In times long past, only whispered of by the bravest of scholars and learned men, a dark force arose from the shadows of civilization. A vile  evil known to historians as Sithius, an ancient primordial malevolence of unspeakable power. One of the fabled Old Ones, Sithius had power beyond even the gods and consumed all in its path. It unleashed legions of wicked monsters on the world, and enslaved millions beneath its cruel yoke. The power of Sithius was so great that it even devoured the gods themselves, and those that fled from the beast lost their divine rite.
For untold ages Sithius ruled Odyum, his minions driving armies of slaves across the world destroying every piece of mortal mans domain. In the end Sithius had no one left to fight, and so turned his own armies against one another to further the slaughter. It would have ended in complete ruin had a force of greater power not intervened.
When the Divine came to Odyum it saw a world in chaos, mortals oppressed by powerful evil, and a doom hanging over it all. His Glory shone down upon the world and turned slave to free man, exalted by his resplendency, destroyed the Dark Shadow, and through his exalted soldiers banished Sithius’ minions, but at a great cost. In their final battle Sithius sundered the Divine, splitting his power in to three forces. When the dust cleared there were three great gods. The remnants of the Divine, the greatest of the three, His white son Holy, all that is good and just, and his black son Unholy, embodiment of cruelty and corruption. In the centuries that followed the two sons have struggled to ensure their own vision for the future of man. Identical yet opposite, the same yet poles apart. Each to weak to defeat the other, or oppose their father, but both unwilling to let the other rule.
For centuries the race of man has rebuilt their world, stone by stone, under the guidance of Holy, and the corruption of Unholy. A race of slaves turned kings however have few good models to follow, and the cruel ways of the warlords of Sithius have infected the hearts of man. Power and wealth form governments, and laws are only as strong as the kings armies that enforce them. Poverty and famine plague the world, while a few wealthy and powerful leaders live in the greatest luxury. Slavery and malice, death and subjugation, hunger and fear, these are the true faces of Odyum.

Those familiar with the world of Exalted my wonder how Odyum fits into the story of Creation.  The Exalted game takes place in the 2nd age of the world of creation, soon after the solar exalted (the chosen of The Unconquered Sun) have returned from their imprisonment and the Scarlet Empress has vanished from her place on the throne of the Realm. Now lets quickly move through the future of Creation to gain a brief overview of the past of Odyum. 

Civil war over the Scarlet Throne breaks out, the great houses nearly tore Creation apart. In the shadows of this war came the end of the second age. A cult hidden within one of the great houses called upon powerful sorcery to open a doorway to an Elsewhere untouched by any from creation, seeking a way to tip the balance of power.  What they pulled through was an evil so powerful they, nor any in creation, could control.  The monstrous entity known as Sithius consumed creation within days, reshaping it to it's own will, then driving it's own reality into the wyld.  And so dawned the third age.

Sithius shaped the formlessness of the wyld into a world of his own liking then, carving it free from the wyld, pulled it, the wyld, the underworld, Malfeas, and Yu-Shan together back into his own dimension.  He placed it in the heavens and named it Odyum, the sixth  world in his domain.

The recreated world of Odyum was still none the less Creation, but fate was replaces with the will of Sithius, and no force could countermand his desires.  During his reign the wyld was sealed off from the world, as was Malfeas, Yu-Shan and the Underworld, shadows changed by his power but locked away for the day he grew tired of Odyum.  But that time never had the chance to come.

How long Sithius ruled is unknown, some say a hundred years, other believe it was hundreds of thousands.  To those trapped outside of Odyum, it seemed to be one thousand years to the day, but to those within it, it was an eternity.  The imbalance of good and evil, light and dark was what brought the Divine to Odyum, and eventually ended the rule of Sithius.

The Divine sought to return balance to Odyum, and take absolute power out of the hands of one evil being.  The Divine ended the third age by destroying Sithius, and through that action began the fourth age.

When Sithius was destroyed he used his final blow to sunder the Divine into three separate beings, splintering his power and preventing him from repairing the world.

Politics, sex, military strategy, violence and crime. These things are considered mature themes by our culture. In this game I will be addressing these issues, using them as plot elements and I do not intend to censor these areas for "good taste".
The idea that an RPG has to meet the PG13 standard is ridiculous, and if this were a movie it would be rated R. The main reason for this is graphic violence. Combat situations may not happen every session, and one of the ideas of the game is to avoid unnecessary violence, but when I does happen I hope that we will all be prepared for it.
The political aspect will be visible only rarely at first, but the game will have a strong political backdrop as the story progresses, and the characters are going to be involved in political issues. Once the group becomes established there will be sessions that are entirely political manoeuvring, no combat, just politics.
Crime is another issue. I will not be making crime look sexy or stylized. I plan to show the victims as people, not just faceless NPCs who had a bad night. If you intend to be a light hearted criminal then start working on a new angle, because I will not allow it. Crime is a serious issue in the game world just as it is in ours, and it has consequences. So choose your criminal activity carefully if you plan to do any at all.
Sex... lets face it guys, they don't have TV, they don't have the internet, and most people can't even read. Sex is a big part of their lives. If you are uncomfortable with the idea of your character having sex just let me know and we will avoid that area, but if you are uncomfortable with your character knowing that sex is happening around them, or you yourself are not mature enough to handle the subject appropriately then you need to re-think your involvement with this game.
One thing to be said now that we have discussed both crime and sex: Rape is a crime, and it happens. I will not have an NPC rape a PC with out first discussing it with the player in private, and the event must have a purpose to the story, and I expect that no PC will rape an NPC or another PC without giving the same considerations. Further, any such activity that does take place in the story will be dealt with candour and discretion, I am not going to role-play rape for sheer entertainment. Do we have an understanding? Rape can enhance a story, but it is not something people should have to role-play through. In fact, role-playing a rape scene could be almost as traumatic as actually being raped to some people, so lets respect the feelings of our fellow gamers.
The supernatural is a big part of the Sins of Man campaign, and it is going to involve most, if not all of the mature themes we have just discussed. I want one thing made clear here, I do not condone the worship of demons! Even though it is prevalent in the setting, it is not something I myself have ever been interested in doing, nor do I recommend it to anyone else. The supernatural elements of this campaign are fictional, and not intended to resemble any real-world religions or spirituality. This is a work of fiction, and not to be taken literally.
IMPORTANT NOTE: I don't think any of the above is going to be a problem with this group, but because this is a public web site I wanted to explain for the sake of the random viewers what the boundaries are, so addressing those issues, I feel, is important.

1.       Attendance: The campaign runs on a bi-weekly schedule.  I expect consistent attendance and adherence to this agenda.  If you are a “one shot” character then you are exempt from this rule.  All one shot characters are not welcome for more than two sessions before they will be asked to either join the campaign permanently or stop attending.

2.       Attendance Exceptions:  If you are going to miss a game session, or are going to be late for one, let me know in advance.  I would like at least one full days notice if you are going to be absent and at least an hour’s notice if you are going to be late (that’s an hour from start time, not your arrival time).  If you want to take some time away from the game by all means do so, but notify me in advance and give me a general idea of how long you will be gone for.  I would prefer you attend one game session before you take your leave, that way your character can be written out more effectively.

3.       Non-Attending Players:  In the even of absence you are expected to accept any changes to your characters status when you return.  I will make every effort to keep your character in the same state as they where in the last session you attended, but occasionally characters may have to fight or spend gold while you are away.  Do not, I repeat, DO NOT cry to me about your character being a few gold short or having suffered an injury while you were away.  I will try to avoid this as much as possible but occasionally these things just happen.

4.       New Players:  I don’t care if your little brother wants to play too.  I select players, and if you want someone to join I want to meet with them first.  I want to sit down and talk with them outside of the game table.  That means meeting them in a restaurant or at the bar or something, and getting to know them before I offer them a spot in the game.  Do not, I repeat, DO NOT tell your friend I am interviewing them to join the game.  I am just seeing if I can stand being around them without wanting to strangle them.

5.       Dice Conventions:  All players will make their roles on the designated rolling surface and they will not grab the dice before anyone can see the roll.  Honesty has been severely lacking in my previous gamers and it has made a skeptic of me.  Please humor me; roll where I can see it.  Also, I will make rolls in secrete often during the game…  To bad! I’m the GM!  It’s my Job!   Once per session however the group may call for a roll to be remade in the open.  This is once per session, not once per session per player.

6.       Book Use:  Players are welcome to use the Palladium Fantasy Core book, as well as the Rifts: Ultimate edition core book, as well as the information on this site during play.  If your character uses anything else from other sources please take the time to write it all down outside of game time, because once the game starts you will not be allowed to look at any other books without my permission, so have the stats for that new spell written down in your own notes please.

7.       Rule Discussion: Discussion good!  Arguing BAD!!!  I welcome discussion about the rules, but no arguing.  If an agreement cannot be reached I make the final say, for better or woe.  Alright?  You may say “Hey!  Don’t I get a save?”  But I don’t want to hear “That’s dumb!  What the f*** happened to my save?”  Also, my rulings may not always coincide with the source books.   This is because I prefer story and drama to rules and dice.

8.       Jokes and Off-Topic Discussion:  Enjoy yourselves, but don’t get carried away.  If everyone wants to talk about Lord of the Rings or Foot Ball instead of the game then lets take a break and have a discussion.   If there is someone who is irritated by this however let’s try to get back on topic quick.  Thanks!

9.       Potluck:  Please, I beg of you, please bring your own snacks to the game session.  It’s not that I don’t like you all, but my resources are short.  All players are welcome to chip-in for pizza or other goodies, but don’t just sit there and ask me if I have any food to give you.  As a general rule I don’t even have enough food to give myself.

10.   Alcohol & Drugs: Social drinking/smoking is welcome within limits.  A few beers/joints well spaced out is OK, but if you start swaying in your chair or passing out you will be asked to leave the table.  You can stay around, but your character will be removed from play and you will be taking a break.