Godstones are made of a featureless, grey, stone-like material called pseudostone, which is frequently used in Earthmaster construction. Pseudostone is impervious to physical harm and, when touched, usually seems to be at body-temperature or to have no temperature at all (ie. does not hold or conduct heat).
If the Godstone is active (turned on) its front side will frame an eight foot high regular trapezoid (4' at the base, 3' at the top) of sheer blackness. This opening is the "gate". The other side remains a shade of grey regardless. If the stone is passive (turned off) the front is indistinguishable from the back. Godstones are completely immobile. Even if the ground is dug away from beneath its base, a Godstone will remain in place, floating in mid air if necessary. However, the Earthmasters set most of their Godstones in pseudostone floors making this kind of experiment difficult. Godstones may be disguised by the addition of wood, stone or other facings and have occasionally been hidden by spells of illusion.
The grey colour of the Godstones has attracted the interest of many investigators. A close examination of the surface reveals a regular pattern of microscopic black and white areas. The areas of black appear to absorb light totally. The white areas reflect all light but are not mirror-like, since they scatter light equally in all directions. The areas of black appear to be trapezoidal in shape in identical proportions to an active gate. None of the investigators have been able to attach any significance to this observation.
The physical bodies of living things are manifestations of their personal "auras" or souls. Godstones act upon the auras of their users; it is this, the aura, that is actually teleported to a new location. Normally, only an item that has an aura of some kind will appear at the destination with the traveller. All living things have auras and will get through, although not always in the same form. (See "Possessions" below.)
One special feature of the Godstones is that they act to protect their users. In changing a traveller's bodily form, a properly functioning Godstone will insure that the new form will be able to survive in the destination world. Each traveller usually has a particular form for each world he goes to. But, since the body is a manifestation of the aura, if the traveller's personality has changed markedly in the interim, he may look considerably different on his return.
In most cases, the local population has little or no direct knowledge of nearby Godstones. They may be aquainted with shadowy tales of weird gates to dark places. Most regard Earthmaster sites with awe and avoid them when possible.
A few reports have reached Hârn as to the precise locations of Godstones on other worlds. Pymel the Meticulous wrote a cryptic note in his journal after returning from Terra:
...in Aegiptus was there one and Maya and also in Lanitus, but the last is sunk beneath the gray waves... and others there were too...Of Midgaad he wrote:
...Where dwells the white, the gray and the dark ones and too the fiery fiend, there they stand a-brooding..Few have been even this generous in telling of the locations of Godstones, even on their own worlds. Most people who discover a Gate keep it secret. Pymel inscribed these words in his personal journal which was released to his fellow arcanists only after his death.
There have been a few reports of Godstones that stood free, that is without a structure to house them. Pymel, a major source for such "common knowledge", writes:
There atop Haraka's Hill, but a few flights from the village square it stood. Dour and forbidding it encompassed the aspects of the villagers and they walked ever in its shadow and deemed their lives accursed that they should be born to dwell their lives in such a damn'd place as that...Pymel does not say where he encountered this unhappy village. He goes on to say that the villagers referred to the Godstone as a, "well of souls forsaken" and made regular sacrifices to it by casting people through the gate. This latter practice is not uncommon among primitive peoples who dwell near the gates.
The Khuzdul are less sensitive to the psionic fields of the Godstones, but they keep the stone in Azadmere closed for their own reasons. This may be because the Khuzdul have weak auras and consequent difficulty in using Godstones. Those Melderyni who have "knowledge" of the matter believe that they probably used the Godstones of Kiraz and Azadmere to immigrate to Hârn and do not wish to see them used again by that which they were fleeing. Khuzan interest in the Earthmasters seems to be limited to their building techniques, particularly the creation of pseudostone. But even these studies were let lapse when they discovered enough of the secret to realize that they could never duplicate Ancient masonry. The masons of other races have taken similar interest, but with even less success.
Other experiments have been attempted with Godstones but reports on the results are sketchy and may be totally fictional. There is one report of a Godstone being used as a handy place to toss garbage. As most of this had no aura it was consumed by the Godstone and probably not transported anywhere. This situation continued for some years, but eventually something must have overloaded, or so the story says, and what appeared to be all the garbage ever thrown in suddenly exploded out of the Godstone making the surrounding area uninhabitable for some time.
People have thrown inanimate objects into a gate with ropes around them, but all this seems to do is act like there is a room inside that one cannot see into. The object and the end of the rope sit there until they are pulled out. If an animate object is thrown in on a rope, the rope can be pulled out but the animal/person is gone, no matter how bound in the rope to start with.
Another example of an artifact that employs the same principles is the Sli-Hordrh; supposedly a translucent, pseudostone tetrahedron. One is secretly possessed by Daelda the king of Evael. Sli-Hordrh (it has never been clear how many of these there are) are reputed to only act on a part of the aura of their wielders, allowing their body to remain intact (and conscious?) while their point of perception wanders at will (something like astral travel).
Miginath, the king of Kaldor, is said to number among his possessions the (a?) N'Garith, an exquisite bowl that looks like pure white jade and grants visions to those who gaze within.
The most readily available and largest known artifact with Godstone-like effects is Gazer's well located on Foulspawn Hill at Elkall-Anuz. Gazers' Well, while it seems to be an ordinary reflecting pool, has water in which anything that cannot swim or tread water will sink, even wood. Even though there is a tunnel not too far beneath it, the well seems bottomless; anything cast in seems to disappear from the world. Lothrim the Foulspawner believed that the "bottom of Gazers' Well" was somewhere in Yashain. Lothrim was obsessed with proving his belief and would often have bystanders seized, weighted and thrown into the well. He would then stand for hours staring into the waters for some vision of his "volunteer ambassador". In case someone should appear on the surface, supposedly travelling in the other direction, he had a permanent guard stationed so that they could be seized for questioning.
Godstones operate at GM discretion; if a GM does not like the descriptions and/or rules we have presented, they should be left out of the campaign or modified to fit. Since they represent the easiest way to travel between worlds (see KELESTIA) GMs may use the gates to link different worlds under one or several GMs into a "megagame" where player-characters and NPCs can travel from one world to another in the course of their adventures. Each world may operate under different physical laws (game rules). Characters who make the transition from a world where they have incredible powers in a "magic-strong" or "easy-rule-set world" should find their abilities reduced when they arrive in a magic- weak environment like Kethira or Terra (and vice-versa). In such a megagame, each player might, in effect have several sets of characteristics; each set would apply to the same character, but would reflect changes of personal powers as he moves from one world to another. There are a number of interesting possibilities here.
Note: the Earthmasters had Auras in the 13-28 range. They would have had a much easier time handling the Godstones.
Some rules have versions of these characteristics that may be used. "Psi-Power" or "Psychic Sensitivity" (or perhaps even "Intelligence" or "Wisdom") may replace Aura. "Willpower" or "Mental Strength" can be used as Will. In any event, neither characteristic should go beyond the basic range of 1-20 (on Kethira anyway). GMs may adjust as needed.
A percentile roll is made. If the roll exceeds the Target Level the attempt fails; otherwise it succeeds. Any percentile roll divisible by five (5) is a critical result all other rolls indicate marginal results: Hence there are four possible levels of success: Critical Failure (CF); Marginal Failure (MF); Marginal Success (MS); or Critical Success (CS).
Attunement may be attempted by any character with an Aura and represents an empathic relationship between the stone and the character, who enters a mild semi-trance. Attunement is attempted by testing 5xAura. The results are interpreted as follows:
[CF] 4d6 FP, E4 Shock Roll, No attunement. [MF] 2d6 FP, E2 Shock Roll, No attunement. [MS] 1d6 FP, Character Attuned [CS] Character is attuned.As a result of an attempt at attunement, a character may acquire fatigue (FP) and/or be obliged to make a shock roll (E#). Once Attuned (MS/CS) the character may attempt one of the other operations that follow. An attuned character remains attuned until he voluntarily breaks the link, steps through the stone's portal, or accidently breaks the link by failing at some operation.
[CF] 3d6 FP, E3 Shock Roll, No information. [MF] 2d6 FP, E2 Shock Roll, No information. [MS] 1d6 FP, Character reads setting. [CS] Character reads setting.Note: that only the character who has actually read the setting should be given this information as he may wish to mislead others in the party. The information given should be restricted to a visual description of the destination, unless the character has been there before.
Note: that experienced characters will soon note the difference between an active and passive Godstone by the presence or absence (respectively) of the black "gate" on its front, but even this basic difference may occasionally be disguised by illusory spells.
GMs do not have to keep track of the settings of Godstones in their world(s) since they are changed from time to time by the several dozen NPCs who use them.
Godstones need not be set to other godstones. They may be set to places, and can, with greater difficulty, even be set to persons. In practice, however, most godstone users prefer to set the godstone they are using to another godstone since this provides a way back.
The Resetting roll is made against Will times a multiple (WM). The basic WM is three (3), but varies according to several facors. The WM may not be less than one, nor more than five.
Consult the Article "Kelestia" to determine the Accessability between worlds in the Kethrian family. For a moderate Link decrease WM by 1; for an intermediate lind by 2 and for a hard link by 3. If there is no link shown reduce WM by 4, and if the destination is entirely outside the Kethrian family, reduce WM by 5. This may make the intended destination impossible for some people to reach.
[CF] 5d6 FP, E4, Godstone shuts down character deattunes. [MF] 3d6 FP, Godstone resets randomly character deattunes. [MS] 2d6 FP, Godstone sets to intended destination. [CS] Godstone resets to intended destination.Note that with MS/MF, the accuracy of the reset is not automatically apparent and the character must re-read the setting if he wishes to determine if he was successful. This can be rather awkward if the party is in a hurry.
TABLE I: TYPE OF DESTINATIONTABLE II: WORLD SETTING01-35 Godstone is Closed 36-75 Set to Another Godstone 76-99 Set to a location with no godstone. 00 Set to a person (GM discretion).
The following table may be used to randomly generate the destination world for any Godstone on any world in the Kethrian Family. A roll of 00 indicates a setting outside the Kethrian Family.
Origin World Blesd Kethr Losen Midga Shere Terra Yashn ------------------- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- Blessed Realm 01-39 40-59 60 61-96 97 98 99 Kethira 01-09 10-49 50 51-64 65-74 75-79 80-99 Midgaad 01-34 35-44 45 46-96 97 98 99 Sherem 01 02-39 40 41 42-96 97 98-99 Terra 01 02-78 79 80-88 89 90-98 99 Yashain 01 02-71 72 73-74 75-78 79 80-99TABLE III: NORTHWEST LYTHIAN SETTINGS
The following table can be used to randomly generate the settings of Godstones on the Hârn, Ivinia or Shorkyne Regional maps. NB: there may be more stones (especially in Shorkyne) but these are the ones we have committed to. The grid location is given in square brackets. The first (lower case) letter is a code for the regional map (h:Hârn, i:Ivinian, s:Shorkyne).
%Roll DESTINATION %Roll DESTINATION 01-05 Anisha [hH5] 51-55 Imeruva [sG8] 06-10 Azadmere [hL4] 56-60 Korkorum [iK5] 11-15 Bejist [hK8] 61-65 Maruchom [iF6] 16-25 Cherafir [hN0] 66-70 Pesino [hH7] 26-30 Dinibor [sF6]71-75 Ridow [hH0] 31-35 Elkall-Anuz [hI6] 76-80 Telumar [hL7] 36-40 Kiraz [hF4] 81-85 Tesien [hD7] 41-45 Gedan [hJ2] 86-90 Xyryam [iK4] 46-50 Hedegu [sC0] 91-00 Other (GM discretion)If the destination generated is the same as the Godstone's location, the GM may assume that the Godstone.
Persons of reasonably high aura are generally able "drag through" Low-Aura or Auraless items with which they are wearing, holding or carrying within a few inches of their skin. For any given item the GM may test a multiple of the carrier's Aura. The multiple depends on the nature of the item in question, as follows:
Recently Dead Animal 7xAura Recently Dead Vegetable 6xAura Long Dead Animal 5xAura Long Dead Vegetable 4xAura Untempered Mineral 3xAura Tempered/Worked Mineral 2xAuraItems which are not reconstituted at the destination are stored in the memory of the Godstone from which their carrier departed. If the same traveller later selects this Godstone as a destination within a reasonable period of time, some or all of his lost possessions will be restored to him.
The loss of valued possessions often comes as a nasty surprise to users of the Godstones. A number of mages who use Godstones have developed spells to give important possessions temporary artificial aura.
Godstones search for a new setting location in a spiral pattern from their actual location and will usually accept the first near correspondence to the image they are given. The more detailed the image, the more likely success becomes.
The spiral search is conducted on a supra-spatial basis (ie. according to the warping in spacetime). This usually means the Godstone's own world first, then other worlds of the Kethrian family. When searching other worlds the spiral begins at the stone's own correspondence point (if any). It will generally begin the search of other worlds with the last world it was set to. Most visual images presented to Godstones can be matched with several possible locations on each world. Only those with the mental discipline to create extremely precise mental images enjoy a high degree of success in selecting destinations.
Aural Confusion: a stone that forgets which physical manifestation belongs to which traveller.
Delay: a year and a day in the life...
Backsnatching: once a godstone gets the character's pattern it continues to teleport him between worlds at random intervals, regardless of his location...
Inter-Correspondence: a stone that confuses destinations with their correspondence (Burasi) points.
Overlapping: a stone that doesn't realize that two physical objects cannot occupy the same space simultaneously.
If you have any suggestions, let me know...