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--- fractured_planes [2021/05/15 18:07]
admin
+++ fractured_planes [2021/05/15 22:16] (current)
admin [The Free City, Myst (Gaia)]
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 ====== The Unbalancing ======
-After the Gods left the worlds, the worlds very slowly began to stop working correctly.  In some worlds, the sun would dim and eventually stop shining. In others, extreme weather and climates (storms, ice ages, drying of a planet, loss of atmosphere, etc) would take over.  In some cases, the orbits of celestial bodies planets would destabilize, causing asteroids to smash into planets to for planets to be ejected far from the warmth of its sun.  When conditions became incredibly severe, these world's would eventually collapse, and the gates to neighboring worlds would stop functioning entirely.
+After the Gods left the worlds, the worlds very slowly began to stop working correctly.  In some worlds, the sun would dim and eventually stop shining. In others, extreme weather and climates (storms, ice ages, drying of a planet, loss of atmosphere, etc) would take over.  In some cases, the orbits of celestial bodies planets would destabilize, causing asteroids to smash into planets to for planets to be ejected far from the warmth of its sun.  When conditions became incredibly severe, these world's would eventually collapse, and the gates to neighboring worlds would stop functioning entirely, often in such a way as to cause much damage in the neighboring worlds.
-What was worse, when one world became "unbalanced" and began to fail, it's unbalancing would eventually spread to its neighbors.  Therefore, world after world sicked and collapsed.  Refugees fleeing their failing worlds would flee into neighboring worlds.  This caused tension between these groups of peoples, but the Elders (and later the Gatekeepers) kept a degree of peace allowed for the flow of refugees.  However, the Unbalancing continued to spread over the millennia and nothing seemed to be able to stop it.
+Worse than this, when one world became "unbalanced" and began to fail, it's unbalancing would eventually spread to its neighbors.  Therefore, world after world sicked and collapsed.  Refugees fleeing their failing worlds would flee into neighboring worlds.  This caused tension between these groups of peoples, but the Elders (and later the Gatekeepers) kept a degree of peace allowed for the flow of refugees.  However, the Unbalancing continued to spread over the millennia and nothing seemed to be able to stop it.
 The Elders, the 1st race of the Gods, took on countering the unbalancing as their race's mission and began dedicating all of their resources to stopping.  The Elders found that they could slow the Unbalancing but could not stop t.  Research continued, and time raced on.  Unfortunately, the Elders, despite their power, were slowly dying off, and in their eyes, the lesser races were of a limited ability to assist.  The Elders did not quit, and delegated much of their ancillary work to the lesser races (such as the Gatekeepers) so they would better focus.  Most of their ideas failed to work, but a few had the potential to save everything.  They just needed more time.
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   * Sweepers (Gaia only) - "grassroot" movement in many parts of the world that strongly hates magic users.  They see that the world is loosening its restrictions on magic users, and they believe that they must correct this.  They often hunt down anyone accused of using magic, "test" them, and hassle, drive off, and sometimes kill anyone found guilty.  Many parts of the world, particularly the Church of the Flame, choose to look the other way or provide mild punishment on Sweeper's actions.  In the Free Cities, Sweepers often target Artificers, but the Cities crack down on this harshly when possible (the Artificers are important from commerce even if they are slightly distasteful).  The Cities are much less protective of other forms of magic users.
   * Artificer's Guild (Gaia only)- While still small, the Guild formed to protect Artificers from the prejudices of the outside world as well as to create a monopoly on sanctioned magic (although the term "magic" is strongly discouraged by its members).  The Guild works closely with the Free Cities and the merchant families that run them for mutual economic benefit but also because the Free Cities has promised to protect the Guild.  This arrangement, however, requires that the Guild not abuse their monopoly as it applies to the Cities.  Admission to the guild is based on admission fees (the wealthy are far more likely to join) as well as rigorous testing.  Progression up the Guild's ranks grants its members more wealth, knowledge, and responsibility at the cost of being kept on a shorter leash.  The Guild keeps its secrets close and actively discourages free-lance Artificers.
-  * The Council of ___ ("The Council") (Gaia only) - A loose alliance of the races.  Uses their limited influence and backdoor channels to keep the non-human races unified in the face of humanism.  Some claiming affiliation with the Council have targeted humans in violent methods, but these groups are disowned by the Council.  Human factions, at least those without human-first agendas, often have a presence of the Council.
+  * The Council of _ ("The Council") (Gaia only) - A loose alliance of the races.  Uses their limited influence and backdoor channels to keep the non-human races unified in the face of humanism.  Some claiming affiliation with the Council have targeted humans in violent methods, but these groups are disowned by the Council.  Human factions, at least those without human-first agendas, often have a presence of the Council.
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   * The Immortals - The existence of the Immortals are not widely known and often believed to be a myth.  The prominent theory of their existence among scholars is that the immortals were first created by the Old Gods because each time the Gods approached the mortals, many generations of mortals had passed and the nuances of speaking with the Gods were lost.  Therefore, the Gods arranged it so that very infrequently, a mortal was born to each race that would never die.  The immortal mortals (called Immortals) became the envoy of the Gods during the age of Gods.  After the Gods disappeared, the Immortals continued to be created but no longer had a purpose.  Immortality also turned out to be both a blessing and a curse.  Many immortals, faced with infinity and the accumulated mental trauma across millennia, became mad.  As immortals are not common knowledge in the modern era despite being continually born, it is believed that the Immortals must be able to die or be killed in some way.  Many scholars argue that Immortals are the source of the legends of the pantheons but this is highly disputed.  Immortals are also believed to be major power players in various organizations around the world but remain out of sight.  It is believed that they choose to remain in myth because many of them likely rely on magic and their immortality is attributed to magic.  King Azamar the Bloodthirsty, leader of the largest northern barbarian tribe, is speculated to be an immortal.
   * Gatekeepers -
-    * Previously unknown in Gaia until their recent actions.  The Elders, while working on solving the Unbalancing, created an organization to protect the borders between the worlds.  Orignally, their responsibilities including 1) allowing for the safe passage of peaceful refugees fleeing the unbalancing, 2) keeping chaotic factions from freely moving between worlds and spreading their, and 3) acting as a standing army for the Elders in times of need.  The gatekeepers, a collection of all the races (except the Elders), served in this capacity for many millennia.
+    * Previously unknown in Gaia until their recent actions.  The Elders, while working on solving the Unbalancing, created an organization to protect the borders between the worlds.  Orignally, their responsibilities including 1) allowing for the safe passage of peaceful refugees fleeing the unbalancing, 2) keeping chaotic factions from freely moving between worlds and sewing chaos, 3) closing gates to failing worlds before the end of each, and 4) acting as a standing army for the Elders in times of need.  The gatekeepers, a collection of all the races (except the Elders), served in this capacity for many millennia.
     * Some time ago (coincidentally coinciding with the Age of Magic on Gaia), the Gatekeeper leadership decided that the Unbalancing was spread between worlds not by the existance of doors between worlds, but by active travel between worlds.  The Elders rebutted this position, but the Gatekeepers held fast to their beliefs.  Because of this, the gatekeepers began shutting down or blocking portals to worlds that had not yet been affected by the unbalancing.  This included prohibiting refugees to travel to these worlds (which was a violation of their first tentant).  As strain grew between the Elders and Gatekeepers, the Gatekeepers eventually split away from the Elders.  The Elders, overwhelmed by the enormity of stopping the unbalancing, weren't willing to commit the resources to shutting down the Gatekeepers.  Instead, the Elders allowed the Gatekeepers to continue in their new role as their interests still "mostly" aligned.
-    * The gatekeepers tenants now are 1) Prevent all travel (excluding officially sanctioned) to and from worlds that are considered stable 2) allow refugees to freely travel between unstable worlds but not to stable worlds, 3) keeping chaotic factions from freely moving between worlds and spreading their influence, and 4) keep the existence of gates a secret in stable worlds to prevent exploitation and travel to/from unbalanced worlds.
+    * The gatekeepers tenants now are 1) Prevent all travel (excluding officially sanctioned) to and from worlds that are considered stable 2) allow refugees to freely travel between unstable worlds but not to stable worlds, 3) keeping chaotic factions from freely moving between worlds and spreading their influence, 4) closing the gates to failing worlds ** well before ** each fails to prevent possible chain reactions, and 5) keep the existence of gates a secret in stable worlds to prevent exploitation and travel to/from unbalanced worlds.
     * Some 40 years ago, the new gates in Gaia opened by chance along a small way post on the trade route across the Barrens.  While many explorers through the gates never returned, tales of new worlds full of wealth spread throughout the nearby Free Cities.  Largely due to greed, the merchant families quickly established a presence there and then heavily reinforced it due to internal strife.  Their reinforcement was fortunate as a contingent of Gatekeepers, only a few months late, arrived at the gate to shut it down.  While each gatekeeper was much the better fighter than the merchants' mercenaries, numbers were against them, and they were rebuffed.  A much larger force returned a few months later, but the city of Myst was formally established and heavily reinforced to protect the gate, known as the Ryft.  While the return on investment from the Ryft has been only slight, the Artificers have recently developed an ability to better use the chaotic gates, and the potential for wealth grows ever higher.  The merchant families have no desire to ever let Ryft be closed.
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 ====== The Free Cities (Gaia) ======
+{{ :private:roleplaying:settings:img_20210515_154411.png?600 |}}
+Geography: The southern reaches is an arhipelogo covered by swamps.  Further north, a river runs northwest boarding the Wildlands (home to many beasts as well as races not always friendly to humans).  To the west lies arid land that leads into the Barrens.  The river continues further north into the mountains, ruled by more beasts and non-human races.  Westward of this point lies a trading path across the Barrens to the faswestern kingdoms.  The trail is dangerous but lucrative.
+History: Long before the Free Cities, this land was a true wildlands, occupied by beasts and wild races. The land was poorly suited for agriculture, surrounded by dangerous  wildlands (swamps, forests, mountains, deserts), and therefore largely ignored by the civilized lands for a long time.  Eventually, they moved in and waged war on the lands in an effort to domesticate them but mostly failed. The most successful attempt was the human kingdom of _ expanding from the south, but they too eventually withdrew their claim to the land.  But a small trading and fur-trapping presence remained behind.  These traders provided trading opportunities between the mostly human lands to the east and south to the feral wild lands and non-human kingdoms to the north.  A trade route across the barrens was also discovered and brought with it a trickle of wealth from the farwest.  As stability came to the surroundings lands, trade grew, and the area became more established.  Raiders and pirates began targeting the trade through these lands but many eventually became traders as it proved to be more profitable.  Unrest in neighboring lands and a desire for money and a new life drove both humans and non-humans alike to these lands, and the populations swelled.   A number of trading companies, each run by a hierarchical family, grew to prominence, and decided to organize the growing trading towns into a collection of city states called the Free Cities.
+Until Myst, there were four primary city states in the Free Cities.  From south to north, they were Clusas, Veritas, Pragos, and Lophia.  Because these settlements were originally trading outposts run by trading companies, the prominent trading families decided that each city should be a plutocracy run by those who had the most to gain from it (i.e. themselves) and was therefore the most invested in the cities outcome.  Each city was setup to be run by a committee of the most prominent merchant families.  A seat on each city's committee (and therefore voting rights) required a notable contribution of money to the city which allowed the city to invest in itself and continue to grow.  At first, each city was run by 5 to 10 families each, with a few families holding positions in multiple cities.  As the wealth of the region increased, the number of seats grew until each city placed a cap on the number.  The governmental styles of each city continued to grow in different directions, but all four share the same roots.
+The southern most city of Clusas was the least prominent of the four.  While the closest port to the human lands, it was probably the most poorly chosen location.  It was placed inland a few miles up a small river to prevent flooding.  However, mosquitos and disease from the swamps swept through from time to time, and raiders from the north and east raided the settlements heavily in the early years.  Pirates operating with the Blue Sea were more prominent in this area and could easily block the narrow shipping lanes through the swamps.  With a partial bailout from the other Cities, Clusas invested in a number of mercenary companies which setup shop there and eventually repelled many of bandits in the area. In addition to being an important trade hub, Clusas is known for its hospitals, breweries, and mercenary companies.
+Farther north, the City of Veritas was also built on a series of 4 rocky islands among the swamps.  While Mosquitos and disease were similarly rampant, the city was protected from land-based raiding parties by being on islands, and the city maintained a reasonable naval presence to prevent significant losses to pirates.  The city struggled with flooding during the early years but a series of canals were built throughout the city to manage the water.  In addition to being an important trade hub, Veritas is known for its boatyards, glassblowing, and universities.
+The third city was Pragos.  It was located inland, up the _ river and at the fork with the _ tributary.  The _ running northwest was a major trade route and the tributary running north east allowed for convenient trade into the wild forests of _.  The city was located on the west bank of the river which offered it a fair amount of protection from wilds to the east.  Bandits from the eastern Barrens did venture into the area from time to time, but never grew root.  Pragos was perhaps the most successful of the Free Cities in terms of wealth and growth.  Because of its success and being centrally located, Pragos is often the meeting area when the Free Cities discuss trade and policy between themselves and when the Free Cities need to be unified against the outside world.  In addition to being an important trade hub, Pragos is known for its lumber, pottery, tourism for "wild" hunting, and culinary cuisines.  It has also become the headquarters for the Artificer's guild.
+The fourth city was Lophia.  It was located further up the _ river and in the foothills of the _ mountains.  It also marked the end of the navigable portion of the river and where trade needed to continue by cart.  Because of the proximity with many of the cave dwelling races in the mountains, Lophia became known for metal forges and jewelry craftspeople.  Due to religious persecution from the Church of the Flame, it has also become a sanctuary for many religious types.  Before Myst, it was the last major trading station across the Barrens to the fareast.
+The fifth and by far more recent city is Myst (see below for more detail).  Myst was formally a minor trading station at the edge of the Barrens and along the route to the fareast.  With the discovery of a temperamental network of cross-planar gates (the Ryft), the potential for wealth was immediately recognized when early explorers returned with riches from uncharted lands.  Myst derives its name from the gut churhing myst that periodically spills forth from the Ryft and swallows part of the city.  Myst is heavily defended at present to protect the gates from a mysterious faction called the Gatekeepers that demand that they be allowed to shut the gates.  Myst is known almost exclusively for the Ryft, and the riches (including strange artifacts) that come from the other side of the gates.
 ====== The Free City, Myst (Gaia) ======
+** History **
+About 40 years ago, a minor trading outpost near the Free City of Lophia experienced a violent earthquake. All structures, wood and tent alike, collapsed, and animals scattered.  As the merchants and locals surveyed the carnage, they noticed a large fissure had opened nearby along the caravan route.  The fissure was about a mile long and several hundred feed wide at its most wide.  Strangely, a think mist filled the fissure to within a 20 feet of the the brim almost like a it were full of water. The mist churned violently and boiled as if fires below heated it, but the mist was cool to the touch.  Every few weeks, the mist would spill out of the fissure and blanket the desert valley in a surreal but spooky vail.  Strangely, an unprecedented amount of water began streaming forth from the lowest edge of the fissure and created a small river than ran back east to the _ river.  The water would also run strong for a few days and then completely disappear for days to weeks only to return again later.
+During the first few days, several of the locals would climb down into the fissure and into the mist.  After a few safe forays, the locals who ventured in stopped returning.  Family of the missing would drop ropes with loops and bells into the mist hoping that those lost below could find the rope and be pulled up.  Having no success, more people began venturing into the fissure, and they too failed to return.  The outpost's unofficial mayor, declared that no one was allowed to climb down after the lost and that they must wait.  Days passed, and spouses and children of the lost became more distraught.  On the 3rd day after the last expedition went down, one of the dangling ropes grew taunt and faint shouts from below told that someone was below.  A cry went up, and those on watch pulled on the ropes with a sense of hope and desperation.  Finally, one of the locals from the first expedition emerged bedraggled and frost bitten.  The man spoke of a exploring tunnels in fissure before loosing his footing and falling chest deep into a snow bank.  Having only heard about snow from travelers from the north, the man screamed in alarm and slowly dug his way out.  After exiting the snow, he realized that the mist was nowhere in sight and that he was in the middle of a snow covered rocky expanse surrounded by fir trees.  The man was able to start of a fire from fallen branches, some flint, and his knife.  He huddled in frozen corners of the expanse for days before finding a cave full of a familiar mist.  Finding this, he hurried through despite his frostbitten toes, found himself emerging from a cave, and encountered the rope with the bell.  His friends and family thought the story a fabrication of shock but couldn't explain the frostbitten toes and fingers.
+Later, a team of daring and more prepared explorers defied the mayors edicts and ventured again into the fissure.  They returned several hours later with tales of an abandoned city full of riches.  They brought with them tarnished silver cutlery and weathered gold statues.  They gave their treasure to their loved ones and returned into the fissure to never return again.  As tales spread back to the Free Cities, more and more adventurers arrived to explore the fissure.  Some never returned, most return empty handed but with tales of exotic lands and beasts, and a few returned with treasure.  From one of these expeditions, a renowned Artificer returned and reported finding a cavern full of _, a rare crystal crucial to the Artificer trade.
+As more and more tails and treasures emerged, the merchant families of the Free Cities took notice and deployed teams to investigate.  They realized that a something akin to a gold rush was happening with much at stake.  Blood was shed between representatives of several families, and armed guards and mercenary contingents were sent to protect their assets as blood had been shed in a few instances as several families butted heads.
+As tensions rose while more treasure spilled forth from the fissure, a mysterious company of 150 soldiers wearing unrecognizable armor and speaking in foreign accents.  The belligerent company claimed to be part of a larger organization, later identified as the Gatekeepers, and they were there to claim the fissure for themselves.  Their ludicrous justification included saving the world from an unspecified threat.  The families quickly declared a truce and combined forces to defend the fissure.  Seeing forces allying against them, the mystery force stopped trying to negotiate and drew their weapons.  The force also carried battle-mages, something long since banned from modern warfare, and they summoned gouts of fire and bolts of lightening to their cause.  The merchants forces, confronted by highly trained soldiers and battle mages, folded under the smaller force but eventually regrouped enough to drive the invaders away in a series of bloody skirmishes.
+After this the surprising appearance of these mystery soldiers, the families unified and rapidly brought forth their lawyers to establish a new city state to manage both the wealth and defense.  As bidding increased for the cost of each committee seat, only the wealthy families could afford such an expense.  With the legal framework in place and the ambition of the now ruling families, the fifth formal city state of Myst joined the Free Cities.
+Some months later, a full regiment of the now identified Gatekeepers appeared at the doorsteps of Myst only to be apposed by a fortified town garrisoned by a force that was easily the match of the Gatekeepers.  Surprised the rapid defense of the fissure, the Gatekeepers launched a few skirmishes to test the defenses.  Finding them sound and victory very unlikely, they retreated back into the Barrens.  Since that day, fortifications have only improved around the city and military guard thickened.  Years later, spies suspected of being gatekeepers broke into the city and set many of the warehouses containing the food and supplies for the entrenches armies alight.  Other smaller acts of sabotage were reported over the following decades, but the gatekeepers seemed to have been repelled.  However, more expeditions began going missing, and a few survivors reported being hunted by Gatekeeper soldiers in the other worlds.

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