WORLDSCAELESTIS Ambient Sound Systems Loaded: Listen -------The Collective is filled with a nigh endless number of worlds being discovered all the time, each boasting unique environments, different ecosystems, individual civilizations, and sometimes even alternative forms of magic and energy that do not rely on Aura to drive it. Though the majority of recorded worlds are legally off-limits to Keepers and other outside interests (except in the case of Nith invasion) in order to allow its denizens to become aware of the universe and the nature of Aura on their own, there are a large and increasing number of aware worlds allied with or at least registered with the Keepers. Few also choose to seclude themselves from intergalactic relations and live on their own terms for privacy or trade reasons, if not both.
-------The following is a summarizing list of the most notable planets in the Stream. More to be added over time, as well as expanded pages with full specs.
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Krux[/font]The home planet and headquarters for the Keepers. Well, it's not so much a planet so much as a collection of massive, floating debris that once was the planet - innovations in Aura technology and the combined efforts of Cyrasili all over the Collective has allowed for life and an atmosphere to develop even in the most impossible of worlds. It is a symbol of triumph over the impossible, over despair, over the Nith.
-------Despite having the most advanced technology and high-end magic in the Collective, the architecture of the Keeper Headquarters has an old but grand feel to it, like glittering gold in the shadows and dusty rays of an abandoned palace. Gothic spires pierce the night sky dominated by the Stream shimmering all around, arches soar above the populace, and the atmosphere is full of the buzzing, humming, whirring, of Worldship engines going to and fro. Even more than a headquarters, the surrounding city is a trade hub and intergalactic cultural melting pot, offering safety and rest, and a promise of all discriminations dropped at the doorstep.[/ul]
-------Ambery[/font]Within the same star system as Krux, the entirety of the planet of Ambery serves as the campus for the Vectus Keeper Academy. Extensively terraformed for the purpose of having practical training environments to prepare students for as many worlds as possible, Ambery boasts many scenic opportunities for students and visitors. The central campus is the size of a large city without the skyscrapers, and is populated not only by students and teachers but also researchers and the massive staff body that maintain the campus. The average student-to-teacher ratio is 1:10, allowing for small, personal classroom environments and one-on-one training. Guest teachers may also be temporarily called here to train specific students with similar powers as master and apprentice. In short, the population (students as well as staff) is well taken care of and attended to.
-------Of course, that is not to say that the training here is easy. The 8-year program is rigorous, training young recruits in multiple major languages, ethics, military strategy, weapons, medicine, and more. In the case of all-out war, this process is sped up to replenish Keeper numbers, but otherwise the result is the finest and most powerful military force in the entire Collective. Seeing as the Academy is funded by the tax dollars of every registered Aware planet, of course, the Keepers are expected to return to the Collective their money's worth in peace and safety from the Nith. [/ul]
-------Saeculorum[/font]A world covered in mostly sea and storm, the hurricane-walled industrial city-nation of Saeculorum represents the planet of the same name. The city uses a combination of electrical generators, Aura, and their own magics to power weather machines that generate storms miles offshore in order to protect the populace from outside dangers, especially the Nith. This came to be as a result of a world war following a mysterious series of events that introduced magic to the populace; the city-nation was established hundreds of years ago to protect select survivors from the pollution and devastation on the outside. Most knowledge of the advanced world that existed before this war has faded away into myth and obscurity.
-------The world only recently became aware of the Stream and the expanse of the Collective due to a Nith invasion a few years ago that prompted the intervention of the Keepers. Though the Saeculorans are grateful to the Keepers for their assistance and also appreciate imports of higher-end Aura technology, they continue to be wary of the outside world; some have never even seen the sun, stars, or the Stream in their entire lifetime, and find it hard to believe these things exist until they see them. This is in part due to the government, run by a president and council, that once controlled the media specifically to prevent even the thought of leaving the city. Though not as strict now, old habits do not die off easily.
-------Currently, its major exports are weather technologies, fish, and a particularly efficient sort of oil called Aqusol, found only on Saeculorum. The majority of its populace is human.[/ul]
-------Iaravi[/font]Represented by the United Hylravine Realms, or Hylravi for short - the largest and most advanced of the eight nations of Iaravi, and the only country currently open to outside relations. Hylravi pierced into Awareness of the Stream with their own technologies around thirty years ago, using hybrid designs leaning more on magic and Aura than engineering, which alone is considered modern but doesn't nearly rival Krux nor the more industrially-minded Saeculorum. Hylravi makes up for this lack of sheer industrial strength with elegantly efficient magic-imbued architecture and designs, based on structures and motion from nature. Almost unsurprisingly, most Hylravine architecture is designed straight out of its natural landscapes of which there is a large variety, and anything that isn't is designed to mimic it.
-------Iaravi is home to a unique form of magic called Vylli, speculated to be an evolved offshoot of Aura that came to be through an anomaly in the early stages of the world's formation from the Stream a few thousand years before the Twilight. Almost every being on the planet is born with Vylli and are capable of using it effectively. While mostly ineffective against the Nith, it is useful as an alternative power source when concentrated into crystal battery forms, allowing Aura reserves to be directed to more important purposes.
-------Iaravi's major exports include Vylli crystal batteries and hybrid-power worldships (among the fastest and most efficient designs in the Collective). The majority of its sentient populace consists of humans and elves, followed by Aquilines (avian folk), Laviitanos (merfolk), and Drakes (smaller, sentient descendants of long-extinct dragons), and there are many more minorities to be accounted for that have immigrated from the other nations.[/ul]
-------Esperanto[/font]A world dominated by desert, metal, and steam, the world of Esperanto is mostly uninhabitable except for its few lakeside mountain cities, oasis towns, and settlements for mining and lumber, connected by an extensive rail network. The clockwork cities are as densely populated as they are densely constructed; labyrinthine structures of stone, steel, brass, and wood are tightly woven and constructed to withstand frequent sandstorms.
-------So why does anyone bother living in such harsh conditions? The planet, previously uninhabited by any civilization, was settled some several hundred years ago by the survivors of a massive trade worldship that crashed and lost communication with the outside. When explorers re-discovered the planet a few generations later, they found that these people managed to survive off of what technology they had left from the ship. They managed to learn how to harvest moisture from the atmosphere and underground to offset their reliance on lake and oasis water, and developed transportation and clockwork automatons powered by steam engines running off of naturally-occurring, abundant Aura-imbued coal to find game and raw materials.
-------Esperanto was also found to be rich in precious metals and stones, especially gold and diamond. Though their decorative value has gone up and down in the Collective, metals such as gold remained highly valuable for processors, of which of course many worlds demand - making these things the planet's biggest exports and the biggest draw for explorers hoping to strike it rich. [/ul]
-------Mehevae[/font]A sunny, tropical island paradise, the surface of Mehevae is approximately 85-90% ocean, dotted by a series of lush, vibrant islands. Previously pristine and inhabited only by an indigenous population of merfolk, the initial discovery of this planet by corporate interests led to its colonization for the purpose of turning it into a luxurious vacation getaway world before Keepers and intergalactic law could effectively intervene, at the expense of its native people. All communities living on or near the islands were either driven out by the terraforming and tourist traffic, or were assimilated into the island resorts' working class, forced to continually keep up with new competing luxury demands of their employers if they wish to keep their homes. While some of the wealthier and more powerful communities that were unaffected by the upheaval due to trade opportunities, many seclude themselves or even actively sabotage some resorts to try and scare away tourists and business.
-------Further into the depths, there are a number of sophisticated underwater cities hewn out of rock and coral - centers of power within the many subcultures within the Mehevae'e. Those who have made trade agreements with the planet's newcomers sometimes have accommodated spaces and walkways for visitors with air pockets and gear, along with submarine routes between island ports and the merfolk civilizations.
-------As for the resorts, they are the epitome of decadence - attractions, shows, and delicacies galore, some of which one couldn't even dream of getting their hands on on other worlds. You'll find all sorts of different people here from every world, perhaps on trade business or looking to get away from business.[/ul]
-------Gulainn[/font]Gulainn’s surface is peppered by chains of large islands with few landmasses that can be qualified as continents, but due to a very extreme tilt of its rotational axis, the planet has a very small tropical zone. The islands of the planet are often home to dense forests and rolling plains, with non-volcanic mountains being very rare and aside from the ice sheets at the poles, deserts all but nonexistent.
-------The humans of Gulainn have a long history of fusing their particular brand of magic, called Aes, with industry. The practice of Aescrafting, as it is called, started with a smith infusing the bronze of his works with Aes energy, an act he claimed to have learned from the Sidhe, an elusive race that the Gulanish believed to inhabit many wild places. As their technological capabilities grew, Aes and technology became all but indistinguishable, and the stories of the Sidhe faded into legend, believed to be superstition.
-------However, two centuries ago, after the expansion of the Gulanish into space, the Sidhe made themselves known to the world and large, and to the collective as well, when a band of the people stowed away on one of their transport ships. The Sidhe proved to be exactly as the stories described them, the creators of the Aes, which they developed after observing the Aura. The Sidhe are very mercurial, and sometimes, by human standards, insane, but their intuitive knowledge of Aura and magical arts prove an asset where such skills are necessary. One of the Sidhe's most common styles of Aes allows them to adopt traits of animals and commune with the elements.[/ul]
-------Fermata[/font]Fermata is a planet in its death throes, torn apart by warfare and Nith. Smaller countries rise and fall every decade, but five major powers have remained constant over the years, despite the ebb and flow of power between them: Arcea, a theocratic meritocracy; the Termina Federation, a loosely hegemonic alliance of city-states; Valence, an underground nation which offers all a second chance; Novaris, a plutocratic floating city of merchants, pirates, and treasure-hunters; and Solvaig, a nation of scientists who magically terraformed part of their desert homeland into a garden city. Although these five maintained an uneasy overall peace, they frequently engaged in skirmishes and espionage, and a small war broke out at least once a decade. This fueled cutting-edge weapons research, tactical development, the training of Cyrasili and the development of non-Aura based Ars Sigillum, a symbol-based magical system used for smaller tasks.
-------A hundred years ago, the Nith made their way to Fermata, attracted by the constant bloodshed. Unexpectedly, their initial forces broke against war-hardened armies full of experienced Cyrasili. Between fighting each other, the countries made time to push back the Nith, unknowingly staving off the planet’s destruction for more than a century. However, the tides finally turned against them a decade ago. The Termina Federation launched a series of attacks on the other countries, accidentally diverting everyone’s attention from the Nith, and in that time, they multiplied and spread. Valence and Solvaig were the only two nations to recognize the encroaching threat, and when their warnings fell on deaf ears, they allied with each other, turning their gazes out into space in desperation. No matter how farfetched their plan seemed at first, it bore unexpected fruit when they finally made contact with the Keepers.
-------Since then, the two countries have been sending recruits to the Keepers as a gesture of goodwill, hoping to be allowed to send their refugees to other worlds before the planet finally dies. Sometimes, adversity forges ordinary people into something extraordinary; such is the case with nearly every Fermata recruit, who can be expected to have extensive combat, scientific, or magical experience, as well as the strength of mind and character needed to survive life on one of the most bloody planets in the Collective.[/ul]
-------Juagiza[/font]Juagiza is a planet covered in sprawling cityscapes, arcing highways, and a thick layer of pollution. It is a planet that relies heavily on the export of advanced technology including, but not limited to, weaponry, computers, AI, cybernetics, prosthetics, and ships. The planet has been stripped of all its natural resources, leaving the actual surface of the planet devoid of life other than its inhabitants. This has also left the planet unstable and earthquakes, while typically not destructive due to countermeasures in place, are frequent.
-------It is a capitalist society, with the rich lacking for nothing and the poor scraping a living from the dregs of the cities. Unemployment is high due to how specific the needs of Juagiza’s economy and society and, thus, many natives choose to leave the planet with what little money they can scrounge up. Despite the fact that the planet is 90% buildings and cities, its population is incredibly small, many sections of the cities having been abandoned or taken over by gangs. It is rare for there to be a decade or more with the same government in place, gangs often usurping the current political parties. However due to the rapid exchange of information across the planet, this political instability usually doesn’t affect the citizens as greatly as it would other worlds.
-------Natives to Juagiza have evolved to have some resistance to the poisonous toxins in the atmosphere, as well as the lack of natural light due to the thick layer of smog. Despite that deformities are common and body customization is even more common, even when not necessary. Every native of Juagiza, due to centuries of living alongside technology, has developed a form of technomancy. The strength of said ability varies, but most can at least integrate with their computers or mobile technology.[/ul]
-------VozrozVozroz is a planet that is covered in rock, ash, and active volcanoes. From orbit it looks uninhabitable, lacking any form of water on its surface and plagued by constant eruptions, but it is inhabited by by various creatures, including the catlike Felidante, the lupine Vericanum, and flying reptilian creatures of magma and stone called Draconbrun. While the Felidante and Vericanum get along quite amicably, the Draconbrun tend to hunt their much smaller brethren, which is why the smallest breeds have begun to create cities out of obsidian. Trade only been established for a few decades after someone decided to investigate the planet, and has been quite profitable as Vozroz is very rich in ore and gemstones.
Ever since trade has picked up, many of the tribes have taken to competing for mining territory. Water has become a luxury that some in the city enjoy as it was unearthed when they began to dig deep into the planet for riches. Since most of the ore and doesn’t handle the high temperatures of the planet well, they are too soft for any practical use on the planet. They instead trade for metals with much lower melting points as well as heat-resistant, aura-imbued technology that has made the development of Vozroz’s planet increase sharply.
Unfortunately this has led to quite the division between the larger, more tribal clans and the city-dwelling clans, the walls between them growing taller, literally. They tend to not interact much unless absolutely necessary and speak very different languages. Tribal clans tend to frequently fight for dominance with claws and fangs while the city-dwellers rely on politics. Sometimes fights while in they are in their feline forms do break out, but it is much more rare than the competitions between rival clans.
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