Forked Thread: Will 4E Eberron be as bad as FR? -> Amber in the Cosmology

[Sammael]

Forked from: Will 4E Eberron be as bad as FR?

As long as I get a good mechanic and power list for the dragon marks, I'll be happy. I just need the bits and pieces to make Pattern and Logrus adepts from dragonmarks and spellscars.

The PHB2 will give me what I need to stat giants and sibeccai. After that, the only other books I think I will need are the Shadow class book, MM2 and the aberration book should it come out.

Soooo... you're playing the world of Arcana Evolved (the name escapes me at the moment) as a shadow of Amber? Nice.

Conceptually, I consider all material worlds as shadows of Amber, although this hasn't come up yet in actual play. I haven't quite decided what to do with Courts of Chaos yet, but the 4E Elemental Chaos seems suitable enough.

Just thinking aloud... all Prime Material Worlds exist within the potential of the Ethereal Plane, which functions as a conduit for raw elemental matter and energy of the Elemental Planes. The Courts of Chaos were the first place where the raw elements congested, giving birth to sentient beings. On the other hand, Amber was the first place where a sentient being managed to harness the potential to create an ordered world (through the Primal Pattern). The Plane of Shadow then arose as the conduit between the two, and gave birth to the various shadows of Amber.

 

[Inyssius]

Ech. I never liked the second-series Courts anyway. They were just too... ordinary. To get to them, you have to pass through all these nightmarish abysscapes and technicolor skies and guardian-beasts literally beyond imagining... but when you get there, what do you find? Lycanthropic cousins twice removed and a faux Pattern that moves around sometimes.

Spoooooky.

I'll stick with Amber and Chaos, thanks.

 

[Sammael]

I'm not necessarily talking about the second-series Courts, just the concept of Courts of Chaos <------> Amber and how to fit it in the cosmology. I'm in full agreement that they should be nightmarish and Lovecraftian...

 

[Inyssius]

Anyway, on to your actual topic.

In Amber cosmology, the heart of the universe is the Pattern (or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the Pattern is the heart of the universe, considering the causal nature of... well, anyway). Outside of the universe, on the fringes, you get Chaos. In the middle, the interactions between the two--as the influence of Amber wanes, and the chaos of Chaos grows--give rise to the shadows which make up our normal set of worlds.


In 4E cosmology, you get a really interesting set of parallels. The heart of the world, the center of everything, the forge of creation--is Chaos. The Astral Sea is on the outside trying to get in. The interaction between the two gives rise to the shadows which make up our normal set of worlds, yes (including the Shadowfell and Feywild, neither of which is closer or farther away from Amber or Chaos than we are), but the interactions are kind of bifurcated, then inverted.

 

[Baron Opal]

Soooo... you're playing the world of Arcana Evolved (the name escapes me at the moment) as a shadow of Amber? Nice.

Not quite. I have two metaphysical poles in my campaign, the Obelisk and the Maelstrom. It is possible to bind yourself to these planes / entities and gain power thereby. There are many material planes which are reflections of the Pangaea. This was lost, broken in the battles between the gods and the titans. The surviving material planes are all imperfect potentials of what could have been.

The main transitive plane between the material planes is a combination between Gehenna and the plane of Shadow. And, it bears a remarkable similarity to the under-Pattern realm in the novels. Anything lost, broken or discarded can be found there, and you can walk from one material plane to another by going through this plane. It's incredibly dangerous to do so, of course.

Having the characters be scions of Amber or Chaos in d20 is the general idea, however.

 

[Baron Opal]

OBELISK
The source of Law, analog of the Pattern.

NIRVANA
Alien plane thematicly similar to Mechanus, but layers of crystal, light and geometry.

ACHERON
The Shattered Plains of Acheron where the lost, broken and discarded can be found.

YLEM SEA
Tumultuous plane thematicly similar to Limbo / Ethereal plane.

MAELSTROM
The source of Chaos, analog to the Abyss (Zelazny's).

Taking a right at Acheron brings you to the myriad material planes. Insert Beyond Countless Doorways here.

The Astral Sea is a barren place that is the "sky" of Acheron, Nirvana and the Ylem Sea but it doesn't penetrate too far towards the poles. It is harder to get to than Archeron. Most of the adventuring takes place in the material planes and Acheron, but there are places of interest in the other planes (Sigil, Dis, Brass, &c.)

If you have a mark or a scar traveling the planes is a bit easier if you have time. If not, you can hellride - which is travelling though Acheron. When the inversed stars in the sky change to the correct pattern for the world you want to go to you can translate back to the material plane of choice.