“I remember my headache on the trip to the Grove,” Gastropé said, nodding.
“So what was your news?” Jenn asked.
Gastropé paused and twisted his mouth rather sourly. “You were right; it was nothing to compare with your news. Fill me in on what Hilda’s team learned.”
Jenn nodded and began bringing Gastropé up to speed.
Appendix I: The Localverse
The localverse is the name given to alternate worlds or planes of existence that follow essentially the same rules of magic that Astlan does, but which are not alternate versions of Astlan. While the worlds have different sets and levels of wizardry, spells and arcane devices that work in one world work completely as expected in the other worlds of the Localverse, with no modification. Animagic and similar druidic and shamanistic magic also work normally, as do Holy Rituals, although the prayers and chants may be different for historical reasons.
At various points in time, various groups in Astlan have engaged in regular or semi-regular trade with these other worlds. The level of trade and interaction over the centuries has been dependent on the various groups, parties, nations on each world having thedesire or ability to trade.
One very interesting characteristic of these worlds is that they all share common timelines, meaning that every time one travels to one of the localverse worlds, it is always the same version of that world. Thus, all interactions between worlds are historically connected and are shared experiences between the planes. For example, if you were to talk to an individual on one of these worlds, the next time you returned, they would remember talking to you.
While this might sound obvious, technically, it is not. The principal concept of the multiverse is one of multiple versions of reality where different timelines exist. Worlds in the localverse share a common timeline. Now it is true that, if you ventured to Excelsior or another plane not in the universe, the same spell using the same coordinates would bring you to the same plane every time. It is possible to find timeline variants of the non-localverse worlds if one really tries. In some cases, it may take years or centuries of searching, but it can be done.
However, to date, no one has ever encountered an alternate timeline version of the other worlds in the localverse. What most scholars take this to mean is that the planes of the localverse are so close together that one cannot actually phase shift to those realms using conventional means. One would instead have to use a variant of a time travel spell to get to alternate versions, even as one would need to do to get to an alternate version of Astlan.
When traveling between these worlds, it is very important to know coordinates both for the world itself and for locations within the world. Thus, for example, while the same spell will allow one to travel to any of these worlds, the spells must be customized to include information on which world and where in that world to travel to (it can be inconvenient to materialize over a large body of water). The Council and its trading counterparts in these worlds have standardized spell variants for designated locations on each of these worlds. One presumes that other groups have done similar.
• Astlan
○ Our home world.
• Avalon
○ An orderly world that has many naturally forming gateways to other planes of existence. Avalon is a majority Sidhe world, with humans in the minority relative to Astlan.
• Etterdam
○ By Astlanian standards, Etterdam is a war-torn world ruled by a great number of feudal overlords. Kingdoms, nations, empires and dynasties tend to be rather fluid over the centuries, much more so than on Astlan.
• Ithgar
○ Ithgar is a pleasant world, not too different from Astlan in terms of temperament and wizardly skills. Ithgar does, however, have more conflict between humans and jötunnkind than Astlan.
• Nysegard
○ Nysegard is under severe travel restrictions by all sensible Astlanian authorities, not only wizardly ones, but by most major religions as well. Nysegard was overrun by the Unlife many thousands of years ago. While life still clings to the plane, the Forces of Darkness are the strongest on Nysegard of anywhere on this side of the multiverse. Nysegard is quite infamous for exporting its necromancers and Unlife to other planes within the localverse, seeking to gain footholds.
• Romdan
○ A land of vast plains and gentle mountains, there are many nomadic cultures on Romdan as well as a large number of sophisticated city-states.
• Targella
○ Targella is in some ways quite different than other worlds within the multiverse. Oddly, among the majority of races — human, alfar, orc and dwarven — more often than not, the societies are matrimonial rather than patrimonial. It is unclear why this would be so widespread, but it is often disturbing to travelers from strong paternalistic cultures.
Chapter 118
Reggie groaned as the dining hall disappeared around him. He was right in the middle of hearing Sekhmekt and Talarius regale them with their stories of battling the Knights of Chaos. He sighed as his mistress appeared before him along with her associate, Astor-Thoth.
His mistress, dressed as always in an extremely cleavage-enhancing dress, looked at him in puzzlement. “My slave, why do you seem so disappointed to see me? Do we not always have great pleasure together?”
Reggie bowed. “We do. I am sorry, mistress. It is simply that things where I live in the Abyss have been quite exciting and I was listening to Sekhmekt recount the day’s battle with the Knights of Chaos.”
Merit-Ptah blinked and got a blank expression on her face.
Astor-Thoth gasped, and Reggie looked curiously at the man. He seemed to have gone into something resembling shock. “Sekhmekt?” he asked.
“Yes, incredible warrior; she’s the wife of my buddy, Phaestus. We went and got her from their palace when we detected the Knights of Chaos approaching. Phaestus said she’d be really annoyed if she didn’t get to slay any.” Reggie shook his head in amazement. “And let me tell you, she killed a lot of them. It was glorious!”
Astor-Thoth sat down heavily in the chair behind him as Merit-Ptah continued to simply stare at Reggie. Reggie was not sure why they seemed so surprised. He looked around at the new lab; they were clearly still unpacking. It was interesting that the walls of their new place seemed to be made of white-painted adobe.
Merit-Ptah blinked slowly and sat down herself.
“This ‘buddy’ of yours, Phaestus? Does he have any other names?” Astor-Thoth asked.
Reggie shrugged. “Yeah, a whole pile, but he told me to call him Phaestus. Let’s see, Sekhmekt calls him Peter, or more like Peta, really. The djinn call him Vulcan, or something like a volcano. Which is interesting because he and his friend Völund actually built the volcano fortress we are living in.” Reggie’s eyes had gone back to his mistress’s cleavage. It really isn’t that bad being here, he reflected, staring at the large chocolate globes barely concealed by the dress.
“I probably should have asked this sooner, Merit-Ptah said slowly, “but where exactly do you live in the Abyss?”
“Oh, well, I just moved in a few days back myself. It’s this volcano called Mount Doom. My best friend, someone I knew before you summoned me, just restarted it. That’s where I’ve been. He had this big swearing-in ceremony where all the D’Orcs swore allegiance to him, and then we had this big party.”