Vale of the Azure Sun: Background
- Vale of the Azure Sun
- Characters
- Hidden Worlds
- The Magic Garden. The Grand Guignol. The Empty Garden. The Butterfly Halls. The Grey Ship of the Moon. The Land Where the Jumblies Live. Perhaps even the Chaotic Mist and the Dry City are magic realms gone awry. Iskander may have been lost in one of these realms. So, perhaps, Coleridge’s Eastern King or his ancient mariner. Coleridge told of the entrance to the sacred river, but what existed beyond that great romantic chasm he claimed not to know.
- Getting to the Adventure
- The map of the Blue Sun’s island, if they have it, is a MacGuffin: it can be used to help drive the players to the Vale and what lies beyond the Vale, but it doesn’t mean much to the adventure. If you choose to let them find the map, you might also let them find some clue or item along with it that leads them to the Vale. Or you may let them find the map in one place, and then the clue elsewhere after they’ve researched the children’s poetry…
- Pocket Domains
- The Vale of the Azure Sun is a pocket domain: a world completely separate and mostly cut off from the “real” world. There are different kinds of pocket domains, depending mostly on their entrances and exits. The entrances and exits to the Valley are mostly stationary: they stay where they are. Some of the entrances (such as the oak) are under the control of the Blue Sun. Others, such as most of those in the cavern system, are not. These, he tries…
- The Vale of the Azure Sun
- Most any child or gypsy could tell you two or three verses of The Vale of the Azure Sun.
- Other Worlds
- The Vale of the Azure Sun opens to several other worlds, and creatures from these worlds inhabit the Valley and the Long Caves. The worlds are the World of Highland, Fading Highland, and Dead Rome at the Crossroads. In Dead Rome it opens to a crossroads which returns to the Vale, goes to the World of Barcelas, and also goes to two other worlds of your design. Dead Rome at the Crossroads is itself almost lost. If the players choose to explore it,…
