The Foot of Blue Mountain

Setting Post! Talking About the Spokelands

Introduction

August is setting pitch month over on the OSR discord, so I figured I'd get in early and toss my hat into the ring.

There are few things as boring to me more boring than reading the work of a worldbuilder who simply does not know when to stop talking, especially if That worldbuilding is stuffed into a campaign pitch. I like reading settings in their own right, but for playing in tabletop games especially I simply don't need most of the information that a worldbuilder might include to make meaningful choices.

To make this post something I would want to read, I'll have two sections. The first would be the kind of document I'd send my players to introduce them to the world, and the second is something I'd write up if I were being pretentious. At the very end, I'll ramble on a bit about why the setting is the way it is, and provide an Appendix N (a list of other works that inspired me).

The Player Doc

This game will take place in the Spokelands, a metaphysical archipelago set in the ruins of what was. The islands are connected by a daisy chain of portals and gateways and stretch across dozens of islands, ranging in size from the ground of an abandoned sanitarium to a vast ocean dotted with islands and bordered by a single coast. All of these islands are bounded by black mist. None who enter return.

Due to the unique nature of how land is connected and traversed, (and the fragmented nature of humanity as a whole) government in the Spokelands is sporadic. When it does exist, it is often despotic, cruel, or unjust, especially if it extends much further beyond the portal bounds. Justice was slain along with Gaia.

Portals, when they work, are heavily guarded; uneasy locks on the door to your home.

Magic in the Spokelands is based on something called The Weave, which is this big metaphysical tapestry that stretches across existence. To do magic is to take loose strands of the fabric and pluck or cut them to bend the world to your will. There are a few people and places that teach you how to see these loose ends, but they are rare. Once you can grab the strands, you must physically interact with the objects they're attached to in order to "learn spells". Wizards must travel extensively to learn new spells and techniques. Beware an old wizard with mud-caked boots.

(After this, I'd normally jump into the regional description, but obviously that's not relevant here. Here's a bit of "What's going on?" text from Blue Mountain in exchange. Feel free to skip)

In the Blue Mountains, an old group of animated statues huddle around the embers of their dying empire. One of them, Limestone-7, stole a valuable object called “The Blue Needle” from the Grem, transparent orange automatons that are fueled by memory. The Grem, in their frantic and paranoid search for The Blue Needle, will burn and pillage the Kingdom of Shatermo, a small empire which has expanded to the Upper and Lower parts of the Blue Mountains during its brief existence.

In The Waters, a Giant Red Macaw is terrorizing the village of Chíamoo. The leader of Chíamoo is concerned because their sister village, Dexomé, has gone quiet (in truth, the village was destroyed for a slight against the Animated Men). These two villages are connected to Quochay’s Regret, a large city built upon the neck and shoulders of a colossal statue. The leaders of Quochay’s Regret are concerned about a recent earthquake which revealed the tomb of the ancient warrior (and progenitor of their civilization) Quochay. The discoveries therein could shake the balance of power in the city and unleash a powerful evil on the world…

In the Steel Plains, the Chuunti live an uncomplicated life in the shadow of the ruins of a steel megastructure. Recently, an amoeba-like creature has begun terrorizing the wildlife and any Chuunti it comes across. This has the potential to be quite disastrous…

The Pretentious Doc

The Spokelands would not exist without Axle, the heart of the universe, the seat of God, and the Nail That Holds The World. Sprawling out from Axle in every direction are the Spokelands, small clusters of land and water in a sea of black mist that steals the life from those who breathe it. There is no way to move through the Spokelands that would make sense to a navigator. The stars are different every night and the mists are great black walls that obstruct the horizon. Living reminders of God's disgust.

Each island mass is referred to as a Splinter, and a chain of Splinters originating from Axle is called a Spoke. Usually, traveling along Splinters in the same spoke is safe. Portals remain from a kinder, brighter age in places of great importance, and traveling through those is mostly safe. You might walk through a long, dark hallway for a few hours, or through long gravel fields of crushed buildings older even than the portals themselves, but eventually you'll make it through. Ignore the screams.

It is the rare portals that go between different Spokes that are the deadly ones. People speak of doorways drawn with chalk on a moss-covered wall, or a long hallway beneath a dried up well that lead to horrible endless libraries and decaying gardens of resplendent color and life. Those who return from travel between Spokes are either wealthy and powerful or missing something. There is no middle ground.

With God largely silent and Those Who Came From Axle dead or martyrs, the people of the Spokes are in disarray and have been for as long as ink can stay on paper. There are still some small empires stretching a dozen Splinters led by a few mad sorcerer kings or the odd republic amidst a Splinter covered in city ruins, but for the most part there is very little law and even less order. The world is adrift in black mist. It is unlikely to right itself soon.

Shop Talk

This world is set in the ruins of my previous campaign world; things got messed up substantially enough that I felt justified in wiping everything out and starting from scratch. This coincided pretty conveniently with my shift in perspective from a more neotrad (5e play culture) way of looking at things to a more OSR style of running my games. One part of this shift that has made my life easier and my games more fun are the modules and supplements I can throw into my games! I really dislike having to change elements of a module to fit a predetermined setting, so a big part of "designing" this world was justifying my laziness.

Beyond that, I've always had a fascination with precursor civilizations and "ancient technology" tropes in media. There's something compelling and unique about being in the ruins of a world greater than what is left in the present. I think that shift in mindset from our own modern trappings is very interesting to me and allows a lot of interesting thematics to be explored in a context that is different from our own.

Appendix N

Books and Other Words on Paper

Videogames