College: Planes

[PTTG]

This college is in some ways an advanced study of the Gate college, however, it is focused not on the journey, but on the destination. The Plane college observes, manipulates, shifts, and even creates new spaces, demi-planes, planes, worldlines, or similar cosmic regions. Naturally, only the most powerful mages approach this level of mastery, and the highest echelons of skill are normally reserved for only deities. Of course, there are exceptions, and in ageless eons, new deities arise from the humblest beginnings.

In addition to the listed preresquites, the GM may demand special items, situations, skills, Unusual Backgrounds, and/or other attributes to reflect the nature of dimensions and timelines in his or her setting.

Planes come in many shapes and sizes, but they are generally much too large to use SM to describe. A normal plane, such as those created by natural processes or by primeval deities is here referred to as a “large plane.” Homeline in IW is a large plane. Unless otherwise noted, spells cast on large planes cost 1,000,000x the base cost.

A collection of multiple interacting planes is a “skerry;” in a traditional fantasy setting, a cosmology consisting of a material world, a realm of fire, and a realm of water, all of which interact through many portals, is a skerry. As with large planes, multiply the cost of a spell by 1,000,000 to affect skerrys, and ADD the sum of the costs for all planes contained within that skerry. It is still normally advantageous to cast spells on the whole skerry at once, as a single spell can be cast and take hold over the entire area.

A single plane that consists of an area the size of a large nation down to a few hundred square miles is a “small plane.” This might take the form of a kingdom of the fey. Alternatively, a plane that is mostly empty (or barren, such as flat desert or open, lifeless ocean), is a small plane if the “interesting” parts of it are nation-sized or smaller. Multiply base cost by 10,000 for spells affecting small planes.

A “demi-plane” consists of an area of 200 square miles or less, and frequently consist of such things as a magical compound, a vanished city, a private garden universe, or other purpose-built realms. As above, a realm that isn't strictly contained may qualify as a demi-plane if the vast majority of it is uninteresting. Unless otherwise specified, plane spells cast on demi-planes cost 100x base cost.

Some very small demi-planes are set apart; these micro-planes are smaller than a mile across and may in fact be only a few cubic feet. These are called “micro-planes” to distinguish them from the larger varieties, and they might be created by even a journeyman mage in an especially high-mana world. These are often used as the interiors of structures that are “larger on the inside.” Spells cast on micro-planes use base cost.

Costs for these spells can be astronomical; this is a matter of course for dealing with the domains of gods. Even deities may tap the collective power of their followers, and mages seeking to create true realms will need extraordinary mana supplies.

As a final note, to understand a thing well enough to create it implies the knowledge of its destruction.


Plane Query
Information
The caster learns the positioning of the plane he is currently on relative to either his home plane or some cosmic framework, depending on the nature of reality. In the IW setting, this information consists of the parachronic coordinates of the worldline, although it is an intuitive “feeing” rather than a specific number. A skill roll against Electronics Operation (Parachronics) will allow the caster to encode the information correctly.
In other settings, the information received will broadly consist of some information that will allow the caster to identify and return to a dimension. The information never helps the caster navigate within the dimension itself.

Cost: 2 (Cost is fixed, and does not multiply based on plane size.)
Prerequisites: Caster must have visited at least one world other than their home, AND one of: Skill 12 in any (accurate!) theory or practice of cross-dimentional travel, OR Jumper (World), OR Plane Shift.


Seek Plane (VH)
Information
Seeks a plane similar to a given goal. In a truly infinite and infinitely varied cosmos, literally anything that can be described may be found – in practice, however, locating a specific place may exhaust the patience of immortals. The GM is free to decide that a described plane does or does not exist, and may require a skill roll for a character to gauge how likely a given plane is to be found.
This spell can only seek a dimension according to the overall properties that dimension possesses, not any specific people or objects. Before using the spell, the caster specifies what he or she is looking for.
The caster may choose any number of qualties; the spell takes a penalty equal to the number of requirements, and the duration is two to the power of the number of requirements, in weeks. The mage may rest, but must work on the spell for at least eight hours a day without distractions. The cost is 4 plus the number of requirements, and is not modified by the size of the plane discovered.

Cost: Varies
Prerequisites: Plane Query


Conjure Banestorm
Also a Gate spell.
Creates a Banestorm, yo.


Obscure Plane (VH)
Regular
Renders the plane the caster is currently on hard to detect. For every point by which the caster succeeds, any attempt to detect that plane takes a penalty of -1, regardless of methodology (i.e., technological or magical attempts both take the penalty).

If cast upon the whole skerry, then the spell effects the skerry itself and any attempts to detect planes within that skerry from an external plane.

Duration: 1 year.
Cost: 10
Prerequisites: Seek Plane


Move Plane (VH)
Regular
Shifts the plane to a different location. A single casting of this spell does one of the following:
Remove a plane from a skerry.
Integrate a plane to a skerry.
Shift a plane between quanta levels, or similar “metaphysical layers”

Prerequisites: Seek Plane
Cost: 500


Link Plane (VH)

Allow planes to link together. If planes are in the same skerry, it's much easier.

Prerequisites: Move Plane, Gate


Adjust Plane (VH)

Change properties of a plane, such as incrementing mana level, enabling or disabling special physics, or modifying the shape and borders of smaller planes, or expand or shrink a plane.


Destroy Plane (VH)

Shatter a plane, sending reality shards everywhere and hurling inhabitants into other dimensions. Kind of difficult to balance this.


Fracture Timeline (VH)
Regular
In cosmologies where a plane can be a parallel or alternate history, this spell causes the timelines to split into two identical worlds, the only difference between them being that you (and anyone and anything else not native to the plane) remain on the original timeline, while native life and materials are duplicated. You have a sense of the “location” of the new plane, exactly as if you had cast Plane Query on the new plane.

Brigadoon (VH)

Causes a plane to intersect another plane, physically merging them.


Create Plane (VH)

Creates a new domain from scratch. Lots of rules belong here.

[ericthered]

Is there anything in particular that inspired this? some of it just seems to big and grand to be playable.

[Jerander]

Interesting idea. I assume Sanctuary will be sort of the gateway (heh, heh...) spell for the college?

[PTTG]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Is there anything in particular that inspired this? some of it just seems to big and grand to be playable.

Among other things, my friends and I have discussed deity-level spells before. These are some in-progress notes.

The absurd costs are really too small in real terms, since a proper deity could have billions of followers contributing energy.

[PTTG]

The God of Inexplicable Weight Loss. "I sat around watching TV and eating twinkies for a week, and I still lost ten pounds! PRAISE BE!