2 Outer Planes, one for nightmares and one for pleasent dreams.
1 Inner Plane where the god is alone, dreaming of the world, drawing sleeping spirits from the multiverse to inhabit his world.
Well, if we want to keep things nominally similar to standard PF, we'll want a heavenly plane for answering celestial summons (which could be the source of all healing and positive energy too), a hellish plane for LN/LE stuff and an abyssal plane for CN/CE stuff.
A thick elemental soup would do as the plane for answering all Inner Planar stuff, with a dark, gloomy plane of the dead, where lost spirits end up and all negative energy and undead draws its/their source. You could have the plane of life & positive energy separately here.
Finally, you could have a single transitive plane - the Plane of Dreams, which serves as the Ethereal/Astral, but which only grants access to the other planes and moons, not to any cosmic location outside of the Dreaming God's influence.
Thus we have six or seven planes in total - 3 Outer (Heaven, Hell, Abyss), 2 or 3 Inner (elements, death, [maybe] life) and a single transitive Plane of Dreams (called the Dreamtime, if we wish to reference Australian aboriginal mythology).
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Well, if we want to keep things nominally similar to standard PF, we'll want a heavenly plane for answering celestial summons (which could be the source of all healing and positive energy too), a hellish plane for LN/LE stuff and an abyssal plane for CN/CE stuff.
A thick elemental soup would do as the plane for answering all Inner Planar stuff, with a dark, gloomy plane of the dead, where lost spirits end up and all negative energy and undead draws its/their source. You could have the plane of life & positive energy separately here.
Finally, you could have a single transitive plane - the Plane of Dreams, which serves as the Ethereal/Astral, but which only grants access to the other planes and moons, not to any cosmic location outside of the Dreaming God's influence.
Thus we have six or seven planes in total - 3 Outer (Heaven, Hell, Abyss), 2 or 3 Inner (elements, death, [maybe] life) and a single transitive Plane of Dreams (called the Dreamtime, if we wish to reference Australian aboriginal mythology).
I'm not sure there would need to be two different evil areas. That sort of imbalance in good and evil always bugged me. I think "good dreams"/"bad dreams" could cover it just as easily.
I think there should definitely be life if there's also death. Nothing bugs me more than stacking things towards the more negative stuff without a good reason.
I think the Dreamtime makes perfect sense for this setting.
Well, if we want something simpler, we could have the elemental soup and the Dreamtime unchanged, but have the positive and negative planes as the poles of the elemental plane. The interaction of the Dreamtime with the positive and negative planes has led to the formation of Elysium, the heavenly realm and the source of all hope and good dreams, and the Nightmare Realm, the hellish realm from which despair and bad dreams descend.
Thus we have two Outer Planes, three Inner Planes and a single Transitive plane (the Dreamtime).
[Edit: I've just noticed that such an outer planar makeup is essentially what BaronBytes said.]
Well, if we want something simpler, we could have the elemental soup and the Dreamtime unchanged, but have the positive and negative planes as the poles of the elemental plane. The interaction of the Dreamtime with the positive and negative planes has led to the formation of Elysium, the heavenly realm and the source of all hope and good dreams, and the Nightmare Realm, the hellish realm from which despair and bad dreams descend.
Thus we have two Outer Planes, three Inner Planes and a single Transitive plane (the Dreamtime).
[Edit: I've just noticed that such an outer planar makeup is essentially what BaronBytes said.]
So far, I think I'm the one with the most complicated of all the Inner, Outer, and Transient Planes. But, I think something simpler is probably going to win since Bardess has voted for 1 Inner Plane and 4 Outer Planes,BaronBytes has also voted for 1 Inner Plane and 2 Outer Planes, and you wanted 2 or 3 Inner with 3 Outer and one transient.
Honestly, I'm more in favor of the simpler solutions myself. Not only does it make more sense that things in a dream world would be more symbolic, the natures of inner and outer planes here really aren't going to quite match their usual counterparts since everything is still within a dream. As far as elements go, quintessence could work very well and matches up with what Bardess and BaronBytes wrote.
A single source of "good" dreams and a single source of "bad" dreams are also sensible options. I would make a case for my outer planes of "real" dreams (that is, dreams that show someone something going on in the past or present) and "prophetic" dreams (dreams of the future) since the latter has been mentioned since ancient times and the former is also supposed to happen on occasion. In any case, it would align them with the 4 Outer Planes Bardess mentioned as well as the 4 Tacticslion had also mentioned.
Though we could technically treat the setting as if it were normal, I think that would end up defeating the point of choosing a setting based on a dreaming god to start with. Something ought to be different than usual to match the flavor.
The nature of the moons ought to be discussed at some point. I think Beopere had a really good idea, but for all ten moons to align we need to know how they orbit and, more importantly, how they're supposed to dominate a single month if all of them can be full (or, at least, in the sky aligning) at the same time.
I hate to double-post, but no one's added since Sunday and it's probably not a good idea for this to get too far down. Perhaps the next vote should be for the next area to develop if there's not much interest in this part?
2 Inner
2 Outer planes
Well, the reason for having more evil than good is so that adventurers have something to do. Typically evil things outnumber good things, but the good things tend to be slightly more powerful than their evil counterparts. Though I am not sure that second part is necessary.
If good things equal evil things, then there is very little for any single individual to do-- you defeat your evil counterpart and you've instantly done your part to fix the balance. You are a good level 1 warrior? Well, once you take out that evil level 1 warrior, you've already shifted the balance to good.
But if evil things outnumber and threaten to swallow the good things whole, then good must work tirelessly to shift the balance. In such a world, all good must do for evil to win is rest.
True, but only if everything revolves around fighting. Mysteries are always a possibility, then there are natural disasters or even having adventurers help establish a colony. You don't need something to be Evil to be an opponent; it just helps the PCs feel less guilty about killing it.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
My vote is for 10 other planes.
10 Outer
10 Inner
Then I vote we blend most all the the various ideas about the moons together in some fashion or another, as follows:
The winner of round 3 is 10 months (for 10 moons), 10 day weeks, 4 weeks in a year, 40 day months, 400 days in a year. Easy. :)
Okay, since we've got 10 moons, I'm going to suggest a tie-in between them and the planes. Ten seems to be a pretty serious number.
Thus (borrowing from Indagare, Bardess, and myself):
OUTER PLANES
1) Morphia is a pleasant/happy dream plane where benign entities reside and benign people go after death. While generally a 'good' realm, it is not strictly associated with the Good alignment per se (and so some Neutrals end up there too). The entities there are the stuff of good dreams like friendly fairies, silly creatures, and majestic angels.
2) Phobetoria is a scary/sad dream plane where malign entities reside and malign people go after death. While generally an 'evil' realm it is not strictly associated the Evil alignment per se (and so Neutrals end up there too). The entities there are the stuff of nightmares like malicious fairies, scary creatures, and horrific demons or daemons. The undead could come from here too and would not be powered by negative energy but negative emotions like fear and anger.
3) Icelosia is a plane of true dreams where orderly entities reside and orderly people go after death. While generally a 'lawful' realm is not strictly associated with the Law alignment per se (and so Neutrals end up there too). Icelosia acts like legend lore and scrying where past and present events can be viewed.
4) Phantasia is a plane of prophetic dreams where chaotic entities reside and chaotic people go after death. While generally a 'chaotic' realm, it is not strictly associated with the Chaos alignment per se (so Neutrals end up there too). Phantasia can show future events, but these are only what may be and multiple viewings can easily alter it.
5) Hypna is a plane that looks just like the Prime but acts more like the Spirit World: features are bigger or deeper or somehow more meaningful here but the exact difference is hard to place. Hypna overlaps with the Prime and is where ghosts come from and go to. It's for people who don't fit into any of the other planes or who are still needed for the dream narrative (or meta-narrative).
INNER PLANES: There is but a singular inner plane, but it holds five layers or elements. All are, after a fashion, dreams-within-a-dream.
1) Plane of Dreams: Though it gets into Inception territory, mortals have their own dreams within this dream. Undoubtedly the Dreamheart will have something to do with the Dreamer but what is probably unknowable. It has connections with Phantasia and Hypna. It may also act a bit like the ethereal plane.
2) Plane of Shadows: This is connected with both the Darkness quasi-elemental plane and the plane of Phobetoria. It's not an Evil place, but it isn't pleasant. There's no negative energy, but there are plenty of negative emotions.
3) Plane of Radiance: This is connected with both the Light quasi-elemental plane and the plane of Morphia. It's not a Good place, but it is pleasant. There's not positive energy, but there are plenty of positive emotions.
4) Plane of Primordia: This is a singular plane combining all elemental and quasi-elemental planes. It is a plane of plants and animals that acts like a combination of the Feywyld and the Beastlands on the surface, but is a layered plane, meaning that it has strange depths. It looks like a version of the Prime where the forces of nature are far more extreme (including areas of wild magic). Folks using tree stride (or similar spells) access it. Massive regions are dominated by a given element (named below), with strange passageways and connections between the elements. The world does not "flow" in any normal fashion, though sensible to subconscious connections.
- akashunvyaom <emptiness> (Aether or Void [Cold])
- pavanmarut <expansion or vibration> (Air, Wind)
- bhumi <solidity or inertia> (Earth [Metal])
- tejasgni <heat or energy content> (Fire)
- jalaap <cohesion> (Water)
- mulakari <growth, life> (Wood) {actually a kind of quasi-element}
- The Quasi-Elements ("Kalapas"): these are passways between the elemental layers.
- Storm (Earth+Fire+Water): pavanmarut, bhumi, jalaap
- Cloud (Air+Water): jalaap, pavanmarut
- Darkness (Aether+Air): akashunvyaom, pavanmarut
- Dust (Air+Earth): pavanmarut, bhumi
- Ice (Cold+Water [Earth]): akashunvyaom, jalaap, [bhumi]
- Light (Aether+Fire): akashunvyaom, tejasgni
- Magma (Earth+Fire [Water]): bhumi, tejasgni, [jalaap]
- Mud (Earth+Water): bhumi, jalaap
- Steam (Fire+Water [Air]): tejasgni, jalaap, [pavanmarut]
- Storm (Air+Earth+Fire) [source of Electric and Sonic energies; thunder and lightning]: pavanmarut, bhumi, tejasgni
5) Plane of Behosia: This is a grey, dull void representing the unconscious brain. Its substance can become anything and any element, and its creatures are amorphous, fearful phantasoi. It doubles as the transient plane.
Thus we have enough for a single plane with a single moon.
However, as an interesting idea, perhaps each plane and moon overlap in variable ways. In other words, each week, a different plane phases into a different moon.
There are 4 weeks in a month. Let's say that at the end of each week (at the end of every ten days), the lunar/planar alignments switch.
1 : leader
2 : follower
3 : friends
4 : structure/work
5 : movement/change
6 : justice
7 : spirituality
8 : material power/money
9 : altruism
and ten, we know, is cycles.
This especially works with two sets of five of each kind of plane. The planes are, thus, the followers (two sets) of the moons and world, and five is movement/change (thus the alteration of the cycles of planes).
1 - Night-bringer: This moon heralds the beginning of the sleep. Days are short and nights are long. The god has only just fallen asleep so the dream is new, and still in it's infancy. The moon is ill-formed and transparent, changing shape seemingly at random. This represents the re-birth of creation.
10 - Dawns-herald: A fractured moon broken into a hundred pieces hangs overhead to represent the ending of the dream. Like the first month this one is dark. Endless night with the ever looming threat of dawn just on the horizon. While the sun heralds good tidings for most of the year, now it represents the end of creation, until it's rebirth the next year.
These make excellent titles. I've no idea if the specific broken moon (hah! AP-reference! BAM!) is going to come into play, but there's some excellent ideas, here.
Dreamtember would start the cycle as this universe began as a dream. Those born in this month are known for seeing things not as they are but as it could be.
Earth would represent the planet and its place as second in creation. Those born in these month tend to be stubborn but loyal to those who earn their trust.
Water next because without it life would not exist. Normally they are known for being very adaptable, but stirring there wrath results in an icy situation.
And air would be what sustains life given forth by water. Typically they are fickle creatures, ever changing as the wind, but are self assured and strong willed
Fireuary would be last as it is and end to things, making way for the new.
With this, when combined with the ideas of revolving moons/planes, astrology actually becomes a nearly impenatrable science that requires extensive study, knowledge, understanding, and skill to comprehend. No wonder there're so many charlatans.
This system assumes that the world revolves around both suns at once (or that both suns revolve around the world at the same time if the system is geocentric).
Ina - The first month: Ina is the first spring month and is named after the goddess of birth and rebirth. Her sign is Psyche, the rainbow butterfly.
Bradil - The second month: Bradil is the second spring month and is named after the god of fertility and wilderness. His sign is Skyader the wolpertinger.
Amosy - The third month: Amosy is the third spring month and is named after the goddess of love and beauty. Her sign is Tianma, the winged horse.
Prosly - The fourth month: Prosly is the last spring month and is named after the god of merchants and travelers. His sign is Turul, the gryphon.
Youse - The fifth month: Youse is the first summer month and is named after the goddess of art and music. Her sign is Caladria, the phoenix.
Hapspur - The sixth month: Hapspur is the second summer month and is named after the god of peace and prosperity. His sign is Quin, the unicorn.
Riola - The seventh month: Riola is the third summer month and is named after the goddess of marriage and the hearth. Her sign is Asena, the lion-dog.
Aesry - The eighth month: Aesry is the last summer month and is named after the god of the sea and of sailing. His sign is Ceffyl, the sea dragon.
Tendula - the ninth month: Tendula is the first fall month and is named after the goddess of agriculture and crafts. Her sign is Bastmet, the fairy cat.
Frimum - the tenth month: Firmum is the second fall month and is named after the god of masonry and smiths. His sign is Ushi, the bicorn.
Tanasteria - the eleventh month. Tanasteria is the third fall month and is named after the goddess of scholars and magic. Her sign is Camazot, the horned bat.
Conthus - the twelfth month. Conthus is the last fall month and is named after the god of trickery and magic. His sign is Muscaliet, the azeban.
Trulet - the thirteenth month. Trulet is the first winter month and is named after the goddess of skiing and hunting. Her sign is Adarna the snowy owl-polar bear.
Strolus - the fourteenth month. Strolus is the second winter month and is named after the god of competition and war. His sign is Fafnir the ice dragon.
Chrysania - the fifteenth month. Chrysania is the third winter month and is named after the goddess of history and the dead. Her sign is Arachne, the spider-moth.
Amrose - the sixteenth month. Amrose is the last winter month and is named after the god of truth and justice. His sign is Gullin, the hippoalectryon.
Since there are ten moons (one per month) the sixteen-fold division doesn't work. However, one of the really interesting ideas that comes from the above is that of the moons themselves being gods... variable, changing, altering gods (chaotic) that shift according to precise, decipherable patterns (lawful). They shift either for the boon or ill (good and evil) of the people below. They have certain core traits (as noted above) that are modified by their new, (temporary) alignment.
This system assumes that the world revolves around both suns at different times (such as the figure eight that rainzax proposed) or that both suns revolve around the world at different times if the system is geocentric.
Enber - the first month of the first sun.
Diber - the second month of the first sun.
Triaber - the third month of the first sun.
Tesseraber - the fourth month of the first sun.
Penteber - the fifth month of the first sun.
Hexaber - the sixth month of the first sun
Heptaber - the seventh month of the first sun.
Oktober - the eighth month of the first sun.Unimo - the first month of the second sun.
Duomo - the second month of the second sun.
Trimo - the third month of the second sun.
Quadrimo - the fourth month of the second sun.
Quinquemo - the fifth month of the second sun.
Semo - the sixth month of the second sun.
Septemo - the seventh month of the second sun.
Octomo - the eighth month of the second sun.
Nifty alternate ideas, here. One possibility is that there is one god per moon who is the personification of the moon, but each moon as a different, numerological name. Thus the god aspect (and any humanoid-ish avatars produced) might be named according to Indagre's upper post, but the moon itself is named according to the lower element.
In that way, we actually can take everyone's ideas, as stated to date, and generate a singular, comprehensive cosmology.
Anyway, the idea is that, let's just say the year is 32 (I've no idea what that means, and it doesn't matter - it's a random number).
So,
- Month 1, week 1:
- moon 1 aligns with Morphia
- moon 2 aligns with Phobetoria
- moon 3 aligns with Icelocia
- moon 4 aligns with Phantasia
- moon 5 aligns with Hypna
- moon 6 aligns with PoDreams
- moon 7 aligns with PoShadows
- moon 8 aligns with PoRadiance
- moon 9 aligns with PoPrimordia
- moon 10 aligns with PoBehosia
- Month 1, week 2:
- moon 1 aligns with Phobetoria
- moon 2 aligns with Icelocia
- moon 3 aligns with Phantasia
- moon 4 aligns with Hypna
- moon 5 aligns with PoDreams
- moon 6 aligns with PoShadows
- moon 7 aligns with PoRadiance
- moon 8 aligns with PoPrimordia
- moon 9 aligns with PoBehosia
- moon 10 aligns with Morphia
- Month 1, week 3:
- moon 1 aligns with Icelocia
- moon 2 aligns with Phantasia
- moon 3 aligns with Hypna
- moon 4 aligns with PoDreams
- moon 5 aligns with PoShadows
- moon 6 aligns with PoRadiance
- moon 7 aligns with PoPrimordia
- moon 8 aligns with PoBehosia
- moon 9 aligns with Morphia
- moon 10 aligns with Phobetoria
- Month 1, week 4:
- moon 1 aligns with Phantasia
- moon 2 aligns with Hypna
- moon 3 aligns with PoDreams
- moon 4 aligns with PoShadows
- moon 5 aligns with PoRadiance
- moon 6 aligns with PoPrimordia
- moon 7 aligns with PoBehosia
- moon 8 aligns with Morphia
- moon 9 aligns with Phobetoria
- moon 10 aligns with Icelocia
- Month 2, week 1:
- moon 1 aligns with Hypna
- moon 2 aligns with PoDreams
- moon 3 aligns with PoShadows
- moon 4 aligns with PoRadiance
- moon 5 aligns with PoPrimordia
- moon 6 aligns with PoBehosia
- moon 7 aligns with Morphia
- moon 8 aligns with Phobetoria
- moon 9 aligns with Icelocia
- moon 10 aligns with Phantasia
- Month 2, week 2:
- moon 1 aligns with PoDreams
- moon 2 aligns with PoShadows
- moon 3 aligns with PoRadiance
- moon 4 aligns with PoPrimordia
- moon 5 aligns with PoBehosia
- moon 6 aligns with Morphia
- moon 7 aligns with Phobetoria
- moon 8 aligns with Icelocia
- moon 9 aligns with Phantasia
- moon 10 aligns with Hypna
- Month 2, week 3:
- moon 1 aligns with PoShadows
- moon 2 aligns with PoRadiance
- moon 3 aligns with PoPrimordia
- moon 4 aligns with PoBehosia
- moon 5 aligns with Morphia
- moon 6 aligns with Phobetoria
- moon 7 aligns with Icelocia
- moon 8 aligns with Phantasia
- moon 9 aligns with Hypna
- moon 10 aligns with PoDreams
- Month 2, week 4:
[list] - moon 1 aligns with PoRadiance
- moon 2 aligns with PoPrimordia
- moon 3 aligns with PoBehosia
- moon 4 aligns with Morphia
- moon 5 aligns with Phobetoria
- moon 6 aligns with Icelocia
- moon 7 aligns with Phantasia
- moon 8 aligns with Hypna
- moon 9 aligns with PoDreams
- moon 10 aligns with PoShadows
- Month 3, week 1:
- moon 1 aligns with PoPrimordia
- moon 2 aligns with PoBehosia
- moon 3 aligns with Morphia
- moon 4 aligns with Phobetoria
- moon 5 aligns with Icelocia
- moon 6 aligns with Phantasia
- moon 7 aligns with Hypna
- moon 8 aligns with PoDreams
- moon 9 aligns with PoShadows
- moon 10 aligns with PoRadiance
- Month 3, week 2:
- moon 1 aligns with PoBehosia
- moon 2 aligns with Morphia
- moon 3 aligns with Phobetoria
- moon 4 aligns with Icelocia
- moon 5 aligns with Phantasia
- moon 6 aligns with Hypna
- moon 7 aligns with PoDreams
- moon 8 aligns with PoShadows
- moon 9 aligns with PoRadiance
- moon 10 aligns with PoPrimordia
- Month 3, week 3:
- moon 1 aligns with Morphia
- moon 2 aligns with Phobetoria
- moon 3 aligns with Icelocia
- moon 4 aligns with Phantasia
- moon 5 aligns with Hypna
- moon 6 aligns with PoDreams
- moon 7 aligns with PoShadows
- moon 8 aligns with PoRadiance
- moon 9 aligns with PoPrimordia
- moon 10 aligns with PoBehosia
- Month 3, week 4:
- moon 1 aligns with Phobetoria
- moon 2 aligns with Icelocia
- moon 3 aligns with Phantasia
- moon 4 aligns with Hypna
- moon 5 aligns with PoDreams
- moon 6 aligns with PoShadows
- moon 7 aligns with PoRadiance
- moon 8 aligns with PoPrimordia
- moon 9 aligns with PoBehosia
- moon 10 aligns with Morphia
Note that although Morphia starts out with moon 1, by the end of the cycle (where Morphia becomes aligned with moon 1 again) it's not even with the month... but it will be by month six, and at the beginning of the next year.
In fact, here's a list of morphia's cycles by moon and month:
Month One: 1, 2, 3, 4
Month Two: 5, 6, 7, 8
Month Three: 9, 10, 1, 2
Month Four: 3, 4, 5, 6
Month Five: 7, 8, 9, 10
Month Six: 1, 2, 3, 4
Month Seven: 5, 6, 7, 8
Month Eight: 9, 10, 1, 2
Month Nine: 3, 4, 5, 6
Month Ten: 7, 8, 9, 10
When year 33 starts up, then, Morphia will once again be associate with moon one for the first week of the year.
Thus, you've got a pretty stable set of months/moon-plane shifts, if you want 'em.
#1 sound interesting, I'll vote for that
+1 @indagare for the doomsday cult idea of wakening the "world"
Same for me
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Hm. Very odd typo up above on my part. I meant to say "5 outer planes, and 5 inner planes" thus making 10 planes total; not 10 each making 10*. EDIT: I also seem to have made some sort of mistake in my "First three months" spoiler. Oops.
One thing I didn't mention before, is the fact that the intersection of the moons and the planes is that it can be seen to follow the rhythm, the pattern, of sleep-cycles, which is pretty neat.
* ()
Same for me#1 sound interesting, I'll vote for that
+1 @indagare for the doomsday cult idea of wakening the "world"
EDIT: oddly, I don't seem to be able to send a PM to you. Here's hoping you see this, Bender is great.
Uh, I'm afraid you missed that round of voting. The good news, however, is that your choice won anyway!
The current round is how many inner and outer planes.
Currently, after all the votes completed to date:
This world is the world of a dreaming god. (There is a cult of Waking that wants to end everything.)
There are ten moons, and two suns (the latter generally accepted to be the eyes of the sleeping god).
There are ten months, four weeks a month, and ten days per week; this generate 400 days per year.
Current segment of this: Round 4: the Inner and Outer Planes!
How many Inner Planes?
1-1 plane
2-2 planes
3-3 planes
4-4 planes
5-5 planes
6-6 planes
7-7 planes
8-8 planes
9-9 planes
10-10 or more planes
How many Outer Planes?
1-1 plane
2-2 planes
3-3 planes
4-4 planes
5-5 planes
6-6 planes
7-7 planes
8-8 planes
9-9 planes
10-10 or more planes
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I think the voting now is:
*
*
*
*
1-1 plane- xx
2-2 planes x
3-3 planes x
4-4 planes
5-5 planes x
6-6 planes
7-7 planes
8-8 planes
9-9 planes
10-10 or more planes xx
1-1 plane-
2-2 planes xxx
3-3 planes
4-4 planes x
5-5 planes xxx
6-6 planes
7-7 planes
8-8 planes
9-9 planes
10-10 or more planes
1-1 plane- xx
2-2 planes
3-3 planes
4-4 planes xx
5-5 planes
6-6 planes
7-7 planes
8-8 planes
9-9 planes
10-10 or more planes
I really like how you're trying to incorporate everything Tacticslion! I think it will be easier once the voting on this is done so we know where things stand.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------
I hope it doesn't seem like I'm usurping this thread, but I want to help keep it active, so I'm going to add things I've been wondering and which I think will help flesh things out.
1) Is the system heliocentric or geocentric?
2) Does the world/suns go in a circular orbit, a figure 8, or some other arrangement?
3) What nature(s) do you see the suns having?
A) Positive Energy/Negative Energy
B) Hot/Cold
C) Dry/Wet
D) Hot and Dry/Cold and Wet
E) Hot and Wet/Cold and Dry
F) Fire/Water
G) Earth/Air
H) Other [please define]
I'm asking about these because the nature of the suns is going to affect the seasons and thus which month is associated with what.
Constellations:
There are 88 recognized constellations on Earth, 12 of them are the signs of the Zodiac. I've already listed what I want to see, but how many would others like?
1) 10 total - Zodiac only
2) 20 total - 10 Zodiac, 10 others
3) 30 total - 10 Zodiac, 20 others
4) 40 total - 10 Zodiac, 30 others
5) 50 total - 10 Zodiac, 40 others
6) 60 total - 10 Zodiac, 50 others
7) 70 total - 10 Zodiac, 60 others
8) 80 total - 10 Zodiac, 70 others
9) 90 or more (following the pattern of 10 Zodiac, x-others)
10) Alternative (more/less Zodiac, others - please define)
11) No constellations
Guide Stars
On Earth there is Polaris, the North Star which acts as a guide. Here there could be one (or more) similar stars. How many should there be?
1) 1
2) 2
3) 3
4) 4
5) 5
6) 6
7) 7
8) 8
9) 9 or more
10) None
Also, include where you want them to show (north pole/south pole/both poles/around the equator/etc) and if you want to see the guide star(s) have some relation with the inner/outer planes.
For instance, if you want five and wanted five outer planes, they could each be a physical manifestation of that plane in the sky (guiding the souls of the dead as well as the living). If you want them aligned with the inner planes, they could be manifestations of them instead. And, of course, there's the possibility of them being all or none of the above.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
wow... okay... here this goes again...
What you say is perfectly true in our reality, but in dreams things don't always follow logic or make sense. There's nothing in fantasy preventing constellations from being living creatures composed of "stars" that outline them somehow.
There's also nothing preventing the various inner or outer planes from manifesting in some way impossible in our reality. I'd really love to see you create some scifi-based setting for Pathfinder since you seem to really love how physics work without magic, deities, or any of this other stuff. I think you could do a fantastic job of it.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I think it strains credibility less if the two suns are actually cosmic energy of some description, so maybe one sun is the warm, moist, bright, life-bearing plane/ball of positive energy and the other is a cold, dark, dry, dead plane/ball of negative energy.
Given that the suns are said to represent the twin eyes of the Dreaming God, it would make sense if the Dreaming God could see the world at every opportunity (like a floater in the retina), so the system is probably heliocentric.
The constellations could be representation of the other sub-divine entities, like in Dragonlance, or they could be the stray thoughts of the Dreaming God, who grow dimmer and dimmer with age and have to take on corporeal form at the ends of their lives, expiring on our mortal world (as inspired by the nature of stars in C.S. Lewis' Narnia).
The guiding stars could also be associated with whatever pantheon we devise, though in our solar system, that role was taken by the other planets, as well as a few really bright stars. The idea of Orion actually been the physical manifestation of, say, the god of hunters, is a really compelling one though.
What you say is perfectly true in our reality, but in dreams things don't always follow logic or make sense. There's nothing in fantasy preventing constellations from being living creatures composed of "stars" that outline them somehow.
Not being our kind of stars opens up lots of possibilities. I'm imagining a world where the stars would sometimes move over the course of weeks to form new constellations... If nothing else, that would sure give the astrologers a lot to work with!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I think it strains credibility less if the two suns are actually cosmic energy of some description, so maybe one sun is the warm, moist, bright, life-bearing plane/ball of positive energy and the other is a cold, dark, dry, dead plane/ball of negative energy.
Well, that's why I listed all the possibilities for energies I did. I figured if folks were interested in a particular type, this would help.
Given that the suns are said to represent the twin eyes of the Dreaming God, it would make sense if the Dreaming God could see the world at every opportunity (like a floater in the retina), so the system is probably heliocentric.
If the eyes are to see the world at all time, it actually would make a geocentric world make more sense. The two suns could orbit around it, possibly closer than the moons. If it were heliocentric, the eyes would have to revolve in time with the planet's orbit otherwise one would eclipse the other from time to time. Plus the moons would be in the way.
The constellations could be representation of the other sub-divine entities, like in Dragonlance, or they could be the stray thoughts of the Dreaming God, who grow dimmer and dimmer with age and have to take on corporeal form at the ends of their lives, expiring on our mortal world (as inspired by the nature of stars in C.S. Lewis' Narnia).
The guiding stars could also be associated with whatever pantheon we devise, though in our solar system, that role was taken by the other planets, as well as a few really bright stars. The idea of Orion actually been the physical manifestation of, say, the god of hunters, is a really compelling one though.
*nods* That's why I mentioned it. I think that there's a lot of interesting fantasy material in the constellations being physical manifestations of the deities, especially if it's crystal clear what they are.
Not being our kind of stars opens up lots of possibilities. I'm imagining a world where the stars would sometimes move over the course of weeks to form new constellations... If nothing else, that would sure give the astrologers a lot to work with!
*nods* If there are actual patterns to the stars the constellations they form could have a particular significance or be prophetic. Then again, they could also be fanciful at times too. In any case, it would certainly be an interesting show!
By the way, has anyone seen Farael around? He seems to have dropped off the face of the forums and I don't think this thread is going to survive much longer without him and/or some more interest in it.
|
I personally say we should have a completely malleable/amorphous (forget which word is right) number of all varieties of planes, while constellations are nigh-infinite in the ways they can be arranged.
My explanation is that each constellation could be seen as another dreamer, just infinitely distant. Each inner and outer plane represents another, more focused dreamer trying to influence the primary Dreamer for whatever reason.
Thus, each constellation and each plane is connected. The inner are elemental and variations of elements (quasi, para, inter [when mixing with outer], as well as stranger things such as artifacto-elemental [water + maze = pipes]), thus being the "primal". The outer planes represent personalities and categorizations thereof, such as the alignments, Meyers-Briggs and Enneagram and Humor types, etc.