The obvious point is that those falling exploding star-crystals might leave behind fragments which would make for great magical treasure which Adventurers might be sent out to recover - and who knows what else might be attracted to such powerful objects - crystal elementals, star-touched monsters?
Are the Star-crystals used to power advanced Magi-tech, can mortals absorb their power?
The Dragons could act as patrons to the Adventurers (and once PCs are high level Rivals), or perhaps the Star-Crystals are the only thing that can hurt Dragons and Mortals are using them to overcome their Draconic rulers.
Sounds a lot like Athas.
Heh, Athas is one of those things I've never read, so any resemblance is totally coincidental.
Questions: Seasons? What's "up there?" and "down below"? What does the source of a river look like? Are there other planes? Is there an underdark? Is there a "backside" to the world disc?
Is there really even a "disc" if there's a wraparound effect?
Ummm... I'm not so worried about circles and planes... I'm just thinking if you existed on what was effectively a mobius strip, would you think of it as a circle? No matter how it could be drawn out? I'm thinking maybe there are two discs; upside and downside. One is the opposite of the other in many ways, and the only ways to get from one to the other are:For what's down below, I'm thinking maybe more wraparound. If you dig deep enough you reach the place where the antipode would be if your world were an azimuthal projection of a sphere
Sort of? Maybe? I think it comes down to the mountains at the edge being a ring and circles not being able to evenly tile a plane.
Side note Re: Star crystalsI know I want the Star-crystals to be required for any and all permanent magic item creation (this will be a 3.5e campaign, using E8 rules mods that I've developed). I'm also sort of thinking that the "raw" crystals are mutagenic - being exposed to them for longish (months) periods of time is what creates weird monsters. This would be a fairly well-known side effect, so PCs could easily avoid being exposed by finding safe ways to transport them. I'm not wanting to spring weird mutations on my players without them knowing it well in advance.
So yes, they would make good quest items. They are also dangerous, and normal folk want nothing to do with them. Having them be what is needed to kill a dragon is an interesting idea, too. Maybe the mutagenic property prevents dragons from healing, for some reason, so normally even a "slain" dragon can heal, but by using a raw crystal sword, for example, would inflict permanent wounds. But be very dangerous to the weilder!
One big consideration about flat worlds: Visibility.
The vision limit varies by weather, but the maximum is really about 250 to 300 km for any useful information, with a peak acuity of about 0° 0' 28".... or a width of 0.000135748×Distance per "pixel"...
So, at 1 km, that peak sensitivity "pixel" is roughly 0.14m; At 5km, it's roughly 0.6m, which reduces a man to about 1x3 pixels, with a separation of two men in ranks basically being about the same.
A 20m tower is limited almost exclusively by the vision. It won't see individuals. It will see units at about twice as far as on earth, if not further.
On earth, the 30m is diminishing returns... not so much on a flat world.
Large troop movements can be seen from tall towers... and taking a trebuchet, but making the cup a swinging bucket for a man, and 20m trees, you can easily get a man 30m up....
you can even put that on a stone tower or earthen motte 10m high, to get 40-60m up. On earth, the curve makes that less useful, but on flat world.... spot the neighbor's army at 50km...
Well...That's cool info to know! I wonder, since I'm planning to use dragons a LOT in this world, what a creature a mile high in the air could see? How far? Maths is my absolute weak point, so I can't even try to work it out...
“An eagle can see something the size of a rabbit at more than three miles away.”
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Eagle Eyes
Learn all about eagle eyes. How far can they see? How big are eagle eyes?www.nationaleaglecenter.org
That's cool info to know! I wonder, since I'm planning to use dragons a LOT in this world, what a creature a mile high in the air could see? How far? Maths is my absolute weak point, so I can't even try to work it out...
Given that 250 mi/400km is considered maximum clear air visibility... past that, the inherent haziness of air (as opposed to pure air-content gas mix), everything past is progressively blurrier. Mountains like McKinley can be seen for several hundred miles on earth, but it's blurry towards the ends...That's cool info to know! I wonder, since I'm planning to use dragons a LOT in this world, what a creature a mile high in the air could see? How far? Maths is my absolute weak point, so I can't even try to work it out...
One more thing I am now contemplating. A moon or moons....I have noidea how they could work.
Well, you have this dome...maybe the inner surface, or some other layer, isn't solid. The moons, and even aurora or planets, could float along in that liquid layer. If you're having gods and the like, maybe they are disruptions caused by some past event.
Edit: Heck, what if the moon is just the sun on power-saving mode. During the day, the whole dome is lit by it, but at night it powers down to the white-ish disc we all know.
Hmmm.... I already have a pulsing volcanic eruption creating day and night... it both creates the "force" sky and the energy that makes it glow during the day. I have small "star crystals" that slowly get pushed further "out" over time as the daily eruption cycle happens. I suppose the moon could simply be a much larger chunk of crystal-stuff (maybe different material). It glows more and more brightly each day until it reaches peak brightness, and then suddenly darkens after giving off a single brilliant flash of light. This could happen every thirty days or so. There would, of course, be myths involving various gods that explains why it happens.
But that would mean the moon is essentially fixed in one slowly shifting spot in the sky, and, like the stars, would eventually reach the mountains at the edge of the world. It would then either be pushed down behind them, or get stuck, or something...
I guess there could be more than one Moon, thus providing moonlight fairly evenly across much of the world. Some areas might even be double-lit by two moons and be extra bright all night.
Midgard is a flat world that has both moons and planets circling it. Perhaps there's some inspiration for you there.One more thing I am now contemplating. A moon or moons....I have noidea how they could work.