A while back, every character got a copy of a book, "The Shattering", dropped in their bankbox - so leaving aside the strange way it appeared, it's possibly one of the best known works in the world ...
"Studies: The Shattering
By Nystul
A lifetime I have spent studying the mystic arts, and yet it is only lately that I have begun to uncover even the least of the Gem's secrets.
Two things have become clear to me. While both warrant further investigation I know not how much I alone will find, but I keep this notebook as a way to record my discoveries. I hope it will be saved up against the day that I must depart this world, to be of use to those who must succeed me. First, I have uncovered proof that no hand but that of a stranger who defeated Mondain, could have shattered the Gem. A stranger not only to our people, but to our entire reality, the laws and harmonies binding the Stranger were somehow different than those that act upon us. It was this differing set of qualities that allowed the Stranger to interact with the Gem on a plane closer to its own abstract reality, ultimately shattering it.
That those of differing planes can have influence and effect upon our world brings to mind a most disturbing line of thought, best left for another day... yet I feel I must note it now. There was a once madman who attempted to cast a most terrible spell, one which would bring about the cessation of all life upon our world. That he and his followers failed, thankfully, even though they had the requisite knowledge and resources... it seems as though the spell itself was designed by those not of our world.
I leave this, then, and will concentrate upon my second realization. Within each shard of the Gem of Immortality lies a perfect likeliness of the world as it was at the very moment the Gem was shattered. My liege has confessed many things to me, many disturbing things, about the influence the Gem's power still holds upon these worlds.
It is possible that within each of these shards lie copies of the shattered remains of the Gem of Immortality. I had thought this impossible, that the Gem transcended our reality and was no longer a part of our world. Yet I gaze upon the shining facets of a shard, looking at the world slowly spinning within, and it seems clear to me. The stone's sinister power was not destroyed when the Stranger shattered the stone, but instead spread throughout the shards themselves.
Thus the question begs: does this recursion go on forever? Are there worlds within worlds, scattered like dandelions on the wind, lying in my trembling hand?
And what influence does the Gem yet have upon them? "
As for 'commoners' though - they likely know, and care about, such things to the same level most of us in the real world 'know' about nuclear physics, advanced astronomy, or most other sciences ... a vague 'we sort of know a bit about them but nothing at all in any real detail'.
