Difference between revisions of "Rynel/ExaltedInSpaceSetting"

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This page is collection of notes and writings on the setting differences. -Darzoni

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Center of the Universe

The center of Creation is Meru, the Imperial Planet and the Elemental Pole of Earth. It is about the size of Jupiter and it's star orbits around it. Several other rather large planets orbit Meru, forming the Blessed System.

The Sixth Maiden

There are the five rather famous and well known maidens, and their less known but equally as important sixth sister. She is only known as the Maiden of Infinity, and is not known to the savants of Creation. There are no constellations in her panoply, but she still presides over the Endless Well of Night. There are no Chosen of Infinity, and yet all Sidereal serve her in some fashion not known to them. The Maiden of Infinity is inherently unknowable, unfathomable, and yet something known and understood at the same time. She has never been seen, yet every god knows she exists. These paradoxes define the Maiden of Infinity, for the Maiden of Infinity is the living embodiment of the paradox that is the Void. The Void encompasses all things, yet is nothing itself. That is where she exists.

The Great Eastern Stream

The first thing you see in this particular stretch of the void is a... galaxy? No. It's too localized and self-consistant to be a galaxy, but it is a ribbon cutting through the void nontheless. It coruscates colors, containing hundreds of currents going back and forth, ferrying fantastic voidships to and fro through the Void. Even the tributary streams are dwarfed by the massive size of the Great Eastern Stream

And there is life, life beyond imagination. The Great Eastern Stream is its own ecosystem that stretches for thousands of lightyears through the void. The beacon dolphins, glowing like small stars, squeal and play besides the ships wending their way through the stream. Pods of the spaceborne mechaniform Leviathans of Autochthon drift lazily like small moons, singing their haunting version of resonant whalesong as they simply enjoy existance. Predatory fish-like creatures dart and hide among the floating debris and solid balls of elements, feeding upon the schools of smaller fish-things. Clans of color-shifting crustaceans cling to bits of rock and essence crystal, tending the strange plant life growing upon them. Void coral colonies anchor themselves to the places between the currents, collecting essence and merely growing, clouds of minute lifeforms clustering about the islands.

The Great Eastern Stream is one of the greatest legacies left by the Solars of the First Age, a feat of geomantic prowess that only the Primordials could match. It was built early in the First Age as the means by which the entire heartland of Creation could transport and trade goods, bringing a harmonious flow of essence to the planets and systems so that they could be bountiful beyond the dreams of mortal men. It was the work of all six hundred Copper Spiders and generations of Dragon-blooded geomancers, shaped over thousands of years into the permanant feature of Creation it is today. It stretched from the Galaxy of Earth at the center of Creation all the way to the Elemental Pole of Wood on the far side of the now lost Unified Republic of the Seven Eastern Galaxies.

Exalted Numbers

There were 3,000 Solar Exalted in the First Age, and an equal number of Lunar Exalted. In the Age of Sorrows, the Solars number 1,500.

There are 1,000 Sidereal Exalted. They are known as the Thousandfold Fellowship at times. There is far too much Creation and far too few Sidereals to police it.

There are 1,000 Abyssal Exalted, the Deathlords having paid a tithe of 500 Solar shards to the Yozi in order to learn the secret of their creation.

Of the Dragon-blooded, they are thought to be without number, for the seed of the Dragons has spread far and wide among the Galaxy of Earth and Attendant Clusters. It is believed that the Blessed System alone has a Dragon-blooded population of ten billion. Lookshy and the Seventh Legion are believed to have far more Terrestrials at their disposal due to their breeding programs aiming for numbers rather than power, but their numbers are considered a state secret by the Seventh Legion.

Autochthonia

Autochthon is an object so vast that it defies comprehension. The Machine God's body occupies a spherical space that is approximately two-hundred billion light-years across, a whole and self-contained universe unto Himself. When the Autochthonians look up from their planet-habitats, they see the vast mechanical organs of their god instead of stars and nebulae.

The Wyld and Raksha

Outside the remains of Creation's remaining portions lies the Wyld. It is considered to be a nightmare realm where ones own dreams can destroy you. It is considered madness incarnate, a volatile sea of irrationality and mutability. Or maybe it isn't. The Wyld is a fickle and random place outside of reality, and may decide to behave as often as not. The real dangers of the borders of Creation aren't necessarily the mutable nature of that space, but those who live in it.

They are the Raksha, the Fae, the Fair Ones. They are the beings made manifest, will given form. The Raksha are predatory beasts who prey upon humanity, sapping unwary travelers of their souls and will. They inhabit the in-between space bordering Creation and the Deep Wyld from which the Primordials came, the spaces that /used/ to belong to Creation. It is here the Armies of the Balorian Crusade gather and make camp, picking away at the borders of the World. The people living on the fringes of the Earth Galaxy and the attendant clusters are constantly having to deal with the Fae's depredations.

The Star Folk

(Formerly the Mountain Folk)

The Star Folk are raksha who were caught in an Essence Storm, and were the prototypes for humanity. The majority were caught in the Essence Storm that heralded the making of Creation, but now and then new Star Folk are born when fleets of the Balorian Crusade become caught in an Essence Storm. They were discovered floating through the Void by Autochthon, and made into thinking beings. They explored Creation, building the Gate Network with the aid of their patron, but always coming home to their capitol at Meru. They built several directional capitols and countless outposts (one of which forms the foundation of Greyfalls Station).

Then the Great Geas was levied. The Star Folk could never again walk upon the surface of a planet unless they were doing the bidding of an Exalt, and were condemned to live as eternal wanderers and scavengers aboard their arcology-ships. Each year the fleet gets smaller as the depredations of the Void take their toll, and their lack of readily available resources kills the Star Folk's ability to rebuild.

The Dragon Kings

Once, the Dragon Kings held an empire that spanned the Universe, holding sway over countless planets. Only the Blessed System was untouched by the Prehuman Masters of Creation.

Now, they are a broken and dying breed, scattered across the myriad planets of Creation. Their great capital of Rathess lies in ruins in the Southeast, overrun by forbidden gods and unenlightened Raptok. Countless of the Dragon Kings' number were consigned to Oblivion by their Primordial creators, seen as the first wave of soldiers the gods might employ in their rebellion. They might rise again with the help of their ancient allies, the Solar Exalted.