5001-HârnWorld/3rd Edition/30

Every human culture has metaphysical beliefs. Gamemasters must make some decision concerning the nature of the divine beings who live, if only in the minds of men. There are only two real courses to follow and the GM need not inform his players of his ultimate choice. Either the gods truly exist or they are only the figments of the imaginations of men. In either case, the GM should present the gods as if they do exist, for the majority of Hârnians believe explicitly in their existence. With inevitable variations and prejudice due to culture and location, most of the religious movements of western Lythia share a common set of metaphysical beliefs, although none express them in such terms.

The Kethrian Family
Kelestia is everything that exists, the sum total of all realities. Kelestia is not governed only by physical laws of space and time. While each universe has its own laws, there is also a set of master laws governing Kelestia as a whole. A planet may be inaccessible to other worlds in its own universe but, because of the warping of Kelestia, it may be possible to reach worlds in other universes using higher dimensional paths, referred to (somewhat imprecisely) as travel in the “Nth dimension.” Those who travel such routes refer to it as “walking in shadow,” “crossing the void,” and so on.

Familial Worlds
In the Nth dimension, worlds are arranged around a “parent” world, or nexus. The nexus world gathers lines of force and warps space-time to adopt alien worlds into the “family.” The arrangement is largely a random process. Because it is rare for the worlds of a family to lie in the same universe (and be governed by the same physical laws), the members of a family need not be similar. Travel between worlds is never easy, but travel between the nexus and others in the family is easiest. Accessibility between members of the family ranges from moderate to impossible.

The Kethrian Family
The world of Kethira, on which Hârn is located, is the nexus of a family of seven worlds. Kethira is a crossroads of sorts. No one in living memory has explored the whole family. There is a wide variation in the status of the gods, magic, and technology on the different worlds of the family.

Two of the worlds of the family, Kethira and Yashain, have a unique relationship. The links with other worlds are generally shifting and vague, but between these two there are a large number of constant, point-to-point, even region-to-region, correspondences. Various sites exist (in some form) on both worlds at the same time. Most of the gods of Hârn are believed to reside on Yashain, which is Kethira’s “half-world.” Most Kethirans believe that they spend their afterlife on Yashain in the service of their chosen deities. Yashain is divided into kingdoms governed by the gods. Earldoms and baronies are ruled by demons and demigods. There is a constant state of war, good against evil, and order against chaos.

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