Is the game 'Eversion' a good metaphor for Regios?

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

Hi all,

This one may be a bit out there. I'm trying to sink my teeth into the idea of regios. My understanding is that they're essentially parallel universes, like a ghost world slightly out of phase with the real world. (Or like the Plane of Shadows/Ethereal Plane, to those of D&D bent). So if you're in the mundane world, you can move on through the area physically where a regio is, but you wouldn't notice the regio itself.
Unless, of course, you're carrying a sack of flour and walk backwards three steps and then get transported to the regio. In which case, you notice that level.
Do people on higher levels have the ability to see what's going on at the lower levels?

Now on to the thread title. There is a computer game called 'Eversion' which I highly recommend. It's free for download and is played offline. It starts as a simplistic, irritatingly cheerful puzzle platformer. You collect gems and move to the end goal to get to the next world. The core mechanic is the idea of 'Eversion.' At specific 'warp points' in a level, you can hit the button to 'warp' to a paralllel world. It's nearly identical to the previous one, except that things are slightly different: Clouds may be solid surfaces instead of move-through, flowers are now trees, etc. Also, it's just a little bit grimmer, spookier, and more evil. This is the core gimmick of the game--each time you have to evert to a next world to proceed, it gets scarier.
(This is harder to explain than I thought it would be).

My question is, is this an appropriate conception of how regios work? You can move up, down, left right, but every so often, under the right circumstances, you can move 'in.' Deeper. To the next level. And each level is less like life as you know it.
Also, would the magic realm be acceptable as a scary, slowly-more-insane world? I know that Infernal would obviously work best, but I want to do a bait-and-switch. "Oh, keen a Magic regio. In we go!"
half an hour and 4 warping points later "Crap... it's a regio of insanity."

Again to those of a D&D bent who have read Manual of the Planes, this is going to resemble the Far Realm. Mwa ha ha :slight_smile:.

Joking aside, I do highly recommend the game 'Eversion.' It's pretty fun. Don't let the deceptively chirpy beginning thwart you. It gets quite scary.

2

It's a good enough analogy. Each "eversion"/warping is stepping into a higher-level regio, increasing the distance from the mundane world in a particular direction.

The Magic Realm as the Far Realm... well, I think it works surprisingly well. Twilight can make you crazy, and I'd insert Old Ones as monstrous Titans of old. It doesn't really fit into the canonic scheme of the Magic Realm, but It's probably better. I like the idea. I would, however, make sure to depict the realm as insanity-causing, rather than as one filled with strange monstrous creatures. To keep an air of mystery, I'd keep the D&D Far Realm like scenery to the outskirts of the Realm or high-level regios; the regions beyond will just be beyond mortal comprehension, filled purely with daemons; any mortal passing through goes directly to Twilight.

Finally, beings in one level aren't aware of what's going on below. However, changes in one level are often reflected in other levels through the mysterious operation of fate.

3

That movie Coraline is wonderful to understand a Regio and faerie =)

4

To put it in D&D terms (ew.) Each level of a regio (for most regio, your mileage may vary) is coterminous but not coextant with the realms above and below it.

An explanation: (Very much note that this is /my/ understanding of how regio work.)

A regionne is a realm which, for some reason or other, cannot exist as part of the mundane realm. The usual case is that there is a different, more powerful, realm of a different flavour in the mundane. Happily, the rules for the "budding" of a regionne are poorly defined, which leaves us GMs the cheerful task of figuring out how we want our realities to run.

Every level of a regio, a regionne, is coterminous with the neighbouring levels. Specifically, that it can be reached through the neighbouring levels ... somehow. (This is of course exclusing magi and those with second sight, and fae, and... etc... let's assume that Mr. Joe A. Peasant is wandering here... briefly.) Sometimes it's easy to slip between levels: walk through a doorway, go to sleep. Sometimes, it's functionally impossible.

The levels /resemble/ extant planes inasmuch as the plane of shadow on the places where it is coextant with the material plane (okay, my brain is starting to hurt jumping between these paradigms) reflects it, but there's no guarantee of "true" reflections (such as the etheral which is just kinda funky).

Let's look at this from a case study. (Which I'll cheerfully appropriate for my game.)

Consider the idea of a city upon a hill. Consider a merchant, newly arrived, approaching. From the distance, he would see the mundane world. Specifically, the city that has a dominion aura around it (like all proper cities do.) What this merchant doesn't know is that the city hails from the ancient times and has had an incredibly mixed history. From the dominion aura, we have a notable cathedral on the highest portion of the hill, where a saint used to preach. As per normal rules, the dominion aura is stronger inside the cathedral and strongest at the altar.

However, the cave where the hermit/saint lived and wrote his sermons in has been turned into a terrestrial dominion regionne. The hermit's faith was such that while living in the cave, he didn't have to eat. (Random flavour, but explains why there is a bit of otherworldlyness to it.) To access this divine regionne, the petitioner must sleep and pray in the hermit's cave overnight.

This terrestrial dominion regio is characterised by aspects of perfection. So it shows the cathedral, but with a beacon of light as the spire. Thus instantiating the ideal of the "city upon the hill" that the various bishops preach about.

This place, however, has had many gods. Deep inside the hill is an ancient temple to Mithras, now in ruins. The bull god, accepting sacrifices of blood, was a particularly powerful fae in this place, and such the temple has a Fey Regio. Worshipers can seek the temple and perform the rites of Mithras to gain access to this Faerie Regio. Once there though, if they take up the arms and armor of a centurion of ancient Rome, they can walk out the temple's doors and pit themselves in glorious tests of strength and valor. (This arena is the second level of this Regio, with a Fae aura of 5 or 6.)

This temple, though, once used for blood sacrifices to the honorable and secret Mithras has been turned to darker purposes in the last centuries, and a cult of infernalists gathers to practice their secret rites. Their proudest moment was a decade ago, when they sacrifced six virgins in a ceremony of vile depravity. This ritual opened a secret gate to hell (in their terms) which can be accessed with the appropriate sacrifices.

The city's market has old pillars still there from Roman times. This tetrastylae has inscriptions to Hermes, the god of trade and the marketplace. If a certain good is transacted on a certain day, the seller gives the buyer a sacred key of Hermes, which grants them access to this marketplace of the indescribable.

As I don't own RoP:Magic, the magic regio can be anything you can conceive of. A far realm could easily be a magic regio with... odd properties.

I wouldn't just dump warping on the characters for staying in the regio for a few hours, as warping is one of those things that never ever ever goes away*.

A slowly more insane world could be any of the four realms, depending on what aspects you want to evoke. If it's alien, magic is most appropriate. If it's delusional, Fae.

I should probably propose my philosophical understanding of the realms in a different post.

Did this help?

5

Eversion would be an /excellent/ metaphor for a magic regio.

6

Hi all,

Thanks for the answers. I have a much clearer picture of regios than I did before. They're a bit tough to grasp, partly because there's relevant information in different areas of the book. (What doesn't help is that 2 of my players have Second Sight).

There are three ways to enter the regio, one of which has many sub-parts. Each regio is unique, so each might have one, two, or all of these applicable.

  1. Being led by a native.2) Getting lost.
  2. Entering voluntarily
    3a) Seeing the boundary of the regio and choosing to cross. This is usually only possible with magical aid: Intelligo Magic, Second Sight, or Sense Holiness/Unholiness (if an infernal or divine regio). Also, only possible if this is the kind of regio that's enterable by seeing into it.
    3b) Doing a specific 'ritual' that might combine a particular place (warp zone), action, time of day, characteristic of the person, or any other combination that the evil ST decides upon.

1 and 2 are self-explanatory.
I have questions about 3a and 3b.
3a: 'Boundary' can mean a contiguous area like a circle or oval. However, it can also refer more to specific 'warp zones' (forgive the video game term) or 'access points' that make travel possible. For example, the regio itself might have a 150 foot radius, but can only be accessed from one particular door. Thus, someone with Second Sight knows that the door is the 'boundary' to the regio, and also knows that the regio is about 300 feet in diameter.
3a: If you can see the regio, can you choose not to cross? As in, "yup, that's a regio boundary near the church. But I'd rather go to the actual church, in the real world."
3b: This is the 'knock 7 times on a door and enter' option, or 'walk counterclockwise around a stone,' or 'a child playing with a purple yo-yo at either sunrise or sunset.' Main question: Am I justified in saying that you can't automatically get into a 'keyed' regio even if you have Second Sight? "Yes, it's great that you have Second Sight. You know there's a faerie regio. You know it's about 70 feet wide. You know that the park bench and the pine are both warp points." But they can't get in with virtue of second sight alone: They need to either sit on the park bench and feed a pigeon, or climb the pine tree while it's raining. Second sight or no. Is this a fair interpretation or regio rules?

Basically, I understand that Second Sight is always helpful against regios. Is Second Sight all you ever need to enter a regio, regardless of type? Or am I justified in saying that there are some regios where Second Sight is helpful, but doesn't let you cross in and of itself? (example: Second Sight gets you into some regios. But for others, you need to be led by a native. For others, you need to drink a beer in a tavern at exactly midnight, to the second. And for others, you need to sing a particular sea-shanty while wearing orange).

More general questions: It does appear that the idea of the 'warp zone' is plausible, based on answers I've already gotten. So we have a 'boundary' (the extent of the regio) and the 'access points' (the spots used to gain entry, IF this is separate from the boundary itself).
Access can be granted at and by the boundary. It can also be granted from designated access points from within the regio. Can it be granted from points that are outside the boundary? To use the example in 'covenants,' it can be entered from a certain type of structure anywhere in the city. I assume that doesn't automatically imply that the regio is the size of the entire city. Fair interpretation? (in other words: The regio is 100 feet wide. You can get there from one of 7 points, scattered throughout 5 square miles in a city).

In my own opinion, I think that 3b is the most enjoyable since I can stretch my creativity. Examples are limitless. One in 'Covenants' describes a regio that can be entered from the stairs of any building in the city with a certain type of stone, as long as the person is either a woman wearing a red ribbon in her hair, or a man looking for a woman with a red ribbon in her hair. A friend of mine had a regio wherein we had to walk across a pool and recite a certain incantation to cross. In my current saga, I persuaded my troupe to take the 'regio with unexpected entries' minor hook. The regio is in a vinyard. One entry I came up with is that if anyone in the vinyard drinks a glass of wine with an olive in it, they are transported to the regio. I'll be coming up with various other evil ones :slight_smile:.

New question, about Aegis of the Hearth. How does an Aegis work with respect to multiple regio levels? Say for argument's sake that there's a mundane area, a regio with a covenant, and another, deeper regio level. Some questions:
If the troupe puts the Aegis on the level with their covenant, does it also extend to the mundane world and/or the deeper level?
If the troupe puts the Aegis in the mundane world, will it also protect their covenant in its regio level?

Assuming the answers are 'no', here is a follow-up question: Does an Aegis protect a regio against incursion from another regio level? Or do 'warp zones' bypass the Aegis?

Example: Say the covenant puts a level 25 Aegis of the Hearth around their covenant, in the covenant's regio level. Consider a demon with an infernal might of 10, who wishes to do ill to the covenant.
The demon can burninate the vinyard on the mundane level just fine; it's not protected by the Aegis.
The demon can take a regio access point that puts him at the same level of the covenant but outside the Aegis. He's on the right regio level, but is still kept at bay by the Aegis.
Here's the question: Say there's a warp point that leads to somewhere within the covenant library. Spin around clockwise 3 times and shout out loud "Open sesame," and you're taken directly from the mundane level to the covenant library. What happens if the demon tries this?
Does the level 25 regio keep him from using this access point?
Does he get access to the regio, but get shunted to somewhere outside the Aegis and covenant grounds?
Or does the regio entry bypass the Aegis, depositing him directly in the covenant? (He'd still have to contend with the penalties imposed by the Aegis, but he's circumvented the absolute protection).
Which of these rules would you apply? I suspect that I'll have to make a ruling very early in the saga on how Aegis and regios interact, and not change it.
So variable 1: Extend to all levels of a regio? Variable 2: Does it still prevent against incursion from other regio levels?

Advice appreciated. I'm very much looking forward to using regios in this game.
Side note: I was at first terrified by Second Sight. It seemed so powerful, it looked like it was a step below "Look at the ST's notes" as a power. Fortunately, I realized that while it always helps, it's not a free pass to every regio that exists :slight_smile:.

Thanks all!

7

Hi all,

Sorry for the bump on this. I've been able to make rulings on most of the questions I had. The main one that remains is about Aegis of the Hearth. Does it protect all levels of a regio, or only the level it's at?

Insight would be appreciated; I start my game this coming Saturday.

edited for grammar