Help me brainstorm on the Nevernever landscape reached from a portal at Sedona?

[WadeL]

So my players went through a portal into the Nevernever from Bell Rock in Sedona.

For those not in the know, Sedona's got this whole energy vortexes thing going on - trees grow weirdly, people talk about weird feelings, etc. Of course we decided in chronicle creation that these energy vortexes had some real power that was being harnessed by culty new age types. But we never really decided much about that power - we just figured "ley lines" or whatever.

Anyone have an ideas on what part of the Nevernever they might end up in going through to the other side? Want to help me make up some stuff? Double points if you can incorporate local Native American (Yavapai and Apache) mythology.

I've never been super firm on the feel of the stuff in the Nevernever outside of the various faerie lands. I know Faerie is where you typically end up if you just randomly open up a portal, but it seems a place with powerful ley lines is more likely than most places to not end up in Faerie.

For the curious, here's a link to some info on the Sedona energy vortes: http://www.lovesedona.com/01.htm
Here's what they have to say about the Bell Mountain vortex specifically:
"Bell Rock Vortex.
Bell Rock is located on Hwy 179, just north of the Village of Oak Creek (5 miles south of the junction of Hwy 89A and 179). Its distinct shape makes it easy to spot, and parking and trails are clearly visible. You will notice that the energy is strong as soon as you get out of your car. You don't have to do any climbing to feel the energy at this vortex. Notice the twisted Juniper trees all over Bell Rock. The energy at this vortex is very powerful and strengthens all three parts: the masculine side, the feminine side, and the balance."

[Haru]

Bell Rock is located on Hwy 179, just north of the Village of Oak Creek (5 miles south of the junction of Hwy 89A and 179). Its distinct shape makes it easy to spot, and parking and trails are clearly visible. You will notice that the energy is strong as soon as you get out of your car. You don't have to do any climbing to feel the energy at this vortex. Notice the twisted Juniper trees all over Bell Rock. The energy at this vortex is very powerful and strengthens all three parts: the masculine side, the feminine side, and the balance.

Ok, let's look for some themes first. The vortexes say unstable and chaotic to me, but at the same time, you've got Its distinct shape makes it easy to spot, and parking and trails are clearly visible., suggesting just the opposite. Though I think it's easy to combine those, given that the place is also supposed to be about balance. So I think it could be that the immediate area around Bell Rock in the nevernever is exactly the same, it's the nevernever version of Bell Rock. It's stable, it's eternal, it's a beacon to anyone walking those paths.
The paths however are highly volatile. You can't really tell where they are going as soon as you take a few steps away from the rock. Most of the ways throw you back out at one of the other vortex points, as they toss and turn back and forth. But some ways lead you deep into the far reaches of the nevernever, where few people ever return.

Now a place like that could be inhabited, of course. Creatures feeding off the chaotic energy of the vortexes and using the stable rock as their home. Strange creatures made entirely of the same volatile magic of the vortexes, only sometimes throwing together a body of stray dust and plants to ward off invaders into their territory.

Rumor has it that some of the Native Americans could talk to these beings and even make peace with them, assuring a safe passage through the vortexes. (I don't really know any Native American mythology, but something along these lines should fit one myth or another)

***

A more interesting question would be: why did your players step through there? Are they going anywhere specific?

[Sanctaphrax]

A tornado, maybe. A physical vortex to go with the metaphysical one. The three parts could be coloured clouds in the tornado.

[blackstaff67]

Aspect "Chaotic power unleashed" for the area.  May require a Discipline roll (+4 or +5?) to harness.  If it's always coming in at one area, there may be guardians who keep others from using it--
1) Strange side effects if/when when tapped into.
2) Too much power in the wrong hands.
3) Weakens reality and lets Nevernever things into our world
4) Will start to corrupt those that tap into it.  (Vegas solution?)
 

[Taran]

How about some strange ambient, transformative environment.

Environmental attacks every so often with consequences that revolve around changing/mutating people.  If you want to make it less obvious, make it a mental environmental attack where consequences drive people insane or cause them to want to live there, turning them into a guardian.

The advantage is it's a major Hub leading to all kinds of places.  But not before you figure it out.  So, maybe, they can travel anywhere they want in the world super-quickly, but have to predict/read the portals.  Make a mini-test where success means some kind of strategic advantage (if time is important), but failure means they are lost or lose time.

I like the idea of a tornado.  The 'eye' or centre of the location is perfectly calm and balanced.  Maybe that's where the power lies - and is also the safest area but is difficult to find.

[Quantus]

Well, what stands out to me is the whole Masculine/Feminine/Balance bit, along with the fact that the whole area is rife with these vortexes (at least 4).  What that tells me is that there is a lot of traffic back and forth over the barrier, thinning and eroding it.  Or, there is /some/ traffic of particularly massive/powerful beings.  I'd play on some kind of a duality if you can find one.  Brief wiki check says that apache religion feature two cultural heroes: 'one of the Sun/fire:"Killer-Of-Enemies/Monster Slayer", and one of Water/Moon/thunder: "Child-Of-The-Water/Born For Water") that destroy a number of creatures which are harmful to humankind.  These could be any manner of beings, just make one male and the other female, and have them engaged in something that could be described as an Eternal Dance (since most of their religions practices involved various spiritual dances.  'Masks' are also common, so possessing mantles that snatch a pair of party members could be cool for a side-mission.  If you dont have a problem mixing mythos and giving beings multiple Names/roles, you could blend the Masculine/Feminine with the Fire/Water heroes and bridge into the Summer winter and/or the  Niflheim/Múspellsheim of the norse creation myth. 

Sandpainting is often important, so if you want to play on the tornado imagery, it could be cool to have a giant tonado slowly depositing sand to make one of those religious diagrams on a massive scale.