A few higher-level Player Characters know about the “Chaos Wars,” which are part of the cosmology of the “Vanished Lands.”

Before anything, anywhen, or anywhere, there was the infinite void. The Elder Gods began fashioning the planes of existence but were forgotten as the Multiverse grew and later generations of gods and demons created the worlds we know. The chaotic Void, or some malignant portion of it, returned, devouring entire universes as if they had never been.

The so-called “Tribe” (perhaps including those known as “Old Ones”) is intent on overthrowing the laws of nature, even as conflicts among powerful beings weakened their planes. A few Champions have arisen, regardless of alignment or allegiance, to find relics of the Elder Gods and defend all worlds. However, the Void has horrific “pets” and has acquired its own servants with promises of power. Who will answer the call?

Nobody in the “Shadow Wyvern Company” or the “Storm Riders” has heard more than rumors of this — so far….

Out of character, this was a metaplot that first connected multiple Game Masters’ settings back when I was in college in Upstate New York. It was partly inspired by DC Comics’ “Crisis on Infinite Earths” and was our first effort at allowing time/dimensional travel among our diverse campaigns, and several heroes and even worlds (including some of mine) have been sacrificed over the years.

In the “Vanished Lands,” Dexter’s Drow Ranger “Faelonia” and a party I ran in Queens, N.Y., were among the few P.C.s who have directly participated in the Chaos Wars. I was also among the G.M.s who used it in the shared, multigenre “Voyagers II: Adventures in the Dimension Corps” scenarios in Northern Virginia after grad school.

The members of “Holy Steel” may know more, but they’ve been missing for more than a year of “game time”….