Wistera Cosmology
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I've been revisiting some of the elements of my old D&D homebrew campaign, specifically the Cosmology. When I DM, I am usually trying to construct a living world for the PCs to inhabit. However, as this is going on, I am also thinking about the players themselves. What do they need from the game? What are the core elements of their heroic and villinous fantasies? Is it theriputic or self-destructive? Is playing D&D an act of defiance to reality's banality, or is it cowardly escapism? Is thre even a difference?
Over the years, my home-brew campaign world has taken a couple of very strange philosophical turns, as I've tryied to incorperate these issues into the whole of the campaign. A lto of my ideas are fairly muddled, inconsistent in design, and are often accidentally discovered during the course of play.
My goal here is to present an overview and try to piece together years of scribbled notes into a concise format. This is NOT that concise overview, but it's where I've decided to start.
A Few Introductory Questions
What is Reality in Wisteria?
Reality is a collusion of three basic building blocks: energy (divine and arcane magic, natural energies), matter (elements and physical sensation), and movement (temporal flow, conscious possibilities and choice).
True reality is inconcevable, as any conscious element is bound by strict rules of its paradigm. It is not only impossible to perceive realities outside of one's own paradigm, it is also impossible to look a the current state objectivly from within. The only thing a thought cannot think about is its own thoughts. Some things are always a mystery.
What is Duality in Wisteria?
Duality is the source of conflict. This takes many forms, Male/Female, Liberal/Conservative, Black/White, Good/Bad, Pretty/Ugly, etc, but most of them are social fabrications. True duality represents threads of truth that are positively and negatively charged at their core. The Cosmology of Wisteria/reality is the tapestry of opposing ideas/natural forces/perceptions, etc, that are in irrevocable conflict due to their innate being.
What is Conflict in Wisteria?
Conflict is everywhere, and can be roughly divided into two main sections:
Conflicts of Elements:
The need to consume/metabolize in order to maintain existence.
The need to inhabit space (ethereal, astral, etc. are all included as space)
The need to perceive time
The basic question of this conflict is "What is it?"
Conflicts of Morality:
Scarcity of space
Scarcity of resources
Scarcity of Meaning
The basic question of this conflict is "What should it be?"
Both the elemental and moral spheres of conflict not only contain their own internal conflicts, they also are oppositely charged. All conscious life is fueled by the movement between "what is" (epistemology) and "what should be" (ethics).
The Plane of Conscious Possibility
Also called the Facilitator Plane, it is directly connected to all the other planes, with the exception of the 2 Planes of Absence and the Plane of Stasis (see below). It draws energy, matter, and movement from each of the paradigms, and transfers it somewhere else. Each Plane of Conscious Possibility is unique and all encompassing, and has an infinite variety of features that impose concepts on the surrounding reality that shape the capacity for conscious thought.
The Rules of the (Wisteria) Plane of Conscious Possibility:
- Time exists, and is used to perceive reality.
- Reality is composed of three basic building blocks: movement, matter, and energy.
- Planar interconnections are powered through conflicting paradigms of Duality.
It is entirely possible that there are an infinite number of these possibilities, each with their own rules, functions, and conceptual frameworks not based on duality and conflict. Since it is theoretically impossible to perceive something beyond your own layer of possible consciousness, the debate is somewhat irrelevant, and left to those faiths and scholarly disciplines with a penchant for the esoteric.
The opposite of Consciousness is Stasis. Stasis takes on many forms, and is associated with banality and a denial of thought. If conflict is removed by the taint of the Plane of Stasis (see below), then it may cause a complete temporal failure that will destroy the entire cosmology (under this specific paradigm of reality and possibility).
Like the Plane of Stasis, it is technically unaligned. Often, strong personalities, such as PCs, can have direct communion with this plane, and serve its needs. In Wisteria, Heroes and Villians are the ultimate saviors, as they hold back the Plane of Stasis with their audacity to exist. Wisteria's Plane of Conscious Possibility is literally "fueled" by the PC's need for adventure.
The Infinite Planes of the Prime
These are all the variations of realty that exist within the series of rules set down by the Plane of Conscious possibility. The world of Wisteria represents one of these planes. It is also the source of conflict between the Moral planes and the Elemental Planes. As this conflict is played out, energy is exchanged through the planes of Time and transferred back in a cyclical fashion through the transference planes. While the planes are infinite, they are all constrained by the basic rules of consciousness and moral/physical duality. In other words, they prepresent infinite varieties of the same basic theme.
The 16 Elemental Planes
These planes serve as the building blocks of matter and energy, and all 16 planes take on a spherical shape, based on their relationship to each other. The sphere spins on an axix, and the Two poles of the spinning reality globe create polarization of elements on either end. These are the building blocks to creating a conscious entity.
4 Core Elements of Fire, Water, Earth, and Air
4 Quasi Elements of Ooze, Magna, Smoke, and Ice
4 Arcanic Elements of Radiance, Minerals, Steam, and Lightning
4 Discordic Elements of Vacuum, Dust, Ash, and Salt
The 16 Moral Planes
Arranged in a Great Wheel, these planes represent the motive force of consciousness, and all moral dilemmas. It is a 2-dimeonsional flat wheel, and is divided across the poles of good and evil, law and chaos. Either face of the wheel represent opposite energies and are energetic polarizations of energy.
The 2 Planes of Absence
These are the only two planes that do not touch the Plane of Conscious Possibility. The represent the threshold of consciousnes limitation.
Automatic ("What is it" only) – the true limit of consciousness without moral influence. Science and dispassionate agendas are spawned here. It is the stripping away of all things that are not physical reality. It is a plane of most automated stuff, like clockwork horrors, golems and elements like that.
Dreams ("What should it be" only) – the true limit of consciousness without epistemological influence. On this plane, it is very difficult to find soild ground. Everything is very esoteric, and it is the home of faith and a reconstruction of reality according to desire.
The 2 Planes of Time
The Ethereal Plane
This plane is directly connected with the physical reality of the Prime, and serves as a way to get through to the Elemental Planes. It is highly time static, and you never age within these planes. To see the Elemental planes is to see stagnated time. Travelers a thousand generation apart can travel to a plane, and find that no time has passed there between visits. Very strange indeed.
The Astral Plane
This is space between the panes, and it is highly time mutable. The further the distance toward the wheel of Moral planes, the faster time will flow. To reach the Moral planes is to see the fruition of morality play itself out. If you travel once, you will find a completely different world than the one you had seen the first time, even if your visits were only a few seconds apart. There are no permanent contacts in the Moral Planes, but there are entities that take on the symbols of those that travel there (but they won’t remember you from visit to visit!).
The Four Planes of Energy Transference
Inviolable and Perverse Energy Planes
These are simple conduits of positive and negative energy. They exist as the 2-dimensional moral wheel spins, and the conscious mind attempts to grasp a world without depth. It is not possible, and the moral planes create these energy spaces that use the Plane of Conscious Possibility to zap the bleed off back to the Prime. These are planes of faith, from which most spell energy flows.
Arcane and Discordic Energy
These are the poles of the every spinning sphere of planes. Physical energy bleeds from the “top” and the “bottom,” and flow back into the Prime.
The Arcane Energy Plane is a plane of putting together, a series of forces that naturally attract to each other. The Ragamuffins are from here. Source of Arcane Magic.
The Discordic Energy Plane is a plane of pulling things apart, as natural entropy destabilizes everything. Rust Monsters make their home here. Source of natural kinetic energy, it is the source of aging and death.
The Far Realms
This is a plane (infinite number of planes) (no planes) that exists beyond the influence of the Plane of Conscious Possibility. None of the rules apply to Plane of CP. Sometimes, conscious entities develop the capacity to sense the Far Realms, much to the detriment of their sanity.
The Plane of Stasis
The Plane of Stasis is a plane of nothing. It is the antithesis of the Plane of Conscious Possibility, where not even negative energy exists. It is not infinite, but rather infinitesimally small. It has no dimensions, as it takes up no space. The Stasis Plane is infinitely approaching zero in all dimensions. It is in the region outside infinite time, but without movement.
The Stasis Plane cannot be reached under any circumstances. However, it is possible for the Plane of Conscious Possibility to be affected (infected actually) by the Plane of Stasis. Anti-energy from the Plane can insert itself within the other Planes of Possibility, creating non-energy.
This is a plane denying ALL possibilities. It represents the diametrical forces that seek active destruction of conscious possibility. They are not planes of their own, but rather conduits that serve to infect the Plane of Conscious Possibility with Stasis (lack of) Energy. The 4 negative loop null-planes of Stasis are:
Dogma
The Absence of Morality in favor of conformity. All conscious states enter the realm of blind obedience. Unlike the Lawful Neutral Mechanus, it is not driven by ideas of rules systems, but by an absence of thought itself. Active in the physical realm. Many of the sentient insect races on Wisteria are close to this.
Wisteria
The Absence of the Physical in favor of daydreaming. All conscious states enter the realm of creative fantasy/escapism. The Chaotic Neutral Limbo is different because inherent will is used to enact a formless state. The mushroom and plant races are somewhat close to this, as they spend so much of their lives in a state of daydream(My concepts of the Myconid are also quite different fom the traditional ecology).
Apathy
The Absence of the Physical in favor of not caring at all. All conscious states enter the Realm of meaninglessness. The Neutral Evil Gloom of Hades is not the same, as will is voluntarily given up, rather than slowly seeped away. The reptilian conscious entities are close to this conduit.
Hedonism
The Absence of Morality in favor of physical sensations (good and bad). All conscious states enter a state of pure physical elation. Neutral Good Elysium is different because the rewards of Hedonism are not achieved through moral actions, but through the groping of blind sensation. Certain types of fairy folk are destined for this fate.
The Plane of Conscious Possibility is like a balloon filled with existence. Outside of this balloon, stasis lurks, putting pressure on the membrane of reality that holds it back. Adventuring, Heroism, Villany, Story-Telling, Greed, Desire, Inspiration, and Philosophising are the forces that strengthen that membrane. Banality and the absence of real desire are the forces that seek to deflate that existence.
Under this Cosmology, It is not important whether a person is good or evil. You can be any alignemnt you want, so long as you are willing to stand and fight.
It is no accident that "Wisteria" is a term used to describe many things. It is the label given to the entire Cosmology, the label of the world in which the D&D game is played, and a label for the Plane of Stasis energy of daydreaming.
The act of devoting energy to this role-playing game is in itself a dual conflict. It is meant to expose Heroism and motive energy for the good that it is, but it done within the context of a reality-defying fantasy.
posted by Chris W. @ 2:17 AM
