Design: Jasyn Jones

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Ages ago, magic was strong and legends were true. Mages worked spells of power and might and fantastic creatures of every kind abounded. Chief among these were a race of fey immortals known as the Sídhe.

Alien and aloof, the Sídhe were one with the very essence of magic; their hearts, minds, and bodies quicksilver and chaotic. They wandered the world at the dawn of time, heedless of danger or want, as their powers could answer any possible need.

Yet the age of magic passed and their power passed with it. Short-lived humanity, who they had ignored for so long, had grown numerous and strong and now wielded weapons of iron and steel, both of which were deadly to those of faery blood.

Shorn of their magic, they were left naked and helpless in a world gone hostile and cold. Slowly the Sídhe retreated in the face of the growing might of men. This world no longer held a place for them, so they took refuge in another.

Fragmentary tales spoke of an unearthly underground domain called Tir Nan Og, a domain strong in the ancient magics. It was the home of the fey- boggarts, goblins, leprechauns, gnomes, and more- and the seat of the Seelie and Unseelie Courts.

This otherworldly realm was only tenuously linked to our own. Travel between the worlds was possible only in enchanted places, and then only when the magic grew strong. In time, the way between the worlds vanished, and the magical kingdom of the Sídhe was lost to legend.

In the Near Now, the Possibility Wars have remade the face of the Earth. The fantasy realm of Aysle has invaded Britain and Ireland, the magical power of the reality bringing life to ancient and forgotten legends.

Faery mounds have once again become pathways between the lands of men and the unearthly dominions of the fey. Once more, the Sídhe wander the hills and vales of the mortal world and men must again beware fairy gold and faery glammer.

Axioms

Magic: 19

Magic is the lifeblood of the Land. This pocket dimension has more magical energy flowing through it than Earth may ever have had. Magical creatures of every description abound, and enchanted groves or transmuting springs are common.

Beings from Tir Nan Og all use magic to some extent and magical effects are a near-constant (see The Wonders of the Land, below.) This potent magic is what drew the Sídhe to the realm in the first place, and its magic has been enhanced and shaped by their highly magical natures.

Though the Magic axiom is high, the structured study of magical spells and the methods to learn and cast them is unknown. Nearly anything spells could do, glammer can duplicate with greater safety and less effort. Spellcasting is not contradictory, and alien spellcasters can use their magics here.

Social: 5

The Sídhe have no real social structure, being gathered into two loosely defined bands, Light and Shadow. The Seelie Court is a stronghold of Light, while the Unseelie Court basks in Shadow. As the Sídhe are the most powerful race of the Land, most of the realm's other intelligent races tend to join one Court or the other.

Unlike the quicksilver faeries, who are capable of flitting from Light to Shadow and back again as mood and circumstance allow, or the Sídhe, who are evenly divided between the two, most races tend to exhibit strong allegiance to one of the two Courts. For instance, most leprechauns are followers of the Light, while Goblins definitely prefer Shadow. A dark and vengeful Leprechaun is possible, as is a kind and generous Goblin, but both are exceedingly rare.

In form, the two Courts resemble tribes, though membership is based on morality rather than heredity. Leadership of either Court is determined on an ad hoc basis. Courtiers of the Light tend to assign leadership to inspiring or outstanding individuals. Those of Shadow seize power, relying on intrigue, treachery and murder to ease their path.

Concepts such as money, time or borders are alien to the Sídhe, and this situation might never change.

Spirit: 20

This reality is divided between the opposing moral and spiritual forces of Light and Shadow. The high Spiritual axiom empowers each religion to an extent unseen on Earth, and the ability of the faithful to invoke obvious and powerful miracles would astound most Earth preachers.

Characters can gain faith adds in either faith (Light) or faith (Shadow). No being worships both Light and Shadow, although there are those who have wavered between the two. Worshippers of both strive to embody and advance the faith.

The worshippers of Light celebrate life, benevolence, innocence, generosity and kindness. Conversely, the Shadowed celebrate death, darkness, decay, cruelty and lust for power. These faiths are inherently opposed to each other, and Light and Shadow are considered enemy mythos.

Both Light and Shadow eschew holy days, worship services and designated houses of worship. Religious devotion is very much a matter of living the doctrine in everyday life. The low Social axiom means that there are no organized congregations, priestly officials or compiled books of doctrine.

Any gathering of the faithful offers a chance to share insights and wisdom with each other, reaffirm their spirituality and recite the lore handed down from the past. In the main, this consists of tales that relate the past doings of Champions and believers. Learning either religion is a gradual process of gleaning insight and guidance from the myths of the past and the example of the living.

The two Courts share a common body of myths and legends, although the slant of the stories vary greatly between the two. Seelie heroes are valiant and honorable, Unseelie cunning and ruthless. Many stories are told from opposing viewpoints, the Seelie extolling the same individual the Unseelie decry.

The high Spirit axiom allows the laity to invoke miracles, assuming a sufficient number gather together (see The Revised and Expanded Torg Rulebook, pg. 228). No special training is required, and anyone with adds in the appropriate faith can participate.

There are no official priests, but rather Champions who embody the fullness of the Light or the Shadows. These Champions have the focus skill, and thus can invoke miracles in the absence of others of the faith. Champions, then, are frequently called to go forth into lands where no faithful reside: the world of men or strongholds of the enemy.

The Spiritual nature of this reality is reflected in, and shaped by The Paths of Light and Shadow, which World Law is explained below. In particular, this World Law determines how characters gain adds in faith and focus, and the requirements for doing so.

Tech: 15

The Tech axiom of this reality is mostly unused, as the inhabitants can produce nearly anything they wish through glammer. The Sídhe, by their nature, prefer to use magic and eschew tools of any kind. However, their time in the mortal realms accustomed them to the use of a few items, in particular bows, swords and armor.

These weapons and armor are primarily used during the Wild Hunt, when a small group of Sídhe band together to stalk and kill one of the many monstrous denizens of Shadow. The Seelie and the Unseelie Courts both hold Wild Hunts, at the whim of their current ruler. Very often, their opponents are invited to participate, a shared hunt and the feast thereafter being an excellent venue to scheme and intrigue.

The Sídhe have no technological base, no craftsmen, smithies, mines or smelters. The weapons and armor they wield are willed up out of nothing, by fairy glammer. That said, once created they are mundane weapons, indistinguishable from those made by human hands (though far, far more ornate and refined). All metallic objects in this realm are either silver, gold or orichalchum (a naturally occurring magical metal), as the Sídhe cannot touch or use iron and steel (see The Perils of Terror and Joy, below).

The only other tools the Sídhe are accustomed to are their luxuries- sumptuous beds, finely carved tables, ornate leaded goblets, tapestries, carpets, paintings, illuminated manuscripts, cut gems and many others. The Sídhe produce these through acts of will and do not rely on natural resources.

Though the Sídhe don’t use it to its full extent, the Tech axiom supports the presence of any tools with the appropriate axiom. Outsiders can bring arms and armor into the Land with them, and they will function normally. Likewise, despite lacking the sensibilities and practices of technological development, the Sídhe could duplicate any tool allowed by this axiom (once they encounter it), simply by wishing.

The World Laws of this reality highlight its magical power and the nature of the struggle between Light and Shadow. They act to define the unique feel of Tir Nan Og, enabling gamemasters to better portray it during play.

The Paths of Light and Shadow

Light and Shadow both war for the hearts of the inhabitants of Tir Nan Og. Light seeks to ennoble and fortify, while Shadow seeks to corrupt and seduce. In this reality, faith is not a matter of study or effort, it is a reward for following the moral principles of each religion.

In game terms, no Tir character can spend Possibilities on the native faith skills. If the gamemaster uses the optional rules for learning or improving a skill by spending time, those rules cannot be used to learn or improve the native faith skills.

Instead, each inhabitant of this cosm earns faith adds by following the tenets of Shadow or Light. Even those who do not know the doctrines, or mean to worship either, can gain faith adds in this manner.

This may potentially include mortals who have wandered, knowingly or unknowingly, into the Land. Alien characters with no faith of their own are affected by this World Law, but those who have faith adds in an alien religion are not.

Once an alien character gains adds in faith (Light or Shadow), via the method below, they can always be affected by this World Law, even while in other realities. If they lose all faith adds in either Light or Shadow, or convert to an alien religion, then this World Law will no longer affect them.

At the end of every act, the gamemaster must judge the actions of every character affected by this World Law. If the character strongly upheld and embodied the tenets of Light or Shadow, by following the essence of the faith in word and deed, the gamemaster may award them a faith add in the appropriate religion (Light or Shadow). The character does not have to pay for this add with possibilities or time. If the character did not sufficiently embody either religion, then no faith adds are awarded.

If the gamemaster cannot decide, and would prefer to leave the matter to chance, the chance that a character will gain an appropriate add is False (15). No more than 1 faith add can be gained during an adventure (though each act presents an opportunity to gain that one add).

Characters with adds in faith (Light) who would gain an add in faith (Shadow), as a consequence of their acting in a manner consistent with Shadow, instead lose an add of faith (Light). The opposite holds true for characters who have faith (Shadow) and would gain an add in faith (Light): instead, they loose an add in faith (Shadow).

Characters can lose 1 faith add per act, with no limit on the number lost during a module. A character with 3 adds in faith (Shadow) who acts in accordance with Light, can lose 1 add each act. If the module has four or more acts, they can lose all 3 Shadow adds and even gain 1 add in Light (though no more than that).

Characters can convert from Light to Shadow, or the reverse, using the standard rules for Torg. That is, faith adds in one religion become faith adds in the other, though 1 faith add is lost in the process of conversion.

Each add in faith (Light or Shadow) grants the faithful protection against the hostile miracles and blandishments of the enemy mythos. In accordance with the standard Torg rules, when enacting a miracle against those of the opposite faith, the Difficulty is raised by the number of faith adds the target possesses (pg. 124, Torg Rulebook).

In addition, the faithful of Light and Shadow can attempt to "cancel" the miracles of the enemy faith, in a manner similar to an atheist canceling a miracle. For rules on this, see pg. 125 of the Torg Rulebook.

Each faith add a character has in Light or Shadow confers a +1 Bonus Modifier to all of his Charisma and Charisma-based skill checks when dealing with those of the same faith. Conversely, each add imposes a -1 Bonus Modifier to the same attribute and skill checks when dealing with a member of the opposite faith.

Neither Light nor Shadow have ordained priests (as the low Social axiom doesn’t support the concept). Instead, both depend on great heroes of their religion, called Champions.

When a character earns 6 adds in faith (Light or Shadow), they are offered the opportunity to become a Champion of the faith. Typically, this involves a quest of some kind, usually to defeat a Champion of the enemy or to perform some other great deed in support of the faith. Characters who succeed gain an add in focus. Only Champions possess the focus skill.

Like faith, characters cannot spend possibilities or time to improve their adds in focus. Instead, each time the character would be eligible to gain an add in their faith skill, they may instead opt to gain an add in focus. Similarly, whenever they must lose an add in their faith skill, they can opt to lose an add in focus instead. If their faith adds drop below 6, they lose the use of focus until they both raise their faith adds to 6 (or higher) and complete an atoning quest.

When the Champion's focus skill reaches 6 adds, they are granted an artifact of the faith. This may be a blessed item (possibly offering a focus bonus, see pg. 225 of The Revised and Expanded Torg Rulebook), knowledge of a spiritually significant location, a fragment of lost doctrine or lore, a personal revelation or vision or any other spiritually significant experience or object.

Each Champion receives a unique artifact, one tailored to that character. This artifact fulfills some need the character has, provides an answer to a prayer or serves as the means for a Champion to overcome some obstacle or challenge.

The experience of receiving an artifact is powerful and moving. It connects the character to the living essence of his religion, enabling him to understand it better, love it with a greater intensity, and become ever more dedicated to living its principles.

This intense experience increases the Champion's faith skill by 1 add. In addition, the Champion may now perform one miracle of his religion (chosen by the gamemaster) at will, without needing to make a focus check (although a faith total is still required.)

A Champion who converts loses the usual add in faith, an add in focus, their ability to unerringly invoke a miracle, their artifact of the faith, and the extra faith add it granted. If the Champion still has 6 or more adds in focus, and converted to the other Tir religion, they are usually presented with a quest enabling them to become a Champion of their new faith.

Among those of Shadow, it is considered particularly delicious to seduce a Champion of Light into transgression. Similarly, redeeming a Champion of Shadow is a honored accomplishment for Champions of Light. Very often, the quests Champions receive involve just such an endeavor.

The Wonders of the Land

The realm of Tir Nan Og is suffused with beauty and majesty. Each twisting cavern of the under-earth kingdom leads somewhere new, drawing visitors onward from one miraculous sight to the next. Its endless halls house forests and plains, mountain streams and glorious seashores, towering dunes of driven sand and frozen ruins half buried in ice. The trees bear leaves of silver and gold, singing swallows weep diamond tears and the whistling wind whispers forgotten secrets in the ears of passersby. The Land is filled with magic and enchantment, and few mortals fail to be charmed by its endless array of wonders.

Tir Nan Og is saturated with the glammer of the Faien races. Their quicksilver nature, by turns both enchanting and horrifying, and their love of pranks and illusions has left its mark on the reality of this dimension.

The wonders of the Tir are produced spontaneously, no guidance need be provided. This World Law molds ambient magical energies to create dazzling scenes of magic and beauty (or, in Shadow, scenes of unthinkable darkness and terror).

Natives of this reality can summon wonders at will, molding their surroundings to suit their desires. Worshippers of Light craft groves, gardens and other places of beauty and serenity. The Shadowed contrive stark vistas teeming with grotesque and terrifying sights.

Natives can call upon the power of glammer, imposing their desires upon the physical world. This is a form of wish magics, and gamemasters can use the Wish Magic rules to model its effects. For the purposes of the Wish Magic rules, the Magic axiom of Tir Nan Og is effectively 28.

This form of Magic is available only to natives of this reality and only while in this pocket dimension. Outside the bounds of their underworld home, the Sídhe are far less powerful and far more vulnerable.

Those who wander into this realm find themselves at the mercy of the magics. They have no control over the manifestations and often fall victim to subtle dangers. Mortals must beware- glammer is both beguiling and dangerous. (A more full description of their nature and the dangers they pose can be found below.)

If they've a mind, natives can free trapped mortals, though most have no interest in the doings of upworlders. Those of the Light are most likely to aid the helpless, while those of Shadow seek only to torment them.

The Perils of Terror and Joy

Magic is chaos and so is the Land. Mortals are meant for the world of men, not the quicksilver realms of the fey. Those who wander here uninvited court disaster at every turn. It is only the strong willed and pure in heart who can dare these halls, and then only at great peril.

The caverns are many, and follow no pattern or plan. More, they move about at random, changing position and orientation, perhaps several times in a day. Even if not moving, the caverns can change.

The walls vary in color and composition, archways and doors appear out of nowhere and fade into nothingness and the hall's shape can vary from moment to moment. New rooms and new halls can spontaneously form, while old ones simply cease to be. These changes may be quick and drastic or gradual and subtle. A room may remain unaltered for generations, then utterly change in an instant.

It is possible, though difficult, for mortals to navigate the shifting halls (the Fey, of course, can do so at will.) Finding the way from one cavern to another is more a matter of intuition than intelligence, as it is the feel of the caverns that matters, not any given transient physical details.

In game terms this is a Perception check, although those characters with scholar (Tir Nan Og lore) can substitute that skill. This check must be made when a character is attempting to find their way through Tir Nan Og, or attempting to leave. As indicated above, native characters never need make this check, nor do alien characters who have become Champions.

The base Difficulty Number of this check is a 15. The Success Levels gained with this check are read on the chart below.

Other modifiers may apply, at the gamemaster’s discretion. The next chart gives some examples.

Obviously, it is far easier and quicker for interlopers to be led than to find their own way. Visitors to the dimension are advised to cultivate friendships among the Fey, that at least one willing guide may be found.

Nor is the inconstant nature of the Land its only peril. The caverns of the underground realm can be terrible or marvelous in turn, offering mortals purest happiness or darkest despair. Both are dangerous to those unfamiliar with this realm.

Mortals are easily beguiled by beauty and pleasure, and the lands of Light are idyllic and paradisiacal, such that mortal minds are benumbed by their glories. Similarly, the haunts of Shadow are twisted and abhorrent, paralyzing the mind with shock and revulsion at the mere sight of them. Mortals who stumble upon either are trapped, held fast in the grip of emotions far stronger than any they've experienced before.

These vastly divergent scenes both pose the same difficulty- in order to leave, one must overcome the sensations that cloud the mind. This requires a Mind (willpower) total, made against a Difficulty Number of 12. If a Sídhe has purposely crafted the region to trap mortals (not uncommon, though more likely a ploy of Shadow than of the Light), this Difficulty Number is 18.

Success allows the character to break free, failure means they are trapped until rescued, either by a Sídhe or a companion who succeeded in breaking free. Traveling alone is singularly dangerous.

Of all the pitfalls the Land offers, none are as unpredictable and deadly as the Sídhe themselves. The Sídhe are immortal, and spend the long years of their lives in planning and executing intricate maneuvers in a contest for eminence and renown. Though Light opposes Shadow, the two seldom meet in battle. More likely, they match wits over a banquet, at a ball or during a Hunt. Their minds are subtle, ancient and utterly inhuman.

Their inhuman nature makes them difficult to understand, predict or manipulate. Sídhe have a +5 bonus when resisting human attempts to trick, taunt, intimidate, charm or persuade them. In combat, the Sídhe's unearthly tactics and unpredictable maneuvers grant them a +3 bonus to defend against all maneuvers and physical attacks a mortal might attempt (magic, miracles, psionics, and other non-physical attacks are not affected).

The Sídhe are masters of glammer, and can conjure nearly anything at will (see the glammer rules, above). Fortunately for mortals, the Sídhe's long association with mankind has left them susceptible to certain countermeasures. All of these are highly offensive (save taleswapping), and any Sídhe exposed to them will become hostile (or, if already hostile, become an enemy.)

Sídhe can be affected by the ward enemy miracle and cannot use their glammer to affect those so protected. The warded mortals cannot attack the Sídhe, and attempting such an attack voids the miracle.

All fey are vulnerable to certain substances. Iron (or steel) is poison to them, and weapons composed of these metals have their Damage Value (and max. damage, if applicable) increased by +3 against any fey.

Water blessed by a priest causes intense pain, though no physical damage. A vial of holy water has an Effect Value of 15, compared to the fey's Spirit or intimidation, treated as an intimidation attempt.

The last way to counter a Sídhe is to play upon their driving passion: a hunger for stories. Sídhe love well-told stories, especially ones they haven't heard before, and relating a novel tale gains the teller great renown and prestige. Stories are the closest Sídhe society comes to money or wealth.

Anyone who can present a Sídhe with a novel tale, well told, can gain great favor. It is even possible to bargain with a Sídhe by promising such a story, in return for which the fey is bound to perform some task. Sídhe tend to respond quite poorly if cheated in such a transaction.

The Dimension

Tir Nan Og is an underground realm of twisting caverns and vast halls. In defiance of logic or reason, the halls of the realm seldom appear to be underground. Instead, they are filled with what appear to be fragments of other times and other places.

In such halls, the sun may shine or snow may fall upon beaches, hills, groves, canyons, ancient castles, small villages or nearly anything else. The terrain usually appears as a deciduous woodland in late fall, where stags and other forest animals roam freely.

Only in the lands of Shadow does desolation rule: nothing grows there, and only the shadowed live there. The darkened lands are desolate, gray, rocky, utterly bereft of beauty.

In most places, the Land offers shelter and food in such abundance as to defy imagination. Scarcity, and hence trade, is unknown. The trees of Tir Nan Og bear leaves of living silver and gold, of a purity nearly unknown in the world of mortals. Wealth, it must be said, means nothing to the Sídhe.

Apart from rare- but brutal- clashes between the Courts, life in Tir Nan Og is idyllic. The Sídhe rarely bear arms other than to hunt for food or for sport. The Sídhe spend their days in wooing and feasting, dancing and singing. They treasure art and poetry, epic tales and pithy anecdotes.

This world is the realm of the Sídhe, and they have molded it to match their alien nature. The power of glammer fills the dimension, and the Sídhe shape its caverns and halls at will, as mood and impulse dictate.

Glammer makes a mockery of mortal concepts such as time, distance and direction. Exact measurements are useless in a world where caverns can change size or shape from moment to moment, where archways may appear in the middle of a previously blank wall and where passages can twist about, shifting position as if they were alive. There is little in Tir that holds its form or place permanently.

Time may stop, run faster or slower or seem to run in reverse. The seasons may flit past, bringing bright sunshine, stinging cold and warm spring rains all within a few moments.

"Down" is a relative concept, and what once was the floor may suddenly become the ceiling (with disastrous results). Different areas of a room might each define "down" differently, making crossing such a room a difficult task indeed.

The assumptions of biology and heredity do not hold here. A tree might grow from a green shoot to a mighty oak in a matter of minutes, then fall and rot away as quickly. Bushes may bear shimmering fruits that, when fallen from the branch, split open to reveal butterflies and dragonflies, their wings the same gossamer shades as the fruit they sprang from.

Glammer is the substance of dreams and desires and in Tir, dreams are an active force. They call out to the living, singing soft songs of the joys of sleep, drawing living minds down the slope of consciousness to dreaming's ethereal palaces.

Whole years may elapse, while in sleep they dream and dream, and the world passes them by. Ofttimes dreamers awake, and find their dreams come to life around them. Worse, their nightmares may have as well.

The Land responds oddly to wishes and wants. The desperate and forlorn come here often, chasing hope and fleeing despair, for they know Faery glammer can answer wishes, if chance favors and luck holds true. If not, the questors' pleas go unanswered and amongst the silent and empty halls, they find nothing at all.

Just as this world responds to thought, so too do thoughts respond to the world. Itinerants and vagabonds find their mind wandering, their thoughts becoming strange and all knowledge and memory of who they were draining away, lost in a cloud of enchantment.

Daydreams float on breezes and winds, daydreams that infect the minds of travelers with visions and fancies that seem important, but which are as substantial as moonbeams. It takes a powerful will to focus the mind and ignore the lure of fanciful thoughts.

Illusions abound here, Faery magic shrouding the real with glammer. What appears to be so, is very often not that at all. The precious gemstones littering the floors may actually be priceless jewels, or nothing more than stone and dust. Banquet halls host feasts of surpassingly fine cuisine, that may actually be stale crusts and bits of moldy cheese. Golden treasures overflow from the pots of Leprechauns, though what looks to be gold may be Faery gold, common lead masked with veils of illusion.

Even the living are subject to the quicksilver essence of magic. The creatures one meets may age or grow younger, taller or shorter or even become other than that which they were, all in a matter of moments.

A burly oak was once a blacksmith, his muscular arms become looming boughs. A feral wolf's eyes evince a spark of intelligence, all that remains of the mind of a man. And in the soft tinkling of a gently running brook, one hears a hint of the sweet voice of a forgotten lover.

The wonders of the Land also include the manifold races of the fey. The fey are inhuman and flighty, prone to sudden impulses and mad for jokes, pratfalls and tall tales. Those who show patience, or respond in kind, may win friends while the sullen and resentful are doomed to suffer more torment