Curriculum Obtestatus: College of Wizardry

University of the Council States

The Localverse is the name given to alternate worlds or planes of existence that follow essentially the same Rules of Magic that Astlan does, but which are not alternate versions of Astlan.

While the worlds have different sets and levels of wizardry, spells and arcane devices that work in one world work completely as expected in the other worlds of the Localverse with no modification.   Animagic and similar druidic and shamanistic magic also work normally as do Holy Rituals, although the prayers and chants may be different for historical reasons.

At various points in time various groups in Astlan have engaged in regular or semi-regular trade with these other worlds.   The level of trade and interaction over the centuries has been dependent on the various groups, parties, nations on each world having the desire or ability to trade.  

One very interesting characteristic of these worlds is that they all share common timelines.  Meaning that every time one travels to one of the localverse worlds, it is always the same version of that world.  Thus all interactions between worlds are historically connected and are shared experiences between the planes.  Thus, for example if one were to talk to an individual on one of these worlds, the next time you returned they will remember talking to you.

While this might sound obvious, it technically is not obvious. The principle concept of the multiverse is one of multiple versions of reality where different timelines exist.  Worlds in the localverse share a common timeline.  Now it is true, that should one venture to Excelsior or another plane not in the universe, the same spell using the same coordinates will bring you to the same plane every time, it is possible to find timeline variants of the non-localverse worlds if one really tries.  In some cases, it may take years or centuries of searching, but it can be done.

However, to date, no one has ever encountered an alternate timeline version of the other worlds in the localverse.  What most scholars take this to mean is that the planes of the localverse are so close together that one cannot actually phase shift to those realms with conventional means.  One would instead have to use a variant of a time travel spell to get to alternate versions, even as one would need to do to get to an alternate version of Astlan.

When traveling between these worlds it is very important to know coordinates both for the world itself and for locations within the world.  Thus, for example, while the same spell will allow one to travel to any of these worlds, the spells must be customized to include information on which world and where in that world to travel to (it can be inconvenient to materialize over a large body of water).  The Council and its trading counterparts in these world have standardized spell variants for designated locations on each of these worlds.  One presumes that other groups have done similar.

·         Astlan

o    Our home world.

·         Avalon

o    An orderly world that has many naturally forming gateways to other planes of existence.  Avalon is a majority Sidhe world, with humans in the minority, relative to Astlan.

·         Etterdam

o    By Astlanian standards, Etterdam is a war torn world ruled by a great number of feudal overlords.  Kingdoms, nations, empires and dynasties tend to be rather fluid over the centuries, much more so than on Astlan.

·         Ithgar

o    Ithgar is a pleasant world, not too different from Astlan in terms of temperament and wizardly skills.  Ithgar does, however, have more conflict between humans and jötunnkind than Astlan.

·         Nysegard

o    Nysegard is under severe travel restrictions by all sensible Astlanian authorities, not only wizardly, but by most major religions as well.  Nysegard was overrun by the Unlife many thousands of years ago.  While life still clings to the plane, the Forces of Darkness are the strongest on Nysegard of anywhere on this side of the multiverse.  Nysegard is quite infamous for exporting its Necromancers and Unlife to other planes within the localverse seeking to gain footholds.

·         Romdan

o    A land of vast plains and gentle mountains, there are many nomadic cultures on Romdan as well as a large number of sophisticated city-states.

·         Targella

o    Targella is in some ways quite different than other worlds within the multiverse.  Oddly, among the majority of races, human, alfar, orc, dwarven, more often than not the societies are matrimonial rather than patrimonial.  It is unclear why this would be so widespread, but it is often disturbing to travelers from strong paternalistic cultures.