# Renewal Point: ## A Setting Hack for [Songs For the Dusk](https://yrgirlkv.itch.io/songsforthedusk) Renewal Point tells the story of communities rebuilding after the apocalypse, sheltering on the San Juan Islands in Puget Sound (near Seattle) and venturing onto the mainland to scavenge resources from a dangerous world. Setting foot upon the mainland is almost certain death, except for a very select few who know how to safely navigate the anomalies, monsters, and decayed infrastructure of the Stillness. ![[Oasis Institute.png]] *Image depicts members of Renewal Point working together to grow food in a greenhouse, with people of all ages working in a greenhouse to harvest and care for vegetables. An elder instructs a child holding a basket of potatoes. Skylights overhead show a blue sky, while the interior is densely packed with scavenged material repurposed into grow beds. Credit: [Cesár Odilon](https://www.artstation.com/oddcesar). By commission.* But at its heart, Renewal point is a story of joy. Of regrowth, mutual aid, and care for one another. Resilience and brightness in the face of terrifying odds, and an investment in an uncertain future. Of festivals held each year, of found family, of tending to all. It deliberately juxtaposes horror/weird fiction and solarpunk to heighten the stress and release cycles in Songs For the Dusk's missions and downtime. ![[Regainers Guild.png]] *Image depicts two people working in a barn that has been converted into an industrial workshop, with several scattered bits of technology on tables. Credit: [Cesár Odilon](https://www.artstation.com/oddcesar). By commission.* # The Story So Far Renewal Point takes place in an imagined, near future real world setting. Here's the story of how it came to pass Chronological story of how the world came to pass: * [[The Collapse]] * [[The Quiet Year]] * [[The Hard Winter]] * [[28 Years Later]] ('Present Day' for the players) Other setting information: * [[The Stillness]] # The People of Renewal Point Renewal Point is the primary community of the player characters, and currently has ~300 individuals from a wide range of backgrounds. The Illness has forced changes to traditional structures of power, family, and community. The people of Renewal Point have a strongly democratic culture, built on mutual aid and wellbeing for all. Several prominent figures are listed in [[People/Overview|the People Overview]]. ![[Water Singers.png]] *Image depicts a wide shot of a Washington State Ferry that has been towed/beached and inhabited as a part of the community. It is dusk. Distant figures gather in an apparent festival or spiritual event as lanterns are lit and sent out from a nearby dock. Credit: [Cesár Odilon](https://www.artstation.com/oddcesar). By commission.* # The Factions Many groups make the San Juan Islands and the surrounding land home. The players are all connected to Renewal Point, the subject of [[The Quiet Year]], [[The Hard Winter]], and [[28 Years Later]]. Within the broader area, there are many factions with competing objectives in sizes from a single individual to large communities with well established infrastructure. See this [[Factions/Overview|Overview]] of the factions operating within the Sound and the surrounding areas. ![[Lambic Hive.png]] *Image depicts a festival scene, with children playing chase, couples dancing, a community member chatting at a vendor's stall. One of the children is wearing a mask of a predator as festival attire. Drones like paper lanterns drift overhead and covered stalls recede into the distance. In the far distance, the beached ferry is visible. Credit: [Cesár Odilon](https://www.artstation.com/oddcesar). By commission.* # Mechanical Changes Several keywords used throughout Songs For the Dusk have slightly altered meanings or have been replaced with other words in this setting. ##### Adapted Some humans in the new world have mutations that result animal-like (or plant/fungi-like) characteristics. The same "adapted" keyword is used here, and it's generally considered a novel phenomena and a result of The Illness. Some communities may be more or less comfortable with it. ##### Radiant => "Pre Stillness" or "Pre Collapse" Items or technology that Songs For the Dusk considers "Radiant" would be cutting edge technology immediately prior to The Collapse, and are a little less fantastic in their effect (a flying city, for instance, would be an unlikely item in Renewal Point's setting.) That said, in the scrappy, maker-inspired world of Renewal Point, a cutting edge piece of technology would still feel magical to those who encounter it. The Collapse takes place ~50 years ahead of present day Earth, so draw a palette of technologies that are *plausible* 50 years from now. But when in doubt, it's ok to push that boundary a little -- who knows what cutting edge things were in development at the time! ##### Transcendent The world of Renewal Point isn't explicitly magical, per se, but draws inspiration from works like *Annihilation*, *Stalker*, or *Pacific Drive*, where the fabric of reality isn't *quite* what you or I'd expect it to be. In practice, players are most likely to be interacting with Transcendent forces and entities and most non-player characters would marvel at the effects. Interpret Transcendent forces permissively for players, allowing them to bend the typical rules of physical reality. Resist the urge to over-explain Transcendent phenomena -- that's just how the world works now for the players (and a few NPCs, like the [[Factions/Overview#Tea Witches|Tea Witches]]). # Touchstones Renewal Point draws from, and deliberately juxtaposes, elements of weird fiction and solarpunk fiction. Our home, our community is bright, optimistic, mutually supportive. The people are strong, upbeat, and care deeply about one another and the community as a whole. The Stillness is dangerous, dark, and uncanny. Play up that difference -- the weight, the terror of leaving home against the brightness, the joy of returning to it. Encountering another person in downtime should be upbeat, encountering another on a mission should feel risky. Make sure you understand your player's comfort levels with this before beginning. Some groups may not feel comfortable with doom and gloom, and may wish to portray The Stillness as an *unpredictable* but not scary place. That's ok too! Lean into the *weird*, and adjust the horror and spooky as desired. ###### Books and Comics: *Stand Still; Stay Silent*, *Third Voice*, *A Psalm for the Wild Built*, *The Girl With All The Gifts*, *The Tea Dragon Society*, *Always Coming Home* ###### Movies and TV: *Annihilation*, *["Dear Alice"](https://www.thelineanimation.com/work/chobani )*, *Strange World*, *["Only Slightly Exaggerated"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doVV1a7XgyQ)*, *Nausicaä and the Valley of the Wind*, *Scavenger's Reign* ###### Music and Audio Serials: *Friends at the Table: Sangfielle*, *Dark: Cycle 1* by Ben Frost, *Hyper Light Drifter* by Disasterpeace, *The Much Much How How and I* by Cosmo Sheldrake ###### Games: *Bloodborne*, *Pacific Drive*, *Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl*, *Terra Nil*, *Outer Wilds*, *Spiritfarer*