The Setting of Aarn

Astronomy: The Zenninfal Calendar

2009-05-15T16:11:00.004-04:00

Aarn is a world that has a 396.5 day year with five 79-80 day months in that year. According to the Zenninfal calendar, Aarn's months are further divided into 15 26-ish day "Constellations" or "Stars."

Depending on where one is in Zenninfal, Yessha and Habruk, the week is usually seven days long. The exception is Igakari and other isolated areas of Eastern Zenninfal, where the week is 11 days long, and the days are named after the eleven celestial bodies that wander Aarn's sky.

The Months and Seasons:

As an important astronomical disclaimer, Aarn's moon, Selmona, is actually a gas giant that orbits Aarn's sun, Vau. Aarn, in turn, orbits Selmona, so Aarn's year is actually Selmona's orbital period, and its months are Aarn's orbital period around Selmona.

Aarnians know this - they know that Selmona is a planet, and Aarn is a moon. Because Aarn's sister moons can be plainly seen orbiting Selmona, this knowledge was painfully obvious to even the earliest of Aarn's astronomers. But to make discussing Aarn's sky and culture easier, I call Selmona Aarn's "moon" because it is the primary object in Aarn's sky that waxes and wanes.

According to the Zeninfal calendar, each new year begins on the new moon following the winter solstice, which on average is 70 days after the solstice. The year can be divided into the four typical seasons, but instead of measuring the seasons via the equinoxes and solstices (which are still quite important to Aarn society), the seasons are measured by months.

Aarn's first month is considered spring, as the planet's northern hemisphere warms from winter. Its next two months are considered Summer and Midsummer, the periods of time when there are moderate to warm temperatures. Aarn's fourth month is considered Autumn, and Winter is Aarn's final month.

Importantly, there is no difference on Aarn between a solar month and a lunar month. Due to the peculiarities of Aarn's orbit, the yearly seasons stay in synch with the months, which always begin with a new moon, have a full moon in the middle of the month (when for a week the night is as nearly bright as a cloudy day) and a new moon again at the beginning of the next month. This is mostly what makes combining months with seasons possible.

Spring - 79 days on odd numbered years, and 80 days on even numbered years. The Spring Equinox usually takes place around the 30th of Spring.

Summer - 79 days. The Summer Solstice usually takes place around the 50th of Summer.

Midsummer - 80 days. The Midsummer Equinox usually takes place around the 70th of Midsummer.

Autumn - 79 days. Autumn has no equinox nor solstice.

Winter - 79 days. The Winter Solstice usually takes place around the 10th of Winter.

The Constellations:

Luckily for us Earthings, who happen to be used to thirty day months, Aarnians do use a unit of time of similar length - the "Constellations," or "Stars." Each month is divided up into 3 Constellations, roughly corresponding to the stars that Selmona crosses as it moves across Aarn's sky. These monthly constellations are named after objects or people that are culturally significant to the ancient Igans, but of course, there are far more constellations in the sky that are not directly associated with Aarn's calendar.

Spring -

The Fountain. Based on the legend of a miraculous fountain that provided a town with fresh water during a harsh winter when even the groundwater froze.

Lepis, The Hare. Based on the legend of a runner who was transformed by Venrisha into a rabbit.

The Rosary. According to legend, this constellation was put into the sky by a divine caster who threw her rosary into the heavens. According to conflicting accounts, it was put into the heavens in defiance of the gods, the gods put it there to shame her for her sacrifice, or the gods made it visible to all so she would never lose it again.

Summer -

The Rod. (Also known as The Scepter.) Some speculate that this constellation was once a fertility symbol in the sky, though modesty has shifted its original representation to one more suitable to polite company. It is now seen more as a sign of authority, and many mistakenly associate it with The Crown.

The Golem. A constellation that seems to be little more than a stick figure, but it has become associated with strength and magic, especially channeling. Other cultures associate this constellation with Giants, the forebears of most civilized races, in those cultures the constellation is only associated with strength, and not magic.

The Sea Turtle. According to an anicent myth, Aarn is borne by a sea turtle that swims the waters around Aarn's moon.

Midsummer -

The Tree. This constellation represents a World Tree that was said to support the heavens and connect them to Aarn.

The Cup. A vessel of flowing liquid, often associated with the brewing of ale and spirits.

Aran, The Warrior. A rival to one of Igakari's great ancient Heroes, Surmemnon. Few are sure why this constellation was named after Aran, and not Surmemnon, though some scholars believe that Aran was the original hero of the Surmemnonic epics, and historical revisonism took place some time in Igakari's history.

Autumn -

The Torch. A constellation said to symbolize the dwindling daylight hours, and also the importance of fire to many cultures and civilizations.

The Mill. A constellation whose origin can be traced back to satyrs, this constellation resembles a windmill, and is associated with strength, ingenuity and providing food for one's family.

Kyrie, The Bird. A harbinger of peace, also known for protecting wanderers and dreamers.

Winter -

The Silent King's Crown, also known as Rosenius' Crown, or more simply, just "The Crown." King Rosenius was an ancient, overweight ruler many consider to be fictional, but who may have been based on a real person. He is famous for taking a vow of silence after a great calamity befell his people, and then giving away much of his personal wealth.

The Wheel. A nearly circular constellation that resembles a spoked wheel. This constellation is associated with luck and fortune, both good and bad.

The Reaper. A cloaked figure, considered to be a servant of the One Mother (and her equivalents) who collects souls for the afterlife. He is considered a harbinger of the end of the year - and the start of the new.

The Days of the Week:

The areas conquered by the Jerol Empire (Eastern Zenninfal, Habruk, and Yeshha) share the same days of the week, separate from Igakari, which has an eleven day week (with the days named after the visible wandering celestial bodies in the Igan sky). When Habruk conqured the first Jerol tribes, the Jerolans were forced to give up their gods for Habrukan gods. They were allowed to keep their traditional seven day week, but the names of their traditional Ez gods were forcefully replaced by Habrukan gods. Since then, both Habruk and Yessha were conquered by the Jerol Empire, and the Jerol days of the week became canon for half of the world.

Onysday, the first day of the week, and day of renewal. Named after Onys, now known as the One Mother in Western Zenninfal, and Onyrsa in Habruk.

Junday, the day of productivity. Junhin was one of the few ethnic gods the Jerolans were allowed to keep, and as such, the invading Habrukan armies forced their Jerolan captives to work hard on the day of their god, in return for being allowed to keep him. Junhin would eventually become the modern Jennin, molded heavily by that forced work-ethic.

Stosday, the day of purification. This day was the day to cast out all influence from the god Stos, now known as Shtos in Habruk, and Nektos in Western Zenninfal.

Kensday, the day of power, and named after Kenkaran. Strangely, Kenkaran's name is still the same in Habruk today as it was three thousand years ago. Kenkaran eventually became Kennerin in Western Zenninfal.

Dirvsday, the day of reflection, named after Dirvas, the Habrukan Sky Father, god of rationality. Like Kenkaran, his name has changed little in three thousand years. Dirvas, a male, eventually became Western Zenninfal's Divianna, a female.

Fellsday, the day of pennance, named after the ancient god Fellis, who is now known as Fellys in Habruk, and Fagellis in Western Zenninfal. This was the day that all Jerolans were forced to participate in Habrukan religious ceremonies against their will. Themes of sin and self-hatred instilled in them by their Habrukan masters persist to this day.

Korsday, the day of celebration, named after the god Koris, who is now known as Korsan in Habruk, and Coralis in Western Zenninfal. Korsday was traditionally the day of feasting and rest, the one day the Jerolan tribe members were allowed to refresh themselves for the coming work week.

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As a final astronomical side-note, an eclipse of the sun by Selmona lasts for more than 8 hours, with a total eclipse lasting for about half of that, far longer than the total eclipse of the sun by the moon on Earth. This length is due to the fact that from Aarn's perspective, Selmona is apparently larger than their sun. Selmona is so large that Vau's corona is usually not visible during the eclipse, though it is sometimes visible during the partial eclipse. Instead, what makes the eclipse spectacular is the huge black sphere in the sky, with Selmona's rings brightly illuminated on either side of it. Eclipse season happens at about twice a year, currently in late Spring and early Autumn, when Aarn's orbit intersects Selmona's shadow. The habitable side of Aarn is not always facing Selmona and the sun during that time.

Aarn Timeline (Beginning with the Classical Era)

2009-02-26T21:25:00.002-05:00

The Classical Era begins.

6200: The Ez spread north, Conquering Igakari and much of the Yesshan trade route. The Sphinxes come out of hiding, and begin secretly protecting human towns and settlements.

6250: The Anthromorph race of cursed humans becomes culturally accepted in Western Zenninfal and Yessha. In retaliation, Venrisha creates the theromorph race of cursed godtouched in Eastern Zenninfal.

6275: The channeler kings of Rensvaja resurface. Out of self-preservation and cultural honor, they limit themselves to 30 members in a soul link, and no more, and divide their ruling class into many, many separate sub-nations, each with its own link.

Year 6300: The nation of Igakari is founded when the enslaved Igan race of humans asserts its own legitimacy, rebelling against the Ez and breaking free of their control.

6400: Igakari begins dominating its region, conquering Kressia, The Southern Way, and much of Camaria. Rothysia is claimed, but in name only, as it could not be captured.

6500: The Ez experience an age of enlightenment. Their technological and magical discoveries are deemed too dangerous, and kept secret from the world.

6700: The Lenneshin in Khodosan enter a truce with the Yak farmers there. The Lenneshin handle magical needs, the Yak farmers physical. This relationship remains stable until the present day.

6600: The Ez and the Rensvaja kings go to war over the fertile lands south of the Yesshan desert, once claimed by the Valdrex. The Rensvaja kings win the conflict.

6800: The Camarian War of Independence succeeds, and Camaria becomes a sovereign nation, breaking off from Igakari. It experiences a series of ceaseless, bloody civil wars that last for three hundred years.

6900: The Ez civilization collapses from Naga invasion, and its knowledge of magic is lost with it.

7000: Habrukans invade and conquer the Hightrade rim and central Zenninfal, forming the short-lived Third Habrukan Empire.

7050: The Camarian Orthodox Church is formed as a method to control the masses. It works, and Camaria remains relatively stable for a thousand years, save repeated maritime conflicts with Igakari.

7100: The Valdrex awaken from their stasis and begin settling in northwestern Rensvan. After reclaiming their lands from the northern Rensvaja kings and southern Naga, they passively begin trading with the other races, and enslaving those who attempt to attack them. Modern Valdrex foreign policy is born.

7270: The Jerolans drive their Habrukan masters out of Western Zenninfal.

7300: The Jerolans conquer The Hightrade Rim, then proceed to conquer, over a period of 40 years, all of Western Zenninfal and Habruk. The Jerolans' easterly advance is only halted by the barbarians of Rothysia, who are deemed too costly to fight past.

7310: The official 'Year 0' Date of the Jerol Empire. All Jerol-speaking nations use this date to begin their calendars.

7390: A group of proud warriors from Treddis rebell against the Jerol Empire, freeing the island from Jerol control.

7400: The Jerol Empire seeds Treddis with creeper vine in retaliation for its rebellion.. The entire island is soon overrun with undead things. Nektos turns Treddis into his base of operations.

7500: The first Jerolan civil war occurs between two brothers, Cassis Helnin III and Farnorn Helnin for control of the Empire. The civil war continues for long after the two brothers are dead.

7600: The First Jerolan civil war is resolved by the last of the great Jerolan Emperors, Gaelnorn Weis, who ushers in Jerol's second Golden Age. Gealnorn Weis begins to conquer the Yesshan Trade Route, and the begins conquering what little remains of the Ez. The Jerolan Empire reaches its largest size.

7630: Gaelnorn Weis dies. His sons begin to mismanage and mangle the Empire.

7640: Magical Rebellion occurs in the province of Querris, near Lake Anessis. The Rebellion is put down, but not without high cost. Magic is deemed too important to the Jerolan Empire to be left up to chance, and the practice of wizardry is banned, except by Emperor's decree.

7700: The society of the Jerolan empire becomes bloated, hedonistic, shortsighted and incompetent. The empire nearly collapses on numerous occasions.

7790: The Great Igan Revolution occurs. Feudal peasants, lead by a charismatic Lightning Channeler, rebel against the channeling Aristocracy of Igakari. Most channelers are forced to flee the country. An anti-mage sentiment begins to brew in the nation, coupled with anti-intellectualism. Many great works and educational material are lost.

7800: Through a series of misadventures and implausible events, the exiled aristocracy of Igakari form “The Elementalist Guilds” in the Jerol Empire and begin helping Jerol even more strictly control the magic of its citizens.

7900: The Elementalist Golden Age. All children of channeling potential are drafted by the Elementalist Guilds. The guilds themselves assume political control over the entire Empire, and the Emperor becomes a figurehead. The culture and language of Igakari becomes seen as “noble” in the Jerol Empire because of the guilds.

7912: The Jerol Empire invades Igakari from Habruk, bypassing Rothysia altogether. The forces of armored knights lead by channelers conquer Kressia and begin marching on Igakari proper from the north.

7914: Northern Igakari is temporarily occupied by Jerol Empire forces. These forces are driven out by a combination of mundane guerilla fighters on the Igan side, and a temporary truce between the Igans and the Barbarians of Rothysia, who come to their aid.

7916: Igakari reclaims Kressia from the Jerolan Empire. Jerol barters a truce with Igakari before the Igan and Rothysian forces have a chance to begin liberating parts of Habruk.

7937: A nameless Igakari Biomancer develops the Hull Tree, a biomantic technology that allows farmers to literally grow the hulls of ships and boats. Many thought the influx of new ships would help Igakari's economy and navy grow to unprecedented levels. Instead, the new invention prompts an economic collapse as it is adopted too quickly, and thousands of shipwrights are put out of business.

7957: The continuing economic crisis forces Igakari to cut its budget. It frees the lands of Kressia and the Southern Way to become self-governing and autonomous. The Kressian populace returns to a city-state level of politics, which they continue to maintain until the present with varying levels of succeess. The Southern Way degrades into a lawless state of anarchy, barely more civilized than the Barbarians of Rothysia, with fewer morals. Trade with Yessha becomes impossible over land.

7963: The last Emperor of the Jerolan Empire, Claus Weis II, dies. The office of Emperor is retired, the Jerolan Empire's leadership finally replaced with an oligarchy of the Elementalist Guild leaders.

8000: Anthromorph people begin migrating to Zhanpai, where they are brutally discriminated against. The first “Campaign of Human Purity” begins in Shoyu. There are several more of these campaigns in Shoyu and Goxian over the next several hundred years.

8018: The Southern Way begins to tame itself. Those along the banks of the Lyban river begin to allow trade caravans to pass again, destroying the Empire's monopoly on the trade of Yesshan goods, further harming its superpower status. Igakari begins to recover from its economic crisis.

8069: The Jerolan empire begins to lose control of the borderlands. Uprisings begin to tear the northern empire apart, especially in Habruk, Tehgrahan and Aesinra. Pockets of rogue, bandit nations begin to form.

8085: Bandit raids on many of the Empire's key economic cities, lead especially by a bandit known only as “The White Wraith of the West,” help bankrupt the nation. The Elementalist guilds begin to fight with one another for power.

8093: The Empire loses control of Aesinra.

8116: The Empire loses control of the Hightrade Rim

8122: The Second Jerolan Civil War begins between the final surviving Elementalist guilds. The war lasts a full two generations.

8138: The Empire loses control of Habruk. The Surviving members of the Sky Tribe are exiled from Kuulainen.

8140: The Empire loses control of Tehgrahan.

8150: The Igakari nation recovers from its anti-intellectualism and anti-mage sentiment in the face of invasion from Habrukans, culturally angry that Igakari chose not to help liberate them from the Jerolan Empire a century and a half before. In order to drive back the inland raiders and their divine magic, Igakari begins to develop enhanced methods of enchantment and wizardry.

8167: Archibald Crossduke is born. Julius Cerenbaun is born.

8180: The Igakari Golden Age of Peace and Prosperity begins as the Habrukan raids stop.

8189: The Jerol Empire officially collapses as the Necromancers and Biomancers of the Elementalist guild fight to the death outside Kaola. The Five Years of Chaos begins as the remaining Empire falls and fractures.

8192: The nation of Jerohm stabilizes in northern Yessha, continuing the traditions of the Jerol Empire, and asserting authoritative control over the Yesshan trade route.

8194: The Five Years of Chaos end, when Julius Cerenbaun takes control of the city of Jerol and successfully defends it from recently liberated Habrukan barbarians. He quickly leads a campaign to reclaim Shanbar and Querris, and unites them with Denenga into the nation of Cerenbaun. Afterwards, the King continues to ride through Jerolan lands, attempting to reclaim them under his banner.

8195: Archibald Crossduke officially becomes the court wizard of Cerenbaun, a position he continues to hold today.

8197: A lich loyal to Nektos becomes queen of Treddis

8199: Igakari sends a delegation of wizards to Cerenban, including the Fuchsia Immortal, in order to convince the king to not attempt to rebuild the Jerolan empire. The Igan delegation is at first rebuked. The King vanishes that night, and remains missing for two and a half months. When he returns, he has mysteriously agreed to the Igans' terms, and liberates all provinces but Querris, Denenga and Shanbar from his control.

The Classical Era ends. The Age of Magic begins.

8200: Platemail becomes obsolete as the general populace begins to learn how to cast wizardry. The influence of channelers over political discourse in both Igakari and Cerenbaun reduces dramatically. Anthromorphs become culturally accepted in Khodosan.

8221: The Magitech Revolution begins when an animancer named Armond Danzer announces to the world that he has discovered how to weave multiple spell effects into the same enchantment. He is found dead under mysterious circumstances 3 days later.

8222: Wands are invented, as well as other magical devices that can be activated by conscious thought. Swordplay enters a fencing age.

8231: The principles behind the Aledoran Soul Core are rediscovered. For the first time in thousands of years, non-elemancers find themselves able to command elementals.

8248: The Wizard's Council is founded.

8272: Cerenbaun business interests muscle out Jehrom interests from the Yesshan trade route, and slowly begin taking authoritative control, beginning with Treddis and the islands that separate the Sea of Lost Souls from the Sunless Sea.

8276: Archibald Crossduke becomes the first modern cybermancer, shedding his mortal body, and having his soul leap between his golems. In the process, he invents the ability to activate spells with other spells and mechanical devices, rather than aural manipulation and command words. The knowledge of how to do this helps elevate Cerenbaun to superpower status.

8310: Igakari begins to enter a decline, as the nation refuses to expand its territory or ideas.

8325: Elemancers revolutionize their craft by inventing constructs. Biomancers and necromancers are unimpressed.

8341: The first proper airship is invented by Archibald Crossduke, using lighter-than-air gasses to supplement levitation and control spells.

8367: The Ardlin godtouched race is created.

8371: Igakari's decline arguably worsens as it adopts an “Open border” policy. Further, all barbarians from Rothysia are to be treated with the rights of full citizens.

8378: Marcello Jeobardi invents the Jeobardi flier. His pterodactyl design, requiring a soul core to operate properly, does not catch on outside of Animancer circles, though it would have otherwise revolutionized air travel.

8384: The first modular golemnoth is invented, and begins patrolling the streets of Jerol.

8390: (Spring) The Possessions RP begins.

8391: The One Mother's presence vanishes. Spirit Animal solidarity fractures. Many spirit animals begin revealing themselves to other races in both friendly and unfriendly ways.

8392: The number of followers of The One Mother drops off rapidly. The goddess Raphalla begins to be worshiped as the goddess of life and fertility. Nature cults begin to worship Venrisha in droves. Death cults begin to pray to Nektos.

8397: Igakari stabilizes as its ruling body of scholars is replaced in a bloodless coup by a council of representative magistrates of Igakari's cities. Despite keeping Igakari's open border policy, the Magistrate council begins to colonize the Eastern Islands as a source for wealth, compromising Igakari's peaceful ideals, but saving the nation. Hasperia is founded.

8428: The First Railgate Station links Gaerman in Cerenbaun with the port city of Aldzan in Jehrom. It's creator, Zel Manzeen, becomes instantly world famous. Several assassination attempts are made on his life, but he survives.

8434: The First Railgate Station Network is constructed in the cities of Jerol, Austor and Montall, linking Cerenbaun's three capitols together. Cerenbaun's economic and productive capacity almost doubles overnight.

8436: (Summer) The Three Months War takes place. Cerenbaun invades the border lands of Gaelda with 30 Golemnoths, ostensibly to destroy bandits that Gaelda authorities refused to prosecute. Igakari condemns the action. War between the two superpowers is narrowly averted.

8439: The One Mother's presence returns. Spirit Animals begin to become xenophobic and unfriendly. The Worshipers of the One Mother begin treating her as if she is the goddess of death, and not life and death.

8440: (Spring) The Aarn 2 RP begins.

8440: Cerenbaun and Igakari draw up a treaty to allow certain border cities of Cerenbaun to be Railgate-linked to border cities in Igakari, allowing the two superpowers to more easily trade with one another. The treaty is hailed as ushering in a new era of peace and prosperity for all of Zenninfal.

8440: (Fall) The Aarn Adventures RP begins

8441: The One Mother and Nektos have a much publicized battle near the southeastern shore of Lake Anessis. For the first time in recorded history, 349 divine casters combine their efforts to cast a single ritual spell through dancing and singing. The goddess Reksha seems to be summoned by the ritual, who then puts a stop to the battle between Nektos and the One Mother. There is a sudden surge in the popularity of Reksha's cults.

8443: The year that will be considered “The present” for when/if Aarn is ever published as a game setting.

Aarn Timeline (Beginning with the Era of Lies)

2009-02-26T21:24:00.002-05:00

The "Demonic Era," also known as "The Era of Lies" begins.

1600: Demons begin settling in Aarn, building their own cities, especially in Yessha and Western Zenninfal. The Demons name their cities in what will become Shanbar after the countries of Europe.

1700: The Merfolk begin gathering up in the Great Barrier Sea, fleeing the highly volcanic waters of the Eastern Islands. They abandon wizardry and begin developing biotechnology, choosing to shun magic.

1850: A combination of Demons being corrupted by power and Humans learning of religious dogma cause the Humans to start to worship Demons as gods.

2000: Aledoran remnants interbreeding with Udhan give rise to what will become the Yesshan race.

2100: The Tehxiona of Kuulainen begin sending emissaries into the world, teaching the old ways, and revealing how the Demon information about the afterlife is a “lie.” Horrible religious wars break out, with demon technology making these wars brutal and devastating.

2531: The Fey put their foot down and exile the demons off of Aarn, forever. This leaves behind backwards, technologically incompetent civilizations of all races who allow their religious fervor to rule themselves.

The “Era of Lies” ends. “The Age of Legends” begins.

2600: The Tehxiona, the only godtouched race with surviving technological base, begin conquering the continent, subjugating the other godtouched races, like the Aledorans before them. The Udhan in Rensvaja enter a long period of extended barbarism.

2850: A pollitical upheaval in the Tehxiona leadership causes much of their technological security to be compromised. Tehxiona devices and education start to become controlled by other races.

2900: The area that will become the Chianmos Desert, the major linking hub between the Eastern and Western Tehxiona empire, and the source of much of its food, begins to drought. The Tehxiona to the east begin interbreeding with Aledoran remndants, giving rise to the Zhan race.

2940: The Valdrex awaken from their extended hibernation. They begin to quietly manipulate events in Yessha, wishing the world to think they are extinct.

3000: A centaur empire begins forming in the Eastern Islands. They exilie all Aledoran remnants to the mainland.

3100: The Yun empire, humans secretly controlled and manipulated by the Valdrex, overthrow their Tehxiona masters in Yessha.

3300: The Yun begin conquering Camaria, driving out or killing the non-Yesshan populace. The drought in what will become the Chianmos desert worsens. A pollitical schism occurs in the Tehxiona empire, where the eastern and western areas of the empire are to be controlled by separate pollitical factions.

3320: The Yun conquer what will become Igakari, effectively separating the Eastern and Western Tehxiona empires further. Attempts to invade Rothysia result in stalemate with the Ghrok living there.

3450: The Yun begin conquering the islands that will become the Yesshan trade route, an area effectively ignored by the Tehxiona empire.

3455: The Yun launch a surprise invasion of Western Zenninfal from Treddis. The Western Tehxiona Empire falls back to Habruk, suing for peace. The ancestors of the Rothysian barbarians are cut off from the rest of Tehxiona and begin to integrate with the Ghrok. The Yun liberate the Satyrs, who teach the Yun advanced methods of agriculture. The Yun and Centaur empire ally with one another.

3500: Interbreeding between the Yun and Tehxiona give rise to the ancestors of the Jerolan people. An Era of protracted cold war between the Yun and Eastern Tehxiona begins

3900: Valdrex Wizards rediscover how to create and manipulate channeler portals. A vast network of gates is set up between the important parts of the Yun Empire. Cultural backlash between rapidly homogenizing cultural areas almost tears the empire apart. Eastern Tehxiona loses its superpower status in an economic collapse.

4000: A Lenneshin uprising in Zhanpai drives the humans out of the eastern Eifalos mountains.

4100: The Yun civil war ends, and Yun enters its golden age. Constant border conflicts arise between the Yun and the Rothysian barbarians. The Barbarians are never conquered, but this war helps to energize the Yun economy. Desertification begins to take hold in the already arid and overfarmed central Yessha.

4300: A large group of Naga attack Yessha, discovering that the Valdrex are still alive and controlling the Yun. They ally themselves with the harpies in the north, and use the Yuns' own portal gates to organize simultaneous strikes halfway across the world.

4350: The Yesshan desert nears its current size. The Yun depend on magics to keep it fertile and producing food. Naga rebels destroy these magical devices and a worldwide famine begins.

4400: The Lenneshin spread east, into the Khodosan valley. The Great Lenneshin Revival takes place.

4500: The Yun empire fractures. Their homogenous culture begins to degrade as barbarian and naga invasion brings Western Zenninfal and Yessha into a dark ages. The Valdrex retreat south, and begin conquering Rensvan and the barbarian Uhdan.

4600: The Zhan Empire is founded in Zhanpai, and begins conquering the Eastern Islands. A long protracted war between the Centaurs and the mainlanders begins.

4650: Satyrs in Western Zenninfal attempt to preserve knowledge despite the current dark ages, with the secret aid of spirit animals. Vizdane orders the Spirit animals to reveal their secret knowledge to the world. They abandon him, murder the Satyrs and begin following Venrisha. They actively work against any new civilizations that try to form in Western Zenninfal.

4700: The Centaurs invade Zhanpai, and begin setting up mainland colonies. At the same time, the Zhan Empire presses west, driving the Lenneshin in Khodosan underground.

4800: The Spirit Animals manage to completely destroy what remains of civilized harpies. They become animalistic, preying on human males to propogate their species. The Spirit Animals consider this a great success, but are rebuked by Venrisha who prefers perversion rather than complete destruction. She abandons the Spirit animals, and they are adopted by the One Mother.

4900: Remnants of the Yun empire rename themselves the Kamar empire, and conquer all of Camaria, Igakari and much of the Eastern islands. The Centaur empire finally collapses, and Centaurs revert to barbarism.

5000: A series of brutal four-way wars over what will become Igakari take place between the Kamar, the Habrukans, Rothysian Ghrok and the Zhan. Kamar retains control of the land, but interbreeding between the three human groups has created the precursor for the Igan race.

5100: Venrisha creates the anthromorph race of cursed humans. They are hunted by civilized races out of superstition and fear.

5200: Nektos successfully creates sentient undead. He rapidly begins spreading the undeath virus all over Aarn. Kamar loses control over the Eastern Islands.

The Age of Legends ends. The Era of Death begins.

5300: The Kamar remnants in the Eastern Islands are duped into believing that all tall people are secretly vampires in disguise. The average height of humans in the Eastern Islands plummets.

5600: The Zhan empire attempts to fight back the undead plague by creating their own magical plague, engineered to destroy those infected with undeath. This plague backfires horribly, killing anyone who has ever come into physical contact with an undead specimen. The Ghrok and Centaurs are almost driven to extinction. World population plummets. Nektos isolates his favorite species of undead in order to preserve them and releace them again once the plague has run its course. The Valdrex, once again, put themselves into a stasis.

5650: With the disappearance of their masters, the Rensvaja people (formerly the Uhdon) begin discovering the secrets of wizardry. Out of desperation, they form massive soul links with one another to resist the undead hordes.

5690: The first Rensvaja soul-linked channeler king rises to power.

5700: The Zhan empire fractures into the separate civilizations of Khodosan, Goxian and Shaoyu. As the Plague was created by magic, the Zhan culture chooses to brand magic as sinful.

5800: The last remnants of the Kamar empire revert to tribalism in the face of extinction.

6000: The Ez civilization begins to rise in Yessha, insulated from the global plague by the great heat and arid conditions.

6090: The largest soul-link in history, of 561 individuals, all die at once, plunging Rensvan into a time of chaos and strife, despite surviving much of the plague and undead invasion.

6100: The Great Plague finally ends, with the numbers of surviving Undead and Godtouched races pulled down to pathetic population levels. Much technological and magical knowledge is lost.

The Era of Death ends. The Classical Era begins.

On defining characteristics

2009-02-24T00:06:00.000-05:00

Once upon a time, Aarn was a fantasy setting that was largely defined by what it was not. It was not a setting where the gods had anything to do with the afterlife. It was not a setting where a wizard's magic was amorphous and poorly understood. It was not a setting that involved those silly alignments. It was not a setting where magic failed to influence industry. It was not a setting where magic was separate from nature, or where its connection to mortals was left unexplained.

This trend was largely because, as a fan of fantasy, I designed Aarn by examining my favorite sorts of fantasy stories, then taking out or subverting what I didn't like about them. Aarn quickly ballooned into the sort of setting that I, personally, would love. But over the year and a half I have spent working on it, it's been hard to sell to people.

When you define something negatively, it becomes difficult to summarize in an attractive way. What makes it special doesn't sound so special, because you're forced to reference other works. In short, despite the content I've created, Aarn had very few defining characteristics it could call its own, that I could use to get strangers excited about the setting.

On that note, I've decided that the setting as a whole is mature enough for me to start to take more risks in its design. Sure, Aarn's demons are non-magical, science-fiction enhanced weirdos dressed up like 1940s America, and Aarn's afterlife is like few others, but the setting as a whole needs more than that to carry it.

So one of my new design goals is to take Aarn's magic and Aarn's society, then think about what sorts of unique, eye-catching and interesting technologies and cultures might develop. In some respects, trying to push the envelope with what can be done with Aarn's technology is something I should have done from the beginning, but better late than never, right?

Some of the things I've come up with are as follows:

Livestock that have been biomantically engineered to be much bigger than their Earthly counterparts. Hogs the size of cows, Chickens the size of ostriches, etc.

Cows that have been biomantically bred to brew beer, ale, spirits and wine in their udders, completely self-contained.

Trees that have been biomantically engineered to grow into the hulls for boats, ships and airships, allowing large and flexible navies to be grown, instead of built.

Necromancers and Death Channelers make excellent cooks, food preparers, and nutritionists. As those who become experienced in death channeling magic begin to naturally mummify, there is a high turnover and high demand for this field of work.

Towers built to impossible heights by, every 30 stories, creating a portal on the top of each support column that leads to the ground, somewhere out in the woods, distributing the weight of the building.

Shipping large amounts of illicit cargo by smuggling it in the pocketspaces of crowds of people crammed onto boats and airships.

Large guilds and organizations run by channelers for various industries. For instance, Earth, Metal and Water channeler bricklayers, road pavers and miners, working very efficiently, and very quickly, compared to non-magical infrastructure.

Wizard sweatshops, where low level wizards are forced to enchant random brick-a-brac all day long.

Railgate Networks: Imagine a train station, only on either end of each track is a large magitech ring instead of more track. This ring can be attuned to various other rings on various other stations in various other cities, in order to form an instant portal network between these stations. These stations are used to transport cargo primarily, though people can pay a premium. Many cities do not want to make emigration into or out of the city so cheap or easy, so ticket prices are artificially inflated. Military-Industrial railgate stations can also connect mines and lumberyards with blacksmith shops and animancer workshops, and can be transported by a strike team deep within enemy territory, where large armies can be brought in overnight. The railgate networks as a whole are a new technology, which are threatening the economic stability of shipping trade, caravan trade and airship trade, introducing an era of corporate espionage.

Large cities with intra-city gate systems, similar to the railgate network, causing a huge, sprawling “small town” area to have the economy and education level of an legitimate city because of quick access to the important public buildings.

Huge golems that patrol the streets of large cities, with massive tanks of water on their backs. Using channeling abilities, the golems use tendrils made of the water to put out fires, clean streets, clean windows and building walls, and help with the construction and repair of buildings.. These golems also act as an impromptu police and military response units.

Hovering slabs of metal that float on top of city streets, and are propelled either by force spells or propellers. Or even by kicking. (Hover scooters anyone?)

An international banking network run by magic, where anyone with a bank stamp can access their account from any affiliate bank in any nation. It is perhaps the formation of this banking system soon after the fall of the Jerol Empire that kept the world from plunging into a dark ages.

Aarn's chief military powers are known to use the corpses of giant sea turtles as the basic frames for their oceangoing siege vessels.

There are wand turrets with giant roating frames filled with many wands, allowing the turret to sling more than one spell every 3-6 seconds. Some animancers are attempting to adopt this technology for hand-held wands.

Religious ideas that are wrong -despite- proof of souls, gods, and an afterlife. Education is poor in Aarn's rural areas, and religious, faithful people are distrustful of verificationism. That and the reality (an afterlife where no gods are involved, at all, and there are only hells and no heavens) is one many religious people would choose to refuse to face. This one is perhaps too realistic for fantasy, but I do enjoy that it's in the system.

Magical Pollution, akin to light pollution in large cities. Those who live in highly industrialized, magitech cities have noticed that using aura-detection gear causes mild headaches because everything magical is so bright and tightly clustered together. Further, inanimate things that normally shouldn't have magic defenses tend to develop them if left in a highly industrialized city for too long.

Birthdays

2008-11-27T13:34:00.003-05:00

I turned 25 on monday, and today the blog turns a full year old. So, happy birthday, Aarn! Have some cute.

Magic: More than you ever needed to know about Wizards

2008-11-20T22:18:00.002-05:00

The process of writing the last post helped me understand Aarnian magic, but it also raised some questions, when I considered some of the logical implications of my rules. One of these questions was: "Why don't wizards explode?"

Despite the amusing mental image, it's a serious question. I try to force Aarn's magic (at the very least, its wizardry magic) to follow the law of conservation of energy. Like solar radiation, the energy that fuels magic bombards Aarn from the Astral Sea. Once a magical spell is prepared in the material world (or so I wanted my rules to state) its energy must be expressed -somehow-, or canceled out by other magic.

So this brought me to the question of why a staff releases its magical energy when broken, but a wizard does not. Obviously, I do like the idea of wizards exploding like staves, but if this were true of Aarn, the entire civilization I've built would have developed differently. Science and knowledge would be mistrusted, and Aarn would be far more like a traditional fantasy setting where wizards are mistrusted and banished from reasonable civilization, with good reason. And that sort of setting is boring and overplayed.

Eventually I decided that because wizards have souls, the spells are attached to those souls and not their physical bodies. Otherwise a wizard's spell would discharge whenever they break an arm or get ripped in half. (Hey, it happens.) But this still raises the question of why a wizard doesn't explode when he dies, and his soul goes through the trauma of death, or when a soul-linked animal dies, with similar results.

What I eventually managed to decide (with some help) was that wizards don't explode because the spell energy follows the soul into the inbetween, and then the astral sea. If a wizard dies, there is indeed an explosion of magical energy, but it takes place in an area where only ghosts and astral channelers will be affected. Perhaps some strange magical effects will persist in an area (such as all the physical objects in a certain radius sharing the ex-wizard's spell resistance) but for the most part, no truly visible effect will happen, while preserving the law of conservation of energy.

Of course, once in one of the nine hells, all bets are off for what happens. For a long while, I wanted wizards to lose their spells when their astral body was destroyed and forced to reform in the afterlife. If they did this, they would either have to explode, or the hells themselves would have to do something with the energy. I'm not so fond of the second solution (I try to avoid deus ex machinas) but I haven't decided quite how to handle it yet. I hadn't thought of making the afterlife so different from Aarn that wizards were outcasts due to their exploding when killed, and I'm still not sure if I like the idea or not. It might explain why the afterlife's technology hasn't progressed beyond Aarn's, though, and then again there's the hilarity of exploding wizards running around everywhere. It's made funnier in a setting where no one can be permanently killed.

As for Aarn itself, I think some justification is needed for why wizards are tolerated in society even if they -don't- explode. A wizard has far more power available to him or her than the average town guard, and it would be far too easy for a wizard to abuse the system and also Aarn's populace.

The simple solution is that wizards are self-policing. The spells in the first 6 tiers of spell levels are more or less as powerful as channeling can get without overchanneling. After that, wizards become exponentially more powerful. A single level 12 spell (the most powerful spellweaves can get) can wipe out a town with one blast. Even without a tenancy to explode, wizards are quite literally walking bombs, if they were to bring all their energy to bare.

In order to help ensure that civilization proceeds without self-destructing, the wizards from taking everything over, or the leaders of communities don't abuse their wizards, wizards themselves have entered into an agreement of mutually assured destruction called the "Wizards Council." The council was probably formed as the result of some long past war of wizards that destroyed civilization. (Again. Probably happened 3000 years ago.) The Council itself is made up of the 40 most powerful wizards alive. Membership is not optional, and there is no way to opt-out. If any wizard gets too big for his or her britches (even a member of the council), the council is there to smack them down and put them in their place.

In practice, the council has not worked as well as in theory. Civilization is still stable, though, so the council must be doing something right. Even if it -is- constantly back-stabbing itself, conspiring against itself, and overlooking the more powerful displays of magic when they occur. The wizard's council has been less about mutually assured destruction, and more about nursing the egos of wizards to keep them under control, while also acting as a public relations department to keep giant displays of magic tolerable by the greater populace.

Wizardry is more or less Aarn's version of nuclear engineering. Like nuclear engineering, wizardy is very dangerous when performed by amateurs, tolerated because it helps to further society, and rarely used to its fullest potential because everyone understands that such a release of energy would be against humankind's collective best interest. The kingdoms and nations of Aarn understand that any level 10 and up spells used in an act of war would effectively destroy whatever goal they had in starting that war, and likely destroy themselves in the process.

The analogy is not perfect however. Nuclear engineers don't confine their experiments to towers for fear of explosions killing pedestrians. There are far fewer nukes on earth than wizards on Aarn. Our nukes are also not self-aware, nor can they decide to set themselves off on a whim.

Wizardry's volatility is perhaps yet another reason for why Aarn's world population is so low. The Wizard's Council, instead of preventing destruction, may simply be used as fodder for the following argument: "Hey, we should tolerate wizards despite all that death and property destruction. Imagine how much worse things would be -without- the Council, and in the meantime, wizardry has given us so many wonderful technological advances."

So naturally, while I love the idea of a wizard spontaneously combusting, if it was commonplace, SWC (spontaneous wizard combustion) would destabilize an already unstable situation. Granted, I can't let such a hilarious idea go to waste, so there will of course be very powerful spells that can cause a wizard to completely discharge all their spell energy. Wizards do still explode occasionally on Aarn. They just don't -always- explode at death.

Magic: Contramagery

2008-11-20T00:41:00.002-05:00

By popular demand, this post is going to be a basic rundown of what happens when magical effects end, and how to cause such ends to happen artificially. This post is going to be filled to the brim with jargon, so proceed at your own risk!

As a refresher, these are all the different types of magic that exist on Aarn:

Spellweaves: A spell that either is an instant effect or has a timed duration, controlled and produced by wizards.

Manifestations: A spell that either is an instant effect or has a timed duration, controlled and expressed by divine casters.

Channeling: Raw magical energy directed by the intuitive will of a godtouched creature.

Infusions: The essence of a spellweave or a manifestation permanently bound to an object, which leaches magical fuel from the surrounding aether. Cannot be used on godtouched creatures, because the natural magical energy flowing in and around their bodies disrupts such magic.

Soul Links, Soul Bonds, and Soul Divisions: Semi-permanent effects that bend the rules of magic, blurring the lines between spellweaves, manifestations and channeling. These effects can provide semi-permanent magical abilities and traits not otherwise possible.

Potions: A deliberately unstable infusion of water, that is designed to release its infused effect when the water is scattered, metabolized, or absorbed through other means.

Boons: A type of manifestation that is a permanent effect granted to a godtouched creature.

Runecrafts: The raw "language" of magic, which provides a simple, yet semi-permanent effect borrowed from the channeling magic system to an object, animal or godtouched.

Spellrunes: Runes that are designed to release a single spellweave or manifestation effect, once, destroying/damaging whatever they are inscribed upon in the process.

Further, there are a number of different sorts of spell effects which can be produced using the above methods of magical casting.

Physical effects: Whenever a spell causes damage indirectly with a physical object, this is considered a physical effect. An example of a physical effect is lifting up a rock and telekinetically flinging it at a target. The telekinetic spell could in theory be dispelled, but the rock cannot, neither can the wound caused by the rock.

Semi-illusory effects: Most common in channeling and manifesting (wizards have great difficulty reproducing these effects because spellweaves cannot provide the intuitive manual control needed), semi-illusory effects include the processes of transmutation, liquification and solidification. When an object has changed its shape through these means, it stores a sort of magical "memory" of what it used to be for 1-2 months. After this period of time, the change becomes permanent and can no longer be dispelled, but during this time, a dispell effect will try to restore the object's original shape.

Instant effects: An instant effect is a spell effect such as a fireball or ray of energy, that only persists for a very short period of time. These effects do not have a duration, and the results of these effects cannot be dispelled, though the energy itself can be dispelled if the character doing the dispelling has very quick reflexes.

Persistant effects: Any spell effect with a duration is considered a persistant effect. These are spell effects that provide some change to something in the environment that requires a constant supply of magic. Once the supply of magic provided with the spell is extinguished, the effect ends. The effect can be prematurely ended through dispelling.

Most channeler abilities that need to be maintained by a constant amount of energy (read, everything except for the physical results of shaping) are considered persistent effects, though a channeler can always provide more energy and restart the effect if it is dispelled.

Enchantment: Any spell effect that is semi-permanent but not illusory is considered an enchantment. Most enchantments can be dispelled, though soul-related magic and boons repair themselves over time. Enchantments, despite being a type of magic, can produce their own secondary magical effects. When a wand fires an instant effect at a target, there are two magical effects in play, the instant effect itself, and the enchantment that grants the wand the ability to unleash the instant effect.

Of course, with so many types of spells, there's more than one way of getting rid of their effects. Primarily, divine casters and channelers focus on magic that protects against effects, and wizards tamper with the magic itself, removing the effect, though wizards also have access to protective spells

Spell Resistance: As stated above, all godtouched creatures (and most monsters) have turbulent magical energy flowing through them, whether they are a mage or not. This energy not only prevents godtouched creatures from normally being subject to permanent spell effects, but it can also block impermanent effects as well. Any mage must take spell resistance into account, because spells will affect a godtouched creature much less severely than an animal or an inanimate object. Inanimate objects that have infusions, runes or are potions also have spell resistance.

Barriers: The simplest method of blocking magical energy is a shield or barrier. These types of protection do not do much to the magical energy. Instead, barriers replace the energy's intended target with themselves. If a barrier is not sufficient to block all of the magical energy subjected to it at once, the barrier will usually be destroyed, and the rest of the energy will affect its intended target. Some more advanced barriers will simply buckle and fold, allowing the excess energy through, then re-form themselves. Barriers can protect against all different types of magical effects.

Reflection: Whenever a barrier has the ability to redirect a spell effect away from itself, the barrier is said to be a reflection effect. Reflection effects, like other sorts of barriers, can only redirect so much energy before buckling and failing. Basic reflection spells simply rebound magical energy in the direction it came from.

Advanced reflection effects can redirect magical energy in any direction the caster chooses. Still more advanced reflection effects can temporarily store magical energy that hits it. The person in control of the reflection effect can then release the energy at a time and direction of the caster's choosing. The more powerful the reflection effect, the longer the caster can wait before releasing the energy.

Reflection effects do not change anything about the fundamental nature of the spell energy they redirect, other than its direction. Reflection effects do not protect against indirect physical effects from magic. They also have difficulty protecting against enhanced objects or physical strikes that have been imbued with magical energy, like a sword that is on fire, or a punch enveloped by swirling winds.

Nullification: Nullification effects, such as "Dispell" spells, are one of the most common forms of magical defense. These effects overwhelm magical energy, canceling it out with an equal and opposite amount of energy. Sometimes dispell effects are single-cast spells, other times they are advanced barriers with a reserve of energy available to block and overwhelm other magical effects. Still other times an object can be given a nullification effect with an infusion. These objects then work similarly to dispel effects that have a duration, using their magical charge to overwhelm and remove spell effects.

Absorbtion: Absorbtion effects are an advanced form of nullification. Instead of overwhelming the opposing magical energy, an absorbtion effect steals it away. Most absorbtion effects then use that stolen energy to fuel a new, different magical effect. Many absorbtion effects can be turned against their wielders by overwhelming them with too much energy at once. Mages who use absorbtion effects in their spells or their infusions must be careful with how they use them, or they will instead experience horrible backlash when all the energy absorbed is released at once.

Importantly, nullification and absorbtion effects only deal with a spell effect's energy, and not the spell effect itself. If a spell effect is self-sustaining, such as an infusion, a runecrafted object, a channeler's abilities, a divine caster's boon or a soul effect, the magical effect in question will return over time. Most spellweaves, manifestations, potions and spellrunes do not self-sustain their energy, so these magical effects can be completely eliminated through nullification and absorbtion.

Disruption: This is a fancy term for "physically breaking an enchanted object." Infusions, runecrafted items and spellrunes can all be disrupted through physical damage. Doing so will release all the energy stored in the objects in an unrefined magical explosion with no specific effect other than raw damage. Such explosions can further disrupt other magical effects in the area, effectively starting a chain reaction of magical explosions while giving everything in its radius an extreme amount of spell resistance (while at the same time severely harming whatever's in its radius.)

Potions cannot be disrupted, because they are designed to release and create new magical effects -when- disrupted. Drinking a potion, applying a salve or throwing a grenade potion will all disrupt the effect in the potion water, creating the desired magical effect.

Counterweaving: Counterweaving is perhaps the most flexible and useful way to eliminate spell effects. A counterweaver is a wizard who uses his or her ability to weave spells to un-weave spells. Without specifically using any magical energy or spells effects, a counterweaver can directly manipulate the cords involved in any non-instant spell effect. Counterweavers must either have manual access to the spell they wish to tinker with, or have access to a telekinesis effect so they can do it from range.

Counterweaving takes time. The more complex or powerful the spell effect, the longer it takes the counterweaver to do their stuff. Counterweavers do not need to learn how to cast spells - simply how to manipulate the strands of energy that make up magical effects. In essence, while all wizards have potential counterweaving skills, not all counterweavers are wizards.

The three effects that counterweavers have at their disposal are activating, venting, and spellbreaking. Of course, there are spells that emulate these effects, but counteweaving is magically "free," and only requires skill and expertise that are usually also required to cast the spells that ape counterweaving's effects.

Activating: A counterweaver can prematurely activate the effect of a spellweave that is being stored in another wizard's aura, an infused object, or a collection of spellrunes. In many cases, counterweaving is the only way to activate spellrunes, though there are some spellrune objects designed to be activated through other means.

Venting: Similar to activating, venting is the ability for a counterweaver to release the raw, magical energy stored in a spell effect in a desired direction (usually away from the counterweaver). The raw energy is released in a stream that can be used offensively, and like the results of a magical disruption, the energy has no specific magical effect other than raw damage. A skilled counterweaver can take a magical item with a peaceful use and turn it into a weapon of war by venting its stored magic. The final results of a completely vented magical effect is the same as a completely nullified or absorbed effect.

Spellbreaking: If a mage wishes to permanently remove a self-sustaining magical effect, he or she must find some way to sever the magical cords that cause the effect to take the shape it does. Doing so without first nullifying, absorbing or venting the energy surrounding such cords is dangerous, because when a spell effect is broken, raw magical energy is released.

Spellbreaking is usually used against infusions and runecrafted items, but unlike disruption, it can also be used against spellweaves, manifestations, and the effects of channelers who use shaping skills. Trying to spellbreak these effects releases energy the same way as spellbreaking an improperly drained infusion or runecrafted item. Because draining one of these effects will remove it as well, spellbreaking is almost never used on these effects, due to how undesireable magical explosions are.

Unfortunately, for a poorly-understood reason, the cords that sustain channelers themselves, soul-magic, and boons self-heal if severed, so spellbreaking is not effective against these types of magic.

Spellbreaking can further be effective against the -effects- of spellrunes and potions if one does not mind the resulting release of raw energy. Against the water of a potion or the object a spellrune is inscribed upon, spellbreaking is completely useless, and will in fact simply activate the potion or spellrune's effect. This is because these two methods of enchantment are specifically designed to create their intended effects when the cords storing their magical energy is broken, like a trigger.

The reason why disruption is effective against spellrunes but spellbreaking is not is because disrupting spellrunes involves changing the shapes of the runes until the runes are useless. The actual cords of energy in a spellrune-inscribed object are designed to flower and produce a new spell effect upon being broken/activated, the same way potion water is designed to create its effect when disrupted. Destroying the runes physically will disable this flowering, but spellbreaking the runes will not, and will simply cause the flowering to take place.

Regions: Habruk

2008-11-13T12:34:00.003-05:00

The area branching north and west from the Eifalos mountain range is called Habruk, and it is one of the smaller geographical regions of Aarn. Normally, I would group an area as small as Habruk with one of the other regions of Zenninfal, but for historical, religious and racial reasons, Habruk is notable enough to be considered a world region in its own right. Originally, I used the word “Habruk” to refer to the entire northernmost Aarnian subcontinent. As my ideas of the setting changed, the eastern region of this continent became known as Zhanpai, and remained too culturally diverse from Habruk to maintain the whole continent as a single region. Now, “Zhanpai” refers to the entire northern continent instead of “Habruk.” The area I continue to call Habruk has become smaller and smaller over time, and now bridges a region shared by both Eastern Zenninfal and Western Zhanpai.

Habruk is the last refuge of the Habrukkan people, who are the direct descendants of the Tehxiona, one of the three original tribes of humans. These people are hardy, jocular and warlike, which makes them friends to be cherished and enemies to be feared. The Habrukkans have divided themselves into two distinct groups, the Sky Tribe who inhabit the coastlines and islands to the west, and the Deep Tribe who inhabit the mountainous mainland.

Regional Religion:

The Habrukkan division between Sky Tribe and Deep Tribe is a religious one. Though all Habrukkans recognize the same set of gods, those gods themselves are divided into Sky Tribe and Deep Tribe, constantly at war with one another. The Habrukkans themselves have simply aligned themselves with the gods and ideology they prefer, and wage the war on Aarn that they believe their gods wage in Heaven.

The gods of the Sky Tribe, to an outsider, would seem distant and judging. They are paternal figures (even the female gods) who claim to guide by example from afar. Paradoxically, the Sky Tribe gods are also seen as passionate and expressive. Their dogma seeks to repress sexual urges and encourage other forms of emotional expression. The gods often forget to follow their own rules, though. The mythology of the region suggests the gods follow a “Do as I say, not as I do” philosophy. These gods are as harsh and unforgiving as the northern winds and seas, but they also have a spectacular energy that inspires and makes the Sky Tribe Habrukkans strive for glory.

The gods of the Deep Tribe, conversely, are maternal and nurturing. They are warm and close, like the earth itself, but they do not seem to concern themselves with glory or honor. Deep Tribe gods are passive and dispassionate, content for things to continue as they are. These gods seek to encourage sensuality and drink in their followers, but their dogma does not hold other forms of expression and art in high regard. Artistic pursuits are seen as a waste of time and a waste of energy, when one could be digging a new tunnel or farming more food.

Naming Styles: The people and place names in Habruk sound similar to words in the scandinavian, uralic, and eastern slavic language families.

Major political factions:

Since the fall of the Jerolan Empire, there have been no true nations in Habruk. Instead, the people have divided themselves up into city states who war with one another just as consistently as they war with outsiders. Even two city states who follow the same tribe of gods have been known to war with one another.

Frejord: : The most important port city of the seafaring Sky Tribe is Frejord, a massive complex of wooden palaces, shipyards and docks. Originally it was a small port town on the southern cape of Freos, the largest island in the Habrukkan region. More recently it became an important staging area for Sky Tribe naval expeditions, and has quickly grown into the unofficial capital of the Sky Tribe culture. It is arguably the third largest pirate staging ground in the world, second only to Pellisar in the Eastern Islands and The Caserian Islands in the Jhettan Rim.

Kuulainen: Currently populated by the Deep Tribe, Kuulainen is considered one of the wonders of the world. Its interior is a tropical paradise maintained by magic, while the outside lands are snowy, harsh and unforgiving. Historians estimate that it was originally built by the Tehxiona, and the fortress itself may even predate the Aledoran empire, which would make it the eldest populated city in the world. Only very mindful care and constant upkeep has kept the fortress functional for so long.

When the Jerolan Empire conquered Habruk a thousand years ago, this city was the only part of Alatra that they could not claim. A combination of the environment and its magically sustained farms make the fortress impossible to siege. During the occupation, the fortress's Deep Tribe society accepted certain members of the Sky Tribe as a kind of asylum, but the demand for asylum easily outstripped the limited space in the fortress and its subterranean catacombs.

The city remained politically independent until the collapse of the Jerolan Empire three centuries ago. Although it was hated by the Habrukkan locals who were not allowed to escape inside, it was largely this fortress that preserved the Habrukkan “old ways.” The Sky Tribe members who sought asylum in the fortress have since been kicked out, which has made Kuulainen's inhabitants even more disliked by its neighbors.

Lovalta: Lovalta is a southern city-state in the temperate region of Habruk, which is at about the same latitude as the northern regions of Cerenbaun's Shanbar province. It has a proper summer, spring, and growing season, and while the area is not rich in resources, the soil is fertile enough for its inhabitants to be comfortable. Lovalta is famous for being a beacon of peaceful life in an otherwise war-torn region. As its population grew, its notoriety grew. At this point, it is so large that the entire region sees it as an almost holy neutral ground where Sky Tribe and Deep Tribe can commingle without fear of violence.

History: There have been at least three empires based out of the Habrukkan region, which historically makes it one of the most politically unstable regions of Aarn. The original Tehxiona inhabited much of Habruk and Eastern Zenninfal, and were eventually driven out of Eastern Zenninfal and back into Habruk by war with the Aledorans.

After the Aledoran Empire fell and the Era of Lies began, the Habrukans were the first human civilization to reach prominence again, their culture largely surviving the hardships of the Silent Era by waiting out the catastrophe in Kuulainen. They spread south and west, driving the remnants of the Aledoran people down into the islands of the Jhettic Rim and the Yesshan desert, where they interbred with the Rensvaja people to create the ancestors of the modern Yesshan race.

The ancient Yesshan empire of Yun used the islands of the Jhettic Rim to retake Western Zenninfal, driving the Habrukkans back east and north. The interbreeding between the native Aledoran refugees of those islands and the Yesshan warriors helped to create the ancestors of the Jerolan race, while the Igan race evolved out of the commingling of Habrukkan, proto-Jerolan and Kaipu people in Igakari. Even to this day, the barbarians of Rothysia continue to practice many aspects of Habrukkan culture, including speaking some of the language.

Several thousand years later, the Habrukkans had another revival. A group of them based out of Freos invaded Shanbar and the Hightrade Rim in Western Zenninfal. Their influence on the language and the culture of the area helped to give birth to the very first people to use the Jerolan name. After approximately 200 years of enslavement, the first true Jerolans drove the Habrukkans out of Western Zenninfal again, then began their conquest of the Jhettan Rim, Western Zenninfal, Yessha and Habruk, leading to the formation of the Jerolan Empire.

Magical Styles:

It is not surprising that the expressive Sky Tribe would specialize in divine magic, while the pragmatic Deep Tribe specialize in wizardry. Habrukkan divine casters practice their craft by singing, a fact that they are famous for. The raids of Habrukkan pirates are done from small boats that carry a great deal of warriors. Each boat has at least one divine caster, whose singing provides powerful, controlled wind that gives the boats unprecedented speed and maneuverability. These songsingers have even been known to rob the wind from the sails of their victims' ships.

Habrukkan wizards tend to specialize in alchemy and runic casting, using potions, scrolls and rune crafted items more than other kinds of magic. It may be that the cold of their environment reduces the dexterity of their fingers enough to inhibit proper spellweaving. It may also be that they prefer the hands-on, practical quality of magical items rather than the act of storing potential spell effects in their own auras. Habrukkans in general already enjoy tattooing themselves for battle, and many of these tattoos are used for enchanting their own bodies with runecrafted effects.

Major Conflicts:

Pirates from Frejord have been raiding the fishing villages and merchant ports of the Hightrade Rim. Locals have tried to petition Cerenbaun to provide protection with its powerful magically-driven warships, but so far the pleas and fallen of deaf ears.

Political strife in Kuulainen threatens to plunge the fortress city into civil war, and many outside forces wish to see this happen.

With increasing frequency, members of the Deep Tribe have decided to follow Sky Tribe gods. This has led to the permanent exile of a great many Habrukkans who are outcasts wherever they go within their homeland.

The fighting between members of the Deep Tribe and Sky Tribe have become increasingly common during recent years. There are calls on both sides for the other side to be completely eradicated. Some religious zealots believe such a conflict will be the start of the end of the world.

The island of Goldblood to the south is the site of a three-way war between the Sky Tribe and two Eastern Zenninfal nations.

The tunnels of the Deep Tribe which are expanding east have begun to intersect with the tunnels of the Lennshin which are expanding west. Tensions between the two godtouched races are high, and a violent conflict seems inevitable on both sides.

Points of interest:

Freos: The largest island in Habruk. It is cold and inhospitable. Its growing season is only 4 months long on the southern cape of the island, and farther north there is virtually no growing season at all. Its Sky Tribe inhabitants are largely sustained through fishing and piracy.

Alatra: Alatra is the local name for the cold, marshy coastline of Habruk. It is a surprisingly moist (if cold) environment. Some of the coldest marshes and bogs in the world exist in this region. Its highly irregular coastline and proximity to the sea helps to keep its temperature more moderate than it otherwise would be. The farmers in this area have two growing seasons, one for vegetables and grains, and one for fungus. Each season is about five months long, with a two month period of overlap.

Sevirska: The name the Habrukans have given to the region that includes the Eifalos Mountain Range and everything to the north of it. Due to both its altitude and its northern latitude, it is one of the most inhospitable, yet still inhabited places on Aarn. The communities that live here are almost all subterranean, sustained by a combination of magic and ingenious hydroponic gardens inside the deepest caves.

Nolevsk: The largest and most famous of the Habrukkan subterranean cities in the Sevirska region. The Deep Tribe members who live here are highly xenophobic and do not tolerate outsiders of any kind. Its full population is impossible to know, but some people claim that there are a full million people in Nolevsk and the surrounding caverns. What few reports have gotten out describe an entire world below the surface, complete with a “sky” painted with magic on the cavern ceilings, rolling hills with trees, grasses, and farms, massive stone castles hanging from the cavern walls and ceilings, and a huge subterranean freshwater ocean.

Rissenacht Sea: This large body of water is what separates Western Zenninfal from Habruk. It is famous for its thunderstorms and blizzards, and is very treacherous to navigate without magical aid.

Goldbood: This island could be considered a part of Eastern Zenninfal as much as a part of Habruk. It is inhabited by a large number of people who share Habrukkan lineage and culture, but it is also inhabited by Igans from the mainland nations of Ulda and Heirsenn. The island itself is very fertile, and a source of the most profitable gold mines of Aarn. This has made the island extremely desirable. As mentioned before, the southern Sky Tribe and the nations of Ulda and Heirsenn have been in a protracted, three-way war over their respective claims to the island and its gold. Any natives that Goldblood originally had were exterminated long ago by this conflict.

Climate: Much of Habruk is constantly cold and stormy as air from the northern Arctic Sea mixes with the relatively warmer waters of the Rissenacht Sea. Blizzards accompanied by lightning are so common in Habruk that there is even a bit of a tourist industry for outsiders to come and watch the storms. Habrukkan natives balk at anyone who has never experienced a Habrukkan storm, yet still has the gall to complain about the weather.

Godtouched Races: Humans (Habrukkan), Ardlins (Cave, Snow), Dragons (Frost, Metal), Lenneshin

Godtouched Races: Skull Imps

2008-11-09T18:03:00.003-05:00

The skull imp was considered a Camarian myth until quite recently. In all fairness to scholars who scoffed at the concept, skull imps are an entire race of creatures who are born death channelers. Because death channelers become unliving creatures over time, it was thought that a race of such creatures, if they ever did exist, would go extinct very quickly as they would have no ability to reproduce.

The paradox of the skull imp's biology lies in the fact that, unlike death dragons, skull imps have a functional society where individuals not only “live” and “die,” but also create new generations of offspring. No skull imp has ever been demonstrated to have any physical life processes, even at birth. They eat, but only to grow, reproduce and heal, and they do not defecate or urinate. A skull imp has no blood, and its mind, soul and body's animate nature are sustained only by its own magical power. Experimentation has shown that if a skull imp's magic is dispelled or blocked, it enters a state of suspended animation from which it will recover slowly. This works similarly to how a channeler's abilities or runecrafted effects will return over time if dispelled.

Skull imps are usually three feet tall, with diminutive, child-like proportions. They have been known to weigh between 50 and 100 pounds. The most common variety of skull imp appears female. These individuals have a skull-shaped carapace that forms over their face and scalp giving them the appearance of four eyes and two noses. This makes their already large head appear even larger. Their “skull eyes” usually glow a powerful red and provide illumination in the dark caves of their habitat, while their lower eyes and mouth glow a pale yellow.

This variety of skull imp has long and pointed ears, with a bent crook halfway up the shaft of their ears. On their bodies, their skin is taught over their bones. Vertebra, collar bones, ribs, shoulder blades and hips all protrude in unnatural ways. Their bodies however are not thin or emaciated, and in many cases they could be accurately described as “plump.” Their skeletal structures are simply exaggerated to a ridiculous degree. These skull imps also seem to have a short upwards pointing spike at the base of their spine, which resembles a short dog's tail.

Perhaps one of the most disturbing features of this type of skull imp is their thighs and biceps. These muscles have an odd shape to them, as if someone had literally butchered their arms and legs, pulling out 3-4 inch deep strips of flesh. This gives the impression that they are wearing long, ornate gloves along with thigh-high boots. The recessed area in these parts of their bodies are colored more red than the rest of their skin, which is usually dark purple, blue, white or black.

The hands and legs of skull imps in general tend to vary from individual to individual. Legs and arms are almost always colored red, as if to evoke the color of blood, but their shapes do not conform to any one particular style. Human-like hands and feet, scythe-like claws, bird-like toes, and even bone-shaped stilts have all been reported on the ends of skull imp limbs. In fact skull imps individuals are often named after the distinguishing characteristics of their limbs, examples being “Long-toe,” “Bent-claw,” or “Sharp-thumb.”

A less common variety of skull imp appears male and tends to be colored more brown than the cooler blues and purples of the “female” type. This skull imp has narrow shoulders and hips, a stooped posture, a prominent pot belly, and its head has only one “face.” Its entire head is shaped like a skull, and it has such a severe underbite that its lower jaw is hidden from view

Skull imp reproduction is poorly understood, but both the female-appearing and male-appearing skull imps have been observed to be “pregnant.” A skull imp who wishes to reproduce will usually find a partner to “help” with the shaping of the child, but this seems to be optional as their reproduction cannot truly be considered sexual. Parent-to-be skull imps will gorge themselves on on vegetative matter and the corpses of animals, and the new individual will spontaneously grow inside one of the two “parents.” Both the role played by the “helper” and the actual birth of the child are better left undescribed. The child that is “born” is biologically dead, and like its parents, is sustained only by its natural death channeling magic. It will grow over time, consuming only enough material to add to its body mass, until it becomes a fully-formed adult after a period of four years.

Skull imps have no known lifespan, though they have been observed to “die” of their own free will. Like any other godtouched they have been shown to have souls. These souls do in fact travel to the afterlife upon the “death” of an individual as well. Asides from their strange form of suicide, skull imps are also known for viciously killing one another when they wish to reproduce, in order to weed out the weakest members of the society. Perversely, they find these acts of violence both fun and socially acceptable. Death in skull imp society is seen as a natural progression from one world to the next, and those who wind up being killed seem to accept their loss in combat with dignity and in some cases even pleasure. Acts of cannibalism have also been observed when their cavernous societies are too far from the surface to reliably escape into the night to hunt for prey when one of them is injured or wants to reproduce. Such hunts are quite rare, but skull imps do require the occasional drink of water. They must keep their bodies supple to prevent mummification. Skull imps prefer moist environments, and do not tolerate desert heat well.

When skull imps wish to cast magic other than their natural channeling, they usually rely on divine magic. For being such insular subterranean creatures, the imagination and willpower of a skull imp is quite strong, which lends well to divine magic. Skull imps have reported that they worship Corsova, the Camarian god of disgust. Corsova is analogous to Western Zenninfal's god of perversion and undeath, Nektos. It is unknown how long ago skull imps were created, but it is possible that they are slightly older than humans, and served as a sort of prototype race for Nektos's plague of undeath. Skull imp myths report that Corsova sought to create a race of creatures of mischief and mirth, who would nevertheless disgust the and repulse godtouched races who already existed. If that was indeed His intent, it went brilliantly. It did not take long for the skull imps to be banished to “the bowels of the earth” in order to spare the locals of the area (predominately naga, valdrex, and ghorma at the time) from their perversions of nature.

Other than the violence, cannibalism and repulsive methods of reproduction, skull imps do seem to be a race of mischief and mirth as they claim. They have been observed to be so light hearted that they are almost schizophrenic. They revel in observing the expressions of disgust or repulsion in living creatures, especially when the living creatures are attempting to be diplomatic or dignified. They enjoy acting evil and playing up to the expectations of those who would judge them by appearance, but for the most part skull imps seem to have compassion. If a joke or spectacle has gone too far, they will usually attempt to coax their guests back into being comfortable, if only because they can then play another one of their jokes, or reveal more socially unacceptable things about themselves. It seems to be the transition between comfort and discomfort that they enjoy observing. It is the rare skull imp who finds raw fear, terror, pain, sorrow or desperation to be entertaining.

When interacting with one another, skull imps are quite expressive. To some researchers' shock and disbelief, they were seen to be singing, reciting poetry, creating macabre sculpture, making staggeringly provocative paintings on their cave walls, or waxing philosophic on the nature of life, death, undeath and unlife. At first it was thought that this behavior was another one of their practical jokes, but some works of art and subterranean architecture were shown to predate first contact with modern researchers. The researchers were forced to conclude that Corsova's sense of sophisticated humor should never be underestimated.

Since the skull imp's discovery, many individuals have ceased to see the point in hiding away underground. It seems that the contact with cultural researchers has rekindled their love of making other creatures profoundly uncomfortable, and many have left their caves in order to interact with the world. Skull imps are often mistaken for undead creatures (which they are not) and in many locations have been hunted and killed mercilessly because of their appearance and antisocial behavior. Still, skull imps who have traveled to the surface seem to take this hatred in stride. If they find a society hostile, they will simply leave to find the next one without holding a serious grudge. There have not yet been any reports of skull imp settlements outside of Camaria, but skull imp barmaids and singers have been observed as far west as Treddis, and as far north as the port city of Frejord in Habruk. This author humbly questions the wisdom of anyone who would hire a skull imp for a job that requires interacting with the public.

Regions: The Eastern Islands

2008-11-08T17:26:00.003-05:00

Summary: Unlike many other regions, the Eastern Islands do not have a single cohesive language, culture, or pantheon. The cultures of islands and islanders tend to be unique due to their isolation, and while many inhabitants of the Eastern Islands use boats and travel from island to island, just as many don't.

What can be said about the Eastern Islands is that they are the remnants of a land mass destroyed by a magical cataclysm, perpetrated by the first major human empire. The natives tend to be exotic and insular, the flora and fauna unique and wondrous, and the many ruins of the islands filled with magical treasures beyond imagining.

Regional Religion: Most inhabitants of the Eastern Islands are primitive and tribal, so it is no surprise that many native religions are animist in nature. Unlike other Aarnian religious followers, many island tribes do not even worship beings analogous to the gods of the mainland. Instead, the beings worshiped as gods include spirit animals, undead spirits and local fey. It has been theorized that the fey worshiped as gods have not yet become true gods because their worshipers are too few, or perhaps the scope of the fey abilities too small. Still, some mainland gods have been introduced to the islanders through missionaries, explorers and colonists. Igan gods are worshiped in the west, the gods of Camaria in the southwest, and the gods of Zhanpai in the north.

Naming styles: The natives of the Eastern Islands tend to have names that sound as if they were from islands in the Pacific and Indian oceans, including aboriginal Australia. This also includes a handful of languages centered more in and around mainland Asia, such as Japanese, Vietnamese and Korean.

As an important cultural note, the name that mainland humans have given to the humans from the Eastern Islands, “Kaipu,” is seen by many natives as a racial epithet. The root of the word “Kaipu” is related to the concept of “easterner” in some of the more common languages of the islands, and the islanders who understand the word find it insulting to be grouped under an all-inclusive label. They do not consider themselves the same race as the mainlanders from Zhanpai (also called Kaipu), nor do they even consider themselves the same race as those who live on their neighboring islands.

Major Islands and Cultures:

Omuri: This island nation is a matriarchal society that has a somewhat flexible caste system. One's caste is decided by many factors, including parentage, sex, and order of birth, but the most important factor deciding caste is the free will of the individual. There are approximately 20 castes in the society, and a child will normally be able to choose from two or three of these castes when he or she comes of age. Children in Honruka belong to no caste, and have no name. They are referred to by their family names, with diminutives, honorifics and context helping to tell siblings apart. It is not until their coming of age ceremonies that children will choose their name, similar to how they choose their caste. The island is famous for its warriors, quality metal smithing and its governing council of wise women.

Ganswada: One of the southernmost and largest of the Eastern Islands, Ganswada is cohabited by humans and centaurs who share a complex legal code. Because the cohabitation is homogeneous, neither side could form its own nation. Instead, members of each race have their own set of laws and social codes they must follow when dealing with members of their own race, and a separate set of of laws when working in mixed-race groups. Strangers to the island often find themselves bewildered when a human can pick a fight with a centaur with no legal consequence, and a centaur guard will arrest its own kind for picking a fight with a human, but not for picking a fight with its own kind.

Although Ganswada is quite far from the mainland, it is equidistant between the coastal kingdoms of Zhanpai, Camaria and Eastern Zenninfal, which has helped it become a politically neutral trading hub between all of the eastern nations and kingdoms. It is arguably the most politically and culturally important of the Eastern Islands, and international agreements are often brokered there.

Xenda: The neighbors of this small island watch it carefully, out of both caution and fear. 90% of the soil of Xenda is fertile and farm-grade. Farmed crops grow large and trees grow fast, which provides its inhabitants with a nearly inexhaustible supply of natural resources. The animals of the island are tough, hardy and ferocious in order to put up with the natural defenses of the quickly-growing plants. This competitiveness also applies to the humans who live on the island, who have begun to build fleets of primitive warships. Several islands have already been claimed through warfare and slavery, and the Xenda people are on the path to creating a vast empire.

The Historical Territory: This massive area has been claimed by Igakari, and is constantly patrolled by its powerful warships. Staying true to their supposedly diplomatic ways, the Igans do not concern themselves with the natives or natural resources of the area, and are simply interested in the Aledoran ruins. The official Igan doctrine is that the ruins are “Of great historical and cultural importance to the human race as a whole, and only the Great Nation of Igakari can be trusted to reveal the secrets of the ruins with an unbiased and apolitical eye.” In theory, Igan scholars were supposed to have an unobtrusive presence in the area. In practice, corrupt ship captains, shortsighted scholars and obsessively myopic archaeologists have all succeeded in making the lives of the natives miserable. Of course, the surrounding “civilized” kingdoms in the area do not trust Igakari at all, but currently have insufficient political or military capital to do anything about the claim but fume.

History: The history of the Eastern Islands of Aarn is a hopelessly tangled web of inter-island trading, constant wars, and commercialization attempts by mainlanders. It is much easier to find two historians who disagree about the Eastern Islands than who agree, though the islands themselves are extremely populars sources of research. There are scholars and sociologists who see the Eastern Islands as a model for the birth of civilization, and study the vast tangle of island politics closely. There are also archaeologists and wizards who explore the islands hoping to uncover the hidden secrets of the Aledorn people, despite (or perhaps because of) the mortal dangers associated with such research.

Magical Styles: The mages of the Easern Islands are overwhelmingly divine, with thousands of different casting methods. Some of the more exotic methods of casting include whistling, burning one's one flesh, acts of sexual depravity, eating sacred fruits, putting on masks and wearing animal skins, and making silly facial expressions.

There are very few wizards due to the lack of education, though there are a handful of tribes who practice wizardy in small amounts, in the same way an under-educated tribe of third-world natives might practice chemistry or electrical engineering.

Major Conflicts: If you throw a stone in the Eastern Islands, you'll hit a war or some kind of ethnic cleansing. Most of these wars are perpetrated by d'zonts or by humans. Centaurs are not comfortable on boats and ships, and their culture predisposes them to mostly keep to themselves. Ironically, the centaurs are the fiercest warriors of the islands; they have to be in order to survive without conquest.

Other troublemakers in the region include pirates, colonialists, missionaries, ornery dragons, mischievous spirit animals, opportunistic Ghorma who see the islands as a source of easily-stripped wealth, and ancient Aledoran horrors who still guard their temples and ruins ferociously.

Points of Interest

Pellisar: This island is a haven for pirates whose heritage consists of mainlanders of all colors and creeds. The pirates prey on the merchant ships who travel to and from the coastal mainland kingdoms. Most Aarn kingdoms consider Pellisar to be its own nation, though the pirates who live there see it less as a nation and more as a place of neutral ground for all pirate kind. Many wars have been declared against the island, but its easily defended coasts, natural resources and the sheer number of pirates calling it home have all worked against those who would like to see the Pirates' extinction. Pellisar is also the home of one of Aarn's largest slave trade operations, second only to the slave trade of the Valdrex themselves.

Hasperia: More a part of eastern Zenninfal culturally, Hasperia is an Igan colony close to the coastline. It is from this colony that Igakari conducts all of its business with the islands, including the managing of The Historical Territory.

Insett: This island is comically dangerous, and it is hailed as the most difficult place to survive in the world. It has practically no animal population, nor are there any permanent godtouched residents. Everything on the island is sharp, barbed, poisonous, or otherwise hazardous to the health of any and all seeking to explore it. It has been rumored that the island was originally the sight of an Aledoran biomancy lab, and its vegetative test subjects have overun the island over the thousands of years since the area became an island. An entire tourism industry has sprung up around the island, where foolhardy and suicidal adventurers attempt to “conquer” or “claim” the island for the sake of glory and prestige. In truth, everyone simply laughs at these adventurers for how stupid they are.

Assassins the world over see Insett as a mecca, and many travel to the island clandestinely to collect raw materials for their poisons.

Climate: The area covered by the Eastern Islands is massive, and covers a wide gamut between tropical, subtropical and occasionally temperate climes. Rain is plentiful, and only Ganswada has anything even approaching an arid climate. Unlike the mainland, much of the area is dominated by alternating seasons of hot, rainy, and cool weather. Beneath the waves, much of the continental plate has been shattered into cracks. In many places, pools of magma covering hundreds of square miles constantly bubble out of the ocean floor, making much of the area warmer and more stormy than it otherwise would be.

Native Godtouched: Ardlins (sea), Centaurs, Dragons (air, water, metal), D'zonts, Humans (Kaipu), Ghorma, Salamanders, Spirit Animals, Phoenixes.

A new world map!

2008-11-07T01:57:00.002-05:00

One of the reasons the blog hasn't seen many new posts lately is I decided the world needed a slightly more polished and geographically original world map. The last few regional posts have been using the old map, which I became quite dissatisfied with about 3 months ago. Since then, I've been slowly working on a new map, and I just finished it about a halfhour ago.

Please click for the full sized image. The thumbnail doesn't do it justice, in my opinion, whatever that's worth. ;)

Happy Halloween from the Aarnblog!

2008-10-31T15:58:00.005-04:00

A Beginner's Guide to Aarn

2008-10-02T13:05:00.003-04:00

Virtually none of the information in this post is new, so devout followers of the blog can probably safely skip it. However, it is a condensed collection of all the most important features of Aarn that someone new to the setting would need to know first. If you are new to the setting and this blog, please enjoy.

Aarn is a planet in a solar system like any other. What distinguishes it from other earth-like planets is that half of Aarn is blanketed in magical storms, making only one hemisphere inhabitable.

The many races and civilizations of Aarn can all be categorized as "Godtouched" - inherently magical creatures whose physical abilities far outshine what we would consider possible in real life. A human on Aarn in peak physical condition would be able to leap 20 feet straight up in the air, hew a thick tree in half with a single sword stroke, and run extremely quickly in short bursts of speed, though an average human on Aarn has physical capabilities on par with the average human on Earth.

Beyond their physical abilities, godtouched races have access to three different kinds of magic. Wizardry is magic that is scientific, technological and pragmatic. Channeling is a natural magic that is similar to the super powers of people in comic books, guided by 14 different magical elements. Divine magic is creative and intuitive, a magic that is learned through prayer, meditation and self-expression.

The fey are an important group of uncivilized sentient creatures that inhabit Aarn. Fey are mysterious and do not necessarily follow the laws of mortals, though they do follow their own strictly self-imposed limitations. Although fey can be defeated in combat and even killed by mortals, the essence of a fey will be reincarnated into a new fey. This new fey will remember its past lives completely, though strangely holds no grudges against those who have wronged it in past lives. The inner mind of a fey is alien. Fey do pretend to have somewhat mortal concerns and a vaguely mortal way of thinking, but it should be remembered that they are only pretending.

Humans are the dominant godtouched race on Aarn, and they outnumber all other godtouched. However, Aarn's population of godtouched creatures (human and non-human) is quite low. This low population is largely due to a high mortality rate and violent way of life. Due to the low pouplation, most areas are plagued with massive poverty gaps. A kingdom with a robust and scientifically advanced cities might have rural areas where the technology and education levels are little better than feudal times.

The sciences and technologies of Aarn are based around magic instead of electricity, magnetism or combustion engines, but in many respects, the functions of Aarn's advanced technology is on par with ours. In the medical sciences, this technology is actually more advanced than ours. Those with access to magic have the ability to cure virtually all physical ills, and the human lifespan can be increased by several centuries with access to constant magical treatment.

The academics and intellectuals of Aarn are also aware of concepts such as bacteria and viruses, atoms, chemical reactions and advanced mathematics. Further, Aarnian scientists have developed magical items that serve the same functions as cell phones, GPS devices, holographic projectors, assault rifles, anti-gravity devices, and free energy devices. Those with access to education would know of this information, although those without access to education would remain ignorant.

Despite Aarn's advancement in magical technology, melee combat is not obsolete, mainly because all godtouched races develop a natural resistance to destructive magics. The physical prowess of godtouched races also allows them to use melee weapons in extraordinarily effective ways, as mentioned earlier.

Gunpowder firearms exist, but are poorly represented - they are inferior to magical ranged weapons, even considering the magical resistances of godtouched creatures. The physical damage caused by firearms is only on par with the damage that can be done with the enhanced physical abilities of a godtouched using a more "primitive" weapons, anyway.

The armor that is worn by adventurers tends to be comfortable and flexible. Magical light armor is more common, cheaper, and more desirable than plate mail, which is seen as uncomfortable and ornamental. Wearing plate mail does imply a certain level of societal status, though.

On the spiritual side of things, Aarn has many conflicting religions. Most of these religions are wrong, and the rest are dead wrong. The way the gods of Aarn are worshiped and represented varies widely from region to region. Many gods that are worshiped are also fictional - it is difficult to tell the difference between a god that is fake and a god that is "real." Divine magic is not strictly dependent on the patronage of a god, nor do the gods control or guide any sort of afterlife.

The only afterlife Aarn has is a series of nine hells. Each hell is an exaggeration of a certain kind of lifestyle. Depending on your tolerances, it is quite possible to find yourself in a hell you enjoy. The demons who run these hells are not trying to make you suffer, but they are not trying to make you comfortable, either. Because of how the hells are set up, the dishonesty, pride, ego, indoctrinated religious beliefs, self-hatred and guilt of many mortals cause them to find themselves in a hell where they are miserable. These hells float in the Astral Sea, a quasi-physical realm which is the original home of the gods and fey, the place where all mortal minds travel in order to dream, and the source of all magic.

Creatures: Fey and Demi-Fey

2008-09-13T17:33:00.002-04:00

The following claims to be a transcript of a lecture given by William Rennovar, the Director of the Royal Cerenbaun Institute of Fey Research and Investigation. The Cerenbaun Government denies the existence of any such Institute, and the only William Rennovar that has been found within the legal records of Cerenbaun is a patent clerk who died one hundred and seventy-five years ago.

---

What is an essence that is above a God? Do we even have the language to describe such a thing? Gods are all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present, immortal. And yet, the research of this institute is beginning to show, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that fey and gods are not only two sides of the same coin, but both of these entities share in common an indescribable essence that is analogous to the souls of mortals.

My posting here at the facility grants me special privileges not allowed to the lesser-ranked researchers. Using some of these privileges, I have developed a habit of playing chess with Subject 25. Proper safety measures have been taken, as he and I both have our own copy of the chess board, and announce our moves to one another. We did lose a researcher, however, who foolishly thought Subject 25 was given the chess board by mistake. His attempt to retrieve the chess board lead to his demise; let this be a lesson to you all for following proper containment procedures.

During these chess games, Subject 25 and I have been developing a rapport and relationship that would not otherwise be possible. This relationship has provided me with a rare advantage in studying Subject 25. During our conversations, Subject 25 has told me many cryptic things about fey and gods that at first, I found simply unbelievable. I assumed Subject 25 was lying, or toying with my mortal sensibilities. Independent investigation of Subjects 22, 27 and 28, however, has provided information that seems to corroborate with Subject 25's stories. The "insane" ramblings of subject 13 also seem to corroborate with the information provided by Subject 25, as well as information regarding the relationship between Subjects 2 and 30.

On many occasions I called Subject 25 a "fey" during our games. Each time, it would correct me and call itself a "demi-fey." When I pressed it for what it meant by that, it said that while it has not "become a mortal," it is no longer a true fey. After I asked it how this came about, it told me that all fey of subject 25's type were created during a metaphysical cataclysm during the Silent Era. When I asked Subject 25 about Subject 13, it said that Subject 13 is also a demi-fey, though a far less lucid one.

These exchanges provided me with a new line of questioning I could perform on some of the other subjects. When asked about "demi-fey," Subject 4 told us that a demi-fey is a shadow of a true fey, without what we would call a fey's soul. Subject 22 warned us that the horrible forest-creature she would transform into if her tree was killed is a demi-fey, but she apparently has the ability to recover from that state, unlike subjects 13 and 25, for which their demi-fey nature is permanent. Subjects 27 and 28 spoke at length of the ineffable infinitude of a fey's existence, and that a demi-fey no longer contains within it such an infinite essence, though it can remember having it.

Sensing a potential breakthrough I adjusted the questions asked during the regular interviews given to our more lucid subjects. Soon after doing so, more information began to trickle out of the fey that we have on hand. Shockingly, a conclusion I have been forced to reach about this information is the possibility that fey and gods are in fact the same sort of creature! Believe me, I understand the implausibility of such an ancient idea, discounted by modern science and investigation. But I have developed a theory as to the true nature of fey that I hope that you, my audience, will be receptive to.

First, I wish to make a comparison between fey and mortals, as absurd as that may sound. It has been shown that we mortals have a soul that transcends our mortal existence. This soul can be detected by magic, and in many cases seems to be the source of the energy our magic uses to affect the world. In the same way that an animal has been shown to have a soul, but no magic, I believe that a fey has the same intrinsic essence as a god, but the fey is to a god as a sentient animal is to a godtouched.

What sets gods and fey apart from mortals is that they seem to be aware of their transcendent nature, while mortals are not. When a mortal is killed and reincarnated, for instance, the reincarnation wipes clean the memories of its past life and the afterlife. When a fey is killed, however, its immortal essence retains its memories of its past identity, even as it adopts a new identity. Importantly, a fey seems to not only be aware of its past identities, but also its future ones.

This brings me to the aforementioned relationship observed between Subject 2 and Subject 30. Subject 2 was one of our first captures, and we deemed it inappropriate for study. Subject 2 would only accuse us of wanting to kill it, refused to communicate with us on any subject, and also claimed the apparently insane idea that we were going to capture it "again" despite its insistence that it would die in our captivity.

Part of Subject 2's prophecy came to pass when we decided to end its existence in an experiment to observe a fey's “mortality.” Upon death, we concluded that we could observe no mortal component to the fey. Subject 2's physical body ceased to exist once killed, as has been reported by adventurers who have slain fey in the field, and we could not detect the presence of any soul-like energy before, during, or after the death.

The rest of Subject 2's prophecy apparently has come true as well. Subject 30 is one of our newest acquisitions, and quite strangely, it allowed us to capture it and came with us willingly to the facility. Subject 30 claims to have the memories of Subject 2. It knows many of the staff by name, and even taunted our staff member who personally killed Subject 2. This staff member has since retired for the purpose of mental council. For now, Subject 30 has been cooperating with our questioning and investigations, but has been doing so with a very smug, "I told you so" attitude.

If fey indeed carry with themselves the knowledge of their past and future identities, it is no longer quite as much of a stretch to compare them to the omnipotent and omniscient gods. The powers, abilities and even apparent mortality of many of the fey we capture seem to be intentional self-limitations, limitations they will continue to follow even if it means their death or an outcome they do not desire. The entities we worship as gods, in contrast, either have applied very few limitations to themselves, or no limitations at all.

Further, Subject 30 does seem to be a distinct, separate individual than Subject 2, even if it remembers being Subject 2. It carries no grudges against the staff nor does it share any of Subject 2's habits or tastes. While we cannot rightly say that Subjects 2 and 30 are separate individuals, we also cannot say that these two subjects share the same identity, limitations or behavior.

This now brings my lecture full circle, back to the concept of a demi-fey. I postulate that a demi-fey is not mortal, and retains the arbitrary self-imposed limitations of a fey. What sets it apart from fey and gods however is that it no longer has a transcendent consciousness. Fey and gods seem to share the same sort of non-temporal understanding of the world, granted to them by their infinite soul-like essence, but demi-fey has lost this essence. While they can still remember their past identities, demi-fey can no longer anticipate their future ones, nor does it seem that they survive death like fey do. A demi-fey is to a fey or god as a soulless animantic automaton is to animals and godtouched.

As a horrifying prospect, if one of us were to undergo the transformation of a fey to demi-fey, it would be as if we lost our soul but not our identity. We would be aware that we no longer possess a soul, yet would be able to remember having one. For us, death would be a permanent erasure from existence, unlike the loss of identity through reincarnation, where we are assured that our soul, at the very least, lives on.

Perhaps this knowledge of their own "mortality" is what makes demi-fey so much more violent than their fey counterparts. Demi-fey are aware that they can actually cease to exist, so they fight that much harder for their own survival. Please take this into consideration, as Subjects 6, 13, 19, 25 and 29 have been determined to be demi-fey, and will be re-labeled accordingly.

50 Whacko Conspiracy Theories of Aarn

2008-09-02T22:51:00.008-04:00

Every world has its own set of myths, urban legends, conspiracy theories and mysteries. Aarn is no different, and for your reading pleasure, I present to you a group of 50 popular conspiracy theories believed across the world of Aarn. Some are true, some are not, some are only half-true, and I leave it up to you, gentile readers, to decide for yourselves which are which.

#1. In mountainous regions, villagers and goat herders have reported seeing lights on opposing peaks. These lights flash randomly at one another in no discernible pattern. Exploring the sites of the lights reveals nothing other then strange scrape marks in the rock.

#2. Rural agricultural regions are famous for reports of airships of unknown design which fly higher and faster then conventional airships. These reports claim that certain unreliable members of the population are routinely kidnapped by these airships, without any trustworthy corroborating witnesses. Some reports of these ships have been coming in since before the invention of the conventional airship a century ago.

#3. There have been reports of caves found by adventurers filled with fabulous treasures and riches beyond imagination. Adventurers who return to these caves with the tools required to claim the treasures can no longer find the entrances to the cave. Only a few trinkets or handfuls of gold have ever been recovered, but they are of the highest quality.

#4. Occasionally a person who has been dead for decades returns to their homes as if nothing had happened. Local investigations discover no magical essence around these people, exhumations of the bodies reveal the corpses absent, and the people themselves usually know no one with the required resources to resurrect someone. Every time professional investigators from universities and academies visit to examine the situation, the people in question vanish. Left behind are personal affects, the supposedly dead person's new dwelling, and hundreds of eye witnesses.

#5. Dreamlings still exist. Or rather, they never existed. Take your pick.

#6. On very rare occasions and never confirmed by magic, there appears to be two suns in the sky.

#7. Medusa aren't dieing out, they're disguising themselves as humans and living amongst them for reasons unknown.

#8. Psychics and mind-walkers who study the moon and its affect on people tend to go insane for no discernible reason. Recurring themes in their babbling are mentions of "The false ones," "The sea of white," and "The Butterflies"

#9. There have been pottery and carvings excavated from ancient ruins that show pictures of ardlins. These ancient artifacts not only date to far before Ardlins were supposedly created, but some even date to before human beings were created. These carvings are often dismissed as stylized representations of goblins.

#10. Demons never left Aarn after the Era of Lies. They have instead been manipulating the governments and institutions of Aarn for reasons that are their own.

#11. Camarian floaters are actually godtouched, and use their magical abilities to hide this fact from the other races.

#12. King Jonas Cerenbaun, King William Cerenbaun, King Jacob Cerenbaun II, King Jacob Cerenbaun I, King Marcus Cerenbaun and the King Julius Cerenbaun are all the same man, an immortal that fakes his death every generation.

#13. An unknown ship of advanced build, imbued with advanced magics was found crashed ashore after a terrible storm. Corpses of the mixed race crew were dressed in unknown clothes in unknown styles with no sign of what port they left from nor what cities they were visiting. However, a map was found amongst the navigator's supplies that appears to be a -complete- map of the world. This map features labeled cities on both sides of the world, including the local continent. Mysteriously, there are labels of many cities that don't exist anymore, and some that either never existed or don't exist yet. This map is widely believed to be a grand hoax.

#14. The Jhettan Storms don't exist. Those who believe this theory claim that the storms are a massive hoax perpetrated by the wizards of the world. Their goal is to either hide the other side of the world, control the masses, disguise the fact that Aarn is actually infinite, disguise the fact that Aarn is not really a sphere, or keep the people from learning that Aarn split in half hundreds of thousands of years ago, with the moon being the other half of the planet.

#15. Occasionally there are reports of strange parties of adventurers who dress in odd clothing and also use strange magics, methods and machines, although one of them is always carrying a silver spear. Any attempts to scry on these adventurers fail, and after some time no trace of them can be found. These reports usually correspond with influential or great historical events.

#16. There were once over 30 magical elements, including such preposterous abilities as a "time" element or "void" element. Those who believe this claim that there is a massive, worldwide conspiracy to hide the missing 16 elements from the masses who might abuse their power.

#17. The first astronomers in recent history who closely examined Aarn's moon described the moon's rings as a series of beautifully complex, massive cogs and gears with tiny slits that could have been windows. All contemporary and more advanced magical and technological examinations has revealed nothing but shattered rings of rock

#18. Ancient records have been found that state goblins were once a godtouched race. These records include documented "proof," and further state the goblins disappointed their unnamed god so much that they had their status revoked and were delegated back to existing as smart animals.

#19. Dragons are extinct. The creatures we now think of as dragons are fey, trying to keep up the illusion.

#20. A strange channeler wandered into a village one day, apparently injured. By all reports, his wounds were not static and had a tendency to shift around his body, moving and changing moment to moment. The local healer managed to nurse the channeler back to health. During his recovery, the channeler told many things to his healer. He claimed to be able to channel time itself, and that there were others like him, however upon birth they were all swept away by an unknown entity known only as “Grandfather.”

The channeler claimed that “Grandfather” existed even before the gods and fey came to Aarn. The channeler continued to claim that this entity required the use of all channelers with time abilities in order to maintain Aarn's natural time flow in the presence of the gods, as they were an anathema to continuity. Shortly after his recovery, the channeler vanished without a trace, and all attempts at scrying were met with innumerable failures, from broken scrying stones to those attempting the scry always being distracted by some other coincidental occurrence.

It is said that every year for the rest of the healer's life, on the anniversary of the channeler's disappearance, she would find a magical trinket or precious stone. It is further reported that year after year after her death, flowers continue to mysteriously appear on her grave.

#21. Humanity went extinct during the early wars, what poses as humans now are simply spirits who are not aware they're dead. Claims are made by the most long-lived races that they personally watched the final group of human beings wiped out.

#22. Wizardry does not exist. Any examples of wizardry magic are formed and created by Jennin himself, and using wizardry makes your soul his.

#23. A relatively unknown channeler claimed to have discovered a way to become truly immortal. He disappeared shortly after making this claim, and his acquaintances have been making claims that they witnessed strange people in black armor wandering around the districts of his city shortly before his disappearance.

#24. Jennin is not actually a fey. He is instead a massively powerful divine caster from a lost godtouched race, and human beings are biomantic monsters.

#25. An airship was found crashed in the wilderness shortly after witnesses claimed to see a fireball streak across the sky. No sign of the crew was found. However, a large lump of dead biomass with no aura signature was found amongst the wreckage. The biomass's weight was consistent with the combined weight of an airship of that size's normal crew compliment. The captain's log indicated he was attempting to fly to the moon. Many pages are lost, however the last page describes landing on a gray dusty plain pockmarked with craters.

#26: The Aledorans were not completely destroyed at the end of the Age of Humanity. They have a lost colony on a distant island from which they guide and control the world.

#27. Records from an Aledoran ruin mention excavation of a massive ancient human city in a location that is now underwater. The Aledoran archaeologist claimed the city predated the war of the gods and even the creation of the medusae.

#28. 75 years ago a massive human corpse four times the size of a giant washed up on a Yesshan shore. This corpse was in an advanced state of decay, although there were claims of gems in its eye sockets instead of eyes. All parts of the corpse were auctioned off by the locals and none of their locations are currently known.

#29. A book made of paper materials processed in an unknown but advanced method was found in an archeology dig. The book appears to be a history book for a school of some sort and lists in detail historical events that appear to have never happened. It also records dates set a thousand years beyond the present. Detailed research shows several of the listed historical events were similar or even the opposite of what was known to have happened.

#30. There is a style of magic completely separate from any fey influence. This magic is harnessed by movement of physical objects and examples of it are natural fire and natural electricity. It is said that it is the magic demons use, and humans can use it as well, though none dare study it.

#31. Workers from a geological team reported that they stumbled onto the remains of an ancient advanced civilization. The strata the team were working in was dated to 30 million years ago, astounding the team. A professional archaeologist was called in to investigate the ruins. However, according to reports, the day after the discovery all remains of the ruins were missing, with massive slabs of rose quartz in their place. Further reports state the lead geologist who discovered the ruins was found dead with all his body organs missing, and the archaeologist called in to investigate was killed in a surprise ghoul attack.

#32. Great wizards claim there is an area where magic ceases to exist, but no one can pinpoint it's exact location. Reported positions of this area range up and down the continent, even going into the middle of the oceans.

#33. There is an institution in the City of Jerol that has imprisoned and studies fey. There are rumors of a high turnover rate in employment, and most people suspect a famous mental institution of being the facility.

#34. A great and powerful astralmancer once claimed to have been able to view the distant past and wrote down detailed logs of what he saw. Those in his village who read the logs claimed they were startling. A university sent an envoy to view the logs but arrived to find the village devoid of life. They investigated the astralmancer's tower however and found the logs - they all read the same thing, line after line: “Liar.”

#35. Some geologists have found layers of dust throughout the geological strata. These dust strata have been dated every 10,000 years or so with no explanation as to how the dust got there in that quantity. Worshipers of Sueiffa claim that is is proof their god is real, but no one believes them.

#36. In a famous incident that took place 200 years ago in Igakari, a strange divine caster appeared in a small village. This divine caster had nearly infinite control over his magic and claimed to "enjoy traveling." He produced an unknown formula claiming that it held the answer to his magic ability, calling it the proof of god. None who studied it through any method could decipher the formula or even understand the language it was written in except for a lone channeler of unknown type. She claimed to be able to read it and began showing amazing divine casting ability, almost overnight. According to scryers attempting the event, 99 fey spontaneously appeared moments later and laid waste to the village. Shortly after describing the event, the scryers themselves either lost their power or began to show signs of insanity.

#37. Cows are, or rather were, a godtouched race. However, they were enslaved and specially bred to be nothing more then animals.

#38. There are only 13 godtouched, and all others are either fakes or biomantic monsters. Those who believe this conspiracy cannot agree on which 13 godtouched are genuine.

#39. Humans are not native to Aarn. Rather than being created by Jennin from giant stock, they came to Aarn through other means from some other place. Aledor was only an extension of their alien empire.

#40. If all the ardlin subraces were to breed together to create a single race, the result would be an immortal species of unspeakable magic power. There are theories that this idea was originally created by the medusae, and has been applied to each godtouched race in turn as they were created one by one.

#41. The tomb of an unknown noble was discovered in the Chianmos Desert. Archaeologists investigating the tomb found marvelous sculptures and art of unknown style and amazing quality, made primarily of gold and precious stones and gems. The walls were covered in carvings in an unknown language, along with pictures depicting the styles of an unknown civilization. Magical translation and further research determined that the buried noble was a great human king of an unknown desert nation that doesn't correspond with any locations in the known world. Pictures identified as his gods were oddly stylized anthromorphs.

There are further rumors that a necromancer procured the excellently preserved body, and attempted to use it to create an undead servant. Soon after, the necromancer's village was wiped out by a horrific supernatural plague that was only contained when some of the most powerful wizards in the world gathered and obliterated the surrounding area, destroying all life. All legal records of this event, records of the area that was expunged and even references to the tomb were forcibly removed under threat of extermination by said wizards.

#42. Not only are all house cats spirit animals, but they are the spirit animals' true forms. All other spirit animals are regular animals possessed by spirit animal anima. Most cats are playing animal and secretly controlling their human “pets.”

#43. There are no gods. All contact with the divine is a subconscious reflection of human desires from the astral plane.

#44.An ancient medusae city was recently discovered, contemporary with the war of the gods. The excavated buildings of this city showed carvings of what appeared to be 3 humans. Inscriptions described one of them knowing what is now called wizardry, and described another as a shadow channeler. The city was destroyed soon after the discovery.

#45. A series of letters written in a strange artificial handwriting were discovered in a cave. They appear to be general logs and records of some sort of advanced airship base. The logs references a war against a nation known as Igania and lists of unknown weapons of terrible power.

#46. There is an organization of psychiatric specialists who claim that everyone who claims to have come into contact with a phoenix have a rare brain disorder. This organization also claims that all so-called phoenix feathers are in fact magically imbued rok feathers.

#47. The act of creating a structured civilization is not a natural act for godtouched to undergo. Instead, the behavior is caused by a magical virus created in the early days of Aarn that forces a race to gather in large cities so they can be more easily wiped out. The virus also compels them to develop more and more dangerous magics until they destroy themselves. The destruction of the Aledoran civilization was an example of the virus in action, although humanity has survived for the moment. Only a handful of godtouched are immune.

#48. The destruction of the Aleodran civilization was not directly caused by any of their magical experimentation. Instead, they were murdred by the gods. The true nature of the Aledoran's experiment was a magical spell that could turn them into gods themselves, and the gods wished to ensure their destruction, and the destruction of all knowledge of the spell.

#49. Almost all races that predate humans share a myth about Aarn having 4 moons in its past. In all of these myths, the three extra moons were destroyed, leaving behind dust clouds that fell onto Aarn, causing great calamitous winters where clouds blocked out the sky for generations.. The most commonly repeating theme in these myths is a fiery snake that erupted from the sun, which literally ate the moons.

#50. Spirit animals are secretly controlling the world's economies by gathering tremendous fortunes over their long lifespans and using these fortunes to manipulate human economies, or for other unknown reasons. It is said they created the current banking system, and maintain its global, international functionality.

Much thanks to my good friend Khyron, who not only came up with the idea of Aarnian conspiracy theories, but also came up with most of the above ideas.

Regions: Camaria

2008-09-02T17:39:00.004-04:00

Summary: Camaria is a tropical land divided into three subregions, the natural paradise of the Camarian Basin to the north, the southern and dryer Camarian Highlands to the south, and the untamed wilds of the Camarian Wastes to the east. The Camarian Basin is dominated by a repressive and authoritarian religious structure, while the Camarian Highlands are composed of a number of tribal nations who are heavily influenced by Camarian culture and religion despite not following the major Camarian Church. The Camarian Wastes are not strictly wasteland, but instead populated by a disproportionately high number of dragons, who make habitation in the area by other godtouched races impossible. The wastes are a popular destination of suicidal adventurers.

Regional Religion: The gods and goddesses worshiped in Camaria are all representations of emotion, reflecting the flamboyant and sentimental feelings of most Camarian people. The most commonly "worshiped" gods are those of Sadness, Passion, Duty, Joy, and Selfishness. The Camarian church itself cultivates this worship, encouraging worship and subservience to the the gods of Duty, Sadness and Joy, while encouraging fear of and sacrifices to the gods of passion and selfishness. The church itself is amazingly repressive, governing all aspects of life and cavorting. It is constantly in a war with the natural passions of the Camarian people, seeking control through propaganda, magic and emotional manipulation.

Naming styles: People in Aarn who have Indo-Iranian and Dravidian-sounding names are usually from Camaria.

Major Political Factions:

Camarian Orthodoxy: The official title of the Camarian Church. It is lead by five High Priests, each of whom serve not only as the leaders of the religion, but as oligarchs who control the Camarian government from behind the scenes. Each High Priest represents and controls the type of worship of one of the five official gods of the church. Certain worship of other gods is tolerated, but only under strict observation by members of the church. The church itself has a holy army of warrior priests called "Clerks of the Gods," who use their combat skills and magic to enforce the church's doctrine.

The Confederacy of Camaria: The official government of the Camarian Basin. The Confederacy has very little power and serves as a figurehead for the region. Its army is considered laughable even by the Camarian people, its police force considered incompetent and there is a Camarian saying, "The Leaders of the Confederacy are only good at taking blame." This statement was originally used as an ironic cricitism of the ineffectual government and those who actually sought to blame it for social problems over which it had no responsibility, but in recent times people have been taking the saying at face value, projecting the problems of society and the church onto the Confederacy.

Sons of Passion: Heroes in the Highlands and the most vicious of criminals in the Basin, the Sons of Passion are a revolutionary group that seeks to unite the tribes and kingdoms of the Highlands and overthrow the Camarian Orthodoxy.

Kalsad: The most powerful and influential of the many kingdoms in the Camarian Highlands, Kalsad is known for its disproportionate level of wealth and prosperity. An extensive marble quarry lies just outside of the capital city, from which many buildings and towers are made. Religious buildings are always made with black marble, which has become quite rare to the point that the nation is forced to import its "Holy Marble" from elsewhere, while the buildings and towers of the government and aristocracy are made with the more plentiful white marble. Kalsad is ruled by a tribal Monarch, although each city within the nation is also ruled by its own tribal leader who, at least locally, has more power than the central Monarch himself. In this capcity, the Monarch of Kalsad is more like a clerk who serves as official organizer/diplmoat of the tribal Monarchs. As is common in the Highlands, each tribe is known for being especially good at a certain trade, and people are usually born into their vocation. The way in which jobs and careers are assigned to members of certain tribes could be described as a loose but extremely complicated caste system.

History: The Camarian Church is in a period of decline and corruption, although it was once the savior of Camaria. For thousands of years, Camaria was a region with a history of horribly bloody wars and tribal genocide. The current doctrine of the church was formulated to keep these wars in check, and the church once dominated the entire Camarian region. Three hundred years ago, the church splintered, and the Camarian Highlands separated politically with the Camarian Basin. A revival of the Camrian Basin's traditional religious orthodoxy is the only thing that prevented the church from being destroyed altogether. Much time since then has passed however, and there are whispered rumors that the church may splinter again.

Magical Styles: Wizardry in all its forms is illegal in the Camarian Basin, those who practice it branded heretics, shunned, hunted and executed. Instead, divine magic is what is encouraged for everyone to learn for their magical skills. In most other regions, divine magic is highly personal, with the methods of casting depending on self-expression rather than institution. This feature of divine magic has been subverted in Camaria, where the methods of self-expression are so controlled and strict that a faux science has grown around divine casting. This science resembles Hermeticism, and uses cards, books of scripture and code, and circles of power drawn with salt and blood as magical foci. Also common are divine spells that can summon both friendly and unfriendly fey, which can create contracts with the caster where the fey loans the caster some of its power. In reality, none of these methods of casting are strictly necessary for divine casting in general, but Camaria's culture has been shaped by the church so dramatically that the vast majority of people would think that casting divine magic without such methods would be impossible. With divine magic of course, thinking a method of casting impossible is enough to make it so.

Although "free casters" of divine magic have become somewhat common in the Camarian Highlands, even the highlanders themselves still continue to use this "Hermetic" style of divine casting.

Major Conflicts:

Recently, the High Priest of the goddess of Sadness (Analogous to the One Mother) has been enacting policies of worship that seem to focus more on the emotion of anger. These acts have been throwing the northeast wing of the church into chaos, and creating tensions with cultists who follow the legitimate goddess of anger (analogous to Venrisha).

The Sons of Passion have been increasing their presence in the Camarian Basin. They are to be executed on sight by the clerks of the church.

To the shock and horror of many Highlanders, the monarch of Kalsad has recently converted to Camarian Orthodoxy. Foul play is highly suspected, and several attempts on his life have already been made, both before and after the conversion.

Camaria has long been a popular trading post for exiled Ghorma (A new godtouched race that will be explored in a future post). The Ghorma are resented by the Camarian populace due to their tendency to accumulate wealth and flee with it to unknown places, and the Church is considering banning trade with them. The Ghorma are not happy about this, and are placing heavy political pressure on the Church to reconsider.

Naga from the Hansvar Ridges are constantly at war with the humans in the Camarian basin who follow the Church. These naga have a tentative alliance with the Sons of Passion.

A "Merchants' War" between the Ghorma from the southeast seas and the Valdrex from the west has been raging through the Camarian Highlands, bringing with it violence, corruption and low, low prices.

Points of Interest:

Mount Greppaya: Lying to the northeast of the Camarian Basin, this dormant volcano is a famous landmark and one of the tallest mountains in the world, and the tallest in Yessha. It is also the mountaintop where phoenixes go to die once every millenium.

The Hansvar Ridges: A very tall and sharp mountain range to the west of the Camarian Basin. This mountain range is extremely famous for being impassible, to the point that "Crossing the Hansvar" is a common euphamism for an impossible or foolish task. Unknown to many, there are secret hundred-mile-long caves and tunnels that lead all the way from the Camarian Basin to the Yesshan desert through which merchants might be able to travel. These caves hide the Skull Imp civilization (another new Godtouched race that will be talked about in a future post).

Lake Atnia and the Atnian Marshes: A freshwater marshland and lake that lies at the center of the Camarian Basin. The agriculturalists of Camaria have become very skilled at safely farming this natural wonder, growing sugarcanes and edible grasses the size of houses, and fruits, melons and tubers the size of barrles and larger. The people of the Camarian Basin eat so well largely due to their skilled cultivation of this region's jungle fruits and vegetables.

The Sea of Bwhanvi: North of Kalsad and the source of much of its wealth. The Sea of Bhanvi is teeming with sea life, both delicious and plentiful. There is a strong international demand for Camarian seafood taken from this Sea, but the Kalsad government patrols the sea and carefully prevents overfishing (also maintaining the high prices of the produce.)

The Gansvi Range: The third highest mountain range in Aarn, this glaciated mountain range serves as the source of most of the fresh water in the Camarian Highlands. It also serves as the north slope of the Gungangua Plateua in Rensvan.

Mount Pottotatva: This still-active volcano is home to one of the eldest and most powerful fire dragons in the world, and is also the home of huge population of salamanders, perhaps the most concentrated population of salamanders in the world. This Volcano's volent eruption famously ended a naga civilization four thousand years ago, but since then has had quiet eruptions (possibly guided by the dragon) that have only been increasing the mountain's height more and more. It is now known for being the tallest mountain in Rensvan.

Climate: The Camarian Basin is surrounded on all sides by high mountain ranges, many of which pour water into the Atnian Marshes. The area is filled with thick jungle and heavy rainfall. There is a myth known to the nomads of the Yesshan Desert to the west that the Camarian Basin long ago stole all the water from Yessha, creating the more westerly desert.

The Camarian Highlands border mountains to the south and west, and open sea to the north and east. Once filled with lush jungle, overfarming by ancient peoples caused this area to become somewhat more dry, and robbed the soil of many nutrients. Most people get by with fishing out of the sea and rivers coming down from the glaciated Gansvi mountain range to the south. Although farther south the eastern coast of Rensvan has succumbed to heavy desertification, the Camarian Highlands have so far been spared the same fate.

Native Godtouched: Dragons (Earth, Light, Fire, Life, Shadow, Water, Kanna), Humans (Yesshan), Naga, Phoenixes, Salamanders, Skull Imps, Spirit Animals, Undead (Araenid)

Eastern Zenninfal

2008-08-19T14:38:00.004-04:00

Summary: Eastern Zenninfal is slightly less industrious than the west, but it is overall more educated in the fields of mysticism, philosophy, mathematics, politics and law. Magic is largely what drives the society, whether it is in the mages becoming figures of political power in the city-states and kingdoms, or the priests and shamans leading their tribes of barbarians in the less civilized areas. Money is used, but trading for goods and services is still practiced. Overall, the people living in Eastern Zenninfal are more tolerant of most everything, from the differences between people to the injustices of society. There are notable exceptions however, which will be detailed in the "Major Conflicts" paragraph.

Regional Religion: The religions of Eastern Zenninfal are wide and varied, though most of the universally worshiped gods are seen as forces where you are better off if you are ignored. Most prayers are not prayers asking for favors or good events to happen, but rather, prayers asking for salvation and mercy. Priests of many gods are seen less as intermediaries between their god and the people, and more as defenders of the people against the excesses of what their god represents.

Naming styles: The names of people and places in Eastern Zenninfal tend to come from the romance languages. Towards the north, people and places tend to have Greek names, and towards the southwest and northwest, people and places tend to have Slavic names.

Major Political Factions: Igakari is the driving nation in this region, with most other nations and kingdoms being mere city-states. Igakari itself is ruled over by two sections of government. The first section is a group of Magistrates from every town and city. These Magistrates serve as both mayors and national representatives; they stay in contact with one another through magic and drive national policy. The larger the city, the more influence that city's magistrate is afforded. International policy is driven by a group of 12 council members who act as both diplomats and foreign policy advisers.

History: Igakari has existed as a nation for more than two millennia, and have considered wars or conquest beneath them. Historically, the magistrates and council members of Igakari have seen fit to maintaining the power balance that exists in the region and nothing more. Several hundred years ago, when the Jerol empire was attempting to conquer the world, the invaders were stopped fast in their tracks by the Barbarians of Rothysia, who consider themselves fiercely independent and managed to keep the Jerolans at bay using guerrilla tactics and magical powers. Many Igans recognize that their current, peaceful way of life would have been impossible without the barbarians to the west, though just as many do not.

Magical Styles: Although magic in Igakari is not as industrious as it is in Cerenbaun, enchanted items are still extremely common. The most common enchanted items are wands and stones that allow the holder to cast specific spells. These items are so common that there are mages with no innate magical talent of their own, who instead do all of their casting using such objects. Magical items in Eastern Zenninfal are normally activated by thought or command words; the switches, gears and buttons of Cerenbaun are not used here, and considered superfluous and inelegant. Magical law is also far more lax in Igakari than it is in the west, although some notable styles of casting are still illegal, such as murder or grave-robbing for the sake of necromantic materials, or creating soul-links with more than two people.

Major Conflicts: Recently, many barbarian tribes have been propositioning the Igan government to annex their tribes as new cities and towns. This "expansive borders" immigration has caused a political group called the Barbarian Caucus to form, in order to represent the rights and interest of the Barbarians of Rothysia. A notable exception is that the Barbarian Caucus has refused to acknowledge the existence of the Bush Ardlins as legitimate barbarians, while it (controversially) accepts Ghrok with open arms.

A group of mages from the west have recently begun stirring up trouble in Igakari. They feel that two thousand years is far too long for a nation to exist, and they seek to exacerbate the tensions between Igakari and the Rothysian barbarians in order to destabilize the region.

Although powerful mages have always become an impromptu part of the Igan government, recently these mages have been experimenting with magical styles heavily frowned upon by Igakari's populace. As a result, the number of "Mage-hunter" adventurers has increased as of late, and there are rumors that the Mages may attempt to take over and break off massive chunks of territory so they may increase their magical power unmolested.

The Valdrex from southern Yessha are attempting to set up permanent bases of opperation and trade in both goods and slaves in the lawless areas of Rothysia, illiciting mixed feelings from all sections of society.

In the south of Igakari, bandits from the region of Camaria have been raiding the local towns with impunity.

The Ghrok have been slowly going extinct. They have been competing for territory with the vicious bush ardlins and bandits reveling in the lawlessness of the region. The Ghrok are aware of their impending extinction, and this makes them very dangerous.

Points of Interest:

Chianmos Desert: This desert to the north acts as part of a barrier leadaing into Eastern Habruk. Due to its northerly location, it is more often cold than hot. The snow coming down off of the Elfalos mountain blends into the white sands of this desert. From a distance the desert looks like a glacier coming down off the mountains.

Elfalos Mountain Range: Also known as "The shelf above the world" this mountain range helps to separate Zenninfal from Habruk, as well as divide Habruk into the eastern and western regions.

Lake Siloros: A large glacial lake that lies at the base of the Elfalos mountain range. Those who live north and west of the lake tend to be Habrukan. Those who live south and east of the lake tend to be Igan.

Kressia: The most humid area of Eastern Zenninfal, Kressia is a region made up of peaceful city-state dwellers who tend to wear shawls and ceremonial masks. They are master woodcarvers and fishermen, but their region is otherwise impoverished. Kressia is known for its plains of blueish grass, and coniferous forests with needles of a similar hue. It is also famous for its fog.

Rothysia: An expansive region of plains, and the source of the Lyeban river, the longest river in the northern world. Rothysia has resisted civilizing influences for countless centuries, and is home to a proud barbarian culture. It is home to Ghrok, Bush Ardlins, Valdrex colonists, bandits and human barbarians. In Western Zenninfal, Rothysia is known as "The Eastern Border" regardless of whether or not the location in question actually borders Rothysia.

Tehgrahan: A large confderation of many smaller kingdoms, Tehgrahan is an area east of Rothysia. It was conquered by the Jerolans when they were expanding their empire, so the natives largely speak the Jerolan language. However, they still follow much of the culture of Eastern Zenninfal and worship the more Easterly gods. The kingdoms in the north of Tehgrahan are conservative and known for grumpy, under-educated, superstitious and pessimistic people. The south of Tehgrahan is made up of large, expansive forests inhabited largely by Orchaein. The inhabitants here tend to be much friendlier than their northern neighbors. Like the whole of Eastern Zenninfal is a melting pot between the views of the far east and far west, Tehgrahan itself is a melting pot between Eastern Zenninfal and Western Zenninfal.

The Southwest Way: This valley leads directly into the Yesshan Desert, and is an important trade route, the only land line route that least to Eastern Yessha.

Climate: Eastern Zenninfal is somewhat arid. In the south, it is made up of hot bushlands. The middle of the region is mostly grasslands and plains. The north is cooler and more temperate, though it still suffers from less than average rainfall. There are sparse forests closer to the eastern coast, and thicker forests on the coast of the Great Barrier Sea.

Native Godtouched: Humans (Primarily Igans), Theromorphs, Bush Ardlins, Ghrok, Orchaein, Satyrs, Phoenixes, Sphinxes, Unicorns, Earth dragons, Valdrex (colonists only), Vampries and other Undead.

Aarn Timeline (Beginning with the Birth of Humanity)

2008-08-18T19:40:00.002-04:00

Year 0 - The first humans are created by Jennin. The "Age of Humanity" begins.

Year 120 - Already established godtouched civilizations such as the Lenneshin, Ghorma, Valdrex, Salamanders (lead by fire dragons), Medusae and Centaurs begin attempting genocide against the humans. Civilizations that outright refuse to aid the humans are Satyrs, Merfolk and Orchaein, but they do not act hostile towards the new race.

Year 140 - The naga begin aiding the humans against attacks from civilized godtouched. Sphinxes begin aiding the humans against attacks from uncivilized godtouched.

Year 280 - Human civilization first begins successfully in the south of Rensvan. These humans name themselves the Udhan.

Jennin appoints the Naga as the official mediaries between himself and humanity as a reward for saving them.

Year 300 - The giants in the north name two of the other promminent human tribes "elves" and "dwarves." The humans call themselves "Aledorans" and "Tehxiona," respectively.

The fey formally known as elves rename themselves grassrunners and take on a human shape, as opposed to a satyr shape.

Year 350 - The Aldeorans and Udhan independently develop wizardry with the help of Jennin.

Year 490 - The Centaurs accept a truce with the Aledorans.

Year 500 - The Tehxiona enter into a protracted conflict with the Leneshin civilization in the middle north.

Year 530 - The snow naga protecting the Tehxiona are driven extinct by the war.

Exiled from their homeland, the Tehxiona invade the Aledoran homelands in the southeast.

Year 590 - The Valdrex invade, conquer and enslave the Udhan and their southern naga protectors. Their culture is eradicated. The Valdrex quickly reverse-engineer wizardry.

Year 620 - After generations of bloodshed and exile, the Tehxiona mostly join and incorporate themselves into the Aledoran civilization.

Year 650 - The Aldeorans slowly begin expanding north and west, invading Lenneshin territory.

Year 700 - The Lenneshin are driven deep into the northern shadow of the Eifalos mountain range.

Year 710 - The Valdrex launch a preemptive strike against the Aledorans. Their capitol city is contained within an impenetrable forcefield, and ransacked by the Valdrex. A permanent portal to the central Valdrex hive in what will become Jerohm is set up to transform the city into an outpost from which to launch a greater invasion.

The Aledoran Naga begin invading border hives of the Valdrex.

Year 730 - The Aledoran wizards engineer a virus that is virulently infectious, but only to Valdrex. A lone Aledoran hero slips past the Valdrex's forcefield and releases the contageon.

The Sphinx officially break ties with humanity, and go into hiding.

Year 732 - The Valdrex panic as the Aledoran capitol and Valdrex central hive succumb to plague, withdrawing their forces.

The Aleodran military pushes the Valdrex out of what will become Yessha, then begin a campaign of liberating the enslaved Udhan in the south.

Year 745 - The Valdrex are pushed deep into the densest jungles of Rensvan.

The Udhan become second-class citizens in the Aledoran empire.

Year 750 - The Aledorans begin colonizing and annexing the rest of the surface world.

Year 760 - The Ghorma withdraw from the mainland and settle permanently in the island that will be known as Ghormotole, successfully defending it from the Aleodrans.

The Aledorans drive the Medusae out of the south of Rensvan, destroying their civilization and cultural sanity in the process.

Year 790 - The Aledorans enter a truce with the Merfolk; the Aledorans will not set foot under the sea, and the Merfolk will not set flipper on land.

Year 800 - The Aleodrans successfully reverse-engineer the Valdrex's advanced wizardry techniques.

Year 830 - The Salamander civilization (in what will become the Yesshan trade route) collapses. 70% of all fire dragons are killed by self-righteous Aledorans, and the Salamanders themselves are scattered over the whole of Aarn.

Year 840 - The Aledoran golden age begins, 90% of all existing landmass is inhabited or annexed by Aledoran people.

Year 860 - With no more lands to conquer, the Aleodrans begin researching ways to breach the Jehttan storms and reach the forbidden side of the planet. The potential power of Wizardry begins expanding exponentially.

Year 1050 - The Aledoran magical experiments reach critical mass, triggering a magical cataclysm. The Aledoroan homeland shatters into what is now known as the Eastern Islands. Human civilization Collapses.

The permanent portal between the Aleodran capitol city and what will become Jehrom floods, creating the Heretanni Salt Lake.

Aarn is plunged into a nuclear winter that lastes 50 years, billions die and most civilizations begin to fall.

Year 1060 - The Lenneshin move underground, preserving their civilization and culture.

Year 1080 - Nektos takes this opportunity to create the undead race, shattering the afterlife.

The "Age of Humanity" ends. The mythical "Silent Era" begins.

Year 1085 - The Lenneshin become devoutly spiritual once their dead refuse to rest.

Year 1120 - Psychic pollution caused by all new deaths leading to ghosts drives a great deal of fey insane, bonding them with the Aarn and causing them to become demi-mortal, similar to what happened when they encountered Aarn for the first time. Many of these fey become ghouls and second-generation soul twisters.

K'tellos forces himself into eternal slumber at the bottom of Lake Anessis in order to prevent himself from meeting the same fate as his fey kin.

Year 1140 - The valdrex enter extended hibernation, preserving their civilization and culture.

Year 1220 - Vizdane creates the Spirit animals, hoping to find a solution to the afterlife problem.

Year 1360 - The fey discover the demons, and comission them to create a new afterlife.

Year 1550 - The demons finish the afterlife. In order to educate sentients about how to prepare for it, they physically travel to Aarn and begin settling there.

The "Silent Era" ends. The "Demonic Era," also known as "The Era of Lies" begins.

Regions: Western Zenninfal (Cont)

2008-08-06T17:23:00.002-04:00

Climate: Western Zenninfal is host to mild winters with hot and wet summers. The area has a long growing season, and its food output has helped make it one of the dominant regions of the world. The Attanan Mountains are mysteriously dry. Rainclouds tend to drench the areas to the north and south, but they don't move high enough to water the mountains themselves. The lone exception is the occasional snowstorm in the winter, which helps give the mountains their occasional snowcap. North of the mountains are swamps and moorlands, with the Treddis Islands and other isles north of the continent especially swampy and rocky.

Regions: Western Zenninfal

2008-08-05T15:41:00.004-04:00

Summary: The kingdoms of Western Zenninfal like to consider themselves the pinnacles of Human civilization. They are industrious, technological, organized and capitalist. In truth, the poverty gap in this region is more of a chasm than a gap. Those who live in the large cities tend to have an excess of gold, treasures, magic and technology. Those who live on the farms and in the viliages of the region are very poor off, with precious little education, sanitation or hygiene. This makes the small towns and farms of Western Zenninfal a veritable breeding ground for adventurers, who are desperate enough for money to go out and adventure, but poorly educated enough to not know any better.

Local Religion: Western Zenninfal's religions are haphazard. Agnosticism and secularism are tolerated beliefs, but raving cults who believe in gods who do not even exist are similarly tolerated. Most gods worshiped (or rather acknowledged) by the majority of people tend to be industrious and materialistic.

Naming Styles: When people and places in this region tend to have names from earth, the names are typically English, Gaelic, Germanic and North American. The exception is the cities from the Shanbar Province of Cerenbaun, which were named after Earth's European countries by demons who settled there 7000 years ago.

Major Political Faction: Cerenbaun is the largest kingdom of Western Zenninfal, and arguably the world's greatest political power. It is ostensibly run by a seldom-seen royal family who share the name of the kingdom. Day to day business is carried out by a group of Dukes who are overseen by an Archduke. The dukes do not directly represent any regions or groups of people, but set government policy all the same. Ruling alongside these Dukes and the Archduke are three governors, who run Cerenbaun's three large Provinces; Shanbar, Denenga, and Querris.

History: Cerenbaun exists in the area that was the seat of the Jerol Empire, which collapsed 250 years ago, and the nation itself is 174 years old. The Jerol Empire Encompassed the entirety of Western Zenninfal, the islands of the Yesshan trade route, and the northern jungles of Yessha. The people who live in these areas still speak the Jerolan language because of this influence.

Magical Styles: In Cerenbaun, magic is an industry. Potions are mass produced, scrolls are sold by the dozen, and a middle-income home will tend to have at least 12 magical appliances and tools. Magical lanterns and street lights are common as well. With so much magic however, comes magical regulation. Cerenbaun has some of the strictest laws in Aarn about what spells can and can't be cast. Soul-linking with anything other than an animal is strictly forbidden. Necromancy and biomancy are both strictly regulated. Non-government experiments to develop new models and styles of necromantic undead and monsters are illegal. Transmutational magicks that change the size and shape of something are somewhat legal, but effects that can change one material into another are strictly illegal, as are experiments with souls or immortality. Animancers, however, are encouraged to perform experiments, provided they stick to using wood, metal and stone as their raw materials.

Major Conflicts: Most conflicts in Cerenbaun are internal. Crime is a large problem in all the kingdoms; despite the laws against magical experimentation, they are poorly enforced, and criminal syndicates run much of the region. There is currently one war being waged in Western Zenninfal; two nations in the north of the continent are fighting over a large, resource-rich offshore island. A second war is brewing, but not yet being waged, between Cerenbaun and a kingdom that is further west. This kingdom has been refusing to patrol or police its side of the Shanbar border. Cerenbaun has recently sent soldiers in to occupy the area, and that particular kingdom is less than pleased at Cerenbaun's apparent territory grab.

Points of Interest:

Attanan Mountains: These mountains separate the kingdom of Cerenbaun in the south with the less developed northern kingdoms. Savage, wild Harpies live in this region, making travel difficult.

Isles of Treddis: These northern islands are positively infested with undead. It is ruled over by a Nercomancer Lich who serves Nektos. The locals are impoverished farmers who prevent the bleak landscape from affecting their sanity by partying at the drop of a hat. They are famous for their wakes and their all-night revelries which celebrate life in their islands of undeath. The Isles of Treddis are also the first stop along the Yesshan Trade Route, with several ports controlled by Cerenbaun politics.

Lake Anessis: This is the second largest inland body of water in Aarn, and the largest in the northern continents. It lies in the dead center of Cerenbaun's Querris Province, and what makes it noteworthy is that the sleeping god K'tellos lies at the bottom. Most of Querris's economy is driven by trade and shipping across this lake.

Great Barrier Sea: This sea lies to the south of Western Zenninfal, and separates Zenninfal from Yessha. Ship-travel across this sea is impossible; The Merfolk race make this sea their home, and they mercilessly destroy any and all ships that attempt to cross it. Instead, those from Western Zenninfal who wish to trade with Yessha are forced to travel through Rothysia to the east, or to take the Yesshan Trade Route to the west.

Native Godtouched: Anthromorphs, Theromorphs, Swamp Ardlins, City Ardlins, Forest Ardlins, Mountain Ardlins, Life Dragons, Humans (Primarily Jerolans), Harpies, Merfolk, Satyrs, Sphinxes, Orchaein, Unicorns, Vampires and other undead.

Magic: Channeling Senses

2008-05-24T02:52:00.003-04:00

It occurs to me that in the Channeler Skills post, I forgot to list a very important ability almost all channelers share; heightened senses related to their element. Unlike many other channeler abilities and skills, this type of sensory input tends to vary wildly from element to element, so it would be best to look at what sensory abilities channelers develop depending on their element.

Air, Water, Earth, Metal: Channelers who belong to these four elements tend to develop the ability to sense the size and shape of something composed of their element that they are touching. If they develop this ability, they can sense the composition of something made of their element, including the particulates and impurities inside it, allowing an air channeler to sense humidity or pollutant contents, a water channeler to sense poison, or earth and metal channelers to sense gems or the type of ore that exists in a metal vein. Eventually the range for this sense increases dramatically, allowing an air channeler to sense the size and location of everything displacing air in a certain area (hidden passages, people, objects, you name it), a water channeler to do the same for underwater areas, an earth channeler to sense the layout of a building or cave system, or a metal channeler to determine the inner workings of a mechanical construct. Another way this ability can manifest is the ability for them to sense their element at range, which can prove very useful for trying to find water, or things buried in the earth, or veins of metal in a mine. If a channeler develops all of these abilities together, they can gain a startlingly accurate spacial sense of their surroundings, even if their other senses are impaired, with air being the most powerful, followed by water (people are water, afterall) then metal (armor and weapons) then earth.

Life: Perhaps the most versatile of the elements when it comes to sensory awareness, life channelers can not only sense the shape and composition of living things (allowing them to eerily diagnose medical problems) but they can also detect the location of living creatures nearby. Further, unlike any of the other channelers, they can enhance their own senses of sight, smell, hearing, touch and even taste to levels that most people might find uncanny or disturbing.

Death: Death channelers share the ability of air, water, earth and metal channelers to sense the location and composition of dead things, but they can also sense ghosts and spirits who have trapped themselves in the inbetween, but have not left for the afterlife. Ironically, with all of their abilities, death channelers make extremely efficient hunters and exterminators of the undead.

Kanna: Kanna channelers develop an uncanny spacial awareness that borders on precognition. Individually their sensory powers are not as developed as any of the other physical elements (due to having mastery over all physical composition instead of a specialized selection), so their ability does not have a very large range. But within their immediate surroundings they may as well have 360 degree sight that is not limited by mundane things such as walls, barriers or illusions. Kanna channelers also have the ability to sense magical items, and intuit the general enchantments that such items possess.

Light and Shadow: These two elements give their channelers an immunity to being blinded, either by light that is too bright, or the darkest of darkness. This ability remains if their eyes are covered or even removed. Development of the ability allows them to sense the dancing patterns of light and shadow that exist beyond solid objects, which can prove extremely handy if these channelers have teleportation powers that require the exit and entrance to be equally dark or illuminated.

Heat and Cold: These two elements develop the ability to sense what is hot and what is cold at a distance. This quickly allows them to not only develop an infravision that works through walls, but it also allows them to develop a mental map of heat and cold for how an area is constructed. Even if two pieces of material are the same temperature, a heat or cold channeler can eventually learn to distinguish one material from another if the materials have different insular properties.

Electricity: The sensory abilities of an electricity channeler can seem like a joke compared to many of the other elements. Their ability to sense electricity at its most basic of levels is not very useful. Eventually an electricity channeler can develop a sixth sense about where people are located (due to the electromagnetic fields of their nervous systems). Practice might allow them to tell if someone is lying or not, though this might not work on all creatures (valdrex, for instance, are probably immune to such lie detection). Otherwise, this ability would probably just let them know if an electrical storm is coming. In a world where electricity is more of a novelty than a viable technology, electricity channelers do not find much use for their extra senses. The static electricity charge on a dry day combined with their ability to sense electrical reactions inside brains might let them develop a spacial awareness similar to the other channelers, but this ability would be vague, indistinct and unreliable at best.

Sound: Sound channelers are experts at detecting sound and vibration. They can use this ability to "see" what they hear, developing a spacial mental picture based on their hearing. Also, similar to light and shadow channelers, sound channelers cannot be deafened, so for the most part, they also cannot be "blinded." A sound channeler who fully develops their power will notice virtually everything there is to be heard, which can make them excellent spies, scouts and information peddlers.

Manna: Like kanna channelers, manna channelers can sense the location and general type of enchantment for magical objects. They can also, with practice, begin to sense the location of souls, be they living or dead. Developing this power to its fullest potential allows them to sense the auras of all physical things (regardless of how faint those auras are) which can give them a spacial awareness similar to that of the kanna channeler, but their ability to do this does not come as naturally as the spacial awareness of a kanna channeler.

Technology: Locks, Clocks, Springs and Gears

2008-05-18T20:54:00.001-04:00

The principle behind the humble gear was originally discovered by the Satyrs with their inventions of the windmill and the waterwheel, although it was the Humans who took the principle and followed it to its logical conclusion. Gears made of magically-reinforced wood and metal make up the bulk of Cerenbaun mechanical creations, with most mechanical non-magical energy stored by springs and flywheels.

Cerenbaun society has access to a great many mechanical technologies that are not typically encountered in a fantasy setting. Clocks are perhaps the most obvious of such technology; clock making is a common and well-respected occupation, and even the most impoverished households have access to a clock tower in the middle of the town square, or a cuckoo clock in the kitchen. In a twist, it is non-magical clocks that are considered an expensive luxury, and magical clocks are more common and less expensive. Genuine non-magical pocket watches are considered an extravagant luxury, though cheaper hand-held time-pieces with magical components exist.

Locksmithing is another occupation that has a large presence in Cerenbaun society. Locks in general can be quite complex, and 5-tumbler locks are not unheard of. Like clocks, the cheaper locks are usually magical, though these locks are susceptible to magical spells that might open them. Non-magical locks cannot be dispelled, but they are still susceptible to telekinesis or shaping spells that might damage them. The most expensive kinds of locks are both mechanically complex and have magical enchantments placed on them that make them resilient to damage, so a would-be thief needs to be quite resourceful with many different magical and non-magical lock-picking methods in order to successfully open the lock. Many of these locks also have magical fail-safes and life detection spells on them that will trigger alarms or traps if set off.

Chain-driven gearboxes like those in bicycles are a common component in machinary, though the gearboxes usually have a magical source of power. The "bicycle" design for translating human power into mechanical movement is available, but slow in catching on. Most people who want access to non-magical transportation have stuck by horses and coaches, and those with access to magical transportation wonder why anyone would do so all that exhausting pedaling in order to get from point A to point B.

The spring is further another important mechanical device that Cerenbaun smiths put into their mechanical designs, both magical and non-magical. Their ability to store energy and release them have made them invaluable in many complex devices, with springs being the second most popular method of storing energy; magic being the most popular, and flywheels being the third most popular. Steam power and electricity are unheard of, with magic more convenient and cheaper to harness for the same sorts of tasks.

Jennin may be the god of wizardry, but he is also the god of human technology and innovation. His holy symbol is a single-direction gear (connected to a spiral-spring latch) and even the colleges of mages and wizard guilds prominently display this symbol representing Jennin's influence on their art and science of wizardry.

Technology: Military

2008-05-17T15:28:00.002-04:00

Aarn has always suffered from a massive poverty gap due to the low population density and high mortality rate. Arguably, this was at its worst at the height of the Jerol empire, when magical guilds kidnapped children who showed channeling potential, and where the science of wizardry was a closely guarded state secret. Most people did not have access to magic nor education, so while the aristocracy of the Jerol Empire flourished, the plebeians stayed trapped in the dark ages.

During this time it was fashionable for high-class adventurers and Jerol officers to use plate mail armor. It provided a decent protection against most threats the then-current environment presented, and also helped create an imposing psychological presence.

When the Empire collapsed, the channeling guilds collapsed with it, and the technology of magic began to spread throughout the realm. Five-and-a-half centuries later, plate mail has become obsolete. Monsters, magic and mayhem have made mobility in combat more important than an ability to absorb blows. While obsolete, plate mail as a technology is romanticized and it is still available. It is also a part of the military regalia of Cerenbaun, and worn by professional guards and mercenaries who do not have to do much traveling or who have little to no chance of combat. Plate mail armor is seen more as a romantic status symbol than as a genuine, practical method of protection in combat.

Most adventurers wear leather armor; anything heavier would hamper their mobility too much in dungeons, swamps and forests, where most of their violent encounters take place. There are also magical equivalents that help protect adventurers as much as plate mail would, but without hampering mobility. Common items are magically treated cloaks and amulets that provide a field of protection, absorbing blows.

The Cerenbaun army has come a long way since the knights and foot soldiers of Jerol. It's subdivided into smaller units that resemble adventuring parties, forces that are heavily enhanced by the ability to cast magic and the supply of magical items. A military unit usually has two wizards, two channelers and two healers, though these jobs often overlap allowing individuals who do or cannot use magic. Stealth and subterfuge are considered more important than direct combat, and the fighting unit is designed to hold their own or retreat in the face of overwhelming odds.

For battlefield combat, Cerenbaun foot soldiers are usually armed with medium armor, a shortsword, a wand of randomly selected ranged magic, and a short bow or crossbow with arrows. Standard equipment also includes an amulet of protection, a ring that cleans and provides hygiene, several healing potions and several grenade-like potions. Specialist units are armed with pole arms, longbows, tower shields and other similar items. Occasionally biomantic monsters are inserted into the ranks, but such units are usually used as expendable berserker units who are sent in to soften up and intimidate the enemy before the main force arrives.

Cerenbaun siege engines are animantic and usually their soul cores are attuned to the individual drivers and unit commanders who are well protected. Cerenbaun's tools of war resemble bipedal tanks, huge trebuchets, and mobile fortresses where the commanders of the battle can congregate and prepare their battle plans. Avian units are rare but not unheard of; they are usually relegated to scouting and fire support rolls.

Field battles usually take place with around one thousand soldiers on a side. During the age of the Jorel Empire, forces of 5,000 or more were common, but the low population density made recruiting that many soldiers difficult, even then. In contemporary times, Aarnian military has focussed more on the style and strength of the army's magical technology than the number of soldiers.

Flintlock and blunderbuss pistols are beginning to develop as a technology, but they've yet to fully catch on. People without magic usually do not have the education to create them or the gunpowder they require, and guns themselves are inferior to most magical items that do ranged damage. Hand cannons are usually used by ne'er-do-wells who typically use them as weapons of last resort that cannot be detected by magic.

Most of Zenninfall follows in Cerenbaun's footsteps when it comes to military technology, especially the areas that were a part of the now-fallen Jerol Empire. Other areas are not so similar. The environment of Western Habruk is harsh and unforgiving, making large-scale combat both impractical and costly, so Western Habrukkan wars are usually fought with war bands of 80 people or less. Igakari's military focuses more on police action than invasion, forgoing seige engines and foot soldiers for state-sponsored guards and constables who have a defensive role in mind militarily, keeping the outlaws from the Eastern Border region from invading Igakari. Igakari also has a powerful navy which they use to influence and keep in check the Kaipu peoples from the Eastern Islands.

The isolation of the Kaipu races that live in Eastern Habruk has allowed them to develop a somewhat unique military style. The mainland Kaipu forgo magic in combat as dishonorable and sacrilegious, preferring to use magic for household tasks and religious ceremonies. Their military instead focuses on foot soldiers armed with long pole arms, spears, and longbows. Despite living in the mainland, the snaking rivers of Eastern Habruk have made a navy quite important, and the Kaipu forces will often fight with one force on land and the other force in the river, the pole arms allowing the units to attack one another despite the short distance between the almost-beached river-boats and the units on foot on the shoreline.

The isolation of the Rensvaja have also allowed them to develop a military style that would be strikingly alien to Cerenbaun forces. When war breaks out between the various Rensvaja kingdoms, the kings themselves go to the battlefield and fight one another directly, using their channeling magic. Disputes are thus settled by these champion kings proving their might through magical combat, which is part of which what makes their massive soul-linked collectives so important to their culture. The fights may be superficially one-on-one, but the kings' families, retainers and spiritual advisers are all aiding the fight by lending their magic to the king through the soul-link.

Magic: Channeling Effects

2008-05-13T00:08:00.008-04:00

To further help flesh out channeling, this post will simply be a list of what physical effects can be provided by a weapon charged with channeled magic based on which elements. This is certainly not a complete list, but it gives an idea of the sorts of damaging effects that certain elements can cause.

Wind: Suffocation, buffeting, larger-than-normal-wounds, inhaled poisons, slashing

Water: Extra bleeding, poisons, drugs, acids, bases, minor infections, explosive hemorrhaging, dessication

Earth: moderate infections, contaminants, blunt trauma, entombment

Metal: Slashing, piercing, blunt trauma, heavy metal poisonings

Life: Cancers, uncontrollable bleeding, major infections, paralysis, incontinence, blindness, deafness, numbness, severe allergic reactions, crippling pain, hallucinations, other biological effects limited only by creativity and sadism

Death: Necrosis and gangrene, numbness, paralysis, crippling pain, decay, rot

Kanna: All of the above to lesser extents, plus to normal extents, sensory mental effects such as confusion, headaches, reliving of unwanted memories, hallucinations

Light: Moderate burning, blindness, distractive visual effects

Shadow: Blindness, slashing, numbness, hallucinations

Cold: Numbness, freeze burns, shattering of flesh

Heat: Severe burns, ignition

Electricity: Seizures, system shock, paralysis, minor burns,

Sound: Deafness, numbness, confusion, daze, muteness

Manna: All energy effects to lesser effects, plus emotional mental effects to normal extents like unwanted emotions, exhaustion, loss of motivation, panic, fear, temporary insanity

Magic: Channeling Skills

2008-05-12T19:54:00.005-04:00

The following post is going to be quite long, but it's been a while coming. In this post I have created a list of most channeling magical skills and how they work with the various elements. Because of the post's length, I invite you to skim until you find an ability that's interesting, instead of reading the entire post completely. To make this easier to do, I am going to bold the title of each paragraph.

Basics: Channeling is mostly built around the manipulation of one of the 12 magical elements or 2 all-encompassing elements. The methods in which characters can manipulate these elements are grouped into skills that can be learned, and it is encouraged that characters develop aptitudes for certain skills, deciding how their magic will behave ahead of time.

Although almost all skills can be learned and used by all elemental styles, certain elements have limitations with certain skills, and certain elements have bonuses with certain skills. These limitations and bonuses will be listed with each skill type.

Some skills are basic and generally belong to all channelers to one degree or another.

Element manifestation: Perhaps the most basic channeler ability, this allows channelers to call their element into being if it is an energy element (light, shadow, cold, heat, sound, electricity, manna) or create a magical connection with their already-existing element if it is physical (air, water, earth, metal, life, death, kanna.) Energy channelers can create their element from nothing, but physical channelers can only use their element if they already have an existing supply.

Basic element transmutation: This channeler ability is not universal, and is only availible to the physical element channelers. It is still an essential skill for physical channelers however; it allows them to take a basic supply of their element and either expand or contract it. Such changes to its shape, as all channeling transmutation effects, are illusory and can be dispelled. Once dispelled the transmuted object will return to its original form, unless so much time has passed that the object is now "used to" its new form.

Element solidification: For fluid elements, such as all the energy based elements and the fluid physical elements (air, water) this is an essential skill. It allows channelers to change their element into temporary solids for the purposes of shields, barriers, weapons and projectiles, as discussed in more depth in the Advanced Object Shaping paragraph. Importantly, if a channeler ceases touching or being in contact with the solidified element in some way, it returns to its fluid state.

Element liquification: For solid elements, such as earth, metal, life, death, and kanna, this is the core of their abilities. In order to use and manipulate their element properly through shaping, they must have access to this ability in order to allow them to bend and twist their element more easily. Like solidification, if a channeler ceases touching the liquidifed element, it returns to a solid state. Otherwise their shaping is limited to solid particulates that they group together such as sand, metal shavings, leaves, and bone fragments.

Element shaping: Essential for all channelers, this is the ability that actually allows them to control their element. It is what allows them to use all advanced skills, whether it is obvious (in the case of physical elements) or not (in the case of energy elements.) Solid elements that have changed their shape retain their shape, but dispelling them returns them to their original shape unless creating the shape damaged or severed the raw element in some way, in which case dispelling the object will cause it to crumble.

Combining these basic skills can create some of the more common channeler techniques. By combining solidification and liquification with shaping and basic transmutation, a common channeler technique is to create flailing tendrils of their element around them in battle. Combinations of these techniques can also be used to create weapons, tools, artwork or in some cases even food or drink, though these sorts of uses fall into the advanced skills categories.

Advanced Skills:

Telekinesis: Telekinesis is a skill that allows a channeler to project their essence at range and manipulate distant objects as if their hands were directly there. It allows them to carry, push, twist, fiddle, and use all sorts of hand-related activities. Energy element channelers must surround the object being manipulated with an illusory representation of their element, which normally prevents the manipulation from being done stealthfully. Physical element channelers can use stealth, but they have a specific limitation; they can only use their telekinesis skill on something whose weight and volume makes up at least 50% of their element. Air and water have the best of both worlds: because their elements are fluid, they can follow the 50% composition rule, or they can use their telekinesis on an object by lifting up a grouping of water or air and manipulating the object with that grouping of their element. Kanna channelers have the best options availible; all physical objects fall under their magical jurisdiction, so they can use telekinesis on all physical objects. A special case for telekinesis is that channelers with this ability can still shape, control, transmute and maintain the magical effects of their elemental targets if they are currently grasping said targets with telekinesis instead. This makes this skill invaluable for fluid and energy elemental channelers who usually have to remain in physical contact with their elements in order to maintain their shape and effects.

Levitation: Levitation is a skill similar to telekinesis, but where telekinesis focuses on finesse, levitation focuses on strength. Levitation is generally controlled the same way and has the same element limitations and advantages as telekinesis, with energy elements being flashy, and physical elements being more stealthy and suffering from the same 50% composition by weight or volume rule. Levitation generally functions by way of gravity manipulation, and its influence manifests in sphere-shaped areas. Low skill users can typically just make people lighter or heavier, higher skilled users can make people or things neutrally buoyant, or "force push" them in various directions or trip them up with sudden changes in local gravity. High level users can fly as fast as they can fall in any direction by first making themselves neutrally buoyant, and then changing their own direction of gravity. Slower speeds are easier to achieve by making the local field of gravity weaker than normal; the lower acceleration from the gravity will cause the channeler or a target to reach a lower terminal velocity.

Elemental Attraction: This skill allows a channelers to either "stick" to their element, or pull their element that already exists in the environment to them. This is very handy for water channelers, who can use this skill to seemingly produce water for their skills out of thin air, though it is useful for all physical channelers. Advanced users can use this ability to walk up walls and objects irrespective of gravity, or anchor themselves to an object. Energy element channelers also have access to this skill, though only shadow and light can use it to walk up walls, by walking in shadow or illuminated places, respectively.

Rapid movement: Channelers who use this skill can propell themselves at high speed using their element. At low levels they simply run faster, enveloped with a manifestation of their element, which makes this skill superficially resemble ability enhancement. At higher levels they begin to hover, supported by a collumn of their element. At the highest levels they can fly very quickly with a great deal of aeral control, supported by a swirling cloud of their element (Sand usually, in the case of earth.)

Flashsteps: Flashstepping is an energy-intensive skill. It allows channelers to instantaneously blink out of existence and then blink back into existence a short distance away after creating a burst of their element. Physical element channelers must have enough of their element in the surrounding environment in order to do this effectively. It is mainly used to reach inaccessible places and avoid incoming attacks and life-threatening situations. Appearing from a flashstep leaves the channeler slightly dazed and vulnerable.

Portals: A powerful skill that allows channelers to create passages to near or distant locations. Manna, kanna and air element channelers can make these portals invisible, effectively allowing them to use a true form of teleportation more advanced than flashstepping. All other elemental channelers must make their portal visible and primarily composed of their element. Life chanelers can teleport through trees, death through corpses, shadow through dark areas, water through rivers lakes and oceans, etc. The more skilled the channeler, the larger the portal can be made and the more distance can be covered through travelling.

Pocketspace: Similar to portals, pocketspacing an item is a separate skill that involves storing a item directly in the inbetween, the realm of ghosts and spirits. Like portals, such objects can only be pulled out of pocketspace or put into pocketspace through an object or manifestation of that channeler's particular element. Air, manna and kanna channelers have few limitations in this regard.

Etherial Projection: Using this skill, channelers can separate their soul from their body and explore the inbetween as a spirit. In this state, channelers are immune to physical attacks and many magical attacks. Doing so will leave the channeler's body behind, vulnerable. This skill can be quite useful for scouting an area without being detected, though all creatures with souls appear as indistinct blurs from the inbetween. At advanced levels, a channeler can pull other creatures into the inbetween with him, or even pull their physical bodies into the inbetween directly in order to use this skill as a method of covert transport. Doing so is dangerous; it is much easier for ghosts to attack in the inbetween, and if one's physical body is in the inbetween, one can easily die or be lost forever - the death of a physical body in the inbetween guarantees the victim will raise as a ghost and slowly go insane, trapped there completely. Manna, kanna and death gain a bonus to this skill.

Astral Projection: Similar to etherial projection, this can project the channeler's spirit directly into the astral sea. Once there, the channeler can visit the hells or spy on the dreams of mortals. Like etherial projection, channelers can pull others with them into the astral sea, or even pull their bodies with them. Pulling their bodies directly into the astral sea can be dangerous as well, but for different reasons than ethereial projection; channelers who have brought their physical bodies with them may become stuck in one of the hells or in a mortal's dream pocket. Astral projection, unlike etherial projection, cannot be used as a form of transportation through the real world. Manna gains a bonus to this skill.

Scrying: A channeler who holds an object belonging to a target can scry on the target and view what the target is currently doing. The longer the object was in the possession of the target the more effective this scrying can be, with severed body parts of the target being the most effective. Low level channelers can usually only sense the location of the target, though higher level channelers can see, hear, and even feel the thoughts of the target. There is a risk of the target sensing that he or she is being scryed on, so channelers with this skill must use it cautiously. Manna and Kanna channelers gain significant boosts to this skill and can perform it simply by holding the object. All other channelers must carefully prepare an environment of their element in order to scry properly.

Object/location reading: A channeler with this ability can flare with their element in order to read the aura of physical objects. Once done, a channeler can use this skill to view past events for which the object was present. Daggers, corpses, statues, even rocks and the ground can be used with this ability. Like scrying, the more advanced the channelers' skill, the more clear the visions are. Manna and Kanna share a bonus with this skill.

Future sight: A channeler with this ability can glimpse pieces of the future. Most channelers must use this skill similar to scrying and prepare to recieve the vision with some construct made of their element. Channelers with attuned to either manna or kanna can have this skill always active, which allows them to use it to avoid traps and danger in melee combat, or make their own blows in combat hit more often or be more damaging.

Empathy/Sympathy: Empathy and sympathy are the abilities of a channeler to read the emotions of something with a soul, and force something with a soul to feel that channeler's emotions. It can be useful for diplomacy or subtly influencing the behavior and feelings of others. Channelers of the life, death, kanna and manna elements have significant bonuses to this skill; they can use it as an impromptu detection tool, allowing the channeler to feel the presence of living creatures in the case of life, dead creatures in the case of death, or all creatures with souls in the case of manna and kanna, and whether or not these creatures have hostile intent. Other channelers must make a visible connection between themselves and their target with a tendril of their element in order to use this skill.

Mind Reading/Domination: Similar to Empathy/Sympathy, Mind Reading/Domination is a skill that allows channelers to read the thoughts and memories of creatures with souls, and influence those creatures' thoughts and memories. Doing so can force the target to behave against his or her wishes and do what the channeler wishes them to do. Elements who have advantages with Mind Reading/Domination are the same as with Empathy/Sympathy.

Sensory manipulation: This skill also falls under the same category of abilities as empathy/sympathy and mind reading/domination. In this case, channelers can experience the sensory inputs of their targets, can force their targets to experience the channeler's sensory experiences (such as sight or pain) or can even force the target to experience something entirely illusory, thus influencing the target's behavior. Life has bonuses to this skill with living creatures, death has a bonus to this skill for dead creatures, and manna and kanna have a general bonus to this ability regardless of the target.

Tendril Combat: A channeler with shaping ability can develop this skill, which is a fighting style more than a channeler ability. Using this fighting style, channelers spawn several tendrils of their element and use these tendrils as sharpened extra limbs, greatly increasing their ability to parry, defend and attack. The tendrils also allow the channelers to use their magical abilities that require touch on the channelers' targets, High level channelers can even launch these tendrils as projectiles that travel so fast they can do damage before they decay and are dispelled from lack of contact with the channeler.

Chaos shield: Unlike a barrier or shield, a chaos shield is a field of rapdily swirling element surrounding the channeler. These whirlwinds can be quite damaging in melee combat both to those the channeler is attacking and those who attempt to attack the channeler.

Element embodiment: This skill allows a channeler to change their own body into a living embodiment of their element. Needless to say, this skill is extremely powerful because it allows channelers to use their own bodies as fuel for their physical abilities, and also allows them to heal damage suffered to them with their normal shaping abilities. This skill is high risk-reward however, because if the effect is dispelled while the channeler is in a curious shape, the channeler's body will return to its original form in that same shape, often killing or crippling the channeler. At low levels, channelers begin by changing a fist or foot into the element, and eventually progress to the entire body. Life channelers gain a very large advantage to this ability, even though technically they are already an embodiment of their element. Life channelers can use this skill to grow additional body parts, shape-shift themselves into animals or creatures, or even develop huge biological organs of death and acid and destruction on their limbs. Dispelling a life channeler's effects will simply turn the channeler back to normal, so life channelers do not suffer from the same risk as other elemental types. Death channelers also have an advantage with this skill, and all death channelers without exception have access to this skill in an involuntary way. They all slowly turn into near-immortal deathless creatures who resemble undead creatures, but are not undead. Like life channelers, dispelling a death channeler's embodiment effect will simply turn the death channeler back into his or her preferred, default shape. Another special case is light and shadow, who can use this ability to make themselves invisible or disguise themselves.

Advanced Object Shaping: The most fundamental advanced skill, advanced shaping allows a channeler to change their element into another form, as if the element were clay. This can be used to create armor, weapons, shields, barriers, tools and other equipment with little to no effort or resources, though the quality of such items depends on the crafting skill of the character using the ability. Non-fluid physical element channelers can use this ability to create permanent items that will return to their original shape if their effect is dispelled. Life and kanna channelers for instance can use this ability to horrible horrible horrible things to their opponents. Fluid element and energy element channelers cannot create permanent changes to objects, and any objects they create out of their element will dissapear if they cease touching it, but they can use this ability to easily create force fields, shields and defensive barriers. Metal element channelers have a large boost to this skill, being able to use metal almost as if it were a fluid, yet the objects they create are semi-permanent. Sound and light channelers have a special ability related to this skill; they can use it to create auditory and visual hallucinations.

Aura Focussing: Channelers can use this skill to focus their aura into themselves or their equipment. Doing so with physical elements will cause the object to glow softly and deal extra damage, be sharper, hit harder, defend better. Doing so with energy elements will cause the object to flare with the energy and deal extra damage related to the element. This skill is similar to object creation, but can be performed with any object, even if the object is not of the channeler's element. Object creation and aura focusing can be combined into the same object to create a channeler's version of entirely magical weapons and equipment.

Aura suppression: Using this skill, a channeler can focus and then disperse their own magical aura, effectively hiding themselves from magical detection. All channelers can learn this skill, although manna element channelers have a bonus while using it.

Advanced element transmutation: This ability is only available to physical element channelers, and it allows them to change something of their element into a different material, as long as the new material falls also counts as the channeler's element. This ability is quite powerful for kanna channelers, who can essentially use it to change anything physical into anything else physical. Many uses of this skill have been made illegal, especially for counterfeiting coins or gems, or creating poisons. Banks and most shops usually have a magical device in their counter that can detect if any things of value are genuine or transmuted magically, which helps prevent this skill from being abused. Those who use this skill to create poisons usually are not caught, because the poison metabolizes and dispels after the death of the victim.

Physical elemental projectiles: This skill is related to levitation or telekinesis, but instead of focusing on strength or finesse, this skill focuses on speed. It creates a burst acceleration that forces the element in question to launch forward as a damaging projectile. Earth and metal have advantages with this skill, earth more so because raw material is everywhere. Fluid physical channelers can use this skill in two ways: the first way is if they solidify the projectile and keep the projectile connected to themselves with a tendril until the time of impact in order to maintain the object's solidity. The second way is if they create a stream of air or water that can bowl people over and push them around, but do less damage than they otherwise would if the element was solid. Physical elemental channelers can emulate this less powerful attack by using a swarm of particulates of their element. Life elemental channelers can have a great deal of fun with this ability, causing their enemies to rocket off into walls and trees at high speeds with a single touch.

Energy elemental projectiles: Perhaps one of the most complex skills a channeler has access to, these skills are only available to energy elements. Using this skill, channelers can manifest a pure destructive embodiment of their element. This destructive potential can be unleashed in a stream, in a cone, in a penetrating, piercing ray, in a sphere, in a bomb, and in many other ways. The more power put into the attack, the more damage it deals, and the more people the attack can hit.

Disruption: A destructive talent similar to energy elemental projection, this skill is more subtle and can be used by physical elemental types. Using this ability, a channeler can disrupt, damage, and break apart something by touching it. Life, water and air channelers can use this skill to damage people. Earth can use this ability to create earthquakes and landslides. Death can use this ability to damage the undead, and so on. A variant of this skill is available to sound channelers, who can use the vibrations of their attacks to disrupt any target at range.

Ability enhancement: This skill allows an energy element channeler to flare with their element and increase their basic abilities such as strength, agility and finesse. Higher level channelers can also increase wisdom, intelligence, and charm with this skill. Even higher level channelers can increase willpower and vitality. Physical element channelers can only increase the physical skills - strength, agility and finesse, and they do so by wrapping their body in a suit of their element that helps their body become stronger, more agile, and more deft with tools.

Ability Damage: The opposite of ability enhancement, ability damage is the non-lethal take down method of choice for many channelers, because it enfeebles a character with very little physical damage. It can easily be used to disable targets, and for the most part it is painless and recovery from it can be done naturally by even the most enfeebled of enemies.

Ability Drain: This skill allows a channeler to do the same as ability enhancement and ability drained combined, by absorbing the relevant ability from another creature. This ability is notable because it is the only magical effect in channeling that has a duration; the increase to the channeler's skills last as long as it takes for the damaged creature to heal, or until the damaged creature dies. Life has a bonus to this skill with living things, and death has a bonus to this skill with dead things.

Purification: A subtle ability, purification allows a physical channeler to selectively purify their element, adjusting its physical makeup and causing unwanted contents to precipetate out of the element. This skill can be invaluable for increasing the concentration of an element or extracting the element out of the area, such as pulling metal ore out of rock and refining the ore on the fly. Water, life and kanna channelers can use this ability to heal as well as harm living creatures by treating infection, isolating poisons or adjusting the contents of blood to make a creature's own blood toxic.

Healing: This is a quite flexible skill - all channelers can use it to heal themselves. All channelers can also use this ability to heal or repair objects made of their own element. Life, Kanna and Manna elemental channelers can use this ability to heal other creatures as well as themselves. Death channelers can use this ability to heal the undead.

Leeching: A skill similar to healing and ability draining, this skill allows a channeler to absorb the physical health of a target by touching it. This skill can be used to damage opponenes of life, death, manna and kanna channelers. This skill is also one of the few defensive abilities that allows channelers to avoid damage from their own element - activating it will allow energy channelers to absorb health from their element if the element is occurring naturally in the environment or being produced by another channeler. Sound channelers can use this skill to heal in a concert hall, fire channelers can use this skill to heal in a blaze, etc. Using this skill to absorb an energy element for health will cause the energy to grow less in intensity; a fire channeler will make it colder, a cold channeler will make it warmer, and a shadow channeler will actually produce light. Physical element channelers who use this ability will simply damage, crack and break apart whatever they are touching to use this ability, water will boil away from a water channeler and wind will rush towards an air channeler.

Energy Shields: A defensive ability available to energy channelers, this skill can create a soft cushion of a barrier that helps prevent the channeler from being damaged. This cushion will usually resemble a non-damaging visual representation of their element.

Other Skills: Some other channeler skills that may or may not be included will depend on the final mechanics of the game. If the current endurance points system is retained, there will be skills designed to recovery from endurance damage and provide more physical energy, to damage that physical energy, and also to leech that physical energy and steal one person's vigor for the channeler's own.

Magic: Which Magical Elements Govern What Materials

2008-05-11T20:36:00.004-04:00

Channelers with ties to the physical elements, air, water, earth, metal, life, and death can only use their powers on or with materials of their particular element. There can be confusion over just what exactly each element can control, and this post will try to clear some of that up. This is especially important because when transmuting a material, a channeler can only change what he or she is manipulating into something else he or she can manipulate. Transmutations with channeling magic are partially illusory: the material remembers its original material composition, size, and shape, which causes it to revert to its original form if its magic is dispelled. This can be dangerous - a party of adventurers who subsist entirely on artificially created food or water can wind up starving to death or dehydrating instantly if they have a particularly powerful dispel magic cast on them. If given enough time, such transmuted materials will eventually become "real" but this usually takes weeks or months before they can no longer be dispelled to their original form, and their magical nature will still register on detection spells.

What Air governs: Gases, aerosols, clouds, steam, smoke from a pipe or a cigarette, and particulates in air such as dust or sand. Air channelers can produce poisonous gases, aerosols that are microscopic water droplets suspended in the air, or even create particulates of physical earth like dust and smoke. Air channelers have an easy time manipulating and controlling gases and things suspended in air, although if they attempt to make an aerosol too concentrated it can begin to precipitate out of their control. Particulates transmuted into air that become too heavy for the air to hold will vanish upon precipitation, their half-illusory existence becoming dispelled. What Air does not govern: supercooled gases that have condensed to liquid or solid form, superheated liquids or solids that have become a gas significantly hotter than water's boiling point. Fires or plasma.

What Water governs: Most fluids, such as liquid water, alcohols, acids, bases, solutions, oils, poisons, blood and bile, and even mercury. What water does not govern: Super-dense solutions such as syrups, gelatins or puddings. Water also does not govern ice or steam. Water does not govern super-hot fluids like magma, nor supercooled fluids such as liquid nitrogen. The "water" element can more accurately be described as a "fluid" element, and like air, it can produce illusory quantities of materials that do not normally fall under its influence, such as the living cells in blood or the minerals in many solutions or poisons. Like air, attempting to create excess amount of these particulates and solutions cause the excess particulates to precipitate and vanish.

What Earth governs: Mud, clay, minerals, stone, soil, feces, compost that has decayed past the point of identifying what it was in life, plastics, rubbers, crystals, gems, glass, and chemical combinations of metal and minerals that are no longer metallic nor conduct electricity. Ice and snow also fall under the category of earth, but only if the ambient temperature is cold enough for such materials to form naturally. What earth does not cover: Magma is far too hot for an earth channeler to shape or control, though a channeler with the right skill can "liquefy" earth into a magma-like substance that doesn't have the extreme heat, but can still smother and envelop and prove quite deadly.

What Metal governs: All metals, alloys and metallic substances, including mercury and precious metals such as gold, silver and copper. What metal does not govern: chemical combinations of metal and minerals which do not conduct electricity, such as bone or many biological substances.

What Life governs: All living things, such as animals, plants, fungus, bacteria, viral contagions, etc. Life channelers can also control and create blood, organs, sperm, and other such things. What life does not govern: Anything that has died, or anything that was never alive. What life partially governs: As an exception to the normal rule, a life channeler can create oils, mucuses, gelatins, puddings, resins, plastics, rubbers, excreted waste, poisons and other substances created from biological processes but are not themselves alive. Such things keep their illusory transmutation until dispelled, but until dispelled the channeler loses the ability to manipulate such things anymore.

What Death governs: Dead and dried leaves, objects made of wood, anything dead but not yet fully decayed such as bone, organs or meat. Many food products also fall under the element of death. What Death does not govern: bacterial or viral contageons, things that have recently died but whose cells are still alive, dead things that have decompsed enough that earth channelers can control such things, nor non-living things created from life processes such as oils, mucouses, resins, plastics, rubbers, excreted wastes or poisons.

What Kanna governs: Kanna governs all physical things which are not too hot, because excess heat has been known to destabilize a channeler's ability to control materials. It can govern many things that are supercooled that normal channelers cannot, though kanna channelers cannot supercool the substances themselves. As a rule, the only channelers that can significantly change the temperature of something are cold channelers and fire channelers .

Magic: Soul-linking (familiars)

2008-05-10T19:49:00.005-04:00

Soul-linking is a magical technique that is similar to a divine caster's ability to create soulbonded artifacts. The difference is that instead of the caster binding himself or a target to an inanimate object, soul-linking involves binding together two or more souls. Both wizards and divine casters can soul-link, and none of the targets for the linking need to have any kind of magical aptitude, though the creatures being linked together must be willing subjects. Once linked, the souls involved are bonded together in a semi-permanent gestalt of a mind. All participants retain their individual identities and personalities, but they all share their pain, their experiences, their knowledge and their skills. There is no range to the shared abilities in a soul-link; it does not matter if one member of the link is in Habruk and the other is Rensvaja; the link is still as strong as if the partners were standing directly next to one another. Magical ability is also shared in the following ways:

Channeling: All soul linked partners can use any channeling ability that any member of the group has access to. If the partners are also channelers, the amount of magic the group can channel increases. One member can effectively have double her normal amount of power by siphoning away her soul-linked partner's power reserves. Of course while doing this, the partner cannot use his magic, because his power reserve is currently in use by his soul-linked companion. If two channelers with different elemental affinities are linked together, any effect available to the group can be combined with any element, though a single effect cannot be given the attributes of multiple elements at once. The channelers must decide which elements to tie to which magical effects at the time of using the effects.

Divine Magic: Like channeling, all divine magic abilities and spells are shared amongst all soul-linked partners. The power reserve is also pooled and then shared. Characters in the link who do not have divine ability also add an additional small amount of power to the reserve, as if that person had only just begun to learn divine magic casting.

Wizardry: Wizards who are soul-linked together can use any spell prepared by any partner. The wizard who possesses the spell catalysts must still prepare the spells requiring those catalysts himself, however. A soul-link does not allow one wizard to prepare spells using materials in his partner's possession, though he can use his partners' spell books if the partners are literally looking at the required material in the book at that particular moment in time. Like divine casting, a non-wizard who is in such a link can cast spells already prepared and slightly increases the capacity for the group to store spells. If two wizards and a normal person soul-linked, the group would collectively be able to store more spells than the two wizards would be able to separately.

Soul-linking does not need to be done only with godtouched races. In fact, in many areas, soul-links between fellow godtouched is illegal due to the large amount of magical power that can be pooled and then unleashed by a single individual. Soul-links can be made with animals or even plants; any living creature large enough to be the target of the spell can be included in the link, although the animal or plant must be a companion or pet of at least one of the members in the link in order for the non-sentient creature to consent to the spell. When a non-sentient or semi-sentient creature joins a soul-link, that creature gains full sentience, any magical ability available to the godtouched member in the link, and all experiences and memories are shared. The godtouched also gains any heightened senses that might belong to the non-sentient creature. When wizards or divine casters link themselves to animals, they gain a small boost in the number of spells they can store or the reserve of power available to him, as if linking with a normal person. The animals can also cast any spells available to the wizard or divine caster, and while they cannot vocalize themselves, they can be understood as fully sentient creatures by anyone who shares the link. Usually, soul-linked non-sentients are called familiars, and their use is quite common.

A downside of soul-linking is that if one member of the group dies, all members in the link share excrutiating pain as the bond is forcefully broken as the dead creature goes to the afterlife. This pain can even be fatal to infirm or unhealthy members of the link, creating a chain reaction that risks killing all members. Any skills or abilities "owned" by the dead members of the link are permanently lost by all other members of the link. The recovery time from this pain can be decreased with magic or a particularly strong willpower or vitality, but often the unprepared severing of a soul-link can leave permanent damage.

Soul-linking with a spirit animal or unicorn does not have this problem, as neither of those creatures ever go to the afterlife. Granted, it is extremely hard to convince a spirit animal or unicorn to agree to a soul-link, because those creatures will still feel the pain of other members of the group dying, unless all members of the group are spirit animals or unicorns. If the soul-link is broken by a method destined to turn the dead or dying member into a spirit or ghost ghost, the pain also does not happen. But with ghosts, all members in the soul link might go insane alongside the ghostly member of the group. There are methods to safely break a soul link without such trauma, though the process usually takes several weeks of fasting, meditation and magical aid.

In Cerenbaun, soul-linking with anything other than a plant or animal is illegal, as is soul-links that have more than two members. In Igakari, anyone can soul link, including two godtouched, though similar to Cerenbaun, soul-links with more than two members are illegal. In the Rensvaja kingdoms, soul-links of thirty members or more are not uncommon. The channeler-kings of that realm will often pay divine casters and wizards to soul-link them together in order to more easily make consensus decisions, and also to solidify their channeling power and dominance over their kingdoms.

A possible new mechanic?

2008-04-28T14:33:00.002-04:00

It's been ages since I've posted - with good reason. I've been slaving away at my Senior Project for college graduation (based on the very subject of this blog) and only finished it yesterday!

In the interim, I've had a lot of interesting thoughts about the setting, one of which is a possible new rules system. In the past, I've been designing the rules so that if the GM is a dick, it's hard for him to abuse the players. I sort of had an epiphany that it doesn't matter how well-crafted the rules are, if the GM wants to be a dick he's going to be a dick, and my system can't stop that.

So instead, I'm playing around with a new, looser system that encourages cooperation between the GM and players. In general, the system is based entirely around story-flow, encouraging role-playing instead of stat min-maxing or simulation of battle mechanics.

Here's how it would work. Whenever a player wants to do any action (or series of actions) the player then describes how his or her character is attempting the action, in detail, as if the player were temporarily the GM. Once the player is done with the description, the GM takes the character's skills, the type of action, and what he wants to happen in the story into account, and sets a "target number" that he announces to the player.

The target number works like this; the player will roll either one die or two dice (I haven't decided yet) and if the player's die comes very close to the number, for instance, a couple numbers above or a couple below, the action is successful. If the result doesn't come close at all, the player's action is a failure.

It's the GM's job to describe the results of the player's action, now, based on the following:

If the die lands exactly on the number, that's a critical success. The player's intended outcome happens flawlessly and possibly a little something extra good happens. A little below is called an undershoot - the player's action was successful, but the enemy either had a somewhat successful defense or the player's action took longer to do. A little above is an overshoot - the action was a little reckless and while successful, the enemy is now either set up for a counterattack or the player hurt himself or his goal a little in exercising the skill.

If the result is far below, the player's action is simply not successful - the attack missed, the skill attempt didn't work, etc. If the result is far above, that's a critical failure and something bad is going to happen to the player as a result of the action. By setting the target number low or high, the GM changes the chances for these different outcomes by either expanding the chances for a "happy" unsuccessful outcome or expanding the chances for an "unhappy" unsuccessful outcome.

Here's the catch: Although the GM describes the results of an action, the player will always describe how his or her character gets hurt. The better the description, the more "karma points" the player gets. The worse the description, the player loses karma points. In this case, "better" and "worse" are entirely subjective. The GM can base the awarding or karma based on the storytelling skill the player has, at how much the GM thinks the player is God-moding with the action, or even if the player described it in an overly melodramatic way and taking more damage than the GM thinks is reasonable.

Further, a player can purposefully announce that he or she has decided to burn one of his or her karma points in order to avoid a bad action. Rolled the highest number possible while trying to disarm a death trap? Burn a karma point and describe how your character got away unharmed by the skin of his or her teeth. If your storytelling is really good, the GM might give you your karma point back!

It's the job of the GM and the players to communicate with each other so they can anticipate what each of them wants out of the game. The players will be describing most of what happens (although the GM will describe if actions are successful, unsuccessful, what happens to the NPCs, how the NPCs are injured, etc) and so they will not only be role playing, but owning the story.

Aarn, the world itself, is about exploration, treasure-hunting and role-playing more than it is about combat with monsters or casting horrible horrible spells that destroy everything. This idea of mine will hopefully help reflect that, but I haven't finished working out how this system will work in practice, yet, and may change the target number system while keeping the feel of the descriptive nature of the game.

Magic: Material Components - Magical Catalysts

2008-03-17T21:02:00.005-04:00

This post is one that won't give any new information, but will provide some clarifications on just how wizardry behaves in the setting. At first blush, there are a couple of counter-intuitive things that have been turning people off, and this post is going to serve as a reminder to myself to frame wizardry in a slightly different light.

First, an important distinction to make is that while I've been calling Aarnian magic "magic," I'm using the term in a very broad way. The word "magic" usually refers to something poorly understood, if it's understood at all. The process of understanding something, turning it into a science (as the Aarnian wizards have done with Aarnian magic) usually invalidates it from being called magic in the first place.

On the surface, Aarnian magic resembles classical fantasy magic, but when one takes a closer look, all the magic in Aarn could be redefined as psionics. It's powered by dreams, powered by the threads of an adjacent reality, and the fey could be considered inter-dimensional aliens. However, Aarn is a fantasy setting and not sci-fi, so I've used fantasy terms.

In effect, I'm calling it "magic" for flavor purposes, but very few other settings have approached magic from this same perspective. Magic is not something separate from what is real, or logical, or scientific on the planet Aarn. It's simply another fundamental law of physics, one that we happen to not have here in real life.

As for the magical energy itself - it flows through and saturates Aarn. There is ambient magical energy everywhere, flowing through everything, especially living things that have souls.

While the energy is everywhere, it is hard to control. A wizard's primary skill is harnessing and shaping that energy - that's the purpose of the spellweave, to keep the energy in check during the casting of the spell.

On the other hand, a wizard's material components - the physical objects required to cast the spell - do not power the spell. The components act as a key that tells the spell what to do. The amount of magical energy these components have in and of themselves is very small. Instead, the auras of the components simply resonate with one another in a specific way.

The resonating auras act as a catalyst, telling the rest of the ambiant magical energy what to do, and what spell effect to power. In a balooning chain reaction the spell is formed, and it's the wizards's job to guide the chain reaction and insure it actually does what he wants it to do once it manifests. The wizard must provided the appropriate spellweave to harness the chain reaction into the spell he wants to cast.

Because the components act as a guide - perhaps as a template or mold for the ambient magical energies, they are not destroyed by spellcasting, and can be used over and over again.

The few times that components are destroyed, such as in the creation of a potion, or the casting of a cheap scroll, they aren't destroyed because they are consumed by the magic for fuel, or as some kind of equivalent exchange - losing something to gain something.

Instead, they're simply destroyed because the chain reaction produced is too destructive for the components to survive with their auras intact.

In the case of scrolls that require a material component, the components are destroyed because runes self-destruct when they are used, and the auras of the components are connected to those same self-destructing runes, and are caught in the resulting chain-reaction of self-destruction. Very messy.

In the case of potions, the "material components" (which refer only to the objects that provide the resonance, and not to the water and its flavorings) have their auras and material composition changed beyond use by the boiling water and the chain reaction of magical energy.

Once the chain reaction has been started however, the components are no longer needed. As long as there is more water for the effect to "grow" into, more doses of potions can be made using the single helping of material components. Unfortunately, the more water, the slower the chain reaction spreads, and the harder it is to control it. Creating a single dose of potion can take only a few minutes. Creating a cauldron filled with 100 doses of potion can take hours, or even days.

Further, as the chain reaction spreads, it needs to be constantly monitored and guided by the alchemist. If his concentration waivers the batch of potion can self-destruct, or worse. This effectively limits the time that can be used to make a single batch of potion, preventing an alchemist from boiling an entire lake and using a single helping of material components to create a billion doses of potion. Alchemists have to sleep sometime, after all.

To keep these sorts of things in mind, I'm going to be more careful of my language in the future. A spell's "material components" will now be called "catalysts" in order to drive the point home of what they do - and what they don't do. This will also help distinguish the difference between the catalysts in a potion and, say, the water itself. The water is also technically a "material component" but because it doesn't resonante with any magical auras to produce the magical chain reaction, it's not appropriate to call it the same thing.

Also, as I've been doing in this post, catalysts that are destroyed in the process of making a potion or casting a scroll will be "destroyed" and not "consumed." "Consumed" gives the complete wrong kind of idea, and I blame it on a lot of the cognitive dissonance that exists in some of the previous wizardry posts, especially the potion one.

Magic: Limitations of Magic and Magical Items

2008-03-16T22:26:00.004-04:00

Aarn is certainly a high-magic setting, I will not deny that. However, a major goal I've had since the beginning is for a character without magic to survive and remain competent. Magic, while powerful, is largely in the setting for flavor and for convenience. It is a utility, as much as a utility as rope is to a dungeon-delver.

Magic can enhance characters' abilities, and can help characters deal more damage and absorb more damage. Magic can do many things. However, it is not as important as a character's skill. No shiny magical armor or flaming sword will make a farm-boy become an epic hero overnight. He'll get creamed no matter how powerful his equipment if he rushes into danger carelessly.

When it comes to a character trying to avoid magic, their physical abilities quickly climb into the superhuman level of ability. Many things in the setting strive to be realistic, but I suppose a man must be allowed his guilty pleasures; imagine a completely non-magical adventurer who can leap 20 feet in the air, effortlessly fell a tree in one swing with their sword, plow through a battlefield like a runaway train, tossing his or her enemies aside as if they were tissue paper.

It is not the job of magic to further enhance the abilities of this dreadnought warrior. It is the job of magic to allow jacks of all trades to compete on the same level.

As an example, spells that increase someone's strength do not add a modifier onto the ability score. It simply doesn't stack. Instead, the spell will change the ability score to a set amount. A character with a strength of 3 and a character with a strength of 1 will be given the same maximum strength, 4, if they have a spell cast on them that will raise strength to 4. Further, characters with a strength of 4 or higher won't be affected by the spell at all, even though it is still technically affecting them.

Magic, because it doesn't stack with natural abilities and only supplants them, can be seen as an unnecessary distraction to more serious warriors. Having a handful of magical items, such as a suit of armor that allows them to have a wider range of motion, or a sword that deals more damage with every swing will certainly help them. But not having these items will not handicap them either, and they have natural skills they can learn that produce much of the same effect.

Further, all characters will have a magical resistance skill. This skill represents how toughened and resilient their magical aura is. How much punishment the aura is used to taking. The higher this skill, the easier it is to not only resist magical effects and magical damage, but also elude magic that can detect life, detect thoughts, etcetera. For all its bells and whistles, and its "ooh" and "ahh" effects, magic is capricious and can be nullified somewhat effectively if one is properly prepared.

And that's ignoring the aforementioned wizards whose specialty is nullifying and countering others' magic, including their magic items.

I'm also contemplating adding another skill which represents a character's ability to use magical items. The higher the skill, the more items they can use at once, and the more powerful those items can be. It would essentially act as an item-wealth level-limit, as seen in many, many other rule settings. I may or may not include this option depending on how much it is needed once I reach the play testing phase.

Magic: Soulbonded Artifacts

2008-03-16T22:19:00.002-04:00

Perhaps the most dramatic kind of enchanted object in Aarn, a soulbonded artifact can only be created by a divine caster. In order to create the artifact, the divine caster must know a certain kind of spell which is a genesis whose effect acts like a boon. The power of the spell is such that it can only be activated via ritual. The ritual itself is costly, and so is learning the genesis, but the effect is arguably worth it.

One of the prime material components for the ritual is a non-magical object that will become the soulbonded artifact. This object can be any kind of tool, weapon, armor or even machine. The larger and more expensive it is, the more the rest of the ritual will cost in both power points and other material components, which somewhat limits what can and cannot become a soulbonded artifact.

During the process of the ritual, the divine caster selects a sentient target; the target can be the divine caster him or herself, or someone else, but must be a willing participant of the ritual. Once the ritual is complete, the target will permanently have the physical object magically tied to his or her soul. This object will at first seem perfectly normal, but the target of the spell will always know where the object is.

Over time, the soulbonded artifact will become more and more magically powerful as the target of the spell puts his own experience points into leveling up the artifact. Like all boons, the magic of this artifact is extremely hard to dispell - a successful dispelling attempt will only briefly render the object magic-neutral. Like rubber however, it will recover over a period of a few hours to its previous magical strength, the bond disrupted but not actually broken.

Very powerful soulbonded artifacts can be magically dispersed and then recalled at will, can be summoned to the owner of the artifact regardless of the distance, or even allow the owner to spy on distant locations and "hear" what it hears, "see" what it sees.

Some channelers have a skill that is similar to this, but the artifacts they create are more temporary constructs made out of their own magical aura, instead of an artifact bonded to them artificially. Often the channelers need a physical object to act as a base before they can produce these effects, but the physical object isn't required at higher levels of power. More detail will be put into this channeling skill in a future post.

Magic: Infusions and Wands

2008-03-16T16:48:00.002-04:00

Another way a spellcaster can produce magical effects in inanimate objects is by using infusions. An infusion as mentioned before is somewhat different than other sorts of enchantments. Like all enchantments though, an infusion requires time and resources. A divine caster must know the spell effect he or she wishes to give to the object, and a wizard must build the material components into the object. If the material components are perishable, they must be periodically reloaded into the enchanted object like ammunition.

Infusions are a popular method of enchantment because objects infused with magical effects can have quite advanced abilities. A runecrafted fire-sword is always on fire, which can be somewhat inconvenient. A fire sword created with infusions can be turned on and off with the press or a button or the utterance of a command word, which greatly increases its value.

Infusions can also store complicated spell effects that can be unleashed similarly, with the press of a button, flip of a switch, command word, or in some very advanced models, the simple power of thought.

The limitation of an infusion however is the fact that infused objects have a limited supply of energy. They can usually be turned on and off, but when on, they exhaust magical power. Thankfully, the power will recharge slowly over time from the ambient magical energy on Aarn. A magic user of any kind can also speed up this process. A wizard can increase the rate of recharging by concentrating on the item in the same way they concentrate on preparing a spell. A channeler can increase the rate of recharging by setting aside some of their energy, limiting their own magic in the process. A divine caster can transfer his or her own power points directly into the item.

Between all the different types of magically enchanted items, infusions are one of the safest. Dispelling one, while ruining the enchantment, won't cause an explosion or light show. Further, if the material components are damaged in an infusion created with wizardry, the infusion will begin to work again once the components are replaced, without the enchantment itself being damaged. Attempting to change the shape of an item with an infusion, or breaking the object itself, will still produce such an explosion however.

Wands are the standard method of carrying infusions, especially when the infusion is a spell that needs to be used at range. Importantly, any spell may be infused into an object, and most infusions are simply spells that could be cast otherwise, but are tied to an object that anyone may use. They are extremely useful for people who don't want to bother with scrolls or potions, but they are also very expensive due to their high demand and powerful nature.

That is not to say however that wands are the only type of infusion. A large amount of adventuring and survival gear is constructed with infusions, such as binoculars, rings that clean someone and improve their hygiene with the twist of a facet, fire starters, extremely accurate compasses, and one sort of enchanted auto-map item that produces a magical image of the area the person is in.

Infusions however cannot create anything sentient, nor can they create something that moves on its own in any type of self-directing way. One can use an infusion to create a propeller for a boat, but one cannot use an infusion to create a golem in the way that an animancer can.

Magic: Potion Mechanics

2008-03-16T13:46:00.003-04:00

After reading my previous post, I wouldn't be surprised if you were asking yourself; "If there are scrolls whose creation doesn't require the destruction of material spell components, what use is potions? They store spells for use later in the same way as scrolls, but use up material components in the process when created. Wouldn't all wizards just create scrolls then?"

Well, for one thing, potions can be used by anyone, scrolls cannot. That may answer the question of why potions exist with scrolls as competition, but it doesn't answer why a character in the game would want to be an alchemist and create his or her own potions.

The answer is this: Potions can be created in bulk. While the creation of a potion will always destroy the material components used, an alchemist doesn't need to sacrifice a new batch of material components for every single dose of potion made. Alchemists can create potions using a cauldron to create dozens of doses of potion at a time.

Unfortunately, there is a bit of resource management involved here. If an alchemist only wants to make a single dose of potion, he or she must still sacrifice the material components. It's an all or nothing deal. Because of this, alchemists who aren't adventuring will usually create a large amount of their potion at once in order to save on material component costs, and then sell the leftovers.

What prevents alchemists in the field from carrying a cauldron around with them all the time and creating that many potions at once are five major limitations:

1: Weight and bulk. Potions need to be carried in something, and they need to be brewed in something. Carrying around the equipment required to create potions in bulk is heavy and awkward, and so is carrying around the potions that have been created.

2: Water. The wizard must have access to enough water to fill whatever container he or she is brewing the potions in, and it's unlikely that when potable water in a dungeon is precious the party will allow the wizard to use an entire bath's worth of water to create a hundred "cure minor wound" potions at once, saving on material component costs. The more skilled the alchemist however, the less water they need to use to create a single dose.

3: Time. It takes far less time to brew a single potion than it takes to brew a dozen or more. Brewing an entire cauldron at once can take hours or even days, days the party is unlikely to allow the alchemist to sit around doing practically nothing. There is also a point of diminishing returns, where the amount of money saved by making the potions all in one batch simply isn't worth the time it takes for the water to absorb the magical energy.

4: Danger. As I'm sure many of you have noticed by now, working with magic in Aarn is a volatile and dangerous process, especially if you don't know what you are doing. A cauldron that is not carefully tended to during its entire brewing time poses the risk of exploding catastrophically instead of nicely becoming a magical liquid.

5: Economics. Potion vendors in a city are unlikely to pay top dollar for potions created by an alchemist in the field. Unless the alchemist is their usual supplier, the shopkeeper will be very suspicious of the potions - they could have been created with tainted water! Or substandard material components. Or simply been created by an incompetent alchemist.

There is also the fact that while normal people will buy potions, the demand isn't high, and vendors are unlikely to want to act as a middle-man and add even more potions to their own already-overflowing stock. If an alchemist wishes to sell his bulk potions, he will either have to become a regular supplier for a vendor, or learn the skills of a vendor and sell his potions himself. Neither of these are viable options for the adventurer-on-the-go, though it can present itself as an excellent source of side-income during downtime between adventures.

Something to remember however, is that all skills in this game can be learned by all characters. A character can become a competent alchemist without dramaticly sacrificing battle prowess, other spellcasting, or whichever other skills a character wishes to learn. Jacks-of-all-trades are quite welcome in Aarn.

Magic: Runecrafting and Scrolls

2008-03-15T22:30:00.002-04:00

Runecrafting at its most base form involves two different skills. The first skill is the skill to read magical runes, and is useful for all characters because it lets them know what runes do, and it allows them to activate scrolls. The second skill is the ability to create the runes, and this skill is more expensive to learn, especially because it has the first skill as well as some kind of magical aptitude as prerequisites.

The different types of runecrafting are modeled after the different types of magic. There are permanent runecrafting effects which crudely simulate the spell effects that channelers can learn, and there are spellrunes which are one-time-use items which store wizardry and divine spells.

Any magic user can create a permanent rune, and channelers who are proficient in the runecrafting skill can emulate effects or even elements that they do not have for the purpose of creating the runes. Wizards and divine casters can also emulate any channeler effect, regardless of the spells they know or the material components they have access to. Once created, runes that emulate channeling act as a sinkhole for magic, and the shape of the runes themselves tell the magic how to behave. As mentioned previously, these permanent effects cannot be turned off nor controlled, though they can be carved or painted onto anything in order to enchant it, even living creatures. The more dramatic the effect or the larger the object, the more difficult it is to properly craft the runes and the longer it takes because of the larger amount of magical energy involved.

Unlike other systems, the runecrafting skill and the time it takes to create the runes are the only things required for a spellcaster to create this kind of magical effect. However, there is a drawback to these effects that can help prevent characters from abusing the skill - the runes, while "permanent" can be dispelled by other spellcasters. Not only that, but disrupting the shape of the rune will also end the magical effect. A permanent rune whose magical effect is disrupted either by destroying the rune itself or by dispelling the magic will release a great deal of magical energy, damaging whatever it was painted on or carved into. This damage will be substantial, but not lethal in the case of creatures, and the damage will also not destroy objects to the point of uselessness, but the damage will make the objects more fragile - easier to sunder or destroy through other means.

Using runes to store wizardry or divine spells requires more effort and can only be done by a wizard or a divine caster. These "spellrunes" are for the most part magically inert, but store energy that can be unleashed later. Like runes that emulate channeling, spellrunes release a great deal of magical energy when destroyed. They also will release this energy when the spell is cast, which will usually be more intense than what is released when they are simply damaged - so casting a spellrune will destroy whatever the runes are written on along with the runes themselves. Because of this, most spellrunes are written on cheaply produced scrolls, though they can be written on anything one is willing to lose.

In order to create a scroll, divine casters write the required runes while focusing their own magic into them, while adding a trigger allowing someone to activate the spellrunes later. This means that divine casters need to provide their own power points in order to produce a scroll, just as if they were casting the spell then and there. This perhaps goes without saying, but in order to create a spellrune a divine caster must also know the spell in question. They also cannot create a spellrune that provides boons, which are permanent effects and not spells.

Wizards when creating scrolls have two options - they can create the spellrune using material components, or without material components. In both cases, they need to have a spellbook that contains the spell they wish to reproduce in runes, or they must have the spell memorized. Creating the spellrune will also take as much time as it takes to prepare the spell using spellweaving.

For creating a scroll using material components, a wizard uses the components to directly focus his or her magical energy into the runes in a method similar to divine casters. Once they create the spellrune and provide some triggering mechanism, the scroll can be activated at any time with no further cost.

On the other hand, creating a scroll without the material components can be very useful for spells whose material components are rare and not readily available. This method is usually used by wizards who write and sell scrolls for a living. While more common and cheaper than other types, this kind of scroll has a hidden cost - the material components must be provided by whoever will use the scroll. Not only that, but the subsequent release of energy will destroy the material components along with the scroll! Very few wizards who wish to cast scrolls they themselves created will use this method because it will destroy precious components they already had, and could have used at no cost to themselves to create the other type of scroll.

An adventurer wishing to use a great deal of scrolls should try to either buy wizardry scrolls that were created with components, or buy scrolls created by divine casters. These "self-contained" scrolls are usually rarer and more expensive than the alternative, but are actually less expensive in the long run. Because "cheap" scrolls not only need the scroll-user to provide the material components, but will destroy those components in the process, the cost of buying the spell components could quickly eliminate any savings one might get from buying the cheapest type of scroll.

It is essentially the difference between selling one-time-use guns that are already loaded, and selling the same kind of one-use-guns which aren't loaded, while the ammunition can be either cheap or expensive depending on the type of gun. Further compounding this, the ammunition also has other uses where it can be used over and over again (mainly as components in wizardry spells).

Magic: Divine Magic

2008-03-05T00:59:00.002-05:00

Divine magic is seen by most people living on Aarn as the power of the gods personified. It's true that gods will often grant their followers divine spells, but there are many other ways to learn and harness divine magic.

Those who use divine magic are exercising their primal, faithful creativity. They change the world the same way the fey do, using the fey's very own power borrowed from the astral sea. Divine casters are those who have learned to harness, enhance, and control dream magic in the real world.

Divine magic can be granted by the gods or it can be granted to mortals through fey. There is a lesser known but third path to this kind of magic; especially faithful, strong willed, or simply air-headed mortals think enough in the terms of dreams that they can cast these sorts of spells without the aid of a patron. The spells themselves need no preparation, but must first be learned through meditation, prayer, or service to whichever cause the divine magic caster follows. By spending XP the caster will learn the desired spell through dreams or visions. Divine spells cannot be taught in the same way as wizardry, though a mentor can help a pupil learn a specific spell by guiding their prayer or meditation.

In order to cast their spells or use their abilities, divine spellcasters must spend time sleeping, meditating or in prayer to gather enough energy from the dream realm and bring it into the mortal realm. As they grow in skill, the amount of power they can collect also increases. The mechanics for how divine spells are cast are similar to the psioncs of Dungeon and Dragons' 3.5 edition, with individual spells learned permanently, each spell using up a certain number of power points with each casting.

Regardless of the method used to cast the spell, all divine effects fall into one of seven categories; Curses, wraths, boons, blessings, visions, geneses and remedies.

Curses - A curse is any negative effect that either transmutes the target's body in some way or causes a negative effect that is not directly damaging. This involves things as subtle as altering someone's luck for the worse, temporarily making someone less skilled, draining someone's strength or abilities, changing their gender, changing them into an animal, or even something as dramatic as changing them into solid stone.

Wraths - A wrath is any effect that directly causes physical damage to a creature or object, such as a flame strike, a bolt of lightning or a simple smite. Unlike a curse, the lingering effects of a wrath are not magical and cannot be dispelled.

Boons - A boon is an expensive in XP terms but permanent effect that does not drain a divine spellcaster's resources. Monks are divine spell casters who use boons exclusively.

Blessings - A blessing is the opposite of a curse. It is a positive effect that temporarily changes someone or a group for the better in some way. Protection and shield effects also fall into this category.

Visions - A vision is any effect that reveals something the caster did not already know. Visions can be of the future, of distant lands, flashes of inspiration, lost ancient knowledge, other people, or effects that detect or identify magic, undead, or other creatures.

Geneses - A genesis is any effect that creates something. This includes effects that make food or water, create temporary weapons or armor, or summon creatures.

Remedies - A remedy is any effect that cures, heals, purifies, recovers or restores. The most powerful remedies can even bring someone back from the dead.

Importantly, there is no time limit for how long one can wait before casting a remedy that brings someone back to life, but the target must be willing to return. Once 50 or more years have passed, the target will probably -not- be willing to return - they've already spent 50 out of 100 years on line in the half-hell of Immigration, and probably don't want to have to start all over again after another (comparatively) brief stay on Aarn. Souls that are already in hell are sometimes more likely to return, but it's very rare that anyone actually wants to bring someone back who's been dead for more than a century.

While all divine effects fall into these seven categories, there are four distinct ways to cast a divine spell, which are as follows.

Manifestations are the most difficult way to cast divine spells, and by extension they are the least powerful. A manifestation is an instant creation of a spell effect purely through the power of thought. Manifestations require no material components, require no spoken word, no gestures, and in fact only require conscious thought to activate. Despite their inability to create the most powerful divine effects, they are by far the most suited to combat situations.

Incantations, also known as words of power, are slightly easier to produce than manifestations. They are one of the most common methods of divine casting despite their difficulty, if only because of their utility. Incantations only require the utterance of a handful of almost arbitrary words which vary not only from spell to spell, but from person to person. They require no gestures or material components or focusses, and their effects can linger for quite some time.

Songs and chants are quite easy to cast, but their effects only last as long as the spellcaster remains chanting. Wraths and other instant effects that are chanted or sung into existence do not take effect until after the chant stops, and the amount of time spent chanting helps determines the power of the spell effect. This is arguably the easiest way to cast divine spells, though it is not very practical.

The power of songs and chants can be further enhanced by dancing or gesturing energetically during the chant, though this can leave a divine spellcaster very vulnerable during combat. A number of people can also join in on the dancing or chanting in order to further boost the power of the spell, even if they are not divine spellcasters themselves. When a number of people join together to enhance the power of a divine spell, one of them is the spellcaster and must know the spell and have enough power to cast it by him or herself. The others simply supplement the spell's power through their creative participation.

The final method of divine spellcasting is the ritual. It superficially resembles wizardry, but has been in existence for much longer. Like wizardry, rituals require material components that vary depending on the spell being cast. The spells created by rituals cannot be stored to be used at some other time, and once the ritual is completed the spell is instantly cast. Rituals can take a number of minutes to a number of hours to prepare depending on how powerful they are, and they're by far the least practical method of divine spellcasting. Rituals cost gold for material components which are consumed or destroyed symbolically during the ritual. They also cost time and energy, and are easily disrupted. Rituals are however the most powerful form of divine spellcasting, and the preferred method for doing so when the spellcaster isn't in combat or in immediate danger.

Magic: Wizardry

2008-03-04T02:32:00.002-05:00

In today's post I will go over wizardry in the setting of Aarn, and describe how it affects the world, and the basics of how it works.

As mentioned before, wizardry came into existence at the same time as mankind. Despite only being as old as man, it has been adopted by the other godtouched races as a staple and a matter of course. The valdrex use it extensively, the merfolk occasionally use it to enhance their natural monster-like biomechanical creations, and even the dragons toy with it when it suits their fancy.

In the world of Aarn, wizardry is literally another branch of science. It is magic approached carefully, empirically, and experimentally. Wizardry is as much a science on Aarn as physics is in our world. It is used as both a tool for experimentation and also to learn about the planet itself. Using wizardry, mankind on Aarn has a knowledge of atoms, elements, chemistry, astronomy, gravity, and many other modern ideas that may seem out of place in a fantasy setting.

(As a side note, however, Aarnians' only have a casual understanding of several principles of mechanics, such as steam power, gunpowder, combustion engines, magnetics and electricity. Aarnian scholars know of these forces, but poorly and as an academic footnote. Magic here has acted as a crutch - why learn the mechanics of wires and electromagnets when an electricity or gravity spell can work just as well, if not better?)

Wizards are treated by society the way we treat engineers, scientists, mechanics and computer scientists. In fact, I've kept the analogy of wizards-as-computer-programmers-and-developers in mind throughout the entire production of the setting. There are wizards who like hackers use their powers for laughs and for personal power. There are wizards who like corporate programmers are hired as specialists for security, maintenance or troubleshooting and repair jobs. There are also wizards who like technology developers push the boundaries of what is currently considered possible, developing new and better techniques to approach old jobs. This also means that wizardry in general can be learned by anyone with the time and resources. Just as people in real life can become "script kiddies," there are amateur wizards who have only learned a handful of weak utility spells, and have concentrated most of their character development on other skills and abilities. In fact it is recommended for all adventurers to know at least a spot of wizardry.

Like any science, there are several different branches of wizardry that were briefly mentioned in the last post. The most common is spellweaving, which is quite similar to dungeons and dragons' wizardry. Spellweaving involves using material components as a springboard, the components' auras affecting the magical energy being harnessed by the wizard. Once the auras of the components are resonating with the wizard's own aura, a spell can be woven. This usually takes several minutes, and the more powerful the spell, the longer it takes to prepare. Once prepared, the spell is stored in the aura of the wizard, and can be activated with a few simple gestures.

Unlike wizards in dungeons and dragons, spellweavers in Aarn can prepare their spells at any time, though they still are limited in the number of spells they can have stored at once. In theory however, a wizard with a full aura can still prepare spells - as long as the spells are then cast immediately and not stored. Not only that, but expending spells that are stored can free up room for new spells to be prepared immediately afterwards, also unlike dungeons and dragons.

Spellweavers do not use incantations, and casting a silence spell on one won't impair their spellcasting or ability to prepare spells. Any words the spellweaver speaks while casting or preparing the spell is a kind of meditative mantra that aids his or her concentration. Their spellbooks aren't strictly required, either. Spellweavers can spend XP to permanently memorize how to cast a spell, and never use a book for it again. Without spending the XP however, the books are required for spell preparation. Spellbooks are like cookbooks. They are scientifically and clearly written guides for how to weave the magic and the material component into the spell. Any wizard can use any other wizards' books, provided they have the material components for the spell available.

Although I have stated in the past (such as in the constructs post) that material components used in spellweaves are consumed, I'm currently reconsidering that decision. As it stands, wizards only need to buy the material components once for a spell they wish to cast, in order to buy the proper components for the first time. There may be an upkeep cost paid every week or so if the spell involves material components that are perishable however, but this upkeep will not be affected by how many times the wizard does or doesn't cast the spell.

An important tool for any spellweaver is his or her staff. In other settings, staves are simply larger wands - this isn't the case in Aarn. Aarian wizard staffs actually expand and stretch the aura of the wizard, allowing them to prepare more spells than they otherwise could. A wizard must attune himself to his or her staff in order to use it, and it's a highly personalized item. Breaking or destroying a wizard's staff is quite dangerous - doing so will instantly release every spell currently stored in the staff in a titanic explosion of energy. With this in mind, they are made extremely hard to break. Usually taking the staff from the wizard is enough to cut him or her off from the spells stored in the staff, and many adventuring wizards forgo staves completely due to the danger of carrying one around in melee combat.

Another skill that spellweavers have is the ability to dispell other magical effects. Unlike other systems, dispelling or counterspelling magic is its own skill, separate from casting in and of itself - that importantly doesn't involve casting spells. A skilled spellweaver can see the ripples in the magical aura of the spell, interact with those ripples with their hands or a special telekinesis spell - and then disrupt the magical effects. There are spellweavers in fact who never learn any spellcasting at all, and only learn how to untangle the magical ties of the spells and magical effects used by other mages.

Another quite common branch of Aarnian wizardry is alchemy, the art of making potions. Superficially, the processes of alchemy and spellweaving are quite similar. Alchemy requires recipe books, involves recipes that can be memorized, and needs material components. Unlike spellweaving however, the spell itself is stored in a liquid inside of a flask, and the material components themselves are ruined or consumed in the process of creating the potion.

Alchemists can make limitless numbers of potions - they're limited only by how many flasks they have and material components they're willing to use. Once created, the potions are stored in physical space, so alchemists are also somewhat limited by their strength and how many potions they can fit and organize onto their person.

A potion itself comes in three varieties. There are salves that are rubbed onto a weapon or body, there are elixirs that are consumed, and there are grenades which are thrown and unleash a magical effect once the flask breaks. Needless to say, all potions are one-use only.

Potioncrafting is in fact related to the same skill as poison-making and poison-management. All alchemists are skilled at poisons and antidotes, though not all poisoners are skilled at alchemy - alchemy is simply throwing a magical understanding of material components into the mix.

Of course, there are also methods for wizards to harness magic that aren't exclusively in their own magical domain. Wizardry invented the concept of using runecasting for scrolls, and while divine casters can create their own scrolls as well, it is the wizards who create more of them, and more often. Wizards can also create runecrafted objects, but they prefer to use imbuing effects for enchanting items, due to that system's higher flexibility. I'll go into more depth in how magical items are created in a future post, but it's worth mention here regardless.

Finally, there is elemancy - but as a reminder, this isn't the way I originally used the word. Now, elemancy refers to wizards who use their love of material components, spellweaving, alchemy and other skills combined with the natural abilities of magical channeling. Elemancers largely use their powers to create and dominate elementals, undead, monsters and constructs. They deserve their own post as well, and will get one sometime soon.

I'm also considering allowing elemancers to use channeling tokens to power their spells instead of material components, but this isn't final yet and requires more thought.

Metaphysics: Magic

2008-03-03T03:10:00.002-05:00

My magic system may seem a bit disjointed at first, compared to some other magic systems that you may be used to. There are a handful of magical tropes that I play with and alter, a few I take out and make their own thing, and still others that I discard entirely. Gone, for instance, is the seemingly ever-present divide between psionics and magic - psionic powers exist in my setting, but simply as an expression of magic and not as something distinct and separate.

The three major ways to use magic also, while differing in their execution, have clear and intentional lines of overlap. Wizardry is more scientific, channeling is more natural, and divine magic is more creative and ephemeral. However, all three tie into and tap the same substance, the same power, the same drive and the same force - the natural ability of the fey to alter the material world through the power of dreaming.

It is well established that only godtouched, fey, and certain artificial creations like monsters, undead and constructs can use magic. However, all creatures that have living souls have their own magical essences. The auras discussed in the previous post are an imprint of the soul, a representation of the energies of the dream plane, replenished whenever a soul dreams. While a soul's aura is only visible to the naked eye while using magic, it is always there.

Further, either through the fey's presence on Aarn for so long, as some side effect from the end of the war of the gods, or through a fundamental property of the astral sea bonding with the material plane, material objects that aren't alive also seem to have their own magical essence. It is far less dramatic than the essences of living souls, but important enough to be used in spellweaves and rituals none the less. This could simply be the objects affecting magical energies from other, living sources - similar to how a rock in a stream will create eddy currents, but the effect is largely the same regardless.

The essences themselves have consistent patterns to them. A rock of a certain shape, element and size will always produce the same signature. A plant's leaf, bat droppings, even a hand-made carving of a specific kind of wood will displace, radiate and resonate with auras in predictable ways. These patterns can be brought out and represented visually by simple, abstracted patterns called runes. Importantly, each individual sentient soul has its own unique rune, a self-representing symbol that never changes, and is in fact a permanent identifying characteristic of that soul's unique self. These personal symbols tend to be used in Aarnian society as signatures and are often used as identification, and as the focuses for scrying spells.

Runes are used by both divine casters and by wizards. They can be etched into physical objects or tatooed onto flesh to create permanent or semi-permanent magical effects. They can be used by wizards and divine spellcasters both to create scrolls - a physical storage of a single casting of a certain spell (though this is far more common with wizards than with divine spellcasters). They are also used by wizards in their spellbooks as a magical shorthand, the runes representing which material components are required for a spellweave, alchemic potion or elemantic construct.

Despite this flexibility, runes are somewhat limited. When they are used in the case of scrolls to cast a stored spell, they are not only destroyed but they tend to physically damage whatever they were written on. When they are used for permanent or semi-permanent effects, the effects only last as long as the runes remain intact, are always active in the mean time. Destructive effects on weapons usually require a very resilient scabbard, for instance. Importantly, the runes also cannot create any spell effects more complicated than simple channeler powers.

This does mean that while characters with magical tatoos can impersonate channelers, their magic's effects are not as easily controlled, not as flexible, and cannot be turned on and off, making them poor impersonations at best.

A step up from using runes is directly using the material components that the runes represent. All branches of wizardry - spellweaving, alchemy and elemancy use material components directly, and rituals are the branch of divine magic that uses them. There is also a magical technique called infusion that allows crafters to put material components directly into the construction of an object. This allows the object to have more permanent, more easily controlled, and more complicated spell effects than rune crafted objects. Due to this the technique of infusion is largely preferable to rune crafting, but both kinds of enchantment have their uses.

The most raw and direct method of using magic however is easily some of the other methods of divine casting. Manifestations, incantations, chants and songs, and chants and songs that also involve dancing are the four methods of casting divine spells outside of lengthy and costly rituals. Divine spells are learned permanently and do not need to be prepared, but they do use up an exhaustible supply of power which must be replenished by dreaming. It is a more powerful and dramatic method of casting than any wizardry effects, but it is also much less flexible.

Channeling, of course, has already been discussed in depth. It is the natural way in which godtouched creatures can use magic, and a character is either born with it or he/she is not. One important aspect of channeling, that I don't believe I've mentioned in previous posts, is that while all channelers have elemental affinities, all non-channelers do as well. Similar to aura color, a godtouched's elemental affinity is considered an astrology-like predictor of personality in Cerenbaun society. In fact, it can easily be treated as their direct counterpart to our own astrology. The study of elemental affinities is a personality-based pseudoscience with much more detail and expectations than the behavioral traits associated with simple aura colors. I may or may not develop an astrological system based on the 14 elements, but this is a low priority considering some of the other things I have to work on in the near future.

Metaphysics: Aura Colors

2008-02-20T03:13:00.002-05:00

One of the natures of souls on Aarn is that they tend to give a somewhat flashy light show before the discharge of a spell or magical effect. This light show carries with it a consistent color from soul to soul, and while this color can shift slowly over time, or be a subtle gradient from one color to another, it tends to remain consistent in the same individual.

Each soul's individual color is called their "aura color" and someone's aura color has tended to carry with it certain connotations and stereotypes about that person's personality. These stereotypes are not as fixed and highly defined as, say, astrology, but the societal impact is similar. One's aura color is considered an important part of their identity, and some of the trends (in Cerenbaun society at least) for what colors mean what are as follows:

Dark colors, such as blacks, navy blues, royal purples, browns and deep greens are considered to belong to more somber, pragmatic and calmer individuals. People with these colors are considered to be in control of their emotions and their actions. The darker and less saturated the color, the more this is considered to be the case - up to a point.

Pastel colors are thought to belong to childish, innocent, trusting, light, fluffy and not very substantial individuals. People with pastel auras however tend to be creative, expressive, loyal, compassionate and trustworthy. In the case of a color such as tan, a combination of both the dark/desaturated and pastel colors exists, producing someone considered to be very "normal."

Completely desaturated colors, from black, to grays to white, do not happen often. People tend to think of those with these colors as being mentally unhealthy or unstable. Usually an aura becomes desaturated over time, as someone rejects their previous beliefs or personality. Sometimes this change can be for the better - usually it is not. Rarely there are those who are born with desaturated auras, and these individuals are considered very pure - either pure innocent, or purely psychotic and sociopathic.

Generally, a desaturated aura represents a disconnect from some emotional concern that used to help define that person's personality - an absence of this kind of connection from birth will either produce a surreal-behaving prophet or a complete and total whack-job.

Extremely saturated colors such as bright reds, yellows, intense greens, cyans or fuchsias are considered to be a sign of an excess amount of magical energy, and the personalities of people with these colors are similarly expected to be quite intense exaggerations of the normal color stereotypes.

Across the spectrum, individual color shades are thought to have their own meanings, that can shift slightly from culture to culture, but generally follow the same guidelines.

Reds and oranges tend to be passionate and thrill-seekers. They enjoy the material world, and all it has to offer. As auras shift to golds and yellows, they tend to represent a playfulness in the case of yellows, or a nobility of spirit in the case of golds.

Greens tend to be ambitious and highly focussed individuals, while the shift through cyan to blue brings with it a sensitivity to healing and emotional concerns, with a value for love and the well-being of others. Violets, purples and indigos tend to be more spiritual, imaginative and fanciful, and a great many leaders and changers of the world have had auras in the upper spectrum.

Of course, one's aura color doesn't define one's personality. The patterns of behavior mentioned above are just that - patterns noticed by society. The paradigms of how certain colored auras are "supposed to behave" can help subtly mold one's personality while growing up, and many people rebel against these conceptions, refusing to be defined by the color of their magic.

Not-quite-an-update Update: More things I'm working on

2008-02-14T17:34:00.004-05:00

While I haven't been able to come up with any new, definite information in the last week, I have been working on, in more detail, just what things I still have to work on.

Necromancy and Biomancy: I want to work out a system where necromancers and biomancers, and possibly elemancers in general can create their own artifacts without using runecrafting, similar to how the animancers do it. For instance, a biomancer might have a mostly-inert creature he fits over his own arm, in order to launch acid or tangle an enemy in tentacles. A necromancer should be able to graft pieces of undead creatures to himself, to permanently increase his own strength.

Balancing this out will be complicated, if only because there are situations where it would be justified for the biomancer to require using one of his "currently dominated creatures" slots - like the tentacles - but others where it wouldn't, like a creature that's nothing more than an over glorified super-soaker-with-acid. At least, because necromantic creations aren't alive, such constructs -will- require actual domination regardless, since it wouldn't be able to move or function otherwise.

Another one of the niggling issues about this is that life and death channelers could plausibly have the same abilities, especially where grafting is concerned. It's going to be difficult to determine what exactly requires the wizardry, what requires the channeling, what can only be done by elemancers, and what can be done by both elemancers and channelers.

System Mechanics: I've decided to take a step back from my previous mechanics plans. I'm likely going to still use action points, but I'm probably going to "dumb down" the system a bit to streamline it. I've also decided what direction game balance is going to take - actual combat is going to be very quick and very brutal.

However, unlike most "gritty brutal" games, death will not come easily. Creatures will become incapacitated quite easily - they can be finished off afterwards with a good deathblow or two, but it will usually take several minutes for any creature, PC or enemy, to die without such a blow. Anyone who is familiar with turn-based combat knows that "several minutes" can be an eternity.

With luck, this design choice will allow me to capture the speedy and exciting combat of gritty games, while keeping it light hearted and character death to a minimum. Most enemies won't bother giving a death blow while the rest of the party is kicking around.

I'm also considering including a "dead man walking" combat mechanic. There are many wounds that are fatal (or at least would be without magic) where the body can still function for those several minutes. In real life, for instance, a sword blow through the lung is a death sentence, but not incapacitating. Without magical treatment that lung-stabbed person -will- die, but can still fight for a few minutes at least. As far as I know, there are no mainstream systems that try to capture this kind of realism.

Because the system is so high magic, and because not only is wizardry common, but can be learned without much effort, healing magic will also be common enough to heal such "dead men walking."

And then, I'm going to have to decide once and for all how the dice are handled. I'm currently considering using a "plot dice" mechanic to give PCs extra power or ability in plot-relevant fights - this would allow them to do epic deeds, like taking down giant constructs, goliaths or other huge, powerful and intimidating foes - while still forcing them to give caution towards the lowly giant rat over there, which is how I want it. Light-hearted or not, I don't want the PCs to get too complacent if they're fighting a significantly "weaker" foe than the one they last killed.

History and Politics: This is one of the subjects intimidating me the most. I've studied enough history to know just how little about it I know, and how daunting trying to write the history for a whole world is. I've put a great deal of research, philosophical, psychological, cultural, into designing everything else, so it just seems wrong to pull the world history out of my ass. Nevertheless, it seems like that's what I may have to do.

Not only do I have to write out detailed histories, cultures, and an interconnecting time-line for all the countries and regions I went over in the last post, there are a large number of "blank spots" on the world map that I've barely fleshed out, at all, and some of them seem quite promising. Maybe I'll leave them blank for now and possibly use them later in an expansion.

And then there's the wars and deciding who hates who, and why. And possibly developing kingdoms and settlements for godtouched -other- than human ... mmmn, lots to do, there really is, and I'm not sure where to start.

Dungeons: And of course, I can't forget designing maps for players to use in actual dungeons, including traps and non-creature encounters. Some of these dungeons will be wizard and elemancer laboratories and towers, others will be ancient temples and tombs from earlier human civilizations, and others may even include "impossible" constructs that still function all this time - remnants from before wizardry was limited by Jennin and Kennerin.

Magic: And even then, there's designing the magic system more fully, fleshing out the rules and spells - and something I find almost as daunting as developing political world history - figuring out what spell schools wizards will be dealing with, without cribbing off of Wizards of the Coast. A wizard's not a wizard without specialization, after all, and of course because my setting treats wizardry as a branch of science, that makes choosing the spell schools even more complicated.

Well, we'll see. If nothing else, I can use this post and the previous one as an outline to help me decide what's best to tackle next. Man, this is more stuff than I thought it was...

Intermission: A milestone, and future plans for the blog

2008-02-07T16:15:00.001-05:00

Updates may either slow down, or change focus in the near future. With the completion of the constructs post, I've officially detailed every type of creature that exists in Aarn, and exhausted almost all the "easy" things to write about for the setting! Here's a list of what's left to do:

Setting rules and mechanics - Complicated and difficult, especially considering most of the good ideas are already taken by people-who-will-sue-me-if-I-use-the-ideas. This cannot be underestimated in its bulk or breadth, either - it's easily a full half of the project!

Types of magic and the details of how they work - Other than the barest of bare overviews of magic (which I will be doing the next few posts) most magical spells and magical quirks and details depend on the setting rules and mechanics. Not much point of a spell that does something that isn't reflected in the rules, and doesn't affect the rules in an appreciable way, is there?

Magical artifacts and equipment - Detailing this will not only require the magic details, but the rules details as well!

A time line of recent world history and wars - While it doesn't require the setting rules, it does require working knowledge of historical socio-political trends that I am currently lacking. There's someone at my college who will hopefully help me with this, though.

World Culture - I need to detail the cultures, politics and practices of Cerenbaun, the Moorish Isles (which need a name change,) Igakari, Eastern Habruk, Western Habruk, the Eastern Islands, the Eastern Border, Yessha, and the Rensvaja kingdoms, at the very least. I do know enough of real-world culture and politics to flesh these out, but I don't want to do so without knowing the history first. Fitting cultural details to history is a lot easier than shoehorning history to fit cultural details.

Once everything on this short list is done, all that will remain for my setting's first edition to be completed will be ... editing of this very blog! We'll see how it goes, and just how many more posts it will require.

And then we'll finally enter the play-testing phase ... who boy.

Creatures: Animantic Constructs

2008-02-07T03:08:00.000-05:00

Common on Aarn, especially in Cerenbaun society, constructs are magical creations made of clockwork gears and springs. They are created by animancers, the kanna-channeleing counterpart to biomancers and necromancers. Creating a construct is in fact not so different from creating an undead - the materials are simply different. Constructs can and often do have magical powers beyond their mechanical nature. Thematically, light-based attacks are common, though these require ammunition - because kanna cannot create light effects, constructs that use lasers need to cast wizardry spells themselves, using material components in the process.

Animancy is not the only possible method of enchanting - wizards who are not animancers can learn runecrafting and enchant objects with said runes. Divine magic users can also imbue items with divine effects. Animancy, however, is the most efficient, adaptable and least expensive way to create intricate, mobile, creature-like objects.

Constructs can take advantage of soul cores just as easily as undead. A construct with a soul core can obey commands without being directly controlled by its animancer and do tasks autonomously, freeing its animancer to create new constructs. Otherwise, when a construct's animancer "sets it free" the construct ceases to function and loses all magical enhancements. Even constructs with soul cores however will cease to function when its owner dies, though an animancer can attune a soul core to a customer, tying the construct to the customer's life force regardless of his or her skills with magic. In fact, this method of attuning soul cores to a custmer is essential if the customer wishes to give the construct orders. Also, using this process to create clockwork prosthetic limbs is quite common for those who can afford it.

Acrobatic Guardian - Lithe and agile, acrobatic guardians are known for their spindly limbs, square torsos, and large heads that resemble wide-brimmed hats. The typical design has a single gem in the front of their head that can fire magical lasers when given correct material components. They also have twin blades that swing freely from their wrists parallel with their forearms which can spin around in a whirling blade pattern, or hold rigid and still and be used as swords or tonfa blades.

Animantic siege Engine - While normal seige engines, such as siege towers, ballistas, trebuchets, catapults, and various infantry-protecting covered carts exist in the world of Aarn, animantic versions exist as well, which are normally far more effective than their powered-by-animal-and-godtouched-muscle versions. An animantic siege engine is simply a siege engine with a soul core, normally soul-bonded to a driver or to a non-expendable animancer officer. It can operate autonomously, and many of the weapons are auto-loading, making them invaluable on the battlefield.

Companion Doll - Even in the world of Aarn, there are socially obtuse people who simply have a difficult time getting along with other people. A companion doll is a construct created specifically to look like, move like, and act like a human being or other godtouched, but will never react poorly to bad treatment or rude behavior (unless you wish it to.) They are not quite sentient, however they can respond to quite complex verbal commands, have limited decision-making capabilities and can communicate their needs or observations verbally. The amount of effort required to give them their personalities and near-sentience is quite extensive and expensive, and requires months or even years of preparation and magical work. Companion dolls are usually used as servants, maids, butlers, or even slaves by the more rich and affluent eccentrics of Cerenbaun society.

Cybermancer - When an animancer has learned to split his soul effectively amongst many construct creations, his attachment to his own body can often become tenuous. A magical spell here, a rigorous meditation session there, and the animancer can leave his biological body behind forever - transferring his soul's affinity directly to one of his constructs. Most view this as a desperate or insane tactic, and the practice is frowned upon in society - though those who have the power to do it to themselves normally are above such criticism. Powerful cybermancers can transfer their soul into any of their currently-active creations, though they normally have a "favorite" body of much intricacy and hidden capability. Considering how wizards often lust after immortality, it's somewhat surprising that there are actually animancers who don't eventually do this to themselves.

There are some who, philosophically, consider cybermancers to be a type of undead - a spirit that is simply possessing a construct body. Further, attempts by necromancers to repeat this process themselves using their own creations have all failed. It seems that because their elemental affinity is quite literally "death," their creations are too "slippery" for their souls to latch onto. Granted, necromancers who exercise their death channeling powers can usually become quasi-immortal anyway, their bodies dead-but-not-dying, in the exact same way a cybermancer's body is non-living-but-not-dying.

Demon Construct - While demon constructs fall under the same general range of abilities as other constructs, they are not animantic. Demon constructs are made of metal, power cores, wires, circuits and electromagnetic servos - all technologies that none on the world of Aarn fully understand. And why should they? Their own science of magic is perfectly adequate at creating the same effects with comparable weaknesses in design. However, it does make encountering a demon "robot" quite jarring for most adventurers, and especially animancers. It is something completely non-magical, immune to anti-magic effects, that yet, acts like a magical construct - and most importantly, doesn't cease to function with the death of its creator.

Flitterwheel - Spies, guards and surveillance equipment, flitterwheels are intricate flying boxes about 2 feet in length, with twin spinning rotors that help to steer it as its near-permanent levitation spell keeps it aloft. Most flitterwheels are fitted with a scrying globe that allows its owner to see what it sees, though occasionally one has been equipped with offensive magical weapons such as light-focusing crystals or an air-blade manifester. One famous flitterwheel was even fitted with a gravitic enchantment that made everything but itself too heavy to move within a certain area.

Gear Hound - Excellent guards, pursuit units and expendible lackeys, gear hounds are easy to manufacture and quick to replace. They have physical abilities comparable to a living guard dog, they never need sleep or food, and only require the occasional bit of oil or tune-up. While a pack of three can be somewhat expensive for an animancer to maintain - either through limiting how many other creations the animancer can maintain at once, or through requiring soul cores - three of them can effectively secure a large compound, working in a pack and tearing any would-be intruders to ribbons.

Golem - The most basic, and perhaps most magical kind of construct, golems are inexpensive to build, but require great skill to animate. Golems are made of a single solid piece of material, usually earth, metal, wood or stone, and are given no natural joints or moving parts. There in fact is very little difference between a golem and an elemental, though elementals tend to be loose collections of material bound together by magic, and not single solid chunks like golems. What allows the golem to move - shaping spells that change key parts of themselves into malleable material - also makes them extremely resistant to physical damage. They can repair themselves quite easily, shrug off damage, and in some cases even allow a weapon to pass through themselves completely without harm befalling them. A golem in battle is fearsome to behold, and can only be stopped by the most epic of heroic feats.

Golemnoth - When an animancer or his client decides that expense is not an issue, a golemnoth is usually what results. Huge, unwieldy, and very difficult to destroy, a golemnoth is usually created from a central, 20 foot tall humanoid shell. This shell is typically made of solid metal, and animated in the same method as a golem. This gives them a great deal of strength and resilience. Beyond the central core, golemnoths have several hard points where optional units can be installed, depending on the tactical situation where the golemnoth will be used. Optional equipment includes artifacts that fling spells, generate gravitic effects to paralyze foes, effects that serve as a rallying point in battle, over-sized versions of melee weapons, siege engine components, and in some cases even huge tanks of water for city maintenance, firefighting, and water-tendril effects.

Gremlin - Like all worlds, Aarn has its own folklore that doesn't exactly correspond to real creatures. Gremlins are an example of this. Believed to possibly be fey, extensive research eventually proved that they either didn't exist, or their activities were actually being done by mischievous fairies. The accomplished animancer, Archibald Crossduke, decided to name his most popular creation after the gremlin myth, once he was assured that gremlins in fact did not exist, of course.

Inspired by the biomancers' imps, Archibald's gremlin is a foot tall humanoid construct with an intricate, agile body. It has child-like proportions to make it more astheticly pleasing, and also to give enough room for a potential soul core in its chest or head. While it cannot fly like imps, its thin and dextrous hands allow it to easily do finesse work with mechanical precision. Gremlins make excellent lab assistants, and their small size also makes them excellent spies, or even saboteures like their fictional namesakes. When an animancer wishes to sabotage the project of a rival, most will send in well-crafted gremlin.

Jeobardi Flyer - Jeobardi Flyers were invented by Marcello Jeobardi, an animancer who was inspired by pterodactyls during a safari. They typically have wingspans of 20 to 30 feet, and can carry up to 3 passengers, including half a ton of cargo. They make excellent scouts, carriers of mail in times of peace, flitterwheels in times of war, or important express cargo regardless of the times. Usually, the driver and passengers of a flyer will ride on its back, though more efficient (and expensive) models have canopies made of glass that passengers ride inside.

Flying constructs developed before the Jeobardi flyer had wings based on rocs or dragons. These wings were intricate and fragile - not very good for durability in combat. In contrast, the wings of the Jeobardi flyer are smooth, rigid and aerodynamically shaped - quite similar to the smooth and practically featureless wings of the pterodactyl. The flyer's head acts as a rudder as well, giving it extra maneuverability. The aerodynamic features of the flyer allow it to use less power in its levitation spell in order to keep aloft. This frees up more magical energy to be directed towards speed. Jeobardi flyers are easily twice as fast as comparative wingless hoverplatforms, and in recent times, Jeobardi Flyers and derivative models have become the transportation of choice for animancers and their clients.

Living Armor - The simple designs are sometimes the most effective. While plate-mail has long since gone out of style as a common armor of choice for adventurers, it is still widely used for honor guards, and in some cases, decorations in mansions, castles and buildings of public office. Using a suit of armor as a base for a construct is often cost-effective, and can occasionally hide the true nature of the creation. A suit of armor that suddenly springs to life can be quite jarring for an intruder, and simultaneously, a closed suit of armor can, at least briefly, impersonate a living human soldier. Living armors can be quite effective in combat. While they are usually no more agile than those who might be otherwise wearing the armor, they don't suffer from the weakness of having fleshy bits inside of them that can tire or impede their function if damaged.

Metaphysics/Creatures: Souls and Soul Eaters

2008-02-06T20:41:00.000-05:00

The process of a soul being created is poorly understood. There are energies in the brains of material creatures that certainly lead one to believe that brains have something to do with it, though the ability for a soul to exist without a brain and without those energies simply raises further questions. For quite some time, it was believed that the one mother created and maintained souls, and the energies in brains were simply the method of the soul communicating with the body - however, her absence for the past 5 decades has proven that she is not required for soul creation, though she may still have something to do with it.

A century ago saw a rise in experimentations with souls. Biomancers and other wizards with metaphysical interests would create brains without bodies and study the formation of their soul. The souls formed were usually irrational and lacked astral bodies, which led the experimenters to believe that souls required physical senses on top of brains to form correctly. The cases of conjoined twins each having their own individual soul (one for each brain) caused a trend in biomancy for multi-headed creatures, to see if something with multiple brains could have just one soul (such as the hydra or chimera), or to see how many souls they could cram into one physical body.

One poorly conceived experiment along these lines is the monster now known as a "soul eater." Soul eaters were originally much smaller, though reproduction over time has caused them to grow much larger since they've escaped into the wild. Modern soul eaters are ten feet tall, reptilian humanoids with long arms, short, stocky and powerful legs, and a head the size of their torso with a maw that looks more like it belongs on a bullfrog rather than a 10 foot tall tower of meat. Soul eaters also have a thick, warty carapace on their back that is perhaps their most distinguishing physical characteristic.

Soul eaters tend to swallow their prey whole. When they do, their unique physiology preserves their meal's brain and carries it to the carapace, where it is added to a cluster of neural tissue with enough bulk to drown a horse. This process, while traumatic, manages to maintain the bond between the soul and the brain. Thus, a soul eater has in its carapace the brains of every meal it's very had - and by extension, traps their souls within itself.

This neural tissue is not connected to any sensory organs and cannot control any muscles of the soul eater, so we can only speculate as to what the brains trapped within the neutral tissue experience. Creatures that are aware of the inbetween can often see astral hands and faces trying to claw their way out of the soul eater's carapace. Even entire astral bodies connected to the soul eater by chains have been reported. The sounds the astral bodies make have been said to be cacophonous and horrifying.

Soul eaters have no life expectancy, and they breed by budding. When the number of brains stored in the carapace reaches a critical mass, the carapace buds - and 5-20 new soul eaters will grow out of it and then go on their merry way, each carrying a percentage of the brains and souls the parent had trapped within itself. The only known way of freeing the souls trapped within a soul eater is to kill the beast.

Creatures: Monsters

2008-02-03T17:37:00.000-05:00

While in many other settings the word “monster” refers to all the creatures that the players are meant to beat up on, in the world of Aarn, “monster” means something specific. A monster is a living creature created with biomancy – life channeling magic combined with wizardry. Monsters are inherently magical things – despite them not being godtouched, the magic that created them can give them magical powers. Most monsters, similar to necromantic undead, are created from well-known blueprints. Also similar to necromantic undead, monsters do not die with the death of their biomancer, and biomancers can release them from servitude at any time. Like necromany, biomancers can only exert mental domination over a limited amount of creatures at a time.

Monsters often continue to live their lives after the death of their creator, and many monsters have become creatures indigenous to an area. The breed like animals, behave like animals, and in some cases even possess sentience. The general rule is that if a living creature is not a godtouched and possesses magic, it is a monster.

Basilisk - Lizards with six legs spliced with the biological material of a medusa, Basilisks can kill people instantly with their gaze. They are normally kept as pets or as bodyguards by overambitious or paranoid individuals, and basilisk eggs, while illegal, are widely available and fetch quite a price..

Bunyip - A horrifying experiment gone wrong, bunyips are amphibious squid who can crawl on land and swing from tree to tree. Each of their tentacles eds in a wickedly sharp tooth that secrets poison. They are distinctive for their call that sounds suspiciously like a baby or a woman screaming. They will often drag prey into rivers or streams to drown them, once their poison has taken effect.

Catoblepas - A catoblepas has the body of a hippo, the armor of an armadillo, the mane of a horse, and a massive head the size of its own body that resembles a merge of a hog and a buffalo. It can breathe out a deadly poison that causes exposed skin and veins to calcify, eventually causing blood clots and heart attacks. If inhaled the gas is instantly fatal.

Cyclops - In an attempt to breed a smarter, more loyal giant that could be a decent bodyguard, the cyclops is a miserable failure. While semi-sentient, it is actually less intelligent than most giants. It will almost mindlessly follow orders and believe lies if they are given in a commanding voice - even if those orders don't come from its creator. Cyclops appearance is that of giants with a single eye and large oger-like tusks. Cyclops never blink and their eyesight is quite good, despite the lack of depth perception.

Chimera - Seven centuries ago, a biomancer named Meesha actually managed to get her hands on a mated pair of dying dragons. She subdued them and in her infinite "wisdom" immediately created this freak of nature. She combined the two dragons each with a goat, a lion and a snake, creating a four-headed flying monstrosity. She then mated the pair and the western coast of the Shanbar Province has been plagued by this menace ever since. They breed like rabbits and even the most heated government efforts to cause their extinction have failed.

Goliath - Goliaths are exceedingly large humanoids that dwarf even giants. Goliaths are typically 40 feet tall or larger - grown from much smaller forms. Biomancers typically give them channeling magic of the flame variety, red skin, and devil-like horns. Their "hellish" appearance is as much of a weapon as their size, strength and magi, being quite intimidating for those fearful of demons. While the red-skinned fire goliaths are by far the most common, there are other varieties with different elemental affinities, and slightly different shapes.

Griffin - A dog sized creature that is simply a combination of a miniaturized lion's hindquarters with the head, wings, and fore talons of an eagle. Griffins were originally created to be show animals to be bred and to compete for beauty prizes. Since then they have gone wild and often spend their time perched in trees at night, filling the same ecological niche as the owl.

Hydra - One of the most dangerous biomancy experiments ever made, the hydra was an attempt to recreate dragons using other animals as raw materials. A newt that was used as one of the base components had an unforeseen consequence; it gave the resulting hydra amazing powers of regeneration. A hydra will actively allow its heads to be severed, like a newt would shed its tail. What's worse, two new heads will grow for every head shed. As if that weren't enough, the biomancer's eforts to allow the hydra to breath flame instead caused its shed heads to explode. Hydras are not something one wants to tangle with.

Imp - A sentient (if simple minded) monster, imps make excellent familiars and laboratory assistants. Appearance-wise, they look like one-foot-tall humanoid dragons, with lizard like wings, scaley skin, long pointed ears, a blunted snout that causes their face to resemble an ugly human's, and sharp, pointed fangs. Imps come in 14 varieties, one for each element in channeling magic. Each variety of imp seems to be partially made of its element of choice, so someone procuring an imp must take care to choose a beneficial element. A librarian, for instance, would not want a fire imp helping her sort books.

Keneranik - A black bird with a 12 foot wingspan and its eyes in its chest, the keneranik is often used as a spy or as a servant. It has a natural, detachable globe in its back that shows everything its eyes see. Its master can keep this globe by his side and peer through it, as if he were the bird. Also, as if all that wasn't good enough, keneraniks can breathe fire.

Living Room - Particularly insidious, a "living room" is a large creature that was created originally out of a jellyfish. The living room is a trap more than a creature, and not very mobile. If placed in a room, it will fill that room and coat the walls with itself. Those entering the room will quickly find the exits close as the room itself begins to digest them. Suffocation usually comes first however, especially for those who use an open flame as their light source. Damaging a living room enough will usually cause its exits to open, and it will forcefully expel its occupants in order to preserve its own life. Those inside must be careful not to kill it completely however, because once killed, it will deflate without opening its exits, and those inside will be smothered.

Manticore - A cross between a scorpion, lion, bat and human, the manticore is a feared creature of the southern deserts. It can fire sharp poisonous spines from its tail, has vicious claws and its bite can be quite deadly. Despite its human features it is barely as smart as a common lion. It can fly short distances using its wings, but spends most of the time buried in sand, waiting to ambush prey. Like many biomancer experiments, it is especially fond of human flesh.

Platypus - Considered to be a long forgotten biomancer experiment by many magical scholars, there is heavy contention from the naturalist world, where most insist that the platypus is a natural creature that evolved like any other. It is so hotly debated that simply mentioning a platypus in the middle of a group of scholars invariably causes fistfights and riots to break out.

Troll - Trolls are sentient cave-dwelling monsters who are nocturnal. They heal very quickly and will often raid human towns at night, stealing away children and livestock. They hate light and fire, and do not heal from fire damage. Trolls are noteworthy for the fact that if they are exposed to direct sunlight, their skin calcifies and paralyzes them. To most, this looks like they have turned to stone. In actuality, once the sun sets, the troll's skin will soften and the horrible creature will go on its merry way.

Ugulogo - Created in the last hundred years by a crazed botanist biomancer, the ugologo is a cross between an octopus and a bunched cory cactus. It has pink flowers growing on its head, and its head and tentacles are covered in thick bristly spines, as well as the usual suction cups. Despite having difficulty finding an ecological niche, ugulogo of all sizes thrive in Cerenbaun, around the Great Barrier Sea and the inland Kresian Sea. Surprisingly, they are more happy and healthy on land than in the water, though they are slightly amphibious.

Creatures: Necromantic Undead

2008-02-02T22:34:00.000-05:00

The difference between necromantic undead and other kinds of undead creatures is largely a superficial one. Nektos has no dominion over necromantic undead, and instead of being controlled and powered by a special magical virus, the essences of necromantic undead are maintained through a combination of wizardry and death channeling. Necromantic undead come in many different flavors, and are created using well known and well researched magical recipes. Some of them have magical powers that rival true undead, but most get by on brute strength alone, and all are unable to turn other creatures into undead.

Necromancers usually can only directly control a limited number of undead at once, and so they often invest their money into enchanted items that allow their creations to behave autonomously. One such item is a "soul core" that has the ability to harness and enhance the strength of channeling effects. Another such item is a necromantic sphere, which is essentially a battery for channeled death magic. Because necromantic spheres give off so much death channeling energy, they often promote the creation of noncorporeal undead. Normally, a necromancer cannot create noncorporeal undead, even if they can influence and manipulate them, so necromantic spheres can be very handy, if dangerous artifacts to possess.

When a nercomancer dies, its undead pets continue to function, unlike the golems of an animancer. Nektos himself quietly usurps control over the abandoned creations - even though they don't have his virus, Nektos has become quite skilled at using death channeling magic himself, and can easily claim the necromantic undead left around after their creators' passing. This arguably makes killing a necromancer the most dangerous thing one can do when confronting one and his or her pets.

Animated Corpse - The equivalent of a zombie, animated corpses are one of the most basic forms of necromantic undead. Individual animated corpses are far more durable than zombies, partially to make up for the fact that they have no infection to spread. Animated corpses are usually abandoned by more powerful necromancers; they aren't quite strong enough to justify using up their precious channeling energy, nor are they valuable enough to justify using a soul core to make one autonomous.

Bound one - Only necromancers of quite some skill can create bound ones. A bound one is an animated corpse reconstructed from the ground up. Its raw material is a skeleton, overlayed with nothing but pure muscle and connective tissue. Bound ones are so physically powerful that they have metal bands encircling their limbs and torso. Without these reinforcing bands, they would literally tear themselves apart with the power of their physical blows. Bound ones are also quite agile, and very durable due to their metal reinforcements.

Composite Corpse - A composite corpse is a freak of nature - the limbs, heads, and natural weapons of many different creatures sewn together and magically bound. Composite corpses are a common "mid-level" necromantic undead - they can be created reliably by necromancers of average skill. Composite corpses are usually limited only by the imagination of the necromancer, and no two are exactly alike.

Demi-boneless - A cheap impersonation of an actual boneless, demi-boneless cannot grow in size or convert other corpses into boneless like their infectious cousins. A demi-boneless will remain the size it was at its original creation, which can range from a single corpse to a large pit full of them. They can still slither and digest creatures effectively however, and unlike traditional boneless, a demi-boneless can and will work in groups. As with boneless, a demi-boneless can be effectively dealt with using fire.

Mummies - One of the most advanced forms of necromantic undead, mummies are extremely powerful. Mummies require divine spells to create properly, so making one requires a priest as well as a necromancer. If a necromancer happens to double as a divine magic caster, he can make one by himself however. A mummy is created by meticulously preparing a corpse over a period of 70 days, casting divine spells along with necromantic ones in order to bind magical energy to it.

Mummies have a large number of abilities at their disposal not normally attributed to necromantic undead; They can drain energy out of living creatures in order to become more powerful, they can infect living creatures with horrible diseases that will kill them (but mercifully, not turn them into undead.) Mummies almost always are given a soul core which both allows them to act autonomously and also cast the divine magic they are infused with. Mummies are adept at casting curses and wraths, which can catch many undead-hunters off guard.

There are rumors of ancient mummies who, like liches, still have a soul, and thus, sentience. While it is possible that there are lost arcane arts that allow one to bind a soul to a dead body without Nektos' aid, it is far more likely that these reports came from those who mistook the presence of a soul core for a genuine soul. It is also possible that these reports were generated by those encountering an elderly death channeler who had simply wrapped him or herself in linens.

Projections: Even though necromancers who do not neglect their death channeling skills can communicate with, bargain with and influence the behavior of noncorporeal undead, many necromancers do not trust ghosts and spirits to be reliable servants. They usually are wracked with either pesky free will or annoying madness. Despite this, necromancers in general tend to find them useful, so it was only a matter of time before they discovered how to create a type of artificial noncorporeal undead.

By using a soul core, a necromancer can create a projection - an astral body without a soul. It acts as any other necromantic undead, obeying to the letter any commands its necromancer gives it. A projection shares its death channeling energy with its creator, and can use any channeling magic its necromancer has, though the two also share the same energy reserve. Beyond its ability to use death channeling magic, projections can also pass through walls, and turn invisible or intangible at will. They make excellent spies and assassins, though destroying one can be costly; the death of a projection has a small chance of shattering the valuable soul core used to spawn it.

Skelegons - Necromancers who are not skilled enough to create truly effective skeletons will usually go the "bigger is better" route. A skelegon is a giant skeleton, made from the bones of dozens of creatures sculpted into a humanoid shape. It's a popular - if sloppy - way to create a necromantic servant. Skelegons are similar to composite corpses in the fact that they can come in many shapes and sizes, and their natural weapons are normally limited by the imagination of their necromancer. Skelegons do not have the capacity to heal that skeletons do, however, their bulk makes them more difficult to damage in a more than superficial way.

Skeletons - Powerful, durable and frightening, skeletons are exclusively necromantic - they require a constant supply of death channeling energy in order to continue to function and move without tendons or muscles. A well constructed skeleton will be able to repair itself - even if its bones are shattered to dust - and continue to be an effective warrior or guardian despite the damage it absorbs. Many skeletons are not so well constructed however, and enough physical damage will cause the channeled energy maintaining them to dissipate. Magical damage on the other hand can be quite effective at disrupting their death channeled essence, and so magical attacks are recommended while facing them in combat.

Creatures: Sentient Infectious Undead

2008-02-02T02:13:00.000-05:00

After a thousand years of experimentation with infectious undead, Nektos eventually achieved his original goal of creating an army of undead that are sentient. The first successful attempt were the wights, whose soul was retained but personality warped beyond recognition. Nektos continued to experiment, and eventually created araenid, deadwalkers, liches and his crowning achievement, vampires. The infections from sentient undead are harder to spread than those of nonsentient undead, but their abilities are far more potent, and activities far more dangerous due to their intelligence and presence of a soul. They are not fully antonymous however; Nektos has still infused his essence into the virus keeping his undead "alive," and this essence helps to guide and twist their behavior to suit his agenda.

While sentient undead have souls, and tend to have remarkable healing abilities, they are more vulnerable to being killed by dismemberment than soulless undead. A soul's grip on a body is tenuous at best, and even more fragile when that body is dead. Too much physical trauma of any kind can cause a sentient undead's soul to flee to the afterlife, and its body to become mindless and nearly impotent.

Araenid - An expert mimic, an araenid is disturbingly skilled at interacting with and blending into regular society. Distinctly spider-like, araenid are extreme mutations of their original form from when they were alive. Virtually any godtouched creature can become an araenid - the virus is not choosy in what kind of creature it infects. Regardless of what the araenid once was, it develops over a dozen sharp, pointed legs holding up a thickly armored carapace body. Their heads are on top of long stalks that resemble a human female's torso only superficially, and they have six insect arms coming out of their torso's "shoulders." What makes them able to blend into society is their almost supernatural ability to fold their many segmented legs into tight spaces. An araenid can squeeze itself into the skin of a victim, and its body secrets special fluids that help keep the dead skin looking "alive" - preventing decay and keeping it supple. A disguised araenid is quite difficult to tell from a living, breathing creature at first glance, and only experienced undead hunters or clairvoyants might notice the deception.

Araenid create more of their kind by literally swallowing a victim's head whole, keeping it alive despite decapitation with several oxygen-supplying organs. Once processed, the head is laid as an egg which will develop into a new araenid over a period of several years.

Deadwalkers - Deadwalkers are undead who spread their infection to the living by a kiss, something that might be easier for them to do if they weren't so horrifically ugly. The process of becoming a deadwalker causes the dying person to grow two feet taller, with much longer legs and arms. Fingers also grow longer, as well as fingernails. The skin on the face tightens and peels back, to the point where the deadwalker barely has any lips to speak of, and constantly has exposed teeth. Their eyes are solid black with no whites, pupils, or irises, and they tend to lose all of their hair. Their skin itself tans to a very leathery and dark-colored hue, superficially resembling tree bark. Deadwalkers are quite intelligent - if malicious - and tend to live in the trappings of nobility and riches. Amoral, money-hungry butlers have been known to manage the financial and social affairs of entire deadwalker families, who everyone else thinks are simply reclusive eccentrics. Deadwalkers are vulnerable to silver weapons, which can easily corrode their preserved skin, and they become violent at the sight of their own reflections.

Dunpeals - Born of a vampire mother and a living father, dunpeals are the only true biological offspring of an undead creature. Nektos designed vampire biology so well that such an offspring was possible, even though he himself never anticipated that possibility. Half alive, half dead, the hyperactive immune systems of newborns help to neutralize the vampiric virus - it can no longer be spread to others, and Nektos loses his influence over dunpeals. Dunpeals themselves have many of the vampire's unique skills, but at a reduced capacity. While a vampire gains a great deal of death channeling potential, a dunpeal's natural channeling talents are more limited than a vampire's. Direct sunlight also does not harm a dunpeal, though extended exposure can make them feel nautious and sicken them. Nektos, also a god of mischief and perversion, takes pleasure at the pain a dunpeal suffers through its half-living existence, and so does not mind that he has no dominion over them.

Liches - Wizards and necromancers with a penchant for immortality beware; Nektos may disguise himself as human and confront you with secret knowledge on how to turn yourself into a lich. It may seem like a good deal - your soul is encapsulated in an item that is difficult to destroy or find, and your body is controlled by remote. Even "killing" you will not kill you, and a new body will form from the corpse nearest to your soul at the time. It gives you countless lifetimes to perfect your craft and gain access to arcane knowledge the gods would rather you not have. It allows you to play politics with generations of kingdoms, buying your time and allowing your agenda to grow slowly and insidiously. However - once you are a lich, you are bound to Nektos. He can sever the contract at any time, for any reason, and banish your soul to the afterlife - where you become just another nobody. Some liches however are insane enough to consider even that a bonus - they serve Nektos as wizards, necromancers, and especially priests. The magical power of these liches is feared by all.

Vampires - Nektos' pride and joy, a vampire is an undead creature visually indistinguishable from a living member of their species. Notable features are that their irises become red, their claws or fingernails become harder, and their canine teeth become more pointed. Because they are so difficult to root out of society, there are a great deal of myths and legends about vampires that are only half-truths. Vampires have no weaknesses to garlic, holy symbols, wooden stakes, and they do have a reflection. Vampires can consume flesh other than blood for their nutrition, but prefer to drink blood for cultural reasons. Vampires can in fact cross over running water, and are only damaged by holy water due to its purifying effect.

A vampire's most famous weakness, their habit of bursting into flame when exposed to direct, natural sunlight, is a curse placed upon them by the goddess Reksha - she lost her heart once to a vampire, and forever cursed them to remain in the shadows. Nektos has been working on trying to lift the curse since, but only half-heartedly; he seems to be amused by it. However, the conditions of the curse are clear; vampires can be out and about during the day - they must simply shield themselves with a parasol, large hat, or hood, and prevent any skin from being exposed to the sun.

Asides from their ability to blend into society, vampires are especially dangerous because of their channeling potential. If a creature that is becoming a vampire has channeling potential already, his or her elemental affinity changes to death and they also gain abilities of mental domination, flight, disguise and limited teleportation. If the creature becoming a vampire has no channeling potential, they gain it, along with the aforementioned abilities. Unlike still-living death channelers, they do not become emaciated and do not begin to resemble a corpse due to its use.

Vampires spread their infection through direct blood exchange - no other method can reliably spread the virus. They often consider those they have turned into vampires their children, and dysfunctional immortal families can easily develop between vampire "generations." A vampire woman, as mentioned in the dunpeal description, can also give birth to biological offspring by mating with a living male, though fathering one can be a complicated affair. If a male vampire impregnates a living female, the child will be stillborn, and will raise as a normal wight once buried.

Wights - Wights were the original sentient undead, and their infection was the predecessor for the vampire breed of necrotic virus. Wights retain their soul but not their personality, and their infection potential is more potent than that of the other sentient undead. While a simple scratch will not turn someone into a wight, dying immediately after such a scratch almost certainly will. Wights have pale skin that sunburns easily, so they do not like to venture out into the light. They also are not civilized enough to actually want to bother putting on robes that might protect them and allow them to venture into the public domain. Along with their chalk white skin, they have long yellow claws, yellow eyes and yellow teeth, and their hair is normally black and wiry.

Creatures: Mindless Infectious Undead

2008-02-01T19:27:00.000-05:00

When Nektos originally created undead creatures, he was planning on creating an army of powerful, sentient followers who would be in a forever deathless state. This did not go according to plan. He constructed a magical barrier that would isolate the soul from being reclaimed by the one mother, and created a magical virus that would keep the flesh of the creature "functional" despite being dead. Unfortunately for Nektos and arguably all sentient life, the soul still fled the dead, infected body and destroyed the original afterlife system in the process. The soul became the first ghost, unable to rejoin the one mother because of Nektos' barrier, and the body became the first of the mindless, infectious undead.

An adaptable god, Nektos began to worm his essence into his necrotic virus, and began to subconsiously control and guide the mindless undead that become infected with it. He usually does little more than keep them on "idle" however, building his armies for some unknown purpose in the future. An idling undead is still rather dangerous however, because it still needs to consume flesh to maintain its health and heal its wounds.

Corporeal undead can usually be destroyed by mundane means, but this is doing little more than dismembering the corpse. In many cases, leaving the dismembered corpse can be dangerous - given enough time it could reform itself, or be consumed by a scavenger animal that would then become infected itself. In order to truly eradicate the necrotic infection and destroy the undead on a more permanent basis, one must cast a purification spell. Fire can be effective in destroying the undead individual, but the virus in the ash is still contagious.

Husks - Husks are undead whose physical bodies are corpses mummified through natural means, either through freezing in high altitudes, chemical mummification such as in peat bogs, or dehydration in desert locations. Husks have leathery skin and a lurching gate that is limited by the stiffening of their joints and flesh. Despite its mummification, a husk's internal organs are very poorly preserved, and usually resemble soil or sand, depending on what is most common in their habitat. The actual infection that turns corpses into husks is located in the soil or ice of the husk's habitat, so there is little risk of becoming one regardless of how badly they injure you. (Unless, of course, they injure you to the point you die and your corpse is left alone with the infectious soil.)

Boneless - The best way to describe a boneless would be "an amoeba of flesh." Those infected with this breed of Nektos' curse quickly have their bones dissolve and become a sloppy, quivering mass. Boneless exist with a single-minded purpose - to envelop more food, to grow, and to find other boneless to merge with. Boneless are one of the more dangerous kinds of undead due to their resilience and ability to quickly heal injuries, and their ability to continue to move even once dismembered. Fire can be an effective deterrent, as can acid, when magic is not available.

Zombies - One of the most common forms of undead, a zombie is simply a rotting, decaying animated corpse. They have no special abilities, but their necrotic infection is highly contagious. Zombies have no natural resistance to rotting, so they are ravenous in their attempt to consume more flesh in order to rebuild their bodies. Any wound inflicted by a zombie's teeth, nails or bones can become infected, and without treatment the person infected will die and become a zombie themselves.

Shambler - Similar to a husk, shamblers are undead composed of graveyard soil. Like husks, the actual source of infection is the soil itself, and bodies that are buried in shambler-infested soil will become the seeds for new shamblers to grow. Shamblers are typically humanoid-shaped mounds of dirt, mixed with bone and other non-rotting material. Shamblers have two methods of existing - a dormant cycle where they are nearly indistinguishable from normal dirt, and an active cycle where the dirt pulls itself together into the shape of the corpse that seeded it. Shamblers are usually nocturnal, entering their dormant cycle during the day, and becoming their humanoid forms during the night. Because they are made of magically coalesced dirt, they are extremely difficult to fight without magical means - luckily their movement is quite slow and it is not very difficult to flee from them.

Creeping Vine - Undeath is not limited to only animal creatures. A creeping vine describes any kind of plant - even trees - who become infected with this particular kind of necrotic virus. As the plant dies, it loses any stiffness it once had, its leaves wither and die and any fragile components break off. What remains is a pliable tangle of "vines" that can move quickly, without warning, capturing and consuming animal life. Creeping vines are dangerous, and the infection is very easily spread. Kingdoms have been known to seed farmland with powdered creeping vine in times of war, and necromancers and wizards alike are known for keeping small samples of creeping vine in their labs, for use in spell components.

Fell Creatures - Created by a mutagenic necrotic virus, fell creatures die slowly as their body is taken over by the infection. Any kind of sharp pointed growth, such as teeth, horns, nails, claws and ribs grows into a double-layer, giving fell creatures a ferocious appearance, especially because in vertebrates, the second layer of ribs curves outwards, piercing the skin and turning into rows of barbs. Fell creatures can be any kind of animal, even godtouched - the infection is not discriminatory. The infection also spreads easily - any wound caused by a fell creature's natural-grown weapons can harbor infection. Fell creatures are perhaps the most insidious of infectious undead because the soul only leaves the body in the latest stages of infection - those who are beginning to show symptoms and growing the monstrous mutations may still be saved, even if they can spread the infection to others. In many areas, populations of fell animals are difficult to control, and fell pigeons are especially common.

Creatures: Spirits

2008-01-31T16:18:00.000-05:00

Spirits - Not all souls trapped in the inbetween are there on a permanent basis. Spirits are souls who have remained on the inbetween, stubbornly refusing to be taken to the demons' plane of Immigration, but still able to enter the astral sea in order to dream and maintain both their sanity and sense of identity. While being dead does not degrade the sanity of spirits, the actual process of dying might, so spirits can still be just as dangerous and psychotic as ghosts, depending on the individual. As a whole though, spirits are far more stable than ghosts, and in most cases, preferable to deal with.

Asides from their personalities and behavior, spirits largely have the same powers and limitations as ghosts. One exception is that a spirit's astral body will reform overnight after destruction, instead of taking weeks, months or years. This makes getting rid of an unwanted spirit far more complicated than removing a ghost.

Anima - One of the more common kinds of spirits, anima were usually spirit animals in life. Like many lesser ghosts and spirits, they cannot move very far from their site of death, and an anima's ability to manifest its astral body in the material realm is limited. What anima can do however is take possession of a creature that falls asleep within its territory. When it does so, the creature "dies" and its soul is sent to the afterlife, but its body lives on, controlled by the soul of the anima. Gone over in more detail in the spirit animal entry, if an anima decides to never possess a fellow godtouched or sentient animal, it is set free of its shackles after 100 years and can both move from its site of death and project an astral body. Anima who achieve this state often become guardians of forests, specific creatures or even a family line, if they wish to repay a debt.

Banshee - Banshees are the spirits of women who were the last person in their family or circle of friends to die from some drawn-out catastrophe. They have an unusual connection with the nature of death that is not entirely understood. It allows them to manipulate the threads of fate to cause people to die by crying mournfully. Hearing the wail of a banshee is not instantly fatal - instead it is far more insidious. It places a curse on a person so that their luck becomes increasingly dire. Without spiritual treatment, the victim is usually dead within three days. The cause of death is often unusual, and morbidly humorous to impartial observers.

Phantom - Particularly powerful spirits, phantoms can easily manifest their astral body into the material plane, and do so with impunity. Some phantoms are talented enough at this that they have lead double lives, fooling people into believing they are living, breathing people. Other phantoms, shamed by their undead state, have sealed themselves away and viciously attack those who attempt to bring them out of their seclusion.

Possessed doll - Occasionally a spirit will gain the ability to possess an object that is not, and perhaps never was alive. If a doll, statue, mannequin or puppet had some strong emotional connection to the spirit, the spirit might be able to make it a new body. Objects possessed in this way will slowly twist and re-shape themselves in order to make movement and communication possible. Because children most often have the emotional connections with anthropomorphic objects like toys and dolls, most possessed dolls are the spirits of dead children, who refuse to admit or cannot conceptualize that they have died. This makes them violent and irrational. In fact, one famous case of a possessed doll was a child who would viciously attack and kill any who refused to help it find a precious, lost toy - the very doll it was possessing.

Puppeteer - A rare kind of spirit, puppeteers have learned to master the manipulation of objects in the material realm. They will attack with psychokinetically manipulated objects such as weapons, and in some cases they will even "possess" a suit of armor or a number of lesser puppets in order to attack their enemies. They can manifest their astral body, but will almost never do so unless forced to by magic. Puppeteers are often malevolent with an agenda of their own, and they have been known to attempt to psychologically manipulate people through bribery or taunting, just as easily as they move their puppets.

Grave tree - While many would not consider a grave tree to be a spirit (specifically, a type of noncoroporeal undead) grave trees are in fact powered by spirits, and have virtually nothing to do with any necromantic activity or Nectos' necrotic infections. The emotional trauma preventing a grave tree's soul from moving on to the afterlife is so powerful, the spirit literally cannot stray from its dead body. Over time, the body will begin to "grow" into the root system of a tree - in actuality a very solid, if inaccurate, projection of the spirit's astral body. This projection has many peculiar properties. It grows as any other tree, but appears dead and never develops leaves, needles or flowers. The astral body that the tree represents retains the shape the spirit had when it was alive - which is highly unusual, because astral bodies and their real-world projections are usually visually identical. Also unlike many other projections, damaging the tree with any weapon, even normal ones, will damage the astral body of the spirit in an appropriate location. Finally, if the spirit of a grave tree is persuaded to move on to the afterlife, the tree will instantly dissolve in a spectacular display of flower petals.

Creatures: Ghosts

2008-01-30T14:08:00.000-05:00

Ghosts - Souls are easy to come by, and the vast majority of creatures - even monsters - have them. Godtouched and sentient animals have souls of great nuance and complication, and greater power than other living creatures. Souls that depart living bodies usually are bundled up into the astral sea and then processed in the demons' plane of Immigration.

Through magic or through sheer willpower, souls can resist this process and remain connected to the world of the living. They have created their own realm, an aforementioned inbetween that acts as an echo of material existence. When souls resist the call to pass on so strongly that they refuse to even enter the astral sea, afraid of the risk that they will be collected, they become ghosts. A ghost is a noncorporeal undead that remains permanently in the inbetween. Without the ability to dream, a ghost will quickly suffer the effects of sleep deprivation, and then, insanity. This will often warp a ghost's body, because astral bodies are based on the self-image of the soul. Ghosts are usually malevolent and cannot be reasoned with, due to their conflicting and chaotic senses.

Ghosts share several features: They are usually invisible, their astral bodies stuck in the inbetween. They can project themselves into the living world with effort, but this projection is invulnerable to normal weapons; normal attacks will only disrupt the ghost's concentration temporarily. Magical weapons can harm a ghost, as can spells and channeled energies. A ghost that is "killed" in this way has had its astral body disrupted. A soul without an astral body will usually create a new one, but with ghosts, their insanity often causes this to take years or even decades. Only an exorcism or psychic therapy can coax a ghost to leave permanently and join the afterlife.

Haunt - Occasionally the ravages of dream-deprived insanity will coalesce into crystal clarity in some ghosts. The ghost simply forgets it has died, and finds itself mindlessly repeating the actions it once did in life. These repetitions vary from haunt to haunt. Some haunts will simply repeat the same arbitrary action at the same time every night. Others will appear only once a year, and reenact the cause of their death. Because their actions are manifestations of the haunt's memories, a haunt will never attempt to communicate or acknowledge the presence of others. This usually makes them harmless. The exception comes when a haunt is able to possess the body of a living creature. Once possessed, a haunt will force its victim to reenact its death - which will often kill the victim. Groups of haunts are especially dangerous - reenacting ancient battles, with every new death adding to the strength of the group.

Ghast - An especially powerful type of undead, ghasts are ancient and have developed the power to manifest themselves in the real world on a constant basis. Their astral bodies have warped beyond recognition of their original form. They have gaunt, skeletal faces, a hovering hollow ribcage dripping with ectoplasmic viscera, and their arms are a sliding collection of of twisted blades. Their eyes are burning points of yellow light. They constantly give off a black poisonous smoke that can quickly kill people who breathe its fumes. Ghasts will kill anything that enters their territory, and they usually remain indoors or in poorly ventilated areas so their poison is more effective. Reports that they are sensitive to light aren't to be believed.

Flabberghast - A more powerful version of a ghast, a flabberghast's power and insanity have grown exponentially. They have gained powers that rival those of fey, and can easily twist and adjust reality around their victims. Actually less malevolent than ghasts, flabberghasts seem to enjoy tormenting their victims more than killing them. The hallucinatory insanity of their dreamless state causes them to warp reality to echo the chaos of their perceptions. On the rare occasions they show themselves, flabberghasts appear to be armless ghasts, with a skeletal face whose eyes and nose have shattered, and emit a very powerful burst of light.

Wraith - Wraiths are ghosts whose insanity is one of a dual nature. They sometimes resemble haunts, mimicking the actions of their past life. When confronted however, their astral bodies will contort and glow brightly, a white shimmering that obscures their features. Their attacks are usually melee - they will attempt to touch living creatures either through an extending arm or an arm shifted into a massive blade or tendril. Wounds inflicted by a wraith feel chilled, and drained. While their attacks do indeed cause physical damage to the body, what is far worse is that they absorb the life energy of those they wound or touch, growing stronger in the process. A wraith that has killed recently becomes an almost unstoppable creature from the momentum of its power that grows with every kill.

Will-o-wisps - Weakly powered ghosts who focussed on their ability to create orbs, will-o-wisps are generally more confused and in pain from their dreamless insanity than other ghosts. For some unknown reason, they most commonly are formed by those who have died by drowning. They seek aid, and while they still have enough faculties to recognize living creatures and signal to them, they either do not realize or do not care that those same creatures will soon become drowned themselves if they follow the will-o-wisps' light.

Specter - Perhaps one of the more psychologically disturbing kinds of ghosts, specters have not had their astral bodies twisted by their dream-deprived insanity. When they manifest, they appear just as they did when alive. Their insanity instead manifests in the behavior they undergo. They will stalk, hunt, and torture those that survived them. The pain of seeing departed loved ones reappear - and then attack, or say or do profane things can often drive grieving relatives even farther into the depths of despair. Many believe specters are demons masquerading as loved ones in order to toy with hearts. The horrible truth - that the identity is genuine - is usually more than most can bare.

Sluagh - Sluagh are ghosts that travel in packs. Their appearance tends to resemble gaunt and twisted human torsos, with very long hair and faint trappings of ancient robes. Their legs are twice as long as normal, and four times as thin; their legs flutter behind them in the sky as they travel. Sluagh are known to capture and detain the souls of the recently dead, keeping them from passing on to the afterlife and eventually forcing the soul to become one of them. Souls kidnapped by a Sluagh flock can be rescued, but usually with great effort; sluagh are swift and never rest in their constant migration.

Creatures: Basics of Undeath

2008-01-28T18:24:00.000-05:00

Though Nektos created the phenomenon of undeath in the world of Aarn, the concept of "things-that-should-be-dead-that-were-still-living" was not a new one. Death channelers would often be corrupted by the essence of death flowing through their soul, cursed by their natural magical affinity to grow into twisted shells, walking corpses, living liches.

It was from this that Nektos gained the inspiration for his undead creations. He constructed a magical virus that could spread from infected to infected, killing them and then raising their body as an echo of a death channeler. Usually this would strip the corpse of its soul, but eventually Nektos perfected the process, and managed to create corporeal undead who still possessed their mortal soul such as vampires.

For a time, all corporeal undead fell into one of these two categories - those with souls and those without. Eventually, however, the wizards of man learned to harness the channeled energy of death that approximately one in every 240 humans had access to. These "lucky" humans became necromancers, death channelers who also learned the art of wizardry, mastering the art of animating dead flesh.

Necromantic corporeal undead are soulless, artificial, and have no infection to spread - so facing one in combat is slightly less dangerous than facing one of Nektos' children.

On the other side of the spectrum, there's noncorporeal undead, ghosts and spirits trapped in the inbetween through either magical means or sheer force of will. Ghosts are a type of undead that through means either magical or psychological have been overlooked by the current afterlife and are trapped between worlds. Ghosts quite usually go insane quickly - unable to dream, ghosts cannot heal what little sanity they have left by entering the astral sea.

Spirits, on the other hand, are the category of noncorporeal undead who still remain in this mortal coil through sheer force of will or by design of their soul. Despite not having a body, the force of their will allows them to remain in the inbetween, yet still travel to the astral sea in order to dream without being captured by the demons' afterlife system. Spirits are usually far more sane than ghosts, and may even be reasoned with. However, spirits are by no means guaranteed to be sane or rational.

All noncorporeal undead, both spirits and ghosts, have a number of methods they can use to contact the living. Less specific types of undead, and more forms of communication, these phenomenon can be used and harnessed by all noncorporeal undead. Noncorporeal undead are normally invisible to those in the material plane, and it takes great effort, energy, and practice for them to make themselves known.

Cold spots: Cold spots are generated when a ghost or spirit attempts to manifest, but lacks the power to appear visually, create an auditory manifestation, or to manipulate an object in the real world.

Smells: One of the first steps of manifestation, ghosts and spirits can generate unpleasant odors in order to attempt to try to ward off or attract living creatures.

Whispers: Ghosts or spirits who have concentrated more on communicating with the living manifest as ghostly sounds and cryptic, disjointed phrases.

Poltergeists: Mistakenly believed to be an actual species of undead creature, poltergeist activity occurs when a ghost or spirit has enough power to physically manipulate objects in the real world, but not create visual manifestations.

Possession: Rarer than other forms of manifestation, certain types of ghosts and spirits can possess the living. This can sometimes be an annoyance easily purged, a spiritual infection that lasts for years, or even a complete and total takeover, killing the host by shedding its soul, and then keeping the body intact and alive with the ghost or spirit's soul in place.

Orbs: The opposite of poltergeists, orbs are the product of ghosts or spirits powerful enough to create a visual manifestation, but not powerful enough to manipulate the real world. They are usually small points of light that gently drift through the area of activity.

Umbra: Umbra are proto-manifestations, stronger than orbs. They are black spots, shadows, vaguely humanoid or monstrous forms. A ghost or spirit that can produce an umbra will soon be able to manifest visually as it chooses, and only needs further practice. Once a spirit or ghost has learned to perfect an umbra, they have usually also learned how to create lesser forms of manifestations such as poltergeist activity or whispers.

Most spirits and ghosts who can fully manifest a visual form beyond an umbra can also physically attack living creatures, and communicate with them verbally, though there are exceptions.

Elemancy: Now known as Elemental Channeling!

2008-01-26T21:52:00.000-05:00

I've decided that my problems with naming the different kinds of elemancy has brought certain kinds of progress on my system to a halt, so it's only reluctantly that I've decided to approach it from a different angle.

From here on out, elemancy will be known as "elemental channeling," or simply "channeling" for short. Channelers will be known simply by the word for their element combined with "channeler," such as air channeler, water channeler, light channeler, fire channeler, death channeler, etc.

Usually an uneducated person won't distinguish channelers by their element, but occasionally certain types of channelers have developed slang terms and nicknames. Metal channelers might be called metalers, for instance, a death channeler might be called a reaper and light channelers could be called illusionists.

The manna and kanna elemental channelers still have individual names depending on their skills, such as gravity, shape, destruction, portal, psy and astral, with uninspired slang terms such as shapers, psychics and empaths.

As a side-note, an archaic term for a channeler is an "elementalist." During the height of the Jerol Empire, magic was mainly controlled by guilds of channelers who grouped together based on their elemental type and called themselves elementalists. Beware any creatures using this term! It usually means they are old, and thus, quite powerful and dangerous.

One last thing - the term "elemancy" will still be used, which might confuse some people! I apologize for it, but it really is a nice name I don't want to just throw aside.

In the future, elemancy and elemantic effects will refer to channelers who enhance their abilities with wizardry, usually in order to create pets and creatures they can dominate and command.

Types of elemancers include...

Animancers, who use their kanna element to create golems out of metal, earth and wood.

Cybermancers, a subset of animancers who transfer their own soul into automaton, and live as clockwork robots who have souls.

Biomancers, who use their life element to create unnatural monsters.

Necromancers, who use their death element to create undead puppets.

Astralmancers, who use their manna element to summon creatures of dream and fantasy from thin air.

Any element can be combined with wizardry in order to create puppets, but the above five are the only ones who have special names and complex rules for the creation of their pets. All other elemancers are simply known as, well, "elemancers" regardless of their element, and their puppet creations are usually known as elementals. These elementals are all based on the same kind of template, and changing an elemental's element only really changes what kind of damage they deal when attacking, or what kind of limited extra-special ability they might have access to.

Mechanics: Action Points Specifics

2008-01-26T04:01:00.000-05:00

In a typical pen and paper RPG system, characters usually go in turns. After rolling a die to see who goes in what order, a character will usually do all of his actions and then it will be the next person's turn. Some systems try to add tactics to this by having an "attack of opportunity" system that allows players to make limited attacks out-of-turn. However, these systems are almost always very difficult to remember except for the most experienced of players!

In an attempt to both allow characters more realistic reactions to what's going on around them in combat, and also add a bit of a tactical flare, I decided to implement the action point system I briefly went over in the previous post. You can blame me being on a mechanics bent this last week on action points, coming up with them really excited me!

Basically, dice will still be rolled to determine what order the characters' and players' turns will be. However...

When it's a player's turn, he'll be able to do actions, spending action points for every action he does. Certain actions take more action points, certain actions take less - and this is usually dependent on how long those actions take to preform.

Most actions will cost either 1 action point, 2 action points, or 3 action points. A short jab that does very little damage will cost 1 action point, as will drawing or sheathing a weapon, or firing a pre-prepared projectile weapon. A standard attack that has a chance of dealing critical damage will cost 2 action points, as well taking a five-foot step or drawing a bow. A three action point activity would be quafing a potion, making a deathblow attack (that is guranteed to do significant critical damage), casting a spell, reloading a crossbow or reading from a scroll.

The key to this system is that characters can act out of turn in a very simple way, that's easy to remember. During another character's turn, you can interrupt their turn when they spend 2 or more action points at once. This is called a "Sequence interrupt" and during this interrupt you can spend action points to do actions of your own. The catch is, the actions your character does must cost one less action point than the current action being performed by the character whose turn it is. Conceptually, you're doing your action while they're busy with their action, which takes longer to perform.

For instance, if another character is attacking your character with a 3 point deathblow, your character can attack them preemptively using two jabs, or a single standard attack. Your character could also even simply take a 5 foot step away, and cause the deathblow attack to miss completely!

Other examples: If another character that you're flanking decides to take a 5 foot step away, you can attack them with a quick jab. If another character is trying to cast a spell, you can attack them to try to disrupt the spell.

There are limits to when sequence interrupts can be done however. Characters with ranged weapons can sequence interrupt just about anyone, but only if they're firing their weapon at the character whose turn it is. Characters with melee weapons can only sequence interrupt when they are being attacked directly, or when they are flanking the character whose turn it is. If a melee character is being flanked, he cannot sequence interrupt, and he can barely defend himself.

Of course, sequence interrupts are optional. You don't have to take advantage of them if you don't want to spend your action points - however, attacks done during a sequence interrupt have far less options for defense than normal, and usually, if the person whose turn it is decides to defend themselves from your sequence interrupt attack, their action may literally be interrupted and not get followed through.

Speaking of defense, defensive actions also cost action points, and doing them doesn't count as a sequence interrupt. The core defensive actions (dodging, parrying/riposting, and blocking) all cost a single action point, so it's important to end your turn with an action point or two left over, so you can defend yourself from attacks.

Finally, move actions are a little different. Whenever moving across the battlefield, the first 5 foot step costs 2 action points. After that, every single action point you spend will allow you to move an additional number of 5 foot squares equal to your agility score. The entire move action thus will count as 2 action points for anyone you are disengaging from, but 3 action points (at least) for anyone who sees you coming, who might be able to take a swipe at you as you pass them or before you engage them. You can also sprint - and move twice your agility for every aditional action point spent, but this causes you to lose endurance points.

I hope this has all made sense! The ideas are all still fairly new, so I haven't yet figured out the best way to present them, but I'm glad to have gotten them down into the blog.

Mechanics: Character Essentials

2008-01-23T16:47:00.000-05:00

The way my system has been progressing, there are three aspects to a character that are most important, and influence everything that character does. Those three things are the character's Endurance Points, Ability Scores, and Action points.

Endurance points, EP for short, represent a character's health and energy. EP can be drained through combat - bruises, cuts, scrapes, and other superficial wounds are tracked with EP. EP can also be drained by actions of heavy exertion - adding extra damage to an attack, sprinting, or traveling long distances without a break will all drain EP as well. When a character's EP is 0 or below, that character falls unconscious - unable to move and at the mercy of his or her enemies.

Ability scores have been touched on in the last two posts, but I'll go over them here in more depth. There are eight ability scores, and each ability score has its own set of skills that it governs. Four of the ability scores are physical: Strength, Agility, Finesse and Vitality. The other four ability scores are mental: Perception, Willpower, Intelligence and Charm. Each ability score can range from 1 to 6, and 3 is the average ability for a healthy adult human in all areas.

Some skills are hybrid and depend on multiple ability scores - in cases like these, they use whichever of the ability scores is lowest.

Ability scores do more than just tell characters how well they do at using their skills, however. For instance, many actions in combat such as movement depend on agility without it being related to a skill. Strength also helps determine how much equipment a character can carry before being impaired by the weight.

Most importantly, ability scores keep track of critical damage to a character's body and mind. Occasionally, an attack on a character will be a critical hit, and it will do damage to one of that character's ability scores alongside EP damage. Representing sprained ankles, broken bones, torn muscles and profound blood loss, ability score damage is harder to heal than damage to EP, and most importantly, when a character's vitality has been reduced to 0, that character is dead.

Fear not however! Armor, while not making it more difficult to hit a character, does absorb damage dealt by critical blows and normal attacks alike, so your ability scores will be safe if you wear the proper protection.

Finally, action points will be gone over in more depth in the next post, but action points are my system's answer to "How do you make turn based combat represent everything going on at once?" All characters have a limited amount of them, and they regenerate every turn. All actions done in combat require action points, and the more time the action takes, the more action points it uses.

A character with more action points than his opponent will have a significant advantage in combat, because he will literally be able to perform more actions. Not only that, but characters need to conserve action points, because they're also used to defend against attacks. If you never make defensive actions, your character will probably die very quickly, so it's important to balance out how many action points you use for offense, and how many you use for defense.

Action points are also used to interrupt other characters' turns, and make your own actions before they have a chance to finish theirs. This is the aspect of action points I like the most, and I'm greatly looking forward to describing it in the next post.

Mechanics: An alternative possibility for the dice

2008-01-22T14:57:00.001-05:00

I've come up with an alternative for the dice system that is much better at handling modifiers! However, it would slow down combat, and that's not something one should underestimate. In any event, I'm going to share it here so I don't forget it, and also because the more options I have, the better off I will be.

The idea is simple - skills still dictate how many dice you have. However, all dice and all characters have the same success range, 9-12, with 12 being the magic re-roll.

Ability scores will affect successes like this - your ability score, and any relevant modifiers, will be a pool of points that you can assign to dice in your roll to make failures successes, and make successes 12s which grant you an extra die.

The way this would work is ... say someone with two skill ranks rolled 4 dice, and only got a 9, an 8, a 7 and a 6. If his strength were 3, he could change that 9 into a 12 and roll an extra die, or he could change the 8 and the 7 both into 9s and gain two more successes.

To help make this balanced, a character also cannot put more points into a single die than his base ability score. If a character has positive modifiers that increase the size of his point pool above his base ability score, he can't put them all into a single die.

Again, while I really like this idea, the prospect of how much it might slow down the game is troublesome, so I'm going to continue to think on other possible alternatives in the meantime.

Mechanics: The Basics of the Dice (As they stand now)

2008-01-22T03:09:00.000-05:00

The dice which are going to drive my game have gone through many iterations. This one is the most recent, and importantly, it's incomplete! The system doesn't accept modifiers very well, and I'm still working on that aspect of it. There's no guarantees that this is how the system will work, but it's what I've been working on lately, and that's what this blog is for, after all.

The basics of the dice system are simple. All characters have two twelve-sided dice to start, and rolling these dice determine whether or not you succeed at a task. Each die individually shows whether or not a "success" has happened. In order to be successful at the task, a certain number of dice need to be in that successful category, depending on the difficulty of the task. For instance, if a task had a difficulty of 2, both dice would need to come up as successes.

As you gain ranks in certain skills, you gain dice for those particular types of actions. The most dice you can have is eight, when you have six ranks in any given skill.

Also, just which numbers on the dice determine whether that particular die is a success or not depends entirely on your character's ability score. Ability scores help group skills into categories, and each ability score governs its own subset of skills. For instance, a character's strength governs skills related to dealing damage with certain weapons, and a character's agility governs skills related to movement.

A 12 on one of these dice is always counted as a success, and whenever you get a 12, another die is temporarily added to your roll, increasing your chances of more successes!

As for your ability scores, they all range from 1-6. Your ability score is treated as the highest number on your die that counts as a success, excluding 12. A character with a strength of 3 for instance would have successes on die rolls of 1, 2, 3 and 12.

I like this system as it stands because it makes skills more important than ability scores. The way it currently works, raising a skill and gaining dice is always a better deal than raising an ability score, though ability scores themselves are still quite important. I also like it because it's easy to keep track of your current ability score, which will fluctuate constantly. I'm going to be treating ability scores as a character's indication of their health, and a character running out of my system's version of "hit points" will simply bring him or her into unconsciousness. Actual death will occur when a character's vitality (one of the ability scores) reaches zero.

A problem with the system is that it's not very modifiable. The balance of the game breaks down once the chance for success raises above 7/12, which is the current limit with an ability score of six. This makes it quite difficult for me to decide how to handle creatures that are very big or very small, for instance, who would deal much more damage or be much easier to hit (or harder to hit). Simply raising or lowering their ability score based on their size would seem off, because it would mean the strongest human was as strong as the strongest dragon, and it would mean that big creatures are always slower than they would otherwise be, because of how agility works.

Also, once you reach a certain number of dice, gaining more starts to make the rolls very unpredictable, while also adding a cushion of "practically 100% chance of success." Avoiding such a success cushion is one of the reasons I avoided d20 rules in the first place - d20 rules are highly scalable towards different encounters, and work well within a certain level range, but there are massive cushions of "will almost always succeed or fail" - so much so that the system itself has a built in "auto-success" and "auto-failure" system which I dislike, and would like to avoid.

One thing I am considering is, for things like armor and such, for an extra die to be added, say, a d4. Rolling this die will do different things depending on the armor you're wearing, but mostly it will simply tell you how much damage has been absorbed by your armor instead of being dealt to you.

I am also considering a kind of stopgap measure where creatures who really should be much, much stronger than a human will have extra re-roll chances. For instance, rolling a 1 or 2 will also add a die to their roll, not just rolling a 12, but this is just a stopgap measure if anything, and I'm not 100% happy with it.

In any case, the things that will come in the next two updates are what I'm really excited about. Even though the information in this post isn't final, it's necessary for the next two posts to be understood. And for that, I thank you for your patience in reading about this incomplete dice mechanic.

Intermission: A brief change of direction

2008-01-18T17:39:00.000-05:00

I know I still have a few more creatures to go over, such as undead and monsters, and I haven't even begun to go into the kingdoms and cultures of the world, let alone how most of the magic systems work.

However! Due to continuous problems in naming the different facets of elemancy, and due to recent inspiration for other areas of the game, I'm going to take us away from world fluff and begin to illustrate the basics of the game's mechanics.

I hope you enjoy!

Creatures: Fey

2008-01-15T19:21:00.000-05:00

Fey - Fey are alien creatures from the astral sea who knew nothing of time or causality until the astral sea became entangled with the material plane. Their behavior is governed by arbitrary rules that they placed upon themselves in order to play a game of causality. It cannot be stressed just how arbitrary these rules are - fey have godlike powers and they have chosen their weaknesses themselves. The best guess of Aarnian scholars is that fey in fact willfully choose to enforce their own rules on themselves. For instance, a fey with a weakness to a cold iron blade blessed by a shoemaker on a Tuesday will not actually be harmed by the blade, but will only pretend to be. Those unlucky souls trapped in combat with a fey normally don't care about any such distinctions.

Fey can be killed, but even this appears to be an act. Some time later the slain fey will begin a new life in a new area, though fey don't seem to carry grudges between "lives." It is almost as if fey are playing a role in their game, and in fact their entire identity is a facade. Despite this, one can safely consider fey to be method actors. They will always follow their own rules, despite their seemingly chaotic and arbitrary behavior.

Doppelgangers - From the front, they appear to be normal human beings. When one views them from behind, they see the true horror of this fey. Doppelgangers have no back, and are completely hollow husks. They steal the bodies of others in order to feel more complete, and often take on the appearance of their intended victim before absorbing their body, in order to capture them more easily. Their most common form of attack is changing themselves into a semi-corporeal projection inside a mirror and leaping out at their victim after assuming his or her form. Another common method of attack is revealing themselves, already haven taken the form of their victim. They do this carefully so only the victim will see - and hopefully pursue the doppelganger into an alley where they can be slain in private. Once absorbing their victim, the body will slowly decay and deteriorate, forcing the doppelganger to abandon its host and find a new one. Such a body will appear normal from the front - but appear as a rotting corpse from the back.

Dryads - Dryads are fey who live very close to nature, often merging their souls with the souls of plants. While bound to the souls of plants, Dryads appear as lovely, serene, and seductive maidens that will often abduct men to either eat them or use them as sexual slaves. It is widely thought that killing a dryad's tree will kill the dryad, but this is in fact untrue. When they are unbound to a plant, dryads become screaming spirits of horror called yettiks who will mercilessly slay any and all creatures who are not native to their forest, regardless of their innocence. A yettik appears as a floating spectral werewolf with no hind legs.

Fairies - Fey of mischief that fill many roles in society. They only appear to those they want to see them, such as virginal maidens, drunken men, questing adventurers, or others of a specific type. Fairies delight in taking credit for natural processes, such as a sunrise or the leaves changing color in autumn, often leaving small jars of paint underneath a freshly changed tree. Other fairies will grant wishes as rewards - or as punishment. Still other fairies will lead people into trouble and tempt the mortal as a kind of game; if the mortal resists, the fairy will only try harder but will not directly interact with their toy. Despite their diminutive appearance and usually harmless nature, Fairies are actually the most powerful fey, and are only one step away from godhood.

Grassrunners - Often mistaken for elves, grassrunners appear to be human children wearing green or yellow, with long thin ears like a rabbit. They collectively chose their current form once man became the dominant force on the planet, and few, if any, know what form they used before. They enjoy playing panpipes, dancing through fields and enticing mortals to dance with them. Their revelry is so intense that any who join their celebration are found dead the next morning. If a grassrunner is encountered while not celebrating, he or she is usually watching a stream, and may provide the answers to ancient questions or impart essential wisdom if treated with respect. Those who treat a grassrunner rudely will have some tragedy befall them by the next sunset.

Ghouls - Often mistaken for undead, Ghouls are actually shapeshifting fey. Their true form is that of an emaciated, deformed corpse-like being with a maw of double-rowed teeth, similar to a shark. They will often take the form of animals to lure travelers off paths in order to eat them in privacy. They will also eat corpses, and often live in graveyards. They are quite physically powerful - but will only actually attack and kill those who step foot on its territory of sand, allowing wary travelers to pass unharmed.

Mothmen - Mothmen are fey that are portents of bad luck. They usually appear as 7 foot shadows with moth wings and large, yellow eyes. They are associated with malevolence and are often blamed for disaster, but they are actually curious creatures that bare humans no ill-will. They can sense when a preventable disaster caused by humans will claim much life in the near future. They simply gather to watch the chaos. Sometimes they will show themselves to humans as a kind of game; to see if the humans can realize the disaster is coming and prevent it. Most often, the humans are too frightened by the mothman's presence to actually put two and two together and stop the disaster.

Nuckelavee - A horrible fey who appears as an antlered male human torso atop a deer's body. They have only a single eye in their forehead that appears as if it is on fire. Perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic of nuckelavee is the fact that they have no skin; their veins, muscles, blood, tendons and sinew are all plainly visible. They are usually found near salt water and fresh water acts as a repellent to them. They will not willingly cross freshwater streams or rivers even with the aid of a bridge. They are the bane of coastal villages and farms; they can cause plague, famine, and will often kill domesticated creatures with impunity.

Nymph - Usually found near springs or ponds, Nymphs are similar to dryads, but instead bond their soul to a place instead of a living tree. If Dryads are considered lovely and seductive creatures, Nymphs are even worse - they are almost irresistible sexually, but have a faux-modesty about them that they use to confuse and manipulate. Tales say that seeing a Nymph disrobe can blind a man, but in actuality, Nymphs can cause all manner of afflictions to the human body. This can include blindness, deafness, causing their victim to become mute, become completely numb, paralyzed, or even dominate their mind completely. Nymphs enjoy nothing more than taking mentally dominated human slaves as servants.

Shadowling - Also known as shadow people, a shadowling is a fey that enjoys spying on humans. They cannot be seen if looked at directly, but can often appear as glimpses in peripheral vision. If they feel that they are being threated by exposure, they become malicious. They will start fires, cause accidents, or do anything to scare away, intimidate, or even kill the person who can see them. Young astralmancers are often tormented by shadowlings while their powers are developing.

Soul Twister - Large black shadows with long white hair, no legs, burning red eyes and a tattered cloak-like appearance, a soul twister is a "ghost" from the ancient time before undead creatures existed. A soul twister is ancient, primal, and vengeful. Trapped on Aarn when the astral plane was first bound to it, they hate all life and go out of their way to destroy it, scar it, mutilate it, and cause suffering. They are nourished by the fear, sorrow, hatred and anguish of corporeal creatures, and a single soul twister can turn a vibrant town or forest into a barren wasteland of black, thick cobweb-like tendrils overnight. Nothing brings them pleasure like bringing a mortal's worst nightmare to life, even if it takes years to set up and prepare the event. Perhaps the worst characteristic of the soul twister is its psychic ability to permanently scar the souls of those unfortunate enough to survive encounters with them. Madness, paranoia, and hallucinations are some of the more tame effects that survivors can suffer from for the rest of their lives.

Still Hunters - Fey that take on the appearance of inanimate objects, still hunters will kill indiscriminately, but remain completely motionless whenever observed. They often take the shapes of statues, dolls, or sometimes even weapons. Against a group they are nearly powerless and can be bound or sealed. Against a single person, however, and the still hunter will move whenever the unfortunate victim blinks or glances away. Still hunters are incredibly fast, and once within striking distance they can eviscerate even the most skilled hand-to-hand fighters in the blink of an eye. By far, still hunters are the most dangerous at night or in the dark, though it seems through some sense of fair play they choose not to attack during these times. This may simply be them wanting their prey to know what is coming, however.

Wendigo - A cannibalistic fey that possesses the bodies of those who during times of famine resort to eating the flesh of their own species. A possession by a wendigo is more subtle and nuanced than most other possessions; the original owner of the body remains intact and conscious, and for quite some time still feels like they could possibly be the one controlling their body. The wendigo is in reality controlling the body completely from day one, simply behaving as if the original soul were controlling it. Saying aloud what the person wishes to say. Doing, usually, what the person wants to do. Wendigos do not just feed on meat, they also feed on the horror, shame, and despair of those who, from their own experience, become hopelessly addicted to cannibalism.

Intermission: Blog Statistics

2008-01-14T20:20:00.001-05:00

The Aarnblog has been active for about two months now, and in that time I've accumulated 68 single-spaced pages of fluff text, of over 41,000 words.

Wow!

Creatures: Demon Professions

2008-01-14T19:33:00.000-05:00

Demons, despite having many different forms and many different appearances can often be categorized by their job. The rigors and requirements of demon jobs often act as sorting devices, with demons of similar appearance and strengths being pulled towards one job or another. While no two demons look exactly alike, when running into certain demonic professions one can be reasonably sure of what to expect.

Agents - One of the more feared kinds of demons, agents are demons who recruit godtouched races for "selling your soul" contracts. They tend to be quite attractive, something they've learned helps the deal. They often dress in a flashy manner, indicative of material wealth, which helps show the mortal what the demon is offering. Agents are smarmy, silver-tongued, and not built for combat. They like to talk in showbiz phrases and despite being masters of manipulation and false promises, they aren't quite as good as communicating with Aarnian mortals as they'd like to think.

Angels - The most attractive demons by aarnian mortal standards are usually taken to the plane of Security, where they're given this job. Usually gaining their appearance by being the children of an Aarnian mortal and demon pairing, these demons have personalities that are less harsh than most other demons. It's their job to watch over the plane of Security and enforce the odd laws that exist there. They run and manage the "Happiness Reeducation Centers" as well as police those who would try to turn Security into a violent, painful or unhappy place. Their uniform is a white toga, a pair of cybernetic feathered wings for flight, and kilts.

Bankers - A little-known fact is that demon currency and Aarnian currency has an exchange rate - with a little demon help, you CAN take it with you - and even give back to any relatives who are still alive. This doesn't happen often however, because most souls have to spend 100 years or more waiting before they can start their new lives in hell. Bankers are demons who manage these accounts and exchange rates, and use stolen Aarnian magical artifacts to tap into and interact with the magical banking system that exists on Aarn. Bankers are typically shorter demons than most, with a good head for numbers and Aarnian magic. Their job forces them to be shrewd and cautious, and they avoid conflict wherever possible.

BHP managers - Perhaps one of the most violent types of demons, a BHP manager is a "Boss" at the Bureau of Human Possession. It's the job of these demons to manage and enforce the strict rules for possession that have developed, and also properly distribute the required paperwork. They tend to dress in ornate black armor with flowing capes and massive, improbable melee weapons. While they use these in combat, it's more of a marketing ploy - themed clothing for what most demons believe humans wear. There is a Bureau of Possession for every kind of godtouched except spirit animals (who through some strange fluke cannot be possessed) however the humans have proven to be the most popular type.

Caterers - There are approximately 10,000 lines of godtouched and sentient animals waiting to be judged in the afterlife, and each line hovers at around 144,000 people, with around 40,000 new souls dying every day. That's a lot of mouths to feed, and a lot of people to keep civil. Caterers are demons who fill both roles - they provide food to the testy, confused, and impatient astral bodies that have not yet learned food isn't a requirement. They also break up fights that can and do arise, and send the offending creatures back to the end of the line. The constant threat of misbehaving souls being forced to wait another few decades to be judged is usually enough to keep them in line, both literally and figuratively.

Caterers are thus usually attractive female demons with enough physical power and personality to not just intimidate virtually any godtouched that is in line, but also to help calm the others down, and provide comfort. Those with the required qualities are rare, so there aren't as many caterer demons as there should be. Not only that, but "Working the lines" is not considered a pleasant job by demon standards, so there is also a very high turnover rate.

Nerds - Demons who live their lives for popular culture, they tend to be weak fighters, overweight, and unattractive by demon and mortal standards both. They drive most of hell's economy, having a voracious appetite for stories and adventures from Aarn, the more authentic the better. Nerds have also been called "fanboys" and "fangirls," and use these particular terms as badges of honor in their own circles. Oddly enough, a nerd is usually recognizable by the tee-shirts they wear. Tee-shirts are shunned by all other demons as a result.

Soul judges - While not necessarily demons with the most power, demons who have a great deal of physical presence and an imposing nature are recruited for this position. It's the job of a Soul judge to - day in and day out - interview mortal souls in the line and then decide what hell fits that soul's value system. It usually takes 6 hours for a soul judge to decide which hell a mortal soul is suited for - luckily for those on line, demons only need four hours of sleep a week. Soul judges tend to be the largest of demons and wear imposing black robes, keeping their faces in shadow.

Police Officers - Demons of moderate fighting skill and poor intelligence, the police officers of hell tend to let their technology do the talking in most cases. They have a great deal of military ordinance at their disposal with which they apprehend demons who don't fill out the proper paperwork for their activities. For some unknown reason they tend to be shorter and squatter than their other demon friends, but some speculate that this is so they can more easily cram themselves into the cockpits of their vehicles.

Politicians - Almost never seen, a politician is a demon who authors the paperwork all demon society is based on. They are clerks and managers of the pen; they are the ones who regulate and organize everything. They almost never show themselves in public, and those who become politicians later in life are almost never seen again. They bare mention here only because of how influential they are over demon society, even if they are almost never encountered.

Robots - To demons, a robot is an idealized lifeform. A robot will only do what it is told, how it is told. Robots control and maintain the hell of Conformity, and their cold, hard logic permeates that entire plane of hell. Unlike demons, robots tend to have more common design aesthetics. There are hovering pod robots who handle maintenance and security, larger humanoid robots who are 8 feet tall and have the physique of a professional weightlifter who handle heavy construction and more serious security concerns, and there are more feminine robots who help tend to the psychological needs of the souls in Conformity. There are a large number of hibernating robots still on Aarn, left over from the brief period of time when demons lived there.

Secretaries - The public representatives of politician demons, it's the job of a secretary to hand out and organize paperwork for other demons. Secretaries tend to work behind computers and typewriters from which they can pull out and dispense any form they wish. Because of regulation over forms however, for every copy of a form they print, another copy of that same form somewhere else must be destroyed, even if it's only a cybernetic copy. Their scanners for digital analysis of completed forms also double as paper-shredders. This can be of great annoyance to anyone who has made a mistake on their form and must start over from the very beginning.

Succubi and incubi - Due to the long lifespans and resilient bodies of demons, they actually have a difficult time breeding with one another. Once they're old enough, they stop being excited by "normal things." It is the job of the succubus and her male incubus counterpart to learn all manner of methods of titillation and put them into practice. Essentially, it is the duty of all demons of this type to help ensure that new demons are born. It is also their duty to record all of their exploits for clerical purposes. These tapes can also be distributed to the market as entertainment, but usually only the most extravagant encounters receive this treatment.

These demons are often taught secret arts of demonic shape-shifting in which they can actually change their appearance through extremely precise muscle control, quick healing, and a high threshold of pain for all the resulting shattered bones. The use of this art to create tentacles is a strangely popular.

Succubi and incubi are among the most well-known types of demons on Aarn. This is probably because these demons will occasionally possess aarnian mortals in order to fill their monthly quotas. Aarnian mortals have somehow gotten it into their heads that encounters with these demons will steal their soul - but it will usually only steal their dignity and quite possibly their sanity if the demon is creative enough.

Taxi drivers - Demons who are short and squat but too stupid for banking or police work tend to become taxi drivers. Their small size allows them to carry heavier passengers in their hover-taxis, and their stupidity prevents them from finding a better job. Taxi drivers also tend to be physically unattractive or mutated in some way, and typically smell bad. Insect features are an especially common taxi driver trait.

Telemarketers - In a society where anything is legal as long as one can get the forms for it, never underestimate the persuasive power of intimidation. Telemarketers are easily the most powerful kind of demon. They are usually twice as large as the typical demon, and up to ten times as physically resilient. In hand to hand combat, a telemarketer will almost always win. Telemarketers are also physically resistant to even demon weapons, and on top of it all, they're grumpy.

"If they are so powerful," you may ask, "why do they have such a horrible job?" Demons live in such a structured society that they often become complacent and easy to fool. They also have a chaotic streak that makes tricking them with telephone schemes even more lucrative than it would be otherwise. Because the telemarketing business is so profitable, there is an extremely high demand for demons to actually make the calls. However, the demon establishment is loathe to hand out telemarketing licenses for the very same reasons. Telemarketing demons are literally the only demons scary enough to convince the secretary demons to let them have telemarketer licenses.

Tour Guides - Adventurous demons who tend to be mentally unbalanced, they live in the fringes of the other eight hells, separate from Bureaucracy. Tour guides tend to have little patience for demonic paperwork and thus flee their home plane and live on one of the other hells. Becoming a guide for vacationing demons is one of the most profitable and desirable jobs for these impatient, antisocial, "unique" demons.

Metaphysics: The Nine+ Planes of Hell

2008-01-13T18:14:00.000-05:00

And we reach the final post that will be lifted from the ENWorld forums! Out of all the information brought from that place, this post probably edited the least, but it should still be useful information.

There are nine planes of hell, with eight of them designed to be afterlives for mortals, and one a pocket dimension that exists outside of the Astral Sea. The nine hells can be seen as planets in the Astral sea, and most of the hells appear very Aarn-like, but with different continents. The exceptions are Bureaucracy, Meh, and Revelry, which have their own unique looks.

Bureaucracy - The home of the demons, and the first plane of hell. Bureaucracy was not designed to be an afterlife, and was instead supposed to be the demons' home. As such, it has with it their style of civilization and their style of laws, described in detail in the "Creatures: Demons" post. The plane itself appears to be a massive city which has no day or night; Bureaucracy's weather is gray clouds that constantly glow and give off light. The only time the plane is ever dark is when it rains. This of course means that the other planes and the rest of the astral sea are not visible from Bureaucracy - but the demons still have technology that allows them to observe it all, including Aarn itself as well. The glowing clouds are more for the sake of the demons' own privacy than anything else.

Of course, for anyone living here, a great deal of paperwork needs to be filled out on a day-to-day basis, which makes it extremely difficult for non-demons to live here. Many native Aarnian mortals are absolutely horrified at any prospect of this hell, and the demons themselves are also loathe to allow mortals to spend their afterlife in their own home town. Occasionally though, there are especially shrewd and bureaucratically minded mortals (dragons, for instance) who fit in just fine, and are allowed to stay here.

Paranoia - The second level of hell, Paranoia was originally supposed to be a carbon copy of the real world, to allow those who did not want their lives to change to continue to exist as they always had. Unfortunately, the demons did their job designing this plane too well, and it was too much like the world of Aarn. Very quickly, a system of corruption and political dominance sprang up and began to oppress the populace. The fact that the more violent and "evil" people could not really be killed meant that they instead found themselves in positions of power. This also prevented any would-be revolutionaries from shattering the power structure and loyalty of underlings through assassination.

The entire plane of Paranoia is currently run by an evil empire of criminals and corrupt law enforcement agencies. The only people who can enjoy this hell are narcissistic individuals involved in activities of naked self-interest, who died with a clear conscience over the evils they did in life.

Anarchy - The second plane the demons created for mortal souls, Anarchy is purposefully regulated to prevent mortals from banding together into organized political groups. The demons hoped that this would prevent the problems that plagued Paranoia from plaguing Anarchy. In fact, worse problems developed. Anarchy became an extremely violent place, a constant riot where everyone fights everyone else - except when they're drinking or having sex. There is absolutely no order, no rhyme, no reason to this place. It is an endless sea of strife and chaos. Mass murderers, fighters, warriors and violent predator corporeal creatures tend to enjoy this afterlife quite a bit. Everyone else does not.

Delirium - Delirium is a plane so chaotic that any kind of civilization simply cannot spring up at all. The best way to begin to get a picture of what Delirium is like is to take a herculean dose of peyote, and then give yourself a direct IV drip of pure LSD. Then you have barely scratched the surface of the surreal way Delirium is constructed. The demons created it thinking that the removal of all order completely would allow those who did not enjoy Paranoia or Anarchy to have an happy afterlife.

Those who enjoy Delirium tend to be curious individuals who enjoy sensation for sensation's sake. Otherwise, the plane is just so freakin' bizarre that it is practically impossible for anyone to function at all. From a distance, Delirium appears to be a ball of swirling colors and flashing lights.

Meh - Originally designed to be the final plane of hell, Meh is a plane of absolute nothingness. There is no gravity, no structure, no food, no water, no clothes, and even no bodies. Meh is a place where especially serene and nihilistic people can truly feel like they are at one with everything and nothing. It is also a place that is so boring, so empty, so lacking of stimulus that many call it to be the absolute worst alternative out of all the other eight planes of hell. From a distance, Meh looks very similar to Bureaucracy, though it is not solid and is instead a simple ball of opaque gray gas.

Conformity - After the "failures" of the first four hells, the demons created a plan to construct four more, after studying human nature in more depth. The first of these, conformity is a plane of logic, structure, and technology. The demons populated it with their own robotic creations in order to police the plane and ensure that it ran smoothly. The society itself however is practically nonexistent. People are treated as numbers. There is no such thing as free thought or free expression. People are told what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. Surprisingly, many people actually do enjoy this hell. They are the sort of people who enjoy following a leader, and not having to think for themselves. Strangely, more actual humans populate this plane than any other type of creature.

Security - Like conformity, Security has a rigid authority structure. Unlike conformity, the sensibilities of the populace are actually looked after. Security is essentially the plane of Paranoia run in a tolerable way. Demons called angels are the authority structure here. They ensure that the needs of the populace are met, be they entertainment, food, drink, or other activities. Generally, it is possible to do or receive whatever one wants here, as long as it is not violent, mean, nasty, and does not infringe on the happiness of another individual in any way. In a way it is the ideal gated community.

While this may sound like a paradise, there is a down side. Happiness is regulated. If you are unhappy, you are almost treated as a criminal and taken to a "happiness reeducation center." These centers are often always materialistic in structure and do not tend to address the actual emotional problems causing the unhappiness. Treatment centers are distractions at best, torture at worst.

What is worse, there is absolutely no risk, no thrill, no danger tolerated. Anything that might harm yourself or cause yourself pain is treated as if it were a kind of violence against another person. Even sex, which can often be rough and cause injury is strictly regulated. Keeping these things in mind, it can be easy to understand how this place could be considered a hell.

Serenity - A rustic wilderness with abundant wild food, crystal clear lakes, rains of honey and plenty of fresh air, Serenity is the most peaceful and primal of the nine hells. It is where most herbivore animals go. Philosophers, artists, naturalists, vegetarians and other nonviolent people who enjoy little regulation find this place an utter paradise. The major downside of Serenity is that all there are put under a kind of spell that makes it especially difficult to undergo acts of violence or abuse. The paradise can sometimes be threatened by small spats or fights, but these rarely turn into anything serious. A good analogy for Serenity would be a hippie commune / artist community.

Serenity's major downside is the fact that it can be very boring to those who do not enjoy artistic or intellectual pursuits. While nowhere near as boring as the plane of Meh, Serenity can get on the nerves of those who demand an exciting lifestyle almost as much as Conformity and Security. There is little regulation in Serenity, but it does have just enough to prevent violent thrill-seekers from truly being satisfied.

Revelry - The deepest level of hell, Revelry is a non-stop party. By this point, the demons had gotten so frustrated with their attempts to create suitable afterlives that people could enjoy that they essentially threw their hands up in the air, and decided to provide as much food, drink, music, and other fun things as possible. Extroverts who enjoy fun will absolutely thrive in this place. However, because the party is constant and never lets up, those who do not thrive on social conduct or cannot tolerate too much mindless fun without actual constructive activity will find themselves completely and utterly tortured.

Immigration - While not actually a plane of hell, immigration is a pocket space the demons created to store souls who had yet to be judged. It was supposed to only be temporary, but because of the demons' love of bureaucracy, quite a queue developed at the judgment booth. Immigration is very much like Meh, except it could be considered even worse than that because it was never intended to be a final destination. Immigration is nothing but an endless white space with a snaking line of creatures waiting to be told where they are going. The current wait, from death to judgment, is currently hovering at the equivalent of around 100 years.

Metaphysics: Astral Bodies and a person's rights in the 9 hells.

2008-01-12T21:26:00.000-05:00

Once again, the content from this entry is heavily edited and expanded upon from the ENWorld forums. However, like the last post it does have new information, and is worth another go-over even if you've read the ENWorld posts. Thank you for your patience, and be comforted in the knowledge that there is only one more post like this planned, and then it will be entirely new content again!

Whenever a soul is traveling through the Inbetween, or astral-projecting themselves (safely) into the Astral Sea or another creature's dream, they do so using an astral body. An astral body is created from nothing, and normally reflects the soul's self-image, carrying with it astral constructs of any clothing or equipment that soul expects to have. A character with both an exceptionally high perception and willpower can create new tools and items for itself out of nothing - though the more powerful the creation the more difficult it is to manifest.

Creatures who are dead and carried to the nine planes of hell also use astral bodies, but they are under slightly different rules - the demons have organized it so that the willful creation of objects is no longer possible. Demons and the inhabitants of hell also can tell the difference between an object (such as money) that has been created willfully, and an object that was legitimately created by demons. This helps to stabilize the local economies of the Nine Hells.

The only exception to this rule is the Hell of Meh, where visitors have their astral body and all equipment stripped from them completely.

With an astral body, characters can do all of the things that they did in life, such as eating, sleeping, having sex, and even dying. Many of these activities do not work exactly as they do in the real world, however. Eating is not actually a requirement of astral bodies. Hunger is only felt by souls in astral bodies if those souls believe they -should- become hungry. Over time, many souls in hell lose the habit of eating, as they slowly realize their hunger will abate even without food. Others turn eating into a recreational hobby, and food is often provided by the demons themselves if the local ecology of a plane of hell cannot meet the demand.

Sex occurs in the afterlife just as commonly as it does in the material world, but astral bodies are all barren and cannot reproduce - with the exception of an astral body mating with a demon. A male astral body can impregnate a female demon, and a female astral body can be impregnated by a male demon. If the owner of the astral body is still alive, and returns to the world of Aarn while impregnated, the demon will still come to term - but psychically, connected to the female mortal's mind. Once the demon is ready to be born, other demons will possess the female in order to rescue the child, usually without the female ever knowing.

When it came to an astral body's inability to have children under normal circumstances, the demons were flooded with a great deal of hate mail and feature change request forms. As a result, the demons decided to allow souls who had been stillborn or died at a very young age to come to the afterlife in that form and then be adopted by waiting families. These souls could be considered very unlucky. They not only have to wait a hundred years or more in the demonic sub-plane of Immigration, but they are then put in a demon adoption agency where the wait for adoption can be even longer. Once adopted, their astral body will slowly mature to the height of adulthood. Once adulthood is reached, their astral body ceases to age at all.

Sleeping, unlike eating, is not something that is optional for astral bodies. The vast majority of mortal souls require dreams in order to maintain their sanity. Simply being dead is not enough to lift this fundamental requirement of mortal minds, and in fact, the lack of being able to dream is the major source of insanity in noncorporeal undead trapped in the Inbetween.

Dead souls in the Nine Hells do still dream in the astral sea, as they did when they were alive. During the deepest stages of sleep, a soul's astral body seems to dissolve into nothing. In actuality, it has been transported with the soul to that soul's dream pocket in the astral sea. When the dream is over, the soul is automatically transported back to its place in the Nine Hells.

Death in the afterlife is caused by an excess of trauma dealt to an astral body, and lasts only a fraction of a second, with a new astral body forming next to the newly-created corpse. In the Inbetween, the Astral Sea and dreams, this new body will normally have its equipment and belongings as well - which can create duplicates of astral items. In these same places however, a slain astral body will quickly fade to nothing, which makes the window for collecting these items very small. As a further risk, if the concentration of an astralmancer is broken, it can be extremely dangerous to all involved in the astral travel. Further, if it is a wizard or divine caster allowing the astral travel, the death of an astral body will normally break the spell before a new astral body can be formed, and return that person's soul to their real body.

Due to the limitations on astral object construction in the Nine Hells however, a slain astral body is permanent, as is its equipment. The new, healthy astral body that forms after a death will be nude and without any equipment. In planes such as anarchy or paranoia, cannibalism is rampant due to the excess of corpses that develop as astral bodies die and reform.

Astral bodies heal quickly from general injuries, but not as quickly as they would “heal” from a complete death and reformation in one of the hells. This has the interesting dynamic of forcing combatants in the Nine Hells to attempt to deal nonlethal blows – it is much easier to recover from death than it is to recover from unconsciousness.

There is an appeals process set up in the Nine Hells that allows someone to ask for adjustments to be made to their afterlife. Naturally, this appeals process takes a very very, very long time, due to the high number of souls who are miserable. Some of these appeals involve changing the appearance or structure of a soul's astral body. They can choose their apparent age, so those who have a fetish for age can appear old and wizened. They can also change their gender, or even their species. For instance, many dragons who wind up on the plane of Bureaucracy will often choose to appear as demons, and in fact, actually do become demons, both physically and spiritually.

Not only can souls in hell appeal for a change to their astral bodies, but they can also appeal their judgment. In fact, the vast majority do. The long wait for the appeal to be processed however forces the soul to stay in their initial judgment plane for thousands of years. Being forced to experience their supposed value system for that long often causes them to become tolerant of it, reinforcing that value system. When they are re-judged during their appeals process, they often wind up being sent right back where they came from.

Others however, instead learn to hate their original supposed value system, and when their appeal goes through, they have accumulated the wisdom, experience, perspective, and maturity for the demon judgment to actually work for once, and send them to a hell where they belong and would enjoy.

The least lucky souls are ones who do not learn experience and perspective through their suffering, and instead experience a "grass is always greener" effect. They wind up being sent to a hell during judgment that they hate even more than the place they came from. Especially obtuse souls wind up bouncing around the different layers of hell for much of eternity.

As an alternative for appealing their judgment, souls can instead send in an appeal form requesting to rejoin the One Mother as originally intended. Despite the shattering of the original gnostic cycle by Nektos' mischief, very small amounts of souls at a time can still do this. Though the feature was disabled for the past 50 years, the One Mother's reappearance has made it possible again.

The process is one that strips the soul of all memory of their current life and identity, though the resulting consciousness can spend the rest of its existence as a true part of the One Mother's soul, experiencing a kind of parasitic bliss. Despite the suffering souls undergo in the Nine Hells, the idea of losing one's own identity is something the vast, vast majority of souls find horrifying. Many consider it to be a true death. Because of this, the wait for rejoining the One Mother is quite short, and souls often wind up rejoining the One Mother as soon as a few weeks after they send in their appeal.

Another option for souls who wish to leave the Nine Hells is reincarnation. The reincarnation itself is handled by the One Mother, and the first step of it is rejoining her, in the same way as a soul who wishes to rejoin with her permanently. While memory, identity and experiences are still obliterated, the reincarnated soul carries with it a small imprint that allows the soul to identify its past lives in subtle ways. Unfortunately, a soul cannot request the type of creature it comes back as. The creature the soul is reincarnated into is chosen by the One Mother. Not surprisingly, this option is even less popular than rejoining her permanently, and is normally reserved for non-sentient animals.