Our party is introduced by being conscripted (forcefully or willingly) into the Foundation's structure.
Benefiting from the status of Player Character, they are fateless and able to kill the Prisoner.
Whether they want to do this or not is up to them.
AT SOME POINT:
Party will encounter their own corpses. One member of the party will be new, their equivalent in the prior iteration potentially being very bitter/upset at the fact they are no longer 'favored by the world.'
IE: Party, comprised of A, B, C, and E, Find the corpses of A, B, C, and D. Implying that in the prior iteration, D stood in the place of E.
BACKSTORIES
Duke
Truff, a forge cleric hog
Source their power within themselves. A blacksmith and metal worker, they worked in one of the cities manufactorums with their family, a position they've held for generations.
Fell asleep / got drunk / or otherwise on the job. someone died in the forge. they take that seriously and now he is to be hanged.
HOOKS - Was he drugged? Who did he kill? Where do his powers come from?
Aerith
Wix, a gunslinger. (Artificer / blade singer wizard)
The son of an inventor, he met a traveling stranger who imparted wisdom, love, and a curse. Now afflicted by a inner beast, they have taken to hunting monsters and attempting to find themselves. Attempt to cross the desert, strange things happen, when he returns, he is captured for the murder of his father, he is to be hanged until dead.
HOOK - Who was his lover? What is this beast? Why was he unable to cross the desert? Why is he being chased for murdering his father now?
Flipy
Soot, a champion (homebrew) fighter.
Conscripted at a young age, his life has been studying the blade. Growing up without parents, he was on track to be forged into one of the greatest warriors in the Last Living God's army. However, before he could mature into this role, he encountered a traveling warrior on the road. Defeated handily, this experience granted him new, heretical insight towards the church and its religion. Sentenced to death for these views, he searches to perfect his cut and deepen his understanding of Nothing.
HOOKS: What is nothing? What is the heresy? Why is it considered heretical? Who was the warrior on the road? How will he perfect his cut? What is it, truly, that he seeks?
Teratto
Fritz, The Laughing God
Rat that lives in the sewers. There's a big underground city! You're considered a plagueborn, which is superstition, but your bite is very bad. Due to your upbringing and biology, much like how a komodo dragon bite is very deadly and poison, so was yours.
You met up with her a lot at some point, accidentally bit her. It got infected and spread to her body. She was dying. As an act of mercy, you killed her.
You were distraught and tried to kill yourself but it kept failing. Eventually, turned yourself in and were sentenced to death. Meanwhile, you've been…haunted, cursed by some entity that you believe finds your predicament very funny.
It has given you gifts.
HOOKS: What is the laughing god? What does it want from him? What was his home like? Will he find purpose? Who was the person you killed?
Diode
Slate, Oath of Mysteries paladin
Religious warrior. Part of the interior garrison of the capitol. Mostly desk work. In free time, joined a fraternity of fellow warriors who were an occult and conspiratorial fan club - essentially, the Illumanati fan club but not the Illumanati themselves. REtrieved an artifact - a sword that refuses to leave his side.
Shortly after the recovery of this artifact, the fraternity was raided and all of its members captured. He does not know what became of them - he was to be hanged in Montauk and was transferred + dishonorably discharged.
HOOKS: What is the sword? Why was the fraternity attacked? What has become of his fellow members? WHAT IS THE SWORD?
Whole party -
Hanged. Put to death. Before their execution, a weasel exploded. Before the explosion could kill them, they were rescued by a mysterious entity that bore a resemblance to a hanged corpse. Telling them of the Scarlet King, the Princlings, the Inheritors of Nothing were returned to the world. But a slightly different one than the one they left…..
HOOKS: What does it want with the party? Why did it choose them? What is it? How powerful is it? What is the Scarlet King? Where did it take them?