The Gray

[Endless_Helix]

[ic=Hera Defleur, Councilitator of Elysium]
My fellow Elysiates, We have reached a new golden age, hitherto unseen since the Decay. Our island is the largest congregate in the Gray, yet we must not give in to pride. We must move ever onward, growing, lest the Decay take us all.
[/ic]

The Gray is a plane that is literally caustic to the earth itself. The world started as any other, but as the centuries wore enough the Gray began to dissolve the world it housed. Gaping holes in the ground would appear, slowly growing in size till they consumed entire continents. The inhabitants are always besiged by the ever-present Decay, the idiom for the Gray's degenerative properties.

A dozen cities have managed to harness the powers of the mind to protect themselves. They managed to survive the worst ravages of the Decay. They use massive crystal batteries  to story mental energy and counter the Gray. They float endlessly around a giant orb called the Glow. Night never occurs save when the orbit of another city blocks the Glow's light.

[Wrexham3]

Endless, that short piece you've just done is the best campaign introduction I've read.  World dissolving mist.  Cities blocking out the light of the Glow.  Brilliantly evocative.  More please.

[Wensleydale]

Indeed!

(Funny, when I posted something like this I got 'please post more next time you decide to start a campaign setting.' :P, then again...)

[CYMRO]

Nice.  Reminiscent of the color spots in Moorcock's Blood.  Nice twist with the decay aspect.  So do necromancers get a shot at empowering themselves off of this life destroying goodness?  

[Endless_Helix]

0_o Whoa... that is possibly the most positive response I've ever had on any of my work. That's crazy... 0_o>
Yeah. I posted that little bit in the middle of writing a paper (which still isn't done). Here's more.

The World
[note] The Gray is a high-psionic propoc setting. "Magic" doesn't exist. Psionics completely replaces it. The Gray eats magic, in fact that why it tears apart the worlds. Psionics has some sort of neutralizing effect on the Gray, and consequently is used often. Magic would function inside any one of the Synods, and some of the Vassals, but not on a Wanderer or out in the Gray itself.[/note]

At the center of the world is the Glow, a giant round light source that gives off some heat. Its brightness it indefatiguable, and resists the Gray. Around the Glow, Twelve Synods orbit, with their own hierarchies of Vassal Islands. Each Synod has several Vassal Islands, that survive inside the Graywalls of the Synod they're beholden to. They provide most of the renewable resources for the Synods, like food and wood and water.

The Synods
*Under Contruction*
[spoiler=Elysium, the First Home]
Population: 200000
Description: From the Gray, Elysium looks like a giant reddish, transparent ball. That is the Graywall that keeps the Synod and it's vassal islands alive. From inside the Graywalls,  the Vassals , which are mostly green, fertile farming communities, orbit slowly around a massive city that seemed to have been lifted off the ground it once stood on. The archtecture is immensly baroque and often focus on achieving height.  Stained glass is a constant decoration, commemorating a happier time. Stained glass is considered a high art for in Elysium, and it shows. Stained Glass sculptures are often both artistic expression and functional constructs for home protection or other reasons.

The stone is primarily grayish with some Alabaster and some brick. At the center of the Synod is the Gallery of the Thousand Souls. It was built to commemorate the world that was lost, and is a giant mosaic map. All the important buildings are there. The Aerifold, where the Chorus meets and decides policy for Elysium, the Church of the Unending Path, the Pavilion of the Mind, where the psionic arts are taught, the Golden Crescent, and much more.

However, beneath this decorated shell lies a different, less welcoming world. The city is built from both sides of the chunk of earth it rests on. There are numerous tunnels that connect the two sides, and since the undercity was created, those tunnels have been inhabited. It isn't really prime realistate. This is where organized crime lives, and spreads its corrupting tentacles into the twin cities.

NPCs:
Important Chorus Members
Hera Defleur is a grzzeled veteran of the Chorus. The elan has served for fourty years as a counciliator, which means that she negotiated between the several "parties" in the chorus extensively. Now she's beginning to push her own agenda. She's proposing a massive expansion of the Graywalls to facilitate a population explosion she predicts in the next thirty years. Hera has been known to be talking with many unscrupulous people recently, and several Chorus members would be very interested to know why.
[/spoiler]
Samsara, the Desired
Labbacagend, the Pastoral Field
Rulach, the Final Home
Umer, the Found
Desyn, the Seeker
Liristrael, the Mourning Star
Opal, the Crescent
Zelgar, the Enduring
Vorshan, the Hunted
Eiderhome, the Crux
Kliel, the Seal