I didn’t know where I was, and it didn’t seem to matter.
Crystallizing after being cut off yourself is a bit strange. I knew I was part of Aelryinth, I’d been cut off him, but I also knew I wasn’t him. After all, there was a lot more to him than there was to , as I could rember exactly what and how I was cut off right up until the mont it was happening.
He had been way out in BF nowhere in Creation. I didn’t know if I was tumbling between multiverses now or was passing through one. It was all kind of tiless and I had no points of reference, nor could I Cast.
On the other hand, I was made of a bunch of Karma. If there were no rules, I could just invest…
Nnnn. Or maybe not.
I was tumbling through a not-whiteness, which seed to be populated by spheres, squares, and lines of various sizes and hues. Having no fra of reference, I didn’t know how big they were, how far away they were, or why I was tumbling through a geotry student’s worst nightmare.
There was definitely so kind of current, and I was sweeping towards that sphere all dark with sparklies on it. At least, I seed to be, as it was growing perceptibly bigger.
It… just took a long ti to get there. Because it got bigger, and bigger, and bigger…
I finally had an idea how big things were here when that sphere was taking up everything in front of after who knew how long, and the sparklies inside it looked like little galaxies.
So, big. If not infinite, not a bad level next to it. And I definitely was not big. I was very, very small, but I seed to be moving very, very fast, more conceptual speed than anything physics could explain.
When I passed the mbrane of the Veil, I felt… huh, ethereal for a mont, spirit moving into a world of substance. Abruptly I was sliding along the Veil, but I recognized that pressure imdiately.
This was another Mortal Plane, just not one I knew of.
I was a drifting fragnt of a soul with no anchor, but full of Karma. I had no idea what the proper dispensation of such a soul was, but it seed I was being dragged there, as I certainly wasn’t guiding anything here. Felt completely helpless, actually, no idea where I was going or why.
Welp, could only hope I wasn’t going to be a passing snack for an ectovore or soul-eater or sothing, although I probably ‘looked’ like a chopped-up french fry soone had tossed away from the real al.
Heh. Given the Death Curse trying to eat Aelryinth, that probably wasn’t too far out.
Galaxies spun as I moved, passing through them at faster than light speeds, watching galaxies spin like tops as I covered distances I couldn’t comprehend at speeds with too many zeroes for to calculate like I was now.
Obviously I was going sowhere. It was surreal watching galactic superclusters, ultra-nebulas, strobing pulsars, and exploding supernovas slide on by, wondering if soone was doing this just to show off their creation.
A dot far in the distance wasn’t moving.
Like this black sphere, it grew with ti, more galaxies popping into view, expanding around , zipping past , stars that looked like dense clouds actually light years apart and looking like just more distant lights and blurs in the sky as I was pulled through and past them, no star in sight for more than an instant.
I didn’t think I passed through any of them, but it would have been so quick, how would I have known?
But that one dot ahead was only growing, not moving.
A dot like any other star grew into another galactic cluster. The cluster expanded around and beca another group of galaxies still separated by a million light years and not looking like a cluster at all… and I was heading for one of them.
Galaxies swelled in size as I passed by, and then they dropped away as an arm of the spiral in front of began to grow… and I seed to be slowing.
Nope, definitely slowing, or I’d already be through this galaxy.
That ant I was closing on sothing, probably around a star. That star? Seed to be a dium yellow…
Speed was definitely slowing, the star ahead now growing in size instead of zipping by in blurs like the ones to the sides, like the Power of Ten slide shows where celestial scenes are focused on a dozing person in Central Park in New York or whatever…
Arriving, slowing, and suddenly I was slow enough I could actually see a gas giant of a planet tumble past in ocher and reds, and there was a flitter of an asteroid field, like moving through a rain of mountains I could barely see as they flashed past.
There was a shadow against the sun ahead, a tiny dot right in the middle of my vision -
Hello, this is Aelryinth. As I Send this, it’s been two days since I arrived at my destination. I have just received a ssage from the first of the seven of you, informing that you aren’t random blank Karma, but actual soul-shards of .
No wonder it hurt so damn much.
My apologies putting you through all this. You know I’ll help if I can... and I’m going to be coming back your ways regardless.
I’m sure you all have nas you’ll choose for yourselves, but for now I’m going to refer you to what I suggest your Rings be... Einz, Zvei, Drei, Veir, Funf, Zeks, and Zeben.
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
I don’t know where you are or how to get to you, but you all know where I ca from, and I’ll do my best to find you if possible.
In the anti, here’s so information that Einz has discovered that may or may not be of use to you, depending on where you end up...
If I could have blinked, I would have as the Sending reverberated through , depositing its ssage into and through for reference.
Well, that all might be useful…
A blue world ahead of , a marble of white clouds and dark lands and sapphire oceans, a-gleam...
Wait, was that whole world alive-?
Was it looking at sothing?
And because I could without turning, I looked back.
The stars were looking down at . An eye ford of galaxies, a wing of the cosmos brushing across infinity, and sothing vast, vast as the heavens, was looking down at .
I stared as I fell down onto that world, and the vision was gone, but the sight would remain with forever.
Ael hadn’t even known he had the Bloodline, never tried to open it before he cut it loose. How were we supposed to know?
But there it was. Our Bloodline obviously knew us…
The Void Phoenix sent spiraling down into the blue world below. Clouds sped by in a blanket of white and gray and the darkness grew into the tiny points of lights, and I fell towards one of them…
=====================================
And so begins our descent into the Known World of D&D.
The BECMI (Beginner, Expert, Companion, Master, and Immortal Sets) of Dungeons and Dragons were a different ga from AD&D and its successors, including the present 5e, and are the core of the current OSR (Old School Revival) movent. The tone was lighter, the ga was simpler, there were fewer spells and class abilities to worry about, and the rules were a lot looser.
One of the main differences is that non-human races were intrinsically magical, and so they were defined by the magic of their race, not by their classes or professions as humans were.
Thus all elves were warriors and magic-users, all dwarves were doughty fighters, and all halflings were surprisingly good survivors and sneaky gits.
They received far more racial benefits than re humans, and their saving throws started out better and actually reached a maximum about level 10! Humans wouldn’t reach the sa levels until 30 or so, but long term made better spellcasters and warriors because they could advance further.
Demihumans could learn to fight skillfully, but basically topped out hit points and stuff at 10.
A lot of this was later added onto with gazetters and other gaming supplents (and plenty of online additions). Elves were able to pick between magical improvent or fighting improvent. Dwarves could beco dwarf-clerics. Halflings could beco druids (but only in the Five Shires).
Humans were initially restricted to the classic four (Fighter, Cleric, Magic-user, Thief). This was later expanded to include Mystics (monks), and a number of side-classes (rchant, rchant-Prince, etc) which could be leveled up separately from the main Class.
BECMI was also unique in that it was designed to take you from low power to lordly power, guiding people into becoming lords and ladies, rulers of dominions, and waging war with armies where required upon invaders or to expand your lands.
Eventually, however, you beca so competent that it was ti to beco legendary, standing atop the world as its Masters, and then taking the steps towards Immortality.
Immortality was a whole separate tier, at the bottom of a new totem pole, but with so much upscale. You got your own small dinsional plane to ss around with, you could take over more, expand your own, and of course increase your own power as you ssed around with rival Immortals and other godly creatures in bids to increase your power and that of your Sphere.
The Multiverse of D&D is different from AD&D and its later Editions. The gods made famous in AD&D do not exist in the Known World, although so of the gods of our own myths are Immortals there. The main forces in Conflict are the spheres of Matter, Energy, Ti, and Thought, which are all rivals, and all are opposed by Entropy/Death.
Good and Evil were not ‘Alignnts’ in BECMI, only Law, Chaos, and Neutrality (despite being referenced in spells?…), so the world is primarily a Law/Chaos conflict, as opposed to Evil/Good.
This ans it is considerably grimr overall, as there are no ‘good guys’ in the setting, especially among the Immortal Spheres. There are heroes and dastards in every Sphere, even if it tends to cater to one Alignnt or another.
The ‘Race as Class’ and longer lives of demi-humans an they have more broad, low power than humans do, but humans dominate the higher levels in BECMI completely.
BECMI D&D could also be ‘won’. If you started at level One, worked your way up to the most powerful of Immortals, Hierarchs of your Sphere, then dispersed your power and started over at Level One and leveled all the way to the apex in a new Sphere, you were pulled out by the Old Ones, what in AD&D would be Greater Gods, to join their number, and your character was officially retired!
BECMI is far less complex on a personal level than 3E D&D, and so much less than Power of Ten, whose foundation builds on those rules. This is fairly easy to justify, as it is a feudal society where magic is hoarded, not shared, broken into warring kingdoms with no overarching goals or unity, a situation that existed in our own world for thousands of years.
Our MC coming into BECMI is thus like a skilled engineer arriving in ancient Ro, ard with the knowledge of how to build from simple to complex, and thus able to accomplish what the natives are not from a higher knowledge base.
This doesn’t an the world doesn’t have its own unique things to offer, but its magical developnt is generally much, much less than the Power of Ten.
There are still so tropes I’m going with.
Races give Health, and Classes normally give Soak.
Good is an Alignnt, but is not a major player here. Law on Law, Law on Chaos, and Chaos on Chaos are the major conflicts, with the Neutrals alternately trampled on, bought off by, siding with, or playing off the two opposing sides.
There are no active gods, only interested Immortals and so philosophies. Immortals do not pursue Alignnt goals, they pursue the goals of their Spheres. So, Warriors and martial might vs Religion vs Magic vs Mortal technology and innovation, all vs Entropy/Death. Immortals tend to have highly individualized interests, and because they are not dependent on mortal followers for any of their power, rely profiting slightly if they do have so, they do not cater to them as gods pursuing the Alignnt Wars might. Immortal projects are ant to have real results, more akin to scientific experints, not profound ones.
This, in turn, leaves mortals to decide much of what goes on in the mortal world, while the Immortals watch and intervene only rarely, when they will not be caught by their opposite numbers.
----
This story is going to rise to power fairly quickly, as the MC is coming into the world with the standard Shard bundle of nine sets of Levels at Nine, when she only has one nominal Class to put that Karma into! The world also has none of the alternate Karma dumps so common to the Power of Ten, so even if she sohow access other Classes, there are simply fewer places to put her Karma… and, in addition, the cost of Karmic levels per Level remains the sa above level 10!
Thus, you beco more competent at making Karma and actually advance further and faster after level 10… if you survive!
BECMI Levels are less powerful than AD&D Levels, and certainly less than 3.5 Levels. A BECMI character is about 2/3 as powerful as an AD&D character, and probably only half to a third as strong as a 3E character.
Thus, levels will be gained swiftly, but in keeping with the character of the setting, grinding and video ga combat against endless hordes is not what is going on. Powerful characters beco involved in the fate of nations, and all of that will be incorporated into the story, along with finally ssing with Artifacts and the goals of the Immortals at the Master tier, and what will the Biracial Edgelord who Can’t Make Immortal do then?...
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