[Bonus] Glossary/Worldbuilding_Tales of Splinterra

Info here is non-alphabetised for now and ordered more by convenience/hierarchy of relevance. If that is confusing or you struggle to find stuff, drop me a comment and I'll look into changing it.

World Timeline

(This is not exhaustive and will be added to over time as more lore becomes relevant)

Age of Myth (AOM) 1

Orot creates Splinterra.

From raw ether, Orot shaped the realm of Splinterra and cast it into self-asserting motion with the god itself serving as the linchpin of the realm's stability.

Orot divides itself into the sixteen Aspects.

The Aspects form a committee to refine the realm. They all undertake projects, changing and developing the shape of the realm into a more complete form, drawing inspiration from other realms and making changes to ethereal convention where they desired.

The Worldway is built/connected.

The Worldway connected Splinterra to a wider network of stable realms in the Etherverse, allowing free travel to and from those worlds and allowing the exchange of people and ideas.

The Aspects invite people from other realms to populate Splinterra.

An influx of mortals from across the Etherverse arrive to populate the new realm, invited by the Aspects who have prepared a staging area for them to live while they prepare to expand and explore the realm being offered to them. Such a transfer of mortals across realm boundaries has rarely taken place before, and is not without complications.

The Castes are created.

The Aspects ethereally alter the people who have come to Splinterra, making them native and integrated into the ethereal fabric of the realm. This slightly changes their appearance, and many facets of their being.

8 - 1143

The new people of Splinterra set out to explore the realm.

In this time many cities and kingdoms are founded, and some fall to ruin. Heroes undertake quests that become the stories of legend. The Aspects walk the realm and grant boons and inspiration to the people they admire, some taking whole castes under their wing, as Vandrin does with the Alfir.

Age of the Fallen (AOTF)

The first divine servants of the Aspects rebel and become the Fallen.

Some of the Aspects divine servants disagree with the shape of the realm and Orot's plan for Splinterra. They attempt to form an opposition, but are swiftly scattered and hunted by the faithful. The Fallen, numbering many thousand powerful beings linked to Splinterra's ethereal structure, are able to take new forms in the world, many are considered monstrous and unnatural.

1-327

The Fallen take up arms against the Aspects and each-other, bringing about a period of chaos.

Many mortals join the Fallen in their cause, plunging Splinterra into a period of terrible war that draws interest from other realms of the Etherverse. However, the Fallen are not of one mind, and they war with each-other as much as they do with the Aspects, weakening their forces.

327

The Fallen are defeated, and the Worldway is sealed.

The major enclaves of The Fallen are dissolved and the wars ended, but many Fallen remain on Splinterra, doomed to live out hunted existences, far from the divine grace they once enjoyed.

The Worldway that once connected Splinterra to other realms in the Etherverse is sealed, and the means to reconnected it are deliberately lost in an effort by the Aspects to reassert their primary control over the fate of Splinterra.

The Rise of Empires (ROE)

1-895

The Aspects seek to restore stability by assisting the mortals of Splinterra in the foundation of great civilisations.

During this period many of the cities of Sedalia are founded. The Radiant Dynasty takes root in Vostrel, and swiftly expands to control the region now called the Heartland

[Redacted]

203

The first Sunblades are forged and gifted to the 64 ruling Alfir families of the Radiant Dynasty

Vandrin comissions Hod, Face of Artistry to help him forge the blades, which are instilled with the ethereal essence of each family lineage, and designed to grow in power as successive generations wield them.

570-571

The Radiant Dynasty and Cthalvaliss go to war over territory in the Luddish Grasslands.

The conflict is settled diplomatically after the siege of Trent ends with the Dynasty taking control of the city.

[Redacted]

882

Garrel experiences miracles.

The sick are healed, lovers are reunited, unseasonal weather frequently affects the city, and many magical creatures are spotted walking the streets without explanation.

889

The Cloud Giants go to war with the Dragons over an arranged marriage.

The conflict leads to the deaths of many dragons, and the destruction of many of the Cloud Giants' cities.

The many other factions are drawn into the war, and fearing conflict on a scale not seen since The Age of the Fallen, the Aspects intervene to forcibly broker a peace.

The Cloud Giants head east across the seas beyond the Gravalt Free States, never to be seen in Sedalia again.

[Redacted]

The Forgotten War (FW)

[Redacted]

Cthalvaliss is destroyed by Vandrin, turning the southern range into an inhospitable desert.

[Redacted]

The Hero, Utred, defeats [Redacted]

[Redacted]

The Sixteenth Aspect is [Redacted]

[Redacted]

After the Forgotten War (AFW) 1-57

The Radiant Expansion.

The Radiant Dynasty undertakes a campaign to capture and hold land in the territory left in ruins after The Forgotten War. They expand their borders, build forts, establish governorships and garrisons, and come into conflict with remnants of the defeated powers. In just over fifty years, they control almost all of the continent of Sedalia, with a few holdouts, though they immediately begin to struggle with the logistical and resource cost of governing such a large territory.

The Siege of Garrel.

The Radiant Dynasty besieges Garrel, but is rebuffed by the city state, who retain independence up to the present day.

The Battle of Saltcrust

The Radiant Dynasty tries to land their forces on the island of Saltcrust but are driven back into the ocean.

Saltcrust Blockade Starts

The Dynasty navy blockades Saltcrust and doesn't allow any ships to legitimately enter or leave the port. Smugglers still find ways in, and the blockade proves unpopular with the Dynasty public, not to mention ineffective, very swiftly, though it will remain in place in different forms for nearly four decades.

Brod comes under Dynasty control after a lengthy military stalemate, marking the end of the Radiant Expansion.

The city state of Brod concedes to become a client of The Radiant Dynasty, under the condition that they are allowed to retain governing authority over internal affairs, and elect their own governing representatives to deal with the administration of Dynasty law.

The Dynasty's 3rd and 11th legions disappear in the Berabrick Forest, never to be seen again.

A letter from the Eastern Alfir is found nailed to a tree, simply instructing the Dynasty to "Leave Our Home Alone".

Saltcrust Blockade Ends

The Dynasty withdraws their blockade after nearly forty years, due to lack of resources and attritional losses in sustained skirmishing.

263

Bilberry Rattlestaff is born in Ablerise.

The Vermili bard starts writing when she is seven years old and becomes a savant of performance and magic, revolutionising the worlds of theatre and music with her performances.

297

Bilberry Rattlestaff writes Upon an Eastern Cloud.

The play is her last published work, it details the story of two lovers, a cloud giant and a dragon, who end up on different sides of their great war, and are forced to conceal their feelings for each other while they fight.

297

Bilberry disappears from the public eye.

Nobody can find the bard, who drops out of public view, and even her family cannot locate her. As weeks turn into months, then years, her disappearance becomes one of the continents great unsolved mysteries. The last place she is known to have been is the city of Brod, where she was seen in 298AFW riding north up the road towards Greenwall under cover of darkness, though her movements from there are unknown.

299

Bilberry undertakes her journey across the Pale Straits, and breaks [Redacted] from its prison.

[Redacted]

421

Darrowfig Sable loses her public duel against Corundum Illisar and leaves the Heartland in disgrace.

She travels as a mercenary for a few years, growing in skill and awareness of Outerland culture. She gains contacts in Saltcrust and starts working for Mirabelle the Black.

426

Rickard Crichét is burned alive, then revived by The Book of The Undying King.

He spends four weeks travelling the Heartland and studying the Book before he uses it to teleport himself to Vishrac-Uramis, looking for information about magic that could restore his body and end the curse.

426

Fig, Rick, and Dorian meet in the temple of Vishrac-Uramis.

Splinterra:

Splinterra is the world of this story. It was created by the god Orot, and comprises several continents on a planet much like our own, with its own moons (Vestar the bright moon and Manrith the dark moon) and solar system beyond. This is an epic fantasy world of magic, on a late medieval to steampunk level of divergent technology that varies in development depending on the region and various in world factors.

Sedalia:

Sedalia is the continent where this story primarily takes place. It is a diverse landmass, with temperate grasslands and forests, scorching deserts, frozen tundras, wild mountains, swamps and jungles. The continent in the year 417AFW, which is when the main narrative happens, has been shaped by the centuries following The Forgotten War, and the geopolitical struggles that followed that calamitous conflict.

image [https://i.imgur.com/9JnFmXw.jpg]

Major Regions of Sedalia:

The Ashram Desert

The Ashram Desert is a vast expanse of sand and ruins, hundreds of miles wide. It is all that remains of a great southern kingdom that was ruled from the city that became Dualspire. The desert is home to sunworms, a breed of vast worms that can fire concentrated radiance from their mouths and melt the sand into sunglass, which the nearby Ragon'ta people of the Southern Jungle Strip use to make weapons and tools. The desert also has hives of insectoid people called the Zoreen, who live in vast hive towers that loom over the surrounding landscape. The Zoreen are intelligent, utterly loyal to their hives, and largely isolated from the rest of the continent, seeming content to war amongst themselves for territory and occasionally trade with the city of Dualspire.

The Wine Sea

The Wine Sea is a circular sea similar to the Mediterranean in climate and geography (I can't deny the obvious inspiration). It is host to several great port cities, which form the trading backbone of the Radiant Dynasty's economy, and most of its more metropolitan population. WiSTCo. [The Wine Sea Trading Company] is a large corporation that has gained a near total monopoly over trade and travel across the region, through ship licensing and tariffs.

The sea itself is warm watered, playing host to coral reefs, shoals of dolphins, whales and other sea life, and a thriving intercity travel network of ships. It is also very well patrolled by Dynasty warships making piracy within the Wine Sea virtually unheard of.

Around the coast, the warm climate allows for the growth of crops like olives, dates, grapes, and other plants that thrive in sunny regions.

The Western Heartland

The Western Heartland is an affluent region of the Radiant Dynasty comprising everything west of the Wine Sea. The region has a temperate climate, turning slightly colder in the north, expansive farmland, vineyards and infrastructure dating back to long before The Forgotten War, and a well settled population of mostly Alfir, Mardin,Vermili, and Orend caste who make up the backbone of their citizenry. Most of the Dynasty's food is produced in the region just north of Westport, where hundreds of square miles of fields stretch across the fertile landscape. This is the cradle of the Radiant Dynasty, and while most of their trade wealth comes from the metropolitan centres around the Wine Sea, their capital city of Vostrel is situated just south of the Lordswood in the Western Heartland. This region is also central to the culture of the Radiant Dynasty, with some of their oldest cultural and religious sites spread around this region from the time when Vandrin first championed the Alfir to found a civilisation under his banner. There is lesser presence of banditry or monsters, and the military is able to police the region much more effectively than they are in the Outerlands, but still the infrastructure of the Dynasty is stretched thin here, and there have been rebellions by the large Rossak population of the agricultural area around Emerald City, which severely threatened the security of the capital due to their over-reliance on exploitative labour practices to produce most of their food.

The Luddish Grasslands

The Luddish Grasslands are a region of rolling plains that stretch for miles and miles to the south of the Allura River. The frontier towns of Albrick and Longdune sit along the eastern coast of the continent, and they ranch livestock and horses extensively on these plains. Other than those population centres, and the farms that lie along the river and coastline, the area is quite sparsely populated. I imagine it much like the North American Midwest in pre-industrial times. Huge herds of animals migrate around the region, ranging as far as the shores of Lake Allura and the Wine Sea. There is a great amount of biodiversity, including an unrestrained population of dangerous predators and monsters who make life difficult for homesteads in the region. The Dynasty used to regularly patrol the roads in the area, and send teams to cull the more dangerous monster populations every few years, but in the last decade or so, they have failed to continue that practice, and the livelihoods of people in this region are suffering the consequences. Public sentiment here is rarely favourable towards the Dynasty.

The Berabrick Forest

The Beracrick Forest is a verdant behemoth. The ancient woodland covers hundreds of square miles in the basin between the Twirling Ridge Mountains and The Unbound Mountains. Unlike the well tamed and settled Lordswood in the Western Heartland, the Berabrick Forest is not hospitable to travellers. It is home to vicious and gargantuan wildlife harkening back to the Mythic Era of Splinterra's history. What's more, a civilisation of Eastern Alfir, characterised by their slender frames and more prominent horny brow ridges, guard the borders of the forest, killing any outsider who ventures too far within the trees. It is theorised that the Eastern Alfir of the Berabrick Forest are the remnants of an old kingdom that fell during The Forgotten War. However, unlike other such kingdoms that were absorbed into The Radiant Dynasty, the Berabrick forest has resisted any attempts to control or exploit its natural resources. The Dynasty lost two occupying legions who entered to find and invade Eastern Alfir settlements, and all logging efforts have been met with guerrilla attacks, making extracting natural resources more trouble than it is worth, at least so far.

While there are roads that extend around the forest border, and a few forts and settlements in the region, the Berabrick Forests is a part of the Radiant Dynasty in name only. It is a wild and untouched place, wholly apart from the rest of the world, a true enclave of nature.

The Land of Giants

The Land of Giants is an expanse of hilly tundra that extends up from the Greenwall Garrison and the northern range of the Twirling Ridge Mountains, all the way to the settlement of Last and the Pale Straits beyond. The region is characterised by its cold climate, with the northern portions being trapped in permafrost, and by the presence of megafauna like Mammoths, Wooly Rhinos, and the Voros caste, more colloquially referred to as giants. The Voros are a diverse group of people with both nomadic and settled tribes, who range the tundra, the mountains, and even the frozen oceans beyond. Their size, challenging language, and obscure cultural practices have made them quite set apart from the rest of the continent.

The independent city of Garrel is the most populous and technologically developed place in The Land of Giants, and is one of the only places on the continent where the Voros caste have been widely and successfully integrated into society with other castes.

The extreme cold weather in the region and impassable winters makes this an area that most travellers avoid. Where most areas of the Outerlands are dangerous because of lawlessness and monsters, the Land of Giants is primarily inhospitable due to its environmental features.

The Pale Straits

The Pale Straits is a northern waterway of small islands that freezes over for seven months of the year, with some more northerly parts never thawing. Glaciers in the surrounding mountains feed colossal icebergs into the straits, making ship travel very dangerous even during the summer melts. The entire region is gripped by near constant blizzard winds that whip through the Chillspines and across the ice. Monsters prowl the islands looking for food, ready to very happily snack on any travellers they come across. Almost nobody from Sedalia tries to navigate the Pale Straits, as there is little in the region to entice people to visit, let alone settle there. Nevertheless, some groups of Voros and even other castes do live on the islands, hunting for food and living a remote existence with their own culture and understanding of the world.

The Unbound Mountains

The Unbound Mountains is the largest mountain range on Sedalia, covering a huge portion of the continent east of the Berabrick Forest, and separating the Eire Coast from the rest of the Outerlands. The region is largely wild, with little organised presence by the Dynasty outside of a couple of nearby border garrisons. Huge numbers of monsters and lawless tribes live in the mountains, battling each-other for territory and dominance. It is a place for dangerous recluses, and people who wish to live far from safety and society. The mountains are full of ruins and remnants of civilisation from before the Forgotten War.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

There are also the Deep Roads, subterranean paths that run under the mountains, theoretically connecting distant settlements throughout the region. The extent of the Deep Roads is not known, as most of their use was discontinued after the Forgotten War, when many of the settlements in the mountains were lost. Now the deep roads are only accessible from the settlements of Brod and Deepshaft, which they connect.

The Unbound Mountains is one of the few places on Sedalia where you will still find a large number of dragons. These reclusive creatures dislike the castes, and disdain living near settlements, especially because of the foolhardy people who think they might make a fortune for themselves by slaying a dragon. While such people rarely pose any real threat to the ancient magical creatures, they do prove bothersome enough that dragons prefer to live in unpopulated regions, and the Unbound Mountains are perfect, especially because of certain other geographical properties like the high concentration of ether-crystal deposits.

Few settlements have been able to survive in the shadow of the Unbound Mountains. They make far too tempting a target for monsters, although a few have struggled through and made a foothold. Utred's Rest, sitting on the shores of Oak Bay at the southern range of the Unbound Mountians, has managed to grow up and start mining some of the mineral wealth of the mountains, using the nearby rivers and valleys to transport workers and materials deep into the range. The most prominent of their findings have been pockets of high quality ether-crystals left over from ancient tectonic and glacial activity. Their efforts to mine such crystals have bourn enough fruit to seed a gold rush, bringing new workers to the region, despite the great danger posed by monsters.

This is especially dire as many of these deposits of ether-crystals are claimed by Dragons, who viciously guard what they regard as their rightful hoards. Still, despite a great many deaths and monster attacks, new people flow to the region to feed the mines every year, making the wealthy Heartland investors very rich, and springing up a large eastern trade route that has been exploited by pirates and bandits.

The Eire Coast

The Eire Coast is a haunted stretch of coastline far from the Heartland of the Radiant Dynasty. It is the most easterly region of Sedalia, separated from the rest of the continent by the tall and wild Unbound Mountains. The area's infamy is matched only by its remoteness and inaccessibility. The Eire Coast was never settled by the Radiant Dynasty in the Radiant Expansion, making it one of the few parts of Sedalia where the Dynasty has no influence whatsoever. In the Heartland, they tell horror stories about it.

The Eire Coast has a reputation for being one of the most frightening and dangerous places on Sedalia, home to rogue magic users dabbling in dark practices to warp both themselves and the world around them, creating an environment for monsters, aberrations, and the undead to thrive. Over centuries, the very land has become steeped in curses and corrupting ethereal influence.

The worship of eldritch and pagan beings, including Outsiders and fallen servants of the Aspects, is widespread across the region. Though there are civilised towns and settlements there, they are strange places possessed of their own uncanny customs, and often hostile to foreigners.

The Silkvine Swamp in particular is a region that the Dynasty has made off limits to citizens, disallowing anyone from crossing the River Gene that separates the frontier town of Utred's Rest from the swamp. The Silkvine Swamp is said to be an ancient battleground from the Forgotten War that was so ethereally marred from the conflict that evil influences from outside the world can warp and corrupt anyone who strays into it. There is a trade in smuggled artefacts from the swamp, and from the Eire Coast at large, though people willing to risk the journey to recover such relics are few and far between.

Orot:

Orot is the god of Splinterra. It is a creator being of immense power, who shaped the entire world out of the Ether. Orot represents itself on Splinterra through sixteen, fifteen Aspects who each represent a portion of its experience and qualities.

Aspect:

Aspects of Orot (also called Faces of Orot) are fragments of the god, each given autonomy over their own domain, and a will to act as an individual being. Their power is immense, but they balance each other, and can block each other from acting. They are both many, and one, at the same time. There used to be sixteen of them, now there are fifteen. One was destroyed or erased just over 400 years ago, for a reason that was wiped from history at the end of The Forgotten War.

The people of the Radiant Dynasty typically divide the Aspects into three distinctions when they talk about them, Illuminated, Shaded, and Neutral.

The Illuminated Aspects represent concepts traditionally considered positive. They are;

Allura, the Face of Love

Callen, the Face of Joy

Vandrin, the Face of Day

Surmas, the Face of Peace

Zaffir, the Face of Life

Dynas, the Face of Plenty

Hod, the Face of Artistry

The Shaded Aspects represent concepts traditionally considered negative. They are;

Sumat, the Face of Death

Draxar, the Face of War

Yuul, the Face of Hunger

Nostros, the Face of Night

Arben, the Face of Grief

Illfish, the Face of Trickery

And the Neutral Aspects represent concepts that are neither positive nor negative. They are;

Durien, the Face of Knowledge

Festrel, the Face of Nature

Bear in mind that positive and negative concepts are culturally formed, and may differ between cultures. This is only how the majority of the Radiant Dynasty view these Aspects.

The Radiant Dynasty:

The Radiant Dynasty is an empire on the continent of Sedalia, dedicated to Vandrin, the Face of Day. The current emperor is Ulithien Mindaris III, who has ruled for nearly three decades since the death of his father.

The ruling faction of the Dynasty is the Alfir noble caste who believe they were chosen by Vandrin to oversee the empire. They monopolise aristocratic power, especially military might and governorship over regions of land. In the more recent centuries, the Alfir have been forced to open up the lower ranks of nobility to client families of other castes. These client families mostly made their start as successful merchants, or as the remnants of nobility from subjugated kingdoms who retained enough of their assets to trade their way into power. They operate by gaining endorsements and contracts with the ruling Alfir. Noble society has opened to them, but many postings and levels of aristocratic rank are barred to all but the Alfir caste, a system that often does more harm than good and enshrines nepotism.

The Dynasty has existed since long before the Forgotten War, but drastically expanded its borders immediately after the conflict in a period called the Radiant Expansion. The Dynasty now rules almost all of Sedalia. It is divided into two regions. First is the relatively safe and settled Heartland; comprising the lands around Vostrel (its capital city in the west), the Lordswood, and the wealthy cities surrounding the Wine Sea. Beyond that are the wild Outerlands, comprising everything to the east of the Twirling Ridge Mountains, and south of the Wine Sea. The Outerlands are a rugged frontier of fallen rival kingdoms and forgotten ruins. It has diverse towns and cities across many regions, patrolled by the Dynasty, but largely the realm of regional governors who often struggle to keep the peace or prevent lawless factions rising to the fore. The Dynasty is struggling. It has tenuous control over its Outerlands, and the military is stretched thin. There are issues in its finances, and with the feasibility of maintaining its archaic Caste hierarchy of nobility. Its days are numbered.

Knightly Orders of The Radiant Dynasty

The Holy Knights of the Enduring Dawn

The Holy Knights of the Enduring Dawn are a holy order of knights dedicated to Vandrin, the Face of Day, and tightly intertwined with the administration and aristocracy of the Radiant Dynasty. Most members of the Enduring Dawn are nobles from across the Heartland. They patrol the Dynasty, often assisting the military, local government, and the wider clergy with investigations into supernatural wrongdoing and pagan religious practices.

Their primary tenets are;

1 - To promote order and orthodoxy by stamping out religious heresy and the influence of evil magics.

2 - To preserve the Radiant Dynasty and ensure its stability into the future, by whatever means necessary.

3 - To venerate the worship of Vandrin.

The Questing Order of Illumination

The Questing Order of Illumination is a knightly order not associated with any single Aspect, but rather with the spectrum of illuminated Aspects, though it also pays some particular respect to Durien, the Face of Knowledge. They are the most solitary of the knightly orders, rarely operating in groups or even pairs. Most of their knights travel alone, ranging across the continent of Sedalia and beyond in search of challenges. They follow a slightly mystical belief that they will be divinely guided to the places where they will be needed. The hierarchy of their order often butt heads with the Enduring Dawn and Fraternity Arcanum over matters of jurisdiction and deference to the Dynasty's political authority. The Order of Illumination prefer to act as entirely free agents, not beholden to the Dynasty structure in any way, except to the degree that they will contribute to uphold peace and the rule of law.

Their primary tenets are;

1 - To bring light to whatever is shrouded in darkness, whether that be forgotten knowledge, undiscovered realms, or people in need of aid.

2 - To let no barrier, be it physical, spiritual, or mental, stand in opposition to the pursuit of their divine quests.

3 - To obey no authority above their own conscience.

The Fraternity Arcanum

The Fraternity Arcanum are a very small group of knightly agents who place emphasis on the collection and understanding of mysteries. They pay homage to no particular Aspect, and are only loosely affiliated with the power structure of the Radiant Dynasty, occasionally sharing intelligence with the administration, but only for mutual benefit. The Fraternity Arcanum often find themselves at cross purposes with the Order of Illumination, who seek to unveil and disseminate knowledge as widely as possible, while the Fraternity Arcanum seek to hoard mysteries for nobody but their own members to investigate and understand. Their knights can be found in archives and records offices, and delving into forgotten tombs in pursuit of the threads of mystery. Once they find what they are looking for, they whisk it back to their vaults to be prodded, deciphered, catalogued and ultimately locked away out of sight.

Their primary tenets are;

1 - To collect and contain mysteries or secrets in whatever form they appear.

2 - To keep in strict confidence whatever is discovered on the Order's behalf.

3 - To protect people from the unknown and to use every resource available to safeguard the realm of Splinterra from existential threats.

The Laughing Knights

The Laughing Knights are an order dedicated to Callen, the Face of Joy. They seek to spread joy wherever they go and can often be found at the heart of celebrations across the whole continent of Sedalia. In the pursuit of their goals they have set up infrastructure in major cities and townships to care for the disenfranchised and down on their luck. They work with addicts and the mentally ill to provide care that goes beyond the medical to the benefit of spiritual and wholistic wellbeing, and are the most proactively charitable of the orders.

Their primary tenets are;

1 - To deny assistance to nobody.

2 - To spread joy, laughter, and a sense of wellbeing wherever it is needed.

3 - To uplift the spirits of the depressed and downtrodden with every action.

The Gentle Order of Repose

The Gentle Order of Repose is a knightly order dedicated to Arben, the Face of Grief. They often preside over wakes, funerals, and memorials, doing a great amount of care for the bodies of the dead, and for the bereaved in the wake of their loss. They work closely with priests of Sumat, the Face of Death, but their focus is on the process of grieving, and the facilitation of a healthy space for pain to be felt. In rural communities it is common for these knights to visit the families of the recently dead, to take testimony and to minister on behalf of the Face fo Grief, so that anything that needs to be said can be said.

Their primary tenets are;

1 - To observe the passage of grief without judgement.

2 - To attend to the wellbeing of the bereaved.

Mageknights of the Magisterium

Mageknights of the Magisterium are a knightly order that exists at the intersection of the academic and military spheres of the Magisterium and Radiant Dynasty Military. They are highly skilled war-mages, entrusted with powerful arcane knowledge, and enchanted items to make them formidable on the battlefield. The Mageknights, as they are know, are one the knightly orders most directly involved with the power structure and imperial administration of the Radiant Dynasty. They are an explicit part of the military hierarchy, holding rank, and being required to perform military service across the Dynasty.

Their primary tenets are;

1 - To fear no engagement and bring magical destruction to the enemies of the Dynasty.

2 - To protect their troops on the battlefield by any means necessary.

2 - To hunt down rogue mages and end their eldritch practices.

Ether:

Ether is pure creative potential. It is the conceptual matter that makes up the world we know, and all possible worlds beyond.

Orot built Splinterra out of Ether, constructing a beautiful self supporting system, with itself as the linchpin holding it all together. The links between portions of Ether are conceptual and incredibly tangled and complex. Everything is made of Ether, even the people who live in this world.

Ether Crystals are shards of crystallised stable Ether, in a physical form. They appear as large crystal rocks that glow in a variety of colours. These crystals are often found in extreme environments, at the bottom of whirlpools, on mountaintops, inside active volcanos etc. This makes them often difficult to source, and they are quite valuable.

Ether Crystals constantly absorb and release the ripples of the veil in all its forms. Their ability to absorb and release power, and to be charged with excess power, means they can be used as batteries of magical potential, making them a potent fuel source for magic and enchantments. Wizards/Mages use them extensively for both spellcasting and research.

There is also a grading system for the crystals, based on shape, clarity, and colour. Flawed and strongly coloured Ether Crystals are more common and they hold less charge, which means they are also cheaper. Low grade Ether Crystals have found quite widespread use as efficient light sources. At the same time, Ether Crystals that are pure and well shaped are incredibly rare. These crystals can hold immense amounts of charge, making them perfect for high level enchanting or powering advanced spells.

Ether Crystals also also have affinities for different types of spellcasting based on their colour. The spectrum of colour and affinities is only rudimentarily understood, but mages who specialise in certain magical domains often try to use an Ether Crystal that suits their specialism, as it can make their spells more energy efficient, and more stable. However, the full breakdown of exactly why this works, and all of the shade variations among crystals and their effects, especially how colour, shape, and cut, intersect to form unique crystal properties, has barely been explored by contemporary arcanists.

image [https://i.imgur.com/uxlQBiR.jpg]

There is an entire science to the cutting and preparation of Ether Crystals. The way in which a crystal is cut can affect its expression of power in the world, across the energy spectrum and possibly beyond into more conceptual territory. This is a little understood craft, only pushed forward by the Artificers in Garrel.

Crystals cut in certain ways are more likely to produce heat, sound, intensities and wavelengths of light etc. when provoked to do so. There are also unique and historically under-appreciated properties that go alongside a crystal's natural size shape and colour, that have been overlooked in favour of only considering its energy capacity. Certain crystals may have odd conceptual effects on their surroundings, though this area of arcane study has been neglected and warrants more attention. Its future development will surely lead to transformational breakthroughs in both magic and technology in the realm of Splinterra.

Magic

Magic is the process of overriding Orot's system (the essential network of instructions and interrelations that uphold the realm of Splinterra) to impose your own will on Ether and force it to behave differently, with an enormous variety of possible effects. The limits are determined only by force of will, the available power, and the magic user's understanding of the world around them and what they are trying to achieve.

Ether responds to ideas and concepts, which means that Magic often works more conceptually, than it does measurably, though the rules that govern it are more strict than they may at first appear.

[Example: A Wizard might enchant a tree to produce tastier apples by holding the idea of what makes an apple delicious in their mind, and then providing power from a power source to fuel the enchantment. They don't necessarily need to understand what is happening at a chemical level to make apples delicious, just a conceptual understanding is enough to provide shape for the spell. How long the enchantment lasts would depend on the power source, how significant a change from the natural norm is imposed by the spell, and how well the Wizard stabilises the enchantment in its ethereal surroundings. (Stabilising an enchantment is where technical knowhow does come in handy. The more specifically a spell-caster can visualise the change they are making and how it works, the more foundation they give to the magic, and the more efficient it becomes. In our apple tree example, if a wizard knows the chemical makeup of an especially delicious apple, and a bit about the life cycle of apple trees, including the soil and seasonal conditions that allow them to bear good fruit, their spell will be far more stable and integrated into the conceptual ethereal framework of the world, meaning it can make more specific and permanent changes to the tree.) A poorly stabilised enchantment will degrade swiftly, a well integrated one could last for years, centuries, or even indefinitely, especially if many people begin to associate the tree with delicious apples, permanently altering its ethereal state in line with the enchantment through passive conceptual reinforcement.]

A note on using magic on people. It's surprisingly difficult.

People have their own self concepts and a great amount of unconscious control over their own ethereal states, giving them a measure of protection against external magical tampering. It is difficult to use spells to directly change or affect another person, which is one of the few things that prevent most wizards parading around and turning people into toads.

It is much easier to hurl fire at someone, for instance, and let the flames burn them, than it would be to use magic to just stop their heart. This is because the fire would be a conjured projectile that directs an external physical effect, while stopping their heart would involve affecting their personal Ether and overriding their inherent connection to it. While not impossible, this is very challenging, and other magical practitioners are even better at resisting unwanted changes to their personal Ether signatures.

As a result, most magical attacks are in the form of conjuring environmental hazards, illusions, or projectiles. Magic can still be used to trick, stun, or strike, but not to easily change people in a fundamental way.

The exception to this rule is Divine Magic. The Aspects have overwhelming power and intimate knowledge of how to change people's Ethereal States, but they also adhere to certain self imposed rules and wont allow their followers to use Divine Magic to perform atrocities (usually) instead restricting the use of this ability to healing and other temporary beneficial effects.

Some Eldritch patrons, Outsiders, or [REDACTED] might share this ability to directly affect a person's Ethereal State and bestow it on their followers without restrictions, producing terrible consequences, though there are few examples and certain groups within the Dynasty work to prevent such beings from causing too much damage.

Different magic users access their magic in different ways, with Wizards being the most common. Wizards learn to manipulate Ether through rigorous study and practice over decades. They study across a variety of disciplines, and often specialise in other fields in order to be able to cast more powerful spells relative to the subjects about which they are knowledgable. Wizards also often use Ether Crystals to power their spells, so as not to exhaust the limited pool of their own willpower.

People sometimes find shortcuts, such as Divine Patrons, or pacts with other powerful beings who lend their own willpower to the magic user, drastically boosting or shaping the scope of their power.

The major advantages of this kind of Patron based magic, be it Divine or Eldritch, are access to magical power without requiring Ether Crystals, or exerting your own willpower to an excessive degree, and also being able to draw upon your patron's willpower and knowledge base to complete spell-casting feats that would be beyond most mortal understanding, for instance Divine Magic being used to heal people.

However, there is always a cost to Patron based magic. You have to keep your Patron happy, and also work within whatever limitations they set for the use of their power, which can be restrictive or arbitrary. There is also the potential dependence which might arise from the entanglement of their ethereal being with yours, which can make breaking out of your contract a dangerous move. As with all shortcuts on the path to power, the ambitious or foolish pay tenfold.

The most common pitfalls of magic are the fatigue to your body and mind. There are also dangers associated with changing Splinterra's Ethereal Structure, or your own Ethereal Being, in overly destructive manner.

Rumours abound in magical circles of Outsiders that exist outside the known world, watching for disturbances in the Ethereal Veil caused by magic, looking for weaknesses they can use to cross over into Splinterra, and wreak destruction upon the world until they are contained or expelled.

Magic Terms and their Distinctions:

Here I will lay out what I mean when I use some magical terminology. The magic in my story is very TTRPG inspired, with some nods to classics like D&D. While it may seem opaque and numinous at times, there is a wholistic system with clear rules that ties everything together, and more of that system will be revealed as the story progresses.

Spell

A spell is a distinct piece of magic that has been cast by someone. It is a very generic term that covers both simple and advanced acts of spellcasting.

Enchantment

An enchantment is a spell that has been imbued into an object or person. It is irrevocably attached to whatever it has been cast on. Enchantments take many forms, enhancement, utility, storage, or the ability to cast certain spells swiftly from that object without having to put in as much effort as the caster would usually have to use.

Ward

A ward is a spell or piece of magic that is usually tasked with protecting, filtering, or deterring something. It is a generic term for barrier magic. For instance, a shield of force that blocks projectiles would be considered a ward, but so would a spell that produces a high pitched sound to keep mice and other pests away from food stores. Even though they are very different spells, their shared protective nature could lead them to be described as wards. Some magical theorists complain that it is a largely redundant word and everyone should just say "spell", and clarify exactly what the spell does, but people have continued to use the word ward, just because it's easy and it get's the gist of the idea across.

Invocation

An invocation is a set of words, or a phrase, that calls forth magical power (with a particular effect already largely preset into it) from a magical patron or other external source of power. This power can then be used to perform spells.

Invocations are therefore a particular variety of spellcasting. In a phrase, all invocations produce spells, but not all spells require invocations. Wizards rarely use them, instead electing to create power from their own will or drawing it from Ether Crystals, but it is the main mode of spell-casting for certain esoteric casters such as priests and those who have made pacts for power with supernatural beings.

Prayers are a form of invocation casting for Divine Magic users (who draw their power directly from the Aspects of Orot), such as priests, or certain holy knights. The bounds of their power vary greatly based on their sect or order; it can be clearly defined by strict rites in their religious dogma, or it can be much more fluid and interpretive, depending on what their patron Aspects allow them to do with it. This makes certain Divine Magic users some of the most powerful and versatile in society, and also centralises a lot of domestic magical power in the church. In particular, Divine Magic users have a monopoly on healing magic, because only the Aspects have deep enough knowledge of people's Ether signatures, to manipulate them safely.

Curse

A curse is a malignant spell or enchantment that negatively impacts a person or object. It is a broad term for undesirable or malicious magical effects, especially ones that latch on and are difficult to remove. Laypeople with little magical education would probably describe any enchanted item they didn't understand as 'cursed'.

The Veil:

The Veil is the border of Splinterra's Ethereal Structure within the ocean of raw Ether that Orot originated from, and used to create this world. It exists everywhere, all around us, and everything we do causes ripples in it, which can be detected with enough magical training or certain techniques. Magic causes the largest ripples, and can even weaken or tear the Veil, allowing raw unstructured Ether and Outsiders to flow in unchecked, often with destructive consequences. Everything within the Veil is Splinterra, everything outside is alien.

The Forgotten War:

The Forgotten War was the conflict that took place just over 400 years before Fig and Rick met each other in Vishrac-Uramis. At some point in the war, the sixteenth Aspect was destroyed. It is said that they turned against Orot, but the specifics are not known. This is because all information, records, and memories of the conflict were purged, both physically and magically, by the Aspects, following the end of the war. Now, we only have the barest of records from that time and before.

The Radiant Dynasty was a major player in the conflict and gained a lot of territory during or shortly after the war ended. Many other kingdoms and civilisations fell to ruin, or were absorbed into the empire as a result, which still causes cultural conflict to this day, and means that The Outerlands are littered with ruins and old battlefields from the Forgotten War.

Caste:

The Castes are what remains all of the distinct groups of people that came to Splinterra from other worlds shortly after Orot created the realm. The people who arrived were incredibly diverse, and alien to the new realm, so the Aspects altered them, making them a part of the native ethereal structure of Splinterra. This changed their appearances somewhat, and made them more similar to each other so that they could live together, intermingle and interbreed. Many people did just that, and have indeterminate Caste because they come from a diverse background going back generations, however some families have held on to reductive ideas of Caste purity, keeping only to their own group identities and shunning others. Notably, the Alfir make it a big point to do this in their noble circles.

Here is a list of just a few of the Castes and their most common physical features, although these are only avarages and there are diverse outliers in every Caste. (This list will be expanded as the story progresses, and I might even throw in some comparison sketches showing fashion and features down the road);

Alfir

Medium build. Average 5'10" Tanned skin. Pale white or yellow eyes. Resistant to extreme hot temperatures. Heavy brow with bone ridges instead of eyebrows. 300-400 year lifespan.

Vermili

Short and stocky. Average 5'2" with large hands and feet. Hardened nails that can be filed to claws. Extensive omnivorous diet capable of digesting tough roots and fibres. 50-70 year lifespan.

Mardin

Tall, slender, and dark featured. Average 6'3". Black hair, diverse skin-tones, and dark eyes ranging from brown to dark green. Very high physical endurance and pain tolerance. 100-120 year lifespan

Orend

Tall, broad and athletic. Average 6'5". Shimmering silver/white hair and skin, bright eyes. Very strong, with excellent eyesight. 130-150 year lifespan.

Rossak

Medium build, brawny. Average 6' strong bones and tough skin. Green eyes and patterned skin that ranges through brown, green and red. 200-250 year lifespan.

Ragon'ta

Tall, muscular and scaly with long tail. Average 7'5" (not counting tail length). Reptilians with green scales and a variety of coloured patterns and crests. Huge yellow eyes. Powerful claws and large jaws, capable of swimming long distances. 80-100 year lifespan.

Voros/Giants

Huge, varied build, blue and grey skin. Average 10'6" (not counting horns). Very resistant to cold and extreme altitude. Clawed hands. Thick necks and wide shoulders. Long horns that reach up to the sky. 700-1000 year lifespan.

Brudes

Tiny, light build, green and brown skin with prehensile tails and fine sharp claws. Average 1'2" (not counting tail length). The Brudes are very small and nimble people with strong community values and a drive to collaborate, who tend to live in large groups. They do not make up a significant portion on the population in the Radiant Dynasty, and have a history of being exploited by the larger castes. At present the largest colony of Brudes lives in Garrel, where they have become instrumental to the infrastructure of the city state. 200-300 year lifespan.

Outsiders:

Outsiders are sentient beings that originate from the ocean of unstructured Ether outside the the realm of Splinterra. They come from the other side of the Ethereal Veil. Some of these beings might not be too different from Orot, who also originated from the untamed Ether before it created Splinterra. They are a massively diverse group of entities, and not necessarily malicious. However, they are entirely alien to Splinterra, and their interest in the realm can have disastrous consequences for the people living here. Most Outsiders don't find it easy to cross the veil and enter Splinterra, as the veil resists them. Some have found ways around this through either brute force, waiting for a wizard to make a mistake and tear the veil, or even by altering their shape and nature to acclimate to the world. There are cases of Outsiders becoming naturalised in their new forms and becoming a part of Splinterra permanently.

Known Outsiders

The Deep Lady

The Deep Lady has been documented several times across Sedalia, in relation to cult activity and pagan religious practices. While cases vary somewhat, they share a profound connection to deep bodies of water, oceans, seas, lakes, and even deep rivers.

The Deep Lady draws her prey down to the deep, where they are trapped and consumed. She creates followers from their drifting essence, granting them new life that they might serve her designs. Some doctrine recovered from cults in Westport and the island village of Yort suggest that The Deep Lady is a collector of sorts, gathering whatever she finds desirable, or powerful to herself, and adding those things to her drifting collection in the crushing dark.

Her servants have proven monstrously difficult to kill, even for holy knights wielding the power of divine magic and enchanted weapons, making them some of the most formidable enemies of the Aspects holy churches.

Mr Goodnight

This being appears in peoples dreams, steering the course of their subconscious slumber. He appears as a tall man wearing a strange suit. His skin is red and raw, and his teeth are made of a metallic mirrored substance. Affected people all describe the dreams in which they have identified Mr Goodnight's presence as being horribly traumatic nightmares. At one time Mr Goodnight was thought to be one of the Fallen of Nostros, but in their studies of affected parties the Aspects' priests have determined that Mr Goodnight is not native to Splinterra, but rather something reaching in from outside. An Outsider, by its very definition. The visions shown by this entity have been catalogue and archived by the Fraternity Arcanum, who believe they show glimpses of other realms throughout the Etherverse.

Some of the strongest repeating images from such visions are a great glass terrarium with clouds inside it drifting through the ethereal void, a vast tree with roots knotted over and over themselves, a serpent winding its way around to eat its own tail in a classic ouroboros symbol, and a massive archive of books without end that is slowly being consumed by a uncontrolled inferno.

The existence of Outsiders might prompt us to wonder what else exists out there in the vast and wild oceans of untamed Ether beyond the veil. Perhaps realms full of other peoples and strange gods, separated from us by a barrier most don't even know exists.

[Bonus] Glossary/Worldbuilding

目录