⚖️ The Cradle of Worlds

Type: Planar Nexus / Mythic Neutral Ground
Function: Cross-planar hub for divine champions, emissaries, trials, duels, and diplomacy.

✦ Overview

Nestled in a fold between realms where time frays and stars stand still, the Cradle of Worlds is the only place where gods may meet without warring, and mortals may cross between planes without the toll of divine blood. Shaped like a broken ring suspended over an endless aurora, it holds fragments of every major plane — a shifting mosaic of stone from Olympus, sand from Duat, frost from Yggdrasil’s roots, cloud-silk from Tianji, and more.

At its center rises the Pillar of Accord, a prismatic tower grown from astral crystal and planar bone, where records of every pact, duel, or divine audience are inscribed.

🌀 Notable Features

  • The Veilstep Gates — Twelve rotating portals, each leading to a major mythic realm, shifting position as divine alignments change. Only one may open per visitor — and never twice in the same place.

  • The Arbiter’s Roost — A floating dais where no blade may be drawn. Here, emissaries plead cases before god-fragments, demigods parley, and oaths are brokered under watch of neutral arbiters.

  • The Crucible Spiral — An open arena carved from shattered constellations. Champions of different planes may duel without consequence of death, instead returning to their home realm if defeated.

  • The Memory Vaults — Time-stilled chambers beneath the Cradle, housing echoes of significant cross-planar events, myths, and outcomes. Can be visited in trance, or used to prepare for interplanar missions.

  • The Infinite Taphouse — Run by planar-neutral beings (you could even move the Cracked Lantern here!), this is where tales are told, rivals drink before duels, and emissaries broker rumors.

🧭 Navigating the Cradle

  • Time slows in the Cradle. A day here may be a moment in a divine realm or a month in the mortal world. This makes it ideal for planning, prophecy, or secret meetings.

  • No realm may dominate. Magic, blessings, or curses from divine parents do not work in full strength here. All champions are on equal footing until they step back through their realm’s gate.

  • Only the invited may enter. Whether chosen by a god, summoned by prophecy, or lured by fate, access to the Cradle of Worlds is never accidental.

🌐 Hooks & Uses

  • The Eternal Warplane leaks into the Cradle, threatening its neutrality — champions must act fast before all-out divine war breaks loose.

  • A new portal forms, but no realm claims it — is a forgotten pantheon awakening?

  • The Chosen of Hellenara are summoned to a truce council hosted in the Arbiter’s Roost.

  • Demigods from each plane are challenged to trials in the Crucible Spiral — not for conquest, but for visions of a greater threat beyond the multiverse.

  • The Pillar of Accord records a name that does not exist — a player character’s name.