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Planescape Primalshard: other "echo" plane.
- Thread starter LuisCarlos17f
- Start date
LuisCarlos17f
Legend
Thanks for the suggestion, but to do it I would need some ilustrator and legal + technical knownledge.
About the previous plane I had forgotten to add something, the "fluvial net".
Among the floating islands there is something like a neural net, floating rivers what composed of floating rivers that flow towards water bubbles as connecting links. In the "core" of these rivers there are like linear coral reefs, allowing water life. The radio of these water collumns aren't more 200 meters.
The investigators have discovered these reefs contain a special dust working as "caborite", the mineral from the core of the floating islands, and both type of "cavorite" They repel each other like opposite poles of magnets. In some places, or some times when there are certain type of storms, the floating rives suffer a special type of ionization and they lost the repulsion toward the cavorite from the floating islands, allowing sea life in these.
These "dark matter" can be manipulated to create artificial water bubles with hidden submarine strongholds.
Of course the floating rivers are used for fishing and naval trade, although the techniques of fish farms are very advanced.
Some of these water bubles where floating converge are specially interesting because they are "hollow spaces". The main theory to explain this is the "dark matter", some type of incorporeal and invisible matter but with some salt-water repulsion power. These "undersea spaces" can be used for settlers, and towns by tritons or sea elves are very common here. The sweet water falls normally, and drinks can be consumed by air-breather creatures.
www.enworld.org
About the previous plane I had forgotten to add something, the "fluvial net".
Among the floating islands there is something like a neural net, floating rivers what composed of floating rivers that flow towards water bubbles as connecting links. In the "core" of these rivers there are like linear coral reefs, allowing water life. The radio of these water collumns aren't more 200 meters.
The investigators have discovered these reefs contain a special dust working as "caborite", the mineral from the core of the floating islands, and both type of "cavorite" They repel each other like opposite poles of magnets. In some places, or some times when there are certain type of storms, the floating rives suffer a special type of ionization and they lost the repulsion toward the cavorite from the floating islands, allowing sea life in these.
These "dark matter" can be manipulated to create artificial water bubles with hidden submarine strongholds.
Of course the floating rivers are used for fishing and naval trade, although the techniques of fish farms are very advanced.
Some of these water bubles where floating converge are specially interesting because they are "hollow spaces". The main theory to explain this is the "dark matter", some type of incorporeal and invisible matter but with some salt-water repulsion power. These "undersea spaces" can be used for settlers, and towns by tritons or sea elves are very common here. The sweet water falls normally, and drinks can be consumed by air-breather creatures.
D&D 5E - Ungodly Heaths (Dark Sun spiritual successor)
I was thinking about how could be possible the return of DS when this does not fit current standards and how to find the right balance between coherence with the previous lore and the gameplay flexibility. I have sound a possible solution where the Athasian Tablelands are within a bigger pack...
www.enworld.org
LuisCarlos17f
Legend
Somnica Valley, land of the onironauts.
Nobody could guess the revolutionary impact of the discovery of this place and thanks the fortuitous chance. This started when a group of spellcasters tried to create a project of hibernation chambers, to heal the sick and wounded, and even if the damage was too serious, to be totally frozen for the necessary time. This should work as a cheaper version of the magic for return to the life, but sometimes the results are very different.
The initial tets with volunteers (some of them criminals who accepted in exchange for a reduced sentence) didn't show signs of physical or psychological damage, but some strange side effects, and even, never better said, totally surreal.
The volunteers told when they were sleeping within the experimental chambers they dreamed they were in a totally unknow zone. The most of times was in the ruins of a big city where the buildings were mainly by crystal, metal and mortar. There were in the middle of the street vestiges of vehicles, with smaller wheels, by a material whose touch was reminiscent of resin, and without hitching of horses or draft animals. And the most curious and relevant detail is they were very small, as much as rats, squirels or mice. Without tools the survival had been a true hell without the help of the kercpas, antropomorphic squirrel. There are other "tribes" of native humanoids, but most of them are hostile, like gnolls, goblings, bugbears, kobolds, and even a formian army ruled by a warlord werevernim.
Some dreamers when they could return from that dream and wake up, some times find next to them some items or threasures they found in the dream.
The somnica valley is a very interesting place for the sages, but too little chance of physical reward for the adventurers. The exploration could be worth for some artificers who search remains of advanced technology from those ruins, but without the right tools the reverse ingeneering is too dificult, and a lot of times the onironauts appear in wild zones without remains of advance tech. If they are lucky some times they can return with tissue samples from unknown species, even enoughly good to allow the creation of possible clones. Even when these are shorter-lifed, they can live enough to breed a totally healthy new generation
Some new models of statis chamber mixed with teletransportation magic allow the onironauts or dreamwalkers to visit the Somnica Valley with some items, but magical objects only with low level. This allow more possibilities of phisical rewards.
Nobody could guess the revolutionary impact of the discovery of this place and thanks the fortuitous chance. This started when a group of spellcasters tried to create a project of hibernation chambers, to heal the sick and wounded, and even if the damage was too serious, to be totally frozen for the necessary time. This should work as a cheaper version of the magic for return to the life, but sometimes the results are very different.
The initial tets with volunteers (some of them criminals who accepted in exchange for a reduced sentence) didn't show signs of physical or psychological damage, but some strange side effects, and even, never better said, totally surreal.
The volunteers told when they were sleeping within the experimental chambers they dreamed they were in a totally unknow zone. The most of times was in the ruins of a big city where the buildings were mainly by crystal, metal and mortar. There were in the middle of the street vestiges of vehicles, with smaller wheels, by a material whose touch was reminiscent of resin, and without hitching of horses or draft animals. And the most curious and relevant detail is they were very small, as much as rats, squirels or mice. Without tools the survival had been a true hell without the help of the kercpas, antropomorphic squirrel. There are other "tribes" of native humanoids, but most of them are hostile, like gnolls, goblings, bugbears, kobolds, and even a formian army ruled by a warlord werevernim.
Some dreamers when they could return from that dream and wake up, some times find next to them some items or threasures they found in the dream.
The somnica valley is a very interesting place for the sages, but too little chance of physical reward for the adventurers. The exploration could be worth for some artificers who search remains of advanced technology from those ruins, but without the right tools the reverse ingeneering is too dificult, and a lot of times the onironauts appear in wild zones without remains of advance tech. If they are lucky some times they can return with tissue samples from unknown species, even enoughly good to allow the creation of possible clones. Even when these are shorter-lifed, they can live enough to breed a totally healthy new generation
Some new models of statis chamber mixed with teletransportation magic allow the onironauts or dreamwalkers to visit the Somnica Valley with some items, but magical objects only with low level. This allow more possibilities of phisical rewards.
LuisCarlos17f
Legend
Dreamhollow.
I am thinking about the plane of the dreams. It could be very interesting for storytelling and roleplaying but not so interesting if there isn't some crunchy reward.
Dreamhollow is a zone within the plane of the dream rebuilt, retouched and altered conscientely by artificial means thanks special magitek chambers of stasis. This happened when gem dragons discovered the classical crashed alien spaceships. The crew were fraals within special hibernation chambers. While their original and biological bodies were in stasis their minds were very busy remote-control constructs (do you remember the movie "surrogate"?).
Later with help of psionic powers and reverse engineering the stasis chambers were created by the naives, some times like penal colonies, to punish criminals. Other times it was used to heal innocent people turned into undead. A slower but aslo cheaper path.
After when teletransporation was added to the stasis chambers for safety reasons some times the sleepers wake up with physical version of objects got in the dream plane, for example a lightsaber from Star Wars (but this is not the original gadget, only a magitek "copy". If reverse engineering was possible, the product would be so expensive like the equivalent magic item.
The concept of Dreamhollow not only could become a new setting itself, but with the right explanation it could allow crossovers with no-frantasy franchises. The power balance could be in the PCs even with lower tech-level enjoy special adventages because they aren't using the original and biological bodies but a computer-simulated avatars, adding special resistance against ballistic damage. They could visit and explore Gamma World, or go to "Walking Dead" and they shouldn't be worry too much because they can't be infected by zombies' bites. Or they could appear within some MMO videogames from some isekai anime.
I am thinking about the plane of the dreams. It could be very interesting for storytelling and roleplaying but not so interesting if there isn't some crunchy reward.
Dreamhollow is a zone within the plane of the dream rebuilt, retouched and altered conscientely by artificial means thanks special magitek chambers of stasis. This happened when gem dragons discovered the classical crashed alien spaceships. The crew were fraals within special hibernation chambers. While their original and biological bodies were in stasis their minds were very busy remote-control constructs (do you remember the movie "surrogate"?).
Later with help of psionic powers and reverse engineering the stasis chambers were created by the naives, some times like penal colonies, to punish criminals. Other times it was used to heal innocent people turned into undead. A slower but aslo cheaper path.
After when teletransporation was added to the stasis chambers for safety reasons some times the sleepers wake up with physical version of objects got in the dream plane, for example a lightsaber from Star Wars (but this is not the original gadget, only a magitek "copy". If reverse engineering was possible, the product would be so expensive like the equivalent magic item.
The concept of Dreamhollow not only could become a new setting itself, but with the right explanation it could allow crossovers with no-frantasy franchises. The power balance could be in the PCs even with lower tech-level enjoy special adventages because they aren't using the original and biological bodies but a computer-simulated avatars, adding special resistance against ballistic damage. They could visit and explore Gamma World, or go to "Walking Dead" and they shouldn't be worry too much because they can't be infected by zombies' bites. Or they could appear within some MMO videogames from some isekai anime.
LuisCarlos17f
Legend
Sheenvault.
The mechanical monsters known as sheens (Dragon magazine #258 and #270) have caused a lot of damage and suffering in lots of different worlds, but there is a special case.
Before the History of the native sentient species in this world there was a war between the titanic primal powers and the new divine pantheons. The last ones ones. Thousands of years after there was a rebellion of the lord feys against the deities, and the lord feys won, but these were the "puppets" of the titanic powers who wanted revenge. These neither ruled forever. Centuries later a group of souls from a different civilitation were reincarnated or teletransported here, the "isekai". Thanks theis knownledge about science and technology they could create a new civilitation where the previous religions weren't so necessary. They reached the secrets of the transhumanism. They didn't fear the death any more because their conscences could be loaded with special "crystals" and later these to a new body.
There weren't perfect and they had to learn to fix some troubles, but they could enjoy a long existence.... until the arrival of the sheen invaders. They didn't fear the death because they could come back, but the psychological exhaustion was too much. In the end they chose to evacuate their minds and travel to other wildspace.
You could guess the sheens would be the new rulers of the planet, and they could destroy the native ecosystem to create a new army of biomechanic monsters to invade new worlds, but this didn't happen like this. Really they couldn't enjoy their victory when a second wave of native defenders appeared, and this time these won.
The sheens weren't ready to face the supernatural foces, and this was the cause of their end. The nightmare had ended, but no living sentient creature remained in the planet.
The souls of the native population were free again, altought soon new menaces appeared, other spirits, remains of the previous powers, the primal titants, forgotten deities and lord feys. A new fight for the freedom in the afterlife would start, but this time with a new weapons. The rebel souls used the bodies of the sheens and the secrets of the transhumanism to create a new army of no-sentient bioconstructs.
This planet has been visited and several times by alien civilitations with a high-advanced technology, and usually the contacts were peaceful and diplomatic, allowing some paths for trade. The civilitation could be rebuilt, but the transhumanist magitek to reincanation of all the souls is too expensive and slow. The trade of magitek is allowed but the patent right fees is too expensive and this is the reasons it wasn't exported to other wildspaces.
New waves of sheen invaders have arrived, and altought the intruders are stopped and rejected sooner. they more and more arrive.
The titanic powers, deities and lord feys have also used reverse bioengineering with the sheen bodies, but they would rather to create armies of elemental, construct or plant monsters. The creation of undead monsters is possible, but it is culturally a serious taboo, and the last sheen raids showed these were ready to use radiant energy against undeads.
Some times the planar gates used by the sheen invaders keep opened, and these allowed counter-strike expeditions, and some times very succesful, allowing new zones to be explored (and looted).
The mechanical monsters known as sheens (Dragon magazine #258 and #270) have caused a lot of damage and suffering in lots of different worlds, but there is a special case.
Before the History of the native sentient species in this world there was a war between the titanic primal powers and the new divine pantheons. The last ones ones. Thousands of years after there was a rebellion of the lord feys against the deities, and the lord feys won, but these were the "puppets" of the titanic powers who wanted revenge. These neither ruled forever. Centuries later a group of souls from a different civilitation were reincarnated or teletransported here, the "isekai". Thanks theis knownledge about science and technology they could create a new civilitation where the previous religions weren't so necessary. They reached the secrets of the transhumanism. They didn't fear the death any more because their conscences could be loaded with special "crystals" and later these to a new body.
There weren't perfect and they had to learn to fix some troubles, but they could enjoy a long existence.... until the arrival of the sheen invaders. They didn't fear the death because they could come back, but the psychological exhaustion was too much. In the end they chose to evacuate their minds and travel to other wildspace.
You could guess the sheens would be the new rulers of the planet, and they could destroy the native ecosystem to create a new army of biomechanic monsters to invade new worlds, but this didn't happen like this. Really they couldn't enjoy their victory when a second wave of native defenders appeared, and this time these won.
The sheens weren't ready to face the supernatural foces, and this was the cause of their end. The nightmare had ended, but no living sentient creature remained in the planet.
The souls of the native population were free again, altought soon new menaces appeared, other spirits, remains of the previous powers, the primal titants, forgotten deities and lord feys. A new fight for the freedom in the afterlife would start, but this time with a new weapons. The rebel souls used the bodies of the sheens and the secrets of the transhumanism to create a new army of no-sentient bioconstructs.
This planet has been visited and several times by alien civilitations with a high-advanced technology, and usually the contacts were peaceful and diplomatic, allowing some paths for trade. The civilitation could be rebuilt, but the transhumanist magitek to reincanation of all the souls is too expensive and slow. The trade of magitek is allowed but the patent right fees is too expensive and this is the reasons it wasn't exported to other wildspaces.
New waves of sheen invaders have arrived, and altought the intruders are stopped and rejected sooner. they more and more arrive.
The titanic powers, deities and lord feys have also used reverse bioengineering with the sheen bodies, but they would rather to create armies of elemental, construct or plant monsters. The creation of undead monsters is possible, but it is culturally a serious taboo, and the last sheen raids showed these were ready to use radiant energy against undeads.
Some times the planar gates used by the sheen invaders keep opened, and these allowed counter-strike expeditions, and some times very succesful, allowing new zones to be explored (and looted).
LuisCarlos17f
Legend
I was thinking about the background of the ardlings, the potentially future new PC specie, and about if they should be from a different origin, maybe the Feywild, but I have remember the Spirit-Realm from Kara-tur, and then I had an idea.
Anima Regnum, also known colloquially as Soulfields
Nobody can know really the damage of Vecna's machinations in Sigil but after his last actions, some changes in the cosmology have been detected.
The simplest way to try to explain the Soulfields is as if the rubble of a demolished building were thrown into a landfill, and these ruins were remains of destroyed or shatered demiplanes and astral domains from ancient ages.
Archaeological and palentological investigations confirm that some regions come from celestial planes that were contaminated by infernal invasions, and other areas were infernal territories that could be purified enough to split from the original planes.
Although at first glance it may show a paradisiacal image, the "wild" areas can be a true hell for both natives and visitors due to the threat of all types of predators, some of them vestiges of past eras. According some reports, some natives travel to certain places as "final destinations" but the horrible truth is these are traps by maneater creatures known as "morlocks"
LuisCarlos17f
Legend
Espectrathalass.
The sea of wraiths is really a strange place, where the sea life is mainly "over the water".
When the first explores from other worlds arrived here they were very surprised because most of sea life appeared "floating" over the water, until the investigations by the sage found the answer to this mistery: The salt dissolved in water it has special ionizing properties, causing this to become invisible and incorporeal, but the native sea life has evolutionated to "attune" to this salt, and now they can "float" over the incorporeal water because it is totally phisical for their bodies. Survival is possible for air-breathers because on the floor there are lakes of sweet water from rain. The tritons, sea elves and other humanoids adapted to the sea have created a confederation for mutual help and defense. There are good trade links with Fluviopolis.
Ignitempestas.
Here the most famous proverb is "fire purifies" and it is seems this world was created to prove it. The local vegetation is really surprising, because it is really adapted into the elements, even the fire, but here also the "fire" is also very different. Most of time there are fabulous jungles and forests, but other times, the same zone can become a complete dessert a couple of centuries later, and fastly to recover. The land could seem very fertile, but the agriculture is very hard with native plants, because but the fruits, most of them can't be eaten by no-natives. Underground civilitations have could to build empires, but on the surface everybody is forced to nomadism by fault of the "fire storms". According arcane investigations the origin is not natural, and some theories are the remains of some ancient power to purge some alien plague. This theory is plausible because the zone is one of most "visited" by extrapalanr intruders, but these can't survive the firestorms, but those with fireproof traits.
The ecosystem has adapted to the firestorm because the vegetation is totally burnt by the firestorms, but later the recovery is very fast, as if there were healing magic, or waves of positive energy. Or because the native plants are partially elementals, and then after being burnt the firestorm the elemental part can surviver, and the biological botanic part can regenerate slowly.
How can survive the fauna and humanoids? Entering to the "dustmist" zones, where buildings aren't affected by the firestorms. The fact is lots of humanoids with fire elemental traits can feel confortable here, even if they can't watch the sun covered by the eternal sandstorm, or everybody is covered by dust like the snow in the winter. The conflicts between different populations is very rare because to find and invader an enemy population in other isolated "dustmist" is very hard, allowing the different city-states to keep independence, but willing alliances, by marriage lots of time. Or at least this was like this until the arrival of planar invaders from fire plane, like salamanders.
The hunt raids are very common, because the corpses of alien invaders who couldn't survive the firestorms are very valious.
The mining industry is very important, but the most desired deposits are the cavorite within the floating islands. The most cavorite is the "living coal", what can grow as an elemental fungus what can grow in the underground, and even "farmed". This carvorite living-coal can be used to create skyships.
Other important industry one the floating islands are the "aerial sargassum", also used to build skyships.
There aren't firestorms in the zones near the floating islands, but electric storms may ver destructive.
The sea of wraiths is really a strange place, where the sea life is mainly "over the water".
When the first explores from other worlds arrived here they were very surprised because most of sea life appeared "floating" over the water, until the investigations by the sage found the answer to this mistery: The salt dissolved in water it has special ionizing properties, causing this to become invisible and incorporeal, but the native sea life has evolutionated to "attune" to this salt, and now they can "float" over the incorporeal water because it is totally phisical for their bodies. Survival is possible for air-breathers because on the floor there are lakes of sweet water from rain. The tritons, sea elves and other humanoids adapted to the sea have created a confederation for mutual help and defense. There are good trade links with Fluviopolis.
Ignitempestas.
Here the most famous proverb is "fire purifies" and it is seems this world was created to prove it. The local vegetation is really surprising, because it is really adapted into the elements, even the fire, but here also the "fire" is also very different. Most of time there are fabulous jungles and forests, but other times, the same zone can become a complete dessert a couple of centuries later, and fastly to recover. The land could seem very fertile, but the agriculture is very hard with native plants, because but the fruits, most of them can't be eaten by no-natives. Underground civilitations have could to build empires, but on the surface everybody is forced to nomadism by fault of the "fire storms". According arcane investigations the origin is not natural, and some theories are the remains of some ancient power to purge some alien plague. This theory is plausible because the zone is one of most "visited" by extrapalanr intruders, but these can't survive the firestorms, but those with fireproof traits.
The ecosystem has adapted to the firestorm because the vegetation is totally burnt by the firestorms, but later the recovery is very fast, as if there were healing magic, or waves of positive energy. Or because the native plants are partially elementals, and then after being burnt the firestorm the elemental part can surviver, and the biological botanic part can regenerate slowly.
How can survive the fauna and humanoids? Entering to the "dustmist" zones, where buildings aren't affected by the firestorms. The fact is lots of humanoids with fire elemental traits can feel confortable here, even if they can't watch the sun covered by the eternal sandstorm, or everybody is covered by dust like the snow in the winter. The conflicts between different populations is very rare because to find and invader an enemy population in other isolated "dustmist" is very hard, allowing the different city-states to keep independence, but willing alliances, by marriage lots of time. Or at least this was like this until the arrival of planar invaders from fire plane, like salamanders.
The hunt raids are very common, because the corpses of alien invaders who couldn't survive the firestorms are very valious.
The mining industry is very important, but the most desired deposits are the cavorite within the floating islands. The most cavorite is the "living coal", what can grow as an elemental fungus what can grow in the underground, and even "farmed". This carvorite living-coal can be used to create skyships.
Other important industry one the floating islands are the "aerial sargassum", also used to build skyships.
There aren't firestorms in the zones near the floating islands, but electric storms may ver destructive.
LuisCarlos17f
Legend
Domogravis, the arcology and Fractalopolis the living city.
In some places there is a belife about even the artificial tools, and also the own building themself, can be "impregnated" by the souls of the sentient beings who use them, and maybe they can "awake". These spirits are very respected by the inhabitants, and they seem to acquire the personality of people who die there the first time, who lived more time, or the children who grew up there.
But if those building are destroyed... what would be the fate of those spirits in the afterlife? Could magic be used for "reincarnation". The demiplane of the domogravis is the answer.
Althought the landscape is really bizarre and surealist for the newcomers really the visitors are wellcome here and it is very friendly for the traders, if you don't mind to pay the toll taxes.
The faster way to describe Domogravis is "surrealist fractal architecture", but this needs be explained better. The plane is a heap of floating stone spheres in the space, linked by roads as if these were rope bridges. The core of each sphere would be a town or city, full with collumns, the streets, and ramified on these the buildings. Each building spirit can use a humanoid-shape avatar to communitate with visitors. They remember the lifes of their previous inhabitants, and their statements are very valious for archaeological investigations. The fact is the most of these spirits would wish a "second life", and these is possible, but not in the usual way.
When a home spirit allows new inhabitants and after a time, before if certain magic is used, the "home" is reborn, but in a different demiplane, Fractalopolis. now with a potential future for interplanar trade. The fact is lots of areas started as camps for refugees. You could guess living in this city can be very expensive, or complicate, but some things can be explained. Technically each building is a sentient being for all llegal effects, and then the buying and selling would be equivalent to slavery. Hiring is legal, but the permanent residence is more like to marry the right person.
Although it needs some effort for each home spirit, each building can create a zone for urban garden. However not everybody wants to live within a sentient building because it is like somebody always watching you and there isn't enough feeling of intimancy.
In some places there is a belife about even the artificial tools, and also the own building themself, can be "impregnated" by the souls of the sentient beings who use them, and maybe they can "awake". These spirits are very respected by the inhabitants, and they seem to acquire the personality of people who die there the first time, who lived more time, or the children who grew up there.
But if those building are destroyed... what would be the fate of those spirits in the afterlife? Could magic be used for "reincarnation". The demiplane of the domogravis is the answer.
Althought the landscape is really bizarre and surealist for the newcomers really the visitors are wellcome here and it is very friendly for the traders, if you don't mind to pay the toll taxes.
The faster way to describe Domogravis is "surrealist fractal architecture", but this needs be explained better. The plane is a heap of floating stone spheres in the space, linked by roads as if these were rope bridges. The core of each sphere would be a town or city, full with collumns, the streets, and ramified on these the buildings. Each building spirit can use a humanoid-shape avatar to communitate with visitors. They remember the lifes of their previous inhabitants, and their statements are very valious for archaeological investigations. The fact is the most of these spirits would wish a "second life", and these is possible, but not in the usual way.
When a home spirit allows new inhabitants and after a time, before if certain magic is used, the "home" is reborn, but in a different demiplane, Fractalopolis. now with a potential future for interplanar trade. The fact is lots of areas started as camps for refugees. You could guess living in this city can be very expensive, or complicate, but some things can be explained. Technically each building is a sentient being for all llegal effects, and then the buying and selling would be equivalent to slavery. Hiring is legal, but the permanent residence is more like to marry the right person.
Although it needs some effort for each home spirit, each building can create a zone for urban garden. However not everybody wants to live within a sentient building because it is like somebody always watching you and there isn't enough feeling of intimancy.
