This is going to be a bit jumbled I’m sure, so bear with me as I try to codify the setting…

With a heavy nod to Lovecraft and keeping in mind that the strangeness of our world is a nod to things from beyond the veil we basically add:

• Beginning with
  http://www.rpg.net/columns/wushuskidoo/wushuskidoo8.phtml
• Mix in a little Aliens and Resident Evil a la:
  http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=391379&page=1

and mix thoroughly.

Froth until you have a situation wherein mankind has found a means of traversing into an alternate dimension where the entire space is one big underwater region. As far as can be ascertained, while there’s a “floor” like a seabed, there is no “surface” to the “water.”

The “water” is filled with complex nanofauna that are psychically charged. They allow desire and imagination to be “realized” with tangable results. Yep boys and girls, magic is possible if you can make the nanofauna work to your benefit. Of course this is a total hack job of the mediclorians from Star Wars, but oh well, we’ll just go with it.

It’s here that those strange pseudo-scientific and mythological things dealing with water merge with our own collective consciousness and are reality. It’s here that Atlantis resides. Here the lost items from the Bermuda Triangle have found their final rest. It’s here that the Deep Ones/Fish-men/Creatures from the Black Lagoon live. Here the Greys from space really come from – they’re reptillian humanoid invaders. Creatures from our collective subconscious lurk here – evil and ancient. It’s here that we’re off our footing at the top of the ecosphere.

And the inhabitants are hostile – extreemly hostile to humans. And they’ve got the edge on us. They’ve got magic beyond our ken, and technology that surpasses our own. You see, some have the edge too well.

The humanoid alien entities that exist in the region are:

• The Deep Ones. They’re the fish-men of old. They’re evil and ancient. They’re the “humans” of the world. And they’ve mastered the manipulation of the nanofauna. While not the apex predators of every region, they’re the generalists of the dimension. They worship a hideous female queen entity who can cause madness with a gaze and her massive male consort Dagon. They can perform great feats with a thought, but they’ve got limited tech. And they’re in a struggle against the newcomers of the realm – the Greys.
• The Greys are a reptillian race from another dimension. They are technologically advanced consumers and conquerers. Their tech is greater than our own, far enough to seem implausable at first glance, but experts can nearly grasp how a jump from “our knowledge” to “their understanding” is feasable – almost but not quite; like nearly seeing the solution to a problem, but it fading away when you try to implement it. Somehow they found their way to this world and have been in a constant struggle against the Deep Ones. This cold war is in a state of stalemate since the tech of the Greys is equally matched with the magic of the Deep Ones. Neither side understands the tool of the other, and so the stalemate is complete.
  During the test of a new weapon, the Greys have discovered that they are capable of creating rifts into our world. The first of these tests was the Tunguska Event. What followed was a series of events:

1. The Tunguska Event http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event
2. The Cando Event http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cando_event
3. The Eastern Mediterranean event http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Mediterranean_Event
4. The Vitim Event http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitim_event
   
   Leading to their direct incursion at Roswell. Fortunately for us, the Greys assumed that our world was covered with water too. And as a result the ship they sent (and all subsequent ships) crashed immediately. But it’s only a matter of time before they realize their mistakes or get lucky and send a weapon test into a major metropolitan center.

• The Squidheads  – they eat your brains and steal your thoughts. They’re humanoid/cephalopoids with a taste for brains. The real danger of a squidhead is that when it eats your brains, it gains all your memories – forever. Think little Cthulhu brain eater.

Of course there are more dangerous, apex predators in the region too. Things like the Abeloth; slug-like octopi, who have similar abilites to the squidheads; their mucus shuts down humanoid brains and creates a hive-like collective with the Abeloth as the center. All knowledge and memories are shared so long as the link remains. But unlike the squidheads, once the link is severed, those memories disappear from the collective. Or the spider-like crab things that scavenge the depths looking for a tender morsel to entrap and consume.

That’s enough riffing for now, more to come.

Up to 1d6-1 Related posts:

1. Bleak Horizons: More Thoughts on a 2020 Setting
2. Setting the tone of the game
3. Isolation, seperation and horror
4. Fall Convergence: Wee Hours of the Night
5. You’re all going to die – Take 2

Tags: Convergence, rpg, Setting