In Fractured, your choice of race determines:
- The planet you start on: Beastmen on Arboreus, Demons on Tartaros, and Humans on Syndesia, each having radically different environments and resources.
- What type of abilities, spells, and crafting proficiencies are easily available to you.
- How villages and towns will look like; what buildings can be built and NPCs that can be hired.
- The society your character lives in, which dictates how you can interact with other players such as performing hostile actions like stealing and murdering. Also, what, if any, are the consequences of those actions.
- The gods you can pray to and how they intervene in mortal matters.
- How easy it is to travel to other planets and how well you are received by other races.
Beastmen: Living in Harmony
Tenoch climbed down from the colossal Watcher tree with one long, final jump. He was growing older, but his legs were still strong, his paws sharp, his grip on wood perfect. He didn’t have to go up there to keep guard – not anymore – but he still liked the feeling of being so far away from the earth, watching the endless line of trees that embraced Arboreus like a warm blanket.
“Dad?” Elya was standing behind him, eyes half closed, barely awake. ”What’s up?”. Elya pointed her paw up and almost lost her balance. She was young, still struggling standing on two legs. “Why are these two stars so bright?”
Tenoch raised his eyes to the night sky and sighed quietly. Even today, after all these years, it felt like a piece of him – of them – had been taken away together with their land. Perhaps one day they would get it back. They would be one again.
He doubted it. He had heard some of the merchants’ stories. It didn’t seem like they were going to change their ways. Cutting, digging, mining, scarring the beauty Tyros had gifted them. Even worse, there had been frightening tales of more and more of them leaving the light. Meddling with demons and dark powers that luckily had no place on Arboreus.
“Those are no stars, Elya. They’re planets. It’s the light of the sun that makes them shine like stars. Now go back to sleep, will you?”
Tenoch laid down on the grass. The two planets were dangerously close. They would align soon, he thought. Perhaps the following day already. It would be a day of terror on Syndesia. A day of blood.
After a little more mulling over grim thoughts, he turned around and closed his eyes. It was their business after all – they had brought it upon themselves. Didn’t they?
Demons: Blood and Terror
Sixty-eight losses on the eastern flank, without even going to battle. One of those retarded, ten feet tall heaps of muscles had decided he was really too hungry to wait a few hours for human meat, so he had started plundering the stocks of food of the fifth battalion. It had taken a few minutes only for the whole situation to descend into a large-scale brawl, and nearly an hour to sedate it after.
Liahria wasn’t at all shaken by the news. It was just everyday life when one tried to raise an army of demons that included Infernals. She dismissed the emissary and smiled. It had been Babilis’ will to gift them Vampires the smarts, unlike the others. One simply doesn’t question Babilis’ will.
She took out the seemingly unremarkable medallion from the chest in the corner and laid it down on the table. The other generals were coming to confer, but she still had a few minutes. She muttered some words – words only she had known, she hoped – and a crack started to make its way through the gold. She could see an eye within it. A green eye, then two small, pale lips. A voice came out of the jewel, now ablaze with fire and sparks. She responded quickly, then rushed to put it back in the chest.
Hers was going to be the most clever attack plan in the whole history of Tartaros, she was sure of that. Well, that wasn’t such a long history after all, but whatever. Liahria smiled again, more widely than before, her face turning wrinkled and unsettling to the sight. There was nothing pretty in her when she was anticipating the taste of blood.
Humans: Total Free Will
One blink, two blinks, then more every second. Mae could see the brief flashes of purple light coming from every street in the dark of the eclipse. The mages were calling it a day and teleporting god-knows where. The town was lost, now that was for sure.
There had been hope before, even when the light of day had started to fade at the wrong hour of the day. They were prepared. The walls surrounding Omenia were strong, and everyone had a great deal of faith in those shining tubes of iron they had put up there on the bastions. They could shoot large spheres of metal right in the middle of the sieging army, the engineers said. And then there was the main door of course, an unbreakable monster of wood and iron. Too heavy to be handled by human or animal power, it was controlled by a massive steam engine – another novelty of the twisted times they lived in, she thought. It could have all worked out, hadn’t she ordered her little rebel unit to murder the technicians and seize control of the engine. Soon after, the main door had swung open, throwing the whole garrison of Omenia into dismay.
Mae turned around to a rumbling sound getting closer to her apartments. They were coming. She could hear the screams of agony of her guards and servants. A bitter sacrifice, but one for a good cause. Bad things must be done at the call of a superior good.
The ravaging beasts that entered the bed chamber found her naked, glaring back at them with impassive green eyes. They were still hungry – always hungry – but didn’t dare to make a step further. They had been ordered not to do so, and while they didn’t always respect orders, that time surely they did. Then they moved to the side, swift and respectful.
Mae watched them pave the way for their master – and soon she made her appearance. She was so beautiful, slim, tall, with shining white eyes that seemed to eat all the light in the room. Mae had waited so long to meet her. Shaking a little – but just a little – she started walking towards her, then broke into a run, ending up straight into her arms. It was a moment of pure joy – no, more, ecstasy! – when she finally felt the teeth slowly descending into the flesh of her neck.