Astralis – The Pitch

Astralis

Long ago, on a world with one single great continent, an empire finally united the world. Not the “known world” as savants sometimes later recall of other civilizations. The whole world.

Sailing the seas of the world, the restless empire found but a scattering of islands, here and there, which were easily devoured. The pharaoh feared that with no foreign enemies remaining, he might not keep his internal foes at bay.

He called together his viziers, demanding a plan for the future. One by one they proposed plans that disappointed his ambitions. Until, one evening, a brilliant vizier pointed him to the stars. “There, pharaoh, lie your new conquests.”

Though the vizier gained the pharaoh’s favor, years passed before his vision was made real. A ship which would sail into the astral plane, piercing the dimensions to land upon the worlds encircling other stars.

That was more than a thousand years ago. Now the empire sends ships to thousands of worlds, to explore, to conquer, to return with tribute. But even as they settle the universe, the universe sets its eye upon them. More than once an offworld warlord has seized the astral fleet and taken the homeworld for their own.

Astralis is enduring, though. The barbarian at the gate is easily absorbed into a world of imperial luxury. What will you do? Rise to power or cast down the palaces of the corrupt?

Space Opera D&D without spaceships

Astralis is meant to be a setting for Dungeons and Dragons that creates a space opera type feel, without spaceships. By using astral ships, that sail through the astral plane and appear on other worlds by way of astral color pools, you get a multiworld setting without the automatic air-superiority that spaceships typically assume.

One thought on “Astralis – The Pitch”

  1. Originally I wanted to call this Mirabilis, after the name of a fantasy mage empire from an old D&D game of mine from my teenage years. Nowadays, would that be commercially viable given there is some comic called Mirabilis? Even though I used it long ago, and the name is a latin word, I am not sure I would want the confusion

    What about Astralis?

    Astron?

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