The Earth

So the Earth is truly round. But I never imagined it was blue. Why do men who live on such a beautiful planet do nothing but fight among themselves? (Nadia - The Secret of Blue Water)

The planet doesn’ **t belong to us, we belong to it. We are passing through, it remains. (Pierre Rabhi)

The Earth, meant as the planet itself, as we have known it, is now a faded memory.

Tàhil was a direct instrument of Calicante to vent the anger of the killing of one of his sons.

No city was spared, every settlement was victim to earthquakes, floods, epidemics. From one day to the next, cities were literally turned upside down.

After 30 days, Calicante decided that it was not enough to destroy everything and everyone but it was necessary to change the Earth once and for all, it was necessary for new Patrons to intervene, a Refoundation was necessary.

These drew on culture and tradition, on the most hidden fears and terrifying nightmares, and from thousands of portals came demonic hordes, orcs, dragons, and abominations as if generated by the fevered mind of some madman. The dead rose from their graves and began to hunt the living.

Even though the direct power manifestations of the Patrons lasted only 1 year, humanity lost over 90\% of its population in the attempt to defend itself, to survive.

Industry and knowledge were destroyed, and in the following century, barbarism and ignorance certainly did not help us recover. It was the Edict of Forgetfulness that destroyed everything. The Edict emitted a powerful magical wave that fused the components of every electrical apparatus and at the same time erased any data that might be stored there, but this was not the worst: the Edict confused the words of every written book.

Many of the apparatuses are still there, where they were originally, most vandalized to recover materials, others locked away in some secret place. There is still some hope of finding a functioning apparatus, however remote, or perhaps a still readable book.

The old ruins of cities are often receptacles of hordes of nefarious creatures that only wait to feed. Many areas have not been remapped, and while knowing what was there, no one knows what is there now.

Few cities exceed 50,000 inhabitants. Each state has a capital that, by the mocking fate of Earth, is often destroyed or disappears. Law is often absent, and only that of the strongest prevails.

Wide unexplored lands unfold where ancient remains of vanished civilizations are refuge for new inhabitants. There are layers upon layers of civilizations buried beneath one’ **s feet with treasures, secrets, caverns, and protectors.

Society

Dynasties are rarely destined to reign for more than a few generations; fratricidal wars, attacks from outside, the will of Patrons, make it difficult for more rigid societal forms to prosper, and the democratic spirit is not always developed enough to create evolved societies that can adapt to the situation.

Nations thus have very labile borders, often defined by geography rather than conquests. Armies cannot always defend them from external attacks, and even more often militias must concentrate on defending the main city from internal attacks, rebellions, or sudden hordes of monsters emerging from who knows which imprint of Cattalm.

Throughout the world, the most widespread form of government and society are City-States, fortresses and lands gathered around a city capable of defending and protecting them from external assaults, governed by a strong leader with the support of a Patron.

Small and large villages arise everywhere in the territory, around water sources and natural resources, often at the mercy of bands of desperate people if not goblins. It is often here that our heroes have their first training in attempting to defend first their home, then the village, from the assault of some cunning and bloodthirsty enemy.

The remains of magnificent cities of the past still stand, and these often become populated again, although a curse that condemned the First Era often hovers over the inhabitants.

The underground, whether caves, catacombs, or infinite tunnels, if not true underground cities, exists throughout the Earth, an imperishable memory, stratified and re-stratified, of its history. There is never an end to how deep one can go; there is always something else below that is even more magnificent and dangerous.

Legends speak of entire regions swallowed underground, cities that from day to night disappeared in a cloud of dust. Everywhere there are accesses to the depths where treasures and riches are fabled, where the Law of the Prize awaits those who dare to take up the challenge.

Religions

The old religions still exist. The Patrons do not wage war on you because you worship another Patron or God; it is not their purpose or interest. Religion has acquired a much more concrete and real role, with numerous extremists who go about prophesying the coming of other patrons, the true Gods. It is always very dangerous to manifest one’ **s creed; you never know how others might react.

Even Devotees or Followers themselves, if they publicly proclaim their Patrons, sometimes risk lynching; almost all users of magic are seen as people who have sold their soul to the devil. Trust is a precious asset that must be earned.

Adventures

In such a complex setting, the possibilities for adventures are practically infinite. Here are some ideas that might inspire you:

The characters are sent to explore devastated and mutated areas, in search of resources, survivors, or ancient technologies
The various human and non-human factions are at war for control of resources or territories. The characters could choose a faction or try to mediate peace
Protect a village from attacks by hostile entities or monsters evoked from the Portals.
The Patrons want to manipulate the leaders of countries to enforce their cult. The characters must thwart plots and betrayals.
Form alliances with the Patrons to obtain magical powers or protection, navigating between the different requests and expectations of these beings.
Investigate the origin and nature of the Omnipresence, trying to understand how to exploit its residues without causing further catastrophes.
The characters are apprentice wizards who must recover some fundamental spell to save their village/city.
Help rebuild devastated communities by finding resources, building infrastructure, and defending them from threats.
Survive in mutated and dangerous environments, such as nuclear deserts or forests infested with monstrous creatures.
Explore myths and legends to discover hidden truths and powerful artifacts, discover what has remained myth and legend and what has been created
Use the Portals to explore other worlds or dimensions, facing challenges and discovering the secrets of these places.
Missions to save groups of survivors trapped in dangerous areas or under the influence of malevolent creatures.
Explore inexplicable events and paranormal phenomena caused by entities (exiting from portals?), trying to discover the truth behind them.
Represent a community or faction in diplomatic missions to other peoples, seeking to obtain support or resources.
Through the Portals, it is possible to travel in time. Try to prevent catastrophes or correct errors of the past, facing the risks of temporal paradoxes.
Organize and lead a rebellion against oppressive leaders/enemies, trying to liberate occupied territories.
Try to understand the Patrons, seeking to gain their favor.
Support the expansion of your community in the territory, conquering new lands and defending them from enemy attacks.
Protect strategic outposts from enemy assaults, using tactics and limited resources.
Some regions and cities have undergone a temporal shift, returning to ancient eras.
Strange occurrences are happening in the territory, all situations aligned along the Ley lines.

The problem for adventurers and explorers is the extreme diversification and mutability not only of the environment but also of the cultures and civilizations that can be encountered.

The Earth can no longer be said to be explored; the same area can change from one day to the next because a Patron has decided so. Curious, ineffable, fickle, they are capable of building the adventure of a lifetime in a clap of hands just to enjoy the spectacle.

It will be hordes of hungry goblins in the maze of the depths of the city, it will be barbaric hordes devoted to Cattalm to kill and kidnap offspring, it will be kingdoms of ghouls that have sprung from nowhere wanting to eat everything and everyone, it will be famines and plagues that can only be solved by finding ancient artifacts, it could be ancient cities that have sprung from an imprint of Cattalm, putrid expanding swamps full of monsters…

The Patrons will do everything to defeat and humiliate you, but remember well that the Law of the Prize is superior even to them!

Notable new places on Earth

Desert of Kranguran

In this immense desert lurk gigantic monsters. Some hidden under the sand use telluric sense to hunt their prey, others gigantic dinosaurs hunt any prey that may come along.

Every creature in this desert is gigantic, monstrous, and disproportionate in appearance, almost as if born from someone’ **s nightmare.

The same vegetation in the few oases present is enormous and hypertrophic. No creature born here can leave, no creature that dies here truly gives up its place. Legend has it that every monster in this desert is actually a creature that died here. Depending on the power of the creature, it is reborn as a more gigantic hungry monster.

According to most, the Desert of Kranguran is a place of play for Cattalm.

City of Knandir

This rich, prosperous, and populous ancient city was destroyed in the span of one night by a gigantic cataclysm.

It is said that the will of the Patron was so pervasive that all buildings were destroyed or severely damaged. Not satisfied with the work, he condemned the city to be out of phase with reality, making it disappear from the eyes of all others.

The few surviving inhabitants perished in atrocious suffering, condemned not to be able to leave, to have nothing to eat or drink.

The city was cursed, and on the few days of the year when it is possible to reach it, every person who sets foot there to loot the immense treasures contained seems condemned never to leave again, victim of the curse or the numerous ghosts, spirits, and undead of the previous inhabitants.

The city also never appears in the same place but moves following a not-well-understood pattern. It is said that the lost Scroll of Knandir explains its movements, a peculiar glassy object with a map that indicates its position with a light that appears and disappears.

The tower of blue gorillas

The origin of this ancient and magical building is now forgotten; it is said that it was created to challenge a Patron, probably Gradh. The tower, with a square base of 20 meters on each side, is apparently 7 floors high. On each floor, whose map seems to be constantly changing, blue gorillas appear, absolutely brutal and with the intention of killing anyone in the tower. Once the last gorilla of the floor is defeated, the door leading to the stairs to the next floor opens and the characters can go up. On each floor, the gorillas become stronger, more resistant, and more intelligent.

It is known that by the 4th floor, they also acquire magical powers. Characters who have entered can leave whenever they want; if they should die inside the tower, they will be automatically teleported outside, but alive at 1 Hit Point and extremely fatigued, without the most precious object they had on them at the time of death. There are no magic items inside the tower, at least on the known floors; the only thing the characters gain is experience for the battles they’ **ve fought. The current record is reaching the 7th floor. Will new heroes be able to reach the end (???) of the tower, and what rewards will there be for those who survive?

and the Earth?

Our world exists and persists, despite every destruction and tragedy. As apocalyptic as the description so far may seem, some places are still almost intact, small corners of a forgotten paradise.

You won’ **t find a functioning industry or factory but rather a small business, a skilled craftsman, someone who carries on family traditions as best they can.

Many places, on the other hand, have been emptied, looted, partially destroyed, cities inhabited no longer by humans but by something else, subways that have become the new dungeons, forgotten catacombs that have returned to being places of refuge, cities buried by earthquakes yet still inhabited. The massive nuclear shelters, the powerful underground condominiums, have resisted yet had to share living spaces with those who have been mutated, changed.

It is said that somewhere, where the Freten exploded, there is the portal that leads to the same Patrons of Genesis; what is certain is that everywhere there are Portals that lead to fantastic worlds, beautiful or mortally terrifying.

Many seek the new eden jumping from one portal to another hoping to find the right world, always looking for an adventure or tranquility.

Remember that nature has been mutated; new species inspired by game manuals have been created for pleasure, monsters of every kind, form, and morality are present only to make them fight with the survivors. Gigantic, lush forests, full of rarely friendly life, have sprung up in the middle of deserts. The great jungle of the Sahara is among the most feared and avoided even though within it are immense deposits of precious minerals.

And everywhere, Dragons! Innumerable, hungry, evil.

The old States

It is impossible in these few lines to describe to you how the entire planet has been rewritten. The magic of the Patrons is absolute and their will Law; let’ **s not be surprised if what was the Sahara Desert is now the thickest and most lush jungle on the planet, known as the Garden of Shayalia. Much of the eastern part of Russia, the one bordering the former states of Eastern Europe, has become the Empire of Ghouls, one of the most terrible places to live, if you are not devoted to Sixiser.

Much of North America is a nuclear desert with the few populations that have taken refuge on the east and west coasts, hunted by bands of acid-spitting cannibalistic raiders and mutants.

What was Brazil has become a totally wild area in the hands of dinosaurs and insane populations that worship Orudjs.

The part of central Italy is under the theocracy of Rezh while numerous counties, baronies, and simple cities have proclaimed themselves under the protection of some local lord.

France is directly commanded by the new Sun King, pardon, King Torbion XXIII, who, enamored with history and culture, wanted to repropose, with truly divine will this time, the splendor and attitudes of that court and period, making everything tremendously more dangerous and treacherous.

Germany, which was the engine of the old Europe, has suffered among the greatest damage, returning to a barbaric state, with a forced cultural and natural involution by Efrem.

Much of the lands between France and Germany have returned to a more primitive and ancestral spirit; here Gaya and Erondil have created their major cults inspired by what was the Celtic tradition.

The cold lands of northern Europe isolated themselves after their dead rose again. This time by the will of the people, help was sought from Krondal and Nedraf so that they could save them. Nedraf gave them the weapons and the experience to use them, Krondal, like a true madman, brought back the ancestral memories of a warrior past made of myths and Gods forgotten, or rather ignored, by most. Thus Krondal has recreated as his servants Aegir, Alfadur, Hel, Idhunn, Norne, not to mention the better-known Thor, Loki, Valkyries…

A world at feet: Use real terrestrial physical geographic maps to help you with the environment. Look online for maps of ancient cities. You have at your disposal the greatest setting ever created; it’ **s just a matter of populating it with the myths, legends, stories, and fantasy that are already around you.

Every city has its historical legends, discover them and play them together!

The Portals

Never open doors to those who open them without your permission. (Stanislaw Jerzy Lec)

This proliferation of small, large, durable, or instantaneous Portals has caused a rift in the dimensional fabric of Earth, generating in turn a proliferation of spontaneous tunnels of varying sizes and duration.

These occasional Portals will often be the cause of situations to face and defeat. Each Portal has its own DC to overcome in order to be closed with the spell Close Portal (p. ), usually this DC ranges from 20 for the easiest to 40 for permanent ones.

There are known and stable portals, so far, that connect continents. The most interesting Portals for commerce are almost all under control, not to say inside the fortress, of royals and powerful people.

Not all Portals are dangerous; many simply function as transport gateways from one country to another, even hundreds of kilometers away. Other Portals will lead to other worlds, to explore and perhaps to live in, while others will lead to places that are best avoided and that will have to be sealed and closed to prevent further invasions of alien xenomorphs.

You can invent a thousand and one adventures behind the Portals; each is a possibility of a different world and a multitude of adventures.

Portals: You should understand the portals as a key to a thousand and one adventures. Each portal will lead you to a different place, fantastic as you intend it. Do you want an adventure in a primitive world, set in modern society, on a planet somewhere? Use the portal to open the doors of your imagination. The characters themselves might not be earthly and seek a way to return home…

Settings: Use the setting you prefer most! This world is an example of a chaotic and slightly anarchic world dominated by the continuous mood changes of capricious deities. Choose your setting, use Greyhawk, Dark Sun, Mystara, Midgard, whatever you prefer. You are the Narrator, you are the world, you are the one projecting light and darkness, OBSS will provide you with the tools to conduct your campaigns!

First Chaos came to be, then broad-bosomed Gaia, the ever-sure foundation of all the deathless ones. Hesiod’ **s Theogony

The Calendar

I’ **ve often ended up on a calendar. But never for a specific date. (Marilyn Monroe)

It all began on the thirteenth hour of the thirteenth day of the thirteenth month… We were there to discuss the printing errors in the calendars purchased by the school. (The Simpsons)}

Based on the lunar cycle, it has 12 months of 28 days each.

These are the names of the months starting from what is defined as the beginning of the year:

1°) Ianas (season: spring)

2°) Prineva (season: spring)

3°) Marc (season: summer)

4°) Epral (season: summer)

5°) Meea (season: summer)

6°) Vernam (season: autumn)

7°) Ilai (season: autumn)

8°) Arkast (season: autumn)

9°) Cester (season: winter)

10°) Koper (season: winter)

11°) Narava (season: winter)

0°) Raanant* (special)

12°) Kartan (season: spring)

Raanant is the month celebrated at the end of the Secular Cycle, every hundred years. It’ **s a month of freedom from Patrons, from Laws, it’ **s the month of catharsis and violence, of freedom and rebirth.

A cycle of seven days, a week, is composed of days named:

1°) Kalint (usually a holiday)

2°) Iratam

3°) Munrat

4°) Arai

5°) Venran

6°) Kittam

7°) Viltar

The day is divided into 24 hours. The current year is 125 of the new calendar.

Beyond Death

The inhabitants have a rather pessimistic view of what happens after death. For most, after death there is nothing but the dissolution of the body.

The Devout and Followers believe that their spirit will reunite with the Patron, making it stronger.

Others still believe that each spirit incarnates 4 times before being judged by the Patrons of Genesis and sent to the plane assigned to it.

The truth is not for us to know.

The Secular Cycles

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain.

And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while. (Revelation 20:1-3, apostle John)

Myth says that every hundred years the Earth dies to be reborn again, more beautiful than before. It’ **s not exactly like that, but it comes very close.

It is known to few Atmos scholars that every century the recognized Patrons, from whom many draw their powers, disappear and give way, after exactly 1 year, to new Patrons.

Suddenly spells cease to function, only magic items that can absorb and store magic work (such as a Potion, Armor or Weapon, if not a Ring or a Staff that has charges, but not items that automatically recharge like Rods), not even Devout or Followers have access to any spells.

With some exceptions. The Patrons of Genesis, Atmos and Lynx, and the Victorious Patron are the only ones to remain constant and unchanged. Only their Devout and Followers can continue to use the spells available during the intermediate year.

From the sixth month onward, the Followers and Devout of the previous patrons begin to hear voices, to dream of new faces and names of new Patrons.

This is what happened at the end of the first coming, with the only difference being that Ljust granted victory to Calicante to immediately interrupt the cycle and save our world from destruction due to the vengeance for killing the First Patron.

Each new Patron, based on the Traits they command, approaches a Follower or Devout and tries to convince them to accept them as a new Patron. Spellcasters will only be able to use spells at the end of the year, regardless of whether they follow a Patron or not.

It is an extremely turbulent and agitated period where wars and vendettas break out, taking advantage of the absence of magic. For many, it is a period of pure hatred and violence where the lowest instincts are vented knowing that they will not be judged by any Patron.

The truth is that every hundred years the Patrons of Genesis judge their children, the Patrons, evaluating who has done better and who worse. It is a challenge between Calicante and Ljust to see who, through the Patrons, has obtained more Followers and Devout.

The Patron who has proven most capable of conquering more people will remain also in the next century, this will be the Victor, and his believers will sing of his glory and power for another hundred years.

Intoxicated by victory, the Patron of Genesis will express a wish that the other must try to respect as much as possible.

Obviously, the Patron himself could satisfy it, but the joy of forcing the other to do something

that they hate is superior to anything else. And it is for this reason that every hundred years the impossible happens, in addition to the birth of new Patrons.

It could be a new continent, a sea that opens between lands, new races, animals… something imposing changes for all terrestrials. It is a period of global upheavals.

Only the highest Devout of Atmos know this truth, just as they know that the Patrons of Genesis, after the victory, lie together for six months generating the new Patrons.

Another truth, unfortunately unknown, is that our planet has been under the game of the Patrons for much longer than a century, and it is only by the desire of Ljust that we have no memory of all the previous cycles. The Patron of Light, to not make humanity lose hope, obtained that we forget the centuries of abuses caused by the continuous victories of Calicante’ **s Patrons, from the destructions perpetrated by dragons, and maintain a feeble and vital hope in a world that can be more gentle and loving towards all its creatures.

Traces of these past cycles can be found in the countless and otherwise unjustified dangers, dungeons, monsters, dragons, underground cities that fill every corner of the Earth.