World Of The Goat

bPreface:/b
The World of the Goat is an exercise in construction of non-standard settings. I am a big fan of anything that breaks the mold, and why should I stop at simple world configuration?
Enjoy.

bThe World As It Is Seen:/b

To the mortals of the World of the Goat, who keep the count of the ages only by the unknowable cycles of nature, it seems natural and obvious that their world has always been this way, and who is to say that they are wrong? Whether through accident of cosmology, action of myth, or the workings of some unknowable mortal agents, the World of the Goat stands as a great bowled disc, rimmed with a vast waste of ice and darkness in every direction to its edges in the airless, lightless void.

At the heart of the World of the Goat, and at the heart of its great conflicts, is the Well of Light. At the axis of the Great World-Wheel sits a vast maelstrom of blinding light and heat, a sun in the form of a shining pillar-storm, couched in the midst of a great turbulent ocean, which throws off enough brightness and warmth to illumine the world which is known as the World of the Goat.

pre-finish notes: the Well illumines the whole world, it is the "sun" and object of worship and discussion, various myths, the lands nearest the Well of Light are eternally daylit and very hot, in between these Daylands and the rim are the twilit lands where civilizations are (the Land of Mortals), then come the Nightlands where it is always dark and cold. The
-the Well sits in the midst of the Sea of Light and is surrounded by continents on all sides. There are whirling mist-storms which blow outward from its heat, which if one were able to sail close enough to get a good look at it, would make it look like a huge shining tornado miles and miles around. Roughly every 30 hours a miststorm will become so large that it will block out the light of the pillar for a section of the continent that it sweeps towards
-the coasts of the continents that protrude very far into the Sea of Light are blasted wastes where almost nothing can live due to the constant light, heat, and wind. Further inland are vast sandy deserts. Beyond that are areas of jungle.
-The Twilit Lands are, as you can see, twilit. Depending on where how far you are into them, a portion of the sky is bright and the other is dark; in between is purplish twilight. At the exact center of the Twilit Lands, half the sky is bright and the other half is dark- this is the Meridian. Throughout the Twilit Lands there are various temperatures and geographic conditions; most mortals live in these lands.
-Both the deserts and the Twilit Lands are known as the Daylands.
-As one gets farther and farther from the Well, the sky is darker and darker; stars become visible, as well as the moon. It also becomes colder and colder. The Nightlands are the lands of eternal darkness that lie beyond the Well's illumination. These lands are choked with snow and glaciers, and the more temperate regions are thickly forested with grim chilly pine woods. In these lands, to see the sky above is rare, for the cloud cover and snowfall rarely cease, and all light comes from the horizon, where the glow of the Day can be seen.

The Goat: He is a force of immense and eternal evil who has been warring against the Well of Light for thousands upon thousands of years, seeking to extinguish it and cover the entire World-Wheel in endless night. He is the Lord of the Glaciers and the Father of Lies, Devourer of Corpses and Ruiner of Men, Keeper of Slaves, He Who Gnashes Teeth. But most often He is called, simply, the Goat.
About a thousand years ago in this world's history, the Goat raised the glaciers once again and His armies surged towards the Well, trying to swallow up the world. In an apocalyptic war, the slaves and servants of the Goat battled the civilizations of the Daylanders and were repelled in vast battles throughout the Lands of Man and driven forth into the Nightlands, the power of His armies broken and His servants scattered in darkness.
Now the fortresses, cities, and temples which were His lie in ruins, choked with snow and rubble, amidst the peaks of the Nightlands and the edges of the Daylands. The War Against The Goat has passed long ago into distant memory; kingdoms have risen and fallen and the Daylanders have turned their backs from the Nightlands, forgetting The Goat and the icy horror of the Night. But The Goat cannot die, and he lives on in the hellish pit of abominable evil which is his hidden stronghold- Goatthrone. His servants dwell in the dark places of the World, tormenting and enslaving humanity, and awaiting the day that their Father will arise once again from the glacier.