Seems like people would get bored of these.

Seems like I should finish the other world I started designing before I start designing a new one.

Life is full of things that seem really obvious, but aren't. :)

"Kickin' it Old School" has kind of fallen by the wayside because I decided I wasn't really all that interested in sky pirates.  I didn't feel like I had anything really cool to do, and I couldn't work up much enthusiasm.  Since this blog is purely voluntary, I'm letting that project languish in the back corners of my mind and the non-updated corners of my blog.

But all is not lost.  Another old idea of mine has bubbled to the surface, and I think I'll use my blog to hash it out for a while.  For now, I'm just concentrating on the setting, without thinking about rules or game systems.  (Well, I say that, but really I'm thinking about rules and game systems, just not writing down the specifics.)  My goal is to build the world and figure out how stuff in it is supposed to work, then figure out how to represent it mechanically.

So, let's get started.

Origins
This world came to me from several sources.

•   Princess Mononoke, with a modernizing world pressing up against an ancient, magical world.  I love the talking animals and the god of the forest.  I love how magic isn't something intrinsic to any of the human characters.  People with magical knowledge use it the same way that people in the real world use practical knowledge.
•   The Arthurian mythos (also seen in other places) with the King's ties to the Land.  The King is the Land, and the Land is the King.  While Arthur was strong and true, his power extended across the world.  When he was laid low by sloth, treachery, and falsehood, the very land weakened, and eventually Camelot fell.
•   A desire of mine for a world where "Magician" doesn't mean "Superhero in robes."  (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)  I like the idea that "Magic" is the manipulation of forces external to man.  What this means in comparison to, say, a D&D Wizard or a Mage: the Awakening Mage is pretty subtle.  On the surface of matters, there's not much difference between casting a fireball spell and summoning a fire spirit to tell it to burn someone, but there's a big difference in what the magician thinks about it, and a lot of little differences in how it all plays out.
•   A little bit of Hermetic lore I picked up in various places (including RPG.net, where all the cool kids hang out): One of the laws of Hermetic Magic (of which I'm ignoring many more) is that human magic can't affect anything beyond the Lower Air - which is to say the moon's orbit.  Shadowrun had the same rule, as I recall.  I wonder if the guys at FASA were inspired the same way I was.  Another bit is "As above, so below," which points to a symmetrical world.

These tidbits floated around in my cluttered brain until they collided, and the shape they took was of a fantasy world with a different flavor than the bog-standard High Fantasy world I'm used to.  I started thinking about how this world might fit together and what the people who lived there would act like.

So, without further ado, here's the world:

The World

In the center of creation is The Land, where men and beasts dwell.  On the Land is fresh water and every manner of plant and animal.  The Land shelters life, and is Alive.  The Land is sometimes a lover to be cherished, a teacher to be respected, or a foe to be defeated for your survival.

The Spirits of the Land live upon it and within it.  They take their shapes from the Land's nature and power.  In the deep wilds, the Spirits of the Land are huge and fearsome.  In the places of men, the Spirits of the Land are smaller and tamer, diminished and changed by the presence of Men.

The Wise might know the ways of the Spirits of the Land, but cannot compel them with words learned in the movements of the Stars.  Men must contend with, or supplicate, the Spirits of the Land, for they can be deadly enemies or powerful allies.  Every demesne within the Land is ruled by a powerful Spirit, a Genius Locus.  A Man (or Woman, the spirits don't really care) who can bind this Spirit to himself through force of arms, cunning, or sacrifice, becomes the Lord of this demesne.  Thereafter, the Land answers to the Lord, so long as he remains true to it.

Above and around the Land is the Lower Air, home to incorporeal spirits.  The Spirits of the Lower Air are reflections of the primordial world.  A Spirit of Fire is the essence of flame, and dances in every candle and sleeps in every ember.  Spirits of Storms dwell in the heart of raging maelstroms, making the wind blow, spitting lightning, and crying out with voices of thunder.  Ponderous and slow, the Spirits of Stone are hard and impenetrable when they are young, but over centuries are worn down to Spirits of Sand.  Everything has its Spirit, its archetype and first cause.  Those who follow the Wise ways can learn the language of the Stars, which allows them to speak to these spirits, and sometimes to command them.

Normally, Spirits of the Lower Air are incorporeal and only able to affect the Land in limited ways.  Spirits of Storms do not cause storms, they are born in them, and they rarely take notice of specific places to savage or to avoid.  They only interact with Men when they are called to do so, or in times and places of power.

Beyond the Lower Air is the Greater Air (or the Higher Air).  Here, dwell the Spirits of the Greater Air.  The Spirits of the Greater Air can never be summoned or compelled, only entreated.  They cannot directly affect the Land, but they can inspire Men and Spirits to do their will. 

The Spirits of the Greater Air wish to see Man ascend, but they are not united in the belief of how Man should ascend, or what ascension means.  Thus, the Spirits of the Greater Air often contend with each other.

Every Star is a Spirit.  Their movements through the heavens reveal secret knowledge to those who learn to read it.  Every person is born under a specific Star, and some people are chosen by their Stars as special agents.  Only through these Champions do the Spirits of the Greater Air directly act upon the Land.  To follow one's Star is to follow one's Destiny, often into greatness, but just as often into death.

As above, so below.  There are worlds of Spirit beneath the Land, as well as those above it.  Beneath the Land, and in every dark place, there is the Underworld.  Those human spirits that cannot ascend beyond the celestial sphere and are not dragged into the ever-darkness of the Deep dwell in the Underworld, as do fallen and corrupted Spirits of the Land and of the Lower Air.  The Underworld is not evil itself, but much evil dwells there.  It is a place of stagnation and rot, but also a place of ancient knowledge.  Some who follow the path of the Wise learn to treat with the Spirits of the Underworld.

Like Spirits of the Lower Air, Spirits of the Underworld are generally incorporeal and unable to treat with Men.  They can be called and bound, and they can touch the Land in times and places of power.

Beneath the Underworld, and beyond the Land, is the Deep. 

The Deep touches all waters.  The Sea is a barrier to the magics of the Land.  No man can rule the Sea, even if he slays 1000 Krakens.  Similarly, the magics of the Land often have difficulty passing over water.  The magics of the Lower Air are generally unaffected, but the Spirits that dwell over the Deep are not the same as those who dwell over the Land, except for those of the wind, which blows everywhere.

People of the Land are always suspicious of those who choose to live their lives over the Deep, and those who live on the waves are rarely comfortable on the Land.

In the Deep, terrible spirits dwell.  As the Spirits of the Greater Air wish to see Man ascend, the Spirits of the Deep seek to drag Men down and diminish Mankind.  Men who fall to despair or hatred, or who were born under fallen Stars sometimes hear the voices of these Spirits.  The Spirits of the Deep will offer knowledge and power and strength to those who hear them, but such power destroys the user as surely as it destroys all around him.  The Stars will not shine upon such a one.

Next up, Magic (which might be split into several parts)