This is a draft; the
eventual version appearing in Mythic Russia may
well differ in concept or detail. Please also note that the treatment of real
religions in game form is merely a representation of how medieval people
thought of their faiths and their beliefs in magical powers. This is a game
for mature individuals able to distinguish between fact and fantasy.
Andrei's
Saga
To illustrate the process
of travelling through the otherworlds, we follow the tales of Prince Andrei of
the Three Gold Debts, youngest son of the prince of Ryazan, who is betrothed
to Shining Feodosiya, fairest maiden in all the Russias (well, in his opinion,
at least).
Example: In the course
of foiling an attempt by his uncle Vasily to seize the throne, a curse was
cast at Andrei by a Sibiryak shaman. Feodosiya flung herself in its path to
save him, and has been turned into a perfect ice sculpture. Even in the
coldest, deepest cell in the Ryazan kremlin’s dungeons, it will not be long
before she melts. Metropolitan Epifany has counselled him that his best hope
of saving her is to seek the intercession of St Basil of Ryazan, patron of
their city and wonderworker. As a minor saint, he might be found on any of the
otherworlds, but he is most likely to be around the location of Ryazan or else
Murom, his first bishopric, from whence he saved the fabled Icon of the Most
Holy Theotokos of Murom. Andrei is told by his father’s wise steward,
Mikhail Mstislavlovich, that a small church to the south of the city is an
especially propitious crossing-place, so on 3 July – St Basil’s day –
and after a day’s spiritual preparation and a night’s prayer, Andrei seeks
to use the power of the church to enter the Ideal World.
The normal barrier
between the Mortal and Ideal Worlds is 1M4,
but this is reduced by 20 because the church is a ‘thin’ place in the veil
between the worlds, so the resistance is 1M3.
Andrei has no special
magics, so he is using his Worship God 5M,
augmented by his Love Feodosiya 10M
(+3) and Sense of Duty 4M (+2)
for a total rating of 10M. He
gets a bonus of +2 for his hurried ritual, +5 for a propitious day and the
communal support of his family, court and the people of Ryazan provide another
+12. Together, they bring his rating to 9M2.
At the last minute, Epifany personally blesses him, providing another +5,
bringing him to 14M2.
The contest is thus 14M2
against 1M3, or in other words 14 against 1M. Fortunately, Andrei has a hero point ready for judicious
use, and he succeeds…
The Ideal World
The Ideal World is
shaped by the natural world.
The term for the ‘nearest’ Otherworld, which stretches
across the mortal world, does not mean that it is especially wonderful. Some
parts of it are, but others are terrible and barren. Instead, it reflects the
fact that this otherworld appears like an idealised reflection of the mortal
one. The seas are that much bluer and somehow wetter, the cornfields a bright
enough gold the dazzle in the sunlight, the forests taller than any forest ought
to be, and dark with brooding menace…
The Ideal World is not a simple likeness of the mortal one,
though. On the whole, for example, human activity is too insignificant to be
reflected directly in it. There are, to be sure, centres on the sites of the
greatest human cities, such as Byzantium and Rome, but on the whole the places
reflecting the locations of towns and village are bare, or else marked by some
other symbol. Thus, Kiev’s space in the Ideal World is occupied by a grand
ruin of an ancient, cyclopean fort, a melancholy place silent but for the
constant whistle of the wind from the east and the howls of distant wolves. It
is magically powerful for all that, and hidden caves beneath the ruin lead into
the Representational World, just as heroes may be able to make that journey by
leaping from its crumbling walls.
The Ideal World is inhabited by some people, who live,
love, fight and die on this plane. To them, the Mortal World is a terribly drab
land, insubstantial to their senses,unsatisfying
to their stomachs and unsustaining to their essences. If brought to the Mortal
World then they will generally sicken and die or fade away in a few months. Most
of the inhabitants of the Ideal World are animals, spirits and hybrids of the
two. There are talking dogs and flying horses, goblins and talking trees. In
many cases, these are beings which routinely travel to the Mortal World, like
the prophetic syrins or the dangerous vodyanois that haunt the streams and
rivers of Russia. For them, travel across the veil is relatively easy, and they
may even cross it every night. Whereas the basic rating of normal folk in the
Mortal World is 20, in the Ideal World it is 20M.
Example: Andrei ends his
prayer and his eyes: the church has gone, marked only by a roughly
cruciform shape of paler grass. Around him, the rolling hills are a lush,
almost caricature green. In a vividly blue sky, a cloud in the shape of a
mounted knight ponderously circles another, which stretches out like a dragon.
The very air sparkles in his lungs.
After a moment’s
awestruck reverie, the young prince remembers the urgency of his quest.
Epifany had told him to seek around for a gateway into the next Otherworld,
but when asked what it would look like, had simply waved a hand airily and
smiled into his beard.
Andrei is pitting his 10M
(the original bonuses from the ritual, etc, no longer apply against 10M2:
or 10 against 10M (as he will
be travelling into a Russian Orthodox region). He rolls an 11, a failure,
while the narrator rolls a 7, a success which the mastery then bumps to a
critical. This would be a Major defeat – Andrei would still get to the
Representational World, but it would take perhaps a week: can Feodosiya last
that long? Instead, he burns another hero point to turn his failure into a
success, and so suffers just a Minor defeat. The narrator decides to delay
Andrei by a day, during which time he will find himself having to bargain with
a polevik field-spirit to walk the strange crop-circle in its field of
10’-high corn, which will take him through into the Representational
World…
The Representational World
The Representational
World is shaped by faith and extraordinary individuals.
The Ideal World is essentially constant, its shape dictated
more by the geography of the Mortal World than human belief. However, the more
magically charged the otherworlds, the more they are fashioned by faith. The
Representational World overlies most but not all of the Ideal World – in some
areas, where magic is weak or which witnessed ancient cataclysms, the Ideal
World is all there is. The Representational World, though, takes a form based
upon the prevailing belief system of those who live in its Mortal counterpart.
Thus, the Representational World corresponding to Western
Europe is shaped by Catholic iconography and appears to mortal eyes like a
parchment psaltery or manuscript page, on which the figures of knights and
peasants pass between symbolic representations of cities or woods and around the
illuminated words of sermons and sayings. However, as befits their practice of dvoeverie,
the Representational World over the realms of the Rus’ are a blend of Russian
Orthodox and pagan symbolism. The cities are largely dominated by the former,
and there heroes take the form of Orthodox icons, travelling through lands
richly depicted in reds and golds. However, out in the countryside, this often
shifts subtly into older, pagan imagery owing as much to the vigorous folk-art
of the Norse and slavs cultures. Each culture and faith chapter gives a sense of
the particular idiom of its part of the Representational World.
This is a land of saints and heroes. There are
‘ordinary’ people here, but they are little more than ciphers, all but
faceless extras in great epics. A traveller could, for example, walk through the
streets of the great city which represents Byzantium, and be surrounded by
thronging crowds, but they would be just carrying out their usual daily
routines. They have an average ability of around 20M2,
but this is essentially limited to their professional skills and their defensive
capacities – one of the faceless warriors guarding a city gate might be able
to resist attacks at 20M2, but his own
retaliatory ability would probably be around 20. Conversation with these extras
is possible but usually unrewarding; they can haggle, and fight, and flirt, and
laugh, but none of this means anything in the great scheme of things. Kill one
today, and tomorrow there will be another, almost identical, taking his place.
Amongst them, thought, might walk lesser Greek saints or more likely holy men
perhaps on the road to sainthood, heroes of the land and at times even the
Imperator and his closest allies. They have might and power and self-will, and
it is in the interaction with them that meaningful change can be brought to the
Representational World.
How can you tell the difference? Form in the
Representational World reflects essence, character and magical might. A warrior
will look like a knight or the like, and without special magics cannot be
disguised. Likewise, just as in medieval art great saints are depicted as
physically larger than those around them, so too does size reflect power. One of
the ordinary denizens of this world will seem about 5 feet tall, as will a hero
whose highest magical rating or Piety is no more than 10M.
However, a hero with abilities as high as 1M4
will appear at least three times as tall! How does he walk through a door that
fits a ‘normal’ person? Easily: remember, the Representational World is not
a fixed and entirely logical one, it is perhaps best considered a dream. He just
does walk through the doorway, just as he can stand up inside a peasant’s hut,
sleep in that peasant’s bed or be as filled by the same portion of food as
that peasant eats.
Example: At the end of
the crop-circle, Andrei trips on something and tumbles. When he his eyes
and stands, he finds an even more amazing sight greets him. The world has
become a huge icon, a wooden sheet stretching into the distance, painted in
colours of such bright vibrancy that for a moment he is dazzled. Near to hand,
where a grove of unnaturally-tall trees stood before, is instead a dark green
drawing of some trees. Further away, on the horizon, a gilt onion-dome marks
the place where Ryazan is in the Mortal Realm, and to which he knows he must
go. As he steps out, he realises that he too has changed: where once was skin
and silk and steel is a living illustration, a prince but (sadly accurately)
not a warrior.
Across this strange
realm he strides. As the gilt sun hangs in the smeared cobalt heavens, he came
across a village, and peasants about a foot shorter than him bowed in
obeisance and brought him bread and salt in greeting, kvass for refreshing and
salted pork in respect. Yet even to a prince such as Andrei who pays the
common folk little attention, they seem strangely anonymous, identical, their
faces blurred, their voices hard to distinguish.
In due course, he
reaches the simple caricature of a city which represents Ryazan, although he
understands that it is not his city. The guards at the gate let him pass,
nonetheless, and somehow stepping into this symbol (which seemed no more than
a few man-heights around) he finds himself in a bustling market. Again,
though, the crowds seems more like a single simple sea of people more than a
collection of individuals. Across the way, though, a figure catches his eye, a
simple monk, taller even than he…
The Boundary or Transitional World
The Transitional
World is shaped by growth and passage.
Of all the Otherworlds, the Boundary or Transitional World
is perhaps the least distinctive, but nonetheless important. Whereas most of the
Mortal Realm is overlain by the Representational World, there are relatively few
pockets of Boundary World. Their main importance is that they are routes
elsewhere, to other Boundary regions or else further still from the mundane and
towards the Transcendent World.
Each Boundary World is defined by its location and also its
routes. Most connect to other Boundary regions or the Transcendent World related
to its particular faith. Thus, for example, the pagan Thrice Ninth Land occupies
a location analogous to north-east of Kiev, but is also connected to the
Bear’s Forest far to the north, another Boundary region, as well as the Summer
Land and Winter Land, two pagan Rus’ regions of the Transcendent World.
Travel along these routes seems like a journey, sometimes
epic, but actually takes very little time, typically only an hour or two.
However, there are often all sorts of guardians, tests and other obstacles to
taking them. Few entities actually live in the Boundary World, though, beyond
those placed there by greater powers as watchers, guides or guardians. Their
typical abilities are at 20M3.
The Boundary World looks like the Representational World…
but even more so. This is getting close to the limits of mortal senses and
comprehension. All around magic, faith and power is almost visible. Indeed,
sometimes it is: the air shines with divine glory in Christian lands, while in
the Boundary Worlds of animist faiths such as the Mongols and Sibiryaks, spirits
flow steadily to and from the Transcendent realms beyond.
Example: Andrei is
getting worried. The ‘monk’ turned out to be Pravoi the Truth-Teller, and
he apologetically told him that St Basil had not been seen there for years.
Instead, Andrei must head for Murom, over a hundred miles to the north-east.
Despite various adventures, both good (such as being carried half the way by
an obliging giant goose) and bad (losing his best cloak, three daggers and
several pints of blood to a brace of blood-sucking goblins), he finally
reaches this holy city.
At first, he is thrown
into despair by the news that St Basil is not there, either, but several years
ago ascended the Three-Hundred-Step Tower, a Boundary World route, on his way
to heaven. Without hero points or hope, Andrei nonetheless resolves to follow.
To be honest, his adventure might as well have ended there, but as he tried to
climb the Tower, finding each step taller and harder to scale than the last
– representing the obstacles placed there for those not ready to stand on
the doorstep of Heaven – he is fortunate to encounter Ilya Muromets on the
way down. This Christian hero recognises a worthy hero when he sees one and
agrees to intercede for him. Andrei sits, exhausted, on the Seventeenth Step,
as around him pulses and thrums the distant music of Heavenly choruses. He
knows that he could not climb so much as a single step higher.
Then the chorus becomes
louder, and down the steps walk Muromets and another figure, glowing with
radiance, whose footfalls shake the tower. Andrei abases himself before the
saint and begins to stammer out his petition for help, but St Basil waves him
to silence. “Blessed are my children of Ryazan,” he says, his voice a
gentle whisper which nonetheless fills Andrei’s ears and mind as if nothing
else existed, “and strong is your heart.” He raises the Icon of the Most
Holy Theotokos in his left hand and holds out his right hand for Andrei to
kiss. As he does so, he feels his lips quiver with warmth and magic, and he
knows that a kiss from him will be enough to turn Feodosiya back to living,
breathing life.
As he starts to give
tearful thanks, St Basil simply nods to Muromets. The bogatyr steps forward
and with a smile says “time you were home, lad.” He then raises one huge,
gauntleted hand and slams it down upon the unprepared prince’s head. He
slams down and through the stones of the tower, down and through the
Representational Word, down and through the Ideal World, and down and onto the
rough log-paved square in Murom, back in the Mortal World.
He is tired, a little
hurt, and over a hundred miles from Ryazan. But he has travelled into the
otherworlds, been rescued by a hero and blessed by a saint. Even as he
stumbles to his feet and prepares to explain his plight to the guards pushing
their way towards him through the astonished crowd, he feels the broad grin on
his bruised and battered face…
The Transcendent World
The Transcendent
World just is.
The Transcendent World is at the very furthest reaches of
mortal consciousness, beyond the reach of all but the most holy or powerful of
mortals. These are the homes of the gods, the gates into the Heaven of the
Christians, the peak of the Lithuanians’ god-mountain, the Summer Land of the
pagan Rus’ and the highest sky-plains of Tengri.
Example: Andrei will not
travel into the Transcendent Worlds unless and until he is much, much more
powerful… or dead.
All content throughout this site relating
to the Mythic Russia game and setting is
copyright © Mark Galeotti 2004.