranger. It is the negative image of the human identity, the 
closest that an archetype can come to representing Death. At its utmost 
expression, the Faceless Man negates the power of other archetypes.

In most incarnations of the cosmos, the Dark Stalker simply brings terror 
and death, and its avatars fall too easily into the trap of sociopathy to 
become dangerous on a cosmic level. However, these incarnations exist not 
only sequentially but simultaneously. As time is an illusion of Order and 
the Dark Stalker is a force of Chaos, some Godwalkers of the Faceless Man 
have managed to walk into different incarnations of the universe through the 
otherspaces that lie between them.

There can only ever be one Godwalker of a particular archetype, and the 
Faceless Man is powerless to change that. When a Godwalker enters a new 
universe at a time in history where another already exists, reality forces 
them into a single gestalt identity. One body disappears, but the other now 
combines the epxeriences, skills, and purpose of both. The new Godwalker 
gets to choose which unique channel he will keep.

This has happened to a man who has been variously known as Randall Flagg, 
Richard Fannin, John Farson (the Good Man), Russell Faraday, and the Walkin' 
Dude. Flagg has spread terror in many incarnations of the cosmos, always 
choosing to keep his unique channel of slipping through the "thin" spaces 
between worlds. He is a master demagogue, salesman, advisor, poisoner, and 
authentic thaumaturge.

In his greatest accomplishment, Flagg has tricked several versions of the 
First and Last Man into entering the House of Renunciation. What emerges is 
impossible for anyone to know, but in these worlds the First and Last Man 
does not ascend, and so the Godhead never forms. Instead, things start to 
fall apart, archetypes lose their meaning, and the world spirals closer to 
oblivion.

It is known by some that Flagg serves a being called the Crimson King. What 
relation this being has to the First and Last Man is a mystery.

The Comte de Saint-Germaine is vaguely aware that Flagg has entered is 
reality from 'the world next door," and will not be tricked into entering 
the House of Renunciation easily. In addition, enemies of the Faceless Man 
have emerged from a place where the barriers between worlds have grown thin 
- led by Roland Deschain of Gilead, Godwalker of an otherworld-archetype 
called the Gunslinger.

Faceless Men have been playing poker in Las Vegas against other avatars, and 
winning...

*** *** ***

If I run To Go (which may happen as the second story arc of this campaign, 
if people are keen after the first one comes to conclusion) then I'll find a 
way to tie the Dark Stalker/Randall Flagg stuff more directly to the 
plotline of that "campaign of mythic Ascension." For now, it adds an unknown 
element into the game for Dr. Stalker, who is a UA gm himself and thus has 
read all the books. Plus, one of the other players is a huge Dark Tower fan, 
and was very excited about meeting the gunslingers.

And my portrayal of a dog-lemur-like creature is apparently tres amusing.  
:)

--
james o'rance
http://www.livejournal.com/~sim_james

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