Share your maps of the universe! [Just for Fun]

[malonkey1]

We all have our ideas as to how the CofD cosmology fits together. Some of us go so far as to make maps. This thread is so we can all share our maps of the CofD cosmos.

In mine, I keep Fae and Mage Arcadias (Arcadii?) separate, as per Dave Brookshaw's statement on the matter, and I have the Supernal as an Astral, since the closest most non-archmagi seem to be able to get is bumping into the edge of the Abyss at the bottom of the reachable Astral. My headcanon has always been that the Supernal is the deepest Astral. The diamonds are "midway realms" that share characteristics of the two realms they border, or are otherwise sufficiently different from either parent realm to be separate. For example, the Hedge vs. Arcadia, or Oneroi being small and numerous enough that it felt inaccurate to peg them as part of the Astral proper. The Gauntlet isn't really its own realm here, but since it serves a similar function to the Border Marches as a border between Phenomenal and Shadow, I kept it as one for convenience's sake.

EDIT: Not noted are places like the God-Machine's time-splinters and things like Verges and Demesnes.

[GibberingEloquence]

I've heard that in the Deep Shadow, the closer you get to the kingdoms of Rank 6+ spirits, the less your environment reflects the real world. This is true in the Hedge as you approach Arcadia. I believe the same holds true for the Underworld and its Dead Dominions, but to a lesser extent. The Aeons of the 10 Arcana + Abyss exist in Citadels near the Ocean Ouroboros, at the edge of the Astral. It is possible that the Lower Depths are also influenced and shaped by their most powerful denizens.

I don't know if all these categories of gods should be written down in cosmological maps, but perhaps their agreements and conflicts are the main cause for metaphysical borders. For example, it is possible that the Gentry cannot invest Titles into Realms on the Ironside because they agreed with the Gods Of The Shadow to refrain from doing so. In return, the Gentry gained access to Contracts over Spirits, which might be how Huntsmen and some hobgoblins come to be.

Also, some supernaturals interact with the Astral in special ways. The Uratha appear directly in the Anima Mundi when dreaming and are not harmed by the Ecstatic Wind. The True Fae can also be seen there occasionally, but they are not dreaming, and they don't even sleep for real unless demanded by a Contract. In 2ED, changelings can enter the dream layer of Oneiroi by using the Hedge. I don't know if Horrors can traverse the rest of the Temenos, or if they are limited to super-imposing their corners of the Primordial Dream (i.e. their Lairs) on Oneiroi.

[Stupid Loserman]

This is how I usually explain it to people. (Warning: large image)

(Full size)

[ArcaneArts]

If You've gotta be wrong, you might as well go for pretty. (EDIT: God, I wish I could remember who made this. To their credit, it is deliberately wrong, rather than just blindly assuming the cosmology can actually be mapped out.)



And boy howdy, is this pretty.

[Elfive]

I'm not entirely sure how I could represent my vision of the full CoD universe in 2D, but I might give it a shot when I have the time later.

Edit: Alright, here we go:




It looked a lot bigger in Paint, so I might make a nicer one later. The supernal is supposed to be one largely undifferentiated blob with the watchtowers sort of "projecting" bubbles of their associated realm onto it.

[Elfive]

Made a better one:

[LucaMagorosso]

Hi all! I'm new here (first post!) and I'd like to share my personal (obviously wrong) map of Shadow and Astral Realms in Chronicles of Darkness. I'm a big fan of Mage, as it will be clearly visible.
Note that I'm taking for granted the planar, accessible (abyss permitting) nature of Supernal Realms, rather than working on the idea they were shards of supernal overlapped on fallen world and just a Point of View of Mages. Tell me if you like this one! I'd really appreciate it.

https://www.behance.net/gallery/4872...dow-map-of-CoD

[xiongrey]

I like all of these things. I will attempt to create a map of how I lay it out in a lot of my games. . I'll just edit this post when I get home and make it.

[xiongrey]

Ok, Here goes. I see the whole cosmology as something that can't quite be represented in either two or three dimensional pictures. So I drew 2 two dimensional pictures and hope that convey's how I see the cosmology.

The basic gist is I see the the Supernal Realm as nothing more than the underlying symbols that make up what is and what isn't. like atoms/matter/and anti-matter. There is less a realm and more a... state. The Abyss and the Supernal are really only different because one is the opposite of the other, like matter and anti-matter. The Base code of the... everything. in places, the symbols coalesce and form what we would call realms, though we, for the most part only see the trickle-down congealed "supernal matter" since that's where we get most of our things as well. Other realms are just overlapping/close congealed pieces of "supernal matter".

The Abyss is the same, it's just the poler opposite so for the most part you see only sprinkles of abyssal matter though you do see it. Like oil and water, they destabilize each other in their multi-dimensional dance. Symbols and anti-symbols.

Anyway, here's the two maps.

The following is the symbols radiating outward and congealing along the way.

Legend:
1. Unfiltered Symbol (supernal/abyssal)
2. More congealed forms of symbols (supernal realms/watchtowers)
3. Close together congealed symbols (physical, shadow, underworld, hedge. &c)
4. other congealed symbols (really anything)

http://imgur.com/gallery/CDr7rzz

The following is the symbols as a sea with congealed spots all throughout.

http://imgur.com/GGOZ3t1

[Second Chances]

This is a symbolic representation of the connections between Mage, Changeling, and Beast's conceptions of dreams. This is not meant to be literal or even accurate, just some doodles to provoke thought.

On the left, we have the dreamscapes of the Changelings, which are generally self-contained, but kiss up against one another like bubbles in a bath. These ever shifting boarders allow changelings to cross from one dream to the next. A resemblance to Yog-Sothoth is only mildly coincidental.

The tiered lingam in the middle is the Astral Plane as the Mages know it. The tiers symbolize the onion-like layers that Mages assign to different types of dreams, but the layers of this diagram aren't intended to correspond with specific layers of the Astral and shouldn't really be taken literally.

The caves and passages to the right are the chambers of the Beasts, drifting through the Primordial Dream. The lines between them are the burrows, binding the chambers into Lairs and Hives, and binding them to mortal dreams.

[Omegaphallic]

I rescently decide to mix in some real world cosmological theories make things interesting.

So far I don't have a physical map , so I'll describe it with words.

The Supernal Realms are the 2D membrane that projects the 3D world as we know it, the Supernal World is getting to see how the Supernal Realms interact with the 3D world.

The Emmination Realms are just parts of the 3D world projected by the 2D Supernal that are projected exclusively by one realm and as such are separated from the rest of the 3D world which shaped by all of them, by being out of sink with the main 3D world (Earth).

Picture the Supernal Realms as a flatline instead of a circle, from which the other worlds are projected from.

The material realm (including twilight) is a big half circle dropping from the Supernal Realms, with smaller half circles emerging from specific Supernal Realms, which represent emination realms.

The Shadow, The Arcadia, Astral, and the Underworld are bubble universes that only partially separated from the material world. Because they are partially connected they did not evovle independently, and so they we're shaped by they're unique interactions with their parent universe, and because unbalanced in the Arcana, after which they influenced and shaped the material world, to the point where the parent universe and satellite universes, are not dependant on each other completely, destroy one and they all collapse. Picture them as bubbles just touching the material planes half circle, With the Hedge, the personal Onieros, Guantlet and something connecting the Underworld being exact point where the parent universe and the bubble universes touch, a scar of sorts.

The bubble universes have their own bubble supernal realms, but while images can see the a Supernal World when in them with their Image sight, they don't realize it's not the same Supernal Realms.

Then you have the lower depths, Dust, The Dark Place (Strix and Void Creature plane), the Inferno, ect... Exist here, represented by lines and shaped completely unconnected to anything else, which is, why they are so inhospitable.

The are warped reflections of the "light" from the material world and it's satellites, flawed reflections to various degrees.

[Omegaphallic]

Given most of these are image centric here is a Changeling alternative.

There is the material world and are Arcadia, twin circle connected by the hedge represented by a line with thorns sticking out of it.

The Supernal Realms are True Fae domains that got separated by from Arcadia by an ancient disaster, they‘are still connected to the material plane, not Arcadia any more.

The Abyss is a part of the Hedge that got destroyed and horribly warped and perverted when the various domains broke off from the rest of Arcadia. This makes the Supernal Realms more distant and harder to access then Arcadia, where they originated from.

Mages access the Supernal by what is left of the twisted trods that still cross the Abyss, which has become so warped, that mages physically can't move through it, only their own souls at certain times can.

The Shadow, The Underworld, and the Astral, all creations of Chalatins, True Fae exiles, in warped attempts at creating an immiation of Arcadia, the act of which transformed them and their minions.

The lower depths? Simple attempts at creating worlds like the Shadow and the Underworld that failed horribly and instead creating fucked up worlds.

The Godmachine was a device created by Charltans to turn Ironside into Arcadia, the machine rebelled and the True Fae we're punished by Iron for their attempt.

The Principle, just a place in Arcadia, where the purist form of glamour is produced, divine fire, which is too pure for Changelings to handle.

[Omegaphallic]

Hi all! I'm new here (first post!) and I'd like to share my personal (obviously wrong) map of Shadow and Astral Realms in Chronicles of Darkness. I'm a big fan of Mage, as it will be clearly visible.
Note that I'm taking for granted the planar, accessible (abyss permitting) nature of Supernal Realms, rather than working on the idea they were shards of supernal overlapped on fallen world and just a Point of View of Mages. Tell me if you like this one! I'd really appreciate it.

https://www.behance.net/gallery/4872...dow-map-of-CoD

Beautifully done

[LucaMagorosso]

Thanks so much, Omegaphallic! ^ ^

[Axelgear]

Something I don't quite get, myself, is that the cosmology always shows the Fallen World at the centre. If it were me, I'd place the Supernal at the centre and have it radiating outwards, a la the depictions of the tzimtzum in Kabbalah. The Astral Realms lie closest to it, followed by the Shadow and Underworld, followed by the Fallen World, followed by the various other realms like Changeling Arcadia or the Lower Depths.

"Down" and "Outward" have very different connotations.