Author's note:

Get the fuck off this page immediately if you clicked the link. Yeah even if I asked vaguely if anyone would want to edit or proofread. If this hasn't been deleted then the tale isn't fucking done yet, and I don't want anyone spoiling themselves more than I already have in the deleted discord channel. Got it? This is for the tale and novel itself, and my notes regarding the INCOMPLETE, STILL IN PROGRESS THING.

If for some reason you still haven't clicked off and there IS NOT A TALE in progress, just my notes, then well. Fuck you. I have about a thousand other priorities, including putting food on my table and working on my other long-term Scopes. On top of that I am just a slow worker. So cut me some goddamned slack, and put your tail between your legs and LEAVE before I look in the traffic and doxx your ass.

Tale

Prologue: Vitriol — Enmity, Asthenatephra

The pathing into the congregation hall never felt quite the same. Miles below the surface, connected to it by countless natural-looking caverns that branched out in so many unnecessary labyrinths. This was their fortress against the almighty? Some piddling tunnels dug to confuse the bastards that had rendered the moon untouchably caustic and set three seas to nothing? Just some barely-hidden rock formations to crawl through? But the architecture of the claustrophobic paths were admittedly somewhat smart. Deeper in, they began to tephriesce, glowing in otherwise invisibly etched patterns in response to the Void-Flame all of their Council could produce. And, more crucially, none of their known enemies could.

Vitriol thought about the vulnerabilities to Geode traitors as he crawled through the tunnels, waiting to get deep enough that they would stop pretending to be natural and open up enough to walk upright. It really would just take one rat to lead their foes down into the choking citadel where they planned their counterassaults. If the Council actually planned any counterassaults. He didn't know whether it had just been a slow year or if the promises of action were overblown by Yakhnash, his recruiter. No, Vitriol knew. He knew deep down in that beating crystal fire he called a heart.

The halls finally opened up after what could have been minutes or hours, now subject to the gravitational whims of the extra disorienting defenses. A mental map of Asthenatephra would be clogged by the outer maze of corridors, random gravity shifts and angles of turns ensuring that nobody could easily find their way. Vitriol did not find his way either. It always just seemed to find him when he thought about ditching the monthly meeting. Another one of the Lantern-lit secrets. And suddenly he was there in the Council chamber. He took his regular seat on the third circular bench, all which faced the Council Speaker's desk at the bottom of the colosseum-styled courtroom.

"That makes fifty-seven. Eight more until we may call this regular meeting to discuss strategies to oppose the Sunwalker authority on Enmity." Vaize, the Speaker, was always formal in tone at these meetings. Vitriol wondered if she ever loosened up beyond them, or if the constant need for diplomacy in the war council kept her mannerisms just as controlled. He would probably know if he'd taken the time to stay past the meetings more than twice in his tenure on the Tephrite Council. The Geode considered this, mulled over the option of a third peek beyond the formalities of the barely-functioning echo chamber that called itself a resistance movement, and shook his head.

There would be no point.

The meeting began a third of an hour later, by the count of the crystal clock hanging up from the floor. Another one of the vain luxuries awarded by the "necessary defenses" of the Citadel. The true centerpiece, hanging up from the top of the inverted clock, was an orrery showing the universe. All thirteen worlds centered on the Sun. Vaize, the Geode who was Shard of "Hail", dominated the room as per usual. Policies were thrown back and forth in the same meaningless tongue-lashing that always occurred. No, the direct rebellion would not stand. Yes, we must focus on removing the Sunwalkers' incentive to continue their "experiments" and multiautocracy. No no, the Council must remain secretive. Ahh, yes, the genius of debate. A trillion words could be said before any action was taken, half of them empty and another three-eighths disputed.

What was the point of it all?

The ultimate consensus, after... another hour and a half, was that the Exalted were the real problem. Yes, just like they always were, acting as interchangeable puppets for the god-kings who couldn't clean their own messes. Strongly worded pamphlets about the dangers of Exaltation were drafted, distribution methods devised. For a meeting that accomplished something more than the past twelve combined, this was a garishly thin idea.

Who would listen? The world was dying.

People starved and became food.

Imperfect demons strengthened themselves.

A manifesto, no matter how strongly presented, cannot simply make people give up the rare chance to escape it all. So what. Was the point?

Against better judgment, Vitriol groaned and gave his blank violet eyes a roll. Nobody quite noticed, save for the newcomer next to him. He'd forgotten their name, along with everything else about them besides their Irradiance. "Reverse", originally taken from a half-turn. A smart one with regards to magic, but an idiot now. The younger Geode spoke up at him in as loud a whisper as they could manage.

"What, not happy with us doing something for people?", they balked. Vitriol ignored them, but they persisted. "I'd like to see you come up with something better."

He grimaced, still not making eye contact. But his own Realm lost out to the antipathic fire within them all, and so he responded in kind. "Oh yes, for sure. It's very difficult to come up with a better plan than convincing people to wait around for the Sunwalkers to get bored and kill them. Good thing we have pamphlet designers on our war council." That seemed to shut them up for now. Good. Vitriol once relished the attention here, but the Council had lost its shine. Any more speech than necessary would be continued nothing.

The lanterns glowered with that violet-red flame, that of their shared Mother's make. Weakness would not be tolerated under that fire, supposedly. The Lanterns, hidden within the stone walls, shifted gravity again to disorient everyone. The news team had arrived. Finally, the only productive people in the entire Tephrite Council would get a chance to speak.

Langlast, the Shard of "Direction", the only Geode on this damned board that Vitriol respected, entered first and marched up to the stand without the regular formalities. Again, a clear sign the scouts knew what the hell they were doing. Vaize began to protest, but Langlast's second, the many-named Shard of "Reactivity", stopped her. Langlast spoke urgently.

"There's activity on Contrition." They simply stated. Murmurs began to echo off the walls, warped by the damn Lanterns into a semi-melodic cacophony. Contrition, the moon up above them... assuming the chamber was upright... had been relatively stable in its corruption thus far. Something changing, Heavens forbid something happening, was cause for uproar. Langlast's lackey spoke next.

"It's nothing visible on the surface, but there have been... slight changes in its orbit. Tremors deep towards the core. No sign of divine action on it, but it could fully destabilize in the next century if whatever is doing this is not stopped." They both seemed panicked. Destabilizing bodies had never been forbidden under the rules of reality, but it had only happened once thus far. Wistfulness' ring. Needless to say, the repeat of that onto Enmity would be the end of everything.

How long until the clock struck midnight, until that orange-violet caustic moon fell? Would the Sunwalkers even try to intervene, to keep their testing ground somewhat intact?

Hell no.

The next hour was frantic. Policies seemed to drown out the actual discussion, fear rose, it seemed like something might finally rouse the sleeping beast. But all they did was talk of organizing, of messages, of making networks of mages still ignorant to the true identity of the Council. Hiding again.

Did nobody care that the acid rains worsened, that humans still had their lifespans halved by the weaponry tests? How many more lakes and seas must be boiled for the damn war to start?

"We should evacuate people more quickly, offload to Lethargy and Conviction!"

"No, that will just draw their eyes more! We can't waste the opportunity of subtle expansion!"

"And leave everyone here to die?"

Langlast's deputy, who had too many names for them all to be forgettable, clapped. The curtains shaking and the clambering of voices against each other fell silent and still. Show-off. Reverse Torque to make things stop acting. Subtle, but a show of pride nonetheless.

"It's clear we cannot act without compromising now, yes? So let's make a compromise on our anonymity. Even if you won't reveal who you are, we must publicly announce our existence. We need the undeveloped ranks of Geode to come to us. They're dwindling without our help, and you all know well why." The hunt. An order half a century ago that would have killed Vitriol if not for the help of Langlast themself. All Geodes before their final evolution still slated to death. Another issue the Tephrite Council had ignored for safety. "We have no weapon to oppose the immortal and unshakeable. But we have power. Why else try to quash our numbers? For the sake of the world's continued inhabitance, we must bring together ranks capable of glassing another world. Even mortal, we can still resist."

It was well put.

...

Five minutes later, the talk was still on secret codes. Worthless things. The Council had agreed to take action, but still keep subtlety whilst the literal apocalypse hung above the sky. One Sunwalker mad enough could fling a particle of Contrition's horrors down to Enmity and destroy everyone, everything.

Notes

Characters

Kiy Vaum Tyr

a Very Special Boy, main protagonist.
- makes me want to subvert it just hearing it, which i will use to instead make ABSOLUTELY SURE my character writing is solid otherwise. because oh my god i do not want to be That Guy who overshadows every woman in the series with a man. But also he doesn't feel like he would be a woman to me. character wise
- Geode, initially in Awareness phase but later Rebellion
Shard of "Claw"
orphaned and very scared about a lot of the world, very understandable
sense of justice is very much going to be formed through seeing injustice everywhere, would like to focus on that
the perfect candidate for a pure vessel of unrestrained and transcendental violence

Ash Laon Grace

Junker from one of the thousands of Cities of Scrap on Enmity left over from the pre-Contrition industrial boom
Human
Grew up in a loving family who lived in medium poverty, they since perished from natural* Enmity causes and left Ash to survive on her own
The actual DOER of the pair for a majority of the story. very much representative of the necessary action of "regular people" in a dauntingly massive crisis

Klarowska

Limbless demon slayer lady
- self-amputated her legs and left arm, intentionally got her right arm eaten in her next battle
- did this in order to fit prosthetics on that would be more powerful than her limbs would ever become
Human
represents the self-sacrificing grindset people use to cope with ever-more-impossible living conditions

Vitriol of the Katabasis

hey look its one of my old ass characters from the original version of Eniana! and he's NOT background lore! Welcome back mr. Flashquake your name is still stupid as hell
- stupid name may or may not get a mention in story but its canon regardless. to me.
Geode, presented in Rebellion after his entire arc is over
Shard of "Depression"
Used to be on the Tephrite Council, left cause they never actually did anything besides discuss how to fuck with Exalted.
representative of activism burnout if anything. definitely more of a plot-moving character who gives exposition and gets the important protagonists to their boat

Ryas an-Tetreg

Junker King of Gohr Dhunn
piece of shit but he owns a pretty sizeable territory on Lethargy so who's going to stop him?
- unironically useful when it comes to resource logistics and interplanetary supply chains
- DOES have room and housing and supply plans for Enmity refugees
Human
doesn't actually want the Sunwalkers gone, would fuck up the desperate demand of people wanting all sorts of lost things
- also believes any status quo change would be violent and drawn out and threaten his place specifically
represents Lethargy's wider culture, which is the response to crisis by being an opportunist and profiting off of the horrors instead of stopping them. a real "fuck you i got mine" crowd.

Leverdacht

Sunwalker of travel
face to the enemy more than anything
doesn't really DO shit because if the Sunwalkers took time to do personal level stuff for this itd be over in an instant.
- i mean. it would help fit the themes... but the powerscaling,,
lie to your boss lie to the CEOs lie to every billionaire about everything skew the data throw them off dont let them know about the knife until its in their throat

Outline

Prologue - Vitriol

I just wanna do a prologue like the Expanse ok
the reader deserves the barest minimum of worldbuilding before the PLOOOOT
courtroom scene of the Tephrite Council, one of the meetings leading up to Vitriol leaving
- Rumination on Enmity's current state, how long it will take for it to become uninhabitable
- They're thinking about moving the moon
- If even one Sunwalker gets mad at Enmity enough to take direct action everyone is completely fucked
  - there's no counter
  - no weapon that can defeat them
- why did they order the extermination of Instinct and Awareness stage Geodes then.
Vitriol admitting to himself that Enmity is probably lost forever and that the Councilmembers aren't going to be targeted anyway
- they don't have a real incentive to start fighting and they've let themselves get complacent. pointless meetings to save face rather than actually plan action

Enmity - City of Scrap

Ash meets Kiy
Other trash-hounds catch on and think Kiy would make a shiny reward
Ash can no longer hide Kiy to protect him and decides to take him somewhere else, like Conviction

Enmity - Trail of Demons

Kiy activates his Irradiance for the first time (ages from looking 6 to 12)
- Ash explains the Geode thing to him
Initial plan to get to Grandanimus and get a ship off-world goes very wrong and they get very lost
Demon swarm
Meet badass limbless demon hunter who protects them
Exalted figured out Kiy’s a Geode and tries to kill him
- He is a weak ass motherfucker and Kiy and Ash can break his defenses and kill him
- Kiy looks about 14 after this fight, concerning pattern
New plan! How about we steal a ship from the most abandoned place in the world!

Enmity - Hollow Sea

Vitriol stops the two from entering the Hollow Sea until he notices Kiy’s Geodity, decides to guide them to keep an eye on them
Mentions of a league of matured Geodes who apparently have enough infighting that they can’t effectively keep even the Exalted busy
First spark of the plan to kill the Sunwalkers
Explanation of why the Sunwalkers actually want to kill the Geodes
Little bit of a sparring match (to show the full potential of Geodes) that spurs Kiy’s growth a bit more (he looks about 17 now)

Conviction - Lac Lougus

Innkeeper asks for a vial of Kiy’s blood as the price for staying for a week
Kiy sees everyone happier than anyone they’d seen on Enmity and asks Ash to stay here
Big argument about why they can’t just stay, the guilt and trauma and all that, and how even stopping the world from getting worse is incredible. Even if Kiy can’t fix anything already broken, he’d fix everything that would have been broken
Plans to go to Lethargy, Ash wants to learn magic (and maybe the mages there will know what Kiy could potentially do)
A couple scenes maybe, montage or something, maybe even like a comic-style page or two that show Ash and Kiy chilling

Lethargy - Port Jenza, Miasmis Terrae

Small space-harbor town, immediate shenanigans because WHO THE HELL BRINGS A WHOLE ASS SHIP
Ash tries to get directions to a more established magic area while Kiy hears rumors and figures out how Lethargy’s societies work
People seem to be doing really well for themselves on the trash planet
- Lantern-sellers and barter hubs to specialize in different goods
- Dedicated food-deliveries by master transport mages, mostly coming from Conviction
Conversations center around profitability, Enmity’s people get called “suckers” at least once
Ash breaks a guy’s nose in a bar and pays for directions to someone considered a knowledgeable guy

Lethargy - Gohr Dhunn, Miasmis Terrae

Fortress of a powerful junker mage-king, Ryas an-Tetreg
Ryas welcomes the visitors but refuses to help them
- Says that only true Damnation can get them anywhere
- Tells Ash to buy a Lantern if she really wants to do magic (heavily implied he doesn’t believe women are fit to be mages)
Kiy calls out Ryas on his shit, mostly about his complete dismissal of Enmity
- If you have so much power why don’t you fucking help anyone
- Ryas says the quiet part out loud and just says it’s a good life with stable income, for those who work to earn it
- Kiy screams at him about who he thinks deserves to earn that life
Kiy’s body ages again as he rips weapons off the walls (new interpretation of “claw”. He now looks like a full adult and threatens to kill Ryas if he succeeds
- Ryas is unhappy to say the least
  - “You wanna know what’ll happen to you if you try to fight this? Your planet, OUR entire source of profit, will end up like Wistfulness. Why not take a vacation there? See how you’ll end up.”

Wistfulness - Ruins of Ahda Xherces

Investigating Lattice ruins
Kiy can barely read the ancient Demisrystallic texts, but the pictographs depict a dying world like Enmity
Brief glimpse of the cruelty of the Sunwalkers and the utter destruction caused by the Lattices’ rebellion
Kiy gets a look at one carving of a spear made of fire, surrounded by thousands of the same logograph he can’t read
- Get the idea it must be Damnation
Music box in a melted-shut chest they crack open makes Kiy fully feel the weight of Wistfulness’ fate
- Ryas threatens this to anyone wanting to help people
  - Though a glassing in a war to free everyone is better than the slow death Enmity faces
  - The status quo is terrible but threat of immediate death keeps people docile
- The Sunwalkers threaten this to anyone who gets in their way
  - They think they can do this unchallenged and unpunished
- Memories he repressed from early Awareness give him the final push he needs to reach Rebellion
Message in the sand, “seek the twelve-pointed crowns when you are lost”

Serenity - Peak Tshishruta

Sunwalker of travel, Leverdacht, accosts the two and interrogates them
Kiy and Ash pretend they’re just doing historian work, but Kiy is very on edge with the Sunwalker being there
- Kiy is not a target anymore, but instead a threat to be avoided. He still sees himself as fundamentally the same though, still seen with the same hatred
Leverdacht doesn’t buy it, pries by gloating about the invincibility of the Sunwalkers
- Ash, in a moment of pure deception, huffs up a storm about how they know about Damnation and how “only a Geode can wield it” to throw them off. How you have to make people think they’re two steps ahead of you when you’re already three ahead of them
- “Dumbass, nobody can win the Sun’s Favor to use it” wellll lookey here at who dropped critical information
Leverdacht leaves as they keep up the act of blind determination, Ash suggests going to Reverie to uncover more rumors that got trapped in its crystals
Ash sees the constellations and starts taking notes for future Glimmer study

Reverie - Singing Spire, Thalassa Aetha

Ash has to stay on the boat for this, out of the three preservation ring charges
Reverie’s song mentions no favor of Eniana, but the story of a Lattice girl who traveled to the sun to petition it, a dance never partnered
- Kiy nearly goes mad from the information he tries to parse but Ash holds her breath and goes out onto the surface and gets him, nearly dying in the process
- Survives because of clever use of her Lantern staff and a bit of Glimmer enacted on instinct

Space - Sunward

Final plan-making sequence
Ash recovering, as is Kiy
Kiy says that he should be the one to petition Eniana, Ash protests since that Lattice girl clearly died in the process
- “There’s too much we don’t know” type speech from Kiy
- “I’ll be dead in a century anyway” nihilism from Ash
Thoughts that maybe those halfhearted resolves can’t succeed in the petitioning

Eniana - Domain of Radiance

Eniana can be contacted
Kiy falls unconscious, cut to trials
Ash wants to keep comforting Kiy as he fights the trials, but has to maintain the ship’s cooling and cloaking
Kiy awakens, crying
“It’s time” scene where they fly all the way to Repletion. The sun chimes like a bell and the Sunwalkers and Exalted start swarming out for a fight

Repletion - Godspire

Kiy chants a silent prayer and draws out Devotion’s shard, forming it into a spear of light
- “I know the pain of everyone in the universe. I know the atrocities committed through time. I know the rage of planets, but none of this is me. I want to protect Ash Laon Grace, by destroying every Sunwalker myself. By your light. From the depths of my despair, Devotion, grant this wish. Let your Radiance undo all that stands in my path.”
He throws it (cue 14 hour drawing) and obliterates every Sunwalker in one blow, along with the Exalted who were targeting the ship
Intimidating landing on the highest official building on Repletion
- Kiy broadcasts to the entire planet a warning, that the Sunwalkers are dead and anyone who sets foot on Enmity for vengeance will be killed as well
- “Consider the lingering demons your punishment. They’ll see that you remember your place.”

Enmity - Grandanimus

Heroic return of our unlikely heroes
Kiy is lavished with wealth and gifts for saving the fucking universe, but he seems unhappy about it
- Ash is similarly unhappy
Gigantic speech from Ash about how this is worth nothing compared to what she did just by directly supporting him. How the gods are gone now and that only removes the excuse for the state of the world being so bad. That now it’s time for the wealthy to sink their hands in the dirt and work to bring an actual brighter future, now that it’s possible.
Kiy and Ash travel to the City of Scrap, some petitioners and just curious people following
- Demons along the way are easily killed by Kiy’s normal Geode strength and Ash’s Lantern fighting skills
Kiy throws his pile of gifts into the City of Scrap’s pile of parts to use. He gets up on top of one of the towers and recites his eulogy for Wistfulness.

Hrengvi mault ad loth mirexh / The moons I see are dust

Uengar valt laat mo rien’neth. / Stolen from us by the weight of greed.

Ouyja nokh ljer dhuuvja khaere / Verdant seas now lost to war

Uetos bath valt hrer. / Fields of slumbering glass.

Ghyetar xhri ahr’xhri ljermma / Your devils are my devils now

Ad blouy hoeraxh neuy mirraxh / I can’t heal our moons

Thjer min ueng nol ehrren / But till our time passes

Stakhtu uat tho’ mjexh / This injustice will be remembered

Kiy actually prays, something nobody would expect him to do

People start talking as is Kiy is enlightened or a saint
- “You idiots! I am a piece of scrap found here! Are you so used to being shackled by gods that you must invent new ones? Are your necks and wrists cold without your chains?”
One last conversation between Kiy and Ash about the future
- Kiy laments not being able to do more with the power he technically still owns like fixing Contrition or making Repletion demon-free
- Ash talks about how she didn’t do nearly as much and that killing all of the Sunwalkers is literally an impossible feat that saved everything forever
- I did it for you type thing, extremely powerful bond
- Ash says she’s not sure she really knows Kiy anymore, and he says he doesn’t know himself now either
Final note about looking to the future

Epilogue - Solace

Brief scene of Kiy looking up at Enmity from pre-corruption Contrition
- Repetition of "I can't heal our moon" theming
No dialogue, just vibes
muse a little on what can really be built back after disasters and what may be lost forever

Domain of Radiance - Trials

Trial of Acrimony

Screams, thousands, billions, trillions of them. Every living thing’s grievances towards each other ripping in all directions. They drown out Kiy’s thoughts, his words, his emotions, until the chorus threatens to drag him into it as well. To pass the trial he must accept all the rage and sorrow in the universe, and resolve to carry the burden without cursing those who helped him.

Trial of Serenity

Quiet, an immediate contrast to Acrimony’s trial. The restfulness is deceiving, though, and quickly lulls Kiy to a sense of contentment and satisfaction. A simple field to watch the stars in. He desperately needs the rest, the comfort. In order to pass the trial, Kiy must recall his duty and push himself back into the path of suffering.

Trial of Reverie

Reverie itself appears, an ever-shifting amalgam of objects that might be considered alive. It shows Kiy through a menagerie of unbelievable worlds and settings, promising the impossible and wonders of the universe. Dancing with Kiy, the path of safety gets narrower and more difficult. To pass this trial, Kiy must reject this dream of fantastical idealism, and knock Reverie off its rhythm with the ugly truths of the universe.

Trial of Frenzy

Beasts, hundreds of them, appear. Hungry, made from the blood of the hungriest, the Sunwalkers. They guard a burning spear. To pass this trial, Kiy must slaughter every beast himself without giving into the same bloodlust that ails them. They are the size of an Instinct Geode each.

Trial of Elation

An endless ocean under a starlit sky. Glowing animals beneath the surface. Childlike joy fills Kiy for the first time. Anything he imagines is within his reach. He feels the pleasures of the immortal Sunwalkers as his own, and is tempted to simply stay here and dance beyond the universe for eternity. In order to pass this trial, Kiy must tear apart and ruin his own happiness, must be willing to obliterate hundreds of perfect lives like this one and understand the depth of despair he must create to achieve his goals. He must know that happiness of this magnitude will never be within his reach again.

Trial of Conviction

Words boom from a faceless monolith. They ask Kiy about his beliefs and goals. Each one is met with a rebuttal, a reason it is unjust or not worth keeping. To pass this trial, Kiy must adapt until his beliefs are unshakeable. Unworthy still, imperfect still, but what he truly cannot be swayed from. A covenant which he would destroy himself and his legacy to protect.

Trial of Enmity

The entirety of Enmity’s destruction, all recorded and tallied and scored are laid out in front of Kiy. He relives them as Enmity itself, hearing and feeling the pain of each person affected throughout all of time until the present, each time he touches an event. To pass the trial, Kiy has to witness the injustice done on Enmity in its totality, and take that burden unto himself. He must know every crime he will enact retribution for.

Trial of Repletion

Hunger stronger than anything, even the brink of starvation, takes hold. The voices of Acrimony and Enmity’s phantoms return as Kiy walks across fields of grain and rich full orchards. To eat the food is to kill one of these voices off, and each one will send him back to the beginning. Kiy must walk a thousand miles on the trail without eating anything to pass the trial. He must reject the abundance that the Sunwalkers flaunt, and allow himself to starve to save the voices of the damned. At the end is an effigy of a Sunwalker of abundance, which Kiy destroys.

Trial of Lethargy

Exhaustion takes hold. Kiy must stay awake as sand attempts to bury him. Climbing, endless climbing. To pass the trial, Kiy must expend all energy in his body moving towards his goal, rejecting rest the whole time. He must be willing to move forward even if it kills him.

Trial of Wistfulness

Wistfulness itself is there, in the form of a Lattice. It tells Kiy that the trial can wait, and that it wants to share a story first. It tells of two planets, one that orbited closer than Veneration, and the other that orbited beyond Acrimony. Eniana loved the former so much that it consumed it into its embrace, removing its name from the universe as it did. The other one rejected Eniana’s light, and was sundered from the universe slowly and painfully. Its name was Apathy, the former first gate of the trials. Its world was blacker than black. The planet that Eniana consumed was whiter than white, as shining and beautiful as Eniana itself. Apathy only ever said one word before it was destroyed: “Immolation”.

Wistfulness proceeds with its trial. It shows Kiy a vision of the life of a Lattice that was killed in the Great Glassing in old age. Kiy must remember the history and life of this world, every sight and lake and hilltop, and mourn for it all. To pass the trial, he must present a eulogy for the world in the Lattice language that deviated from the divine tongue, and make Wistfulness weep. He must promise to remember this world, though it is long gone.

Trial of Frailty

Strength is gone from Kiy’s body. He is in a prostrated position in front of an effigy of the Sunwalkers. He can barely twitch the tip of his ears or blink. Lashings of a whip strike his soul deeply. Prayers to the Sunwalkers from across time echo around him. He is praised for giving his offerings. Kiy must stand up and defile the idol to pass the trial. He must be able to act even without his own strength.

Trial of Tenacity

Kiy’s body is simply torn apart, nerve by nerve, fiber by fiber. He is assured the process isn’t lethal. He is allowed to call for it to end if he wants, though he will fail all the trials and be unable to petition Eniana forevermore if he does. To pass the trial, he must simply endure as every shred of his physical being is ripped away from him in pure agony.

Trial of Veneration

Kiy, bodiless and yet living, is shown the eye of Veneration’s great storms. Above, sunlight streaks in, purer than anything. Veneration is there, manifested as a silhouette of light. It tells Kiy that the final trial is to recall the others, and be truly, completely grateful for them. To understand what they taught and to pray to Eniana wholeheartedly. To pass the trial, Kiy must simply offer a true prayer to Eniana.

Petition of Eniana

Eniana asks now if Kiy’s wish has changed. If his goal in taking the trials has been torn away with the rest of his being. If his true heartfelt desire is what he thought he was seeking. Kiy answers that it is the same, and that it is different. He is granted a petition, a request. Kiy is reminded that his original petition was for Damnation, the spear of flame that could sunder all from Eniana’s divine light. The light that burns away all it is pointed at without fail.

Kiy responds that he wishes for the fragment of Radiance that Eniana itself envies. The light that illuminates all without fail, which will undo any law or force that stands in the way of its covenant. That which brings destruction and despair upon itself beyond measure in order to one day conjure hope of equal magnitude. The power once twisted into Damnation by those who yearned for it, once cursed for its simplicity and potency. Devotion, the flame that burns even the immortal to protect the love it swore to hold in itself unto eternity.

The lessons

Acrimony - Kiy must know the depth of despair that the universe holds

Serenity - Kiy must be willing to break the order of peace to enact his justice

Reverie - Kiy must not be tempted or deluded by false hopes of grandeur

Frenzy - Kiy must understand harm and killing done for a purpose, and the difference between that and bloodlust

Elation - Kiy must know the magnitude of suffering he will cause with his war, and the hope and joys he will destroy

Conviction - Kiy must be unflinchingly convinced of his path, unable to be swayed by anyone

Enmity - Kiy must understand the true magnitude of crimes he will be repaying the Sunwalkers for

Repletion - Kiy must not give in to the temptation to become like the Sunwalkers, to re-establish the order he is destroying

Lethargy - Kiy must be able to dedicate his entire being to his cause

Wistfulness - Kiy must know how to lose, how to mourn loss, and how to grieve and respect the past he leaves behind

Frailty - Kiy must not rely on himself for strength, not think himself powerful or infallible

Tenacity - Kiy must be unable to be swayed by pain, and be willing to endure anything to move forward

Veneration - Kiy must remember the true order of things, and be able to learn from the suffering he is put through

Scope Notes (fuck you google)

Cosmology

Brief Overview

The universe is rather small, centered on the sun. Separated by a firmament-type sphere are the inner material world, simply referred to as The Universe or Creation, and the outer realm of slowly-shifting concepts, called The Shimmer. Around the sun, which has a name known by all living things, thirteen major planets orbit.

The sun is named Eniana, not by virtue of any mortal or god branding it as such, but because it is an unshakable truth. All things are born knowing the sun’s name. Perhaps as the heart and core of the universe, it is alive.

Through the stars, little pinpricks of light on the great Firmament, the conceptual radiation of The Shimmer leaks into material Creation. Eniana is likely responsible for reflecting these esoteric ideals outwards into a tangible form.

Within the Shimmer lies the black realm, Tephrite. Tephrite is a great void that does not radiate mystic light through the stars it covers. When it overlaps with another concept, it bites a fragment of its shine out and mixes it with itself, birthing the seed of a new Geode. Geodes are monstrous creatures that gain intelligence and command over ungodly powers, should they live long enough to form self-awareness.

The Worlds

Between all the celestial rubble circling Eniana, innumerable chunks of stone and ice and fire, a total of thirteen planets reside. Each one is unique enough to be burned into the iconography of the residing powers of the universe. Legends and histories both separate and yet entangled, always dodging the trillions of pieces of heavenly debris. Spinning, dancing throughout Creation.

Veneration

The eldest and closest to Eniana, a world of bubbling lava with a ring of ethereal flames around its terminator as a crown. Veneration basks in Eniana’s radiance, soaking it up into its infernal atmosphere. Gods of the forge, Exalted under the few heat-related Sunwalkers, make this world their home. Legendary weapons that have swung the pendulum of ages can all trace their origins back to Veneration.

Gems that pass through its corona of pure energy are melted and reconstructed into the legendary Sun Opal, a gem that can absorb unfathomable amounts of energy into itself due to the nature of its structure. Veneration’s Sun Opals seem to resonate with a song faint enough to only be subconsciously heard. One experiment brought a large mass of Sun Opals together to make this melody audible. The researchers all lost the ability to speak outside of wordless vocalization.

Tenacity

Tenacity refuses to melt. Any other world would be reduced to a mere shade of Veneration’s oceans of flame. Tenacity’s metal, however, remains solid and steadfast. As the second son of Eniana, it stands guard over the Venerable Priest where all others would fail. Were it to take Veneration’s place, Tenacity would soften like earth after a heavy rain.

Tenacity’s metal is used to forge the strongest and most unbreakable items in the universe. It does not give this material easily, requiring divine strength to wrench it from the mountains. However, the yield is well worth it. Nothing short of Veneration’s heavenly flames can temper or forge the metal. Halo-like auroras dance around Tenacity’s poles, strengthened by the undying passion of its core.

Frailty

Frailty is a cruel world. Humans would be boiled alive the second they set foot on it. Even the ancient Lattices would have struggled to withstand its heat. Its sands are made of glass, shattered and melted together over and over by the violent superheated winds. Furthermore, the air itself chokes with poison gas almost as thick as water. Thunder booms so weakly you can barely hear it, your body already charred by the lightning that struck it. The storms of fire, wind, thunder, and poison are enough to kill any unprotected traveler. Not even bones will remain, consumed and broken down into more fuel for the ever-shifting dunes.

For those few who have used magic to protect themselves, Frailty has another curse. Energy of all types seems to be sapped from people and objects, including Sun Opals. It does not matter if they are in use or not. All vitality is forfeit to those who wander the hell-sands of Frailty. With each of the few souls it has consumed, the world seems to grow more violent. Reckless travelers are advised to not feed it more at any cost.

Wistfulness

Wistfulness was once a world that mirrored Conviction, a world of many lakes and mostly land, only warm instead of cold. The chalky cliffs and pearly mountains have since been destroyed. The Sunwalkers eradicated it all, reducing the world to a rubble-strewn glassy ball of sand. They were careless in their extermination, though, and ruins reveal the true past of Wistfulness.

Abandoned, hundreds of marble cities rest, shattered upon the god-scorched sands. An ancient people lived on this world. Massive, six-armed crystal people, who failed to reach the heights of modern human technology before being blasted into oblivion. Their language is lost on all, and the planet does not even weep for them. There is only silence among the white stone. Silence, and a lesson about defying those favored by the Sun.

Wistfulness does not speak to humans, but its consciousness observes them in the most concrete form seen from the worlds. Far away, usually peeking from behind a hill or boulder, Wistfulness watches. In the form of a Lattice, the world’s former inhabitants, it hangs at the corner of visitors’ visions. What it provided for its people before the Sunwalkers eradicated them is still unknown.

Lethargy

Where do lost things go? Truly lost, beyond anyone’s will to find them? Do they lie in wait, right where you least expect? Do they sleep, dejected by their loss? Do they find their way to someone else? No. Lost things, which have long been forgotten and neglected, when the search for them has given up, are taken to the sleeping world, Lethargy. WIth black sands and skies stained a sulfur yellow, the celestial landfill snores.

Lethargy is the last place all objects owned by people go. Though littered with possessions, the endless charcoal deserts have not returned one to their proper owner. Mages capable of space travel use Lethargy as a scrapyard, stealing their keep and selling it to earn a living. Though rather ingenuine behavior, it does complete an actual cycle of circulation for the lost things of Lethargy.

Repletion

The mountainous lands, separated by rivers of various magical qualities. The clouds circling above with an almost dreamlike appearance. Violet skies the hue of royal silks. Seas of a pure luscious indigo, waters sweeter than wine. Dazzling lights of the Shimmer’s grace dance above in the night. This paradise, Repletion, is the home of most Sunwalkers, the holy land that mortals are forever forbidden from entering.

Repletion has been peaceful for most of its history. The Lattices never developed any method of travelling beyond their world, and the current humans have an unspoken deal with the Sunwalkers to try to become Exalted rather than invade the violet world. This peace has been considerably disrupted by an army of refined Demons, creatures strong enough to kill droves of Exalted that live on Repletion. The Sunwalkers, unwilling to blast their world to ash like they did to Wistfulness, have been struggling to deal with the infestation.

Most of Repletion’s population is made up of Exalted, whose family lines have become so mixed between the Sunwalkers that their Brilliance resembles Glimmer. While they don’t age beyond a certain point, the extreme terrain poses many environmental threats, and so death is very much a thing.

Repletion’s closer moon is named Ecstasy, and has been gated to only the Sunwalkers as a hedonistic vacation world. No worries about their people linger on this world. Only meaningless pleasure for the ones who pull the universe’s strings.

Repletion’s outer moon Opulence was once a peaceful desert. In an attempt to supplant Serenity, the Sunwalkers removed its atmosphere. Now Opulence is a world of powdered rock, forever open to gaze at the stars. It sees much less activity than before the Sunwalkers decided to “improve” it.

Enmity

Enmity is the most populous planet around Eniana, inhabited by all manner of mortal beings. Being the site of most mortal life, Enmity has been turned into a divine test site repeatedly by the Sunwalkers. Oceans stained red with blood or boiled a caustic green. Mountain ranges fractured by some prototype Lantern sword. Ever-stronger plagues of Demons upon the people. The people of Repletion seem to have no respect or regard for human life. And thus the resentment is born.

Enmity’s climate is much more variable than other worlds, supporting temperatures scorching enough to compare to Wistfulness and frigid ice sheets that have not seen snowmelt in centuries. Because of this, the humans that live on it have grown to be very adaptable. Combined with their ability to perform magic, Enmity serves more as a launchpad for success than a prison. Its moon, Contrition, was once almost as populated as the planet proper.

Enmity’s scarred surface is only a fraction of the wrath unleashed on Contrition. Something between a necrotic plague and corrosive acid was tested on the moon, since Enmity proper would be “too risky” to let it loose on. The Sunwalker who created Contrition’s planet-spanning hell sludge has not been identified nor held accountable. Contrition remains uninhabitable, consuming all who touch its poisoned air and writhing surface.

The tough conditions on Enmity have only spurred innovation by the mortals that live there. Guides on becoming Exalted exist in droves, and magic has developed in creative ways that allow for impossible feats such as interplanetary travel. The bruised and corrupted world seems to fill its people with unlimited strength and motivation to push forward, to one day take back everything the Sunwalkers have stolen.

Enmity’s soul once had some semi-karmic effects relating to laws. It would punish people organically before the courts found them. However, the diversion of its attention to Repletion’s ilk has twisted this. Vengeance is helped along by fate until it is expended. The people of Enmity know to take back only an eye for an eye. Any more would be granting the favor of the law of Enmity to their foe.

Sea of Aerosche turned into a boiling caustic sludge as an experiment by a Sunwalker, acid rain of varying degrees covers the planet
Sunwalker of atomic nuclei accidentally made a mountain range full of uranium and shit so now it is radioactive
virus/toxin in the atmosphere slowly replaces peoples’ cells with the same cells serving a different body. Ages differently and when half of a vital organ is taken over it shuts down and the person implodes.

Conviction

A challenging world, chanting prayers for the loss of its twin. Where Wistfulness fell, Conviction carries on. The shattered seas scattered across the muddy brown land like paint give little sanctuary to those who live there. Cold deserts separate the thousands of coastal oases from each other. Still, Conviction offers a safe haven for the mortals that settle it year after year. Distanced from Repletion more than Enmity is and free from divine meddlings, the climate is a small price to pay.

Conviction only has a couple thousand inhabitants so far, since resources are scarce. Plant and animal life is very slowly making its way over to create new ecosystems on the previously barren earth. But the ability to create civilizations spanning its grand continent has not been nurtured yet. Keeping it out of the vicious eyes of the Sunwalkers is crucial.

Conviction values bonds and connections, it would seem. Almost reminiscent of Enmity’s old law-binding punishments, Conviction creates tangible rewards and punishments for those who make vows. For vows to oneself, Conviction blesses the oathkeeper with a fitting reward so long as they hold their promise. Pacts like this made on Conviction remain active even beyond its skies. When a vow to oneself is broken, what was gained is lost, and a slight sickness overcomes the oathbreaker.

Vows between people carry much more weight. Conditions of infringement must be set, else Conviction sets the price. Conviction’s blessing is equivalent to its price, but the vows themselves are irrelevant. Have meaningless oaths on your life with a thousand men and your blessings will never run dry.

Elation

Very few islands poke above Elation’s massive ocean. Its cerulean seas are thick and deep, bottoming out with a mantle of ice instead of rock. Lifeless though it may be, Elation’s waters are almost endless. It lies in wait, churning its thick skies to warm temperatures in hopes that some may live on its seas. As of now, no mortal has set foot on Elation for more than a few days.

When the few mortals that have landed on Elation have done so, they are swept up by unparalleled storms. They do not harm the travelers, but whisk them away to a strange island. The returning mortals have all described different islands, and observing Elation reveals that new ones have seemed to appear. The uncanny quirk of these islands is that each traveler described their own as something of a personal dreamland. Perhaps Elation peers into the hearts of mortals to grant their desires.

Elation’s waves are powered by its silver-blue moon, Contentment. A bluish white glow shines on the nighttime seas through the azure haze of the planet’s sky. What a sight it would be. If only there were more than a few buoyant pinpricks of earth among the endless waters. Or perhaps a civilization of floating cities. Empires of rafts. A future endeavor for humanity, maybe.

Frenzy

Frenzy’s stones are stained with blood. As the Sunwalkers manage the universe, there are often disputes between them. It’s only natural. Considering how many Sunwalkers there are, it is inevitable that they will disagree. Frenzy is a place to settle these arguments once words have failed. A thin atmosphere to reduce friction, dyed red to mask the gruesome acts. Frenzy fuels the motion of the spheres as the stage of violent diplomacy.

Rocks retrieved from Frenzy have been demonstrated to contain a modicum of divine power. When extracted through alchemical processes, this blood can be further distilled into a conceptual essence. Many alchemists have contracts with smuggler mages to gain supply from the crimson-streaked cliffs. Liquid essences are an incredibly useful and portable substitute for real materials.

Reverie

A dreamlike planet, encircled by rings of every color imaginable. Rings of glittering ice as a blasphemous imitation of Veneration’s prominence. And on the surface lies an endless plane of violets and indigos, gems of all varieties. The splendor of Reverie is real, and yet as ill-fitting for life as a dream. It is a frigid world, with thin cloudless skies and no arable land to speak of. The worth its gems have is all that Reverie gives. Its mimicry of Veneration gives creed to an idea, though. By shipping gems en masse from Reverie to Veneration, Sun Opals can be created easily.

In truth, Reverie’s own song echoes through the weak breezes and seismic waves it has. It is an ethereal tune, whispering lies to the Sun Opals’ truths. The longer one listens to the sweet falsities of Reverie, the more they claim to understand. Tears litter the frozen ground. A past narrowly avoided, a dance between the darkness. Magic within magic, an everlasting light. An end to the infinite beginnings, and the era of change begins. Whoever can decipher these through the music gains a truth that cannot be testified by language. Something truly esoteric, and yet beautiful enough that hardened men are moved with love and loss. Reverie’s requiem plays eternal, awaiting any and all listeners.

Serenity

While Reverie’s beauty is on the ground, Serenity looks to the heavens. Two rings of pure indigo light rest above the world like crowns. Its barren surface is speckled with stars of ice, more than even the grand heavens have to offer. The thin, almost nonexistent atmosphere reflects more pale blues and purples. Sound can barely travel here, and not even frost forms in the vacant air.

When observing the stars, which are visible at all times, the ethereal lines of constellations long-since decided seem to appear before the eye. The Firmament that separates Creation from the Shimmer also appears translucent, revealing in just barely visible colors the shifting concepts behind the stars. Traveling mages often stop at Serenity to regain their celestial bearings. Serenity has also been the discovery site of several previously unknown concepts.

Acrimony

Acrimony has been the sole planet people point to when asking if the universe is alive. More so than Reverie’s song or Frailty’s hunger. More than Serenity’s knowledge of manmade constellations. Acrimony’s mighty howl resounds across the land, a neverending scream of rage and will. The clash of magic, unclassifiable beyond a similarity to Irradiance, streaks its violet skies with branching crimson lightning. The energy released is enormous, vaguely gravitational, and filled with enough willpower to reduce Exalted to quivering terror.

Acrimony cries out because its moon is falling. So low above the surface that Repletion’s mountains would reach between them hangs Brutality, the blood-red moon of Acrimony. It cannot help but fall. It should have crashed into Acrimony millennia ago. But Acrimony screams. Its will forces Brutality back just as much as gravity draws them in. Those who stand at the precipice of this battle have their minds overridden by the anguish and ire.

Magic

Magic is a broad term that encompasses several smaller fields. Definitively, magic is anything accomplished by applying or using forces beyond those immediately present in the material world. More often than not, this relies on the radiation leaking in from the Shimmer.

Effulgence

The first beings to exist under Eniana’s gaze, the two hundred and four Sunwalkers, have access to magic unlike any other. Their power, known as Effulgence, comes from virtue of their very being. It is a pure connection to one of the concepts lying within the Shimmer, and thus the Sunwalkers have much simpler and more efficient access to it than mortals.

Effulgence is considered a transcendental form of magic, since it requires very little thought on the part of the Sunwalkers. The comparison between Effulgence and Glimmer has led to theories that Eniana itself may use an even purer form of magic, able to effortlessly hold taut the bonds of the universe without so much as a mind to command the Shimmer.

Notably, Effulgence can be somewhat delegated to people. Through a process of apotheosis, a Sunwalker can bestow some of their power onto a mortal, effectively turning them into a lower class of god, known as an Exalted. With very little thought, the new Exalted can use their granted power directly from the Shimmer, instead of through the 4 intermediary steps that Glimmer requires. The connection to the Shimmer also halts the aging process of these gods.

Brilliance

Brilliance is the magic of the Exalted, differentiated from Effulgence by its fragility. The wielders of Brilliance gain insight into their assigned domain, able to skip some or all of the steps between raw Shimmer radiation and tangible output. However, their capabilities are restricted to the domain they were granted, and their reliance on quick and easy access to the Shimmer atrophies their skill in Glimmer magic.

Brilliance was once considered to simply be Effulgence extended to mortals, but the Sunwalkers took great offense to that. Anyone who dares to call Brilliance the Effulgence of mortals now does so in hushed whispers. Those among the Exalted who have been arrogant enough to recite such a claim have been met with either their Brilliance being stripped away or simply death.

Brilliance invariably ties the user to the Sunwalker that bestowed it upon them. Their Sunwalker could be thought of as an employer of sorts, as the Exalted are often sent to carry out the wills of their Sunwalker. In return for power and freedom from age and illness, the Exalted is easily monitored and controlled. In exchange for some freedom from Glimmer’s restraints, they are bound to the whims of a transcendental being.

Glimmer

Glimmer is the magic most widely known and used by mortals. It is a difficult thing to process, and requires acute astrological knowledge for high-level use. To be able to use Glimmer, one must separate their mind from the brain it inhabits. In other words, the first step is astral projection. With this free immaterial mind, radiation from the Shimmer can be noticed more easily. Glimmer is the art of absorbing this radiation into one’s mind, transferring it to the brain, and outwards through the physical body to achieve a desired effect.

Glimmer’s capabilities are theoretically endless. If the concepts are present towards the Firmament, then they may be combined in all sorts of ways. The process of building these advanced spells is very time-consuming, however. Think of each step as turning your current equation into a new variable. Using higher and higher orders of these variables strays further from the original meaning of concepts and needs more precise mental energy to comprehend. Simplifying spells is a trial-and-error process of recreating the same conceptual “equations” with different starting components, hoping to get a final result on a lower order of abstraction than the original result.

While almost everyone is theoretically capable of using Glimmer, its effectiveness comes from focusing the conceptual radiation. All but a few stars have been drawn together in an elaborate labyrinth of constellations for the purpose of using Glimmer. By drawing out the pattern of a constellation as a focus, the energy flowing from the Shimmer behind it is more readily accessed. In other words, the mental strain Glimmer puts on the user is reduced. However, the Shimmer’s concepts shift through time, and so the constellations do not always correlate to the same things. At least every few weeks, Glimmer mages must carefully study the Shimmer leaking through the stars, to make sure their spells do not produce undesired effects.

Incandescence

Incandescence, colloquially called alchemy by sects of separatists, is a very material-oriented clade of magic. The laws it is bound by seem to be mostly extensions of material natural law. Extract properties from substances and mix them together with solvents, rearrange matter to create more complex forms. Research precedent and consistency is the main advantage of Incandescence.

Magic is hardly used at all in this form of magic. All the Shimmer radiation does is serve as a catalyst to start otherwise very material alchemic reactions. For this reason, Incandescence may be called separate from magic. Many of its practitioners would prefer it to be separate, branded with the lightless moniker “alchemy” as a defining quality.

The main drawbacks of Incandescence are the fact that it requires material and specific procedures for each reaction. Many find certain ingredients difficult or impossible to acquire, and even slight contamination of their laboratories can have disastrous consequences. This is especially true since the unleashing of Demonkind on Enmity.

The goals of Incandescence are rarely for personal gain. Alchemists look into the world and research the properties of every material they can for the sake of advancing mortal life into a comfortable age. The study of the world is done so that it may be improved. Rearrange what is in front of you to fix its flaws. That is the basis of Incandescence.

Irradiance

Irradiance is an aberrant sect of magic. It is, like Effulgence, a product of the users’ very beings. Unlike all other magic, the energy it uses is not stored or produced in the Shimmer. The seed of Irradiance’s power is the realm of luster each of its users is attached to. No two are the same. The ones who use Irradiance are the Geodes, misbegotten children of the black realm Tephrite.

The power that Irradiance calls on can only be used by the Geode it is attached to. It cannot be delegated to anyone else. It is impossible to deprive the Geode of their store of power, and even more impossible to tell from the flow of Shimmer through space what they are attempting to accomplish. Though different depending on which concept Tephrite harmed to create it, all Irradiant Realms have in common the signature violet-crimson flames of antipathy. This, mixed with the concept that fathered the Geode, is the makeup of their power.

Irradiance does not require conscious thought to the same degree that Glimmer does, but use of thought reveals the truly unorthodox quality it carries. Though Irradiance may seem like a slightly expanded copy of some shade of Effulgence, the nature of its concept is not monolithic. The Geode and their Realm are interconnected, and thus by applying language and a name to the concept of their Irradiance, they gain the power of Interpretation. Other meanings the name of their concept has can be applied. For example, a Geode of depression might initially only be able to inflict the mental state on others, but gain the interpretation of a dent in an object, allowing for physical deformations of targets. This awakening, of course, coincides with the Geode’s ability to cooperate with mortals during its second phase of life.

Interpretation and use of Irradiance can best be described as spinning a marble. The axis of rotation represents the manner of interpretation, the definition of the realm’s name being used. The direction and intensity of the spin, commonly called the Torque, represents the intensity of the effect. While many Axes exist for each Irradiant Realm, they can be rather predictable. Through near-death experiences, however, some Geodes have developed a technique called Counter-Torque, where a negative Torque on their Irradiance is achieved. In practice, this creates an effect opposite of the interpretation they are using. This irreverent ability theoretically grants a wide variety of domains to the Geodes, making them the natural enemies of the Sunwalkers.

Recall that the Irradiant Realm of a Geode has pseudo-spatial qualities. The realm itself can take on some distorted or limited aspects of space. These qualities are usually independently discovered by Geodes, but on a few occasions have been shared. One of the most well known is the “pocket library” quality, the storing of information. Physical objects that the Geode’s brain can classify as informational (e.g. books, scrolls, historical relics) can be absorbed into their realm for storage, and released intact later. One Geode has been known to pack up and release a whole shack of a library, each object inscribed with its own name and/or description to serve as information in his mind.

Lambency

Most weapons or tools forged from the metal mountains of Tenacity are infused with Lambency. Another material magic, Lambency is essentially the storing of a specific spell within an item to get a predictable effect, even without the user knowing how to wield magic at all. Items enhanced by Lambency are known as Lanterns. A couple of famous craftsmen demarcate these Lanterns with tiny hanging luck charms. Though many literal Lanterns exist, the majority of Lanterns are not actual lanterns.

Lambency requires a gem of some kind, though most traditionally sunstone or sun opal, to act as a collector for Shimmer radiation. This acts as a sort of battery for the Lantern, and must be given time to charge itself to act properly. Ironically, users of Incandescence can force the Lantern to charge through their catalytic and unfocused projection of magic.

The actual effect of the Lantern is determined through a fractal-esque matrix of material somewhere near the object’s core. Though less efficient, a two-dimensional inscription may serve as a proper recipe channel for the effect. Lanterns with engravings are much more prone to malfunction with wear, and so they sell for a lot less than those with sturdy matrix cores.

Inhabitants

Divine

Divinity is supposedly determined by direct spiritual access to the Shimmer, as well as an ageless form. However, the determiners of this definition are themselves divine, and thus prone to bias. It really is an arbitrary thing to try to draw a line on. When mortals themselves can be granted divinity, there is no inherent barring from it. The only ones who can’t have their godhood taken from them are the exact people responsible for deciding what the word even means.

Nonetheless, it is a relatively useful term to encompass both the Sunwalkers and their associates. And sure, it does help some people to know that there’s hope to transcend mortality. Giving hope to people they usually don’t care about. How unlike the Sunwalkers. Consider what they get out of this ordeal. No Sunwalker has ever granted a boon, even by accident, without seeking something in return.

Sunwalkers

The first people. The tribe of true immortals. The constants in a shifting universe. The elder gods. Harbingers of reckless death. Bringers of cataclysm. Transcendent lights. Many names have been attributed to this group, who claimed the first sight of creation for themselves, but they choose to call themselves the Sunwalkers. In reverence of Eniana, the center of all. Or perhaps, attempting to seem closer to it.

There are 204 Sunwalkers in total, never more or less. Despite the incredibly eventful attempts of one to remove herself from creation, no method of permanently damaging a Sunwalker has yet been found. This invulnerability is what allows them to live anywhere, even the molten inferno of Veneration. Despite their durability, most Sunwalkers live lives of comfort on Repletion or its moon Ecstasy.

Sunwalkers, despite their name, do not draw power from the sun. Their power comes from an intrinsic connection to one or more concepts within the Shimmer. Without any steps that other magic would take, Sunwalkers can direct the concept as an extension of their will and body. At full strength and output, it only takes a handful of them to wipe a planet back into being a blank slate.

They appear almost identical to humans, as the latter were modeled after the Sunwalkers. However, each Sunwalker has a modicum of control over their own appearance, and thus many outlandish modifications exist. Most choose to don outfits they feel represent the concept they rule, like a truly tacky display of mythical power.

The Sunwalkers are notably vain, evidenced by the creation of the Lattices and later Humans. They appear to have some innate urge to place some class of life beneath themselves, to subjugate the universe. Perhaps it is lonely and frightening, being with only a handful of others under the watch of the Sun. However, no kindness can be spared for this act of creating mortals. The acts of cruelty committed against them throughout the 8000-odd years of Creation are innumerable and still continuing.

Exalted

Exalted come about in one of three ways. First, they exist as a product of the Sunwalkers reproducing. These irresponsible products have life spans many times that of mortals, but still physically age to some extent. Technically divine due to their heritage and the fact that not one has died of age-related causes. They are usually beholden to the whims of one of their divine parents, but many of these are rogue Exalted who live simple lives on Repletion as “humans+”, to put it bluntly. The second way Exalted are made is with intent. This is when a mortal undergoes apotheosis at the behest of a Sunwalker. This contracting is the most widely known way Exalted are created, and comes with a strict superior-subordinate relationship attached. It is also the way many of Enmity’s residents seek salvation. FInally, when two Exalted have a child, that child possesses many of the boons of its parents. However, the Sunwalkers must choose whether or not to accept the divinity of each of these children. This is why most villages on Repletion are watched over by Sunwalkers. Demigods are those who have yet to be judged by the Sunwalkers, having definitively finite life spans but much ease with calling Shimmer into magic.

Mortals

Mortals are usually defined by their ability to die, but this is also an unfair definition. Plenty of Exalted die each year. And some mortals do not have the lifespan restrictions that seem to otherwise stratify them. The true meaning of mortality, then, is to be without the blessing or heritage of the Sunwalkers. To be subjects beneath their rule, insects beneath their touch.

Some take this realization as proof that the universe is cruel. Some pray to Eniana to overturn their reality. Others give into the will of the Sunwalkers, assuming they must know better. A few foolish souls challenge the gods over this. The purpose of mortals is to make the divine feel special. Driven mad by the comedy of it all, truth-seekers often become reckless. Perhaps one day, this reckless passion will reach somewhere even the Sunwalkers have no control over.

Humans

Humans are the most common variety of mortal being in the universe. Physically, they are built to resemble the majority of the Sunwalkers. Same number of limbs and arrangements of parts, as well as similar heights. Humans are particularly fragile when it comes to environments, but through knowledge and tool use, have adapted to climates and habitats they should not be able to live in. This adaptability has led to the colonization of both Enmity’s moon Contrition (may the souls of its settlers rest in peace) and the planet Conviction.

Humans have access to magic with enough ease that crude magic use seems to spontaneously awaken in some after a bad illness. Though most are only capable of weakly using Glimmer, the collective strength of humanity may as well have created a new Sunwalker to take Enmity for itself. The arts of Incandescence and Lambency were invented first by humans for ease of use and consistency. This is indicative of humans’ consistent goal of making life as leisurely and efficient as possible.

A good portion of Exalted are former humans, and some humans are also former Exalted. The two are somewhat interchangeable, which both keeps Exalted in line out of fear and gives humans hope to reach greater heights. This gives Sunwalkers great influence over both groups. Why do they look at humans with disgust, then?

Lattices

The Sunwalkers’ first attempt at filling worlds with mortal life. Sturdy and resilient, the Lattices lived on Wistfulness. They were much larger and stronger than humans, made mostly of glass-like crystal flesh. The ruins of their great empires suggest a technology level centuries behind modern-day Enmity. Art depicted on its fading stone walls reveals their forms, or at least an approximation. They were somewhere between beast and human, faceless lanky beings with too many arms and a spindly tail. Why the Sunwalkers crafted the Lattices in this way is unknown to most. The truth is, they just couldn’t stand to see anything resembling themselves in mortals.

At some point, the Lattices grew tired of their position and waged a war against the Sunwalkers. They turned their prayers against the divine, demanding that whatever other powers may be should cut down those who watch from Repletion. The Sunwalkers took great offense to this, and turned the tides of war with their unparalleled power.

It appears that the Lattices were unable to utilize magic. It may be that their bodily makeup rejected all Shimmer radiation from it, preventing them from channeling its energies. Likely another decision made by the Sunwalkers who crafted them. Were they destined to be beneath the gods eternally? Kept in a hopeless world to be ruled by vain lords? The rebellion would appear to give an answer for that. “No”, it screams in cracked quartz and faded bronze. Even death changed their fate to freedom.

Geodes

The black realm, Tephrite, is a foreigner to the Shimmer. When intersecting with concepts, it cuts off the intersection and nurtures it inside itself. The volcanic flames of the void mix with the essence of that concept and creates a closed-off miniature realm. The physical component of this realm is forced into the material universe, where it is born as a Geode.

Geodes have three life stages. First is the stage of instinct. This is from the beginning of the Geode’s life through the first couple of decades. In complete isolation, a Geode may take centuries to finish the instinct phase of its life. Gravity has ensured that this does not happen very often. Instinct Geodes are large, often aggressive creatures. While primarily a sooty color, their insides and some erratic patterns on their flesh reveal an opalescent array of colors. The exact hue mix is the first sign of what this Geode’s Irradiance will be. Instinct Geodes have not developed self-awareness, and thus are extremely responsive to malintent and emotions. They are possible to take in like a lost infant, but only if their environment shows no fear. A few dedicated families take up the role of Geode nurturers to reduce the destruction they may cause.

Once a Geode spends enough time on its own or with people, it will begin to be aware of itself. Language, Eniana’s name, and the sentience of others form in its mind. Coinciding with this, the Geode takes on an almost entirely human form. The tells of a Geode in this Awareness stage are their unusually tinted skin from their iridescent blood and slowly shifting colorful markings on their bodies. Depending on the personality that forms, some Geodes may maintain slightly bestial qualities through this stage. This Awareness stage seems to exist so that Geodes may learn about and become one with their power. Assigning to their realm a conceptual name, the Awareness Geodes gain the ability feared and hated by the gods: interpretation. DIfferent meanings of their concept’s name can be communicated to their realm and brought into reality. Awareness does not awaken into the Geode’s last phase of life for a few centuries.

Rebellion is the final phase for Geodes. Taking a form somewhere between human and monster, the patterns on their body cease moving and stabilize into a final array. This stage starts when the Geode’s mind fully acclimates to the power it owns, coming into its own by mastering Irradiance. This stage rejects the human form, the design of the Sunwalkers, and is branded heresy. Rebellion Geodes are considered devils among devils by the Sunwalkers, and yet heroes of Enmity by many humans. Having grown into a creative type of magic for centuries and being shunned by the divine from the start, these Geodes have prowess and control over their environment that can only come from pure self-reliance. They are sometimes called the natural enemy of the gods.

Geodes are their realm, in a sense. The pseudo-spatial concept domain that a Geode is connected to disappears when they die, only “revived” when the same concept is once again forced to mingle with Tephrite. Indeed, the realms of Geodes are corrupted versions of the Shimmer’s concepts. This intimate connection with their source of magic outclasses even that of the Sunwalkers. And yet the Geodes do not possess the immortality that the Sunwalkers do. They are somewhere between Exalted and Sunwalker in terms of objectively defined divinity, but they are branded unholy as they come.

Demons

Demons stand out from other mortals in that they have a designated purpose. While this purpose may be destructive and a nuisance, it is more than humans or Geodes can say they were made to accomplish. Created by an as-of-yet unidentified Sunwalker, they have been causing chaos on multiple worlds for decades now.

Demons were tested and developed on Enmity, the way most divine happenings are. The first few generations of them were quite weak, able to be beaten back by normal farm tools and weapons. As the mystery Sunwalker innovated, demons got stronger, faster, and more intelligent. Older generations still exist on Enmity, but they are both outnumbered and outclassed by newer strains of the plague. Hyperactive regeneration, metabolic reactions with Shimmer radiation, and many other traits began appearing as time went on. The Sunwalkers, happily lounging around a world away, did not bother to fight against them.

Once the experiments were done, demons began to pop up on Repletion. Hundreds of thousands of the usually humanoid beasts, stronger than any on Enmity, ravaged the lands. They were capable of going toe to toe with Exalted, overwhelming the leisurely villages of the god-world. So great were their numbers, and so unwilling were the Sunwalkers to blast their world away into glass, that the infestation has not been quelled.

A special plant has been developed to fight back against the demons. Ulanya, Sunwalker of photosynthesis, personally sought out alchemists on Enmity to help him develop a plant that could deter or kill demons specifically. Most resented the Sunwalkers for allowing it to go on until it reached Repletion, turning him away. One particularly greedy alchemist extorted a nation’s worth of wealth and supplies from Ulanya, as well as forcing Ulanya to be his personal servant for the rest of his mortal lifespan, in exchange for developing the plant. With gold and azure leaves and a braided pattern of branch growth, the Animus Tree was born.

Animus Trees drop and regrow their leaves at unparalleled rates. The Shimmer radiation they take in infuses the leaves with a particular signature that reacts with and destroys demon biology. Combined, these traits make any Animus groves impossible minefields for demons. Composting the Animus leaves has little use as fertilizer, besides acting as a weak deterrent for demons. The wood of the trees is particularly hardy, and regrows into the form it believes is proper. With enough convincing, an Animus branch can be made into an immortal core for a legendary Lantern.