The Second Age Pandemonium Beta

Introductory Chapter,

or; What is Pandemonium?

    Pandemonium is a world setting that stretches from the beginning of the cosmos, through the dawn of civilization, the peaks and valleys of life and fantasy, and all the way to the very end of everything. The setting expands upon a wide variety of themes and concepts, built around 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons, and both the Planescape setting, (The Wheel Cosmology, described later in this book), as well as Spelljammer. All with a unique and personal take. The chronology of Pandemonium is divided into 4 ages, that together cover billions and billions of years, with the first and fourth ages being by far the longest and all-together strangest. Every age is unique in style, setting, mechanics, rules, backgrounds, and general possibilities. All Ages are described later in this section. Authors Note: There will also be a source list of inspirations and contributions to this work of fiction and ‘’art’’. (At least those that I am conscious of…)   The Rules of Pandemonium, or; The Constants of our World Despite the setting covering billions and billions of years, there is a minor set of constants that are worth knowing when learning about this setting, as described here:  

The Cosmology

In every iteration and Age of Pandemonium, except the Fourth Age, the world is divided by the laws of the Wheel Cosmology. It divides the cosmos between the Inner Planes and the Outer Planes. The Inner Planes are where the Prime Material Plane, the Elemental Planes, and the Negative and Positive Planes, exist in a coalition. Every set of beliefs and ideologies stemming from the individual and especially the masses of the Inner Planes shape the foundation of the Outer Planes. Every act of good or evil forms the basis on which the Outer Planes form and shift. These beliefs are what create the powers known to mortals as gods, and it is the foundation on which demons, devils, and every strangeness in between are formed. The evils of the hells and the good of the high heavens are the houses formed from these powers, and all exist in the Outer Planes. Every ideology and belief has a plane and a power shaped from it, and it is where the soul is projected when it leaves its body as what is called a petitioner. The Wheel Cosmology and its representation in Pandemonium is described in much more detail in a later section. Authors Note: To those familiar with this cosmology, I take a good amount of liberties with it to better fit with this world. For example, in classic Planescape cosmology Pandemonium is a plane in of itself located in the Outer Planes, here it is both that and the name of the setting. Later I will use Elysium as the name of the capital of man when it is normally the name of another Plane located in the Outer Planes representing Neutral Good. This might confuse some, understandably. I will say this; there are in-world reasons for these ‘’mixups’’, that will make themselves clearer in later sections.    

The Center of Worlds

One of the rules of Pandemonium is that every plane and existence has its core, - its centrum on which it spins around. On the Prime Material Plane that center has - and will - always be the Metropolis of Humanity called Elysium. Also called the Angel of Rust. Elysium is present in some shape or form in every age. Every time it has been destroyed, a new one has been birthed into existence by the remnants of the previous incarnation. All across the endless Planes Elysium has its counterparts, its shadows, its highlights, its twins. Authors Note: Another center is the soul of an individual, as being the centrum in which its existence spins around.   According to this rule, everything spins around something, that spins around something else. Every center has another center in which it gravitates around, and so existence relies upon the constant spinning of an infinite array of circles.    

Endless Cycles

This brings us beautifully to our next major rule; the presence of cycles. As with circles that have no true beginning or end, so it is with existence in Pandeomium. Everything is a cycle of some shape or form, some small, some infinitely large. One thing is true, and that is that everything will end and that end will always birth a new beginning.    

Existential Philosophy, or; Poetry

Why Pandemonium? In Milton’s Paradis Lost, the capital of Hell is called Pandemonium. It is also a term used to describe a wild uproar or simply a chaotic situation. Some of my work with this world has taken a great deal of inspiration from Milton, as well as Poe, Lovecraft, Liu, ZA/UM, Black Isle, Nietzsche, Kafka, Marx and Engles, Mingus, and Coltrane (Yes even music can inspire literature), of course, Tolkien, as well as Martin, among many others. With a few exceptions in that brief list, most of what I feel these writers, artists, and musicians awaken in me is a sort of melancholy uproar, a raging against the absurdity. Between them, I experience a dance between the absurdity in chaos and the shackles of law in the cosmos. If that might seem a bit vague or abstractly personal from these often very defined works of fiction and philosophy, I can only add that this is what I feel (There it is again), in the personal conversation that I have with these works between the lines and notes of their true authors intentions. I have no desire to diminish their greatness or vastness for any who engage with these artists on an analytical or mentally-intellectual basis. My work is one of feeling through the dark. I do not know anything. I aspire to capture that experience in the bounds of fantasy, not only as a game setting but as a literary setting for stories and novels. So again I ask in the dark; Why Pandemonium? Well, in truth, because I like the word. I like the feeling of the word on the canvas of this fantasy world. I believe in a resonance with the word and what I aspire to create. Life is but one losing pandemonium against death, and so I see civilization and individual artistic expression. I am no philosopher, I am barely a poet, but I roar against the truth of it. And so does my writing, and the constants of this world.      

The Ages of Cachopony,

or; my endless Katzenjammer, Hangover.

In Pandemonium an age is described as a defining period of history with a distinct beginning and end. The Ages will be described in more detail with player options and mechanics in their own section later in the book. This is to be used mainly as an overview and introduction as to the overall setting. Authors Note: The Ages are to be looked at from the mirror of existential growth and development. All Ages has a bit of funk and jazz directly contributed by my own growth as an individual. In this abstract case the word Katzenjammer, or Hangover, is to be taken very literally.    

II: The Second Age

Synonyms: The Age of Myth and Legends, The Age of Dawn, The Ascendence Period, The Time of Gods and Men.   Period: Year 1 of the Dawn - Year 1301, After-Dawn, The Year of the Grand Sacrifice. The Loss of Elision. (1 AD - 1301 AD)   History Summary: The Second Age has two conflicting creation myths that relate to the first dawn—the Western and Eastern beliefs. The Westerners believed that Helios, the God of the Sun, vanquished the darkness and through his divinity gave birth to humanity in the shape of his beloved daughter Eos, who ruled them and showed them the grace of the high heavens. The Easterners believed that the Great Dragon of the Cosmos, Orion, breathed the world into existence, and his scales formed the egg of civilization, and his children became kings. Nonetheless, the sides developed independently and formed the Kingdom of Orion in the East, and the Kingdom of Ellisiat in the West. These two opposing cultures grew and fragmented into many kingdoms and states across the years of formation. With belief being what it is, the mirror between planes began to reflect the rapid expansionism of civilization. A tapestry of myths and legends weaved its way into the heart of the Earth, as new Gods, races, and arcane mysteries created themselves - as if they had always been there. The likes of Dwarfs, Halflings, Orcs, and then later Elves and Gnomes, tapped into this creation pool with cultures and kingdoms of their own, seemingly drawn from the infinite deck of the cosmos. With time, the aspiring complexity and growth of the feudal civilization on Earth, fed by war, conflict, indifference, power, greed, and hatred, among many other things, became ladled with corruption. And as the light of Helios turned ever-brighter, so did the shadows bury deeper. The mirror shared between the Planes meant the seedlings of dark and evil in the souls of the Inner Planes, reflected scaringly upon the heavens of the Outer Planes. The Gods are only as infallible as their creations, and so the darkness once vanquished returned with a fervent hunger, spawning a time in history known as the Great Corruption. How much does life truly know itself? And how much is a search for self-discovery? After two centuries the Great Corruption ended, as the last light of Dawn, the descendent of Eos the Betrayed, Empress of Elysium, Elision, gave her soul to the Abyssal Lord Abaddon in sacrifice, so that her People might yet see another Age. Her powers forever more keeping the corruption at bay. And so ended another Age, with the creation of the Last Religion and belief among men, Elisianity, as the faith in their Gods turned sour, as yet another mirror of their own flaws. Link to an in-depth timeline: Here.   Setting Overview: The Second Age is from start to finish meant as the closet to classic DnD, meaning in this case having elements of both Dark and High Fantasy, a High Magic system, a pantheon of Gods, and a stage with the possibility for countless classic mythic heroic tales. The Age is steeped in mysteries, conflicts, countless cultures, warring kings and queens, abyssal and devilish influence - especially in the later eras, and much more.