In Forgotten Realms lore, there is a location in the planar cosmology known as the Plane of Concordant Opposition. Sometimes referred to as the Outlands, it is a realm that dwells at the center of the wheel of outer planes in the Great Wheel Cosmology of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons.
Its a place characterized as True Neutral, but is not thoroughly. All forms of mild to extreme law, chaos, good, and evil dwell there, although they were less able to affect each other due to the “neutralizing” force of the plane.
Therefore, as it is pulled by all sides, but is non-material, it existed in an almost shapeshifting or dreamlike context. First time visitors would see a stable realm like the material plane, … perhaps larger version of their homeland. However, with each subsequent visit, one would notice changes; forests where cities should be. Faces of different. Buildings in the wrong place. A house with familiar rooms, but with unfamiliar arrangements, items in different places from where they should be, perhaps an extra floor or basement above or below. The configuration was always different.
Reminds me a lot about the dreams I used to have when I was a kid living in rural Minnesota. In those dreams:
The house was often the same, though there were anxious dreams of falling down the stairs and breaking through the floor into a lake that rested underneath the house,… or there being a scary basement below our basement, with a scarier one below, and one below that with walking skeletons and monsters… like some sort of video game dungeon going perpetually down.
The backyard was different. Perhaps it had a lake where the pasture was, and a couple of friendly neighbors across the way. Perhaps the gradual slope was the site of an encroaching flood. A rocky forest wilderness with a mesa to the northeast. Neighbors to the south whose houses were atop a wooded incline that felt very up-north. A barn in the woods behind the actual barn that was long abandoned, and had two floors. Even a moment when the entire property was night, foggy, and filled with revolutionary war soldiers.
The highway in front was different. In reality, in the direction of the nearest town, there are fields followed by houses in a suburban configuration before hitting the town limits. In different dreams, maybe a field was replaced by a large red-stone canyon. The suburban houses were centered around a large satellite dish, or was replaced with a seven-to-eight story building with both a main-floor and rooftop bar and casino.
The town was always different. The road coming in could have an archway over it, marking the beginning of an extremely urban area with a park and ferris wheel in its center. Or, it is similar to reality, but more sprawled with 70’s and 80’s style homes, a main street with a strip mall along the north side that was ungodly long. A winding road through mountainous forests to the west. A cowboy-themed convenience store where a church should be. A water-filled stone quarry at the eastern edge.
My first exposure to the Concordant Opposition as a place in fiction was in a Dungeons and Dragons game hosted by a longtime friend, when my character drew the short straw and was banished by a hostile paladin flying a pegasus.
As my characters origin was the material plane, the DM rolled to see where my character would end up, and it ended up being the Concordant Opposition.
Of course, my DM had a bit of trouble describing my character going there. I imagine it was because the lore hadn’t been fully grasped by himself. He ended up describing it as a plane that was perfectly flat, gray, fog-filled, with one foot of brackish water, stretching endlessly in every direction. Featureless. Echoing. Almost like an alternative to Limbo.
He couldn’t think of a way for my character to leave, or for there to be a fun roleplay or game experience with it, so we threw down that idea, and decided to go with something else.
So why am I talking about this fictional dimension?
A clumsy metaphor. Late May and early June has been a barrage of highs and lows, joys and stresses, a tangled web of workplace deep drudgery, paranoid feelings, exciting new relationships, twisting mental wellness, uncomfortable cages, listless wandering, and everything in between.
Approaching each day is a new configuration of old things, with new stimuli sprinkled in here and there. … In actuality, it is a time of change overlapping a time of mediocrity; the old world is shaping and changing, but I am too bogged down, or caught up in the roller coaster to focus on writing, personal project productivity, or other things.
Late night IT deployments. Cranky peers. Chain-bound obligations.
At the same time, I feel more life-facing; pushing myself in to more social situations and events, enduring big changes at the day job, getting some real wilderness relaxation. Priorities have evolved. I dont have patience for things that aren’t serving my needs, while I’m out exploring what it means to live in this year of life.
Cocktails. Gummies. Fun with fire. Less screen time. More hammock time.
What does this mean for Chaotican Writer?
At most, a refreshed mindset with new sources of inspiration in the future. At worst, some dead air in the present.
I yearn for the in-person DnD game again. Its been since before the pandemic that I enjoyed a sit-down game as a DM, and I’m itching to start a new homebrew, wildly hybridized game,… or a homebrew remix of a hardcover like Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk.
For the website, a deliberate break away from DnD content. I’m presently disaffected by WOTC and Hasbros actions over the past few years, and I think giving other TTRPGs some spotlight is best. If I run a game in-person, it is with tools I already bought and own.
For the stream, a deliberate return, with some very community-centric ideas to be played out throughout the rest of 2024.
Much like the every changing nature of the Outlands, I’m waking up each day to a new configuration of the same things. A new arrangement of the same people and places. New relationships with different people. Its mildly dizzying, but its sure to make year 36 feel complete in my book.
And to top it off, I will be celebrating 37 at GEN CON this year!
…
I hope to see some friendly faces there!
Mostly new.