Rock and brass, marble and metal. A part of the other yet a separate piece of the whole.
Crystalline droplets, throwing rays of cold light. Soft shimmering touches along silent halls. That is what little worlds are made of.
The pump of cylinders, the grinding of gears. Yet not one knowing mind to explain them. Intricate weavings, a soft click you hear as the machine onward keeps turning. Echoing footsteps through galleries tall. A point or a whisper in wondrous awe. Great heights, far depths, a window into the stars. Constellations twinkling, glittering forms. These are what dreams are made from.
A city of stone atop a mountain of bronze. It floats in a lake where the abyssal form yawns. Thinking of nothing for the thoughts have all gone. They ride the expanse in little worlds of their own. Yet onward it ticks, for a reason unknown. Gleaming gears, strong pillars, a silent testament to the unknown. This is why eternity rolls onward.
The Neverending Expanse
Amuer Adanya. It is an ocean of light and the resting place of countless. There are none who know for certain of its beginnings, though some would say otherwise. From the mindset of the individual it is and was and will be unto eternity, both in the sense of time as well as distance. One could swim through its waters, traveling from world to world. Points of solidity in an otherwise flowing reality. No matter how far traveled though, there would always be another world to discover, more secrets to unlock. Each of these worlds is a hollow form in which can be found myriad wonders. Some are mazes of marble tunnels, others enormous jungles. Each world though shares something in common with every other world. Gears, always clicking onwards. Like the ocean, nobody is certain of what they do. Just that these intricate machines are found everywhere, and they never stop. Always grinding onward, running strange processes. There are pipes too, and odd crystals suspended seemingly by nothing. And the oddest of all, nobody knows where their people came from. It is as if they simply appeared here one day.
So what is this all about?
Well to be honest this is all very stream-of-consciousness in its design. It started from a dream I had a long while ago. I was walking along a massive hallway, sculpted out of marble and granite and looking very much like roman architecture. There were windows to the outside every once in awhile. The strange bit was that they looked out into an expanse of water, seemingly lit from above (though there was no surface I could see). The dream progressed and I saw odd machines, akin to steam engines and antique clocks, each run by a crystal of some form. When I woke up the dream stuck with me and it has ever since been in the back of my mind. My hope with this is to recapture the feeling of awe and mystery that makes fantasy so exciting to me. This post is partly for me and partly for the guild as a whole. For one I just want to share it with you all. I am certain that there are ideas that you can pull from it (which I encourage). If anything it would probably make an interesting Plane of Water for your next DnD planar session. As for me I would like anyone willing to read this to ask me questions. Anything that might pop up in your head. Again this is all very loose and flowing in my mind and questions will help me begin to cement stuff into place.
If you read all of the above then I am very grateful that I didn't bore you. If you also have something to post, then please, enjoy a cookie:
[spoiler=cookie]
(http://technabob.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/super_mario_cookie.jpg)
[/spoiler]
Very haunting.
Evocative writing, Nomadic.
Where did the name come from? And, what a great thing to dream! I wish mine were as memorable.
I think the combination of imagery is a good one, it's a very visual setting (or setting-fragment) to me, I think. The wateriness adds to the overall aesthetic I think. You speak of being able to swim to other planes... would this work, perhaps, in a similar way to L-Space in the Discworld - that is that all bodies of water in the multiverse are somehow connected, and it is possible to move from one to another? In this scenario, Amuer Adanya is in a way the "hallway" from which one can step into the "rooms" that are the lakes and seas of various worlds?
Quote from: KindlingWhere did the name come from? And, what a great thing to dream! I wish mine were as memorable.
I think the combination of imagery is a good one, it's a very visual setting (or setting-fragment) to me, I think. The wateriness adds to the overall aesthetic I think. You speak of being able to swim to other planes... would this work, perhaps, in a similar way to L-Space in the Discworld - that is that all bodies of water in the multiverse are somehow connected, and it is possible to move from one to another? In this scenario, Amuer Adanya is in a way the "hallway" from which one can step into the "rooms" that are the lakes and seas of various worlds?
Well the luminiferous aether part relates to the old concept of space being filled with a physical aether (yea I know aether is supposed to be air-like not water like but I like the name so :P). There have been jokes made about transversing the luminiferous aether by putting on some swimming trunks and jumping out of a space ship (and then swimming to mars). I thought it would be cool if you actually could swim to other worlds. This connects to your other question. The Amuer Adanya is a literal ocean. A vast expanse of endless water with no bottom and no surface penetrated by an eerie light from who knows where. Thus one could literally step out the hatch of one world and swim (or take a sub) to another world. I suppose you could draw connections between this and actual sci-fi space travel.
Who studies the Neverending Expanse, or at least has discovered what little is known about it?
Quote from: Elven DoritosWho studies the Neverending Expanse, or at least has discovered what little is known about it?
Many people. Worlds might have groups devoted to exploring the expanse, I am sure there are probably traveling scientists of a sort who are constantly learning and cataloging things. The open drifting nature means that there is never a lack of things to uncover and certainly not a lack of people wishing to do so. The mystery of the place is ripe for questions. Would probably make for a fascinating campaign. A wandering group of players that are searching for answers.
Well it finally has a name. Mare Eternus (a Latin allusion to the eternal sea)...
The denizens of the Amuer Adanya are ignorant to the ultimate truths of their existence. However, they are not oblivious to the question. New worlds are constantly being born into the swirling currents of the expanse. They bring with them entire populations, none with any recollection of where they come from. This occurrence above all others has driven the taming of the truth, The Oreqilas. Some follow this path through exploration and experimentation, some through tinkering, others simply ponder. Indeed as far as the last is concerned there are as many theories behind why the Amuer Adanya exists as there are worlds floating within its reaches. This is but one...
Echo of an echo in the realm beyond realms
All inhabitants of the great ocean experience flickers of memory, even startling deja vu from time to time. Many describe visions of parts of the expanse they have never seen before in their lives, others even claim to have viewed other dimensions and realities. It is said that these are more than just creations of the mind. They are glimpses into lives before lives, perhaps even back countless eons. Like the worlds the memories are an echo of a realm that once was and now is no more. Nothing but a reflection floating in a vast planar graveyard. Indeed the people themselves are naught more than reflections of those who inhabited these worlds, reflections that have experienced, are experiencing, and will ever more experience echoes of their past lives. As the waters shift onward, so do the lives of the people. Death into rebirth will continue into eternity and as the flickers of memory are added to from the ever growing repository of past lives, they blend into something new. Flickers fade and blur, they never completely go away, yet they do eventually become a faint and very abstract form. If this is true then it begs the question... are we even people or simply soulless echoes drifting in an eternal graveyard, flickers of remembrance in a planar sea?
Wow. Great writing that bombards you with more questions than it provides answers. I like the "Echo of an echo in the realm beyond realms", although I see potential for existentialist angsting by characters that ponder that theory too much.
Haha existential angst indeed. I am sure there are a few like that. As to the questions it bombards you with, throw a few my way and I might just answer them :P
Asking me questions will help me fill in gaps as I go along and help people understand what ME is about.
I be thinking that the religions will be less important than the philosophies in this setting.
The Shackles of Freedom
It was a pretty little trinket, a clear piece shot through with iridescent color. A Jalen Firepearl the merchant had called it. It had been harvested from countless worlds away and brought here just for him, or so you would think the way the corpulent man had rambled on. Jon hadn't paid much attention though, he never did. At least not to what was said. His was a study of the mind behind the man. How he moved, where his eyes focused, it all was filtered through its processes and held open the back door. Another variable entered into the equation, a lump of a beast inquiring about opal whatnots, not that Jon cared. The process though did, it beckoned at the door. Jon stepped through and claimed his prize before drifting out the back way and into a sea of faces.
It was almost too easy, these fat merchants and their addled minds. Jon glanced at the Firepearl now resting in his hand. He allowed a small grin to show on his face. Not that it mattered. He was carrying a king's ransom in his hand and it didn't mean a thing. He would deposit it at the place with the hooded lady, he would receive some currency, and that would be that. Jon reflected on his life. He had been much like the merchant at some point, a fool with goals and dreams. Then he had learned the ultimate truth. It had been a new freedom, a release that sent him soaring far above the huddled masses. It had also been a curse. The shackles of knowledge were now clamped firmly to his feet. So he went about his life, realizing it was all meaningless, searching for a way to find meaning. Drink, company, possessions, the pearl would buy him much of this. But none of it had yet proved able to break him free of his fetters.
He stepped into a side alley and walked under a granite arch, eyes landing momentarily on the sign "Agora's Item Brokerage". Perhaps after he was done here he would go visit his favorite place, the one with the pretty barmaid. He'd drink and laugh at the world, maybe even convince the barmaid to join him in his laughter for the night. Then morning would come and the world would laugh back at him all the harder. Yet he took some solace in the temporary reprieves he could find, they were all he had. Up ahead a half-rotted wooden door swung open, the fine looking lady in the hood smiled at him, "good to see you again Jon". He smiled back, not that it mattered.
Very nihilistic... and fun.
The idea of Mare Eternus is almost Gnostic/Platonic, in some ways - a world made up of shadows or echoes thrown onto the cave-wall rather than a real place.
One expects places to appear for certan people, and not for others. Trancience seems the only permanence, and so far, feelings are more real than architecture.
Are some places on Mare Eternus sentient" Is all of it?
Quote from: Lord VreegOne expects places to appear for certan people, and not for others. Trancience seems the only permanence, and so far, feelings are more real than architecture.
Are some places on Mare Eternus sentient" Is all of it?
There are certainly sentient things beyond the "people". There are even rumors of entire sentient worlds floating through the sea. On one side of the coin the world is very real and touchable yet on the other end it radiates a power of sorts that can make even the mightiest king feel like a purposeless flea from time to time.
No no, I meant the snippet felt nihilistic, not the whole setting! Jon's mantra that nothing matters, nothing matters, nothing matters because he has seen some dark "truth" and been fettered by it, that struck me as nihilistic; nihilism strikes me as one (but far from the only) response to Mare Eternus. The setting in its great context, as I said, reminds me more of Gnosticism and Plato's Cave, the "World of Shadows."
Quote from: SteerpikeNo no, I meant the snippet felt nihilistic, not the whole setting! Jon's mantra that nothing matters, nothing matters, nothing matters because he has seen some dark "truth" and been fettered by it, that struck me as nihilistic; nihilism strikes me as one (but far from the only) response to Mare Eternus. The setting in its great context, as I said, reminds me more of Gnosticism and Plato's Cave, the "World of Shadows."
Anyone wonder if Estragon and Vldaimir ended up in Mare Eternus?
Quote from: SteerpikeNo no, I meant the snippet felt nihilistic, not the whole setting! Jon's mantra that nothing matters, nothing matters, nothing matters because he has seen some dark "truth" and been fettered by it, that struck me as nihilistic; nihilism strikes me as one (but far from the only) response to Mare Eternus. The setting in its great context, as I said, reminds me more of Gnosticism and Plato's Cave, the "World of Shadows."
Yes I know