Editing Patchlands (section)

= Concepts =

== Portals ==
The two main types of portals in any universe: interdimensional and intradimensional. Naturally, they are a subject of heavy study.

Interdimensional portals are portals that open to other dimensions. Since nothing ever leads outside the Patchlands, the interdimensional portals are, without exception, the ones where things fall through. There are a good few which are simply air or water: portals don't necessarily open in interesting places, after all. 

Interdimensional portals have three subtypes: 

* Ripples: These are portals that only exist for a few seconds at the most, sometimes barely enough to suck up anything from a single person to a country. Those brought in through Ripples tend to be extremely bewildered and confused: This is not a magical byproduct, but a natural reaction with which you are all too familiar

* Rabbit Holes: These are portals that appear in unused, forgotten places, and stay there for any time between an hour and a decade. Every so often, a couple of kids hide in their closet, only to accidentally step through a portal leading to the Patchlands. Such portals are quite unstable, though, and tend to collapse once enough mass has passed through it. They are theorized to be behind the legend of many Fair Folk and faeries, legends which are considered more than a little racist by the actual denizens of that descent.

* Tears: Sometimes, an interdimensional portal malfunctions. The destination address gets permanently scrambled, and the portal leads somewhere completely different than the intended destination. Unusually often, this new destination happens to be the Patchlands. While those portals, unlike the two mentioned above, tend to be almost permanent, they tend to be quickly cordoned off and abandoned when people find out that once people go in, they never come back. 

Intradimensional portals, on the other hand, are created due to the inherent instability and slightly chaotic nature of the Patchlands (though some, known as Needleworkers, have learned to create their own), generally known as Gateways.

* Gateways: Portals, either permanent or temporary, connecting Patches to each other. Patches often lead to and within the City, allowing for swift travel between districts if you can map out a way. They are often dangerous to traverse, but they're always two-way portals, and clever denizens have found ways to confirm the safety of such things.

== The Gods ==

''“Praise Pelor!”

''“Hail Vecna!”

''“Glory be to our creators!”

''“There is no God!”

Proselytizing is common within the City, for many believe that their Gods would allow them to return to their home dimensions with faith (evidenced by a surprisingly common cosmology amongst the dimensions, though the details vary and some have whole pantheons you have never heard of before). There is no true ‘standard’ religion, the same way there is no ‘standard’ anything amongst more than a district or two.

There is an astonishing sight, one you have never seen before, not nearly so wondrous but far more bizarre than the man-made marvels. A man in plain robes assembled in a common mass, preaching of a moral system and espousing the belief with, ironically, religious zeal, that there are no Gods at all.

Far more bizarre is that the man was not immediately struck by lightning.

No miracles in the traditional sense have ever occurred in the Patchlands, and the spell itself doesn’t even work. No sightings of any God have been confirmed as they have on your home dimensions, though divine spellcasting is still a prevalent force throughout the City. A number of theories exist on why that is so… many say that Patchlands have been cursed to never carry the voices of their Gods, while their ears remain open. Others say that divine energy seeps through in to the Patchlands from the planes of the Gods, and from this divine spellcasters are granted their power. And a growing number believe there are no Gods at all, having never seen evidence of their presence. There are many subtleties, and the question of faith has been a popular topic of discussion amongst intellectuals and common man alike. One thing is quite certain… no one in Patchlands has ever successfully cast Commune.

== Magic ==

Raising the Dead: Resurrection magic works normally, generally speaking. There is one disturbing flaw in using it in the Patchlands: resurrecting someone who has been dead more than a few months causes them to have holes in their memories, growing greater the longer they have been dead. After (generally speaking) ten years, those who are resurrected live in a completely vegetative state, and after a time the spell simply does not work at all. No one has any memory of the afterlife, and the reasons for these changes in resurrection magic are completely unknown: this, too, is a hotly discussed topic amongst the divinely spellcasters and theologians.

Planar-dependent Magic: Banishment-type spells simply do not work, like anything else that involves travel to other dimensions, but magic that is dependent on tapping in to other planes generally does. The most common theory is that portals to Elemental and other non-material planes floods their energy throughout the Patchlands, just waiting to be tapped into by someone. Enough evidence supports this that it's accepted as a fact amongst the City's mages and sages. 

Divine Magic: Divine magic generally works, though it's not universally accepted as to how this can be so. Magic that communes with the Gods directly, or calls for their intervention, simply does not work at all, nor does the Miracle spell. There have been reports of some divine spellcasters losing their power when they come to the Patchlands, though no one has figured out how this comes to pass. 

Arcane Magic: The fields of arcane energy that allow spellcasting in most worlds still exists, and many have noted that the world is richer than others. Some theorize that the portals leech magic from the Weaves of other worlds, while others still believe that each dimension has its own Weave that exists as an unshakable part of its foundation.

== The Way Home ==

Just because people are stuck doesn't stop them from trying to get home. The devout pray to the Heavens, the arcane try spell after spell, and a slew of new magics and items of power have been created for this express purpose… those who devote their lives to the way home are called Modiste: an old word meaning ‘tailor’, seeking facilitate passage to other realms. 

There are rumors of an artifact, an orb blacker than oblivion. Its name is spoken with reverence: The Way Home. It has been whispered of since the very beginning of the City. Some claim that it only works once, that you need to destroy it for it to work. Some claim that Patchlands is in the condition it is because the said orb has been lost, and once found, the plane will function as others do and the people within will be allowed home. Some claim that it has been hidden by someone who does not want to see The Patchlands die. 

However, for the vast majority of the populous, Patchlands is their home. Generations came and went peacefully. As such, The Way Home is only truly sought by some Modiste and is generally considered nothing more than a fairy tale.