Where the Shadow Falls (fantasy rebuild)

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Dakarne
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Where the Shadow Falls (fantasy rebuild)

Post by Dakarne »

Naturally, many of you may or may not have noticed that I already have a fantasy universe in the main forums called Essence & Descent. Essentially, you may or may not have also noticed that it's been moderately inactive. Anyone who's been on messenger with me over the past several months, however, has had to put up with many of my constant musings and ideas coming out of the works; basically, this isn't a new 'verse. Hence the term that this is a rebuild, and that's in more ways than one. You see, Essence & Descent got covered in a whole pile of unwanted additions too many attempts to deconstruct or take apart fantasy that I ultimately realised that I was going the wrong way about it.

I realised ultimately that I ought to have been putting it back together, thus rebuilding it. You'll notice a new title, and a lot of other new things. I'm still on the way to sorting a few things out, like my almighty foe of geography and mapping. But I have been working on it a lot, and I've decided to post it here as an announcement that as of now Essence & Descent has officially ended, to be replaced by Where the Shadow Falls.

Again, my influences are numerous and I'll admit to them openly. Still of particular note; the Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, the Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson and Ian Cameron Esslemont, Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin, Discworld by Terry Pratchett, and Forgotten Realms by Ed Greenwood, among countless other fantasy authors. I also owe influence to the poetry works of William Shakespeare, T.S. Eliot, John Milton, William Butler Yeats, Emily Dickenson, and Dylan Thomas.

Ultimately, however, this does stem from more or less the same source as E&D; my ideas for stories and for characters, so you may well see a lot of character-based influence on this.

All of that said, I really should get on with telling you more of what actually goes on;

Introduction

As long as history can remember, there have been two Realms. There is the Realm of Existence, or merely the world as known to its denizens; this is a place of relative normality. And then there is the far more dangerous Realm of Potency; it is a place of concepts and strange, mysterious powers that make it a completely unliveable Realm for those who are not kin to it. Very few creatures can survive within the depths of this Realm, and they are rare and powerful alien beings. Between these lies the Shadow, a half-Realm where all things are never fully magical or fully mundane, being a dangerous and dark amalgam where reality cannot truly be trusted. The Shadow often acts as a barrier between the two, seeming to stop the two Realms from colliding and devouring one-another.

There are, however, those from the Realm of Existence who transcend the limitations imposed by the Shadow. These are known commonly as magi or sorcerers; powerful individuals who may wield the magical powers from the Realm of Potency according to their will. There are dangers associated with the wanton tampering with reality, however, so magi can often lead dangerous lives.

For most of history, the two Realms remained strictly separate outside of the use of magic, until some many thousands upon thousands of years ago. Before even the infancy of humanity’s first burgeoning empires, there was the first empire of the elves, known to antiquity as the Great Empire of Táchar, which spanned most of the continent of Astara, and is still remembered as the most powerful empire in the history of the world. They were magically powerful, able to twist reality to their whim; but their experiments with magic brought them in a wrong direction, and they opened a large hole through the fabric of reality created a Gate which bypassed the Shadow and accessed the Potency directly.

The Táchar Gate, as it was called, allowed for all magi in its proximity to increase their powers at an exponential rate. It was celebrated for a century as the greatest achievement of the elves; they built a new capital city around the Gate, celebrating the power it granted and expanding their dominion.

Ultimately, however, the Gate attracted attention.

The gigantic, monstrous creatures known as the dragons emerged from the depths of the Potency, drawn to the world by a mix of their lusts for power and their inherent curiosity. To them, the very notably physical world of the Existence represented a place in which their power would be nearly unmatched; indeed, the Great City of Táchar fell instantaneously, becoming the seat of a draconic empire. The rest of the empire, however, was not willing to welcome their new dragon overlords; and they resisted the coming invasion with tooth, nail, sword and spell.

At first it was a massacre; at least four more of the great elven cities fell before the elves began to turn the tide back upon the dragons. Led by the Great Sorceress, Aelyn Nidhrym, who was said to be the embodiment of the Empire itself and thus earned the name of Tácha, the elves struck several mighty blows against the dragons and turned the tide of victory.

The final battle took place in the Great City of Táchar, and Tácha led the assault herself; it looked as it if would be overwhelming victory, at first. But it was ultimately pyrrhic; Tácha knew that to truly expel the dragons, she would have to take a step that no other would be willing or able to take.

Towards the end of the battle Tácha was forced to unleash as much power as she could to end the fight; the last spell that she cast drilled straight through the heavens themselves, destroying every dragon that was currently in the material world. Yet it also caused the event known both in history as the Cataclysm and the Creation. A cataclysmic burst of power leapt forth from the Táchar Gate, and irreparably altered everything in its path; the city itself vanished entirely without a trace, and the city itself vanished into oblivion. A series of smaller, almost natural Gates opened across the world, as the fabric of reality was partly torn asunder.

What remained of the Great Empire’s citizenship was altered; many of the elves, known now as the Táchari, became the races known as the dark-elves and the light-elves. Slowly, the original elves have begun to vanish, only to be replaced by their offshoots.

Tácha herself vanished into oblivion, and she was later canonised and venerated as a goddess by the elves.

The other races, given the confusion and many damaging occurrences happening within the Táchar empire, began to rise up to take their own position in the world. First the dwarves, with their forest cities, riverside villages and expansive mining efforts, and then the humans, with their gigantic and impressive progress at adapting to a new world by creating their own major cities and harnessing their own magic. Naturally, the elves, though failing at the time, opposed their dominion and wars often occurred across history.

In the contemporary era, known primarily as the Verith Era, the races exist in a state of uneasiness with one another. There is a tense, uncertain peace throughout the land held together by flimsy truces and treaties that serve only to stop them from pursuing open warfare.

Races

Dwarves
The dwarves are the second-most common non-human sentient race on Erda. They are also one of the most akin to humans, except for a series of rather major and minor physical differences. Unlike normal humans, dwarves average out at about four and a half feet tall, and are on average stockier, having much broader shoulders, rounder bellies and more overall storage of fat and muscle. Due to this, they can be deceptively stronger than the ordinary human individual despite their lack of relative height and reach.

Culturally, they are very variable, depending on region and nation; ill-informed humans familiar with the dwarves of the west are often surprised whilst visiting the dwarves of the north, south or east. Perception of them varies mostly depending on these regions.

Dwarves are, however, known for their high rates of intelligence and education, being that they are often more diligent and quick-witted compared to humans; though this isn't always the case. They tend to also be deceptively nimble, despite their bulk, and many people have been surprised by dwarfish warriors dodging attacks with the agility and grace of a panther before dispatching their opponents with a single quick stab to the neck. Their lifespans are roughly twice that of humanity, and they have almost-equal birthrates. Dwarves enter their puberties comparatively earlier than humans, often before reaching their tenth year, though their emotional maturity is often considered to occur around their twenty-fifth birthdays.

Elves
Elves are not considered a specific race unto themselves, but are instead a group of similar races which differ somewhat. They are all known, however, for sharing a series of very common features. These include possessing a set of two hearts and having long, pointed ears, as well as having individual lifetimes that are in excess of seven centuries. Other than that, they share a tendency towards their birth-rates being less than those of other races.

Other than these similarities, the elves are separated into two major groups. The first is the far more commonly-seen ‘light-elves’ or ‘day-elves’, and the second is the less common ‘dark-elves’ or ‘night-elves’. There is also a third precursor group, the Táchari, who are now all but extinct.

It is common knowledge that they both came about after large groups of Táchari became imbued by the forces of either the Light or the Dark during the Cataclysm.

Dark-Elves
Dark-elves are notorious among the common races for their being born from Darkness itself during the Cataclysm. Originally members of the precursor race known to history as the Táchari, they came about after the Great Empire of Táchar was devastated by a split in the worlds and most of the Táchari were mutated. The dark-elves were one of the two major results of this split, along with the light-elves.

The dark-elves are often seen as isolationist, due to the fact that they have difficulties remaining in the light, and therefore keep to forest areas and dark places. It is known that the dark-elves have many underground cities and often tend to inhabit forests for this reason.

Physically, they stand a few inches shorter than humans on average, and tend towards being thin and slender. Their skin colour ranges widely, but often tends to be fairly dark. Their hair is pale to the point of being stark white, though some tend to dye their hair to stand out. It is known that they have impressive levels of night-vision. This can often work against them, however, as they are blinded by direct sunlight.

Light-Elves
Light-elves are the most commonly seen variant of elves, and it has become common to refer to them as merely ‘elves’ without the qualifier. Like their darker cousins, they were created during the Cataclysm, originally being mutated versions of the Táchari. It is known, however, that they were the ones to primarily inherit the remnants of the Great Empire of Táchar, but it is known that they do not hold much ill will towards their darker cousins.

The light-elves are often seen as a whimsical and exotic people, given their affinity for magic and sorcery. They are also considered to be very social, but are really no more or less social than their dark-elf cousins; they are merely more suited to light conditions.

Physically, they stand half a foot taller than humans on average, and tend towards being somewhat wirier and more muscular. Their skin colour is often pale, with occasional bronze or golden complexions being seen, and their hair ranges across several warm colours. The most common are reddish, auburn or golden, with occasional light-elves possessing darker hair. Their eyes are, given a contrast to their darker cousins, poorly adjusted to low-light conditions to the point of night-blindness.

Elves, Táchari
Táchari, originally referred to as ‘elves’, were once the most powerful race on Erda, prior to the Cataclysm. The true Táchari are currently all but as extinct as far as it’s known by the average populace, as most of them were mutated into light-elves or dark-elves, and then outbred by them. Currently, there are only a few hundred thousand living elves in Astara who are descended mostly from Tácharan ancestors. Other than that, there are those who are also referred to as grey-elves, who are the descendants of dark-elves and light-elves, and are very similar to the Táchari in physical terms.

Most denizens of the world, including many of the Táchari themselves, view the time of the ‘true Táchari’ as over. Though they still have a partly visible presence in the elven councils of Varanth and Aerlainn, many of them are growing older and their birth rates continue to fall.

Physically, Táchari are about the same as humans in build, if a little slimmer, and they vary in more or less the same way when it comes to colouration in hair, skin and eyes. They most certainly have pointed ears, like all elves.

Goblins
Goblins, or orcs, are the most common non-human species of Erda, coexisting with humans in enough numbers to be a noticeable part of the population. They are often held in ill regard, however, due to what is seen as a brutish, appearance and a history of violent tensions between goblins and humans, and also between goblins and elves. However, goblins themselves are not brutish creatures by nature, they are merely seen that way.

Goblins differ from humans in numerous respects. They possess slight tusks, their skin often takes on a greenish-yellow pallor that ranges from lime green to much darker shades, and their ears are slightly pointed or prominent in a similar way to elves or wolves. They have the same general builds as humans.

This constant antagonism, greater numbers of human beings over goblins, and frequent expansionism of humans, has forced them to become wanderers and nomads, and there are only a few nations in the world where goblins reign supreme. Despite whatever cultural tropes exist that paint them as savages, goblins are psychologically almost identical to humans, though goblin males sometimes have greater levels of testosterone and as such have more sexual urges and shorter tempers

Humans
See your local mirror for details.
Last edited by Dakarne on Fri Nov 07, 2008 12:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
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'For the moment, mortal, they find the thought of killing me more desirable than that of killing you.'
'And what are their chances?'
'The answer to that is evident in how long they've been hesitating, wouldn't you think, mortal?'

-Anomander Rake and Ganoes Paran in Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
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Re: Where the Shadow Falls (fantasy rebuild)

Post by Dakarne »

Aside from the much-needed addition of the dwarves, which has been updated into the races section, I'm setting aside this post for magic, mayhem and a little bit more on the cosmological matters.

Magic

Magic involves, primarily, the access of the energies generated by Potency towards the end of altering reality itself in various fashions. This is, however, very limited and can only be done by people who are born into the gift. Individuals with the gift have many names; wizard, witch, warlock, sorceress, sorcerer, magician, mage, magus, maga, shaman, mystic, or even - in the case of some of them - cleric or priest. It is entirely based on a cultural perception of them, and their own personal perception of how they truly receive their power. Some of them, priests, see their power as being granted by the gods. Others see their power as it truly is; a manipulation of extraworldly energies from the realm known as the Potency.

Cosmology

The cosmology is split primarily between the two Realms, as well as the central Shadow that lies between them. It is not known how the cosmology was formed, and who or what created it, and thus far there seems to be very little method of finding out. There are innumerable theories, religious beliefs and various other such ideas. In any case the two Realms and that which lies between them are not mutually exclusive, as there are many ways of transcending such barriers, like the Gates as seen throughout Erda, the personal connections of the Existence-dwellers who're gifted with magic, and various individual spells that one might cast using such magic.

Beliefs about the separation range from believing that the Potency is an equivalent to Hell, which is meant to punish evildoers after they die, to the belief that the Potency is in fact the exact opposite and is an equivalent to heaven for good-and-noble people.

The Realm of Potency
The Potency is a realm that is only vaguely physical; most of the Potency is entirely emotional, conceptual and based on the mental states and will-power of those residing there. Almost any creature with a modicum of intelligence has a mild, if somewhat uncontrolled ability to affect the reality around them. But this can be as much of a detrimental effect as a beneficial one as a self-destructive line of thought, or self-loathing, can cause someone to destroy themselves in the blink of an eye just as easily as greedy thoughts would suddenly make them very wealthy and start creating large amounts of gold around them. Magicians in the Realm become extremely powerful, due to their own natural affinity for the Potency, and their tendency for enormous self-control of their thoughts and their will.

There are only a few native inhabitants of the Potency, but the most notable of these are the dragons, who infamously invaded the Realm of Existence many thousands of years ago, only to be beaten back by the efforts of the elves. They have only been very rarely heard of since, but the Realm is one of infinite and endless size, and it is quite possible that there are more unaccounted for dragons; they may have merely been uninterested in an invasion, or are merely biding their time. It is possible also that the dragons who invaded were merely extremists or radicals of some denomination.

The Realm of Existence
The Realm of Existence is the entirety of the physical world, from one end of the universe to the other; from each star, moon, planet or galaxy in the night sky, down to each grain of sand in the desert or droplet of salt-water in the ocean. It is primarily mundane, except for the magic-users and the access to the Potency that is provided by the Gates.

The Shadow
The Shadow is both a sub-Realm unto itself, and a barrier which serves to keep the other two Realms at bay. It is an almost-dead place that lies between, and can be accessed easily enough by any creature from either realm that has sufficient magical will and knowledge to do so. Within, everything is a grey, dark wasteland, ever-constantly in a perpetual state of twilight; never truly night and never truly day. The landscape is almost an equivalent of the Realm of Existence, and - indeed - it is in fact considered to the the Shadow of Existence simply for that, but it is, akin to the potency, shaped somewhat by one's own thoughts and feelings. Though the extent to this is limited to very minor things in contrast, like journeys taking no longer than a day no matter the distance, or that a mage's magic is far more effective within the Shadow. For this reason, many mages prefer to battle within the Shadow, and almost all of them will use Shadow-travel to arrive at places much quicker than if they were travelling normally.

The Shadow is almost uninhabited, except for the presence of the Shadowkind, which are powerful and mysterious creatures that come in many shapes and sizes, with motives that range as much as their shape. They are not entirely rare, but a creature travelling through the Shadow would not often encounter one of them, as they prefer to keep themselves to themselves. Though it is very unlikely that a mage who frequently uses the Shadow to travel would not encounter one of them.

The Gates
The Gates are conduits between the Potency and the Existence. They have the effect, whilst within the Existence, of radiating a greater amount of magic in proximity to them, which any magician might take advantage of, whether by the greater effectiveness of enchanted items or the greater effectiveness of spells. Due to this reason, the Gates are seen as a strategic resource, and many cities and fortresses are built around them when they are discovered. The vast majority of Gates in the world are said to be left-over from the spell cast by the goddess Tácha, though there are a sizable amount of new gates that have actually come about after the event, including the two-thousand year old Gate around which the aptly-named city of Newgate was built. Conversely, there was once a Gate within the city of Verithern, but it naturally closed itself a few centuries ago.
Last edited by Dakarne on Sat Nov 08, 2008 12:20 pm, edited 6 times in total.
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'For the moment, mortal, they find the thought of killing me more desirable than that of killing you.'
'And what are their chances?'
'The answer to that is evident in how long they've been hesitating, wouldn't you think, mortal?'

-Anomander Rake and Ganoes Paran in Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
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Re: Where the Shadow Falls (fantasy rebuild)

Post by Invictus »

Of all of this, I'm currently most intrigued about the process of the Cataclysm and the Creation. Was it the sort of disaster which made large holes in the landscape, or was it more of the "I'm suddenly left-handed and there and two new colors in the rainbow " sort of cosmic rearrangement?
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Re: Where the Shadow Falls (fantasy rebuild)

Post by Dakarne »

Invictus wrote:Of all of this, I'm currently most intrigued about the process of the Cataclysm and the Creation. Was it the sort of disaster which made large holes in the landscape, or was it more of the "I'm suddenly left-handed and there and two new colors in the rainbow " sort of cosmic rearrangement?
It was the sort of disaster that made large holes, very specifically, in the fabric of reality. Basically, the opening of a series of Gates that allow for direct access to the Potency; basically sections of the landscape where magic is more potent, and easier to do. Therefore it's more like the latter, but not quite. The cosmic rearrangement only affected the specific planet of Erda, however, and not everywhere in the known universe. Most of the landscape was left unscathed except for the vanished city of Táchar, and a nearby mountain that collapsed in on itself.
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'For the moment, mortal, they find the thought of killing me more desirable than that of killing you.'
'And what are their chances?'
'The answer to that is evident in how long they've been hesitating, wouldn't you think, mortal?'

-Anomander Rake and Ganoes Paran in Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
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Re: Where the Shadow Falls (fantasy rebuild)

Post by Dakarne »

I've added a bit more on the Gates, the Shadow, and the Rules of Magical Limitation. I've also set this post aside for later use for nations and cultures, which probably deserve full articles.
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'For the moment, mortal, they find the thought of killing me more desirable than that of killing you.'
'And what are their chances?'
'The answer to that is evident in how long they've been hesitating, wouldn't you think, mortal?'

-Anomander Rake and Ganoes Paran in Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
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Re: Where the Shadow Falls (fantasy rebuild)

Post by Magister Militum »

It's all very promising, Dakarne. In particualr, I'm interested in learning more about the various nations that inhabit WtSF.
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Re: Where the Shadow Falls (fantasy rebuild)

Post by Dakarne »

I'll probably get to detailing the various nations that inhabit WtSF later, in a series of much larger articles. I've also decided to make a few necessary changes to magic.
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'For the moment, mortal, they find the thought of killing me more desirable than that of killing you.'
'And what are their chances?'
'The answer to that is evident in how long they've been hesitating, wouldn't you think, mortal?'

-Anomander Rake and Ganoes Paran in Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
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Re: Where the Shadow Falls (fantasy rebuild)

Post by Dakarne »

I'm having to put work on the 'verse side of things on hiatus, because my desktop computer's got buggered up its proverbial arse and I'm left having to work on my bloody laptop. Incidentally, I am working on Where the Shadow Falls, I'm just not working on the 'verse side of it. ;) I'm instead working on what you might call the literature side of it. Nothing ready to post yet, I'm afraid, but I'll leave you with the information that it is going to be Big, as it's a rewrite of an early Forgotten Realms story that a co-writer and I worked on, and I'm more or less just taking my ideas from it and expanding upon them.

I'm also, quite obviously, setting it in what I have officially dubbed the Shadowverse, as opposed to the earlier Forgotten Realms setting. It was mostly made up of original characters, so you won't see any 'expies' of extant characters (or, for that matter, places) from within Mr. Greenwood's setting.
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'For the moment, mortal, they find the thought of killing me more desirable than that of killing you.'
'And what are their chances?'
'The answer to that is evident in how long they've been hesitating, wouldn't you think, mortal?'

-Anomander Rake and Ganoes Paran in Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
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Re: Where the Shadow Falls (fantasy rebuild)

Post by Dakarne »

All right, as my computer has returned, and as I've been working on Word of Angels, I've begun to gain a better perspective into the world in general. I'm going to be revising, renaming and expanding upon a few things, and making the cosmology, the magic and the matters of the deities a little clearer. I'm also working a lot on the geography, politics and culture of various areas. I've also decided to revise the elves slightly and alter their light/dark/grey split by making them into a elf/dark-elf split similar to that which is seen in the worlds of Dungeons & Dragons.

As a sidenote, I'm debating about actually using the word 'drow' as - to be quite honest - most of my inspiration for language-use comes from my native Scotland, and you'll never guess what country's mythology the word 'drow' comes from. ;) Drow are Scottish invention. I are Scottish writer. :P

Expect revisions and expansions to appear in a week or so, after I've gotten through my essay.
Image
'For the moment, mortal, they find the thought of killing me more desirable than that of killing you.'
'And what are their chances?'
'The answer to that is evident in how long they've been hesitating, wouldn't you think, mortal?'

-Anomander Rake and Ganoes Paran in Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
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