I've been recovering from surgery for the past few weeks, and I've been dying to talk with people about what I've been cooking up. I feel like it has enough room in it to tell just about any fantasy-genre story I'd like, so it may well be my last campaign setting. Feel free to crib any of it! All my content that is organized (not stuck in notes docs waiting to be distilled) is , so this is a straight up copy/paste of a few key pages. Please, ask me anything about it; I'm dying to talk with people...

(All that work to use proper headers and such, and Reddit is hiding the nested headers. So here's a ToC. Sorry, no links...)

• Region Lifecycle

  • Transitional Process

    • Formation

    • Depletion

  • Geography

    • The Void

    • Young Regions

    • Old Regions

    • Depleted Regions

  • Politics

    • The Kingdom of Prine

    • The Vecurian Empire and the Canait Kingdom

    • The Fey

• Energies

  • Types of Energies

    • Raw Psychic Energy

    • Soul Energy

    • -> Harvesting

    • Refined Psychic Energy

    • -> Worship

    • -> Formation

  • Magic

    • Arcane

    • -> Artifacts

    • -> Warforged

    • Necromancy

    • -> Artifacts

    • Divine

    • -> Artifacts

• Religion and Gods

  • Deific Houses

  • Mantles

  • Acts of God

  • Politics and Economics

  • Pursuits

  • Soul Sparks

    • Physiology

    • Embers

The world of In Aeternum Dilatantur has a complicated foundation of creation and decay, life and energy transformation, death and the power of gods.

Region Lifecycle

In the beginning, there is a void. That void goes through a process of Formation, driven by the will of the living, creating New Regions. These New Regions go through a process of Depletion as they supply energy for the creation of life until they become Depleted Regions.

The world is always expanding. Around its edges, there is an empty, formless, infinite void.

Transitional Process

Formation

Spent Psychic Energy gives this void form. It takes more energy to do this quickly. It takes more energy to do this to a large area. The form taken is what is pictured in the mind of the people providing the energy.

There is an unrefined process where a large group of people work together with a sufficient common idea of what they need that the space takes this form. This was discovered by the earliest humans, out of necessity.

Later, individuals skilled in psychics learned to funnel, channel and shape this, and even learned to increase their own contribution; sufficiently powerful individuals could shape small plots on their own in days!

Much later, once the mechanics were understood, artificers were able to create devices that reduced drastically the need for skill. These ranged from devices which seemingly amplified the flow from an individual or group, to devices which allowed an unskilled individual to impose their own will on the form, to devices which provide energy without other people being the source, to devices which forced the formed places to have a shape matching a specific set of parameters by funneling the energy through a captured memory.

Depletion

Regions are infused with Raw Psychic Energy. This energy is consumed through the creation of life, though it can be drawn on via other means, such as certain kinds of magic and artifacts. Because Raw Psychic Energy is not renewable, once all of the energy in a region has been drawn out, the region is said to be Depleted.

Once a region is depleted, life cannot be created. No seeds will germinate. No animal can be born. No egg can hatch. Bacteria cannot replicate. Naturally, magic and artifacts that depend on drawing raw psychic energy from their environment cannot function.

Different kinds of life will deplete land quicker or more slowly than other life. Wood-elves, for existence, cause very little strain, presumably because their population growth is low. Plants, bacteria and other lower life forms also draw very little, because they require very little Soul Energy to spawn. (Naturally, this means that higher life forms will see themselves unable to reproduce first, with large numbers of stillborn, before lower life forms and plants cease to flourish.)

Some things cause a lot of Depletion. Certain Aberrations may feed a lot on ambient psychic energy. Some artifacts, called Psychic Devices, engineered by misguided fools (or malignant geniuses) fueled by psychic energy might be able to very quickly deplete a region.

Warforged operate on psychic energy as well; if they move to a Depleted area, they will shut down after a few days, waking up again after a few days when moved to a non-depleted area. The Warforged Warlord was one such warforged who was stranded in a depleted area, discovered and moved to a non-depleted area, which they subsequently conquered. There's also the adventures of the Warforged and the Demigod, where the Demigod sustains their Warforged partner with their own psychic energy when they're faced with Depleted areas.

There may also be found some enterprising individuals who use artifacts or other techniques to collect and concentrate psychic energy into storage vessels, enabling it to be used elsewhere.

Geography

The Void

In the beginning, there is a Void. Voids are regions of wild magic, no gravity, no sky, no ground. They are, in a word, lethal. They present as a gray, formless mist which burns to the touch.

Young Regions

Newly-formed regions will have plenty of Raw Psychic Energy in them. They'll typically already have land and life, though this will depend greatly on the will of those who drove the Formation process. The regions will be very fertile, and crops and populations of all types will grow readily.

Young regions will not have complicated infrastructure, mortal races, established civilizations or mountains of wealth; these things are too complicated for a large number of people working together guiding Formation, and the amount of energy required for Formation is too great for a small number of people to achieve. They will take time, blood, sweat and tears for civilizations to settle and build up.

Old Regions

Old regions, having been long settled, will tend to have great, established civilizations, with large amounts of infrastructure and accrued wealth. Cultures in Old Regions are likely to be sophisticated and complicated; lore will have evolved from the region's long history, with plenty of time for embellishment in the retelling.

Old regions are likely to be very heavily populated. In fact, population will peak just as an Old Region begins to transition to Depleted, as birthrates will decline. People who can will move to younger regions.

Everything has a claim on it, probably more than one claim in contention. Prices are high, demand is high, and competition for territory has had plenty of time to grow complicated, if possibly no less dangerous.

Depleted Regions

Depleted regions will have ruins! Before being abandoned, a Depleted Region was very likely the peak of some other civilization, and much of that infrastructure may still stand, waiting to be explored and looted.

Speaking of loot, abandoned civilizations are always rumored to have treasure. And there may still be some; I heard this guy saying to his buddies about how his friend saw a vault that was still sealed--I bet there's something valuable in there!

Depleted Regions may not be able to sustain new life, but that doesn't mean they're devoid of people! Treasure means opportunity, and opportunity means adventure! People searching for treasure, braving the magical and the mundane, the traps, the aberrations, the pirates and magical beasts, all to collect a little more gold, find that big score, or perhaps just to prey on others who are there for the same purposes...

Pirates! Need a place to hide yourself or ill-gotten goods? I know a guy who has a place over yonder; you just need to book a passage on his ship to reach their secret cove...

Depleted regions may not be completely depleted; it takes less raw psychic energy to grow a crop than to have a child, and even less for fields of grass and weeds to form. So there may be lower forms of mortal life. However, there may be enclaves of fey and sleeping magical beasts who could present their own risks and rewards, allies and threats. Be careful.

Politics

Because regions wear out over time and their suitability for various purposes wax and wane, there are many opportunities for grand-scheme politics. Let's look at some examples of these schemes and scenarios that have played out, and the peoples involved.

The Kingdom of Prine

Void regions suitable for Formation always border existing regions which have already been formed, and are a natural first choice for those regions which need to expand to fresh lands. The Kingdom of Prine, for example, has had three territories in its recorded history, Old Prine, its first, now Depleted, Prine Province, its current seat of power, and New Prine, the region it most recently Formed and claimed to replace its aging lands.

The Vecurian Empire and the Canait Kingdom

If the formation and claiming of a new region results in an existing nation becoming "landlocked" away from access to void regions, the days of that nation and its people are numbered; they have nowhere to expand to, and their existing lands will eventually cease to sustain them. This happened to the Vecurians when the Canaitians Formed the Void adjacent to the Vecurian Empire, and then held it against their settlement. The Vecurian Empire is now ailing land, and its people are scattered, and it has enacted harsh policies in an effort to prolong its existence.

The Fey

While the Fey require little to no psychic energy to survive, they're still generally associated with nature. They may sometimes be found in New Regions, but can survive after a region has been Depleted.

The Fey dislike being in regions with little to no remaining life. Some migrate to undepleted regions, settling into forests and enclaves; these Fey will eventually move on again, becoming populations of Nomadic Fey.

Some Fey may become soured on life and look for something to blame; these Fey will often chose a target for their wrath and seek to punish or destroy them. They may pursue these vendettas individually, or as part of an organization such as The Outraged.

Energies

New Regions are flush with Raw Psychic Energy. The creation of life, whether the germination of a plant seed, the birth of an animal, or the division of bacteria, draws on this raw energy to form Soul Energy.

Soul Energy is special, it cannot be depleted from a living thing through normal activity, and as long as the thing is alive, its Soul Energy generates Refined Psychic Energy. When the critter dies, its Soul Energy leaves its body, generally staying in the vicinity. Soul Energy is typically Harvested at this point by worshipers of the Undergods, though it may be consumed by other paranormal critters.

Refined Psychic Energy is the fuel for the Gods, it is both their life essence and their currency, the thing they spend to effect change upon their world. Refined psychic energy is sent by a worshiping mortal to a Mantle, which is held by a God.

Types of Energy

There are three different types of energy, each related to the next.

Raw Psychic Energy

Raw Psychic Energy comes infused in New Regions; it's required for the creation of all life, where it gets structured structured into Soul Energy, and such living thing (especially creatures with intelligence) produces potent, refined psychic energy for as long as it's alive.

Soul Energy

Soul Energy is the structured energy of the soul; it represents the quintessence of mortal life, and also the life stuff of the Undergods. When associated with mortal life, Soul Energy continues to generate refined psychic energy.

Harvesting

When a creature dies, its soul energy is released into its immediate environment. The longer that soul energy remains, the more likely it is to attract supernatural critters which would feed on it. Ghosts, Soul Sparks, even mindless aetheric clouds may come to haunt an area with a large amount of ambient soul energy. For this reason, it's generally best if the energy is properly Harvested and sent to an Undergod's Undermantle.

Harvesting is done by those who serve a given Undergod in one fashion or another; a plague doctor may Harvest from dying patients in exchange for the spells to heal their other patients. A torturer will Harvest from his victims for his own vile purposes. A gravetender will Harvest to prevent the accumulation of pests.

Necromancers may Harvest to provide themselves with the energy required for spellcasting, but it's generally much easier to get the energy from a patron, so instead they'll transfer the energy to a patron, who is likely to give them much more energy in return. Necromancers of evil patrons may be under an obligation to provide a given quota of soul energy.

Refined Psychic Energy

Refined psychic energy is the life stuff of the Gods, sent to them by mortals through the worship of their Mantles.

When put to similar uses, refined psychic energy is much more potent than raw psychic energy; the consumption of raw psychic energy when refined psychic energy is technically possible is generally considered to be an evil act, particularly given that raw psychic energy is not renewable.

Worship

Worshipping is the voluntary sending of refined psychic energy from a mortal to a god or mantle. Gods will sometimes grant favors in return for worship, but not always.

Formation

Formation is the act of giving shape to The Void, and requires a great deal of psychic energy, typically provided voluntarily by large groups of mortals working together in concert.

Magic

Magic requires energy to function.

Arcane

Arcane magic relies on raw psychic energy, drawn from the region or some special type of storage vessel. Arcane spellcasters intending to travel through Depleted regions must take care to conserve their energy, and possibly rely on charged magic devices like wands and potions. Fully depleted regions will not allow them to regain spell slots after resting, but partially-depleted regions may allow them to regain lower-level spell slots.

Beware! People living in depleted regions may have a very strong dislike for arcane spellcasters, and laws against arcane spellcasting in regions nearing Depletion can be quite severe! Once cut off from access to the Void regions by the Canait Kingdom, the Vecurian Empire immediately instituted licensing requirements for arcane spellcasting, before outlawing the practice entirely with severe penalties.

Artifacts

Arcane artifacts with charges naturally hold raw psychic energy within them. Arcane focuses are used to channel and manipulate raw psychic energy in some way.

Warforged

Warforged operate on a lot of raw psychic energy, and drain the land around them while operating. A warforged starved of this energy source will shut down and go dormant after a couple days. A dormant warforged when provided with a source of psychic energy will, after a couple days, wake back up.

Warforged don't automatically shut down from exposure to antimagic fields, but an antimagic field sustained for days will cause them to go dormant, as it will suppress their ability to absorb local raw psychic energy.

Necromancy

Necromancers are spellcasters who work with and manipulate Soul Energy. Necromancers will often have an Undergod as a patron.

Artifacts

Necromancers often will use a focus, which helps them channel and manipulate raw psychic energy in generic or specific ways.

Divine

At their core, divine spellcasters channel favors by their gods, who use refined psychic energy to do their work. Divine spellcasters are granted packaged refined psychic energy to power their spell slots by some deific house, mantle or diety they pray to.

Some divine spellcasters have managed to acquire a mantle, a dangerous type of artifact which can be worshiped by mortals to funnel refined psychic energy to its wielder. Such things are dangerous because of how supremely powerful they can be; a mortal spellcaster would do well to watch their backs, as such things are worth entire kingdoms and more to the right person.

Soul Sparks are a special kind of divine spellcaster, in that their entire substance is refined psychic energy, and it is their own substance that they spend to cast spells. Most Gods are simply Soul Sparks with a lot more energy than you.

Artifacts

Divine focuses enable a divine spellcaster to receive energy from their god; they are effectively Mantles which cannot be worshipped by mortals.

Religion and Gods

Mortals worship gods in exchange for favors. Gods are effectively natural constructs of Psychic Energy, spending their energy on works, replenishing it through mortal worship of the Mantle(s) they hold.

Undergods are like Gods, but instead of living on and working through Psychic Energy, they live on and work through Soul Energy. When a mortal dies, their soul energy must be Harvested by an agent of the undergods or it will attract supernatural critters which feed on it.

Amazingly powerful as a race, gods are organized through a system of peerage in a multitude of Deific Houses, with gods of any note holding Mantles. Through followers, the gods gain Psychic Energy, which is their own life essence, and which is also the fuel for their power and magic. Without worshippers or another source of psychic energy, a god must be dormant, not overspending themselves lest they die.

Deific Houses

Different houses take a primary interest in different causes and magical domains, have their own mortal churches honoring them, and patronize, favor and antagonize the mortal races, nations and individuals of their choosing.

Houses with overlapping interests compete for worshippers, representing their own influence over those interests and representing the influx of psychic energy that feed the gods; a house which loses followers of its mantles will see its members starve and fade, so a well-run house will have its mantles run well, bringing in psychic energy, and its leadership will do what it can to see those mantles are held by the right people.

A god's association with a house is familial, social and political; there's nothing permanently binding a god to a house, and nothing but the politics of the house to prevent the house from adopting a wayward god.

Mantles

While people believe they worship gods and houses, what they really worship are Mantles. For sure, there is a singular Mantle for each House, held by the House's chief, president, king--whatever the house chooses to call it. However, the houses individual magical domains will have their own mantles, and if a house has causes, these, too, will have mantles. As people worship the domains or causes as espoused by the house, psychic energy will flow from them through these mantles to the gods who hold them.

A god without a mantle lives without exercising their power, or lives on the charity of others. A clever god in this circumstance might invent a new Mantle for a cause, a town, a tavern or profession and travel the mortal world as their own chief cleric.

Acts of God

A god which exerts their will spends some of their energy, their self, to do this. Common exertions include conferring spells to divine spellcasters, deliberate changes to weather patterns, conference of fortunate or unfortunate circumstances.

Politics and Economics

Psychic energy represents a god's ability to live, their ability to do the things they wish, and their ability to perform their duties and responsibilities within their house. It is the fundamental currency of the gods.

Most houses require the wielders of their mantles to confer favors to worshipers as befits the mantle, and to pass a portion of their income to their superior mantles and to the chief god of the house. Similarly, they are to pass a portion of their available energy to to lesser mantles as they see fit.

Competent gods work to ensure they continue to have worshippers, and to see to the health and continued operation of the inferior mantles they are responsible for. Incompetent gods, gods whose performance serves to weaken the house, its mantles and causes, ultimately have their mantles removed from them and transferred to someone else.

Of course, where there is money, there is drama, and it's entirely possible for a covetous god to undermine a rival in their house in hopes of acquiring their power.

Pursuits

Individual gods may thirst for power and battle (or simply be directed by a Mantle), taking on mortal form. Most of these gods will use their abilities to manipulate their way into becoming political leaders engaged in The Great Game--the manipulation of mortal concerns to the interests of themselves or their house.

Other gods may elect to drive the Formation of new land, to ensure mortal population growth and a continuous flow of Psychic Energy. They can't do this directly--that's very taboo--, but they can manipulate mortal affairs to see it done.

Still others might visit shrines to themselves, their mantles or their houses, strengthening the connection between them and their worshippers.

Soul Sparks

When a creature dies, its soul separates from its body and becomes a mindless incorporeal embodiment of its Soul Energy, waiting, drifting until it's collected by someone or something for some purpose.

Unless the individual happens to have been a Soul Spark. While living normally requires a corporeal self, a Soul Spark leaves their dead corporeal self behind and...goes on living, complete with its memories, motivations, will, even its ability to continue generating psychic energy.

Physiology

After death, a Spark is much like a mortal, but discorporated. They still see, think, feel and hear. And they must eat. A Soul Spark requires a diet of energy. Typically, refined psychic energy, as the Gods do. However, if a Spark was a necromancer in life, or if they died through something which damages or taints the soul energy of its victims, the Spark may instead require Soul Energy, much like the Undergods do. Further, a skilled Spark can use some of its energy to perform acts of magic. It's not at all clear that there's a difference between a God and a Soul Spark beyond accrued power and a steady diet.

Metaphysically, these tainted Sparks can serve a useful purpose, collecting and consuming abandoned Soul Energy, reducing incidents of incorporeal undead in the world. However, the act of consuming soul energy incorporates some degree of who the soul belonged to; memories, personality and so forth. While the Undergods have a great deal of experience with this, and have learned how to manage, balance or merely drown the influx of influence, Soul Sparks are liable to undergo severe personality shifts from one meal to the next, especially if they consume a soul very different from themselves.

Embers

Embers are Sparks who have not yet died and discovered themselves to be Sparks. Very, very rarely, an Ember may become aware of their nature, and, depending on their skills, may figure out how to take advantage of Spark abilities while still alive.

Dark Embers are Sparks whose souls have been tainted through contact with certain nasty critters, or through necromancy.