Role-Playing in Sennzia

The Queendom of Sennzia is a high-magic fantasy fairy realm bound to the will of the archfey Jillian Floquet. Sennzia connects to a multitude of other realms (collectively referred to as the ™) via one-way fairy doors. Each fairy door requires a specific activation to open and pass through. These doors are how most visitors access the realm.

Role-playing adventures in Sennzia may combine powers & effects from a variety of different role-play systems and editions. Sennzia allows a character created in one game system to interact with a character created in a different role-playing system. Both sets of powers & abilities are valid and will function much the way they would in the character’s realm of origin, based on the storyteller’s good judgment. The Realm of Sennzia runs on pure imagination.

Sennzia is home to a blend of styles, cultures, eras and genres. There is no single time period in which the realm exists. Through its fairy doors, Sennzia accesses ™ at various different junctures in their timelines. This results in fashion, ideas, philosophies and technology from many realities “spilling over” into Sennzia. Fairy doors allow almost everything to have a place in the Queendom, so long as it obeys Queen Jillian’s rules.

The eternal struggle of good vs. evil is waged in Sennzia as it is in any other realm, but the battlelines are rarely clear. Good & evil don’t wear uniforms like sports teams. They are just people. Any person can do both good things and bad things. Most beings consider themselves good because they see things from their own perspective. They tend to see the other side as wrong or bad. Sennzians don’t usually bother with such subjective and petty concerns. They are far more literal in their interpretations.

In Sennzia, the law is what is important. Specifically, any contractual law entered into intentionally by two or more sentient individuals must always be honored and upheld. A Sennzian’s concept of “evil” may include anyone who doesn’t fulfill the obligations of their agreements, even if they do so for “good” reasons. Oathbreakers are liable to be targeted by The CreeperJack, a strange and sinister entity with mysterious motives.

Every sentient creature in the realm is guaranteed legal rights which protect it from being assaulted or killed. A “hero” who crawls through a dungeon slaughtering goblins and orcs would be considered a mass murderer in Sennzia. They may be pursued and brought to justice by Sennzian Marshals. Note that the fey definition of “sentience” requires a minimum level of intelligence. This rules out many (but not all) animals. Sentience does not require that a creature be technically alive, so constructs and the undead also have protected rights.

A typical adventure in Sennzia will involve interacting with incredibly powerful characters, solving puzzles and mysteries, negotiating contracts, participating in competitive sporting events, finding lost objects or celebrating at parties with fey. Violence does occur, but combatants should be wary of using lethal force. Fatal encounters involving sentient beings can have dramatic, far-reaching consequences.

A major phenomenon in Sennzia is its proliferation of one-way “fairy doors” leading to and from other realms. These doors are manifested by the power of Queen Jillian, and may be somewhat unpredictable as the Queen’s moods change. Fairy doors do have a few well-established characteristics in common, though many other aspects of the doors can vary wildly.

1. Fairy doors are always one-way. Once you go far enough in, you can’t return through the same door. If you poke your finger through, you may be able to pull it back, but if you poke your head through to take a peek, you might get stuck and have no choice but to go all the way through.
2. Fairy doors only ever go to or from other realms. They never, ever, ever, never connect two locations within Sennzia directly to one another, or two other realms directly to one another.
3. Fairy doors always require some kind of “activation” in order to pass. Usually, this is a secret knock, a particular way of walking through the door, or an action which must be taken to awaken the door. Otherwise, the door just opens to whatever room it normally leads, like the closet. That’s why you can’t follow the monsters.

Fairy doors are not always literal doors. Some are only seasonal. There is one fairy door departing Sennzia that is activated by lying on the ground and making a snow angel in a specific location. Without snow, of course, the fairy door does not activate. You’d just be waving your arms in the dirt for no particular reason. Some fairy doors require jumping into a fountain or a fireplace in a precise manner, or after a designated action. It all depends.

Through Sennzia, anyone and everyone can wander the ™, so long as they know a fairy door back home. By design, if there is a fairy door to another realm, there is always a fairy door back to Sennzia somewhere fairly close by.  It will almost certainly lead to a completely different part of Sennzia than the traveler started out in, but that is also by design. It allows those “in the know” to quickly travel to distant parts of Sennzia by passing through other realms.

The proliferation of fairy doors is intended to make getting in and out of Sennzia very easy for various different kinds of role-playing games. Whatever your rules system, in Sennzia they all work. A player from one RPG genre can interact with a totally different genre of game and, however weird it is, Sennzia’s reality takes control of both. Science fiction, fantasy, horror, comedic farce… it doesn’t matter. Any type of character can step through a fairy door into Sennzia from anywhere.

The fey of Sennzia hold contractual law in the highest regard. Breaking a deal with a fey will always result in at least a severe curse. At worst, it could cost a person their life and their immortal soul. If someone breaks a fey contract and dies before they can make amends, their soul is either granted to the offended fey if those were the contract’s terms or it is utterly destroyed.

Players role-playing in Sennzia will eventually come to a point where signing a contract with a fey seems like a good idea. A fey, however, will always phrase the terms literally, with either very little room for interpretation, or with massive loopholes they can take advantage of. Players should be careful of homonyms that could open their contract up to intentional misinterpretation on the part of a clever fey.

No entity who is currently in violation of any outstanding contracts at the time of their demise may return from the dead by any means. Nor, however, do they go to any afterlife. There is only one place for oathbreakers: The Void.

Hell is a place where people have in rare instances been freed from. Ghouls have crawled their way out of The Abyss. Souls have been sent back down from Heaven as Angels. No one, however, has ever returned from The Void.

Practicing any kind of magic in Sennzia is typically referred to as hexcraft. They don’t call it witchcraft, because that implies the crafting of a witch, either by training them to perform hexcraft or by literally making a witch out of magic clay. What a witch technically does is craft hexes, thus, hexcraft. Spell is a common synonym for hex, so using the term “spellcraft” would be plainly understood, but would also identify the speaker as (probably) a foreigner.

Wizardry is a more general term in Sennzia that implies no specific attachment to magic. In Sennzia, wizardry just means expertise. A wizard is someone who is really good at something. Could be hexcraft, could be chopping down trees. This can lead to confusion whenever anyone goes off to see the wizard. They may just be going to see an expert in tax law.

A hex is not always a bad thing, either, at least not in Sennzia. It is not synonymous with “curse.” If someone hates their job, they might ask for a hex to be placed upon them so they don’t realize they are at work all day. A hex could be used on candy to make it ease a sore throat, or on a wooden leg to make it appear to be a real leg. A hex could be placed to quiet groaning pipes or to fix a leaky faucet.

Hexes are commonly used, and the word “hex” is even more commonly used. Any word usage where mortals might refer to a “spell” would likely be swapped in Sennzia for “hex.” So, putting someone under their hex is a common phrase. Hexcasting is often used to refer to the act of placing a hex. The most powerful position in government outside of the Queen herself is the Hexcaster General, who advises the Queen on setting laws governing hexcraft.

In Sennzia, witches are in demand for nearly every industry. Steel is commonly hexed at the factory to enhance certain properties of the alloy. Hexes are used to create medicine. There is even a hag in Damria who runs a Hextaraunt where all the food, every ingredient, is hexed in some way.

Jillian Floquet is Queen of the Queendom of Sennzia, but the Realm of Sennzia includes many other nations. While these nation’s lands remain tied to the elements controlled by Jillian’s moods, they have their own heads of state and/or governments. Nearly all of these nations acquired their lands through some sort of fey contract with Queen Jillian. Whatever the terms of these bargains, the Queen is bound by the laws of the fey to never break them. The independence of those nations remains, so long as those contracts remain in effect. Few in those lands would ever risk their nation’s destruction by violating any terms with the Queen.

The Kingdom of Yarsaria, nation of Elves and The Argen, is perhaps the most powerful and influential of nations outside the Queendom. Yarsaria is ruled by King Ulmond Ehrenfell, who is both elven and Argen and the king of both people.

Then there is Halmatia, a free nation of ghouls. Designed as a Constitutional Republic, they have legislative, judicial and executive branches which share power, and the ghouls hold elections to choose their leaders.

WendiWitch Hollow is a fledgling nation temporarily led by a steward, Gorrn the Troll, until it further establishes itself. The gnomes of Greely’s Grove have held their independence for perhaps longer than any. While the empire of cats no longer exists, the contract Queen Jillian agreed to allows the Blue Bayou to continue to operate outside the laws of the Queendom for as long as even one cat remains alive within its borders. Old Rex fiercely protects all remnants of cats in the swamp, as its independence gives him a base of operations for Le Scaglie.

Role-players may choose to adventure in a single nation, sticking to a gaming style they prefer, or they may bounce around a lot. An adventure in Halmatia is much different from an adventure in The Greenway, but all of Sennzia still has a fairy fantasy tone. When there are ghouls, they are civilized ghouls. When there are dragons, some of them still wear clothes.

The most powerful criminal organization in Sennzia is by far the reptilian mob known as Le Scaglie. Le Scaglie is so powerful that the head of its organization, a reptilian named Old Rex, has established his own independent border at the bottom of Sennzia Tesson. Beryl Backwater is home to Le Scaglie and, somewhere in an undisclosed location, Old Rex himself. Any place in Sennzia where crime turns a profit, the reptilian representatives of Le Scaglie are sure to be involved in some way and receive their cut of the take.

Beyond Le Scaglie, many different gangs exist, especially in Damria and outside of Camp Mustang. Vampire gangs, among others, are known to operate in Salentis, the Silver City. In Yarsaria, both the capital and the island city of Narmeth face a criminal organization posing as freedom fighters. They call themselves the Kingplague and attack royal targets loudly and in public. The same “rebel heroes” then sneak out and rob private citizens in private. Even in Halmatia, the relatively new nation of free ghouls, groups of local street toughs are presenting a growing problem for local law enforcement.

The economy of the realm revolves primarily around the Gold Coin of Sennzia, or the Queen’s Coin. This is most often referred to as a “BonBon” because of its reverse relief depicting a candy truffle or bonbon. The obverse side of the BonBon is a profile image of Queen Jillian Floquet facing right wearing a beehive crown dripping with honey and surrounded by tiny bees.

The Queendom also mints two other coins, the Silver or Princess coin which features a profile of Princess Rentara facing left while wearing a tiara on the obverse, with a heart shape surrounded by small stars on the reverse. Ten princess silvers equals a BonBon. The least valuable coin in the Queendom is the Hexcoin, a black titanium slug with no reliefs. It is said that the cost to mint a Hexcoin may be more than its actual value, hence the lack of any relief. 25 Hexcoins are required to equal a Princess, and 250 would be needed to match the value of a BonBon.

Yarsaria uses only a single coin called the “Ehren” which is minted from silver. The Ehren exchanges to about 20 Hexcoins, or a little less than a Princess. Despite this coinage being in circulation, most elves prefer barter to carrying around clinking chips of excess metal.

In Halmatia, no coins are minted at all, as the ghouls prefer paper money. The base unit of currency there is called a “Sharp” and features the proudly-decayed visage of Halmatia’s first president, Allen Sharpling. A Sharp is worth about half a BonBon, but Halmatia prints additional bills at higher amounts featuring famous ghoul artists, musicians and other public figures. Even though other ghouls are featured on them, these bills are still called 5-Sharp, 10-Sharp, 20-Sharp and 50-Sharp because of the numbers. Breaking from this convention, the 100-Sharp is usually called a Dramsey, after a famous ghoul shipping tycoon.

Any language from the mortal realm may be spoken in Sennzia because the fairies are tied to mortal children who may speak those languages natively. A fairy always speaks the language of their wish-child, in addition to Faerie. Visitors to Sennzia may notice that French is particularly popular. Other languages commonly spoken in Sennzia include Pix, Pescean, several dozen different dialects of Elvish, Goblin, Palinki and hundreds of others.

The enormous number of languages and dialects spoken can make communication challenging. To ease this burden, pronunciation of names and words in Sennzia is always loose and generous. As long as the listener understands the word meant by the speaker, it is always considered correctly pronounced. In Sennzia, it would be impolite, even rude and pedantic to ever correct anyone’s pronunciation on anything at all.

In Sennzia, if someone says your name wrong, you must assume that they tried their best. As long as you understand that they intended to address you, it is close enough. If you did not understand who they were addressing because the name was completely wrong, it is more polite to ignore them and continue about your business than to correct them on how to say your name. Always let them ask you how to pronounce it.

You already read this twice. Why are you coming back to review it again? Seriously, though, time travel is a thing in Sennzia. There are a few locations within the realm where time travel is not only possible, but a normal part of everyday life. Yestershire was once famously saved by the crew of a ship leaving its port who were stunned to see the city on fire as they sailed beyond its harbor. The ship returned to port immediately to help extinguish the inferno only to find that it had not yet started. A safety check of the future-affected buildings uncovered an oil lantern that had been left burning.

Perception of time is another key component of understanding time travel. Some beings, such as the archfey Jillian Floquet and her sister Rentara, can perceive all possible timelines happening at once. This is a key reason why the Queen always seems distracted or disinterested during an audience with her. She is literally existing in and paying attention to a thousand other realities at that exact moment.

Playing with time travel in an RPG can occasionally alter character backgrounds in so many ways that you can’t seem to unravel it. If at any point you wish to “reset” a time travel adventure that has gone wrong, there are solutions. At least two beings in Sennzia can immediately set things straight.

Queen Jillian is immensely powerful in this regard, as she is constantly observing the various timelines for threats to her realm. Many of the Queen’s actions do not seem to make sense to those who are less aware. Every contract she signs serves a long-term purpose, however. There have already been time-travelers working to disrupt and manipulate Sennzia’s history, but the Queen has intercepted them, confronted them and set them straight.

Princess Rentara is also very powerful, specifically when it comes to time traveling adventures. Rentara is unique in that time travel cannot alter her history. Her sacrifice to give up her wings to save the Shard can never be undone by any means. It is a destined, immutable event. Rentara exists outside of time and space, and like her sister, is already taking steps to protect her shard from those who would attempt to alter the past or future of her people.

Space and time operate somewhat differently in Sennzia than in other realms. Surface distance is rarely measured in terms of how long it takes to get from point A to point B, because time and distance are relative. Sennzian natives don’t usually ask how far away something is, because how far away something was yesterday has little to no bearing on how long it will take to get there today. It depends on a lot of factors.

The landscape of Sennzia is known to change based on Queen Jillian’s state of mind. New lands are occasionally added, but there are also lands which vanish. Sometimes the differences are so small as to go without notice. Other times, people get lost in terrain they’ve known all their lives. A new valley may appear underneath them while they are sleeping. It is extremely rare in populated areas, but not unheard of in more rural parts of the realm.

Time distortion is known to affect several locations within Sennzia. Simply passing through an area may cause time to pass more quickly or more slowly for those within that space than for those outside of it. You may arrive much later than expected. It is even possible to arrive at your destination before you ever left in the first place!

Perception and “bonus time” can play a role as well. There is a wagon-train that leaves precisely at 08:00 every day heading from Salentis to Aviro. It is somehow always back in Salentis in time to depart the next day, but many travelers report taking several days to reach their destination. The wagon-train is pulled by a single unicorn.

Passengers riding in any of the wagons perceive time passing as quickly or as slowly as they need or want it to. For those in a hurry who do not like to wait, the ride is nearly instantaneous. For others who would like to relax and read a book, take a nap or enjoy a nice meal, time passes as slowly as they like. This works in a similar way to fairy “tea time,” where others in the wagon may appear time-stuck. Interfering with time-stuck individuals will end the offending passenger’s bonus time.

Strange auras and reality-warping effects surround a number of characters in Sennzia. The laws of the ™ just don’t behave normally around these beings. Some of these effects are the result of a fey contract, some are caused by powerful or traumatic emotions, and some are just special laws unto themselves. Each warping effect is different. Sometimes those in the effect are aware that the alteration is taking place. In others, those affected have no idea what is happening. Weird stuff just happens.

Magic itself ceases to perform in its usual way around these beings. The laws of physics do not apply, except as mere suggestions. For example, there is a walking Tooni oven in Sennzia named Ignus. A baker could place real batter onto a real cookie sheet and hand it to Ignus. He will open his face, which is an oven door, and place those cookies inside of his head, at which point they become cartoon cookies. Ignus can then bake those cookies, remove them from his head and hand them back. They will turn back into real cookies, except they will now be fully baked.

Characters in Sennzia should always be wary of reality-warping auras and learn to spot the odd sensations they feel when entering one. Some are quite obvious, while others are deceptive illusions. Understanding when a reality-warping zone is being observed or experienced is a skill unto itself.