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Old 03-18-2018, 04:30 PM   #12
Apollonian
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Shoreline, WA (north of Seattle)
Default Re: GURPS Cabal for 4th Edition: Notes and Thoughts

Quote:
Originally Posted by Apollonian View Post
Coming up next, probably: The difference between Astral and Ethereal, dimensional travel, and the Four Realms.
As promised:

Note that I'm not covering any variation of Infinite Worlds travel or implications here. This update is strictly concerned with a single-Earth Cabal and Realms that compose its universe.

According to GURPS Cabal, the universe is divided into four Realms: The Material (Assiah), the Astral (Yetzirah), the Iconic (Briah), and the Spiritual (Atziluth). Alongside or within the Realms are various other planes of existence: the Abyss, the Elemental Planes, the Planetary spheres, The Pearl-bright Ocean, etc.

To formalize this a bit more for rules-writing and applying purposes, I've decided that any state of existence is a Plane; that the big four plus the Abyss are the Realms, since they have a fairly uniform set of "physical" laws inside each one; and everything else is a Sphere, defined as a limited state of existence that has a set of rules that apply inside it but not outside it. Most Spheres are inside the Realms, but the Elemental planes seem to be a bit of an exception. (They might even qualify as Realms themselves, but be too alien or primal for most Cabalists to interact with.)

Every character has a home Realm, and sometimes a home Sphere, to which they are naturally adapted for existence and to which they return when hit with a banishment effect.

Assiah, the Material, is all the physical world. As Ken Hite puts it:

Quote:
Originally Posted by GURPS Cabal, p. 45
The Material Realm, Assiah, is the world as experienced by the vast majority of humanity every day. Assiah is not just the physical world of dirt and rocks and bacteria. Assiah also comprises the energies of sunlight and plate tectonics and cosmic rays, and even such indefinables as collector’s passion or panicked fury. If the “normal” human animal can experience it, it is an aspect of Assiah.
As such, it doesn't require much metaphysical definition, unlike the other Realms. Still, it's important to note the presence of "soft spots" where the connection to Yetzirah or certain other Spheres (like the Elemental Plane of Earth) is stronger, or where decanic energies pool. These qualifies as Gates, high mana areas, and/or Places of Power for spell-casting purposes. Plenty of non-human magical creatures exist in Assiah, but they tend to collect near soft spots. This is especially true of spirits in Assiah.

Yetzirah, the Astral lies between Assiah and Briah. In Cabalist terms it's above or inside Assiah on the model of the cosmos. (This does mean that a Cabalist who's talking about ascending can mean the same thing as one who wants to go deeper. Very annoying, I'm sure.) The Outer Astral, closest to Assiah, closely reflects the Material's geography, making it easier to navigate. However, everything is colored and shaped by the emotional and magical characteristics of the corresponding Assiah locations. Ken again:

[quote=GURPS Cabal, p. 45]In appearance, the “outer” reaches of Yetzirah closely echo the “neighboring” sections of Assiah – the astral counterpart of a sunny mountain lake in the Material might glow in a Technicolor overlay, or a haunted house in Assiah could extend into Yetzirah, warping into expressionist geometries full of shadow and menace.[/i]

The Outer Astral is as large all of Assiah, naturally, but very few Cabalists venture beyond the bounds of Earth unless it's via the Planetary Spheres.

The Inner Astral is extremely large and annoyingly undefined in its nature. It contains a number of more definite Spheres as destinations, including Faerie, the Polished Citadel of the yithoghu, Davy Jones' Locker, and so on. Its lack of definition is a characteristic of the Realm itself; much of it is hazy and indistinct at a distance, only coming into focus as a character gets closer. Navigating the Inner Astral (outside of certain Spheres) is as much about drawing mental, emotional, and magical connections as it is about physically moving. In the story vignette, Brian travels from a yew grove on the banks of the RiverAlph to a yew grove in Faerie, both in Yetzirah:

Quote:
Originally Posted by GURPS Cabal, p. 43
Wait – a yew grove? Throwing himself to the right, Brian scrabbled over the thin, bony roots (hanging in gray space, but mustn’t think about that) and furiously clambered inward, hunting for the mental image, the reality, of the corresponding grove he remembered – Garravin would never expect him to hide out in Faërie itself!

The yews parted, and there was the familiar greensward, glowing this time under a lambent moon about four times the size of the one shining down right now on his physical body, a lifetime away in Santa Fe.
I'd probably model that as a successful Navigation (Yetzirah) roll. Or something.

The undefined, freeform nature of the Deep Astral gives the GM a lot of freedom to set up scenes, but not a lot of guidance. Some of its Spheres (notably Faerie) are much more defined and easier to work with, but the rest of it is going to require a fair bit of creativity and possibly prep work. I'm still trying to come up with some workable frameworks for it. One of those is to think of the Deep Astral as an impressionist and surrealist environment; things aren't defined until the characters' attention is drawn to them.

One note that seems important is the default tech limitation (Into the Astral Without Gun or Camera, GURPS Cabal p. 47). Outside Assiah, TL is limited to 4. If a character manages to bring a higher-TL item into Yetzirah or Briah, it simply won't work well, if at all. Alternately, it might transform into an equivalent item; a nylon shirt into a silk tunic or a revolver into a flintlock. This also means that most denizens of the Inner Realms suffer Low TL when in Assiah.

The Dreamworlds get a special mention here, as they're a headache. Every sentient creature dreams, and those dreams manifest in Yetzirah as Spheres - Dreamworlds. Each dreamworld connects to Nod, in Briah, to the dreamer in their native plane, and can be entered physically in Yetzirah. Navigating and controlling dreams uses the Dreaming skill (Characters, p. 188). This means that characters with a high Dreaming skill can use Dreamworlds to navigate between the Realms without using Planar travel spells or powers. (For example, a creature could invade someone's Dreamworld in Yetzirah and then manifest near their sleeping body in Assiah.)

Briah, the Iconic, is separated from and connected to Yetzirah by the Pearl-Bright Ocean. The Pearl-Bright Ocean is your locale for all manner of fantastic aquatic adventures, and connects to the oceans of Assiah, the Elemental Plane of Water, and so on.

Briah is more orderly and iconic. Unlike Yetzirah, things tend to make sense, if you know the rules. Law (Spirit) can be necessary to survival here... It's the realm of gods and the Archangels, where decanic energies are strongest. Magic is dangerous, what with all the extra power flowing around here. Diplomacy, courtesy, and reputation are more useful to Cabalists than brute force, since most natives of Briah have more raw power than your average Cabalist, and are used to getting their own way.

The Abyss, on the other hand, is extraordinarily dangerous. I categorize it as a Realm up with the other four, as it seems to have some characteristics distinct from Briah. Notably, it is very difficult to get out of the Abyss once you are in it; demons can do so with the aid of sigils in Assiah, and sometimes through cracks in reality (whatever that means). On the other hand, it's quite easy to get into the Abyss... It lies between Briah and Atziluth, and traditionally can only be crossed by taking the Sword Bridge or defeating the Dweller Upon the Threshold and forcing him to take one across. Somewhere at the bottom of the Abyss lies the Vale of Hinom, where the qlippoth are imprisoned.

Atziluth, the Spiritual requires little discussion from my point of view as the only people who have entered it and returned are (in theory) the Grand Masters of the Cabal.
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