WAR FOR REALITY CAMPAIGN

© 1998, 2000 by Jefferson A. Wilson | Return to Jeff's RPG page.

See Also: Table of Contents | Introduction | Campaign | Characters | Development Ratings | Worlds | Glossary

Arrival

Greetings. My name is Darrelle Adara. Welcome to Gateway.

This terminal can be used to access information, news, and message services, and to contact anyone who may be on world at this time. I suggest you take at look at available information and see what interests you. Any information at the base can be accessed at any terminal in the Gateway complex. Additionally, you may request a portable ComLink from supply.

The medical staff (healers, leeches, herbalists, shamans) request that all new personnel receive a physical (a checkup to make sure one is healthy) within 48 hours of arrival. This will be a thorough examination of your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health using magical, spiritual, and technological techniques. Any non-genetic physical problems you may currently have will be corrected, and you will be given a chance to receive several symbionts to maintain and enhance your health. Any undesired curses or enchantments will also be removed. For emotional and spiritual problems, you will get advice on the best place to seek assistance.

Hopefully you did not have any language problems when you arrived. The language most in use at the base is a pidgin which is primarily Vaash, but which contains elements of Elvish, English, and New Republic Pidgin. Gateway Personnel most commonly speak variations of Elvish, English, New Republic Pidgin, Vaash and Wookie. Approximately 300 more languages are known by various base personnel, and 23,345 more are known by the base computers. For people who arrive not knowing any languages known to us, there is a linguistics program available to enable the base computers to quickly learn most languages.

Current long term projects include locating former Vaash bases, expanding our knowledge of Vaash technology and culture, the exploration of new dimensions and planets, and interdimensional trade.

Bases

Gateway Complex consists of six domes surrounding a larger central dome with their outlying grounds. The domes are made of a living bioplastic which is only a little less strong than monocrystal fiber. The central dome houses general services such as Administration, Personal Services, Recreation, and the Cafeteria - Meeting Hall. The surrounding domes are specialized facilities for Psionic, Magical, Spiritual, Technological, Biological (including Medical), and Mixed activities. The surrounding grounds include two loading platforms, several weapon bunkers, and a living barrier surrounding everything. The barrier is formed of quick-regenerating acid vines which are magically resistant and capable of psionic reflection.

Each dome has its own library of physical text. All physical texts, and a lot of additional information is also contained on the base computers. These libraries can be accessed through the terminals, comm-links, or personally. All terminals and comm-links can translate all languages in the libraries.

Current Gateway personnel number about 1120 sentient organic beings from a variety of races and cultures. The most prevalent are variations of human stock, but Gateway also has elves, daemonites, and wookies. All Vaash are encouraged to recruit personnel from their homes.

People

Characters -- NPC's -- Sesh

Characters

(Characters marked with a * may be used by new players.)

*Bob

is a technician from a technologically advanced world. He is in charge of general technology, including incoming supplies, interdimensional trade, and gates. Product of an advanced technological world, he is 6'2", 220 lbs., and has black hair. He normally wears a dark blue coverall, heavy brown leather boots, a belt with pouches and a Bowie knife. Oh yes, he drives a world-jumping Winnebago.

Britney Sinclair (deceased)

was a were-puma from a modern world. Her forte was with animals.

*Claw

is a ganger from a cyber universe. He's in charge of rescue operations.

*Colin O'Connor

is a vampire who is currently in charge of our espionage and counter-espionage.

Darrelle Adara (deceased)

was a Jedi Knight. She is in charge of scouting and investigation against the Sesh, Splugorth, and Vlathachna.

Elspeth Keegan

is an immortal (Highlander) who is in charge of general operations. This lovely young scots lass has a sword and an attitude. She was born on Earth in the 1890's and has lived a little over a century.

Jaye Bea Kaye

is a first-in scout. He's in charge of overall coordination and first in scouting on newly discovered worlds. He was the first of the children to show up, and has more world-jumping experience than any of the other characters. Leader by default, he is familiar with biotech, magic, psionics, spiritualism, and technology. {Character Sheet}

*Kitalli Latif

is a T-3 from the Pegasus/Rowan universe. She is in charge of psionics.

Luna

is a gypsy about five foot three, one hundred and thrirteen pounds. Her long, wavy hair is the darkest auburn that you can have and not call truly black. Her tanned skin shows off her eyes of darkest green. When she is actually is wearing what you might call clothing, it is gauzy and see through gypsy garb. She is normally wears a lot of jingling bells and bangles , but for a mission that involves stealth and combat she will be wearing leather, with no other adornments.

*Maneira Al-Sihr

is a Sha-ir from Al-Kadir in the Forgotten Realms. She is in charge of spiritual functions among the Vaash. Think of Barbara Eden on "I Dream of Jeanie." Now think shorter. This is your typical princess from a dozen different Sinbad movies (Jane Seymour, Caroline Munroe, . . .). She claims to have several pet djinni.

*Martin Half-Elven

is a paladin from a world similar to the legends of Camelot. He is in charge of security at the different bases. He is an expert in the history of the Vaash.

Lex Markham

is a ninja from a high-tech, high-magic world. As his loyalty is limited to his immediate clan, he is not, strictly speaking, a Vaash.

*Niko

is from an oriental entertaining background.

*Pat Stuart

is a mercenary werewolf.

*Quon

is a gnome "borrower" with a magical background.

*Ragnarox

is a daemonite warrior-lord who is in charge of our military operations.

Rasha

is a socio-geneticist who is in charge of genetics and medicine, including Vaash genetic mapping, environmental engineering, nursery ("babies in a bottle").

Ronan MacSenach

is a Celtic warrior with some high-tech experience.

*Sharila

is an elven mage. He is in charge of our magical endeavors.

Stewart Redfire

is a marshall with a mid-tech and magical background.

NPC's:

Donna O'Connor

is Colin O'Connor's Wife

Ernest Miller

is known as a ubiquitous person. An analog of him exists on every world that is known to have human inhabitants. He possesses high strength and dexterity, Empathy, Danger Sense, and Luck. He is always a very physical person, and is often connected with the government of that world. (His identities include: college Phys. Ed. instructor Ernest Miller on Harmony, planetary brigadier Emess Moshta of Valderia III on Jedi, and FBI agent Leonardo Constans in Deep Cover in Cuba on Immortal Earth)

Fuartha

is a Daemonite Queen, and a specialist in the magic of interdimensional transport. She is one of Ragnarox's lovers.

Gurrick

is an Arabic appearing gentleman an originally from Jaye's world. Chief tech at gateway base, he and Maneira have a relationship.

Harriet O'Connor (Ria)

is Colin O'Connor's daughter (13)

HRufiya

is the halfling in charge of the plants at Gateway Base. He speaks Vaash with a strong accent.

John Abrams

is the chief mechanic at Gateway base. He has a thorough understand of parachronics, and was Bob's mentor.

Lenvol

is an oriental gentleman with a long moustache. He is chief doctor at the base and use a variety of magical, technological, and spiritual devices in his healing.

Marie Kingfisher

is an agent of Time??. She has participated in several shared missions with the Vaash.

Micha

is an Arcane Adept from the realm of Dark Space. He has a relationship with Rasha.

Pelyan

is a dwarven decker-librarian at Gateway Base.

Tobias O'Connor (Toby)

is Colin O'Connor's son (8)

Velyor (Sindar)

is an elf-like enchanter from Jaye's home world.

Sesh

History

Greetings, I am Sir Martin called Half-Elven. I have been selected to inform you about the history of the Vaash.

There have been world-jumpers in the continuum from time immemorable. About 1 in ten million sentient beings have some world-jumping ability. Very few of these individuals make use of the ability, and fewer still gain enough experience to control their talent. The history of the Vaash, as a race, begins about 5,000 CBP (circa before present) when two human world-jumpers met and married. As their children were conceived, born, and raised, they sought out every advantage they could, from any number of worlds. Those children, in turn, sought out others with gifts and abilities similar to their own. As more world-jumpers became related, a society began to form. This society was linked by common experience, ability, and blood. This family was of hundreds of cultures and beliefs, but had a great deal of shared loyalty. Though individually independent, they enjoyed meeting socially with other members of their family. That family extending across the continuum, and mastered every art: magic, technology, biology, psionics, social systems, and their combined arts.

As time went on they shared the knowledge and gifts they received, and became more and more powerful. They became acquainted with other major plane- traveling cultures including the Amberites, Atlanteans, Chaosites, Fey, Serioli, and Splugorth. It was about 350 CBP that a section of the family allied against the Splugorth. They took the name Sey, which means "Cure" in the family tongue. Made up mainly of fanatics and military men they tried to get more help from the family, but most of the family was uninterested, and the rest could not see how they could be effective. Naturally, they ended up losing their little war, and the rest of the family thought the matter would end there. As the years went on, a number of the family noticed that the Sey'Ahsha (roughly, "Failed Cure") or Sesh had become very withdrawn. Visiting the worlds these Sesh had claimed, they were horrified to discover that the Sesh were engaged in experiments that most considered immoral and vile. When the matter was brought up at the next family gathering, the Sesh justified their actions by pointing to the dangers that awaited the family in the continuum, and the continuing presence of the Serioli and Splugorth. Over a very few years a new group formed in the family, dedicated to holding the family responsible for their actions in the continuum. This faction took the name Va'Ahsha (Vaash), meaning approximately, "Do no harm."

It took many years for the split between the Vaash and Sesh to completely polarize the family, but in the end, in spite of near endless attempts to patch things up, most members of the family claimed to be either Vaash or Sesh. If you wish, ?? can introduce you to the differences in the philosophy of the two factions, but the end result of the difference of opinion was war. You undoubtedly learned when growing up, that the Sesh caused the war by inspiring several world-traveling cultures, and sending them against the Vaash. The war could have just as easily been caused by the Vaash's attempted sabotage of Sesh projects.

Once the war began the remaining members of the family were quickly forced to choose sides, although a few washed their hands of the matter and retired to out of the way realities. At first, the war went well for the Vaash. They cooperated with each other much better than the Sesh, and their respect for the reality-bound earned them many allies. What changed the course of the war we still do not know, but we do know that, eventually, the war went poorly for the Vaash. When they saw that the end was inevitable, they set aside refuges for their youngest children. The parents of each child selected worlds where their child could grow up protected. Each child was given a guardian to teach him about his heritage and give him the guidance necessary to become a Vaash. Each child was also left with an heirloom which, when combined with the heirlooms of the other children, would produce a device of great power. In establishing their children, the Vaash set up "paths" for them to follow. These paths were intended to both test and train the children who followed them, so that those who reached the end would be worthy of the heritage they would receive.

Unfortunately, as you have realized by now, the war ended in a Sesh victory far greater than expected by our parents. The cache which was intended to preserve our heritage was destroyed, and we have yet to discover any Vaash of our parent's generation. Twenty Vaash, and one unallied child of the family have made their way to the Gateway base. We are beginning to recover, but must tread cautiously, for we do not know how powerful the Sesh are, or what dangers may await us in the far stretches of Reality.

Aliens and Other Races

Atlanteans

are a strongly magical race of interdimensional travelers and warriors. Originally from a world in quantum 0, their homeland was destroyed. While they have established a few colonies, most Atlanteans are wanderers by choice. Their interdimensional travel is based on magic, and they do not normally travel to worlds without moderate levels of magic.

Daemonites

is a category of related races who come from the plane called Hel. Individually, they are very powerful, and often summoned by wizards on alternate worlds.

Dragons

range in power from simple creatures, no match for an individual Vaash, to creatures of 5,000+ points. Dragons are distinguished by:

1. Their intelligence. Dragons are far more than just animals.
2. Their hoards. Dragons collect things. Usually these are valuable, sometimes they are not.
3. Their magic. Dragons are magical creatures, and are almost never found on non-magical worlds.

Note that a creature does not have to be reptilian or have wings to be classified as a dragon.

Elves

are humanoid beings who have developed strong magical skills. They do not age once they reach maturity. They may or may not be able to interbreed with humans.

Humans

are the most common race in the War for Reality. They have no particular distinguishing features. "Humans" can also include such races as dwarves and halflings. Note that physically identical races of "humans" may still not be able to interbreed.

Hwoup

are a race avian-like humanoids. They possess down instead of hair, beaks, and only four fingers. They are divided into several competing nations. Six of these nations have access to magical parachronics, and each has colonized and conquered an individual world. They have recently started to branch out from their core seven worlds. They use a combination of magic and technology that can best be described as "Sixguns and Sorcery."

Sesh

are a genetically engineered and spiritually blessed type of human. They possess very strong world-jumping abilities, and are distinguished from Vaash by their lack of ethics.

Splugorth

are the rulers of a vast multi-planar dominion. They are organized around conquest and slavery, and have a somewhat feudal government. Their empire is large enough that the Vaash contact them on a regular basis.

Vaash

are a genetically engineered and spiritually blessed form of human. They possess very strong world-jumping abilities, and are distinguished from Sesh by their sense of ethics.

Vlathachna

are an extremely alien race. It is believed they originally fled from a plane further towards Chaos than any Vaash has been. They seek to change dimensions to make them more comfortable to themselves. However, for some reason, they choose dimensions which are already inhabited to transform. Their first attempt at transformation (in Dark Space) resulted in their being confined to a nebula. Recently, they have been observed outside the nebula and have also changed strategies, as they are trying to make inroads in several dimensions instead of just one.

Wookies

are large bipedal humanoids covered with long hair. They are borrowed from the Star Wars universe.

Animals

Hi. I'm Britney. Jaye asked me to say a few words about animals.

Whenever you're dealing with an animal, the first thing you need to know is how it will relate to you. How an animal will related to you depends on whether it is domesticated, tamed, or wild. Animal Handling skill is useful for each type of animal, but most useful for those that are domesticated.

Domesticated animals are the only kind that are used as riding animals and beasts of burden. I would recommend that you learn to ride a horse if you don't already know how. If you already have reliable transportation, the packing skill may serve you better. If you wish to learn a flying animal, the two types of skills which will serve you best are pegasus or flutrell. The pegasus looks like a horse with wings, while the flutrell is a large bird. They represent the two basic styles of aerial cavalry. If anyone has any information about swimming animals used as mounts I would like to hear it.

Biology and Medicine

No one has entered information into the system for this option.

Bio-Tech

Bio-Tech is the art of using biological techniques to create living tools. These tools come in a variety of forms and types.

Magic

Greetings. I am Sharila. As a mage, it is my duty to inform you about the various workings of magic, as well as what magic truly is.

Quite simply, magic is the art of making your environment conform to your desires. Every time you write something down, or kick a stone out of your way, you are working magic. I expect that a number of you are looking shocked. You think that "magic" means hand-waving, strange words, and odd rituals. While I will discuss such things later, the essence of magic lies in the simple things I have described.

Mana

Is is common for those from technological worlds to discuss mana is terms similar to those used to discuss electricity. However, and I cannot emphasize this enough, Mana is not a form of power. The greater the mana in an area, the less resistance there is to magic.

Spell-Casting

Research vs. Improvisation

Alchemy

Biomancy

Enchantment

Martial Arts & Chi

No one has entered information into the system for this option.

Psionics

No one has entered information into the system for this option.

Religion & Philosophy

Religious powers would be both very difficult and very interesting to play.

You should discuss with the GM before attempting such a character.

Shamanism, Spirits, and Ghosts

Salaam. This unworthy one is Hajji Maneira Al-Sihr, a Sha-ir of the land of Al-Qadim, of the house of the Vaash. 'Tis my duty to inform you of the nature of the spiritual realms that you may come in contact with, and correct some misunderstandings that you may have. Many Vaash come from realities where spirits are weak or nonexistent, and make the mistake of assuming that those rules are multiversal. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The spiritual realms are deep and broad, and you should take care when ignoring even the most "primitive" shaman, for he may know spirits of unsurpassed might.

"Shaman" is the general term for those with the ability to communicate with spirits. Some shamans make friends with spirits, others enslave them, still other simply use them as tools.

Spiritual Realms.

Society and Cultures

Hello, I am Luna, and I am a Gypsy. I have come to this place to give everyone something to smile about. So, if you need a fortune told, a hex, or someone to party with, come by and see me. I am also available to entertain at parties, for dancing.

Also, I am available for any mission. "They really would be lost without me." I have found that most places are quite a lot of fun, so, if you need a guide, I can show you to many places. And Remember: You will meet those who do not do things the way that you do, respect that. If you find that there is conflict, there is always a way to have revenge while playing their own game. Also remember to treat entities very nicely, but not the way that you that you would wish to be treated; that is assuming too much. As soon as you are not having fun, it is time to leave. That is all.

Look forward to loving you.

Language

It is important that you learn a variety of languages. Languages give clues to the cultures that people live in. It is impossible to learn all the languages of all the worlds. Nevertheless, there are some languages that you might find particularly useful.

Vaash (or Daemonite) is spoken by most of the Vaash. It is is complicated language, replete with overtones (M/VH), but is the only way for Vaash to communicate certain things and make any sense. There are indications it was created as a synthetic language about 750 years ago. Since then, however, it has grown organically.

Thari (or Fwist) is the language spoken in Amber and the Courts of Chaos. If you wish to do any dealings with those areas or with demons, it would be a good idea to learn this language.

Sindar (Common, Elven, High Elven) is spoken by a number of elven cultures on many worlds. It is particularly useful since it usually influences the other languages of the worlds where it is used.

English (Anglic, Mehricuhn) is neither particularly common or widespread, but is notable because it is spoken by so many of the Vaash.

Swahili (Zulu, Dromo, Slave-Speak) is particularly common and widespread, but is currently spoken by very few of the Vaash.

In summary, if you do not know Vaash, learn it. Once you know Vaash, learn Sindar. Learn other languages as is necessary for the worlds where you arrive.

Super Powers

Super Powers are those abilities which break the standard rules. Worlds where super powers exist are few and far between, and super powers do not usually operate on new worlds.

Technology

Howdy! I'm Bob. You all probably think you know a lot about tech at this point, unless you're one of them unlucky folks who grew up in a real primitive world. Most Vaash grew up with tech. around them what I would call early 21st century, but what some call tech. 8. You probably also had some gadgets to learn on that were real advanced. Call that stuff tech. 12.

Cybernetics and Computers

No one has entered information into the system for this option.

Robots and Vehicles

No one has entered information into the system for this option.

Space Travel

No one has entered information into the system for this option.

Time Travel

The Vaash do not currently have access to Time Travel. Information we've recovered from our ancestors suggests that Time Travel is possible on very few alternate worlds. On those worlds where it is possible, a world-jumper who tries to leave the world after he has time traveled will be usually snapped back to his base time with various ill effects. There may be ways around this, but currently no one understands the physics involved.

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