Nex’s interplanetary relations

[keftiu]

The intro to Lost Omens: Impossible Lands mentions that the nation of Nex has contact with other planets, but the book itself makes no further mention of such a thing. Is there prior lore touching on this? Failing that - anything fun we can imagine in the blank spaces?

[Morhek]

I'm not aware of prior lore, though I can't see Castrovel being interested in Nex, but Nex might have some interest in Aballon and Akiton, particularly Aballon with their technomancy. And having interplanetary embassies sounds like an excuse to have some contact with distant Androffa. It could even be an excuse to connect to other TTRPG settings, like Faerun, Exandria, Eberron, etc., passing through a Nexian portal as a jumping off point to have a Numerian laser gunner hunting down Vox Machina. :P

As for its planar embassies, Qadira has embassies on the Plane of Fire, Cheliax dabbles with Hell, but if Nex was going to be interested in the planes I'd bet they'd rather have a foothold on Axis if only because Axis is an interplanar trade hub. At least one piece of art shows a Protean leaning out of a portal to barter, so they're also clearly interested in connecting with the Maelstrom. An Inevitable and a Protean walking into a bar would sound like a setup for a joke anywhere else, but in Quantium it might just be a tense darts night.

It does, however, make me wonder what Nex has to do with the Aiudara. The "Elf Gates" are considered a lost art, and were special precisely because they could do what Nex apparently does with ease - connect distant points in space permanently. Did Nex, either the wizard of nation, rediscover the secrets of the elves while they were absent, develop their own method convergently, or something else?

[keftiu]

Morhek wrote:

At least one piece of art shows a Protean leaning out of a portal to barter, so they're also clearly interested in connecting with the Maelstrom. An Inevitable and a Protean walking into a bar would sound like a setup for a joke anywhere else, but in Quantium it might just be a tense darts night.

It does, however, make me wonder what Nex has to do with the Aiudara. The "Elf Gates" are considered a lost art, and were special precisely because they could do what Nex apparently does with ease - connect distant points in space permanently. Did Nex, either the wizard of nation, rediscover the secrets of the elves while they were absent, develop their own method convergently, or something else?

That artwork depicts the Network of Nineteen, planar portals that open on a set schedule. The book goes on to mention that Abaddon, the Maelstrom, and the Shadow Plane are considered the connections that are considered dangerous an illegal to Arclords, so there's at least three known connections. Given that they operate on a year-long cycle, rather than being usable whenever with a key, that might be the "flaw" in Nex's attempt at replicating the aiudara.

The Network is only mentioned to connect to planes and demiplanes, so it seems any interplanetary visitors are arriving through other means. I'm sure the vanished archmage would enjoy Aballonian tech or some Akitonian Thasteron.

[Perpdepog]

Akitan feels the most likely to me; the Contemplatives feel like just the kind of people Nex's elites would like to meet. Whether the Contemplatives want to speak with them is another story, but I'd be shocked if at least one Arclord hadn't tried to make contact.

And, while they're farther away physically, magically Verces and Triaxus are about as close as any other world, and contain knowledge about spaceflight and cybernetics, and whatever the planet's large population of dragons have learned about respectively.