Integral Origin

From The Hidden Room

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Overview

The Integrum is the central aspect of the setting. It is where most games are played and where most characters are from. It is the closest to the "natural world", in that The Integrum is where natural laws are intuitive and predictable.

The Integrum was created by the Creators using The Apparatus during The First Age. As a cosmological force, The Integrum is opposed to Fury, Strange, and Void. Fury was conquered by the Creators and is used as fuel for The Apparatus. Strange is only possible when The Apparatus malfunctions. Void is opposed to all of forces in the setting.

Physically, The Integrum is composed of a planetary sphere contained within a hollow outer sphere. The surface of interior sphere is where the continents that are the mortal realms are located. The inner surface of the outer sphere is where the divine realms are located. Between the mortal realms and divine realms is the Astral Sky.

Laws of Nature

Gravity

Gravity in the real world is the attraction of massive bodies in an inverse square relationship. However, in The Integrum, massive bodies are not attracted to other massive bodies. Instead, there is a gravitational plane of attraction that all massive bodies are drawn toward. Bodies are only attracted to the single, nearest gravitational plane. The strength of the attraction is still governed by something akin to the mass of the substance, such that heavy objects (like stones) are more strongly attracted than light objects (like clouds). Magic can alter these properties, to make a stone lighter than a cloud, for example.

Luminescence

Unlike the real world, where darkness is experienced as the absence of radiated or reflected light, in The Integrum both darkness and light are radiated and reflected. This means that in The Integrum, if there is no darkness and no light, the natural state of luminescence is experienced as a dim twilight where things appear muted, monochrome, and indistinct, but are still visible.

Temperature

Unlike the real world, where cold is experienced as the absence of kinetically excited particles (heat), in The Integrum both cold and heat are radiated energies. This means that in The Integrum, if there is no cold or heat, the natural state of temperature is experienced as something akin to "room temperature", which is a temperature that is not noticeable to most creatures.

Life and Death

In the real world, life and death have a somewhat blurry boundary involving the function of the living cells of an organism, and how reversible non-functioning of those cells is. In The Integrum, however, there are no living cells. Instead, there is a force, called life, which binds a spirit to a vessel.

Spirits and Vessels

Spirit is a combination of mind and energy, which combine to create the animating agency in all living things. A vessel in this context is a combination of physical substances that is able to be motivated by a spirit. When vessels are animated by a spirit, they are considered a living thing. In The Integrum, this applies to everything in the natural world, including humans, animals, plants, and even rocks.

Telari

There are two categories of living things in The Integrum, those with souls and those without souls. Living things without souls are called telari. These comprise almost everything in an Integral environment, such as plants, animals, rocks, rivers, and clouds. Like all living things, telari are composed of spirits and substances. However, telari do not live or die in the conventional sense. Instead, telari are part of an elaborate, interconnected ecosystem of natural laws.

  • Life pushes telari toward organization, growth, and thriving. Seeds sprout, mountains rise, and animals are born.
  • Death pushes telari toward disorganization and withering. Plants wilt, land erodes, and animals decay.

But none of these states are permanent for telari. Rather, life and death for telari is a continuum. Telari constantly move along the spectrum of life and death in a cycle, disorganizing and reorganizing, growing and withering. Life and death magic, such as that of heralds, can influence this to-and-fro. Life magic can heal telari of wounds and diseases, cause plants to bloom, mend cracks in stone, and remove rust from metal. Death magic can cause wounds, inflict disease, wither wood, rust metal, and erode stone.

Souls

Creatures with souls still have spirits and vessels, like all telari. For this reason, death energy damages the spirit and vessel of a souled creature and life energy heals the spirit and vessel of a souled creature. However, souls experience a different cycle of life and death from unsouled telari.

When a creature with an Integral soul dies, they enter a state called "resting death". The natural course of a soul in resting death is to migrate through the spiritual underworld while the telari body remains preserved. Eventually the soul crosses beyond the underworld, into The Crucible, where it will be reincarnated. Once a soul has travelled beyond the underworld, it is in a state of "true death", and outside the reach of life and death magic and its telari body will return to the local ecosystem and begin to decay.

Undeath

While still in resting death, the natural course can be subverted, whether by design or mishap, becoming "restless dead". Restless dead are a wide variety of undeath, the specifics of which depend on the nature of the subversion. More powerful souls or souls with a strong will to persist (such as unfinished business) are more likely to become undead. Sufficiently powerful death magic can also force a soul into an undead state, though this is generally considered a violation of the grand design by servitors and gods of death.

While undead, the soul can animate a telari body once again. However, the binding to the body is reversed with an undead soul. Death tethers the undead soul to the telari body and life pulls the undead soul away. This means that for the undead, death magic will heal their wounds and ailments while life magic will cause wounds and ailments.

Undead vessels can be destroyed in the usual ways, with trauma or with life magic, but the undead soul lives on. Only sufficiently powerful life or death magic is able to permanently send an undead soul to a fully dead state. The more powerful the undead soul, the more powerful the magic is required to send it permanently into death.

Language

In the real world, languages are learned by way of exposure, both during critical development stages (when language are learned most easily) as well as throughout life (when languages are harder to learn). In The Integrum, however, language is inherently known through the Grand Design of The Codex, the mental aspects of spirit, and souls.

The result of this is that all souled creatures of The Integrum are born with a basic understanding of a language called tradespeak. Babies are not fluent in the language not because they do not understand it, but because they are not intelligent enough to use it well. There are still individual languages among mortals of The Integrum. These develop culturally among populations of mortals, sometimes diverging from tradespeak and other times created entirely new by its speakers.

History

The history of The Integrum begins in the First Age, when the world was chaotic, controlled by will and whim of the Fury titans. That is when the Creators appeared, protected in their impenetrable fortress that would become known as Bastion.

The Creators wished to tame the wild chaos of the titans, and much of the First Age involved the Creators waging the War of Dominion against the forces of Fury. The Creators had an army of their own, as well as allies. Their armies were the earliest Servitors, powerful creatures of truemetal. Their allies included the dragons, which were enemies to the titans even though they were also creatures of Fury, as well as some lesser titans that were victims of the tyranny of their more powerful masters.

At the end of the war, the Creators were victorious. The rest of the First Age was spent creating The Integrum. All of the unallied Fury titans were imprisoned in crystals which would become the stars of the Integrum. The

Interactions

The Integrum has a variety of interactions with the other origins.

Integrum and Strange

Strange Supremacy: The nature of Strange is such that it is highly effective at subverting the laws of The Integrum. Similarly, the rigid laws of The Integrum find it difficult to command the slippery nature of Strange. While not absolute, this interaction gives Strange an advantage over The Integrum, other factors being equal.

Horizon Invasions: When Obyrith or their Far Lords touch The Integrum, reality is bent by their mere presence. Madness and nightmares are the fate of any who linger too long in a region corrupted by The Horizon. The only remedy for these incursions is the magical banishment or physical destruction of the invader.

Arcadian Theaters: When the Bright or Bleak Courts touch The Integrum, they often bend reality in their search for meaning. Mortals are often swept up into dramatic scenes or poetic epics orchestrated by the Arcadians. These incursions are often remedied by solving a riddle or making a bargain.

Narakan Dharmas: When The Lost touch The Integrum, they often bend reality to satisfy some purpose. Mortals are often compelled by visions and dreams to enact strange quests. These incursions are often remedied by fulfilling a quest for the invader.

Strange Tides: Sometimes dreams themselves can leak into The Integrum. The line between dream and reality blur for mortals affected by these incursions. These incursions are usually remedied by magic with the authority of The Codex.

Integrum and Fury

Fury Inferiority: The nature of The Integrum is such that it was designed to contain and command Fury. While not absolute, this interaction gives The Integrum an advantage over Fury, other factors being equal.

Fury Vaultlands: Cataclysms such as The Fall and The Shattering damaged parts of The Integrum in such a way that Fury contained within The Apparatus leaked into the mortal realms. These regions were corrupted and twisted by the Fury influence and became known as vaultlands. Only Kasyat is entirely without vaultlands, having missed the cataclysms that caused them.

Fallen Stars:

Void Incursions

Realms

Creatures

  • Mortals
    • Azj: Natives of Kasyat
    • Fey: Natives of Pelithos
    • Nor: Natives of Acrolon
    • Ruk: Natives of Tonwei Unchained
  • Telar: Plants and animals of The Integrum

More at Creatures

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