The WorldMap
click map image to see a larger version, legend still to come
This bridge world, (tentatively) named Vortoi, is actually a world of mostly water. It has only one landmass (approx. the size of the United States), which is vaguely star-shaped, with the five points connecting to the Five Major Gates. The Five Major Gates are the only permanent gates in the world, and the more circular in shape the Gates are, the more stable they are. There are also Five Minor Gates (or "Holes" as they are commonly called), which are rifts in the world that can be controlled by a strong enough mage (they normally are dormant and don't actually connect to any other world, it's a very easy way to kill oneself by jumping through one without it having been activated/controlled). Its relatively easy to open new Gates in this world, though of course with proper preparation and power. On any other world the creation of a Gate costs at least one mage their life essence, if not the permanent deaths of multiple mages. On Vortoi one just has to be a powerful enough Sorcerer/ess or Demon Mage. The Keep of Shadows is built on one of the Holes so that the Shadow Rangers can have easy access to other worlds should they need it, and there are no cities nearby.
There are five major cities on the continent (everything runs in fives [and multiples of five] here). These cities are really more like city-states than cities, as they consist of the conglomeration of smaller cities grown together into large population centers. Two of them are along the eastern bay (Plio and Ith), one each by the inland Holes (Thanlia and Libric), and one on the first island out from the main continent on the northwest (Lyres Peak).
There are ten minor cities (which are actually quite large), strewn around the continent, not counting The Lighthouse (which houses one of the Holes), and the Keep of Shadows (both of which normally only house 10-20 people). These are (in order of population and importance): Holg, the Oasis of Kizar, the Frozen Spire (a large monestary-like city which houses the last Hole), Arcadamilian (a mage-run city), Jaet, Fumis (a primarily underground city), Quy on the Water (a resort city), Rikor, Warque, and Cliph.
The rest of the continent is quite empty with the exception of some farms, mines, and a few small Ranger outposts (Rangers are like Knights without a ruler or deity-focus, and are protectors of the land and of the people in this world [think Tolkein Rangers]). There are usually a large concentration of ranger outposts near the Five Major Gates and both The Lighthouse and The Keep of Shadows are considered ranger outposts.
All of the current races living on this world came from the Major Gates at one time or another, whether by accident or on purpose (as far as anyone can tell at least). There are a few unique races on Vortoi, mostly caused by the ease of creating hybrid races because of the richness of magic on this world. A few of these races are: Fligitaur, Mitrian, and the Vathal. The Fligitaur are a hybrid of humans, horses, and fairie dragons, combined like Satyrs only with equine legs and fairie dragon wings and taint. The Mitrian are an aquatic race of large semi-intelligent prehistoric-looking creatures (kind of like a cross between dolphins and the Loch Ness monster). The Vathal look like a cross between halflings, fairies, and dragonflies, with double sets of wings and a slight taint of insect. (Pictures of each race to come later)
The other major (imported) sentient races on Vortoi are basically your standard fantasy races: Humans (of all sorts), Elves (of all sorts), Dwarves, Gnomes, Halflings, Centaurs, the Fey, and Winged Folk. There are many others, as all other worlds inevitably can be reached by this world, resulting in a huge variety. This includes everything from semi-intelligent races like Minotaurs, Gnolls, Trolls, Goblins, etc. to mystical races like Dragons, Unicorns, Demons, Entities, Elementals, and much stranger unnamed beasties.
Because of the incredibly diverse mixture of intelligent races, generally no one of them considers themselves to the be ruling race of the world, especially since almost all of them were transplants. There are more humans on the world than any other intelligent race however, because of the general mob mentality of humans. Second in population would be elves, caused by the draw of how abundant magic is on this world.
Fortunately because of the many adventurous females that first came over to this world through the Gates, sexual equality is very balanced and a woman has just as much of a chance to rise to a position of power as a male does. Sexual equality is even more balanced because of the fair population of shapechangers and mages who can become either sex (or both) at will, and the vague sexual identity of some intelligent creatures who are newer additions to the world.
This world has an incredibly mixed belief system, which no one deity or deities prevailing. Because of how many deities influence this world, a strict rule of non-direct-interference has been agreed on by the gods and goddesses (and whatever). Perhaps because of this rule, and how very many deities there are, religion isn't as major a cornerstone of this world's culture as it is on other worlds. Though, this doesn't mean that deity-based roles are any less powerful, Knights and Priests (both words being gender neutral) of the deities have as much if not more power here than anywhere else, it is just that their chosen god cannot directly interfere with events in the world. The deities must use their Knights and Priests as pawns in their particular power struggles, in order to exert their influence according to the rules. Priests sometimes also become Mages to enhance their power and so the power of the deity they represent, though their deity-given power is of a different type of power than a mage's magical energy.
As far as government is concerned, the Council of Worlds holds one each representative from all the worlds that Vortoi usually touches, including a few other major ones that occasionally have contact with it. This Council is the Council that directs the Shadow Rangers. Below them, each of the Major City-States has a ruling Council, which has some sway over the Minor Cities in their sphere of influence. Plio and Ith have primarily political and economic - based importance councils. Thanlia and Libric's councils are elected by the people, and those cities pride themselves on their fairness and democracy. Lyres Peak is a council of rogues and outcasts, though Lyres Peak island holds the richest mining on all of Vortoi and so it is a city where chaos and industry go hand in hand. It is also one of the few places on Vortoi where technology (mostly steam-punk style) plays a major role. A lot of gnomes live in Lyres Peak.
About half of the Minor cities do not fall under the influence of the Major ones. The Frozen Spire is ruled by a head monk of the militant Order of the Hole (think of a Shao Lin monk order) (current head is a devout female monk named Xiao). Arcadamilian is basically a bunch of magic schools that grew into a city, and is ruled by a head Mage who proves themselves worthy through a set of trials every 5 years (current head is a sorcerer named Vespar). The Oasis of Kizar is a nomadic city, ruled by a (usually) benevolent dictator (current ruler is King Resok).
Magic:
The magic system in this world is a complex one that has many collections of disciplines or Circles of Mastery (commonly called Circles). There are 9 Circles that can be achieved by a normal person, signifying how powerful of a magic-user you are (a normal person does not rank, so 1st Circle is like a street magician). If someone says they are a mage of the 8th Circle in a particular discipline, then they are very very powerful, as the 9th Circle is basically demi-god-level, the ultimate ranking one can achieve. There is actually a 10th Circle, but it is deity-level, which cannot be achieved by normal means. Vesper is the only known living 9th Circle mage currently, though it is rumored that there is a mysterious female mage named Vasha Empira who is also of the 9th Circle. It is common to reach the 4th Circle of Mastery of magic but no higher, and some spend their whole lives achieving the 8th or even 7th Circle.
There are ten common (Major) disciplines in each Circle (plus a rumored as many as 20 Minor disciplines): Sorcery, Alchemy, Necromancy, Mind, Demon, Healing, Creation, Battle, Nature, and Music. In order to be considered a ranked General Mage of a Circle, one has to have mastered 10 disciplines of that Circle, though this can include the minor disciplines, such as Illusion (which is related to both Sorcery and War), Animal (related to Nature), Scrying (related to Mind and Sorcery and Alchemy), and many others. There is overlap in each of the disciplines, some with more overlapping skills than others. Here is a description of each Major discipline:
Sorcery: considered the purest spell casting discipline, it encompasses a huge variety of aspects. Everything from summoning to afflicting various conditions on others, to teleportation and shielding, to creating illusions and changing shape, to doing damage and controlling others in a limited way. The Sorcery discipline is only one of two disciplines (see Demon for other) that can create and control Gates at the highest Circles. The only drawback to Sorcery is that because it's skills are so varied, it has nowhere near the depth of possibility and control over those skills that an equivalent mage of its more specialized discipline would have.
Alchemy: any magic pertaining to an item, such as charms, enchanting items, making potions, wands, and at highest levels animating inanimate objects and the ability to instill them with traits, energy, and even the souls of others, especially when working in conjunction with Necromancy.
Necromancy: power over the realms of: resurrection; creating and controlling the undead; capturing, controlling, and releasing of the soul; life essence siphoning (for both hurting and healing); and communication (and control) with ghosts and spirits (anything once alive) (overlapping with the Demon discipline).
Mind: purely a magery of the mind powered by the will of the mage, a Mind mage can use telepathy, telekinesis, memory manipulation, empathy, clear sight (seeing through illusions), foresight, sight over distances, etc. A Mind mage is one of the few mages that has to rely totally on their own energy and will to accomplish their magic, and one cannot be achieve even the 1st Circle of mastery if one has a weak will.
Demon: contacting, communicating with, conjuring, and/or controlling creatures from other planes, such as traditional demons, spirits, djinni, elementals, lost souls, etc. Also one of the few disciplines that can create new Gates to other worlds/planes and can control existing ones (at 4th level of mastery and above).
Healing: One of the few mageries that has ties to the religious world, healing is both healing of wounds and of hurts of the mind, as well as poisons, curses, diseases, and the most powerful Healers can even resurrect the dead much like a master of Necromancy can.
Creation: Creation of new things (at the lowest level) and creatures (at the highest level). This is much like the summoning aspect of Sorcery, only matter is actually being created by the mage's power rather than being transmuted or conjured from elsewhere. Creation mages can also merge creatures with each other to create new species which will breed true, and are responsible for races such as the various 'taurs and Satyrs. A Creation mage just creates however, and doesn't have the power of control over what they create.
Nature: Mastery over all aspects of nature, including plants, animals, weather, and the land. Often a Nature Mage will also worship a nature deity, though the connection between the deity and the power of the Mage is not well known.
War: Destructive magics, much like a Sorcerer can conjure up only with a single focus, to hurt, maim, or kill on a large scale in order to win wars. The more ethical war mages focus more on obscuration and illusion, but most battle mages are ones who focus on large scale destruction. War mages tend to get killed by the backlash of their own spells however, so it is a dangerous (and only barely legal) discipline.
Music: Second only to Sorcery in its variety, but music magic can only work on creatures that can hear it, working better on intelligent creatures. Music magery can influence crowds, conjure illusions, charm people, dispell magic, do damage, and much more. One of its main advantages is that it affects everyone who can hear the music the same, often up to whole armies (or it can affect the specific target of the Bard if they so choose). This used to be considered a minor mastery until one year Arcadamilian became controlled by a music mage of incredible power (the Bard Kyri).
Recent Events:
There are rumors of a major shakeup of the rules of Vortoi, becoming increasingly frequent over the last ten years. More and more unpredictable patterns have been happening, and once stable Gates are turning chaotic. There are rumors of the Council of Worlds' control slipping over the connected worlds and conspiracy theories concerning those worlds abound. The Shadow Rangers are not the only ranger group investigating and fighting these rumors, but they are the most experienced and powerful of them.
Please note that this document is still quite rough and far from complete.
If you have any questions, feel free to email me.
