[Introduction] So you want to play in the Midderlands, do you?

[Aethera]

Beware the Middergloom, My Son Green. To you it is a color, but to the peculiar folk who make their living in the Midderlands, green is also a seeping taint, bringing with it both marvels and madness—heavy on the madness. Green are the skies, the 'Drab', ranging from a lovely bright turquoise on the rare days of sunshine to the far more common sickly yellow-green of total cloud cover. Green auras even ring the constellations on a clear night, highlighting the stars and comets, and a single, many-cratered, almost web-covered moon. Green are the lands, with ancient, deep green forests that are havens for the strange and unnatural. The green-tinged menace rises from the 'Middergloom', the deep and mysterious realms beneath the surface, described as hell bathed in green fire and flames, which stretch from uncomfortably close all the way to the gloomium core. The Lords of the land fight constantly, endlessly, to hold back the creatures and indeed even the despair that rises from the realms below. Darkness brings danger and death, it is true, but you needn't wait for dark to find something that would happily take you. Adventure is waiting for inquisitive minds to seek it, and much that lies buried could keep those adventurers busy, amused, and truly, very wealthy, should they have the massive good fortune to find this 'treasure' and not one of the many things which would keep it buried. Dark things stir in the Midderlands. How doth the poet warn the masses? 'The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!' So, say you choose to brave these Midderlands. Seek not Them Upstairs, the gods, for in all their glory, they have shown little interest in us regular folk for the most part. Avoid the Demons, Deviltry, and all Them Downstairs, for they may take you up on your invitation. You may find that strange, weird, or awful things happen for no reason at all—though the plague of badgers might have been one of Them Downstairs havin' a laugh—exploding trees, fireballs from the Drab above, rain of frogs, even colossal vegetables popping out of the ground nearly the size o' the missus! Should you dabble in the arcane arts, be wary—witches are mistrusted and even persecuted in some of the region's backwater areas. Trust will be hard to find, should you bring to mind anything demonic in the narrow views of the populace. Keep your eyes sharp and your wits about you. The malevolence is everywhere, just under the surface, just waiting for the right opportunity. The people of the Midderlands certainly have a phobia of the strange and unnatural, but can you blame them? They fight to live their lives every day, while everything is normal, and then something evil slides out of its nest—like a deadly spider to an arachnophobe—and the world, such as it is, collectively freaks out! Midfolk may be phobic of the terrors, but they have learned what areas to avoid, what changes the seasons might bring them, and what the difference is between when it is safe and when it is not. A stranger brings more risk to their daily cautions than you might think. This, too, you must learn. Find a way to accustom yourself to the uncertainty and death. Only then, when you can truly say you are of one mind with the Midfolk, should you decide to tempt Fate.

The Midderlands, as hosted by RPG Crossing There is significant opportunity for this game to go dark fast and furiously. Despair, fear, and other gloomy emotions will be regularly felt by your character and those around them, so if that's not for you, I completely understand. Drama will almost always be negative, simply because there is so much that can go wrong in the setting. While the dark will be bad, and evil will remain evil, there will be a certain lightening of it to stay in tune with RPG Crossing's PG-13 standards. Keep in mind, when brainstorming for your character, the limits on swearing (modern swear words, at least) and other adult subjects. Consider it a medieval experience. Things are dark and scary, religious folk will look down on you if you swear much at all, the bedroom is a black box to polite society (after a fashion), however, creatively biting your thumb at your enemies can still take place. N.B. I do not want to encourage fantasy racism, but please be aware that the residents of the Midderlands are 95% or more human, and afraid of magic/strangers/their own shadows. (Almost all the NPCs will be human, for instance, unless someone creates a PC who goes somewhere I'm not anticipating.) This will create friction at times. I'm not going to throw in a whole lot of racist issues, or push any kind of agenda, but I'm also not going to hide unpleasantness when it does occur. Gender will not cause more trouble than it would in the real world, with the occasional idiot misogynist or rabid feminist. I will not be seeking to explore gender roles or nonbinary places in society, but if these are of interest to you or your character, let me know. I won't promise 100% sunshine and rainbows on any topic, as this is The Midderlands, and if you ever find yourself in such a shiny situation, you should immediately be afraid of whatever might be afoot. This goes for most of the fractious behaviors which might cause drama in-game. Please make sure to tell me immediately if anything comes up in-game that makes you uncomfortable, and we'll discuss it. We can discuss triggers to avoid in our "Session Zero"/character building time, but I always want my players to speak up, speak out, and speak freely.