This realm is divided into two planes: Rhotul, a surface world where the sun never completely sets, and Rhotunil, underworld where the sun presumably never shines at all. Ecologically speaking, the surface world is warmer than our home, and drier on the whole; a land of semi-arid savanahs. The forests, on the other hand, are thick with life...jungles, really.

Magic works...oddly here. Meditation alone is insufficient to refresh spells after use. Instead, energy must be drawn from 'magic crystals', a naturally-occuring resource highly prized by the local inhabitants. So long as these crystals are available, however, spells may be refreshed at any time - a strategic advantage, so long as a supply is ready at hand. The major source of these crystals are places called 'nodes', which seem to be tied to specific elements: glades, tied to Earth and Water; lakes, tied to Water and Air; and volcanoes, tied to Earth and Fire. (This arrangement suggests that a fourth node, tied to Air and Fire, ought to exist, but the residents report never having seen such a thing.) The power in these nodes provides a gateway for free-roaming elementals, and attracts creatures with ties to the appropriate elements. In fact, the power is strong enough that spell casting near the nodes is noticably impeded if the spell does not draw upon one of the favored elements.

An elven priestess of Anpw (the positive aspect of Death), and a friend of Vala. The leader of one of the major factions on this world. Her follower are human and elven; her livery is red.

The leader of a faction allied with Melitta, whose lands lie on a different continent. Her territory is a northern island, and her population human, though they are said to be somewhat primitive socially. She is a Priestess of Azar, one of the prophets of Life. Vamorgen's symbol is a flail and crook on a field of stars, in blue.

Melitta's primary opponent on her own plane. Her power derives from trafficing with the Lower Planes. Comments thus far suggest she is a sorceress, and has congress with Abyssal creatures. Her followers are largely gnolls, which is rather in keeping with her choice of allies...they have a reputation for undisciplined brutality. Her colors are purple and black. Sarta's symbol is a black dire wolf.

A high priest of Amam (the negative aspect of Death), and the major threat overall within this realm. His territory lies on the underworld side of the realm. Bhein's color is gold. Disturbingly, he is reported to be a vampire. This would certainly fit with his chosen allegience. The potential power of an undead High Priest of Death, however, makes the inevitable confrontation a very dangerous proposition.

Known as 'the Warlord', his color is green. He is reputed to be quite mad. His race and skills are unknown to us as yet, but his followers we have so far seen traces of were dwarves and trolls. If nothing else, he must be a persuasive madman...I would not have ordinarily expected those two races to be able to coexist.

A hero in the service of Melitta, who has accompanied us on our journeys through Rhotul.

A hero in the service of Vamorgen. He is said to be the child of a Celestial. I am rather looking forward to meeting him; such offspring are vanishingly rare, and though they appear in several stories I have never made the acquaintance of one. More distant descendants, yes, but never one of the first generation. After having had the dubious pleasure in the past of encountering twhat appeared to be a mortal/fiend crossbreed, it is something of a comfort to know that those of High Blood are at work among the planes as well.

A priestess and healer in the service of Vamorgen. I presume that she is a priestess of Life, like her mistress, though it remains to be seen. In fact, it occurs to me upon writing this that I do not know whether the priests and priestesses of the Greater Powers here are Called from the service of one of the others, as they are at home, or whether they enter that path directly. I have not gotten the sense that there is a hierarchy among the various local prophets, as I would expect if there were a strong division between Greater and Lesser powers, but that may simply be the result of having not inquired closely enough. It is a curious side-effect of this world being both familiar and very strange that it is difficult to know which questions to ask.

This crude (but mightily-thewed) fellow was the first enemy hero we encountered during our foray on Rhotul - he was leading a pack of demons in the sacking of Vamorgian's city of Northport. We arrived far too late to save the city, but in time to find this group still present. I would perhaps have gotten a better look at him if his companions had not had the disturbing property of sapping the strength of anyone who saw them.

A champion of Sarta, he apparently employs weapons and arcane magic with matching facility...rather like the path that Hanno is on, though perhaps more equally balanced?

A champion of Sarta, reputed to be a necromancer. It is just as well, perhaps, that he is not in the service of Bhein, where his own abilities would have synergy with those of his patron. If the only undead at his command are those he raised himself, then we may find him a less difficult opponent.

An elven archer in the service of Sarta. We encountered her in the company of several gnollish archers and a Vrock. From our brief conversation, she seemed rather personable - though I have little good to say for her taste in companions. She was, however, the first of the enemy champions that I regretted not being able to capture alive.

I suspect this orc had been not overly long in the service of Hulekar. Despite being a marked champion, I believe he was a somewhat less substantial opponent than the war-troll he was travelling with.

Clearly a disciple of a combat art similar to that Clauve has learned, I am uncertain as to whether this champion was the teacher of the several 'hammer-hand' defenders we confronted, or if instead it was their presence that had attracted him to Hulekar's service. I would be quite interested in learning the origin of his skills, as this was the first indication we had seen that such arts are practiced here, but it is regretfully too late to ask him.

There was little time for me to develop an opinion of this champion of Hulekar, though it was clear he made quite an impression on Clauve. With his hammer, at the very least. When one considers that he was wearing a heavy breastplate and stood, at least temporarily, nearly nine feet tall...it is really quite remarkable that it took us so long to notice him upon the field of battle.

This Paladin of Life was in the service of Hulekar; when we encountered him, he was leading the defense of a Trollish city. He quite courteously offered us the opportunity to withdraw, as none of us were undead - an offer we naturally had to decline. Nor was he ammenable to surrender. He fought with a curious weapon - a double-bladed sword.

Reputedly in the service of Bhein, this Paladin of Death is said to be a great rival (and perhaps relation?) of the Paladin of Life we found in Hulekar's forces. I do wonder how he will react to learning that his arch-nemesis was slain by someone other than himself.

This realm was once ruled by powerful wizards, who were served and advised by priests. Six years ago, however (Year 3 by our reckoning, I believe, if the pace of time in the two realms runs in parallel...an assumption we have not tested yet, though Melitta could likely answer the question), the fabric of their magic was broken or altered in some fashion. Since then, the priests have come into power more directly.

The elemental power are worshipped here, but in the person of historical prophets who taught the elemental philosophies. Each seems to have its own symbol, generally an animal of some sort, with different prophets for the positive and negative philosophies of each path (including Life and Death). Thus far, we've been told of:

• Anpw: The positive aspect of Death, symbolized by a jackal - release, the natural order, the graceful end of things.
• Amam: The negative aspect of Death, symbolizd by something called a hippopotamus - blood magic, corruption, consumption and undeath.
• Azar: A prophet of Life, whose symbol is a crossed flail and crook.
• Amen: The positive aspect of Air, symbolized by 2 feathers on a crown. Wind as the breath of the soul.
• Keppera: The positive aspect of Fire, symbolized by a scarab beetle - Fire as the Sun, which feeds life.
• Nesart: The negative aspect of Fire, symbolized by a lion - Fire as a destroyer.

The residents here have a curious tradition: battle for territory is executed by small groups of warriors. When an enemy force approaches a town, the most capable of its defenders emerge to oppose them. If the defenders are defeated, the town surrenders itself to its new overlord without complaint.

That they have developed such a custom seems a strong indication to me that warfare is the common state of life here. The wizard-lords who ruled here before their magic changed must have been constantly in conflict, with towns changing hands between factions frequently; those are the only conditions I can immediately conceive of in which this behavior would make sense. It might preserve the majority of the town in reasonable peace even when war was raging around it.

Unfortunately, it has since become apparent that some opponents do not follow the rules. We have discovered three sacked towns thus far in our travels here; one appeared to have been overrun by wild beasts and one by demons who may have been acting on nothing more than their own innate urge for destruction, but the third seems to have been reduced by the servants of Sarta...one of her champions was still present, with his companions, when we arrived. We found only a handful of survivors.

This custom is apparently also not in force when dealing with settlements of uncivlized peoples, who have no interest in surrender. Specifically, in assaulting a village of Trolls, it was necessary for us to bring a large armed force to confront the entire population. Similarly, when we attacked Sarta's capitol, there was no talk of her sending out a small group of defenders to determine the fate of the battle.

• What other planes does Rhotul connect to, and how?
  Rhotul and Rhotunil seem to each have their own coexistant planes (a Shadow Plane and an Ethereal Plane). They are either coterminous or coexistant with each other. There are certainly points at which they touch (the planar towers), but it is unclear at this point whether or not they are actually coexistent...I lack any magic to see into the 'equivilant point' on the other plane, but I'm not certain such magic doesn't exist.

  Beyond that, both planes seem to be coterminous with the Astral, as spells that require such access (such as teleportation) function. Interestingly, merely travelling through an astral conduit during the course of a teleportation spell does not seem to expose one to the effects of taking local magical objects to another plane. Quite fortunate for us, as I don't believe we'd considered the possibility before trying it. That would have been quite a shock.

  The Inner, and Outer planes accessed through the Astral seem to be the same planes we are familiar with from home; only the coexistant transitive planes seem to have local equivalents.

• Do spells that give access to those planes (Plane Shift, etc) work here? If so, do they provide the same danger to magical items, or does that become an issue only when the items re-enter our home Material plane?
  The danger lies, apparently, at the border between Rhotul or Rhotunil and any other plane, material or not.
• What spells will allow transit between the two halves of Rhotul?
  From what Melitta has said, it appears that all of the spells that would typically allow planar travel will function here, both for travel between Rhotul and Rhotunil, and for travel to other, more distant planes.
• Does time flow at the same rate on Rhotul and at home?
I have had only vague answers to this question, as the relative rate of time appears to actually vary. It appears that we will not know until we return home just how long we will prove to have been gone...
• Melitta has obtained help from outside this realm. Have any of her opponents done the same?
  While it is possible that some of her opponents have travelled outside of Rhotul, she believes it somewhat unlikely. They may have the ability, but lacking friends outside to provide initial shelter, it would be dangerous. She made the point that this is less of a problem for clergy, which would include Bhein. Fortunately, there was no sign of his having received any sort of help beyond fiends he likely summoned himself.
• Melitta is apparently an experienced planar traveller. She may be able to speak upon the outer planes and their denizens with some authority, and perhaps speculate upon the New Gods and the creatures they brought with them.

• Melitta presumably knows something of the 'new' gods at home, if only from talking to Vala. What was her impression of them, and what does she think their origin might be? How do they fit into the structure of the world?
Interestingly, Melitta is aware of no other realms where gods other than the Elemental Powers are worshipped, with the exception of certain areas where fiend-worshiping cults linger.
• Do dragons play any role in religion on Rhotul?
The answer to this appears to be 'no'. We have encountered some few creatures of draconic blood, but they displayed little by way of intelligence. Either the dragons of this world are merely beasts, or they mature more slowly and few (none?) have lived to an age where they would gain reason.
• Other than the prophets, what differences are there between the elemental religion on Rhotul and back home? Are there secret remembered here that have been lost during the interregnum at home?
There do appear to be some points of divergence, but not major ones. For instance, the clergy of Rhotul appear to take a more relaxed view of some of the traditional strictures, with those (for instance) of Air who abstain from ALL armor, even that which does not impede movement in any way, considered 'purists'. Melitta speculated that the absence of dragons serving as a direct avatar, as it were, of the element migh have allowed for more variation.
• Have outside gods ever tried to establish themselves on Rhotul?
  Not to Melitta's knowledge.

• What was the nature of the change in arcane magic on Rhotul, and how did it come to take place? The change does not seem to have happened at the same time as it did at home, unless the time rate is substantially different. Was there a conjunction? Would they even be able to tell, given that the sun never sets? Did anything else unusual happen at the same time? Were there any visible effects?
No conjunction was seen...but then, the residents of Rhotul have never seen STARS. However, it is interesting to note that Rhotul suffered very little in the way of plagues or natural disasters in the wake of the change. Melitta contacted people known to her on other material planes to inquire as to their own experiences. The reports she received back seemed to fall along a range - in one place the change was known to a non-wizard only by vague rumor, because there had been noteworthy disruption otherwise. In others, there was an obvious loss of magic accompanied by various disasters, sometimes severe. On the whole, however, none of the other reports seemed quite as dire as the situation on Ankrice.
• Was there anything special about the magics the powerful wizards used to use on Rhotul, that allowed them to dominate the politics of the realm? Did they employ ritual magic, as Cille In-Belene does? Records of their techniques might prove useful, even if they are not directly applicable.
While it is not impossible that some special techniques were in use, Melitta was not aware of anything worth mentioning. If we are curious about this in the future, her predecessor, the wizard who ruled the territory that is now hers, is still alive and serving as one of her advisers.
• Did sorcerors exist on Rhotul before magic changed?
The answer to this question appears to be 'no'. Sarta discovered her powers only five years ago, after the magics here changed. Her rise to power was accelerated by her willingness to sacrifice her followers to demons in exchange for power.

• What other races exist on Rhotul? As citizens of the various factions, rather than as monsters, that is?
• Who are the remaining faction leaders, and what are their colors and symbols? What are Bhaine's color and symbol?

  Leader	Color	Symbol	Followers
  Melitta	Red	Crossed Keys	Humans and elves
  Vamorgen	Blue	Crook and Stars	Human barbarians
  Sarta	Purple	Dire Wolf	Gnolls
  Hulekar	Green	Sword and Crown	Dwarves and trolls
  Bhein	Gold	Skull	Humans