The world outside the NAE

In XCC, you're a superstar athlete taking your chances in a live-on-pay-per-view death sport. It’s a modern-day world with a fantasy twist, and the game is simple: the Dungeon Judge, or DJ, creates an artificial dungeon under controlled — but lethal — conditions. Can you survive?

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Matthias
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The world outside the NAE

Post by Matthias »

I don't remember much if anything being mentioned about Europe, Asia, Africa, etc. in the Xcrawl universe. What's the rest of the world like? Does Max Xcrawl go into any detail?

EDIT: I found the world histories in the 3.5 edition. Yay me :)
DJ LaBoss
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Re: The world outside the NAE

Post by DJ LaBoss »

Hip! Glad you found those.

As soon as I can find the space in something I am going to do an updated version of the history and geopolitical breakdown of Xworld. Watch This Site For Details!

be well,


Brendan
Matthias
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Re: The world outside the NAE

Post by Matthias »

I liked how Pathfinder's Golarion setting had its own solar system planned out, with each planet having its own style and ecology.

What do you think of this, just one possible outline of Xworld's solar system? It borrows from established astronomy as well as modern myth (fictional/hypothetical planets, etc.) I stopped deliberately at Twelve Planets but I think there could be niche for inhabited comets, "moon-people" living on Earth's natural satellite, the long-period planetoid Sedna, inhabited "trojan" asteroids in the L4 and L5 regions of the outer planet orbits, and so on.

Determining the names of the planets was a little tricky; it would no doubt be considered sacrilegious to start naming the planets after the actual standing pantheon of the game world. So I went to the Etruscans for help.

-- begin --

Assuming previously established facts of technology still hold, no technology yet exists which allows any Earthborn persons to escape the planet's atmosphere, let alone reach orbit. Magical teleportation might allow visitations to other planets but presumably knowledge of such spells is tightly controlled by the state and innovations in this area might be viciously suppressed. The Emperor does not want to open Pandora's Box of powerful spellcasters escaping the control of the NAE. (The other empires enforce similar strictures on their own gifted populations.)

As it has always been, legends and myths persist of these far-off worlds hosting fantastical creatures and civilizations totally alien to the inhabitants of the NAE. In reality, there are powers that watch for offworld teleportations. They enforce a long-standing quarantine over the Earth by imposing a simple rule: once you leave, you can't go back. The ruling states of Earth know about the quarantine and that it is imposed from the outside, though they don't necessarily know much about the nature or capabilities of these offworld beings, only that they are capable of preventing any teleportation attempt to return to Earth from the outside. This may be another part of the reason why no governments on Earth have ever indulged in a space program or in putting things into orbit (at least, not publicly).


SOL (THE SUN)
Diameter: x100
Mass: x330,000
Gravity: x28
Atmosphere: N/A
Orbit: N/A
Flora/Fauna: None
Description: The solar system primary. The nearest star to Terra, the sun continously radiates searing fire and positive energy in all directions.


THE INNER PLANETS

SOL I (SETHLANS) [analogue to Vulcan, hypothetical planet]
Diameter: x1/40
Mass: x1/40
Gravity: x1/40
Atmosphere: None
Orbit: 20 days
Flora/Fauna: None
Description: Due to its proximity to the sun, the surface of this world is perpetually molten. If it could be said to have an atmosphere at all, it is composed entirely of volcanic ash and superheated minerals. Unlike Turmis and Turan, the Lesser and Greater Companions, Sethlans is too small and too close to the sun to be visible from Terra. It is possible that Sethlans was a moon of Turmis or Turan, or that it was once a part of either planet. Only life based on elemental fire, light, positive energy, or pure force could possibly survive here.


SOL II (TURMIS) [analogue to Mercury]
Diameter: x3/5
Mass: x1/20
Gravity: x4/10
Atmosphere: Trace gases, unbreathable
Orbit: 80 days
Flora/Fauna: Simple unique flora
Description: A barren, blasted, sun-baked world made mostly of dense rock and an emperor's fortune in base metals. What passes for "air" on this world arrives mostly as vapors and ash carried away from the sun by its interior winds and captured by Turmis' feeble gravity. Turmis is known as the "Lesser Companion" among astronomers, who with keen eyes can observe the rising or setting of Turmis at sunrise or sunset.


SOL III (TURAN) [analogue to Venus]
Diameter: x9/10
Mass: x4/5
Gravity: x9/10
Atmosphere: Humid (and barely tolerable some places) but breathable
Orbit: 225 days
Flora/Fauna: Complex flora and fauna
Description: Known to the elves as Cytherea, Turan consists mostly of dense jungle in the temperate zones, with fetid swamps circling the tropical zones. Most of the native Turanian life survives in these regions. Turanian summers are often hot enough that the smaller bogs and lakes will completely boil off to steam, replenishing only when the cooler seasons prevail. Only the hardiest of life forms can thrive in such scorching heat. In the polar regions the dense vegetation gives way to steppe, with temperatures comparable to temperate Terran climes. Turan is known as the "Greater Companion" among astronomers, being more easily observable at sunrise and sunset.


SOL IV (TERRA) [analogue to Earth]
Diameter: x1
Mass: x1
Gravity: x1
Atmosphere: Standard
Orbit: 1 year
Flora/Fauna: Complex flora and fauna
Description: The homeworld of Man (and many other races).


SOL V (ULTOR) [analogue to Mars]
Diameter: x1/2
Mass: x1/10
Gravity: x3/5
Atmosphere: Thin but breathable
Orbit: 2 years
Flora/Fauna: Complex, predominantly carnivorous and predatory
Description: A mostly arid and cold world, liquid water passes for currency among its savage inhabitants, who must endure seasonal dust storms and chill winds coming off the polar ice caps.


SOL VI (HORTA AND MEMNON) [analogue to real-world Ceres and hypothetical Phaeton ]
Diameter
-- Horta: x1/25
-- Memnon: x1/8
Mass
-- Horta: x1/6,000
-- Memnon: x1/850
Gravity
-- Horta: x1/30
-- Memnon: x1/12
Atmosphere
-- Horta: None
-- Memnon: thin and cold but breathable
Orbit: 4 1/2 years
Flora/Fauna
-- Horta: Simple subterranean fauna
-- Memnon: simple surface flora and fauna
Description: These small planets occupy the same orbit but are always on opposite sides of the sun, and thus share the distinction of being the sixth planet. In addition they share this region of the solar system with thousands of other small planetoids, but their orbits have proven to be largely stable throughout the ages. Ceres is a barren, airless rock, devoid of surface life, similar in landscape to Turmis but much colder and rich in water ice. In contrast, Memnon is a livable if frigid world, with tall, wispy vegetation and gigantic, shaggy animals all adapted to the extreme cold and the negligible gravity.


THE OUTER PLANETS

SOL VII (TIGNA) [analogues to Jupiter and the Galilean moons]
Diameter
-- Tigna: x11
-- Herkal:
-- Kastur:
-- Uventi:
-- Polux:
Mass
-- Tigna: x315
-- Herkal:
-- Kastur:
-- Uventi:
-- Polux:
Gravity
-- Tigna: N/A (no definable surface)
-- Herkal:
-- Kastur:
-- Uventi:
-- Polux:
Atmosphere
-- Tigna: Scorching and unbreathable
-- Herkal: Hot and unbreathable
-- Kastur: Breathable
-- Uventi: Cold but breathable
-- Polux: trace gases, unbreathable
Orbit: 12 years (Tigna)
Flora/Fauna
-- Tigna: Simple membranous flora
-- Kastur: simple surface life, complex marine life
-- Uventi: simple flora
-- Polux: complex marine flora and fauna
Description: Great Tigna is the largest and by far most massive planet in the solar system. Its atmosphere makes up most of its diameter and consists of turbulent winds across several layers and latitudes of clouds, and is continually wracked with storms lasting centuries and many times larger than any inner planet of the solar system. Though Tigna is relatively far from the sun, the fires of its interior throw off more heat from the planet than it gets from what little sunlight reaches it. Far beneath the cloud layers is a vast ocean of exotic liquid metal; beneath that, a core of pure diamond. Not that any mortal being could hope to possess it...

Tigna bears many minor satellites as well as four moons (satellites with rounded bodies). These moons are as remarkable as its parent: Herkal, a molten ball of hellfire; Kastur, a humid, Turan-like swamp world--a lush paradise of mostly water, dotted with archipelagos, undersea volcanos, and frequent tsunamis; Uventi, a chilled desert world with windswept plains broken up by ancient mountain chains; and Polux, a world locked in permafrost, its crust a shell of ice miles thick. All these moons have life, even Polux. The last moon harbors feeble civilizations in the impenetrable dark where Tigna's gravity leaves torturous, lava-ridden wounds across the surface of the moon's molten core, creating "islands" of precious warmth for its inhabitants to commune (or fight) over.

SOL VIII (RATH AND TARQUIN) [analogues to Saturn and Titan]
Diameter
-- Rath: x11
Mass
-- Rath: x95
Gravity
-- Rath: N/A (no definable surface)
Atmosphere
-- Rath: Very cold and unbreathable
-- Tarquin: Very cold and almost unbreathable
Orbit: 30 years (Rath)
Flora/Fauna
-- Rath: Simple membranous flora and fauna
-- Tarquin: simple surface flora
Description: Rath is a smaller, less dense version of Tigna, and puts out much less internal heat than the larger planet. Besides having seven moons to Tigna's four, Rath is graced with a complex ring system and numerous minor satellites. Its largest moon, Tarquin, rivals the inner planets themselves in terms of mass and diameter. Its landscape is as alien as any other outer moon, however, being subject to freezing temperatures and perpetual twilight, not to mention the harsh oils and strange substances mixed in with the ordinary air. It would be an alchemist's dreamland for any who could survive here.

SOL IX (USIL) [analogue to Ouranos]
Diameter: x4
Mass: x15
Gravity: N/A (no definable surface)
Atmosphere: Extremely cold and unbreathable
Orbit: 84 years
Flora/Fauna: Coldlife
Description: Usil is an "ice giant" with five moons and many minor satellites.

SOL X (NETHUNIS) [analogue to Neptune]
Diameter: x4
Mass: x17
Gravity: N/A (no definable surface)
Atmosphere: Extremely cold and unbreathable
Orbit: 165 years
Flora/Fauna: Coldlife
Description: Nethunis is an "ice giant" with a single true moon and several minor satellites.

SOL XI (MANTUS AND MANEA) [analogue to Pluto and Charon]
Diameter
-- Mantus: x1/5
-- Manea: x1/11
Mass
-- Mantus: x1/450
-- Manea: x1/3,950
Gravity
-- Mantus: x1/15
-- Manea: x1/35
Atmosphere
-- Mantus: Trace gases, unbreathable
-- Manea: None
Orbit: 250 years
Flora/Fauna: None
Description: Best described as a "double planet".

SOL XII (DYS) [analogue to Eris]
Diameter: x1/5
Mass: x1/360
Gravity: x1/12
Atmosphere: Trace gases, unbreathable
Orbit: 560 years
Flora/Fauna: None
Description: The loneliest place in the solar system.


ROGUE PLANETS AND DEMON STARS

Many mythologies share a common idea of "rogue planets" and "demon stars" approaching the inner solar system from beyond the region of the outer planet, and bringing with them comets, meteor showers, earthquakes, eclipses, cataclysms, and the worldwide floods. Linked with most ancestral storys is the warning that if it happened once, it could happen again. Astronomers and sages have watched for "new planets" very carefully for generations, in dread of observing a star becoming 'unfixed' in the heavens. Small-scale panics, social unrest, and suicide cults invariably follow the observation of a "traveler" beginning to shed its light as a steady streak across the sky, generally interpreted as bad omens by primitives and civilized folk alike.
lonewolf23k
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Re: The world outside the NAE

Post by lonewolf23k »

I personally decided to flesh out my XCrawl campaign world with new countries/empires of my own choosing, partially inspired by some Cyberpunk-based sourcebooks I have. For example:

-A Magical USSR, to have a true 80s era Cold War feeling. I might grab the Red Star Campaign setting pdf from Green Ronin games for that.
-A Kingdom of Japan that is very heavily inspired by Anime tropes. Less Dragon-ruled, instead the Imperial line is descended from the Sun Goddess Amaterasu and all Emperors are Divine Casters of her.
-The real Land of Dragons is China, and in this case it's primarily Imperial Dragons (Bestiary 3). Basically China minus the communist revolution.
-A Transcarpathian Kingdom ruled by Dracula.
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