Astromancer
Mongoose
Having recently reread the first three Corum books, I'm now in volume 8 of the 15 volume collected Eternal Champion series that Moorcock authorised White Wolf to put out in the 1990s, I naturaly started thinking about the mechanics of the planes and/or spheres.
First, the stories don't seem to use plane and sphere interchangeably. Planes seem to be subdivisions of spheres. There's a fairly consistant ( for Moorcock) pattern of speaking of the fifteen planes in the Corum setting as being divided amoung three spheres. Sometimes these Spheres seem to be spheres of influence. Most of the time, spheres seem to contain the plains.
This works for me. Spheres will always have one of more planes in them. It works out like pocket-multiverses in GURPS Infinate Worlds.
Second, we'll need intensity charts with the Plane Shift and Sphere Shift spells.
Example: If its an Intensity one shift to cross from plane A to plane B, then ordinary people will often be able to see into the other plane. A large city in A might appear as a Fata Morgana in B. If we assume that B's sea-level is a few hundred feet higher than A's, then, under rare conditions, a fleet, sailing over the site of a city in A, might appear as a ghost fleet in the clouds. While those in the fleet on B would see a ghostly sunken city.
The higher the intensity needed to cross between planes, the less accidental bleed-though.
Third, wheather you're shifting from one plane to another, or between spheres, the less similar the two ends of the journey, the more effort required.
Example: I wish to cross from the Young Kingdoms to a High Fantasy version of Ancient China. Both are sophistocated worlds of magic and exotic wonder. So it's not that big a problem. However, if I try to cross from the Young Kingdoms to Tragic Europe, it's much harder. The worlds are very different.
Cultural and physical changes can make the move harder. If I want to shift from the Young Kingdoms to Bro-an-Vadhagh a century before the events of The Knight of Swords it's much easier than goning there a century after the end of The King of Swords .
Before TKS Bro-an-Vadhagh was on a flat world, ruled by selfish gods, where Chaos was a growing power. After TQS the worlds of the five planes were round again! After the third book, the gods were dead and the cosmic balance dominated the scene, if it wanted to!
Cultural, mystical, physical, changes have to be taken into account in planar travel, and, since at least Elric, Erekose, Corum, Faustaff, and The League of Temporal Adventures, travel back and forth in time (as well as sideways) time travel by planar shift must be covered too.
That's all for now. More later.
Please, give your reactions, thoughts, and speculations here.
Thank-you!
First, the stories don't seem to use plane and sphere interchangeably. Planes seem to be subdivisions of spheres. There's a fairly consistant ( for Moorcock) pattern of speaking of the fifteen planes in the Corum setting as being divided amoung three spheres. Sometimes these Spheres seem to be spheres of influence. Most of the time, spheres seem to contain the plains.
This works for me. Spheres will always have one of more planes in them. It works out like pocket-multiverses in GURPS Infinate Worlds.
Second, we'll need intensity charts with the Plane Shift and Sphere Shift spells.
Example: If its an Intensity one shift to cross from plane A to plane B, then ordinary people will often be able to see into the other plane. A large city in A might appear as a Fata Morgana in B. If we assume that B's sea-level is a few hundred feet higher than A's, then, under rare conditions, a fleet, sailing over the site of a city in A, might appear as a ghost fleet in the clouds. While those in the fleet on B would see a ghostly sunken city.
The higher the intensity needed to cross between planes, the less accidental bleed-though.
Third, wheather you're shifting from one plane to another, or between spheres, the less similar the two ends of the journey, the more effort required.
Example: I wish to cross from the Young Kingdoms to a High Fantasy version of Ancient China. Both are sophistocated worlds of magic and exotic wonder. So it's not that big a problem. However, if I try to cross from the Young Kingdoms to Tragic Europe, it's much harder. The worlds are very different.
Cultural and physical changes can make the move harder. If I want to shift from the Young Kingdoms to Bro-an-Vadhagh a century before the events of The Knight of Swords it's much easier than goning there a century after the end of The King of Swords .
Before TKS Bro-an-Vadhagh was on a flat world, ruled by selfish gods, where Chaos was a growing power. After TQS the worlds of the five planes were round again! After the third book, the gods were dead and the cosmic balance dominated the scene, if it wanted to!
Cultural, mystical, physical, changes have to be taken into account in planar travel, and, since at least Elric, Erekose, Corum, Faustaff, and The League of Temporal Adventures, travel back and forth in time (as well as sideways) time travel by planar shift must be covered too.
That's all for now. More later.
Please, give your reactions, thoughts, and speculations here.
Thank-you!
