News:

"Wings and a Prayer [L-E]"
Congratulations OfferedToEros & Random for completing your RP!

Main Menu

(Gauging Interest) Stone Age Tribal Mecha!

Started by Inerrant Lust, November 28, 2014, 11:53:34 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Inerrant Lust

A dark skinned man wearing nothing but a loincloth and some padded shoes stalked through the jungle, his bow and arrow in hand. The quiver was slung over his torso as he carefully followed the tracks of a beast in the forest. He saw his prey, a strange furred creature with large horns, a tail seemingly coming out of the back of its head and a slim cervine body with hooves. It was nibbling on some tall plants when the hunter found it. He drew the arrow back, but the beast suddenly rose its head and bolted away.

He shrugged, relaxing the bowstring and standing up from his hiding place. The hunter looked up in the sky, the two suns were just about to set. They were nearly one behind the other... If he didn't bring back any food for the tribe, it would only get worse for them. He thought he had heard what scared off the tribe's meal. It rumbled in the distance, but was methodical. One foot in front of the other, deep and low. Was it another beast, one even larger? There was no way he could have taken down something of that size by himself...

But then, he heard the sound of... machines. He bounded forward through the brush, clearing the vines and leaves in his way before he got to the edge of a small cliff overlooking a valley. There he saw it- one of the divine machines. His tribe only had three, but this... this was not one of them. It lumbered through the trees, covered entirely in war paint. It walked almost like a man, but was hunched over and armed with strange weapons that fired pure light and seared flesh and earth alike. He did not recognize it from any of the other tribes nearby, but it was decorated in skulls tied together and hanging from its 'neck'- a large pole was crudely strapped to its back, a banner affixed to it that had some symbols upon it. The machine was painted in white and red, animal designs upon the steel.

The hunter rushed back to the village, arriving just before dawn. A bonfire had already been lit in hopeful preparation for whatever meal he could have brought them, but he passed by the thatch-huts of his wife and children to go to the village elder. She was an ancient woman, once the priestess of a divine machine but had become too old. Her hutt was filled with pieces of ancient machines, their use long forgotten and unknown to the inhabitants of their little village. None of them could be communed with, as a priestess would commune with her divine machine. Long ago they tried, wrapping their bodies in the metal parts or touching them a certain way; but it was to no avail.

He told the elder of what he saw in the forest, and she got up with the help of her grandson and went over to a brazier filled with flaming coals, shaking a bunch of metal parts in her hand and tossing them into the fire. Two of the machines were outside the village, hunting different prey... the monk of the third one stood in the hut with them, dressed in rags and machine-jewelry, carefully watching the elder for her guidance. She stood watching the fire for a long time, until finally nodding and turning to them.

She explained that it was an auspicious sign, and that this strange new tribe did not bear good intention. Already dressed for war, the divine machine meant only one thing...

TL;DR Version

The planet is a harsh place for humans. Though the surface is verdant and fertile, giant alien creatures infest the surface. Humans are nomadic tribes or feudal societies, revering the warrior class known in various languages as Priests, Druids, Shamans, Kohen, Mullah, Pujari, Purohit, Daoshi, Kannushi. IE; any variety of religious titles used in real-world Earth. These holy men and women are the pilots of mecha, some giant, some simply large. This is the only technology of note on the planet. Everything else is practically stone age, as none of these mechanical marvels are completely understood or built. They are dug from the ground or re-purposed by crude engineers. Furthermore, the software interfaces with the pilot directly in a form of mental link, almost mystical and divine. Hence the religious nature of the setting and the low level of technology everything BUT giant killing machines.

You may recognize this thematically to an idea I pitched previously. Yes, they are one and the same... except this is a different planet than the one I detailed in that thread. :P