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Old 06-04-2019, 12:52 PM   #31
ericthered
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Default Re: [GAME] Conceive a Cross Dimensional Fantasy Milieu

Question 16 [FRG]
How many worlds is Fragment in regular contact with? How many has it documented but not maintained regular contact with?

Answer 16

Several libraries have sections devoted to tracking the many cosmi. Some are known only in legend, while others are traveled to every day in the course of running the empire. Scholars tracking such things like to distinguish between major and minor cosmi, with minor cosmi being common but small and ultimately insignificant.

Hundreds of Cosmi are well documented but no longer accessible. In most cases, the portal that once led to them has changed its behavior or disappeared. A steady stream of these are provided by the "Passing Cosmi", which are accessible for only a few years or decades. At any given time half a dozen of these passing cosmi will be known and accessible to the empire.

Another rich source of recorded cosmi are tales from imperials who stepped into a portal, found themselves far from home, and followed legend and rumor to their home. These tales tend to be colorful and of doubtful accuracy and briefly sketch or allude to hundreds of cosmi.

The Calledronian empire itself is spread across 6 major cosmi, though it would be a mistake to say it controls all six. The empire currently has contact with four multicosmi neighbors, as well as the passing cosmi and half a dozen major comsi that are considered independent or unworthy of colonization.

The portals seem to mostly form a branching structure, with the occasional loop. The realms on the far side of the empire's neighbors are important if distant economic and political partners. Individual merchants know much of these realms, though it would be an exceptional one that knew them all.

It is difficult to judge the size, importance, and other details of cosmi separated by two or more political units. Even if the source has actually been to such a far-off land, They're almost certainly distorting their tale in one way or another.

---------------------------------------

Question [FRG] 33
As per Answer #12 Fragment has had many inhabitants before the imperials. In the seat of governance, which non-imperial people is most prominent, and how numerous is that people in the seat of governance, when compared with imperials?

Question [MV] 34
What sort of civilization exists on the Mother Plains? Is it all from Fragment? Does it have local populations? Why isn't its population greater (current descriptions seem to indicate it produces a very large food surplus)
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Old 06-04-2019, 03:52 PM   #32
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Default Re: [GAME] Conceive a Cross Dimensional Fantasy Milieu

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Question 30 [MV]- Summoning
Are there demonic planes or spiritual dimensions to which the dead go? Can such their denizens be summoned, or is such cross-planar travel only possible via portals?
Yes.....with quite a bit of "it depends" though.
Realms of the dead exist, from hellish places to heavens with most souls passing through the realm of the dead before they travel further.

Quote:
Magic is found as specific abilities of supernatural creatures (many of which are intelligent) and in the exotic properties of various substances (like Calledronite)
It is possible to summon a being from another realm with the right combination of Abilities, materials and knowledge. The core problem is that summoning someone or something becomes exponentially more taxing the longer an entity is summoned, a typical summoner might be able to maintain a limited summoning for a very few minutes with great concentration and effort.

The process of summoning has been known for a long time and several methods have been developed to get around the issue. Most of these methods rely on a high level of co-operation between the two parties involved. There are risks involved and as such while widely known summoning isnt seen as something that can be relied on.

Delayed Manifestation
This involves performing as much of the work beforehand as possible. A summoner then invokes a prereconstructed summoning to cause an object or being to appear for a short while. This is not completely reliable but useful for communication when the required conditions are met.

Alteration
This allows the use of another's ability through a summoning link.

Possesion
This allows a summoner to place a summoned mind within a local living body. Most places consider this as a modern person would consider slavery.

Other methods of using the potential of summoning may exist.

It is important to note that summoning doesn't work within a single world and requires the summoner to be within another world. This has been used as a test before to determine where the boundaries of a world lie.

Question [FRG] 35
The river of the seasons is one of the larger portals on fragment, what makes it interesting?
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Old 06-05-2019, 09:39 PM   #33
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Answer 23 There are 32 teeth ringing Calledron, and the Empire names them for the first person to have scaled them (sometimes a subjective evaluation). Given the difficulty of physical access, they are used by people who intend to be physically separate from mainstream society but not alienated from it for a good long time, primarily as monasteries, academies, and the odd laboratory or political prison. The ones near the snout are sponsored and funded by the Empire as a whole and Emperor; the farther back the jaw one goes, the more likely they are to be maintained by provincial Archmagi, private parties or even sources unclear. One is the imperial sepulcher, maintained by monks. Once the enamel is punched through, the mantle is fairly easy to excavate, so these schools often have far more extensive cave-chambers and vaults than are immediately necessary. One has a portal inside it, nicknamed Cavity.

Question 36 Is there some method of identifying a newly discovered cosm as a "passing cosm" that will only be around a few years, or is this only determined in retrospect when a cosm becomes inaccessible? Have any passing cosmi reappeared later, perhaps at a different point on the network or web of worlds?

Question 37 Who fought the Empire of Calledron to a standstill or even a Pyrrhic victory, and where? Over what?
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Old 06-05-2019, 11:48 PM   #34
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Question [MV] 34
What sort of civilization exists on the Mother Plains? Is it all from Fragment? Does it have local populations? Why isn't its population greater (current descriptions seem to indicate it produces a very large food surplus)
Answer 34 [MTPL]- The Mother
The Mother is a Divinity that seems, for whatever reason, to be more benevolent than most. She allows travellers and farmers to use the plains as they need, but protects the Plains from any form of settlement or development. Any buildings or roads get quietly subsumed into the earth overnight.

Question 38 [MTPL]
What is The Mother's attitude to soldiers and armies or to murderers and criminals? Does she do anything to them?
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Old 06-06-2019, 08:15 AM   #35
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Answer 28 The Peripatetic League are somewhere between a cult and a crime syndicate, though of course they only want to help. They consist of many and diverse individuals that appear to have formed a relationship with a particularly capricious and far-reaching portal that is not known to Calledron; its tentative working name is Bugout. When Bugout's "favorites" ask to be transported, it snatches them and takes them to another cosm. Bugout does not ask where you want to go, but doesn't seem inclined to drop its "favorites" into molten lava or anything similar - they'd cease to be entertaining then. Bugout's usual location (and any other hard data about it) are among the information Calledron would dearly like to know. This raises the question of how exactly the League inducts new members; perhaps in some circumstance Bugout takes suggestions from its favorites. The League is dedicated to what it thinks of as empirical observation and reason, and is hostile to most forms of mysticism and virtue that is not somehow rooted in biology, which puts it at odds with many governing authorities. Its ability to escape capture makes most members develop a disdainful attitude towards most governments, laws and institutions. The civilized worlds of the polycosm regard them as thieves, seditionists and terrorists while coveting their knowledge, although the Hanging City of Ton is significantly more likely to tolerate or feign ignorance of a Scholarch in their midst.

Question 39 are divinities, such as the Mother of Mother Plains or (by some interpretations) Suchos the dead titan, naturally restricted to their cosm of origin except when Summoning magics are initiated by a mortal, or do they have the power to move about and reach into other cosms?

Question 40 This potentially impinges on Q27, Q29 and Q32, so perhaps those questions should be answered first, but I just want to throw this out there. Calledron has regular access to a cosm that was once highly urbanized but suffered from an extinction event. Do they colonize it? Restrict access to it? What do they think caused the extinction, and how certain are they of that?

Question 41 are other divinities known to be active on Mother Plains, or is it a one woman show?
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Old 06-06-2019, 09:32 AM   #36
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Question 27 [FRG]
What qualities, virtues or principles do the Imperials of Calledron value in themselves and others? What is the ideal to which they aspire to?
Imperials value Strength and Power. This may be social, economic, physical, mystical, or a different kind. The Imperials celebrate great feats, and those who perform them. They aggressively promote and seek for such individuals.

Imperials value Decorum. Ranks, titles, and manners of address matter, as does dressing appropriately for an occasion. Deference is given to those stronger than you in some way, as well to those who were previously stronger than you (such as many of the aged).

Imperials value Generosity. One is not strong unless they can help others. This generosity especially extends to those who you are responsible for. To hoard your wealth, influence, or ability is to not possess it.

Some Imperials value historical significance. This is not limited to their own. They study heroes of the past, cook ancient dishes, and support the old laws. They believe that the solutions to most problems are already worked out.

Other Imperials value patriotism, and strive to make their people both stronger and more distinctive. It is not enough for a custom to be old: it must be imperial, or it is not worth maintaining.

Question [ALC] 42:
How large is the Cosmi the City of Ton is in? Is the rest of it similar to steaming pools below the City, or is that an atypical part of the world?
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Old 06-06-2019, 09:41 AM   #37
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Ok, some commentary:

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Generally, the populace gets by with its cisterns of brackish gathered by recycling wastewater and supplemented by condenser vanes made from hydrophilic alloys that extract what atmospheric moisture is available due to the steaming fumaroles below.
Are you using a thesaurus, or is your vocabulary naturally that extensive? you're finding all these words that I looked for and couldn't find. I'm impressed. Even if its just your ability to find the correct word from a dictionary.
------------------------------------------------------

This particular setting makes me wish I was a better artist. So many of these places are visually stunning.
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Old 06-06-2019, 10:35 AM   #38
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32. As in the number of human teeth, as opposed to the 80 or so of a typical crocodilian. That's an auspicious choice.

.
Well, there are likely about 32 on the lower jaw at one point as well, but that's not so much a concern.
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Old 06-06-2019, 10:38 AM   #39
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Well, there are likely about 32 on the lower jaw at one point as well, but that's not so much a concern.
Oh, right. This is only one jaw.
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Old 06-07-2019, 05:44 AM   #40
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Are you using a thesaurus, or is your vocabulary naturally that extensive? you're finding all these words that I looked for and couldn't find. I'm impressed. Even if its just your ability to find the correct word from a dictionary.
I'll fess up- I usually have a couple of thesaurus tabs and dictionary tabs open, not to mention wikipedia, while writing most posts. Don't think I needed any for that passage, though I got stuck on the spelling of "fumarole." Took me ages looking at words for "leader" before I settled on "provost -> proprovost", however.

Quote:
This particular setting makes me wish I was a better artist. So many of these places are visually stunning.
I'm surprised how it's going. I wasn't sure that we'd get anywhere this time, as the premise was a bit nebulous, but now we've got some momentum.
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