Hey there everyone.
due to a general lack of being able to plan four days ahead, My Players Have left me with a lot of free time on my hands, and as such, I've decided to start laying out our next little foray into my Homebrewed setting. This time is on the remote country of Mardan, a place where, before it's settlement by humans, Great empires of Shifters fell into thousands of years of animal savagery, then rose again to even greater heights.
Like humans do, I'm planning for the human race to have spread out across the Contanant a long long while ago, and have taken all the good land for themselves.
The reason I reached out to you all, is for help with one particular group of humans, a small country in the area that has long remained isolated. Now, caught between the mountains and the sea, this little country borders a much larger, and stronger one, that has long been just a bit hostile towards it's neighbor.
Now, part of the reasons this little country has remained to independent, is it's unique access for ( whatever reason) the plane of Mirrors. Now, Inspite of the name, The Plane of Mirrors is an original creation that allows those with access to it to walk into one Mirror frame, through the worldlet, and out of another frame big enough to support them.
To be plain, I need help with the rules, systems and creatures for this Mirror world, and I could think of no one better out there to ask.
so then, anyone got any ideas? any help you could offer would be Great.
Love the concept of a Mirror World!
There is a short blurb about such things in the old 3.0 Manual of the Planes, but you probably have already seen that.
You might consider the following as appropriate monsters for that world: the variety of "nerra" (Field Folio), the aleax (from Epic Level Handbook (I think), and that wierd mirrored thingy with holes all in it that make strange moaning sounds when the wind blows through it (I'd name it if I could find it).
I think traveling through the Plane of Mirrors should NOT resemble a fun house, but rather a "world between the worlds," a rather empty place that simply connects portals (mirrors) together. It's a lonely place (except for those strange creatures that dwell there...and one's aleax always hunting one down). Finding the right mirror to come out of might be a little like the door room in "Monsters, Inc." where you're just looking at the backside of a mirror until you step through into someone's room...OR they could each be like "one-way" mirrors that you can always see through into the room in which it hangs.
Of course, if mirror travel becomes a common thing, consider the implications of mirrors attached high off the floor or even the ceiling. Mirrors could be laid on the floor as a trap. What happens if the mirrors is broken? Cracked? Covered? What if a free-standing mirror is facing flush against the wall (or a mirror is hanging on a door opened against the wall)? Can you hurt/kill someone by breaking the mirror in which you see his reflection? Do mirrors have to be made of silvered glass, or will any reflective surface work (such as polished metals, placid waters, or even someone's eyes...that's a weird thought)?
I realize I've probably given you more questions than answers, but maybe I've helped you organize your questions, at the least.
I recall doing some similar research for my Planescape campaign. I'd suggest taking a look at Malhavoc Press' 3.5 Complete Book of Eldritch Might; it contains the Mirror Mage prestige class, along with a handful of mirror themed spells, items and feats to flesh out the concept of mirror magic.
In the same book is presented a mysterious pocket plane called the Nexus filled with nothing but windows that can be used as scrying devices or as portals for those who know how to enter and exploit the plane. Perhaps it could serve as your plane of mirrors.
There's also a creature, the mirror mephit, presented in WotC's 3.5 Expedition to the Demonweb Pits. It's a fun little creature that secretly spies on others while it hides invisibly within the surface of a mirror; it could make a fun improved familiar for Mirror Mages.
I'm also rather enamoured of an unusual villain presented in Dungeon Magazine #127's Critical Threat article; a malevolently sentient mirror named Glimmerpane.
It could be fun to take these elements and tie them all together into a mysterious secret society of Mirromancers with their mirror mephit henchmen. Or perhaps, mirror-like, it's the mephits who are secretly manipulating the society of mages while working to further their true master, Glimmerpane's, diabolical agenda. Who'd suspect a sentient mirror is the BBEG? >=]
Just some ideas.
Great stuff guys.
now that I know that people are interested, I'll spit out a bit more about the Mirror world, and how mirror travel works.
the country that Has the Mirror mages keeps them a dread secret, as their main defensive tactic is to be able to send a Panewalker anywhere there is a receptive surface.
mechanicly, it takes a feat, which allows a person to travel through a reflective surface and into the Mirror world.
a portal must meet the following criteria:
Must be large enough for the caster to fit his entire body through ( could crawl through a small mirror, or squeeze through a very narrow one)
The Panewalker must be able to see themselves clearly through the surface. ( a little bit of dust and grime wont hurt them... although they may also come out dusty...... but a pool of water must be nearly completely still. Extremely concave or convex surfaces are right out.)
Now, traveling through the Mirror world is a lot like using the teleport spell, right down to having knowledge of the destination or person you wish to be transported to. However, as instead of walking in one Mirror, and out another, the Panewalker is actually traveling to another world, The distance actually takes time.
This is rolled Exactly along the same lines as the distance in the teleport spell,
on target arrives 2d6 seconds later. ( allowing this ability to be used in combat, if a Panewalker has a few large Mirrors handy.)
an off target walk arrives 2d6 Minutes Later
A " smiliar Area" arrives 2d6 Hours later
And a mishap arrives 2d6 days later.
now, in the process of traveling, Once the Panewalker Steps over the frame, and Into the Mirror world, They enter a dark and Twisted Labyrinth, full of crumbling stone and Silver Mists. Dotted along the route are Mirrors, all of which seem to be windows Gazing out onto the world. the Panewalker must find the Mirror they seek to leave by, or gaze through. The roll represents how much time it takes for them to get from the the starting point to their destination, finding ways through crumbling passages, and pass the distracting vistas.
Mirros in the Mirror world are placed strangely, with the path between start and finish being Dotted with sights that would pose most distracting to the Walker, ( although most, if not all of these Distraction Mirrors are False, Echoes of the past, or tricks of light and sound.)
When the Walker Finally reaches the destination, the Labyrinth begins to take on the qualities of the area around which The target rests. If the target is a person, The Walker finds a gallery filled with windows, each one being a Mirror that Commonly looks upon the target.
If the Target is a place, or an object, The Walker finds themselves in a shadow version of the Area, with each Mirror leading into it's real world counter part.
As for the actual act of walking through a Mirror, there can be many variables.
A portal must meet the qualifications set above, If the Mirror is covered, damaged, or otherwise blocked, than the Walker must make another roll in an attempt to find a new Gallery.
a Portal cannot close when something is already coming through it. however, a Mirror shattered while something is coming through Causes a double Mishap roll to occur.
A Panewalker may grant their ability to pass through Mirrors to anyone and anything they touch. A Panewalker must maintain contact with those they wish to bring along, or otherwise they are unable to fully pass through any of the Portals.
I'd just like to chime in with the comment that "panewalker" is an awesome name.
I'd recommend adding the Mirror Master from Monte Cook's Book of Eldritch Might:
http://www.montecook.com/mpress_BOEM.html
It's a good class, and he's updated it for 3.5. It might require a slight power bump for Pathfinder, but it's certainly worth a look in any case.
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Atlas Games' Seven Civilisations includes Silvergate, a free city within a demi-plane reached by ritual means through mirrors.
Thankyou very much. I've got a nack for awesome Monickers.
Travel through mirrors seems like more of an espionage and guerrilla warfare advantage than something that helps much during an invasion.
If your mirror country has let things get so far as to have themselves invaded they've already lost a great many opportunities.
S
should have explained that more.... thanks.
The reason the country is seldom attacked, is because at any sign of hostility, a highly trained group of Panewalkers and their friends can walk through the reflective objects nearest the Rulers of that country, and do great great damage.
Thanks everyone for their help with this.... I've gotten the Panewalkers down ... aside from the society they inhabit.
Currently I'm working on a Nearby Country that takes it's inpsiration from Victorian England. Very Pro male society.. horrid amount of sexism... And a terrifying new Drug called " Luna" that is harvested from the minds of the insane and sold to the Rich so that they can practice insane magics.