[GAME] Conceive a Cross Dimensional Fantasy Milieu

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Divines dwell in the distorted realm*. They do not appear to leave their divine realms, but have a collection of cosms they can send blessings, cursings, messages, and messengers to. These collections don't seem to be entirely fixed, but a divinity acquiring a new cosm is more similar to the cosm moving than the divinity.
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*Ok, why are we calling the home of the gods "The distorted realm"? That sounds like begging for a curse. Or is the distorted realm merely the closest to divinity that mortals can approach, and the realms of the Divines a different place?

I thought the Distorted Lands were an intermediate place between normal/mortal realms and divine/spirit realms. They read to me like a version of the astral plane, where reality is in flux and might be shaped by thought or by the nature of passing nearby cosms. Thus you have the forming of a body of Distorted Land substance (i.e. an astral form) for visitors to roam around with when summoned. Travellers might also get there if they come through a physical portal into the Distorted Lands.

The divine realms are a step beyond the Distorted Lands, but appear to blend from one to another to a traveller who manages to pass between them, with the divine realm having a more permanent form according to the will of its owner and/or creator spirit.

Does that contradict anything?

[patchwork]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

I thought the Distorted Lands were an intermediate place between normal/mortal realms and divine/spirit realms. They read to me like a version of the astral plane, where reality is in flux and might be shaped by thought or by the nature of passing nearby cosms. Thus you have the forming of a body of Distorted Land substance (i.e. an astral form) for visitors to roam around with when summoned. Travellers might also get there if they come through a physical portal into the Distorted Lands.

The divine realms are a step beyond the Distorted Lands, but appear to blend from one to another to a traveller who manages to pass between them, with the divine realm having a more permanent form according to the will of its owner and/or creator spirit.

Does that contradict anything?

That was my impression as well; the gods and the dead don't live *in* the distorted lands, normally, but one must project through the DL to get from here to there. No direct portals between conventional realities and dead god places.

[patchwork]

Originally Posted by ericthered

This is beautiful and lovely. I've got this picture in my head of this boat rowing across the steaming hot yellow fluid. The falls on the edge of the plate must be spectacular... assuming you can see them. I'm not sure if we have a light source here.

Aargh, you're correct...but I'm not inclined to revise that. Let Ton create its own alchemical light globes, a few of which might be truly massive. Some of the reactions in the roiling mass directly beneath Ton likely give off light. I'd also point out that we have a massive source of heat even if it hasn't been identified; something up there is heating all this biphenyl.

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Question 57:
How far is the river of Seasons from the imperial capital?

Answer 57 [FRG]- More Calledron Geography
To help orient ourselves a little, let's review (and expand on) the geography of the basin of Calledron.

- At the South/Snout, there are 5 teeth, S-1 to S-5, numbered east to west. S-1 and S-5 are prominent, canine-like teeth, each standing 300 miles high. S-2 is on the east side of the crevice at the maw, and S-3 and S-4 are on the west. Like other minor teeth, they stand between 80 and 150 miles high, and may be viciously hooked or have multiple peaks.
ETA: Of course, these heights are for the tooth proper, from their base to tip, with the base already at a significant elevation on the wall of the jawline.

- The Eastern Jawline has 14 teeth, E-1 to E-14, with E-1 being adjacent to S-1. E-5 is another canine, but with the tip broken off leaving a stump that's "merely" 200 miles tall. The teeth are not evenly separated, but are on average 200 miles apart spanning the 3000 miles of the jawline.

- The Western Jawline has 13 teeth, W-1 to W-13, starting from next to S-5. Midway along the jawline, W-6 is a 280 mile high canine.

- The teeth along the jawlines condense airborne mist, thus generating large river flows that meander down to the Inland Sea. Generally they flow directly to the sea, perhaps passing through the occasional lake, but some of them confluence before reaching the sea. The Snout peak rivers, W-1, W-2, E-1 and E-2, however, flow directly either into the 500 mile-long crevice in the maw, Callous Falls, or the river connecting the sea to the falls.

- The coast of the Inland Sea is around 2000 miles long, while the sea itself is about 100 miles wide. The rivers divide the basin up into 32 districts, one for each tooth, most of which extend down to the coast of the Inland Sea.

- The south end of the Inland Sea is dammed in by a ridge that it spills over in a series of falls which lead down to the Last Chance River. Seventy miles down the river lies the capital of Callous Harbour, roughly on the meridian joining W-3 and E-3. From there it's another 30 miles to the top end of Callous Falls and the Grand Crevasse.

With all that in mind, we can now locate the River of Seasons conveniently. It is in the W-7 district, being south of the W-7 river, Admiral's River, and looked down on by the mammoth W-6 peak, source of the Oppuhan River, and it's about 600 miles from the coast in the elevated foothills of the jawline. That puts it about 700 miles north of Callous Harbour, and about 900 miles as the sallamundre soars.

The first major settlement built by the exiles was on the mouth of the Oppuhan, at Port Neworld, where they re-assembled their navy and kicked off their conquest of first the Inland Sea and thence the rest of the basin.

[patchwork]

Answer 44 Imperials who can move a couple kilos of mass at a non-threatening speed represent about 4.95% of the population. They are often trained as surgeons or engineers, where their ability can be particularly useful. Another 0.05% of the population are "real" Mages, able to slam spears and shields around or smash a door open enough to dictate the outcome of a skirmish. An Archmage, who can rip a ship apart or stop a volley of bolts in midair, is about one in 200 mages, thus about 1 in 400,000 Imperials is an Archmage. The distinctions of "Mage" and "Archmage" are subjective, however, and they are a somewhat continuous spectrum rather than a set of quantum levels, so that some people's Imperial titles of Mage or Archmage might be misleading as to their true power level or skill.

Question 71 What divine sigils does the Emperor display - based on his crown, sash and jewelry, which gods does he honor, and how much? Are any of them peculiar or idiosyncratic in display? Are any conspicuous by their absence? Is there suspicion of any level of insincerity in his devotion? Does he make a public show of his devotions?

Question 72 What innate magics do non-Imperials possess? We've discussed the Lokou, and as of yet have no other real human populations to discuss, but what about the nonhumans? I'm going to suspect the other tribes of Calledron and Gnomon have limited ability and/or will be left blank as a place for PCs to bolt in a weird character concept that nevertheless works, but feel free to correct that impression.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by patchwork

Question 59 aside from alchemy, magic works primarily through short term contracts with vastly powerful otherworldly agencies. Are any known agencies omniscient or close to it, particularly with regards to time? That is, is there any known power that can grant accurate knowledge of the future to a mage, or even arbitrary knowledge of the present or past? On what scale is divination possible?

Most sages and even most Divinities maintain the future is a mystery, even to the most powerful. A small group of Divines and their adherents disagree. This prophes seems to be limited the local matters, and even those tend to be focused on small predictions. Most sages consider these cases to promises made and enforced by the divinity, rather than actual prediction of the future.

That's not to say that divination isn't useful. A promise by a Divinity that they will do something can be very useful, and even Gods who don't claim to know the future can have impressive senses and insight not available to mortals.

Question 73:
What is a common (compared to other such techniques) technique for trapping a spirit for transport across the polycosm?

[(E)]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Question 73:
What is a common (compared to other such techniques) technique for trapping a spirit for transport across the polycosm?

Many Divine entities have servants (or even races of servants) whose function is to assist the spirits of their worshippers to the appropriate afterlife.

Examples include the Bainte' of the divinity of death who seek out the souls of those lost amongst the polycosm far from home, the Motes that arrive to reward those who are blessed by the Lifebringer with passage to the Lifebringer's heaven.
A summoner (bargainer?) who makes a contract with one of these beings can use their services or abilities to move or trap a spirit, however the contracts typically forbid actions that would violate the codes of the divinity the being typically serves.

Question 74
The race known as the Torkaltar has individuals who possess a rare ability, they can follow a trail across multiple cosms. What else can be said about this race and how its fits in the polycosm?

[patchwork]

Answer 45 Elixirs of Flight are not an uncommon alchemical creation, allowing their imbibers to traverse the air for relatively short periods of time. A good one might last several hours with the speed and agility of a hawk; a crude one might let you float around for 20 minutes. Caveat Emptor. For a more durable and lasting solution, [Agency TBD] has hit on the process of feeding fast-growing, springy, woody plants like bamboo elixirs of flight on a consistent basis, as well as the blood (or appropriate substitute) of a prospective client. When harvested (carefully, so it doesn't fly away), and then lashed together into a raft or outrigger canoe-type structure, you then have a small flying boat that responds to the directions of the person it was fed and grown on. Flying canoes whose original gondolier is deceased have a limited resale market, as a trick to attune them to a new gondolier is not publicly known. [probably not Ton doing this, since they don't have a lot of space for agricultural experiments.]

Question 75 Name three powerful individuals or agencies within Calledron that oppose the Emperor's reforms, and their reason or basis for doing so.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

Question 67 [ALC]- Alchemic Power
Is the Alchemists' knowledge purely empirical or are they able to perform their own enchantments and arcane rituals? How do they handle mana?

What's Mana?

No innate ability is required to be an alchemist, apart from having a keen mind. Access to years of education helps, as does having a lot of money.

Alchemists do perform rituals, however: many substances enable temporary supernatural abilities when drunk, held to bare skin, sprinkled with blood, and so forth. These rituals generally direct the alchemical effect.

The handling and storage of raw magical power in a form that can boost any supernatural effect is a field of study unto itself, and its mostly unsuccessful. Many ways to store power are known, but they all can only augment a few effects.

Originally Posted by patchwork

Question 60 The Calledron Empire assumes 1 Portal = 1 Province = 1 Archmage, with exceptions to be discussed later. Is the Emperor the Archmage who controls the Mother Plains portal and the province with the capital in it, or is the Imperial throne over and above such things and there's a sort of Mother Plains/Home Countries/Lord Mayor of the Capital person who becomes first among equals regarding archmages?

The Capital hosts three archmage positions. The first is the emperor himself, who has a duty to the whole empire. the emperor's bureaucracy resides in the capital, but it has jurisdiction over the entire empire. The second is the archmage ruling the parts of Calledron near the capital, as well as parts of the capital. This archmage traditionally has a close relationship with the emperor, serving as a sort of right-hand man.

Archmage of Grain, as the third archmage is called, is the keeper of the mother plains portal, along with the granaries of the capital and the infrastructure associated with it. This archmage is quite independent of the emperor, and is chosen by popular acclaim rather than by combat and raw power (though archmagery is a prerequisite). Their duty is to keep grain flowing to the cities of Calledron, and the populace takes the integrity of this flow very seriously. The Archmage of Grain's power is largely political rather than magical.

Question 76:
Does the inland sea of Calledron experience enough wind to make sails work?

Question 77:
What sorts of civilizations are native to eddy?

Question 78:
As per Answer 15, the Madrigal Network is one of the 18 portal building civilizations, whose portals involve music in some way. What characteristics and tendencies do portals build or modified by the Madrigal have?

Originally Posted by (E)

Many Divine entities have servants (or even races of servants) whose function is to assist the spirits of their worshippers to the appropriate afterlife.

Those were totally not the spirits I was asking about (elementals and such) but a completely valid interpretation and answer!

I'm trying not to answer 56 (concerning access to the distorted lands) until 62 (concerning if the Calledron Gods are accessible that way) is answered.

Originally Posted by Daigoro

Answer 57 [FRG]- More Calledron Geography
To help orient ourselves a little, let's review (and expand on) the geography of the basin of Calledron.

I think I may want to map this. Its a good amount of detail.

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by ericthered

I think I may want to map this. Its a good amount of detail.

I was thinking it'd make a good graphic project. Another idea is a perspective view looking down the basin, though I'm afraid the magnitude of the toothy bits would dwarf everything else.

PS- I'm glad I finally put a name to the capital- Callous Harbour. How'd we get 89 posts and 79 questions deep by just calling it "the capital" or "the seat of governance"?

PPS-

Originally Posted by ericthered

Question 76:
Does the inland sea of Calledron experience enough wind to make sails work?

Ooh, good question. Hadn't thought of that. I won't answer yet, and anyone else is free to go for it, but the main climatic drivers I can think of are thermal updrafts and condensation downdrafts.