By: Keith “Saegan” Cronyn
I want to go to Sanctuary Questing, I plan to go, and you should too if you’re able.
The sum of it is that the Sanctuary plotline has created an interesting plot with fun mechanics, and in depth world building. It has a little bit of something for everyone, and the level of investment is pretty much up to the individual, as the staff do their best to accommodate everyone’s needs, and the rule is always “real life comes first.”
But if you need a bit more of the meat of what’s going on let me offer some. Sanctuary is a Sanctuary. It’s a sort of demi-plane, created with the purpose of being a space to protect those in need of it. Innocents being hunted. Orphans of war. The lost, and alone. They all seem to find their way, and are protected by Sanctuary.
Sanctuary is empowered by 12 runes; one for each month of the year, which call on cardinal powers of the universe. The runes are: Time, Love, Nature, Creation, Protection, Soul, Space, Light, Mind, Magic, Truth, and Hope. Each rune has a guardian, a being of power that created it, who has command over the powers the rune encompasses. Each guardian is opposed by a being called a devourer, which is a bit complicated so more on that later, but put a pin in it because it’s important.
Every person resonates with a rune on some level, and within Sanctuary there are trials which someone can undergo to determine which Rune ( or runes, in some cases) that they align most with. While the trials are individual, and somewhat unique to each person, there is a system to them, and people shouldn’t be afraid to try them if they’re curious about which rune they align with. The rune system is an intricate system where runes have complex relations with each other, and the “anti-runes” that make up the Devourer’s system of powers.
This weekend, based on the decision of the heroes, we are going questing to try and take out the Devourer of Truth, which is currently hiding in Fae. The reason for that being that the Devourer of Truth has the ability to skew our research into the other Devourer’s information, making any other assault on them more difficult.
Earlier I mentioned that Devourer’s were in opposition of the Guardians, and that’s true. But they don’t necessarily just have a counteracting ability, but rather they consume the function of the Guardian’s runes. So in the example of Truth, and Anti-Truth, Anti-Truth does not create a lie, Anti-Truth consumes the Truth of a thing, and then a new Truth, different from the old one, sort of floods in and becomes the new Truth.
I know that’s kind of a complicated and confusing concept, and trust me, those of us that have been spending our time in Sanctuary trying to figure out what’s going on, have spent some time confused as well, debating the philosophical implications of what this sort of thing means.
Here is an example that might help. I am a human. The Devourer eats the Truth of me that makes me Human. Three forces are applied in this instant to determine what happens, the will of the devourer, my will in opposition, and the base function of the universe that there cannot be a total absence of truth. If the Devourer’s will succeeds, it is able to make me into whatever it wants, perhaps a mouse. If I win, I can become something I may want, other than human, let’s say a Dragon. Now, I only have the ability to intervene if it’s directly affecting me, and if it’s important to me. If the devoured truth is that the rocky path I’m walking on is suddenly lava, well that may be important to me, but I don’t get any sway over that.
Making matters worse, or perhaps just more interesting, is that this devourer is hiding in Fae, wherein, the power of belief has the ability to make things into Truth. So now we have this creature, that can fundamentally change the things around it based on eating it’s Truth, we have an environmental effect where the power of belief can will things into Truth, and we have a bunch of adventurers trying to save a place that is designed to help those in need.
I could go on, but I think that covers a good bit of why I want to go. Of course if you want to know more you should feel free to ask. But we have a friendly plot, with interesting and meaningful mechanics, that has the potential to meaningfully develop characters, but all the same is casual enough to understand that real life comes first. Honestly I’m going because I’m going to have a blast.
And I hope to see you on the field.
Keith “Saegan” Cronyn