An Unknown Armies Cosmology
(This is an attempt to create a unified cosmology of Otherspaces for Unknown Armies. I think of the whole thing as being an alternate setting, more magick, more weirdness, but it could easily be inserted into the setting as it’s written. The basic idea is that there are different “families” of Otherspaces clustered around the real world at the center of the cosmos. People familiar with Planescape will recognize a lot of stolen ideas. It’s my favorite setting, next to Unknown Armies, so I thought I’d mix them together a bit.)
Beyond the streets with secret names, and beyond the world of our desires, beyond Matter itself, there are entire worlds born in the cracks of reality. These are the lost places, the forgotten worlds, visions of a past that never was, echoes of a future that can never be. These are the
The true lords of the Occult Underground know how the cosmos really work, and even when you’re looking at things from the outside-in, it’s basically the same. The universe is a battleground, Matter is being fought over between Order and Entropy, and with every incarnation comes the choice between oblivion and eternity. This is the great Conflict, and at it’s center is our world, and we are the ones who always decide the outcome. Human beings and their little ball of rock are at the absolute center of the cosmic struggle, but the universe is a bit more complicated than it seems to those on the ground level.
Matter is the world we inhabit, it is the Battleground, the One True Reality, and it stands at the center of the cosmos. Orbiting around it are smaller realities, strange places with different rules. These are the Otherspaces that most of the Occult Underground is familiar with. No one knows how they form, or how long they have existed for, but there are many theories.
Pulling Matter in one direction is Entropy. This is not just a concept, but a real place, a nightmare realm in constant flux, breaking down all physical and spiritual matter. Entropy exists to devour what is left behind when the universe reincarnates. There are Otherspaces that grow from Entropy as well, places of hatred, hunger, chaos, suffering, disease, and bad luck. The tiny realities born of Entropy have a purpose, and that is to strengthen the hold of chaos on the real world. Entropic Otherspaces include the dreaded House of Violation, the Null Zone, and the Cold City.
In the other direction is Order, which also forms a unique reality all it’s own, a world of pure energy and blinding dynamic force. Order is the engine that creates a new reality when the universe is ready to reincarnate. The Otherspaces of Order exist to heal, to create, and to bring us all closer to eternity. Among the worlds of Order are the House of Plenty, the Confessional Club, and the Vortex of Release.
And that’s not all. The real heavy-hitters of the Occult Underground know all about the Statosphere and the Invisible Clergy. This realm of pure probability and mass agendas is totally inaccessible to mere mortals. The only way to reach it is to ascend as one of the Clergy, but like Order and Entropy, the Statosphere has it’s own collection of unique Otherspaces that form around it. Everyone knows about the House of Renunciation, that’s one of them, but there is evidence to suggest that every Archetype of the Invisible Clergy has it’s own private realm, a place that only avatars are meant to go. There are places like the Savage’s Wilderness, the Masterless Man’s Dueling Grounds, and the Mother’s Haven.
At the end of everything, sliding towards the bottom of the universe, there is the Veil. Anyone who has ever chatted with a ghost or a demon has heard about the impenetrable barrier that separates the world of the living from that of the dead. No living human has ever crossed the Veil and returned, and it’s unlikely that anyone ever will. The closest anyone can get are the Deadworlds. These are rare Otherspaces that spring up along the borders of the Veil like slime-molds. The Deadworlds are unique in that the demons and restless spirits that inhabit them are forced to take a physical form. These spaces are nearly impossible to reach, only a strange cabal known as the Deathdivers knows how to access their secrets.
These are the “Cosmic Compass Points”, at the center of the universe is Matter, the real world, with it’s own family of Otherspaces. Above it is the Statosphere, home of the ascended archetypes. Pulling it towards destruction and transcendence are Entropy and Order, and yawning below it to catch the souls of the dead, there is the Veil.
There is one Otherspace in particular that deserves special attention, the home of the so-called “Otherspace Underground”. This place has many names, the Crossroads, the Cosmic Nexus, the Crux, but the most popular is simply Sprawl (note: I came up with the name just before I started reading William Gibson, and now it’s stuck). Sprawl is not part of any Otherspatial family, but exists independently as a meeting point for all places. It takes the form of a huge, chaotic city. The buildings are heaped on top of one another, the streets wind and tangle with little rhyme or reason. Sprawl is important because of the Corridors, which present the potential Othernaut with a reliable way to travel across reality. Corridors are portals that are activated with unique rituals, and if you know one of them, it’s as simple as walking through a door (traveling between Otherspaces is normally a random and unpredictable affair). The city’s Corridors connect it to every Otherspace (supposedly), and they also connect to the great cities of the real world, everywhere from New York to Tokyo to Jakarta.
Sprawl is controlled by a group of cabals and gangs who each vie for full control of the city. The most powerful of these are the Gatekeepers, a group that enforces “the Big Secret” of Sprawl and the Otherspaces. The Gatekeepers are very similar to the Sleepers, but even more extreme. Any mundane who happens to wander into Sprawl and become trapped, becomes a permanent resident by the order of the Gatekeepers. Most of the residents of Sprawl are poor unfortunates just like these, or their descendants.
Other cabals control different parts of the city, each with their own agendas and plans for Sprawl and it’s populace. The occultists of Sprawl all know the basics about how the universe works, and they can all be considered cosmic cabals.
The Black Hole Society (or the Black Holes) are a group of Entropy-obsessed fanatics who are working to dump the cosmos into oblivion and purify the universe.
The Cult of Perfect Days (or the Sunshiners) are a group of do-gooders who seek cosmic transcendence. They commit random acts of kindness and care for the repressed masses of Sprawl.
Demiurge is a group of magickal types who are obsessed with creating their own Otherspaces (and may or may not have succeeded in this venture).
The Survivors are a classic, heavily-armed religious doomsday cult who are looking to weather the Apocalypse using Otherspaces as their shelter (and eventually their seed for a new world).
Radio P-Brane is a cross-dimensional radio station that broadcasts the truth to all who would hear it. They openly speak out against the repression of the Gatekeepers.
The Deathdivers are an Argentinean group of necronauts who specialize in exploring the Veil and the Deadworlds.
Uncanny Valley is an “underground railroad” group for unnatural creatures and constructs. They provide a safe home and community for golems, clockworks, homonculi, and even stranger things.
These are the people that live on the edge of reality, and they only interact with the real world when they have to. Everyone want to keep the secret, not just the Gatekeepers. The infinite Otherspaces are theirs to explore and manipulate, and soon, whether by accident or by choice, you will join them. Pass through the Corridors and see the true face of the world we created.
(I’m planning on adding more details for this: specific examples of Otherspaces, a detailed writeup of Sprawl and it’s cabals, and some history. Again, this is meant to be more of an alternate setting, a part of the Unknown Armies world where the players can be part of an entire magickal community and explore some truly weird places. Comments and feedback are more than welcome.)
I move that this be declared saucesome and part of the cannon. And the canon.
I like Otherspaces, so I like this. It would rock as the foundation for an Australian-based game, since Australian magick is said to involve a seemingly endless supply of Otherspaces.
My primary reservation relates to making the Sprawl too much like Sigil. In the City of Doors, IIRC, it’s possible to blunder into an Outer Plane by pure freak chance just because you happen to pass through a certain door or a certain archway at the wrong moment, or while carrying the wrong item — and that’s a great device for railroading a party into an adventure; particularly if it takes them somewhere no sane cutter would go voluntarily. But, as a key thematic element in UA, magick is never that cheap. In fact, it usually costs the user more than it’s worth. If Otherspace access is made too simple, that theme is violated. So a meta-Otherspace, that exists at the nexus of all possible Otherspaces and from which they can all be accessed, is very cool, so long as it doesn’t become a place from which all Otherspaces can be accessed cheaply and easily.
Every Corridor is meant to be a puzzle. There are no randomly activated doors that a person can just trip through. You have to either squeeze the ritual out of someone who knows, or use some kind of divination to figure it out. It’s the knowledge of Corridors that represent true power in the city. The Gatekeepers have the most power because they’ve been there longer than anyone else, and they’re not sharing everything they know.
And I originally wrote up the Gatekeepers as being an Australian cabal called the Wapar Circle, who became the militaristic Gatekeepers over time. Sprawl’s largest population group is Australian, but there are people drawn in from all over the world.
I’m of the belief that the setting for Unknown Armies should be more global in scope. There’s plenty of postmodern weirdness going on in other countries too, not just the US of A.
The sprawl sounds fascinating – reminds me of the dystopian city in the movie “Franklyn”.
Otherspaces as a setting? Must dig out my Whispering Vault books – loads of plunderable material.
I like it.
Good plunderpoint.
I love Planescape and I love Unknown Armies a tick more, so you just created a wonderful monster.
Thank you.