A Portal to Many Oblivions
Hello Friends,
The opening of the Cryptstorm acts as the dividing line between the old and new worlds of Verd. Literally overnight, the ancient world, one where the triumphs of humanity were on full display, was shattered, giving way to a new Verd overrun and dominated by the daemons of the Crypt. Most notably, the ancient Demor Kam Empire that ruled over nearly the entire continent was annihilated, leaving its citizenry to fend for themselves against an uncaring and very hungry foe. Though most of the immediate damage felt by the storm rocked the world during the years immediately following its opening, the Cryptstorm remains in modernity as a symbol of man’s hubris and folly.
As an entity, the storm has raged for 316 years, and indeed the standard of Cataclysmic Reckoning (CR) describes dates using when they occurred, relatively before or after, its opening. It is a fixture of life on Verd, and most assume it always will be. While this latter sentiment is not necessarily true, the storm has nonetheless become a sort of symbol- an embodiment of the daemon and of all the destruction that foul race represents. Given the defining relationship between the Crypstorm and the Verdian Tales setting, I thought it would be fun and helpful to dedicate a blog post to discuss what the Cryptstorm is and how it came about.
But first, a sacrifice to the gods of administration. Here's an outline of what I am planning to upload in August (also, I’m thinking of throwing this upload schedule up on the front page of the website, which will hopefully be helpful for folks):
August 3rd: Nothing! Since there are five Wednesdays in August, I’ve decided to take the first as a bye week. I mostly just wanted to have an extra week to work on the Realm Guide and Adventure for the month, since I’ve been getting distracted by other projects.
August 10th: Northern Duskvolk Realm Guide- This is it! The final major realm on Verd in 316 CR is getting its own guide. I’ve honestly had a ton of fun writing about the duskvolk, and am excited to give the northern nomads their time in the spotlight. In the decimated east, the duskvolk are perpetually one misstep from disaster, yet have found a life for themselves in the waste. Keep an eye out if this sounds interesting!
August 17th: The Legend of Emerlane’s Folly, “Emerlane Burning”- This is it! Again! Yup, this is the final adventure in the Legend of Emerlane’s Folly, and like any good finale sees the heroes fighting one final, climactic battle against the army of Khaa Na Sami. Everything is on the line as Emerlane itself is attacked by the horde and the heroes must defend the town lest it fall to ruin once more.
August 24th: Anabosis Chapter 5, Project Prime Life This i- nope, never mind- Anabosis still has lots of chapters left in it. In this Chapter, Emma takes on Project Prime Life- the Anabosian effort to design and engineer the ‘perfect’ lifeform. Tune in to find out what perfection means to an Anabosian science team, and why Tivar can’t help but chuckle when the project gets mentioned.
August 31st: Blog Post- Unless I change my mind, I am thinking August’s post is going to cover the topic of Daemons on Verd: how they are considered and classified by humans, how they organize themselves- a general discussion. I think this will be interesting and will be helpful to establish a better understanding of the setting and the threats humanity faces.
So… IT’S A BIG MAGIC PORTAL IN THE SKY!
…
I am aware that the ‘portal in the sky’ trope has been played out in media to the point of being almost comical. Every alien and their brother come through a portal to invade and usually someone has to go through said portal to close it up again. And, while it may seem risky to share any setting elements with the climax of Suicide Squad (the bad one), the Crypstorm just makes sense to me given its role in Verd’s history and how it was formed.
On that subject- how did the Cryptstorm come about? Accounts will differ depending on what history you are reading, but it is broadly accepted that the Cryptsorm is the result of planar exploration by the Imperial College of Demor Kam, and specifically the sorcerers of the Gray Congress. In the years leading up to the Cataclysm, the true wizards of Demor Kam became increasingly enamored with probing the extents of the universe. To this end they would take part in rituals designed to psychically transport them across vast distances of space, observing worlds and places previously unimaginable. As the wizards pushed ever more ambitiously with their exploration, it was not without consequence as the slightest misstep resulted in elements of their destination being pulled to Verd (waves of extreme heat or cold, pocket vacuums, and the like).
Despite these risks and mishaps, the Arch Wizard of the Congress of Gray, Rothgabad, wanted to push even further. Through divination, Rothgabad had seen visions of other planes, infinite in number, and believed that these could be reached if enough of the arcane power of Verd was invested. While Rothgabad was correct in his supposition, in reaching out to these infinite universes, he left Verd open for them to reach back. With the forces keeping the universes apart thus weakened, a violent herniation ensued, that being the Cataclysm and the formation of the Cryptstorm.
This is the generally accepted story among the populous of Verd (at least among those who have any education in history), and it is backed up by contemporary attestations as well as by the testimony of the court wizard of Ancondi, Audri Ar'Valene. That said, there are many interpretations of what the Demor wizards were looking for and of what Rothgabad ended up finding. The Universal Church, for example, maintains that the old wizard tore a hole into the Crypt (a hellish realm of the damned). This is what most common Verdians have come to believe and is how the Cryptstorm earned its name.
So, if that’s where the ‘Crypt’ part of the name comes from, what about the ‘Storm’ part? Visually, the Cryptstorm looks like a black-brown hurricane about fifty miles in diameter, and crackles constantly with blue-purple lightning. This eldritch electricity is actually the source of the daemons invading Verd, as every bolt that strikes the earth deposits a hundred or more Argerkin of uniform type as it fades. Since this happens several times an hour, thousands of new daemons, big and small, enter into Verd each day.
One thing to keep in mind also is that when the storm was first opened, the magic that fuelled it caused it to swell to be much larger than it is currently. For several years following its birth, the storm stretched over much of the north and the ruination it brought was terrible. Subsequently the storm rapidly ‘deflated’ over the course of about five years before settling at a stable dimension. Even then, the remnant tempest was significantly larger than it is now, and has only slowly shrunk over the following centuries.
As the ruination of the old world, the Cryptstorm is, I think, one of the definitive elements of the Verdian Tales setting and has dictated the course of humanity for the three hundred years it's been around. It also adds a fun element from an adventuring perspective, since literally anything could come through. This gives the dungeon/game master a lot of freedom in laying out adventures- Want a plasma monster to show up? You got it. How about a race of intelligent Capybaras? Say no more, the storm produces all.
Anyways, let me know if you have any questions in the comments below, or if you have any thoughts about the Cryptstorm or settings with portals in general.
Best,
Eric
