The Fourth Sphere - A Collaborative Fantasy 'verse

For 'verse proposals, random ideas, musings, and brainwaves.

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Re: Continental Days - A Collaborative Fantasy 'verse

Post by speaker-to-trolls »

Invicus wrote:On Dead Lands
Agreed, I was more talking about a kind of madness coming from going through the deadlands, that might make living spirits a kind of living agent of death.
Invictus wrote:On the nature of Flesh
Also agreed, flesh should be an aspect of stone.
Invictus wrote:On the Scour, Storm and the 'Gulf'
I've been thinking a little more about this since yesterday, and it may be possible to reconcile this with the existence of Stormlands if the thickness of the Shell and the distance between it and the Storm differs strongly across the Shell due to the presence of things like ventilation towers and newly arrived continents. Both of these things would tend to draw the Storm up towards the shell, as would holes in the Shell since they would create regions of very low pressure. which would draw the thicker gases of the Storm upwards, thus drawing them away from other regions. This would still mean the distance between the Shell and Storm would have to be much less than a full .6 of the radius of the world, though.
An idea, still not, as I commented on MSN, very neat.

EDIT:
Now for a few thoughts on the geography and solar arrangements.
Invictus, I still, after our extensive discussion on this, don't see how making the fast ring an oval will make the length of a day constant throughout the year. If you or anyone else can explain to me how this would work then please do so because it still makes no sense to me.
For the matter of which poles are hot and which ones are cold; I had believed that your (Invictus) idea was that the slow ring, which I assume is the outer, was elliptical and that the further points would be at the axes, e.g. the east and west poles, making these places colder. In fact I now think you meant the fast ring to be elliptical meaning that the north and south poles would be beneath the furthest points. If this is the case I would imagine it would mean that the north and south poles would be the cold poles since they would not only be beneath the point where the sun is farthest from the Earth, but would also receive strong sunlight for only part of the year.
There is a further complication, though, in that the higher latitudes will receive more sunlight per area unit during certain times of the year than they will when the sun is directly overhead, due to the angle of the sun (as you pointed out, Invictus), whereas the east and west poles will always receive the same amount of light since the sun always goes directly overhead.
The relative importance of these factors depends on how much heat the sun emits and how close it is to the different geographical locations.
Either works, and having north and south be the cold places is simpler.

Now a quick note on the way the year would work: There will be two important times, which I call Ring Light and Cross Light. At RL the two rings will be aligned, only for a few minutes at most, but it will be important in determining where the sun passes over, at this time the path of the sun will run north-east-south-west. At CL the rings are at 90 degrees to one another and the path of the sun runs from east to west directly, also passing through the two meridian points directly inbetween all four poles.
Here is a picture.
Image
This is also an example of a way one could draw a map of a four-poled world, though in fact this one has ten 'poles', the axis poles, the two meridians and the northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest sub-meridians. It's kind of limited in that I haven't yet figured out how to do it withoug dividing it into four quadrants like that, but it's got a limited kind of use if you have all four poles to hand.

And a few more thoughts on recurring geographical features:
1)Medieval natural philosophy held that different minerals were grown in the earth, and matured from one kind of mineral to another, with I think gold being the final product. It occurs to me that the Earth could contain 'fields' of iron, copper, fiberoptic crystals, etc, slowly maturing, maybe with veins literally acting to carry them from one part of the Earth to another. More vigorous stone at the base of the Earth might be more likely to have these fields and to distribute them upwards to maintain the older stone at the top.
2)Also underground lakes and rivers as some way of either feeding and watering the stone or as a source for the oceans.
3)Growth points and distribution points; basically different types of areas which are the centre of movement of life force or ley lines. The first would have the lines moving into it and be made up of fast and aggressively growing stone, the seconf would not grow so fast and would have lines leading away from it to feed other areas.
4)Warped land, where a new mountain has come up through the stone and pushed aside old or dead ground around it into ridges of old land.
And finally 5) Ghost cities or living cities, depending on the type. In both cases the ground itself remembers the city, so the city itself is a living spirit in the ground. But in a living city there are still people within it, the growth of the city out of the ground responds to the conscious and unconscious will of the people living within it, growing softly and wondrously in the night. Ghost cities, on the other hand, have no living inhabitants, but will grow up out of the ground after the original city has been destroyed. Sometimes they may even populate themselves with facsimiles of the people who once lived there, or the souls of the dead housed in weird new bodies.

OK that's most of my ideas for now.
Last edited by speaker-to-trolls on Fri Jun 18, 2010 4:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Continental Days - A Collaborative Fantasy 'verse

Post by Invictus »

What do you mean by "living agent of death"? Keep in mind that we haven't established the existence of any kind of death-aspected energy in this setting for Deadlands to spread. Even the "dead" spirits that end up there are not technically dead, simply becoming increasingly broken and nonfunctional until they lapse into complete oblivion (where they are not in a position to influence anything). I just think that spirits in prolonged contact with these whispers might go mad in the natural way people go insane, but not in "the whispers hollow them out and start driving them around like cars" sort of way. Insane spirits can have all sorts of abnormal behavior. Though I do find it interesting if the whispers affect spirits (and people) by making them believe that they are dead. An ubiquitous mental disorder like that near all Deadlands can have potential.
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Re: Continental Days - A Collaborative Fantasy 'verse

Post by speaker-to-trolls »

Invictus wrote:What do you mean by "living agent of death"? Keep in mind that we haven't established the existence of any kind of death-aspected energy in this setting for Deadlands to spread. Even the "dead" spirits that end up there are not technically dead, simply becoming increasingly broken and nonfunctional until they lapse into complete oblivion (where they are not in a position to influence anything). I just think that spirits in prolonged contact with these whispers might go mad in the natural way people go insane, but not in "the whispers hollow them out and start driving them around like cars" sort of way. Insane spirits can have all sorts of abnormal behavior.

What I had in mind was that they start spreading death around wherever they go, but the more I think about it the more it does sound like a kind of infection, and since we already have that it might not be such a good idea.
Though I do find it interesting if the whispers affect spirits (and people) by making them believe that they are dead. An ubiquitous mental disorder like that near all Deadlands can have potential.
That's kind of what I had in mind, but not so necessarily dangerous, just strange and haunting. I like it, let's go with this.
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Re: Continental Days - A Collaborative Fantasy 'verse

Post by Invictus »

Didn't see the edit and the forum ate my last post, so I'll be brief:
speaker-to-trolls wrote:Invictus, I still, after our extensive discussion on this, don't see how making the fast ring an oval will make the length of a day constant throughout the year. If you or anyone else can explain to me how this would work then please do so because it still makes no sense to me.
The oval shape of the fast ring doesn't affect the length of the day - rather, the speed of the fast ring's rotation does that. I'll assume that although the oval shape of the fast ring means that the two rings can no longer physically intersect, it's the overlapping from the surface perspective that counts.

Also, like the map and it seems plausible that inhabitants of the Shell would plot it that way, though none of them would have explored even a single quarter and would fill the rest with dragons. The ghost/living cities is also a good idea, although having mineral veins for communication by the land again seems overly literal. It also means that extensive mining could hurt the land pretty badly by disrupting this process.
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Re: Continental Days - A Collaborative Fantasy 'verse

Post by speaker-to-trolls »

Invictus wrote: I'll assume that although the oval shape of the fast ring means that the two rings can no longer physically intersect, it's the overlapping from the surface perspective that counts.
I always assumed this was the case and that the slow ring was outside the orbit of the fast ring, hence some earlier confusion.
Invictus wrote:Also, like the map and it seems plausible that inhabitants of the Shell would plot it that way, though none of them would have explored even a single quarter and would fill the rest with dragons.
Yeah, more realistic maps would have the central diamond be the explored area of the world with everything else out to the poles and antipodes compressed because of ignorance and filled with mythology, since most places wouldn't be close enough to the poles to explore them as real places.
Invictus wrote:having mineral veins for communication by the land again seems overly literal. It also means that extensive mining could hurt the land pretty badly by disrupting this process.
Possibly, though I still like the idea of 'fields' or patches of mineral growth.
The disruption of communications by mining isn't necessarily a bad thing, it would simply be an unforeseen consequence foolish mortals would not understand when they started interfering in the natural order, and a factor that miners had to take into account when they started mining a new area (since the Earth might respond to such damage by realigning its veins or unleashing monstrous lava men).
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Re: Continental Days - A Collaborative Fantasy 'verse

Post by speaker-to-trolls »

Well, after much deliberation myself and Invictus have decided to propose (by which I mean institute) a new name for this project, from now on this world shall be known as

The Fourth Sphere

And to bring a new factor into this embryonic world, here is a summary of my basic idea for a race, the Aellgenoi, or Storm Giants, which I have been pestering Invictus, Dakarne and Ford about for several weeks now (and thanks for all your help on these things which will come into play later when I start detailing their different groups, cultures and various attributes). Here is the basic nature of their race summarised 'In-Character' by a member of a much less detailed culture.

On the Dual Nature of the Storm Giants

There are two elements within the nature of the Storm Giants, these being the elements of air and of earth, or more specifically and most usually in the guise of flesh, this is widely known among the learned.
It is usually thought that the foremost of these in the nature of the storm giants is the element of air, which is known as the Breath, which is thought both by mortal scholars and by the storm giants themselves to be the animating force which moves them. It is claimed by them that the Breath is their true element, having been drawn up from the Third Sphere, the sphere of the Storm, in some ancient times, and was made to enter into bodies of Earth in order to survive in our sphere. Or that it was tricked into doing so by some knavery on the part of the Earth. It is a common belief among the storm giants that when their body is slain their breath will, if their flesh is in the correct condition, leave their body and exist independently in the air as a being in its true element.

In life the breath is the source of those abilities considered most important and remarkable among their race, which were taught by them to our rightly-revered Queen when she made her conquests. These being, of course, command over the winds and clouds, and their language, the Truth of Breath, in which it is said to be impossible to lie.

There are even some storm giants, and I know that this is true of them, because I have seen it demonstrated, who are able to compel their breath to leave their body and travel through the air, allowing them to send their awareness far and wide across the world. In this form they are able to traverse great distances and be aware of all manner of things which could not otherwise be sensed by things, and even to take possession of other bodies of flesh.

Now, while the breath of the storm giants is generally considered to be their essential element, their flesh is also a remarkable element, and I believe it to have a greater significance to their being than has been thought by most.

As is commonly known, the storm giants are able to transform their bodies from one form of flesh into another. Their power of transformation is bounded by their familiarity with the nature of the forms which they are making use of, and by the discipline and inventiveness of the transformers mind. With sufficient mental power it is possible for a transformer to combine the traits of two forms, and this is what I believe is the source of their common form, that of a man with the wings of a bird, not a natural form, but rather an amalgam of the form of two creatures. I believe this to be the case because of the ungainly nature of storm giants in this form, which leads me to conclude that this cannot be natural, since those beings produced by nature and not by artifice or aberration are as a rule well suited and graceful in their chosen environment.
There are also many tales of storm giants transforming themselves into trees, stones, rivers and other inanimate objects, which leads me to believe that in principle the power of the storm giants transformative abilities is far greater than that which they usually employ. For instance in the Grey Ocean it is said that the islands which stand in the centre of those waters and are sacred to all the native storm giants and mortals alike were grown from the scattered body parts of Serep, an ancestor of the current race that rules the ocean. If this, and stories like it, are to be believed, then there is almost no limit to the scope of their mutability.

The common belief is that the flesh of the storm giants is animated and thus given its power, by the breath which inhabits it, and there are two good reasons to believe this. First there is the power, which I have seen in use, by which the breathy spirits of giants may leave their bodies and animate different ones. Second there is the fact, which has been told to me by storm giants of the mountain kingdoms, that their power over their form increases when they have smelt or heard the form into which they wish to transform. Both of these prove that the breath has pre-eminence over the body, because they show aspects of the breath controlling the function of the body, in the first case by direct manipulation, and in the second by the influence of the airy senses over the bulkier elements abilities.

There is, though, also evidence that the body has powers independent of any action of the breath, and the principle evidence for this is in accounts wherein the body may remain moving and changing form even after the breath has left it or has been extinguished. The most compelling of this evidence can be found amongst the giants of the Grey Ocean and, so it is said, for I have not been to these places, of the Green Riversides. In these places there are many tales of storm giants who have taken on the forms of fish and other creatures who do not breathe air but water, and it is believed by the storm giants that the act of breathing water will smother the breath and destroy it. Yet there are many tales of such giants, who by their actions should have lost their animating force, who are yet able to transform, and in some cases may still retain their reason and memories of their previous life, though they can no longer command the winds or speak with the Truth of Breath.

Added to this, there is evidence that the body affects the breath, and this can be seen in the Truth of Breath when it is employed to describe the speakers body. For instance, when a storm giant describes the transformations she may perform then she says ‘I have been’ and speaks the name of her form, and this is done in the nominative tense in reference to the self, which is the same way she would give an account of her own name, which is the most basic subject of the Truth of Breath. This is significant, and those who understand the Truth of Breath, as I do, will be able to understand this, for this makes the nature and experiences of the flesh an important subject for the breath to speak of, and as much a part of her as her name and lineage.

It is thus apparent that the true nature of the storm giants is one of both air and earth, both forming part of the entirety of their being and influencing one another equally, although air may appear pre-eminent to those who do not inspect them closely.

-From the Treatises on the Storm Giants, by Allenyr of Garmie, Envoy to the Blizzard Kings in the service of Pelunuer Rained Upon, Castelline of Keep Etheria, Keeper of the Black Stones and Regent of the Witches.
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Re: Continental Days - A Collaborative Fantasy 'verse

Post by Czernobog »

Hmm...I myself am planning a post about 'storm dragons' which I feel makes this storm giants thing a bit redundant. Anyway, good article.
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Re: Continental Days - A Collaborative Fantasy 'verse

Post by speaker-to-trolls »

Kamin997 wrote:Hmm...I myself am planning a post about 'storm dragons' which I feel makes this storm giants thing a bit redundant. Anyway, good article.
A) You aren't redundantising anything, as was pointed out on the first page, no one person has sole control over a collaborative project.
B)You aren't redundantising anything, you can have more than one type of monster that has control over the weather, or they can be different branches of the same species, what with them being shapeshifters and everything.
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Re: Continental Days - A Collaborative Fantasy 'verse

Post by Czernobog »

The League of the Red Star

In-Universe:

The League of the Red Star is very much a mystery. The first trace of their existence was discovered upon the wrecking of one of their supposed vessels one year ago, a large ship made entirely of steel, which ran aground upon a rock off the Coast of Swords. Several Lohengrammic vessels investigated, and explored the cavernous interior of the vessel.

They found several artefacts - the most notable being a large red flag, with a red star outlined in gold in the upper-left canton, which is now on display in the Nornstadt Athenaeum. The other was a book, made entirely of paper, with the following words in gold upon its red binding:

журнал корабля
Other artefacts include a weapon resembling a Steam Cannon with a handle and trigger - it misfired and killed the investigator handling it with a bolt of lightning. Several weeks after these artefacts were brought back to Nornstadt, a professor translated the words in the book into the Lohengrammic alphabet and language. Although the accuracy is disputed, it gives us the name 'League of the Red Star' and establishes the vessel as an exploratory vessel seeking to discover new lands.

Lately, pirates around the Coast of Swords have reported great vessels built of iron, that, upon the pirates' attempting to rob them, destroyed their vessels with blasts of lightning, leaving few survivors. These pirates were found clinging to pieces of driftwood.

Also, legends on the isle of Albion to the east of Lohengramm speak of men who live in great towered cities, and have no wants, who live in a land far to the north. They are reputed to speak a strange language, and the alphabet on several artefacts reputedly recieved from then matches the lettering on the book found.

It is currently unknown what the intent of this league is toward our people, although I hope that it is good.


- Scrivener Alexandros, Lucia.

COMRADES!

Do you wish to join the Exploratory and Civilising Fleet?

Explore the continent under the banner of the Red Star!

Bring civilisation to barbarians!

Remember, Service to the State is the best prospect in life you can earn!


- Pamphlet handed out by government employees in Rodinagrad.

I remember when the iron ship arrived in our village. It was a big ship, bigger than I could imagine. The officers and sailors wore fancy cloth uniforms, not like a knight's armour, and most of it was dyed (can you imagine that!) red. Their swords, too, were excellent - one of them sliced right through a knight's breastplate without stopping. Their flag, painted on the side of the hull, was red, with a red star outlined in gold at the upper left canton.

Their language was hard for me to understand, but one of their sorcerers - they called him a Mage-Colonel, whatever that means - cast a spell on me, and I could hear and see it in good old Anglic. Some of the sailors struck up relationships with local lasses, but after a week or so of exchanging goods, they left suddenly, and that was the last I ever saw of them.

They gave us medicines, and weapons, in exchange for gold from the mines - that's why we've been so prosperous and powerful for 80 years. It was those strange men, I always wondered where they came from, and if they were going to return...


- An old man in the town of Northport, Albion.

'This is our duty.'

'We swore an oath upon the Red Star, from the day of our league's founding, to the war upon the Tsargrad Alliance, that we would seek out new lands and let them know of a better way - our way. '

'Although that is long past, that is what we must do. From Rodinagrad to Vasilyevsk, this island is united. And is it not good for the rest of the continent that it may also be united under the banner of the Red Star? Is it not good that its peoples be freed from serfdom and misery and reliance upon magicians? Our technology has transformed our lives. Is it not good that their lives also be transformed? Once liberated from the shackles of poverty, they will surely, as rational creatures, naturally gravitate to our superior way of life.'

'What we must do is impose our culture and way of life upon them, through force if absolutely necessary, but better through technology and economic might, so that they seek to emulate us.'

'What say you, councilmen?


- Speech given by Mage-Admiral Anya Kuznetsova to the Duma of Rodinagrad, six months before the launching of the Exploratory Fleet. It was met with applause.
Last edited by Czernobog on Thu Jul 08, 2010 5:16 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: Continental Days - A Collaborative Fantasy 'verse

Post by Czernobog »

A map of the far-eastern portion of the Lucian Continent:
thefourthsphere.png
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Re: Continental Days - A Collaborative Fantasy 'verse

Post by Czernobog »

The Storm Dragons

A Treatise on the Nature of the Dragons of Storm, Translated from the Lohengrammic

The Storm Dragons (Sturmdrachen in our own tongue) are spirits of Air and Water, suspended in Flesh and given animation by the vital force of Fire. The foremost of these elements is that of Air which is drawn up from the Sphere of the Storm, and as such the Storm Dragons are semi-ethereal, like clouds, albeit trapped in the form of Flesh which is solid and material, binding the elements together and enabling them to subsist outside the Third Sphere. The third-most important of the elements that make up the Storm Dragon is Water, which is drawn from the Sphere of the Deeps and makes them lithe and sinuous, granting them power over the crashing waves of the sea-storm and the rain of the cyclone.

The animating element for all these energies is Fire, the empyrean, the Sun-flesh that gives them life, and enables them to command the lightning (a paltry imitation of those storms that thunder in the Third Sphere). Physically, the Storm Dragon is lithe and serpentine, with four clawed feet on the ends of four legs, and no wings, as they swim through the air in sinuous, twisting motions. The typical adult Storm Dragon is about 800 metres to a kilometre, as measured by our glorious nation of Lohengramm. Elders of this species (they are functionally ageless after their two-thousandth year) are about one and a half to two kilometres long, and remains of the corpses of what are undoubtedly Storm Dragons from the Third Sphere (found near Stormlands) are as long as ten to twenty kilometres long, and their scales, like those of serpents, are the dark grey of thunder-clouds.

As these gigantic beasts move at full speed, they carry the thunder with them, swimming rapidly through the air. They do not usually fly at this speed, except when something urgent, like a Malignancy has occurred - when Malignancy strikes, they are usually the first to arive, and help in destroying it with their savage storms and lightning-breath.

The Storm Dragons' language is a strange one - those who hear it, hear it in their native tongue in a voice that sounds like the peal of thunder or the harsh crack of lightning, and hear it inside their very soul. It is said that they are so ancient they speak what is called the First Breath, the Ur-language from which all others are imperfectly derived. The Storm Dragons themselves have shown no indication that this is actual truth, however.

The Storm Dragons are said to also have the ability, to compress their energies into smaller forms, and thus take the shapes of men when it is needed - the only indication that they are not men is their eyes, which appear to resemble an endless storm, and which is also seen in the eyes of the Storm Dragons' native form.

They can also expand the energies that make them up, taking the form of thunderclouds, and the ones with the greatest ability are said to be able to transform into storms that cover many miles.

The Storm Dragons command the wind and the rain and the lightning, all the basic elements of storm. They normally mate and lay their eggs atop the highest mountains, such as the Thunderpeaks to the west and the Norden Mountains to the south. They used to lay their eggs atop the Asaheim mountains, but Tyras Valhallen enslaved their broods there as beasts of war.

Fire, in the form of lightning, is the life-blood of the Sturmdrachen, and they can breathe it forth as a weapon if they so desire.

Speaking of Valhallen, the Storm Dragons of Lohengramm (they are not a united group, and occasionally war against each other) are still undecided about him. Unlike their brash and reckless youth, the Storm Dragon Elders think in terms of centuries and millennia, and are notoriously slow to decide collectively on things. They could easily topple his empire, but are both waiting to see if mortals accomplish this and weighing the potential costs and benefits of such a course of action.

The Storm Dragons' minds, unlike those of humans, are finely honed and fully capable since the very moment of birth (their newborns alone are the size of a full-grown man), and their various powers are as natural to them as breathing is to us. This, however, can lead to accidental use of their powers, and as such they have a fine sense of self-control.

So ends this report on the Storm Dragons.


- Scribe Otto, Servant of Vazilius Siegfried Jotunsblut, By the Will of Thoren Vazilius of Lohengramm, Burgemeister of Nornstadt and King of Estinno.
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Re: The Fourth Sphere - A Collaborative Fantasy 'verse

Post by Czernobog »

The Fire Giants

The Fire Giants are a most unusual race. They are made of fire encased in stone, which gives them solidity and presence, while the flame grants them animation and life. The tale they themselves tell about their origins is strange: they say that a great ball of fire fell from the skies ten thousand years ago, and that it melted through the very rock. But the Fourth Sphere was inhospitable to the flame, and in pity the rocks said: 'shelter within us, for we shall keep you proof against this Sphere's inhospitality'.

The flame divided itself into many parts, and sheltered within the rocks - and the rocks became animate, the first Fire Giants.

This tale is most likely accurate - Fire Giants have very long memories, and there are undoubtedly some that have survived since their creation. Physically, Fire Giants are far larger than humans, and averagely 20 feet tall. Their blood is liquid flame, and within their eyes and mouth can be seen an endless inferno. They are made of solid stone, with channels within for the flame that is their life-blood to flow.

Fire Giant culture revolves around the act of smithing, which they see as an extension of the will and spirit in manipulating the elements they are made of. Trading these products with mortals is just a bonus for them, the true glory lies in the making, and they often trade to mortals their weakest weapons and armour, which are still seen as wondrous by many. They are true masters of the craft, and Giant-forged weaponry and armour is well-known for its quality and craftsmanship.

The Fire Giants also produce enchanted items, which are imbued with a portion of their very own will and spirit that gives them a slight degree of intelligence, enough to respond to commands. The metal the Giants most commonly use is a strange variety of steel - it is unknown where they get it, but our nation of Lohengramm has sent spies to investigate. The Giants also know other metals, all the common ones, and some very strange and bizarre.

The political structure of the Giants is that they are a confederation of underground city-states, linked together by tunnels called the Deeps, each one ruled by a council of Forgelords, who are the finest smiths in the entire city, and are very respected as a result of this. The Forgelords themselves are subordinate to the High Forgelord, who rules most of the race.

The creation of new Giants involves the sculpting, out of suitably high-quality stone, of the shell for a new giant. Then, a flame is imbued with a portion of the life-force of an elder, and is placed within the giant as a ritual begins to animate it. The flame burns brightly within the Giants' eyes and it rises up, with some of the knowledge and personality of the elder.

The language of the Fire Giants is hard for mortals to hear, as it is like the crackling of flame itself.

When the Fire Giants go to war in force, it is terrible for the enemy. Their magic involves the manipulation and creation of flame hot enough to melt metal and stone with ease. It takes some time to prepare for novices, but for masters they can set it in motion with their very thoughts. Every member of their race is capable of this magic. As if that were not enough, the Giants are immensely stronger and more durable than humans, and are masters of tunnelling. They are also likely to have the best weapons and armour, some of it enchanted, and they have great knowledge of siege-craft, with many siege weapons (made of steel naturally) waiting in their underground halls, ready to be used once more.

As such, it is not wise to battle the Fire Giants.


- Scribe Otto, Servant of Vazilius Siegfried Jotunsblut, By the Will of Thoren Vazilius of Lohengramm, Burgemeister of Nornstadt and King of Estinno.
You have ruled this galaxy for ten thousand years.
You have little of account to show for your efforts.
Order. Unity. Obedience.
We taught the galaxy these things.

And we shall do so again.
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Re: The Fourth Sphere - A Collaborative Fantasy 'verse

Post by speaker-to-trolls »

I like the fire giants, as I told you before, I think the idea of creatures that manufacture their offspring rather than leaving so many of the details up to chance as we do is extremely interesting, just considering the fact that to a certain extent each fire giant is designed by comittee brings up all kinds of strange possibilities.

I have some trouble with the Storm Dragons, but I am honestly unsure how to articulate them and they could in any case be blamed on the in-universe authors lack of information and prejudices. Specifically, the fact that they are born fully conscious and will rush to the sight of malignancy just seem off to me, it makes them a little too competent, not to mention unified, as a species. Still, as I say, author bias, he's from a culture that worships a thunder god and hates malignancy in all its forms, so he'll have a few.
The competence thing makes it a little hard to believe that Van Halen punk enslaved them, though, as I've said. The only way I could see that working would be if he enslaved the hatchlings, but the hatchlings are apparently just as smart as the adults.
Also, I don't have a problem with their power, per se, Invictus and I have been discussing potential creatures of obscene power on MSN, but there is something about their power which irks me, and here it is; turning into a storm cloud is actually a bit of a step down for them, a half mile flying snake monster that can spit lightning is a terrifyingly powerful opponent. A living storm cloud is also terrifyingly powerful, but it is also far slower (that bringing the thunder comment implies they can move at supersonic speeds), far less maneauverable and far more vulnerable to anyone with weather manipulation. They're possibly less vulnerable as storm clouds to projectile or other similar weapons, but they're apparently very maneuverable and unfaesibly huge, so this shouldn't make that much difference.
I still like them being able to turn into storm clouds, but as presented in this article it doesn't seem to offer any advantages to them, besides maybe being able to induce rain, and I'm not sure if they can do that otherwise. I would advise toning down the average level of dragon form power.

League of the Red Star. Well they're kind of a weird anomaly, but I think they could work, as I've said, as an isle of the blessed kind of thing, I don't think them going out and bringing communism to the fuzzywuzzies works as well, but maybe it could with a bit more work.
In any case though, I'd advise making them a bit more distinct from the basic idea of 'COMMUNISTS!' and finding a better name, both because 'League of the Red Star' is a pretty lazy name for a communist nation in any case if you can't think of anything more distinctive and just want to have 'COMMUNISTS!', and because this has been brought to my attention.

And for anyone reading this thread who is interested in those absurdly powerful things Invictus and I have been discussing; basically, sometimes there are things so terrible that even ejecting them from the world isn't enough, because they, or some part of them with the power to grow and infect the world, will find its way back. The world can do only one thing with such horrors, that is to paralyse them with poison and moon-fire, then slowly, over millennia, to encase them in a prison of crystal, adamant, diamond, iron and whatever other materials are needed, then to eject this great prison entirely, into the air or down into the lower spheres. Even then, no prison is perfect, and from time to time some fragment of these things may escape.
What kind of evil merits such a prison? Well we thought a good starting point would be when a continent starts to grow at 40 degrees to the ground and has its own gravity field, and legs, that would be when you need a prison moon.

And, finally, a very longwinded introduction to the most developed (in terms of how much material I have written for them) group of storm giants. I have three other groups planned but I have practically nothing written on them as of yet. Even these ones aren't that developed.
Also I have almost no idea what, besides the things described here and a few other islands around Zudosium, is actually in the Grey Ocean.

The Typhoon Giants have three great tribes.

First and greatest among these is the tribe which is centred upon the Thirteen Holy Islands, which lie almost directly in the centre of the Grey Ocean. These Islands are said to have grown out of the thirteen primary feathers which fell from the wings of the great ancestor of all Typhoon Giants, Serep, when he was killed by a crystalline planet. This can be seen by their positioning, for they are divided into two ‘wings’, one to the north and consisting of seven islands, and the other to the south and consisting of six, and between them is a great gulf of water known as the Abdomic Sea, the base of which is a region of greatly vital Black nature, but nevertheless full of hostile creatures. The Thirteen Holy Islands are the greatest centre of power among all the Typhoon Giants, with each of them acting as a home to many thousands of them. However, most of the giants who will call themselves ‘People of the Thirteen Islands’ or ‘People of the Wings’ will spend most of their days elsewhere in the ocean or farther abroad in the world, doing as they will, and will only return to the wings on days of special relevance.

Each of the Thirteen Holy Islands hosts a permanent council of wise and mighty giants, known as the Storms Chorus, whose task it is to direct the storms which encircle the island. It is said that the Thirteen Islands control the winds and weathers across the length and breadth of the Grey Ocean, and are thus able to bring life or death to any island they see fit to do so to. The greatest examples of this are in their several wars with the Three Cities of the northernmost continent, in which the primary weapons have been great storms, the like of which all the powers of Keep Etheria as it stands today would find it hard to equal, and in the case of the island of Zudosium.

Zudosium was an island which maintained a great empire, based upon the use of hateful and sterilising crystals. The giants of the Thirteen Holy Islands are, I am pleased to say, as ill disposed to the death-bringing stones as is our own sisterhood, and the Zudosians use of them led the typhoon giants to take an interest. When the Zudosium extended their reach too far, and began to challenge the dominion of the typhoon giants, the Holy Islands swept them away in a single stormy night.

The Thirteen Holy Islands are each protected behind an impenetrable wall of storm winds and clouds, such that no one who does not identify themselves with the Truth of Breath may approach them if the Storms Chorus does not wish it. As such humans are unable to set foot upon these islands, with the exception of our rightly-revered Queen, who spoke of visiting them and speaking with the Choruses. There are also some legends from the local peoples of the Grey Ocean, of their own heroes who visited these islands, but these are unlikely to be true.

Second are the Seal Peoples who live on the Isle of the Head, which lies some three hundred leagues directly west of the Abdomic sea. The Isle of the Head is said to have grown from the main portion of Sereps skull which fell into the ocean at that point, while the lesser Seal Isles to the south and west of it are said to be grown from the pieces of his shattered beak. The Seal People are an anomaly among the children of Serep, for they have chosen to eschew the air, and instead of assuming flying forms they will most usually assume the form of huge seals, and will spend their time on the Isle of the Head and the lesser isles, looking to their charges, that is to say the lesser creatures which are their offspring with natural seals. Because it is not known if a seal may be one of these giants, or one of their offspring, many peoples of the western Grey Ocean will not hunt seals.

The Seal People are said to be feared even by the other Typhoon Giants, for the reason that the Island of the Head is said to retain the breath of Serep, and that they could release this breath, creating a storm that would threaten all other beings in the Grey Ocean. I cannot make a claim as to the truth of this, but it is also well known that the Seals have a power over the winds near their own islands which rivals even that of the Thirteen Islands, and it may well be simply for this reason that they are left in peace by all other tribes.
Thirdly, there are the people of the Three Cities of the Eye. These giants live in a great lagoon on the southern Coast of the Great Green Continent, on the northern shore of the Grey Ocean. The Lagoon of the Distant Eye is a great circular gulf of salt water, separated from the ocean first by a line of cliffs at the far east and west, then by two shallow channels which become sandbars when the water is low, each stretching for some eight leagues before meeting one extremity of a great rocky island. In the interior of the lagoon there is one great central island, on which is the greatest of the Three Cities, and over thirty smaller ones, on which are placed smaller settlements, monuments and forts. The Two lesser cities are situated one on the rocky island, and one on the edge of the western cliffs at the lagoons entrance.

It is related that the first of the Three Cities, which is known either as the Great City, or the City of the Pupil, or the Defiant City, or Aganepolis was founded by a typhoon giant named Aganes, who grew weary of the strictures of the Thirteen Holy Islands. There are a number of versions of this story which are told by different tribes in different regions of the Ocean, and in some cases a disagreement over this has caused strife between tribes of humans, such as in the case of the people of the Drakoderm Isles. I have related these stories in greater detail elsewhere. It is also related that the lagoon in which the city is situated grew and spread from the humour of the eye of Serep, which was hurled across the Ocean by the force of his dismemberment. There are many who will say that there can be found no truth in this, and that the story was cynically invented by Aganes to attract the custom of other disenfranchised storm giants of Sereps line.
The other two Cities of the Eye, known as the City of the Lens and City of the Lid, and collectively the Watchful Cities, were built to house guards. Their task it is to keep watch for any attack by the people of the Thirteen Holy Islands, and to sally forth to disperse the storms which they would bring to bear against the Lagoon. Since their creation, however, the Watchful Cities have become far larger than they originally were, though they are both still far smaller and more simply adorned than the City of The Pupil, which houses many artistic works which cannot be sustained in the face of frequent storm assaults. In any case the Watchful Cities are now not only great fortresses, but also centres of commerce, politics and philosophy, as well as the controlling bases of many smaller forts built upon the nearby coast and on islands farther out to sea.

The Three Cities differ greatly from the Thirteen Isles and the Seal People in that they are far more concerned with the affairs of mortals and of storm giants of other races, such as the various nations of the monsoon giants to their north. The Three Cities control an empire which holds dominion over many human cities and tribes, though its exact extent is unknown to me, both on the continental land near the Lagoon of the Distant Eye and for many leagues along the coast and out to sea. Unlike the people of the Thirteen Holy Isles, the people of the Three Cities will pay close attention to all their subject tribes, and use their powers as best they can to bring about favourable conditions for them, so as to increase their loyalty. In exchange the mortals under their protection pay them tribute in resources, services and slaves, which they find useful since they are themselves largely unwilling to engage in such menial tasks, considering their talents more valuable, even though they are far more physically powerful than most of their subjects.

In addition to the great nations of Sereps line, there are many typhoon giants who are mere wanderers and members of small tribes. The first of these are storm giants who are of the line of Serep but do not associate themselves with any of the three great nations, but instead will fly about the ocean making their homes on various small islands not claimed by any of the great nations. These are known as squall giants, as a mark of the scorn the nations have for them. The lifestyles of squall giants are many and varied, as they have no single culture, religion or political alliance. Some will simply wander from one place to another, some will reside for a great length of time in a particular area, some will become the rulers of mortals in their territory, some will ignore mortals, some become their friends and some torment them. Squall giants are to be found in the main far from the Thirteen Holy Islands, and there are many of them far beyond the boundaries of the Grey Ocean and some have even journeyed far from any seas, into the hearts of distant lands.

There are also typhoon giants who have committed unspeakable crimes in the eyes of their peers, the most heinous of which is apparently to use sorcery to speak falsehoods in the Truth of Breath. I am not aware of any way to do this, and nor, so far as I know, is any member of our sisterhood, though there are accounts which state that our rightly-revered Queen and some of her companions could not only speak but could tell falsehoods in the storm giants language. In any case, this is the most dreadful of crimes among the Typhoon Giants. For this reason giants who commit such an act may be punished by death, or by exile to the world beneath the surface of the Ocean, which is known to the typhoon giants as the Sky of Lies because the Truth of Breath cannot be spoken there. The giants banished so dwelling are known to the typhoon giants as Liars, and nothing is known of their society, save that they will sometimes rise up from the ocean attack people, apparently without regard for their victims race or allegiance.


-From ‘A Tome of Accounts of the Grey Ocean’ by Allenyr of Garmie, Respected Sister of the Coven of Trembling Spiders and Envoy to the Blizzard Kings in the Service of Pelunuer Rained Upon, Castelline of Keep Etheria, Keeper of the Black Stones and Regent of the Witches.
"Little monuments may be completed by their first architects, but great ones; true ones leave their copestones to posterity. God keep me from completing anything."
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Re: The Fourth Sphere - A Collaborative Fantasy 'verse

Post by speaker-to-trolls »

OK, another point to think about in terms of cosmology. Invictus and I talked a while ago about stars, I think we agreed there ought to be stars in addition to the various satellites, but I'm not really sure. Now if we do they can either be A) Fixed to the rotation of the rings in some way or B) not. The first means they would all move in an orderly fashion throughout the year, the second means they would not, and possibly wander around each in its own course, making astronomy much more confusing.

This is important because it has implications for what they might be. If they all rotate along with the year they are quite clearly either a part of the Fifth Sphere or of a separate Sixth Sphere (or they are arranged in layers, making up the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, etc, Spheres, but it would probably be a bit cheap of the Creator/s to make several spheres out of the same stuff). If not then they might well be wholly separate worlds.
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Re: The Fourth Sphere - A Collaborative Fantasy 'verse

Post by Czernobog »

I'd go with option two.
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Re: The Fourth Sphere - A Collaborative Fantasy 'verse

Post by Invictus »

I prefer Option 1. Stars IRL are so far away that they essentially rotated in fixed patterns to premodern astronomy anyway. An outermost sphere of fixed stars (the Seventh? Technically the orbit of the two rings count as the Fifth and the Sixth?) just fits the theme of the universe more. And it's not like the stars have to be fixed to the sphere either - whatever entirely alien physics that operate up there can facilitate movement. Heck, a whole layer of overlapping, orbiting stars might count as a single Sphere to Shell-dwellers.
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Re: The Fourth Sphere - A Collaborative Fantasy 'verse

Post by Invictus »

I've been doing some worldbuilding of my own too, though writing for two other universes has made me finish this later than I would have liked.


To His Magnificence, the Caliph of the Faith of the Song and the Khagan of Greater Akazeen, the Custodian of the Holy Peaks, the Conductor of the Myriad Voices and the Captain of the Eight Winds, The One Above the Hundred:

O Honored Father,

I write to inform you of my completion of the grand tour of the Empire of Chalcedon, traveling by horse, by boat and by Jinn-Carriage across the breadth of the continent we call God's Seat, which the Chalcedonites know by the name of Moonthrone. I believe I am now in a far better position to describe this strange place.

The Empire of Chalcedon is more properly a confederation of Sultans, which they call “Princes”; and one may be astounded to know that a council of such Princes are responsible for selecting an Emperor between themselves! This had long been held as a sign of the heathendom of Chalcedon, that their customs are unwise and their sovereign unhallowed. Though this is true, those who hold to such sayings in the Porte are vultures with talons that thirst for blood, and again I advise Honored Father to avoid their counsel. That unplesantry said, I have corresponded much about my lengthy stay in Chalcedon City but I have not yet had the chance to attend the Thing of Princes, lack as I do a patron of sufficient rank. No Akazeeni has yet to step foot within those secretive halls and witness the crucible of Chalcedonite policy, but I aim to be the first. A banker neighbor of mine – who himself happened to be entertaining a Grand Count who was at the capital to present a petition – did effuse that traditionally the Thing convened only once a year, but the speed of business brought about by the ironroads and heliotropes meant that “emergency” sessions are now opened at least once a month, and all but the most recalcitrant Houses stationed a full-blooded plenipotentiary within the Palace of Princes permanently.

My guide throughout the journey was Ephaeus, a brother of the Prismatic Order who is far more well-traveled than I. He was a somber fellow, little different from the Ordermen I have encountered in Bakhra and the Divine Porte but night and day compared to my other constant companion, the Mawla Fastid. While my chaplain never fails to heal the banalities of my voyage with stirring and cheerful song, Brother Ephaeus was more fond of long silences. However, the one subject that draws him out of his reserve is the experiences of his numerous travels, which always results in much awe and illumination for our party.

To give one a view of the borders of Chalcedon, I shall start with the familiar. If one imagines one can see from the eyes of a mighty Rukh as it traces a flight over the Iron Road, through Ammonite Pass and into Chalcedon proper, one may see the smoking trail of the Bakhra Express threading through the Land of Pillars and descending into the sandy expanse of The Bowl, which the Chalcedonites call the Dry Cauldron. Here the ground is treacherous and dunes frequently shift over the Iron Road, forcing a halt to the Jinn-Carriage until its tracks can be cleared. The Rukh suffers no such impediments and soars over the great desert until it reaches the Southern Leaning Mountains, as cleft and jagged as our own but instead leaning south over the highland Principalities of Chalcedon. There are other comparisons to be made – while the Northern Leaning Mountains rise clean and strong over the Inner Moon Steppes, their southerly cousins preside over a stretch of jagged highlands and river valleys that the Chalcedonites proclaim their ancestral home. The shadow of the southern peaks also births many rivers that descend into lowland Chalcedon to the southwest, which still nourish much of their civilization today. A break in the mountains constitute Ammonite Pass, Chalcedon's sole gateway to our glorious Caliphate and the final destination of the Bakhra Express.

The House of Aventur has controlled Ammonite Pass since time immemorial. Its people have a distinct character from other highland Principalities, wild-spirited and prone to mirth. They are equally prone to drink, as evinced from my brief stay in Ammon Keep. Shipments of fine teas pass untouched into other principalities, while the handsome profits of their sale propel a prodigious flow of wine and other spirits back to theirs. It was said that their forefathers brought the first horses into Chalcedon, a tale that bears investigating - perhaps it was a gift from our own ancestors? In any case, access to the Pass is a gift that the House of Aventur has profited greatly from. The steeds of Ammon are still renowned throughout Chalcedon, and the riders themselves roam the semi-arid shrublands that ring the southern border of the Dry Cauldron, herding cattle in a strangely familiar sight. I certainly feel far more of a kinship to the people of the Pass than the valley-dwelling farmers and raiders from whom the other highland Houses descended.

Having rested well during my interlude on the Pass, our Rukh once again takes wing south, into the heartlands of old Chalcedon. This land contains the oldest and most honorable of the Houses and Principalities, though the peninsula of new Chalcedon is far larger and far richer in resources. Old Chalcedon is boxed in from the east by the impassible Farau Escarpment, behind which the Skateriders of the High Wastes dwell. Brother Ephaeus tells me that one Lady Bissard of Sardonyx had taken it upon herself to catalog the native peoples of every High Waste on Moonthrone, and upon the completion of the task she advanced the theory that all were the degenerate remnants of a single ancient race, including the Heralds of the Holy Peak, may their song resound always! Such are the fantabulous whimsies of idle women! Beyond the Escarpment lies the Eastern Leaning Mountains, merging into the smoldering base of the Crusader's Trail, a chain of mountains that stretch far into the Endless Ocean. As it happened, Ephaeus our guide had recently returned from an expedition that sought to discover the end of the range. He spoke of mountains that wept fire and glowing, rocky giants that stalked the barren slopes thrust from the sea. Most startling of all, he and his fellow explorers confirmed their Order's observation that the Trail is growing eastwards slowly, year by year. To where it is headed, no one knows.

The Broken Range fences in the west of old Chalcedon, and through a hundred treacherous switchbacks one reaches the Sleevelands, where old kingdoms are long beset by the iron fleets of the Chalcedonites, and today may even be considered part of their Empire. The Lancer Kingdoms have long begged the Caliphate for the aid of its Windcallers, but to no avail. I fear that it may have been a mistake to deny them succor no matter how expensive, for now Chalcedon has a foothold north of the great continental divide.

As the mountains fade and the land slopes downwards, the territory of Chalcedon also widens to encompass a multitude of river plains. Low Chalcedon extends far, out of the eaves of the Leaning Mountains and southeast into the vast Emerald Peninsula and the islands that lay beyond its coast. Here the rivers slow and the land grows gentle, constituting the breadbasket of the entire Empire. The lowland Principalities hold their court here, branching off from their highland progenitors and therefore inferior in heraldry and honor. This is not apparent to the immediate outsider, for the lowland Principalities are far larger and more populous, and their tradesmen are far more driven to profit and industry. Nevertheless, the highland Principalities still hold advantages in the form of their traditional monopoly over crystal mining, and upstream control over the rivers that nourish the crops of the lowlands. Ephaeus observed to me that a growing worm of resentment gnaws at the bonds of House identity that binds the low Principalities and their progenitors, and a balancing may soon ensure if the situation is not rectified.

During my journey I have observed many differences in the habits of highlanders and lowlanders, of old and new noble Houses and their retainers, which are countless – no man of any consequence is without a patron who is his social superior, and therefore chains of obligation stretch upwards until they end in the hands of the Imperial Princes, who all regard each other as peers except to one: the Emperor. The current Emperor is of the House of Amethyst, and so has almost every Emperor since the founding of the Empire of Chalcedon. Though the Princes speak of equality in the Thing, it is the Amethyst that reigns supreme from their traditional seat which is now known as Chalcedon City, the capitol of the Empire. The city borders a great inland lake, endowing it with the status of a great port as well as the central station of all the Iron Roads that crisscross the land. Its favorable location has made it a center of trade and business, of politics and intrigue. It has vast holdings in both the highlands and the lowlands, and its armies seek more overseas besides. It is home to the Imperial College of Flamebinding, which gathers all the scholarly expertise across the land on this miraculous art and refines it into an exacting science. It is for good reason that the current Emperor retains his iron hold over the Empire, even as rival Houses still wait their turn.

The Jinn-Carriages that serve the interior lines are a far cry from the monster of pitted iron that one sees, steaming and hungry, within the Chalcedonite Factory in Bakhra. Wrought in smoked steelglass and bound with brass and gold, they are veritable works of art with sensual shapes one would not find amiss in the seraglio. Even their boisterous steam-venting seems more refined, issuing from pipes of fluted silver in sharp yet playful notes. The captain of the carriage, a swarthy knight in sweat-soaked silks, claimed to me that the Greater Jinn within would refuse to drive a locomotive that was any less ostentatiously decorated. Yet the carriage's true beauty is only reflected in motion, when the semi-transparent flanks of the locomotive glows a brilliant orange with the power of the indwelling spirit, its wheels spinning with sparks. As I instruct Fastid to make an illustration of a typical Carriage, I daresay that the sight is more magnificent and more terrible than the full gallop of any Akazeeni steed.

The Iron Road and the paddle boat are ever the signs of Chalcedonite dominion. Both cease to tread where the Emerald Peninsula meets the sea, and it is true that by their accounts, the Chalcedonites have yet to master the ocean. The Principality of Pari is the remotest of them all, separated from the mainland by a narrow gulf. The master shipwrights of the trade-rich island yet have a chokehold on the construction of ocean-going ships. Their craft is unparalleled, their ships armored in steel yet maneuverable enough to be steered by sail. With these ships the Empire have been able to plumb the surrounding seas for fresh concessions, and many islands have already fallen to their advance, with yet more distant lands conceding to their trade. Only the coasts of the Caliphate are safe, warded as they are by our sacred Windcallers. But it is only a matter of time until Chalcedon perfects a Jinn-powered paddleship of ocean-worthy design, which will negate our advantage in summoning the spirits of the Air. Such a thought leaves me in melancholy, and the more so the more I come to know this rapacious empire better.

In my following letters, I hope to cover the brief but troubled history of the Chalcedonite Empire and its peoples, the mysteries of flamebinding and the Jinn, the curious role of the Prismatic Order, and more on the faith and customs of our neighbor people.


Peace and Tranquility upon us all,

Khedif Zefir Farra
"This explanation posits that external observation leads to the collapse of the quantum wave function. This is another expression of reactionary idealism, and it's indeed the most brazen expression."
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Re: The Fourth Sphere - A Collaborative Fantasy 'verse

Post by Czernobog »

Hey Vic, mind if I connect this with your Chalcedon Empire guys?

THE PAAREZI EMPIRE: A TREATISE


The Phoenixkin (or Paarezi in their tongue) are a mighty race, and rule over an empire of more than ten million souls, both Paarezi and human. Such claims I found hard to believe, until I witnessed firsthand the might of their empire.

Taking a Skyroad north, I stopped at the border outpost and fortified town of Mesa’al (the ‘ standing for a character that is difficult for humans to pronounce), where I first saw the Phoenixkin. At this stage, a physical description must begin. The Phoenixkin stand typically six-and-a-half feet tall, covered in feathers with plumage of brilliant red and gold. They have arms with approximately four fingers and an opposable thumb on their hands, as well as broad, mighty wings, like those of an eagle, but far larger, and, like an eagle’s, capable of sustained flight. The Phoenixkin’s bones are not hollow; where they find the energy to fly is currently unknown.

The Skyroad stopped at this point, and I resumed my travels to the great city of Zaren’aan by flying carpet. A powerful spirit of air, most likely a Jinn (or so I thought), was bound within the exquisitely embroidered rug, and as I flew for several days I found that air was enough to sustain me as long as I was on the carpet (most likely an enchantment of some sort). The hosts warned me not to try and cross the desert – that way lay madness, they said. I was not thinking of doing so.

I stopped at Zaren’aan, a city built on a vast lump of ground torn out of the desert and set in the air, a marvellous feat by any measure. There were many marvellous, wonderful achievements –elegant skyships, floating on the air like it was water, and other wondrous things like the aforementioned flying carpets.

The spires of the city rose high into the air, and some even floated, requiring special transportation to reach. It was then that I spoke to a Paarezi Flamecrafter, a follower of one discipline of what the Paarezi call ‘the Crafting of the Elements of Magic and the Desert’. There are four disciplines to this school of the magic of the desert – Flamecrafting, Breezecrafting, Watercrafting and Sandcrafting. He explained that each discipline of this magic gave with it authority over spirits of the appropriate element, and that Flamecrafting and Breezecrafting gave authority over creatures called the Efreet, creatures of air and fire that formed the foundation of the Paarezi Empire.

I spoke again with the captain of a Paarezi skyship, who explained that the Efreet, when their life-energies were tapped, produced tremendous amounts of raw magical power, and this was harnessed by the Element-crafters to produce wondrous effects. Furthermore, the Skyroads of the Paarezi (great currents of cool air that help propel the skyships) are maintained by them. Furthermore, the spirits of the deserts and the waters are also used, but he did not reveal how. He was silent on how this was performed, doubtless because it was a secret known only to the Crafters of the Elements.

The Paarezi Empire is inside what they call ‘the Mountains of the Sun’, that surround it to the east, south and west, with the ocean to the north, and is largely made up of desert with fertile areas at the sea. Their capital is at the sea, called Qanstan’aan, translating roughly as ‘the Queen of Cities’.

Travelling there by skyship from Zaren’aan, I had a unique view of the approach, the desert gradually fading to mile and mile of irrigated fields and farms. I did not see any workers, and I did not expect to from so high up. The skyship stopped at a bluff within sight of the city, as it was not allowed to go into the city proper. I disembarked and rode by Fire-Lizard to the walls of Qanstan’aan. They were high, approximately a hundred feet tall, fifty feet thick, 5 miles long, and seemed to be carved out of the solid rock. They had actually been created by Sandcrafting an immense number of sand-grains so thickly together, in such an exact shape, that the mass turned to a solid lump of stone.

I marvelled at the sights within Qanstan’aan. Magical artefacts were aplenty, and there was something magical, exquisitely crafted, even in the poorest home. This was due to the sorcerers of the Paarezi binding the Efreet into exquisitely crafted, mass-produced items, which allowed the owners to tap their powers. Weaponry too was advanced – I saw a fire-blaster, which could either shoot a spray of flame or shoot fireballs and a scimitar made out of cutting water, among other things. I was amazed by these wondrous things, until I entered the palace of the Paarezi Emperor.

It was...impossible to describe in terms of aesthetics or marvelment, and currently ruling the palace was the human House of Aqbalar. They had gained power by a brutal coup, and had managed to control the natural tensions between humans and the Phoenixkin. This was not an easy task, and I had the greatest sympathy for them as they carried out the duties of the Emperor.
The Paarezi have distant relations with a great empire, 700 leagues to the north of this continent, called Lucia. Through this distant relationship, they know of other lands far beyond our own. I hope that this journey into the lands of the Paarezi has been fruitful, my Caliph.

Peace and Tranquility upon us all,

Khedif Zefir Farra
You have ruled this galaxy for ten thousand years.
You have little of account to show for your efforts.
Order. Unity. Obedience.
We taught the galaxy these things.

And we shall do so again.
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Re: The Fourth Sphere - A Collaborative Fantasy 'verse

Post by Invictus »

It took me a few days to get around to responding to this, but it's just as well since after reading your post, I thought it would take me a few days of downtime to write a clear-headed response to this.
Kamin997 wrote:Hey Vic, mind if I connect this with your Chalcedon Empire guys?
You didn't give me much of a choice, did you?

But yes, I do mind. I have to say I do, in fact.

I'd rather not insert any sudden neighbors to the Chalcedonites and the continent of Moonthrone. I have a rather fully-formed concept about what they are and what they represent, and at this stage I'm sticking to it. I don't see why you would want to 'connect' your stuff to mine at this stage, either. It's a huge world which specifically allows creators to place content down intact, and Speaker's and my peoples are, as we assume, an entire latitude and at least thousands of miles away from each other. Of course, this doesn't mean our creations can never interact with each other, but any kind of substantial contact should really be talked over on MSN first. You toss your ideas at me, and I see if I can change things around on my end to accomodate them, and then finally when I post my creation it would already come with the extensive geopolitcal ramifications of being in contact with a polity so similar to itself. But if you drop something fully-formed into my pond less than a day after my initial post, then no, it doesn't make me feel inclined to rethink weeks of conceptualization. Nor does it entitle you to make use of Khedif Zefir or any of the terminology I haven't even explained yet. (Which, by the way, you could simply done me the courtesy of asking me about them first; I would have gladly explained that a Jinn is not a spirit of Air in any form.)

This isn't a comic-book universe. There isn't a common backdrop or shared genre assumptions that let you insert characters at any time and have them automatically and reasonbly share the same circles with other, resonant characters. This is the sort of blank-canvas collaborative worldbuilding that asks for a lot of backstage negotiation to make sure we the creators aren't stepping on each others' toes. Sure, there's fun in rolling with other people's additions, just like in the collaborative worldbuilding threads; but this is not one of those. This is more like the potential-forum, multiple-creator universes that we see on the rest of the site. This should have been obvious from the pages and pages of discussion the thread has accrued already.

Now, I've read over the Paarezi a couple of times, and in the end I really don't think it deserves any of my badmouthing. It's a servicable piece of fantasy, and admittedly, it's refreshing for someone who has been nose deep in wrangling religio-politico-economic systems for the last few weeks. You incorporated a decent amount of Speaker's and my worldbuilding into it. Viewed in isolation, I wouldn't have any problems with it.

But the problem is it's posted straight after mine, and the similarities become painfully obvious. Kamin, I've said to you before on MSN that creativity is a lot about knowing to hide your sources - and there's no shame in borrowing elements from media everywhere because we all do it, and in its most mundane form it's simply called research. But well...you fail here. No matter how sincere and how original you think you were being, the sheer proximity of it simply makes you look bad. (Ditto on the Storm Dragons. And you even called the Storm Giants 'redundant' before you posted them. Ha!) I'm not saying that you are not allowed to build off setting elements that other creators have established. But I can't say your tendency to file off the rough edges and present something that looks like our stuff except better and more generic makes you look anything but cheap.

Now, I might be unfairly believing that my niche is being intruded upon, even though you didn't know that. I'm even suspecting that you've poisoned the well here to the extent that I can't look at anything you write objectively any more. This is why I refrained from criticizing the Paarezi, or indeed any of your stuff in this thread. This makes for an unpleasant and hypocritical state of affairs where I ignore you right up until I ask you to lay off my sandbox, even though you haven't done anything you weren't already doing. Really, the only two options for me at this point is to continue to disregard everything you write, which isn't feasible for a collaborative universe; or ask you to engage Speaker and I on MSN for active discussions on the setting. I think the latter is more constructive, even though you haven't been the most loquacious during the times when I do chat with you. On my part, I'll do my best not to ignore you on MSN, deal?
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Re: The Fourth Sphere - A Collaborative Fantasy 'verse

Post by speaker-to-trolls »

^Oh, and a bit later than I should be in posting in response to this, but yes, I agree with Invictus.

Yeah, Kamin, you need to talk to us about this stuff before you start trying to link your stuff with ours, this will be the third time now that I've said as much to you but I hope my opinions here will be more comprehensive:

Basically, this is a collaborative effort, but it's more serious than the ones previously set up in that Invictus and I, at least, have spent a lot more time getting our ideas into proper working order so they seem good and coherent. It's annoying when you then disrupt those with ideas which it very much looks like you may have either had prepared to be copied and pasted from one project to the next or thought and wrote them up in the space of a few hours. I'm pretty sure most of your stuff is based upon one of these two approaches. Now I use a modular approach to an extent as well, my Storm Giants are basically a transplant from something I was working on many years ago in which they were the descendants of a crossbreeding between giants of flesh (gross polymorphic things) and giants of the air (generic air spirits), but I thought them through a lot more and talked them over with other people to make them suitable to this setting. Do you see what I'm getting at?

If you're going to be linking your stuff to other peoples then you ought to talk to them about how thir stuff works first. The example Invictus gave earlier is pertinent, you have his narrator making a mistake he simply wouldn't make because he knows at least the basics of how Chalcedonite magic works, and knows that you couldn't use it to make a flying carpet.

I'm also going to weigh in on the stuff being similar, Invictus is pretty much right on the money there. Except that where he said 'better and more generic' I'd say 'more powerful and more generic'. You followed up my Storm Giants with the Storm Dragons, who are, as I said to you on MSN, described in a very similar way except that it draws more attention to how powerful and cool they are, similarly with the Paarezi compared with the Chalcedonites. Just stop it, please, if you see someone else posting an article here then don't just take that articles style, change the subject matter a little bit and make it bigger and badder, look around the internet and I'm sure you'll at least find some old timey writers you can emulate.

I think the take home message here is basically, stop looking so derivative, at least put the effort into appearing different. And don't stamp stuff which would radically alter the balance of power in a given area down without talking about it first (seriously, the Chalcedonites are the dominant power on Moonthrone because they have trains, then you deposit an empire with an armada of sky galleons in the middle of it).
Power isn't a problem, upping the power relative to someone else, in response to them (as it appears from the outside) is a problem.
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Re: The Fourth Sphere - A Collaborative Fantasy 'verse

Post by speaker-to-trolls »

On a less conflicting note, I've been thinking about the nature of the spheres: Vic, you said that multiple shells of stars could constitute a single sphere, which makes perfect sense to me, after all the 4th sphere includes the various moons, the surface, the underworld and the scour. So to me it makes sense that the solar rings constitute the 5th sphere and the stars the 6th. Now this does not mean that the stars all have to move as one or that anyone really needs to know what they are, I for instance plan on having the witches' prevailing theory being that they are all other worlds derived from mature 'demon moons', and this is faesible if not necessarily correct, in my mind. Others might believe that they are another, fifth (or sixth) element, starstuff or Light or some loftier sounding stuff.

Also I've been thinking about the idea of the Gulf. This actually makes a great deal of sense considering the massive void of the Air between the 4th and 5th spheres, and it makes sense that the thickness of the sphere decreases and size of the dividing space increases the farther from the Core one goes. So the intermediate layer between Core and Deep would be smallest, between Deep and Storm (possibly some kind of layer of mists) would be thicker, the Gulf would be wider than this and the air would be thicker still, and the gap between sun and stars, well it's anyones guess how wide that is. The only problem is that it makes the stormlands, as I have said, a bit awkward. They could still exist since they would create really low pressure and draw the storm up, but it would, as I've said, be a bit less neat. Just some thoughts, feel free to ignore.

OK, now another article, this one about the techniques of some immunity moons with interests in the Grey Ocean. Weird thing, the second one inspired entirely by one off the cuff comment by Invictus.

There are two White planets which are most feared by all the peoples of the Grey Ocean.

The first of these, and the most feared, is called Serep’s Bane, for they believe that it was this planet which delivered the missile that destroyed Serep, the great ancestor and god of the Typhoon Giants. Most in the Grey Ocean will say that this is the planet we know as the Spring Glutton, which we see in the northern skies for one year in ten, and which grows in size in the months between ring join and ring cross, before receding again to less than half its greatest size. This moon is sometimes said to accompany showers of White stones in certain places, and particularly in the Jewelled Sea and other places of the north and east of the ocean. These stones are said by some to cause burning of the flesh, death and desolation wherever they fall. In spite of their destructive nature they are highly prized in the Jewelled Sea and across other parts of the Ocean, this in no small part being because they are the only sure weapon against hostile storm giants, due to the burning of flesh they induce.

Others, misguided as they are, will say that the white stones are of a beneficial nature, and that they speak to mortals whom they favour. There are many families in diverse parts of the Ocean who have large White stones that they hold as household gods and protectors of their families. I do not believe that these stones are as immediately hostile as some say, though as befits their nature they must have an insidious and wasting effect on all beings who have contact with them.

There are, however, various peoples of the Grey Ocean who will claim that Serep’s Bane is not the Glutton, but is some other white planet, but they are a minority among the scholars, and have not so much evidence.

It is believed that Serep’s Bane destroyed the ancestor of the Typhoon Giants by means of a great missile of white stone which it launched from the highest airs against him as he flew. It is feared by all the Typhoon Giants that the moon has a particular hatred of them above its natural antipathy for all growing things. It is said by some that for this reason the Thirteen Holy Islands are perpetually shrouded in storms so that the moon may not detect the presence of Serep’s race.

Legends abound in the Grey Ocean of great conflagrations, the work of White nature, which will often consume whole islands in sterilising flame. These horrors are oft attributed to the work of Serep’s Bane, either by its hurling down of great missiles from its lofty place in the air, or by inducing White stones which are buried within the earth or lie beneath the ocean to emerge and fly at a land marked for death. These stones have been seen by many, and I myself have seen such a horror in its sleeping state. These stones are most usually accompanied by monstrous creatures of White stone, which I have also witnessed. These take a form like great beetles, though more pointed at their fore, and are able to rise up into the air and to project deathly White power upon anything they wish destroyed. These beasts are a menace and a terror to the peoples of the Jewelled Sea, and they count among their greatest heroes those who have destroyed or subdued such things, since even a storm giant will most often die if she faces such a monster.

It is not known from whence these stones come, some will say that Serep’s Bane sends them down to the Earth, to be buried and await their instructions. Others say they are created within the Earth itself where the balance of the world shifts toward death, and that this change is brought about by the moon.

The second of the white planets most feared by the people of the Grey Ocean is known to them as the Father of Pearls, and is the moon which is known to us as the Restless Diver, for its rapid and erratic motions throughout the year which so vex those who study the affairs of the sky.

The Father of Pearls is so called because of the great pearls which are found in some parts of the Grey Ocean which are born from no clam, nor could have been so created save if the clam were greater in size than the Pinnacle Hold of Keep Etheria itself. The pearls are indeed vast things that are often the size of hills, and which are regarded with great superstitious awe by all peoples. They are, however, evidently hostile to all living things, for they may discharge lightning into the ocean, and this I have seen accounts of by those who have attempted to pry from the pearls their secrets, and felt for myself when I felt the lightning blow created by the merest fragment of a pearl taken from the sea.

In addition even to this fearsome defence, which can render even great and noble creatures lifeless should they disturb it, these pearls are oft defended by wretched creatures overtaken by White nature. Such creatures are, as has been demonstrated to me, possessed to defend the pearls and to seek out and destroy certain creatures of greatly vital nature. This they are able to do by discharging their own lightning through their bite and through the water for a certain distance, though the lightning they can discharge is by far the less powerful than that of the pearls. The creatures, which are known as the Singing Beasts, are so possessed by the presence of White stones which resemble arrowheads, which become lodged within their bodies, and cause these changes in them. As well, this causes them, at certain times and for reasons unknown to me, to come to the surface and sing in the presence of the Father of Pearls with eerie voices, and of such there are many accounts. For some reason this moon has some particular enmity for those creatures which live beneath the sea, as only such creatures that live beneath the ocean have ever been seen to become singing beasts.

It is said by some that the great pearls will sometimes become broken, dependent on some signal by the Father of Pearls, just as it is said that they grow at the whims of that moon, for which reason it is given this name. When the pearl is broken, it is said that a great monster of white nature will emerge and go abroad in the ocean slaying whatever it wills. Some peoples rightly dread such an occurrence, and will thus ever seek to avoid the pearls, while others dwell near them, believing that the White creature, should it emerge, will defend them from the depredations of Liars and other dangerous creatures of the ocean which are their enemies.

I shall not say what is the nature of these White creatures, for I have seen none of them and I have been told many fabulous descriptions; some will say they are made entirely of White stone, some that they are the greatest of the Singing beasts, or that they are made of mud impregnated with White stone, or even that they are composed of the bodies of many beasts joined together by stone. I do not know, however, whether they exist, though I have seen pearls broken this may be the work of other beings.


From 'A Tome of Accounts of Things of the Grey Ocean' by Allenyr of Garmie, Respected Sister of the Coven of Trembling Spiders and Envoy to the Blizzard Kings in the service of Pelunuer Rained Upon, Castelline of Keep Etheria, Keeper of the Black Stones and Regent of the Witches.
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Re: The Fourth Sphere - A Collaborative Fantasy 'verse

Post by Invictus »

speaker-to-trolls wrote:Also I've been thinking about the idea of the Gulf. This actually makes a great deal of sense considering the massive void of the Air between the 4th and 5th spheres, and it makes sense that the thickness of the sphere decreases and size of the dividing space increases the farther from the Core one goes. So the intermediate layer between Core and Deep would be smallest, between Deep and Storm (possibly some kind of layer of mists) would be thicker, the Gulf would be wider than this and the air would be thicker still, and the gap between sun and stars, well it's anyones guess how wide that is. The only problem is that it makes the stormlands, as I have said, a bit awkward. They could still exist since they would create really low pressure and draw the storm up, but it would, as I've said, be a bit less neat. Just some thoughts, feel free to ignore.
I think this is an elegant idea, the way a Gulf separates every sphere. However, it does spoil the elemental alignment of each Sphere, since the Storm already belongs to Air? Perhaps the Gulfs don't really count as Spheres because they contain nothing. (Well, fantasy nothing, which still means plenty of air except in the Higher Gulfs.) This addition also suggests a new role for Air and its spirits - perhaps of separation, moderation and peacemaking?
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Re: The Fourth Sphere - A Collaborative Fantasy 'verse

Post by speaker-to-trolls »

Invictus wrote:Perhaps the Gulfs don't really count as Spheres because they contain nothing. (Well, fantasy nothing, which still means plenty of air except in the Higher Gulfs.) This addition also suggests a new role for Air and its spirits - perhaps of separation, moderation and peacemaking?
Pretty much, but not only do they contain nothing in terms of not having much in them, but they don't have much going on in them. Comparing the Storm with its Gulf for instance, the Storm is immeasurably more active and creative than the gulf, even though they're both Air based. It'd probably be different kinds of air spirits, the kind one would find in the Storm would be much more lively and chaotic whereas those in the gulf would just be there to support the layers above and below them.

Some other miscellaneous ideas: Certain creatures could very easily get almost anywhere, especially the spiritually potent creatures connected with air or water, since there's air and oceans everywhere, but other, more normal animals would probably find it quite difficult. I do, however, have a weird way they could make it all over the world: We've already gone over the idea that a creatures soul can be stored in stone, and can then effect the earth around it. Perhaps it could be possible for fossilised souls to be transferred from one area of land to another, and then simply sprout out of the ground for some reason, perhaps growing on trees. Imagine a tribe of people hatching out of fruits, their seeds being blown all over the world so that they sprout up everywhere. Or animals emerging out of the ground somewhere due to shifts in the body of the shell taking their souls far from their resting places.

Also, coral people; This is a generic term although the Grey Ocean is set to contain actual Coralinians. What I basically mean is people who emerge out of some kind of sedentary structure, then move around a bit and when they die grow into another such structure, or they do not so much die at all as simply get bigger, older and slower until they become such a structure. One idea I have in this regard is basically lost floating continents beneath the shell which send out flying progeny, which could look like pretty much any flying thing you could imagine, who all have the potential to grow into another island. Occasionally one finds its way up to the Fourth Sphere, and may start growing into an island, either floating or sitting normally, growing its own minions. Such lands would probably not get as big as their Storm counterparts, and the society of minions would, I imagine, be a bit like a beehive, in that each minion would have the potential to become a 'Queen' by growing into a separate hive.
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Re: The Fourth Sphere - A Collaborative Fantasy 'verse

Post by Invictus »

speaker-to-trolls wrote:Also, coral people; This is a generic term although the Grey Ocean is set to contain actual Coralinians. What I basically mean is people who emerge out of some kind of sedentary structure, then move around a bit and when they die grow into another such structure, or they do not so much die at all as simply get bigger, older and slower until they become such a structure. One idea I have in this regard is basically lost floating continents beneath the shell which send out flying progeny, which could look like pretty much any flying thing you could imagine, who all have the potential to grow into another island. Occasionally one finds its way up to the Fourth Sphere, and may start growing into an island, either floating or sitting normally, growing its own minions. Such lands would probably not get as big as their Storm counterparts, and the society of minions would, I imagine, be a bit like a beehive, in that each minion would have the potential to become a 'Queen' by growing into a separate hive.
I think we don't need to establish the existence of dandelion/coral people as a general fact - we'll flesh them out when we have an idea that benefits from using this concept. Also Re: GIANT BEES FROM UNDER THE EARTH: I approve. Of course, they're not as much islands as crazy honeycombed structures with their own gravitational fields.

I imagine the Moons also hunt these down with extreme prejudice.
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Re: The Fourth Sphere - A Collaborative Fantasy 'verse

Post by Czernobog »

Yes, this is somewhat inspired by Warhammer 40K, if it's too much of a rip-off I'll remove it. It also takes place on a completely different continent from Lucia and its neighbours, with a style that can be described as 'Steampunk/Dieselpunk Renaissance/Medieval Europe'.

Dissertations upon the Imperium of Rhomaia


Blessed Father

Many nights have passed, and I still cannot fully comprehend the wonders of the Imperium of Rhomaia. I journeyed to the capital, supposedly on a diplomatic mission from the Universal Assembly, but secretly my purpose was to discover the power of their military, and their oft-revered technomancy, in an effort to determine when and if it would be a good idea to make war on them. I must say - the reports you recieved from other nations (most notably the Hayuk, who have warred with the Imperium for the last few decades) were true.

I must regrettably give some background information, for those that do not know much about the Imperium. 200 years ago, the Imperium, though advanced in technology, magic, and culture, was fighting for survival. Then, the Emperor died unexpectedly, and his son, Kairos III Aquilon, rose to prominence. It was while praying before battle that Kairos received a vision, and an angel appeared to him. Kairos received a great lance, tremendous magical power, and the wings of an angel, pure and white-feathered. The following day, the enemy were massacred so greatly that the Sultan of the Hayuk could not afford any more losses, and begged for peace. Kairos said 'all the lands that you and your allies have ever stolen from the Imperium will be what I demand of you', and the Sultan, awed and terrified by the Emperor, could not help but agree. The territories of the Hayuk were reduced by two-thirds in the peace treaty that followed.

Kairos, was, three weeks later, elevated to a special position by the Patriarchos of the Rhomaian Assembly - 'Saint-Emperor', with great spiritual and temporal power, head of the Imperium and the clergy of the entire Rhomaian Assembly.

He changed the coat of arms of the Imperium from the two-headed eagle to the two-headed Phoenix, to represent its rebirth like the fiery Phoenix of the desert that rises anew from the ashes of its demise, and also his dual spiritual and temporal power.

But enough digression. As my steamer went into the harbour of Kairopolis, the City of Kairos, I caught a glimpse of the purple spires of the Imperial Palace, and the tall cloud-rippers* of the Commerce District. There were also docking moors for ships of the Imperial Skyfleet, greet ships of steel and stronger metals that fly in the clouds. I was then greeted by Lord Ambassador Marius, a charming man who wanted to show me the wondrous sights of Kairopolis.

He first showed me to the sun-furnace that powered Kairopolis. The Magoi of the Imperium had discovered a way to create something they called Sunfire, that could only be contained by a special kind of crystal. It could be tapped to produce almost impossible amounts of power, doing the work of a hundred thousand oil* generators with ease. The design of the sun-furnace is such that if the crystal is breached, the Sunfire is immediately quenched, for if not...well, working with such large amounts of Sunfire is extremely dangerous - an early experiment far from Kairopolis produced a one-kilometre wide crater with a fire within that will continue burning for another 50 years. Locals call it 'the Door to Hell'.

After seeing the sun-furnace, we went to the military district. I met Lord Commander Eliphas Aquilon, first-born son of the Saint-Emperor and a master commander, who showed me a marvellous weapon used as a rifle by men of the Imperial Army. It was what they called the light-rifle, a weapon that used light itself to kill, focussing it into a narrow beam of terrible power. I doubted its potency, until I saw troops training with it, their blasts all but annihilating wooden blocks.

Then I was brought to the Imperial Palace, whose outer walls are plated with gold and silver, and wrought with gemstones. I walked through the verdant gardens, looking at the beautiful sculptures, until I was brought by my guide to the palace itself. It was made out of purple marble, so beautiful to look at that I wanted to stay there forever. The great golden gates of the Inner Palace, embossed with a gigantic carving of the Saint-Emperor smiting his enemies, opened at the touch of my guide, revealing the splendid glory of the throne room.

At its far end was the Saint-Emperor, about nine feet tall, proud, clothed in golden armour and bearing the Sacred Lance, which crackled with power and filled the room with the smell of ozone. His hair was black, and his eyes were shining with white light. He was guarded by two members of the Phoenix Guard (his most elite soldiers) in the traditional enchanted gold armour, embossed with religious symbols of the Rhomaian Assembly (said to help protect against unholy magics, such as those used by the undead, which are a common threat in the Imperium since it borders Avernus). They bore pistols, which I am told projected Sunfire (rifles projecting Sunfire, I am told, are commonly used by the Phoenix Guard in the actual field). The Phoenix Guard bore enchanted swords, which could cut through most steels.

I was forced to leave Kairopolis before I could be shown a
Stormbird sky battleship or the Commerce District, but what I have produced shows the sheer power and techno-magical might of the Imperium, and think it would be wise to attempt an alliance treaty, or at the very least diplomatic correspondence, regardless of what your Holiness would feel about the matter, most particularly regarding to the Saint-Emperor's claims of being divinely blessed.

- Dialogus Adept Timatheo Horanus, in Service to the Universal Assembly.


*What we would call skyscrapers.
*a cultural translation into English of a word that wouldn't have made sense otherwise.
You have ruled this galaxy for ten thousand years.
You have little of account to show for your efforts.
Order. Unity. Obedience.
We taught the galaxy these things.

And we shall do so again.
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