World Overview

Mythology

In the Realm of Pangaea, many Gods warred for influence over mankind. In the end, Yahweh The Usurper, God of Mountains and Storms, along with his son Yeshua, Demigod of the Cross, murdered his consort Asherah, abandoned his pantheon, and seized control of mankind. He cast the other gods, their servants and heroes, as well as the laws of metaphysics and magic itself, into the void, drowning Pangaea in skepticism. The metaphysics itself returned to the Ether, residing equidistant to each of the elemental planes, and provided an anchor point to which the Castaway Gods could rally. To survive, each pantheon spent what power it had remaining to create safe havens for their worshipers in the Ether. These worshiper realms merged to form The Ocean of Panakos, the antithesis realm to Pangea, a prime material realm that actually physically borders each of the four elemental planes, and in which all the Castaway Gods of Pangea take solace. The Gods of Panakos now remain in the Ethereal Plane, walking amongst their people through Panakos, but never stray from their own regions of the world, and do not antagonize other Castaway Gods.

Religion

All individuals (including PCs) of Panakos must choose a deity, but that deity need not match their alignment exactly. All deities are from dead or dying real Earth pantheons. Choosing a pantheon ties you to role playing somewhat within that pantheon, because different regions of the game world follow specific pantheons. For instance, if you pick Thor as your god, then play a character that’s Norse in flavor, if you pick Raiden as your god, then play a character that’s Asian in flavor. Choose a home realm that matches the pantheon and god you’ve selected.

Metaphysics

Unlike the Earth, which has two magnetic poles, Panakos has four poles, each of which is a direct gate to an elemental plane. The four corners of the world each have an elemental association, and elementally attuned compasses point to each pole. An individual’s location, then, can be intuited by the angle between any two properly calibrated compasses, and is more accurate if three or four compasses are used. Sextants are not needed in Panakos.

As one travels closer to each pole, the seas are increasingly dominated by effects from that pole’s element, until they become impassably dangerous for vessels no matter how seaworthy. Climate across the oceans of Panakos is similarly influenced by the interaction between these four elements, in the manner described by Plato and Empedocles at the root of Helenic Physics. This diagram, as it relates to the geography of Panakos, is shown to the right.

Climate

The element of Earth dominates the North West quadrant of the seas. The element of Water dominates the north east quadrant. As those two elements interact, they create cold climates in the northern reaches of the ocean. The element of Air dominates the south east quadrant, and the eastern regions of the ocean are rainy, as Water and Air interact. Fire dominates the south west quadrant of the ocean, creating hot climates to the south and dry climates to the west. The classic diagram of Helenic Physics need only be rotated to match the poles, and the climactic associations from greek physics match the ocean.

Celestial

Panakos has one moon. It rises and sets along a line of action one third away from one edge of the world and two thirds away from the other edge, and that line of action rotates during the year. This line of action can be seen in the diagram above. The moon always travels in such a way that its path is clockwise through the sky. So at the summer solstice, the moon rises in the lower east, travels along that line from east to west, and sets in the lower west. During the winter solstice, the moon rises in the upper west, travels west to east, and sets in the upper east. For the spring equinox it goes north-south through the east half, and for the fall equinox it travels south-north through the west half. But it rotates daily, so as summer turns to fall, the moon begins to rise further and further south, then west and set further and further north, then east. This clockwise rotation of the moon in the sky also creates the primary predominant trade winds for the ocean, which generally circle clockwise. At the very center of the ocean, no trade winds predominate, so outside of temporary shifts in weather, the central ocean exists in deadly doldrums, which support huge drifts of Sargasso and kelp that snag and destroy ocean going vessels.

Geography

Most inhabited islands of Panakos are generally arranged in a circle, about the central trades. Circumnavigating the oceans along the predominant trades in a boat with a base speed of 2 knots (light wind) would take approximately one year. The habited ring of islands is approximately 12,000 nautical miles across, and the elemental poles themselves form a square about the habitable ocean slightly less than 15,000 nautical miles on a side.

Cultures

1. Asgard: Norse Culture, extremely cold, low precipitation
2. Kelevala Isles: Finnish Culture, very cold and very wet.
3. Isles of Kami: Japanese Culture, colder than average, slightly wetter than average.
4. Kell Archipelago: Celtic Culture, temperate to cold climate, and wet weather.
5. Isles of Olympia: Greek Culture, temperate climate, slightly wet weather.
6. Pueblan Islands: Native American Culture, temperate climate, dry weather.
7. The Jade Isles: Chinese Culture, temperate climate, slightly dry weather.
8. Gilganesia: Babylonian Culture, hot climate, dry weather.
9. Accadian Archipelago: Sumerian Culture, same as Babylonian
10. Isles of the Pharaoh: Egyptian Culture, hot, dry desert.
11. Ayers Jaws: Aborigine Culture, extremely hot, drier than average.
12. Incarna Archipelago: Indian Culture, hotter than average, and wet.
13. Kente Twins: African Culture, extremely hot, wetter than average.
14. The Dorados: Central American Culture, hot climate, wet weather, very tropical.

Dangers:

The Choke (15) is a centrally located sea of Sargasso, flotsam, driftwood, derelicts, and the bones of unfortunate sailors, spinning slowly about the central axis of the Ocean of Panakos. Doldrums prevent sailors from escaping this deadly morass of weeds, and generally prohibit travel through the central sea. Horrible creatures lurk in the drift.

The Torrentia (16) is a region of the south east (air and water influenced) seas where great, massive typhoons are known to erupt seemingly out of nowhere, making sailing travel very dangerous for ill prepared sailors.

The Bite (17) is a region of the north west (earth and water influenced) seas where great massive icebergs float and threaten to destroy passing ships. The frigid cold air here alone is enough to kill ill prepared sailors with hypothermia.

The Teeth (18) is a region of the south and west seas infested with massive interlocked coral reefs, which change location without warning and threaten deep drafted vessels with grounding.