Help me with this homebrew cosmolgy

[Funeris]

Question: So what happens to the dead?

Are you going to shorten the lifespans of elves...since they're from higher planes where time moves faster?

The lower planes moving slower gives a valid explanation to the long lifespans of the dwarves.

~Fune

 

[Turanil]

Reincarnation: Dead are spirits who come back on same plane unless so evil they are pushed to reincarnate below. Saints reincarnate upward.

 

[Nellisir]

One of the things about Wolfe's cosmology was that time goes slower on lower planes. I can't remember the exact ratio, but it was quite significant (probably too high to be playable).

Yeah, I thought that might complicate things a bit. I think it was at least a year = 1-2 days, but could've been even faster. Might not have been a fixed ratio, either.

If the layers don't have alignments, then what about having imprisoned good beings?

Personally, I like the lower layers being more "evil", and the upper ones being "good" (but not wholly), but that's just because it's simple and lines up well with real-world mythological thought.

 

[Turanil]

One of the things about Wolfe's cosmology was that time goes slower on lower planes. I can't remember the exact ratio, but it was quite significant (probably too high to be playable).

Time that passes at different paces depending on plane is interesting, but I fear it could produce unforeseen and unwanted results. I think I may forget about it, except maybe for the lowest planes.

Summoning magic could be the equivalent of lowering a rope for someone to climb up. They can't get out without the rope, but if someone provides one, there's no problem.

You might have to come up with another brand of spell (high level accessible only). If the denizens of the lower(est) planes came from above, they would have had to have been forced into the lower(est) plane by some means. They were imprisoned--possibly by magic. So now, you may have a class of spells that can push a person up or down a layer (and trick reality into thinking that he belongs there). So, it would be difficult for him to return...

That annoying necromancer bothering you. Push him up a plane or two or three (where time moves faster) and he'll subsequently age and die faster.

Good ideas. Summoning spells can only call creatures in planes below, not higher. Original evil gods and demons were banished by the will of powerful spirits and deity of the solar type; not magic a human perform unless it's an epic spell. Nonetheless, Imprisonment spell would push into a lower plane.

Not all of the demons/devils/evil spirits need to be imprisoned on the lowest plane. A few may have managed to hide out on a plane lower than the golem/elementals...just so they could keep some of their sentience.

It would make it easier to summon a Dretch than a Pit Fiend.

Sounds okay.


Other ideas: Spirit can go upward, but not physical body. Summoned demons are in a sort of astral projection even if they can materialize a body (the sacrifice of the summoning ritual?). On the other hand, a physical body could go down. Beatific rapture is when a divine being summon a mortal to the heavens.

 

[Turanil]

If the layers don't have alignments, then what about having imprisoned good beings?

Personally, I like the lower layers being more "evil", and the upper ones being "good" (but not wholly), but that's just because it's simple and lines up well with real-world mythological thought.

Two good things to ponder.