• The Astral Library of Verin Kai

    The Library

    It is said that when someone in the multiverse has a need of knowledge they cannot possibly gain in any other way they may find themselves witnessing a doorway coming into existence on a random wall wherever they may be. A doorway that leads into the depths of the Library of Verin Kai. Stepping through this door they find themselves witnessing endless shelves of books, floating on platforms, descending into caverns of darkness and fog, stacked atop each other. Shelves and books sized for giants beyond imagination, and those sized for creatures so diminutive they cannot be seen.

    Long ago a Archwizard named Verin Kai dedicated herself to the gathering of knowledge. Using grand magics unknown to lesser wizards she created a place within the Astral Sea that would act as a repository for all knowledge within the multiverse. Within its infinitely growing halls the stacks of her library would collect vast tomes of data to be stored and protected for use by those in need.

    The division of Verin Kai

    To help her manage the library Verin turned to the only person she truly trusted. Herself. She created a method to create astral duplicates of herself that would act as librarians for her great sanctum. With each duplicate she instilled a core Philosophy that would drive them: To protect knowledge, and to see it shared with those that need it. This process worked flawlessly for many years. Until her eventual death.

    With the death of the Prime Verin the astral duplicates were bereft of guidance in how best to fulfil their duties and so sought to choose a new head librarian that would become their leader and new template. The problem came about in a strange quirk of Verin’s guiding principal. For at some times she had spoke that she wished to Protect knowledge and see it shared, and at other times she had said she wished to Share knowledge and see it protected.

    This seemingly irrelevant jumbling of phrases created an irrevocable schism between the Verins. They became obsessed with a subtle imperceptible difference in philosophy that broke them into two camps. Each side chose their own head librarian to replace the Prime Verin, and war broke out between them. This war has continued for thousands of years and the library has now been divided into territories between them as each seeks to gain an advantage over the other.

    When first entering the library the first Verin encountered will undoubtedly warn new knowledge seekers of this rift, and tell them of the unspeakable evils of the other faction of Verins. Each claiming the other are monsters that would see them dead. In reality both sides are perfectly friendly.

    An interesting quirk of the Verin’s is that each Verin views herself as a unique individual, despite their perfect similarity. They all reference eachother as Verin, but each says the name as though it should be obvious they are speaking of a specific individual. So too are they able to know which particular verin a traveler may be reference when they speak the name Verin.

    To a Verin the phrase: “Verin introduced me to Verin, and then Verin took me to meet Verin. Then Verin, Verin, and Verin told me a story about Verin” Is not only a perfectly reasonable sentence, but also one which they are able to parse and understand without fault.

    Dangers In The Library

    Do to the schism between the Verin Factions the library is not as well maintained as it once was. Many dangers have grown in its depths that pose a serious threat to unsuspecting travelers seeking answers.

    First it must be said that the library collects all knowledge. Some of this knowledge is perfectly mundane, but some things possess a malevolence all their own. Dark magics of ancient lichs. The insane thoughts of depraved demons. The grand purpose’ of gods. All of these things live somewhere in the library. Things that even with no one to read them have will and purpose. These things spawn dark spirits and twisted monstrosities that walk the stacks.

    Beyond the natural dangers of the nature of infinite knowledge there also exists the will of those who have been granted access. Not all seekers of knowledge are kind. Some have entered the library and set up permanent residence in its depths to work on their own dark designs. Some inhabitants are long gone, but the remnants of their work remains as ancient artifacts and grand machines.

    Finally there is also the simple fact that the library exists within the Astral sea. The original construction had many wards to keep out the dangers from within the endless realm of thought, but those wards have not been well maintained and things of great power occasionally manage to leak into the libraries interior.

    The Library in Play

    Introducing the library to players at a table is an opportunity to give them exactly what they want in the worst possible way they could have imagined. A Djinn’s twisting of a wish if you will.

    Over the years of being a Gamemaster I’ve had many players want some sneaky access to answer any question they have. A place where spellbooks can be found, and secrets discovered. The library is my answer to those players.

    Because the library represents all possible knowledge that has existed it represents a tempting location to chronic “I like playing Magic Users and Scholars” Players. But in practice the library can be presented as a place where you could spend a lifetime looking for a particular piece of knowledge and still not find it. It is a rumored that there is a section of the library that is a collection of books that collects every thought anyone has ever had. One book for one person that has ever existed in the entirety of the multiverse.

    This gives the intrepid gamemaster a simple method of communication. Anything the players want to know that you readily want to give them, a helpful Verin knows a book and can retrieve it and bring it to them safely. Anything slightly more rare A verin can guide them to the place, but it takes time and they may be exposed to danger. Something very rare might be met with a general direction of where such things might be found, but it can be “Outside our territory” for the Verin’s the party is dealing with, and thus can constitute a full adventure into the depths of the library to find what they seek. Finally anything too absurd to give to the players can simply be brushed off with a “Ah yes, our records of such knowledge have been lost in the schism, you’d have to go searching into the depths.”

  • The Karthan Empire

    The Karthan Empire

    A Small but powerful force in the world of Celestria is the Karthan Empire. Named after their Capital, the great city of Karth. The Karthan empire is a grand republic headed by an Empire who commands the military and ostensibly leads the Senate.

    Karth idolizes its military and structures its society heavily on the honor of military service. Children dream of joining the legions and taking part in heroic battles. Old men sit in taverns and tell of their time waging war.

    The Imperial Hierarchy

    At the center of the Karthan government is the Senate which debates and votes on all laws that are made on behalf of the people of Karth. It is said (mainly by those of Karth itself) that there is no place more free than Karth, and no people so blessed as those who call themselves Citizens of the great empire.

    The Senate speaks with 11 voices (not including the Emperor). These voices propose laws and actions to further the glorious purpose of the Empire, bringing issues to the floor to be debated and voted upon. These voices are officials brought to power through two sections of society.

    First are the noble houses. Six noble houses remain of the old families that helped forge the early days of Karths history and each house is entitled to name a single member to sit in session and speak as voice at the Senate. There were once thirteen houses but many have fallen in the centuries of Karths existence.

    The other place from which the Senates voice comes are the Guilds. All Guilds within Karth must be registered, must have at least ten members, and must pay their yearly dues. Among all the guilds of Karth each may put forth a name to be considered for voice, and each Guild in good standing may cast votes on those names. There are Five seats within the senate that may be elected from the Guilds. These seats grant the Guilds from which the Voice is elected a great deal of power within the Empire, as such they are highly sought after.

    Smaller Guilds have little chance of seeing a candidate elected, but still their vote counts in the naming and as such the larger guilds often seek to curry favor of the smaller Guilds to gain their votes.

    Six from noble houses, and five from guilds make up the voices that speak for the senate. Each voice may speak one vote on any and all issues. Above them sits the Emperor, who himself may speak with three votes. The emperor acts as a sort of balancing mechanism within the Senate, a means of shifting the flow of the Empire where debate sometimes become locked.

    The Imperial Military

    At the head of the Legions of Karth sits the emperor. Though he cannot unilaterally take the Empire to war, he otherwise has complete control of the Legions ranks, and their orders.

    The military is made up multiple legions. Each legion is headed by a Legate, who commands three to five cohorts. Each cohort in turn is lead by a prefect, prefects command multiple Ranks of 100 each lead by a Centari. Squads are further broken down into squads of 10.

    Ruling the Empire

    Though the senate governs the people, and the Emperor leads the military that in itself is not enough to effectively rule over the empire smoothly. To handle local matters more smoothly the Empire is divided into large Provinces. Each province is ruled by an Archon

    Though the Emperor chooses who to promote within the military up to the Rank of Legate, the senate may than vote from the pool of Legates to be taken beyond the military structure and given Rule as Archon over a province. Archons then themselves take with them a number of their Prefects to become tribunes ruling over smaller sections of their land.

    So, while the Emperor does not have direct control over the ruling of the lands, he does have have control over who gains the rank of Legate. Thus no one can become an Archon against the favor of the Emperor. This creates a delicate balance of power between the Senate and the Empire in the ruling of the lands. Often concessions must be made when the senate favors someone the Emperor does not, and vice versa. Pawns are moved on the board in exchange for favors.

    Further more it is from the Archons that the Emperor rises. Each year, upon the first of that Year, the Emperor stands before the Senate and names an order of succession from the those that currently hold the title of Archon. Should the Emperor die it is the first of the Archons named that the imperial throne passes to. However the new emperor may not then name their own list of successors until the the first of the new year. Each new emperor must live out the remainder of the year before they are then able to influence the selection of Emperor themselves. Should they die before that time the previous Emperors order of succession remains.

  • The Unhallowed Sea

    Unhallowed Sea

    Beyond the material plane lies a quiet place. A somber plane of existence where Devils dwell and an eternal fog covers a quiet sea which connects scattered islands. Though the Unhallowed sea seems a restful place at first glance, its eerie expanse is one of great danger. Beneath the calm pale waters leviathans dwell, and the islands that break up the expanse are the domains of Devils.

    The Devils of the Sea

    Devils are beings of Law and contract. They bargain for the souls of mortal beings, striking complex deals in exchange for a sentence to be served by the soul after death. It is said that no Devil may pen a contract in which a soul is bound eternally. Each contract has a stipulated term of purgatory before a soul will be released to whatever after plane they are drawn. That said, while a Devil will never break letter of their contract they are masters of complex logic and precise dealings, their contracts are trapped with tricks and loopholes that extend and obscure the length of a souls sentence. Few souls who find themselves bound to a Devils power ever see themselves released. This trickery is vitally important to them, for Devils grow in power only through accumulation of bound souls. The more souls they have bound, and the longer those souls remain bound the more powerful a Devil becomes.

    Devils gather themselves into Firms. Coalitions of service in which one or two elder Devils are at the top, and many others serve under them. Lesser Devils serve under the elder Devils of the firm, giving up the majority of the power earned through a souls acquisition in exchange for the protection and guidance of those above them. All Devils dream of the day they are either promoted to Partner within their firm, or instead have gained enough power and influence to strike it out alone and form their own Firm.

    When Devils form a form it manifests as a physical space within the Unhallowed Sea. An island birthed into the fogs. As the firm gains more souls, and by extension more power and influence Their island grows, the sea ever shifting, reshaping, expanding and contracting to fit the needs of the the islands found within its waters. The greater the power held by a Firm the more distant it is able to stay from other islands within the sea. Additionally the fog grows more thick around their island, and more difficult to traverse. This is of vital importance for Rival firms are always looking to steal contracts and by extension the souls that are tied to it.

    The Leviathans below

    While the Devils and their Islands represent a great danger to any that find themselves within the Unhallowed sea they are not the ONLY danger. Beneath the waters is the realm of the lost. The hunting grounds of great leviathans.

    A devil without a Contract is no Devil at all. This is the very reason lesser Devils allow themselves to be tied into service. For without the power of bound souls to draw sustenance from a Devil starves. Sometimes occurs because they have had their contracts stolen. Sometimes because a Firm casts them out (a fate even Elder Partners are not always immune to). Sometimes it is because a foolish Devil may have over extended themselves, drawing forth more power than they had access to in hopes that they would be able to leverage that power to win big in the long run and the bet doesn’t pay off, Burning out the souls in their possession and leaving the Devil in question powerless.

    When this happen Devils have three choices (or perhaps two choices, and a consequence): They may Find another Firm, Find another Contract, Or wither into a husk and be thrown out like trash. The third possibility is where leviathans come into being. Devils cannot truly die, but being without a soul to draw sustenance from is a torment beyond comprehension. It leads to madness. The remnants of Devils cast into the Unhallowed sea roam there eternally seeking sustenance. Mindless beasts twisted in desire and shape. They can never regain themselves. Never again be what any Self respecting Devil would ever describe as “A Devil”. But even that is not the end.

    As clever and careful as Devils are in their contracts, and the defense of the souls under their power. Sometimes mistakes happen. Sometimes souls that should be bound manage to slip through the cracks. A stolen contract that is lost before it reaches a new Firm’s vault. A contract that had an unexpected exit clause that leaves a soul without serving its sentence(and by extension release) while also no longer being held captive. And sometimes unbound souls from outside the unhallowed sea come into the plane for reasons of their own, but become lost. For whatever the reason sometimes souls find their way into the depths of those pale quiet waters… At which point all too often they are found and devoured by those remnants of Devils long gone to madness.

    Feasting upon the lost souls allows those husks to regain power, but it is not a stable, long lasting power granted by a contract. Devouring lost souls is a savage, feral feast which sates their hunger for only a short time. The husks regain strength, becoming twisted monstrosities referred to as Leviathans. These beasts form their own ecosystem. Fighting for hunting grounds, devouring what souls they can, and devouring each other whenever possible. Few husks last long enough to fully achieve “Leviathan” status, as they themselves are fair game for whatever elder Leviathans might happen to find them.

    Though they have not the delicate and precise power of Devils at their best, leviathans can grow to be of massive size and power. Some Devils of great power have themselves gone missing in the endless for of the Unhallowed sea, devoured by beasts from below.

    Though their exact nature is hard to quantify it is said that if you can manage to “slay” one of the beasts you may carve away draw out its potent blood, carve away its flesh, and take its bones. All of which are enriched by great power and are of great value to those with the knowledge to make use of them. of course since no devil can truly die, even a leviathan corpse can be returned to the sea where it may itself be devoured by another, or perhaps will someday reconstitute itself to begin its growth again.