A Death Gate Cycle Primer
A Death Gate Cycle Primer
The Worlds
The Pre-sundered World (Earth): There was a nuclear war resulting in the loss of most technology. In the aftermath, mankind became reacquainted with magic and the other races, elves and dwarves, who had remained hidden previously. Two new races, Sartan and Patryns, made their appearance at this time.
The Sundering: The Sartan and Patryns were capable of using rune magic, a power rooted in manipulation of probability. This advanced their skills far beyond that of the other races and gave them almost god-like power. Both attempted to exert ruling control, though the Sartan believed themselves to be wise and benevolent, while the Patryns were more openly aggressive and manipulative. Fearing the Patryns were becoming too powerful, the Sartan Council used their magic to break the world into elementally based parts (air, water, fire, stone) and a prison world to contain their enemies.
The Sartan Plan: The worlds were all connected by one-way conduits that were meant to provide resources between the new worlds that they otherwise lacked. They were also connected by the Death Gates, portals allowing travel between the worlds. Everything was meant to work together to create the Sartan's ideal world, peaceful and perfect, and totally under their guidance. The plan was never fully realized. The prison world, the Labyrinth, designed to humble and reform the Patryns, was not exactly as planned, either.
Xar's Plan: The first Patryn known to have reached the end of the Labyrinth, Xar was one of the most powerful Patryns ever. Full of hate for the Sartan, who had imprisoned his people in a death trap for generations, Xar plotted revenge. He made frequent trips back into the Labyrinth--the only Patryn known to be brave enough to do so--to rescue more of his people and encourage them to join his cause. The Sartan left behind information in the Nexus that told how their plan was meant to work, and Xar realized something had gone wrong. He planned to conquer all the other worlds and eventually sought to force them all back into one world, like the original. He sent one of his followers, Haplo, to explore the other worlds, and gather information both on the situations there and the Sartan. He was killed before the Death Gate out of the Labyrinth was closed.
The Labyrinth, the Nexus, and the Vortex: From the entrance in the center, the Vortex, the Labyrinth spirals outward in a defined path toward the end, passable only through the Gates, barriers between sections of the Labyrinth that must be destroyed or conquered before proceeding. Past the Final Gate is the Nexus, a peaceful and beautiful city meant to be a reward of sorts after finally making one's way through the Labyrinth. The Sartan never intended it to be deadly, but without any further guidances after its creation, the Labyrinth began to torment and execute the Patryns.
Arianus: The world of air was composed of floating islands. The composition of these islands, though allowing them to float in the air, prevented them from retaining water in the soil, and thus water became currency there. A giant machine on the lowest islands, which floated lower due to mineral deposits, gathered some water from perpetual stormy conditions around it. The machine was intended to align all the islands and provide constant water to the world and produce manufactured goods for the other worlds, but it was never properly instructed to do so.
Pryan: The world of fire was gigantic and hollow, with four constantly shining suns at the center. The inner shell was covered in massive jungles of vegetation. Most of the inhabitants lived in the treetops and had never seen the ground. Pryan was intended to provide the other worlds with light, energy, and plentiful produce. The light and energy were to be beamed from "Citadels," shining cities scattered throughout the massive world, but no one ever properly activated them.
Abarrach: The world of stone had no sun, instead light was provided by magical columns of stone called "Colossus" and the magma that flowed from the center of the world to the cooler outlying cavern toward the edges of the world. The outside of Abarrach was a layer of ice. Without proper connections to the other worlds, the atmosphere of Abarrach proved toxic to the humans, elves, and dwarves relocated there by the Sartan. The Sartan themselves began to struggle to survive, losing touch with most of their magic and becoming dependent upon necromancy, using their dead to do most of their work for them. Necromancy had been forbidden because of a balancing principal that when one person was brought back, another died in their place. This was the likely cause of the disappearance of the Sartan in the other worlds.
Chelestra: The world of water was meant to be a waste recycling facility for the other worlds, with giant creatures called durnai that were meant to act as both homes for the people of the world and processing facilities internally. The residents lived in air bubble filled caverns on the outside of the durnai. The rest of the world is a giant sea of water, with a magical sun that burns even submerged. The sea water is breathable like air, but it does no quench thirst and somehow negates all rune magic. The Sartan Council settled on this world, but were confronted with an enemy the did not expect and put themselves in a stasis sleep after requesting assistance that never came.
The Races
Mensch: Humans, elves, and dwarves are known collectively as "mensch" by the Sartan and Patryns. Capable of magic, though much less powerful than the rune magic, these peoples were more or less left to their own devices when the Sartan disappeared and then became essentially only legends. Most of the time, the races kept to themselves and warred amongst each other. None appear in this story.
Sartan: The Sartan look like normal humans, with the exception that their hair is usually white and turns to brown at the tips, though rarely one will have black hair. They favored flowing robes resembling the togas of ancient Greece and Rome. Their rune magic is more conceptual than Patryn magic, and requires simultaneous physical and verbal action to cast it. The runes are hexagonal in shape, and the honeycomb-like constructs they use can be interpreted in multiple ways, depending upon the rune at which the casting starts.
Patryns: Patryns also appear human, though their hair is the opposite of the Sartan, brown ending in white. Their rune magic is more physical than that of the Sartan, and they tattoo the runes on their skin in blue and sometimes red ink. The runes cover all of their bodies except for the head, palms and fingers of the hands, and soles of the feet. Patryn rune magic uses octagons and smaller squares, allowing eight possible options for a spell to proceed. The circle is an important concept in Patryn magic and life.
The dragon-snakes, dragons of Pryan, and the Higher Power: Neither the dragon-snakes nor the dragons of Pryan are "true" dragons, but rather physical representations of chaos and order, good and evil. As such, they are the equivalent of demons and angels in this story. They are capable of taking any form they choose. The form the dragon-snakes most frequently take as their "true" one is that of giant serpents with green eyes that glow red and bodies that ooze a toxic slime. The dragons of Pryan are also snake-like in body type, though they do have legs (I usually picture something like a Chinese dragon). In the series, neither type of dragon can be killed, as they draw on emotions of people, which cannot be truly eliminated. This has been disregarded in the story--they are just very difficult to kill. The presence of a higher power, God, that maintains balance in all things, was discovered by the Sartan just before the Sundering, but faced with having to acknowledge that they were not themselves almighty, the Sartan proceeded anyway. The Higher Power still made itself subtly known, but was presumably busy trying to balance out the Sundering's imbalance, and did not take any dramatic action.
Other Important Plot Points Glossed over by a Lazy Author
Hugh the Hand and the Accursed Blade: Hugh was a human assassin from Arianus that was killed protecting a human sorceress and her son. Alfred, perhaps feeling somewhat responsible, resurrected him. After his initial return from the dead, Hugh could die again, but would revive. He did not enjoy that at all. He was hired by Xar, though indirectly through another, to kill Haplo. Knowing he was not strong enough to kill a Patryn, Hugh sought help from the assassin's guild of Arianus and was given a rune-inscribed blade capable of changing its form to be whatever the wielder required it to be to create a tactical advantage, though the results could be somewhat unpredictable. After the Death Gate was closed, Hugh died a final time.
Alfred, the Serpent Mage: Alfred awoke from a stasis sleep to find himself the only surviving Sartan on Arianus. Always afraid of taking the wrong action, Alfred instead resorted to fainting when confronted so he would take no action at all. He was so conflicted, in fact, that he frequently blocked out the memory of his actions when he did use his magic. Alfred is not his real name, but one he assumed while pretending to be human. His real name is Coren, which means "chosen," and he was essentially destined to help close Death's Gate. He is known to the dragon-snakes as the Serpent Mage, able to take the physical form of a dragon (a more traditional one with wings) in order to fight them.
Bane: All you really need to know about him is that he is mentioned briefly as being someone Alfred brought back from the dead, like Hugh.
Haplo's Dog: Just before reaching the Final Gate, Haplo was fighting a losing battle against monsters from the Labyrinth. Suddenly, a dog appeared and helped him defeat his foes. The dog was unusually bright and had a tendency to do remarkable things like appear behind locked doors, climb ladders, and refuse to stay dead after it was thrown into a pit of boiling mud on Abarrach. Somehow, Haplo managed to separate his soul from his body and give it a form. It was later rejoined with him.
Haplo and Marit's Daughter: Haplo met in the Labyrinth while both were Runners. They fought and slept alongside one another for a long time. They split up after a Squatter village was about to be attacked and Haplo chose to just move on because it looked like a losing battle. Marit thought the Squatters would have a better chance at survival with help. Though she never actually confirmed it at the time, Haplo guessed Marit was pregnant, but they still went their separate ways. Marit named their daughter Rue and left here to be raised by a group of Squatters.
Haplo and Xar: As one of Xar's most skilled and loyal followers, Haplo was selected to scout the other world's for Xar. At first, he viewed Xar as infallible, but after his experiences in the other worlds and discovering the dragon-snakes, Haplo tried to warn Xar and convince him not to proceed with his plans. Xar felt Haplo had betrayed him--with a bit of influence from the dragon-snakes--and told Bane to have him killed and also sent Marit to kill him. Haplo remained loyal throughout, and Xar realized this at the end, just before his death.
Xar and Marit: Before sending Marit after Haplo, Xar rune-joined with her, the most profound connection two Patryns can have. Both parties had a special rune tattooed on their foreheads, allowing them to be mentally linked. Marit was honored, but Xar really only used it as a tool to monitor her. A rune-joining is in effect until one party's death, but after deciding to help Haplo, Marit slashed her forehead rune to disrupt her psychic connection to Xar. It was implied that Xar had done something similar before, so I am assuming Marit was able to remove the rune-joining mark from her forehead after his death.
Zifnab: This wizard was first encountered by Haplo on Pryan. He is bonded to a dragon of Pryan, and influenced the actions of other characters. He vascillates between seeming to be harmlessly mad and very shrewd, and mostly, he is an annoyance to those around him. Zifnab is prone to pop culture references that mean nothing to the other characters. He was originally one of the Sartan who objected to the Sundering.
The Worlds
The Pre-sundered World (Earth): There was a nuclear war resulting in the loss of most technology. In the aftermath, mankind became reacquainted with magic and the other races, elves and dwarves, who had remained hidden previously. Two new races, Sartan and Patryns, made their appearance at this time.
The Sundering: The Sartan and Patryns were capable of using rune magic, a power rooted in manipulation of probability. This advanced their skills far beyond that of the other races and gave them almost god-like power. Both attempted to exert ruling control, though the Sartan believed themselves to be wise and benevolent, while the Patryns were more openly aggressive and manipulative. Fearing the Patryns were becoming too powerful, the Sartan Council used their magic to break the world into elementally based parts (air, water, fire, stone) and a prison world to contain their enemies.
The Sartan Plan: The worlds were all connected by one-way conduits that were meant to provide resources between the new worlds that they otherwise lacked. They were also connected by the Death Gates, portals allowing travel between the worlds. Everything was meant to work together to create the Sartan's ideal world, peaceful and perfect, and totally under their guidance. The plan was never fully realized. The prison world, the Labyrinth, designed to humble and reform the Patryns, was not exactly as planned, either.
Xar's Plan: The first Patryn known to have reached the end of the Labyrinth, Xar was one of the most powerful Patryns ever. Full of hate for the Sartan, who had imprisoned his people in a death trap for generations, Xar plotted revenge. He made frequent trips back into the Labyrinth--the only Patryn known to be brave enough to do so--to rescue more of his people and encourage them to join his cause. The Sartan left behind information in the Nexus that told how their plan was meant to work, and Xar realized something had gone wrong. He planned to conquer all the other worlds and eventually sought to force them all back into one world, like the original. He sent one of his followers, Haplo, to explore the other worlds, and gather information both on the situations there and the Sartan. He was killed before the Death Gate out of the Labyrinth was closed.
The Labyrinth, the Nexus, and the Vortex: From the entrance in the center, the Vortex, the Labyrinth spirals outward in a defined path toward the end, passable only through the Gates, barriers between sections of the Labyrinth that must be destroyed or conquered before proceeding. Past the Final Gate is the Nexus, a peaceful and beautiful city meant to be a reward of sorts after finally making one's way through the Labyrinth. The Sartan never intended it to be deadly, but without any further guidances after its creation, the Labyrinth began to torment and execute the Patryns.
Arianus: The world of air was composed of floating islands. The composition of these islands, though allowing them to float in the air, prevented them from retaining water in the soil, and thus water became currency there. A giant machine on the lowest islands, which floated lower due to mineral deposits, gathered some water from perpetual stormy conditions around it. The machine was intended to align all the islands and provide constant water to the world and produce manufactured goods for the other worlds, but it was never properly instructed to do so.
Pryan: The world of fire was gigantic and hollow, with four constantly shining suns at the center. The inner shell was covered in massive jungles of vegetation. Most of the inhabitants lived in the treetops and had never seen the ground. Pryan was intended to provide the other worlds with light, energy, and plentiful produce. The light and energy were to be beamed from "Citadels," shining cities scattered throughout the massive world, but no one ever properly activated them.
Abarrach: The world of stone had no sun, instead light was provided by magical columns of stone called "Colossus" and the magma that flowed from the center of the world to the cooler outlying cavern toward the edges of the world. The outside of Abarrach was a layer of ice. Without proper connections to the other worlds, the atmosphere of Abarrach proved toxic to the humans, elves, and dwarves relocated there by the Sartan. The Sartan themselves began to struggle to survive, losing touch with most of their magic and becoming dependent upon necromancy, using their dead to do most of their work for them. Necromancy had been forbidden because of a balancing principal that when one person was brought back, another died in their place. This was the likely cause of the disappearance of the Sartan in the other worlds.
Chelestra: The world of water was meant to be a waste recycling facility for the other worlds, with giant creatures called durnai that were meant to act as both homes for the people of the world and processing facilities internally. The residents lived in air bubble filled caverns on the outside of the durnai. The rest of the world is a giant sea of water, with a magical sun that burns even submerged. The sea water is breathable like air, but it does no quench thirst and somehow negates all rune magic. The Sartan Council settled on this world, but were confronted with an enemy the did not expect and put themselves in a stasis sleep after requesting assistance that never came.
The Races
Mensch: Humans, elves, and dwarves are known collectively as "mensch" by the Sartan and Patryns. Capable of magic, though much less powerful than the rune magic, these peoples were more or less left to their own devices when the Sartan disappeared and then became essentially only legends. Most of the time, the races kept to themselves and warred amongst each other. None appear in this story.
Sartan: The Sartan look like normal humans, with the exception that their hair is usually white and turns to brown at the tips, though rarely one will have black hair. They favored flowing robes resembling the togas of ancient Greece and Rome. Their rune magic is more conceptual than Patryn magic, and requires simultaneous physical and verbal action to cast it. The runes are hexagonal in shape, and the honeycomb-like constructs they use can be interpreted in multiple ways, depending upon the rune at which the casting starts.
Patryns: Patryns also appear human, though their hair is the opposite of the Sartan, brown ending in white. Their rune magic is more physical than that of the Sartan, and they tattoo the runes on their skin in blue and sometimes red ink. The runes cover all of their bodies except for the head, palms and fingers of the hands, and soles of the feet. Patryn rune magic uses octagons and smaller squares, allowing eight possible options for a spell to proceed. The circle is an important concept in Patryn magic and life.
The dragon-snakes, dragons of Pryan, and the Higher Power: Neither the dragon-snakes nor the dragons of Pryan are "true" dragons, but rather physical representations of chaos and order, good and evil. As such, they are the equivalent of demons and angels in this story. They are capable of taking any form they choose. The form the dragon-snakes most frequently take as their "true" one is that of giant serpents with green eyes that glow red and bodies that ooze a toxic slime. The dragons of Pryan are also snake-like in body type, though they do have legs (I usually picture something like a Chinese dragon). In the series, neither type of dragon can be killed, as they draw on emotions of people, which cannot be truly eliminated. This has been disregarded in the story--they are just very difficult to kill. The presence of a higher power, God, that maintains balance in all things, was discovered by the Sartan just before the Sundering, but faced with having to acknowledge that they were not themselves almighty, the Sartan proceeded anyway. The Higher Power still made itself subtly known, but was presumably busy trying to balance out the Sundering's imbalance, and did not take any dramatic action.
Other Important Plot Points Glossed over by a Lazy Author
Hugh the Hand and the Accursed Blade: Hugh was a human assassin from Arianus that was killed protecting a human sorceress and her son. Alfred, perhaps feeling somewhat responsible, resurrected him. After his initial return from the dead, Hugh could die again, but would revive. He did not enjoy that at all. He was hired by Xar, though indirectly through another, to kill Haplo. Knowing he was not strong enough to kill a Patryn, Hugh sought help from the assassin's guild of Arianus and was given a rune-inscribed blade capable of changing its form to be whatever the wielder required it to be to create a tactical advantage, though the results could be somewhat unpredictable. After the Death Gate was closed, Hugh died a final time.
Alfred, the Serpent Mage: Alfred awoke from a stasis sleep to find himself the only surviving Sartan on Arianus. Always afraid of taking the wrong action, Alfred instead resorted to fainting when confronted so he would take no action at all. He was so conflicted, in fact, that he frequently blocked out the memory of his actions when he did use his magic. Alfred is not his real name, but one he assumed while pretending to be human. His real name is Coren, which means "chosen," and he was essentially destined to help close Death's Gate. He is known to the dragon-snakes as the Serpent Mage, able to take the physical form of a dragon (a more traditional one with wings) in order to fight them.
Bane: All you really need to know about him is that he is mentioned briefly as being someone Alfred brought back from the dead, like Hugh.
Haplo's Dog: Just before reaching the Final Gate, Haplo was fighting a losing battle against monsters from the Labyrinth. Suddenly, a dog appeared and helped him defeat his foes. The dog was unusually bright and had a tendency to do remarkable things like appear behind locked doors, climb ladders, and refuse to stay dead after it was thrown into a pit of boiling mud on Abarrach. Somehow, Haplo managed to separate his soul from his body and give it a form. It was later rejoined with him.
Haplo and Marit's Daughter: Haplo met in the Labyrinth while both were Runners. They fought and slept alongside one another for a long time. They split up after a Squatter village was about to be attacked and Haplo chose to just move on because it looked like a losing battle. Marit thought the Squatters would have a better chance at survival with help. Though she never actually confirmed it at the time, Haplo guessed Marit was pregnant, but they still went their separate ways. Marit named their daughter Rue and left here to be raised by a group of Squatters.
Haplo and Xar: As one of Xar's most skilled and loyal followers, Haplo was selected to scout the other world's for Xar. At first, he viewed Xar as infallible, but after his experiences in the other worlds and discovering the dragon-snakes, Haplo tried to warn Xar and convince him not to proceed with his plans. Xar felt Haplo had betrayed him--with a bit of influence from the dragon-snakes--and told Bane to have him killed and also sent Marit to kill him. Haplo remained loyal throughout, and Xar realized this at the end, just before his death.
Xar and Marit: Before sending Marit after Haplo, Xar rune-joined with her, the most profound connection two Patryns can have. Both parties had a special rune tattooed on their foreheads, allowing them to be mentally linked. Marit was honored, but Xar really only used it as a tool to monitor her. A rune-joining is in effect until one party's death, but after deciding to help Haplo, Marit slashed her forehead rune to disrupt her psychic connection to Xar. It was implied that Xar had done something similar before, so I am assuming Marit was able to remove the rune-joining mark from her forehead after his death.
Zifnab: This wizard was first encountered by Haplo on Pryan. He is bonded to a dragon of Pryan, and influenced the actions of other characters. He vascillates between seeming to be harmlessly mad and very shrewd, and mostly, he is an annoyance to those around him. Zifnab is prone to pop culture references that mean nothing to the other characters. He was originally one of the Sartan who objected to the Sundering.