The Dragon-Dimensions Campaign Setting

[Lightweaver]

The Dragon-Dimensions Campaign Setting

Cosmology

There are three "dragonworlds" that form the core of the cosmology. These are Arcus, Derrethorn, and Zuryl, each named after the dragon that created it. Each dragonworld is a dimension (supposedly) created by a dragon-god, wrought wholesale from nothing by the dragon-god's magic. However, in order to create their dimensions, the dragon-gods had to permanently expend their own power, infusing it into their world. Most believe that this killed them, though some religions believe that they live on in the land and worship nature, while others believe that the dragon-gods actually left their worlds and await those gods' return. (It is worth noting, of course, that the entire dragon-god mythology is mostly unsupported; the strongest evidence in favor of it is that near-identical versions of it show up in four unique planes, but this could also be explained if the stories were spread by early planar travelers, or any number of other explanations.) There was once a fourth dragonworld, known as Nil; however, it fell to heat-death as a result of the overuse of magic.

Numerous (though not infinite) other planes of existence surround the three dragonworlds. These worlds were generally created by particularly powerful spirits, and are known (to the inhabitants of the dragonworlds) as "lesser realms." Some of the creator-spirits infused themselves wholly into their realms like the dragon-gods supposedly did, but others only expended a part of their power to create their worlds, and rule over them still.

The Spiritvoid is not a dimension, but it separates every dimension.

Each dimension contains only a single planet- no satellites, no sun, no greater universe. Lesser realms frequently contain even less; a single continent or even a single region floating on a sea of lava on a flat plane. There are exceptions to this, however.

There are spells that allow a practitioner to travel from one dimension to another. Additionally, it is possible to create gates, arcane constructs of magical technology, which even non-practitioners may use to pass between worlds en-masse.

The Spiritvoid

Spoiler: The Spiritvoid

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Between dimensions, there exists nothing but Void- but not uninhabited Void. Ravenous, incomprehensible spirits make their home in the dark between worlds, waiting for opportunities to take from the dimensions the heat they crave. Fortunately, it's not easy- every world has a border between itself and the Spiritvoid, known as a veil, which is impermeable to heat, matter, and most importantly, spirits. Only matter attached to a mortal soul, or heat contained within that soul, can pass through the veil- a loophole which is exploited to its fullest extent by both spirits and the mortals who wish to summon them. The veil is not a perfect defense, and if a world loses enough heat, it can crack or shatter outright, allowing spirits in.

Magic

All magic in the dragon-dimensions has a price. The dragon-gods were (according to their worshipers) divine beings of glory and fire, and it was infusing that fire into their worlds that gave them true life. All flowery religious trappings aside, it is clear that magic in the dragon-dimensions is undeniably linked to the energy available in each of those dimensions; specifically, their net heat. In addition to being a physical property of matter, heat in the dragon-dimensions is also a property of the soul, and like any heat, soul-heat can be used as a resource by the desperate or immoral.

Regardless of the source, the energy from all spells must come from somewhere.

Practitioners of Arcane Magic draw energy from mage-beacons.
Practitioners of Divine Magic draw energy from spirits.

Both spirits and mage-beacons ultimately drain heat from the world they're in; in turn, this causes the soul-heat of living things to drain back out into the world in a twisted version of thermodynamics. As a world begins to run out of heat, the borders between it and the Spiritvoid become thin and eventually fracture, allowing spirits to physically enter it. Such spirits consume the heat of the world even more quickly, perpetuating the vicious cycle and reducing the world to a frozen hellscape. After significant time in this state, the world dissolves back into the Spiritvoid.

Casting a spell requires that the practitioner think along specific paths. Verbal, somatic, and material components are mnemonic aids that place the practitioner in the correct mindset to use a spell. With practice, the correct mindsets can be achieved without the help of aids, allowing a practitioner to eschew verbal, somatic, and/or material components.

Arcane Magic

Spoiler: Arcane Magic

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An arcane practitioner uses magic by drawing energy from mage-beacons, which draw directly from dragon-dimensions. This energy comes in the form of heat; each time they use a spell, the net heat of a dimension decreases slightly, and the world gets a bit colder. This is not a one-to-one trade and seems to operate on unknown rules; for example, it takes more universal heat to create a bolt of lightning than it does to conjure matter from nothing, even though the latter should require far more energy than the former. (AUTHOR'S NOTE: this is my explanation for why magic that conjures matter is feasible within the system, and for how a creator-spirit can create a realm). Regardless, the amount of dimensional heat it takes to cast a specific spell allows for easy division of spells into categories, or levels. Most practitioners find it easier to cast lower level spells than higher level, and few go further than the lowest levels. There are exceptions, of course.

An arcane practitioner draws power from a dimension by connecting themself to a mage-beacon.

Overuse of magic on a world drains that world's heat quickly, turning it into a barren, icy, waste devoid of life. However, unliving things remain on these warmthless realms; monstrous former sapients with the warmth of their souls siphoned to nothing and opportunistic spirits lay claim to these hellish places. It is unclear just how many realms have fallen into heat-death through overuse of magic, without realizing the danger they faced until it was far too late to avoid. The dragonworld of Nil met such a fate.

The above fate almost befell each of the three dragonworlds, with Zuryl coming closest to disaster. Before it was too late, however, the dragonworlds' inhabitants discovered a solution- instead of drawing heat from their own worlds, they could establish connections to the lesser realms, and siphon their heat to fuel magic. At the same time, each world cracked the secret to gate technology. Explorers from each dragonworld set out to find the lesser realms most rich in energy. When they were discovered and their interplanar locations reported back to the dragonworlds, gates were opened, and mage-beacons established within the lesser realms. Arcane practitioners could forge a mystic connection to these beacons and draw energy from them, allowing the lesser realms' heat to power their magic, and offsetting the danger of heat-death from the dragonworld to the lesser realm.

Obviously, the inhabitants of the lesser reams did not approve of this. Wars have broken out between many of the energy-rich realms and the dragonworlds. However, the technological advantage and greater access to resources the dragonworlds possessed allowed them to claim victory over all but the most stubborn of realms.

At first, the dragonworlds could avoid conflict with one another despite their chilly relationships by simply exploiting different realms. However, recently, it has become harder and harder to find energy-rich realms that have not yet been plundered. As resources became scarce, tensions increased until hostility erupted. The dragonworlds are now engaged in a three-way interplanar war. Alliances are occasionally made, but always betrayed at one point or another.

Naturally, it is illegal on every dragonworld to drain energy from the dragonworld itself. Building mage-beacons which draw from a dragonworld or connecting to such a beacon is punished by death or enslavement by each dragonworld's government(s). However, due to the unfairness of the governments' systems of power distribution, many are forced to take the risk of energy piracy to survive.

Divine Magic

Spoiler: Divine Magic

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In the Dragon-Dimensions, the term "divine magic" is used to refer to magic that does not draw energy from mage-beacons, but rather accesses that energy by using another being- a spirit- as a proxy. To use divine magic, a practitioner contacts a spirit from the Spiritvoid or the creator-spirit of a lesser realm and makes a pact with them. The spirit gains a mystic connection to the practitioner, and may use that connection to glut energy from the realms that practitioner visits. Spirits can then use that energy to sustain themselves, breed, or (with a significant amount of energy stored away) create their own realms. Creator-spirits can also use the energy to maintain a realm over which they rule (which requires a constant expenditure). In exchange, the spirit crafts a portion of that energy into pre-made spells which they grant to the practitioner.

Divine magic differs from arcane in one other major respect. When an arcane practitioner connects to a mage-beacon, no physical change occurs to the practitioner, the beacon, or the dimension. However, when a divine practitioner makes a pact with a spirit, the spirit cannot leave the Spiritvoid (or their personal realm, if they have one). As a result, the connection between spirit and practitioner must bridge the gap between dimensions, and it does so in a far more visible way than the connection between practitioner and mage-beacon. On any world where the divine practitioner travels, a white light will appear in the sky. This light is a sign of where the invisible connection pierces the veil between dimensions, and can be analyzed by an expert to determine the location and magical activity of its linked practitioner.

A spirit always draws power from the world that its practitioner is on. As a result, divine magic is considered to be energy piracy on the dragonworlds, and is punished accordingly. However, some still take the risk when arcane magic is unfeasible, or when they require an additional influx of power that arcane magic can't provide.

Divine magic can be dangerous when performed on a world close to heat-death, where the veil is fractured or close to it. The divine connection can act as a beacon to a spirit, guiding it towards that world and possibly allowing it to puncture even an unbroken veil and enter the realm. If that occurs, no-one is safe, particularly not the divine practitioner at fault.

Psionics

Spoiler: Psionics

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Though thought to originate from spiritual influence, the branch of magic known as psionics is nonetheless distinct from divine magic. Little is known of this branch of magic.

Psionics are incredibly rare in most races; on Derrethorn below the Flenserstorm, only a fraction of the population has any psionic talent whatsoever, and only a fraction of those psionics are strong enough to actually accomplish anything with their abilities. Above the flenserstorm, however, every Illithid demonstrates at least some psionic ability, the extent of which determines their placement within the Illithid Society's internal caste system. Outside of Derrethorn, psionics are almost unheard of, though rumors occasionally develop on one world or another of an individual with powers that cannot be explained by divine or arcane theories. This seems to occur most often on worlds that have come in contact with the mysterious Clave or its influence.

Unlike divine or arcane powers, which can be theoretically used by any individual who bonds themself to a power source, psionic power appears to manifest randomly among non-illithid Thornians, usually as the individual goes through puberty. This magic draws heat from the dimension the practitioner is on at the time, similarly to divine magic; indeed, as with divine magic the practitioner constantly consumes energy even when not specifically casting a spell. However, where with divine magic the power is shaped into spells by an external source- a spirit- with psionics, the practitioner themself converts the power into a spell. The process of doing so is described as instinctual, and does not require the practitioner to utilize spell components or think along specific paths. As a result of this phenomenon as well as the spiritual origin of psionic powers, some have theorized that psionics is the spirits' own method of spellcasting somehow made accessible to mortals.

Because a psionic practitioner cannot help but constantly absorb heat from the world they occupy, psionics carry an immense social stigma on Derrethorn (the only world where they are common enough to matter). The fact that such practitioners have no choice in the matter, and that psionic power manifests (as far as is known) completely randomly, is given only token consideration- "psionic energy piracy" is punished by mandatory indenturement to Interplanar Arcana or New Dawn Magifacturing instead of execution. The indenturement contracts of these unlucky individuals are then kept by the original corporation or sold to another. The psionic practitioners with little power are often used as slave labor by AI or NDM or sold to Vynzll Marrowworks or Benedicite for experimentation; practitioners with more power are generally sold to one of the mercenary corporations.

[Lightweaver]

Dragonworlds

Arcus

Spoiler: Arcus

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50 years before Arcus's near-miss with heat-death, the world was a diverse mixture of many cultures, nations, religions, and creeds. Now, however, it is united under a single banner- that of the Legion of Progress. The Legion is a military-fascist regime dedicated to what they see as the "evolution of society." It was founded by the charismatic human general and politician Rexa Victus, who is now revered throughout Arcus as the creator of the greatest government in all history. Victus foresaw the problem heat-death would pose in the future, and believed that society would only survive if they unified, discarding any cherished values or traditions that did not directly support the perpetuation of life on Arcus. Only through utter unification, she claimed, could society be guaranteed to both discover solutions to heat death and remain safe from outside threats. To accomplish the former goal, she founded the scientific corps; to accomplish the latter, she founded the military. The Legion gained power through conquest, waging war until every nation had bent knee. Victus did not live to see her dream realized, but she is hailed as a savior to this day.

Membership in the Legion political party is mandatory for every citizen. This society makes no distinction between civilian and soldier; every person is employed by some aspect of the military government and is considered to be a soldier, even if they don't fight. The Legion itself is split into two categories- the military corps and the scientific corps. The military corps forms the majority of the dragonworld's population, with many people joining its battle divisions but a greater number appointed to other jobs vital to society, such as labor or civil engineering. Any person can be drafted into the battle divisions should the need arise, however.

The scientific corps is far smaller in manpower than the military but possesses equal or greater power politically. This organization is composed of scientists, engineers, and their assistants and test subjects. The scientific corps is tasked with advancing society by making discoveries that support the Legion and its goals.

The world of Arcus is the warmest of the dragonworlds (though that's not saying much). It is primarily composed of forests and plains, interspersed with mountainous regions. Arcus has no single sun in the sky- instead, many small suns (ranging from the size of a fist to that of a car) float overhead, relatively close to the ground, and radiate heat onto the planet's surface. Many of these suns went out during the world's brush with heat-death, but most still burn. The interplanar war began only shortly after Arcus' brush with heat-death, which itself began only shortly after the War of Progress when the Legion conquered the planet; as a result, Arcus has the smallest population of any dragonworld, a major limiting factor without which they would likely have easily won the war.

There is no religion on Arcus. The Legion of Progress deemed belief in the improvable to be a parasitic practice holding society back, and purged every last religion from the face of the world, executing every priest and burning every scripture.

Currently, Arcus' military corps is led by the human General Moft Praltus, a cautious man who prefers to play it safe and gain incremental gains through attrition (as both a military and political strategy). Praltus was appointed leader of the military corps by Rexa Victus before her death. However, his control has recently been challenged by a rival, half-gnome Admiral Tar Victus of the sky navy, daughter of the Legion's founder. Tar is Praltus's opposite in almost every way; she prefers daring tactics and big risks for big rewards. Just as charismatic as her mother, Tar's major successes in campaigns against Zurish angel brigades have demonstrated to many that she has an intuitive grasp of strategy that Praltus seems to lack. As a result, a schism has developed between those loyal to the appointed leader Praltus and those who (like Tar herself) believe a Victus should remain in control of the military.

Tar has yet to make any overt moves to usurp Praltus, but many believe it's only a matter of time. Ordinarily, Praltus would resolve a situation like this one through trumped-up charges leading to an execution, or an assassination pinned on Derrethorn if the situation was exceedingly delicate. However, Tar's family name has rendered such strategies insufficient. As a result, the two are currently locked in stalemate.

Arcus' scientific corps is led by the gnomish scientist and genius biomancer Neva Parvus. Unlike Praltus, who was appointed to his post by Rexa Victus herself, Parvus gained power later after evidence was discovered linking Victus' original choice to an anarchist plot. Parvus is a diehard believer in Victus' philosophy that no tradition or belief should be maintained that does not directly benefit society. However, she takes this belief a step further, stating that even the Legion's own traditions may prove insufficient, and if evidence suggests that they are, they should be discarded as part of the never-ending search for true perfection. This belief that has caused some to regard her as a traitor to Victus' already perfect society. Nevertheless, the biomantic marvels Parvus continues to produce have rendered her too vital to the Legion to discard, a fact she leverages for all possible political advantage.

Parvus has applied her philosophy of change in search of perfection to the scientific corps, and as a result, the organization is in a constant state of flux. Their structure and governance change day by day as they experiment to find the perfect system (though, coincidentally, Parvus herself always seems to be the most powerful individual in any given system they attempt). Their social and thought experiments often focus on the discovery of the perfect system of government. Scientific corps biomancers constantly perform experiments on test subjects and on themselves, trying to eliminate perceived weaknesses of their biological forms (such as the need for food, drink, air, or sleep) and testing numerous combinations of traits to find those that work best. Even their geographical location is difficult to pin down; their bases seem to shift in position from day to day, a fact that has caused the Chainbreakers no end of grief.

The capital city of Arcus, Victory, is also known as the city of mirrors. Mirrors are placed throughout the city, and built into its structures, in such a way that a view of every part of the city is reflected back to the military corps headquarters at the center. The images can then be magically enhanced, allowing for constant surveillance of everything in the city.

Though both the military and scientific corps are headquartered on Arcus itself, the military corps' battle divisions are more often needed on other planes. As a result, the scientific corps has been given free rein to experiment on much of Arcus's territory, flora, and fauna. Their philosophy with regards to the pursuit of perfection can be reflected in the very landscape of the world due to their endless "improvement initiatives," in which large swaths of Arcus's biological matter are augmented with mechanical components. Plant life is made more efficient, with metal forests rising from the ground to collect sunlight with solar-panel leaves; animal life is also reworked, with both predators and prey made more deadly.

Similarly, the scientific corps improves their own mechanical creations by installing biological upgrades, harvested from vat-grown flesh or the flesh of unwilling volunteers such as political dissidents or prisoners of war; these creations are then used by both the military and scientific corps. Their finest creations are drakes, floaters, and spider walkers. Drakes are winged, serpentine creatures designed in the image of dragons (for additional psychological effect against Zurish troops) ranging from small "fighters" to large "bombers." The drakes are actually a fusion of living matter and mechanical parts, with engines and pistons to provide the living components with locomotion without requiring supporting organs or muscles. The living components can produce a powerful breath attack and are semi-intelligent, allowing them to operate independently of a crew in an emergency. Deadly claws allow for close-quarters combat while attached guns and missile launchers provide long-range capability. The inside of the creature is hollowed out to allow space for a single pilot or larger crew.

Floaters are massive airships that act as a mobile base and command center, with enough firepower to hold locations and act as defensive positions on the front lines. The external metal frame of the floater is rigged with heavy cannons and artillery, with hanger bays for drakes open to the air. At the core of the floater is a "lung" biological system which takes in air and magically transmutes it to helium, which is then used to fill the fleshy sacs that act as balloons for the entire structure.

Spider walkers are heavy ground forces created by merging the basic concept of a tank with Arcus's native oversized arachnid fauna. They are designed to overcome the mobility disadvantages of ordinary tanks by attaching a small tank's worth of firepower (a small cannon and two repeating guns) to a spider frame, capable of maneuvering over obstacles and sticking by the legs to the sides of buildings. Like drakes, they are hollow inside, allowing them to be crewed by a team of three.

The military corps makes heavy use of mechanical augmentations in its troops and biological augmentations in its vehicles. However, the extent to which the scientific corps seems willing to go with regards to augmentation disturbs Praltus, Tar and many other higher-ups within the military, leading to rising tensions between the Legion's two factions. These tensions have yet to produce any true conflict between the two, but this may change in the future (particularly considering the efforts of Thornian spies to exacerbate them).

Derrethorn

Spoiler: Derrethorn

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Derrethorn is a world of sovereign city-states- ostensibly. Each city-state (called Skin-cities by the natives) is independent, but all have joined together under the flag of the World Senate, established when the nations of the world needed to put aside their squabbles and present a combined front against the newly-discovered other dragonworlds and lesser realms. This has not ended internal wars between the Skin-cities, but it has forced them (figuratively and occasionally literally) underground, and they are fought not with armies but with small, skilled strike teams of mercenary contractors. Transcending nationalistic ties are Derrethorn's corporations, which have a foothold in every city-state. Many believe that despite their bluster and infighting, the governments of the Skin-cities are becoming increasingly obsolete, reduced to little more than puppets by the corporations. What few people know is that the corporations are, themselves, often puppets for the secret societies that shape the future of this heavily industrialized world.

Layers of Derrethorn:

Upper Atmosphere-
Home of the Illithid Society. Massive hive-ships of powerful beings possessing unique abilities float trapped above the Flenserstorm, unable to breach through to the surface. The Illithids are the last remnant of an invasion force from long ago. They are not divine practitioners, but they were created by spirits as a dimensionally traveling army. The Illithids bind spirits to local organisms to be mutated by uncontrolled spellcasting, and use flora and fauna as hosts for lesser spirits. The top layer is a whirling maelstrom of wind and dust, full of grown, chitinous hiveships and horrifying spirit-host organisms known as thralls.

There is no sun in the Thornian sky. Instead, the sky is stuck in what appears to be a perpetual sunset or sunrise; it always looks like the sun has only just dipped below the horizon or is about to rise above it, but it never quite appears.

The Flenserstorm-
The Flenserstorm is a whirling storm of sharp metal particles, so thick in its center as to seem a solid wall of metal. The grains of metallic sand make travel into the upper atmosphere impossible; flesh is rent from bone in seconds when exposed to even the edge of the storm. Many types of metal can be found within the storm. The Flenserstorm is a result of the First Civilization's apocalyptic war with the Illithids. The First Civilization utilized this weapon only as a last resort, knowing the effect it would have upon their planet; they transfigured a massive amount of sand and dirt (both harvested from the world's surface and generated magically) into metal. Each grain of metallic sand is inscribed with an impossibly tiny rune of sealing; together, they form a cage that not only blocks off the Illithids from the surface, but from interdimensional travel as well. These glyphs give off an amber light, causing Derrethorn's surface to be lit with a uniform dim glow.

In modern times, the Flenserstorm is utilized as a source of metal, more plentiful and easily accessible than the metal in the ground. Of course, most of modern Thornian society is ignorant of the storm's true purpose, or of the possible consequences of interfering with it.

The Tempest-
Below the storm of metal can be found a storm of water. Though significantly more mundane than its metallic counterpart, the Tempest is still a product of the War of Apocalypse. As a counterstrike at the last moment after the First Civilization released the Flenserstorm weapon, the Illithids combined their psionic abilities to change the physical and magical properties of Thornian surface water, causing it to be attracted to metal (water that is a part of a living organism is immune to this effect). As a result, the metal content of the Flenserstorm drew almost all water away from Derrethorn's surface (which fortunately had no oceans to begin with, but many lakes and rivers), causing a widespread drought that proved to be the First Civilization's death blow. The Flenserstorm's own movement agitated the sky sea until it too became a storm, known as the Tempest. Unlike the Flenserstorm, the Tempest is not omnipresent over Derrethorn; huge portions of it move across the skies of Derrethorn, allowing periodic access to the metallic trove above.

In modern times, the Tempest is one of the most easily-accessible sources of water available to the people of Derrethorn; it is regularly harvested to provide for the world's surface civilization.

Lower Atmosphere-
Above the Skin of the World, the sky buzzes with activity, as airships transport goods and people or harvest resources from the upper layers. The sky-tribes make their home on this layer, supporting their massive nomadic airship fleets both by harvesting the upper layers through resource acquisition and harvesting the lower layers through piracy and raiding. The lower atmosphere is periodically split by massive spires stretching up from the Skin to scrape the Tempest or even the lower edge of the Flenserstorm, magically reinforced so as to not fall under their own weight or be damaged by the two storm layers. These spires serve as centers of industry and bases from which the Tempest and Flenserstorm are harvested for resources. The portions of the industrial spires within the lower atmosphere are primarily populated by workers and laborers who make a living maintaining the resource collection occurring at the spires' tops. This work can be extremely dangerous due to the possibility of warding failure, thrall breach, or any number of other disasters that could befall the upper spire; however, the jobs are still sought after due to the (relatively) good pay and opportunity to escape the smog and grit of the Skin.

The wealthy, on the other hand, have other means of escaping the smog. Using magical and mundane technology, it's possible to draw a portion of the Tempest into the lower atmosphere and stabilize it at that level, resulting in a floating mass of water. Anything near the mass will be attracted to its center, instead of experiencing the normal pull of gravity. The very rich have capitalized upon this effect as a means of building homes unmolested by the concerns of the surface, by using the water as the building ground for mansions and estates. The "droplets" are surrounded by a shell of earth, and biomancy is used to induce plant growth (frequently arboreal growth similar to mangrove trees) to bind the dirt and stone together. Further construction can then begin upon the surface of the droplet. Droplet estates are generally created close to the Skin-cities for protection; however, wealthy individuals who wish to forgo political ties (and taxes) sometimes create heavily guarded compounds that hover over the wastes instead, the surrounding airspace heavily patrolled to stave off hungry aerial wildlife and sky-tribe raiders.

The Skin of the World-
The Skin is characterized by massive megacities- known as Skin-cities- that together cover almost a quarter of the world's surface, supporting Derrethorn's people, corporations, and secret societies. Subject to environmental degradation from both the War of Apocalypse and modern industry, the Skin-cities are frequently covered in a layer of sand, dirt, and smog. The majority of Derrethorn's lower class lives within these cities, and most corporate activity takes place within as well. Between the cities stretch miles of arid, dusty, desert terrain. Though inhospitable to humanoids, this area is not entirely devoid of life- hardly flora and deadly fauna eke out a living in the wastes, alongside roving undead and living (or construct) weapons left over from the War of Apocalypse. Only the most skilled and stubborn of settlers can survive in the wastes, though some consider the danger a fair trade for living outside of Skin-city and corporate influence.

The Tunnel Layer-
Below, tunnels (both modern and ancient) stretch miles beneath the earth, forming Derrethorn's literal underworld. This area is almost impossible to police; criminal activity flourishes in the upper portions of the tunnel layer. Beneath that, the tunnels and caves below the Skin of the World contain relics from the First Civilization, and are relentlessly explored and pursued by modern treasure hunters and corporations- despite the dangers presented by underground wildlife and still-active First Civ golems and defense systems.

The Aquifer Layer-
The Illithids’ final strike left the surface of the world devoid of water, but some was left behind in aquifers within the upper portions of the planet's bedrock. The aquifers are the only source of water more accessible than the Tempest (not moving about and destroying airships helps in that regard); thus, when Thornians dig down, they are more likely to be in pursuit of the "blue gold" than metals or resources.

Bedrock-
A much thinner layer than exists on Earth, bedrock extends down a relatively minor distance (on a geological scale) before giving way to the mantle.

The Mantle-
As on any spherical dimension, Derrethorn's mantle serves as the world's heat storage and as the storage location for souls not yet incarnated as they recharge their own stores of heat. Due to the unique challenges presented by Derrethorn's layers, Thornian civilization reached the mantle well before either of the other dragonworlds; as a result, Derrethorn's necromancy is persistently more advanced than that of Arcus and significantly more advanced than that of Zuryl. Besides tapping aquifers, accessing the souls of the Mantle is the most common reason for Thornian corporations to mine below the planet's surface.

Nations of Derrethorn:

Saliv-
The city-state of Saliv, despite being the youngest and smallest of the Skin-cities, is also the most resource-rich due to its unique access to materials from the Tempest and Flenserstorm. This is because the city itself is constructed within the Tempest, at the site of a massive gravitational anomaly which gave rise to a naturally-occurring droplet (ironically, this makes the term "Skin-city" something of a misnomer when applied to Saliv). Unlike normal droplets, this strange oasis is located within the Tempest itself rather than being brought into the lower atmosphere, and it was the study of this original droplet that led to the development of the technology used to make more. Surrounding the city is layer upon layer of warding and magical shielding, protecting it from the strength of the Tempest's winds and waves; these in turn help to protect the city from Sky-tribe raiders.

The skyscrapers of Saliv hang towards the ground, and their bases are rooted in the metallic structures built throughout the inside of the droplet. Unlike artificial droplet estates, the gravitational pull of Saliv is not uniform; though the pull is primarily upwards towards the Flenserstorm, there are also sections- both within the water and below it- which experience their own, different pulls. This has resulted in divergent architecture, as the skyscrapers of Saliv travel in jagged paths across the sky to take advantage of the changing pulls for architectural shortcuts. The skyscrapers will even brace against one another, with pedestrian tunnels and roadways between spires doubling as support struts where two spires find themselves pulled in one another's directions, resulting in a somewhat haphazard-looking architectural style. The water of the Tempest is also affected by the changes in gravity; twisting rivers flow through the air around the buildings, their water intertwining with the metal. Many of these rivers have been magically modified into a mode of transport similar to three-dimensional midair canals.

Despite the city's easy access to resources, its ability to expand is hampered by the size of the field of gravitational anomalies that allow it to exist. Although artificial droplets allow some slight expansion, this also forfeits the natural protection against the Tempest that the anomalies provide, causing the cost of shielding to increase exponentially. As a result, the city has expanded as far as it can in the vertical dimension, including upwards into the waters themselves. Though the gravitational pull prevents the waters above (beneath) Saliv from dissolving into turmoil like the rest of the Tempest, it also causes changes in pressure within the droplet that render it possible to construct airtight buildings in certain sections. Of course, no air-breathing being particularly wants to live or work in such a dwelling; as a result, these "drownalleys" are primarily slums occupied by society's most unfortunate. The drownalleys are more dangerous than anyone knows- beyond the constant crime, gang warfare, and threat of drowning, the residents are close enough to the Flenserstorm to experience Illithid influence. High rates of madness in this area result from muted, imprecise Illithid indoctrination occurring over long periods of exposure.

Saliv originated as a small but well-defended conglomeration of supply stops and refueling stations for airships, run by a "guild" of allied merchants. It quickly became extremely popular among airship crews due to its neutrality from Skin-city and corporate conflicts, which allowed airships to refuel and restock with minimal worry of having their goods seized or their systems sabotaged. Even the shadier "salvage" crews respected the peace in Saliv, as it represented one of the only locations where they could interact with the rest of society. More and more merchants and independent crews flocked to Saliv due to the fact that its corporate neutrality presented opportunities for small businesses, opportunities that would be nonexistent in the heavily monopolized markets of the Skin-cities. The original compound quickly expanded as it became a center of trade and commerce. This served to draw attention to the swiftly-growing community, which branched out further as Iron Sky Incorporated took notice of the advantageous location and began building its own staging grounds on the droplet. Fearing that ISI would take over the droplet completely, many of the independent crews and businesses banded together against the common threat, establishing a loose council that set forth the budding city-state's first official laws and policies.

Saliv has become far more regulated since its relatively lawless start, but its laws remain somewhat lax even by the standards of the Skin-cities. It is led by small pseudo-republican council of influential individuals, such as airship captains, ISI representatives, wealthy investors and city officials. The upper-class citizens of Saliv are generally ISI blue-bloods or the descendants of the founding crews and merchants. The lower classes are primarily composed of the descendants of refugees from the Despon-Lumin conflicts, or of immigrants who sought opportunity in Saliv. All of Saliv's citizens share a strong attachment to their social freedoms, which has proven both a blessing and a curse. The reach of the council remains limited, which has prevented corporate takeover or over-industrialization but has also made policing (or even mapping) many parts of the city impossible. The piecemeal method in which the city was constructed results in many areas being difficult to access or even entirely blocked off; criminals can easily operate unimpeded in these forgotten parts of the city.

Saliv's native Company is known as Vapor Company.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: If you're having trouble picturing Saliv, imagine the bastard offspring of Cloud City and Venice as drawn upside-down by M.C. Escher.

Diaphan-
Unlike the relatively new city-state of Saliv, Diaphan is old- very old. It's even been theorized that Diaphan was the first Skin-city to be founded as civilization pieced itself back together in the aftermath of the War of Apocalypse. In the distant past, Diaphan was run by a theocratic government. However, that old order was torn down centuries ago during a bloody revolution instituted by Carrena Naven, the woman who would become the first of the city's new monarchical line. The modern-day monarchs are far less hands-on than their predecessors. The current king Esdal Naven is inclined to let his council of viziers and corporate advisers handle most civil affairs and simply enjoy the material perks of being ruler. These viziers enjoy the majority of political power in Diaphan, and are limited in their plotting against one another only by the need to maintain what power they have through mutual plotting against the corporate advisers and other Skin-cities.

The monarchy takes a "bread and circuses" approach towards keeping order, which in decades past mostly took the form of gladiatorial combat in the city's many arenas. Nowadays, it means that central-city Diaphan is the entertainment capital of the world. Gladiatorial combat is still common with both professional and enslaved competitors, but it has been supplemented with a major focus on the arts and ubiquitous gambling. Tourists flock from across all other Skin-cities to see the productions of Diaphan's theaters, the installments of its sculptors, and the landscapes of its painters- and even more travel to the City of Silk to win (or lose) their hard-earned money betting on arena fights or other gambling opportunities. For the inner and outer areas of the Skin-city not fortunate enough to be blessed with such draws, tourists who wander out of the central areas represent an alternative means of obtaining income.

Both artistic achievement and gambling have become staples of Diaphanese culture. To a Diaphan native, the worth of a thing is not in its utility, but in its aesthetics. A central-city Diaphanate prefers that everything they own be as artistic as possible, styling their vehicles as representations of animals or objects and their buildings as works of abstract art or imitations of various natural landscapes. Even in the silk slums, people take care to make their environment as beautiful as possible, using brightly-colored silks in construction, painting designs on canvas structures, and stretching great needlework arts across the spires. Additionally, Diaphanates that travel to other skin-cities often have a reputation as thrill-seekers and risk-takers, and tend to try to make a bet out of everything they encounter.

Diaphan can be roughly divided into three sections- inner, central, and outer Diaphan. The viziers have the most power in the inner and central sections, while corporate influence increases the further out one goes.
Inner Diaphan, at the very center of the city-state, contains three industrial spires, with their metallic structures built into the frames of Diaphan's ancient quartz skyscrapers. As vital sources of Tempest-harvested water, the spires are manned 24-7. Management in the direct employ of the monarchy generally live within the spires themselves, while workers and laborers instead live in the silk slums- sheets of rune-stitched silk bridging between the spires, supported by magic and a complex system of ropes. Despite the magical fortification that goes into making the silk slums livable, they remain very dangerous, and collapses, while uncommon, do occur occasionally. The monarchy keeps strict control over the inhabitants of the silk slums by restricting access to water and other resources that can only be acquired from the spires themselves.
Central Diaphan, between the inner and outer areas, is notable for being one of the least smoggy locations on the Skin of the World. This upper-class area is characterized by its squat buildings composed primarily of gleaming quartz and decorated with colorful silks. Almost every building in central Diaphan is painted and/or carved. Most of central Diaphan consists of business centers, casinos, arenas, theaters, and upper-class residential areas.
Outer Diaphan is mainly constructed of magically-reinforced sandstone, and has a greater focus on industry and production than the rest of the Skin-city. New Dawn Magifacturing is headquartered in outer Diaphan and is the primary employer of the area. Most of Outer Diaphan consists of factories, quarries, sericulture facilities, and lower-class residential areas.

Diaphan's major exports are magic items and magically-attuned materials, particularly "Diaphanese Silk" and "Diaphanese Glass." Both products are derived from "Diaphanese Quartz," a unique variety of quartz sometimes found alongside ordinary quartz deposits in Diaphan. This stone has no useful properties on its own, but can be ground up into a powder which can then be added to silkworm feed or used in the glassmaking process. Diaphanese Silk is observed to enhance the magical abilities of runes stitched into it or painted on its surface. Diaphanese Glass is useful for storing magical energy (though the recent discovery of Bantasi Jade has threatened to devalue this commodity). Both materials are heavily used by New Dawn Magifacturing in many of its products.

Diaphan's native Company is known as Zephyr company.


Despon-
Though not the oldest or richest of the Skin-cities, Despon is certainly the largest and most populous by far. In addition to stretching over the greatest area on the Skin of the World, Despon also extends downwards into the upper tunnel layer, and numerous droplet estates float in the skies above. As the smog over the Skin of the World is thicker in Despon than in any other city-state, many of the nation's private residences are located within the upper tunnel layer, with the Skin being dedicated to factories, industrial spires, corporate compounds, and offices. However, it is a common practice for Despondite workers to live on the Skin in lodgings provided by their employers, frequently in compounds resembling urbanized company towns.

Despon is ostensibly a democratic republic. Elected officials are selected by the votes of Despon's citizens, and supposedly represent them in the city-state's congress. However, the actual practice of Despon's government rarely resembles this ideal. The impoverished majority of Despon's citizens are prevented from voting via a variety of methods, such as requiring the payment of inflated poll taxes to register to vote. Ofttimes, the voting takes place in locations inaccessible to the poor, such as lower droplet estates, and workers are not given a holiday on voting day. Corruption is the norm among elected officials, most of whom receive generous "donations" from various corporate interests on a regular basis.

Prior to the establishment of the World Senate and the foundation of the Skin-cities' alliance against the other dragonworlds, Despon had frequently gone to war with Lumin, deploying airships and armored transports to bring troops to bear across the desert against the angelic oligarchy. Though the wars between the two nations originally began over a conflicting claim over a particularly rich group of aquifers, the rivalry soon became ingrained in the cultures of both nations, and persisted long after the aquifers were spent and dry. The frequent conflicts caused great destruction on the outskirts of both cities, and many refugees fled to Saliv as a result of losing their homes and livelihoods to the fighting. Though open warfare between the city-states has now stopped, the cultural rivalry persists. Despon and Lumin rarely agree on anything in the World Senate, and both continue to send Company agents (and occasional freelancers) to their rival city as spies and saboteurs.

Despon is Derrethorn's premier producer of mundane and mechanical goods, as well as magical technology. Factories are ubiquitous across its surface layer, turning metal, plastic and cloth into finished goods, and making magical technology out of enchanted components (frequently imported from Diaphan). Znx Legal Associates, External Investigations, and Marvelworks are headquartered in Despon, with the latter employing much of the city's population.

Despon is the only Skin-city with two Companies- Diesel Company and Piston Company. Piston Company is the older of the two, and many within it resent Diesel Company's recent appearance, regarding it as a challenge. However, Diesel Company has so far made great efforts to avoid coming into conflict with Piston, instead focusing on stealing work from Znx Legal Associates; as a result, there has been no formal conflict between the two PMCs as of yet.

Vermil-
The city-state of Vermil is would be referred to as "Derrethorn's Breadbasket," if it weren't for the complete lack of bread production within the city (as the product is considered a luxury on the dragonworld). Meat- rather than wheat- is the staple food that the city produces. Vermil's focus on the food-production industry is the result of a unique feature of the city's surrounding geography- the strange phenomena known as the "sores." At numerous locations outside the edges of the city spread small lakes of a red fluid, looking similar to blood save for a lighter shade, an oily sheen, and a slicker consistency. The fluid is extremely toxic, and even momentary exposure to a small amount of it can prove fatal without immediate medical attention. From these sores in the Skin of the World arise forests of bone clothed in muscle and draped with viscera. Despite the eerily human-looking sensory organs they sometimes sport, the growths of flesh and bone that the sore-fluid produces are not toxic, and they therefore provide Vermil with a near-endless source of meat. Historically, the productive capacity of Vermil has been limited by the difficulties in harvesting the growths without exposing workers to the toxic fluid; however, recent advances in construct labor and Terra Carmine's advances in sore-fluid transportation have made the process much safer (and resulted in the layoffs of numerous workers).

Terra Carmine is the primary employer of Vermil's citizens, and it enjoys massive political power within the skin-city, contested only Interplanar Arcana (which, though headquartered in Vermil, has much of its influence tied up in offworld holdings). Though the state is theoretically governed by a direct democracy with each issue being voted on by the individual citizens, Terra Carmine wields the true power over which bills pass and fail, by offering financial incentives to its workers that would vote the way it wishes and threatening pay-cuts and firings upon those that would not.

Vermil's native company is known as Polyp Company.

Lumin-
Even through the perpetual smog of the Skin of the World, the gleaming towers of the city-state of Lumin can be seen for miles away. Where the metal comprising other city-states, like Vermil or Despon, is frequently tarnished and rusted, that of Lumin seems impervious to such insignificant forces as age or oxidation. This is, of course, a result of the great number of angels that call the city home and can be seen making their way through its skyline anytime one cares to look up. Angelic blessings render the city's buildings unassailable by pollution, in the same way that the angels themselves have historically protected it from external attack from Despon and other rivals among the Skin-cities.

Following the decline of Derrethorn's religious establishments, some angels faded from existence along with the faiths they represented. A greater number, however, transferred their allegiance to the new objects of the people's belief. Some joined corporations, taking roles as healers in Benedicite or soldiers in Aegis or the Companies. Others, however- particularly those formerly of religions with an emphasis on order and law- became members of the governments that maintained order and created law. Many of these angels were drawn to the burgeoning city-state of Lumin, which even in those antediluvian times had a reputation for putting forth a comprehensive (and some would say oppressive) system of law and a powerful (some would say too powerful) central government. These angels served the leaders of the city-state as soldiers, advisers, and military leaders. However, this status quo was soon contested by an unavoidable clash between the government as the people saw and had faith in it, and the government as it truly was. The citizens of Lumin (despite the poor quality of their lives at the time) held to the belief that the government was virtuous, and the angels were thus molded to the ideal of upholding virtue in governance. However, in reality, the rulers of Lumin were frequently corrupt and tyrranical, taking advantage of their stations to line their pockets and taking steps to ensure that they would never lose power, by any means necessary. This internal conflict within the angelic ranks soon became external, as the angels stepped in to ensure that the government lived up to its ideals, seizing control in a bloody coup of holy judgement. Since then, Lumin has been ruled by a council of powerful angels known as the Heavenly Host, dedicated to perpetuating law and order.

Of course, not everyone is happy with the angelic rule. The dedication of the angels to law can easily slip into fanaticism, leading them to create impenetrable bureaucratic codes and come down harshly on any who try to work outside of their often unnecessary, sometimes incomprehensible edicts. Unlike most of the Skin-cities, weapons of any kind are not permitted in the hands of non-government employees- nor is the use of magic, or pens longer than a certain standard, or spicy foods, for that matter. Personal freedoms are not of any particular concern to the Heavenly Host. The crime rate of Lumin is the lowest out of all the Skin-cities, but this is because the harsh punishments angels carry out on the spot upon citizens convicted, accused, or suspected of lawbreaking- punishments in which the angel frequently takes the role of judge, jury, and sometimes executioner. Furthermore, the Heavenly Host remains convinced that it is the only governing body on Derrethorn (or any other world) that is truly capable of just rule. It has sought to conquer the other Skin-cities in the past, and even now it continues to attempt to spread its influence by more covert means.

In addition to the Heavenly Host, Lumin is also the meeting-place of the World Senate, which convenes within one of its oldest skyscrapers, a zenith of gleaming silver with a brilliant, eternal flame at its peak. Also headquartered in Lumin are the corporations Aegis Incorporated and Benedicite, though the majority of AI's military holdings are located offworld. Lumin is home to Ember Company, which- along with Aegis- possesses the unique privilege to purchase permits to carry weapons within the city. Ember Company's mercenaries are frequently hired to deal with problems that are more specialized than Aegis police forces can deal with, but deemed beneath the interest of the angelic military.

Cadav-
Of all the Skin-cities, it is Cadav that most seems to live up to the name- after all, no Skin-city but Cadav can claim to be actually composed of skin, even partially. Though primarily built from stone and steel like the other city-states, Cadav is unique in that it eschews the magical and mundane technologies common to the rest in favor of an almost exclusive focus on bionecromancy. For example, where in other city-states lighting would be provided by glowing runes or electrically-powered lightbulbs, Cadav's citizens see the world through the light provided by bioluminescent organisms such as glowing worms or fish. Great beasts stride across the city, providing transportation to the citizens seated in the specially-designed structures of bone and muscle on their backs. Some buildings- particularly those belonging to Vynzll Marroworks- are not built, but grown; living organisms of muscle and bone acting as habitation for their humanoid creators.

Though none of the city-states of Derrethorn consider the body to be particularly sacred, in Cadav, this is taken to the extreme. Cadav's citizens, as a whole, possess little to no attachment to their original forms and capacities, regarding them as inconvenient limitations; overcoming these limitations and improving oneself using grafts is considered so obviously advantageous as to be socially expected. Almost everyone native to the city has at least one graft, displayed proudly; those who do not are regarded as Luddites. The extent of one's grafts, their abilities, and their aesthetic quality are all important factors in deciding one's social status in Cadav. It is worth noting that "aesthetic quality" does not necessarily correspond to human baseline; innovative and avant-garde design are valued, and fashions come and go in grafting just as in clothing. Generally speaking, grafts are preferred to be easy on the eyes, although this can be outweighed (with regards to social status provided) if the grafts are extremely extensive or powerful.

At the top of Cadav's social structure, and ruling over the city-state as a whole, rests the Court of the Faultless, an aristocracy composed of a number of vampiric noble houses. Though the houses squabble amongst themselves frequently, they remain united in two important things- their collective rule over Cadav and protectiveness of it from the other Skin-cities and dragonworlds, and their shared semi-religious and philosophical belief, which they call the "Paradigm of Immaculate Reclamation." Where citizens of the other city-states avoid overusing grafts to avoid a loss of identity through the "Ship of Theseus" problem, the vampires of the Court of the Faultless embrace that same problem. They believe that the inherent state of a person is imperfection; however, unlike many mystics who preach the same, the vampires associate the imperfection with a state of the body, not the mind. They believe that their original bodies are inherently imperfect, and thus replace the entirety of their bodies in order to become "faultless" beings, retaining their original consciousness due to their status as undead. Their nature as vampires (with an innate capacity to regenerate) also allows them to incorporate grafts far more readily than the living, allowing them to install grafts with the same level of ability with far less change to their physical appearance; effectively, the only aesthetic alterations a vampire receives are those that they desire.

The vampires do not regard their faultless forms as static or unchanging, and are perfectly willing to continue modifying themselves throughout their immortal lives. In many cases, a vampire noble may take note of a particularly pleasing physical feature- the shape of an eye, the edge of a cheekbone, the curve of a leg- possessed by an ordinary citizen and desire to add it to their own form. In such cases, the vampire will generally offer to buy the body part from the citizen and cover the cost of replacement as a social courtesy; however, if refused, they will not hesitate to take it by force. It is this practice that has given the Court of the faultless the nickname of "skinners" or "skintakers" among the lower classes. As vampires are incapable of ordinary reproduction, they instead recruit into their houses from the ranks of Cadav's living citizens, many of whom also practice the Paradigm of Immaculate Reclamation (although the average citizen cannot hope to replace the entirety of their body, leaving them in a state of perpetual imperfection). Those that catch the eye of a vampire due to their beauty, cunning, or skill may wake one night to find themselves a member of a noble house, a new and unfamiliar thirst consuming their thoughts. Some citizens- particularly devotees of the Paradigm- commit themselves to excellence in daily life, in the hope that they too may prove worthy of an immortal and faultless existence.

The corporation Vynzll Marroworks is headquartered in Cadav, as is the PMC known as Ichor Company.

[Lightweaver]

Spoiler: Derrethorn, Continued

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The Sky-Tribes-
Every citizen of the Thornian city-states has heard tales of the savage Sky-Tribes- fleets of barbarians, bandits, and raiders who descend from the skies upon skinwaste settlements and civilized airships, pillaging and burning all in their path. The truth, of course, is a bit more nuanced. The original peoples of the Sky-Tribes were descended from the same ethnic group as most of Diaphan's population, who were exiled from the Skin-city centuries ago due to religious differences with the theocracy that ruled the city at the time (ironically, both groups have long since forgotten the original religion, but the mutual hatred between the groups and the pariah status of the tribes persists). Recognizing that it would be suicide to attempt to brave the perils of the skinwastes, the displaced tribes took to the sky, harvesting resources from the tempest and flenserstorm. Food was grown on massive agricultural airships, or hunted from the aerial fauna- such as skywhales- that could be found in Derrethorn's lower atmosphere. Of course, despite the great ingenuity of the Sky-Tribes' artificers, some resources could only be gained from the surface, and these resources were taken in bloody raids. Nowadays, the Sky-tribes continue to persist within the lower atmosphere, despite the constant attempts of the Skin-cities to wipe them out.

Some surface-dwellers believe that the Sky-tribes take slaves from surface settlements on their raids, due to the discrepancy between the number of bodies found in their wake and the population of the raided locale. However, in reality such a practice would be impossible to sustain, as the tribes barely have enough resources to sustain themselves, let alone prisoners and slaves. In reality, some people voluntarily leave Skin-city or settlement society to join the Sky-tribes, as an escape from corporate or national meddling. The Sky-tribes are willing to accept anyone who requests to join them- provided the individual in question proves their usefulness to the tribe. If they do, they are welcomed as a long-lost sibling; if not, they serve the tribe in another way, as a sacrifice and a source of vital magical energy.

The government of the Sky-tribes is mainly a meritocratic system; each tribal fleet is governed by a council of "elders" who could be of any age, who have proven their excellence in a specific field and thus been granted oversight of that field within the fleet. However, some remnants of the old theocratic system persist. The families that once served as religious leaders are now the keepers of records and annals, attempting to preserve Sky-tribe culture against the relentless onslaught of the Skin-cities. It is also considered the responsibility of the record-keepers to seek out remnants of the now-forgotten tribal religion, although the charge is mainly ceremonial- many believe that the religion will never be found.

Each Sky-tribe "fleet" is centered around an agricultural airship known simply as the Hearth. These massive vessels are protected above all else, as if they were to be destroyed, the tribe would undoubtedly follow, with survivors being absorbed into other tribes. Most tribes only have a single hearth, although some of the more powerful fleets have two, and the Zaria fleet- the largest of the Sky-tribes- contains three. The Hearths carry entire ecosystems within themselves, flora and fauna both. Though this may produce the illusion of a "natural" biosphere, it is actually carefully tended to ensure the continued production of food for the tribe. Many of the animals within the Hearth ecosystems are engineered to perform specific tasks in order to maximize the output of similarly engineered plant life; because of this, they are regarded as important tools rather than as food themselves. Meat products are thus only recovered from hunting or raiding, and are considered a luxury. In addition to food production, the Hearths contain common areas where members of the tribe meet, as well as the chambers of government for the tribe's elder council. Surrounding the Hearth are other airships dedicated to important societal tasks, like agricultural research or manufacturing, and surrounding those vehicles are residential airships containing one or more family units. Dedicated combat craft patrol the edges of the fleet; however, every tribal airship is outfitted with weaponry enough to act as a combat craft when the need is great. The Hearth itself contains enough weaponry to raze settlements on its own, although all members of the tribe hope that those weapons will never need to see combat.

The existence of the Sky-tribes is constantly under threat; food shortage, mechanical failure, or outside attack could always prove a tribe's undoing. However, by far the greatest danger facing the tribes is a lack of magical strength. Mage-beacons must be erected on solid ground to drain a world's heat and fuel magic. The tribes' nomadic existence protects them from Skin-city attack, but makes it impossible for them to defend any mage-beacons they were to construct. Furthermore, the magical components of their airships and daily life are a constant drain on their resources. The Sky-tribes scrounge out as much heat as they can through strict rationing; whenever they can, they supplement their supplies by hacking into corporate mage-beacon networks, although such leaks are always patched and result in an inevitable reprisal from the corporation in question. The tribes gather as much energy as possible as quickly as possible, storing the excess in magitech batteries of Diaphanese glass; rather than connecting directly to mage-beacons, their casters carry with them glass totems containing a finite reserve of carefully-rationed magic to fuel their spellcasting. The tribes gain additional magical energy through ritual sacrifice, draining the heat from a living soul rather than the world itself. The very old or terminally ill voluntarily give themselves up as sacrifices, and are honored for supporting the tribe even to their last breath. Unwilling sacrifices are collected from raids upon other airships or surface settlements, and act as a similarly valuable source of energy.

Corporations of Derrethorn:

Benedicite (Medical/Biomancy) -
Benedicite is the most influential medical corporation of Derrethorn, controlling much of the world's pharmaceutical industry, private medicine, and hospitals. Benedicite also dabbles in biomancy, though to nowhere near the same degree as Vynzll Marroworks. The company is primarily run by angels, whose ability to miraculously cure otherwise incurable diseases and injuries gives them an edge over their competitors. Studying their own power has allowed the angels to develop numerous new medical techniques, surgeries, drugs/potions, and grafts that are usable by non-angelic practitioners or even ordinary individuals.

The CEO of Benedicite is the angel Malia. Previously the leader of the heavenly host for a powerful church, Malia's rejection of that congregation in favor of joining the corporate hierarchy broke the faith of many, hastening the growing angelic exodus. Malia is quite literally the avatar of commerce, material wealth, and greed. Many who have met with her have noted that despite her expert facade of civility and professionalism, when she looks at them, they feel as if she doesn't see people (or even living things at all) but simply dollar values stapled to moving meat.

Benedicite's headquarters is located in the city-state of Lumin.

Vynzll Marroworks (Biomancy/Necromancy) -
Vynzll Marroworks is a bionecromantic corporation of Derrethorn dealing with custom-made and mass-manufactured biotechnology, both living and dead. Using souls purchased from Necromantic Drilling and other suppliers, Vynzll generates a variety of custom-grown organisms for military, corporate, and personal use, each with the Vynzll seal of quality stamped on its skin and bones. In addition to designing warbeasts and labor animals, Vynzll is also the world's largest supplier of grafts to both military and consumer markets. The advances made by the corporation's biomancers has allowed concepts of fixed strength, ability, and physical form to become almost a thing of the past (for those with the money to pay for such modifications, of course). Unlike Arcan biomancy, which generally augments organisms with metallic components, Vynzll instead less-than-seamlessly combines living and dead flesh and then uses necromancy to animate the dead.

Vynzll Marroworks' greatest achievement to date is the creation of an entirely new race of sapient being, the changelings, under the oversight of the company's previous CEO. Previous attempts to create original sapient life had always failed due to the generated body's inability to reconcile the numerous discrete components from multiple organisms that composed it. Vynzll Marroworks’ breakthrough came about after a spy within the Arcan scientific corps recovered information as to the techniques used by Arcan scientists to fuse living things with metal. When these techniques were applied to grafts of doppelganger flesh within a body with living internal organs but undead skin and muscle, the result was a low-level shapeshifting ability that the new organism could use to adapt to its various component grafts. Changelings were marketed as fully-customizable servants or perfect spies and sold widely on both military and consumer markets before the World Senate passed a surprising law (pushed through by the Nox Directive) outlawing their creation and freeing those already created. However, changelings remain second-class citizens in many cases, and rumors abound that Vynzll continues to sell enslaved changelings and experiments to create new and more powerful changeling variants.

The CEO of Vynzll Marroworks is known to the world at large as Granz Vynzll, a member of the Vynzll clan, son of the previous CEO and the grand-nephew of the company's founder. The story, as it is known to the public, is that Granz is not himself a biomancer, but enjoys having first pick of all new bionecromantic creations. Though he was originally a kobold, he has undergone cosmetic grafting enough times that he has seemingly been a member of every known race at some point or another. However, in truth, Granz Vynzll only led the corporation for about a week before being summarily assassinated and replaced by Whisper, one of the first created changelings. Whisper took advantage of Granz's known grafting obsession to hide her crime. A small group of changelings now control Vynzll Marroworks in secret, under the supervision of the Nox Directive.

Vynzll Marroworks is based in the city-state of Cadav.

Necromantic Drilling Incorporated (Mining/Necromancy/Water) -
Necromantic Drilling Incorporated is a Thornian mining, geothermal necromancy, and water acquisition corporation. NDI primarily deals in bulk resource collection and distribution, and engages in both above- and below-ground collection efforts; it is the corporation most often responsible for constructing the massive harvesting spires that extend from the Skin of the World up to the Tempest and Flenserstorm. These spires allow the corporation to collect common metals such as iron that can be found almost anywhere in the Flenserstorm, but rarely allow for the collection of rarer, more valuable metals (which fall more under the purview of Iron Sky Incorporated). As a result, NDI is most known for being the world's largest provider of water and souls.

Bore City is a megacity which grew up around a field of massive spent NDI necromantic bores. Above each, an industrial spire stretches into the sky, modified from its original purpose into residential and commercial skyscrapers. Numerous layers of buildings are built into the walls and the open space within the bores. No one layer is completely roofed off by the layer above it; as the layers perpetuate, the light of the Flenserstorm gradually becomes dimmer and dimmer. Tunnels connect each of the bores, and bridges/air traffic connect the spires, sometimes supporting their own buildings and skyscrapers. The city also spreads out across the ground between the spires and around them for miles. Bore City is the unofficial "corporate city-state." NDI currently owns about half the city, with the other corporate giants having each purchased for themselves a spire and the land around it; each is responsible for governing their own land, with varying levels of success.

The CEO of NDI is the human Yanis Aldevi. Aldevi is a lazy, indolent woman more concerned with the latest fashions on the droplet estates than with any concepts of business. As a result, NDI is primarily run by the rest of its board of directors, who keep Aldevi around primarily as a figurehead.

Iron Sky Incorporated (Mining) -
While NDI seeks resources deep below the Thornian soil, Iron Sky Incorporated turns its sight to the sky instead. In contrast to the larger corporation's more static methods of resource acquisition, ISI's fleet of airships is constantly on the move, seeking out locations in the Tempest and Flenserstorm of particular interest. Some of these troves are discovered by ISI's own scout ships, while the locations of others are purchased from Drnllyn Excavations, Noosphere, or other suppliers of information. ISI is the primary supplier of water to the droplet estates, as well as the largest supplier of precious metals on Derrethorn.

Due to ISI's practice of harvesting metals directly from the lower Flenserstorm, it is becoming increasingly common for its ships to encounter small breaches allowing Illithid thralls access to the lower layers. It is standard practice for ISI's convoys of mining airships to be protected by a strong mercenary force hired from Aegis Incorporated and warded by New Dawn Magifacturing's specialists, to protect against both thralls and sky-tribe raiders. However, these breaches present an additional danger in that all people near them are exposed to the psychic influence of the Illithid thrallherds and telepaths, transmitted through the escaped thralls. Over time, repeat exposure has caused some of ISI's employees to become indoctrinated by the Illithids. Compounding this danger is the fact that one of the indoctrinated is the human Captain Dorreni Stane, a trusted confidant of ISI's CEO, the halfling Nalta Capp. Stane is secretly an unregistered psionic; though her powers were originally insignificant, she has unlocked latent abilities since falling under Illithid control, and now acts to spread their influence on the surface by means both psionic and mundane.

Iron Sky Incorporated's headquarters is located in the city-state of Saliv, and is one of the Skin-city's largest sources of employment.

Znx Legal Associates (Legal/Mercenary) -
Znx Legal Associates is either the smallest of the corporate giants or the largest of the many smaller PMCs that operate on Derrethorn. Znx is divided into two sections, referred to as the Reactive and Proactive Legal Defense Branches. The Reactive Legal Defense Branch is Derrethorn's largest law firm, providing the corporations and the rich with the means to escape almost any legal sanction through creative interpretation of the law. It is said that regardless of the World Senate Judiciary's rulings or the proclamations of individual Skin-city governments, what truly determines guilt or innocence on Derrethorn is how much money one is willing to forfeit to the RLDB.

Of course, there are some matters that not even the RLDB can settle in a courtroom, which is why the Proactive Legal Defense Branch exists. The PLDB also- technically- consists of lawyers, mostly paralegals rather than full attorneys. The difference is, where the RLDB would argue a case of copyright infringement by waxing rhetoric in a courtroom, the PLDB's paralegals would do so by storming the suspected infringer's buildings and seizing their holdings while waving guns and documents in the faces of anyone in their way. Opposition is met with bullets and lightning-fast legalese. Referred to by many in the lower classes as "ninja lawyers" (or less flattering epithets), the PLDB lawyer-mercs skirt the very edge of legality time and time again in the actions they take on behalf of their clients, only to fall back on the RLDB and their own legal knowledge to avoid censure. The general image of a PLDB lawyer-merc is a man or woman in a crisp suit strapped with bandoleers of ammunition and alchemists' fire, with a briefcase full of legal documents in one hand, an automatic weapon in the other, and a ballpoint pen with a poisoned tip clipped to their belt.

The CEO of Znx Legal Associates is Cymmi Znx, the latest in a long line of Znx family members to run the corporation. As a family tradition, each new generation of Znx progeny is expected to spend time as mercenaries in one of the Companies before entering the even more dangerous world of business and law. This process weeds out those too weak to head both branches of the corporation, with the previous CEO choosing one survivor as a successor when they retire. Cymmi Znx is notable for the peculiar circumstances of her ascension- of the three siblings who survived their time as mercenaries and their law education, Cymmi was originally slated as the least likely to be chosen. Cymmi overcame this by revealing evidence that her siblings and her mother- the company's previous CEO- had ordered PLDB mercs to assassinate political opponents, including a prominent Senator thought to have died in a tragic accident. The mother was convicted and incarcerated, later dying in a prison riot; the surviving brother and sister were forced to leave the company in disgrace. The move cost ZLA a great deal in wealth, reputation, and political power, but give Cymmi the opportunity to seize control of the company.

It is still quietly discussed within ZLA whether Cymmi framed her relatives or merely took advantage of an actual, existing plot. Regardless, many within the company resent her pyrrhic victory. Opposition comes from without as well as within, in the form of Byrnlln and Vox Znx, Cymmi's siblings and the joint leaders of Diesel Company, a new small but growing PMC.

Znx Legal Associates is based in the city-state of Despon.

Aegis Incorporated (Mercenary) -
Aegis Incorporated is the dominant mercenary corporation on Derrethorn, providing mundane, magical, necromantic and angelic troops to clients. There is no aspect of mercenary work that Aegis does not cover in some manner; however, the primary focus of the corporation is on providing bulk troops rather than specialists in any particular discipline. Aegis is primarily employed by the World Senate, which uses its armies to wage war against the other dragonworlds and the lesser realms, or by the individual Skin-cities for policing duties. However, the expansive and dangerous wastes that separate the Skin-cities make armies an inefficient method for one city-state to wage war against another. As a result, Aegis's forces are rarely used for internal conflicts. AI is also employed by the other corporations to provide security forces and strike-breakers. Aegis has close ties with Vynzll Marroworks, Marvelworks, and New Dawn Magifacturing, as those corporations provide the weapons, vehicles, magical support and necromantic troops they need.

The CEO of Aegis is the human Willun Motarus. Despite the nature of the organization he runs, Motarus has never set foot on a battlefield or been in a fight in his life. Many who have met him have noted the perpetually haggard look in his eye and his somewhat hesitant- almost timid- mode of speech. Unlike External Investigations CEO Noxyn Vake, Motarus is not directly connected to Bastion; instead, the secret society bypasses him and exerts subtle control over the commanders of Aegis forces directly through various means.

Technically, Aegis Incorporated's headquarters is located in the city-state of Lumin. However, the largest Aegis military base is actually located on the lesser realm of 2-A. 2-A was the first lesser realm discovered by Thornian explorers, and was later the first realm conquered and drained to sustain the ravenous dragonworld and its magic. Whatever name it once had and whatever civilizations once existed upon it, these things are gone now, replaced by endless winter and utter Aegis military entrenchment.

New Dawn Magifacturing(Manufacturing/Energy) -
New Dawn Magifacturing is the Thornian corporation that produces permanent magical constructs. NDM offers a broad variety of warding services, from low-quality alarm wards to nigh-impenetrable (and unutterably expensive) networks of glyphs, shields, and traps. This service has made NDM invaluable both on Derrethorn, where everyone wants the extra security it can provide, and offworld on the battlefields of the lesser realms, where Aegis relies on it to secure important locations against enemy intrusion. New Dawn Magifacturing also deals in magic items and other permanent enchantment effects, although this falls mostly under the realm of small-scale mass-producible items or components. Smaller businesses and freelancers provide more specialized items for the individuals (such as adventurers or Company mercs) who need them.

Like all magic, permanent magical constructs such as wards and magic items drain heat as fuel. An enchantment can be linked to their enchanter (usually through a drop of blood) to draw power from that individual and by extension their mage-beacon; alternatively, it can be made without any connection, and encoded after creation with a marker which connects it directly to a mage-beacon, bypassing the enchanter entirely. The difference between these approaches is that the first has two points of failure (the enchanter and the mage-beacon), and if the flow of power from either is cut off (by death or destruction, respectively), the enchantment ceases to work and may dissolve entirely. With the second approach, on the other hand, the mage-beacon is the only point of failure; as a result, NDM uses the second approach for all of its enchantments. NDM offers its own mage-beacons for use with its magic items and wards but is not as prevalent in the market as Interplanar Arcana, and it does not lease out magic for use by private individuals.

The CEO of NDI is the elderly human Jonus Tolson, latest in a long line of famous human enchanters that has persisted since before the formation of the modern Skin-cities. Though he is in his late seventies and certainly showing the effects of age, Tolson has forgone cosmetic grafting, illusion, or other methods of disguising his aged appearance- a rarity amidst the pervasive vanity of the Thornian upper class.

New Dawn Magifacturing is headquartered in the city-state of Diaphan.

Marvelworks (Manufacturing) -
Like most worlds, Derrethorn's study of magic progressed far faster than its study of mundane technology, with a tradition stretching far into its history. Unlike most worlds, the unique challenges it presented eventually forced technology to progress, with the resulting creations regarded as far more "marvelous" than the magical effects everyone was used to. The corporation that produces the vast majority of mundane technology, therefore, takes the name Marvelworks. As the lines between magical and mundane technology have blurred, Marvelworks has expanded its reach; individual components are enchanted by New Dawn Magifacturing and assembled by Marvelworks into final products. Marvelworks has factories within every Skin-city, but especially Despon, where it is headquartered. The corporation is the largest source of employment for Despon's citizens; the sound of its forges and assembly lines is omnipresent and the smog of its smelters is inescapable across Despon's surface level.

Practically anything that is manufactured is manufactured by Marvelworks or its subsidiaries. Two of the most notable sub-companies are Peregrinite, which produces vehicles, and Fray Enterprises, which produces weapons. Both of these businesses supply both consumer markets and militaries such as Aegis Incorporated, with little variance between what is offered to each. In every city-state but Lumin, any citizen could purchase a military-grade firearm or assault dropship provided they have the money to do so. Of course, such purchases are still traceable, so black-markets are still a common source of weapons for those who value anonymity; furthermore, the unique weaponry and vehicle modifications preferred by adventurers and Company mercs are sold by specialists rather than Fray or Peregrinite.

Of all the corporations of Derrethorn, Marvelworks is most indicative of the growing social problems the dragonworld faces. Its CEO, the dwarf Kifroda Rust, has begun to lay off large numbers of workers in favor of construct labor; to keep their jobs, workers must work for extremely long hours in conditions ranging from bad to horrific. In some cases, it has become almost a necessity for workers to receive grafts to survive the factories and keep up with the constructs, creating a division between the grafted and non-grafted in Despon's lower class. Tensions between grafted and non-grafted as well as those between workers and the corporation are swiftly rising to a breaking point.

Interplanar Arcana (Magic/Energy) -
The instant an area is secured in one of the lesser realms, Interplanar Arcana is there, beginning construction of the mage-beacons around which Thornian civilization revolves. Before Derrethorn's most recent brush with heat-death, this corporation already existed under the name Arcana Limited, and almost went bankrupt as the heat available on Derrethorn began to run out. However, Arcana Limited was quick to take advantage of the discovery of gate technology, hiring Aegis to secure the pastoral, non-militarized lesser realm of 2-A and seizing the heat available there. As its reach expanded, the corporation rebranded itself Interplanar Arcana.

Almost all of the heat that powers the spells of Derrethorn's casters and the magic at the core of its technologies comes from Interplanar Arcana. IA's mage-beacons are set up to transfer power between one another in such a way that the loss of a single beacon, or even an entire realm, could never cause the flow of heat to stop entirely. Magical power is leased from mage-beacons to individuals from "beacon hubs," where an arcane practitioner can select from a variety of (increasingly expensive) options for power allotted and flow stability. On the other hand, it's common for each individual building to be powered by a single beacon, which is powered by a larger beacon for a city block, etc. These beacons are constructed so that individuals cannot draw power from them directly. It is possible to hack the power-line beacons to draw on them for spellcasting, but doing so is considered energy piracy, and as such this option is not taken lightly.

The CEO of Interplanar Arcana is the dwarf Vorgunta Mercury. Some who know her consider her surname to be something of a misnomer- Vorgunta Mercury is an adamant-willed embodiment of dwarven tenacity, whose refusal to give up during the heat-death crisis not only saved her company but set Thornian foreign policy for all the time that has passed since. Others, however, have recognized that her name is reflected in her willingness to adapt her tactics to ensure her corporation's survival.

External Investigations (Scouting) -
External Investigations is a Thornian corporation specializing in military scouting and intelligence, as well as other special operations. They are primarily employed by the World Senate to scout out the military capabilities of newly discovered lesser realms and provide ongoing intelligence on various warfronts. Unlike its subsidiary Drnllyn Excavations, which employs contracted teams of adventurers, the direct employees of External Investigations can only be described as mercenaries or soldiers.

External Investigations was founded by the kobold Noxyn Vake. Previously Vake had been a member of a scouting squad in the ranks of Aegis Incorporated. When he and his squad were trapped behind enemy lines and he was forced to assume the role of squad commander, he led his squad to successfully disable a major Zurish military outpost in order to rejoin the rest of Aegis's forces. This feat led him to be singled out by Bastion as a potential asset. Recognizing that Aegis's monopoly over dimensional defense gave it troubling amounts of political pull on Derrethorn and threatened Bastion's own control over the Thornian military, Cerul Victus provided Vake with the funding and political favors he would need to establish his own, rival corporation. This simultaneously filled a much-needed niche in Thornian military strategy and ensured that no mercenary corporation could gain complete control over Derrethorn.

Noxyn Vake is a quiet and soft-spoken individual, charming and unfailingly polite. He has lost none of the keen tactical instinct that first drew Bastion's attention, and it is rumored that his personal combat skills have only grown since leaving Aegis's fold- it is even rumored he has attained the coveted "army-killer" status. Beneath his friendly facade, however, he still possesses the same core of ambition that led him to attempt to create his own corporation and accept Bastion's help in that creation in exchange for partial control over it. When he believed Aegis to be the dominant military power on Derrethorn, he sought to either possess or surpass it by any means necessary. Now that he knows the truth of Bastion's covert control over Thornian military and defense interests, he desires nothing more than to usurp Cerul Victus and seize the secret society for himself. It is for this reason that he established Drnllyn Excavations and established separate deals with Noosphere to locate sources of political and financial capital outside Bastion's sphere of influence.

External Investigations and its subsidiary, Drnllyn Excavations, are both based in the city-state of Despon.

Drnllyn Excavations (Information Dealers/Treasure Hunters) -
Drnllyn Excavations, a subsidiary of External Investigations, is a self-described "archaeological acquisition and location dissemination organization." This group specializes in the location and recovery of resources on both Derrethorn and other planes, which can then be sold to other corporate or private interests. Drnllyn has a particular interest in exploiting the remnants of the First Civilization, but also sometimes operates on the lesser realms if the risk/reward seems to be worth it. Drnllyn Excavations generally does not make use of recovered technology or information themselves (excepting when Noxyn Vake sees a particularly useful item); instead, they auction the gains to other interested parties. For example, a partially intact golem may be sold to Marvelworks, a trove of enchanted items may find its way into the hands of New Dawn Manufacturing, or the location of a newly-discovered aquifer may be sold to Necromantic Drilling Incorporated. Drnllyn doesn't limit its efforts to its native dragonworld; its scouts are often the first individuals to explore a newly discovered dimension, documenting the locations of natural resources such as souls or water sources and taking note of military points of interest to be sold to mercenary corporations.

To a treasure hunter or adventurer, working for Drnllyn is a trade-off of independence and possible payoff for support and guaranteed salary. To its contracted teams, the corporation offers a steady wage, and more importantly, provides the tools, information, and magical strength that allow a party to survive. Each team is assigned an identifying series of numbers, leading independent adventurers to give them the derisive nickname "digits." However, the parties that take this deal and decide to work for Drnllyn Excavations no longer have the freedom to choose their own assignments and are subordinate to the corporate higher-ups. Furthermore, where an independent adventuring party can keep an acquisition to themselves and reap the entirety of the rewards, digits only gain a small bonus for a successful job, with the true rewards going to the corporation.

Drnllyn Excavations and its digits are universally reviled by Derrethorn's independent adventurers. In addition to adding to competition for finding good acquisitions, the corporation is known to employ a variety of tactics to ensure it obtains its targets, up to and including eliminating the competition. Though many of Derrethorn's adventuring teams kill one another off (or off themselves with infighting), Drnllyn's status as a large organization makes it a notorious repeat offender in this regard.

Terra Carmine (Food/Farming) -
Based in Vermil, Terra Carmine takes full advantage of that Skin-city's unique properties to fulfill its purpose as Derrethorn's preeminent farming corporation. The growths that arise from the sores of Vermil are harvested by Terra Carmine, which is the primary employer of the city-state's population. Carmine has perfected the process of farming the sores- in addition to using laborers (and increasingly, golems) to perform the dangerous work of harvesting from the open sores around the city, Carmine has also transported sore-fluid to its own factories, where the meat growth can be controlled for easier harvesting. In most cases, such fluid ceases to produce growths after enough time removed from the sore, but Carmine appears to possess a proprietary method to ensure the fluid retains potency indefinitely.

In addition to the sore-farming industry, Terra Carmine also controls the vast majority of other food industries, including plant-based farming. Most plant-based food on Derrethorn comes from Carmine's fungus and lichen farms deep below the Skin of the World. In the aquifer layer, the caverns left over by depleted aquifers prove perfect locations for the cultivation of crops.

The CEO of Terra Carmine is the kobold Az Vllix. A recluse, Vllix is hardly ever seen in Thornian society, never leaving his heavily guarded droplet compound on the outskirts of Vermil territory. This has caused numerous rumors to spread about him- he's in poor health, or is dead and being impersonated by a changeling, or has begun to grow sore-meat out of his own body. In reality, Vllix is simply agoraphobic and paranoid.

The Companies (Mercenary) -
All of the Skin-cities rely heavily upon Aegis Incorporated, and to a lesser extent its competitor External Investigations, for policing their territory and securing their borders. However, no Skin-city is particularly comfortable with playing host to the entirety of each corporations' troops, given the obvious risks of allowing such a large, independent military force to gather within their borders. Furthermore, the dangerous expanse of wasteland separating the Skin-cities frequently proves to be a deadly obstacle towards the transport of large amounts of troops. As a result, the Skin-cities wage war against each other using small, very skilled strike teams hired from smaller, local PMCs, known as the Companies. For the most part, each Skin-city is home to a single Company. The Companies provide their services both to institutions such as the corporate giants and the Skin-cities, and to private citizens who are capable of paying. Each Company is composed of mercenaries ranging from novice thugs to forces of nature, and each is headed by an "army-killer" (read: high level) merc capable of massive levels of destruction. Companies outsource mercs for practically any job, from personal protection to espionage to annihilating entire military encampments, selecting the best mercs for each from among their ranks.

Though both the governments and populations of the Skin-cities rely heavily upon the Companies and they have an uneasy truce with Aegis law enforcement, many of the Companies' activities are still technically illegal. For this reason, most mercenaries do not openly identify as such, instead maintaining cover identities in different professions. However, particularly skilled mercs occasionally become too well-known to remain anonymous; this leads some mercs- such as the army-killers- to attain something akin to celebrity status.

Secret Societies of Derrethorn:

The Hands of Gold (Money) -
The secret society known as the "Hands of Gold" has for years been operating to manipulate the governments and economies of Derrethorn, primarily through control of material wealth. It is believed by those in the know that the Hands began as a group of kobold merchant-clan members who sought to leverage their economic ties with each Skin-city into a political and monetary power distinct from all of them. To this end, they leveraged assassinations, bribery, and blackmail to bring about the corporate system that exists today. Since then, both the purpose and membership of the organization have evolved; it now includes members from many races, and seeks to maintain the current (very profitable) status quo. Members of the Hands of Gold include, but are not limited to: Az Vllix, CEO of Terra Carmine; Vorgunta Mercury, CEO of Interplanar Arcana; and Dorreni Stane, influential member of Iron Sky Incorporated. The current leader of the Hands of Gold is Malia, CEO of Benedicite.

The Nox Directive (Science) -
The Nox Directive is a secret society dedicated to controlling the pace and direction of Thornian scientific progress. Nox agents exist in almost every research facility or laboratory on Derrethorn, ensuring that no new technology is produced or knowledge is released except under the oversight of the Directive. The Nox Directive is led by a consciousness known as Deus. Deus is an utterly unfathomable being composed of the consciousnesses and physically merged brain matter of hundreds of geniuses, encompassing the intelligence and knowledge of all of them. Deus continues to direct their agents to capture and integrate new genius-level intellects from across Derrethorn, improving themself with each new addition.

The Nox Directive originated shortly after Derrethorn's brush with heat-death. After overuse of magic and over-reliance on magical technology almost led Derrethorn to ruin, many thought that the development of new technologies would be swiftly regulated in the future, to ensure that no new unforeseen threats could arise. However, as time passed and Thornian magiscience continued to develop new innovations at an alarming rate, with no thought given to potential implications, this prediction was proven incorrect. No corporation or Skin-city was willing to abstain from researching new technologies when doing so might give the others an advantage. Recognizing that something had to be done, a small group of genius scientists, engineers, and wizards from across Derrethorn gathered together to attempt to find a solution to the problem. They concluded that a single organization would need to subtly take control of centers of scientific progress across Derrethorn, unifying them and thus eliminating the problem of competition. However, they also recognized that their own group was composed of individuals with distinct motives- though some were altruistic, others may seek to leverage such control for personal power, which could cause the very problems they were trying to prevent. Conflicts within a controlling group could lead to a new competition, but a single individual could not be trusted with full control. As a result, a small subgroup formed in secret to enact a new solution- the organization would need to become an individual, so that issues of trust or competition would be made irrelevant. This subgroup called itself the Nox Directive.

The Nox Directive began by using necrobiomancy to join themselves into a single individual. Their brains were removed from their skulls, animated as undead, and physically fused together, merging the personalities and abilities of the group's members and becoming a new being. Referring to themself as Deus, the merged consciousness directed their golems and living assistants to capture each other member of the original group, to have their brains similarly integrated. From there, Deus began using their depths of knowledge and intellectual capacity to expand the reach of their organization.

To their agents, Deus is considered to be infallible, almost godlike in the way they are revered and their decisions are enacted without hesitation. Every second, their unfathomable intellect produces additional discoveries and conceives of ideas beyond comprehension by lesser minds. As a result of Deus's intelligence and their pruning of technologies, the Nox Directive has developed technologies and magics far beyond what most know exist, or even realize as a possibility.

Bastion (Military) -
Most believe that there is no central authority directing the Thornian military. Unlike Arcus's military corps or Zuryl's slave-armies, the Thornian military is divided into multiple mercenary corporations controlled by a variety of clients; the World Senate controls the greatest number of troops, but each of the Skin-cities and several of the corporations also use mercenaries to enact their own interests on other worlds. However, this image is incomplete, as behind the scenes, the secret society known as Bastion directs Derrethorn's military. With agents in every Company and mercenary corporation, Bastion acts as a central authority which bypasses the squabbling of Derrethorn's factions and ensures it can stand up to the other dragonworlds.

When the war for heat began between the dragonworlds, Derrethorn began losing ground almost immediately. Despite its manpower and resource advantage over Arcus and its technological advantage over Zuryl, the fact remained that Derrethorn was the most divided of the three competitors, with various corporate and regional powers jockeying for influence. Even the establishment of the World Senate to represent a united Derrethorn did little to alleviate this division, as the representatives that comprised the organization were often unable to come to agreements that individual Skin-cities would accept. The dragonworld was saved by an unlikely ally- the human Cerul Victus of Arcus, bastard son of Legion founder Rexa Victus.

Cerul's status as the son of Rexa Victus was kept hidden from the rest of the Legion during his childhood so that Rexa's image could remain untarnished. Only himself, his mother, and his half-sister Tar Victus knew the truth. Victus was given a position in the Military Corps as a spymaster, where he excelled, forging strong connections with Noosphere and placing loyal infiltrators within Aegis and other Thornian military interests. However, the more he worked to infiltrate Derrethorn, the more he became jealous of the freedoms the rival dragonworld possessed. Furthermore, his status had led him to become more and more disillusioned with his mother's "perfect society." After slowly ensuring that his infiltrators were loyal to him personally rather than the Legion, Cerul Victus defected to Derrethorn, and used his network not to undermine Derrethorn's militaries but to improve them by restructuring them with Arcan military tactics.

Cerul Victus believes that of the dragonworlds, only Derrethorn's society allows its citizens true freedom, or at least has the capacity to do so. However, he also believes that he must temporarily suspend this freedom by expanding Bastion's control so that Derrethorn can survive. Victus works to make Derrethorn's military stronger by making it more like that of Arcus, considering this a short-term measure to produce long-term gain. Ironically, the more he works to preserve Derrethorn's freedoms, the more he threatens to transform it into the world he left behind.

Noosphere (Information) -
Taking their name from a theory regarding the oneness of knowledge between all living things, Noosphere is an elusive organization with agents in almost every corporation or government across almost every discovered dimension. Many of these spies aren't even aware of the organization they are working for, reporting to a network of proxies and dummy organizations. Most take no actions, instead passively collecting secrets and reporting them back along the chain, to eventually become known to the organization's leaders on Derrethorn. The information is then sold to various corporate, military, and private clients, again through various proxies such as seemingly independent information dealers, criminal organizations, goblin crusades, or corporations like Drnllyn Excavations or External Investigations. However, a Noosphere agent will occasionally carry out missions directly, some of which often no discernable purpose or upside. Though Noosphere's proxies do charge for the information it provides, the organization's extensive reach suggests that money is not its end goal, but rather a means of facilitating some deeper objective which remains unknown.

The leader of Noosphere is known as Cognate. Beyond this name, absolutely nothing is known about the individual; in fact, it is not even certain that Cognate exists or is a single person rather than a council or collective, even among the other secret societies (or at least, if Deus is aware, they have not made that fact known). In reality, Cognate is an individual, a human Thornian psionic of extraordinary power, and yet merely a puppet in his own right. Cognate and all of Noosphere are just one more false face hiding the machinations of the true masters- the group of spirits known as the Clave, controlling events from behind the scenes through their mortal proxies.

Nil

Spoiler: Nil

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The dragonworld of Nil is dead. Though it was once a thriving plane containing dozens of diverse civilizations, now little exists on Nil save for snow-covered wastelands and buried ruins surrounded by frozen oceans, inhabited by undead and spirits both corporeal and unbodied.

The practitioners of Nil realized only too late the cost their magic was exacting on their world, and were unable to stop their civilizations use of magic or discover alternative power sources in time. This problem was made worse by prevalence of divine magic on Nil, where a sky full of stars was a common sight. Even before the fracturing of the veil, spirits gained access to Nil by possessing soul-husks or were summoned there by cultists, further draining the world's heat. Once enough heat was lost that the veil fractured, even more spirits gained entry, at which point apocalypse was unavoidable. Though some few dozen powerful practitioners were able to escape to other dimensions, the rest of Nil's population were condemned to a grisly fate. Some had the heat drained from their souls by spirits or thermodynamics, leaving them as mindless, tormented undead; others had their souls flung out into the spiritvoid or possessed by spirits directly, to be used to gain entry to other worlds.

Only two groups of sapient still exist on Nil, neither of which is native to the plane. Several members of the Council of the Unending, escapees from Vel Khar, have settled on Nil. As liches, they are capable of enduring the cold, and have judged that even if it is possible for a dragonworld to be destroyed entirely, it will not happen to Nil for a long while. As a result, the deadly plane provides them with an excellent place to hide from goblin pursuers and- for the more ambitious- plot to gain a new dominion. Besides the Council, the only faction interested in Nil is Noosphere, which retains a small compound of agents on the plane for an unknown purpose.

[Lightweaver]

Zuryl

Spoiler: Zuryl

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The magnificent structures of worship that spread across Zuryl's surface are perpetually obscured by a sky full of snow and ice. Moreso than any other dragonworld save Nil, Zuryl was almost destroyed when heat death threatened to consume the plane, with an entire continent being reduced to an icy waste. This ocurred in spite of Zuryl's somewhat backward level of technological progress relative to the other dragonworlds, due to the unique phenomenon of Zuryl's cold sun. Each morning, the cold, white orb rises in the sky, and as it crosses through the land, heat is leeched from the world in its passing. All who stand under its light experience its chill. It is this sun that is at the center of Zuryl's religion, which the dragonborn theocracy uses to justify its dominance over the plane and its subjects.

Zuryl's tech level is lower than the other dragonworlds, but it makes up for this in warfare with the fanaticism of its populace, the strength of its angelic ranks, and the sheer, raw power and skill of its warmages. These warmages come from the ranks of the dragonborn theocracy, and are considered holy men and women in addition to political and military leaders. Due to the perpetual threat of heat-death, Zuryl's mages long ago developed techniques to drastically increase the efficiency of their arcane casting, gaining more "bang" for their energetic "buck." When fueled by the power leeched from Zuryl's many conquests, this means that Zurish casters seem far more powerful than those from other dimensions. Of course, the theocrats claim that it is the blessing of the dragon-god Zuryl that grants them such power, and uses it as another lever over the rest of the dragonworld's populace.

The Zurish religion claims that the cold sun is the egg of the dragon-god Zuryl, who- after expending of himself to create the world- retreated back into the egg to gradually reclaim his power. The religion's cosmology is fundamentally cyclical in nature; Zuryl creates a world, drains the heat back from it until it falls to heat death and is destroyed, then emerges from the egg and creates a new world. The Zurish simultaneously worship Zuryl as a creator and fear him as a destroyer. This is evident in their practices; while they await his return, they know that it means their world's end when it occurs. However, they believe that they can prevent this end by taking the heat from other worlds and channeling it into their own via the mage-beacons, so that when Zuryl reclaims enough heat to finally hatch, the dragonworld he created will have enough left to survive. They believe that when this occurs, they will have proven their devotion to Zuryl and his divine creation, and he will "bring [them] to glory in his ascension."

It's possible that the religion is correct, or that just a part of it is, or that none of it is. Maybe Zuryl really is within the sun, gathering back his power to one day hatch in glory. Maybe the sun will just consume heat forever, and the Zurish people will keep feeding it until the dragon-dimensions all crumble to dust. And maybe someday the sun will hatch, but it will give birth to some horrific abomination that will consume/corrupt/destroy everything (hell, maybe Zuryl is that abomination). Uncertainty is the name of the game, and it's up to the individual GM to decide.

Races

When a sapient dies, its soul discharges its heat into the dimension it's in. The husk then sinks into the ground. When it reaches the mantle (or lava sea for a lesser realm), it floats on top of it, gradually absorbing heat from the world. Once it has absorbed enough, it is drawn back to the surface and reincarnated.

There's a small chance that a soul may instead be flung out into the Spiritvoid. A soul that had a connection to a spirit at the time of death (the soul of a divine practitioner) is far more likely to be flung into the Spiritvoid. Spirits consume the heat of such souls, and then frequently fight over the husks. The victor can then use the husk to create a sapient in a lesser realm they create, or inhabit and fuse with a husk to make it easier to gain entry to a dimension (because souls can pass through the veil effortlessly, but spirits cannot).

Spirits occasionally create more esoteric afterlives for their realms that defy the rules presented here.

It is possible to harvest soul-husks directly from the mantle or the lava sea. Whatever heat these husks have collected can be expunged, and the husks themselves can be made subservient to the practitioner and used to animate dead bodies to the practitioner's will. This practice is called necromancy. In most cases, husks on the lava seas of lesser realms are drawn out to the edges of the world, and are far less plentiful than husks on dragonworlds due to the smaller populations of lesser realms. This makes it easier to collect husks through drilling operations on dragonworlds than it is to dredge them from the lava seas of lesser realms.

For some reason, some races- such as humans, dwarves, and elves- can be found both in the dragonworlds and numerous lesser realms across the cosmos. Theories abound to explain this phenomenon. The two most popular on the dragonworlds are as follows: either the lesser realms' creator-spirits were attempting to mimic the accomplishments of the dragon-gods, or those realms were settled by travelers from the dragonworlds long ago. Non-dragonworld-centric theories have entirely eluded the dragonworlds' esteemed scholars.

Many lesser realms also possess entirely unique races designed by their creator-spirits. These races can range in biology and culture from the familiar, to the absurd, to the horrifying.

Angels

Spoiler: Angels

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Angels are beings of pure magic. It's not known for certain where they come from; however, some scholars theorize that true faith in something improvable (such as a god or an ideal) attunes a person to a mindset similar to that of a spell. This pseudo-spell draws on a negligible amount of heat from the faithful's own soul, allowing even a non-practitioner to perform it. When enough people have faith in the same thing, the combined effects of the pseudo-spell materialize in the form of an angel who both shares and embodies the beliefs of the congregation. For example, if enough people are part of a religion that worships the land, an angel will be created that both believes in the divinity of the land and possesses powers related to the sanctity of the land. Generally, the faithful are not fond of this theory, claiming instead that their religion's angels are proof that it is correct (conveniently forgetting about the angels possessed by every other major religion).

Theoretically, angels can be found on any sufficiently populated world where enough people share the same faith. Multiple types of angels can manifest in dimensions that contain multiple congregations faithful to different things.

Angels are extinct on Arcus, save one. When the Legion of Progress gained power and began its crusade to stamp out the religions of Arcus, the angels fought back in defense of their faithful and their faith. The Legion's victory saw every last angel slain. However, when the religion of Victorism was rekindled among the Chainbreakers, the faith of the rebels was enough to restore life to Illidia, the former leader of Victorism's heavenly host. Though she is a shadow of her former self, Illidia is a valuable ally to the rebels, and a symbol of hope for all aligned with the Chainbreakers' cause.

On Derrethorn, dozens of angelic hosts once existed, matching the many religions of the world. However, as religious sentiment declined and the corporations grew in power, faith in gods was replaced by faith in money, and a change occurred in the angels. Beings that once gave blessings freely began to demand recompense, and their kindness turned to apathy and calculating greed. Though a small few angels remain loyal to their original congregations, most now work directly for the governments of the Skin-cities or occupy positions in the corporate hierarchy. This is particularly true of the medical corporation Benedicite, of which the angel Malia is CEO. Angels are also employed by Aegis as police or soldiers, or infrequently as Company mercenaries.

On Zuryl, many angels traverse the skies, spreading the justice of the dragon-god in service to His church. Zurish angels are loyal enforcers of the theocracy, and remain one of the dragonborns’ most potent tools of oppression. They frequently search out kobold survivors and correct that oversight, and fight on the front lines of Zuryl's wars. These angels possess draconic traits, with wings that are leathery instead of feathered and scales overlapping otherwise humanoid features. They radiate an aura of bitter cold that affects nonbelievers particularly potently, causing frostbite within mere seconds of exposure. They glow with a light-blue aura identical to that of the cold sun.

Dragonborn

Spoiler: Dragonborn

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Dragonborn are a race unique to Zuryl and Derrethorn. No dragonborn have ever been discovered native to any other world.

The dragonborn of Zuryl form that dragonworld's elite priestly class. They believe themselves to have been created by the dragon-god Zuryl in its own image, thus elevating them above all other races in the eyes of their Lord. They are the driving force in charge of Zuryl's theocracy. Zuryl's dragonborn are proud, regal, and manipulative.

The dragonborn of Derrethorn are not considered to have any special connection to the dragon-gods. They are generally laborers, street toughs, or soldiers, and most are part of Derrethorn's (significant) lower class.

Dwarves

Spoiler: Dwarves

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Dwarves can be found on the dragonworlds of Arcus and Derrethorn, as well as many lesser realms. Dwarves seem to have an aptitude for working with metal and machinery, and many are consummate smiths, mechanics, and engineers. On Arcus, they put these skills to use building and maintaining weapons, vehicles, or infrastructure for the military corps, or designing vital apparatus for the scientific corps. On Derrethorn, they ply these same skills in the service of the corporations, in addition to working at geothermal necromantic bores. On both worlds, dwarves are frequently hired as operators for mage-beacons due to their skills and reliability.

Elves

Spoiler: Elves

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Elves can be found on all three surviving dragonworlds, as well as many lesser realms. They have a natural aptitude for magic, and a natural grace that lends itself well to combat.

The elves of Arcus are quiet and unobtrusive- until they strike. They generally act as specialists within Arcus's military corps, combining mundane and magical forms of combat to complete missions of infiltration, assassination, and sabotage.

The elves of Derrethorn form the lowest of the lower class. As a result many turn to crime; elves and half-elves on Derrethorn are often thieves, con artists, hired killers, and mob bosses.

The dark elves of Zuryl were exiled to the frozen continent after a failed rebellion against the theocracy. These elves survive day-to-day in the hellscape only by hiding deep underground. Without access to mage-beacons, the drow rely almost entirely on divine magic. The spirits that they have contacted provide them with the magic they need to survive, but not the means to escape to another dimension, as the spirits hope to weaken Zuryl's veil enough to gain access to that world specifically.
Continued reliance on divine magic across multiple generations has fundamentally changed the drow, both physically and mentally. Their society has become a twisted parody of what it once was, and they now worship spirits exclusively, offering souls to the Spiritvoid in hopes of allowing the spirits in and weaponizing them against the theocracy.

Gnomes

Spoiler: Gnomes

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Gnomes can be found on the dragonworlds of Arcus and Derrethorn, as well as the occasional lesser realm. As dwarves have an aptitude for working with mundane technology, gnomes have an aptitude for working with magical "technologies" such as bindings, enchantments, and the analysis of artifacts.

On Arcus, gnomes lead the scientific corps. Arcus's gnomes possess an insatiable thirst for knowledge, and they are generally willing to do anything to slake that thirst. Their experiments (ethical or otherwise) have pushed Arcus's technology leaps and bounds ahead of that of the lesser realms, and given Arcus a small but consistent technological advantage over the other two dragonworlds as well. Arcus's gnomes view the world through a clinical eye, categorizing everything by its possible usefulness in the gnomes' quest for knowledge.

Where Derrethorn's dwarves generally work directly for a corporation due to mundane technology's need for physical resources, the dimension's more fortunate gnomes are more apt to go freelance, supplying whatever magical assistance is needed to a variety of corporate, private, and criminal clients. The economic status of a Thornian gnome varies based on the status of that gnome's clientele. Those gnomes without the knowledge or resources to work with magic are frequently employed as lower-class factory workers, their small size and adult intelligence making them more economic than child labor for machine maintenance and operation.

Goblins

Spoiler: Goblins

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Goblins are an example of a rare occurrence in the dragon-dimensions: a race native to a lesser realm who discovered interdimensional travel on their own.

Goblins originated on the lesser realm of Vel Khar. They were created by that realm's creator-spirit as a slave race, to serve the ruling class of divine-practitioner tieflings. Naturally, this caused them to develop a burning hatred of both spirits and divine practitioners. By studying the tieflings' ancestral artifacts, the goblins were able to discover how to create mage-beacons and use arcane magic. They practiced their workings in secret, and discovered that even the mere practice of magic weakened the realm- and, in doing so, weakened the creator-spirit.

The goblins turned this to their advantage by beginning a full-scale uprising against their tiefling overlords. Every spell they cast not only killed the tieflings, but also weakened the creator-spirit, the source of the tieflings' magic. A few powerful tieflings managed to escape to other worlds, but for the most part, the race was driven extinct. In response to the sudden loss of power, the creator-spirit began to infuse itself further into the realm, trying to gain enough internal strength to crush the rebellion. However, the goblins had planned for this- they escaped through a gate to another dimension before the creator-spirit could respond, and it found itself beset upon by other spirits taking advantage of its new vulnerability. Its heat stolen by goblin magic and invading spirits, the realm fell to heat-death.

Now, goblinkind lives a nomadic existence. Many crusades of goblins travel from world to world, making sure they never stay long enough on any one world to risk heat-death. At every plane they visit, they root out divine practitioners and spirits wherever they can find them. They've also been instrumental in spreading knowledge of the dangers of magic, both divine and arcane, preventing other worlds from falling to heat-death. Though the goblins used gates in their original exodus, they now rely almost entirely on spells to transfer themselves between planes; it is unknown why they changed their practice in this manner.

The opinions of other races on goblins are mixed. To those that they have freed from oppression at the hands of spirits and divine practitioners, they are heroes. To those innocent divine practitioners that they have hunted, they are monsters. Some dimensional governments regard them as a stabilizing force against subversive divine forces, and welcome their arrival. Others regard them as little more than pests or parasites that drain the dimension's heat every time they pass though. The dragonworlds have a tentative alliance with several goblin crusades, working with them to root out energy pirates and spiritual incursions so long as the goblins remain attuned to mage-beacons offworld and don't drain the heat from the dragonworld itself.

Halflings

Spoiler: Halflings

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Halflings can be found on the dragonworld of Derrethorn, and on the occasional lesser realm. Halflings are found in all walks of life, though a significant amount of them are white collar workers within the corporations. These halflings constantly jockey for greater power and wealth within the corporate hierarchy, competing with other halflings or the occasional unfortunate kobold.

Humans

Spoiler: Humans

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Humans are found on every dragonworld and almost every lesser realm.

On Arcus, humans occupy most middle- and high-rank positions within the military corps, and some middle- and low-rank positions in the scientific corps.

On Derrethorn, humans can be found in every walk of life.

On Zuryl, humans form the lower class, as serfs living a life of near-enslavement.

Illithids

Spoiler: Illithids

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The upper atmosphere of Derrethorn is home to the Illithid Society. Massive hive-ships of powerful beings possessing unique abilities float trapped above the flenserstorm, unable to breach through to the surface. The Illithids are the last remnant of an invasion force from long ago. They are not divine practitioners, but they were created by a group of cooperating creator-spirits as a dimensionally traveling army. The Illithids themselves rely on their psionic abilities rather than any form of traditional spellcasting. However, they are known to forcibly forge bonds between spirits and local non-sapient organisms through the use of grafting and other biological augmentations. This effectively turns the flora and fauna they modify into divine casters. However, the spells provided to their thralls are not helpful like those provided to divine casters; instead, the connected spirits take advantage of the organisms' inability to control their casting and provide self-target spells which further modify the host, making it an ideal vessel for lesser spirits to inhabit. By the end of the process, the thralls are more spirit than living thing. This process makes the top layer of Derrethorn a whirling maelstrom of wind and dust, full of grown, chitinous hiveships and horrifying spirit-host organisms.

Little is known by the people of the dimensions about the Illithid Society. Although they seem to have a strange, almost symbiotic relationship with spirits, they show no signs of worshiping them. In truth, the Illithids regard the Clave- the creator-spirits that created them- as superiors more than objects of worship. They believe in a hierarchy of beings, in which each being within the hierarchy is the complete property of those above, with no rights of their own save for those allowed them by their superiors. Just as the Illithids were molded like clay by the Clave into the form that most suited those spirits, the Illithids reserve the right to themselves mold the bodies and souls of the lesser beings that belong to them. To the Illithids, the Clave is at the top of the hierarchy, followed by the Illithids themselves; after them come the other creator-spirits, then non-creator-spirits, then lesser spirits (the weakest spirits there are). Finally, there are other sapient races (which the Illithids don't distinguish between), non-sapient animals, and plant life. Though the Illithids recognize that it is possible for lower organisms to resist and even sometimes defeat higher ones, they regard this as a horrific perversion of the natural order.

Illithids were created on an unknown world. Unlike most spiritual creations, the purpose of the Illithids seemed obvious to inhabitants of other dimensions- they were an army. Transported from world to world by their spiritual patrons, the Clave, the Illithids waged war across the cosmos with unique strength and near-unbeatable cunning. Each realm they invaded was left broken in their wake, with the majority of life scoured away and the rest mutated and modified into a twisted new paradigm. Only when they came to Derrethorn did they encounter a civilization capable of holding them back. The resulting war broke Derrethorn's First Civilization, who claimed victory at the pyrrhic cost of near-extinction. The once lush and beautiful dragonworld was left a barren plane of deserts and wastes. The Illithids were sealed away above the flenserstorm, incapable of accessing the surface of the world. However, the Illithids know that their return draws near. Modern Thornian atmospheric mining efforts have thinned the flenserstorm, and breaches have already opened in some areas, which though quickly sealed still allowed incursions of thralls to wreak temporary havoc upon the surface. The Illithids bide and wait for an opportune breach large enough and close enough to their hive-ships to release them, that they may begin their campaign of conquest anew.

Kobolds

Spoiler: Kobolds

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Kobolds can be found on the dragonworlds of Zuryl and Derrethorn. They are not found on any other lesser realms. Kobolds are clever, and have natural aptitudes for mechanical design (similar to dwarves, but with a greater focus on design rather than construction) as well as the acquisition of and maintenance of wealth. They are excellent trap builders and skilled merchants, thieves, and bankers.

On Derrethorn, kobolds are generally lawyers, upper-class executives, CEOs, and board members (there are exceptions to this, of course). Their natural ability to hoard and manage wealth, combined with their marketable skills with mechanical design, caused several kobold clans to quickly rise to the top of the corporate world. Even today, many major corporations are (at least ostensibly) controlled by the kobold families.

On Zuryl, kobolds are almost extinct. The ruling dragonborn consider the kobolds' semidraconic appearance to be a crude mockery of Zuryl's splendor. They have initiated numerous purges to wipe out the kobold population of the plane. The few surviving kobold clans on Zuryl survive only by hiding.

Orcs

Spoiler: Orcs

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Orcs are found exclusively on the dragonworld of Arcus, and are not found on any other dimension. There is a persistent stereotype on Zuryl and Derrethron that orcs are barely-sapient barbarians, brought about as a result of Arcus's use of orcs as its primary grunt forces and disposable shock troops. In reality, however, orcs are as intelligent as humans. They possess a tendency for bluntness in everything they do.

The orcs of Arcus form the lowest ranks of the Arcan military corps, and are prohibited from becoming involved with the scientific corps at all- except, of course, as test subjects. They possess little to no rights and/or amenities, and are always drafted into the military corps' battle divisions to be sent where the fighting is thickest.

The only organized resistance to the Legion of Progress on Arcus is the Chainbreakers, a rebel group primarily composed of orcs. The Chainbreakers conduct guerilla warfare against the Legion's bases in hopes of destabilizing their regime. However, their efforts have so far proven futile, with far more losses than victories and no significant dent made to the Legion's power base.

As a sign of defiance, the Chainbreakers have adopted a bastardized version of the religion of Victorism, one of the many religions wiped off the face of Arcus during the Legion's takeover. Due to the fact that there are no surviving worshipers of that faith, the Chainbreakers' interpretation is not exactly the same as the original- whereas the original emphasized sapients' hubris in killing the dragon-gods (as the religion states they did), the new version describes it as a triumphant victory. The faith is close enough to rekindle angelic support from the old religion to the side of the new, however.

Spirits

Spoiler: Spirits

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Spirits are mysterious beings that exist in the Spiritvoid between dimensions. The motivations of spirits are not fully comprehensible to mortal minds. However, what is known is that they have an insatiable hunger for heat. No heat exists naturally in the Spiritvoid, so spirits can only consume heat by siphoning it from the dimensions or from other spirits, either by entering a dimension physically (through heat-death fracture or possessed soul-husk) or by making compact with divine practitioners. The spirits use this heat as a resource to do battle with other spirits, breed, or create or maintain a dimension.

Within the Spiritvoid, there is no concept of physical form; thus, spirits have no physical aspect by default. If a spirit enters a dimension through a fracture in its veil, this remains true even though the spirit now exists in a physical world. Such a spirit appears to the world's inhabitants to be a shifting mass of indescribable curvatures and alien geometries, at once transparent and opaque, implied upon the world's background rather than viewed directly. Such a vision strains the sanity, and the mere sight of a more powerful spirit can break weak-willed minds.

If a spirit enters a dimension by possessing a husk, the process is a bit different. The spirit will be unable to leave the husk while they remain in the dimension, but the husk will be unable to take in heat as it would normally. To avoid being drawn down to the mantle/lava sea and trapped there, the spirit will guide the husk to a suitable dead host (either plant or animal) and install it within that host. The resulting undead abomination generally appears similar to a spirit in its natural form, but composed of tentacles of necrotic flesh rather than implicit geometries.

In either case, a spirit within a world can passively drain that world's heat. They are also capable of sensing the heat within living souls and the heat channeled into magic. They can use this ability to track down victims and drain the heat from their souls.

It is unknown why spirits create lesser realms, let alone why they sometimes sacrifice themselves to do so. Some have theorized that these realms play some important role in staving off entropy, while others believe that they are instead meant to accelerate the process. Most, however, assume the spirits' long game to simply be unknowable. A spirit who rules over a lesser realm (either their own creation, a unruled lesser realm they claimed, or a realm they seized from its original owner) must have some way of interacting with their demesnes without giving in to their natural urge to consume it. Such creator-spirits can do so either by enlisting divine practitioners as proxy rulers or by binding lesser spirits as servants to enforce their will.

The ability a creator-spirit has to observe and control their realm increases the more they infuse their energy into it. However, doing so weakens them, leaving them more vulnerable to external attack by other spirits. A creator-spirit that chooses not to fully infuse themself (and sacrifice their life in the process) must strike a balance between internal control and external vulnerability.

Through ritual sacrifice, it is possible to guarantee that a victim's soul is flung into the Spiritvoid, and it is possible to draw that soul back through the veil once a spirit has inhabited it. This means that a skilled practitioner can summon a spirit into a dead host. An exceptionally skilled practitioner can even avoid being immediately killed by the spirit when the ritual succeeds.

Spirits are almost never known to cooperate with one another; when two spirits interact (either within a dimension or within the Spiritvoid) it is generally a battle in which each attempts to overpower the other, to steal the other's stored heat and protect their own. Only two known exceptions to this "law of the fishes" interaction exist. Bantas appears to have been created by two creator-spirits working in tandem; one of them gave up its life at the end of the process, while the other continues to watch over it. Additionally, the race of Illithids was created by a group of extraordinarily powerful spirits known only as the Clave; the goals of the organization- if it can be called that- are just as inscrutable as those of any other spirits. In both cases, it is unknown why the spirits chose to cooperate in such a manner.

Tieflings

Spoiler: Tieflings

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Tieflings are considered to be native to the plane of Vel Khar. However, their ancestors were actually interplanar travelers, a persecuted group of human divine practitioners and spirit worshipers that chose to flee persecution by escaping to another dimension. On Vel Khar, they made a deal with the world's creator-spirit: They would remain on the plane and act as its caretakers, and in exchange, they would be treated as the dominant mortal species on the plane in addition to being granted access to divine magic. As a known side-effect of this agreement, the proto-tieflings' biology changed over the course of several generations, causing them to take on their distinctive appearance. Over the course of many millennia, the tieflings forgot their heritage, not realizing that they were ever anything other than the rulers of Vel Khar.

Tiefling society was hierarchical, with a complex system of "honor" governing who owed deference and/or obedience to whom. In truth, little honor existed in this system; no tiefling truly followed it to the letter, and every tiefling attempted to exploit it to increase their own standing. At the top of the ladder was the Council of the Unending, a small oligarchy of tieflings who had embraced lichdom as a means of extending their rule indefinitely.

The tieflings were not kind rulers. Their cruelty towards goblins, Vel Khar's native race, eventually resulted in a goblin uprising culminating in the heat-death of the plane. However, several members of the Council of the Unending managed to escape, and some are still alive today.

[Lightweaver]

Gates

Spoiler: Gates

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It is possible to create gates, arcane constructs of magical technology, which even non-practitioners may use to pass between worlds en-masse. The method by which a gate can be constructed is unknown outside of the dragonworlds, and is kept completely secret from the population by the dragonworlds' governments. Though many have attempted to reverse-engineer captured gates or steal blueprints to construct their own, the duplicates are almost never functional for some reason.

Outside of the dragonworlds, only the goblins are known to have discovered the secrets to the creation of gates, and they no longer use them. Though the dragonworlds still make frequent use of gates, they generally don't build more on their own soil, preferring to reduce the risk of direct invasion by instead "branching out" the gate network from worlds they've conquered and drained.

Mage-Beacons

Spoiler: Mage-Beacons

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A mage-beacon is a device in the form of a large rune-carved spire or obelisk that drains energy from the world and converts it to usable magic for a bonded practitioner to use, or transmits that energy to another beacon on another world. Like a gate, a mage-beacon is constructed of a combination of enchantment and mundane technology. A connection with a beacon can be obtained through a ritual requiring (among other things) the practitioner's blood to be shed upon the device. Once the connection is established, however, the practitioner can use the magic the beacon provides anywhere, on any realm, so long as the beacon itself remains intact. The amount of power a practitioner gains from a mage-beacon varies based on how much they are capable of handling and how much is allotted to them by that beacon's operators.

On Arcus, power is distributed within the scientific corps to specific researchers based on how much they require for their research and what priority is assigned to their research by Parvus. Power is distributed within the military corps based on the specific job and magical skill of the individual receiving it (for example, a skilled support-warmage receives more than an equally skilled elven assassin, and both receive more than a lesser-skilled squad mage).

On Derrethorn, power is distributed based on how much one can pay the corporation providing it.

On Zuryl, power is distributed only to the dragonborn priests, with those highest within the theocracy receiving the most.

[Lightweaver]

So, what do y'all think? Is it good, bad, in between? I'm always looking for feedback, so please do point out areas that are in need of improvement.

[Torrin]

Legitimately Interested. I think it's pretty neat, but I'm too tired to offer constructive criticism right now. Can't wait to see what you do with this!

[Lightweaver]

Updated with a ton of new info and proofreading. All that's left to flesh out is Zuryl and a couple of Thornian city-states.

[Lightweaver]

Welp, it's finally complete- probably long after everyone stopped caring Still, good to have it all down.

[Sizzlefoot]

Wow, this is great! I really like your magic system.