One section has fallen onto the Disc below, while the rest hangs like a crippled appendage from the Spine. The Orbit of Elemental Air was broken in some ancient war and has collapsed. Three elemental platforms ride along each Orbit, moving like lowhanging stars through the sky of the Orrery. Each Orbit corresponds to one of the elemental planes of Air, Earth and Fire, while the Water Orbit grows from the central spike of the Disc. Three Elemental Orbits – huge circular tracks – rotate through the Spine over the Disc. The Spine curves up from the base, describing a three-quarter-circle over the Disc of the Material. The Spine of the Orrery is a great arc of the brass and mithril alloy that makes up more of the machine. The Disc sits on a bulbous base, which contains whatever magical engines drive the Orrery. The largest single section is the Disc of the Material, a flat circle roughly two hundred miles across It is not an exact model, nor is it to scale. The Grand Orrery is essentially a model of the planes. Such theories, of course, ignore the sheer scale and alien magic of the Orrery… It is generally supposed that the builders were humanoid, as the cyclopean statues and art that adorns the machine depicts humanoid faces. When the machine was first discovered, it was empty of life save for a few decaying forests on the Disc of the Material. The Orrery resets itself as soon as possible. These can be done using the controls of the Orrery (see the Rings of the Orrery and the Neverbuilt City) or by physically dragging one plate or elemental Orbit into position. While the natural state of the machine is to precisely reflect the current state of the multiverse, it can be overridden to forcibly open a particular Orrery Portal. The alignment of the planes creates the Orrery Portals. ![]() The Orrery is a working model of the planes – the various sections move of their own accord, following the progress of the planes through the astral medium. Returning to the Orrery via its portals requires that the traveller knows when and where another Orrery portal will open. Unlike other nexus points, which usually connect to existing gates, doors or other apertures, the portals of the Orrery simply open into empty air. At any time, the Orrery is connected to hundreds of location throughout the planes. These portals are distinctive – they are liquid ovals of molten brass, surrounded by a baroque metal hoop. The Orrery is one of the best-known nexus planes, so many wizards and travellers have built methods for quickly reaching it.Īs the Grand Orrery’s discs and plates move through their various configurations, portals open between the Orrery and other planes. There are, however, numerous constructed portals. There are no natural portals or minglings between the Orrery and any other planes – the plane is entirely artificial, constructed aeons ago. As the plane is contained within the Great Realm, spells like ethereal jaunt cannot easily reach the Orrery. Portals also lead from the Astral Plane to the Orrery, or a door cast from the dream of an Orrery resident. The Grand Orrery is a demiplane in its own right, so it can be reached by a gate or plane shift. 2.13.2 The Games of the Neverbuilt City.2.13.1 Fear and Loathing in the Neverbuilt City.Having five ranks Knowledge (local: the Grand Orrery) or Knowledge (the planes) each give a +2 synergy bonus to these checks. Predicting when or where a portal opens requires plotting the course of the various components of the Orrery – this is done with a Knowledge (architecture and engineering) check at DC 30. Most portals in the Orrery open on the Disc of the Material. Roll on the following table to see how long such a portal remains open. There is a percentage chance equal to the total of a plane’s Size plus Accessibility traits that a portal is currently open between it and the Orrery. Understand the movements of the Grand Orrery, and you understand the multiverse. The portal behind the traveller vanishes, to be replaced by another elsewhere in the Orrery. The great disc of the Material Plane moves on one step the heavens realign. This whole world is artificial, a model of the multiverse built of brass and mithril. A face wider than an ocean smiles down from above. Beyond this sphere, high in the clouded sky, are other objects, glittering platforms of fire or green earth, moving along shining celestial tracks bright icons and regalia of the gods, the constellations formed not of distinct stars, but engraved onto huge metal plates. Then the traveller looks up, to see a massive brass sphere pass far, far overhead. A warm light shines from the south, where a bright sun hangs strangely low in the sky. ![]() There are rivers and fields, mountains and seas. ![]() Step through a portal to the Grand Orrery, and on first glance the land looks just like the Material Plane.
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