The Cosmos

The ordering of the cosmos and its contents.

The Aether
The quintessential state of the universe is that of the Aether, a formless mist that expands infinitely in all directions. It is the basis of all creation, from which matter and energy is created by force of powerful wills. It is believed that the Aether was created by Dreamer, who brought the universe into being by the power of Dream. The Aether is extremely mutable and can take any form a sufficiently powerful mind desires, simply by imagining it.

The first beings to arise within the Aether, the Incarnates, were able to shape the Aether to their whims, creating vast realms reflecting their natures. These realms floated within the Aether like bubbles in the sea, freely moving about the ever-shifting Aether. It is a realm of chaos and turbulent conflict. Realms crash into one another causing great storms within the Dream, unsettling anything nearby. The primal beings that reside within wage war with neighbors, destroying entire realms, only giving rise to new ones. It is unknown how many of these realms now exist, nor how many primal Incarnates, now known as the Nightmare Legion, remain.

Orn
The Covenant forged by several, similarly minded, Incarnates to create a world together that would be shaped and maintained by the beings that dwelt within resulted in the creation of the disc of Orn. Each of these Incarnates gave a vital portion of their nature to create a shared realm and then concealed it from the chaos of the Aether. Orn is the material world upon which mortal souls are born, grow old, and die.

Orn takes the form of a mostly flattened disc with a great spire, the Irmminsul, in its center. Atop this spire burns the Eye of Jharid, providing warmth and light to the world below. At the edge of this disc rises a great wall of ice, impossibly thick and unimaginably high.

Arcing above it all is the Veil of Lozon, creating the vault of the sky and concealing Orn from the Aether beyond. Within the Veil rests Sukob and her Shroud as well as countless glittering gems.

Sukob, The Moon
Also known as the Eye of Ill Omen or simply the Eye, the moon was horrifically scarred by the events of the Shattering. A large object collided with Sukob, sending a massive cloud of dust and debris out from the impact. Fire and meteors rained down upon Orn during the Shattering, but eventually, this debris settled into the more-or-less stable Shroud of Sukob, a cloud that usually obscures the face of the scarred moon.

Sukob and its Shroud orbit the edge of Orn above the great wall. They are always concealed in the shadow of Jharid's Eye.

Periodically, at random, the Shroud will drift aside, exposing the face of Sukob to the world. It has a vast dark scar marring a third of its surface, giving it the appearance of a sickly leering eye. Dark magics are said to be more powerful during these times. Stories of a muttered curse gaining power under the baleful glare of the Eye are not uncommon. Bad luck follows all; the sick die, ships are lost, fields are ravaged by wildfires. These periods rarely last more than a few days and are usually decades apart.

The Umbral Depths
Deep below the surface of Orn lies a vast sprawling network of caves, caverns, and tunnels. It was here that the stonefolk retreated once freed from giant rule to establish their massive under-empire. The dwarves further shaped and expanded the extent of this subterranean realm.

During the Shattering, many regions of the Umbral Depths were completely cut off from the rest of the realm by the chaotic upheavals of the Nightmare Legion's passing. It was also here that the Otharn retreated, carrying as much knowledge of the Genari Imperium as they could. They occupied forgotten cities that had been abandoned by the stonefolk centuries before, establishing their enclaves.

Many monstrosities created by the passage of the Nightmare Legion also fled into the Umbral Depths following the defeat of those primal gods of destruction. Horrific beasts now lair deep beneath the sunlit realms of man and stalk the tunnels connecting the darkened realm.

The Underworld
The underside of the disc of Orn is perpetually shrouded in deep shadows. It is a dark reflection of the world above, featuring oceans, mountains and forests. This is the domain of the Paragons, fey, and dead supplicants. Upon death, Odath or one of his agents, collects the soul and brings it to the Eternal Court within Batas, the Halls of Judgement. Here, they are judged by Odath upon the life lived by the supplicant and then sent to dwell within the realm in places best suited to the way they lived life. The cruel and wicked are sent to places like the Thirsty Forest to be drained of vital essence daily, or the Scorched Plains to be forever scalded and burned by its volcanic heat. The kind and just may be sent to dwell in the Hunting Grounds of Ator, or to the many Tranquil Houses of Contemplation. Very exceptional souls and those that were particularly faithful may be called upon by the Paragons to serve them in their domains as agents.

The great Cenotaph of Fallen Gods can be seen towering over the horizon from anywhere within the Underworld, its constant faint glow providing a navigational beacon for those few that travel within this realm.

Shadows are exceptionally long and dark in this place, the deepest of which are said to contain portals to the realms above, providing a passage between realms. Such places are almost always guarded and travel between planes in this way can be extremely hazardous.