The Seven Spheres

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The Little Girl Everyone Liked

A nursery rhyme in the Seven Spheres:

THE LITTLE GIRL EVERYONE LIKED

The little girl everyone liked:

They weren't just thrilled; they were psyched.

She took to all kinds.

She lived to change minds,

And if they weren't changed, they were wiped.

Two music men fought for her coin.

They went far too far, but kept going.

She lost the cent, then 

Mesmerized both the men

‘Cause she had half their minds to just join.

The town's animosity spiked.

Men were sworded, axed, polearmed and piked.

After death on demanding,

The only one standing...

Was the little girl everyone liked.

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The Valkyries of The Flight

Considering that she is the one of most widely worshipped gods on the Mainland, Desna doesn't have a lot of high-level temple followers (or, for that matter, a lot of actual temples). Most Desna shrines are roadside waystands, little wooden boxes on poles or impromptu piles of flowers and tokens at random intervals and crossroads. Because she is all about the journey, most clerics of Desna are nomadic, and they tend to drift in and out of actual focused religious studies. 

For similar reasons, Desna doesn't really have paladins, in the traditional sense. Paladins normally devote themselves to advocating the ways of their god, and Desna would rather folks find their way to her naturally. Paladins are normally driven in their single-minded belief in their moral code, but Desna prefers her followers to be more fluid in their beliefs; a major tenet of the faith is, after all:

"EXPERIENCE SHAPES REALITY"

While Desna doesn't push recruitment or unwavering focus, she does highlight defense of those who have lost their way, whether they might have strayed into dangerous areas they can't handle themselves, or whether they might be ne'er-do-wells who, if shown their error, might still e'er do well. 

And so, Desna has call for a different sort of Paladin. And, while a majority of most religions' paladins are male (oh hey, look who's bull-headed and loud-mouthed more than most), Desna's champions are a sisterhood of warrior clerics known as The Flight. 

The Flight are, as most high-power individuals in the Seven Spheres, the subject of myth and legend. They are said to herald the end of the world...buuut that's probably because they only show up to help when everything has gone to hell, and it looks like the only way out is to call the Eagles. They are said to be a flock of gynosphinxes who will swoop down and kill any man who cannot solve their riddles...buuuuut that's probably because they're all female, know a lot about the world's secrets, and ride on pegasuses (although you'd think that would make them look like centaurs, not sphinxes #bigmythtake). They are said to be the souls of long-dead warrior women who were forced to haunt the world because they are forbidden to enter the Mead-Drenched Men's-Club Afterlife....buuuuuuuut #respectwomen. 

The truth is much more reasonable: The Flight is a legion of Valkyries of indeterminate number. They will receive a vision of a female cleric of Desna who shows the requisite blend of power, determination, and empathy necessary to join their ranks. That vision leads them to initiate The Offer. If the cleric accepts the invitation, she undergoes a secret trial high in the Komar Mountains. 

No applicant's trial is the same. There's probably a cave involved. In any case, the exact details are 1) private, 2) secret, and 3) that kind of embarrassing that, when questioned, you're grateful to be able to blush slightly and truthfully say, "I'm not allowed to talk about it."

Every once in a while, a member of the Flight will find a pet project outside of the group's larger concerns: either an individual or a group that she believes needs her help more often than just "when the shit hits the fan" (or, honestly, exactly that often, if you catch her drift). In that case, the Valkyrie is like a member of the Reserves; she will regularly visit The Flight's aerie training grounds to hone her skills and keep up to date with urgent developing concerns across the Mainland. 

They also have a thing for butterfly designs. What are you gonna do.

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Dwarven Elders Have Very Close Veins

Although the dwarves have stayed largely out of the public eye since the Dwars, recent forays in both directions have (quite literally) brought to the surface how dwarven society seems to work.

There are several strata to government, as the dwarves view it, similar to Kingdom, Duchy, and City/Town divisions of power for humans. The dwarven strata, from top down, goes: 

The Council

a Dwarf's Settlement Elder

that Settlement Elder's vein

a Dwarf's personal vein

The Dwarven family unit in the Seven Spheres is called a 'vein,' and their daily lives (and surnames, or 'vein names') are defined by what their vein does for the settlement. For instance, in the Dwarven settlement of Hydnora, the law enforcement (arbiter, guards, patrolmen, etc.) is handled by the Fairgavel vein. The blacksmith is Langobard Fleetforge, and his vein crafts weapons and armor, and maintains the settlement armory, all --appropriately-- fleetly. 

Similar to the normal naming procedure, the Elder of a Dwarven settlement takes the name of the settlement and is its face and leader, similar to a mayor. Also like many human mayors, the settlement Elder is a Dwarf of the people, playing rec-league sports or helping haul a drunken citizen home, shoulder to shoulder with his/her fellow settlement neighbors. Unlike most mayors, however, the Elder and his/her vein members are all of very elevated status, more similar in this regard to a Duke's family. So the Elder might be out picking up litter with a school class or beating back a dire rat infestation with the rest of the settlement, but if you were to insult the Elder's daughter, you might find yourself on the Execution stand in the square, and nobody would fault the Elder for making it happen. 

The Council is formed of seven Dwarves from throughout the Dwarven settlements. It is comprised of three males, three females, and the oldest living Dwarf. Other than the last on the list, the Council members are all settlement Elders. The Council makes all universal decisions for Dwarven society: declaring war/peace, setting age minimums/maximums, allowing expeditions/new settlements. They are appointed, not elected, although the line there is a bit fuzzy, as the appointment is decided on mostly by the general agreement of the citizens (it's very grassroots, only without the grass). The Council's say is final and lasting, but no Council decision is unchangeable, as there is no written book of laws (too much like history), and once the current roster changes, the new blood might very well reverse anything out there.

Because Dwarves have a one-degree oral tradition (parents tells their respective life stories to their child, who never repeats or writes any of that down for posterity (whatever that is)), tradition is a much more immediate concept. It's not about doing what your vein has been doing for centuries; it's about honoring what your father has done for decades. 

To some, this is a fuzzy line, since, if you always do the latter, you're basically doing the former. However, the difference lies in the guilt factor: your great grandfather isn't here to be disappointed you want to be an actor; your father is. 

So, most male Dwarves follow in their fathers' footsteps in some capacity (with some wiggle room to include neighboring industries). If they don't, it's usually because they're marrying into an Elder's vein; in that case, this husband takes the Elder's vein name. There are no hard and fast rules about female Dwarves. If a female Dwarf takes up the family business, she keeps her vein name. If she marries into another vein, she takes that vein name. 

Dwarven criminals lose their vein names and are given one of three things:

1) a Wanted name (e.g. Hegel the Garrote, Howlson Rivletdirge, Quine Bloodfeast)

2) a prisoner number (e.g. Linus 535774, Felix 114003, Gregory 689812)

or

3) a swift execution in the square (e.g. that guy who insulted the Elder’s daughter...you know, What’s-his-Face)

Not often, but sometimes, members of a father Dwarf's vein will choose to lose their vein name if dear old dad has destroyed the name's reputation in some way. This could be in response to a father committing a crime, but more often in that case, the vein will just move down to the eldest male child as the new patriarch of the vein, as if the criminal father had died (which he may soon do anyway). 

More often, the dropping of a vein name occurs when it's revealed that, say, Bloom Carecrystal has been using shoddy gemstones in his jewelry, or when, say, Rookery Ogrebane publicly pisses himself in the face of a charging ogre. Their veins may decide to remove themselves from that association by losing their vein name. Usually, they, as a group, then take a new vein name (or use that opportunity to marry into another one or strike out on their own, free to pick a new descriptive passion and thus a new vein name). 

But some Dwarves with disgraced fathers do not take a new vein name, possibly out of shame or disgust. Most Dwarves can't understand why anyone would ever do this, and any Dwarf who willingly loses his/her vein name and doesn't find a new one is called a 'clough.' Cloughs are literally The Man With No Name, wandering through the caves and undermountains with no connection to Dwarven society, always set apart. 

As you might imagine, these cloughs, purposeful outcasts from their fellow Dwarves, tend to get progressively more antisocial, and eventually...be given one of three things.

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The Secret Regents

The King of the Seven Spheres can't personally (or publicly) handle some of the larger problems in the kingdom. So there are the Dukes, in charge of each duchy, there are the guards, both local and kingdom-wide...and then, much less known, there is the Regency. 

The general public doesn't know about it, and its existence would be plausibly denied, but there have been quiet rumblings among adventurers and the more finger-in-the-pie nobles, and as those careless whispers reach more adventurers, a couple likely facts are taking shape.

1) The Regency is the collective name for a select number of trusted and powerful allies of the Kingdom who each have their own missions, as well as their own purviews. These allies are the Secret Regents, those who have carte blanche to act in the name of the King in order to protect the Seven Spheres from threats internal and external. 

2) They are not a team, or a strike force, or even social acquaintances. They are merely powerful men and women (and at least one that is neither), and they don't deal well with committees or truck with arguments. They have their own teams helping them in various ways, but only the actual SRs have carte blanche; their aides have to go through normal channels unless their patron is actually present. 

There is no roster of the Secret Regents, but with an educated guess or two, it's not difficult to see who might realistically be part of the the SRs. A few likely candidates: 

Gregory LeBlaque is a wizard/monk who hunts down Wild Mages and gets them to Highwater Prison so they cannot destroy all of causality. Although he is human, there are stories of wild mage hunters who fit his description going back centuries, and there are rumors (among the few who know enough to theorize) that his eternal youth was actually bestowed upon him by one of his earliest wild mage targets, and every rumor ends with the teller saying ominously, "...although whether the mage intended it as a gift or a curse, I cannot saaaaay..."

Mother Rose is an elven cleric of Desna. She has been a voice of peace and beneficence since the last days of the Dwars, traveling across the Seven Spheres to conduct talks and aid refugees wherever possible. Of all the possible SRs, she is the least likely, as she certainly has an air of "wouldn't join any club that would have me as a member" about her. 

And beyond that, there are shadows and whispers, that will likely move to above this sentence as more is discovered. 

Shadows and whispers like, but not limited to:

The Gnome

The Yeoman

Tallfang

Hastings "Sting" Wildstrep (no relation?)

There are even (more careful) whispers that the king himself, Basil Orion, was a Secret Regent for years until he took over the throne. That would certainly be badass if the King had that kind of action-hero resume, but it's hard to believe that an action star would settle for such a sedate role for the rest of his life...maybe he'll have a renaissance in a few years. 

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Nethys

Nethys was, to begin with, a god of magic and destruction. His body glowed as every inch of Him exuded pure crackling arcane energy, burning and dusting His surroundings (and His own body) as He went. The Cult of Nethys drew power-hungry mages by the score, and it's long been said that He was actually the first Wild Mage, who reshaped reality until He was a god. But He went too far in his purview, destroying each of His followers as they rose in power, until His name was more a tutted parental warning than a serious religious option. 

And as He lost followers, so too did He lose power..and certainty. Nethys found Himself unsure of His purpose. He doubted Himself, and so He began to fade away into the ether...until the goddess Sarenrae (goddess of forgiveness and redemption) appeared before Him. Realizing that He had potentially seen the error of His ways, She bestowed upon Him a portion of Her deific power, trusting that He would do the right thing with it. 

Nethys stopped fading, but he was not unchanged. The right side of His body stopped glowing. The skin healed. The hair regrew. His humanity began to reassert itself --on his right side only-- and He found Himself literally and metaphorically bifurcated. Sarenrae had given Him a once-in-an-immortality gift: an opportunity to reclaim His deific power in an altered way. 

Now He sees His domains of Magic, Knowledge and Destruction in a new light: each is a balance, and the world deserves a fair chance, just like the second chance He was given. (Destruction has now separated into the Domains of Destruction AND Protection; they’re flip sides of the same coin to Nethys).

Of course, now that His name is synonymous with "poor life decisions" (and inextricably connected to the hated wild magic), He is a bit short on followers in the Seven Spheres. After all, He is a fallen god, limping toward an unlikely redemption; who would want to worship that?

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Won’t Top Believing

The Material Plane was created aeons ago when a lot of powerful Beings from other planes got together with the idea of building a common ground where they could all interact. 

This deific agora was to take the form of a new central plane of existence that would be directly connected to a large number of the closer-set elemental planes (and freeway adjacent). Each Being involved would funnel portions of Its plane into this new one, creating a veritable Cosmic Stone Soup for all to enjoy. Earth, Air, Water, Fire, Cold, Light, Shadow, Ether, Whatever the Noun-Form of Astral Is... all these and more were to be mixed together and stirred until ready.

This enormous undertaking was complicated slightly by the unsurprising fact that these Beings did not agree with each other about many (any) things. They wound up doing what They wanted as long as it didn't mess up any other ineffable plans (or get caught doing so). So there wound up being the main Creators, and then separately the Embellishers, the Slackers, the Saboteurs, and the Specialists. 

And, as usually happens in big projects of this sort, accidents popped up. The three big ones being the Humans, the Elves, and the Dwarves. Proto-dwarves crawled grumpily out of the rocks, Proto-elves stretched lithely out of the forests, and Proto-humans were just unapologetically there one day, sprung fully from nowhere, it seemed. 

Well, they'll smooth out like a rough spot, thought the Beings...only they didn't. They flourished. And what was even worse, the kinky little humans and elves seemed more than willing to cross-breed, leading to a fourth species: half-elves. And no One could seem to get rid of any of them. 

Not to say the Beings didn't try. First with predators. Then with disease. They in fact attempted to keep the sentient species in check by giving sentience to other non-sentient species: gnomes, orcs, goblins and more... The point was that these savage species would kill off the earlier ones, and these would be easier to manage...only then those weird little humans, with their infinite capacity for love (or whatever), went and got it on with THOSE species, and suddenly there were halflings and half-orcs and bugbears...and all of them were trying to outdo (or just do) one another, and they all got smarter and wilier and more troublesome...

It got complicated fast. Almost to the point that the Beings were going to wipe the slate clean and start again.

But then the Beings discovered something incredible: these Material species had weird souls. Like ‘super powerfully’ weird.

A lot of outsiders have souls, but each one is like a drop in the spiritual bucket compared to the beer-keg of spiritual power that comes from one Material Sentient. That power, when filtered through the connection between the Material Plane and each Being's home plane, acted like a power plant, making each Being into a God to these Material species. 

The new gods suddenly rethought the purpose of this common ground. Where they had once seen a waystation and meeting spot, now they saw a stock market. Instead of removing the ants, they could make them build nests and multiply, increasing each god's power as they did. 

The newly power-rich gods all doubled down over the years, investing almost all of their spiritual energy in the Material Plane: clerics' spells, miracles, turning into swans to do the nasty with the kinkier humans...which meant that when there was an increase in belief in one god or another, the accompanying power increase was near instantaneous...

...although, unthought of in the good times, the opposite was also true. Forgotten gods faded away, their deific power drained by their loss of devotees. 

And now, it's too late for the gods of the Material Plane’s pantheon to back out. It's all or nothingness for them, and so the gods seek out paladins to defend Their Word, clerics to tend to Their Flocks, and enemies to curse Their Names.

Because you don't have to Like Them; it's enough to just Believe.

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Zoloto (Shaking Going On)

The duchy of Zoloto is made of up a bunch of bluffs, cliffs, canyons, temperate mesas and caves. A lot of caves. The Duke is a half-giant, and if you're wondering how that happened, sit down for a story that starts a good 400 years ago, even before the Dwars, when humans spread their settlements east into the rocky outcroppings and ran into a giant problem.

As in, a problem with giants. 

The human settlements in that area were constantly dealing with attacks from all sides by towering creatures with little concern for human life (well, beyond how fear made the meat gamier, but anyway).

These titanic attacks were seen mostly as just the way things were for a long time...until the Dwars. 

Somewhere during the early days of the Dwars, the cliff-dwelling humans realized that they couldn't afford to fight a war on two fronts -- or, to be more precise, they couldn't afford to go fight a war on the front when that would leave their loved ones undefended on the homefront. 

By this point in time, human advocates for peace actually had allies among the enemy: namely, a few select half-giants, the result of invading giants having their way with human men (sort of half-orc origins in reverse). 

As opposed to half-orcs (who were often seen as stigmas and a reminder of a violent intrusion), half-giants were seen as prizes, sort of a living version of 'counting coup.' However, most half-orcs did not survive in the giant tribes, as their human parentage meant they were naturally weaker. Only the smartest or most cunning survived. 

Fast forward to the peace talks. Humans and half-giants came together to figure out a way to make a lasting peace between the two residents of the area, and -- at last -- a pact was made. 

The male leader of the humans mated with the female leader of the giants (for those of that sort of inquisitive mind, he drank a potion of Enlarge Person; no shame in it), with the agreement that their child would be the next leader of both societies. 

It was very lucky indeed that their child was up to the task, as either a meek or a brutish child would have been disastrous to the peace. Their daughter, the legendary Dwar hero Sierra Gatebreaker, was neither, ruling well and judiciously from the moment she turned 18. She went on to champion the human cause in the Dwars, until she finally fell during one of the ill-fated rescue missions into the depths of Shadekat about 315 years ago. Her son, Dross Ironstring, took over, and went on to be a fairly respectable Dwar hero himself. 

As the war wound down, and the human forces decided to make their union official, the Seven Spheres were formed, and the leaders of each 'sphere' was given a dukedom. Dross Ironstring was the first Duke of Zoloto, and the right of succession kept the Dukedom in his family for almost 150 years. 

The right of succession in giant society is a bit complicated: 

At its heart, it's a standard one-on-one alpha-dog challenge for leadership (only residents of the (now) duchy are allowed).

However, the leader may not be freely challenged until his/her oldest living child turns 18, challenges the leader, and loses.

At that point, anyone may challenge the leader at any time.

If a leader ever has no living children, he/she may be challenged immediately. Once a new child is born, however, See Rule 2.

If a leader dies outside of a one-on-one challenge, his/her oldest child assumes leadership. If that child is under 18, he/she may not be challenged until age 18, and even then, See Rule 2. 

There are a lot of subsections and amendments to the system to close loopholes that have been exploited over the years (like challenging a leader when she's pregnant or scheduling a near-but-not-quite-assassination for 30 seconds before your challenge), but there has never been a successful exploiter who wasn't called out and swiftly punished. Zoloto is definitely about the Spirit of the Law. 

There has also never been a non-half-giant leader. Giants mating with humans make half-giants. Half-giants mating with either humans or giants make half-giants half the time. And since the leader's eldest has the first crack at the challenge, and since the most capable leaders of giants and humans have both brawn and brains, half-giants have had it on lock since the beginning. 

That might be about to change though, as the latest Duke of Zoloto, Stofe Armorbend, has over two dozen children: all of them bastards, none of them half-giants (the chances of this situation are fairly far north than one in a million, of which everyone is well aware).

As for less political topics, Zoloto is home to the kingdom's most profitable mines, quarries, and barbarian training camps (which is the sort of business idea that gets people laughed off of Shark Tank...right before it makes millions).

The largest attraction in the duchy is most likely The Cocoon. Back during the early days of the Dwars, when Shadekat used several local mines as their attack vectors, they released a Purple Worm ahead of them to soften up defenders. However, the worm was defeated (reports vary wildly on the 'how'), and, by the time Shadekat invaders reached the surface, the worm was completely encased in spiderwebs (more mystery), swarming with arachnids of all sizes. Since that day, the mummified carcass has stood as an impressive spectacle (and an enigmatic reminder that you Don't Mess with Zoloto).

Over the years, The Cocoon has not really changed size or smelled like rotting Purple Worm, which is a bit odd, but again: DMZ, people. D.M.Z.

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The State of the Seven

...will now give you a brief rundown of the Seven Spheres, as they currently stand: 

TITAN: Set in the middle of the Seven Spheres, the kingdom's Capital is as large as any of the other duchies, and is laid out as a miniature version of the Seven Spheres pinwheel itself, with Zones that each obey both Capital laws AND their respective Duchy's laws. 

The current King, Basil Orion, has held the throne officially for only 3 years, but in reality, for something closer to 15, as the previous King, Basil's father, was more concerned with outreach to the poor in the Outlands than with the day-to-day "drudgery" of royal business. Since the previous King's death, Basil has been holding monthly balls to find a Queen, so far without serious result.

The court seems fairly cohesive and supportive of the young King (well, relatively young; he's actually closing in on 30). There are no signs of discontent in the court, nor are there any mutterings about new laws; this King's not making sweeping changes, but he's pushing for progress on issues where progress was already in-progress. 

SEREBRO: The duchy of the Elves. Known for their quiet resolve and fierce loyalty to their own people, the Elves of Serebro don't particularly jump at the chance to physically come to the aid of their neighbors, but they do send more financial aid per-capita than any other Duchy. 

The current Duke is Lyo'nethallio'rex, who has been the Greychief of the Elven kingdom-turned-duchy of Serebro since the previous Greychief died during the Dwar Plague, 250 years ago. Lyo'nethallio'rex is a Divination specialist, and he is rumored to have access to the full memories of the Greychiefs who came before him (although, a library of their journals is possibly just as likely). 

Serebro's Outlands have been beset by Orcs for a while now. The raiders have been getting bolder, and word has been sent to the Capital that this might require more than a simple nailed-up call for adventurers on the Bounty Board in town. MED: Once the Most Permissive Duchy (possibly to a fault), then definitively not that at all, Med is almost back to a happy balance: welcoming the needy, giving them aid, then sending them on their way. 

The current Duchesses are the twin sisters, Asha and Astia, who have ruled since their parents were assassinated 80 years ago. They share a husband, a man named Thebes, but he is not the Duke, nor does he have any claim to the throne (the pre-nup, as you might imagine, was very exacting). The twin Duchesses are closing in on their 100th birthday. Meanwhile, Thebes, for those wondering, looks human, but he hasn't seemed to age since his wedding to the Duchesses 60 years ago, so he must be at least a half-elf, or half-orc, or a halfling on well-concealed stilts...anyway.

Med's had a very busy time recently. There was a werewolf scare due to tainted Healing Kits (leading to a narrowly averted outbreak of lycanthropy), a few dragon-related incidents, an influx of Tengu, a significant dip in the number of resident adventurers (due to a combination of the previous factors), and an outbreak of some kind of resilient illness in the Med Zone of Titan. RTUT: The Shining Center of Magic in the Seven Spheres (with the exception of Palladiy's Manor of Resin, the kingdom's largest school of wizardry), Rtut is home to both The Knack (2nd largest SoW) and Highwater (1st largest --and probably only accredited-- Wild Mage Prison). 

The current Duke is Cartovex Uli d'Angelo. The 'Cartovex' part is a title of respect in the Wizardry community, the magical equivalent of 'Chairman of the Board.' His sister, Acedia d'Angelo, is the headmaster of The Knack, and the two collaborate fully on Town & Gown issues. (And you better believe that's an irritant to the headmaster of the Manor of Resin, who isn't lucky enough to be related to his Dukes.)

Currently, Rtut is reeling a bit from a relatively recent surge of Wild Mages from all corners of The Mainland. The duchy's resident Wild Mage Hunter, known outside of the duchy as merely 'LeBlaque,' has, himself, brought in over a dozen Wild Mages from around the kingdom in the last year, including a noble wizard from Rtut's own gentry (the man had, apparently, been ignoring a sorcerous streak that had --unwatched-- twisted and decayed itself into a dangerous strain of Wild Magic). ZOLOTO: The home of the half-giants. The peace between the humans and the giants waaaaay back toward the start of the Dwars has led to the current state of society in Zoloto: namely, a sizable half-giant population overseeing an even larger (in all senses) population of giants, with some hearty humans thrown in. 

The current Duke is a half-giant named Stofe Armorbend. He has over two dozen children: some human, some giant, all bastards. Which doesn't matter in half-giant/giant society; Stofe will be bested in battle, and that child will become the new Duke. In order to keep the succession at a reasonable pace (and to free up the Duke's schedule), the law of the Duchy says no one may challenge the current Duke until his oldest living child 1) turns 18 and 2) fails to beat the Duke in single combat. If the current Duke has no children, he can be challenged in an instant. 

At this moment, the Duke's oldest child is 17 and a bunch, and his next old child is only 10. There are many giants and half-giants (and the occasional super-buff human) who would love to be in charge of a duchy filled to bursting with sentient weapons of destruction (man, there are are a lot of those around, aren't there?), so everybody has been on edge due to several recent attempts on the child's life. 

PALLADIY: The Farming Duchy. A good 75% of Palladiy is being used to grow crops and raise livestock, the duchy's two main exports. These farms' fields are almost all situated around super-fertilizing plants called Oppen Trees, the last remaining examples of a now-lost magical collaboration between Dwar-time druids and a Wild Mage named Oppen. Palladiy is also home to the largest school of wizardry in The Seven Spheres: the Manor of Resin, run by headmaster Drake Term, a former adventuring associate of the Dukes (although they weren't exactly friends, which makes Town & Gown issues a bit of a snarkfest). 

The current Dukes are Holbrook Wildstrep and Gebb Veris, two human adventurers who saved the previous King's life 10 years ago during an attack in the capital and were rewarded with the just-then-vacated Duchess' position (vacated for reasons that, in the interest of public mindstate, will be classed as 'sudden illness' as opposed to the very, very off-the-record rumor of 'sudden treason'). The King offered to split the duchy in half (completely ruining the whole 'seven' theme), since you sort of need to be married to co-rule a duchy, but the pair said that wasn't a problem, and so Palladiy has two Dukes. 

Recently, Mother Rose, a high cleric of Desna and a traveling woman of the cloth, was meeting with various members of the Palladiy nobility, including the Dukes, when she suddenly disappeared. Her camp of followers of Desna (that first 'of' is important to leave in) has been continuing those private talks, but they are not one saint of an elf who may have single-handedly made the end of the Dwars possible, soooo...good luck with that. PLATINA: Called The Red Light Duchy by most people in the Seven Spheres, Platina is home to a significant number of pleasure houses, finishing schools, military training camps, and colleges...only the first one relates to the Duchy's nickname. 

The current Duke and Duchess are Thomas and Minnow Ebling, two pleasure-house graduates with a significant number of connections (ahem). The Eblings are married, but the general consensus around the kingdom is that it's a Very Open marriage, and that they hold weekly orgies in their keep...although you don't know anybody who's ever actually been to one of these supposed bacchanalias. 

Right now, there are rumors circulating about The Wall. The Wall, a 60-foot-tall monstrosity built shortly after the Dwars to keep out the Outlanders and protect all of the pleasure workers (who were far more red-light-y 240 years ago), defines the Northeast border of the duchy, and has been reinforced many times over the years. Throughout the past decade, the Duchy has asked for a sizable amount of aid from the king to shore it up further. The reasons why were apparently for Inner Court Ears Only.

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The Dwars: Greatest Hits

The Dwars were 100 years of outright conflict between Dwarves and Humans (and their allies and “allies” etc). Here’s a brief timeline of the highlights:

340 years ago (approximately): The Dwars begin. There are A LOT of theories as to the instigating event, but the main two are:

(if you side with the dwarves) The Dwarves gift the Humans with seven incredibly valuable (and powerful?) metal spheres, and the Humans naaaaaturally get greedy and wage war to get more precious material from the Dwarves’ mines.

(if you side with the Humans) The Dwarves are so racist/sexist/speciesist against some group (Rule 34.34 applies) that they burst from their lairs in the Komars and wage war to eliminate that group.

335 years ago: The battle lines are clearly drawn. If you live on the surface, you’re with the Humans. If you live underground, you’re with the Dwarves.

325-323 years ago: The Dwarves’ Shadekat “allies” begin their encroachment in earnest. They capture, mass teleport, and enslave entire settlements of surface dwellers somewhere deep underground.

322 years ago: The Dwarves politely ask their Shadekat “allies” to kindly stop.

321 years ago: The Dwarves ask a little more insistently, but no less politely.

320 years ago: The Dwarves sigh heavily and cut ties with their “allies.”

328 years ago: The Dwarves, after being accused by the Humans of still siding with Shadekat, officially cut ties with Shadekat forces, even sending token support against Shadekat troops. It doesn’t seem to slow the Shadekat invasion.

315 years ago: On the verge of complete victory, the Shadekat troops suddenly return underground with no explanation. Humans try to get Dwarves to help them rescue a decade worth of taken slaves, but both those rescue missions and those Human-Dwarf talks fall through, whether out of ineptitude or malice.

300 year ago: A brief round of peace talks is attempted, led by the King of the Seven Spheres. He is assassinated on his way into the forum. Humans accuse the Dwarves. Dwarves accuse the warmongering Humans of just wanting to keep the war going. Eventually, the murder investigation peters out, and everyone just makes up their mind that it’s Their fault, not Ours.

300-250 years ago: Periods of minor skirmishes, mostly between Human allies and Dwarven allies, with support from the Humans and the Dwarves. Both Humans and Dwarves seem tired of this whole stupid war thing, and both sides get headaches when their allies demand aid and troop support.

250 years ago: The Dwarven High Counsel is completely replaced by a younger group of Dwarves with fresh ideas. This is not a peaceful takeover. Also, this new group of Dwarves has been raised on Tales of Human cruelty and savagery, and they renew their assault on the surface forces, opening passages to the surface that had been barricaded for almost a century.

249 years ago: A plague of unknown origin sweeps through the Elven population, resisting magical treatment (anything short of Heal only suppresses it for the day). The Elves refuse to blame anyone (the newly surfaced Dwarves or the dirty uncultured Humans), but withdraw completely from the Dwars to find a cure. They never do; the plague runs its course within the year, but they maintain their quarantine until after the Dwars are over.

247 years ago: High Clerics of Desna announce publicly that they will be providing triage to both sides. This initially makes them very unpopular with noncombatants and military leaders, and very popular with the enlisted, refugees, and families back home.

245 years ago: Worship of Desna is now the largest religion on The Mainland. A young elven cleric named Rose travels to the Komars and requests a meeting with the Dwarven Council. She is thrown into a Dwarven prison for 5 years, during which she is visited by various members of the Council, high-ranking Dwarven generals and others. She is regarded at first as a spy, then as a double agent, then as an advisor, then as an ambassador, then as a friend. 

241 years ago: Fable Snow, a werewolf with a cause, unites most, if not all, of the lycanthropes on The Mainland under one unified banner of Universal Lycanthropy. Within two weeks, half of the continent (above and below ground) has been infected. The Dwarves and the Humans finally have an enemy worth teaming up against, and they do so, taking out enough of the lycanthropic elders to cure almost all of infected. The lycanthropes scatter, and Fable Snow flees, never to be seen again.

240 years ago: The Dwars officially end. There is no Peace Treaty, but – and the irony here is not lost on anyone – the Dwarven High Council and the King of the Seven Spheres do exchange gifts: a Legendary Hammer for the Dwarves and a Legendary Sword for the Humans. 

[7spheres]

Legend of The Seven Spheres

I mean that literally.

(image by Rick S., based on concept by Kit F.)

The Seven Spheres are the dotted-lined kingdom. That’s where most of the known civilizations on the continent reside.

The continent (including everything you see here) is called The Mainland. As far as anyone knows, other than scattered islands and polar icecaps, there are no other continents. 

The huge peaks up the center are the Komar Mountains. The dwarves live in their bases. The dragons live in their peaks. They are what would happen if you cloned Mt. Everest, and nobody has made it through them; the few who have made it to their peaks have sent back sketches of the mysterious Mozgi Desert, capturing the imaginations (and greed-factors) of every expedition leader on The Mainland.

And every expedition that has tried to get to the Mozgi has failed. Well, to be fair, they’ve all succeeded in exploring, you know, stuff, but just not the Mozgi. Because they can’t get in. 

Technically, the mountains almost completely surrounding the Mozgi Desert are part of the Komars too, but those are widely known as The Sea Wall instead, as they have successfully kept everybody you know out of the Mozgi since time immemorial.

That ‘almost’ is relevant because you can see that there is a break in them to the south. Unfortunately, that pass is very efficiently guarded by a tribe of super-bloodthirsty savages that nobody has ever met up with and survived. 

Moving closer to the center of the map, you see the Sorian Marshes in muddy brown. To their east is an enormous cliff called The Sorian Drop leading up to the duchy of Med. Meanwhile, to their south, the Marshes ooze into a huge cascading series of whitewater rapids that bottom out into...

Lake Forn, a lake in name only; it’s an inland sea the size of one of the Seven Spheres’ duchies. Lake Forn is home to a lot of uncharted islands and exotic civilizations...usually the kind that eat people.

To the southeast of that is Lake Calesto, still a pretty enormous “lake,” but less uncharted than its big brother. Calesto is home to a lot of freshwater fishermen. Calesto is also deeper than Lake Forn, and underwater salvage is a major industry...there are a LOT of thousand-year-old wrecks and weird underwater troves prime for the taking if you have the proper equipment (both to dive and to hold off pirates). 

To the south of that is a bunch of microlakes, some only a foot wide but as deep as a normal lake. Some are larger, some are smaller -- the smallest is literally an inch across and forty feet deep. The ground there is weird (*Winner of Understatement of the Year, three years running).

To the east of the microlakes is a large swath of sparsely populated shrublands. They’re known for their randomly descending mists that erase all sense of direction or time, which make the shrublands The place to go on The Mainland if you’re looking for a Vision Quest. 

Further east than that is Xiamhol Weald, an enormous fog-enshrouded primeval forest that supposedly was once a technological wonder of a kingdom called Xiamhol (until --sigh-- DRUIDS). Now, the forest is a mystery that no one has been particularly peaked to solve (partially because they’re so jazzed to find out what’s in the Mozgi).

Across the northern edge of The Mainland’s eastern half is more forest and more tundra, and to the far northeast is a series of rocky fjords, full of whalers and the whales they love (to catch (to love)).

Now, as for off the map...

West: Open Sea, according to the expeditions who have returned, bedraggled from those reaches

South: Dragons, as in “Here There Be”

East: Islands, but again, not much is known about them, as they are in the opposite direction from where all the interest and mystery is

North: Glaciers, and eventually a polar ice cap. And, as always, not too much exploration has happened thus far in that direction, so most of what people know about the North is from millennia-old bardic sagas, and you know how accurate those can be. 

The tower in the center of the north is the leaning wizard’s tower of Ellence the Orcaheart, a wizard who was single-handedly responsible for 80% of the golems created during the Dwars (and 90% of them after the Dwars were over, and somehow still 60% of them after his own death). Rumor has it that Ellence bound a powerful devil to run an assembly line of sorts, and that the devil is still at it, churning out a never-ending stream of unthinking living weapons of destruction...but that’s probably just a story to keep kids from breaking curfew.

Which only leaves the Seven Spheres themselves. I...

TO BE CONTINUED!

[7spheres]

The Eternal Conflict

Demons and Devils. Devils and Demons. Really difficult to tell the difference, right?

Wrong. And you definitely don't want to be saying that sort of thing around either of them; it's a touchy subject. 

There are a lot of very basic observable differences: 

Devils are immune to fire. Demons are immune to electricity. 

Devils tend to be bonier and skinnier. Demons tend to be smoother and more musclebound.

Devils make deals. Demons make messes.

Devils are Lawful Evil. Demons are Chaotic Evil. 

There are a lot of half-demonic creatures out because demons can't seem to keep it in their non-existent pants. Devils, on the other hand, only impregnate someone because it's part of a specific plan (maybe not their own, but somebody's). 

SIDE NOTE: Tieflings, the children of humanoids and the damned, are sort of an awkward race for both devils and demons. Because some tieflings trace back to devils, and some trace back to demons...but they all tend to grow up looking pretty much the same. This suggests inconvenient truths about demons' and devils' shared ancestors, things that are infuriating to both sides of the Eternal Conflict. 

Oh! So the Eternal Conflict. Most people think it's between Heaven and Hell, which is just ignorant because there are so many "Heavens" and so many "Hells" that they can't possibly all hate each other. 

A good way to think of the relationship between various outsiders is as two college sports teams. Good is always trying to beat Evil, but Evil doesn't really care because Good is, for the most part, not even in their league. Meanwhile, Demons and Devils are rival schools, the kind that kidnap each other's mascot and riot on the other's campus during Homecoming. On the Good side of the spectrum, the same can technically be said about Archons and Eladrin, but their pranks are more guilt-trip or conscientious-objection-based. 

Yes, the Eternal Conflict is the never-ending war between Demons and Devils. And the reason it's 'Eternal' is that neither side will shut up about it. When you get right down to it, there hasn't been full-scale conflict between Demons and Devils in millennia; it's a supersized Cold War. Devils think Demons are impatient barbarians with no sense of style, and Demons think Devils are weak-sauce despots who use phrases like 'delayed gratification' and 'multi-tiered strategy.'

Oh, sure, both Demons and Devils are against humanoids, but in more the way that college athletes are against nerds. And in much the same ways: Devils belittle and humiliate, while Demons bully and pummel. 

And with their common love of hating us, this would probably all be called the Eternal Snarkfest if it weren't for the occasional firebrands (no pun intended, but it'll do).

Scattered among the countless Demons and Devils out there, there are parties who try to stir up trouble, rallying enough support for a campaign of violence against those pathetic little worms who think they're so much better than us (insert antecedents here). 

These campaigns usually take the form of non-Material planar battles. Once anyone starts messing with the regular people, all the other factions usually jump on board.

Which isn't to say there aren't campaigns going on on the Material Plane at all. It's just that they're more sneaky and mostly devilish. 

Whenever a party of adventurers gets wind of a group of demons that needs killing...

Whenever a church receives an anonymous donation to use to buff up its paladin training program...

Whenever demons take a hit of any kind on the Material Plane, you can be fairly sure a Devil had something to do with it. 

Sorry, Good guys. You're the pawns here. Better luck next time. 

[7spheres]

Curchanus

The god Curchanus, according to most people in the Seven Spheres, is best known as "Uh, I think I've heard of him before...is he one of those new demigods?"

He is not. 

In fact, Curchanus is not currently a god at all. Because He is dead, and has been for a looooooong time. 

Thousands of years ago (or more), Curchanus was one of the most powerful gods in the pantheon. His domains were Beasts, Endurance, and Travel, so, basically, He was the God of Migration, Cattle Drives, and Jack London Short Stories.

He was the mentor of the currently fairly widely-worshipped goddess Desna. At the time, She was just a fledgling god Herself, and She would take time out from building the heavens to listen to Curchanus' fascinating stories of His travels throughout the cosmos. 

But then, Curchanus was tricked, lured into a trap by the demon lord Lamashtu, who is now known as Mother of Monsters (cue "Bad Romance"). As part of her attack on Curchanus, Lamashtu stole His domain over Beasts, and, supposedly, that is why humans (and elves and dwarves and and and and) have lost their connection to animals. 

A God cannot survive being robbed of one of Their domains, and so Curchanus began to die. His clerics suddenly found themselves cut off from their deific power source, and either were killed by Lamashtu's followers or were slowly driven insane by their loss. 

Meanwhile, as His last act, Curchanus bestowed His domain over Travel to Desna, elevating Her in the pantheon, both in the eyes of potential devotees and in the eyes of Her fellow gods. 

Knowledge of Curchanus fell by the wayside, and the world forgot about Him. 

Fast Forward to recently, when Druids have traveled across the Seven Spheres, visiting villages, towns, cities, and unincorporated counties, spreading the word of Curchanus anew. This is mostly in the form of mandalas: carefully-drawn sand art in the center of the community...as well as innocuous proselytizing and cheerful pamphlet-passing. 

Unbeknowst to the continent at large -- and really only known to adventurers who have stumbled across these mad Curchanus devotees -- the Druids appear to be trying to bring Curchanus back to life. 

How, you ask? Good question. 

The most recent attempts seem to revolve around a ritual called the Rite of Welkresh, which may have been the ritual Lamashtu used way back when to rob/murder Curchanus in the first place. Apparently, the Druids believe that if they steal the domain of Travel back from Desna, it could jumpstart Curchanus, possibly even enough to redeify Him. 

Of course, that would mean the death of one of the most powerful and beloved goddesses on the planet, but...sometimes you have to sigh, shake your head, wryly mutter, "Druids," and just move on. 

As for where Curchanus' corpse lies, that's another good question.

It is said, though not by many, that Lamashtu used Curchanus' corpse as an incubator for a demon lord she wanted to birth (yum). Supposedly, Declau-Sar -- a six-legged hyena demon who lords over scavengers in the Abyss -- wears Curchanus' skull as a helmet. But that's just idle talk of people who say they know things about

1) The Abyss

2) Curchanus

and

3) hyenas.

Sigh. DRUIDS.

[7spheres]

A Veritable Who’s Who of Shapeshifters

While it's impossible to know the full range of shapeshifting species (for obvious reasons), there are several known quantities that citizens have become aware of over time. 

1) Wizards/Sorcerers/Dragons

By no means necessarily the same thing, magic-users and dragons nevertheless may be shapeshifters in the same way: namely, if they have the Polymorph spell in their repertoire. The nice thing about these shapeshifters is that other magic-users can see the spell's aura using Detect Magic. That doesn't help non-magic-users, but this is why you don't split the party.

2) Doppelgangers

These telepathic creatures look like skinny gray big-headed parodies of humanoids when not disguised (not a common occurrence). The old story that meeting your doppelganger means you're about to die comes from doppelgangers taking your form, reading your thoughts, then killing you to take over your life. Doppelgangers, for the most part, are like mockingbirds; they only kill to gain access to a peaceful life. After all, they are hated for their alien nature, and just want to fit in. #awwww 

And when they manage to settle down with a partner, regardless of the partner's gender, the doppelganger can get pregnant. This can make for very awkward sympathy pains (and deliveries, obviously). If a doppelganger impregnates someone else, the child will be that creature's species. If a doppelganger gets pregnant, however, it's more complicated. 

If the doppelganger stays the species it was when it became pregnant throughout the gestation period, the baby will be that species. If not...

3) Kitsune

If a pregnant doppelganger changes its own appearance during the pregnancy at all, the child will be born a kitsune, a vulpine humanoid who can alter its appearance to look like a member of its other parent's species. Still awkward when the baby is born all fox-looking, but kitsune are able to change shape from birth, instinctively changing as soon as they see a member of their species. As you might expect, there's a lot of drug-blaming and "I thought...but no..."-ing at doppelganger deliveries. It can go one step further though...

4) Changelings

If a pregnant doppelganger tries to conceal its pregnancy (which happens a lot when they're disguised as a man), it can extend its shapeshifting ability to include its unborn child, in the epitome of "Nine months?! But you're not even showing!" When this happens, however, the baby becomes a half-doppelganger, AKA a 'changeling.' The baby is born grey and pie-faced, and he/she is unable to change shape until his/her hair (white, almost transparent) grows in, usually after 6-8 months. 

That's usually more than can be covered by an awkward conversation.

Changelings are either killed at birth, raised in secret, or hated. Usually at least two of the three; it's not great to be the proof that your dad was lying to your mom (and probably killed her real husband). 

This leads to changelings having a very difficult time growing up (especially if they were killed at birth), and thus most wind up on the wrong side of the moral spectrum (as in “Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, guess I’ll go create wars,” etc.) That’s not to say that you won’t find likable changelings; on the contrary, every one you meet will have the kind of face you can trust...well, among others. 

----

Those are the usual suspects. There are certainly other monstrous shapeshifters (lycanthropes, etc), but they are usually the product of a curse, one that can be reversed or warded against. There are also powerful items that can change your shape, but those emit the same kind of magical aura that a shapeshifted wizard or dragon would. 

[7spheres]

Bedtime Story: That No-Good Hippo

HERE IS THE TEXT FROM THE LITTLE-KNOWN CHILDREN'S BOOK "That No-Good Hippo" by famed children's author Denin. It is her least popular and most criticized book, and she once wrote one called "Kill All The Goblins Before They Kill Your Family." I go on a trip with my mother and father. It is hot and wet. There are no other kids to play with. I want to go home, but we get in a boat. Look out! A hippo is asleep! Father bumps it a little to make it move. That hippo is no good. It bites the boat! Father falls in the water. The hippo bites him. Father sinks. Mother and I jump to a tree. We are stuck! A man with a bow tries to save us. The arrows do not hurt the hippo. A man with a sword tries to save us. The blade does not hurt the hippo. A man with a wand tries to save us. The magic does not hurt the hippo. Nothing can hurt a hippo. That hippo is no good. The moon comes out, and the hippo falls asleep. Mother and I climb down. Mother says, "I am sorry we went to the lake." I pick up the dead men's bow and sword and wand. I say, "Now I am an adventurer. I am a man." I use the bow to kill a bird, and we can eat. I use the sword to kill a wolf, and we are safe. I use the wand to kill a bandit, and we have gold. When we get home, I am big and strong and rich. The other kids like me a lot. Maybe that hippo is not so bad..?

[7spheres]

Shadekat

A brutal, literal underworld, Shadekat is The terrifying, dark nightmare fodder of every surface dweller's mindspace. Young children think that's where Hell is. Teenagers are told that if they have premarital sex, the monsters of Shadekat will come for them (as heard in such bardic tales as "Nightmare on Elf Street," "Glaunderhaunt G2O," and "The Hills Have Beholders"). Adult adventurers gauge their fellow explorers' survival chances by seeing how willing they are to sally forth into Shadekat (it's an inverse correlation). 

Certainly, there are stories. 

There are also historical records. 

During the Dwars, the dwarves were joined by a number of "allies" who, like the dwarves, lived primarily underground. Everyone from duergar to drow came to their aid, throwing a lot of unexpected magical and technological firepower at the human foe. However, the air-quotes around "allies" are there because, unlike the dwarves, a large number of these "allies" joined the fight primarily to capture enemy soldiers alive for use as slaves or sacrifices or...other things. 

The dwarves, after a few years of unsuccessfully attempting to get their Shadekat "allies" to 'cool it,' officially severed ties with them. Human history books are quick to point out that they didn't come to the aid of prisoners before or after however, and that's seen as one step off from explicit approval. 

For a good decade, human, elf and halfling forces were soundly outclassed, with the Shadekat troops sweeping in with gases, firearms, prisoner wagons, and mass-teleport spells, pushing ever further from the Komar Mountains and closer to the heart of the enemy's kingdom. 

And then suddenly, seemingly without cause, Shadekat troops withdrew, leaving behind a lot of questions and impotent fury. Human allies parleyed with the dwarves to mount rescue operations into Shadekat to retrieve their missing soldiers, but the few that were allowed were abysmal (abyssal?) failures. No one returned from any of them, and humans accused the dwarves of leaking details of the rescue missions to their Shadekat brethren, which went over about as well as you'd expect. Negotiations fell through, and the Dwars were back on in earnest. 

The only publicly known way to get into Shadekat is through little-used tunnels under the Komars. There are supposedly countless ways in/out scattered across the continent though; that's how the monsters get out to eat/steal/indoctrinate the children.

That also speaks to the size of Shadekat. It's not an underground city or duchy or even kingdom. It's more fair to say that it is an underground continent, likely larger than the ones above ground. 

Meanwhile, in a world where zombies are just sort of a normal thing, folks worried about the apocalypse know (and for hours will expound on how) it will be an invasion from underground. It's referred to as "Shadekat Rising," and it's the most prevalent phrase graffiti-ed on walls and inked on endseers' sandwich boards. The theory is that one day, the residents of Shadekat will remember how awesome it is on the surface, and they will swarm from every shadow and cracked foundation to destroy our eggshell existence once and for all. 

Shadekat Rising believers, like most end-of-the-world prophets, have bunkers filled with weapons and non-perishable food. SR bunkers are unique though in that -- since they are meant to be kept away from subterranean attackers -- none of them are underground. They are all well-fortified treehouses and mountaintop caches.

[7spheres]

Wizards and Wizards

Wizards fall into a lot of different categories, from their school (necromancy, enchantment, divination) to their style (all-organic material components, choreographed somatic components, shouted verbal components), even down to their treatment of sorcerers (disdain, distrust, dissection). No classification accurately sums up a wizard, and they get very touchy about anyone who tries to generalize (again with the dissection). 

But one thing (out of many) that distinguishes wizards from one another is their socialization level. There are four major tiers (and a billion piddly ones that subtier members will defend to their last magic missile):

1) Debutantes: The social butterflies of the wizarding world, these wizards are the rare breed with actual charisma (and not just the ability to brew potions of it). They're the life of the party at every courtly gathering, prestidigitating behind-the-back flowers for the lady or gentleman of their momentary choice, impishly making the queen's chicken breast beg for its life, vanishing if one of their tricks leaves Their Majesties not amused. Debutantes either own their own stately villa or are a trophy husband/wife/lover of someone who does.

2) Magic Fellows: The wizard's wizards, magic fellows spend all of their time talking with their arcane peers, either in a school setting or in short-run think tanks or as astral projections for cross-dimensional house calls. Magic Fellows spend a lot of time comparing notes about their favorite spells, bragging about their achievements, yelling at one another over their astral projections about how bad other Magic Fellows are at the simplest spells, or trolling the forums...like literally summoning trolls to attack other Fellows in common meeting spaces. #fellowgate

3) Cabalists: The magical equivalent of the Scooby gang, Cabalists are not necessarily cultists, but they are a significantly more selective about the wizards they hang out with, and they hang out all the time. Cabalists will interact just about every day with their small circle of associates, but -- for the most part -- only with that small circle, to the exclusion of anyone but special guest stars and Sweeps Week crossovers.

4) Hermits: The grumpy old men and women, Hermits usually come up with the coolest spells because wizards can get a scary amount of stuff done if everyone just leaves them alone. And, just like the crabs of the same name, Hermits tend to disappear into their protective shells, aka Wizard's Towers. 

NOTE: A Wizard's Tower is a massive undertaking and is really only a possibility if you have a lot of time and excess magic on your hands, so if you see a Wizard's Tower, you can be certain its owner put a lot of thought into making sure you can't just waltz in while he's busy reading. 

Also, like hermit crabs, Hermit Wizards outgrow their Towers over time...not usually for the same reason as the crabs, but there have been some large-carapaced wizards who need room to stretch their massive claws, so...never say never. Usually, the wizard will take an apprentice who will take over the old Tower and make it her own, but we're talking about Hermits here, so it's often the case that they can't even get along with one other person long enough to keep the Tower in the "family." 

What this means is that you might sometimes find an abandoned Wizard's Tower. Now, if you don't have the key, you might not even make it inside. If you do make it in, and you try to stay there without the key, the Tower will recognize you as an intruder, and it will eat you. 

...No exaggeration. Don't try it if you don't want to find out what being digested by a 10-story cylinder inundated with eldritch energies is like.

[7spheres]

The Wars For Were

The Seven Spheres had a lycanthrope problem 240 years ago, right at the end of the Dwars. A werewolf named Fable Snow united the various packs, murders, mischiefs, mutations, herds, and sleuths under one banner: The Selenic, a literally animal kingdom with a mobile seat of power. 

Fable Snow wanted one thing: universal lycanthropy, and with that many were-animals actively trying to bite but not kill, within two weeks of the start of her campaign, half the continent, both above and below ground, had been turned. 

The King of the Seven Spheres, his dukes, and the Council of the Dwarves sat down for an unprecedented parley and set aside their differences long enough to find and assassinate enough of the oldest lycanthropes in the kingdom to reverse the epidemic. 

Because lycanthropy is a supernatural curse spread through saliva in blood (usually through a bite), and since it is immune to spells like Remove Curse, there are only three regularly available cures:

Until the first True full moon after you've been turned, you can consume 3 sprigs of wolfsbane in a day. Pro: Nonviolent solution. Con: Wolfsbane has a good chance of being fatal when consumed. And you have to eat it three times in one day. 

Until the third True full moon after you've been turned, someone can kill the lycanthrope that turned you with a silver blade through the heart. Or the werewolf that turned them. And so on up the line. The lycanthropes in the middle who had missed the three-moon window would still be cursed. Pro: You might save a bunch of other victims as well. Con: You have to find the right lycanthrope.

At any time after you've been turned, you can have a silver nail driven into a certain spot on your skull (different for different races), which will prevent the curse from manifesting itself. Pro: Nonviolent and nonfatal. Con: You're trading lycanthropy for lobotomy. 

It was that second option that peaked the interest of the heads of state, and the two warring kingdoms went to war with their common enemy. Enough lycanthropic elders were killed that the tide turned, and Fable Snow fled from the combined might of the Seven Spheres and the Dwarves, shaming her in the eyes of the remaining lycanthropes, and allowing each group's survival instincts to kick in and drive them apart (and allow the humans and Dwarves to move past bloodshed to the more sustainable sullen detente).

240 years later, there are still lycanthropes around. Some even have half- or quarterblooded children called shifters. Shifters have minor, controllable rage issues, but for the most part, the full-blooded were-animals are savage and apt to rampage if provoked. The few exceptions are usually -- and there's no nice way to say this -- either saints or dorks. 

To name a random example: Gholder Corvin, the Mayor of the town of Vestige in Med has been a werewolf for the last decade. The man owns a concrete poetry collection and three times a year transforms in between full moons to let his fur be shaved and woven into blankets for donation. #alittleofcolumnA #alittleofcolumnB

However, even saints and dorks need to be locked up during the full moon, when the bloodlust takes over, and they are a danger to even their loved ones. 

Oh! I thought of a nice way to say it: they have a purposefully calm and gentle spirit. There. That's much nicer. ...Although, that does make their “immunity” sound less nature and more nurture, which also implies that it's possible to break through their purposeful calm if you apply enough pressure. 

...Maybe I should have left it at "saints and dorks."