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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jgbrowning" data-source="post: 340958" data-attributes="member: 5724">VerdistumVerdistum:    The world of Verdistum is a cancerous growth where evil reigns, but a vein of good persists.  Verdistum began as a tumor off the deep ethereal plane connecting the Abyss to the Hells.   Ages of the Blood War provided the semi-sentient plane with the ability of creation and the raw material for creating its own defenders through absorbing the essence of the fallen demons and devils.  After eons its defenders, the infernals, liberated their world and evolved to their current neutral evil nature.    Trading in souls, the infernals unknowingly changed the properties of their world.  The presence of life within the captured souls spurred a growth within Verdistum, creating a living representation of the traded soul, called a soulspawn.  After millions of soulspawn an aberration occurred, good and neutrally aligned spawn.     The first soulspawn to discover Verdistum’s cyclical nature is its greatest hero.  The Revelator, as she is known, discovered the cycle of the plane: through its absorption, manipulation and reintroduction of souls and essences that perish in its demesne, Verdistum corrupts the strongest of good.  After this discovery she created secret ways of deceiving the plane by cleansing the landscape and soulspawn of their natural evil.  But her greatest discovery is the art of conversion.  Through conversion she changes the basic structure of the plane towards good. She dreams of eventually converting the entire plane to good.    Ruling much of Verdistum is a group known as the Hierarchs.  The Hierarchs are the most evolved infernals on the world.  Grabbing land and power, they continually work against each other and against the Revelator and her followers.  After many lifetimes of trying, the Revelator succeeded in converting one of the Hierarchs to neutrality, giving the movement its greatest secret ally within the power structure.  The Hierarchs employ agents to counter the Revelator’s work, tracking her down in life after life.  She has been assassinated, at last count, 6 times.     Verdistum’s continual expansion has drawn outside attention to the isolated plane.  It is speculated that Verdistum will engulf all other planes if it continues growing.  Though the Hierarchs control all known portals of entry to Verdistum, some outsiders aid the Revelator’s crusade since, in the end, it is the only place where the battle between good and evil matters.  But there are other factions of all alignments who prefer the destruction of Verdistum to eventual absorption.    As in all things in Verdistum, the source of magic comes from the plane itself.  Arcane magic comes from the generative force of the plane, manipulating the explosive energy of the expanding Verdistum.  Certain spells will work differently or be entirely useless since Verdistum is growing off the deep ethereal plane.  There is no divine magic in Verdistum because the plane seals itself from the gods’ influence.  After reincarnation, many soulspawn learn to channel Verdistum’s power. Channelers use their mind to manipulate the ephemeral touch of the plane to produce magical effects.  This is a difficult discipline and success in channeling is not always a certainty.  The price for such exertion is physically and mentally demanding, and some channelers have died through the overuse of their art.  There are also those who draw power from the soil and stone, focusing their will through their puissant staffs to perform cleansing rituals on the land and the people.  As their experience grows, so does that of their staffs.  Still others follow the call of the Revelator, practicing her complex art of conversion.    Verdistum gives good and evil characters flexibility in role-playing.  Alignments are less rigid, but actions carry more moral gravity.  Cleansing rituals allow good and neutral characters to ruthlessly pursue the end of evil while maintaining their alignment; however, such rituals come at great cost.  Evil characters have a reason to band together and minimize the traditional internecine conflict.  Nothing is more terrifying than conversion.    Because many different souls were brought to Verdistum, experienced players have the ability to play monstrous races.  Characters from traditionally evil races can be good, due to conversion or aberrant reincarnation.  Verdistum is quick to claim the souls of those who die on it, making the game more lethal since most resurrection magic does not work, but players may chose to continue favorite characters life after life if they maintain their identity through Verdistum’s cycle.               Verdistum provides a unique environment for role-playing exploration. New ways of combating evil will clash with traditional solutions.  It is not possible to kill a reincarnating evil by spell and sword alone.  To succeed good must find a balance between their various factions: conversions increase the total good in the world but may not last, killing evil only temporarily removes a particular evil but provides space for good’s survival, cleansed soil and stone give solace for a weary soulspawn but require continual care.  Diversity may be the key requirement for good’s survival and eventual triumph.joe b.</blockquote>

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