D&D General Does Earth (or at least a fantasy version of it) have a crystal sphere and exist in the D&D Cosmology?

Oh... I just found out crystal spheres don't exist in 5E Spelljammer. That doesn't really change much, though. We've still got solar systems (bubbles of Wildspace) bobbing in the Astral Sea. They just don't have a hard exterior envelope anymore. I wonder what the stars are now? They used to be big gems (or something similar) on the inside of the crystal sphere.

They exist, its just that they only are mentioned in the context of Eberron in Rising From the Last War and Shatterspace in the Spelljammer adventure. Its just ignored otherwise in another example of 5e screwing the lore up embarrassingly.
 

log in or register to remove this ad

The Mulan, who can be found in Mulhorand, Unther, Chessenta, Thay, Hazlan, etc... and possibly other peoples are originally from Earth, along with a whole bunch of Gods.

Also 2e had setting books set during the Roman, Greek, and other historical civilizations, which all get retconned by Chronomancer, to be set in Ravenloft's Gothic Earth, which suggests maybe the Mulan are from Gothic Earth as well.
 


DEFCON 1

Legend
Supporter
All the different settings all also have the same language of 'Common', which just happens to be the same language you might find anyone on our Earth using.

There's also countless examples of characters from any of these worlds whose names are exactly the same or are parodies or play-on-words of names/characters of people on Earth.

Not to mention that apparently parallel evolution has occurred across the D&D multiverse wherein almost every single world have Humans just like Earth does.

And of course the topper... we people here on Earth have written up and are playing a game that just so happens to exactly duplicate everything that has occurred in all of these D&D worlds.

If that doesn't indicate that Earth is a part of the 'D&D Multiverse', then I don't know what would. :D
 

cbwjm

Seb-wejem
I'm pretty sure that in one of the immortals adventures from becmi, you visit earth. Even the immortals are apparently affected by its lack of magic is my memory is correct.
 


cbwjm

Seb-wejem
Yep, this is a strange one. There's no way 'Common' would be the same on each world. I think most folk hand-waive it.
Hand waived within worlds as well, most of the time we just don't bother with different regions having different languages to make it easier in game.
 

James Gasik

We don't talk about Pun-Pun
Yep, this is a strange one. There's no way 'Common' would be the same on each world. I think most folk hand-waive it.
Not only that, but several D&D worlds have archaic versions of the current Common tongue, like the Thorass language. So if "Common" is truly quantifiable with English, then somehow on every campaign world, the language evolved into it's current form, in very different ways.

English evolved due to contact with other cultures over the course of Britain's history- but there simply might not be analogues for all these cultures in a given D&D world, or if there are, the majority of Common speakers might not have come into contact with those cultures at all!

But somehow we get to the same end point. Talk about divergent evolution!

Where this really gets interesting is that English is continuing to evolve (or mutate, or devolve, depending on one's point of view) as we speak, with words acquiring colloquial meanings very different, and in some cases, completely opposite from their intended meaning, the introduction of slang or made-up words ("All words are made up") to the lexicon.

Which makes it entirely unlikely that a Common speaker will be comprehensible to an English speaker as time progresses. The only reason the language hasn't broken apart already into similar but distinct sub-dialects is only because of how "small" our world is- people from across the world are in continuous contact with each other, and for the purposes of communication, keeping languages from diverging too much is somewhat necessary.

Most D&D worlds often have communities separated by large distances, and contact with one another is far less frequent, when (barring magic), the fastest way to communicate is by horse, ship, or carrier bird!

If anything, the existence of roving bands of adventurers* who travel far and wide are probably the biggest contributor to keeping Common speakers in contact with one another- upon entering a new town, an adventurer can probably find themselves being pressed for information about the exterior world.

*Or Bards, or merchants, but given how dangerous these worlds can be, they are often associated with, if not adventurers themselves!

Of course D&D often has an easy out. Things are the way they are because the Gods (or cabals of power NPC's) want it this way, and exert significant influence to ensure this fact.
 

Whizbang Dustyboots

Gnometown Hero
The Common tongue is an interesting one. If every setting had its own Common, which is the most logical way to go, then it should probably be called something different in each setting. (I believe Ptolus alternates between calling it "Common" and "Imperial," which is more accurate.)

Some settings, like the Concord Worlds of the Radiant Citadel, have a plausible reason for a singular Common tongue, in addition to their national languages, since all 27 civilizations were connected through and presumably traded through the citadel in the ancient past and about half of them have rediscovered each other about 500 years go. So it's a trade language. But their trade language shouldn't necessarily by understandable on Toril or Oerth by default.

I've long wished for more languages in D&D, with many of them being the equivalent of Common for their areas. The Planar Cant, for instance, could be the Common for the Great Wheel or maybe even the entire standard D&D multiverse. The Shadowfell should probably have Umbral as its equivalent to the Sylvan of the Feywild, etc.

On the other hand, if WotC's goal is to make language as frictionless as possible -- certainly a preference that some folks here have expressed in the past -- then Common should probably be made the language of the First World, which is "remembered" in mystical ways throughout the multiverse and it's what all languages drift towards as they evolve over time.
 
Last edited:

James Gasik

We don't talk about Pun-Pun
Perhaps it's simply tiny Word Archons, too small to be seen with the naked eye, who just translate everything off-worlders say and hear, rather than a true lingua omnia (if I'm using the Latin correctly).
 

Split the Hoard


Split the Hoard
Negotiate, demand, or steal the loot you desire!

A competitive card game for 2-5 players
Remove ads

Top