Multiversal Changes and You: Indrasena Edition

[Pathaky]

So, C.A.I.N. happened!

I'm taking this as a very belated opportunity to retool a lot of parts of Indrasena. I actually ran parts of this setting as a DnD campaign, and I'm more-or-less unifying pieces of lore and geography so I don't get so much mixed up in my head. Additionally, I'll be renaming some things as I go- I'm dissatisfied with some of the old names, and intend to change them. I'll make sure to clearly note when that's happening as they come up.

Here's the main changes!

New Base Elements:
- Moon
- War
- Light's Back!
- Truth
- Illusion (Conditional, doesn't grow much naturally but responds to outside uplinking extraordinarily well)

Geography:
Indrasena proper is still a megacontinent.

The Princely States dominate the southern continent, which is separated from the North by the Desert of Heretics and a nearly-impassible range of mountains. In the North are a collection of city-states connected by wide, rolling steppe, studded with the ruins of a cryptically ancient empire. The most prominent of these city-states is Profluo, Pearl of the North, which trades extensively with the Archipelago League, providing a market for Archie goods and a route for Free City exports to reach the Archipelago. It's also home to the largest concentration of elemental menhirs, locuses of magic that grant Indrasena's numerous elementals sapience and intelligence.

The Pashubi, nomadic steppe beastmen, are led by a new leader- Iron Aslan, who is organizing the tribes and clans into another great fighting force- a Mongrel Horde the likes of which hasn't been seen in generations. His forces claim to have unlocked the secrets of the ancient Magadhan technology dotting the North, and promises to bring it to bear against any who fail to bend the knee to his august personage.

The Princely States and the Archipelago League brokered a Concord of Peace after a brief and horrible period of hostilities following the Archipelago League's Declaration of Friendship and Confederation. That peace was challenged by the Light Island Crisis, in which Elemental Light ceased to operate as a foundational Base Element, leading to mass sickness and the catastrophic sinking of the Light Islands. The arrival of Elemental Hope, and the appearance of the new, unexplored Hope Islands, raised questions of territoriality in both the States and the League.

The arrival of these new Base Elements has thrown everything out of balance.

Hope continues to grow, a resilient but unreliable force for good, peace, and cooperation.
Associated Entities:
The Detente Movement (Archipelago League)
The Unbroken Circle
Order of Viveka Havirsama (Faith of Indrasena, Princely States)

War arrives, sparking fresh conflict, encouraging True Patriots to arms and dredging up ancient weaponry. Pisuna-Pratipaksha, the Divded Star, shines brightly in the night sky. Rakshasha and Asura find passage from Pisuna-Pratipaksha to Indrasena much easier, and their eternal cyclical war spills into the desolate, blood-soaked places of the world.
Associated Entities:
Iron Aslan (The Iron North)
Archipelago League
The Princely States and Faith of Indrasena
The Magadhan Doom
Pisuna-Pratipaksha, the Divided Star (Variably Accessible Devaloka, or Worldgod)

Moon is new, empowering the capricious genies, allowing many to slip their bindings and escape back to their Palaces to plot terrible vengeance against their captors. Their fickle Wish-Magic is empowered, both as blessing and bane.
Associated Entities:
The Genie Courts

Truth washes across Indrasena, opposing Moon. Naming-Magic is empowered, and Upadrashta, The Ordered Star, rises to prominence. Mantra-intoning Chitbhasa Mechanichim appear to guide mortals on Indrasena in Right Action, and rogue Demented and Unknown utilize the dimensional backwash of Aetherics to escape the tyranny of perfect unbending Law.

Light returns, marking the evolution of the Light Island Crisis as refugees return to their island home and engage in the long and arduous process of rebuilding their lives and homes. Undead, having lost their traditional weakness previously, are chastened by a resurgence in holy magic dedicated to their destruction.

Illusion is an odd case. It's not a Base Element, even now, but it does a pretty good job of pretending to be one, due to the influence and effort of the Caels Aetherius.

The Illusion Islands were assailed by a wave of Truth and lost much of their mooring in reality. It seemed as though they were destined for destruction, their brief life in Indrasena nothing more than a mirage, dissolving upon scrutiny.

Several actors intervened.The Aetheriuses, of course, and the brightest minds of the Magic and Psychic Islands. Those ensured the birth of the Illusion Islands, but what's helping them persist under the onslaught of an element designed specifically to scour Illusion, that operates as a foundational element of Indrasena's universe is the arrival of elemental Moon. Itself a capricious, veiling element, Moon provides an additional anchor for Illusion to cling to. Through the assent of Cael and Caelum Aetherius, a V.I.P. also intervened, throwing no small amount of off-world metaphysical muscle behind, cementing it's place, and possibly this V.I.P.'s own place, in Indrasena.

The Illusion Islands are still only semi-real. In a world where Truth is a foundational building block of the universe, Illusion has to pick it's battles, after all. Still, those with the know-how can always find their way there, and those without accidentally find themselves there when they go off-course. They persist in the Eastern Ocean, close neighbors with the unpredictable roaming Islands of the Moon, the salt-choked machinery, battle arrays and sanctuaries of violence that make up the War Islands, and the steely promontories and sharp angles of the Truth Islands.

Off-world Actors:
Several of the Knightly Orders have found a foothold on Indrasena. The most notable Knightly Orders currently active (with operating local Fortress-Monestaries) are listed below. They've marginally more active in the Princely States than the Archipelago, but can be found in most populated places.

Knights Clad in Eternal Red
Tier: 1
Element: Fire
Purpose: Eliminate evil beings that use fire to twisted ends, with a focus on demons and efreet

Knights of Heaven
Tier: 1
Element: Light
Purpose: Work alongside upper-planar beings to fight against the forces of the lower planes

Knights of the Illuminated Mind
Tier: 1
Element: Truth
Purpose: Combat illusion, lies, and sources of deception

Knights of the Sacred Veil
Tier: 1
Element: Illusion
Purpose: Keep the forces of evil from uncovering knowledge that would help them gain advantages over the forces of good

Knights of the Olive Branch
Tier: 1
Element: Hope
Purpose: Stop the machinations of War-element beings and the spread of elemental War

Knights of the Wall of Blades
Tier: 1
Element: War
Purpose: Use mighty weapons aimed with purpose to suppress the spread of evil and progressively gain ground for the forces of good.

[Lord Gadigan]

Knight involvement is approved. This can be considered reviewed by me if it gets closed out without further posts.