Mechanus is a dimension where the
living and the dead dwell together, focused on Law. All creatures hear all speech and see
all writing in their own language, and can survive in any environment. The whole is
constructed of enormous interlocking gears. Don't expect to find unselfish love here. But
the ordinary loves -- family, friendship, romance -- may be much as in our own world, if
more regulated. The locals, especially the dead, are literal-minded and mostly humorless.
Natural Law is how the universe seems to
work. Surprisingly or not, scientists seem to be able to discover fundamental rules that
nature always obeys. This knowledge enables to us predict, within its limits, the results
of our actions.
Human Law is invented and agreed-on by
people so that we can have reasonable security to do what we want. Some thinkers have said
that God teaches us the basis of this kind of Law. Others (including Sophocles and some
modern philosophers) believe that human law is discovered just as the laws of nature.
Still others believe that human law, and all other forms of culture, are entirely
human-made.
I am not aware of any reason to think that natural laws are
either benevolent or malevolent toward us, and the image of a clockwork universe is
familiar from classic philosophy. Science has the powerful indirect effect of improving
human health and opportunity. Science makes it much easier to make good decisions, and
generally gives its practitioners a social conscience. But the study of nature is morally
neutral, and the business of science itself is both political and tedious.
Human-made law is by itself also morally neutral. Experience
shows that genuine democracy results in the greatest human good. But our statutes range
from laws founded on genuine love and strong goodness (Mount Celestia), the prescriptions
of theocrats and social engineers (Arcadia), the malices of bigots (Acheron), the cruelty
of status-seeking, conquest-hungry egomaniacs (Baator), or simply the social contract
(Mechanus, "Let's all just figure out how to get along.") From time to time,
people forget why they have made laws, and keep them for their own sake, out of habit or
for minority group identity. Of course, silly statutes ("death for wearing a pinkie
ring") are not Law, but the stuff of Chaos.
The "Fraternity of Order" philosophic sect, which
seeks control by understanding natural law, has its headquarters on Mechanus at their
Fortress of Disciplined Enlightenment. ("This is happening for a valid reason.")
They have been wrongly described as arbitrary legalists, but this is not true. They
maintain a huge law library. Brynn is a wheel millions of miles across and thousands of
miles thick, built of massive earthworks, where there is no decay or corruption. The
forests, mountains, seas, and plains of Brynn are filled with growing plants, and when
leaves and fruits fall, they gradually turn to stone and become part of the land. The same
happens to anything else that is left here. The caverns of Brynn are filled with beautiful
crystals, while the skies bear an endless procession of suns and moons. At the edge of
Brynn, one looks into literally nothing. The One True Church has its headquarters on one
of these wheels. ("We have all the answers. Thou shalt not ask the hard
questions.") So does the Temple of Equanimity. ("Do it our way.") A few
sects focused on obedience and feudal duty are headquartered here. Myconid heaven is
somewhere here, inside a hollowed-out gear. It's all myconids and fungi, with a central
lake which seems infinitely deep and a central palace reachable only reachable. There is
no possibility of violence in this realm, and when a creature forms a violent intent, it
is teleported away. Somewhere is the headquarters of the "Multiversal Trading
Company", but no one has found it. Like the modrons, the company deals in most goods,
but never in holy or unholy things. Customers on all planes make exchanges to and from
headquarters using teleport boxes. Haven is a well-run town inside a walled cube, where
the laws are reasonable and no one is oppressed. Delon-Estin-Oti is a town where everybody
seems to understand the same things, and where communication is rare. There is nothing
here to interest visitors except for the possibility of getting a prediction from one of
the locals, who are very good at interpreting patterns and processing data. Nemausus fell
from Arcadia into Mechanus, thanks to the heartless fanaticism of the Harmonium. It is a
highly-ordered, bucolic world on the back of a huge gear. Currently there is a battle
between the modrons, who would like to keep it in Mechanus, and some good souls who would
like to return it to Arcadia. Here you can find modron towers, the remains of the
Harmonium training camps, and some chaotics which were freed from those camps when the
plane shifted.The most popular motto in modron territory is "Don't question, but
obey." In areas of flesh and blood, popular expressions are "This is happening
for a valid reason", or "Obedience is Freedom", or "Why be
different?" Primitives will discover a great stone city, governed by stern but just
laws. Paths are the Labyrinthine Portal, a series of teleportals from gear to gear. The
more lawful a user's mind, the greater the chance of accurately selecting the destination.
In fact, it's said that anything you can imagine can be found on one of these gears, and
that the Labyrinthine Portal can take you there. Public portals between the disks and to
remote planes resemble customs-houses between prime-plane nations. Entry from Automata, on
the Outlands, is by means of a gate with elaborate settings. There's lots of red tape to
get to use it, but it's accurate and safe if used properly. Diamond-clear pools appear at
designated sites, and cannot be moved. Portals to the Outlands, Arcadia or Acheron may be
arches of red tape. Other attractions on various disks include a region where ability
points can be bargained up or traded, a library where most knowledge is contained (there's
lots of red tape to get user's privileges, and don't expect to learn much about virtue or
vice here), a garden where grow the peaches of longevity (restore 1 year of youth each
without any risk -- but hard to get), a world of ferocious hawks and hawk-people, a world
of robots, and many anthill and beehive worlds. |
