Road Warriors (City of Seven Seraphs: The Lattice)

Lizardman Aegis Warden – Artist: Vincent Coviello

“The Seraphs are a promise. An obligation for all in the City to do what must be done. They hold the balance of Parity, steadying our Towers. They wear Burden well. And to accept the weight of Burden is to have Meaning. That which has no weight, has no place. That which does not Rise to Bear is ephemera. The Lattice cannot carry that which has no Burden. Those who shirk duty are lost to the Shadow where no road is friend…”

-Undonna Mahr, Director of Wellness House Three, Hands of Onus

“The Lattice was our home for many, many birth cycles.

City of Seven Seraphs: The Lattice

The Archweaver heard our minds. It taught us the ways of Light.

The Lattice (often called the Lattice of the Dark, the Shadow Roads or the Black Lattice) is a planar highway of indescribable size and complexity. Its glossy ebon lengths resemble a darkly iridescent crystal or metal of varying widths but always wide enough for two medium creatures to pass by one another. This material seems to focus the distance distortion of the Shadow Plane allowing for speeds like that of the shadow walk spell (often faster on the same world) and allowing access to other Prime Worlds.

It lead us to the place of the Fade. And there it wove a new home.

Plazas of portals have been built by various cultures that have discovered the Lattice through the ages. Magics of the Lattice slow travelers to normal speeds in the vicinity of these structures. Often clusters of portals all lead to a specific Prime World but Plazas are as often the portals are nexuses of interplanar commerce. Uncounted worlds have one or more portals linking them to the Lattice in this manner though none of these worlds claim to be the Lattice’s creator.

The Lattice was our home and always was. So to now the City.

No one can truly mark where the origins of the Lattice lie. Some claim it is the shadow of Bifrost or the silhouette of mighty Yggdrasil.  Some claim it is the underside of the celestial rivers or the dark belly beneath Styx or Lethe. None can say for certain. But then there are the Weavers—Artifacts of massive power that are capable of a slow progress that alter, cut or repair the paths of the Lattice. They seem to suggest a creator or power capable of such massive cosmological shaping.

Its secrets are ours to guard and keep. Its matter ours to shape and sweep.

And repair is need. Centuries ago, a planar cataclysm severely damage the Lattice. This caused many worlds to be cut off from locations within their own spheres, their planar trading partners or the Planes completely. The Wardens have been charged with guarding the Weavers as they slowly repair this damage in the vicinity of the City of Seven Seraphs and patrolling its length to keep the peace.

Through Light and Dark. Through Ash and Spark.

The Lattice in Your Game

With Order’s Legs set the weave, in front of Order’s eyes…

Like the Anchors, the Lattice is designed to help GMs tell the stories they want to tell and to help connect the campaign settings they want to use. While any portal can link a world to a world, the lattice’s quasi-real travel allows for varying rates to free the GM from strict timekeeping and to allow movement at the speed of story.

Though scarce few choose to believe, in Power’s form we rise.

The protective zones of deceleration around the Portal Plazas are pragmatic safety measures that add a dose of realism to the environment while providing a location for interactions with exotic NPCs of an infinite variety. It also provides an exciting backdrop for combats and strategic situations as monsters try to set ambushes, manipulate portal travel, and fights rage across the various worlds of the Plaza. Regardless of the PCs origins in your setting or from the City itself, the Lattice can enrich nearly any game.

Seek the Archweaver’s tome, the Book of Faces

Perhaps the strongest story aspect that the Lattice imparts is accessibility. Recent repairs may have restored the pathway to an old game world or linked two concurrent campaigns allowing for characters to move from one story to another. And the best part? The Lattice allows this accessibility to games of any level. Consistent GM controlled access to these game enhancing realities can lead the greenest of farmhands into the adventures in the Beyond.

Call our name and have aid in Darker spaces.”

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