The Maps (Multiverse Passages Mapping Initiative)

It is called the Multiverse Passages Mapping Initiative, a consisted attempt to chart and map all known Passages and Places. Originally started by scholars at The College, it now describes dozens of disconnected pieces of information, of varying levels of trustworthiness. 

Most people simply call them Maps.

People have died and killed for Maps.

 As previously mentioned, even knowing where a Passage is, it is still non-trivial to find it again, let alone map it. Most of the most travelled Passages (about 80) in Thyra are signalled by a bright red circle on the ground, drawn around it, about one meter in diameter, with the Passage number written a number of times around the perimeter. If you aim for the centre of the circle, most times you go through. If not, you turn back and try again.

Some passages have black circles, and other warning signs, mostly those that have the potential to kill you in instants (toxic/no atmosphere, aggressive fauna/flora around the Passage end, aggressive populations, the list goes on)

Some passages are only rumoured or mythical, and may or may not exist. The official Maps refer to them by letter combinations (instead of numbers). Only once has a lettered passage become a numbered one (Passage BK became passage 20). The reason behind this is a simple one: if you find a Passage yourself, that has a lot of money potential, you won't necessarily share it with the world.

According to Professor Gregor Wallinsky, geographer at The College, between official, unofficial and quasi-mythical Passages (including Land, Water, Air and Below Passages), their total number to present is somewhere in the vicinity of 250.

The Passages v 2.0 (UPDATE)

As a quick addendum to my previous post on passages,  I wanted to further their description: a Passage is a shimmering (like heat distortion) axis, about 3 meters high, and no wider than 1 foot (33 cm). It is subtle, and if you're not looking for it and/or is not signalled, you'll probably miss it.

Most importantly, a Passage is only Opened, if one walks into it, carrying an amount of NightGems no smaller than a closed fist. The NightGem then glows its characteristic black/purple, and the Passage is Opened, depositing the traveller in the other Place. As NightGems have never been found anywhere else in the other Places, Openings can only be done from Thyra's side. As there is no visual indiction prior to the Opening, most Passages are opened by mere chance.

Once opened, one can walk into a Passage from anywhere in a 360o circle around it. 

TANDEM (Thyran Defense Directorate Multiverse)

The one key difference between Thyra and all the other Places, is (if one ignores magic, dragons, high technology, etc.), it that Thyra has NightGems, and the rest of the Multiverse does not. Why this is is a source of extensive debate, but the facts are there. This makes the city singularly important, not only as a hub, but also as the source of this material.

After the debacle of Passage 66, it became clear, throughout the Places, that all the eggs were very much in the same basket, and if Thyra fell, ALL the passages would be at risk.

TANDEM was created for this purpose. A rag-tag collection of individuals from all backgrounds, acting on an information network that extends throughout the Places. Not a fist, not even a scalpel, more like a snipers bullet, preventing situations from escalating, before they can endanger Thyra or its commerce.

With individuals and tactics from Places throughout the Multiverse, TANDEM are a force to be reckoned with. Moving in the shadows, and with absolutely no official standing, these people(s) have been key on keeping the trade going.

Secretly, that is.

Something I've been thinking about for some time. Perhaps having the characters have a bigger purpose, or indeed be a type of unofficial (and indeed illegal) secret agents, might open more doors to the narrative.

Airships and Sky Passages.

As mentioned before, the impact of The Night shattered the walls between Places and created the Passages. Many are at ground level, and can be either simply walked into or one can take a boat (is a Water Passage). Some are Below.

And some are very much above.

Accessible only by airship, these passages are serviced by a growing fleet, moving tons of cargo and passengers between Places. The worlds thus served are usually at a tech level similar to Thyra, so the services are regular. Some are empty, and therefore it is by airship that new explorers are ferried in and out.

Some of these airships are now powered by 4th Gen NightSerum cores and can maintain themselves airborne for as long as their supplies last.

Currency

Money, money, money.... It makes ALL the worlds go round. It appears that throughout the Multiverse, gold is fairly rare, so it is very much the precious metal of choice.

I wanted a simple conversion rate, so I'm using the one from D&D:

1 Copper piece (about ten British pennies)

10 Copper = 1 Silver (about one British pound)

100 Copper = 10 Silver = 1 Gold (about 10 British pounds)

1000 Copper = 100 Silver = 10 Gold = 1 Platinum (about 100 British pounds)

So you tip a beggar a couple of Coppers, eat a modest meal for 1 Silver, buy a new gun for half a dozen Gold and buy a ticket in 1st class to another Place for a couple of Platinum pieces.

List of known Passages and connected Places

Passage 4 - Cordigan Land. Homeworld of the Cordigans, humanoid canines. Agricultural/urban, tech level slightly behind Thyra.

Passage 5 - Llaruundo. Similar to literature's 'high fantasy' world. Humanoid races, elves trolls, orcs, etc. Agricultural with scattered cities. Tech level well behind Thyra. Some trade in handicraft goods. Presence of Magik, source unknown.

Passage 11 - Hyperboria. Savage world, pre-medieval. Hardy human-like inhabitants, predatory fauna. Limited contact, some trade, usually in melee weaponry. 

Passage 19 - Gaia, Urban world, tech level similar to Thyra. Commerce in manufactured goods, some services and high grade metals.

Passage 20 - Odin's Eye, alien planet, toxic gases, no native animals or plants, respirator needed. Some gem mining.

Passage 24 - The Hive. A world covered in billions of alien Insectoid inhabitants. Mostly friendly, producers of organic-based goods, as Insectisilk. Extensive trade. 

Passage 33 - Unknown. No explorers have returned.

Passage 39 - Umbrous. Late medieval world. Feudal. Presence of Magik, source unknown. A dark, misty, swampy world.  Races and beasts take strange shapes, vaguely reminiscing of 'dark fantasy'. Limited trade. Limited contact.

Passage 42 - Futuristic city. Limited contact with only a few inhabitants. Tech level at least 200 years in advance of Thyra. City goes by the name of New Hades.

Passage 45 - Water Passage, The Billion Isles. Word-spanning archipelago. Tech level about 100 years behind Thyra, some limited trade due to extensive piracy.

Passage 48 - The Anvil. High desert, no habitation, animals or plants ever found. Temperatures are in the upper 50oC constantly, tidal lock with star, no night. 

Passage 54 - Uninhabited verdant world, Farmopolis. Some agricultural colonists.

Passage 59 - Water Passage. Terminus is half a mile off the coast of Khaemet, a desert continent, broken up into a myriad kingdoms. Vaguely reminiscent of Pharaonic Egypt. Tech level low, but extensive trade in jewels and artefacts.

Passage 60 - Persephone Sigma VII. Passage terminus is about 100 yards away from a trading post on an alien planet. No atmosphere, vacuum suits needed. Many different species, Tech levels range from millenia ahead to centuries behind Thyra.

Passage 66 - Hell.

Passage 72 - Water Passage. Pelagicus, water world. Extensive fishing and trading with the Gloor, aka Atlanteans, humanoid amphibian sea dwellers. Tech level about 50 years behind Thyra.

Passage 75 - Rru-Ssarr. World with radically different evolutionary path. Dozens of sentient species, most look like versions of what we would consider 'lower animals'. Tech levels differ between individual species, from about 50 years behind Thyra to about 50 years after. Extensive contact. Extensive trade.

Passage 90 - Koncorvire. Alien world. Hostile silicone-based life forms. Humanoid inhabitants. Sporadic contact, no trade.

Passage 88 - E'rth. An apparent alternate version of Earth. Extensive trading with local Hugh-min population. Tech level comparable to Thyra

Passage 92 - The Core. Passage opens inside gigantic, world-spanning cavern network. Many different native inhabitants, some trading with a selected few of them.

Passage 103 - Alternate futuristic Earth. Local name unknown. Some sort of environmental catastrophic event left this world devastated. Passage ends near the ruins of London. Limited contact. No trade.

NightGems

I wanted something real worldly to represent the NightGems. In fact it is a reverse cause-effect thing, I came up with the Gem first, and then backed up the story all the way to the Fall of the Night.

NightGems are simply obsidian. Volcanic glass.

If you're not prepared for it, it looks like a really unusual stone (it's not uncommon or even that precious). It looks of what it is, glass made by volcanic lava melting the sand and soil around it. It later shatters, like the glass it is. The impurities in the soil turn it dark (from blues to blacks).

Also its edge. Like 'normal' glass, obsidian gets really sharp edges and was used in fact as sacrificial knives by pre-Colombian civilisations, who never really cared for metals.

They come in a variety of grades: Alpha Grade are the worse and cheapest, most impure ones, little more than inert rocks. Gamma Grade are where the real power starts. The newest 4th Gen Core runs on Lambda Grade. Purest forms are being researched, as the shards that created the Passages are named Omega Class. None have ever been found....

NighGems, as I mentioned, are my gimmick for Thyra, a power source our victorians could only dream of. The reason they never developed flight, is that a steam engine is so big and heavy, it is impossible for it to lift itself. But with NightGems? Your engine could be 10 times smaller and 100 times lighter. Now, then, there is some potential here....

What IS Steampunk?

Over the past decade, Steampunk has branched, evolved, moved and spiralled, and to try and define it neatly would be a fruitless job, I leave that to people more eloquent and more knowledgeable of such matters.

For me, Steampunk is using the late 19, early 20th century aesthetics, superimposed over a more advanced technological framework. Like I wrote in the 'Welcome' post, the Victorian Era meets the Atomic Age.

Enter the NighGems. My gimmick. My McGuffin. An alien crystal, able to store vast amounts of energy (thermal, nuclear, electrical, who knows?)

Between that and the Passages, Thyra has one or two stories to tell....

The Passages (Portals)

My original design for Thyra can be summed up in one word: flexibility. I wanted a background that allowed players to move between campaigns, Universes and adventures on a whim. The GM's whim, of course. ;)

Hence Thyra. The fall of The Night pierced the fabric of reality and many worlds are accessible by simply walking through a Passage (a vaguely shimmering irregular shape in the air, like heat distortion). The first passages ever explored seemed to take explorers to more or less benign worlds. Other peoples and cultures were found, and trade is booming (the second reason for Thyra's wealth, after the NighGems).

Some other passages aren't really that good. The infamous Passage 33, from which no one has ever returned. Or passage 48, that takes you into a blistering hot desert, no shade in sight, a giant planet hanging above you, taking up half the sky.

And then there is Passage 66. Mmm. How to put it? It is somewhat outside of town, and it is nominally guarded 24/7. It is a passage to a realm.... Where the same laws don't seem to apply. There are things at the other side of Passage 66. Not the nice trolls of Passage 5. 

Things. 

Some break through every now and again, creatures of fire and brimstone and death. Some are as ethereal as smoke, but at least as dangerous.



So then, here we have it. A steampunk city, in the mists of a gold rush, with direct links to dozens of places throughout space and time. Welcome. We've been expecting you....

Magik

Magik is real. Well... Not quite. But almost.

It becomes a percentage game. About 2% of mankind have the right nervous system to manage and control high energies. Of these, about 70% end up being allergic to NighGems, and die horribly if injected with NighSerum. 

Well, some die.

Some.... Change.

The remainder, those 0.6% have access to enormous energies and can bend reality as we know it. Some can be taught to do it. Some can simply do it. Some fall victim to.... 

Things. Things from other Places.

If you've beaten the odds, congratulations, you can now wield forces and energies beyond the ken of humanity. If you haven't.... You are either dead, hunted or a Wight.

If you're lucky.


So, by introducing the NighSerum, I can have humans doing technology-based magic (using the Wyrd Science Arcane background). Also, I can have all sorts of creatures coming through the Passages.

Welcome

It was barely a pebble. In cosmic terms, it was a mote of dust, barely worth the notice. If it had been found in our time, in our world, it would have earned one of those long alphanumerical strings that only tell you on what catalogue to look for it.Only one thing made it unique. And the world found out about it on the 31st of December, 1858.

It would eventually be known by many names. But on that fateful dusk, as it ripped the sky, as it became the first big asteroid  to impact the Earth since men arose, its dark smoky tail hid the setting sun. The Night had come.

And then it hit.

And Humanity was still here.

The core of the asteroid was a dense crystal, dark, oily, the likes of which had never been seen. As it hit, it revealed it's greatest property, as it could store an almost infinite amount of energy in its matrix.

It should have destroyed the world. And it did. Sort of.

It absorbed 99.9999% of the impact energy. The place where it hit was now ground zero for mining the new rock, now know as NightGems. A grain of sand would heat a tea cup. A chunk the size of your fist would power a loom. 3 or 4, a locomotive. Some, of high purity, could punch holes in reality itself.

Magik is now real. It's all about energies, after all, and now we have it to spare.

Technology was transformed overnight. Victorian steam met the atomic age.

War followed.

For 30 years, the War of Sorrows burnt the Earth. It's now over, because there was little else left. NightGem mining has resumed. The main mining city is called Thyra. It is a beacon for all that wish to make a quick profit. 

It is also peppered with Passages into other Places caused by the fall of The Night. Some Places are empty. 

Some aren't.

It is the beginning of Spring, 1910, in an Earth you wouldn't recognise. Giant Mecha roam the streets, airships are run by analogical computers, steam machines are powered by crystals from the Stars. Magik is real. Deamons from other Places kill and maim.

Welcome to Thyra.




Thyra came about in a D&D game, I thought, wouldn't it be useful to have a hub, in the middle of the Multiverse, where you could access hundreds of different worlds, and have adventures in all possible environments. I know there are Savage Worlds supplements out there for all of this, but I find them.... Chunky. It's almost metaphysical, some of them, with Gods and Heroes.

I just want to have a City surrounded by gateways to other Places (with a capital P). So one week I can have my players wiping out cultists in a jungle temple and the next, fighting an invasion in an alien colony somewhere beyond the stars....

So in a word, simplicity. Not chunky rules, nothing too weird. Maybe some penalties if the characters try to interact with grossly different technology, but that's about it. I hope it goes well!