Planepocalypse Setting Concept
Planepocalypse (a working title that will inevitably become a permanent title) is a setting torn by war. Earth, air, water, fire, law, and chaos decided that they each needed the material plane for themselves, and they were willing to fight amongst themselves on it and for it while its inhabitants watched while caught in the crossfire. Settlements of humans remain but nobody is truly human anymore, planar influence getting into their blood the same way it gets into absolutely everything else on the material; you'd have to contend with your new nature unless you were born into this changed world.
People band together in settlements as planar militaries constantly redraw the front lines around and through them. Some people are recruited into these forces but the vast majority of "ex-humans" are treated as irrelevant or with disdain. The world continues to be reshaped in dramatic and hostile ways, aligning with troop movements and military control to reflect conqueror's preferences and natures. Nothing of the world is as it once was.
The war is new enough that people are still familiar with the way it was before, but not so new that people haven't gotten used to it.
Cosmology
Being a setting where the planes directly impact the material, the broad strokes of the cosmology feel more important than "usual". The cosmology is based around alignment, with the "traditional" axis of law and chaos finding a compliment in an axis of thought and being.
The placement of the elements on the chart implies natural alliances and grudges. Fire opposes water but is slightly sympathetic to celestial, etc. Thank you to the esteemed folks of the Purple OSR server for fixing the placement of ai r for me (originally swapped with fire), which spurred me to finally do something with this idea that's been sitting around in a pile somewhere. From a very high view, all planes are equal in status except the material and astral for being the battleground and its complete opposite.
The Law-Chaos Axis
Naturally, law has more strict hierarchies and troop uniformity (within any given unit) than chaos. Chaotic units are more likely to operate autonomously, with the abyssal going so far as to have completely autonomous cells in many cases (with each cell organizing in its own way in a fractal and dynamic way). Law also tends to be warm (celestial light, geothermals... fire) and chaos tends to be cold (abyssal entropy, frigid waters, cold winds).
The Thought-Being Axis
The closer on the axis to being, the more comprehensible and even perhaps amenable the faction is to the original residents of the material. The transformations of the landscape that the groups more associated with being also tend to be more "survivable" then those of the more thought-aligned, in the sense that it is easier to survive on open ocean than endless open air. More being-oriented planes are also more likely to tolerate ex-human populations and members in their militaries. The more thought-oriented factions are more focused on philosophy and learning than the being ones, frequently going so far as to educate those under them and try to convert them to their ways of thinking.
The Material
The material may seem odd for containing examples of all of the elements while being their equal cosmologically, but this is the true character of the material. There, earth, air, water, and fire just are (existing in a state of being if you wanted to be pedantic) with law and chaos governing their ordering. Even the other planes contain minor examples of the other planes (apart from their direct opposites) within themselves. It's for this reason that the material plane is so appealing to every plane except for the astral. After all, what does pure thought need with a plane of pure being?
The Astral
The astral plane does not field a military presence on the material, but it does still influence it. The astral and the material have always had an odd relationship, humans are a thinking beast after all. There are those among humans called wizards who interface with the astral through dreaming. Their magic acts by inflicting new thoughts on the world and bending it to shape, their spells are dreams.
The beings of the astral plane are shapechangers and traditionally psionic creatures. Brains, objects of force projected by psionics, and dreamlike logic govering organization of spaces are common.
The Other Planes
A collection of things that may relate to each as a slush pile/style guide:
Abyssal: demons and devils, traditional chaos-oriented monsters, blasted and craggy landscapes devoid of anything, lots of pits, decay and rebirth Water: fishmen, traditional water-oriented monsters, ice and snow, extreme flooding and open water Air: birdmen, traditional air-oriented monsters, steep canyons and cliffs with blowing winds, open plains with floating construction, gales Fire: salamander-men, traditional fire-oriented monsters, lightning, fire and brimstone, ashes Earth: bug-men? rock-men?, constructs, creepy-crawlies, traditional earth-oriented monsters, mud, sand, stone, metal, desert, caves, lava/magma Celestial: angels, traditional law-oriented monsters (computer-men), perfect angles and perfect shadows, the sun and stars, government buildings, bureaucracy
Final Thoughts
I have a few ideas for what a game in the setting could look like:
- Playing as members of a community trying to support and improve the self determination of that community. The community would probably be statted out as if it were a domain (I've seen some frameworks for/discussion of this in blogposts, but I don't have them immediately handy) and players would adventure to solve problems/make improvements. Mid-to-higher level play could see players exerting enough power to truly carve out a portion of the material from the occupying forces. This is probably what I would run if I do run this, and I think it would also make for a decent west-marches-like premise.
- Military campaign as a sort of spec ops team that functions behind enemy lines and in enemy structures. You'd go into a planar themed dungeon with a military objective, do it, and then get a new mission after the last. You'd probably be ex-human people trying to get a better position in a planar military either for personal reasons or to help secure your community's status under a particular planar boot.
- Acting as a pack of roving vultures, marching around the war zone trying to gather enough for you and your band to keep marching. You avoid the big fights till they're over and plunder the wreckage, and try to pick small fights and generally keep yourself alive while wandering around in the blasted war zone.
- As a setting for a wargame. The factions provide pretty easy access to themed armies and there's good reason for anybody to fight anybody else on some wacky terrain.
Ideally this makes planar adventure less of a "go somewhere irrelevant to the main world through a portal" for high-level characters, and more of an omnipresent theming to all adventures. Going to another plane directly would still be high-level adventuring, but there's plenty of natural ties that would give you reason to and come back.
This post was dictated using talon voice, which is an awesome piece of software I owe a lot to.