As soon as the PCs enter Gnomica, it is immediately evident that this is an unusual place. Each male PC without a hat suddenly finds himself wearing one, and is unable to remove the hat except indoors. In fact, upon entering any building the PCs find themselves compelled to remove their hats. Knotted leather thongs peace bond PCs weapons, unable to be untied.

Within the plane of Gnomica, everything that occurs occurs in accordance with an often-complicated set of laws and rules. An unknown and inviolable force, called The First Law, enforces the letter of the law. Inside Gnomica, there is no power greater than that of the laws. Even gods hold no sway within its borders.

The laws themselves are made by a governing parliament which meets thrice yearly. Members of the parliament serve for life or until ousted, and new ones are elected from the populace by the remaining members of parliament. Any member of parliament may put forth a proposal for a new rule or a motion to amend or strike previous rules at each session. All matters are put to a vote and a simple majority is all it takes for a measure to pass. All members of parliament are required to vote on each measure or explicitly abstain.

Encounters in Gnomica

An enemy has taken sanctuary in Gnomica. Due to the laws currently in effect, he is untouchable there. The parliament will be meeting soon, however, and the PCs may be able to influence it and get some new laws passed to aid them in capturing him.

Malus Mundi is quite literally a little bit of hell on Earth. At its heart lies a gate to hell, and infernal creatures come and go freely, allowing them to enter our world. Thankfully, they cannot stray too far. While any mortal creature can pass through the red veil of the dome with no more difficulty than passing through a light curtain, the denizens of hell find it more solid than any wall ever built.

It is usually not advised for mortals to enter Malus Mundi, though they usually need not fear wanton slaughter. The fact that they can leave and return freely makes any mortal foolhardy enough to enter quite valuable to the wretched creatures within. Some mortals even have established permanent residences within the dome, though that requires the protection of a truly powerful devil to ensure that no “accidents” happen.

Encounters in The City of Devils

A farmer’s son, discontent with a rural lifestyle and seeing no alternatives, has ventured to Malus Mundi to forge a partnership with a devil. The PCs must stop him.

The PCs manage to earn the attention of two devils, who offer them jobs. Not accepting is not an option the devils offer; unfortunately, the two are rivals and working for either also earns the other’s ire.

On the cusp between this world and the next there is a great, sprawling city known as Mourngate. It is here where all souls go to be judged and sent off to their final rest, and sometimes loved ones come here to be with their recently departed.

Most of the time, the cases are swift. A being called The Arbiter judges the soul as wicked, pure or conflicted. The wicked are sent off to the hells, the pure to paradise, and the conflicted to purgatory, where they will not have the fruits of paradise but nor will they suffer the tortures of damnation. Though this process is swift, the sheer bulk of souls waiting to be judged means that it can take a long time for your turn.

The Arbiter’s judgment is not final, though; any may appeal for a trial, with all the trappings. If the appealer can convince an angel of their plight, the angel will represent him in court. Otherwise, they’ll usually have to work out a deal with a demon to represent them. In return for getting them off of an eternity of punishment under someone else, the appealer might agree to only a few thousand years of punishment under the demon representing him before going to purgatory.

Encounters with Mourngate

A celestial messenger contacts the PCs, asking them to come testify against a villain who they killed.

The PCs must help a recently-deceased friend find counsel for his trial.

A PC cannot be raised because he’s been deemed wicked. He has been granted an appeal, and he and the rest of the PCs must work to clear his name.

There are three types of Nahua; the Couatls, Ocelotls, and Cipactli.

The Couatls are great feathered serpents with rainbow wings which patrol the skies. Couatls are the mightiest of the Nahuas, and also the least common. They range from 15 to 30 feet long and typically have a wingspawn as long as their bodies. Couatls are universally seen as a sign of good luck, hope, and protection and frequently featured in artwork. Each morning they come down from the clouds, and return back to them when their hunt is over.

The Ocelotls are exceptionally large jaguars, some standing at the shoulder as tall as a man. Their claws are like razors and their teeth daggers; they are canny and cunning hunters and the tribes of the Rathi Basin seek to embody the spirit of the Ocelotls in their hunts. The Ocelotls seems to come from the horizon, and when they depart they just run out of sight.

Finally, the Cipactli are small, but ravenous, alligator-like creatures, each about the size of your arm. Swarms of thousands of Cipactli patrol the waters and coastlines to destroy any evils lurking there. Cipactli embody the spirit of teamwork and cooperation, for even such small animals are capable of battling a megathon if they work in concert.

The plane of Sunhome is the largest and, consequently, Corm spends the longest in it each day. The sun from which the plane gets its name is so large that it is visible even while the world is passing through Twilight and Dawngate. Sunhome is a plane of life and serenity; it is here where the forces of evil are at their weakest.

After Sunhome, Corm passed through Twilight, the land of the trickster spirits collectively known as the fae. Twilight is a small realm, really little more than a transition between Sunhome and Evernight, but it is nonetheless very influential. Twilight is the realm from which all magic springs, and it is at its most powerful when Corm is in Twilight.

Evernight is only slightly smaller than Sunhome. It is a realm which all good people fear, and rightly so, for in Evernight the sun is no longer visible and the world of Corm is laid bare to the eyes of the terrible beasts which dwell beyond in the darkness. Each of them is visible, watching and plotting, as a star in the sky.

Finally, all good people breathe a sigh of relief when Dawngate approaches. Like Twilight, it is largely a transitional plane. With Twilight at its most distant, magic is weak in Dawngate. This, combined with the re-appearance of the sun, is usually enough to drive back the evils which lurk in the darkness… for another day, at least.