I was reading through the Desolation book last night and I wondered about something. After the Weave was broken, shattered, or whatever, I was wondering if it had been completely destroyed or if there was the possibility, however slim it might be, that the Weave could be fixed, recompiled, or otherwise restored and what would happen if such an event occured?

Interesting... let me say first of all, I never really considered this, but here are my thoughts... good question.

Could the Weave be repaired? Anything is possible. Off the top of my head, I can't think of a reasonable way it could happen. But as I thought about it, the first thing that popped into mind was that the best chance would be to kill all the spellcasters currently tapping into and let it heal naturally for a generation or two (or three).

Trying to correct it in a timely manner (as some kind of meta-plot) would probably require some kind of super McGuffin, a surviving arch-sorcerer, and a cadre of several hundred other spell casters to perform a ritual (which would kill all the casters involved).

If the Weave were restored, I think another apocalypse of sorts would occur, Burn would go back to how it worked in the Before and spell casters would be terribly unbalanced in the Desolation campaign. Orrrr... the Weave would be different, so all the traditions would need to be relearned.

You have options. What do others think?

I guess the first question to ask yourself is why did it break? Is the weave a natural phenomena like Gravity? Did the mages of the Before break the Weave they way modern scientists attribute changes in our environment to human generated pollution?

Or is the weave a gift bestowed upon humanity by the world itself? Would fixing the weave involve discovering lost rituals to appease Her and restore her gifts upon the world?

The concept of the Weave being restored seems to me to be pretty much a campaign meta-plot concept. A GM could decide if it's even possible and if so, what it would take.

Of course, it also brings into play larger questions such as, was the shattering of the Weave the cause of the Night of Fire, or just one of the consequences? What was the actual root cause of the Apocalypse? Could it happen again?

There will certainly be people (perhaps including the PCs) asking those questions and even seeking answers. What those answers are, if they are even obtainable, becomes a decision for each GM to implement.

Well, Nestor mentioned that people are going to be asking about this, especially the PC's, and that was the reason that I asked that question. Because I know that once the folks I play with express interest in this, this is one of the questions that they are going to ask me. Any suggestions on what to say?

In regards to the nature of the Weave - I have always imagined it more as a natural source of engery - a part of the world.

Philosophers could argue that it is a natural embodiment of the Two Above - a force that is both used for creation and destruction - a force than can be used to help keep the balance in the world.

We've always left the actual cause of the Night of Fire intentionally vague so a GM wouldn't feel caged in by an official answer.

If you'd like, we can start up a new thread and we can share the "official answer". However, I would be curious to hear other people's theories and backstories first.

Yikes! You're scaring me. I thought the whole presentation of The After was to be devoid of over-arching metaplots, and clear definitions of what the world is now. Something like an official answer to why the Weave broke seems to be a step in the wrong direction.

That's my gut reaction. I'm sure you guys know what you're doing.

game on.

Arthur

That's why we have quote marks around it. Imagine them as "air quotes" with heavy irony.
Any "official answer" from us is always going to be surrounded by "air quotes" such as these.
That said, if we release a book two years from now and part of it is set, for example, five hundred years after the Night of Fire, will that be official? Will we have just ruined everyone's campaign?
No. I mean, unless we physically come over to your house and scribble all over your campaign notes, we can't actually ruin anyone's campaign.

Road trip!!!!

Seriously, I think we'll probably end up hearing what everyone else things and drop in our own thoughts, as long as ours aren't too disruptive (or indeed, worse!) than what other people are thinking.

Hopefully any "official answers" won't compel people to build any kind of meta-plots around them. They are just pieces of information you can choose to either use or ignore.

If and when we share any "official answers", I want to make it very, very clear that GMs are more than welcome (perhaps even encouraged) to come up with their own explanations. At the end of the day, I want every group playing Desolation to have a fun, unique experience. If you think the "official answer" doesn't suit your group or you come up with an even better answer, I want you to feel empowered to toss the "official answer" out the window.

Seriously, though - if you don't think cigarette smoking dragons ended the world, you are more than welcome to change it.

I knew it! Those reptilian reprobates! Supercilious serpents ruining it for the rest of us! The gall of them!



Seriously, I think a thread or two discussing meta-plot concepts such as this would be a cool idea. I could get into reading other folks' thoughts on such matters if nothing more so that I can steal them to use on my own game.

What would be awesome is a couple "official" reasons for the devastation of the Weave, taken to their logical conclusion. eg.

If excessive magic broke the Weave. If 'gods' broke the weave. If the horrors the dwarves have been fighting for eons broke the weave. If the Weave is cyclical. etc. etc.

Oooh, hadn't thought of the Deep ones angle. Bringing them into the conspiracy, so to speak.

Maybe they're intelligent enough to have engineered the Apocalypse as a way to weaken the dwarves and open access to the outer world. Or maybe their very existence is a disruptive factor on the Weave (sort of a matter-antimatter kinda thing)....

The possibilities are endless.

The nice thing about the designer's approach, is that the GM can determine the problems with the Weave based solely on what the players want to do. Combat heavy parties can fight deep ones, those interested in fantasy religions can take a archaeologist's angle, etc.

OOohhh boy. When I open a can of worms, I really open a can of worms. Anyway, this has definitely given me a few things to consider. One thing is for certain, though, and that is when my group and I start playing this game, things are going to get interesting really quickly. I just hope that I'll be able to keep things interesting as the game progresses.

Exactly. An approach which I've seen work is to present the situation to the players, sit back and listen to their theories, then tailor the situation based on the direction they seem to be going. That way everyone enjoys the game more.