Planet Asterion

Here are a few very loose ideas for an unfinished campaign setting. I wrote this a while ago and, to be honest, doesn't feel like an ideal RPG setting, but I thought I'd share anyway. Who knows, it might be the first post of an "Unfinished Worlds" series. Unless I get lost in the way...

Planet Asterion

Planet Asterion is an endless maze. It might be a real planet, but then again it might be something else. Nobody has found the way out, and the exit is probably a myth. Common people waste no time with such thoughts.

Most corridors are 10 feet wide. There are wider clearings along the way, but big ones are rare.

The maze might have been created by someone, but most of it was not "built" in any meaningful way. Instead, the maze-like patterns force themselves on reality.

Which means:

- Plants will grow into endless maze formations, always connected to one another - loose parts will die out. Most of the maze is made of living or decaying wood. The most common flora on Planet Asterion is made of short (about ten feet), dark red trees, with flat trunks that can go on for miles, no branches and often covered by dark leaves. These plants seem to take most of their sustenance from the ground, rather than the sun. Their life cycle is no longer than a few weeks, which causes the maze to change constantly. They can be hacked with an axe in a couple of hours, but unless the roots are destroyed they will regenerate within a week. They bear bitter fruit - but it might save you from starving.

- Erosion will cause rocks to become natural mazes. These walls are a lot harder to break, and often taller than plant mazes, but more stable. A stone clearing is valuable territory, since you can build a house on it.

- Animals build their structures in the same way. Exotic beaver creatures infest the planet, and they are often building walls out of plant materials, re-purposed ruins or random trash. People assume they are intelligent, as they are certainly able to communicate through gestures, but they aren't really interested in other creatures.

There are different kinds of maze - or different parts of the same maze - too. The maze itself is very hard to navigate, but the different parts of it have specific characteristics that can make people know what to expect. Walls made of living flesh or bone are usually bad omens.

And then, there is Old Town. The labyrinth made os bricks and stone, with hidden doors, dangerous traps and crazy inhabitants that speak in riddles. Well, at least the mist cannot reach you in there. Nobody knows who or what built such thing, or for what purpose. Unlike the rest of the world, this is a mystery that actually makes people a bit curious.

Oceans exist, but no wood seems adequate to make a boat. Mountains can be useful in finding directions. The sun and stars are a bit less reliable.

The Oblivion & the mist

People in the maze seem to be forgetful, to say the least, but very adapted to the planet they are in.

The nature of the universe is a non-issue. Everybody know they live in a maze world, and nobody cares except a few demented philosophers. 

Where do you come from? Nobody cares. You assume you had a father and a mother at some point, but, unless they are with you at this very moment, chances are you don't remember how you got separated. No use in brooding over it now.

Languages? Well, everybody speaks Common, because of course they would. They know a language from their past, that they don't really use unless they happen to find a long-lost relative.

You might also know a third language, one that only you can speak. You have tried to find someone else to talk to, but it has been fruitless.

I might have something to do with the mist that comes at random intervals, stealing people's memories without notice. Recent memories remain, and you don't forget the times you spent with people that are currently around you, but much is lost anyway.

Even the things that you thought to be parts of yourself.

People and civilization

There are all kinds of intelligent creatures in the maze, although they are seldom taller than normal humans. Rhinoceros people, noseless aliens, and intelligent quadrupeds are all common, but not much similar to each other and not particularly likely to band together unless they are a family. Most intelligent creatures have humanoid shape, and people don't really notice the differences.

It is hard to be prejudiced - you can often tell someone's strength by the size of their muscles, but having pointy ears doesn't make one more likely to see in the dark.

Genetics work differently in there. It seems like all kinds of creatures can produce children, who only looks vaguely similar to their parents half the time. Children cannot be conceived without love, even if love may also be forgotten in a few minutes.

There are no significant civilizations. There are small tribes and parties wandering around, loose families, and so on. but one can hardly build a city in such environment. Large gatherings of people will cause starvation and death, since the fruits are scarce.

Intelligence creatures have tried to build ample structures. It's no use. Plants will creep through the floor. The ground will fracture. Eventually, it will become part off the maze. Legends tell of the Suspended City, which the plants cannot reach, and of the Mad King who built the ever-changing Golden Maze palace that is undisturbed by the pattern, but then he got lost inside, never to be seen again.

Repeated attempts at building cities have managed to leave lots of ruins - strange, forgotten, warped ruins, that most people avoid.

With no social tissue, it can be hard to know how to treat people. Everybody can talk to each other, but resources are scarce and everybody is hungry.

Fortunately, some truths seem to be self-evident to most intelligent creatures. Killing, stealing and lying are wrong (although people will do it anyway). Adding a brick to the Old Town maze or traversing it brings good luck, provided you survive, while eating the beaver-creatures brings bad luck. All this stuff is obvious.

Intelligent beings meeting you for the first time will treat you like they rolled on a Moldvay reaction table. Unfortunately, not all creatures that look like people are actually people.

What Evil lurks

There are no great, land-based monsters in Planet Asterion; the maze cannot support them. Birds are common, pterodactyls a bit less so, and dragons are the stuff of legend. Most menacing creatures within the maze look like tigers or wolves - seeing one turn the corner is a terrifying experience.

Even small, burrowing creatures have a difficult time avoiding the maze. Snakes cannot go through walls, except in the greener areas. Monkey-like beings that can climb and jump fare somewhat better.

The greatest danger to the people are the violently insane. They act in unpredictable ways, and often attack on sight. Their eyes are hollow and most are unable to communicate. Nobody knows where they come from - but everybody assumes there is no possibility that someone could turn insane. Those people are just too different from us, although they look the same - they must be of a different, completely unrelated, species.

"Common" people call them Minotaurs. Their brains - not their heads - are like those of violent beasts.

What do we do?

The setting seemed a bit too nihilist and random to me. An endless maze does not look like fun role-playing (turn right, walk 30 feet, turn left, walk 50 feet, which way are you going now?), unless abstracted or used with a decent "oracle" of random encounters.

With that said, adventures in the maze wouldn't be different than most adventures - start with a rumor, explore a unknown location, interact with complete strangers, etc. - but would contain a lot more random elements and no overarching "goal" or "endgame".

Hoarding gold would be useless, but looking for food and knowledge might be enough to motivate PCs. Or not. It is an odd idea, and probably half-baked.

Strangely enough, the concept felt a lot shallower in my read, but writing everything down made it a bit more interesting for me. Let me know what you think.

Things that might have inspired this

My earliest experiences with dungeons (specially "fun-house dungeons" I guess), Labyrinth (the movie), The Citadel of Chaos, Jorge Luis Borges ("The House of Asterion", "The Two Kings and the Two Labyrinths"), H. P. Lovecraft ("In the Walls of Eryx") and later the Hellraiser movies and Italo Calvino.