Spires

The Nature of the Spires

Unusual structures dot the landscape of Grand Convergence's Plates. Most reach for the heavens in solitude, head and shoulders above their surroundings, and for that they are known as Spires. Ancient and mysterious, found in many forms, they were once the pillars of an ancient civilization.

The Spires are multi-sectional vertical towers that spike through the sphere of Grand Convergence like toothpicks through an olive. They have a variety of external decorations but internally, they are uniform. As the Plates rotate, the Spire sections align in different ways, connecting to each other in a fluid way. It is very obvious to see where one is connecting from the trail that runs from the top of a Spire to the bottom section of another Spire, a miniature-scale version of a Spireway, surrounded by faint aurora patterns from the attendant energy transfer. Those who attempt to enter these miniature Spireways have generally regretted it, as outlined why below.

Spires also appear to generate power from Gapspace through an unknown means. The energy travels down through the Spires and radiates outwards through Grand Convergence. The amount available is prodigious but not unlimited, and the unwise have caused brownouts or blackouts before. If someone attempts to fly into one of the Spire links within the Shells, they will find themselves subjected to a tremendous amount of energy. Not something insurmountable but more than a few have found themselves harmed or killed by it. If they pass through the beam they will be whisked away up or down to the natural terminus point of the path within or to another Spire as they wish, just as if they used the Spire Transfer Network. You cannot cross Worlds in this method.

Spire Travel

The primary function of a Spire as far as most are concerned is to travel from one place to another. Spires are the main method to travel up and down Spires through the Spire Transfer Network, using them much as one would use an interstellar elevator. Once one reaches the top, however, one can access the Spireways that lead to other Worlds. Descending a Spire beyond the Third Shell is rare. Paths open and close occasionally, but few delve down there for long due to the potential of being stranded and the lower Shells being far less habitable for life... As well as the potential of running into a Dead Sector.

Traveling along a Spire towards another World takes the form of a twisting 'road' through a chaotic, non-Euclidean space. However, as long as you move 'forward' along the road you will eventually reach the other end. The amount of time it takes to reach another World (or head back to Grand Convergence) varies from Spireway to Spireway, and seems to have a relativity effect such that those on foot and small vehicles tend to be faster than large vehicles (and starships). Gravity is oriented to the surface of the Spireway, and if one is clever they can simply rotate to the opposite side of the Spireway and walk along the 'bottom' if one wishes to try to slip past.

There is a distorting, protective effect around the Spireway that keeps the hazards of Gapspace at bay. One can leave the Spireway (or be thrown off), and the protective effect extends for a short distance, but soon they will find themselves exposed if they don't return quickly. It is also not uncommon for various minor hazards to pass through the Spireway, from freak environmental effects to an invasion from The Unmade.

Once one reaches the other end of a Spireway, one can see through it into the location that one will end up on. Communications can pass through the terminus (or Beacon, as they are called) and wise explorers will make sure to use spells or technology to probe an unknown area before passing through.

Beacons

Beacons are the term people used for the terminal points of a Spireway on the other side, the side connecting to a World. Beacons can appear more or less anywhere on another World, but tend to be drawn towards inhabited places and especially locations that see heavy travel. Beacons do not have a defined physical appearance but usually require someone to step into or through a defined space in some manner. The thematics of a Beacon can vary widely based on the location but almost always require passing through a doorway or portal. Given this situation, It is generally only a matter of time until someone stumbles onto it and finds themselves on a Spireway... And then to a Waystation or Grand Convergence itself. Beacons can be detected by anyone who has the ability to sense spatial distortions or has equipment to do the same job.

Examples of beacons might appear as:

• A Warp Pipe in the Mushroom Kingdom
• A Stargate or wormhole
• A graffiti-covered archway in Chicago
• A train tunnel that never seems to have a train in it
• A rune covered door
• A mystical pool

And many others, as varied as the Worlds.

It's a well-known fact that Beacons take on the character of their surroundings, and even take the character/genre of the World/setting they connect to into question, sometimes in very subtle ways. A Beacon which connects to a world where supernatural beings lurk amongst an unknowing mundane populace may itself be well-hidden and unnoticeable to ordinary folk, while one that shows up in a space opera might take the form of a majestic orbital stargate built by some unknown precursor civilization.

The people of Grand Convergence (or someone sufficiently clever) can create devices (called Beacon Tokens) that will attach to vehicles or other objects to have the Beacon respond to them at range and draw them (and anyone and anything within them) into the Spireway. It's up to them to travel from there, however.

Comm Field

A common side benefit of Spire travel technology is being able to send signals from place to place. This has been harnessed in various ways. By far, though, the most common thing people of Grand Convergence know how to do is harness the field for nigh-instantaneous distant communications and networking. This requires some infrastructure to create a network between devices linked together by some means of sympathetic resonance and minor, common components salvaged from Worlds or crafted through local means. Addressing protocols and services can then be used to direct messages, though solid security and encryption is necessary to prevent eavesdropping.

This Comm Field is very different from more conventional mediums like radio broadcasts. With radio, broadcast and transmission ranges must overlap for two-way to work, and radio-based networks need central access points. With the Comm Field, one merely needs to be within the field to have instant access to all other devices linked by the same field, as long as you can target the specific 'frequency/address' of that device, however the local Spiretech operates. Further, the fields can support numerous networks that have nothing to do with each other and don't cause interference.

Nobody's been able to discover any upper limits on the bandwidth of inter- or cross- Spire communications. The medium itself appears to enable instantaneous transmission and receiving, so the only lag comes from complications or limitations in the sender and/or receiver.

Comm Fields will extend along Spireways and through Beacons, and can often be another way to locate a Beacon if one is capable of detecting the communications.

Translation Effect

One of the more peculiar effects of the Comm Field is bestowing a kind of crude, raw form of auto-translation to spoken words. So long as one is speaking with the intent to communicate, others who don't speak the language will hear the original language but intuit broad-strokes meanings.

Cultural idioms, turns of phrases, linguistics tricks and some jokes are often lost in translation, but frequent exposure and familiarity often overcome such troubles eventually. Most people who end up relying on the translation effect near the same people frequently pick up on fine details and can become roughly fluent fairly quickly.

This translation, however, only applies to spoken words and audio messages, and only between beings whose structured ways of thinking bear great similarity. The more alien and bizarre the mindset, the less effective translation is... possibly to being utterly useless.

Additionally, it only applies to languages that are commonly spoken for casual communication. It can do little for ancient, forgotten tongues, secret cants spoken by members of a cult or conspiracy, or exotic languages meant for purposes like programming or sorcery.

Translation Gear (or T-Gear) exists to help provide the Translation Effect when not within a Comm Field and can be acquired on Grand Convergence or at many Waystations. This is highly recommended for people who like visiting other worlds. It can take the form of all shapes and sizes, from enchanted jewelry and radio uplinks to technological gear from handheld or wearables or even cybernetics for those who lean that way. These devices are usually designed to charge from exposure to a Comm Field and can usually work for several weeks before needing to be recharged again.