NDNESVI(Reboot): Myths, Legends, and Gods

Regarding the World and the Planes



At the center of the material world is Heaven, an infinite expanse contained within finite volume. Here is the celestial firmament, and a mixture of emptiness, and innumerable objects of stupendous size and separation.

Outside of Heaven is the Sky, the realm of air, cloud and flying things.

Outside of the Sky is the Earth, the realm of solid things. Here are the oceans, mountains, and the multitudes of walking beasts.

As one delves beneath the Earth's surface, things grow hotter and more pressurized, crushed between a great outward force pushing inwards, and an inward force pushing outwards. Matter undergoes several phase shifts as it grows hotter and denser. However, earth is does not possess infinite volume. In the inverse of heaven, it is a finite volume stretched across infinite space. Paradoxically, despite matter being under very high pressure, its volume becomes greater with depths.

At the very outer edge of the earth, existence is stretched thinly, like diffuse smoke or a sheer gauze. This is imperceptible to a material observer, and serves functionally as an 'edge of the world' for the material plane. However, things not native to our world's material reality can be found between the webbing of diffuse matter here, caught at the outer fringe of our reality. Here is the jetsam of other worlds and ancient forgotten things. This derelict, lost realm is known as Multor.

Outside of Multor, things grow stranger still. Physical reality becomes almost infinitely thin, and there is a vast abyss known as the Beyond. While it is infinite and unbounded in all directions, distance is meaningless outside of physical reality.

There are other worlds, dimensions, and possible existences outside of the 'Beyond', but they are inaccessible to any arcane or conventional means of transportation.


However, the material plane is not all that there is. Overlaying it and occupying the same area is the parallel aethereal plane. All things can be classified into either matter or aether. While stone, air and water are purely material, thoughts, dreams and magic are purely aethereal. Many animate things are a mixture of both: just as humans have material forms, so to do they possess aethereal spirits. This is true to a lesser extent for all living things and the countless varieties of enchanted matter that exist.

The Dream or 'Ideal' plane suffuses the material plane, being formed of the collective thoughts of all sentient things. It is here that magic is wrought, and this power is what the gods use to shape reality.

Ley networks interconnect the aethereal plane, allowing for both great extended range of magic and communications, as well as providing a means of transportation for magic-users. The ley network is one of the very few ways to leave the material plane, although for all but the most powerful or magically adept, doing so is a death sentence.

The Obscuring Mists serve as an insulation, of sorts, for the Ley networks and the Ideal plane, shielding them from the aethereal realms of Multor and the Beyond.

Multor, not just being a physical place tangled in the fringes of the material plane, is simultaneously an aethereal realm. Thus, it is one of the rare places where purely material and purely aethereal things can interact. Here, one can be assaulted by their own manifested fears, or walk through a waking dream.

Finally, the Beyond is, just like its material equivalent, an unending, expansive abyss. However, it is not entirely empty. Here, there are strange abandoned dreams and forgotten concepts, fragments of dead gods past and other isolated shards of Multor. The most famous of cosmic jetsam to be found in the Beyond is the erstwhile prison of Nital.


Finally, we come to the topics of worlds within worlds: pocket dimensions, magical realms, demiplanes, and inner worlds.

Pocket dimensions are infoldings of the world, so named due to the fact that they are the dimensional equivalent to sewing a pocket into the fabric of reality. They are made of the same stuff as the world, and follow the same laws. As such, they require relatively little maintenance once created. Pocket dimensions are often hidden, or only accessible through certain openings. The Tower of Exiles and Kross' world are prominent examples of pocket dimensions.

Magical realms (or magical dimensions) exist wholly in the aether. Here, the physics of the outside world may be entirely ignored, and can be altered at the whim of its inhabitants, or those who are in control of the realm. Magical realms must be actively maintained, as without thought, they cease to exist. Hell is a prominent example of a magical realm, or magical dimension.

Demiplanes are miniature worlds, wholly separated from the main world. Thus, they are still material, like pocket dimensions. However, rather than being hidden infoldings of the primary world, they are entirely distinct places, separated by great distance from the primary world. As they are part of the material plane, they are subject to the same physics as the rest of the world. As most demiplanes exist in places that are inimcal to life, demiplanes tend to require active maintenance, to maintain temperatures, pressures, air and gravity. Tar Vash'eth is one of the best known demiplanes, being hidden far out into the Beyond.

Inner worlds exist in the sky and heaven, scattered across the celestial firmament. They are entirely part of the primary physical reality, though they are often hidden by the vast distances that are compressed into the expanse of heaven. The moon is an example of an inner world, and it could be argued that the great floating stones of Phusikkes also count as inner worlds, given that many of them are suspended above the clouds in the sky.

-Mandas
 
I think the only thing I had much issue with in that description is the use of the ley-network as a means of transportation. I don't know if it has ever been used as such. If I've interpreted orders right, it should basically be a huge net/snare that impedes travel between planes.

Of course Mandas might just be wrong, or maybe I am :p
 
Regarding ley networks as a means of transportion, I thought that they were the snarls that let some people get to weird places like Vash's hidden realm, or the library. I thought that the mists were the bit that impedes movement the most.
 
The portal network is a means of transportation for Rios, and a means of obfuscation to everyone else.
 
The Library is a real place, and doesn't exist solely in the dreamworld. You can enter it physically through completely mundane methods, if you know exactly where it is. (Nobody does, but that's beside the point).

The same goes for Hell, although to a lesser degree for reasons I won't discuss.
 
The portal network is a means of transportation for Rios, and a means of obfuscation to everyone else.
Yeah, hence why I didn't include it in the reliable means of transportation. For most people it's random chance usually resulting in unpleasant ends.

The Library is a real place, and doesn't exist solely in the dreamworld. You can enter it physically through completely mundane methods, if you know exactly where it is. (Nobody does, but that's beside the point).

The same goes for Hell, although to a lesser degree for reasons I won't discuss.
Purely mundane means? Do you mean to say that Hell and the Library both exist somewhere where you can walk from any given point in the first world?

That seems incredible to me. Hell is a place where things can be created, at will, from nothing. This makes sense in a purely (or at least largely) magical world driven by thoughts, dreams and ideas, but it seems absurd that such creations could then be transported by mundane means out of the Republic of Hell. Someone could dream up an arbitrarily large army of warrior automatons, a vast supply of some rare material, and carry it out into the primary world.

That was my reasoning for describing your Hell as a magical realm. You can enter it and exit it, but crossing the threshold into it is transformative, turning matter into aether. The reverse would be true when you leave. But if you treat it as a world that is both fully part of the primary plane, and also a place where you can generate matter at will, what you've done is create an unlimited cornucopia machine, and given every single denizen of Hell godlike powers that apply across all of creation.

At any rate, the way you described the realms of Hell and the Library seemed like they would work best as purely magical realms. The Library, or so I thought, was in a plane of thought and dreams (IE, made purely of aether, the element of magic), and Hell's mechanics would require Curator to be head and shoulders more powerful than all of the other gods to sustain such constant transformation and transmutation of matter.

We can have a little back and forth about how I'm interpreting the world and how you are interpreting it to figure out how this sort of thing works.

Though there's a mist between reality and both the Library and Hell
Yeah, I understand the mist to be something like a magical insulation protecting all of our world's magical planes from the wild dangers of Multor and the Beyond, functionally isolating creation from things outside of our native world, and making it much more difficult to traverse into and out of our world by magical means.
 
Purely mundane means? Do you mean to say that Hell and the Library both exist somewhere where you can walk from any given point in the first world?

That seems incredible to me. Hell is a place where things can be created, at will, from nothing. This makes sense in a purely (or at least largely) magical world driven by thoughts, dreams and ideas, but it seems absurd that such creations could then be transported by mundane means out of the Republic of Hell. Someone could dream up an arbitrarily large army of warrior automatons, a vast supply of some rare material, and carry it out into the primary world.

That was my reasoning for describing your Hell as a magical realm. You can enter it and exit it, but crossing the threshold into it is transformative, turning matter into aether. The reverse would be true when you leave. But if you treat it as a world that is both fully part of the primary plane, and also a place where you can generate matter at will, what you've done is create an unlimited cornucopia machine, and given every single denizen of Hell godlike powers that apply across all of creation.

At any rate, the way you described the realms of Hell and the Library seemed like they would work best as purely magical realms. The Library, or so I thought, was in a plane of thought and dreams (IE, made purely of aether, the element of magic), and Hell's mechanics would require Curator to be head and shoulders more powerful than all of the other gods to sustain such constant transformation and transmutation of matter.

Both the Library and Hell are real places, it just so happens that Library is "realer" than hell. Mundane methods can be used to reach the Library, and then equally mundane methods can be used in the Library to reach Hell. However, what is mundane in the Library may no longer be considered mundane in the "real world's" point of view, considering that there are things in the Library that defy logic already. Nevertheless, a clever enough soul may find himself walking, without using any spells or portals or dreams, into the physical location of the Library.

The fact of the matter is that the Curator considers Library to be more "real" than the real world itself. It is the only place where the concept of linear time does not reach--a very concept forced upon the world by another god. Impossible books written out of time may be found here, but the more impossible texts may find itself being burnt to cinders upon reaching the surface where the Curator's ability to preserve the world in its natural state is weak.

Nevertheless, once in the library, said clever soul can simply be guided into a wing of the library that opens up into a cave, upon which there is a great underground lake and a dock. One may set sail from this dock to reach the city of lights in the distance that is Hell.

Transporting objects out of Hell would not work--as long as the other gods continue to impose order and exert influence in the Real World, Hell's more... nonsensical creations would either cease to function or become dismantled into its component forms as if they had never been formed out of the aether to begin with.Smuggling things INTO Hell, however, may be a viable goal for the denizens of Hell, as there are certain things that they desire that they cannot obtain. This may cause conflicts in the future.



But enough semantics. Let me try to explain to you OOC wise on what I'm trying to do here. I am specifically trying to get an incredulous reaction from you to prove my point.

The trick here isn't the weird nature of the Republic of Hell. The trick is my insistence that it can be described as being real as the real world. By my insistence, you get the idea that life in Hell is, in many aspects, similar to life in the Real World.

In response to that, you may

A: Believe that I'm lying, which would be a fair response. But why would I be lying? What do I get out of insisting that Hell is as real as the Real World, and that mundane methods can reach it?

B: You could believe that I'm delusional or confused, but to be confused, I must have some basis on coming to the conclusion that the dimension of Hell and the Real World is similar.

C: You may come to the conclusion that Hell is a metaphor for the Real World, as you believe it. Just like in the Real World, Hell is a place ruled by, ultimately, arbitrary will with powers to influence the very fabric of nature and laws of physics. It is a place of anarchy, ruled by feuding interests who constantly attempt to place their vision of reality over that of another. People with unimaginable power to bend the world as they please constantly cooperate with each other, kill each other, unleash horrors upon each other, and love each other in a neverending series of stories. Curator sees all this, and have created a microcosm of the real world in his Museum, replacing the actors in the real world with humans.

And he has named it: Hell.

After considering all this, you may come to the conclusion:

D: You may come to believe that there is something fundamentally wrong with trying to explain either the Creation or any of the magical realms with logic that makes sense to us personally. The world of Hell, and ultimately, Creation itself, is not subject to any conventional laws or logic as we understand it. Hell's dream logic about people suddenly becoming empowered to fly or summon man-eating buildings to suppress a riot isn't abnormal in Creation. Gods have done worse feats that defy logic in Creation. Any scholarly attempt to fully understand Creation or Hell itself is futile, because logic and reasoning itself is a delusion in this universe and the dreamlogic of the Real World and Hell is Reality.
 
Well IC _________ doesn't care, and indeed isn't really capable of caring. OOC I'm just trying to make sure we're on the same page.
 
REINSERT RANT GO

Spoiler :
OOC: Honestly I don't give a rats ass what it's named or its connotations as IC, Hell doesn't connote any kind of afterlife (especially one reserved for s"sinful" souls) but merely sounds like a nice collection of sounds which he may or may not regret getting to first. It does reinforce my dislike of naming fantasy concepts/places after real world or more popular fantasy concepts or places without proper and deliberate juxaposition, or trope deconstruction/reconstruction/emulation. EDIT: Which I am not accusing the Republic of Hell of in this comment.

EDIT EDIT: if shall we say, Hell is entirely, 100% physical and things are things and the power to manipulate said things are the same as in the in the 100% real physical creation, then to give an individual the power of a god oneself must at least have that level of power (if perhaps, the level of understanding the individual may attain with experience and thus be efficient with said power or develop for oneself through practice beyond what was initially gifted or awoken). Therefore, to grant a hundred individuals that power, the Curator must have the power of 100 gods, at least. If Hell is governed by different rules than the rest of Creation, then by categorization isn't it different from the rest of creation? I don't see the cogency that mere physical travelability has to categorization, seeing that Narnia can me traveled to physically, by some clever (or not so clever) children. Put me down as B if you must, but I would put myself as D (if I must categorize by those sets for simplification, and I like the idea of C as well). Typing on a phone is a bore. So is your anyway, Mondas as a mere human can be mistaken, has he can only see the outward characteristics. ICly too, our gods or other chars can misrepresent things. OOCly though there are certain things established and certain expectations. And I'm going to end up not posting any of this am I? EDIT PSYCHE I GUESS I AM.

Added Later...

I don't think you are lying Seon. You clearly believe you are telling the truth and, since we are OOC here, it would be a huge jerk move of you to lie to us when we move to OOC categorization. IC peeps can be confused, OOC peeps can be confused... BUT OOC peeps should at least have an idea of how things work so when we reference things or write stories, our misunderstandings won't become your reality that you did not intend for your initial creation.

The goal should be if I myself want to write a story set in the Republic of Hell, a pre-established setting, I need minimal presumption using already established facts to write a story you, the setting's creator, can generally agree with.

I agree with B. And C. And D.

I think you are confused with the categorization system, what constitutes what within said system, and how to explain your exception to said system in a manner that doesn't contradict multiple things that were established outside said system.

I agree that Hell is a metaphorical representation or mockery of the world. Godlike idiots going around changing everything! Hilarious! And that indeed, has it's own purpose.

I agree that this 'verse has fundamental differences to ours. Not the least of which that humans in and around this speck of Creation are massively buffed compared to ye olde earth humans. They have increased willpower to resist despair. They have a hidden wellspring of power anyone can tap into. They are inherently resistant to godly magics. Even when their souls leave them, sometimes their body simply refuses to die, with a bit of help.

However, for our OOC sakes, we should try to establish things which helps us understand the world better and so we can less step on each others toes.

NOW, here are a few ways where, perhaps, Hell and the Museum could have beeeeeen Creation. But I would argue... the existence of boundaries itself (Ley Network and Obscuring Mists, among possible others) would have severed the modern day Hell and Museum from the main plane of Creation, in the greater plane of Reality.

I'm calling Creation the main subplane of Reality for sake of separation.

1) The laws of reality might shift over vast distances of space (space time in our verse, but speed of light is infinite in this 'verse). I have read theorization on this before, but essentially universal constants of say, Post Big Bang 300 Million Years and Post Big Bang 7.2 Billion Years might be different, and yet both place-times be part of the same reality, even though an observer of PBB 7.2Bil can use his telescope and see an even in PBB 300Mil that is clearly impossible using the later physical laws, but totally possible using earlier physical laws.

In this case, Hell/Museum is o/in some kind of non causal node or bubble which Vash's fixing of time/causality did not reach for whatever, naturalish reasons. The boundary may be fuzzy or may be sharp, but a boundary exists and within said boundary, things clearly impossible outside of said boundary is possible inside. And the location of Hell/Museum within this natural node or bubble is merely good planning. And I would argue, this boundary adds to the other two to mark Hell/Museum as not part of Creation, although it may be part of Reality.


2) Hell/Museum is created to be like this. As in, originally it is definitely part of Reality and part of Creation and so affected by things which affected all of Creation, but it was given additional attributes through divine interaction. In this way, one may argue Hell is no different than say, the Eastern Continent: both are just places changed by divine will. However, the Eastern Continent was a physical change but still followed the rules of the greater Creation and Reality. Hell has a metaphysical change, and no longer follows the same rules.

3) I dunno! Whatever explanation, I feel the clear differences and boundaries that exist are enough! I can walk from room A to room B through a door, the door is a hole in the wall-boundary that separates the two rooms which, perhaps, were once one room! However, now they are two. What we have here is a large ball room which is set at a nice 70*C room temperature. The Library is a door away at 80*C and Hell's Kitchen is another door away at 90*C. Sure, I don't need to magically poof my way to go from the Ball Room to the Library to the Kitchen, but there's kinda a bunch of netting and a smoke machine blocking the way.

However part of the Material vs Magical difference is that the Material Plane/Reality, centered on the Creation main subplane, follows a certain set of physical rules of stuff. Magical realms are formed entirely of aether and so, most physical rules are relaxed while other, less defined rules may exist.


become dismantled into its component forms as if they had never been formed out of the aether to begin with.

So items made in Hell are formed out of the aether?
 

Well, for what it's worth... Nyubar's taken steps to ensure that Hell and the Library (and Multor and Vash's pleasure palace and basically anything NOT reality, as defined by Nyubar) are as close to impossible to reach by mundane and magical means as is possible.
 
Well, for what it's worth... Nyubar's taken steps to ensure that Hell and the Library (and Multor and Vash's pleasure palace and basically anything NOT reality, as defined by Nyubar) are as close to impossible to reach by mundane and magical means as is possible.

Well Rüla has done its best to force open holes whenever possible.

Which by the way I think is my long term action, to push through into the mortal world and make Sorna's return therein into one with less resistance; one the denizens of the mortal worlds and even its friendliest gods, will not be able to fight against.

Rüla has long been mindless, or more accurately of too many minds.

However as time moves forward Rüla has found its voices sorting themselves out. And now that it is conscious, it assures you that you will find the true meaning of power.

Remember, Nitäl was a Titan-- a primordial force beyond your control-- and half sane, with its strongest limb in a different world, Rüla was the only among you weak things that was able to defeat him.

So watch the skies, and heed your nightmares. For next time Sorna returns, no parlor tricks or forgotten children will save your souls from the fear that is inside.
 
It was a bright day, with scattered wisps of cloud stretching across the high blue sky. Temperate forests shaded the hillside, as a group of humans gathered in muted excitement. Overhead, a collection of great stone edifices hung, stately and motionless, suspended in the air. From the group, one woman emerged at the forefront, wispy in form, with long brown hair streaked with grey. She spoke briefly, then the group gathered in a semicircle around her. She reached into a pocket in her worn, khaki robe, and withdrew from it a strangely-textured metal instrument, three sphere-like shapes of uneven sizes, from the largest of which sprouted three curling blades. The woman placed it into the ground, then drew it upwards. Clean, grey stone seemed to extrude from the earth, or materialize out of the air. The woman proceeded to walk as the low wall seemed to follow her, walking around the small clearing until she had completed her path, creating a seamless, level square of stone.

Thus was laid the foundation of the Holoptic Didarium, the first great college of fusological learning.
 
I think the only thing I had much issue with in that description is the use of the ley-network as a means of transportation. I don't know if it has ever been used as such. If I've interpreted orders right, it should basically be a huge net/snare that impedes travel between planes.

Of course Mandas might just be wrong, or maybe I am :p

The Ley Network is basically the flow of the worlds magic, which was contained by Vash in "channels" (ley lines) over the metaphysical divide between the "Material" and "Immaterial" in order to regulate the distribution of magical energy in the material plane and avert elemental chaos (ie ) amongst other things. (Although of course Kross interacting with the eye resulted in the inversion of this intention by redistributing the power he lost across the material plane as per the ley-networks design, causing the long winter.)

A function of this is that it hinders magical intrusion between the material world and multor (since magic from beyond is intercepted and drawn along into its flow if not sufficiently powerful to punch through the "barrier" so to speak). However this is "secondary" to its essential function as the vehicle by which magic is diffused across creation as a means of ensuring planar stability. Ergo its a means of instituting order, in this case material existence by insulating the world from primordial chaos. The ley-network serves a similar purpose to Vash instituting linear time in this regard, where linear time was to provide a framework in which actions have meaning, thus rendering everything subject to purpose and ultimately fate [both as a teleological phenomenon, and if we consider fate as encapsulating the essence of something, ie its essential nature and the compulsions and functions that a given essential nature of itself entails], and ensuring all change (Actions) likewise have objective value [since if everything is spontaneous and subjective and subject to eternal existential doubt, then there is no meaning and ultimately everything is without purpose, this being antithetical to the core essence and modus vivendi of Vash].

As for travel via the ley network. As a concept I would say its possible via modo of using the flow of magical energy to move between various nexi where the leylines cross in the manner of drifting on a boat down a river. It would be a fairly difficult thing to achieve though without being consumed by the torrent of surrounding magic in any given ley-line. You'd also be move vulnerable to extra-dimensional threats since you'd be travelling along the metaphysical barrier between real and unreal, and the material and immaterial planes.

Well, for what it's worth... Nyubar's taken steps to ensure that Hell and the Library (and Multor and Vash's pleasure palace and basically anything NOT reality, as defined by Nyubar) are as close to impossible to reach by mundane and magical means as is possible.

Vash undermined that a bit in various ways, at least when it comes to himself and a few others. Though Nyubars work holds true as a general rule.
 
Well, for what it's worth... Nyubar's taken steps to ensure that Hell and the Library (and Multor and Vash's pleasure palace and basically anything NOT reality, as defined by Nyubar) are as close to impossible to reach by mundane and magical means as is possible.
But why are you so salty?
 
THE KINGDOM OF GIANTFELL and CLAN THRONEKNELT

Legends speak of the Giants who came for the wealth of our hidden valley. We were few, then, too scared to spread for fear of attracting attention. Long have we survived, unnoticed, but that ended when the Giant Chief Fimwhyre the Tall and his clan, name now forgotten, scaled the pass. There, he bellowed at his easy conquest, until a young shepard stopped his rampage. His name was Gravis, and he challenged the giant to single combat. The giant laughed and shouted “Hah! I will sit on you and your family!” To which the determined boy only replied “And if I win, I shall do the same to you and yours.”

And so the stories spoke of how the boy dodged and climbed, tiring out Fimwhyre until the giant made his last mistake. The chief stood tall, and wiped his brow. *thud* went his eye, as the sling stone went through it. As the giant cried in pain and anger, Gravis kept upon his hairy leg. As the giant stomped, he climbed, and finally he and drew his knife across his thigh. Hamstrung, the giant fell, and was slain by his own blade, it’s weight passing through his heart.

And so did the sons of Gravis, now of house Giantsbane, rule in the kingdom of Giantfell. And so did the great chief’s clan all knelt before him, and served him and his family forever more. Gravis Giantsbane called for one of the clan to serve as his throne, to forever remember their defeat and their due submission. And so this clan became known only as Clan Throneknelt.

The Kingdom grew rapidly, the allied clan clearing the valley of great beasts and forests. Soon, other clans came knocking. And one by one Gravis defeated them all. One, he drowned in a disguised lake. Another, he broke their legs at the walls, with hidden pits and scythes. A third clan fell blind, having drunk poisoned wine they had seized.

The Kingdom of Giantfell, House Giantsbane, and the Clan Throneknelt are a power in the north-central reaches of the central continent. Their power is based on a relatively fertile and hidden valley, with no river outlet. However, their power is slowly expanding and they have allied lands and territories outside of their secured valley.

There are those who say that House Giantsbane has blood of Dragons, of Yinshung, of Rios Blessings or even of Giants. However, they themselves only claim lineage from Gravis himself.

The Kingdom venerates Statute, Kross, Vash, and Rios as their chief deities. It may be surprising that they venerate both Statute and Vash highly, but they see their purposes as aligned. For Statute holds them to tradition, the Throneknelt to their ancient predecessor’s claim. And Vash holds them to change, for the Kingdom may never stumble before their enemies. Both discipline and cleverness won their safety and influence.

Kingdom of Giantfell
Giantfellons
House Giantsbane
Clan Throneknelt
Mistshroud Valley




THE TRIBES OF HOGWASH

Some Names: Takanara, Yologanda, Munodaimo

Crashing branches. Excited barking. Squeals of rage and terror. The boar hunt was an ancient tradition for the enrobement of the new high chief. Unbeknownst to the hunters, however, this day would turn out differently.

For this day, many men fell to the tusks of Vikaaro, the Great Boar. He had lured them into his lair, and ravaged them, in cunning ambush and crushing charge. He nearly killed them all, except for the High Chief himself. She was dashed against the wall and watched, stunned, as her sons were disemboweled. As she slid into a bloody heap, only one thought kept him awake: to kill. She closed his eyes and stilled her breath, relying only on scent and hearing to track the beasts location. Until she finally kept upon him, her blade like fangs cutting into his belly, her nails like claws as she dug her way into the screaming boar, safe from it’s razor sharp tusks and murdorous gaze within her foe. And she stabbed and she stabbed and she stabbed and she stabbed and she stabbed and she stabbed until she passed out.

There, the tribespeople found her three days later, in a mountainous heap of a corpse surrounded by the dead. Though the the High Chief took no other lover after her disastrous hunt, she soon became pregnant… and then gave birth to a litter of pigs. Boars all. Three, for the three sons she lost that day, or so it was said…

On the tributary Hogwash, the local tribes are said to be especially fierce, and resistant to incursions of outsiders. They follow The Dancer, and for the enrobement of their Chiefs they participate in the incredibly dangerous Night of the Hunt itself. It is said that their warriors are predatory, their blades swift as claws, their eyes pierce lies and darkness alike. And above all, are their great War Boars. Holy and terrible, created and trained with secretive rites, they help defend the valley from the incursions of hapless settlers and expanding empires alike.

OOC: As they say, do that sh*t first, ask for forgiveness later. You jive, decamped?
 
The Holoptic Didarium is a Phusological College founded in the eastern foothills of the Algo Mountains, beyond the western frontiers of the Amaranthine Empire, in the shadow of the region's famous 'floating islands'. The Didarium was founded by the Awakener Mandas Lorenzada, the famous Polymath, to serve as a place of worldly learning for herself and her like-minded colleagues and followers. Mandas, alongside with her prolific writings and studies, dedicated much of her later life to education, developing a generation of seers, shapers, transmuters, phenomenologists, numeratists, fusologists and theoreticians to carry on her life's work, to develop a complete understanding of the material and aethereal workings of the world.

In her life, Mandas refused to formally title herself, though she was often addressed reverently as 'Dayseer' and 'Awakener', though she is known to have most appreciated the title 'Teacher'. The Didarium grew quickly in the later years of her life, expanding from a single tower to a small campus. Mandas would die peacefully in her old age, and leadership of the school would pass on to a council of her most learned pupils, who would elect an Overseer, to serve as a custodian and manager for the affairs of the Didarium.

In the many decades since the passing of the Awakener, the College has grown and diversified. Today, the Holoptic Didarium is a city-state in its own right. The school itself has grown into a sprawling complex, with a whole city surrounding it to provide services, and large farmlands and mines surrounding the area to provide it with supplies. The Didarium has branched into many schools, some devoted to material and aethereal ingeniering (the practical manipulation of matter and magic respectively), others devoted to seeing, phenomenology, numeratics and more. Most have become rather fond of titles, which they grant to one another in recognition of each others' achievements. Rivalries of sorts have formed between some of these different faculties, though these conflicts are generally resolved by exhortations to the founding vision of Mandas, who hoped to create a place of discussion, collaborative inquiry and pedagogy. Ultimately, it is the mission of the Didarium to use its discoveries to better the lot of all those who think, and all those who endeavour to learn.
 
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