A creative theory about the world of Cera Bella originally posted by therandomone on April 5, 2009 on the Sinister Design Forums.
The post follows.
I have a theory (well, that's sort of obvious)! It is sort of strange, but it explains all! Well, maybe. I don't think this would fit in the TRPG threads, so here it is in the writing section! It is the perfect place for its absurdity! (this is pretty much a joke, but it could be true, who knows?)
Here are some main points of my theory:
Cera Bella is on Earth! Shadowlings are aliens! Psys are created through genetic manipulation! Spriggats are genetic manipulation! Gelves are genetic manipulation, too! This theory explains everything!
Cera Bella
First off, Cera Bella is in fact North America! I will draw attention to the geographical similarities. First notice that the whole shape of the continent is similar to North America, although the north and east regions are cut off. The comparison isn’t 100% the same, but the people of this era would not have as advanced mapping technologies as they do now (or I could always explain the distortion of the continents as the result of risen sea levels). Now, let’s compare some more geography! Lake Alto could quite possibly be a Great Lake, or possibly even the Hudson Bay, as they would be in that region. The Great Forest would be the middle of Appalachia, and that would explain the large forests. Ravinale would be in the Southwest United States and Northwest Mexico, explaining the Ashwan Desert. The Psy Academy would then be in the Alabama/Mississippi/Louisiana region. We can also see the Gulf of Mexico right below the Psy Academy, too. So, that’s it with my theory about Cera Bella. Now let’s get going onto the more interesting parts!
Shadowlings
Shadowlings are aliens! Really! I’ll give a brief little story about it.
Earth, in the near future, has been scouted by an alien planet and marked for colonization. Scouting capsules penetrated the atmosphere, taking readings on the Earth and its inhabitants. Most of these observations where covered up by governments, who claimed that these spacecraft where just fallen space debris (or weather balloons (Roswell)). The aliens discovered intelligence in humans, but they have observed that they act just as impulsively and animal-like as the other species of the planet, and so decide that they shall be treated as any other animal on the planet. The alien planet sends an escort for colonizers, so that they are not to be hurt (namely, the “escorts” are a fleet of ships equipped with nuclear warheads). The aliens land in a desert in the southwest United States and burrow underground, but the aliens are caught on video, causing mass confusion throughout the countries of Earth, and the governments assured the people that all will be all right. Soon, the panic died down, and many forgot about the alien landing altogether. Soon, though, people started disappearing…
Psys, Spriggats, and lots of other stuff!
We're not half over yet!
Shadowlings needed some cheap labor because the colony had drastically underprepared, so they turned to the field of genetic engineering, so they could get some organic machines, or such. Shadowlings started abducting humans once they had finished tinkering with plants (sterigma) and arthropods (bugs). They started by trying to create an easy to manage food source by giving some humans photosynthetic ability. They were successful, mostly, and they created the Gelves. These Gelves would stay in their pens until they were ready to eat, so they had little intelligence, and soon became weak due to the lack of need for physical activity.
The shadowlings soon needed manual labor, so they started modifying humans more. They changed them into unrecognizable bat people, with wings for the use of getting to places faster (or maybe just because they looked cool), and large muscles for the purpose of lifting and such. Some shadowling scientists thought that with their large size, these “spriggats” could be used as bodyguards, and so they gave them the capability of connecting to minds, as shadowlings had long before done to themselves. They gave them the ability to breathe certain “elements”, as a side-thought. An outpost in the north was where most of the non-active spriggat population where put.
The shadowling colony was taking off, and soon the population needed expansion. The colony stretched its grasp farther and farther, until they reached a major city. The creatures drove many insane, so soon the people attacked them. The escorts the colonizers brought were not happy about this. Soon, Earth’s major population centers were bombarded by nuclear missiles. Billions died, and those that were left were hunted by a force of soldiers. Fortunately, a few key facilities were not destroyed, and the survivors were racing to find a way to fight against enemies capable of hearing thoughts and killing with a thought. Scientists worked day and night, but whatever invention that they’d create would be thwarted by the shadowlings. Their A.I.’s would malfunction, and they would try to take on a persona, or sometimes even go rampant and attack humans (hmm, spirits?), biological warfare didn’t seem to work very well, and they were running out of ammunition for firearms. But one day, survivors found some research done by shadowling scientists, and soon human scientists had the way to beat the forces of the aliens. By researching outlines of spriggats, scientists were able to create telepathic humans. Soon enough, scientists could give people the power to create fire, or ice, or even radiation at will. The humans launched a counterattack.
Multiple Psy capable soldiers attacked shadowling power plants, farms, and housing facilities. The shadowlings tried to find them, but they could not identify humans, who seemed to have found a way to completely erase people from the telepathic “radar” (Obfuscation!). At first, the shadowlings underestimated the power of human Psys, which cost them dearly. The humans would use sneak attacks in the night, incurring significant casualties and slink back to their hideouts multiple times a day. Shadowlings soon saw what peril they were in, so they headed back to the ground in which they started colonizing (they couldn’t escape because their spaceships were one of the first things to be destroyed). The humans followed the shadowlings underground, and slaughtered all the shadowlings, except for one, who had somehow evaded capture, along with a few Spriggats. This shadowling’s name was Nelis.
Soon, the humans left the large cavern, as they had no use for living in the place. They wandered off, and soon their technology failed, as their contraptions did not have an available fuel source. Most forgot about the past after a few generations, but in the cavern, Nelis was working. She had little to work with, and her time was limited. Nelis hastily created shadowlings, genetically modified to live in inhospitable conditions, possible of keeping the species alive for just a bit longer. Many experiments were failures, but Nelis kept on creating shadowlings. After years of research, she finally was satisfied by her shadowlings. She spent years nurturing them in a controlled environment, but soon enough, the power would go off. She ordered her spriggats to create a building for her. They obeyed, and created a magnificent marble palace. When the power shut off, Nelis moved into the palace, and started up her society. Spriggats were “kept in check”, so as they were to not attack shadowlings as humans did. Nelis taught her “children” to hate humans, and despise them. She even gave them the ability to feed off of a person’s emotions. You should know the rest.