What If The Story Is A Lie?

[Fenrir_Lokison]

What if the story as Nightbane and Nightlords know it is a lie? What is the truth is that this was all some kind of failed experiment by an dying or curious race or maybe a singular creature?

Some thoughts I have, is that these creatures or creature had mastered magic to such a point, now only did it give them power over their bodies, but also their very dimension. But, they it was dying or was lonely, and there was no way for it to reproduce, but here is Earth, teaming with life and variety at that. It had plants and animals. It had seasons and varying climates. These things were wanted by the creature(s) and so it brought its home close to Earth and found ways to breech the veil between worlds. It tried some experiments to try to get some kind of physical contact with the planet, but for the most part it failed, so some came over to study and tried to bring back this capability to their world, but the success was so limited, they/it did not have the capability to make it work.

And I was just thinking, what if these beings or things or agents or whatever had capabilities like gene pools and engineers from Splicers? The ability to take samples of dna and story it and manipulate it? But, they did not have the imagination or powers needed to do anything with it? But, eventually humankind evolved (or maybe they were already there for those of use who believe in creationism) to a point were the could understand the nature of their world? Human beings offered something even more than what they/it expected. Emotions and it learned to absorb these too. And one of those were the sense of pleasure, lust, wanting love, etc. So, the creatures would taste these things with human beings (who may have mistaken them for angels), and so the women, who were able to carry children, birth the first of the creatures like the Reshaper, and these creatures then birthed the more limited Nightbane.

But there were either some of the species who could not handle these things, were resentful of the "lessor" species, and/or who may have thought to isolate themselves from the world. Or if a single being, not only did it take on the positive nature of the humans, but it also took on some of the darkness and it warred with itself until it split and in order to prevent corruption of itself and/or of the Earth. Either case, the dark creature/entity had to be bound away from the rest of species/itself and/or from the Earth, but it found a way to reach out to humans, particularly evil sorcerers and empowered them with some of the essence of the race/itself. And thus the Nightbane were born.

I am still working out how the Nightland creatures and familiars fit in. As far as the doppelgangers, I am thinking they were an earlier experiment implanted in human beings where somehow, pieces of their DNA as children is sent into the Nightlands and the beings are birthed from pods. And maybe the doppelgangers were at first designed to be spies and information gatherers, but because of the lack of imagination by the first species/or creature, they too lacked the spark of life that is humanity and that one discovered that if it killed its "twin" it adsorbed the lifespark as the lifespark did not immediately vanished as it believed the dopplganger body is its actual body and the spirits merge into some kind of spiritual gestalt being. And maybe there are more things in common with the Nightland creatures and Ashmedi and Nightbane than they could imagine?

Sorry for the jumbled mess. But, I was just thinking maybe this would be a interesting direction to take Nightbane so that they can actually start to understand themselves and that maybe their Morphus and Facade are actually the complete person. That they are designed to walk both worlds as they literally are of both worlds? And maybe, their abilities are not so supernatural after all, but actually scientific by a highly advance race or being?

[Nekira Sudacne]

Not really much to say to something that broad.

"What if I decide to completely throw out cannon and replace it with stuff I made up" is not really a question with an answer. "What if Star Wars took place in the Matrix?" It depends entirely on what you write and how good it is. If you want to do a homebrew Nightbane setting for your own campaign, feel free, as long as your players enjoy it who cares if you throw out established cannon with homebrew stuff..

[slade the sniper]

Is there anything new on this subject?

I love all the tables and races of Nightbane, but the setting is one of the least inspired in the Palladium Megaverse. Does anyone find a "place" to put it in another setting?

For myself, I use all the Nightbane character creation stuff for Invid genesis pits, Rifts supermagitech experiments, as an option for Heroes Unlimited experiments, an alternative for TMNT mutant animal stuff. Splicers and Nightbane have great stuff, but the settings just sort of fall flat with my group (doesn't stop me from owning them and taking the good bits, though).

I also find myself using Nightbane along with Changeling The Lost to make some reallly creepy Faeries for my Disney/Rifts crossover.

-STS

[Stone Gargoyle]

It is not presented as a theory, so any take on it other than official material is a homebrew setting. Which there is nothing wrong with, just don't present it as if the books have been hiding something. They haven't.

[Axelmania]

Well, actually, a lot of the Nightbane source material actually IS rumors and theories. I think a lot of people will take things in the Wanderer diaries as "canon" describing the universe, for example, a problem many suffer from when reading things by Erin Tarn or Doc Reid over in Rifts, for example.

It is interesting to distinguish what is written in an author's tone vs testimony of characters, and distinguishing absolute statement from things with wiggle words that allow them to be flexible or thrown out if desired.