Teredahar Campaign Setting: The Shards

What are Shards?

Shards are like planes of the standard setting's multiverse except that they are generally less expansive and more Earthlike. Each shard was once part of the Elves Earthlike home plane that shattered. The biggest difference is that shards move around. Each shard may be off on its own or adjacent to any number of other shards. Where they touch they form naturally-occurring portals that allow animals, weather, and even bits of terrain to pass through. Shards can even collide and bounce off or merge, bringing entire continents from one world to another with often-catastrophic results. They can also change properties over time as they drift around the multiverse and come move into regions with different elemental properties. In-between shards is impassible Void.

Are there still normal planes?

There are still energy planes and a Prime Material plane. The Prime Material plane is where Teredahar is located. The energy planes are each surrounded by a region of Void that their properties 'leak' into. Shards that pass into these regions become more like that energy plane. For instance, a shard passing near the Plane of Fire will experience extreme heating and droughts, and one passing near the Plane of Air will start having weaker gravity and land will start floating about. True planes don't move around and are considered "stable". Mages theorize that stable worlds occupy eddie pools in the great river of magic, and that if a shard were to drift into one of these pools it would stabilize as well and become a true plane.

How does travel between shards work?

If two shards or a shard and a plane are touching or overlapping, travel is as simple as walking from one to another. If they don't then you have to make a portal to cross the Void. Most spell casters can create short-lived portals when they cast summoning spells. Additionally, making a portal between true planes is a fairly simple matter for and experienced mage because they aren't moving so their mulitversal co-ordinates are well known. Making a portal to a shard, however, is relatively difficult even for the most powerful and experienced mages. Often this requires specialized training as the Wayfarer Guides receive and even then the portals don't stay stable as the shards continue to move. Only the thirteen Hebdomad (world-shapers) are able to truly see shards moving across the Void and make stable, long-lasting portals between them.

Artificial Shards

The most learned Hebdomad have mastered their near-godly power to such an extent as to be able to recreate a small portion of Ceratharidoun's (the creator-god of the Elves that split his power amongst the Hebdomad) creation. Through intense focus they are able to bring forth matter from nothing and create new shards within the Void. These shards may be only a few kilometres in size but they are large enough for entire cities of the Hebdomad's followers to arise. Within such a shard its creator has total control over everything, but they must maintain focus or it will begin to implode and eventually wink out of existence entirely.


Size & Stability both follow this hierarchy: True Plane > Shard > Artificial Shard

Next Time

The next Teredahar article will cover how the Elves shaped the present face of Teredahar and the world of Prime.