Games, all sorts

Where does the name come from?

From the moons, rather, from what they represent. Unfortunately, it is, in hindsight, like something from a bad Captain Planet episode. Fire, Air, Water, Magic and Earth. Famwe (and all similar words) sounded dumb, so Water → River and Magic → Nothingness

What is the deal with the elemental boxen?

See, the Manual of the Planes had just come out, and in a previous Earthdawn game, we had elemental boxes that could be used to power spells and such. As Farne was born of the elements, they could be harvested directly in certain places (hey, did this predate Exalted? alas, I don't think so). More containers than boxes… these are powerful artifacts used to drive the magical world.

This sounds very similar to Exalted hearthstones?

Yeah, it kinda does. Airships bind elemental air to make them fly, elemental earth for their hulls, and elemental fire for their cannons. All in all, it is very similar to Exalted. Weird

So, there are airships?

Yes

So, I read your 12th grade Christopher Paolini sounding history, who are the 10 children?

They are incarnations of the 5 moons that brought magic to the world

But wait, there are 10 children…

That isn't a question, but it goes into the fundamental metaphysic (wow, could I sound any more pretentious?) of the world. Each element has 2 aspects. Let's call these positive and negative. Assuming we're dealing with base 10 (hint: we are), 5 * 2 = 10… so…

Negative fire?

Yeah, ice. Negative earth and positive earth refer to fecundity. Positive water is… well, wet, negative water is the embodiment of dryness. Positive air is the typhoon or cyclone, and negative air is stagnation. Nothingness? Well, that is magic, positive magic is a force for creation, negative is destruction.

Ok 10 children, 10 gods…

Well, not exactly. The moons are, like, super-duper powerful. They don't really count as gods as they don't respond to prayers. Also, they have names. We'll refer to them as Gods (with a capital G)

Ok, so by contrast there are gods (with a lower g?)

Right, there are dozens of gods. A god is any being that can attain one of the poorly named Seals of Divinity. Originally, there were what, like at least 36 (9 * 4… 9 alignments with 4 each… I'm a sucker for symmetry, with some having multiple) seals. Each seal accounted for 10 character levels (yeah, lame). More importantly, these seals let their owners capture energy from prayers offered to them. This energy could then be redirected to the clerics. The more clerics (and the more powerful they were) reflected the strength of the diety (see Vrask for an extreme example).

Ok, clerics suck, I don't like clerics

Again, not a question… so shut up. Clerics offer the best path to killing a god. As the diety has power invested in the cleric, killing a cleric temporarily disperses the power of the god. Kill enough, and the god is vulnerable.

I still don't like clerics.

Fine, jerk.

What is the deal with Demons/Devils and Angels?

So beyond Angelyn (another dumb name, however, she was inspired by the delectable Alicia Witt, so she has that going for her) and He Who Shall Not Be Named, the world is overrun with demons/devils and angels. The Blood War (and I thought I was bad with names), and the Arcanis Rift has ripped the gates of the heavens and hells asunder, and they pretty much come and go as they please.

So… what does that mean?

Originally, 3e had a dichotomy between sorcerers and wizards. The wizards were the one that studied magic until they got it… sorcerers were born with it. The sorcerers were originally (note the word) descended from the Greater Powers. That said, I no longer like that explanation, so… everybody with magic is descended from a demon or angel! Yay! That is why you get striking looks as your gnosis goes up… you're angelic/devilish heritage is coming to the fore.

So we're using the D&D metaverse?

Naw, suffice it to say there are other planes (including the Plane of Dreams which is where Angelyn lived… get it? I'm hysterical). We have the elemental planes (giving us elementals), ethereal (read: twilight), the shadow (a spirit world), and a higher and lower realm where beings represent either vices or virtues, the distinction being obvious.

Ok, what is the scale on the map?

Big. Well, pretty big. Find “Lower Thalia” on the map. From the “L” to the “a” is the same distance as New York to LA, or about 2500 miles. That is why there are airships.

About the names… why do they suck?

Because I lost the original map and don't want to make a new one.

What is the Arcanis Rift anyway?

Glad you asked! The rift marks the first contact of Farne with the rest of the multiverse. This brought Farne into the ill-named Blood War. The fallout continues to effect the lives of people today, and serves to mark the beginning of the modern era. Time since the rift (year 0) is Post Rift. Time before that is Pre Rift. Original eh?