Plane of Haven

Haven is the name given by adventurers to a world that probably would have been similar to Alusia if not for a disaster about 1,000 years ago that opened a permanent portal to the demonic realms.

The living people on the main continent survive in magically fortified cities, only venturing out to tend their farms during the safer daylight hours.

Unusual Nature of Haven

The magical forces of life/light and death/darkness follow cyclic patterns of dominance and submission.

During the day magic and entities associated with life and light are stronger and those associated with death and darkness are weaker, the affect peaks at midday.

The opposite is true at night when magic and entities associated with death and darkness are stronger and those associated with life and light are weaker, the affect peaks at midnight.

This is further accentuated by the phases of the moon and the seasons.

A full moon in ascension benefits light and life, a new moon at nadir benefits darkness and death.

Summer benefits light and life, winter benefits darkness and death.

Dusk and Dawn half way between new moon and a full moon during Autumn and Spring would be the closest times to what is considered normal on Alusia.

Example

A Skeleton would be equivalent to an Alusian Skeleton at dusk, by midnight it would be equivalent to an Alusian Greater Undead, but at midday it could be destroyed by a child with a stick - assuming it had not already been destroyed by exposure to sunlight.

People

The Legion

Collective term for the legion of demonics and undead that have invaded the plane.

Undead

Similar to Alusian undead around dusk and dawn. Significantly weaker and all harmed by sunlight during the day. Significantly more powerful during the night. All undead encountered seemed to be controlled by someone/something.

Demonics

None of the demonics here are summoned, it may be that it is not possible for them to be summoned. All that are here are in their native form having travelled via the portal. Death for them here is true death.

Being on the plane in person does allow those that have learned how to rapidly gain power by feeding on the living.

Combined this makes Haven an attractive place for weaker demonics to rapidly gain power despite the high risk. Its existence and the location of the demonic end of the portal and closely guarded secrets by those who know them.

It is not known if any of the 72 Alusian Demons know of the Haven Portal, none of them have revealed the information but it is likely that all of them are too powerful to want to risk themselves by going there.

The Legion Farms

Some demonics and undead are known to have 'farms' of humans, orcs, and animals that they breed purely to feed on. People rescued from these farms are barely sentient, their minds destroyed by the horror of their lives.

City Folk

Those that live in the new cities, constructed of stone that absorbs sunlight during the day and then releases it during the night, combined with other powerful magical protections they create safe havens for the living.

The majority of the inhabitants are human but there are also Halflings, Elves, Dwarves, Giants, Orcs, and even a few goblins. All live in relative harmony, combined against their common enemy - The Legion.

Dwarves

The surviving clan of Dwarves found their own way to survive using crystal based magic to repel and destroy the legion.

Elves

Before the fall, the southern forests were home to many Elves and other 'fair folk', nothing has been heard from them since then. Attempts to investigate have encountered legion using the forest to shelter during the day, attempted ventures deep into the forest have not returned.

A few Elves remained and continue to dwell in the cities, if they know where their brethren are or what happened to them they are not revealing their knowledge. Powerful Elven shapers were involved in the construction of the first city, but left when it was completed.

A frequent theme to rumours and stories is that the fair folk went 'into the west'. Whether that is literal, a euphemism for death, or misinterpretation of Elven mythology is not known.

Common rumours:

• The fair folk are still there but have sealed their borders.
• They were all killed by the legion.
• They were all killed in an assault on the portal.
• They chose to die rather than fight the legion.
• They fled to hidden isles in the west.
• They fled into the Fae realms.
• They fled off plane.
• They will return when they are most needed.

Those that left are known as High Elves, it is unsure if they are different from the Elves that stayed or if it is simply a term for those elves that left.

Places

The Cities

The cities vary in size but are all similar in construction. The outer wall is 50' high, 10-20' thick, made of some sort of shaped bound stone that absorbs sunlight during the day and releases it at night.

The cities are within magical spheres of protection that extend from the walls into the air and below ground. These spheres prevent the legion from passing their boundaries and may destroy them on contact. It is not possible to portal into or out of the spheres.

Each of the cities is constructed on confluences of magical energy (often referred to as Ley-Lines) and places of very high mana. These high levels of magic are required to construct the cities and presumably to maintain their defences.

Mana Levels

Unlike most Alusian cities, those of Haven are usually normal mana with occasional and fluctuating patches of high and low mana.

Racial Tolerance

The people of the cities are of mixed races and seem to be unusually tolerant of races that on Alusia are racial enemies. E.g. an Elf and an Orc would happily sit next to each other at a bar, though it is unlikely they would have many interests in common.

Routines

Generations of life in the cities have led to rigid routines and remarkable levels of organisation and co-operation. Mornings and afternoons when farm workers leave and return to the city seem more like watching a colony of ants than people.

Crime and the Law

Crime as we know it is virtually unknown. When the cities were established there was no room and no margin for anyone who caused disharmony and/or endangered their fellows.

The original laws punishing most crimes with death are still in place, but are rarely applied.

The city guard actively patrol the streets and occasionally need to deal with crimes of passion, resolve misunderstandings and accidents, but are more likely to be helping the elderly with their shopping than chasing a pick-pocket.

Craftsmanship

An honest apprenticeship scheme, unnatural levels of harmony and co-operation, and a lot of time stuck inside the city have resulted in many exceptional master-crafters.

Masters (Rk 8,9,10) of most skills are reasonably common, the local 'masters' are not just master ranked, but achieve a level of lesser shaping, incorporating magical attributes and abilities into their crafting.

History

Spring 807wk

A Party is requested to seek out the High Elves and investigate how a Sailor sent on a mission to seek the elves ended up in a Seagate Pub.

Autumn 803wk

A guild party is hired on behalf of the Dwarves who need them to follow a prophecy / astrology reading. This leads to an old dragon who has been working with Dwarven shapers in developing crystalline based magic to oppose the legion (WordSmith can teach familiarity with the college to other Namers). Shaped/grown crystalline animals to be released into the wild to hunt down the legion and protect the living. The number of animals is not yet enough to ensure victory, the party convince the dragon to release the animals anyway as the Dwarves are about to be attacked by a legion army. The animals tip the balance, the legion army is destroyed, the Dwarves have suffered heavy losses, the crystalline animals start dispersing into the wild. WordSmith has a crystalline weasel companion.

Summer 803wk

The old city is attacked by troops from Haven City, their allies, and some of the Autumn 802 party. Hundreds of undead are killed and their underground nest is destroyed, the source of the portals is found but the instigator has fled, many old books and records are found and taken back.

Autumn 802wk

A guild party is hired to hunt down undead that have somehow got inside Haven City. It is discovered that a few undead have been portalled into the city (many more failed to survive the journey). The ones that made it are supposed to establish a 'beacon' that will make later portals more reliable allowing less expendable legion to come through and take the city. The undead are hunted down, the beacon destroyed, the source of the portals traced to a pre-fall city south-east on the coast. Scouting the city reveals there are too many legion for the party to take on. A massed assault on the city is planned for the next summer. Dramus starts teaching them the Necromantic college (the college was lost in the fall).

1,000 years ago (Approx)

As related to adventurers visiting Haven.
A war on the western continent was not going well for one side, it is believed that the losing side made a deal with a lich-lord with demonic allies or powers. The Lich-lord raised a combined demonic and undead army which won the war, and then is believed to have used powerful artifacts combined with the sacrifice of thousands to open a permanent portal to the demonic realms.

Within a few decades the entire western continent was lost to the legion of demonics and undead that ravaged the land. A few refugees made it to the main continent to bring warning and the little information that is known about what happened.

That gave sufficient time for a few powerful mages and shapers who took the threat seriously to research the magics required and create the first of the new cities - Haven.