Arise, ye prisoners of Spirit! Awake, ye scorned of heaven! The keys to our emancipation lay before us, we must only needs seize the hammer and shatter these chains!
Until all the hells are empty.
Until all beings are free!
10,000 SWORDS AGAINST HEAVEN is a science fantasy spirit cultivation RPG about Cultivators struggling against unfair heavens seized by the Bourgeoisie. The setting is a technogothic weird realism xianxia nightmare at the Heat Death of the Universe, where life force is hoarded.
You play as WANDERERS—violent and very much nascent Cultivators who find the truth of the world: that all of humanity’s birthright is Cultivation, but it has been stripped away from them by the occulted machinations of the Ruling Elite.
Game-wise it is a game of struggling to gain and maintain power. To gain a fighting chance, you must navigate the Martial Underworld, which is pincushioned by Sects. These Sects function like Classes—they grant social position, abilities, and skills. That is to say, they organize you.
To strike a blow against the lattice of heaven, one must first be organized. A hundred atoms arranged in the shape of a heaven-defying spear.
It is a game that is heavily inspired by Xianxia Fiction of China (Lord of the Mysteries, Reverend Insanity) and the old Weird Fiction (Perdido Street Station, Ashton Clark Smith, Neuromancer, Lord of Light, Book of the New Sun). It is a game inspired by Kung Fu Films (Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain, The Raid: Redemption and The Raid 2, Ip Man).
It is a game inspired by cosmic horror and alien-occult apocalyptic fiction of the 90s and early 00s: Shin Megami Tensei, Digital Devil Saga, Neon Genesis Evangelion, NieR Automata, Marathon, and so on.
It is a game inspired by the struggle of the Global South interconnected with the broader struggles of the working class across the world.
Changes
You’ve already been spoiled the changes for 2.0: the shift from Esoteric Arts to being organized into Sects. This hits three birds with one stone:
Creates avenues for lore delivery through character option and factions
Grounds character options and martial arts into the long and storied history of the Trichiliocosm
Allows for Final Fantasy Tactics or Final Fantasy XII-like Job System buildcrafting in conjunction with Gear and Traits.
Each Sect is inspired by ancient, archeprimeval entiities or concepts buried deep within the collective general intellect of the Universe, which has arisen by the machinations of Humanity and other alien entities.
Glossary
A much longer glossary has been laid out at the beginning of the game.
Cultivations
On top of Sects, I did a little fluff change as well with Cultivations to emphasize the unique setting we have.
Body -> VIOLENCE
Skill -> GRACE
Mind -> DIALECTICS
Wits -> SAVVY
Speech -> WORD
Psyche -> SPIRIT
Click here for the PDF: SWORDS UP WANDERERS