Verdandi, the Chaos Works

The Chaos Works of Verdandi

It is the realm where occult engines and infinite lengths of gleaming pipelines join the bowels of the earth to seas of chaos and flame.
It is where all things can be created.
It is the ultimate destination of the Celestial River Jordan.

Since the destruction of the World Ash and the subsequent slide of Ysgard's first layer into Arborea's wilds, the plane has been a very different place. Gone are its ancient dreams of glory in battle; now there is only the joy of creation. The wells of inspiration that were once buried deep underground are now all around.

The plane's old name, Ysgard, is no longer in use. Its most common name is now Verdandi, which means "In the Making," although those who worship the Olympian mythos sometimes call it Ananke, and there are some who call it the Pipes of Mimir. Verdandi is also the name of one of the three greatest Norns, a goddess of fate, necessity and living in the present, all ideals important to the inhabitants of Verdandi and the Fated whose philosophy heavily influences the plane.

This plane is also seen as an echo of the Endless Sewers of Erebus in the upper planes, though of course the inhabitants of Verdandi see their plane as the original.

Verdandi currently has three layers; one of these, Gjallarbru, has come into being only recently.

Muspelheim is the highest and oldest of Verdandi's three layers, and the only one that touches the Astral Plane. Its inhabitants - mainly fire giants, azer, fiery fensir variants, asuras, and other fiery celestials - believe it to be almost the very oldest part of the outer planes, coming into existence at the same time as the Gray Waste of Niflheim. They believe every other plane evolved from the mists of Ginungagap between the two realms.

Muspelheim is a sea of flame with no definite up or down. Rivers of earth and stone float through the fiery sea; these are populated on both sides. It is through portals in these earth-rivers (or, as they are sometimes known, Urth-rivers) that pipes and boilers from the second layer extend into this part of the plane.

The people of Muspelheim are very freedom-loving and energetic. They believe, as most in this plane do, that one must strive to acheive the destiny written for them at the beginning of time, and that this is the highest of goals.

Nidvellir is the most highly populated of Verdandi's three layers. An endless series of polished, gleaming pipes of copper and adamantine and steel (as well as other, rarer metals) run through the solid earth that dominates the layer, channeling steam from Muspelheim, water from Gjallarbru and the Oceanus (which is usually called the Celestial River Jordan in recent centuries) and pure chaos from the neighboring planes of Limbo and the Land of Stories.

Races of dwarves, stone giants, and dark elves dwell in the maintainance tunnels built alongside, making use of the power the pipes bring them to engineer fabulous creations. Most of these beings are spellcasters, alchemists, magewrights, and anarchs, and they are fabled across the planes for their ability to create anything imaginable from essentially anything else. They can make apples into supercomputers, skulls into helicopters shaped like golden birds, and bottlecaps into automatons capable of hosting a mortal soul. This close to pure Chaos, there is no limit to what they can create.

The peoples of Nidvellir are very independent, eccentric, and obsessive in their work ethics. They believe it is their destiny to create as they do to the very best of their abilities, and they can quickly fly into rages when they are interrupted for what they consider to be silly reasons.

The Infinite Staircase has a major landing beginning in Nidvellir; it runs directly to the Gates of the Moon where the gods Selune and Soma dwell in some non-space between Verdandi and the Land of Stories, unwilling to commit to either.

Gjallarbru, also called the Chamber of Echoes, Mimir's Well, and Skuld, is a sea of cool dark water located (in some cosmic sense) "beneath" Nidvellir. It is surrounded on all sides by some smooth and impenetrable metal shell, though the area inside may be infinite.

As in Muspelheim, rivers of earth flow through Gjallarbru, which have their own gravity and are inhabitable on all sides. There are a few artifical chambers filled with air pumped in from Nidvellir and elsewhere, but Gjallarbru has no atmosphere of its own.

The primary inhabitants of Gjallarbru are aquatic in nature: locathah, aquatic fensir and elves, storm giants, merfolk, asrai, and songsharks. They maintain the pipes that run through their domain and create mysterious engines and artifacts of their own.

Elsewhales have also been observed here.

The people of Gjallarbru tend to be secretive and silent, but no less obsessive and fatalistic as those of Nidvellir.

Beware the Madness!

Verdandi Traits:

Objective Directional Gravity: The strength of gravity is the same as on the Material Plane. But gravity is oriented toward wherever your feet are pointing. Thus, there is no normal concept of floor, wall or ceiling. Any surface can be a floor if you treat it like a floor.
Normal Time.
Infinite Size: All three layers are infinite, except possibly for Gjallarbru. While there are some closed off tunnels, the pipes of Nidvellir stretch off into the darkness with no apparent source or destination.
Alterable Morphic: For some strange, unexplained reason, this outer plane cannot be shaped by divine will. The population believes that this is because the mortals have proven themselves to be the plane's true demiurges. Even gods come to them with requests for artifacts they would like to see created but are unable to make on their own. Mortal spirit, mortal determination, and mortal creativity are the only law in this chaotic plane.
Elemental Traits: Muspelheim is fire-dominant, Nidvellir is earth-dominant, and Gjallarbru is water-dominant.
Mildly Chaos-Aligned: Lawful characters on the plane of Verdandi suffer a -2 penalty on all Charisma-based checks.
Normal Magic: There are no restrictions on spells cast in Verdandi, although certain regions may carry the risk of wild magic surges due to excess of material piped in from Limbo.