The Vast and the Restless

[Malachi Lemont]

[spoiler]Image above is in the public domain. See link to verify: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chiniak_bay_kodiak.jpg[/spoiler]

The Nature of the Vast

In the Vast, geography is a wild card in the course of history. The laws of nature are different here than on Earth, such that a mountain may move several miles within a person's lifetime, a lake may appear out of nowhere one day, and a river might never reach the sea. People will spend centuries building a thriving metropolis only to have it torn in two by a opening in the walls of the world. Many people survive the constantly shifting landscape by always staying on the run, forming nomadic communities based around trade and foraging. Others stake out a spot in the turf and hope that the next earthquake will miss their village.

As a campaign builder, I intend for the Vast and Restless setting to be a mix of the practical and the surreal. The surreal side comes from the land itself. The practical side comes from the people who live there. The people are ordinary humans - no elves, dwarves, etc. - who live in multiple complex nations constantly involved in political and religious conflicts. Technology follows an earthlike progression through history in the Vast, starting with early agriculture and continuing to an industrial revolution. The present day of the Vast resembles our mid-1800s, with railroads, rifles, empires, and the beginnings of democracy.

Yet at the same time, a dangerous spiritual realm, known as the Restless, waits just out of sight, and constantly hurls surprises at everyone, from low-ranking factory worker to middle-class traveler to revered philosopher. Will the world swallow up civilization? Or will the people destroy themselves first...

The Great Rages

Although the Vast is constantly struck by natural disasters, every so often the physical realm and the spiritual realm  collide with each other so violently that a temporary apocalypse occurs. This has happened ten times in recorded history, and seldom happens more than once in a lifetime. Historians refer to these ten enormous disasters as the Great Rages. The most recent one, the Tenth Rage, happened roughly thirty years ago, and is still vividly remembered by the older generations.

Every Great Rage is different, but each one is deadly in its own right. Sometimes the seas rise to nearly swallow the dry land. Other times, the land folds in on itself, opening up sinkholes the size of cities and mixing together cultures that were once thousands of miles apart. The social consequences of each Rage usually persist long after the natural effects have subsided. And they are impossible to predict.

The Shifting Lands of the Vast

The people of the Vast organize themselves into communities, towns, and nations, to survive the onslaught of the vicious environment. Borders can change in a single day due to an earthquake or landslide, and maps are almost impossible to draw. A nation might be in the north one year and the south the next. The variability of terrain has led to frequent, often unexpected, interaction between divergent cultures. Each new disaster leaves the countries more closely interrelated. Even so, geographic, ethnic, and religious differences continue to divide the people of the Vast into more or less distinct political entities.

Averdach
Averdach is a woodland nation divided between two main groups - The Protectors and the Givers. The Protectors are a small and elite ruling class, in which gender distinctions are almost non-existent. Women can wear suits of armor and men can wear jewelry and cosmetics if they wish. Polygamy and communal marriages are common. The Protectors ride around on horses and in chariots, which they prefer over the noisy locomotives. The Givers, on the other hand, have strong codified gender roles that emphasize physical prowess in men and beauty in women. They do almost all of the manual labor in Averdach. There are many levels of social hierarchy within the Givers, and some Givers who achieve highly enough in their field can become Protectors. Although the two groups are distinct, they are not strictly hereditary.

Cadonmarch
Centuries ago, the rolling plains of Cadonmarch were the exclusive domain of the Cadons, a race of nomadic people who had mastered the art of horseback riding, and roamed the land herding sheep and cattle. Now these old ways have been all but forgotten, as the shifting geography has transformed Cadonmarch into a wild and diverse region. Cadonmarch has almost no central government, except for the Committee, which gathers representatives from all the major towns, but has little military power. This region is more like a confederacy of separate kingdoms and republics, each one home to a wide assortment of upstart capitalists, exiled nobles, and overworked peasants. Although Cadonmarch lacks the unity that some of the other nations have, it serves as a crossroads where people from all over the Vast come to meet each other.

Homevale
The rulers of Homevale would like to think their nation is immune to the forces of time. Despite the industrial progress that has swept the rest of the Vast in the last few centuries, Homevale has remained trapped in antiquity. Nearly surrounded by mountains, this feudal kingdom maintains an agricultural economy built on the backs of peasants. Over the years, its rulers have grown increasingly xenophobic and isolationist, maintaining an strong military but engaging only in the most minimal trade with Homevale's neighboring countries. Many of the peasants have heard tales about the wonders of the outside world, but few will ever stray more than a few miles from the place of their birth. Surprisingly, the shifting geography that affects the rest of the Vast never seems to alter the layout of Homevale. The rulers attribute this to the fact that they are the chosen people, free from the corrupt ways of outsiders.

Saiadel
Saiadel is a paradoxical nation, a mix of the modern and the ancient. In recent years, this small but wealthy kingdom has produced some of the greatest scientists, inventors, and philosophers. Buildings will reach up into the heavens, and the trains always run on time. But the people still abide by an ancient caste system that the rest of the world finds bizarre. In Saiadel, a person's height is the chief factor in his or her success. Those of average height are considered "made in the image of the Gods," so naturally, they have the authority to govern. The taller men and women (although they usually end up being men) provide the backbone of the industrial labor force, as well as the military. The shorter folk (usually women) occupy the service industries, as waiters, entertainers, and merchants. People in Saiadel welcome gladly welcome foreigners and have almost no concept of ethnicity in the traditional sense, yet they discriminate fervently against people whose bodies do not fit the aesthetic ideal.

Vooln
The people of Vooln describe their troubled nation as "in a period of transition." The rest of the world is not so kind. Often called "the cesspit of the Vast," Vooln is where many of the least fortunate folk tend to spend their lives. Plagued by foul weather, frequent natural disasters, and the more recent problem of industrial pollution, the low standard of living often repels all but the most desperate workers. But many Voolnians soon develop a pride in what their nation has to offer. As the only somewhat democratic nation in the Vast, all men and women of whatever economic status have the power to elect local leaders, who make up the High Council of the land, which makes a genuine effort to fairly distribute the resources Vooln is able to take in. Vooln's aristocracy is all but extinct. Most of the noble houses have gone bankrupt or been bought out by industrial companies. The few dynasties that remain consist of tired old lords and ladies who hold honorary posts on the High Council but have little influence on its decisions.

The River Holds
In the eastern part of Cadonmarch, where the Bellows River widens and flows into the Hallowed Sea, a cluster of small kingdoms called the River Holds developed a culture distinct from the rest of Cadonmarch. This swampy terrain, rich in the fishing trade but poor in other resources, was devastated by the Tenth Rage, which sent a massive hurricane through the area, flooding most of the river basin. As the River Holds recovered, they were unable to pay taxes to the other holds in Cadonmarch, and also became increasingly competitive with each other for control of the more prosperous land to the west. The people in Cadonmarch grew irritated, but did not have powerful armies to defend their lands. The secession of the River Holds ended up as a proxy war for Vooln and Averdach to play out their rivalry without engaging directly. Four of the five River Holds gained independence. The other was utterly destroyed by the war.

The Roaming Isles
As the name suggests, these islands can never be found on a map, as they float all around the seas of the Vast. Sometimes sighted in the Hallowed Sea to the east, and sometimes in the Deadman's Gulf to the north, but usually somewhere in the Unforgiving Ocean to the West, this archipelago is home to small population of farmers and fishermen who live at the mercy of the Vast. People born on the isles often migrate to the mainland, but rarely do mainlanders ever approach the isles - they are too afraid of the myths about the sea. The Roaming Islanders exploit these fears and have developed a powerful navy despite their small population.

Kaithman's Ridge
This rugged, sometimes volcanic mountain range separates the mapped portions of the Vast from the unknown. The Ridge got it's name when Lord Kaithman, a legendary conqueror, led an army of thousands across the Ridge, and they all disappeared. Not a single man was heard from again. This strange occurrence has inspired all sorts of myths and tales about what lies beyond the Ridge. The only thing people agree on is that the far side of the mountains is a dangerous place. The people who live on the foothills of the Ridge, on the near side, are called the "Onlookers" or "the Ridgemen," and are often characterized as an honorable but primitive people. They live in small communities, and have never been conquered due to other nations' fears of repeating Kaithman's folly. The Onlookers are the only outsiders who are respected by Homevale.

The Screaming Wastes
This sweltering desert in the north has rarely been entered and even more seldom been charted. Only a few towns and outposts on its southern and eastern borders have managed to persist. Many of the magical creatures that emerged from the Great Rages are thought to have ended up in the Screaming Wastes, waiting for foolish mortals to enter and be devoured.

Thrynum
An icy tundra to the far south, sparsely populated and covered in snow for most of the year. The people of Homevale often tell horror stories about the monsters living in these frigid hills. Even Lord Kaithman didn't want to invade Thrynum.

Tasaron
The homeland of the Tasaron people vanished without explanation during the Fourth Rage, at the height of their glory. Many Tasarons ended up in Vooln, displaced by the shifting geography of the Vast. A series of conflicts developed as a result of their unexpected appearance. The land of Tasaron is believed to have been completely destroyed, but many people hold out hopes that it lies across the sea, just beyond the horizon, waiting to be rediscovered.

[SA]

I have difficulty reconciling this:

People will spend centuries building a thriving metropolis only to have it torn in two by a opening in the walls of the world.

Sometimes the seas rise to nearly swallow the dry land. Other times, the land folds in on itself, opening up sinkholes the size of cities and mixing together cultures that were once thousands of miles apart.

With this:

The present day of the Vast resembles our mid-1800s, with railroads, rifles, empires, and the beginnings of democracy.

Of course, we've also got this:

I intend for the Vast and Restless setting to be a mix of the practical and the surreal

So I'm interested to see an exploration of just how "technology follows an earthlike progression" in a world that is only ever temporarily and cosmetically like earth. Tonally, geopolitically, psychologically.

That conceptual tension by itself will make for great storystuff.

[Malachi Lemont]

Thank you, Salacious Angel, for being the first to comment.

I'm looking to establish a blend of the real and the surreal, but as you pointed out, I'm not really sure how to blend them. I need help in creating a world that's more than just the 1800s with some wormholes thrown it - It has to be filled with people who are shaped by their environment, who react to drastic changes in the world and the cosmos. Any suggestions?

[SA]

Some irrational or oppressive force might compel the people of the Vast to build great works, even though they will likely be destroyed within a lifetime. This force could be external or internal.

Perhaps some technologies are derived from the Restless itself, appearing amid the wreckage like recovered artifacts. The Great Rages might facilitate advancement as often as they destroy it.

The really big question is how people prepare themselves and their societies for a Great Rage, and how they pick up the pieces afterwards. Rages are the most profoundly effecting constant in your cosmology, so even if they are "impossible to predict" they definitely aren't unanticipated.



What superstitions have developed concerning Rages? Do the people propitiate spirits or gods for safety? Does anyone advertise the ability to forestall these events? Is there a pariah class consistently scapegoated as the cause of Rages? Do any entities ever pop in from the Restless to say "yup, that's me, I did that" even if it isn't true? What does the Restless contain? Can I vacation there?

When the seas nearly swallowed the world what did they take with them when they receded and what did they leave behind? When the land folds upon itself is it only the earth that is transposed or are space and time affected? Homevale is obviously prime real-estate; how is it not perpetually embattled?

[LD]

>>The really big question is how people prepare themselves and their societies for a Great Rage, and how they pick up the pieces afterwards. Rages are the most profoundly effecting constant in your cosmology, so even if they are "impossible to predict" they definitely aren't unanticipated.

For inspiration on rages... and how people prepare for them. The Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey has an apocalypse rain down every 200/500?? years. My opinion is that the books are boring as heck, but the series is beloved, and inspiration in dealing with that issue may be found from the books.

[Malachi Lemont]

Thanks. I'll take a look.

[Seraph]

I know this has gone a while without comment, but I am going to bring it up again, and see if anything comes of my thread necromancy.

Why do people build cities if there is so great a chance of them sinking into a swamp (that may not have existed yesterday), or falling over, or burning down, falling over, THEN sinking into the swamp.  Is it a statement about the human spirit and the need to put down roots?  Are they compelled by gods to build monuments?  Do they hope that if they make the city JUST RIGHT, this time the gods will be pleased and not throw it in their cosmic trash bin?  How do you have lasting connections like railroads?  How often are trains derailed by freak acts of nature?  Also, you say that "The present day of the Vast resembles our mid-1800s, with railroads, rifles, etc." but looking at your nations, I wonder how many places could ACTUALLY have trains?  Homevale clearly doesn't.  They're too technologically backward on account of their xenophobia, isolationism, and fear of progress.  Averdach seems not to like them.  Cadonmarch and the Riverholds don't seem to have the resources to make them, nor especially good land for them.  The Roaming Isles won't stay put long enough to build them.  Vooln sounds industrial enough to have them, but with all their freak weather patterns, I suspect there would be lots of problems with them, and issues with efficiency.  Saiadel seems to be the only place where trains & railroads not only work, but work well. 

What stops rivers from making it to the sea?  While fluid mechanics may be different in The Vast, I assume gravity still works.  Liquid water will still, therefore, tend to flow downhill, which should eventually lead it to the sea.  Unless, of course, it runs into a depression first where EVERYTHING around it is high ground.....  That might hold it for a while.   Or is it rather, that everything changes before water can consistently erode a path all the way from a mountain to the ocean?

With Tasaron, I get an idea reminiscent of Biblical Zion.  It is the lost homeland of a displaced people.  I expect they will have myths of "The Promised Land" that will be a safe haven for their people once they find it.  There could be multiple contradictory stories of where Tasaron truly lies, leading different groups to search for it in different places (probably meeting resistance from the locals).  They move from place to place in search of Tasaron, and when a Rage, or some other disaster follows in their wake, they are made scapegoats of, and their reputation as a cursed people follows them, their infamy growing as each disaster and subsequent eviction adds to their legend.  You could even have legends where a group actually FINDS Tasaron, but it is snatched away from them again before they reach it (probably because someone broke some law, or otherwise did something wrong, like Odysseus' men opening the bag of wind when they were almost home, or Orpheus looking back at Eurydice at the last minute).