Concordance of Spheres
An integral tool for Shardshaping , this ritual is the foundation from which all other rituals are derived. Created from careful observation of the celestial bodies moving within the Nebula and forces that erupt when they collide, this spell seeks to emulate the energies that gather prior to these convergences to bring about a faint connection.
To Travel the Shards
For time immemorable the dangers of traveling the Nebula had persisted. A churning logistical nightmare filled with uneven dangerous causeways, nightmare creatures and untold hazards in the mists, it was impractical to travel from one shard to another with caravans. A convergent solution emerged for those that studied the boundaries of the world, a solution that would find rediscover time and time again- to emulate the Concordance of Spheres.
The first stellar mystery that presented to emergent shardshapers is how the tumoltuous multiverse the boundaries of their worlds react consistently when shards collide. Moving with great mass and speed through the multiverse it is conventionally thought that the collisions of such titanic proportion would devastate eachother- however such convergences result otherwise, although the resulting calamity is of a different shade entirely. In the days before a collision great upheavals in power in the edge and the surrounding aether ripple in anticipatory preparation even if the plotted courses indicate that it is unlikely an impact is to occur.
While some naturalists used this as a prognostication tool to detect future and prepare for future convergence events, the ambitious searched for methods to emulate these energetic patterns of keening of "call and respond" between the shards. Using materials they found at great cost, small successes lead to larger ones as temporary solutions lead to permanent ones. In time the methods of empire stirred in the hearts of man as infrastructure and security could be projected far from their home realms as the multiverse became a smaller and smaller place.
The Costs of Empire
Astral Point are an abstraction used for shardshaping and gained through adventuring in the spaces between shard boundaries. Adventurers can gainfully acquire these wellsprings of power through searching the outskirts of a shard and containing it, redirecting them to more accessible areas or consolidating them. An abstract currency of power, these represent volatile gases, liquids and solids that embody the power of the land or mana. Once used by a ritual they are spent at risk as a cost of casting it. In general, AP is tracked on an individual basis but it can also be assigned to an organization for their purposes as well.
Creating, and maintaining and securing connections is often a cyclical act as Astral Points are used in every process regarding connections, but can also be gained while performing these activities. Despite this allure, shardshaping is considered by many to be a risky behavior tantamount to summoning demons, consulting the dead or creating explosives. Although these activities are considered essential to empire, they are incredibly hazardous and many institutions are created to rationalize these costs and compensate the families of those ritualists who perish on duty, an outcome that is not an irregular occurance.
Extended Encounters
As a cost of the shardshaping activity, rank six and higher rituals experience an encounter with a nebular entity as a result of their meddling with the phenomenon that exists beyond their mortal limits to control. Through a combination of risk factors: the length of the ritual, the exposure to the nebula with an ever weakening length of edge, the presence of vast quantities of expended astral essences, or the great distances that the connection has to extend- there are simply too many variables that leave room for risk and failure, necessitating great caution, preparation and training for the participants involved. Inevitably, during the casting of this ritual someone or something will notice the ritualists from beyond the edge of their world and investigate.
Home to innumerable extraplanar creatures, awakened monsters, intelligent undead and mad mages, more than often these encounters involve defending the ritual site and the lives of the casters. In other instances, the astral essences have been prone to react negatively with their nebular exposure and assume a life of its own, neccessitating it being quelled as it defends itself. Better funded empires will prepare for these eventualities by staffing guards and bringing up the cost of their rituals. Adventurers and their smaller organizations are not privy to such extravagencies and frequently have to resolve these conflicts with their own hands, lest the deaths of their casters interrupt the ritual they invested in. As an incidental product, often rare minerals and materials can be synthesized and scavenged from such encounters and are not totally without benefit.
Complications
Here is a non-exhaustive list of the manner ofcomplications that could occur while performing this ritual.
- Elementals have misinterpreted your ritual for a mating display and respond with aggression
- Extraplanar raiders have found your ritual site and mark it, they plot an ambush to overwhelm you.
- The connection extends into the territory of a dragon who takes special interest in subjugating you.
- A delegation of people bridge the burgeoning connection you are forming and challenge you, questioning your intents disfavourably.
- Connective passageways prove to be non-linear and need an expedition to reach the shard on the side of the connection.
- The astral essences develop a body and sentience. They are unwilling to be expended to complete the ritual.
- A soujourned lich has noticed your developments and wants to take them for his own, you are attacked by a horde of undead.
- Nebular weather leeches through the connection and begins to affect the shard you are on, you must find a way to seal it off.
- There is an astral body that is disrupting your ritual's casting as you create the connection, create an arcane calbrator to fix it.
- Droves of migrating animals from the other realm overwhelm you briefly and spill into the local ecosystem.
Divine Collusion
When complicated to it's furthest limits and the boundries of this ritual are pushed at the 8th rank this ritual requires the endorsement of a divine being to have a chance of success. Such a connection, across numerous sectors of the Nebula is a monumental endeavor that requires absurd amounts of material, time, and security to complete. With the risk so high, failure is inevitable and only through the guidance of a deity can the margins of error be brought to acceptable levels. As a cost of this ritual, the primary caster must have ample favor with a major deity whose power and fellowship is resplendent throughout the sector the target is in. The ritual opens with a blessing and words of wisdom from secondary caster responsible for the Religion check, to contact the higher power and form contract.
The deity contacted determines much of the overall experience. Favor can be accumulated through quests and sacrifices, and despite the willingness to help, the safety of the ritual is still not guaranteed. Frequently this is taken as an opportunity by the entity to curate the ritual experience and gauge the worthiness of the individuals participating in it. Even to clerics of their fellowship, expending this favor presents a great opportunity for a test of faith. At the conclusion of the ritual, should all the participants survive- an appeased being often rewards determination and entertainment in their name with physical rewards. As such, these rituals never experience threats generated at random, and are curated challenges meant to foil the ritualists and test the limits of their skill.
Consequence
Connecting two previous portions of the multiverse together that were never close before can be an incredibly consequential act. Peoples with radically different cultures interact and sometimes make bad first impressions. Materials and processes foreign to people can become suddenly available shifting the paradigms of their civilization. Armies can pass through connections and through logistics increase the swiftness and intensity of mobilization between the two shards. Flora and fauna frequently have access to connections and can be granted mobility to migrate to new shards, causing great upheavals in ecologies as they move. Consider thoroughly the impact that forming a connection might have on the regionality of the worlds affected while weighing the benefits it may bring you.Bridge a Connection |
Ritual 2 |
| Uncommon | Shardshaping | Trial |
Source Nebula, the Shattered Land
Cast 1 day;
Cost 20 Astral Points per rank and for each sector crossed to reach the target; rare gemstones and quintessences worth 20 gp x the spell rank;
Secondary Casters 2, +1 for every second spell rank
Primary Check Arcana or Shardshaping Lore, Secondary Checks Occult, Crafting
Area A twenty foot cube of an edge, which is to be prepared during the ritual casting time simultaenously;
Range Within the same realm;
Target A shard whose name you know and can visualize within your mind with some clarity
Critical Success The connection is made flawlessly and it lasts twice as long after other modifiers. Any progress made while securing the connection is doubled.
Success The connection succeeds and the shards are linked through a temporary tunnel through the Nebula.
Failure You begin to lose control of the connection as it becomes unstable, before it becomes hazardous you close the connection.
Critical Failure You lose control of the connection completely as it becomes unstable, a crisis occurs in both shards as the hazards of the Nebula,the unmanaged power of the aether, and Nebular fiends ravage the countryside. This often causes an international incident and it is incredibly difficult to scrub this from your reputation.
Heightened
(3rd) The range expands to inside the same realm; the cast time increases to 2 days.
(4th) The range expands to inside the same stellar neighborhood; the cast time increases to 4 days; the secondary casters increase to 3 and must include a Nature check.
(5th) The range expands to inside the same sector; the cast time increases to 7 days; the secondary casters increase to 3 and must include a Nature check.
(6th) The range expands to inside the same quadrant; the cast time increases to 11 days; the secondary casters increase to 5 and must include a Nature and Performance check; an extended encounter with an alien Nebular creature may complicate the ritual further during the casting period.
(7th) The range expanse to any adjacent quadrant; the cast time increases to 16 days; the secondary casters increase to 5 and must include a Nature and Performance check; an extended encounter with an alien Nebular creature may complicate the ritual further during the casting period.
(8th) The range expands to any point within the Nebula; the cast time is one month; the secondary casters increases to 8 and must include a Nature, Performance and Religion check; encounters with alien Nebular entities are commonplace and threaten the safety of those living in the shard. A greater deity must be entreated for in order to finalize the connection as it binds to the other shard.
Cast 1 day;
Cost 20 Astral Points per rank and for each sector crossed to reach the target; rare gemstones and quintessences worth 20 gp x the spell rank;
Secondary Casters 2, +1 for every second spell rank
Primary Check Arcana or Shardshaping Lore, Secondary Checks Occult, Crafting
Area A twenty foot cube of an edge, which is to be prepared during the ritual casting time simultaenously;
Range Within the same realm;
Target A shard whose name you know and can visualize within your mind with some clarity
You create a temporary connection from a designated area on your current shard to another shard within the realm. The connection is volatile and dangerous and requires infrastructure to be made more permanent. This accessway is not exclusive and creatures, substances and magical phenomenon will begin transferring from one side of the connection to the other.
The distance within the connection can vary, but at it's most stable it is two miles long for every spell rank. The realm is a dreamlike place, sometimes a combination of the two shards and the domains between the two begin to blend together and start incorporating creatures, structures and travelers in the Aether between the two shards. In order to secure the tangibility and safety of the connection, players must perform a Secure mission type to progress the development of the connection.
Critical Success The connection is made flawlessly and it lasts twice as long after other modifiers. Any progress made while securing the connection is doubled.
Success The connection succeeds and the shards are linked through a temporary tunnel through the Nebula.
Failure You begin to lose control of the connection as it becomes unstable, before it becomes hazardous you close the connection.
Critical Failure You lose control of the connection completely as it becomes unstable, a crisis occurs in both shards as the hazards of the Nebula,the unmanaged power of the aether, and Nebular fiends ravage the countryside. This often causes an international incident and it is incredibly difficult to scrub this from your reputation.
(3rd) The range expands to inside the same realm; the cast time increases to 2 days.
(4th) The range expands to inside the same stellar neighborhood; the cast time increases to 4 days; the secondary casters increase to 3 and must include a Nature check.
(5th) The range expands to inside the same sector; the cast time increases to 7 days; the secondary casters increase to 3 and must include a Nature check.
(6th) The range expands to inside the same quadrant; the cast time increases to 11 days; the secondary casters increase to 5 and must include a Nature and Performance check; an extended encounter with an alien Nebular creature may complicate the ritual further during the casting period.
(7th) The range expanse to any adjacent quadrant; the cast time increases to 16 days; the secondary casters increase to 5 and must include a Nature and Performance check; an extended encounter with an alien Nebular creature may complicate the ritual further during the casting period.
(8th) The range expands to any point within the Nebula; the cast time is one month; the secondary casters increases to 8 and must include a Nature, Performance and Religion check; encounters with alien Nebular entities are commonplace and threaten the safety of those living in the shard. A greater deity must be entreated for in order to finalize the connection as it binds to the other shard.
For DMs: Consult the complications section for guidance on extended encounters to have during the ritual activity as well as quest ideas to gain favor with a deity to finalize the higher rank versions of this ritual.
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