The Campaign Builder's Guild

[ic]You step across the threshold and into the shrine's inner circle, your boots clicking lightly on the polished marble tile. Across from you, seated on a small ornate stool is a wizened old Aerlin sage. "Come my child, I know already that which you seek, for you are here in the shrine of the great power. That which transcends physical prowess, and lays low the mightiest warrior. Knowledge." You sit opposite him, crossing your legs respectfully and bowing. "Ah I see you have respect for such power," he smiles, folding wrinkled hands atop a round belly. "Well then I shall give you a hint of it, and then perhaps you will ask more, for I know much that has been and is that few ever will know."[/ic]

[ooc]What is Mare Eternus?
Mare Eternus is my attempt to consolidate all my ideas from over the years into a single setting. It began with a dream I had. I was walking through a vast empty network of ornate halls and caverns, carved from marble and shaped with brass and crystal, and everywhere there was the feel of a clockwork Atlantis. Windows out into a grand ocean vista, ticking mechanisms and pumping pistons. The place seemed to have an endless age and size to it and everywhere there were signs of past habitation. The overall feel was a place of utter awe, beyond mortal comprehension. When I woke up I stopped and just mulled over what I had dreamed for a good five minutes before going "That would make a really awesome setting." Since then it's grown into something even more. Mare Eternus in Latin is roughly The Sea of Eternity/The Eternal Sea and I hope to reflect that aspect in all parts of my setting. Expect things to be grand, huge, and otherwise awe inspiring in scope. I want to really capture that feeling that you get out of ridiculous fantasy (floating islands, physical impossibilities, etc) basically Mare Eternus is one giant exercise in Rule of Cool beating the crap out of verisimilitude.

What is the feel of the setting?
Grand scopes, fast epic battles, snarky heroes. Take Star Wars, Firefly, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Carribean, and every other similar thing you can think of and cram it all into one thing. That's what I am going for. The real challenge will be crafting the fluff and the crunch to encourage that style of play. In a word I want Mare Eternus to feel cinematic.

Ethocentric or DivSet?
Ah yes here we go again. That ever present question. Well to answer it in a word, neither, or rather both. The ethos aspect of ME is quite strong obviously, however I have been purposefully crafting it in such a way that while there is a certain ethos tugging at the DM and the Players, it isn't hard to go against it. So ME holds the middle ground, though it tilts a bit more towards Ethocentric.

Describe the physical setting
Mare Eternus, or rather the aspect of it I am creating, takes place within an area known as The Expanse. In truth the realm of ME is infinite in size and age. However it would be impossible to craft an infinite world. Thus you could think of the fluff I am creating as a sort of module that one can play in with the ME ruleset and ethos at its core. However, using the example module and the rules it would be ridiculously easy for anyone to snap their own little piece of the infinite ocean into the game and run with their own species and history and places (thus the aforementioned DivSet aspect). Back to the topic at hand though. The infinite ocean is a body of water with no end (in any direction, no surface, no floor), for you DnD buffs think of it like the Elemental Plane of Water, but with more clockwork and more solid stuff. The expanse is a single section of that ocean, a calmer area of water known as a Doldrum, surrounded by massive turbulent currents that separate it from the greater ocean. Within it are numerous worlds, akin to giant cavern filled asteroids with giant air pockets. These pockets are home to numerous land dwelling races and are a central focus for the game (though seafaring plays heavily into it as well). The awe aspect here comes from realizing that you have entire civilizations living within hollow worlds, surrounded by forests and deserts and caves, but instead of a sky they look up upon a towering vista of ancient pillars and skybridges and mile high unbreakable glass domes (looking out upon an endless ocean, backlit in blue), and of course impossibly large clockwork mechanisms. Imagine waking up in the morning, walking outside and looking up into the blue sea peering through a giant glass dome, and just below it clicks a clockwork gear the size of a small city, suspended three thousand feet above your head.[/ooc]

And those questions are only a few that I am sure could be asked about this setting. So please send me your queries and I will see what I can do to sate your thirst for knowledge. With that, may the Mare Eternus Question and Answer discussion commence.

Who are the inhabitants of Mare Eternus?

Who built/maintains the vast and ancient mechanisms you describe?

What kind of conflicts do you envisage players encountering in Mare Eterrnus?

Would I want to live in Mare Eternus (or perhaps, to rephrase, how hard is life in Mare Eternus, and how dystopian is society)?

Have those, to begin with :)

In terms of what PCs and current NPCs have available, what is the lvel of tech?  what types of magic are there?

Ah most excellent, our first few brave souls, willing to ask their mind. Let us see what we can do for you.

Quote from: KindlingWho built/maintains the vast and ancient mechanisms you describe?

Would I want to live in Mare Eternus (or perhaps, to rephrase, how hard is life in Mare Eternus, and how dystopian is society)?
[/quote]
In terms of what PCs and current NPCs have available, what is the lvel of tech? what types of magic are there?
[/quote]
Technology is Post-Ren to Victorian in general (with some exceptions of course). Gunpowder exists, as does advanced metallurgy. Electricity is a rather new concept and can only really be utilized by the wealthy as the techniques for generating it are very expensive (so lighting outside of submarines tends to be flame based more than anything else). Non-homing torpedoes and mines exist, as do crude guns. Older weapons such as swords and bows/crossbows still get regular use though as they still offer greater finesse than their newer cousins.

Magic though is an interesting subject. It exists to some degree obviously, but mortal minds can't use it. There has been discovered no way to tap into it directly. But it can be touched indirectly through something known as an artifact. Artifacts are the creations of those minds warped by the clockwork. In that brief period before the warping drives them over the brink, many will for unknown reasons take to creating a device of some form. These devices share abilities with the clockwork, never degrading and seemingly able to defy physical laws. It is these magical artifacts that are so heavily sought after by most. There are guns that fire bursts of energy, shields that slow projectiles to a crawl, artifact engines that can launch a submersible to incredible speed, firemakers that can create a flame anywhere, and much more. In fact the pursuit of artifact technology is a big point within Mare Eternus adventuring circles.

So if I got this right, ME is kind of like a low-tech version of space operas, with an infinite volume of water in stead of the vacuum of space, and inhabitable worlds in big air-pockets taking the place of planets?

What are the aesthetics of the endless ocean, beyond the obvious infinity and watery aspects? Is it utterly lightless? Illuminated by discrete sources of light, as the star-filled night sky? Flat monotonous blue from ambient lighting? A blotchy soup of manifold liquids, like galactic nebulae or like drops of aquarelle dispersing and mingling in a sink?

Quote from: GhostmanWhat are the aesthetics of the endless ocean, beyond the obvious infinity and watery aspects? Is it utterly lightless? Illuminated by discrete sources of light, as the star-filled night sky? Flat monotonous blue from ambient lighting? A blotchy soup of manifold liquids, like galactic nebulae or like drops of aquarelle dispersing and mingling in a sink?

The ocean is backlit. There is some unknown light source that always seems to come from directly above (yes there is a set up and down) that lights up the whole ocean. The color of the light depends on where you are as it is affected by the color of the local water. The Veld Drift for example is a deep eerie green while the hub has an exceptionally light (almost white) blue tinge. There are places where things in the water give it weirder colors (reds, grays, etc). I suppose in that sense there are nebula as you can see these colored areas from a distance if the water between you is clear enough (from the border the veld looks very much like a greenish cloud).

So they're like small hollow rock planets, except that there's a universal and constant direction of gravity. Do they have internal "suns" or other natural light sources, or is lighting artificial (part of the clockwork) there?

Quote from: GhostmanSo they're like small hollow rock planets, except that there's a universal and constant direction of gravity. Do they have internal "suns" or other natural light sources, or is lighting artificial (part of the clockwork) there?

The outer levels are lit through vast windows (and occasionally through bodies of water that open immediately out into the endless ocean). The clockwork is a bit nebulous in what it is defined as. It includes mechanisms, but it also includes some very ornate (and seemingly useless) decorations. These include gigantic glass domes and windows that separate the air inside from the water outside but allow light through. The inner levels are lit by various things. Some clockwork glows and you can find caverns lit by such lighting alone in the deep levels. There are also phosphorescent plants and animals that call the world cores home. Then of course there is the artificial lighting made by mortal hands. Though that is uncommon outside settlements as it is difficult to maintain and so travel through the lightless regions generally requires a group bring its own light sources.

Ah, the picture's getting much clearer. One more question about light: is there a night/day cycle to that mysterious luminosity from above?

Quote from: GhostmanAh, the picture's getting much clearer. One more question about light: is there a night/day cycle to that mysterious luminosity from above?

Yes there is, the ocean's luminosity undergoes a period known as The Fading in which it dims to very low levels. There is a twilight feel to those places lit by it during such times. Nobody knows why it does this, just that it does (and that it happens to coincide with a noticeable brightening of the glow in luminescent clockwork pieces).

Ghostman asked it but it went unanswered: How does gravity work? Is it localized to the inside of the "asteroids"? They're hollow inside, is everyone only living on the "bottom" or do they live along all surfaces of the inside? Do things sink in the ocean, or are most things neutrally buoyant?

Other than that, I've been reading about this setting for some time. Kudos on creating something very different and unique; it makes me worry that my setting's too plain.

Quote from: XeviatGhostman asked it but it went unanswered: How does gravity work? Is it localized to the inside of the "asteroids"? They're hollow inside, is everyone only living on the "bottom" or do they live along all surfaces of the inside? Do things sink in the ocean, or are most things neutrally buoyant?

Other than that, I've been reading about this setting for some time. Kudos on creating something very different and unique; it makes me worry that my setting's too plain.

Actually he made a statement, which was totally correct and thus I didn't see any need to modify what he said. Gravity has one direction, the ocean has a definite down and a definite up. Also they aren't hollow like you're thinking. They're solid but with networks of caverns and caves snaking through their interiors. People live within these interconnected caverns. Buoyancy is neutral (which is why the very dense worlds don't constantly sink downwards). The rule being that objects at one level will continue to remain at that level unless some force pushes them up or down.

To put the shape of the worlds in clearer perspective, take if you will a piece of rock roughly circular in shape and many miles in diameter and place it in an endless volume of water. Now bore holes through the rock so that you have a maze of twisting passages and caverns, some very small, some miles wide. Where water can enter it will pour into the holes, but if the holes can hold an air pocket they will and thus the water will stop at a surface, creating an interior lake. These air pockets are interconnected with other pockets through the networks of tunnels and so you get essentially a giant underworld floating in a gigantic ocean, separated from the outside by tons of rock and glass.

Let's say that I want to play something akin to a spellcaster in your setting, how would that work? How do the artifacts allow a PC to use magic? Do they act as a focus or does each artifact have a unique ability?  

Quote from: XXsiriusXXLet's say that I want to play something akin to a spellcaster in your setting, how would that work? How do the artifacts allow a PC to use magic? Do they act as a focus or does each artifact have a unique ability?  

It would probably be a bit like trying to play a spellcaster in a modern setting (one with magic artifacts). It would be hard. Artifacts aren't something everyone has access to. True the average adventurer will eventually end up with at least one, but spellcasters don't exist in ME.

As to your other point, each artifact has a unique ability. They are tools that can break certain laws of reality, but you can't use them to cast your own spells. You can only make them do what they were built for.

Ah, awesome, alright, see I was imagining something different. Thanks for clearing that up. Awesome.