Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Malavus 09-04-04, 01:30 AM	Posted tis in the campaign workshop forum too, but was afraid that alot of the guys who read the DM board would not see it there.... Rough idea, what do you guys think? The Prime Material plane was the beginning of all life in the universe. Before the prime, there was no life. There were only the 6 elemental planes; fire, air, earth, water, positive, and negative. An event took place which caused the breach of the planar walls between the elemental planes, and in the resulting explosion of conflicting, colliding forces the prime material plane was born. In this combination of raw elemental forces, the essence of life energy itself was sparked. Life energy is a balance of all 6 elements. All creatures and living beings are comprised of differing amounts of these elements. Thus, the prime material plane is the vortex of all creation, the nexus from which all life and all consciousness springs. The first beings were awakened, lived their lives, and died, the life energy inside them (their souls), created whole new worlds upon their physical death, which were shaped by the life experiences of the dying. In this way, the 2 outer planes were born. Evil people died, and the corruption in their souls drew them toward the negative material plane, their wickedness made manifest, giving birth to the Realms Below. Good people die and their essences are drawn to the positive material plane, their hopes and dreams shaping into the Realms Above. Those who are neither good nor evil drift neither to the positive nor the negative plane, but instead are drawn back toward the neutral center of creation, the middle of the prime where they re-enter the circle of life. All sentient life, arising from one source. The prime. Beings, once on the outer planes, continued to live their afterlives, growing in power in one way or another. Those outer planar beings who were destroyed in the course of conflicts had their life energies dispersed into the plane, and these residual energies join the raw power of the elements in places where the elemental planes and the outer planes touch – creating the first elementals. Where the outer planes and the prime touch, the residual energies of those who have died feed the life genesis engine, and souls are recycled. The same is true of elemental life, for when at long last the elementals die, their life energies are siphoned back to the vortex at the prime, and life as a mortal begins anew. This is the cycle of life. Thus, all things in the universe are circular. Cyclical. Death is never permanent, only a transformation, and the prime material is the most vital plane in existence because it is the origin and the hub of all life. Magic is the manifestation of will (life energy) on elemental forces. When a mortal dies, he helps to shape the outer planes via the will inside his spirit when he departs. A mortal who wishes to harness the powers of magic needs to accomplish this same feat, only consciously guiding his will. Intentional manipulation of elemental forces via training of the life energy in each of us is what makes the mage. Thus, each being is capable of magic. It is available to each person according to their will. Learning to shape the forces takes time and dedication, and there are many ways in which one may access the power that is magic. Each person has their own unique relationship with it. Some feel the magic out (sorcerer), while some follow in the footsteps of those who have come before, using their meditative techniques and methods to draw the magic out (wizards). Some find their power in carved symbols (runecaster), while others feel the power of blood, and make sacrifices (blood mages and some necromancers). The elemental forces can be shaped to heal or to harm, in equal parts. All mages can tread either path. Thus, all magic, both arcane and divine is equivalent, and available to all spellcasting classes. There are no Gods. All outer planar beings were once mortal, even those who now style themselves deific. Godlike beings are simply those who have managed to avoid reentry into the circle of life for the longest. Worship of these beings has a place in the world, but the “Gods” grant no spells. They do, however, teach special tricks of Magic to their followers in the form of special abilities. They do this by manipulating the life force of the individual, contorting it in certain ways to produce effects. Only these most powerful beings know how these contortions are done, and they may undo them at will. History of the prime: When the first beings awakened on the prime, the elemental energies that created them still singing in their blood, the raw power of the inner planes still manifest in the smoking, boiling landscape – how did they survive? What did they do, learn? Which races were present at this time of genesis? All? Only a few? Nay, in the beginning their was but one sentient race on the prime, formed of raw elemental energies and the first sparks of life. They were hardy enough to withstand the adverse conditions of a forming world, to survive the magma and the steam – the freezing cold and the colossal storms of creation. They were the Dragons, and they ruled over the world alone. Slowly, over time, as the world became more and more stable and the elements which make up the prime became more fully integrated, other forms of life began to evolve. All other races and creatures are a result of a slow evolution as life energy continued to leak out into the prime from the central vortex. Elves, humans, dwarves, orcs, gnolls, lizardfolk, and all manner of creatures began to appear and spread across the face of the land, each species shaped by the forces surrounding them. They learned from their world, grew, and evolved. Each had children and passed on the knowledge of their forebears. Elves evolved from Treants. The first elves were treants who wished to experience more of the world, to move faster. They were great mages of their kind, and used their will to transforms their bodies into leaner, faster forms with tactile sensations unlike any they had before. Thus, the first elves were born. Dwarves evolved from Galeb Duhr. Similar in the way that the transformation happened to the treants who became elves, so did those Galeb Duhr sorcerers wishing to move more freely about the world become dwarves. Humans evolved from Apes. Similar to earth. Lizardfolk developed as special strains of reptile became more sentient, eventually mastering magic and the ability to assume new forms. So, we have the foundation of a cosmos where any given being could have had innumerable past lives. Elf in one incarnation, human the next. High ArchDevil reborn as a halfling child. Flashes of past lives, vision of who they were, who they might be all become possible. There are many interesting possible stories that come to mind. Anyhow, it is very rough, but I wanted to see what some others thought of it as a basic framework for explaining things. Most of this has been done before, but some of it is different. Like it explains why all the planar bad guys would be interested in the lowly Prime. And it seems rich in possible story hooks, as well as a good framework for a freeform sort of magical structure. Good, bad?
DougC 09-04-04, 03:44 AM	Personally, I like it. I think it's a good idea. I've been trying to think of a way to build a world without gods and still have "divine" magic work. This sounds like a campaign cosmology I'd like to play in or DM. Definitely good. :)
Malavus 09-04-04, 09:57 AM	Thanks! Any suggestions for improvements are welcome!!!
deadDMwalking 09-04-04, 09:38 PM	I'm not particularly fond of your cosmology. The specific reason is that I recognize it as very mechanical. How did these planes exist? How did the situation change so that they began interacting? Even if there is no divinity, it is a conceit of humans to believe that intelligence had some effect on the results of creation (generally). How did creatures that were not intelligent evolve? The apes? What was their purpose in the original raw nature of the world? How were they created? It would work better (in my opinion) if there is a "great god" who has manipulated creation from the beginning. Perhaps creating each of the six elemental planes and then forcing their interaction. This God does not have to have an active role, but instead simply watches. With that change, the "lesser divinities" can fit well into the system. Hope that helps. If nothing else it will bump you back to the top.
m_man96 09-05-04, 10:18 AM	I love that cosmology!!! Like the first poster after yourself, I have been trying to do that forEVER!!!! *clears throat* Ahem. I say, a bloody good show, chap. Keep up the good work, man!
Malavus 09-09-04, 10:18 PM	Thanks for the compliments! DeadDM: Valid points, but here is my stance on them. Ordinary creatures evolved in much the same way they did on Earth. It is really only the magical ones that we need to go out of our way to explain. More intelligent races evolved in this fantasy realm because of the existence of Magic, and it's passive interaction with certain lifeforms. These interactions sparked intelligence in all evolving being - Treants and Galeb Duhr included. Those guys were little more than semi-sentient trees or rocks at first. As far as intelligence having an impact on creation, I would have to disagree. I would say that intelligence impacts development certainly, but not creation. The one thing that I don't like about the way I have this set up is the weak explanation of the original conflagration. "It just happened" is not really enough. I could puzzle that out a bit more and try to explain it away, but it is largely unimportant in the development of the campaign. Thank you for your feedback.
LewisLlynn 09-10-04, 04:26 PM	what about gnomes, halflings, orcs, and goblins? where did they come from?