Worlds Without Number: Outsiders and Arratu Wastelands

In the upcoming Worlds Without Numbers RPG by Sine Nomine, Arratu are a form of dangerous environment  which are the byproduct of the Outsiders (Aliens, essentially) attempts at reshaping Latter Earth to their alien needs and desire. Currently the only information available about Arratu and Outsiderss is found in the pre-Kickastarter alpha version of WWN and no doubt much more in depth information will be provided once the full game release. Nonetheless we know enough about what an Arratu is that one can conceptualize their own. Given Sine Nomine is all about sandboxing and making your own things no doubt this is encouraged.

This is but a single example of what an Arratu could be like.

The Broken Order

Art by Maxim Romatsnov

Created in ancient times by a race of outsiders (or a collection of, maybe?) obsessed with their alien sense of order, this Arratu has many names in many tongues, with most of them translating as 'The Broken Order'. Its environments is relatively Earth-like in its air, physical laws and what scant vegetation grows in it. This is not the strange part. Instead, the key to what makes it an Arratu are the large, worn down and damaged stone structures which erupt from the ground, ranging from as tall as a grown man to as tall as a castle. On examinations these appear to be merely stone structures which would once have been smooth and so precise as to be geometrically accurate down to the atom. If one was to look at them at a glance, they would find them to be fairly dull structures. They would appear to be completely harmless.

They are not.

These seemingly randomly placed Monoliths are both the focus and source of the Arratu as much as they are the Outsiders themselves or, at least, used to be. At the peak of their power these now nameless Outsiders built these stone structures which were equal part Legacy Interface as much as it was a home and a body. They transformed their bodies and minds, crystallizing them into these stone structures which formed impossibly complex fractal networks whose geometry could not be remotely understood by mortal minds. The networks it created in theory spawned entire Iterum of thought-realms where its ascended Outsiders inhabitants thought impossible things while the Legacy around it was slowly warped and fossilized.

Inhabitants and Dangers

For the most part this Arratu is empty, safe for shrubs and small fungi as well as tiny insects and worms. 'Higher' life forms are not welcome in this location, as even in their broken state the thought-monoliths and their mind-realms creates an hostile effect on anything with a true intelligence. Most beings begin to experience symptoms such as headaches and confusion which worsen to the point of pain within 1d4 days, after which most have the common sense to leave. Those who don't are in for some troubles:

• The Arratu slowly drains the mental capacities of those within it. While the effects aren't permanent if one leave before the point of no return, having a mental stat reduced to 0 inside this Arratu (even from another source) cause one's mind to break and start connecting to the Broken Order which reduce an individual to functionally be a living zombie.
• The longer a group of beings remain in the Arratu the more it 'tune in' to their minds. Provided they remain a few days and don't flee or become mental zombies, other beings under the thrall of the Arratu will 'home in' to their location and attempt to kill them.
• The Broken Order is particularly disruptive to the identities and 'soul' of Elves as it trap the Legacy-interfacing information. Any Elf which dies within the Broken Order undergoes a horrific transformation into a wraith-like entity, as well as permanent death. Such creatures haunt the monoliths.
• The closer one gets to a monolith the more there is an increased chance of spell mishap as the monoliths dampen the Legacy's various effects and feed energy into the thought-realms. In particular spells and effects which induce effects which change the body or state of being tend to backfire in spectacularly ways which drain the user or target of both their will and lives. Flesh also has a tendency to calcify.

Potential Treasures

At a glance, this Arratu appears to be worthless, little more than a dangerous wasteland to traverse and this is mostly accurate. However, its true value lies in the thought-realms which exist 'inside' the broken monoliths and its mind-network. This Arratus can be considered a giant gateway into several Iterum, each a broken shard of a mind space inhabited by inside minds of great power now shattered and broken. Those seeking ancient spells, especially spells which may inhibit other spells or break the minds of others, can find them if they brave the mindscapes. Each mindscape being, of course, a trippy fractal dungeon.

Urban Fantasy: The Astral Border

There is more to the world than our universe as we know it. Some believe Earth and its universe could be the center of the universe, part of (or even a minor fragment) of some great Axis Mundi. Indeed countless beliefs and myths speak of such places and the worlds which exist beyond our own, from the terra incognita to the abodes of the gods. Such places are indeed real. Getting there, however, well that's going to be much harder and one need a starting place to reach the greater Supernatural Realms. As one can guess, the term 'Supernatural Realm' is the generic term for what Silent Legions calls a 'Kelipah'.

The Astral Border

Liminal space(?)

The Astral Border, as the name implies, is (in part) what exist between the material and immaterial world. The reason why the description says 'in part' is because there's a bit more going on there. There are two ways to access it: projection or physical travel, with each version having its own downside. Projection is the classic 'astral projection' where one's consciousness leave the body. It carries the obvious downside of one not bringing their full body to another world and instead walking into another realm with a thought form body, turning oneself into a temporary form of Spirit. The alternative is to enter physically, where one has their full body and capabilities but this carries the downside of making escape infinitely harder since one is fully within another realm.

Defining reality within the Astral Border is a complicated matter, as it is a series of locations (or perhaps just one location?) which exist between solid reality and the higher realms and conceptual locations. It also greatly overlap and connect to thought-realms such as Dreams and even possibly the cancerous pit from which all Demons emerge, a dark reflection of every evil thought of mankind. As a result, the Border is an ever-changing dreamscape-like location which makes mapping it completely and utterly pointless. How fluid the realm is and one's direct surroundings are can vary immensely of course, based on a variety of rather arbitrary factors. Generally speaking, the initial phase of the Border's appearance will be influenced by one's material surrounding and become an extension of it. A wall my suddenly split open, sprouting a new corridor with a door at the end which can either take one to a new location or simply lead to more bizarre reflections of the location, depending on a variety of factors such as: one's mastery of accessing the Border, one's mental state, one's time of day and/or any other number of completely arbitrary points. The Border is not a three dimensional space, it is a thought space and it contain both one's own thoughts and perception but also that of nearby individuals, the general mindset of an entire region and/or even the will of often eldritch Border Entities.

Certain locations which are steeped in history, both real and supernatural, have a habit of having their own 'style' of Border, recurring thoughts, ideas and landscapes which may stretch for miles on end and beyond. For example, London has a habit of its Border stretching into increasingly old fashioned landscaped haunted by fog and lit by lanterns, with abandoned carriages giving off a strange impression of an empty and almost post-apocalyptic London at the age of Jack the Ripper while Cairo will stretch into a mish mash of building, drawing inspiration from a fusion of Pharaonic Egypt, Ptolemic Egypt and of course modern architecture where ancient antediluvian cursed tombs fuse near seamlessly with the Cairo Metro system. Urban center have a habit of forming dense, multi-dimensional expanses of empty buildings inside more empty buildings, a reflection of how these cities are perceived and what they embody.

Travelling The Border

The main use for this strange extra-dimensional space is to use it as a temporary stop from our world to another reality. Because distances have no true meaning within the Border, it can connect to any and all realities and domains, given enough time and effort to travel down its ever-changing paths. The Border can be an interesting GM tools (and is very much how I use it), as it enable travel to far-flung locations without needing too much of securing a specific path or spell. The obvious downside of the Border, however, is time. While time within it can be a tad relative (what with not having any real sun or moon to keep track of), it nonetheless flows 1:1 with one's own reality. As a result, a trip through the Border to a different Realm can take days or weeks, assuming one doesn't get into serious trouble. Even with a stable landscape, it can take days of travel on foot or even on boat across imaginary oceans. As a result, it can be as close as one can get to wilderness travel and exploration in an urban fantasy game, which can be a nice (or annoying, it depend) change of pace.

Travelling the Border is very much rife with 'random encounters' too, some of which indeed are very random even in-universe. The Border is positively crawling with Spirits, or rather Astral Lifeforms. These simplistic entities are given form and shape by their environment, but their function is fairly similar all around. As Astral Predators gather around fresh human mind and souls to consume, they create a temporary shell of existence based around whatever form the Border has taken there. Some may animate from concrete and wires as shambling urban golem while others may take the form of fantastical beasts when inside the Border's wilderness yet they remain the same simplistic life forms.

Urban Fantasy: The Black and Iron Woods

The material world which we humans inhabit is but a fraction of the true scope of reality. Beyond the confines of 'mere' matter exist realms beyond our own time and space, Supernatural Realms which are the places beyond our world where the wonderful and terrible still dwell. Some of them are places recorded in myths and folklore while others are entirely unknown or only explored by a few brave or foolhardy souls. Most exist somewhere in between, recorded but only barely, full of half truth and lies.

The Black and Iron Woods are somewhere halfway between a Stable and a Dream Kelipah. The more mundane areas of the wood, especially around its edges (if such a thing exist, as the whole shape is unknown, if not impossible to grasp) tend to be fairly normal beyond being an expanse of terrifying wilderness. Deeper into the woods, however, it become more and more of a thematic Dream Kelipah, obeying its twisted mythology-and-fairy-tale-logic.

History and Nature

Art by Magdalena Świderska

Recorded in the Prose Edda as Járnviðr, the 'Iron Woods', the Black-and-Iron Woods is a supernatural location of unknown size and scope which manifest primarily in Europe and takes the form of an impossibly vast and foreboding forest. It is the dark forest which children and travelers become lost in, where witches and trolls of grim and horrific fairy tales dwell. It's exact origin, nature or purpose are unknown, if not lost to history. No one knows what exactly it is and maybe there's just no real answer: it just is. And what it is can be summed up as a massive expanse of wilderness full of fantastical and fearsome sights. The creatures which dwell in it may not be native inhabitants but rather have moved there over time as they withdrew from the world of humans, choosing to hide in the ever-shifting landscape of the magical forest which appears and disappear, as being able to navigate a place whose landscape is mutable is a very useful advantage when one is a predator or kidnapper. Mere humans become easily lost in Jarnvid but hags, trolls and other monsters can learn to properly attune themselves and know when the forest will grow close to the material world. This become the perfect moment to lure and snatch some victims who will then never be heard from again.

In the modern age, despite the loss of many great forests, Jarnvid still thrives. In fact, over time the forest's pull has grown in terms of scope, possibly due to the immigration of Europeans to other lands. This is pure theory, of course and no one is certain if the passing down of folklore, myths and general fear of troll-haunted woods has allowed the Black and Iron Woods to extend its influence. Some speculate that its power first manifested on North American soil when the woodsmen spread across the area of the Great Lakes from the French and English colonies. The tales of the so-called Fearsome Critters could be nothing but tall tales, misunderstanding and mislabeling of local life forms...or it could very well be Jarnvid's power literally taking root on new soil and even growing and diversifying as it found itself infused with newfound life.

The pull of the Dark Forest is a useful tool to create a change of pace in 'urban fantasy'. Generally the term implies fantasy set in modern times in a big city, but most of the world even today remain covered in pockets of wilderness. The Black Forest in Germany remains an area where it has strong connection but over the years it has found itself creeping all over the wilderness of North America. When the right cosmic conditions align, the % chance of any spot of dark forest becoming linked to the Black and Iron Woods might increase dramatically, creating dream-like and hazy landscapes of tall trees where sunlight barely reach, filled with giant mushrooms and the bones of long-extinct animals. Travelers in those areas can often become pulled in by a mixture of their own curiosity and the psychic pull of the location. During those times, disappearances in any area with a few kilometres of forests can increase dramatically, with bodies found days later, 'regurgitated' by the forest, leaving behind the rotting carcass and bones of travelers. For others, the forest is a good place to gather rare and unique plants and animals which are not of this world, or to seek the counsel and service of ancient troll-witches.