Ariath is a world of magic. This isn’t to just to say that magic works there; there is magic in Ariath’s air, and in its bones. The six gods literally control and maintain the world. The sun and moon move according to their dictates, life and death happen in their turn because of their efforts, and all joy and sorrow spring from them. A force of nature called “The Quiet” maintains the balances and enforces the ways of the world at the gods’ behest.
Even the day-to-day normality of Ariath would not be recognized by a traveler from Earth. Everyone knows that diseases are not caused by germs, but by invisible, evil spirits attacking the body, and that if you leave meat out in the hot sun, it will spontaneously generate maggots. Ghostly Harrows haunt wild places, and come out of hiding at night to attack travelers. Free and wild magic create both blessings and hazards.
Sometimes people in Ariath are stricken with corruption by the same sorts of evil spirits that sicken people or cause corpses to rise from their graves. People so stricken may quickly become undead horrors, and lose their selves to madness and wickedness. A few hold onto their lives through the force of their will and hope, tainted by darkness but still whole in mind and spirit.
The world’s magic is accommodating to visitors. Guns would not normally work in Ariath, the natives could not invent them, but when people bring them from other worlds, they function, and Ariathans taught how to use them can fire them just fine. Penicillin is just a bit of fungus, but in the hands of a trained doctor it can kill the evil spirits that cause illness. The gods have decreed that there will be enough food and resources for everyone, even visitors, and only the fact that some people hoard far more than they deserve makes it possible for others to starve or go without.
Maps of the world exist, but they are deceptive, and explorers sometimes discover whole new lands just days from their homes that had never been seen before. Distances between places are not always the same from year to year. If you know how to walk the Paths through the Trackless Wood, sometimes a month’s journey can happen in an afternoon.
Outside Ariath’s bounds, but accessible to those who know the way, is a world of imagination and possibilities called the In-Between. In the In-Between are all things that ever could have been, all the worlds that don’t exist, and all the choices that were never made. It’s a dangerous place to visit, and would be utter folly to live in; its constantly changing nature and sheer unreality sap the sanity from even the most seasoned travelers. Things or people brought from there to Ariath work away at reality and damage the world. Still, people venture there to perform powerful magic, to find lost information, to visit duplicates of dead loved ones, or for any number of other reasons both sound and foolish.
The natives of the world are many, and diverse. Races such as elves, fauns, and talking animals are common. Merfolk and merrow have kingdoms beneath the waves, and goblins, dwarves, and burrowing animals maintain nations in caves and tunnels far underground. In a typical day at market, you might buy from a gryphon, haggle with a couatl, sell to a phoenix, and have tea and cakes with a badger.
Humans are found in Ariath as well, though they are uncommon. Some are known to be visitors, but some families of them have lived in Ariath for generations. It’s an open, and sometimes hotly contested, argument whether any humans are native to the world, or whether all of them originated from elsewhere.
In addition to humans from Earth, there are two known races of visitors that live in Ariath.
The Caramahz are a people who escaped some calamity in the world of their origin, and arrived on Ariath centuries ago. Caramahz are grey-skinned and horned, and in the current age mostly live in small tribes, or among communities of natives. The ways to their homeland are firmly closed, and most would not return even if given a chance.
The Kudarr are a group of explorers who came from their own home using “dimensional science.” They are a changeable people, greatly varied in appearance, and they have technology beyond that available on Earth, and some have psionic powers besides. Many of them live together in a city in Ariath’s north, but a few roam the world or settle among the natives.
Characters Native to Ariath
All of the races mentioned above are available to players. Ariathan humans, mythical races (as long as they can take humanoid form,) Caramahz, and Kudarr may all be played as PCs, and members of any of these races may have been tainted with aspects of undeath or augmented by Kudarr bioscience. Players will be able to use racial skills to simulate typical abilities of their chosen race, and for characters with stronger than typical racial natures, the Mythical Race, Augmented, and Undead Themes are available.