| Here is part 3....
Ocean: A pre-Shattering myth. According to legends, much of the world was once covered with great bodies of water which were only separated by areas of land. These bodies of water were referred to as oceans. Supposedly, the bodies were so large that one could travel for days, even weeks before encountering dry land. (See also: Shattering, The)
Oramis: Setting for the Shattered World campaign. Once a solid world, Oramis was blown apart as the result of a Wizard War fought between twin brothers, both of whom were powerful mages. Due to a great deal of foresight and Foresight by diviners of the Wizards’ Guild, Oramis was saved but forever changed. Today, Oramis is composed of one thousand floating islands (called shards) suspended within an envelope of air which revolves around the Oramian sun in approximately the same position formerly occupied by the pre-Shattering world. True night is now unknown in the shards, though some shards experience brief twilight-like hours of semi-darkness (known as darkfall). Unfortunately, the moon is believed to have been blown from its orbit and is now nothing more than a fondly-remembered legend. (See also: Darkfall; Moon; Shard; Shattering, The; Wizard War; Wizards' Guild.)
Ostoria: Lost capitol city of the dwarves. Before the Shattering, Ostoria was the greatest of the underground dwarven cities, well-known for its beauty and finery. When the Shattering occurred Ostoria was ripped apart. With their caverns and tunnels collapsing all around them, the dwarves were forced to retreat to the surface. Dwarves have been searching for it since the Shattering, but it has not yet been recovered. (See Races of Oramis: Dwarves. See also: Shattering, The.)
Pattern Book: Used in combination with a globe to predict the future. (See also: Globe.)
Proxy: A person who temporarily fills the role of Shard Lord should a Shard Lord ever need to leave his shard. Without appointing a proxy, a Shard Lord cannot leave his shard. Both Shard Lord and Shard-Key must approve of a proxy before he can recieve charge of its care. (See also: Shard ; Shard Key; Shard Lord)
RASAMA: An acronym which stands for The Royal Academy for the Study and Advancement of the Mystical Arts. This is the formal name of the Wizards’ Guild. The Guild formally and openly receives the endorsement of the shards comprising the Kusaran Alliance, since its main goal is the Restoration of the world to its former solid shape. Branches of RASAMA, also known less commonly as the Wizards’ Guild, are known (at least to mages) to exist on many shards, however most -except for the University on Tartassos - exist in secret owing to the paranoia most mundanes feel toward mages. (See The Gazeteer of Shards: Tartassos. See also: Kusaran Alliance; Mundane; Restoration, The; Shard; University on Tartassos; Wizards’ Guild.)
Restoration, The: The name applied by Guild Mages to the major goal of RASAMA - the restoration of Oramis into a solid whole. (See also: Guild Mages; Oramis; RASAMA.)
Rogue Wizard: A wizard who has refused to join the Wizards’ Guild. Such mages are hunted by Guild mages. It is rumored that the Wizards’ Guild sometimes sells information concerning known rogue wizards to the radical organization known as the Witch Hunters. Certain types of magic are also forbidden and those who practice them are considered rogue mages. The fobidden types of mage are: Necromancers, Wild Mages, Demonists and Diabolists (types of Thaumaturgist). (See also: Guild Mages; Witch Hunters; Wizards’ Guild.)
Seas: The seas of Oramis have changed, as has the rest of the world. When the Shattering occurred, seas and lakes which were not land-bound flooded off the shards into the Wind Ways. Today, the seas (and there are seven of these) resemble large, free-floating, amorphous globs of fluid. There are also several fresh water "lakes." Some aquatic life still remains in the seas of Oramis, supported at its most basic level by plankton. Seas appear bluish-green from a distance, while lakes are blue. (See also: Oramis; Shattering, The; Wind Ways, The.)
Second: A navigator will only obey the commands of a windrigger's captain. However there may be times when the captain needs to be off-ship or becomes incapacitated by some mishap (including death) and is unable to issue commands. For this reason, a windrigger captain may appoint up to two seconds - persons whom the ship recognizes as “next in command” and whose orders the ship will obey. A captain's bond with his ship can only be permanently severed by the captain's death, so once he is able to resume command, the ship will cease to respond to the second. Sometimes a ship captain will not appoint seconds - a very effective means of discouraging mutiny. (See also: Navigator; Windrigger)
Selene: See Moon.
Shard: Any of the ten thousand floating remnants of what was once the world of Oramis, resembling free-floating islands. They are composed of three parts: topside, shard-edge, and shard-root. A shard’s stability, atmosphere, climate, and gravity are maintained by magical devices known as shard-keys the existence of which is a closely kept secret. Windriggers must approach a shard at the shardedge. Otherwise, the shard’s gravity could possibly pull them down and result in shipwrecks. Due to the lack of a large, solid world to block the sun’s rays, there is no true night. Most shards will occasionally experience temporary periods of twilight-like darkness (called "darkfall") as another shard’s path prevents it from receiving the sun’s rays, or, if the shard rotates, it may turn "upside-down" away from the sun. Otherwise, the shard-world is stuck in a perpetual state of never-ending day. Obviously telling time is much more difficult here than on other worlds. Luckily, all of the inhabitants of the world of shards have developed strong internal clocks which lets everyone know when it is time to sleep. How this works is unknown, but it may be a side-effect of the same magic which provides each shard with its gravity and atmosphere. Magic varies from shard to shard. Some shards have normal magic, some have wild magic areas, and still others have dead magic areas, all of which are residual effects from the unleashing of the powerful magicks which caused the Shattering. Pre-shattering national borders have - for the most part - been forgotten, and are reated as little more than footnotes in the history of the world. After 1,000 years, such things seem really unimportant to Oramians. The people living on a shard cannot remember a time when they were ever a part of another nation. all that they are aware of is their current situation, and generally regard the edges of their shard as being the borders of their nation. (See also: Darkfall; Night; Oramis, Shard-edge; Shard-Key; Shard-Root; Top-Side; Windrigger.)
Shard-Edge: The rim of a shard; the point from which - if one continues walking - one will fall off the shard into the Wind Ways. (See also: Shard; Wind Ways, The.)
Shard-Key: Magical devices which exist on each and every shard. These devices maintain a shard’s gravity, climate, atmosphere, and stability. If a key is ever destroyed or removed from the shard it was designed to maintain, the shard will become unstable and could pose a threat to other shards as it becomes uncontrolled and uncontrollable.
No two shards’ keys are exactly alike, their forms being disguised so that you would not know what you were looking at even if you saw one. On shards which have ruling families, it is usual that this family will have the shard-key under its protection, since the possession of a key would basically give the holder complete control over the shard and its inhabitants. (An old Oramian proverb says, "He who holds the ability to destroy a thing controls a thing.") In the hands of a tyrant or other person with less than pure motives, the possession of a shard-key would be equivalent to holding the entire shard - and everyone on it - hostage, since simply by breaking it he would be sentencing everyone and everything on the shard to death. Also known as "keystones," or simply as "keys." (DM'S NOTE: The following information is NOT considered general knowledge and as such should not be made available to the players unless and until they discover it on their own. Shard-keys are actually sentient, intelligent artifacts that bond with their owners. They will not bond with anyone of chaotic or evil alignment. If such a person gains possession of a shard-key, the key will attempt to take over the mind of its new owner. If this fails, it will attempt to change the person’s alignment to something more fitting. It is up to the DM to decide what powers each individual key possesses, but each should have powers designed to prevent them from falling into the hands of the wrong person, as well as defensive powers in case they do. As sentient artifacts,a shard-keys sole purpose is to maintain a shard as closely as possible to it spre-shattering state.It can cast certian spells as needed to insure the preservation of the shard, such as Control Weather to summon rain if needed. A shard-key can operate independently of its owner to ensure a shard's safety) (See also: Shard.)  |