The Dragon-Dimensions: A D&D Campaign Setting

[Elementalist]

The Dragon-Dimensions Campaign Setting

Cosmology

There are three dragonworlds that form the core of the cosmology. These are Arcus, Derrethorn, and Zuryl, each named after the dragon that created it. Each dragonworld is a dimension (supposedly) created by a dragon-god, wrought wholesale from nothing by the dragon-god's magic. However, in order to create their dimensions, the dragon-gods had to permanently expend their own power, infusing it into their world. Most believe that this killed them, though some religions believe that they live on in the land and worship nature, while others believe that the dragon-gods actually left their worlds and await those gods' return. There was once a fourth dragonworld, known as Nil; however, it fell to heat-death as a result of the overuse of magic.

Numerous (though not infinite) other planes of existence surround the three dragonworlds. These worlds were generally created by particularly powerful spirits, and are known (to the inhabitants of the dragonworlds) as "lesser realms." Some of the creator-spirits infused themselves wholly into their realms like the dragon-gods did, but others only expended a part of their power to create their worlds, and rule over them still.


The Spiritvoid is not a dimension, but it separates every dimension.


Each dimension contains only a single planet- no satellites, no sun, no greater universe. Lesser realms frequently contain even less; a single continent or even a single region floating on a sea of lava on a flat plane. There are exceptions to this, however.


There are spells that allow a practitioner to travel from one dimension to another. Additionally, it is possible to create gates, arcane constructs of both magic and technology, which even non-practitioners may use to pass between worlds en-masse.

Edited November 29, 2017 by Elementalist

[Elementalist]

Magic

DISCLAIMER: The basic concept of this magic system (the idea of magic in some way powered by other dimensions) belongs to a friend of mine, and is used with his permission. All worldbuilding and magic system beyond that is my original creation.

All magic in the dragon-dimensions has a price. The dragon-gods were (according to their worshipers) divine beings of glory and fire, and it was infusing that fire into their worlds that gave them true life. All flowery religious trappings aside, it is clear that magic in the dragon-dimensions is undeniably linked to the energy available in each of those dimensions; specifically, their net heat. In addition to being a physical property of matter, heat in the dragon-dimensions is also a property of the soul, and like any heat, soul-heat can be used as a resource by the desperate or immoral.

Regardless of the source, the energy from all spells must come from somewhere.

Practitioners of Arcane Magic draw energy from mage-beacons.
Practitioners of Divine Magic draw energy from spirits.

Both spirits and mage-beacons ultimately drain heat from the world they're in; in turn, this causes the soul-heat of living things to drain back out into the world in a twisted version of thermodynamics. As a world begins to run out of heat, the borders between it and the Spiritvoid become thin and eventually fracture, allowing spirits to physically enter it. Such spirits consume the heat of the world even more quickly, perpetuating the vicious cycle and reducing the world to a frozen hellscape. After significant time in this state, the world dissolves back into the Spiritvoid.

Casting a spell requires that the practitioner think along specific paths. Verbal, somatic, and material components are mnemonic aids that place the practicioner in the correct mindset to use a spell. With practice, the correct mindsets can be achieved without the help of aids, allowing a practitioner to eschew verbal, somatic, and/or material components.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This system could best be described as being hard magic with regards to power sources but soft magic with regards to effects produced. The general rule is that the magical capabilities of each individual character are set in stone, but the possibilities for what capabilities are available are limited only by the power source rules.

Arcane Magic

Spoiler

An arcane practitioner such as a wizard or sorcerer uses magic by drawing energy directly from dragon-dimensions. This energy comes in the form of heat; each time they use a spell, the net heat of a dimension decreases slightly and the world gets a bit colder. This is not a one-to-one trade and seems to operate on unknown rules; for example, it takes more universal heat to create a bolt of lightning than it does to conjure matter from nothing, even though the latter should require far more energy than the former. (AUTHOR'S NOTE: this is my explanation for why magic that conjures matter is feasible within the system, and for how a creator-spirit can create a realm). Regardless, the amount of dimensional heat it takes to cast a specific spell allows for easy division of spells into categories, or levels. Most practitioners find it easier to cast lower level spells than higher level, and few go further than the lowest levels. There are exceptions, of course.

An arcane practitioner draws power from a dimension by connecting themself to a mage-beacon.

Overuse of magic on a world drains that world's heat quickly, turning it into a barren, icy, waste devoid of life. However, unliving things remain on these warmthless realms; monstrous former humans with the warmth of their souls siphoned to nothing and opportunistic spirits lay claim to these hellish places. It is unclear just how many realms have fallen into heat-death through overuse of magic, without realizing the danger they faced until it was far too late to avoid. The dragonworld of Nil met such a fate.

The above fate almost befell each of the three dragonworlds, with Zuryl coming closest to disaster. Before it was too late, however, the dragonworlds' inhabitants discovered a solution- instead of drawing heat from their own worlds, they could establish connections to the lesser realms, and siphon their heat to fuel magic. At the same time, each world cracked the secret to gate technology. Explorers from each dragonworld set out to find the lesser realms most rich in energy. When they were discovered and their interplanar locations reported back to the dragonworlds, gates were opened and beacons established within the lesser realms. Arcane practitioners could forge a mystic connection to these beacons and draw energy from them, allowing the lesser realms' heat to power their magic, and offsetting the danger of heat-death from the dragonworld to the lesser realm.

Obviously, the inhabitants of the lesser reams did not approve of this. Wars have broken out between many of the energy-rich realms and the dragonworlds. However, the technological advantage and greater access to resources the dragonworlds possessed allowed them to claim victory over all but the most stubborn of realms.

At first, the dragonworlds could avoid conflict with one another despite their chilly relationships by simply exploiting different realms. However, recently, it has become harder and harder to find energy-rich realms that have not yet been plundered. With resources becoming scarce, tensions increased until hostility erupted, and the dragonworlds are now engaged in a three-way interplanar war. Alliances are occasionally made, but always betrayed at one point or another.

Naturally, it is illegal on every dragonworld to drain energy from the dragonworld itself. Building mage-beacons on a dragonworld or connecting to such a beacon is punished by death or enslavement by each dragonworld's government. However, due to the unfairness of the governments' systems of power distribution, many are forced to take the risk of energy piracy to survive.

Divine Magic

Spoiler

In the Dragon-Dimensions, the term "divine magic" is used to refer to magic that does not draw directly upon the energy of one world or another but rather accesses that energy by using another being- a spirit- as a proxy. To use divine magic, a practitioner contacts a spirit from the Spiritvoid or the creator-spirit of a lesser realm and makes a pact with them. The spirit gains a mystic connection to the practitioner, and may use that connection to glut energy from the realms that practitioner visits. Spirits can then use that energy to sustain themselves, breed, or (with a significant amount of energy stored away) create their own realms. Creator-spirits can also use the energy to maintain a realm over which they rule (which requires a constant expenditure). In exchange, the spirit crafts a portion of that energy into pre-made spells which they grant to the practitioner.

Divine magic differs from arcane in one other major respect. When an arcane practitioner connects to a mage-beacon, no physical change occurs to the practitioner, the beacon, or the dimension. However, when a divine practitioner makes a pact with a spirit, the spirit cannot leave the Spiritvoid (or their personal realm, if they have one). As a result, the connection between spirit and practitioner must bridge the gap between dimensions, and it does so in a far more visible way than the connection between practitioner and mage-beacon. On any world where the divine practitioner travels, a white light will appear in the sky. This light is a sign of where the invisible connection pierces the veil between dimensions, and can be analyzed by an expert to determine the location and magical activity of its linked practitioner.

A spirit always draws power from the world that its practitioner is on. As a result, divine magic is considered to be energy piracy on the dragonworlds, and is punished accordingly. However, some still take the risk when arcane magic is unfeasible, or when they require an additional influx of power that arcane magic can't provide.

Divine magic can be dangerous when performed on a world close to heat-death, where the veil is fractured or close to it. The divine connection can act as a beacon to a spirit, guiding it towards that world and possibly allowing it to puncture even an unbroken veil and enter the realm. If that occurs, no-one is safe, particularly not the divine practitioner at fault.

 

Edited November 29, 2017 by Elementalist

[Elementalist]

Dragonworlds

Arcus

Spoiler

50 years before Arcus's near-miss with heat-death, the world was a diverse mixture of many cultures, nations, religions, and creeds. Now, however, it is united under a single banner- that of the Legion of Progress. The Legion is a military-fascist regime dedicated to what they see as the "evolution of society." It was founded by the charismatic human general and politician Rexa Victus, who is now revered throughout Arcus as the creator of the greatest government in all history. Victus forsaw the problem heat-death would pose in the future, and believed that society would only survive if they unified, discarding any cherished values or traditions that did not directly support the perpetuation of life on Arcus. Only through utter unification, she claimed, could society be guaranteed to both discover solutions to heat death and remain safe from outside threats. To accomplish the former goal, she founded the scientific corps; to accomplish the latter, she founded the military. The Legion gained power through conquest, waging war until every nation had bent knee. Victus did not live to see her dream realized, but she is hailed as a savior to this day.

Membership in the Legion political party is mandatory for every citizen. This society makes no distinction between civilian and soldier; every person is employed by some aspect of the military government and is considered to be a soldier, even if they don't fight. The Legion itself is split into two categories- the military corps and the scientific corps. The military corps forms the majority of the dragonworld's population, with many people joining its battle divisions but a greater number appointed to other jobs vital to society, such as labor or civil engineering. Any person can be drafted into the battle divisions should the need arise, however.

The scientific corps is far smaller in manpower than the military but possesses equal or greater power politically. This organization is composed of scientists, engineers, and their assistants and test subjects. The scientific corps is tasked with advancing society by making discoveries that support the Legion and its goals.

The world of Arcus is the warmest of the dragonworlds (though that's not saying much). It is primarily composed of forests and plains, interspersed with mountainous regions. Arcus has no single sun in the sky- instead, many small suns (ranging from the size of a hand to that of a car) float overhead, relatively close to the ground, and radiate heat onto the planet's surface. Many of these suns went out during the world's brush with heat-death, but most still burn. The interplanar war began only shortly after Arcus' brush with heat-death, which itself began only shortly after the War of Progress when the Legion conquered the planet; as a result, Arcus has the smallest population of any dragonworld, a major limiting factor without which they would likely have easily won the war.

There is no religion on Arcus. The Legion of Progress deemed belief in the unprovable to be a parasitic practice holding society back, and purged every last religion from the face of the world, executing every priest and burning every scripture.

Currently, Arcus' military corps is led by the human General Moff Praltus, a cautious man who prefers to play it safe and gain incremental gains through attrition (as both a military and political strategy). Praltus was appointed leader of the military corps by Rexa Victus before her death. However, his control has recently been challenged by his young rival, half-gnome Admiral Tar Victus of the sky navy, daughter of the Legion's founder. Tar is Praltus's opposite in almost every way; she prefers daring tactics and big risks for big rewards. Just as charismatic as her mother, Tar's major successes in campaigns against Zurish angel brigades have demonstrated to many that she has an intuitive grasp of strategy that Praltus seems to lack. As a result, a schism has developed between those loyal to the appointed leader Praltus and those who (like Tar herself) believe a Victus should remain in control of the military.

Tar has yet to make any overt moves to userp Praltus, but many believe it's only a matter of time. Ordinarily, Praltus would resolve a situation like this one through trumped-up charges leading to an execution, or an assassination pinned on Derrethorn if the situation was exceedingly delicate. However, Tar's family name has rendered such strategies insufficient. As a result, the two are currently locked in stalemate.

Arcus' scientific corps is led by the gnomish scientist and genius biomancer Neva Parvus. Unlike Praltus, who was appointed to his post by Rexa Victus herself, Parvus gained power later after evidence was discovered linking Victus' original choice to an anarchist plot. Parvus is a diehard believer in Victus' philosophy that no tradition or belief should be maintained that does not directly benefit society. However, she takes this belief a step further, stating that even the Legion's own traditions may prove insufficient, and if evidence suggests that they are, they should be discarded as part of the neverending search for true perfection. This belief that has caused some to regard her as a traitor to Victus' already perfect society. Nevertheless, the biomantic marvels Parvus continues to produce have rendered her too vital to the Legion to discard, a fact she leverages for all possible political advantage.

Parvus has applied her philosophy of change in search of perfection to the scientific corps, and as a result, the organization is in a constant state of flux. Their structure and governance change day by day as they experiment to find the perfect system (though coincidentally, Parvus herself always seems to be the most powerful individual in any given system they attempt). Their social and thought experiments often focus on the discovery of the perfect system of government. Scientific corps biomancers constantly perform experiments on test subjects and on themselves, trying to eliminate perceived weaknesses of their biological forms (such as the need for food, drink, air, or sleep) and testing numerous combinations of traits to find those that work best. Even their geographical location is difficult to pin down; their bases seem to shift in position from day to day, a fact that has caused the Chainbreakers no end of grief.

The capital city of Arcus, Victory, is also known as the city of mirrors. Mirrors are placed throughout the city, and built into its structures, in such a way that a view of every part of the city is reflected back to the military corps headquarters at the center. The images can then be magically enhanced, allowing for constant surveillance of everything in the city.

Though both the military and scientific corps are headquartered on Arcus itself, the military corps is more often needed on other planes. As a result, the scientific corps has been given free reign to experiment on much of Arcus's territory, flora, and fauna. Their philosophy with regards to the pursuit of perfection can be reflected in the very landscape of the world due to their endless "improvement initiatives," in which large swaths of Arcus's biological matter are augmented with mechanical components. Plant life is made more efficient, with metal forests rising from the ground to collect sunlight with solar-panel leaves; animal life is also reworked, with both predators and prey made more deadly.

Similarly, the scientific corps improves their own mechanical creations by installing biological upgrades, harvested from vat-grown flesh or the flesh of unwilling volunteers such as political dissidents or prisoners of war; these creations are then used by both the military and scientific corps. Their finest creations are drakes, floaters, and spider walkers. Drakes are winged, serpentine creatures designed in the image of dragons (for additional psychological effect against Zurish troops) ranging from small "fighters" to large "bombers." The drakes are actually a fusion of living matter and mechanical parts, with engines and pistons to provide the living components with locomotion without requiring supporting organs or muscles. The living components can produce a powerful breath attack and are semi-intelligent, allowing them to operate independently of a crew in an emergency. Deadly claws allow for close-quarters combat while attached guns and missile launchers provide long-range capability. The inside of the creature is hollowed out to allow space for a single pilot or larger crew.

Floaters are massive airships that act as a mobile base and command center, with enough firepower to hold locations and act as defensive positions on the front lines. The external metal frame of the floater is rigged with heavy cannons and artillery, with hanger bays for drakes open to the air. At the core of the floater is a "lung" biological system which takes in air and magically transmutes it to helium, which is then used to fill the fleshy sacs that act as balloons for the entire structure.

Spider walkers are heavy ground forces created by merging the basic concept of a tank with Arcus's native oversized arachnid fauna. They are designed to overcome the mobility disadvantages of ordinary tanks by attaching a small tank's worth of firepower (a small cannon and two repeating guns) to a spider frame, capable of maneuvering over obstacles and sticking by the legs to the sides of buildings. Like drakes, they are hollow inside, allowing them to be crewed by a team of three.

The military corps makes heavy use of mechanical augmentations in its troops and biological augmentations in its vehicles. However, the extent to which the scientific corps seems willing to go with regards to augmentation disturbs Praltus, Tar and many other higher-ups within the military, leading to rising tensions between the Legion's two factions. These tensions have yet to produce any true conflict between the two, but this may change in the future (particularly considering the efforts of Thornian spies to exacerbate them).

Derrethorn

Spoiler

Derrethorn is a world controlled by governments- ostensibly. Each nation of the world is independent, but all have joined together under the flag of the World Senate, established when the nations of the world needed to put aside their squabbles and present a combined front against the newly-discovered other dragonworlds and lesser realms. However, everyone knows that the governments and senates of Derrethorn's nations are no more than puppets, owned wholesale by the multinational corporations that actually control Derrethorn. What few people know is that the corporations are, themselves, often puppets for the secret societies that shape the future of this heavily industrialized world.

Layers of Derrethorn:
Upper Atmosphere-
Home of the Illithid Society. Massive hive-ships of powerful beings possessing unique abilities float trapped above the flenserstorm, unable to breach through to the surface. The Illithids are the last remnant of an invasion force from long ago. They are not divine practitioners, but they were created by spirits as a dimensionally traveling invasion force. They bind spirits to local organisms to be mutated by uncontrolled spellcasting, and use flora and fauna as hosts for lesser spirits. The top layer is a whirling maelstrom of wind and dust, full of grown, chitinous hiveships and horrifying spirit-host organisms.

There is no sun in the Thornian sky. Instead, the sky is stuck in what appears to be a perpetual sunset or sunrise; it always looks like the sun has only just dipped below the horizon or is about to rise above it, but it never quite appears.

The Flenserstorm-
A whirling storm of sharp metal particles, so thick in its center as to seem a solid wall of metal. The grains of metallic sand make travel into the upper atmosphere impossible; flesh is rent from bone in seconds when exposed to even the edge of the storm. Many types of metal can be found within the storm. The flenserstorm is a result of the First Civilization's apocalyptic war with the illithids. The First Civilization utilized this weapon only as a last resort, knowing the effect it would have upon their planet; they transfigured a massive amount of sand and dirt from the world's surface into metal. Each grain of metallic sand is inscribed with an impossibly tiny rune of sealing; together, they form a cage that not only blocks off the Illithids from the surface, but from inderdimensional travel as well.
In modern times, the flenserstorm is utilized as a source of metal, more plentiful and easily accessible than the metal in the ground. Of course, most of modern Thornian society is ignorant of the storm's true purpose, or of the possible consequences of interfering with it.

The Tempest-
Below the storm of metal can be found a storm of water. Though significantly more mundane than its metallic counterpart, the Tempest is still a product of the War of Apocalypse. As a counterstrike at the last moment after the First Civilization released the flenserstorm weapon, the illithids combined their psionic abilities to change the physical and magical properties of Thornian surface water, causing it to be attracted to metal (water that is a part of a living organism is immune to this effect). As a result, the metal content of the flenserstorm drew all water away from Derrethorn's surface (which fortunately had no oceans to begin with, but many lakes and rivers), causing a widespread drought that proved to be the First Civilization's death blow. The Flenserstorm's own movement agitated the sky sea until it too became a storm, known as the Tempest. Unlike the flenserstorm, the tempest is not omnipresent over Derrethorn; huge portions of it move across the skies of Derrethorn, allowing periodic access to the metallic trove above.
In modern times, the Tempest is one of the most easily-accessible sources of water available to the people of Derrethorn; it is regularly harvested to provide for the world's surface civilization.

Lower Atmosphere-
Above the Skin of the World, the sky buzzes with activity, as airships transport goods and people or harvest resources from the upper layers. The lower atmosphere is periodically split by massive spires stretching up from the Skin to scrape the Tempest or even the lower edge of the Flenserstorm, magically reinforced so as to not fall under their own weight or be damaged by the two storm layers. These spires serve as centers of industry and bases from which the Tempest and Flenserstorm are harvested for resources. The portions of the industrial spires within the lower atmosphere are primarily populated by workers and laborers who make a living maintaining the resource collection occurring at the spires' tops. This work can be extremely dangerous due to the possibility of warding failure, thrall breach, or any number of other disasters that could befall the upper spire; however, the jobs are still sought after due to the (relatively) good pay and opportunity to escape the smog and grit of the Skin.

The wealthy, on the other hand, have other means of escaping the smog. Using magical and mundane technology, it's possible to draw a portion of the Tempest into the lower atmosphere and stabilize it at that level, resulting in a floating mass of water. The very rich have capitalized upon this effect as a means of building homes unmolested by the concerns of the surface, by using the water as the building ground for mansions and estates. The "droplets" are surrounded by a shell of earth, and biomancy is used to induce plant growth (frequently arboreal growth similar to mangrove trees) to bind the dirt and stone together. Further construction can then begin upon the surface of the droplet.

The Skin of the World-
The Skin is characterized by massive megacities that cover almost half the world's surface, supporting Derrethorn's people, corporations, governments, and secret societies. Subject to environmental degradation from both the War of Apocalypse and modern industry, the Skin-cities are frequently covered in a layer of sand, dirt, and smog. The majority of Derrethorn's lower class lives within these cities, and most corporate activity takes place within as well. Between the cities stretch miles of arid, dusty, desert terrain devoid of all but the hardiest and deadliest of flora and fauna.

The Tunnel Layer-
Below, tunnels (both modern and ancient) stretch miles beneath the earth, forming Derrethorn's literal underworld. This area is almost impossible to police; criminal activity flourishes in the upper portions of the tunnel layer. Beneath that, the tunnels and caves below the Skin of the World contain relics from the First Civilization, and are relentlessly explored and pursued by modern treasure hunters and corporations- despite the dangers presented by underground wildlife and still-active First Civ golems and defense systems.

The Aquifer Layer-
The Illithid's final strike left the surface of the world devoid of water, but some was left behind in aquifers within the upper portions of the planet's bedrock. The aquifers are the only source of water more accessible than the tempest (not moving about and destroying airships helps in that regard); thus, when Thornians dig down, they are more likely to be in pursuit of the "blue gold" than metals or resources.

Bedrock-
A much thinner layer than exists on Earth, bedrock extends down a relatively minor distance (on a geological scale) before giving way to the mantle.

The Mantle-
As on any spherical dimension, Derrethorn's mantle serves as the world's heat storage and as the storage location for souls not yet incarnated as they recharge their own stores of heat. Due to the unique challenges presented by Derrethorn's layers, Thornian civilization reached the mantle well before either of the other dragonworlds; as a result, Derrethorn's necromancy is persistently more advanced than that of Arcus and significantly more advanced than that of Zuryl. Besides tapping aquifers, accessing the souls of the Mantle is the most common reason for Thornian corporations to mine below the planet's surface.


Corporations of Derrethorn:

Benedicite (Medical/Biomancy) -
Benedicite is the most influential medical corporation of Derrethorn, controlling much of the world's pharmaceutical industry, private medicine, and hospitals. Benedicite also dabbles in biomancy, though to nowhere near the same degree as Vynzll Marroworks. The company is primarily run by angels, whose ability to miraculously cure otherwise incurable diseases and injuries gives them an edge over their competitors. Studying their own power has allowed the angels to develop numerous new medical techniques, surgeries, drugs/potions, and grafts that are usable by non-angelic practitioners or even ordinary individuals.

The CEO of Benedicite is the angel Malia. Previously the leader of the heavenly host for a powerful pre-corporate church, Malia's rejection of that congregation in favor of running her own corporation broke the faith of many; when they turned to money as a result, it only hastened the growing angelic exodus. Malia is quite literally the avatar of commerce, material wealth, and greed. Many who have met with her have noted that despite her expert facade of civility and professionalism, when she looks at them, they feel as if she doesn't see people (or even living things at all) but simply gold piece values stapled to moving meat.

Vynzll Marroworks (Biomancy/Necromancy) -
Vynzll Marroworks is a biomantic corporation of Derrethorn dealing with custom-made and mass-manufactured biotechnology, both living and dead. Using souls purchased from Necromantic Drilling and other suppliers, Vynzll generates a variety of custom-grown organisms for military, corporate, and personal use, each with the Vynzll seal of quality stamped on its skin and bones. In addition to designing warbeasts and labor animals, Vynzll is also the world's largest supplier of grafts to both military and consumer markets. The advances made by the corporation's biomancers has allowed concepts of fixed strength, ability, and physical form to become almost a thing of the past (for those with the money to pay for such modifications, of course). Unlike Arcan biomancy, which generally augments organisms with metallic components, Vynzll instead less-than-seamlessly combines living and dead flesh and then uses necromancy to animate the dead.

Vynzll Marroworks greatest achievement to date is the creation of an entirely new race of sapient being, the changelings, under the oversight of the company's previous CEO. Previous attempts to create original sapient life had always failed due to the generated body's inability to reconcile the numerous discrete components from multiple organisms that composed it. Vynzll Marrowork's breakthrough came about after a spy within the Arcan scientific corp recovered information as to the techniques used by Arcan scientists to fuse living things with metal. When these techniques were applied to grafts of doppelganger flesh within a body with living internal organs but undead skin and muscle, the result was a low-level shapeshifing ability that the new organism could use to adapt to its various component grafts. Changelings were marketed as fully-customizable servants or perfect spies and sold widely on both military and consumer markets before the World Senate passed a surprising law (pushed through by the Nox Directive) outlawing their creation and freeing those already created. However, changelings remain second-class citizens in many cases, and rumors abound that Vynzll continues to sell enslaved changelings and experiment to create new and more powerful changeling variants.

The CEO of Vynzll Marroworks is known to the world at large as Granz Vynzll, a member of the Vynzll clan, son of the previous CEO and the grand-nephew of the company's founder. The story, as it is known to the public, is that Granz is not himself a biomancer, but enjoys having first pick of all new biomantic creations. Though he was originally a kobold, he has undergone cosmetic grafting enough times that he has seemingly been a member of every known race at some point or another. However, in truth, Granz Vynzll only led the corporation for about a week before being summarily assassinated and replaced by Whisper, one of the first created changelings. Whisper took advantage of Granz's known grafting obsession to hide her crime. A small group of changelings now control Vynzll Marrowworks in secret, under the supervision of the Nox Directive.

Necromantic Drilling Incorporated (Mining/Necromancy/Water) -
Necromantic Drilling Incorporated is a Thornian mining, geothermal necromancy, and water acquisition corporation. NDI primarily deals in bulk resource collection and distribution, and engages in both above- and below-ground collection efforts; it is the corporation most often responsible for constructing the massive harvesting spires that extend from the Skin of the World up to the Tempest and Flenserstorm. These spires allow the corporation to collect common metals such as iron that can be found almost anywhere in the flenserstorm, but rarely allow for the collection of rarer, more valuable metals (which fall more under the purview of Iron Sky Incorporated). As a result, NDI is most known for being the world's largest provider of water and souls.

Though Derrethorn has no official capital city, the city that serves as its political hub- Bore City- grew up around a field of massive spent NDI necromantic bores. Above each, an industrial spire stretches into the sky, modified from its original purpose into residential and commercial skyscrapers. Numerous layers of buildings are built built into the walls and the open space within the bores. No one layer is completely roofed off by the layer above it; as the layers perpetuate, sunlight gradually becomes dimmer and dimmer. Tunnels connect each of the bores, and bridges/air traffic connect the spires, sometimes supporting their own buildings and skyscrapers. The city also spreads out across the ground between the spires and around them for miles.

Iron Sky Incorporated (Mining) -
Flenserstorm mining corporation; also harvests water from the Tempest. More to be written

Znx Legal Associates (Legal/Mercenary) -
Mercenary corporation that can make any problem go away for a price; specializes in troubleshooting both in the courthouse and the field. More to be written

Aegis Incorporated (Mercenary) -
Dominant mercenary corporation, providing mundane and angelic troops for use in warfare, policing, and strike-breaking. More to be written

New Dawn Manufacturing (Manufacturing/Energy) -
Manufacturing corporation dealing in magic items and enchantments; also deals with mage-beacons and magic distribution; provides warding and magic specialists to the front lines. More to be written

Marvelworks (Manufacturing) -
Produces the majority of mundane technology, weapons, and vehicles. More to be written

Arcana Incorporated (Magic/Energy) -
Dominant magical distributor. More to be written

External Investigations (Scouting) -
External Investigations is a Thornian corporation specializing in military scouting and intelligence, as well as other special operations. They are primarily employed by the World Senate to scout out the military capabilities of newly discovered lesser realms and provide ongoing intelligence on various warfronts. Unlike its subsidiary Drnllyn Excavations, which employs contracted teams of adventurers, the direct employees of External Investigations can only be described as mercenaries or soldiers.

External Investigations was founded by the kobold Noxyn Vake. Previously Vake had been a member of a scouting squad in the ranks of Aegis Incorporated. When he and his squad were trapped behind enemy lines and he was forced to assume the role of squad commander, he led his squad to successfully disable a major Zurish military outpost in order to rejoin the rest of Aegis's forces. This feat led him to be singled out by the Bastion as a potential asset. Recognizing that Aegis's monopoly over dimensional defense gave it troubling amounts of political pull on Derrethorn, Cerul Victus provided Vake with the funding and political favors he would need to establish his own, rival corporation. This simultaneously filled a much-needed niche in Thornian military strategy and ensured that no mercenary corporation could gain complete control over Derrethorn.

Noxyn Vake is a quiet and soft-spoken individual, charming and unfailingly polite. He has lost none of the keen tactical instinct that first drew the Bastion's attention, and it is rumored that his personal combat skills have only grown since leaving Aegis's fold. Beneath his friendly facade, however, he still possesses the same core of ambition that led him to attempt to create his own corporation and accept the Bastion's help in that creation in exchange for partial control over it. When he believed Aegis to be the dominant military power on Derrethorn, he sought to either possess or surpass it by any means necessary. Now that he knows the truth of the Bastion's covert control over Thornian military and defense interests, he desires nothing more than to usurp Cerul Victus and seize the secret society for himself. It is for this reason that he established Drnllyn Excavations to locate sources of political and financial capital outside the Bastion's sphere of influence.

Drnllyn Excavations (Information Dealers/Treasure Hunters) -
Drnllyn Excavations, a subsidiary of External Investigations, is a self-described "archaeological acquisition and location dissemination organization." This group specializes in the location and recovery of resources on both Derrethorn and other planes, which can then be sold to other corporate or private interests. Drnllyn has a a particular interest in exploiting the remnants of the First Civilization, but also sometimes operates on the lesser realms if the risk/reward seems to be worth it. Drnllyn Excavations generally does not make use of recovered technology or information themselves (excepting when Noxyn Vake sees a particularly useful item); instead, they auction the gains to other interested parties. For example, a partially intact golem may be sold to Marvelworks, a trove of enchanted items may find its way into the hands of New Dawn Manufacturing, or the location of a newly-discovered aquifer may be sold to Iron Sky Incorporated. Drnllyn doesn't limit its efforts to its native dragonworld; its scouts are often the first individuals to explore a newly discovered dimension, documenting the locations of natural resources such as souls or water sources and taking note of military points of interest to be sold to mercenary corporations.

To a treasure hunter or adventurer, working for Drnllyn is a trade-off of independence and possible payoff for support and guaranteed salary. To it's contracted teams, the corporation offers a steady wage, and more importantly, provides the tools, information, and magical strength that allow a party to survive. Each team is assigned an identifying series of numbers, leading independent adventurers to give them the derisive nickname "numbs." However, the parties that take this deal and decide to work for Drnllyn Excavations no longer have the freedom to choose their own assignments and are subordinate to the corporate higher-ups. Furthermore, where an independent adventuring party can keep an acquisition to themselves and reap the entirety of the rewards, numbs only gain a small bonus for a successful job, with the true rewards going to the corporation.

Drnllyn Excavations and its numbs are universally reviled by Derrethorn's independent adventurers. In addition to adding to competition for finding good acquisitions, the corporation is known to employ a variety of tactics to ensure it obtains its targets, up to and including eliminating the competition. Though many of Derrethorn's adventuring teams kill one another off (or off themselves with infighting), Drnllyn's status as a large organization makes it a notorious repeat offender in this regard.

Terra Verdant (Food/Farming) -
dominant farming corporation. More to be written

Secret Societies:
The Hands of Gold (Control money and banking, led by Malia) More to be written
The Nox Directive (Control scientific progress, led by Deus) More to be written
The Bastion (Control military and defense interests, led by Cerul Victus) More to be written

Noosphere (Information) -
Taking their name from a theory regarding the oneness of knowledge between all living things, Noosphere is an elusive organization with agents in almost every corporation or government across almost every discovered dimension. Many of these spies aren't even aware of the organization they are working for, reporting to a network of proxies and dummy organizations. Most take no actions, instead passively collecting secrets and reporting them back along the chain, to eventually become known to the organization's leaders on Derrethorn. The information is then sold to various corporate, military, and private clients, again through various proxies such as seemingly independent information dealers, criminal organizations, goblin crusades, or corporations like Drnllyn Excavations or External Investigations. However, a Noosphere agent will occasionally carry out missions directly, some of which often no discernible purpose or upside. Though Noosphere's proxies do charge for the information it provides, the organization's extensive reach suggests that money is not its end goal, but rather a means of facilitating some deeper objective which remains unknown.

The leader of Noosphere is known as Cognate. Beyond this name, absolutely nothing is known about the individual; in fact, it is not even certain that Cognate exists or is a single person rather than a council or collective, even among the other secret societies (or at least, if Deus is aware, they have not made that fact known). In reality, Cognate is an individual, a human Thornian psionic of extraordinary power, yet merely a puppet in his own right. Cognate and all of Noosphere are just one more false face hiding the machinations of the true masters- the group of spirits known as the Clave, controlling everything from behind the scene.

Zuryl

Spoiler

Theocracy
Single cold sun dominates the sky
Sun-worship
was almost destroyed by heat-death; a continent was reduced to an icy waste
visual motif of mezoamerican architecture in a perpetually cold, snowy setting
Most skilled warmages of the dragonworlds b/c priests are expected to be powerful casters
More to be written

 

Edited November 29, 2017 by Elementalist

[Elementalist]

Races

When a sapient being dies, its soul discharges its heat into the dimension it's in. The husk then sinks into the ground. When it reaches the mantle (or lava sea for a lesser realm), it floats on top of it, gradually absorbing heat from the world. Once it has absorbed enough, it is drawn back to the surface and reincarnated.

There's a small chance that a soul may instead be flung out into the Spiritvoid. A soul that had a connection to a spirit at the time of death (the soul of a divine practitioner) is far more likely to be flung into the Spiritvoid. Spirits consume the heat of such souls, and then frequently fight over the husks. The victor can then use the husk to create a sapient in a lesser realm they create, or inhabit and fuse with a husk to make it easier to gain entry to a dimension (because souls can pass through the veil effortlessly, but spirits cannot).

Spirits occasionally create more esoteric afterlives for their realms that defy the rules presented here.

It is possible to harvest soul-husks directly from the mantle or the lava sea. Whatever heat these husks have collected can be expunged, and the husks themselves can be made subservient to the practitioner and used to animate dead bodies to the practitioner's will. This practice is called necromancy. In most cases, husks on the lava seas of lesser realms are drawn out to the edges of the world, and are far less plentiful than husks on dragonworlds due to the smaller populations of lesser realms. This makes it easier to collect husks through drilling operations on dragonworlds than it is to dredge them from the lava seas of lesser realms.

For some reason, some races- such as humans, dwarves, and elves- can be found both in the dragonworlds and numerous lesser realms across the cosmos. Theories abound to explain this phenomenon. The two most popular on the dragonworlds are as follows: either the lesser realms' creator-spirits were attempting to mimic the accomplishments of the dragon-gods, or those realms were settled by travelers from the dragonworlds long ago. Non-dragonworld-centric theories have entirely eluded the dragonworlds' esteemed scholars.

Many lesser realms also possess entirely unique races designed by their creator-spirits. These races can range in biology and culture from the familiar, to the absurd, to the horrifying.

Angels

Spoiler

Angels are beings of pure magic. It's not known for certain where they come from; however, some scholars theorize that true, unshakable faith in something unprovable (such as a god or an ideal) attunes a person to a mindset similar to that of a spell. This pseudo-spell draws on a negligible amount of heat from the faithful's own soul, allowing even a non-practitioner to perform it. When enough people have faith in the same thing, the combined effects of the pseudo-spell materialize in the form of an angel who both shares and embodies the beliefs of the congregation. For example, if enough people are part of a religion that worships the land, an angel will be created that both believes in the divinity of the land and possesses powers related to the sanctity of the land. Generally, the faithful are not fond of this theory, claiming instead that their religion's angels are proof that it is correct (conveniently forgetting about the angels possessed by every other major religion).

Theoretically, angels can be found on any sufficiently populated world where enough people share the same faith. Multiple types of angels can manifest in dimensions that contain multiple congregations faithful to different things.

Angels are extinct on Arcus, save one. When the Legion of Progress gained power and began its crusade to stamp out the religions of Arcus, the angels fought back in defense of their faithful and their faith. The Legion's victory saw every last angel slain. However, when the religion of Victorism was rekindled amongst the Chainbreakers, the faith of the rebels was enough to restore life to Illidia, the former leader of Victorism's heavenly host. Though she is a shadow of her former self, Illidia is a valuable ally to the rebels, and a symbol of hope for all aligned with the Chainbreakers' cause.

On Derrethorn, dozens of angelic hosts once existed, matching the many religions of the world. However, as religious sentiment declined and the corporations rose, faith in gods was replaced by faith in money, and a change occurred in the angels. Beings that once gave blessings freely began to demand recompense, and their kindness turned to apathy and calculating greed. Though a small few angels remain loyal to their original congregations, most now occupy positions in the corporate hierarchy, particularly in the medical corporation Benedicite, of which the angel Malia is CEO. They also often work within mercenary corporations.

On Zuryl, many angels traverse the skies, spreading the justice of the dragon-god in service to His church. Zurish angels are loyal enforcers of the theocracy, and remain one of the dragonborn's most potent tools of oppression. They frequently search out kobold survivors and correct that oversight, and fight on the front lines of Zuryl's wars. These angels possess draconic traits, with wings that are leathery instead of feathered and scales overlapping otherwise humanoid features. They radiate an aura of bitter cold that affects nonbelievers particularly potently, causing frostbite within mere seconds of exposure. They glow with a light-blue aura identical to that of the cold sun.

Dragonborn

Spoiler

Dragonborn are a race unique to Zuryl and Derrethorn. No dragonborn have ever been discovered native to any other world.

The dragonborn of Zuryl form that dragonworld's elite priestly class. They believe themselves to have been created by the dragon-god Zuryl in its own image, thus elevating them above all other races in they eyes of their Lord. They are the driving force in charge of Zuryl's theocracy. Zuryl's dragonborn are proud, regal, and manipulative.

The dragonborn of Derrethorn are not considered to have any special connection to the dragon-gods. They are generally laborers, street toughs, or soldiers, and most are part of Derrethorn's lower class (like most of the Thornian population).

Dwarves

Spoiler

Dwarves can be found on the dragonworlds of Arcus and Derrethorn, as well as many lesser realms. Dwarves seem to have an aptitude for working with metal and machinery, and many are consummate smiths, mechanics, and engineers. On Arcus, they put these skills to use building and maintaining weapons, vehicles, or infrastructure for the military corps, or designing vital apparatus for the scientific corps. On Derrethorn, they ply these same skills in the service of the corporations, in addition to working at geothermal necromantic bores. On both worlds, dwarves are frequently hired as operators for mage-beacons due to their skills and reliability.

Elves

Spoiler

Elves can be found on all three surviving dragonworlds, as well as many lesser realms. They have a natural aptitude for magic, and a natural grace that lends itself well to combat.

The elves of Arcus are quiet and unobtrusive- until they strike. They generally act as specialists within Arcus's military corps, combining mundane and magical forms of combat to complete missions of infiltration, assassination, and sabotage.

The elves of Derrethorn form the lowest of the lower class. As a result many turn to crime; elves and half-elves on Derrethorn are often thieves, con artists, hired killers, and mob bosses.

The dark elves of Zuryl were exiled to the frozen continent after a failed rebellion against the theocracy. These elves survive day-to-day in the hellscape only by hiding deep underground. Without access to mage-beacons, the drow rely almost entirely on divine magic. The spirits that they have contacted provide them with the magic they need to survive, but not the means to escape to another dimension, as the spirits hope to weaken Zuryl's veil enough to gain access to that world specifically.
Continued reliance on divine magic across multiple generations has fundamentally changed the drow, both physically and mentally. Their society has become a twisted parody of what it once was, and they now worship spirits exclusively, offering souls to the Spiritvoid in hopes of allowing the spirits in and weaponizing them against the theocracy.

Gnomes

Spoiler

Gnomes can be found on the dragonworlds of Arcus and Derrethorn, as well as the occasional lesser realm. As dwarves have an aptitude for working with mundane technology, gnomes have an aptitude for working with magical "technologies" such as bindings, enchantments, and the analysis of artifacts.

On Arcus, gnomes lead the scientific corps. Arcus's gnomes possess an insatiable thirst for knowledge, and they are generally willing to do anything to slake that thirst. Their experiments (ethical or otherwise) have pushed Arcus's technology leaps and bounds ahead of that of the lesser realms, and given Arcus a small but consistant technological advantage over the other two dragonworlds as well. Arcus's gnomes view the world through a clinical eye, categorizing everything by its possible usefulness in the gnomes' quest for knowledge.

Where Derrethorn's dwarves generally work directly for a corporation due to mundane technology's need for physical resources, the dimension's more fortunate gnomes are more apt to go freelance, supplying whatever magical assistance is needed to a variety of corporate, private, and criminal clients. The economic status of a Thornian gnome varies based on the status of that gnome's clientele. Those gnomes without the knowledge or resources to work with magic are frequently employed as lower-class factory workers, their small size and adult intelligence making them more economic than child labor for machine maintenance and operation.

Goblins

Spoiler

Goblins are an example of a rare occurrence in the dragon-dimensions: a race native to a lesser realm who discovered interdimensional travel on their own.

Goblins originated on the lesser realm of Vel Khor. They were created by that realm's creator-spirit as a slave race, to serve the ruling class of divine-practitioner tieflings. Naturally, this caused them to develop a burning hatred of both spirits and divine practitioners. By studying the tieflings' ancestral artifacts, the goblins were able to discover how to create mage-beacons and use arcane magic. They practiced their workings in secret, and discovered that even the mere practice of magic weakened the realm- and, in doing so, weakened the creator-spirit.

The goblins turned this to their advantage by beginning a full-scale uprising against their tiefling overlords. Every spell they cast not only killed the tieflings, but also weakened the creator-spirit, the source of the tieflings' magic. A few powerful tieflings managed to escape to other worlds, but for the most part, the race was driven extinct. In response to the sudden loss of power, the creator-spirit began to infuse itself further into the realm, trying to gain enough internal strength to crush the rebellion. However, the goblins had planned for this- they escaped through a gate to another dimension before the creator-spirit could respond, and it found itself beset upon by other spirits taking advantage of its new vulnerability. It's heat stolen by goblin magic and invading spirits, the realm fell to heat-death.

Now, goblinkind lives a nomadic existence. Many crusades of goblins travel from world to world, making sure they never stay long enough on any one world to risk heat-death. At every plane they visit, they root out divine practitioners and spirits wherever they can find them. They've also been instrumental in spreading knowledge of the dangers of magic, both divine and arcane, preventing other worlds from falling to heat-death. Though the goblins used gates in their original exodus, they now rely almost entirely on spells to transfer themselves between planes; it is unknown why they changed their practice in this manner.

The opinions of other races on goblins are mixed. To those that they have freed from oppression at the hands of spirits and divine practitioners, they are heroes. To those innocent divine practitioners that they have hunted, they are monsters. Some dimensional governments regard them as a stabilizing force against subversive divine forces, and welcome their arrival. Others regard them as little more than pests or parasites that drain the dimension's heat every time they pass though. The dragonworlds have a tentative alliance with several goblin crusades, working with them to root out energy pirates and spiritual incursions so long as the goblins remain attuned to mage-beacons offworld and don't drain the heat from the dragonworld itself.

Halflings

Spoiler

Halflings can be found on the dragonworld of Derrethorn, and on the occasional lesser realm. Halflings are found in all walks of life, though a significant amount of them are white collar workers within the corporations. These halflings constantly jockey for greater power and wealth within the corporate hierarchy, competing with other halflings or the occasional unfortunate kobold.

Humans

Spoiler

Humans are found on every dragonworld and almost every lesser realm.

On Arcus, humans occupy most middle- and high-rank positions within the military corps, and some middle- and low-rank positions in the scientific corps.

On Derrethorn, humans can be found in every walk of life.

On Zuryl, humans form the lower class, as serfs living a life of near-enslavement.

Illithids

Spoiler

The upper atmosphere of Derrethorn is home to the Illithid Society. Massive hive-ships of powerful beings possessing unique abilities float trapped above the flenserstorm, unable to breach through to the surface. The Illithids are the last remnant of an invasion force from long ago. They are not divine practitioners, but they were created by a group of cooperating creator-spirits as a dimensionally traveling invasion force. The illithids themselves rely on their unique psionic abilities rather than any form of spellcasting. However, they are known to forcibly forge bonds between spirits and local non-sapient organisms through the use of grafting and other biological augmentations. This effectively turns the flora and fauna they modify into divine casters. However, the spells provided to their thralls are not helpful like those provided to divine casters; instead, the connected spirits take advantage of the organisms' inability to control their casting and provide self-target spells which further modify the host, making it an ideal vessel for lesser spirits to inhabit. By the end of the process, the thralls are more spirit than living thing. This process makes the top layer of Derrethorn a whirling maelstrom of wind and dust, full of grown, chitinous hiveships and horrifying spirit-host organisms.

Little is known by the people of the dimensions about the Illithid Society. Although they seem to have a strange, almost symbiotic relationship with spirits, they show no signs of worshiping them. In truth, the Illithids regard the Clave- the creator-spirits that created them- as superiors more than objects of worship. They believe in a hierarchy of beings, in which each being within the hierarchy is the complete property of those above, with no rights of their own save for those allowed them by their superiors. Just as the Illithids were molded like clay by the Clave into the form that most suited those spirits, the Illithids reserve the right to themselves mold the bodies and souls of the lesser beings that belong to them. To the Illithids, the Clave is at the top of the hierarchy, followed by the Illithids themselves; after them come the other creator-spirits, then non-creator-spirits, then lesser spirits (the weakest spirits there are). Finally, there are other sapient races (which the Illithids don't distinguish between), non-sapient animals, and plant life. Though the Illithids recognize that it is possible for lower organisms to resist and even sometimes defeat higher ones, they regard this as a horrific perversion of the natural order.

Illithids were created on an unknown world. Unlike most spiritual creations, the purpose of the Illithids seemed obvious to inhabitants of other dimensions- they were an army. Transported from world to world by their spiritual patrons, the Illithids waged war across the cosmos with unique strength and near-unbeatable cunning. Each realm they invaded was left broken in their wake, with the majority of life scoured away and the rest mutated and modified into a twisted new paradigm. Only when they came to Derrethorn did they encounter a civilization capable of holding them back. The resulting war broke Derrethorn's First Civilization, who claimed victory at the pyrrhic cost of near-extinction. The once lush and beautiful dragonworld was left a barren, desert planet. The Illithids were sealed away above the flenserstorm, incapable of accessing the surface of the world. However, the Illithids know that their return draws near. Modern Thornian atmospheric mining efforts have thinned the flenserstorm, and breaches have already opened in some areas, which though quickly sealed still allowed incursions of thralls to wreak temporary havoc upon the surface. The Illithids bide and wait for an opportune breach large enough and close enough to their hive-ships to release them, that they may begin their campaign of conquest anew.

Kobolds

Spoiler

Kobolds can be found on the dragonworlds of Zuryl and Derrethorn. They are not found on any other lesser realms. Kobolds are clever, and have natural aptitudes for mechanical design (similar to dwarves, but with a greater focus on design rather than construction) as well as the acquisition of and maintenance of wealth. They are excellent trapbuilders and skilled merchants, thieves, and bankers.

On Derrethorn, kobolds are generally lawyers, upper-class executives, CEOs, and board members (there are exceptions to this, of course). Their natural ability to hoard and manage wealth, combined with their marketable skills with mechanical design, caused several kobold clans to quickly rise to the top of the corporate world. Even today, many major corporations are (at least ostensibly) controlled by the kobold families.

On Zuryl, kobolds are almost extinct. The ruling dragonborn consider the kobolds' semidraconic appearance to be a crude mockery of Zuryl's splendor. They have initiated numerous purges to wipe out the kobold population of the plane. The few surviving kobold clans on Zuryl survive only by hiding.

Orcs

Spoiler

Orcs are found exclusively on the dragonworld of Arcus, and are not found on any other dimension. There is a persistent stereotype on Zuryl and Derrethron that orcs are barely-sapient barbarians, brought about as a result of Arcus's use of orcs as it's primary grunt forces and disposable shock troops. In reality, however, orcs are as intelligent as humans. They possess a tendency for bluntness in everything they do.

The orcs of Arcus form the lowest ranks of the Arcan military corps, and are prohibited from becoming involved with the scientific corps at all- except, of course, as test subjects. They possess little to no rights and/or amenities, and are always drafted into the military corps' battle divisions to be sent where the fighting is thickest.

The only organized resistance to the Legion of Progress on Arcus is the Chainbreakers, a rebel group primarily composed of orcs. The Chainbreakers conduct guerrilla warfare against the Legion's bases in hopes of destabilizing their regime. However, their efforts have so far proven futile, with far more losses than victories and no significant dent made to the Legion's power base.

As a sign of defiance, the Chainbreakers have adopted a bastardized version of the religion of Victorism, one of the many religions wiped off the face of Arcus during the Legion's takeover. Due to the fact that there are no surviving worshipers of that faith, the Chainbreaker's interpretation is not exactly the same as the original- whereas the original emphasized mortals' hubris in killing the dragon-gods (as the religion states they did), the new version describes it as a triumphant victory. The faith is close enough to rekindle angelic support from the old religion to the side of the new, however.

Spirits

Spoiler

Spirits are mysterious beings that exist in the Spiritvoid between dimensions. The motivations of spirits are not fully comprehensible to mortal minds. However, what is known is that they have an insatiable hunger for heat. No heat exists naturally in the Spiritvoid, so spirits can only consume heat by siphoning it from the dimensions or from other spirits, either by entering a dimension physically (through heat-death fracture or possessed soul-husk) or by making compact with divine practitioners. The spirits use this heat as a resource to do battle with other spirits, breed, or create or maintain a dimension.

Within the Spiritvoid, there is no concept of physical form; thus, spirits have no physical aspect by default. If a spirit enters a dimension through a fracture in its veil, this remains true even though the spirit now exists in a physical world. Such a spirit appears to the world's inhabitants to be a shifting mass of indescribable curvatures and alien geometries, at once transparent and opaque, implied upon the world's background rather than viewed directly. Such a vision strains the sanity, and the mere sight of a more powerful spirit can break weak-willed minds.

If a spirit enters a dimension by possessing a husk, the process is a bit different. The spirit will be unable to leave the husk while they remain in the dimension, but the husk will be unable to take in heat as it would normally. To avoid being drawn down to the mantle/lava sea and trapped there, the spirit will guide the husk to a suitable dead host (either plant or animal) and install it within that host. The resulting undead abomination generally appears similar to a spirit in its natural form, but composed of tentacles of necrotic flesh rather than implicit geometries.

In either case, a spirit within a world can passively drain that world's heat. They are also capable of sensing the heat within living souls and the heat channeled into magic. They can use this ability to track down victims and drain the heat from their souls.

It is unknown why spirits create lesser realms, let alone why they sometimes sacrifice themselves to do so. Some have theorized that these realms play some important role in staving off entropy, while others believe that they are instead meant to accelerate the process. Most, however, assume the spirits' long game to simply be unknowable. A spirit who rules over a lesser realm (either their own creation, a unruled lesser realm they claimed, or a realm they seized from its original owner) must have some way of interacting with their demesnes without giving in to their natural urge to consume it. Such creator-spirits can do so either by enlisting divine practitioners as proxy rulers or by binding lesser spirits as servants to enforce their will.

The ability a creator-spirit has to observe and control their realm increases the more they infuse their energy into it. However, doing so weakens them, leaving them more vulnerable to external attack by other spirits. A creator-spirit that chooses not to fully infuse themself (and sacrifice their life in the process) must strike a balance between internal control and external vulnerability.

Through ritual sacrifice, it is possible to guarantee that a victim's soul is flung into the Spiritvoid, and it is possible to draw that soul back through the veil once a spirit has inhabited it. This means that a skilled practitioner can summon a spirit into a dead host. An exceptionally skilled practitioner can even avoid being immediately killed by the spirit when the ritual succeeds.

Spirits are almost never known to cooperate with one another; when two spirits interact (either within a dimension or within the Spiritvoid) it is generally a battle in which each attempts to overpower the other, to steal the other's stored heat and protect their own. Only two known exceptions to this "law of the fishes" interaction exist. Bantas appears to have been created by two creator-spirits working in tandem; with their world complete, the larger takes the form of a moon, with the smaller taking the form of a smaller satellite orbiting the first. Additionally, the race of Illithids was created by a group of extraordinarily powerful spirits known only as the Clave; the goals of the organization- if it can be called that- are just as inscrutable as those of any other spirits. In both cases, it is unknown why the spirits chose to cooperate in such a manner.

Tieflings

Spoiler

Tieflings are considered to be native to the plane of Vel Khor. However, their ancestors were actually interplanar travelers, a persecuted group of human divine practitioners and spirit worshipers that chose to flee persecution by escaping to another dimension. On Vel Khor, they made a deal with the world's creator-spirit: They would remain on the plane and act as its caretakers, and in exchange, they would be treated as the dominant mortal species on the plane in addition to being granted access to divine magic. As a known side-affect of this agreement, the proto-tieflings' biology changed over the course of several generations, causing them to take on their distinctive appearance. Over the course of many millennia, the tieflings forgot their heritage, not realizing that they were ever anything other than the rulers of Vel Khor.

Tiefling society was hierarchical, with a complex system of "honor" governing who owed deference and/or obedience to whom. In truth, little honor existed in this system; no tiefling truly followed it to the letter, and every tiefling attempted to exploit it to increase their own standing. At the top of the ladder was the Council of the Unending, a small oligarchy of tieflings who had embraced lichdom as a means of extending their rule indefinitely.

The tieflings were not kind rulers. Their cruelty towards goblins, Vel Khor's native race, eventually resulted in a goblin uprising culminating in the heat-death of the plane. However, several members of the Council of the Unending managed to escape, and some are still alive today.

 

Edited November 29, 2017 by Elementalist

[Elementalist]

Reserved for technology

[Elementalist]

Though this is a d&d setting, I'd say it's original enough to post here on the Creator's Corner. I'm always looking for feedback, so if you see an area in need of improvement, please do point it out.

[SilverTiger]

It's good. Not spectacular, but definitely good. However, the whole created-by-dragon-gods seems a bit too similar to Eberron, and your use of metaphysics... well, in both d&d and real theology, angels are definite beings of good. And your take on souls, while unique,doesn't really fit into a d&d-style fantasy setting.

However, the worlds themselves... a lot of stuff to work with there. On Arcus, is the world completely dominated by the Legion? I'd guess that there is quite a number of resistances and such, especially religious or socio-politic-ideology based ones. Work on the worlds a little, and see what pops up.

[Elementalist]

1 hour ago, SilverTiger said:

It's good. Not spectacular, but definitely good. However, the whole created-by-dragon-gods seems a bit too similar to Eberron, and your use of metaphysics... well, in both d&d and real theology, angels are definite beings of good. And your take on souls, while unique,doesn't really fit into a d&d-style fantasy setting.

However, the worlds themselves... a lot of stuff to work with there. On Arcus, is the world completely dominated by the Legion? I'd guess that there is quite a number of resistances and such, especially religious or socio-politic-ideology based ones. Work on the worlds a little, and see what pops up.

Thanks for the feedback! I had noticed that some of the elements of this setting didn't mesh with mainstream D&D; I'm considering swapping out any proprietary materials (like illithids) for original creations and divorcing the setting from D&D entirely. I hadn't noticed the similarity to Eberron, but on second glance you're entirely right; I'm not sure what I could do about though without invalidating the setting's premise. With regards to the angels, their moral ambiguity is actually my favorite thing about them, since it distinguishes them from similar beings in other settings and makes them more unique.

The world of Arcus is completely under the Legion's political control, but their manpower shortages mean that there are some areas that have almost no Legion presence, where the Chainbreakers or religious remnants can hide. The Chainbreakers are currently the only religious resistance of note, since the Legion was quite thorough in stamping out religion, similar to how the Lord Ruler destroyed all opposing religions in Mistborn. As for ideological resistances, there are numerous little sub-factions within both of the Legion's corps that interpret Victus's mission differently, but I'd regard that as an internal struggle rather than actual rebellion. I should point out, though, that the Chainbreakers rebellion isn't purely religious; rather, they adopted a religion that advocated resisting higher powers after the group was already formed. They accept anyone who wants to overthrow the system (mostly orcs).

[SilverTiger]

The thing is, though, that it took the Lord Ruler a few centuries to stamp out all religion. You seem to be claiming that the Legion did it all in 50 years or so. I'd expect to see a lot more resistance than what you have. Also, on the angels topic, using angels as morally ambiguous characters goes against the basic concept of angels. To tell the truth, it just feels off to me.

[Elementalist]

It looks like I need to clarify the Arcus section- the Legion was founded 50 years before Arcus began to hit heat death, and it took them about that much time to conquer the world, but several centuries passed after that. During that time they both solidified their control on Arcus and began to wage war against the lesser realms. Arcus has the advantage of possessing magic and technology TLR didn't, allowing more effective surveillance. Additionally, the reason the movement was so popular in the first place was because the plane had previously been torn apart by religious wars fought between its previous nations, causing a strong anti-religious sentiment.

I think we may need to agree to disagree on the angels.

[Dragon314]

This is perhaps the most severe case of double posting I’ve ever see .

[Elementalist]

10 hours ago, Dragon314 said:

This is perhaps the most severe case of double posting I’ve ever see .

Sorry about that. I figured that if waited for replies before putting up information on magic, dragonworlds, and races, nobody would ever reply because my post had no content, and then it would never get any content because it had no replies... So I chose the lesser of two evils. This does seem to be the standard format for setting showcases on this forum.

[Dragon314]

On 12/1/2017 at 6:43 AM, Elementalist said:

Sorry about that. I figured that if waited for replies before putting up information on magic, dragonworlds, and races, nobody would ever reply because my post had no content, and then it would never get any content because it had no replies... So I chose the lesser of two evils. This does seem to be the standard format for setting showcases on this forum.

You could always edit the OP