Rebuild a world the dead still walk

Feralia

Bury your dead right, make your own fuel, and hold one more light against the dark.

The world

Where it happens

Four generations ago the Waking Fever crossed the world in a single spring, and the cities died in months. The great cities of the real world still stand where they always stood — Wien, Praha, Moskva (Vienna, Prague, Moscow, as the old maps say) — but as dead ruins under their own names: places you salvage, never places you live. Every living town is new, small and walled, with a founded name of its own. What grew back over the bones is green: forests through the streets, deer in the plazas, rivers taking their old roads. People live in small walled lights — a farm-hold on a river bend, a deep-hold warm off the old earth-heat, a caravan-town where three roads meet — and between the lights the dead walk. Not risen by any curse: the Fever is a plague, and every corpse that is not put down right wakes. So the burial ground is the most important place a settlement has, and the funeral is a kind of survival.

You are not here to scrape by — you are here to REBUILD. A session is the work a light needs done: a salvage run into a dead city for the medicine or the seed-stock, a burial ground gone wrong, a rail line cleared, a caravan guarded, a stranger judged at the gate. You are paid in Seed — viable grain, the one coin everyone needs — and you spend it making the home a little less broken each season. There is no magic in Feralia: the healer is a barber with a razor and a kit, the closest thing to a wizard is a chemist with a still and a bench, and the dead are stopped by steel, fire, and a clear head. What you build is the score. What walks in the dark is the weather.

The Heartland — green ruin over river valleys — the rebuild core — The Heartland

The White Silence — the frozen north, and the deep-holds warm off the earth-heat — The White Silence

The Long Grass — the open steppe, where a horde has nowhere to hide you from — The Long Grass

The Dust — the deserts — heat rots the dead, and water is the coin under the coin — The Dust

The High Holds — mountain forts and monasteries; the safest walls, the hardest bread — The High Holds

The Dead Cities — the richest salvage and the thickest dead — the crawl — The Dead Cities

The Glowlands — the poisoned green, where the fauna grew wrong — The Glowlands

The Salt — the dead inland seas — ship graveyards on dry seabed — The Salt

The Islands — the quarantine archipelago; the dead do not swim — The Islands

Nine biomes across a rewilded continent — the signature choice of Feralia. Pick the apocalypse you want to live: each is a different way the old world ended, with its own dangers, its own dead, and its own way to survive.

What drives it

The Numb, the cost of surviving

The world does not corrupt you — it deadens you. Every mercy-kill that stops costing sleep, every neighbor you could not save, every bridge you burned to live, deadens you a little more. The Numb runs 0 to 10 — warm, calloused, hardened, distant — and at 10 it takes the rest: the gamemaster resolves what walks out the gate one morning, a survivor who stopped feeling and became a taker. The real monsters in Feralia are people, and the Numb is how a person becomes one. Its opposite is Warmth — the harder kindness, the moment that still reaches you — and there is no magic to undo any of it: only rest, a barber, a good kit, and the people who keep you human.

the Numb runs 0–10 — what each band costs you

1–3: calloused — the first mercy-kills stop costing you sleep; no penalty yet, but the GM notes the change in you
4–6: hardened — disadvantage on Standing checks with strangers; people see it in your eyes
7–9: distant — as hardened, AND the GM may veto one act of costly kindness per scene: the character simply does not think of it
10: the Numb hits 10 — it takes the rest. The GM resolves their fate: the one who walks out the gate one morning, the quiet cruelty, the taker's turn.

How it plays

The systems you can ask for

These mechanics are original to Feralia — you will not know them from any rulebook. Read them here, then simply ask your gamemaster for any of them at the table; the engine owns every tracked number, and your gamemaster plays out the rest.

The stead loop

Your settlement is the score — walls, wells, fields and a burial ground that grow less broken every season because of the crew.

The Waking Fever

A bite starts a clock, not a health bar — worsen, amputate if you catch it fast, or a mercy before you turn. There is no cure. The whole table learns to fear it.

The Wakers

The dead are simple and many — the terror is the count, not exotic monsters. Fire is their bane and the head is the kill; they feel no fear, so they walk into the flames.

No magic at all

The first world with no spells anywhere — the chemist’s bench is the closest thing to power, and every wound is answered with a razor, a kit, and grit.

Fuel is made, not found

No hundred-year-old petrol survives — so the still brews spirit-fuel, the burner runs on charcoal, and a working vehicle is rare, loud, and worth more than gold.

Burial law

Every light has its testing rite and its way with the dead — and a settlement that gets sloppy breeds its own horde. Gravecraft is a skill no other world has.

Choose your apocalypse

Nine biomes across a rewilded continent — the green heartland, the frozen deep-holds, the dead cities, the salt flats, the quarantine islands — each a different way the world ended.

The Compacts

The Wain-Roads league, the Line, the Circuit of healers, the Quiet Ground of the burial-keepers — the orders that hold the small lights together.

Gritty survival

Rations, hard weight limits and real consequences are all on — a rebuilt world is a hungry one, and every jug and cartridge weighs.

Every role commits to a discipline as it grows — Palisader, Cracksman, Woundwright, Stillhunter, and more. See every path ↓

“Bury them right, or bury them twice.”
a saying at the Oldspan gate

The field that woke

Read what the burying costs

What play actually feels like — one scene of a real session, gamemaster and player, every number the engine’s own.

GamemasterA half-day up the river road, the farm-hold of Ashcroft has gone quiet — no bell at dusk, no market wagon. You come through an open gate to no bodies and no blood, but the burial-bank at the field’s edge is dug open, and the fresh mound at the end is caved from the INSIDE. Your barber’s eye already knows what that means.

PlayerI read the ground properly before I touch anything. Were these graves robbed, or did they rise?

GamemasterGravecraft — the bar is 14. You roll 17: nobody robbed this bank. The graves opened from below. Somebody here buried their dead without putting them down first, and the Fever did the rest — grave by grave, the whole row. The engine writes it into the tale: Ashcroft broke its own burial law. The question is why. A dozen living are barricaded in the grain-store, and one of them will not meet your eye.

PlayerI go to her gently. No blade in hand. I tell her I only want to know what happened.

GamemasterHer name is Mithat. Her child took a bite a week ago, and when it died the family could not bring themselves to break a sleeping child’s head at the burial — so they laid it whole, “just this once.” It woke at the burying. That is the horror in Feralia: it is love, not malice. And now the field is full of the dead they loved, and the dead are coming to the noise you just made.

PlayerThen we hold the store doorway — one gap, and I want a fire-pot ready. Fire is the one thing that ends them clean.

GamemasterThe engine spawns the crowd — a dozen risen coming across the field, count climbing. Your fire-pot catches four in a gout of flame and denies the gap — but understand: they do not fear it. They walk INTO the fire to reach you, and a burning Waker keeps coming until the body drops. Aim for the head. Mind that rifle on your back — one shot and every dead thing for a mile turns this way.

PlayerNo rifle. Machete and the doorway. We put them down one at a time, and when it’s the child… I take that one myself, so nobody else has to.

GamemasterYou do. And the engine offers you the Numb — the mercy that stops costing sleep is the first step toward the taker. You can take the tick and go a little colder, or refuse it and carry the weight as Warmth instead. Your call; the meter remembers either way.

PlayerI carry it. I don’t want to stop feeling this.

GamemasterWarmth, then — and the harder road. By dawn the field is quiet, every grave re-pinned the right way, and Ashcroft’s living owe you their light. Oldspan’s board pays the second half of the Seed, the Quiet Ground marks your name for honest work — and a burial-cult three valleys over will hear how you burned their sacred field. That keeps till later. Tonight, you did the work, and the work is the world.

Who you can be

7 lineages

Where you commit

Every path your role can take

Every role here is original to Feralia, and each one commits to one of two disciplines at level 6 — an earned milestone, not a starting pick. You pick the path you want, and its features unlock as you climb (levels 6, 10, 14, 18). Committing also grants a signature gift — a piece of gear, and some Seed to go with it, that marks the path. This is every path in the world, so the moment you start you already know where you can be headed. The features are named here; ask your gamemaster what each does in play — and the signature gift each path grants carries a real, counted charge: spend it and the dice remember until you rest. You can also blend two roles — multiclass by taking a level in a second role; every prerequisite is engine-checked.

Yeoman Palisader · Harrower

Palisader

The wall made flesh — shield to the gate, spear to the gap, and a line that holds because one stubborn founder decided it would. The dead break on him first.

L6 Shieldwall — While you wield a shield, adjacent allies gain partial cover from your line.
L10 Unbroken — A horde can't flank you or the allies behind you through your square.
L14 The Gate Holds — Once/scene, negate a hit that would drop an adjacent ally.
L18 Rampart — Your held threshold is full cover for your side; the dead break on you first.

Unlock gift (L6): the Gate-Shield — A named door-plank shield; once/rest reroll one damage die when you strike from behind cover. (+30 Seed)

Harrower

The one who takes the fight OUT — the sortie before dawn, the raider camp burned, the horde lured away from the wall. You do not wait for the siege; you end it in the field.

L6 Take It Out — Advantage on your first attack each fight vs a foe that hasn't acted.
L10 Firebrand — When you set a fire or throw a fire-pot, allies gain advantage to disengage that round.
L14 Break Them — On a crit vs a human threat, nearby lesser foes save or flee (Wakers are fearless, unaffected).
L18 The Raid Answered — Once/long rest, allies who charge with you get Extra Attack this round.

Unlock gift (L6): the Sortie-Axe — A named wood-axe; once/rest a bonus-action bull-rush on a hit. (+30 Seed)

Gleaner Cracksman · Magpie

Cracksman

Locks, vaults, the sealed floors nobody else opens — the patient hand that reads a pristine-cache lock like a sentence and gets the crew into the good salvage.

L6 Vaultwise — Advantage vs traps and on opening any old-world mechanism.
L10 The Sealed Floor — Read a pristine-cache lock's make; halve the time and risk to crack it.
L14 Nerveless — No disadvantage working under fire or over a drop.
L18 Nothing Stays Shut — Once/long rest, treat any non-magical lock/bar/vault as open.

Unlock gift (L6): the Long Picks — A named tool-kit; once/rest auto-pass one lock or trap. (+30 Seed)

Magpie

Fingers and crowds and markets — what people carry and what towns hide. Lift in plain sight, read a room's whole pocketbook, and never be surprised inside a settlement.

L6 Light Fingers — Lift, plant or palm in plain sight; advantage on sleight in a crowd.
L10 Fence — Know a market's real prices and its buyer of last resort; better Seed on sales.
L14 Crowd-Sense — Can't be surprised in a settlement; you feel the pickpocket and the tail.
L18 The Whole Room — Once/scene, read what one crowd is carrying and hiding.

Unlock gift (L6): the Deep Coat — A named coat; once/rest conceal a lifted item from any search. (+30 Seed)

Barber Woundwright · Searcher

Woundwright

The field surgeon — blades out, blood stopped, the fight survived. Heals under fire without a backward glance, and drags an ally back from the edge at half strength, not a whisper.

L6 Blood Stopped — Your stabilize also clears one level of a bleed (hp_per_day) affliction.
L10 Under Fire — Heal as a bonus action in combat; no opportunity attacks tending a downed ally.
L14 Back From the Edge — Your revive brings an ally up at half HP, not 1.
L18 The Long Odds — Once/long rest, a killing blow to a reachable ally is downgraded to downed.

Unlock gift (L6): the Field Roll — A named surgeon's kit; once/rest a heal costs no charge. (+30 Seed)

Searcher

The plague-searcher, a real old office reborn — reads the Waking Fever a day before anyone, rules the quarantine with the Circuit's weight, and can slow a fever clock with nothing but tending. Never cure it; the pillar holds.

L6 Read the Fever — Detect the Fever a day earlier; know a bite from a fright.
L10 Rule the Quarantine — Your quarantine ruling carries the Circuit's weight; social advantage.
L14 Contain It — Slow a Fever clock one step per day with tending (never cure — the pillar).
L18 The Clean Line — Once/long rest, declare a space swept: no hidden bite escapes you there.

Unlock gift (L6): the Searcher's Mask — A named beaked mask; advantage vs airborne/contact contagion. (+30 Seed)

Forager Stillhunter · Warrener

Stillhunter

The quiet kill — track, wait, one arrow. From hiding the first shot lands like a verdict, and a marked quarry never quite gets away.

L6 One Arrow — From hiding, your first shot each fight deals a heavy bonus die.
L10 Wind and Patience — Ignore range penalties on a braced shot; a miss doesn't reveal you.
L14 Heartseeker — On a crit vs a wounded living foe the GM may narrate a finish (never Wakers; not an engine instakill).
L18 The Perfect Still — Once/long rest, a prepared shot auto-hits and auto-crits one quarry.

Unlock gift (L6): the Long Bow — A named war bow; once/rest reroll a damage die vs a marked foe. (+30 Seed)

Warrener

The food-line — snares, warrens, bees, the wild larder that feeds a stead through a hard winter. The settlement eats because of you, and once a season it does not go hungry at all.

L6 Fat of the Land — Your foraging feeds double; the stead eats because of you.
L10 Beast-Wise — Advantage handling animals; wild fauna won't attack first unless provoked.
L14 The Warren — Keep bees, warrens, coops that yield medicine + food components between rests.
L18 Plenty — Once/season, remove a settlement's hunger clock for the season.

Unlock gift (L6): the Snare-roll — A named trapping kit; a snare-line never comes up empty once/rest. (+30 Seed)

Steader Millwright · Waller

Millwright

Power — water, wind, the burner's gasifier, the machine shop. Keeps a mill turning and a truck running, and once a settlement, wires a hold for light that lasts.

L6 Power — Build and keep a mill, a burner-gasifier, or a lead-acid rig running.
L10 Keep It Running — A machine you tend doesn't break at the worst moment (once/scene negate).
L14 The Machine Shop — Fabricate a tier-6 part or a precious component thought lost.
L18 Light in the Dark — Once/settlement, wire a hold for power — a lasting prosperity upgrade.

Unlock gift (L6): the Wright's Tools — A named kit; once/rest auto-fix one machine. (+30 Seed)

Waller

The shell — dry-stone, palisade, ditch and gate; lays the dead-belt around a stead and reads a wall's weak course before the ram finds it. Once a season, a stead goes Waker-proof.

L6 Dead-Belt — Lay a cleared kill-zone ring; the dead cross it slow and seen.
L10 Bar the Gate — A gate/door you set holds a full round longer than it should.
L14 Wall-Sense — Spot the weak course, the sap, the ram before it lands.
L18 The Shell — Once/settlement, raise a wall-work that turns a stead Waker-proof for a season.

Unlock gift (L6): the Waller's Maul — A named sledge; your barricades get +1 effective tier. (+30 Seed)

Culler Mummer · Ashman

Mummer

The dead's own cloth — masked and scented, walking IN the herd, drawing a Waker mass a direction of your choosing. Cross any dead-held ground untouched, an ally in tow.

L6 Scented — Wakers treat you as one of them until you strike or a wind turns.
L10 Herd-Walker — Lead one ally through a mass sharing your disguise.
L14 Turn the Herd — Once/scene, draw a Waker mass a direction of your choosing.
L18 The Long Walk — Once/long rest, cross any Waker-held ground untouched, ally in tow.

Unlock gift (L6): the Mummer's Cloth — A named mask; walk a horde unmarked, once/rest ignore the first bite question. (+30 Seed)

Ashman

The clearance — pyres that burn clean, a burning line the dead will not cross, a building emptied floor by floor. Once a night, burn a horde's ground to nothing and leave it quiet.

L6 Burn Clean — Your fires vs Wakers do a step more and leave no rising.
L10 Firebreak — Lay a burning line the dead won't cross without taking the toll.
L14 Floor by Floor — Clear a building with fire; never get cut off by what you lit.
L18 The Clean Ground — Once/long rest, burn a horde's ground to nothing — the field stays quiet.

Unlock gift (L6): the Ash-lance — A named fire-lance; your fire attacks deny a wider square. tag: fire (+30 Seed)

Chemist Powderman · Distiller

Powderman

Fire and breach — black powder, fuses, the loud solutions. A charge blows a barred way open; the big one ends a fight and summons the next, and you know which is worth it.

L6 Demolition — Your charges wreck structures and clustered foes; set fuses safely under fire.
L10 Blast Radius — Your bombs catch a wider area; allies get a save to take none.
L14 The Loud Solution — Once/scene, a charge that ends a fight — but the noise summons.
L18 Firestorm — Once/long rest, a chained blast that clears a horde and denies the ground.

Unlock gift (L6): the Breaching Charge — A named charge; once/rest blow a barred way open + stun nearby. (+30 Seed)

Distiller

The still — antiseptic, anesthetic, fuel-alcohol, medicine from one bench. Your draughts heal a step deeper, your fuel runs an engine further, and once a night you brew a small miracle of chemistry.

L6 Physic — Your cures heal a step more and clear an affliction level.
L10 The Draught — Brew a combat tonic (a Batch): temp HP, a save re-roll, or a steadying vs the Numb.
L14 Fuel and Fire — Your spirit-fuel runs engines further and your fire-pots burn hotter.
L18 The Master Batch — Once/long rest, a prepared miracle-of-chemistry draught.

Unlock gift (L6): the Copper Still — A named still; your draughts + fuel yield double per batch. (+30 Seed)

Undertaker Graveward · Knellman

Graveward

Burial law made a trade — the testing rite, the pinned grave, ground that stays quiet. Your ruling binds a settlement; once a night, you can still an entire risen field back into the earth.

L6 The Pinned Grave — No grave you set rises; spot a botched burial at a glance.
L10 The Law — Your quarantine/burial ruling binds a settlement (the Quiet Ground backs you).
L14 Read the Bank — Once/scene, know a burial ground's whole truth — who, when, why it woke.
L18 Quiet Ground — Once/long rest, still an entire risen field to lie back down.

Unlock gift (L6): the Warden's Spade — A named spade; your consecrated ground protects a wider bank. (+30 Seed)

Knellman

The bell and the grief — the settlement's tolls in your keeping, a town held together by rite. A word from you turns a frightened crowd from flight to standing, and brings a broken crew back from rout.

L6 The Bell Code — Speak the settlement bell-language; your tolls rally, warn, or calm a town.
L10 Held Together — Your Rite grants allies advantage on saves vs fear + the Numb for the scene.
L14 The Word Carried — Once/scene, turn a frightened crowd from flight to standing.
L18 Nobody Left Behind — Once/long rest, bring a broken crew back from rout to fight.

Unlock gift (L6): the Passing-Bell — A named bell; your rite reaches everyone in earshot. (+30 Seed)

Outwalker Postrider · Wainman

Postrider

Alone and fast — the word between the lights, no road refused. You slip patrols, arrive ahead of any pursuit, and once you have been to a light, you can reach it before the danger does.

L6 Fast and Light — Your solo travel is far faster; you slip patrols and pickets.
L10 The Satchel Gets Through — Once/journey, arrive ahead of any pursuit with the word intact.
L14 Ride Through — Fight from the saddle/bike without penalty; disengage at speed each turn.
L18 Between the Lights — Once/long rest, reach any light you have been to before the danger does.

Unlock gift (L6): the Rider's Carbine — A named carbine; once/rest a mounted/moving shot rerolls a die. (+30 Seed)

Wainman

The caravan — wagons, teams, the convoy that gets through. Circle the wagons into a fort, carry more on less fuel, and once a journey, push through an ambush without losing a wagon.

L6 Convoy — Move a caravan or burner-convoy at good speed and keep it together under stress.
L10 Circle the Wagons — Once/scene, form a wagon-fort: your convoy becomes hard cover.
L14 The Long Haul — Your convoy carries more, burns less fuel/rations, loses nothing to the road.
L18 Nothing Stops the Convoy — Once/journey, push through an ambush or a Passing without losing a wagon.

Unlock gift (L6): the Teamster's Goad — A named goad; your teams/wagons take an extra hit before breaking. (+30 Seed)

Houndmaster Bloodhound · Kennelmaster

Bloodhound

One deep-bonded hound — scent-work past any test, the Fever smelled a house away. Through its nose you know a place's dead, living and sick before you cross the threshold.

L6 Deep Bond — Your single hound grows: better stats, Fever-scent reaches a house away.
L10 Run It Down — Your hound holds a quarry at bay for you to reach; advantage to finish.
L14 Read the Nose — Through your hound, know a place's dead, living, and sick before you enter.
L18 Never Loses the Trail — Once/long rest, your hound finds anyone or anything you've scented.

Unlock gift (L6): the Tracking Collar — A named collar; your hound's track never goes cold once/rest. (+30 Seed)

Kennelmaster

The pack — bred, trained, fielded as one. Loose them to swarm a foe, breed them to resist the bite, and once a night, field the whole kennel: a wall of hounds a horde breaks on.

L6 The Pack — Field a second (then a third) hound; they fight as a coordinated pack.
L10 Loose the Pack — Once/scene, your pack swarms one foe: pack-tactics advantage + a knockdown.
L14 Bred True — Your hounds resist the Fever's bite and don't turn; a lost hound is replaced between arcs.
L18 The Whole Kennel — Once/long rest, field the full pack for a set-piece: a wall of hounds.

Unlock gift (L6): the Pack-Whistle — A named whistle; command all your hounds as one action. (+30 Seed)

What you can do

10 roles

Yeoman

The armed founder: walls, watches, and holding the line when the gate gives.

Gleaner

The ruin-scavenger: locks, traps, quiet feet, and the eye that prices the salvage.

Barber

The barber-surgeon: wounds, births, and the fever clock, with a razor for a tool and a weapon.

Forager

Food, tracking, and the wild between the lights — the crew eats because of you.

Steader

The settlement’s hands: walls, wells and workshops — the stead loop is your playground.

CullerPremium

The quiet killer who walks among the dead: mercy-kills, cleared buildings, and silence.

ChemistPremium

Fire, medicine and powder — the closest thing to a wizard, and every charge is brewed at a bench.

UndertakerPremium

Burial law made flesh: the testing rites, the mercy, and a settlement’s grief held together.

OutwalkerPremium

The roads between the lights: maps, caravans, weather — the one who walks out and gets back.

HoundmasterPremium

Dogs are the world’s best companion — and a hound scents the Fever before any test can.

The arsenal

Arms, and what they cost

Real rows from the engine's own tables: the dice are the dice, the prices are the prices. Your gamemaster cannot fudge them, and neither can you.

Machete1d6

The do-everything blade — brush by day, the dead by night. Quiet, and it never runs out of ammunition.

Sledge1d10

Blunt and two-handed; it crushes a skull and breaks a barred door.

War bow1d8

The quiet kill at distance — no bite risk, and the arrow comes back.

Fire-lance1d8 fire

A powder-tube that gouts flame — fire is the Waker’s bane, and this is a settler’s answer to a crowd.

Hunting rifle1d10

The precious long shot — loud enough to call every dead thing for a mile, so you save it for the worst day.

Quilted bite-jacketmedium armor

Layered cloth and hide that teeth cannot easily breach — the world’s own armor.

… and 111 more priced pieces in play.

The opposition

What hunts you

Every foe is statted before the fight starts; what your party learns about them is recorded, hunt by hunt.

Fresh WakerHP 13

The recent dead — whole and fast. One is a fight; a crowd is how you die.

The Rouseda horde

A mass so old it moves as one pressure — not a monster to kill but a tide to survive.

Rad-boarHP 28

The Glowlands’ wrong-grown beast — real radiation, not fantasy; it charges and it does not stop.

Raider bossHP 30

The takers — people who take instead of build. The most dangerous thing on most roads.

Cult-lordHP 40

A believer who decided the dead are the next of us — and will not be reasoned out of it.

The WarlordHP 55

An old-world remnant wearing the state like a flag, with the best gear left in the world.

… and 50 more in the bestiary.

Begin a Feralia campaign

Connect lorewend to your AI, make a character, and tell the gamemaster you want Feralia. The free tier plays a full campaign.

How to start All worlds