Magic versus mundane: why the distinction?

A while ago I read an essay titled "Breaking out of Scientific Magic Systems" which discussed, among other things, the tendency for tabletop role playing games to segregate magic from mundane physics and offered alternatives to doing so.

On Alignment

Alignment simply does not work as a measurement of morality, at least not in any world that does not adhere to Saturday morning cartoon logic. Alignments, when you get right down to it, are glorified political parties. No sane individual nor society in all of history has ever considered themselves evil and tried to advance the cause of evil. Yet in the typical D&D campaign setting, religions of evil are commonplace. Some settings have turned this on its head, such as Scarred Lands making the evil alignments another faction of the "good guys." Nonetheless, it is too controversial for this blog to adopt.

So I am going back to the source: ancient religions and Michael Moorcock.

In most ancient religions, no distinction was made between good and order. The gods were the enforcers of cosmic order and goodness. There were never really evil gods, at least not in the sense that they were actively worshiped. Evil forces like Apep and Angra Mainyu were never seen as objects of worship. The judge-gods of the the underworld, such as Osiris and Yen-Lo, were seen as good for serving the cosmic order.

Star of Chaos: "freedom"

Medieval Christianity and its allegations that its opponents worshiped Satan is probably the origin of the modern concept of the religion of evil, regardless of how nonsensical it is. All of the evilest people in our history sincerely believed they were doing good, or simply didn't care about the consequences to others. In no event did any of history's monsters aspire to be evil.

Michael Moorcock's Stormbringer series of novels utilizing a similar conflict between the cosmic forces of Law and Chaos. Unlike in our ancient religions, here the two do not map to good and evil but to political right and left. At their extremes they become evil, while harmony between the two is good. This scheme is what shall inform my subsequent depictions of my fantasy universe.

How is alignment relevant to the characters?

Arrow of Law: "control"

Alignment is a useful shorthand for describing a character's general values and attitude towards themselves and society. For the purposes of this blog we will use neutrality as the common reference point. Most people are neutral, having no strong bias towards one value system and willing to pick and choose those values on a situational basis. This avoids logical problems like people in real life generally falling into Lawful Good and Neutral Good based on how D&D defines alignments.

There are several ways to divide values among alignments. Under the two axis model one may divvy values at the ends of each spectrum and allow for varying levels of adherence. One might use a ring model that divides values more equitably. In any case it is best to avoid any binary labels of good or evil and instead allow any value system to become evil when taken to extremes or hypocrisy.

How is alignment relevant to the game's cosmology?

Taijitu: "harmony"

This blog will be adopting the original Moorcock model of law, chaos and neutrality. While generally appearing to follow the mythological view of law and good being united chaos and evil, as explained before law is not necessarily good.

There are two (technically three) cosmic forces in the fantasy universe. The White Lords of Order seek to impose the rigid hierarchy of law upon the universe, while the Black Lords of Chaos reject it and seek to restore the universe to its natural state of chaos. Both sides are too hostile to allow life as we know it to exist, so it falls to the Grey Lords of Balance and the Beast Lords to maintain the harmony that allows life to exist.

Sources

http://www.easydamus.com/alignmentreal.html
wordofthenerdonline.com/2013/08/the-beard-speaks-revising-good-and-evil
https://alzrius.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/removing-alignment-from-pathfinder-part-one-classes/

http://knowdirectionpodcast.com/2014/10/aligning-alignment/
http://www.tangledwilderness.org/lawful-aint-good/
http://theangrygm.com/alignment-in-dd-5e-s-or-get-off-the-pot/

https://alexandraerin.dreamwidth.org/553757.html
http://www.campaignmastery.com/blog/the-hell-of-evil-in-dnd/
http://www.tor.com/2012/11/27/if-i-ruled-the-multiverse/

The principle of four humors

A common peeve of mine is the tendency for fantasy writing to rely on real science to inform how the fantasy world works rather than on the obsolete scientific theories believed by the classical philosophers. So forget everything that you know about real world biology. This is fantasyland, where real physics take a back seat to fantasy physics!

Monster ecology needn't be constrained by reality

Many bestiaries devote word count to describing the place of fantastical creatures within the ecology of the fantasy world they live in. Commonly, they are described in ways analogous to the animals of our own reality. They eat and procreate in the fashion of real animals, sometimes with a fantastical twist. All to often, however, these monsters feel less like monsters and more like cryptids or speculative alien biology projects.

Avoiding the frustrations of taxonomies

This post isn't strictly about planar revision, but it will inform my design goals.

Since third edition rolled around monsters have been classified into a convoluted and inconsistent taxonomy. For simplicity’s sake, I will ignore all these distinctions in favor of something simple, consistent and easy to remember but which may be added onto without falling apart.

On the Omniverse and the World in Balance

As I explained in the post on alignment, the cosmology elucidated in this blog draws on the original Moorcock model of law and chaos with the world in (and of) the balance. The world as we it know it is both in the balance, fought over by the forces of law and chaos, and of the balance, for it represents the harmony of law and chaos.

For the purposes of this dissertation, the planes are arranged in a model that the 3rd edition Manual of the Planes referred to as the "omniverse" and which formed the basis of the much maligned 4th edition. Fear not, there will be alterations to make it more friendly with with my fellow Planescape and Spelljammer partisans and I will not be lumping demons and devil together or elsewhere they don't belong. However, I will not be slavishly adhering to things like the patchwork terminology resulting from D&D's long line of writers.

The world with which we are most familiar is the Natural World, the Prime Material Plane, the world in (and of) the balance. It is the typical world for adventuring, full of many different planets and civilizations. However, it is merely one of many worlds floating within the Ethereal Sea, known collectively as the Preternatural Planes. Many of these worlds resemble the Material, and it is believed some of them may be reflections of it, that the Material is a reflection of them, or both. It here that the forces of balance reside, protecting and overseeing the natural world.

"Outside" the world are the Inner Planes or Inner Sphere, in loose accordance with the Aristotelian model of the planets. The Inner Sphere is another battle ground for the forces of law and chaos. The islands of stability are the work of law, with the greatest being the Elemental Planes or Elemental Poles. Each of the Elemental Poles represents a classical element like air, fire, earth and water. That is not to say that they are featureless expanses of that element, oh no. Each of the Elemental Poles has many varied landscapes just like the planets of the Material, with skies and lands and seas that reflect their element. However, between the poles exist the Elemental Chaos, where the elements mix and take forms that don't exist under the auspices of law and may be shaped by those with strong wills. Indeed, the Elemental Chaos predates the Elemental Poles. It is the Void from which the universe sprang, Ginnungagap, Tarassein and Limbo. It is home to the races of chaos: elementals, chaosiics, proteans, ogdoad and countless others.

"Above" the Inner Sphere (insofar as that direction makes sense) are the Upper Planes, ruled by the archons (a gnostic greek term for "ruler" and from which all "-arch" and "-archy" words originate) and their legions of celestials. The archons oversee the Celestial Bureaucracy that codifies and imposes the laws of physics that make a consistent existence possible (a concept burrowed from Chinese folk mythology). The upper planes are where you find angels, axiomites and the many other servants of law and goodness. That isn't to say that law is all good, as the more moderate celestials may disagree with the excesses of law.

"Below" are the Lower Planes. This is where the worst excesses of chaos have made their abode: qlippoth, bosch, demons and the souls of the damned. But it is also home to the worst excesses of law as well. During the conflicts between the gods and the demons, the demons devised new strategies on the fly to combat their enemies. The gods were forced to defy tradition and improvise as well: they sent the lawful devils to compete with the demons. It is unclear if the devils were created for this purpose, consigned to it to prevent them from turning against their moderate fellows, or fell from grace for perceived transgressions, but such distinction matters no longer. Ironically, this makes both the temptations of evil and all changes for the better into manifestations of chaos.

Plain of Burning Coals

The Plain of Burning Coals is a vast, stony plain that serves as the agricultural center of the Plane of Fire. As the name implies, the ground is constantly smoldering, yet even so, many travelers to the plane find that this area presents somewhat fewer dangers and inconveniences than are found elsewhere on the plane, and the region is generally accepted as one of the least hostile to visitors from other planes. Though this region is still blisteringly hot, by human standards, it is much more stable than the roiling Sea of Lava or the erratic volcanoes found elsewhere on the plane, and this stability allows for a much more tranquil lifestyle, where numerous natives work and toil to feed the Efreeti empire in the Elemental Plane of Fire’s closest facsimile to idyllic, pastoral farmland. The dangerous environmental effects of the Plane of Fire are less severe here than elsewhere, and while it is still impossible for humans to live here comfortably without the aid of magic, a number of other races have flourished in this relatively comfortable region. Fire giants, dragons, demons and even some plant life find a home on this vast plain.

The Plain of Burning Coals is the major agrarian center of the Plane of Fire, and contains numerous farming communities, which are responsible for growing nearly all crops produced on the plane. Much of life here revolves around farming and the production and sale of food, from dietary staples such as firewheat to the more exotic magmelons, as well as various forms of livestock. In many ways, this region is the most similar to the material plane, as it is populated primarily by farmers, traders, and the small towns and communities that support them.

In general, life on the Plain of Burning Coals is more peaceful than elsewhere on the plane. The locals here are by and large concerned with their labors, religious devotions, and the problems of their day-to-day lives. The landscape is dominated by sprawling farms, connected by overused and poorly-maintained roads. Interspersed throughout the area are humble towns, ruled over by efreet nobles (who are typically anything but humble). Despite the copious amounts of land, these far-flung fiefdoms are not at all desirable among the efreet, who consider a position on the plains to be effective banishment from the social elite in the City of Brass.

Although the vast majority of the region is farmland, there are a few places of note to be found here. There are quite a few old azer fortresses scattered across the land, and though most are abandoned, rumors abound that the ruins hold great secrets for those intrepid enough to discover them. Besides these fortresses, and the various towns and villages, there are several landmarks that every traveler to the plane should be sure to visit: the Gilded Mosque, the Great Pyre, the Gate of Eternity, and the Everburning Forest. Of course, on the Plane of Fire, even humble farmsteads and simple trading villages can still hold great potential for adventure, especially under the watchful eye of Efreeti lords eager to exercise their authority.

--A Tourist’s Guide to: The Elemental Plane of Fire, Copyright 2013; Authors: Alex Riggs, Joshua Zaback, Rosa Gibbons