The main setting for the adventures in Afterglow is Alepin, a continent that was one of the centers of economy, industry and trade before the War, influencing most of the world's markets. The place was diverse both racially, ethnically and culturally. The Blast wiped out the old state borders, governments and systems, but this does not mean that the entire continent and all its inhabitants look and behave the same after the apocalypse. In different corners of the Alepin, survivors face different adversities. The extermination forced them to look for ways to survive and solve current problems. Those who wanted to survive adapted, changing their lifestyle, beliefs, principles and ethical norms. While wandering through the wilderness of the continent, you can encounter the most diverse and exotic places and their inhabitants.
When creating a Survivor character, the player is faced with the choice of an Origin that will determine not only where the character has spent their entire life (or at least the years after the Outbreak and the Long Night), but also their perception of the world, the principles they follow, and the unique abilities and talents they have developed while living in that environment.
Initially, origin provides an additional Talent for our character, but in later steps it may also have an impact on the Traits or equipment we have. Each origin also grants access to trades, which are professions or character archetypes that are unavailable to Survivors from other regions.
Origins are very important to the gameplay, not only because they allow you to create more diverse characters in terms of mechanics and their abilities during the game, but also because they give a certain color to the warband. Each origin (there are as many as fifteen in the Survivor Chronicles) introduces an element of cultural differences, mutual sympathies, animosities, and even open hostility between the inhabitants of specific regions.
Survivors from different corners of the Alepin may cope with certain challenges differently. The tough and hardened inhabitants of the Northern Reach will cope with the expedition in difficult conditions and the fight against terrifying opponents. Such challenges would be nearly impossible for the comfortable residents of the Corporate Vault to overcome, but the latter possess knowledge of science and technology that may seem so advanced to others that it is difficult to distinguish it from magic.
Inhabitants of the Black Marshes or the Zone may be very good at surviving in harsh conditions and avoiding threats (both mundane and supernatural). No one can replace a driver from Styx during a car chase along an old highway, no one will be as good at finding and examining pre-war artifacts as a resident of the Garden of Rust, or be as good a specialist as an engineer from the Forge Towns. And let's not forget about the fanatical followers of the One, who wage their holy war from the lands of Delaria.
When creating their characters, players can decide that all members of the band come from the same place and set out into the wasteland together, or that they will be a motley crew of survivors from different places who were forced to work together to survive. Both of these solutions introduce interesting storylines and role-playing opportunities. Origins therefore provide more than just an additional set of possibilities for players when creating a character. This is a great way to introduce story elements during gameplay, and even influence the decisions of the Survivors through the prism of beliefs, convictions, and habits embedded deep within their personality. Thanks to this, you can take your adventures to completely new heights.