This is version 2.1 text for the Torg Discworld adaptation, slightly
revised from its 4 part posting on 12 May 1996.
DISCWORLD
Date: Sun, 12 May 1996 21:15:54 -0500
From: Saxon.Brenton@uts.edu.au (Saxon Brenton)
To: Multiple recipients of list <torg@buddha.intecom.com>
Subject: [TORG:1519] Discworld 1 of 4
X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas
X-Comment: The Torg Mailing List
On Fri, 3 May 1996 Jim Ogle (Ks. Jim) <jogle@aoc.nrao.edu> wrote in
'[TORG:1093] Our recent flurry of activity' on the Torg mailing list:
[...]
> So for those who have been swamped by the messages, the trend indicates
> that things should slow down for the next couple of days, time for you
> to get caught up (or just purge your mailboxes. 8-)
Infected by Dr Mobius's pulp villain virus, Saxon sits planning Evil deeds:
"The last time I posted an attempt at a comprehensive adaptation was
Xanth. The initial post was a approached 40 kb, but the commentaries it
spawned ran for many times that. If I post the long-promised Discworld
article now, then a similar reaction will cause the population of the
mailing list - burdened by the Recent Flurry Of Activity - to flee
screaming. And then Pinky, I will be able to Take Over The World!
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
<cue peals of thunder and organ music>
:-)
Hmm, looks like it may be time for another one of my multipost reality
writeups that approach 20,000 words :-)
Okay, okay. Here is the second draft of the Discworld write-up that's
been sitting on my discs, twiddling its thumbs for the past 2-1/2 years.
The first one back in 1994 was a brief description, and - for those who
were on a.g.t and remember it - had Too Many World Laws (ie, it violated
the dave oaks Four Law Limit :-).
When I started writing this, the excellent and mind-bogglingly useful
_Discworld Companion_ had not yet been released in Australia, and this
tends to show in the writing style, I think. I now have over 280 pages of
A4 notes, and have sprinkled in page numbers for more obscure references
to support my rulings on how the game mechanics should work. Most of the
page numbers refer to my Corgi affordableback editions (the exceptions
are _Eric_ and the _Discworld Companion_, both Gollancz).
Note that the Pratchett's worldview is not necessarily conductive to
the Torg structure of reality, specifically with regard to the axiom
level divisions. In an interview he responded to the observation that the
city of Ankh-Morpork primarily resembles a Renaissance Italian city state
thusly, "There's no reason why worlds should all develop in the same way.
The Greeks had all the necessary theoretical knowledge and technical
ability to invent the wind-up gramophone. The steam-powered gramophone,
come to that. They just never did" (DC, p. 283).
For roughly similar reasons, the cosmology of the Discworld has had
to be altered to fit into a Torg adaptation. In Pratchett's view "The DW
'universe' -- turtle, world, sun, moon -- moves slowly through our own
universe." While this may be fine for the 'real' Discworld, it is
slightly problematic shoehorning it into the Torg arrangement of the
cosmverse. Of course, it is technically possible for the Discworld to
exist as a realm within the Core Earth universe, but it is ultimately
easier to simply rule that the Torg adaptation exists within its own
dimension, a cosm in its own right with its own pocket dimensional fringe
realities.
Commentaries welcomed. This is, after all, only the second draft, and
just think how much fun we all had with the dissection of the Torg Xanth
write-up :-)
Index
Post 1 PROLOGUE
Post 2 THE COSM
- THE CREATOR'S USE OF MAGIC
- AXIOMS AND WORLD LAWS
Post 3 MORE ON THE COSM
- MAGIC
- FOLK RACES
- GODS
- SKILLS
Post 4 FRINGE REALITIES
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
-----
Saxon Brenton City library of the Uni of Technology, Sydney, Australia
saxon.brenton@uts.edu.au | saxonb@mpx.com.au
The Librarian "liked people who loved and respected books, and the best
way to do that, in the Librarian's opinion, was to leave them on the
shelves where Nature intended them to be." - Terry Pratchett, _Men At Arms_
Date: Sun, 12 May 1996 21:28:55 -0500
From: Saxon.Brenton@uts.edu.au (Saxon Brenton)
To: Multiple recipients of list <torg@buddha.intecom.com>
Subject: [TORG:1521] Discworld 2 of 4
X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas
X-Comment: The Torg Mailing List
Post 2
TORG DISCWORLD ADAPTATION
THE COSM
This cosm is adapted from the 'Discworld' series of humorous fantasy
novels by Terry Pratchett. The Discworld is a flat world that rests atop
four elephants (Berila, Tubul, Great T'Phon, and Jerakeen), who in turn
stand on the shell of the ten thousand mile long world turtle, the Great
A'Tuin. Said Terry at various times on alt.fan.pratchett, "The elephants
face outwards. The spinning of the Disc does not harm the elephants
because that's how the universe is arranged."; "The *shell* of the turtle
is slightly smaller than the world, but the flippers and head and tail
are all visible from the Rim, looking down -- as Rincewind does in
_The Colour of Magic_."
The Discworld is a platter roughly 30,000 miles in circumferences, and
some 30 miles thick. At the edge of the world the seas falling off into
space create the Rimfall (although it is unclear where all this water
comes from), and at the Hub there is a ten mile high spire of green ice
and grey rock called Cori Celesti, at the summit of which is Dunmanifestin,
the abode of the gods. The Hub regions have a cold polar climate, while
the rim regions tend to be warm and tropical. The world as a whole gives
the impression that it was designed to be looked at from above.
"There are, of course, two major directions on the Disc: Hubwise and
Rimwards. But since the Disc itself revolves at a rate of once every
eight hundred days (in order to distribute the weight fairly upon its
supportive pachyderms, according to Reforgule of Krull) there are also
two lesser directions, which are Turnwise and Widdershins.
"Since the Disc's tiny orbiting sunlet maintains a fixed orbit while
the majestic Disc turns slowly beneath it, it will be rapidly deduced
that a Disc year consists not of four but eight seasons. The summers are
those times when the sun rises or sets at the nearest point on the Rim,
the winters those occasions when it rises or sets at a point ninety
degrees along the circumference.
"Thus, in the lands around the Circle Sea, the year begins on Hogs'
Watch Night, progressing through a Spring Prime to its first midsummer
(Small Gods' Eve) which is followed by Autumn Prime and, straddling the
half-year point of Crueltide, Winter Secondus (also known as Spindlewinter,
since at this time the sun rises in the direction of spin). Then comes
Secondus Spring with Summer Two on its heels, the three-quarter mark of
the year being the night of Alls Fallow - the one night of the year,
according to legend, when witches and warlocks stay in bed. Then drifting
leaves and frosty nights drag on towards Backspindlewinter and a new Hog's
Watch Night nestling like a frozen jewel at it's heart.
"Since the Hub is never closely warmed by the weak sun the lands there
are locked in permafrost. The Rim, on the other hand, is a region of sunny
islands and balmy days." (TCoM, p. 11-12)
Although the above is true, the _Companion_ (p. 48-9) points out the
difference between the full _astronomical_ year (called the spin year, or,
in the days of the Ankh-Morpork Empire, the Great Year) of 800 days, and
the _agricultural_ year (technically a half year). Whatever the wizards and
astronomers say, most folk, and certainly rural folk, measure their year
by the plough-plant-grow-reap cycle. There are thirteen months in the year
- Offle, February, March, April, May, June, Grune, August, Spune,
Sektober, Ember, December and Ick.
The sun is a ball of fire about a mile across. Because of its fixed
orbit, the elephants are occasionally obliged to cock up a leg to let it
pass. The moon has to shine by its own light (TLF, p. 115).
As Great A'Tuin swims though space, the stars are seen to move relative
to the world turtle's direction. As a result, although here are always 64
(8 x 8) signs to the Disc zodiac, new ones are constantly being
discovered and named, and then left behind never to be seen again
(necessitating that the tile mosaic floor of the Unseen University
Observatory be relaid every decade or so).
Geographically, the Disc is a vast and varied place, with a variety of
countries and cultures in which to explore. This is because Pratchett's
style of writing is a type of comic fantasy that includes lots of in-
jokes, references and homages to Real Life situations that he calls
'resonances'. This is effect is covered under the Law of Resonances, below.
In practice, the Disc includes societies that strongly resemble settings
of other literature (eg, Wyrumberg = Pern), and of Real Life. Looking at
the _Discworld Map_, it can be seen that there are four continents. By far
the biggest is the unnamed one where most of the stories have been set.
It contains the cities of Ankh-Morpork, Lancre (generic European kingdom
combined with rural United States), Llamedos (Wales), Uberwald
(Transylvania), Genua (New Orleans), and the Nordic-like areas around
No Thingfjord.
Rimwards and turnwise of this huge continental mass is a smaller
section, Klatch, which is also called a continent in much the same way
that Europe is given a continent status separate from Asia. Klatch
contains vaguely Mediterranean countries towards the Hub, such as Tsort
(Rome), Ephebe (Greece). Djelibeybi (Egypt) and Om (church dominated
Mediaeval Europe) around the Circle Sea, and then shades down into more
African locales like Howondaland. It also contains the Tezumen Empire
(Aztecs).
Connecting with the main landmass by a peninsula the near-permanent (?)
ice cap at the Hub) is the Counterweight Continent dominated by the
Agatean Empire. The Counterweight Continent balances the weight of the
other lands because, despite it smaller size, it contains rich deposits
of the heavy metal octiron, and to a less important extent, gold. The
Agatean Empire is often called the Aurient ("Where the gold comes from")
and resembles China/Asia. Running off turnwise from the Agatean Empire
area number of islands drawn with volcanoes; I don't remember reading
anything about them, but I guess they represent Japan analogues. The
fourth and smallest continent is the Lost Continent of XXXX (Australia).
There are two islands (Land of Fog) widdershins off XXXX which from a
comment in the _Map_ probably represent New Zealand.
There are various other islands, such as Ku, which because it has sunk
is probably meant to be Mu/Atlantis, and the Brown Islands, which because
they have surfing are probably meant to be at least partly Hawaii.
There are also reported to be a large number of brigadoons (places that
are present in one place only at certain times, and which will eventually
vanish until their next appearance) on the Discworld (DC, p. 53).
A ROUGH HISTORY OF THE DISCWORLD WITH REGARDS TO THE DISPOSITION OF THE
CREATOR AND THE FALL OF MAGIC
The Creator of the Discworld is actually A Creator; one of apparently
many who contract out to create universes. The Discworld's Creator has
more imagination than mechanical aptitude (TCoM, p. 75), and this is borne
out by disparaging comments he made about putting your trust in physical
laws alone to keep a universe running:
"Some people... think its enough to install a few basic physical formulas
and then take the money and run. A billion years later you got leaks all
over the sky, black holes the size of your head... I think people appreciate
the _personal_ touch, don't you?" (E, p. 93).
As a result the Discworld was created with a VERY high Magic axiom, to
hold the world together more or less as cosmic glue (WS, p. 6). It was
also lacking in solid physical laws that would have made it
comprehensible: "The Creator had a lot of remarkably good ideas when he
put the world together, but making it understandable hadn't been one of
them" (M, p. 12). (This rather slapdash approach to world creation means
that the Discworld has a rather unique problem in terms of the stability
of its reality; see Magical (In)Stability, under 'More On Magic', below.)
Exactly how high the Magic axiom was in those days probably can't be
accurately quantified, but the fact that mortals soon began using it to
war against the gods implies that it was somewhere around or above Magic
30: "In those days magic in its raw state had been widely available, and
had been eager utilised by the First Men in their war against the Gods."
(TCoM, p. 119).
Thus, the Mage Wars raged until the beings known as the Old High Ones
stepped in: "And great and pyrotechnic were the battles that followed -
the sun wheeled across the sky, the seas boiled, weird storms ravaged the
land, small white pigeons appeared mysteriously in people's clothing, and
the very stability of the Disc (carried as it was through space on the
backs of four giant turtle-riding elephants) was threatened. This
resulted in stern action by the Old High Ones, to whom even the Gods are
answerable. The Gods were banished to the high places [Dunmanifestin],
men were re-created a good deal smaller, and much of the old wild magic
was sucked out of the earth" (TCoM, pp. 119-120), the latter having the
effect of lowering the Magic axiom. For the purposes of this work I am
assuming that the Olden Ones are the same as the Old High Ones, and thus
can attribute to them the imposition of the Law of Conservation of
Reality as well: "magic had indeed once been wild and lawless, but had
been tamed back in the mists of time by the Olden Ones, who had bound it
to obey among other things the Law of Conservation of Reality; this
demanded that the effort needed to achieve a goal should be the same
regardless of the means used." (TCoM, p. 79).
Internal evidence also suggests that the Old High Ones may have also at
this time imposed on the Discworld various physical laws that were in
evidence at later times throughout the novels of the series. Things like
the laws of conservation of energy that limit wizard spells; or what the
noble Disc dragons consider "all boring physical laws" and which they
choose to defy in order to fly (GG, p. 170).
It can be presumed that although the Law of Conservation of Reality
came into immediate effect for spell casting, it took longer for its full
effects to begin to restrict magical creatures. This would explain why
the noble Disc dragons didn't vanish into the dimension(s) of imagination
all at once; but instead went away for longer and longer stretches of
time until one day they didn't come back at all, and today must be
summoned back by a willing imagination harnessing a powerful magical
field (TCoM, p. 151). It would also explain why the nasty wild elves were
able to stay until they were driven away to the dimension called
Fairyland, taking with them many of the remaining magical creatures, such
as unicorns.
Or to put it another way, the Disc's Magic axiom was lowered by the
Old High Ones because of the Mage Wars. Men and gods were the first to be
affected, but there was also an eventual knock-on effect that led to
other magical creatures suffering as well. Typical, really.
Today, the remaining creatures that were once magical are no longer so,
and live dirty, rather squalid lives (Squires the gnome in TLF) because
of the Law of Conservation of reality's ban on the use of magical
enhancement packages. Those creatures that do have potent magics tend to
have an at least partly extradimensional existence (The Dryads in TCoM).
AXIOMS AND WORLD LAWS
Magic 19 Social 20 Spirit 22 Tech 17
Magic 19
The Discworld has a very high Magic axiom due to the immense
magical field generated to hold the place together, although it was much
higher up until the end of the Mage Wars and the imposition of the Law
of Conservation of Reality.
The Law of Conservation of Reality complicates the Magic axiom of the
Discworld, so that although this cosm has lots of magical power, it is
not as easily used as this axiom level would normally indicate (i.e.,
unlike in most realities, there is not always a direct correlation
between the level of magical power in the cosm, and the sophistication
that the power can be put to by the living as a tool).
The actual amount of magical energy on the Disc is consistent with a
Magical axiom of 19, which is an enforced drop from 30ish.
The axiom of 19 is indicative of the _types_ of effects available to
magic-users. Wizards have used extradimensional spells for summoning up
demons (Mag 15) and there is a predisposition for wizards to use
Impressed spells (Mag 17) because such spells are easier to cast. The
LoConsOfR caps the Magic axiom at this level in order to forbid the types
of effects that an axiom above 19 would bring. This includes Wish spells
(Mag 20) and most especially the 'easy magic' that begins to occur from
axiom 22 onwards, where magical processes begin to become easier and
magic-users actually get _bonuses_ to their castings. The latter runs
against the very purpose of the LoConsOfR, and so is strictly verboten by
that world law.
However, the presence of the LoConsOfReality means that in many ways
the practical Magical axiom is 9. Various creatures that need small
amounts of magic can survive at this level. It was for this reason that
the noble dragons departed this world for one of the dimensions of
imagination; they could exist (barely) at an effective Mag axiom of 9,
but not as well as they were accustomed to, and so threw a collective
wobbly and left. The presence of a non-corporeal entity like Mr Ixolite
the banshee (needing Mag 10) thwarts my attempts to explain, other than
the fact that he is described several times as the last of the banshees,
and thus may be either a holdover from time of higher Magic levels, or a
fluke (probably supported by the Law of Chaotic Whimsy (aren't fudge
factors wunnerful? :-)).
Note that because of the Law of Belief, anthropomorphic
personifications of the Disc (Death, the Sandman, the Hogfather, Old Man
Trouble, Soul Cake Thursday Duck, et al) operate under the Spirit axiom
rather than the Magic axiom and so do not require Mag 10.
More importantly, Magic 9 is the level at which _difficulty level_ of
spells is determined. The LoConsOfR dictates that the effort needed for
any activity must be the same regardless of whether magical or non-magical
means are used. Thus, while all four magical skills operate efficiently,
and spell types of up to axiom level 19 can be used without contradiction,
the difficulty of using magic is as if at an axiom level of Magic 9 and
thus has a +3 modifier to both the Difficulty and Backlash. Additionally,
further increases in the Difficulty and Backlash of a spell are possible
depending on whether a spell is Impressed into memory for later use or
not. Impressed spells add a +0 modifier to spell Difficulty and Backlash,
while those that are not impressed add a further +3 to Difficulty and
Backlash.
The increased difficulty of magic reflects onto the number of
practitioners of magic as well. While it is true that the societies of
wizards and witches generally have policies that keep the number of magic-
users low (in order to avoid problems with the Things using a plethora of
undertrained and improperly supervised mages as catspaws), the number of
mages who turn up naturally is more in line with Magic 9 than Magic 19
(Mag 18 - "Most beings in the cosm use some magic to at least a limited
degree"). Magic on the Disc is usable only by a small proportion of the
population, who usually need years to learn how to use it properly.
APPORTATION effects are difficult because various principles of mass/
energy conservation and leverage apply to them. For example, when using a
transmigration spell to move instantly from point A to point B, a
comparable mass must be shunted back from point B to point A to maintain
balance (LaL, p. 223). Similarly, when using telekinesis, the brain is
under a lot of strain which, if not properly braced against, can cause
great physical damage. Thus, when casting Apporatation spells, someone
who takes a fatal amount of backlash dies because their brains have been
catapulted out their ears (TLF, p. 188).
ALTERATON effects are difficult because the shape of everything is
dictated by its morphogenic field, which in turn is controlled by the
mind. Basically, the shape of the body is determined by deep-seated,
subconcious mental habits. To change someone's shape you have to change
how he thinks about himself at the most primal level. This is only
moderately difficult for creatures which actually have minds; but for
things that don't the magician has to go down to molecular level to
change the molecules' minds (WA, pp. 203, 208-9). This latter effect is
possible, it suffers an additional +2 to the Difficulty and Backlash.
CONJURATION effects are difficult because it takes a lot of magical
power to create the energy that makes up the item that is conjured (MP,
pp. 146, 293).
And DIVINATION? Nothing's actually been mentioned in the novels that
would specifically explain the greater difficulty for this skill. In
fact, the description of how wizards and witches sense their impending
deaths suggests that Divination effects are easier. The description of
the process in the Torg Rulebook and the Nippon Tech SB of the way
ambient magical power allows for intuitive flashes, deja vu, and
precognitive foresight meshes very well with the way the same process
works on the Discworld. On the Disc, memory stretches out both behind
and ahead of the individual, but most people on the Discworld ignore this;
wizards and witches, however, know enough about magical process not to
ignore these insights.
It has been suggested by Kansas Jim that perhaps Divination has been
exempted from the increased difficulty of magic generally under the Law
Of Conservation Of Reality, and that the ability of wizards and witches
to sense their impending deaths is a type of punitive tradeoff. When the
Old High Ones started to impose the LoConsOfReality some smart-ass
wizard tried to convince them that Divination magic wasn't dangerous
enough and shouldn't be shackled by the world law. The Old High Ones
decided to teach this guy a lesson, so they let him (and all other magic
users) keep his divinatory abilities, but with the price that he could
not avoid knowing the approach of his own demise while also being
acutely aware that there was nothing he could do about it. These days,
of course, some magic users have become more or less reconciled to their
impending death, and use the foreknowledge to put their affairs in order
and go out having a good time. Others, such as Greyhold Spold in TLF,
spare no effort to try to avoid Death, but always fail anyway.
This reasoning sounds good to me. In game terms Divination spells are
exempted from all of the above penalties.
Social 20
The important thing to remember about the Discworld is that the people
who live on it do not act like typical fantasy genre inhabitants. When
interviewed Pratchett has commented that part of the humour of the series
comes from having an irrational fantasy setting, but populated by people
who try to act rationally; people do not go into bars and cry "Ho
inkeeper! A flagon of your best mead!" unless they are seriously ODing on
the Dried Frog Pills. Thus, the heroic and villainous causes that
motivate the populations of Aysle and Avalon seem very alien to most
Discworlders. As Granny Weatherwax has noted, you can't go about acting
as if stories and folk songs were real. Although there are some incurable
romantics who try.
Superficially, most Discworlders tend to act very much like Core
Earthers; mostly they go about their lives as best they can. People are
just people - even the undead ones (RM) and golemim (FoC). Discworlders
do, however, have a tendency to be dreadfully literal-minded: "If the
Creator said 'Let there be light'... he'd have got no further because
of all the people saying 'What colour?'" (MaA, p. 52)
The biggest difference between the living and the undead is that dying
tends to strip one of all the foolish preconceptions that living in a
society foists upon one. Death has been described as being like waking
up. As a result, although undead people reside among the living pretty
much as they had before (albeit with some discrimination) their natural
tendency not to ignore the strange and unusual still makes them outsiders
somewhat.
Politically the most sophisticated place on the Discworld is probably
the city of Ankh-Morpork. In order to keep the city of one million people
from metaphorically flying apart the Patrician, Lord Vetinari, has
devised a subtle and extremely effective means of keeping the various
guilds and power groups in a state of disarray by playing them off
against each other (Social 20: "Pluralism, the balancing of many actions
within a government and society"). In this way none of them ever gain
enough power or influence to upset the mechanics of the cities'
functioning. His methods include a top rate spy service, and truly
organised crime (with the Thieves Guild having agreed to a set amount of
crime for a financial year, most citizens prefer to plan ahead, make a
payment, have an acceptable level of crime committed at their convenience
in the privacy of their own home, then keep the receipt), and finally a
Doug Piranha-like use of Sarcasm. The Patrician has also written a private
monograph, 'The Servant', on the effective weilding of political power.
Spiritual 22
There are definite divine agencies on the Discworld, and they make sure
that people know it. The gods are a stroppy lot, and take a dim view of
atheists. Whenever the philosophers in Ephebe start pondering whether the
gods exist, the gods are usually only too happy to present
incontrovertible proof by smiting them with lightning.
It should be noted, however, that gods don't mind the fiery atheists,
who bitterly hate the idea of gods and put as much effort into not
believing in them as most worshippers do into their faith. That type of
hate is almost as good as worship (SG, p. 248).
But, while the gods are there, they don't pay much attention to their
worshippers when it comes to miracles. They tend to be rather self-
absorbed, and usually play games with the fate of their worshippers
(especially their chosen heroes: "The soul of a true Hero always finds a
better rate of exchange, and is highly valued by the gods" - TCoM, p. 86)
more than they do tending their flocks. See the Law of Divine Self-
Absorption for the fringe reality of Dunmanifestin. Miracles tend to be
less common than they would be in, say, Aysle, but when they do turn up
the types available are extremely varied and can be quite potent.
Since gods exist because their worshippers believe they exist, and new
ones are developing from small gods all the time, the Spirit axiom is
less than 23 (the point at which one mythos would become dominant, and
as a result lock things in place rather than allow the current
flexibility). At Spi 17 locations are capable of perpetual miracles even
without the presence of a community, but such things tend to get lost
among the various weirdnesses on the Disc, such as the rains of fish at
Pine Dressers which are so regular that this landlocked town has its
own canning industry. At Spi 21 the laity may create miracles without
need for the Focus skill, but again, the Disc gods are so stand-offish
that that is no guarantee that a call for a miracle will be responded to.
Technological 17
In Torg terms the level of technology described in the novels varies
between 15 and 16, with a few instances indicating that an axiom shift
of Tech 17 has spread outward from Anhk-Morpork since the early books
in the series. The Discworld has had fireworks for some time, and the
Agatean Empire makes use of cannons. Meanwhile, in _Men at Arms_ the
invention of the gun (or gonne, as it was called) by the eccentric Ankh-
Morpork genius Leonard of Quirm was briefly rediscovered. The gonne,
however, was suppressed on agreement by the Patrician, the Assassins
Guild, and the Ankh-Morpork City Guard. The Patrician didn't want
something powerful enough to upset the social stability of the city; the
Assassins prefer to "inhume" people up close and personal as a matter of
professional pride, and so are prejudiced against all long-distance
weapons; and the Guards just didn't want any more people getting killed.
Consequently, non-Discworld characters who attract too much attention with
their firearms around Ankh-Morpork are likely to be quietly and
efficiently removed.
The Ephebians worked out ages ago the existence of atoms and that the
speed of light is finite (subsonic, actually); and the usefulness of
nitrogen-fixing plants for agriculture is understood (LaL, p. 24).
Printing is possible, but around the Circle Sea a ban imposed by Unseen
University means that printing is restricted to having the block of the
page carved as a whole rather than being composed of many individual,
reusable pieces. This is because the wizards fear that if type blocks
were used to print up a book of magic, then strange things might happen
if they were reused for mundane volumes: the metal might _remember_. This
prevents the founding of any daily broadsheet newspapers, but magazines
do exist. Moveable type is used on the Counterweight Continent.
Clockwork exists to power watches and clocks, but in practice it is not
always of good quality. Frequently, watches instead function because of
small conjured imps who power them by pedalling. Unfortunately, these
watches stop when the imps disappear after a few months. Iconographs
(cameras) also use conjured imps to paint instant pictures; and before
movies were banned as being too dangerous to the fabric of reality, movie
cameras also used imps. However, powerful and efficient clockworks are
possible. Witness the Barbarian Invaders machine invented by Leonard of
Quirm (SM). Similarly, the computer called Hex in the High Energy Magic
Building at Unseen University runs primarily by clockwork (probably being
somewhat analogous to Babbage's Analytical Engine and Differential
Engines), although Hex also has a magical factor which supports its AI
functions.
Indications that the Disc has pushed into early Tech 17 is that the
alchemists have recently started producing and selling matches (which
had made it as far as Lancre by ER), and that physicians have recently
gotten ahold of the newfangled idea of diseases being caused by bacteria
and viruses ("He's caught a walrus, there's a lot of it going around!" -
P, p. 62) On the other hand, the general consensus is still that thought
originate in the heart, and that the brain is just an organ for keeping
the blood cool.
Note that depending on how events turn out, the Disc could also well be
on the verge of both an agricultural and industrial revolution. In
_Reaper Man_ the blacksmith Ned Simmel created a functional horse-drawn
and powered combine harvester, and in _Small Gods_ the Ephebian
apprentice philosopher Gurn used a primitive steam engine to power both a
boat and a tank. Future developments could cause a sharp rise in the Tech
axiom.
One special note should made about the presence of octocelulose film
in _Moving Pictures_. The axiom tables list Tech 20 as needed for movies,
including 'talkies', but this is the level needed to produce and develop
photosensitive films. By comparison the film industry created by the
alchemists at Holy Wood actually operated at a Tech level of only 16
("plant extracts and essences possible"), because the octocelulose film
used was simply transparent rather than photosensitive. The transfixing
of the images onto the film was carried out by conjured imps (two imps
painting _really fast_ as the cameraman wound the film past the lens,
with another four imps blowing the paint dry). Then, for projecting the
images onto the movie screen, the projectionist would wind the film in
front of a light source.
Law of Chaotic Whimsy
This world law stipulates that rules can be broken by the GM if it
makes for a good joke. The Law of Chaotic Whimsy may seem superficially
to be like the Law of Humour in the Cartoon Cosm, but the Law of Chaotic
Whimsy is a world law that cannot be used as a tool by players. On the
Discworld, some of the effects created by this law include:
- The fact that no matter how powerful an explosion that kills somebody,
the shoes will always remain, with the classic wisp of smoke curling out
of them.
- The way that an explosion or collision are always followed, a few
seconds later, by one last tinkle of falling metal or glass.
- The fact that any pantry raided at night will always contain
leftovers, no matter what's in there by day.
- Exactly 1 in a million chances automatically succeed, although not
other improbable odds, such as 1 in 999,999.
The LoChaotic Whimsy also supports other weirdnesses, such a Opposites.
For example, darkness is not the opposite of light, it is merely light's
absence; the opposite of light is the light fantastic. A practical example
of a magical opposite can be heard every day in Ankh-Morpork in the form
of anti-noise, which is the opposite of sound while silence is merely
sounds absence. Anti-noise actively soaks up and cancels out sound. As
the various clocks and bell towers sound the hour, for a few minutes it's
almost impossible to tell one from another amongst the din until Old Tom
in the Unseen University bell tower begins to toll. Although tongueless,
Old Tom is made of the magic metal octiron, and rings out peals anti-
noise that leaves brief bursts of silence. If you want you can also
experience an Opposite by getting knurd. This is the opposite of getting
drunk, and although not a particularly pleasant experience, can be done
simply by drinking Klatchian coffee. [In the books the existence of
Opposites is attributed to a high magic axiom, but is here delegated to a
world law because we haven't seen its like in other high magic realities
like Aysle.]
The Law of Chaotic Whimsy is an active law, and can pester Discworld
characters no matter where they hide. Just because the characters can't
use it as a tool doesn't mean it cant get them.
Law of Resonances
The Discworld is a "world and mirror of worlds". Large parts of the
humour of the series derive from the references to non-Discworld events
and literature, in the various forms of allusions, references, tributes,
parodies, satires, puns, quotations and deliberate misquotations.
The first effect of this has no specific game mechanic: when the GM is
designing and running a Discworld adventure, it is to be expected that
lots of little in-jokes should be included as plot elements, background,
scenery, and dangerous distractions for players <evil grin>. (Although
GMs often do this in normal gameplay anyway; if so, ignore this bit.)
The second effect is that a lot of the Discworld reality set is made up
of bits and pieces and ideas from other realities. As a result, the
Discworld (like Core Earth) tends to be a natural zone of dominant reality
rather than the more usual pure zones. This explains why it was so
comparatively easy for the cinematic reality of Holy Wood to try to merge
with the Discworld in _Moving Pictures_, and why the invading wild elves
from Fairyland weren't hampered more by disconnection in _Lords and
Ladies_. But, whereas Core Earth's reality is dominant because it has an
unprecedented amount of Possibility energy, which allows its inhabitants
to conceive of multiple alien realities as entertainment, the Discworld's
reality is dominant because it tends to let in alien ideas, absorb them
into itself, and then transforms them to make them its own. It's
flexibility is thus world law derived rather than P-energy level derived,
and is imposed from without rather than an option of developing from
within.
Although Discworlders can relatively easily adopt to new cultural
patterns, they nevertheless still tend to retain their extreme literal-
mindedness.
The Law of Resonances is a passive law.
Law of Conservation of Reality
At the dawn of the world there was much magic loose on the Disc, which
was easily used by almost any sapient being. As a result the Mage Wars
flared between the humans and gods until the beings known variously as the
Olden Ones and the Old High Ones stepped in to put a stop to it. Among
other things, most of the original wild magic was sucked out of the Disc
(lowering the Magic axiom as a result), and the Law of Conservation of
Reality was imposed (CoM, pp. 79, 119-20).
In order to explain the way magic works in the novels in terms of the
Torg system this necessarily complicated world law is used. Most of it is
already explained under the Magic axiom. To summarise, this world law
stipulates that the effort needed to do something will be the same whether
magical or non-magical means are used. As a result, while the full benefit
of the Magic axiom (19) is available only for the _types_ of effects at
that level, the WL makes the actual _use_ more difficult, both for
individual mages and society as a whole, as if at Magic 9. This means a
+3 modifier is applied to the Difficulty and Backlash of spells. There is
a further bias towards the use of Impressed spells, which have a +0
modifier, over non-Impressed spells, which have a +3 modifier.
The LoConsOfR bans the use of enhancement packages (cf the elves and
giants of Aysle, or the tharkoldu) under the otherwise powerful
Magic axiom. Wee folk like pixies, brownies, etc, tend to lead grubby
lives as a result (TCoM), but do not have to worry about the Silent Death.
One important factor in the Law of Conservation of Reality is that it
becomes inoperative at Magic axioms of 25 or greater. Why else would the
Olden Ones have siphoned off the excess magic if simply implementing this
world law would have been enough? This is why magic became so easy to use
when the sourcerer Coin was around; a sourcerer is a source through which
new magical power can enter the world. Coin's presence blasted the local
Magic axiom up past the level that the Law of Conservation of Reality
could cope with, so that instead of suffering penalties to their spell
casting, the wizards gained the bonuses that flow naturally from such a
high axiom level. This situation lapsed when Coin departed into a pocket
dimensional fringe reality of his own creation (see Maligree's Wonderful
Gardens, below). However, it may be possible that those magically
irradiated areas left over from the Mage Wars might still contain
similarly high Magic axioms. By this time most (some 95%) would have
decayed to less than 24, but if a magician could find some rare area of
axiom 25 or greater (usually no more than 100 meters across) then he
could be _very_ powerful within his little demse. (Providing he or she
was prepared to put up with the inherent risks of Magical(In)Stability
that such an area would possess.)
The Law of Conservation of Reality is an active law, and can pester
Discworld characters no matter where they hide.
Law of Belief
The Law of Belief primarily acts as an adjunct to the Spirit axiom, and
essentially acts like an accelerated version of the normal Torg processes
of reality being defined and changed over time by the aggregate belief of
the population. It functions most effectively for belief affecting gods
and anthropomorphic personifications (like Death). (Note that under this
world law anthropomorphic personifications operate under the Spirit
axiom rather than the more usual Magic axiom 10 for "embodiments of
moral virtues" It has even been demonstrated that old gods can slip into
the job of anthropomorphic personifications, as the Hog Father has done,
so presumably there wasn't that much difference between them anyway.)
These beings are given power, form and personality by the belief of
mortals.
It is also possible for the Law of Belief to be used to effect changes
to the material world, although the evidence on this is complicated and
often contradictory. For instance, in _Moving Pictures_ the Things from
the Dungeon Dimensions used the Cthinema of Holy Wood to gain access to
the world; while people were watching and believing what they saw on the
silver screen so much that it weakened the already thin walls of reality,
the Things clothed themselves in the images of the actors which had taken
on form and substance because of the effects of this world law. There was
also the failed attempt by the wizard Cutwell to maintain in existence a
version of history where Princess Keli of Sto Lat remained alive by
convincing the population of Sto Lat that this was so.
It is also strongly tempting to attribute at least part of the temporary
success of the invasion of Lancre by the elves to this effect of the
Law of Belief, since that would explain how the elves were able to
superimpose some of their world onto part of Lancre. If so, it would
be consistent with the elves' modus operandi, since the wall between
worlds at the stone circle known as the Dancers was sundered by the
Queen of the Elves by manipulating people's belief and desire to call
herself and her minions to the Discworld. The alternative is that the
elves possessed some particularly potent reality manipulating magics,
which in the Torg sense there was no evidence of.
On the other hand, the novels have informed us on occasion that people
generally don't acknowledge what is really there because their personal
beliefs, common sense, and social upbringing get in the way. Witches and
wizards are trained to see things as they really are rather than what they
are thought to be. People ignore the presence of Death up until the time
of their actual demise, because their minds shy away from him. Most
people don't consciously hear Gaspode the Wonder Dog when he talks to
them, because people know that dogs don't talk (although they do hear him
on a subconscious level, and so he can beg food from them by use of
subliminal requests).
Rather than risk recreating Avalon's Law of Legends and letting PC
Storm Knights manipulate reality on anything other than a personal level,
I will just throw in the supposition that the above attempts by Cutwell,
the Things, and the elves were attempts to use the Law of Belief when
combined with the Law of Chaotic Whimsy and possibly even the Law of
Resonances. Thus, they were exceptions rather than the rule and not
necessarily earmarked for success.
So. For the most part attempts to change the world with this world law
are erratic and unsuccessful as Belief is better at shaping gods than
shaping the world: belief "may not be able to move mountains, exactly.
But it can create someone who can." (RM, p. 103). Thus, the LoBelief is
essentially super fast fertiliser for growing gods.
The effects of the Law of Belief are 'temporary'. Effects created by it
evolve rapidly, but can vanish just as quickly. If people stop believing,
the effect created by their belief ceases to exist. This is quite
different to the more normal Torg process of the way a cosm's reality
develops: it may take ages for a change to propagate, but once it's
entrenched it usually requires a further, active change in beliefs to
alter it.
Thus, gods on the Disc require that their faithful continually and
actively worship them. A god that no longer gains power from the belief
of worshippers dwindles back into a small god (essentially, a barely
sentient mote of energy that hungers for worship) (SG; M, p. 151; WA, p.
237). This is also the case with many of the anthropomorphic
personifications who derive from social customs (eg, the Hog Father, the
Sandman, Old Man Trouble). An entity personifying a more profound and
universal concept, like Death, will always be believed in, even if
subconsciously, and is less likely to discorporate through lack of belief
as long as any form of life exists.
This world law also affects the nature of the afterlife a person gets.
The gods rarely bother to judge the dead, so instead you get what you
believe in. The afterlife is a very subjective, and often unfair,
phenomenon.
The Law of Belief is a passive law, except for determining afterlives.
Reconnection Numbers
Character from the Discworld Character in the Discworld
is in reality of: is from reality of:
Atlantis 5 Atlantis 13
Avalon 3 Avalon 12
Aysle 3 Aysle 11
Aztec Empire 3 Aztec Empire 9
Core Earth 9 Core Earth 15
Cyberpapacy 11 Cyberpapacy 12
Kantovia 3 Kantovia 17
Land Below * 3 Land Below * 16
Lereholm 3 Lereholm 17
Living Land 5 Living Land 21
Magna Verita 3 Magna Verita 13
Nile Empire 7 Nile Empire 10
Nippon Tech 10 Nippon Tech 18
Olympus 3 Olympus 14
Orrorsh 5 Orrorsh 8
Pulse's cosm 16 Pulse's cosm 23
Star Sphere 15 Star Sphere 14
Terra 8 Terra 15
Tharkold 11 Tharkold 10
Tz'Ravok 3 Tz'Ravok 16
* also Arachnidia and Gehenna
-----
Saxon Brenton City library of the Uni of Technology, Sydney, Australia
saxon.brenton@uts.edu.au | saxonb@mpx.com.au
The Librarian "liked people who loved and respected books, and the best
way to do that, in the Librarian's opinion, was to leave them on the
shelves where Nature intended them to be." - Terry Pratchett, _Men At Arms_
Date: Sun, 12 May 1996 21:42:06 -0500
From: Saxon.Brenton@uts.edu.au (Saxon Brenton)
To: Multiple recipients of list <torg@buddha.intecom.com>
Subject: [TORG:1523] Discworld 3 of 4
X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas
X-Comment: The Torg Mailing List
Post 3
MORE ON THE COSM
MORE ON MAGIC
The Number Between 7 And 9
On the Discworld eight is the number of the most potent magical
significance, and is even important in non-magical concerns: there are
eight days in the week, eight hundred days in the year, eight seasons,
and eight colours in the spectrum (though the eighth, octarine, is a
magical pigment usually not seen by most people).
There are eight great spells within the Octavo, the Creator's grimoire,
which were used to create the world; and 64 (8 x 8) signs of the zodiac.
Wizards usually work with octograms when casting spells that need shapes
of occult significance, although there have been mentioned instances
where other shapes have been used - magic circles for summoning demons
(E, pp. 16-17) and protective lead pentagrams in the room used for housing
the Octavo at Unseen University (TCoM, p. 88). There are therefore
presumably other numbers and shapes of mystic significance (such as
pentagrams and thaumatic triangles), but they are of secondary importance
behind octograms.
In game terms this effect can be applied when constructing spells or
rituals that need a specific number or shape. When constructing such
magics, as part of the spell creation process, the use of eight and
octograms should be encouraged by adding a bonus of +1 to the final total
of a roll. The use of other numbers and shapes is penalised by applying a
-1 modifier to the final total of the roll. Naturally, such modifications
to spell processes cause the spells in question to be contradictions
when cast in any reality other than that of the Discworld or its fringe
realities.
However, although eight is the most potent magical number, wizards (and
presumably witches) will not risk saying it aloud in an unprotected area -
since it is also the number of Bel-Shamharoth the Soul Render.
Bel-Shamharoth is one of the Things from the Dungeon Dimensions, and
seems to have gained some purchase on the Discworld by being worshipped
as an ichor god (TCoM, p. 89; P, p. 14). Magic-users who say "eight" risk
attracting Its attention, and being dragged off to a place that is both
underground and Somewhere Else, and then having their soul eaten to the
accompaniment of loud slurpy noises and satisfied sucker-smacking sounds.
It is usually safe for wizards to say "eight" in the magically protected
environs of Unseen University (DC, p. 89), but they habitually refer to
this forbidden number as 7a anyway.
Magical (In)Stability
A direct result of the Creator's lack of mechanical aptitude but
abundance of imagination is that the Discworld doesn't work particularly
well, and is in fact held together by magic as a sort of cosmic glue
(WS, p. 6). It does this by having reality distorted by the presence of
so much magical power that otherwise impossible effects (such as the
floating the mountain of Wyrmberg) are possible. Note, however, that
while this large amount of magical power, if properly applied, can hold
the world together, if improperly applied it can easily tear the world
apart, which is why it is so dangerous to run the risk of creating an
intense but uncontrolled field of magic by casting too many spells at one
area or item (TCoM, c pp. 228-9). Think also of the mention of the
dangers of a critical Black Mass being formed from all the books at
Unseen University Library.
In game terms, areas with intense but _uncontrolled_ magical fields
cause disruptions in reality, distorting local causality and causing
strange and unpredictable things to occur. Areas that took a direct hit
from a spell during the Mage Wars are examples. This type of effect can
also be created if a powerful spell (axiom 13 or greater) is miscast,
using a variant of the rules for Erratic Failure (The Delphi Council
Worldbook Volume I, pp. 118-20). Such a miscast occurs if any caster
fails to beat the Difficulty Number of the spell, and the result points
of the failure get a Superior (7 points) or greater result on the Power
Push table. Such an eventuality creates an area of the above mentioned
intense but uncontrolled magical field, equal in size and duration to the
value of the result points. After that results that are dangerous and/or
messy and/or weird are left to the GM's imagination.
The same type of effect may result if two or more spells are cast onto
the same item or into the same area at the same time. Spells that meet at
the same time, especially those cast simultaneously in magical combat,
tend to cancel out with unexpected side effects, for example the duel
between Carding and Spelter (S, p. 40). Normally this type of timing
isn't possible under the Torg combat rules; only spells being used in
combat with cast times greater than 10 (i.e., activating at the end of
the combat round) could possibly go off simultaneously.
However, simultaneous spell activation can be simulated by use of the
Drama Deck. In a combat round where two (or more) spell casters on one
side (Hero or Villain) get a Setback result, their spells collide. In
a combat round with multiple spells being cast from _both_ sides, then a
Setback result for _either_ will cause a collision. (For GMs who want to
keep an element of surprise for this, a second draw of the Drama Deck for
the purposes of determining any Setback results for spell casting may be
necessary.) And of course, a GM may also want to flip cards from the
Drama Deck to see if spells collide, even when combat is not taking place.
If two or more spells meet like this, compare the result points. The
result points will cancel each other out on a one-to-one basis, even for
odd numbers of spells. (For example, if three spells meet at once, with
result points of 4, 5, and 8, then the number of result points common to
all (4) will cancel out, leaving results of 0, 1, and 4.) If one or more
of the spells still has 7 or more result points, then an area of intense
but uncontrolled magic results. Once again, the size and duration of the
area depends on the value of the results; each set of results that is
still of 7 or more points after cancelling out is added for a total
'magical fallout' value.
Magic-Users
There are two main way to get to use magic. One may be born into it, or
one may learn it like any other skill.
Magic skills are usually hereditary. The son of a wizard will usually
be a wizard himself, although it probably should not be put past the
Discworld to let it skip generation or drop out all together. Similarly,
the eighth son of an eighth son will also traditionally be a wizard. (The
eighth son of a eighth son of an eighth son will be a wizard squared - a
sourcerer. But their sheer level of power is dangerous to the fabric of
reality because of Magical (In)Stability, and so their are prohibitions
on wizards marrying or fornicating.)
Whether these hereditary factors also apply to witches has never been
spelt out. It's possible that they do, but OTOH, considering that much of
the Disc is made up of cliches, possibly not. It is unusual, but not
actually forbidden, for witches to marry (WS, p. 25).
People may also learn to use magic. Use the standard Torg rules for
learning new skills (Torg RB, p. 20; Aysle SB, p. 24). As a permutation
on this, it is also possible for a dying wizard (and possibly witch) to
invest his or her power in another - such as the case where Drum Billet
gave his power to Eskarina Smith (ER, p. 10).
However, magical societies try to discourage too many people from
learning magic. It's dangerous stuff, both on a personal and social
level. The problem is that the Things from the Dungeon Dimensions are
always trying to break into the world, and minds that use magic shine
brightly against the dull background of the non-magic-using masses. The
Things try to use magic to both break through into the Discworld, then -
because they have no morphogenetic field of their own - stabilise
themselves so that they can last in what for them is the ultimate alien
reality: reality itself.
The two best known types of magic-users from the Discworld are the
wizards and witches. The difference between their magic is partly one of
differences between how the sexes think: "How the mind works. Men's minds
work different to ours, see. Their magic's all numbers and angles and
edges and what the stars are doing, as if that really mattered. It's all
power. It's all [geometry]" (Granny Weatherwax, ER, p. 60). Wizards lust
after power (E, p. 21) and tend to use lots of magic to attain it despite the
limitations on it (TCoM, pp. 52-3). This means they will use any
advantage available, including a preference for Impressed spells.
Witches, on the other hand, recognise those limitations; they are
essentially minimalists when it comes to using magic, and prefer to use
psychology ("headology") to get what they want by getting other people to
do it for them. Witches usually find that too much magic just gets in the
way, and find they don't have to cast spells to do things when they can
get other people to do it for them. Wizards try to master the world,
impose their will upon it, and generally try to create things from
scratch. Witches usually try to influence the world, and work with what
already exists. Wizards try to change the world, while witches try to
change the people.
Other types of magic users have been mentioned, but not greatly detailed:
Alchemists. Have had quite a bit written about them, but strictly
speaking they aren't magic-users. There's a demarcation over who can use
magic that the wizards enforce, and so the Alchemists stick to mixing
their chemicals. The most noteworthy fact about the alchemists is that
the blow up their guildhall in Ankh-Morpork every three months or so.
Demonologists "tended to be surreptitious, pale men who got up to do
complicated things in darkened rooms and had damp, weak handshakes. It
wasn't good clean magic. No self-respecting wizard would have any truck
with the demonic regions, whose inhabitants were as big a collection of
ding-dongs as you'd find outside a large belfry." "This might seem odd,
because if there is one thing a wizard would trade his grandmother for,
it is power. But it wasn't all _that_ strange, because any wizard bright
enough to survive for five minutes was also bright enough to realise that
if there was any power in demonology, then it lay with the demons. Using
it for your own purposes would be like trying to beat mice to death with
a rattlesnake." (E, p. 21)
Warlocks have only been mentioned in that, like witches, they are
traditionally supposed to spend Alls Fallow eve in bed. No practicing one
has been identified so far, and as the _Companion_ points out, "no one
even knows how many legs one should have".
From the wizards point of view other magic-users are bellow them.
Magicians are usually those who failed to gain entrance to Unseen
University, and are dismissed as "mere magical technologists". Magicians,
in turn, look down on conjurers (although the conjurers tend not to
notice "and really infuriate magicians by not realising how lowly they
were and kept telling them jokes"). At the bottom, with no training at
all, are the thaumaturgists, who collect the magical ingredients needed
for spells. (ER, p. 125)
High Magic, Manipulation, and Conclavity
In this context High Magic simply means the extremely occult looking
and magicky casting of spells favoured by the more traditional minded
wizards. Lots of rare and esoteric materials (octopus toenails, dew
collected off deadly nightshade, human blood, moonbeams, etc),
paraphernalia (dribbly candles, rams skulls, ravens trained to say
'Nevermore', the mandatory pointy hat and wizard's robe inscribed with
occult sigils), plus maybe helpers to hold the thuribles and wave the
wands. This stuff is vitally important to maintain the _mystique_ of
magic. Casting can often be performed without all this, but the result is
not as spectacular and paying customers feel shortchanged.
Quite often wizard spells designed on the principles of High Magic will
have options for manipulation built into that go beyond those that would
be considered normal, even for Aysle. Thus, they have the option of quick
and simple castings in private if they need, or factoring in all sorts of
estoterica for public displays (the Rite of AshKente is the best
documented example). Witches, who rarely cast magic and primarily use
only their pointy hats to impress their customers, do not configure their
spells this way.
Spells created for High Magic will almost always have included
manipulation of Cast Time, plus other process theorems depending on the
purpose of the spell. High Magic has also developed a new process
theorem, called Conclavity. Conclavity allows a spell to be cast with as
little as one mage, but with the option adding in many more. If multiple
casters are factored in, then one wizard will have to be designated the
leader of the spell's casting, and he or she must roll her total as
normal. However, if the other casters participating in the spell
succeed in beating the spell's DN as well, then the value of the number
of additional casters who succeed is added as a bonus number to the
total of the leading caster.
Spells
The spells of the Discworld are sapient and lead private lives of
their own in the pages of grimoires. Moreover, grimoires have their own
collective intelligence composed of the sum of the spells they contain.
Some spells resent being memorised and crammed into someone's head, and
may vindictively try to return the experience. A person reading a
grimoire (whether learning the spell, Impressing it into memory, or just
scanning its contents) runs the risk of being attacked and 'eaten' by the
contents if the book or scroll is feeling belligerent. If anybody
investigates the screams, they'll find the victim's shoes with the
lassic wisp of smoke coming out of them, and the grimoir looking smug
and noticeably fatter. Then a mage will have to be called in to cast a
spell that will allow the person Impressed into the grimoir to be
released and reconstituted.
Both individual spells and grimoires are capable of doing this. The
spell or grimoire uses its 'Mind' value against the reader. The value of
a spell's MIN is the average of its Backlash, Difficulty, and Effect
values. The MIN value of grimoires is the average of the MIN values of
the spells it contains, plus the bonus number from the Many-On-One table
for the appropriate number of spells. For this reason it is tactically
sound for wizards to include at least one low powered spell in a
grimoire, especially if the other spells include the likes of Sunder
Spirit. The reader defends with his or her Mind (or Willpower). If the
attacking spell or grimoir gets a Minimal to Good success, than the
target escapes physically unharmed but suffers as per the Interaction
Results Table. If a Superior or better success results, then the target
is 'eaten' by being Impressed into the book.
Grimoires may also use the same method to 'consume' other magical books
(MP, pp. 168-9).
The sapience of spells is an effect supported by the LoChaoticWhimsy,
and can affect spells from other realities as a one case contraction.
Particular care should obviously be taken to avoid being attacked by
spells from Tharkold and Orrorsh.
Some spells:
Chant of the Trodden Spiral (TLF) (Druidic, so may be a miracle)
Englebert's Enhancer (HF)
Eringya's Surprising Bouquet (RM)
Fresnel's Wonderful Concentrator (TCoM)
Gindle's Effortless Elevator (MP)
Herpetty's Seismic Reorganiser (RM)
Infernal Combustion Enigma (CoM)
Maligree's Wonderful Garden (S)
Pelepel's Temporal Compressor (S)
Raising of the Cone of Power (LaL)
Spell of Binding (TLF)
Spold's Unstirring Divisor (HF)
Spolt's Forthright Respirator (HF)
Stacklady's Morphic Resonator (LaL)
Sumpjumper's Incendiary Surprise (RM)
Turning To Animals (TCoM)
Vestcake's Floating Curse (TCoM)
Atavarr's Personal Gravitational Upset
(CoM, pp. 208-211)
Axiom level: 9 (17)
Skill: alteration/inanimate forces 22
Backlash: 19
Difficulty: 16
Effect value: 12 (250 kg)
Bonus number to: duration
Range: 8 (40 meters)
Duration: 20 (2.5 hours)
Cast time: 16 (30 minutes)
Manipulation: cast time, control, range
This Focused and Impressed spell will affect one folk person of up to
250 kg (taking into account the weight of some wizards). If a person is
affected the force of gravity will reorient exactly 90 degrees from its
standard direction, and allow him to walk on walls. As long as the new
"down" is exactly 90 degrees to the old one, the caster may determine
what way gravity will reorient, but once set it cannot be changed. The
spell may be ended by the caster at will.
Recipients of this spell who are prepared for its casting can walk from
the old "down" direction to the new one (i.e., walking, rather than
falling, onto a wall) by making a DEX total against a base Difficulty of
12. Recipients who aren't prepared for its casting will take falling
damage as normal.
The spell is Impressed into memory though concentration on a square
block, which is rotated in the caster's hands during memorisation.
Brother Hushmaster's Potent Asp-Spray
(S, p. 40)
Axiom level: 12 (17)
Skill: conjuration/earthly 22
Backlash: 18
Difficulty: 16
Effect value: 12
Bonus number to: effect
Range: 2 (2.5 meters)
Duration: 9 (1 minute)
Cast time: 15 (15 minutes)
Manipulation: cast time, range, speed
This Impressed spell creates a spay of silver-coloured asps that
materialise in mid flight towards the target. Naturally, the asps are
quite angry at such treatment, and will bite the target(s). Once their
venom has entered someone's bloodstream it causes damage each round
equal to the total Effect of the spell plus the Many-On-One value of the
number of asps that bit. At the end of the spell's duration both the
asps and the venom vanishes.
The number of asps conjured is equal to the value of the bonus number
generated, to a minimum of one.
The spell is Impressed into a small staff, carved into the shape of a
serpent.
Eightfold Seal Of Stasis
(TLF, pp. 7, 9)
Axiom level: 12 (17)
Skill: alteration/magic 23
Backlash: 20
Difficulty: 16
Effect value: 35
Bonus number to: effect
Range: 4 (6 meters)
Duration: 37 (10 months)
Cast time: 24 (15 hours)
Manipulation: cast time, control, duration, conclavity
When this ceremonial octogram of up to 6 meters across is drawn out on
the floor it creates an anti-magical field that is "generally agreed in
magical circles to have all the stopping power of a well-aimed
halfbrick". The casting requires a full 15 hours of ceremonies by the
participant(s), which do not necessarily need to be elaborate.
A spell being cast within the area of the Seal must make a total
greater than the Effect total of the Seal to work. If the spell fails it
is dispelled even as it forms, otherwise the Seal itself is destroyed.
The Eightfold Seal Of Stasis was inscribed upon the floor of the room
that the Octavo was originally kept n at Unseen University, hence the
high Effect, Duration and Cast Time values. Less potent versions are
available.
Megrim's Accelerator
(S, p. 40)
Axiom level: 10 (17)
Skill: alteration/inanimate forces 16
Backlash: 18
Difficulty: 11
Effect value: 14
Bonus number to: effect
Range: 4 (6 meters)
Duration: 5 (10 seconds)
Cast time: 16 (30 minutes)
Manipulation: cast time, range, speed
This Impresed spell creates a small area (1 cm diameter) with highly
accelerated molecular motion, which can be fired in a straight line at
an opponent. The zone of acceleration causes any matter it comes in
direct contact with to be shaken apart and disintegrated. It also causes
the air around itself out to a distance of 10 cm diameter to become
extremely hot.
The target of Accelerator may be able to dodge the disintegrating
effect, but not necessarily the heat effect. If the caster's attack roll
is equal to, or greater by 4, than the target's defense, then the
Accelerator has only grazed the victim with the heat effect. If, however,
the attack roll is greater by 5 or more, then the target has been hit
squarely by the disintegration effect, and had a nasty hole punched
through some part of his body and suffering an extra Wound.
The spell is Impressed into memory though visualisations of material
objects vibrating to pieces. The casting of this spell requires the
drawing of sigils in the air, and the uttering of a single syllable to
unleash it.
Quondum's Attractive Point
(RM, pp. 243, 254-5)
Axiom level: 9 (17)
Skill: alteration/inanimate forces 21
Backlash: 18
Difficulty: 14
Effect value: 15
Bonus number to: effect
Range: 8 (40 meters)
Duration: 5 (10 seconds)
Cast time: 18 (1 hour)
Manipulation: cast time, control, range
This Impresed spell creates a point of artificial gravity that attracts
everything within the spell's area of effect, a sphere 10 meters in
radius. The Point attracts items to it with a force equal the Effect plus
their weight value (ignoring the limitation of 'terminal velocity' at an
aggregate value of 14 under normal falling rules ('climbing', TRB, p. 52)).
How many times a person or object takes damage depends on what and when
things collide. Hypothetically, if a person were the only thing being
attracted by the Point, he would not take damage at all. More likely,
however, he would collide with something head-on at the Point, taking
damage. And if there were something behind him, he would take damage
again as it ran into him. And then when the spell expired, the whole lot
would take normal falling damage if the effect of the spell has gouged
out a crater or destroyed the floor. (It's a _fun_ spell :-)
Taking into consideration that many structures are built to withstand
gravity from one direction only, use of this spell will have a good
chance of causing a building to collapse, no matter what its normal
structural strength.
The spell is Impressed into memory by a ritual process of wrapping
successive layers foils of heavy metal (lead, usually) around a ball.
Rite of AshkEnte
(various)
Axiom level: 15 (17)
Skill: conjuration/entity 25
Backlash: 18
Difficulty: 16
Effect value: 25
Bonus number to: effect
Range: 0 (1 meter)
Duration: 15 (15 minutes)
Cast time: 16 (30 minutes)
Manipulation: cast time, control, duration, conclavity
This ceremony summons Death, so that He may be interrogated for
information. Since Death knows almost everything (although does not
necessarily understand it) he is an excellent source of details, although
senior wizards are understandably reluctant about calling attention to
themselves in this way. Traditionally it has also been thought to bind
Death to within the ceremonial octogram that He appears within, but
experience has demonstrated that He only stays inside out of a sense of
politeness.
With the full paraphernalia that makes traditional members of the High
Magic school of wizardry comfortable, this spell takes hours of work for
eight wizards at each point of the octogram. However, at least two
simpler versions are known to exist; both involving a few people, one
involving three small bits of wood and 4cc of mouse blood, the other with
two bits of wood and a fresh egg. Once the casting is complete, the
Effect total is compared to a total based on Death's Spirit of 14.
Success means He appears in the octogram. While being summoned at
inconvenient times tends to tick Death off, what really annoys him is
being addressed as "foul fiend" and other archaic terms usually applied
to demons.
FOLK RACES
The main Folk population of the Discworld includes humans, dwarves, and
trolls. Elves on the Discworld are typically the half human get of the
wild elves from Fairyland and are small in number. The first three are
common PC races, with the possibility of Disc eleves and gnomes/goblins
being usable with GM approval.
Dwarfs
The dwarfs of the Discworld are essentially identical biologically to
the dwarves described in the Aysle sourcebook. The only significant
physical difference is that the former live only 300 years rather than
the latter's 500. There are also some variances in their cultures, but
this is due primarily to slightly different emphasis on different things.
Disc dwarves traditionally have been miners, and have a love of gold
which they can sing about for hours in songs with lyrics that go "gold,
gold, gold, gold". Although it is not commonly known, they also have an
even greater love for iron. They also make excellent engineers and
mechanics. A dwarf's tools are usually buried with him when he dies,
since using another dwarf's tools is considered almost an obscenity.
Dwarves are straightforward people who have no use for metaphor or
simile; "rock is hard and darkness is dark is their motto. Start mucking
around with definitions like that and you're in trouble".
All dwarves have beards and wear up to 12 layers of clothing, often
including the almost obligatory chain-mail underwear. This makes
courtship a delicate affair of trying to find out exactly what sex the
other dwarf is; and is compounded by the habit of more traditional
dwarfen communities of only using the male pronoun.
The phrase "B'zugda-Hiara", translating literally as "lawn ornament",
is a killing insult to a dwarf. They also take great exception to short
jokes.
Traditional dwarfish weapons are the double-headed throwing axe,
although they have also developed bakery to a fine and deadly art with
their recepies for Dwarf Bread. They find the sound of hammering
soothing, and dwarfs in clerical positions often employ goblins to strike
small ceremonial anvils to help them think.
Rat is considered a delicacy among dwarfs; they have a variety of ways
of serving them up, but most common with ketchup. Gimlet's Hole Food in
Ankh-Morpork claims to have the best fried rat in town.
Typical dwarf:
DEX 8, STR 9, TOU 9, PER 8, MIN 8, CHA 7, SPI 7
Elves
If the dwarfs of the Discworld are near identical to their Ayslish
namesakes, the elves most certainly are not. Pratchett makes the
distinction of Tolkeinesque elves (including those of Aysle and most
other high fantasy settings) deriving from the Tuatha de Danaan, while
his are more like the Sidhe, "your basic faerie baby-snatchers". Let's be
blunt about this: the elves that once infested the Discworld (referred to
euphemistically as the Lords and Ladies, among other things, but perhaps
best described wild elves to distinguish them from their part-human get)
are charming and glamorous (in all senses of those words) and beautiful,
as well as being cruel, vicious, bloodthirsty, self-centred parasites.
Their part human descendants that still live on the Disc retain attitudes
that make them little better. Both will be covered here; but note that
while 'Disc elves' may be usable as SK PCs - providing the effort is made
to develop a suitable motivation for them to grace the rest of the world
with their presence - the wild elves are not.
Wild elves can breed with humans, although this is probably due to some
bizarre effect of the Discworld's reality rather than any biological
compatibility. The result is a race of foxy-looking, pointy-eared humans
who sunburn easily and tend to giggle a lot. They have none of their
elven ancestors benefits, but still keep themselves arrogantly aloof from
other races on the Discworld. Unlike wild elves, Disc elves can actually
have a real Charisma attribute higher than 7.
The race of wild elves may or may not have originated on the Discworld,
but was driven away to the fringe reality known as Fairyland centuries or
perhaps as much as a few millennia ago by the witches. They still turn up
from time to time to make merry, which usually means making everybody
else miserable. Elves are arrogant, callous, and bloodthirsty, but have
style, beauty, and glamour. The thing to remember about elves is that
they believe themselves to be the pinnacle of creation, and have no
empathy for any other creature; everyone and everything else is there to
be used and abused for their convenience and entertainment. They enjoy
tormenting and killing things slowly, because the fun lasts longer that
way. They are just as adept at running down solitary humans, dwarfs, and
trolls as they are at torturing baby rabbits to death over an ants nest.
They do not even care about one another, and the misfortune and death of
another elf of their group is simply more entertainment.
Wild elves are the same size and shape as Ayslish elves, but are fair-
skinned rather than dark-skinned. They benefit from the same type of
enhancement packages when using the reality of Fairyland (keeping in
mind that magical enhancement packages are forbidden under Discworld
reality by the Law of Conservation of Reality). Wild elves are actually
quite plain to look at (maximum actual Charisma of 7), but they hide
this by the use of Fairyland's Law of Glamour, or with the glamour
spells they created when they still lived on the Discworld. As long as
they are conscious they appear to have the maximum possible Charisma
for the Fairyland reality: 14. They possess blue-green blood which is
copper rather than iron based, and are referred to with the pronoun 'it'
in LaL. The _Companion_ suggests that gender is more or less optional
for them, and that they feel little sexual attraction for one another
because they know what the other elves are really like.
The primary difference with wild elves is that they have a sense that
allows them to experience electro-magnetic fields, similar to pigeons
and bees. This sense gives them several advantages, and so must be paid
for with two attribute limits to 7 (although it is a biological
benefit rather than one deriving from a world law, and thus does not
cause a risk of disconnection; it's just that I realise that despite
all the prohibitions someone will want to play a wild elf - much like
there are always people who want to play evil characters - and so I
thought I'd get a few good restrictions in first). This 'elf sight'
enables an elf to know exactly where it is in relation to a known
landmark if it is within 5 km if it makes a successful Perception roll
against a base Difficulty of 8. (Naturally, when in the Living Land
this ability is rendered dysfunctional by Compass Curse). Elf sight also
allows an elf to sense the presence of living creatures within 100
meters by the electrical impulses of their nervous systems (for those
whose bodies use electrical impulses, of course). Finally, an elf can
also sense the surface thoughts of a living creature by examining those
same electrical impulses in the brain. The elf must be within 10 meters
of the target creature, and make a successful Perception roll against a
base Difficulty of 15. This will result in a general impression of the
other's mood and thought processes.
Because wild elves rely so heavily on their magnetic elf-sight, they
are especially vulnerable to the presence of iron and other substances
that deform magnetic fields. The presence of iron is an anathema to
elves, as it undermines their absolute sense of self placement. Iron
brought within half a meter of an elf will nullify its elf sight
completely, and iron weapons that hit an elf always inflict a minimum of
a "KO" condition (LaL, p. 337).
Typical wild elf:
DEX 10, STR 7, TOU 8, PER 9, MIN 8, CHA 7 (14), SPI 6
Typical Disc elf:
DEX 9, STR 7, TOU 7, PER 9, MIN 8, CHA 8, SPI 7
Gnomes/Goblins
According to the _Companion_, the terms are interchangable. They are
the smallest of the Discworld's humanoid species. Use the base attributes
for the keefee in the _Land Below_ sourcebook (p. 48).
Typical gnome:
DEX 8, STR 4, TOU 5, PER 8, MIN 9, CHA 9, SPI 8
Trolls
The trolls of the Discworld are different to the trolls elsewhere, and
are in fact an ancient species of humanoid, silicon-based life forms.
When encountered in climates that are hospitable to humans most trolls
are about seven feet high, very strong, and seemingly not particularly
intelligent. Trolls have brains made of impure silicon, and as a
result naturally nocturnal creatures because sunlight reduces the
superconductivity of their brains, putting them into a dormant state.
Trolls in Ankh-Morpork who need to be active by day are said to use
sunblock, although what they use to block out environmental heat rather
than direct sunlight is unclear.
Conversely, cold increases the superconductivity of their brains,
increasing their intelligence. The specific temperature for the most
efficient use of their brains varies between trolls, but it has been
demonstrated that Detritus has a maximum brain efficiency level lower
than most others, and is most intelligent when within a fraction of a
degree of freezing to death (MaA, p. 150). As a general rule, use the
following generalisations for determining trollish intelligence:
Average (actual) Intelligence (MIN and PER) at between -30 to 0
degrees Centigrade.
+1 bonus to both MIN and PER for every 5 degree drop below -20
degrees, with death occurring at around -60 degrees Centigrade.
-1 penalty to both MIN and PER for every 5 degree rise above 0
degrees, with hibernation setting in at 25 degrees.
Thus, in their native climate (high, cold mountains), trolls as a race
possess average intelligence. It's just that those who descend to the
warmer climates around Ankh-Morpork loose it due to environmental effects.
Trolls tend to have amazingly long natural lifespans. They keep growing
in size, and as they get older they settle down to think about
philosophy. Slowly their bodies solidify up, leaving them in a near
hibernation state. Many of the Disc's mountain ranges are in fact
extremely old trolls who are having a quiet ponder.
However, trolls who will be encountered in human-like lifestyles are
relatively young, anything up to around 250-300 years old (in MP Ruby
notes that she's pushing 150, which is not a good age for a trollish
female to be out in the husband market).
When trolls are killed their sluggish nervous system usually takes a
while to register the fact, so that trolls always get one attack in the
round after they have suffered mortal wounds. Trolls turn instantly to
stone when they are finally dead (TCoM, p. 81).
Contrary to popular perception trolls don't really eat people. They
can't, because they can't digest protein. Trolls eat rock, and drink lava
(and find sulphuric drinks are intoxicating). Nevertheless, when it comes
to scaring the living daylights out of opponents, the threat of being
eaten is a good one. So they shovel others into their mouths and chew
them up. But they have to spit out the bits later, although it has been
speculated that if a troll swallowed he might be able to digest the
calcium and trace elements.
Female trolls don't have hair, but do make themselves beautiful by
cultivating lichen.
Gargoyles are a subspecies of troll that have adapted to living on
roofs. They feed on birds, as well as by straining gnats and other
insects out of the water they funnel out of their mouths and ears. They
tend to have speech impediments because of the fact that their mouths are
more or less permanently open, and their movements have been described as
being like bad stop motion animation. Because of the fact that gargoyles
are very sedentary, they are not recommended as Player Characters.
As an aside, races of trolls made from substances other than rock
exist. In their travels the wizard Rincewind and the tourist Twoflower
met the sea troll Tethis who fell off the edge of his homeworld of Bathys
and eventually landed on the Discworld (TCoM, pp. 187-194). Possibly
other worlds with trolls made from fire or air also exist.
Typical troll:
DEX 6, STR 13, TOU 12, PER 8, MIN 8, CHA 6, SPI 6
Golems
Golemim are, effectively, the magical or miraculous equivalent of
robots. Made from clay, they are shaped and baked into humanoid form -
often they started with exactingly human (or even superhuman) physiques,
but over time they have had to make repairs to themselves and eventually
they loose any muscular detail. These pottery shapes are then animated by
a piece of paper called a 'chem', upon which is written a magical or a
holy word and then placed inside the golem's head to animate it.
Although these days the churches have forbidden their creation, it has
been guessed that there are perhaps as many as a few hundred still extant
in Ankh-Morpork from previous centuries. And of course, if the golemim
think they can get away with it they are not adverse to creating more
golemim themselves.
After the events of _Feet Of Clay_ it likely that the number of self-
owned and free-willed golemim will be increasing rapidly, and presumably
these will also be given voices as well. This raises the possibility of
golem PCs. Should the GM allow such at all, keep in mind that golemim are
still very rare. Also, if the example of the golem Dorlf is any
indication, they will be highly principled individuals: I suggest playing
them as one would a Ayslish with at least 5 adds in Honour.
Typical golem:
DEX 8, STR 11, TOU 10, PER 8, MIN 8, CHA 4, SPI 8
GODS
"There are three thousand known major gods on the Dsc, and research
theologians discover more every week" (WS, p. 145). They start out as
Small Gods, barely sapient motes of energy, but if infused with Belief,
they can grow to become Gods proper. There are two ways that a god can
handle the accumulation of belief: set oneself up a the major (or only)
divinity of a region or nation. The other is to take on a particular
portfolio of responsibility in an empty niche, which has been described
as low risk and guaranteed return (SG, p. 139).
A near comprehensive list of gods and 'god-like entities can by found
in the _Companion_ (p. 72-3). A smattering of the most interesting,
esoteric, or frequently appearing are:
* Blind Io - Leader of the official (if rambling) pantheon of Discworld
gods by dint of his constant vigilance. Blind Io has many eyes, which
have semi-independent lives of their own; where his eye sockets are on
his face is blank flesh. He is a thunder god, and has hundreds of
different identities across the Discworld and 70 different hammers (RM,
p. 78; SG, p. 154).
* Astoria - Astoria is the Goddess of Love, and a "complete bubblehead".
She has an elaborate hairdo (SG, p. 137).
* Cubal - Epheban god of Fire.
* Fate - This implacable entity is rumoured to be from another universe.
* Fedecks - The Messenger of the Gods, who uses an arrow as his symbol.
* Flatulus - Epheban god of Winds.
* Foorgol - God of Avalanches.
* Gigalith - Trollish god of wisdom.
* Grune - God of Unseasonal Fruit.
* Herne the Hunted - This timid and apprehensive deity from the Ramtops
is the god of all woodland creatures whose destiny it is to die in a
crunchy squeak. He is 3 feet high, has small horns, and long rabbit ears.
He is not physically powerful, but can run very fast (LaL, pp. 67-8).
* Hoki - Hoki, known variously as the Trickster or the Jokester, is a
nature god native to the Ramtop Mountains. He can take several forms,
such as a manifestation as an oak tree; or the shape of half man, half
goat, and all bad practical joker; or his aspect as "a bloody nuisance".
He plays the flute, badly. (ER, p. 45).
* Hyperopia - Goddess of Shoes.
* Offler the Crocodile God - Originally from Klatch, Offler is very ugly
and has trouble speaking because of his tusks. He has precise, if
reptilian, grace and manners. Klatchians believe that demons are the
offspring of Offler, and that it is therefore good luck to have one enter
one's house.
* Om - Great God of the desert nation of Omnia on the Circle Sea (SG).
* Patina - Epheban Goddess of Wisdom, and due to a mistake made by the
original sculptor of her statue is lumbered with a penguin as her
symbolic animal. Its generally agreed that she should have had an owl,
but the artist couldn't sculpt an owl properly and ended up creating a
penguin shaped bird. Then the Law of belief stepped in and she was stuck
with it (SG, pp. 154, 158-9).
* Petulia - Epheban Goddess of Negotiable Affection, worshipped by ladies
of the night. Her statues depict her as having great trouble keeping her
dress up (SG, p. 138-9).
* P'Tang P'Tang - Newt god (SG).
* Queen of the Sea - The Sea Queen is the goddess who gains power from
the worship given the sea. She is very powerful because lots of people
believe in the power of the sea, but she is not very intelligent, even by
godly standards. She has a short attention span, tends creates her own
sacrifices and when doing so goes for quantity (SG, pp. 120, 238).
* Reg - God of Club Musicians.
* Sandelfon - God of Corridors.
* Seven-handed Sek.
* Steikhegel - God of Isolated Cow Byrnes.
* Topaxci - God of the Red Mushroom.
* Tuvelpit - God of Wine. He is depicted as a tubby fellow in a toga, and
is called Smimto in Tsort (SG, p. 137).
* Ur-Gilash - Formerly the chief god in the area that is now the nation
of Omnia, before the god Om displaced him. He has been gone for so many
millennia that it is not even certain now if he was a weather god, or a
giant spider god (SG, pp. 127-8).
* Zephyrus - God of Light Breezes.
DISCWORLD CHARACTERS
Discworld characters are made using the standard rules for character
creation. Magical enhancement packages are forbidden because of the Law
of Conservation of Reality. Cosm limits are 13 for all attributes, except
for Toughness and Strength which may both be as high as 15.
WEAPONS - DWARF BREAD
The traveling properties of dwarf bread are legendary, as is its
ability to save the lives of starving travelers. People simply have to
look at it to have added incentive to find something other than dwarf
bread to eat (a +1 bonus to the relevant food gathering skills, such as
Survival).
"There are many recipes for the flat round loaves of Lancre dwarf
bread, but the common aim of all of them is to make a field ration that
is long-lasting, easily packed and can disembowel the enemy if skimmed
through the air hard enough. Edibility is a kind of optional extra. Most
recipes are a closely guarded secret, apart from the gravel." (L&L,
p.306) (although the witch Nanny Ogg has mentioned that she uses used
cat litter in hers).
_Feet Of Clay_ reveals quite a bit of incidental detail about dwarf
bread. This includes the presence of the Dwarf Bread Museum in Whirligig
Alley in Ankh-Morpork, with a fine collection of offensive bakery. Most
of the collection consists of bread in the classic cowpat shape, but also
has such weapons as buns, close-combat crumpets, deadly throwing toast,
drop scones (deadly at short range), and combat muffins.
GMs who want to arm PCs with dwarf bread (or other dwarf bread-
products) should probably take the stats for the most similar melee or
missile weapons, modified slightly if necessary. The items that usually
come to mind as 'dwarf bread' are discus-like missile weapons with a +5
plus to their Damage value and a maximum Damage value of 19, with ranges
of 3-5/25/40. Other loaves might be used as cudgels and have values such
as +3/18.
SKILLS
Pulp Martial Arts (Dexterity based)
The Discworld reality set supports the B-Grade movie style martial arts
introduced in the _High Lords' Guide to the Possibility Wars_ (here
called Pulp Martial Arts rather than Nile Martial Arts). To use this
skill the Discworld requires the same flashy moves, strangled cries, and
mysterious names (such as the Path of the Happy Jade Lotus) as in the
Nile Empire and on Terra (LaL). The only difference between the two is
that since the Discworld does not have the Law of Morality, certain
specific martial arts moves cannot be assigned solely to people of
either Good or Evil Inclination - they are available to all.
Pulp Martial Arts may not be used unskilled.
Recognise Reality (Perception based)
There are certain things in the Discworld that normal people cannot
see, simply because their existence violates peoples' cultural prejudices
and so causes their minds to not recognise them, in accordance with the
Power of Belief. The Night People (the Tooth Fairy girls, Death, et al)
are one example. The use of this skill indicates that the possessor has
the capacity to overcome this preconception, and recognise otherwise
unnoticeable supernatural phenomenon for what they are. This skill is
taught to all wizards and most (if not all) witches. Undead also gain it
automatically at one add, since their deceased state makes them something
of outsiders to normal society, as do the Night People.
This skill may be used passively or actively, and simply requires the
comparing of the person's skill value (for passive use) or effect value
(for active use) against the Difficulty of noticing something. This
Difficulty may be a base value, or the effect value of the Remain
Unnoticed ability if one of the Night People is actively trying to remain
unseen. (Remain Unnoticed is an inherent ability of the Night People, as
Death's granddaughter discovered. Normal people can't learn it as a skill.)
Recognise Reality may be used unskilled, but only in extreme cases
where people are in a heightened state of awareness, needing to roll a
total of 7 points or more (Superior success). Children, however, have
a tendency to use it naturally, but naturally no one ever listens to them.
Careful discussion on the mailing lit has led to the conclusion that
what constitutes 'so weird that people automatically ignore it' is
something best left in the control of the gamesmaster. The Discworld
is generally such as weird place that only the _really_ occult and
mysterious stuff would count. However, while this means that it is not
possible for an non-Discworld PC to Remain Unnoticed, it is unfortunately
an ability that any Horrors from Orrorsh can use.
-----
Saxon Brenton City library of the Uni of Technology, Sydney, Australia
saxon.brenton@uts.edu.au | saxonb@mpx.com.au
The Librarian "liked people who loved and respected books, and the best
way to do that, in the Librarian's opinion, was to leave them on the
shelves where Nature intended them to be." - Terry Pratchett, _Men At Arms_
Date: Sun, 12 May 1996 21:57:45 -0500
From: Saxon.Brenton@uts.edu.au (Saxon Brenton)
To: Multiple recipients of list <torg@buddha.intecom.com>
Subject: [TORG:1524] Discworld 4 of 4
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Post 4
FRINGE REALITIES
In the course of the Discworld series a number of other dimensions have
been revealed. Some of these are actually other cosms (or non-cosm in the
case of the Dungeon Dimensions). Most can be considered fringe realities
adjacent to the Discworld's cosm, and the latter tend to share some of
the Discworld's world laws, particularly the Law of Chaotic Whimsy.
Unless otherwise noted, the axiom levels and cosm attribute limits for
Discworld's fringe realities are the same as for their parent cosm.
DEATH'S DOMAIN
This pocket dimensional fringe reality was created by Death, and for
the most part its reality is identical to that of the Discworld's. This
is because Death doesn't have much imagination, and can only copy what
He has seen (M, p. 122). The Domain was formerly entirely in black and
white, but after the events of _Reaper Man_ Death has turned the lands
surrounding His house into golden fields of wheat - even so this is
merely a duplication of the landscape he came to know while working for
Miss Flintworth.
From the outside this dimension has the flat appearance of a soap
bubble. From within it looks more solid, but although the mountains in
the distance will bear weight when stood on, they are fuzzy when seen up
close. The landscape is illuminated as if at day, but the sky is black
and strewn with stars. Death keeps a small house (well, it's small on the
outside, and to most people it seems small on the inside as well,
although really it isn't) and a garden. There is a bottomless pit within
the garden, through which the souls of the deceased travel towards their
next destination.
Normal time doesn't pass in Death's Domain, only an ersatz time that
consists of an ever-present now; there is no past, just an older present;
and no future, just a present that hasn't occurred yet. For this reason
no one ages in this fringe reality (M, p. 126; RM, pp. 7-8). This effect
is a function of the area a person is in rather than the person herself.
Compare this with the Law of Timelessness in Fairyland, which applies
directly to both the area and the people.
The differences in reality between the Discworld and this pocket
dimension are so slight as to make no practical difference. Ords don't
transform between the two, and the Everlaw of One can't be invoked to
create a reality storm between Storm Knights possessing these realities.
Death's Domain can be accessed by magic and astral travel. The mortal
world can be reached by simply walking, but its almost impossible to
walk back to this dimension unless one is familiar with the way.
While we're here we'd also better talk about Death, the character.
Originally I though I wouldn't have time, but Peter insisted. (Peter is
one of my fellow staff members at UTS city library, and although he
isn't subscribed to the mailing list, he reads all my email because he
finds our antics amusing and bemusing. Everybody wave 'Hi' to Peter.)
Death is an anthropomorphic personification; one of the oldest about.
He answers to his master Azrael, the Death of Universes, whom the
_Companion_ claims to be one of the Old High Ones (DC, p. 173-4). He
appears as a 7 foot tall skeleton clothed in a robed of darkness. Within
his eyes are pinpoints of light, usually blue. His voice is felt rather
than heard, and is sensed in DEEP LEADEN TONES. It is generally agreed
on alt.fan.pratchett that James Earl Jones should be the voice of Death
in any hypothetical Discworld movie.
Death is not, in and of himself, a particularly terrible entity,
although he is terribly efficient at his job. Any real fear of him
derives primarily from the fears and preconceptions of those who have or
are going to meet him.
In fact, Death is intrigued by humanity, has explored a number of
aspects of mortal existence, and has developed preferences for things
like cats and curry. However, his ability to understand almost all raw
data does not necessarily extend to understanding the nuances of what
that data means. He is bemused by the efforts of mortals to complicate
their lives which are, to him, fleeting. He has an empathy with the
living that results from thousands of years of close contact, and as a
result he tends to be easily influenced by ideas originating from them,
like the time he saw a woodcut of himself astride a skeletal steed,
promptly got himself one, then spent far too much time wiring the bits
back on.
He does not get angry, because that requires glands, but he is capable
of a form of intellectual disapproval that serves the same function; he
has, for instance, no time for cat haters, and gets irritated when Fate
and Destiny et al don't bother to tell him when someone is going to
become a ghost. He also tends to get depressed when he feels
unappreciated for his efforts.
Death can be seen by cats, practitioners of magic, and those who are
in or approaching the state of death. Sometimes others in a heightened
state of awareness can see him, supporting the notion that the Recognise
Reality skill can be used unskilled in extreme cases.
While it is true that Death _can_ be there to handle the demise of
everyone, he does not always do so. Practitioners of magic can expect to
be dealt with personally by him, but apart from that only certain people
important to the overall metaphysical tapestry of death have to be
collected. As long as these important people are dealt with and die, the
rest of the dying by everyone and everything else more or less continues
automatically.
DEX 14
Beast riding 20; Dodge 19; Manoeuver 20; Melee weapons 26
STR 12
Lifting 13
TOU 12
PER 10
Find 15, Tracking 11, Scholar (Disc realm lore) 20; Trick 16
MIN 14
Test of Will 20; Willpower 20
CHA 9
Charm 10; Persuasion 14; Taunt 14
SPI 14
Intimidation 20; Reality 18
Possibilities: As many as he needs.
Equipment: When carrying of his Duty Death always carries his fold up
scythe, a blade so thin and sharp that it is transparent and blue, and
capable of slicing apart air molecules, or sound. Its sharpness is
required to separate the soul from the body. He also possesses a sword
with the same type of blade, which is used for royalty. He will also be
carrying the Lifetimers of those mortals whose demises he is present to
supervise.
Death's highly intelligent steed Binky is a white, flesh-and-blood
horse, but who nevertheless has absorbed some of the Ultimate Reality of
his master. For this reason he can fly, pass through a type of
hyperspace, and pass through walls, and Remain Unnoticed. Binky wears a
silver and black harness, with an ornate silver saddle.
Abilities: Death, as the embodiment of a universal concept, is more real
than most things in the material world. After all, death (and Death) have
been around pretty much from the Beginning whereas plain old objects like
doors or walls just don't last for anything like the same length of time.
Consequently, when comparing time scales most things have an only tenuous
existence, and so Death (and anyone else holding the office of Death) can
pass through them. The fact that they may be quite solid in the immediate
term is irrelevant. This ability means that any material attacks on Death
(providing that people can actually manage to see him in the first place)
will simply be ignored.
Death has the ability to accomplish almost any physical task he sets
his mind to, due to the power derived from the LoBelief. On occasions
when he has retired or been removed from his office he has sometimes
found it embarrassing to be deprived of this.
DUNGEON DIMENSIONS
Strictly speaking the Dungeon Dimensions aren't realities or cosms at
all. They are vast, unformed extra-dimensional spaces that cosms exist
within. They are the home to the Things - malign, envious, but ultimately
stupid entities that want to gain access to the world. This is because
life, in one form or another, is capable of evolving anywhere, even in
places that don't really exist. This is probably possible because
occasionally small holes are created in a dimension and reality leaks out
(some wizards have calculated that perhaps as much as nine tenths of all
the original reality in the multiverse has been lost in this manner - a
very disturbing idea in the context of Torg).
Hence, the Dungeon Dimension, which should be a absolutely empty
wasteland, has some few possibilities, and is just barely capable of
supporting existence. [Actually, I suspect that the Dungeon Dimensions
cannot exist around other cosms, such as Core Earth, since even leakages
of reality alone could not support the existence of tenuous pseudo-
realities in this way. Rather, it must be leakages of reality that
contain the Law of Chaotic Whimsy that make it possible at all.]
The desire of the Things to enter reality to take on shape and form has
been compared to the sea trying to warm itself on a candle, with much
the same result if they ever actually come in contact.
Axioms and World Laws
N/A
As a non-cosm the Dungeon Dimensions do not really have a reality at
all. It's for this reason that when the Things break through into this
world that they are so desperate to gain a powerful source of magic -
they have neither a morphogenic field nor natural reality to protect them
from the effects of the reality they are in, and need the magic to hold
them together under the principles of Magical (In)Stability (MP, p. 298).
In this sense even ords are better off than the Things when in an alien
reality, since ords can transform at least once when in an alien reality;
Things are simply torn apart by the Everlaw of One. Of course, if lots of
Things came through all at once, then their cumulative lack of reality
would tear the world apart.
By the same token, ords who have the misfortune to end up in the Dungeon
Dimensions are destroyed as the Everlaw of One tries to transform them to
a non-existent reality. Storm Knights can't possess this absence of
reality; they would be destroyed in the process of converting to it just
as ords are, but then the Things don't have enough possibilities to
become possibility-rated to storm them, so the point is moot.
[Aside: This, if nothing else, should be taken as solid, if not
incontrovertible, evidence that Rincewind is P-Rated. An ord trapped in
the Dungeon Dimensions for the length of time he was there between the
end of _Sourcery_ and the start of _Eric_ would probably have been
destroyed by transformation. Clearly he would have a tag skill of
Running, and has been spending possibilities to increase his totals that
have kept him miraculously alive over the years. Also, the Lady holds
him as one of her most valuable heroes. Now who, in the Torg game, are
the heroes? Hmmm? :-) ]
The way for the Things to invade the word is usually through a lot of
magic wearing a hole in reality. The Things therefore pay close attention
to practitioners of magic, invade their dreams to turn them to
nightmares, and generally try to trick them into using lots of magic (ER,
p. 111). There is at least one other way for them to get in, which is
through the Law of Belief; large numbers of people watching movies in the
Cthinema of Holy Wood and believing what they see on the screen has
allowed the Things to gain entrance to the world on at least two occasions
(MP). Apparently Bel-Shamharoth has also been able to gain at least some
purchase of the Discworld by being worshipped as the Ichor God (CoM, pp.
88-9; P, p. 14), something that the Insider alsoseems to have been able
to pull off (DC, p. 126).
The Dungeon Dimensions can be reached by so weakening reality that a
hole is created. Apparently the more powerful demons can arrange access
to and from the Dungeon Dimensions (E, pp. 15, 118), so presumably
greater gods could too. It is extremely difficult to get from the Dungeon
Dimensions into any reality because of the energy differentials involved
(S, p. 251), another indication that the Dungeon Dimensions have little
or no possibility energy.
DUNMANIFESTIN
This fringe reality is the home of the official pantheon of gods of the
Discworld; those who have managed to claw their way up the ladder of cult
size from being small gods, to large gods worshipped by millions or more
(Om, with 2 million, didn't make the grade - SG, p. 254). Its entrance to
the Discworld proper is at the summit of Cori Celesti, the ten mile high
spire of rock and green ice that stands at the Hub of the Discworld, the
top of which is also called Dunmanifestin.
It is important to note that, because of the way that gods develop from
small gods, Dunmanifestin is not the Spirit 33 Source Cosm of the
Discworld's faiths. In fact, because of the Law of Resonaces, this cosm
isn't connected to one single Source Cosm.
Axioms and World Laws
Magic 4 Social 7 Spiritual 22 Technological 11 [?]
Magic 4
Gods don't need magic since they have their own divine power to do what
they want. At this level even the normal levels of Divination magic
become haphazard, and as a result gods cannot always foresee future
disasters (most importantly a loss of believers that could lead to the
gods demotion).
Social 7
Social development and conventions aren't particularly important to
gods. After all, they exist because their believer imagine them to be
manifestations of powerful natural forces, and as a result their first
reaction in any situation is "smite it" (SG, pp. 237-8). The god are part
of a pantheon led by the most powerful (in this case Blind Io by dint of
his constant vigilance and his powers as a thunder god) and organised on
primitive feudal lines. Only those gods with many worshippers can take up
residence at Dumanifestin; the rest are acknowledged to exist by the
official pantheon, but generally ignored.
One of the few rules of Dumanifestin that fighting between gods takes
place indirectly, though their worshippers, presumably to avoid displays
of power that would wreak their collective home. Since Om was able to
relatively easily provoke a fight, this can be surmised to be a rule of
protocol rather than an enforced world law.
Spirit 22
Gods are powerful, but not so powerful that their mythos are irrevocably
set in stone, nor so powerful that new gods cannot arise to either squeeze
into new niches or take over old ones.
Tech 11 [?]
Moreso than any other of Dunmanifestin's axioms, this one is a rough
guess. Of the top of my head I can't think of any evidence to tie down
this axiom one way or another. Any ideas?
Law of Divine Self-Absorption
In addition to a few of the 'natural' world laws of the Discworld
(LoChaotic Whimsy, LoResonaces, LoBelief, but definitely not the
LoConservation of Reality, Dunmanifestin has this unique world law.
This world law prevents sapients from paying that much attention to the
outside world(s) (including the mortal one, which is pretty silly
considering where the gods' power comes from). No matter what crisis is
occurring, or how serious the matter affecting the mortals is, it will
always seem unimportant compared to events (trivial or no) occurring in
the realm of the gods:
"although it takes years of effort and work and scheming for a god to
get there [Dunmanifestin], once there they never seem to do a lot apart
from drink too much and indulge in a little mild corruption...
"They play games. They tend to be very simple games, because gods are
easily bored by complicated things. It is strange that, while small gods
can have one aim in mind for millions of years, _are_ one aim in fact,
large gods seem to have the attention span of the common mosquito." (SG,
pp. 368-9.)
"Om rubbed his head. This wasn't god-like thinking. It seemed simpler
when you were up here. It was all a game. You forgot that it wasn't a
game down there. People died. Bits got chopped off." (SG, p. 368.)
The Law of Divine Self-Absorption is a passive world law.
Dunmanifestin is accessible through the entrance at the summit of Cori
Celesti, and probably also by magic.
FAIRYLAND
[Details found in _Lords and Ladies_] Also known as Elfland, but more
often by the prudent euphemism "over there". Again, strictly speaking
this is not a fringe reality of the Discworld's, but rather an independent
cosm that occasionally attaches itself to the Discworld (and possibly
other cosms as well). It is a parasite cosm. It is also the home to the
race of wild elves who were driven off the Discworld by the witches some
time ago, and who are the progenitors of the 'elves' (actually, half-
elves) who still inhabit the Disc.
These elves are known euphemistically as the Lords and Ladies, the
Shining Ones, the Star People, the Fair Folk, and the Gentry (LaL, p 51).
They elves apparently periodically try to reinvade the Discworld, but to
date have been driven back. Some few of them may have taken up residence
on the Discworld for one reason or another (possibly having been left
behind from an invasion), but those that transform to or are born on the
Disc may not use magical enhancement packages. Elves with Discworld
reality are still reclusive and arrogant, but without the effects of the
Fairyland's world law, and without the benefits of that world law and the
use of enhancement packages, they are not so bend on conquest.
Fairyland is perpetually bound in ice, with no hope of ever seeing
Spring (LaL, p. 11). Its sky is filled with a rainbow-coloured aurora of
sparkling lights. Time does not proceed here as it does on other worlds,
so that while time passes, nobody really ages. This difference makes
judging the passage of time difficult, and years may seem like only hours.
The cosm attribute limits are 13, save for DEX, STR and CHA which are 14.
Although the Fairyland has invaded the Discworld at least once, the
method used does not seem to be the of the Torg type with Darkness Device.
The overlay of the Fairyland onto Lancre was strongly reminiscent of a
mixed zone (the description of how Magrat saw Fairyland merging with
Lance in LaL p. 331 highlights this), but the means the Queen used seemed
to be primarily magical/symbolic: having tricked the people of Lancre
into believing they wanted the elves to return to the Discworld (an
effect of the Law of Belief) she then intended to marry Verence, the King
of Lancre. And since the King and the Land are One, then she would have
absolute control over the mortal world as well.
If, OTOH, a GM wanted to take the option of using the Wild Elves as
Possibility Raiders, it can be hypothesised that they'd be quite good at
it. While the elves themselves have a severe weakness to iron, their
reality is very seductive. The Law of Glamour projects an aura of power
and invincibility, while making their opponent feel helpless and unworthy.
Even if the wild elves initially only created mixed zones, the Law of
Glamour would make people feel that they should submit themselves to
Elven rule, thus causing people to transform and eventually turning the
mixed zones into dominant and eventually pure zones. This is an advantage
on they way mixed zones normally work that would make most High Lords
green with envy.
Axioms and World Laws
Magic 13 Social 7 Spirit 3 Tech 7
Magic 13
Quite potent, but not so potent that the elves can cross between
dimensions of their own violation. The Queen of the Elves was, however,
able to end her mind across to scout so as to determine if Lancre was a
suitable invasion target. The axiom is high enough to support the magical
enhancement packages of the wild elves. It is high enough to support the
alteration of living beings into something else (say, the head of an ass)
(Mag 12), as well as to make it permanent if desired, but reversing the
process is dangerous. Elves can fly by levitating yarrow stalks.
Elves have a preference for using Illusion spells, in both the Torgian
and non-Torgian sense. Torgian illusion spells create physical effects,
but are short cuts that are easier to cast, and this fits with elven
attitudes to having to do work. The non-Torg definition covers purely
mind-affecting or hallucinatory effects, and elves like these as well.
Given the option, they will use hallucinatory effects first, then short
cut physical effects, and only rarely 'real' effects.
Social 7
Elves have only the most basic of feudal politics; they have a king and
a queen but beyond that and a few retainers few of them seem to be
capable of individual identity (DC, p. 90). This may help to explain why
they lack empathy both for other intelligent beings and even to
misfortunes that befall other elves. They are capable of grasping the
idea of the ownership of land and of other intelligent beings.
Spirit 3
Spiritually retarded, the Elves are emotionally ill-disposed to the
idea that there could be anything, anywhere, that could be more beautiful
or perfect than they. They are almost incapable of grasping the idea of
higher powers.
Tech 7
Bronze is the preferred metal of elves because of their antipathy for
iron. The elves rode horses and the Queen was said to live in a castle;
but although the axiom level would support these, I have a mental image
(but no solid proof) that the elves would not be using the axiom to its
full advantage.
Law of Glamour
This law enhances the natural abilities of the wild elves to Charm
people.
All elves subject to this world law (not just wild elves, but Disc and
Ayslish as well - albeit as a contradiction) may use this law to
consciously project "glamour". This gives them a beautiful appearance,
with an apparent Charisma attribute equal to their cosm's limit maximum
for the Charisma attribute of 14. It also gives an apparent attribute
level of 13 for the use of Interacton skills (ie, 13 for MIN, PER, and
SPI for the purposes of Test of Will, Willpower, Trick, Taunt, and
Intimidation). Projecting glamour, which is a conscious activity, does
not take up much concentration, and so counts as a passive activity.
Note that this world law functions to enhance _elven_ beauty, style,
and power - so that any other race that transforms to, or is in an area
of, this reality does not benefit from these bonuses. Just the opposite
in fact; non-elves directly subject to this world law feel unworthy in
comparison to the beauty of the elves, and have a -1 penalty to all
totals rolled to resist elven glamour (i.e., those rolls that elves use
when enhanced by this world law).
The Law of Glamour also supports magical enhancement packages. Elves
(of whatever type) that are born in or physically transform to this
reality may purchase 1 or 2 enhancement packages of 3 points each to be
applied whole to any attribute. These function the same as enhancement
packages in Aysle, including for payment (either a permanent limit of 7
on another attribute or an ongoing adventure cost of 1 Possibility per
package per adventure), and the risk of the Silent Death from magic
deprivation. (_Aysle_ sourcebook, pp. 133-134)
The Law of Glamour is an active world law.
Law of Timelessness
This world law creates the effect that although time passes in
Fairyland, no one is affected by time. People do not grow old. This has a
terrible flip side, however. People who do not grow old do not grow up.
Elves may grow in power and beauty, but never in experience or wisdom.
Gaining or upgrading all skills is an effort, costing five times as much,
in either time or Possibilities, as normal.
The Law of Timelessness is an active world law.
Fairyland is apparently only accessible through certain stone circles
or underground mounds, and then only at certain times (Midsummer - crop
circle season). It is possible that at those times of year Fairyland is
close enough that they would count as being a fringe reality of the
Discworld's cosm, and could be accessed by spells like Extradimensional
Gate at spots other than marked gates. It may be possible that Fairyland
has similar access to other cosms.
HELL
[Most details found in _Eric_] Hell, also known as Hades, is the fringe
reality that is a home to demons. At the center of the Eight Circles is
the infernal city of Pandemonium. It is important to remember that under
the Law of Belief people go to the afterlife they are expecting. This is
why it is important to kill any missionaries who come around preaching of
eternal torment.
Axioms and World Laws
Magic 16 Social 11 Spirit 9 Tech 14 [?]
Magic 16
Since Hell is part of the Discworld cosm, and shares the Law of
Resonaces, it follows that it is subject to the cliche that although
demons are Fallen angels, they use infernal magics rather than divine
miracles. Think of the angel Azaphrael's protest to the demon Crowley in
_Good Omens_: "Angels aren't occult, we're ephereal!"
So, the demons of Hell use magic. The more senior demons are the most
powerful, and use the most magic.
Social 11
Essentially feudal.
Spirit 9
Well, I'd like to put it at Spirit 17, because this axiom upsets people,
which is what Hell is supposed to do :-) But if the demons primarily use
infernal magicks, and the Discworld itself has not stable central mythos
for them to be renegades from, then it's level of spiritual power is a
bit limited.
Tech 14 [?]
Another guess. In _Eric_ Astfgl has introduced a mind-numbingly tedious
bureaucracy to Hell, but since it was likely that a lot of the more
advanced items, like the intercoms, were actually magically powered
copies of things he's seen elsewhere, the exact level remains unclear.
Law of Tradition
In addition to a few of the 'natural' world laws of the Discworld
(LoChaotic Whimsy, LoResonaces, LoBelief, but definitely not the
LoConservation of Reality, Hell has this unique world law.
Demons are traditionalists, and like to do things in the traditional
manner. They are by tradition evil, so these demons will never repent.
The dimension is decorated in traditional red flames, and kept at boiling
point. They like to put people through the traditional punishments for
their alleged sins in all sorts of nasty ways, like with boiling oil, red
hot pokers, dismemberment, having their livers daily pecked out by
eagles, etc. However, these punishments do not inflict pain, since those
mortals in Hell are all dead and so do not have physical bodies to feel
the pain. The demons don't realise this "because numb and mindless
stupidity is part of what being a demon is all about." (E, pp. 105-6).
After all, it's traditional.
Because of this world law demons aren't innovative thinkers and
usually need to copy humans when it comes to really blood curdlingly
nasty ways to make people suffer. These methods can't be too creative,
however, otherwise the demons won't be able to use them; for instance,
during the reign of King Astfgl they were bewildered by his lordship's
attempts to set up a filing system, and kept filing everything under "p"
for people.
For that matter, the damned aren't particularly innovative either,
which is partly why they don't try to escape (the other part being that
under the Law of Belief people get the afterlife they think they deserve,
so that those who are in Hell subconsciously don't think they should
leave).
The Law of Tradition is an active world law.
Hell is accessed by dying, magic, or certain caves that lead to and
from there.
HOLY WOOD
[Detailed in _Moving Pictures_] Holy Wood is another parasitic reality
that has periodically invaded Discworld and other cosms as well. However,
Holy Wood has no Darkness Device or High Lord to direct such an invasion;
indeed, it doesn't even have a population that it can use to invade with.
Holy Wood has a different method of taking over other realities. If the
High Lords can be compared to predators that attack and devour a cosm
with sheer weight of numbers and then move on, then Holy Wood is best
described as a virus which only has to infect another reality with one
tiny piece of itself. Holy Wood's invasion force consists of a "wild idea"
that insinuates itself into the minds of people so that they change the
nature of their reality with their own belief. Thus, Holy Wood causes the
invaded reality to remake itself from within, rather than have change
forced on it from without.
The wild idea starts by sneaking into a cosm and inspiring certain
individuals to set up an entertainment industry based on movies. As people
watch this entertainment they are infected by the spirit of Holy Wood and
then contribute, in some way, to the film industry. It may be by working
for it, or just by supporting it by going to see the movies it puts on.
Whatever the case, slowly more and more of the society becomes obsessed
with the Holy Wood phenomenon, and as they focus increasingly on it, the
Holy Wood reality becomes dominant over the original, and eventually
supplants it.
The wild idea that is the core of Holy Wood is reputed to have
originated from the wastelands outside the universes. It may therefore be
possible that it was originally one of the Things (from the Dungeon
Dimensions) that managed to build itself a form that would survive inside
a real world.
Axioms and World Laws
Holy Wood has no specific axioms of its own, as it uses whatever the
local axioms are. It does, however, usually require minimum axioms levels
of Social 12 (societies trade cultural ideas) and Technological 20
(movies), in order to organise the entertainment industry, and if
necessary it is capable of bumping these two axioms up one or two points.
(In the Discworld was able to use the lower Tech axiom because movies
weren't dependent on photosensitive film stock.) Other than that Holy
Wood doesn't change the axiom levels - it just changes how existing
axioms are applied.
Law of Mass Appeal
This world law causes people to become infatuated with the ideas and
mores associated with the Holy Wood reality. A person who encounters Holy
Wood in this way must roll using their Willpower (or Mind) value against
a base Difficulty number of 13 or become interested in Holy Wood and
concentrate on it. The severity of this infatuation will depend on the
result. If a person fails the roll, then read the result points on the
Power Push table:
MINIMAL: The person is mildly interested in the entertainment of Holy
Wood, and will occasionally indulge in it, but at other times will not
think about it.
GOOD to SUPERIOR: The person enjoys Holy Wood entertainment, will use it
regularly, and thinks about it in free time when away from it.
SPECTACULAR: The person is obsessed with Holy Wood, watches it almost
constantly, and thinks about it almost constantly at any other time.
If left unchecked, this process will eventually spread through the
population and alter the reality in an astonishing period of time. The
effect will start with people just concentrate on Holy Wood so that local
reality becomes dominant over a suppressed Holy Wood Reality. Eventually
it will create a mixed zone, and the Holy Wood world laws will become
active. From then the process will snowball into creating a Holy Wood
dominant zone, at which point the population will begin transforming to
Holy Wood reality. After that a complete transformation to a Holy Wood
pure zone is only a matter of time.
This world law also speeds up the rate at which people transform to
Holy Wood reality when in an area of the same. Speed up the rate used on
the Transformation table (Torg Rulebook, p. 86) by one step. This is
cumulative with the effects of Core Earth's Law of Hope.
The Law of Mass Appeal is an active world law.
Law of Action
This world law operates as per the Nile Empire, Terra and the Land
Below. Two Possibilities may be spent for two roll agains, and one of
the results chosen.
The Law of Action is an active world law.
L-SPACE
(GG, pp. 166-7, 170-1, 201-2) L-Space is short for "Library Space", and
is created by any large collection of books (not just magical books)
distorting the fabric of space/time to create a polyfractal extra-
dimensional space to which all other such libraries (both in space and
time) are connected. The relevant equation for this effect is Knowledge =
Power = Energy = Mass = Matter; extensive libraries are genteel black
holes that know how to read (GG, p. 8).
Traveling through L-Space is dangerous, and moreover the careless use
of L-Space to affect changes in history can wreck great damage to space/
time, so the secret of this dimension is held inviolate by the Librarians
of Space and Time. Their three rules are: 1) Quiet, 2) All books are to
be returned by the last shown date, and 3) Do not interfere with the
nature of casualty.
In the novels L-Space is described as connecting not just to libraries
on the Discworld, but in other universes as well. In Torg terms, the
process that created L-Space results from the Law of Chaotic Whimsy, and
thus only connects to those realities that possess this world law: the
Discworld, the appropriate fringe realities of the Discworld, and other
cosms with the Law of Chaotic Whimsy. (And not just the fantasy chaotic
whimsy cosms either. For example, a science fiction chaotic whimsy cosm
based on Douglas Adam's _Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy_ could count as
well.)
The cosm attribute limits are 13.
Axioms and World Laws
The nature of L-Space is shaped by the fact that it is shared by many
different cosms, and this means that its reality is very different to
the Discworld's. In addition to the Law of Chaotic Whimsy, there is one
other world law for this place, which also defines the axioms:
Law of Consensus Reality
Similar to the Akashan Law of Acceptance (Space Gods, pp. 50-51), this
world law decrees that all world laws function in L-Space without
contradiction as long as they do not oppose the existing world laws of
L-Space.
The Law of Consensus Reality also decrees that the axiom levels of
this reality are equivalent to the highest axioms available from those
cosms that L-Space connects to. It is therefore unlikely that an ord from
the Discworld would ever disconnect as anything more than a 1 case
contradiction when in L-Space, even if exceeding her own axioms, because
it is more than likely that somewhere in the Cosmverse there is another
chaotic whimsy reality contributing a higher axiom level.
Finally, the Law of Consensus reality allows librarians from many
different cosms to use this place without fear of transformation by
making the entire reality a mixed zone.
The Law of Consensus Reality is a passive world law.
L-Space is accessed through any large book collection, but the method
of doing so is complicated and kept secret by the Lirarians of Space and
Time. You have been warned. Ook.
MALIGREE'S WONDERFUL GARDENS
Maligree's Wonderful Garden is the name of a spell developed by
Maligree, who was the last of the true sourcerers before the arrival of
the boy Coin in recent years. True sourcerers are immensely powerful
magicians capable of taking on the gods, whose very presence causes new
magical power to enter the world, boosting the local Magic axiom above
the that the Law of Conservation of Reality can cope with, and freeing
all other magicians in the area of that world law's constraints.
Unfortunately, Discworld's magicians cannot be trusted to use this sort
of power responsibly. Under normal circumstances magic is so limited that
wizards and witches grudgingly tolerate each other to present a united
front. But given the opportunity to use magic to gain real power, all-out
thaumaturgic war results (S, pp. 168-9). Then the fallout from the magic
involved creates those areas of intense magical instability under Magical
(In)Stability principles, and the world is slowly torn apart as a result.
Fortunately sourcerers are very rare. Also fortunately, whenever a
sourcerer does appear they usually figure out what their presence is
doing to the world and elect to go into exile rather than destroy the
place. Maligree originally crafted this spell to create a place where he
could have a quiet smoke, get away from the pressures of the world and
the burdens of his power, something his fellow wizards couldn't
understand. Then one day Maligree locked the garden from the inside and
stayed there (S, p. 34).
There have been two castings of this spell, the first by Maligree, the
other by Coin, but it is possible that earlier sourcerers may have used
similar spells to create similar pocket dimensions. It seems likely that
each sourcerer created his own Garden, rather than using the spell to
create a gate to a single world.
Axioms and World Laws
The fact that these fringe realities are inhabited by magicians powerful
enough to create them at a whim makes their natures hard to guess at. All
that is known is that each such cosm is initially in the form of a
verdant garden with forests, mountains, lakes, and wildlife, and that
whatever else is done with them each will probably retain a extremely
high Magic axiom.
These realities are accessed by magic, but are likely locked from
within to prevent intrusion.
WHERE THE DRAGONS WENT
[GG] This fringe reality is one of the dimensions of imagination. This
is the place (or possibly one of the places) where Draco Noblis, the noble
Disc dragon (as opposed to Draco Vulgaris, the common swamp dragon)
departed to after the wild magic left the Disc. This was because the
noble dragons where thaumivores (i.e., they fed on magic - lots of magic)
and after the Law of Conservation of Reality limited the working Magic
axiom to 9 they felt themselves to be too limited to stay.
In general terms, the dimensions of imagination are reputed to be more
complex than those of mere space and time (CoM, p166). The physical
nature of this particular reality is that it is packed solid, like an
Escher picture where the shape between each dragon is another dragon (GG,
p. 7) The dragons are dormant in this dimension, but can occasionally be
summoned back to the Discworld by a skilled imagination who is either in
an intense magical field, or who has a lot of magical items to "burn" as
power.
Since the dragons now possess non-Disc reality which does not contain
the Law of Conservation of Reality, if summoned back to the Disc they
can do whatever they want with the Magic axiom as long as they don't
disconnect.
Axioms and World Laws
[I was working on these, but ultimately it got beyond me in the time I
allocated to get the second draft done. High Magic, low everything else,
Law of Fantasy to let the dragons do anything they sodding well want]
DISCWORLD BIBLIOGRAPHY
Code Book Copyright date
Fiction:
Novels:
TCoM The Colour of Magic c 1983
TLF The Light Fantastic c 1986
ER Equal Rites c 1987
Mort Mort c 1987
S Sourcery c 1988
WS Wyrd Sisters c 1988
P Pyramids c 1989
GG Guards! Guards! c 1989
E Eric. London c 1990
MP Moving Pictures c 1990
RM Reaper Man c 1991
WA Witches Abroad c 1991
SG Small Gods c 1992
LaL Lords and Ladies c 1992
MaA Men at Arms c 1993
SM Soul Music c 1994
IT Interesting Times c 1994
Mask Maskerade c 1995
FoC Feet of Clay c 1996
HF Hogfather c 1996
Short Stories:
ToC Theatre of Cruelty
TB Troll Bridge
Non-Fiction:
SoAM Streets of Ankh-Morpork c 1993
DC Discworld Companion c 1994
DM Discworld Map c 1995
-----
Saxon Brenton City library of the Uni of Technology, Sydney, Australia
saxon.brenton@uts.edu.au | saxonb@mpx.com.au
The Librarian "liked people who loved and respected books, and the best
way to do that, in the Librarian's opinion, was to leave them on the
shelves where Nature intended them to be." - Terry Pratchett, _Men At Arms_