The Narrows

[psychoticbarber]

"Father, father, I'm home!" the boy cried, running into the house with tears flooding down his face, "I'm home but the monster in the street wants to eat me!"

The boy's father frowned. "Monster?" he asked. "What have we told you about being out after sunset?"

The boy sniffed, clearing his tears, "That I must never stay out after the sun touches tops of the mountains."

The father smiled grimly, "That's right. And now I will tell you why." He sat the boy down next to the small fire that was keeping the house warm. "This is city is on the narrows," he said softly, "Behind our world there are other worlds, worlds with strange and dangerous creatures. In the dark night, the creatures from the world of night like to come across, snatch little boys, and eat them for supper!" The little boy jumped in fear, and the father continued, "So you must be home at night, or else you might be supper for a dark creature. Now off to bed."

The child ran off and the father smiled. It wasn't true, of course, but there were enough "monsters" in this world that roamed the streets at night that it paid to be careful.

The Ancients of Prime built their home city Kayru in its place for a reason. They built the city on a narrows, or a place where the walls between worlds were thin enough to accidentally pass through. Though the narrows is believed by most sentient adults to be a made-up thing, and is used to scare little children into being good, it does exist.

The father's story above is more true than he knows. Kayru was built on the narrows between two worlds, Prime, and the Dark World. The Ancients spent over a thousand years studying it (a fairly mean feat, for them, as they live forever unless killed).

In their studies, they made many expeditions to the Dark World, which is much like the Underdark. Unlike the Underdark of the traditional D&D worlds, it is a world above ground, lit by a moon in the day and by nothing at night.

The Ancients discovered the Dark World generally mirrors our own to a disturbing degree. An accidental entry into the Dark World during the construction of Kayru was the catalyst to discover that the Aumani were building a city in exactly the same place in the Dark World. The construction of magical gates between the worlds allowed for the opening of trade between the Ancients and the Aumani. One sharp parallel difference is the predominance of magic in Prime and of psionics in the Dark World.

This alliance was doomed to fail from the beginning. The Aumani were coldly calculating, and the moment they believed they had the upper hand, they attacked, attempting to wipe out the Ancients and claim Kayru as their own. The Ancients fought back with a ferocity never before seen, indignant that the Aumani would so easily toss aside the alliance. The Ancients ended the war victorious, destroying the Aumani city across the narrows. This was not the only stronghold of Aumani, but the Ancients lacked the strength to hunt them down. Out of the tens of thousands of Ancients, only a mere one hundred and one remained.

Granted a reprieve by their victory, the Ancients set to using their knowledge of the narrows to build the Dusk Citadel. It was a small city with a foot in each world, and an impenetrable fortress. When the Ancients left Prime for the Citadel, they destroyed the gates linking Prime and the Dark World, giving the lesser races time to develop to meet the threat that would once again rear its head.

Over time, in the Citadel, the Ancients discovered that there were many more than two worlds that overlapped, and began to study and explore the other worlds. The Citadel itself is somewhat of a hub between worlds. It has been enchanted so that it may link to any world, regardless of geography.

Narrows in general do not often produce relationships like that between Prime and the Dark World. Many worlds overlap in small geographic areas, but thus far only Prime and the Dark World have been discovered to share much of the same geography.

The gates the Ancients created look like normal stone arches with rune-writing on them. They can be enchanted to allow only certain types of creatures through (or to refuse certain creatures, like say, Aumani), but once built their function may not be changed. At the moment, only the Ancients are able to create and destroy gates.


The post has been edited to remove the mention of WotC intellectual property.
The Dusk Citadel is still open to link to worlds, if other world-builders are interested.

[psychoticbarber]

Well folks, this is the first element of my campaign setting posted to the forums, just for the record.

[Ghost]

I'm actually liking it a lot. An intriguing idea, linking universes/planes. It would be awesome If I could link my setting to yours through a narrows. I'm going to be posting it to the boards over the next month or two [basically, a revamped and expanded version of the one in my signature], but suffice it to say, there is the possibility to link it to anywhere.

I have one question, though. Are there any dragons in Prime or Dark?

[psychoticbarber]

There are Dragons in Prime, but no equivalent are known in Dark. As the Dark mirrors Prime, there's probably something big, scaly, and hungry, but it's hard to know what, as dragons already come in various colours and alignments.

[Tybalt]

What a cool idea--and more subtle than Planescape certainly which I found intriguing but too...complex and tongue in cheek. I love the opening story.

[Raelifin]

It's alright. As far as ideas that connect worlds, it's probably one of the better ones, but I generally dislike such ideas based on some abstract principles. I'll go into why I dislike world connections if you want, but I figure I'll just comment on the specifics.

Just to point out:
Illithids are the intellectual property of WotC.
The underdark, as it is a series of caverns, follows a very different sort of conceptual base than a dark world.
You never explain how they're unlike stargates. :P
Some of us don't know what an "Ulitharid" is. (Namely me)

Now, I'm wondering about a major point. Are the illithids all dead, or just "defeated"? 101 people isn't much, but when you've got the powers of an immortal, it could be a lot. If the illithids (in the sister city) were wiped out, why did the ancients build the citadel rather than, say, constructing a fortress manned by magical constructs (including undead?) in the light world and start procreating?

I certainly know the meta-game reason for constructing a nexus, but make sure it meshes cleanly with the in-game logic.

Another big gap (and one that relates to my first comment) is a discussion of the divine entities of the world and how they're effected by a major inter-dimensional war. I know you have moon clerics in Kayru, but do they have access to their power outside of the prime? How does connection to other worlds work if those worlds have differing cosmological systems?

Good gaming,
 - Rael

[psychoticbarber]

It's alright. As far as ideas that connect worlds, it's probably one of the better ones, but I generally dislike such ideas based on some abstract principles. I'll go into why I dislike world connections if you want, but I figure I'll just comment on the specifics.

I'm interested, but send me a PM to keep this thread relatively clean.

Just to point out:
Illithids are the intellectual property of WotC.

Damn, you're right. Well, that'll have to change. Clumsy me :S.

The underdark, as it is a series of caverns, follows a very different sort of conceptual base than a dark world.

Again, you're right. I did finally get a copy of the book, and what I'm using it for is to get a baseline as to what a world completely covered in darkness would be like. I'm not *making* the Dark World the Underdark.

You never explain how they're unlike stargates. :P

[tease]Stargates are round. My gates are arches ;)[/tease]
Alright, they are conceptually similar to stargates in many ways, but my gates:
1) Require a geographical closeness (the Narrows)
2) Only link between two destinations
3) Can be created to reject specific traveler types
4) Are always on.

Some of us don't know what an "Ulitharid" is. (Namely me)

It's the intellectual property of WotC, but Ulitharid was like a super Illithid.

Now, I'm wondering about a major point. Are the illithids all dead, or just "defeated"? 101 people isn't much, but when you've got the powers of an immortal, it could be a lot. If the illithids (in the sister city) were wiped out, why did the ancients build the citadel rather than, say, constructing a fortress manned by magical constructs (including undead?) in the light world and start procreating?

The illithids (which are going to be converted to a psionic human subtype, I've decided) in the city next to Kayru were killed, but in recent years the humans have moved back into the city. Maybe it wasn't clear in my post, but only 101 Ancients were LEFT. They were a wicked 101, don't get me wrong, but they lost large numbers during the war, and put the hurt on the other guys pretty badly as well.

Unfortunately for the Ancients, their immortal race does not procreate. From the beginning, none have been born, and only those who have been killed have died.

As for the Citadel, it was built to a) give the Ancients a protected home, and b) get out of the way of the other races that were up and coming on Prime.

Another big gap (and one that relates to my first comment) is a discussion of the divine entities of the world and how they're effected by a major inter-dimensional war. I know you have moon clerics in Kayru, but do they have access to their power outside of the prime? How does connection to other worlds work if those worlds have differing cosmological systems?

This setting is very much under development, so this probably hasn't come out clearly in whatever I've written that is online, but the power of the deities comes from the belief in the deity. In the same way, the powers that the deity grants is the motivated belief of the Cleric. Anywhere a moon cleric goes, if she believes, she will have power. But if her belief falters...

Good gaming,
 - Rael

Thank you for your review!

[psychoticbarber]

The post has been edited due to improper use of WotC intellectual property.

Ooops. ;)