"Generic" Setting: Fake geology, real feelings

[sengmeng]

So I told my players that the setting was homebrew but might as well be generic, and that I had a map for where they're starting, but there were lots of blank spaces on the map (in setting, as well; literal use of the "here there be dragons" trope), so I could fit whatever they want into it.

But it was all a clever ruse!

Spoiler: Massive lore dump

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So I have a cosmology for this world that ties it to most other worlds. Deep in the farthest reaches of space, the physical and psychic/spiritual universes intersect in a place called the Infinite River. Millions of oceans worth of water flow through space in a figure eight. Every mythological river empties here, and it is where souls reside prior to reincarnation. It is almost impossible to find by mortal creatures, but an ancient spacefaring empire of humans called the Eskaril did so. They found out they could tap into the psychic energy of the souls as a power source for their technology, and with this power, they seeded the Infinite River with crystals that grew into masses that could reach the size of continents, and thus created domains for themselves. Powerful gravity-manipulating machinery keeps them in place, and the crystals themselves focus the psychic energy to where it's needed, and by doing so, create habitable "shadows" safe from psychic energy. On top of the crystals, above the surface of the Infinite River, the topography looks however the Eskaril wanted it to look. They turned them into their personal playgrounds, importing or creating all manner of creatures, as servant races, pets, beasts to be hunted for sport, etc. Through all of this, they were aware of the growing displeasure of the souls and psychic entities, but thought they were safe. They created a class of construct called "metallomorphs" that were composed of a mass of malleable liquid metal and focusing crystals that could project beams of various energy or propel the construct. These served as tools and vehicles for than, but had the potential to be potent weapons. Less than a century after their utopia was built, the metallomoprhs were all simultaneously possessed by demonic spirits and turned on their creators, completely eradicating the Eskaril, and leaving their cities and artificial wildernesses to decay. Over time, a handful of so called "beast-races," creations of the Eskaril and the only sentient survivors, began to form socieities, and wanderers from other worlds occasionally found their way to the Infinite River as well. Sometimes this is enitrely by accident; in some areas the machinery is breaking down and the boundaries are thin, allowing hauntings and possessions, but also connecting to other planes like the feywild. Creatures who arrive randomly in these placea are called "drop-ins," and that's what my players are.

Tl;dr

What geographical quirks should show that the players are in an artificially created continent?

[the_david]

Rivers that don't end in the ocean. They may just flow up the mountain, or maybe they loop onto themself.

Animals and other creatures that shouldn't live in a particular biosphere but do. "A tiger? In Africa?"

I really love the premise of your setting.

[sktarq]

Okay a few questions.

If you dig a deep mine will you hit these crystal beds? What is the underdark realm like in this scenario?

What does the edge of the crystal bed/terra matter on top of it be like where the edges are? Is it an edge of the earth type of scenario?

Where does normal water come from? how does it water crops etc and where does it go when it washes out of the continent?

What does someone see when they look up....and if it stars/moon etc how do they work in relation to this floating river system? Can you see other parts of the river as it loops around? is that the milky way?

Being out of normal space-time/planes/etc how does this effect the inhabitants relationship with the gods? how about with necromancy since the river of the dead is THAT close?

[Gondolin01]

How about portions of the world that don't conform to natural shapes? Like a desert surrounded by a lush jungle, but instead of a gradual transition from desert to jungle, the boundary lines are straight, like someone plopped a desert-shaped cube in the middle of the world. Could also work with rivers, like right-angle rivers or hexagon-shaped lakes.

[sengmeng]

Okay a few questions.

If you dig a deep mine will you hit these crystal beds? What is the underdark realm like in this scenario?

What does the edge of the crystal bed/terra matter on top of it be like where the edges are? Is it an edge of the earth type of scenario?

Where does normal water come from? how does it water crops etc and where does it go when it washes out of the continent?

What does someone see when they look up....and if it stars/moon etc how do they work in relation to this floating river system? Can you see other parts of the river as it loops around? is that the milky way?

Being out of normal space-time/planes/etc how does this effect the inhabitants relationship with the gods? how about with necromancy since the river of the dead is THAT close?

Hi, sorry I haven't checked my own thread often enough. Good questions in there!

The Underdark is largely unchanged in concept; the crystal is about as far down as the Earth's mantle, however shards of it have migrated upwards and are used on making magical items.

The crystal continent they are on has a continental shelf that ships can navigate safely, however about ten days of sailing will bring them in sight of a roiling mass of turbulent water and storms. This is where the water near the continent meets the river proper and the gravitational machinery's effect ends.

The water cycle is perpetuated by weather controlling machinery and pumping water from the ocean into more mountainous regions as artifical springs. Some areas are home to permanent storms. I'm debating whether or not all the water should be fresh.

The night sky shows a different array of stars than Earth, and they do not rotate seasonally. They cannot see other oarts of the river from the continent they're on. The artificial sun actually circles the whole river and is much smaller and closer than a star. Haven't committed to there being a moon yet.

It has its own pantheon of "gods" in the form of psychic entities who thrive off of belief and are believed to be gods. As far as necromancy goes, it requires shards of those crystals to work; the area is only habitable because focusing the psychic energy into powering the machinery creates a safe zone. It's mostly unaffected inside the areas where everything's working right.

Hope that makes sense!

[sktarq]

so reactions, thoughts, and ideas.

The Underdark is largely unchanged in concept; the crystal is about as far down as the Earth's mantle, however shards of it have migrated upwards and are used on making magical items.

Okay so that is about 6 miles down. Which I would normally say is plenty deep but in the fantasy Underdark tropes....not necessarily...MY immediate thoughts is that the gravity and atmosphere machinery may start working differently near the base and allow for pocket worlds...mega cavern of Centre of the Earth type fame. Also if these shards are useful for making magical items...do some small particles (basically acting as meteors) fall down on the world to enhance the supply? who goes and gets these crystals down in the depths? what's that economy like?

The crystal continent they are on has a continental shelf that ships can navigate safely, however about ten days of sailing will bring them in sight of a roiling mass of turbulent water and storms. This is where the water near the continent meets the river proper and the gravitational machinery's effect ends.

The water cycle is perpetuated by weather controlling machinery and pumping water from the ocean into more mountainous regions as artifical springs. Some areas are home to permanent storms. I'm debating whether or not all the water should be fresh.

Okay so I tend to track stuff. Where does the town get their dinnerware from for example. The first thing that comes to mind is that the water has to either stay on this edge in some sort of cloud form (otherwise part of the ocean will drain in and become cloud allowing more ocean...) so we have a ton of vapor going up that the weather machines are going to have to shunt into the middle over the continent....lots of quickly rising vapor implies the potential of condensation and thus precipitation. Also if the water is expanding into a gas you have a major increase in pressure. Ya know unless you have a reason not to this sounds like a giant storm on the edge of the world. Is there a reason not to do that?

The night sky shows a different array of stars than Earth, and they do not rotate seasonally. They cannot see other oarts of the river from the continent they're on. The artificial sun actually circles the whole river and is much smaller and closer than a star. Haven't committed to there being a moon yet.

Huh....you considered the moon may be mostly crystal and that effects magic? Since moon magic is such a classical thing could be fun? More crystal exposure sets off werewolves etc?

It has its own pantheon of "gods" in the form of psychic entities who thrive off of belief and are believed to be gods. As far as necromancy goes, it requires shards of those crystals to work; the area is only habitable because focusing the psychic energy into powering the machinery creates a safe zone. It's mostly unaffected inside the areas where everything's working right.

okay so what happens when ppl die? anything weird?

[Earl of Purple]

I was going to suggest- but your sun answer earlier already made it a little impossible- that the sun, moon and potentially other things were also artificial, and one clue might be the sun rises at the exact same time every day and sets at the same time, too. So there's exactly twelve hours of daylight and twelve hours of darkness.

Another option is geologic vandalism. There's a mountain range that is a perfect equilateral triangle, with an abandoned marble palace-city in the basin in the middle. An island that is a near-perfect circle, that kind of thing.