On the Shores of an Infinite Ocean (originally seen on ENWorld & RPG.net)

[Mallus]

This is my gaming group's new setting for our upcoming 4e campaign. What started as an aside, followed by a vague and altogether plagiarized --oops, I mean 'synthesized'-- outline and then a torrent of collaborative creative effort while ostensibly on the clock is now, more-or-less, a workable setting. We think it's swell. It's primarily the work of myself and another friend, with editing from a third, and terrific maps from a fourth.

What follows are setting-info posts from the campaign's message board. I'll post the major NPC's too, as they do lot to lend, ahem, character to the setting.

[Mallus]

On the Shores of an Infinite Ocean

Almost all cultures have a story of the Apocalypse, which will eventually claim the known world, whether they call it Ragnarok, the End Times, Kaliyuga, or the Big Wang. They claim that a new world will be born from the ashes of the old, or that all creation will be divided between heaven and hell, or that a new cyclical age will begin and replicate the previous one, etc. Unfortunately, as far as your world is concerned, they were all dead wrong. In fact, most of them are just dead.

You, on the other hand, are very much alive. As is whatever part of the world which survived the Apocalypse, a narrow band of mundane reality on average a hundred miles wide and stretching several hundred miles from north to south. Commonly called the Middling Lands, it is situated between the Aster Sea (a vast, mostly metaphysical, ocean) to the east and the Interior (just as metaphysical, but more solid and less wet '" as a rule) to the west. Located on the shore of the Aster midway along the Middling Lands is the Port, and this is where your story begins.

The Apocalypse

In common parlance, the apocalypse that ended your world is referred to as the Calamity, which separated the World Before from the World After. It happened about five hundred years ago, since nobody remembers a time before that, even the longest-lived inhabitants of the Middling Lands finding their memories growing foggy around that point. Hence, nobody is quite sure what created the Calamity. Some say it was the result of an apocalyptic final battle between the Dragonborn and Tiefling empires. Others say it was the result of the two empires' apocalyptic cooperation in an attempt to halt Time and thus prevent the coming Age of Men. Some say that the Calamity was caused by the separation of Heaven and Hell and the remains of the mortal world now occupy the same metaphysical space as Purgatory/Limbo. Others say the Calamity was some strange cosmic joke and this world is the punch-line. In short, nobody knows.

Geography

The cold, mountainous northern region is referred to as The Unassailable North. The wet, tropical southern region is called the Snake States, after its three major nations. The Border Kingdoms stretch along and through the Great Girding Forest along the edge of the Interior. The fertile area directly around the port is called the Clutch.

The Interior is a primal land that philosophers say corresponds to the psyche, a panoramic landscape where myths are born. At first the Interior seems terrifyingly empty, and later it seems terrifying full. Travelers are frequently attacked by the things they fear the most; their personal demons. It is said that if you travel far enough into the Interior, you'll reach the Ultimate Self. First yours, and then God's.

The Aster Sea is populated with innumerable islands, which may lead to other planes of existence. To sail east on the Aster is to sail away from human understanding. Sail far enough and you'll reach the end of existence. Or at least get to the Other Side, the land of the dead. It's the job of the Black Ships, which arrive in the Port each morning and depart each evening to carry them there.

[Mallus]

The Port and It's Districts

The Port is the largest remaining seaport in the world, and the only place where ships that ply the Aster, including the Black Ships, make landfall. It lies in a delta formed by two rivers; the River Livia and the Ossuary Flow, which originates in the Interior. Strange things sometimes float in on the Ossuary; empty stone boats, giant infants in reed baskets, potential Messiahs.

In a way, the city is every port city of the World Before folded into one; a riot of architectural styles and eras. In some places this is the result of normal building on top of previous construction, in others it's a parfait of folded, urban space-time, including bits of the future world yet-to-come. In the port you never quite know what you'll find in someone's basement'¦

The port is not only a center for commerce across the Aster. It's also home to the massive train station that serves the Gog-Magog Line, a single rail line running inland, parallel to the coast. The train is powered by two enormous Stone Golems, Dragonborn relics from the World Before, who '˜live' in the station. Working to an exacting but inscrutable schedule, they pull a string of cars attached to a heavy chain. When Gog is pulling, Magog lets out the slack of the chain...and vice-versa.

The port is divided into 12 districts, with the Governor's offices and mansion making an unofficial 13th. The districts include'¦

Rumcastle gets its name from Lord Rum's Castle, one the port's most famous buildings, a defensive fortification built right in the middle of the city by Lord Rum, a vain and daring bootlegger who became so powerful that he challenged the Governor himself during a period that became known as Lord Rum's Rebellion. It's said that the Governor would have lost if he hadn't been able to trick the God of Temperance into returning from Beyond-the-Sea to kill Lord Rum in a duel. Adventurers still seek Lord Rum's lost sword, the one he plunged into the god's liver before dying. The sword is now called Intemperance.

The Sway of Medallion is one of the nicest parts of town, almost a gated community within the confines of the port, with the houses well-kept, the residents prosperous and learned, the streets clean. Jealous neighbors speculate about precisely how high the cost of living there is and what that cost might entail. The neighborhood is named for its most distinctive resident; Medallion, an avuncular man in his later years. No one dares claim they know his real name. He is always seen wearing an enormous jeweled medallion commonly known to be magical. His large estate on the hill commands an excellent view of the port. It is said his house is one of blessed and/or cursed places that contain folded pieces of the World Before. While residents claim to like Medallion that does nothing to prevent the rumors about him; that he is really a demon or homunculus or parasite. That his soul is housed in his medallion. How he was a young man only a few scant years. For such a public figure, these rumors should be easy to dismiss, but as everyone knows, rumors are by far the most stable currency in the port.

The Stagger is home to the city's greatest concentration of thieves and ne'er-do-wells. Its main thoroughfare is Crook Street, which doubles back so many times the residents say it's trying to lose itself, which it probably is.

The artists of the Quadrille claim their district is so named because a life in arts is like a lively yet elegant dance. In truth it's called that because '˜quadrille' sounds fancy and the district is roughly square. Most call it the Ready-Made, after the port's first authentic artist movement, which was, in fact, larceny. Artists of this '˜school' would steal anything halfway interesting looking that wasn't nailed down, and exhibit them in '˜galleries' that frequently doubled as pawn shops.

The Breakers is the neighborhood behind a section of the perennially-being-rebuilt Sea Wall where the enormous pieces of flotsam that are deposited by storms into the harbor are brought to be broken up by men with adamantine hammers. Each hammer is worth the cost of 100 men's lives, and attempts to steal one are punished accordingly. Most of these pieces of '˜flotsam' are huge chunks of obsidian from Avernus, the outermost of the Infernal Isles. They are broken down and used as morally-suspect building material, as well as in Rituals. Sometimes the pieces contain devils, devil larvae, and demons. Sometimes they're themselves alive. Either way, the men of the Breakers *try* to put them to the hammer. The glass that's hammered down in the Breakers is sold in large quantities to shipwrights Across-the-Sea who build the Black Ships. The glass doesn't float; it's more accurate to say that it is continually being '˜cast out' by the waters of the Aster Sea, and thus cannot be submerged. Thus the only way to sink a Black Ship is to crack it two.

The district called the Shambles is exactly that.

Five Fathoms Market is the name of both the largest open-air market in the port and the district it's located in. Many goods from Across-the-Sea are available there. It's sometimes called Five Phantoms Market, because it is haunted by the ghosts of five historic personages. Ritual Row is a part of Five Fathoms Market. More Rituals, both real and faux, are sold there than in any other place, except for the Port of Dis.

The Watchtower District is named for the structure which rises from its streets, towering over the waterfront. It's a carved representation of humanoid arms, raised high and cupping an enormous eyeball which floats a few inches above the stone. The eye is in constant motion, scanning the Aster, looking for someone or something. Its original purpose is long forgotten, but the luminescent quality of its gaze allows the Tower to function as a sort of lighthouse. While the Watchtower District is its official name, most port residents call it the Gaze. The Watchtower Eye is also called the Panopticon, and it occasionally sheds a sort of tear -- this, upon striking the ground below, splashes about and forms a number of much smaller duplicates of the Eye. These are much in demand as setting for exotic jewelry, and if it is a virtual certainty that the big eye is seeing what the small ones do...well, doubtless that actually appeals to some. Members of the Order of the Watch are festooned with such things, and many take it as their duty to travel as much and as far as possible, to increase the Eye's chance of finding whatever it is that it's looking for.

Technically there's a University district, but the school is by and large overshadowed by the Dragon Library. Though part of the university, it's self-governed and a powerful institution in its own right. It gets its name from the two ancient metal dragon statues that flank the front entrance, said to be dormant engines created by the Dragonborn in the World Before. Most residents call this neighborhood as the Hush, though some refer to it as '˜Down in the Dragon'. The library is the home of the Cataloged Mysteries, a collection of possibly untranslatable books from Across and Beyond-the-Sea. The librarians have been acquiring them from the Black Ships for years. The Dragon Librarians all carry arms and know how to use them. They also carry water-soaked cloths with them at all times while on duty. This is because there of a group dedicated to killing the librarians, or better still, burning the library to the ground. This group is called the Illiterati (also the Know-Nothing Brigade) and they believe one of the books in the Cataloged Mysteries is the Doomsday Book, which if it's successfully translated and read it will bring about the end of the world. It's possible that the Illiterati are simply ignorant of the fact that the world has already ended, or perhaps their motivations are something else entirely. The University/Library district is known as the Hush, though some refer to the area around the library as '˜down in the Dragon.'

The Ethical Circus is home to gladiatorial pits, and the '˜national' sport is pit-fighting with various exotic animals from the Aster and the Interior. Many citizens are fanatical followers of these matches. Some of the Magistrates disprove, however, and during their tenure over the Ethical Circus the pits are temporarily converted to theaters and churches, except for the ones that continue to operate illegally.

Gog-Magog Station is a district built around the vast rail yard which houses the massive stone golems that pull the train on the Gog-Magog line (it is also rumored to be the terminus of the Apocryphal Line, which runs '"sometimes, a few times a year or decade, on moonless nights or during thunderstorms, during famines or unexpected bounties-- into the Interior).. The district also houses a landmark called the Spindle, which is part of the pulley system of adamantine chains that operate the train. Below the Spindle is a giant cistern of liquid mercury that's part of the system which cools/lubricates the chains.

The Hereafter, also called the Interim, is the neighborhood of the waiting dead.

Politics, Law and Disorder

The port is ruled by a Governor, a deeply paranoid fellow. He in turn claims allegiance to the never-seen Duke Beyond the Sea, who might be immortal, dead, or the product of the Governor's paranoid delusions. Portraits of the Duke resemble the Horned God in fancy dress.

The governor has appointed Magistrates, one for each district of the city, to keep the Peace and enforce the Law. Unfortunately, he hasn't defined either of those terms, and the Magistrates (each with a private army of bailiffs/cops) are largely free to follow their own whims. Even more unfortunately, every few weeks, entirely at random, the Governor draws lots and reassigns each magistrate to a different district. Ostensibly this is to reduce corruption and graft, and to make it more difficult for them to establish enough of a power-base to be a potential threat, but most folk are convinced that he's doing this just to fuck with the populace. People are adaptable, however, and have learned to exploit this. It's not uncommon for fugitives to flee from one district to another; the Magistrates' men are fiercely territorial, and will often let a runner go free just to give the give their rivals the middle finger. And of course, what's a crime in the Breakers today might be perfect legal in the Shambles...although it's entirely possible that this will change with tomorrow's sunrise.

The Governor himself has a large force of soldiers working for him. Minotaurs, for the most part, they are officially known as the Horned Guard, although the people refer to them as the Cuckolds. The Cuckolds are led by a giant in black armor known only as the Crow, Captain Crow to his face.

[Mallus]

The Dead

The dead cohabitate with the living in the port, to the chagrin of both communities. The Eternal Bureaucracy, which co-exists with the port in some metaphysical way, processes the spirits of the dead, assigns them an afterlife, and ships them across the Aster Sea to their final destination -- ideally. In practice, the Eternal Bureaucracy is just as riddled by corruption, red-tape, and general incompetence as any mortal agency. More so, even. The majority of the dead spend years waiting to be processed. Centuries, in a few cases.

The district where most of the dead spend their time waiting until the Bureaucracy will see them is the Hereafter, or the Interim. There are, of course, Things that prey upon these luckless bastards, resulting in plenty of available berths on the Black Ships.

For those who wish to cheat the whole process, they can seek out the services of the Lithogenic Guild; Medusae and their kin, who will (for a fee) turn their clients into stone so that they can await the End of World (well, the next End of the World) in peace and relative safety. There is a ritual, in fact, that allows the Dead to reanimate their own corpses, and walk among the living once more. It's a way of passing the time, continuing to annoy your relations, and perhaps earning some cash with which to bribe the bureaucrats. Cremation, not surprisingly, is quite popular.

Some of the waiting dead allow themselves to be fermented into Recollection Wine. A sad, heady vintage, to be sure, but not without its devotees. Since mortal kidneys aren't equipped to break down the immortal soul, the wine eventually leaves the imbiber. Oenophiles refer to this as '˜passing grief'. The individual spirits reconstitute themselves in the port's sewer, or slightly out to sea. Most return only to sell themselves anew. Some souls do this for free, as a way of living again, if only for a time, in another person's mind, and bladder.

Religion

The Port's history is marked by periods of increased religiosity '" normally prayer is more a species of commerce '"called Revivals, usually the result of the arrival of a new prophet, Messiah, or actual god. The Gods of the port have all come from Beyond-the-Sea or wandered in from the Interior over the years. Rarely, two new gods arrive at the same time, causing a Schism, a period of righteous war. Lord Rum rose to power during the end of the last Revival, after the Governor decreed a Prohibition in an attempt curry favor with the newly-arrived God of Temperance.

One of the resident deities is the Eroded God '" an enormous figure of carven stone, its features worn away long before it came staggering up out of the surf. It can't actually speak in anything other than an unintelligible mumble, but the priesthood will happily translate for a modest fee. It's worked a number of minor miracles over the years (curing the sick, calling down bolts from the blue, and such-like), but it has a difficult time staying focused on such tasks. By and large it is content to set in its temple, listening to music and watching scantily-clad women dance, making the occasional prophecy or pronouncement. Or what is assumed to be such.

The Cult of That-Which-Is-Not worships a Sphere of Annihilation, which is either a path to paradise or a one-way ticket off the wheel of existence entirely.

An abandoned temple houses an entity known only as The Dog. An enormous hound, the size of a war-horse, it's apparently immortal (some 200 years old now) and virtually unkillable (as testified by the number of now dead folk who have tried). It wanders throughout the building, never showing any particular signs of more-than-canine intelligence, and will occasionally accept gifts of food from petitioners. Those whose offerings are accepted find themselves receiving a small blessing of some sort -- luck in love, recovery from illness, a sudden windfall. The Dog is served by a small and fanatical priesthood, who follow it about and clean up after it. They make a small living for themselves selling its droppings in the Five Fathoms Market, where buyers assume that the crap of a Dog that might be a God *has* to be worth something. If nothing else, it makes excellent fertilizer.

There are other gods, of course, great and small. Some accumulate worshipers, others prefer anonymity

While not worshiped per se, demons/devils come in from the Aster Sea, while angels wander in from the Interior. Some devils are tractable and honorable, after a fashion, and some angels remain terrifying, destructive and mad.

[Mallus]

Organization of Note

The Preservation Alliance seeks to preserve the port's historic architecture. They seem, however, strangely interested in ancient relics as well as in new discoveries and inventions.

The Oceanographic Guild attempts to chart the whole of the Aster Sea, which is the most dangerous pursuit in the world. It's made up of mystics and suicides.

The Geographic Society attempts to map the Interior, which is the second most dangerous pursuit in the world. It's made up of mystics and suicides that are afraid of water but like camping.

The Guild of Revelry controls most of the 'entertainers' operating out of the artist's district known as the Quadrille. Rumor says its masters seek a monopoly on the very concept of pleasure.

Residents of the port think of Petitioners Hall as a kind of church. They write petitions '" but only the nasty ones; may so-and-so lose their beauty or fall ill or suffer a fatal accident '" on small pieces of paper, place them in boxes full of sums of money, and then hand them to the Petitioners, who ask no questions. They believe the Petitioners then voice their petitions to the powers Beyond-the-Sea. A surprisingly large number of petitions do come true. Perhaps not so surprisingly, there seems to be some correlation with the amount of accompanying money.

The Agents of Fate, also called Fateful, or the Army of the Fateful, do the bidding of a wholly unknown master. They perform various acts, great and small, in order to prevent a great disaster and/or make something wonderful come about...none seem entirely sure. Their actions seem to be entirely random stuff '" kill him, save her, drop this coin at that intersection, say this name aloud in this bar at precisely that time '" with no apparent rhyme or reason. The problem comes from other Agents of an apparently different Fate, who are working at cross purposes. Save him, kill her, pick up that coin, have a loud coughing fit at 3:07 EXACTLY, and so on. This can lead to some very bizarre conflicts, which can easily be mistaken for a form of performance art.

The Port is home to the Aero-Nautical Corps, an organization of aviation enthusiasts that uses tamed Aster Starfish as lift sources. Resembling enormous versions of the mundane puffer fish (leading to their nickname '˜Awesome Blowfish'), Aster Starfish are lighter than air because they're filled with the void and infinitely-remote stars. Few of the beasts have been successfully tamed, but the site of one of these fish swimming slowly and majestically through the sky, a ship dangling beneath it, is a common one in the Port. A few aeronauts have discovered how to make their Starfish project black bolts of the void from their dorsal spines, leading to spectacular aerial battles, collateral property damage, and, unfortunately, a rise in airship piracy.

The Grand Armada is the port's navy. The Governor has sole access to a ritual that allows ships made of mundane wood to sail the Aster and survive the experience '" under normal circumstances, the planking is all too likely to mutate and start putting forth new roots '" and he uses this magic to keep the Armada afloat. And under his thumb. He also sells it to private merchantmen, for a hefty fee. The captain and crew need to vacate the ship while it is being performed, but the results are good for a year and a day. However, the Armada's flagship, The Delicate Needle of Inquisitive Purpose, isn't wood at all. It's a recovered Black Ship that had been split in two by the Kraken.

[Mallus]

The Aster Sea

The Aster Sea has many names '" the Sea of Dreams, Quiddity, the Twilight Sea, the Sea of Shadows, the Sea of Means, the Sea of Ends, the Disaster. Most people prefer to call it the Aster. The waves that lap the coast vary from day to day; from saltwater to fresh, from the consistency of bitter tears to the clear, cold of fresh regret. Sages say it's always exactly what people need. Despite governmental warnings, the poor, foolish and desperate both swim and bathe in the sea. Parents warn their children not to put their heads underwater. Those that do sometimes emerge changed, or as Changelings, or as entirely different people. Some even bottle the Aster's water for drinking. Despite an Edict from the Governor banning the consumption of fish caught in the sea, the poor do so regularly. The hungry have no use for Edicts. Being superstitious, the poor do avoid eating the fish that talk, or at least the ones who plead their cases well. The city beaches are usually crowded with romantics and suicides.

Somewhere in the Sea is the lost island of Mu, which is said to be a piece of the World Before and the original home of mankind. Some people claim to see the souls of the dead departing from the port in the Black Ships. Worse, some claim to see the souls of dead who jump ship and come back to be illegally reborn. The Eladrin hail from the Blessed Isle, not far off the coast. They are originally from a place they call the '˜Waking Lands'. They insist the entire time they spend in this world is a dream. The Elves, who are also from the Blessed Isle, insist that world was the dream, one from which they wakened after they heard the call of the Great Girding Forrest and relocated there. Hell is the Infernal Islands, of which there are nine, surrounded by concentric reefs of obsidian and Devil's Coral. In the center is a fabled Port of Brass (also called Dis), home to a market in which the most powerful of rituals and items may be purchased at the cost of one's, well, someone's, mortal soul.

Sailing East into the Sea is sailing away from human and mortal understanding; it's sailing into the Other. Nearer to shore you find islands full of the close-to-mortal; half-elves, were-creatures, the more conventional boogeyman. Farther out you encounter beholders, mind-flayers and assorted abominations. Eventually, you might find the Elder Gods of Chaos. Residents of the Middling Lands use the phrase '˜across-the-sea' to refer to the realms that can be reached by sailing the Aster. They use the phrase '˜beyond-the-sea' to denote the completely unknown and unknowable.

The Interior

The Interior is a place of terrifying beauty, vast under a pitiless sun; with snow-capped mountains, rift valleys concealing lush jungles, enormous-yet-somehow hidden lakes.

For example, deep in the Interior is a mist-shrouded lake on a high plateau, which only those '˜clothed in virtue' can approach. The lake is the source of the Ossuary Flow. In it is the skeletal corpse of God. Bones of all shapes and size from His body break off '" frequently. They go over the edge at the Falls of Adam and are ground to bits on the rocks below. These shards eventually wind up the Middling Lands, and give the river its name. Sometimes, whole unbroken bones are found. These contain fresh Divine Marrow, which is the component of the Raise Dead Ritual. Obviously, the chance of finding whole bones increases as you approach the source.

[Mallus]

The Middling Lands

The Unassailable North is home to many clans of hardy, free, savage peoples. In general they are more superstitious than their southern neighbors and less accepting of things from Across-the-Sea, though what they lack in tolerance they make up for in strength, cunning and an enviable practicality. Beyond their lands lies the Frozen Pole.

Collectively, the city-states of Syssiphoor and Syphillume, and the Principality of Asp make up the Snake States, which are located in far southern reaches of the Middling Lands. Syssiphoor and Syphillume sit in the flood plain of the brackish River Twist. Both are corrupt bureaucracies overrun with serpent cults, slaves, and slavers; all addled by the drugs appropriate to their station. Each city maintains a navy which doubles as a slaving fleet. Coiling in a rain forest plateau above them is the Principality of Asp, a place of greater purpose than the indulgent cities below, ruled by a Queen of dubious morality and mortality. The Snake States are generally unpleasant, full of eunuchs, lies and treacheries; the land crisscrossed with slow, swollen rivers and tarry black lakes full of poisoned water. Beyond them lies the Burning Pole.

Directly west of the port and for some miles to the north and south lies the central part of the Middling Lands. Residents of the port call it the Clutch, after the way the locals there hold onto the memory of the World Before. Villages in the Clutch tend to have word names; Song, Hearth, Forge, Ocelot. Not coincidentally, Song is known for its singers, Hearth for its food, Forge for its ironmongery, and Ocelot for its custom of citizens wearing animal masks and indulging in baroque, stealthy games. Some philosophers say that The World Before wasn't broken in just a physical sense, but an ontological one as well. The Clutch is covered with ruins of language, and the Meanings contained therein, which stick out of the psychic landscape there like statues half-buried in the sand, which cast an influence over was built in their shade. Seen from the Other Side, Forge is almost unbearably hot, with a constant clangor that makes conversation with the Dead all but impossible. Hearth has the smell of a wondrous feast hanging in the air, while Ocelot has a bloody great cat wandering about and chewing up souls.

The River Livia runs through the Clutch. According to popular opinion it alone nourishes the fertile land there, even though the Ossuary Flow runs through as well. The Livia originates beyond the Great Girding Forest, in the Highlands of the Border with the Interior, at a place called Maiden Lake. The Lake does, in fact, boast a magical maiden. Some call her Livia, others, Plurabelle '" she of many good graces '" and insist that the entire river is her body. Legends say that heroes come to her for her blessing, and, more importantly, for her magic sword. Her relationship with these heroes is ambiguous at best. She's called both 'Kingmaker' and 'Kingslayer', and is described as both supremely chaste and a devil in the sack. And while her blessings flow free and easy, the sword is never given. It is always rented or leased, for an undisclosed but presumed terrible cost.

West of the Clutch on the edge of the Interior lies the Great Girding Forrest and the Border Kingdoms. It's a region rich with warring feudal states, knights, and magical forests, the kind of place where men hunt stag-gods, maidens and each other. In the Border Kingdoms all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average. This is probably due to its proximity to the Interior. Despite their obvious qualities the men of the Border Kingdoms often seem lost in the port, as if in a fever dream.

[Mallus]

Well, that's it for now. I'll post the rest later tonight.

[Snargash Moonclaw]

Stealing from one source is plagiarism. Stealing from many sources is research. Before accusing me of doing the former above (since I did not use any quotation marks), here's a little research.

"Located on the shore of the Aster midway along the Middling Lands is the Port,. . ." Do I understand correctly then that the midway has a boardwalk? (When I read the sentence I thought that the question came from the Smartass Voice in my head. By the time I got halfway through your next entry I realized it was in fact the Prophet's.)

Anyway, this is one of the most delightful settings I've seen in ages! Certain aspects beg the question (which I didn't note among the listed theories) of whether or not it is actually a dwelling place of the dead and the Black Ships are taking them to finally reincarnate. (Not that this question should be any more answerable than the others.) BTW, <picks up fire-axe, stolen from the Death of Fireflies> do you read Terry Pratchet?

[SA]

An aerial battle between celestial blowfish shooting bolts of void?  Now this is what I call fantasy.

[Mallus]

Anyway, this is one of the most delightful settings I've seen in ages!

Certain aspects beg the question (which I didn't note among the listed theories) of whether or not it is actually a dwelling place of the dead and the Black Ships are taking them to finally reincarnate. (Not that this question should be any more answerable than the others.)[/quote]BTW, <picks up fire-axe, stolen from the Death of Fireflies> do you read Terry Pratchet?[/quote]
Oddly, no. I've read the 1st Discworld novel, the one w/Rincewind and the Luggage.

[Mallus]

An aerial battle between celestial blowfish shooting bolts of void?  Now this is what I call fantasy.

Come to think of it, that is pretty fantastic. I can't claim credit for the idea of airships hanging suspended beneath airborne puffer fish, but I was the one responsible for arming them with the void.

[Mallus]

Some Remarks on the Races of the Port

The Dragonborn Magna Publica Machina, the Great Machine of State, was one of the two great powers of the World Before. Where the Tiefling Imperium Goetia had demons and devils to do their bidding, the Dragonborn had devices of cunning intricacy, wedded to magics of power and subtlety. It was the Dragonborn who made the automatons now called Warforged, although the secret of commanding their obedience has long since been lost.

At times, a Dragonborn will become lost within the Interior (and thus, within himself). Most such unfortunates are never seen again, but others somehow manage to find their true selves in the wastes, and to embrace that aspect of their Self. Such individuals are known as Dragons, and the emergence of one from the Outback is a cause for both celebration and terror. Few linger in the World for very long; most pass on across the Aster, to parts unknown.

Tieflings seem quite at home in the World After. They refer to it as the Show, and insist what they call '˜the final curtain' is yet to come.

Halflings are humans who, as they hit the age of 10 or so, stop growing and start changing into something that is not quite human. As their ears develop points, they become quicker, stronger, and much, much luckier. Most end up on the streets, rejected by their own family; Halflings, as is well known, simply cannot be trusted. Of course, it's no surprise that so many Halflings turn to thievery in order to survive, under the circumstances. Halflings are themselves infertile, but they know their own even before they change. It's not uncommon for a Halfling to kidnap a child, and take him to grow up among his own kind. The common belief is that the Halflings are actually changing human children, using some twisted ritual, but this is nonsense. Mostly. This, of course, contributes even further to the reputation that Halflings have, and is one reason that they stay on the move as much as possible. Common wisdom has it that trimming a Halflings ears will make him human once more; this is not in fact the case, but that hasn't kept it from happening with appalling regularity.

Gnomes wear peaked caps, deep red in color, dyed with the blood of their many victims. They kill easily and casually, moving unseen and slitting throats on behalf of their Eladrin masters. No one with any sense trifles with a gnome, lest he take offense and murder the perpetrator. And his family. And the dog (they like cats).

The Dwarves have a holy task; they are working to carve the chambers and caverns deep below the surface into an enormous musical instrument sounded by the underground movement of air, one that will '" when it is completed '" sound the Last Trump, finish the apocalypse, and allow the new world to be born. In the meantime, Orthodox Dwarves spend their entire lives underground, venturing to the surface only when it is absolutely necessary. And even then, they keep all exposed flesh covered; only when The Job is done will they be allowed to feel the touch of sunlight once more. A lot of dwarves reject this, not surprisingly. They leave their homes and family behind and venture to the surface to forge new lives for themselves. When they get older, many of them return to the caverns of their birth, take up their tools, and get to work once again. It just seems like the right thing to do.

Shadar-Kai are children conceived in the brothels on the Other Side; half alive, half dead, belonging neither to this world nor the next but passing more or less freely between the two. Many act as intermediaries between the living and the dead, passing on the wishes of those caught in the machinations of the Eternal Bureaucracy to their surviving relatives.

Orcs come from somewhere within the Aster; they will not discuss their origins. The ignorant talk of a place called the Monstrous Archipelago, but it's just a rumor. Orcs arrive in the Port on ships of carved bone, silently disembark, and never look back as the ships sail back to wherever they came from. Orcs are highly in demand as bodyguards and soldiers; they will work for anyone willing to pay them, will do whatever they are to ordered to do without protest, and are utterly faithful to their current employer. What they do with the money they are paid is one of the many small mysteries of the Port. Those who chose to leave the ranks of their people have the memories of thier homeland literally carved from their brain.

Goblinoids '" goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears, and ogres, probably ettins as well '" are folk who have been changed by the Aster; either by the sea itself, or by being caught in one of the storms that blows in off the sea. The waters mutate them into things of horrific appearance and bizarre shapes '" no two look exactly alike. The people of the port call them Flotsam, or 'The Changed' if they are being polite. They are a despised and generally exploited underclass, doing much of the dirty and dangerous labor for the Port. The Driftglass Society is making an attempt to organize them into a sort of political force, but have met with little luck thus far. Most of the Changed are altered in mind as well as in body.

Gnolls begin life as hyenas, living on the fringes of the Interior. After consuming a living human '" and his soul '" they rapidly grow and change, developing the ability speak, to walk upright, and to use weapons. This last, they do with particular eagerness. Packs often grow regularly, as gnolls take travelers captive and feed them, still alive, to the hyenas that travel with them.

The Kuo-Toa are somewhat resistant to the effects of the Aster; most of them work at the docks as stevedores, loading and unloading the ships that come to the port. They keep to themselves, and only a few designated representatives can speak or understand Common.

Doppelgangers, also called the All-Men, were normal humans changed by the power of the Interior. A doppelganger is literally '˜Everyman' (or woman). Shifters are either human beings who have regressed to a more bestial state, or animals who have evolved into something that is arguably more advanced, again due to the influence of the Interior.

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Concepts and Miscellany

The sun rises in the west from the Interior, and sets in the east, into the Aster Sea.

Residuum: it's literally the residue from the torn-apart World Before. The inhabitants of the port use it to forge magic items. Some items that originate from the Interior and Across-the-Sea can't be broken down into Residuum, but they can be used as a part of item creation Rituals to impart special properties.

Language has a strange power and existence in the World After, which manifests in myriad and only rarely consistent ways. One of the few, for example, is that everyone '˜knows' the true name of the Port as well as they know their own name. But nobody can remember where or when they first learned that name, let alone who from, and no two people know it by the same one. For convenience, it's usually referred to as 'Here', or 'There', or simply as 'The Port'.

[Mallus]

The map of the Middling Lands...