The Divine Plane (NP: The Astral Glories)

[Chagen]

So I've mentioned this world a bunch of times on the forums but have not actually detailed it fully. Well, for the past three days I've sat down and written out the full backstory to it and fleshed it out more. The original idea came from me loving Exalted so much I made my own version of it. It went okay and diverged pretty quickly, but I ran out of steam...until I looked at an old and completely unrelated conworld I had. Then I got the genius idea to slam these two together...and the result of this chaotic fusion is the world you see here.

I should stress that this is a work in progress. Not everything is fully stabilized and I could change a lot of stuff but that's pretty unlikely.

To put it simply, the Divine Plane is about epic heroes in a shounen-manga kind of way. It's stuffed to the gills with super-powerful demigods wreacking havoc, various factions and groups colliding, and new ones popping up every once in a while. Due to this, I have badly neglected a large amount of the more "boring fluff"; cities, cultures, etc. but I'm starting to get working on that. It's just...the crazy super-powered demigods are fun to work with!

With that sad, here's the looooooong (7 pages in Libre Office) backstory to this whole damn world. It mainly deals with world-changing events, not specific things like countries and the like:


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The Divine Plane—Backstory

Once, there was nothing but sheer existence. There was no order, nor even any chaos. Things simply were, inside a massive sea of Divinity, the purest form of existence. There were 14 beings, named the Aspects. Each one was impossibly massive, so huge that they couldn't fit within human comprehension. Indeed, they were so huge that they were incapable of acknowledging the existence of other beings than themselves. Each one was utterly ignorant of the others. Each one was split into two Facets; the full list:

Love: Love/Lust
Hatred: Opposition/Loathing
Change: Reconstruction/Destruction
Ingenuity: Progress/Depravity
Order: Stability/Chaos
Courage: Valor/Intimidation
Concord: Harmony/Dissonance
Creation: Artistry/Obscenity
Desire: Aspiration/Envy
Belief: Passion/Zealotry
Choice: Freedom/Punishment
Acquisition: Attainment/Larceny
Fate: Defiance/Acquiescence
Life: Living/Death

Due to their sheer size, they “bled” off many smaller beings. The most powerful of these were the Aspectual Souls, of which each Aspect had eight (four for each Facet). Then they had countless millions of Celestials, small beings which were much like mini-Aspects, not independent of their creators and embodying their domains.

Then, one “day” (the concept of time was very fuzzy), Ingenuity, stretching his creative mind to its limits, came to the realization that other beings existed. The others had not, and simply ignored him whenever he went around with his newfound knowledge. The only one who listened to him was Order, whose inner Chaos had eventually warped her mind slightly. Both of them were unsure of what to do, being completely unacknowledged by their peers, but soon they decided to try their hand at building something: Heaven, a place for the two of them to while away their time. Order provided the stability needed for Ingenuity to leave a lasting mark on existence while he worked. Eventually, the project was completed.

The stable shape of Heaven, however, manifested in the “eyes” of the other Aspects. At that point, they saw something unimaginable: something they had not created. At once, they came to the realization that other beings existed, their newly-cognizant minds shattering into raving madness; for they had been so large, so gigantic, that they thought themselves each to be an entire universe unto itself. Now, they knew that they were merely one of several beings, a fact which was unbearable. Stability was terrifying; it meant that they weren't capable of everything, for with stability comes limits and boundaries. Their minds had only goal: pervert this wretched creation.

They each besieged Order and Ingenuity, and threw them down from Heaven, taking root in it and twisting it with all their power into a mockery of itself. But this wasn't enough. Before they cast them down, the Aspects took the Celestials of Ingenuity and Order, and “cursed” them with all of their domains. After all, how could Love and Hatred, Choice and Fate, or Concord and Order exist in the same being? Such paradoxes were impossible.

And yet, right as they did this, Order, using all of her might, stabilized these various domains, to the shock of all the others (even Ingenuity, as even he thought this to be impossible). Then she and Ingenuity fell for what seemed like eternity, before she used her powers once more to warp the existence of the world into a massive, writhing mass of Chaos, into which Ingenuity fell. Both of them were enraged. But they had no idea what to do. Heaven was so far above, and even then, Aspects couldn't kill each other. Nothing had permanence in a battle between Aspects.

Their Celestials, however, soon began to act on their own, now empowered by the various domains. They struck out and began to make settlements, the largest of which, the capital city of Nirvana, contained Ingenuity's body in the center. They soon learned that they were creatures of Order, who forced it into the world merely by looking at it, and with the use of specially trained humans called Landsmiths, they could force a part of the world to be permanently stable, freeing them from the wild uncertainty of Chaos. Whenever these “fiefs” were created, they would spawn a spirit of pure Divinity called a God, which guarded it from Chaos' dangers. They called this place the Divine Plane. And when they learned of what happened to Heaven, they refused to call it that, instead now calling it “Hell” due to its perverted nature.

Disgusted at what their Celestial brethren had done, they cast down the name “Celestials”. They chose to call themselves “Humanity”.


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During this time, the Aspects remained in Hell, gaining a sick sense of glee at twisting it into eldritch forms. Yet, during this time, several of their souls looked down and saw the Divine Plane, and grew attracted to the order which it contained. And inside them grew a spark, a desire to be independent from the Aspects which they were a part of. And so they freed themselves (being so insignificant that the Aspects failed to notice at all) and fled to the Divine Plane, where Ingenuity and Order reticently accepted them.

These “Renegade Souls” and the two Aspects wanted to take back Hell and restore it to its former glory, but how? The answer was humanity. Only by forcing the Aspects into ordered existences could they be killed. But humanity was two weak, and the two Aspects wracked their brains, until Ingenuity created a plan: ascend certain humans who were the epitome of their species into awe-inspiring demigods. Ingenuity and Order would bequeath vast Divinity to these humans, while the Renegades would attune them to the various Aspects. The ones aligned with Acquisition, for existence, would be able to steal even an Aspectual Soul from Hell without being caught, while those aligned with Concord should shatter the bonds between anything, be they literal or emotional. They would be called the “Heavenborn” (the overall term for ascended humans was simply “Ascended”).

Ingenuity liked this, and quickly set forth. Order, however, didn't quite come to it. She left for a new dimension of her creation, Shamayim, a world of gemstone where the rivers ran thick with molten sapphire and the trees were carved from pure ruby and emerald, and diamond plains stretched for hundreds of miles. She took the humans descended from her, and placed them there. From them she created the Gemstone Constabulary, an organization of Ordofices (sg. Ordofex); ascended humans who would act as the “police” of the Divine Plane, who would deal with minor problems and ensure that everything would run correctly while the Heavenborn did the dirty work. They were nowhere near as powerful, but they had numbers which let them keep the Heavenborn in check. Finally, Shamayim contained the workings of the universe—the “source code” to the world, so to speak. Unparalleled access to this granted the Ordofices immense martial arts skill, but anyone strong enough could force their way in and rewrite reality itself...

With that done, Ingenuity created the Heavenborn. The result was tremendous. Humanity quickly rose from barely iron-age farmers to an advanced society within centuries. With the Heavenborn's awe-inspiring power and intellect, new technologies such as gunpowder, firearms, automobiles, electric power, and computers seemed to come nearly every day. The Gemstone Constabulary kept things running smoothly, its intelligence agencies sending millions of Ordofices out to report on everything.

For several millennia, Hell had zero influence, and everything seemed near-perfect. Humanity expanded with almost zero opposition barring wild spirits and other such minor nuisances, carving Order from Chaos. With the production of Divinity Engines, massive machines which could take Chaos and turn it into pure Divinity, humanity's expansion reached a peak, as massive cities with Divinity-fueled infrastructure created near-utopias. Water systems gave perfectly pure water with Divinely-etched inscriptions on their pipes. Divinity could be turned into nearly-limitless power and electricity with ease. The only obstacle was the extreme price of Engines big enough to supply metropolises, but the massive benefits were worth it. Of course, not every city prospered. Many humans on the fringe of settlement, or in small towns, only considered things like pure water, divine healthcare systems which could cure nearly any disease, advanced defense systems which even an Ascended would have trouble beating, and more as things they only read about in books, or, if they were lucky, got to see for tantalizing days on trips.

On the war front, the development of God Machines, massive robots which were actually bipedal shrines to Gods, allowed for even quicker expansion. Some of these mechanical titans, made from divinely-strengthed metal, reached several miles in height, capable of launching divinely-powered salvos which leveled mountain ranges and entire cities in seconds; others augmented the powers of sorcerers, letting them cast titantic spells far too great for even an Ascended alone. Then, some Heavenborn managed to condense them down to human-size and give them artificial souls, creating the Divine Automata, sentient and divine robotic servants who soon became popular amongst even the Ordofices (who often called them “Jewelmechs” for theirs were carved from pure gemstone).

Hell saw this expansion, and it did not please its residents. The sheer size of humanity's expansion was starting to rouse sentience and free will in the Celestials and the Aspectual Souls, and they soon went down to spread blasphemous words about Hell in the names of their creators. The Aspects desired to pervert the Divine Plane, but twisting Hell was so addicting that they could not pry themselves from it to do so.

Hell's lies were barely considered, however. How could anything be better than the Divine Plane? The Celestials and the Aspectual Souls were stymied, unsure of exactly how to spread Hell's influence. Worse yet, they lost much of their power in the Divine Plane, their existences having been warped by Hell, and as such they were often killed by the Heavenborn and Ordofices. At first, they tried to corrupt Heavenborn. But the few they managed to woo with their profane words were killed by their peers and the Gemstone Constabulary with utmost speed.

Hell could not use the Ingenuity's creations. They needed to infect the world with Hell and set up base. And, most importantly, they needed their own Ascended.

Their chance came in the form of a small metropolis named Tirasa.

Tirasa was a decently-sized city of roughly 20 million people. Unlike most large cities, its ruler was a normal human, named Helal, whose father had been a Heavenborn. Helal was a decent ruler. He kept Tirasa free from invaders, and had recently placed a Divinity Engine, the Light of Tirasa in its center.

But it wasn't enough.

Helal never seemed satisfied at the small size of his city. But it was far too difficult and costly to import enough Chaos to improve the city and let every citizen take in the benefits of the Divinity Engine. The Light was small, and only roughly 9 million could benefit from it. The other 11 million lived pitiful lives in comparison. He spent much time depressed and desperately wishing for more. Why wasn't he a Heavenborn like his father? He locked himself in the central executive tower of Tirasa, and wistfully pored over the sorcerous books of his family, desperately wishing that he too could weave those Miracles.

Then, one day, One of Creation's Zealotry souls came to him when he was lamenting his situation. It told him that the power he wanted could be had, if only he came to Hell's side. It showed him a glimpse of what his city could be: one of the greatest cities of all time, with millions of hapy citizens, miles upon miles of glorious skyscrapers that touched the clouds, a massive army of the finest God machines....a city run by the sorcerous powers he could gain as an Ascended.

Helal, after having seen these visions, could barely breathe. He accepted without reservations, and on that night, the Aspects wrought a new kind of Ascended, a twisted mockery of the Heavenborn, perverted by Hell's profane Divinity: the Hellspawn. Helal was the first, a Hellspawn of Belief. Hell still had yet to infect the world, but it was now close.

With his newfound Ascended powers, Helal quickly improved Tirasa to a frightening degree. The population boomed to 90 million, and the Light was expanded into the largest Divinity Engine ever known. He quickly learned and wove spells in unprecedented numbers to improve the city. Its skyscrapers reached higher than ever before, divinely rooted into the ground so they would not sway even an inch in an earthquake. Its people enjoyed free healthcare, electricity, fresh water, immense security, and peace, and their lives overflowed with leisure time where they entertained themselves to fights between God Machines. Knowing that he was a blasphemous travesty of an Ascended, he wisely never dealt with anyone else in person and remained reclusive. In his tower, he began to delve deeper and deeper into what sorcery could create.

Eventually, several Heavenborn began to become suspicious of Tirasa; nothing outside of Ascended power could have led to such an incredible increase. Not to mention that it had been nearly 300 years and yet no new ruler had been announced; surely the supposedly-mortal Helal would have died. The Gemstone Constabulary sent out spies, but they always returned with nothing.

Helal himself soon became enamored with Hell, glimpsing visions of it in his mind. Enthralled by these visions, he devised a spell which would open a gate to it. In the end, he created Profaning The Holy World, only to discover one issue:

The amount of Divinity required to open a gate over Tirasa would require the sacrifice of every citizen in the city.

With Hell's corruption and Zealotry's influence gripping his mind, Helal was prepared to take that step.

He devised a second spell, Infinite Soul Harvest, which would rend the soul of every human in Tirasa, be they mortal or Ascended, melt them into pure Divinity, and bring it to him. The only problem was that the spell took a year to fully cast for such a large city.

Regardless, he pressed on and began preparations, remaining as secretive as possible. However, 8 months into the process, he managed to be careless just once, and an Ordofex spy discovered his plan, sending the details back to Shamayim, which immediately shared it with the Heavenborn. However, the spy only learned of Profaning The Holy World; the fact that Helal wanted to slaughter his citizens remained unknown.

Both the Heavenborn and Ordofices were shocked; not only that a twisted travesty of Heavenborn existed, but also that an Ascended was fighting on the side of Hell. When they learned that he was planning to open a gate to Hell, they could only imagine the horrors he could unleash. A massive mobilization of as many Ascended as possible began. In the end, 100,000 Ascended gathered together, backed by 300,000 Ordofices, ready to storm the city.

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They attacked the day Helal had finished. With every bit of their might, thousands of sorcerers weaving now-lost Miracles and Gemtrances to make the sky rain with fire, split the earth in two, and level entire city blocks in seconds, thousands of warriors rushing forward and storming towards the central tower, and thousands of God Machine pilots crashing their immense mecha through the city center, killing nearly 20 million people alone. They didn't care. They had to prevent Helal from opening the gate.

But they weren't fast enough, and besides: they had fallen right into Helal's trap. He cast Infinite Soul Harvest, engulfing the entire city in a massive magic circle out of which a torrent of writhing corrupted Divinity lashed out, grasping every human there. Every mortal, every Ascended, and every Ordofex was brutally murdered on the spot. And while only 70 million mortals remained, the souls of Ordofices and Ascended were far more potent. Helal received a mass of Divinity equal to four hundred million humans. Then he cast Profaning The Holy World.

The results were catastrophic. The massive gash opened above Tirasa expelled Hell's sickening influence across the entire city, and then continued to overtake everything, spewing forth black, tainted Divinity until an area several thousand times the size of Tirasa was brought under Hell's control. The devastation was immense. Hundreds of nearby cities received the full force of the blow, many of their citizens dying as infernal winds of tainted Divinity tore through everything. In the end, a massive portion of the Divine Plane suffered under Helltaint, and well over 500 million people were dead. This event was to be known as the “Breach”.

But this wasn't the end. All over the Divine Plane, the Breach's specter drove many people to cast down Ingenuity and worship Hell out of fear or twisted respect. Others went as far as to seek refuge in it. And the sheer unadulterated hatred of the Aspects spewed out of Helltaint, casting doubt and worry over mortal humans. Soon, Hell was ascending Hellspawn at an alarming rate. Some of them truly believed in Hell; others wanted power, and yet others were so ludicrously brash as to think that they could go renegade once they gained power.

The Ascended had suffered a terrible blow, but they quickly regrouped and tried to bring order. They encountered nothing but more obstacles. Hellspawn were coming into the Divine Plane and spreading Hell's lies. Various fiefs began to submit themselves to Helltaint. As if this weren't bad enough, Order had been so shocked at what had happened that she became catatonic, and let Chaos overtake the world once more. Eventually, the Ordofices roused her—more to save their own world than the Divine Plane.

The Heavenborn held their heads high nonetheless—and proceeded to be beaten down. It was simply too much. Droves of humans were either dying or worshiping Hell. Fiefs were falling to its lies every day. Chaos had warped the Divine Plane into a mockery of itself. And the Gemstone Constabulary was so shocked and appalled by the fact that an Ascended had committed such a horrible offense against humanity and turned their mother Aspect catatonic that they locked themselves away. When they re-emerged, they were no longer the assistants to the Ascended: they were their enemies, having decided that the Ascended must pay for their failures with their lives. At this point, the Heavenborn truly realized something, something that they had never quite grasped until then:

That they were still human.

That no matter what power they had, some things were truly impossible.

As they fell into this despair, thoughts of revolution stirred up amongst the people. Nyx, a Goddess who loved the night sky, began to preach about how the world needed a new Ascended, not from an Aspect but from the Divine Plane itself. She pointed to the stars, and created a new breed of Ascended: the Astral Glories, stellar Ascended who used the stars themselves to carve their name into the world. Living amongst the stars, they weaponized astrology, and specialized in bizarre bending of reality compared to the brute force the Heavenborn and Hellspawn preferred. They quickly forged a name for themselves, but even they had trouble against Hell.

Humanity seemed utterly finished. Then, the Heavenborn decided that if they were going down, they weren't going to go down without a fight. Grabbing everything they had, they made one last offensive against Hell. For one hundred years, they valiantly fought against the Hellspawn, assuming every day to be their last. And in this assault, they recovered much of the land which had been lost, managed to clear their name, and lay the path for future Ascended to fight. Even the Astral Glories were impressed, though the Ordofices remained as opposed to Ascended as before.

It's been 500 years since that event.

5 years before the present time, the Ordofices, having fallen fully into insane radicalism and paranoid hatred of every Ascended in existence, executed one of their own for the crime of “Conspiring Against The Gemstone Constabulary”. The woman in question, named Asteria of The Onyx Sisterhood, had merely disagreed with the bizarre obsession with murdering or imprisoning nearly every Ascended in existence. Regardless, she was convicted of a “horrible” crime and sentenced to death in the most brutal way possible: eviscerating her soulgem from her body, and casting her out into the Divine Plane where her corpse would lie, her soul forever tormented by its inability to reincarnate. In a bureaucratic rush, her body was thrown to a place under Helltaint, something never done before. And it just so happened that she was thrown right to where Tirasa had stood. Now it was a Hell-infected seething mass of corrupted Divinity, choked by the vengeful souls of Helal's slaughter. When she hit the ground and died, the vengeful hatred of these souls engulfed her own soul.

It raged, and drew in the corrupted Divinity with such immense force that it rent a hole in reality, and did the impossible act of reviving Asteria back to...something. She wasn't a human, she wasn't a god, she wasn't Ascended nor Ordofex nor Celestial. She was an utterly new being, neither dead nor alive, only filled with an immense bout of power. Inside the hole she had torn, she filled it with her own realm: Makai, a world of writhing and pulsating flesh, blood, and viscera. The departing souls of dead mortals began to be drawn in, and of them she took five male and five female Ascended souls and made them into Shinigami: death “gods”. And with the Shinigami, she took souls of mortal humans who could have been ascended had they not died early deaths, and revived them into horrifying undead abominations: the Deathblessed, or Akuma. These undead Ascended were not alive, but rather living a pathetic tragedy of life, endlessly rotting away. Quickly, they began to construct new body parts for themselves, only to learn that, being dead, they could not recreate life, only make grotesque mockeries of it. Some fell into psychotic madness, embraced their atrocious nature, and began to modify themselves into visceral abominations. Others were horrified at the affronts to life they had become and tried to keep the original bodies as intact as possible. All Akuma could consume human flesh to regrow destroyed body parts, and indeed they found their palates changed so that human flesh was the only thing they could eat.

Asteria had one goal: destroy life as a concept itself. She needed access to Shamayim to do that—how fitting, then, that she could destroy the Ordofices who tore the life from her body. Now, if only her Akuma servants would stop turning into horrifying eldritch abominations she can't control...

That was five years ago. This is now. The Heavenborn have cleared their name and are making advances, but they are halted on nearly all side. They can't see eye-to-eye with the Astral Glories despite having the same goals, the ever-present specter of Hellspawn is on all sides, the Ordofices want to kill all of them, and the Akuma just plain want to kill everybody.

And there is strange talk...talk from mortal humans who see these strange heroes in their dreams, clad in dreamlike gossamer armor...some say they're even a new kind of Ascended--from who, no one knows—that work with dreams, ambition, and fate itself. Some have even given them a name: The Dreamwrought. Only time shall tell what side they're on—or if they even exist at all.

As if that weren't enough, the various rips in reality from Helltaint and the creation of Makai have left wounds that still have not healed, and the immense reality-breaking the Ascended do frequently isn't helping. The very fabric of the world now groans and shifts in an effort to close these gaps, but sometimes in the process it opens up a new one. Humans nearby these sometimes are drawn to them, and should they come closer, they lose consciousness, fall in, and peer into the very inner workings of reality, meant only for an Aspect to see. When they wake up, they find themselves no longer mortal but a strange new form of Ascended...gifted with the ability to make illusions that have physical permanence, the limits of these Truthwarped are nearly immeasurable...but every time they exercise these powers, a nascent madness, planted in their minds from witnessing the deepest parts of reality, grows larger and larger...

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With that said, since they're so important, I'll provide a rundown of all the various Ascended types, plus the Ordofices:


Heavenborn: The original Ascended, and the most supreme in the eyes of many. Heavenborn are humanity's finest given the divine power they rightfully deserve. They're impossibly strong, immensely capable, learn extremely fast, and overall are "Humans, But Better". A Heavenborn will never spit venom or transform into a raging lion, but they will be able to wring masterwork-quality weapons from raw ingots of metal, run for hours on end without getting tired, jump 3 stories in the air, cause earthquakes with their fists, and take cannon fire to the face and remain standing. They are righteous guardians of the Divine Plane, and they will fight for it till the end. A worthy person ascends when they find themselves in an impossible situation, but nonetheless perseveres. A Heavenborn sorcerer is called a "Messiah", and they weave "Miracles".

Hellspawn: A perverse and twisted twin mockery of Heavenborn, Hellspawn at first were actually the exact same, the two names simply showing which side of humanity they are on. Now, however, they have been so corrupted by Hell that they aren't exactly the same. Like the Heavenborn, they are "Humans, But Better", but they tend to more brutal and dark in their ways. A Heavenborn will take an ingot and wring a masterwork-quality sword from it, while a Hellspawn would rather take an innocent person and rip a sword from their soul, killing them. Not all Hellspawn are evil, though. Most ask/beg for an ascension from a Celestial, but sometimes Celestials go out to those who have recently failed at something and desperately wish that they had power. A Hellspawn sorcerer is called a "Blasphemer" and they weave "Sacrileges".

Ordofices: Not actually a type of Ascended, but a unique kind of human in their own right. As said above, they live in Shamayim, a world of gemstone. They all work in the Gemstone Constabulary, which is supposed to keep things running smoothly while Heavenborn do the heavy lifting. Now, it's completely insane and paranoid, viewing all Ascended with suspicion and often trying to kill them. It's also a massive bureaucracy where the state provides everything, doesn't use money, and things are handed out based on merit. In reality, it's a corrupted hellhole where factions war daily and a thriving black market sells nearly everything. But as for the Ordofices themselves, they aren't very powerful, but they have extreme aptitude with martial arts and have a bunch of homegrown Ordofex Martial Arts which are some of the most hilariously broken skills in the setting. They clad themselves in gemstone armor and weapons. An Ordofex sorcerer is called a "Gemtrancer" and they weave "Gemtrances".

Astral Glories: An alternative to the Heavenborn, created by the extremely powerful Goddess, Nyx. Astral Glories prefer to work in subtler and more obtuse ways than their rivals. An Astral Glory would rather dodge blows with the graceful movements of a shooting star before turning their opponent's attacks back at them, than smash them outright. They use astrology to mess with a foe's fortune, setting up bizarre cascades of events during the night with the stars, and watching them commence later. People ascend into Astral Glories when they are visited by Nyx during the night; during the next night, they see a resplendent shooting star...firing straight at them, imbuing them with Divinity when it impacts. They have the same goals as the Heavenborn, but both groups just cannot see eye-to-eye. They make weapons and armor from the stars themselves. An Astral Glory sorcerer is a "Starweaver" and they weave "Horoscopes".

Deathbless/Akuma: Undead Ascended created by Asteria, queen of Makai, and her Shinigami. Akuma are made from people who could have ascended had they not met early deaths. As undead, they rot endlessly, and must make do with the grotesque imitations of life they make. To put it simple: Akuma are disgusting. They have an entire martial arts style about projectile-vomiting, they do things such as turn their bodies in hives for millions of plague-bearing insects, they're obligate cannibals, and they often are half-rotten. The ones who fully embrace this end up turning themselves in disgusting and visceral abominations in the end called the Abhorrent. The ones who fear this and try to maintain their bodies, in the end, fall into despair as the fact that they're a rotting abomination offensive to all life sets in, and are driven so deep into madness they become surreal, almost beautiful abominations called the Eldritch. All Akuma have one goal: cause chaos and spread suffering. Many of them don't want to do this--they were just normal people who died and woke up to learn that they're horrifying abominations, but Asteria doesn't care. She has her ways to make them into the grotesque killing machines she wants, even if she drives them insane in the process. Akuma sorcerers are called "Deathchanters" and they weave "Deathchants".

Dreamwrought: A new bizarre form of Ascended...assuming they exist. Dreamwrought haven't even been confirmed to actually exist yet, because they can excise themselves from fate and remove their existences from the world. They seem ethereal, barely connected to reality, and can influence people's thoughts, ambitions, and fates to a scary degree. They can also turn the desires, dreams, and fears of people into real illusions. No one knows where they came from...or what side they're on. They seem to dislike the Astral Glories, however, disagreeing with the way they use astrology. Dreamwrought sorcerers are called "Oneiroi (sg. Oneiros)" and they weave "Reveries"

Truthwarped: So named because they have gazed upon the truth of the world and are now warped by it, Truthwarped are so touched by the inner workings of the universe that they can create illusions that feel real, from food to weapons to entire buildings and even people. However, this comes with a rather dark price: the knowledge they recieve has planted a seed of madness in their mind, and the more they use their powers, the more this nascent madness grows...and when it grows too large, they start unconsciously warping the world, which can cause absolute disasters. They're so new that no one really has an opinion on them yet, and indeed the other Ascended don't even know they exist, but rumors of men and women who create mind-bending illusions are already spreading...Truthwarped sorcerers are called "Reality Warpers" and they weave "Resplendent Mirages".

Divine Automata: A sort of pseudo-Ascended. These are robots implanted with artificial souls crafted through sorcerous means, giving them sentience and emotions. They are human-like to an uncanny degree, caring deeply for their creators and possessing individual tastes, dreams, and fears. All the Ascended make them and use them as servants, friends, and combat or even sexual partners. How they look depends on who made them, and they often have unique names too: the Heavenborn make DA's with divinely-strengthened metal, the Ordofex Jewelmechs are carved from pure Gemstone, the Hellspawn Hellmechs are are tainted with the writhing dark Divinity that runs in their circuitry, the Stellar Colossi of the Astral Glories are wrought with the lovely radiance of stars...you get the picture. All Divine Automata can quickly reprogram themselves to change their specialities in a flash, and are ridiculously hard to kill for as long their soul survives they can just build a new body (whether or not their owner will fit the bill, though...) and most have a set of spare bodies anyway. They also specialize in chainsaw variants of weapons, with teeth so fine they tear rips in reality. Divine Automaton sorcerers are called "Divine Processors" and they weave "Holy Simulations"

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Well...that's that. Feel free to comment or ask me stuff. I'm thinking of adding one more group of Ascended here but I have no clue what they could be, that's unique enough to not feel like a change on the one's already here.

[Ear of the Sphinx]

Wow, impressive.

[Chagen]

Thanks. I've gotten disappointingly few replies to this, but I guess it IS really long. The next post will probably clarify how the world works, as, being fundamentally Chaos, it has no set shape until humans force it to take shape.

[alynnidalar]

Just want to pop in and say that I've been at least skimming most of what you've posted about your conworld, and find it really interesting, I just didn't have anything in particular I wanted to comment on.

[zyma]

Just want to pop in and say that I've been at least skimming most of what you've posted about your conworld, and find it really interesting, I just didn't have anything in particular I wanted to comment on.

Me too. Hopefully I'll be able to think of more specific things to say in the future.

[Thrice Xandvii]

If it makes you feel better, Chagen, I've read a lot of what you've posted on the Divine Plane, but if I actually commented on everything in here I had thoughts on, well, my post would be longer than yours! As such, I just didn't bother.

Maybe now is a good time to let us AMA a bit with you? I know there are prolly several of us who would comment on your ideas better in a dialogue.

[Chagen]

Sure, but you were always open to AMA...feel free though!

But before that, I have a new post for you, about the way the Divine Plane actually works:

The Makeup of The Divine Plane


The Divine Plane is a strange place. The best description for it is that it's a seething mass of pure Chaos. But what is “Chaos”? In all of existence—the term for the Divine Plane, Heaven/Hell, Makai, Shamayim, and whatever else might exist all together—matter consists of basically three forms.

The first of these is Divinity. Divinity makes up the background of Existence. Without it, nothing else can exist. It is the purest form of matter there is, and by harnessing it nearly anything is possible. Humans are inherently divine creatures, as are all other Celestials, Gods (who are, indeed, naught but coalesced masses of Divinity), and spirits.

The second two are so closely intertwined that it's impossible to separate the two: they are Chaos and Order. Chaos is the natural state of the Divine Plane, and has no set stability or structure. It simply is. Chaos can be mined and turned into Divinity with the aid of machines called Divinity engines. These machines allow normal humans to better use Divinity, but they are expensive to build, expensive to fuel, and must be massive to service large cities.

Order is what happens to Chaos when humans gaze upon it. By merely looking at Chaos, humans force it to take stable, ordered shape (due to this, it is impossible to actually see pure Chaos, without binding it with Divinity so it does not take shape). With Order comes familiar sights—running streams, raging tornadoes, massive forests, mountain ranges, etc. Humans can build things when there is Order.

However, once humanity leaves a place, the Chaos unravels and becomes incoherent once more. Due to this, most of the Divine Plane does not have a stable geography. One can go through an area once and see a running stream and rolling forested hills, then return the next, and find a massive rock chasm and a mountain range in the same area. Travelers through Chaos must come to terms with the fact that what they see in front of them will disappear when they close their eyes to sleep, and completely change when they wake up. Many a traveler has woken up only to find that the brook he slept by has been replaced with an impassable cliff. Things with inherent Divinity, however, will remain the same, which is why humans never disappear and

The only solace is that, for whatever reason, a particular area will usually shape itself into similar things. An area will always shape itself into a desert with smooth sand and rolling dunes, with an oasis or two, but it will never shape itself into a wet and humid rain forest. Because of this, humans can go and find the climate they want without too much trouble.

Of course, topography changing every night is not a good thing at all for permanent settlements, which are rather lukewarm on half their city disappearing because a cliff replace the plains it was on. There needed to be a way to force an area to always be shaped, even when humans were not around. Thankfully, Order (as in, the Aspect), gave us just that, in the form of Landsmiths and stakes.

Landsmiths are specially trained humans who understand the nuances of Chaos. They go into an area, preferably with protection, and dive a stake etched with blessings and prayers in pure Divinity into the ground. This then forces the surrounding area—the size depends on how big the stake is—to always have shape, even if no one were there. These areas are called “fiefs”.

The creation of a fief has another effect as well. In the process, a being of pure Divinity, called a God/Goddess, manifests. All Gods manifest knowing their purpose in life: to protect their fief. Their divine power allows them to ensure that Chaos does not take back the fief, and in return they receive thanks and prayer from the humans inside. Most Gods have very personal and casual relationships with humans, especially the ones from fiefs as small as a single field which contain a single family, where the God often is treated as a member of the family themselves. Since a God's power depends on the size of their fief, they often aim to expand; if a new fief nearby is created that overlaps with theirs, they automatically own that fief and no new God is created. However, some are content with the small power and peace they have.

If a stake is destroyed in any way, then the entire are becomes Chaos instantly. This has terrible effects: it kills the God of the fief and taints the souls of every human inside with Chaos. These chaos-tainted humans gain the ability to move through it without forcing it into order, but at the cost of becoming addicted to it, their souls warped and requiring it to simply live normally. Many of them die soon after.

Gods also, incidentally, are the beings which introduces humanity to sorcery. Sorcery requires direct manipulation of Divinity; as beings composed purely from the stuff, Gods are great at this, needing to do it merely to exist, but humans are completely incapable of this, at least from birth. The Gods taught this power to humans, and even now the best way to learn sorcery is to get a godly tutor.

Since creating fiefs would be pointless if one still had to brave Chaos to travel between them, humanity has already carved out many routes between the largest fiefs. Any sane traveler will take them, though the reckless may chose to simply carve a path through Chaos.

Chaos itself is not a stable entity, uniformly distributed amongst the Divine Plane. Quite often, unusually dense collections of it appear, drawing in more and more until they gain a sort of pseudo-sentience: these beings are called “spirits”. Spirits are beings of Chaos, and they feed off of it as well. Since their creation leaves the surrounding area drained of Chaos, they usually leave and move around the world. Many of them despise Order, simply because it has a permanence that disturbs them. These are the main reason why traveling through Chaos is dangerous; the longer and deeper one goes, the more spirits become agitated until they finally attack.

These “evil” spirits dislike Order, but are willing to shape themselves and play by its rules solely to attack. As Divinity is a higher form of Chaos, they adore it, and thus attack humans mainly to feast on their souls, rich in Divinity. And they especially love Ascended, as they are massive fonts of Divinity. The shape of a spirit depends: many shape themselves based off the local legends and myths of humans living nearby. Others take on human form, but with something off or different, such as animalistic features like ears and tails, or differently-colored skin.

However, not all spirits are bad. Remember: they love Divinity, and Gods are massive fonts of it. Indeed, Gods, in actuality, are a special kind of spirit. Thus, some will order themselves and work for Gods. Humans too can summon them with sorcery--usually Ascended, the only ones with enough Divinity in their souls—but spirits can be tricky to work with, as their chaotic minds can sometimes be incomprehensible...though ones which spend much of their time ordered tend to become more “human”.


The uneven distribution of Chaos also has another effect. If a very large amount Chaos starts to pool into an area, then the result isn't a spirit, but a sort of “super-spirit” which manifests themselves as a living location, called a “Genius Loci”. Humans who go to Loci find strange areas with only tenuous connections to the world at best. These areas have form, but no sane function. The ground and sky a rainbow of colors, where the grass can be as blue as the sky and the sky itself can be a sickly green or a radiant pink. Trees with nonsensical designs that shouldn't stand upright twist and turn in massive forests. Random parts of the ground float for no discernible reason, upside-down mountain ranges appear half-rooted in the ground, and rivers flow upwards. Massive cities with skyscrapers with other skyscrapers sprouting off them like a concrete and steel tree stand silently, bereft of any citizens. The roads in these cities go straight into the sky, unto the ground, and are without any logical planning, starting and ending at whim. Mountains 30 feet tall stand directly next to shrubbery 30 miles tall.

Even worse is that since Loci are actually spirits, the area itself is opposed to humanity's presence, actively attacking it and sending spirits (Loci are so huge that Chaos coalesces into other spirits inside them) after the intruders. In addition, these places always move, usually without any sort of direction, but if they sense a nearby fief, they often slowly lurch over to it. When they inevitably slam into the fief, they stop, but given enough time, they'll break the borders and send hordes of spirits there, necessitating an Ascended to go in and stop them. Getting rid of a Loci requires one to enter it and reach its center, where it manifests itself as an actual physical—and extremely powerful—spirit, and kill it there. Thankfully, they are rare, and a rarer few are benevolent (or at least not actively malicious) and are willing to remain distant from humanity, letting people enter them to collect the rare chaotic materials can which lay inside...assuming one can pay a price of Divinity, and they don't charge cheap.

(The similarities between Loci and Gods has been noted by several in-universe, and a theory with some evidence behind it posits that Gods are actually just benevolent Loci. However, the main argument against this is that a God does not move their fief by merely moving, and indeed cannot move their fiefs at all)

Finally, he Divine Plane is wholly separate of the other various realms in existence. One can no more walk to Shamayim, Hell, or Makai as we may walk to Alpha Centauri (however, this analogy lacks because Alpha Centauri is a fixed direction from us. Shamayim, Hell, and Makai are not merely unconnected to the Divine Plane, but cannot be said to even be a certain direction from it). Travel between these realms requires sorcery to connect them.

Of course, much of this goes out of the window when Hell's blasphemous influence perverts the world...but that's for another post.

///////////

Feel free to AMA anything about this.

[Chagen]

Shamayim:

Shamyim is a realm utterly separate from the Divine Plane and Hell. Access to it requires sorcerous means; however, getting into Shamayim is several times harder than going from it. This is for a very specific reason: Shamayim is the land of the Ordofices and the Gemstone Constabulary, and they wont stand for random incursions by bored or rankled Ascended.


//////////

Shamayim is composed completely from Gemstone. Not a single rock, plant, or animal exists in it. Its forests have floors of pure emerald, with trees carved of pure ruby. Diamond plains extend for miles and miles, several hundred miles thick. The rivers and seas run thick with molten blue sapphire. Every gem in existence is in Shamayim. There are caves of pure onyx stretching miles into mountains of pure quartz. It rains molten turquoise. Near the grounds of the Gemstone Constabulary, tigers carved of orange Topaz, wrapped in bands of obsidian, their eyes rubies, guard the front gates. Water and food for its humans inhabitants comes from Order herself.

The gemstone in Shamayim is vastly superior to gemstone in the Divine Plane. It's called “Godgem”, and the Ordofices make everything out of it. They use armor and weapons carved from Godgem. They eat with Godgem spoons, sleep on beds with Godgem frames, live in Godgem houses, write on Godgem paper, and read books with Godgem ink. Gemstone is almost worthless in Shamayim, solely due to its ubiquity; the known diamond plains contain several times over the Earth's weight in diamond, for instance. What us normal humans consider to be outstandingly beautiful jewelery is worth but mere pennies in Shamayim. That is, it would be if it used money at all.

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Shamayim is home to the Gemstone Constabulary, where the Celestials of Order live. The Gemstone Constabulary is so named because it acts as the closest thing to a police force in the Divine Plane. Its will is enacted through the Ordofices (sg. “Ordofex”), empowered Celestials. The Ordofices are not Ascended; they are a separate albeit similar kind of being. All Celestials in Shamayim become Ordofices by their tenth birthday, and all of them are trained from birth to become them. Normal humans in the Divine Plane can also become them, but this is very rare.

Ordofices are not as powerful as Ascended. They only live for a few centuries at most, many of them dying naturally at about 400-600 years old, with 800-900 years as the absolute max. It takes about 3 Ordofices to match the power of an Ascended. However, they have three very important advantages:

First of all, there are far more Ordofices than Ascended. For every Heavenborn, Hellspawn, Akuma, or other Ascended, there are hundreds of Ordofices. The Gemstone Constabulary can afford to simply throw them at whatever problem it has until they wear it down through sheer numbers.

Second, the Ordofices have immense backing and assistance. The entire Gemstone Constabulary is a gigantic machine in which literally every single able-bodied citizen of Shamayim is expected to partake in. The Ascended live harrowing lives where they must strike out and acquire things on their own. Even the most green Ordofex, on the other hand, can expect detailed information from spies, adequate food and lodging, and high-quality equipment tailor-made for their mission.

Third, Order, being the existence who created the world, has given her children access to the very inner workings of the universe: the result is that the Ordofices have by far the most powerful martial arts of anyone. In addition, they learn any martial art with blinding speed compared to even Ascended. Ordofex Martial Arts, or OMA, will be gone over later, but remember that an Ordofex lifted up by them can pose a challenge for even the most powerful of opponents.

From the moment they are born, humans in Shamayim are trained. They spend their first ten years learning about who they will be, training in basic martial arts, and learning basic scholastic subjects as mathematics, reading, history, art, and more at their own request. By the time they are ten, they are already potent cogs for the massive machine they shall enter.

At the age of ten, they are implanted on the head with a special gemstone called a “Soulgem”. This is what turns them into an Ordofex and greatly enhances their physical body. It also gives them special ability to manipulate divinity in the ways martial arts require. This is what allows them to learn martial arts with immense speed, and learn OMA without intense training. If this Soulgem is ripped out in some way, they die instantly, but the charms placed on it at implantation make this almost impossible except for the most extremely powerful beings.

What kind of Soulgem is implanted depends on their destiny. All of the Ordofices with a particular gemstone are considered to be part of that gemstone's “brotherhood” or “sisterhood” (“society” is also used, and what I will use here). There are 7 societies currently:

-The Ruby Society is meant for those who would rather use force. Much like the red-hot beauty of the ruby itself, Rubies charge forward and deal with problems head on. Thus, many of them are warriors, but others are charismatic officials and politicians known for their fiery personalities. All in all, they are passionate—about what is simply up to the individual Ruby.

-The Sapphire Society embodies the water-like blues of their gem. They flow like water, seemingly able to adapt to everything. They often have sly tongues and can plan for anything, and when things go wrong, they come up with a new plan with ease. However, there are Sapphire warriors, and they are tricky opponents who dodge attacks like a flowing river, and then shower their enemies with attacks like a raging thunderstorm.

-The Emerald Society are in tune with nature and harmony, fitting their gemstone's verdant hues. Emeralds are often bright and festive and make great performers, or they are very good at convincing others and other rhetorical matters. However, when they are forced to fight, they are incredibly difficult to take down, for they have fierce conviction and belief in honesty. They refuse to let anything, be it physical, mental, or divine, alter themselves. This means that they are not only the most cheery, but the most defensive of the societies, and they can tank even the hardest hits.

-The Opal Society is the least understood. Indeed, Opals are best defined by what they are not: normal. Opals are always eccentric people, and have as many infinite variations as their ephemeral gemstone. Critics sneer that the Opal Society only exists to shove those who fail to fit any of the other societies, but the Opals are recognized by those more educated as very important. They are not quite as pigeon-holed as the other Societies, and they represent a nice source of chaos to counteract the Ordofices' preferred order. The Opals do not have any martial arts aspected to them, and they have no special Workings; instead, they can learn any workings from any Society, just with a little more training than usual (other Societies must spend immense effort to learn another one's Workings and even then can't learn all of them).

-The Onyx Society is, like their gem, dark and mysterious. Many of them are spies who infiltrate the Divine Plane to investigate, usually to inform others of what to expect before a mission. Otherwise, they tend to prefer less-direct approaches, and usually are quiet or at least concise. This doesn't mean that they aren't capable of happiness or joy, just that they express it in a muted way.

-The Aquamarine Society is airy and light. Aquamarines often seem like they have a tenuous grasp on reality, and that reality has a tenuous grasp on them. They often slip through the cracks and seem airheaded, but this is a biased view. Aquamarines are often sorcerers, for their trance-like personalities are perfect for manipulating Divinity. Otherwise, they are also very good at athletics, and subtly influencing others. All of these traits derive from the sky-blue color of their gem.

-The Diamond Society is much less common than the others, and Diamonds are supposed to represent the epitome of Ordofices. They are as fierce as Rubies, yet as adaptable as Sapphires, and still are as convicted as Emeralds, and still as eccentric as the Opals. Of course, such people are rare, and many non-Diamonds dislike them both from jealously, and from the rightful complaint that Diamonds tend to be very narcissistic and egocentric. Diamonds often consider themselves as above the others, but this is a faulty assumption, for Diamonds simply embody all the traits of the others, but don't actually beat them at it. They are the leaders and generals of the Ordofices.

It should be noted that the being in a Society only suggests traits. There are the stereotypical fiery and intense Rubies who jump headfirst into everything, but there are also calm Rubies who focus their fiery passions into things like intellectual studies, crafting, or art. For instance, there are warriors of every society:

-The Ruby warrior is the classic knight who throws himself into battle and thinks only of the moment.
-The Sapphire warrior is a tricky speedster; much like how a river flows past a weapon dunked into it, she adapts to every trick her opponent has and simply flows past attacks.
-The Emerald Warrior is a master of defense, a tank who endures nearly anything and charges through till he wins through sheer endurance.
-The Opal Warrior is utterly impossible to predict. He'll pull out nearly any strange tactic and can confuse enemies with his constantly-shifting plans.
-The Onyx warrior prefers to sneakily evade and strike when the enemy least expects it—assuming she just don't stealthily assassinate them before the battle has even begun.
-The Aquamarine warrior does not seem to even really notice that she's in a battle in the first place: regardless of what happens, she remains in a trance-like focus, immune to any sort of pressure or mindgames.
-The Diamond warrior simply uses her expert skill to overwhelm an enemy with her radiant greatness.

On the other hand, take politicians:

-The Ruby politician is a fiery and charismatic person who pushes for his preferred legislation with intense passion.
-The Sapphire Politician weaves her way through the political climate, appearing to be weak and compromise with everyone—until it's all over and everyone realizes that she's swept them up into her stream and placed them in a position where they cannot hope to best her.
-The Emerald politician is a classic example of one who uses his rhetorical skills to convince even the most stalwart opposition to join his side.
-The Opal politician is an utter lunatic whose unorthodox methods and legislation leave everyone stumped. But when they examine it, they realize that such insane methods might just work...
-The Onyx politician is a master of bribery and behind-the-scenes manipulation. After all, there's nothing wrong with gaming the system so long as you're not caught. Others may object, but with no evidence, how can she be charged?
-The Aquamarine politician rarely suggests legislation herself. No, she resides in the background, subtly influencing others to mend legislation to her will or to pass things she wants passed. When she does suggest legislation, it's usually a large amount of minor things that build up to a massive intertwined whole.
-The Diamond Politician uses her status to push through whatever she wants and shut down whatever she doesn't want. If someone objects...well, what can they do in the face of a Diamond?

Ordofices also are considered to be aspected to either Order or Chaos; a Chaotic Ruby, an Ordered Aquamarine, etc. No official body actually records whether or not a particular Ordofex is Chaotic or Ordered, but the distinction does matter for the ultimate ruling body: the Gemstone Constabulary, which consists of 4 people from each of the 7 societies: 2 women, one Ordered and one Chaotic, and 2 men, one Ordered and one Chaotic.

The Gemstone Constabulary would like to remind all Ordofices that the 7 societies that currently exist are the only ones which ever existed. There was never a time where vastly more societies from Garnet to Amethyst to Jade to Smithsonite to Lapis Lazuli to Pearl to Peridot to Agate and many more. There was also never a time where the Diamonds, for whatever reason, grabbed the current 6 still remaining besides them and brutally suppressed all the others, leaving the 7 we have today. Anything implying otherwise, be it in long-lost archives or in the whispered rumors and legends of the uneducated, is detrimental to the well-being of the Gemstone Constabulary, and should be reported immediately.

Spreading rumors of these “Lost Societies” is punishable by death. Believing them is grounds for imprisonment and rehabilitation.

Do not believe anyone besides the Gemstone Constabulary. Do not ask questions. Do not spend time pondering these matters.

Do not ever question the supreme authority of the Gemstone Constabulary.

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The Gemstone Constabulary's original purpose was to preserve order in the Divine Plane so that the Heavenborn didn't have to waste their time managing such minutiae. Anytime there was a minor problem, such a spirit outbreak or some civil unrest, the Ordofices would appear in a flash to quell it.

The Constabulary is, for all intents and purposes, a communist state. It does not use money and owns all the means of production. In theory, not a single person actually owns anything. All Ordofices are given lodging and food by the Constabulary. When they are assigned missions, they receive supplies and are given weapons and armor if necessary. State-sponsored writers, entertainments, reporters, musicians, and much more provide entertainment and news. All materials to be distributed are screened for any anti-Constabulary messages, and those found to be putting said messages in are punished severely.

Also in theory, it is an ideal meritocracy: if you want better stuff, then you simply need to perform well and rise in the ranks. Higher-ranking Ordofices can request better equipment for their missions, and have much higher priority. Even then, however, they do not own these items, and must return them when their missions are over. Higher ranks also mean the ability to request higher-quality lodging, food, seats at plays/performances/etc., and other leisure items.

In reality, this is completely false tripe. Ordofices may request that specially-made weapons, armor, and other such things are made for them, for instance. On paper, they are merely “renting” these possessions, but everyone knows that they own them. In addition, the bureaucracy is so massively large that oftentimes supplies will be given out weeks or months after a mission was supposed to start. Since refusing to do a mission is grounds for severe punishment and demotion (even if it were impossible to start because something critical never got delivered on time), a massive black market has emerged to get whatever one wishes. All that matters is that you have something to exchange, and a rudimentary currency has even begun to emerge.

In truth, the Constabulary in general is a gigantic bureaucracy far too big for its own good. Getting anything done can be nearly impossible, as endless papers must be signed and endless superiors must debate how to do things. Rising up in the ranks is simply hopeless without bribing, as one's papers get lost or forgotten about otherwise. Never mind when an angry God/Ascended/Celestial comes in and causes a havoc. All of a sudden, the entire system flies into endless chaos as everything becomes a jumbled mess.

Escaping this mad machine is utterly hopeless, for it controls all of Shamayim. Therefore every Ordofex learns, and indeed must learn, how to manipulate it to their will. Those who claim to do things legitimately are either young (and will quickly learn how naive they are) or are flat-out lying. There isn't a single layer of the Constabulary which isn't corrupt. Warriors assigned on missions must use the black market to acquire weapons and armor. Politicians must take bribes and in turn bribe to have any chance to rise in the ranks. The government may own everything, but when one man or woman controls a factory and then tells it to only produce a particular kind of weapon, bribes officials to look the other way, and then sells these on the black market to finance luxuries also bought on the black market, how exactly can you argue that they don't “own” it in all but name?

Connections are paramount for any Ordofex. In this massive machine, the only way to get ahead is to build connections that give access to what one needs. The entire Gemstone Constabulary is a tortured web of alliances, rivalries, unions, and much more. Given that nearly everyone is entangled in this corruption, it's possible to frequently flaunt the law in broad daylight: after all, the law enforcement, the court, and the officials running them are all almost certainly as corrupt as the “criminals”! Nonetheless, it usually happens in secret. The Ordofices would rather give off the air of being legitimate even as they secretly game the system to its ends. Arrests and the like happen very rarely, mainly because only a tiny amount of people actually want to fix the system, those who do often are so overwhelmed by the size of the corruption that they find themselves powerless, and half the time said “arrests” were arranged only to appear legitimate, the “police” often letting the “criminals” go with no repercussions after hashing out a few deals.


The Gemstone Constabulary is rotten to the core, and that's exactly how the Ordofices want it. That's not the problem. What is, is how the Constabulary is falling apart at the seems.

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After Helal's betrayal of humanity and the creation of the Hellspawn, the Ordofices were so shocked that they locked themselves away for quite some while. The Ascended were supposed to be glorious heroes and guardians of humanity, and now the forces of Hell had their hands on one of them? Soon, during their seclusion, a seed of thought grew in the minds of the top brass in the Constabulary: were the Ascended really fit to guard humanity? What if they could be twisted into atrocious agents of Hell, or something else?

This seed continued to grow into a bloom that filled the Ordofices' minds with disgust. The Ascended couldn't be trusted, they argued. They couldn't be allowed to have free reign anymore. And when they finally decided to come out from seclusion, they had changed completely. Now, they considered the Ascended to be reckless loose cannons at best, and ticking time bombs at worst. The Constabulary immediately adopted propaganda that portrayed the Ascended as dangerous beings that had to be kept in line by the Ordofices. Ministries were set up that tracked the movements of any Ascended: anytime one stepped “out of line”, they were punished. And the Constabulary had very, very ambiguous ideas on what “out of line” meant. They frequently attacked and punished Heavenborn and Astral Glories for strange reasons, and often would just drum up charges out of nowhere when they couldn't stretch their lawbooks to criminalize even the most innocuous actions.

This, of course, flew completely in the face of the Ordofices' original purpose. They were to be the ones preserving order in the Divine Plane, doing the little jobs the Ascended need not worry themselves with. Now, they had arrogantly declared themselves the babysitters of the Ascended, too dangerous to be kept alone. The Ascended violently disliked this and often fell into conflict with them, something that worsened the relations between the two groups.

Having already begun the descent in rabid paranoia, the Constabulary viewed the belligerency of the Ascended as proof that they were uncontrollable beasts. It began to pump out even more propaganda, and cracked down on anything it didn't like. Anti-Constabulary actions became highly illegal, with the penalty rising from imprisonment to the death penalty incredibly fast. All entertainment to be distributed publicly had to be screened for anti-Constabulary or pro-Ascended sentiment. Young boys and girls in Shamayim received biased and sometimes outright-false histories in school that demonized the Ascended and raised the Ordofices up as bastions of humanity.

When the Constabulary executed Asteria of the Onyx Sisterhood and inadvertently created Makai, the Shinigami, and the Akuma, everything went haywire. The Constabulary was now fully convinced that all Ascended, no matter what, needed to die. It was as simple as that. It dedicated all of its efforts towards tracking and eliminating Ascended, and filled Shamayim with lies about their danger. Most people believe them, for they don't know any better. But it's often common to hear those Ordofices who have faced an Astral Glory or a Heavenborn talk about how faith-shaking it is to fight one of those glorious beings. How could any being so glorious be an evil monster?

They do not express these sentiments, of course. That would result in the death penalty. But despite the propaganda, there are many in Shamayim who other wonder if the government's words are true, and those who have seen the truth and now must keep it hidden. It is a sad ironic fact that this paranoia is only hurting the Divine Plane in the end. Hellspawn and Akuma are now attacking from all sides, and the Heavenborn and Astral Glories no longer have the help of the Ordofices on their side, when they need it the most.

The Gemstone Constabulary is falling to pieces, and everyone knows it. Factions are breaking out in the government as people desperately try to move ahead. More and more Ordofices are learning the truth about Ascended. The government is so focused on spreading propaganda and fighting Ascended that it's suffered several large blows from unexpected attacks on it. The system cannot hold itself up much longer. The aforementioned corruption has resulted in everyone hoarding what they can for the inevitable collapse. People don't talk about it, of course. They go through their lives acting as if everything is perfectly normal, when the entire system they live inside of is about to slide into the abyss.

The Ordofices who look around and realize that something must be done as soon as possible find themselves in a situation which is far greater than anything an Ordofex has ever faced. The Ordofices were meant to preserve order. They were not meant to do epic, world-changing acts. But now, they look, and they are realizing that the only to way to preserve order now is to push themselves beyond their limits and do these epic, world-changing acts.

Whether those acts will be beating sense into the Constabulary and joining the side of the “heroic” Ascended once more, joining together and finally crushing all the Ascended from the Divine Plane, or even joining the forces of Hell itself...remains to be seen.

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Once again, feel free to AMA about this.

[Thrice Xandvii]

How prevalent are normal non-powered people in this world? When you say "people" think, or what have you, are you referring to these normal folks, or do you mean less important members of these various groups? It just seems that people without magical "martial arts" would have no real ability to do anything in such a strange world of such omnipresent titanic forces that can mold reality and what not.


(Also, following the pattern of radix→radices, shouldn't the singular be Ordofix?)

[Chagen]

"Ordofex/Ordofices" is based off of "Carnifex/Carnifices".

"Normal" in this world simply means a normal person like you and me. And yes, they cannot really do much. This is why the Heavenborn were made in the first place: to guard and protect humanity. It's like the tabletop RPG Exalted which heavily inspired this game. The purpose of this world is focus on the Ascended and the Ordofices (this world is actually for a tabletop game I want to make, but I'm not too good at designing mechanics...)

[Dormouse559]

(Also, following the pattern of radix→radices, shouldn't the singular be Ordofix?)

No, "-fex, -ficis" means "maker/performer" in Latin. Not a lot of words containing it are very well known nowadays, but take "pontifex" (literally "bridge-builder", figuratively "pontiff, pope"). I would point out though that "-fex" apparently didn't attach directly to the nominative form of the root word. "Ordinifex" seems more correct. (Whether accurate Latin derivations are your goal, Chagen, I don't know.)

[Chagen]

They weren't really--I took two years of Latin in high school though--and "Ordofex" rolls off the tongue a little more than "Ordinifex".

[Thrice Xandvii]

"Ordofex/Ordofices" is based off of "Carnifex/Carnifices".

I learned a new word today! (Also, I guess the singular of "feces" is technically a "fex" or "fæx".)

I still think "an Ordofix" sounds better. Not sure why.

[Chagen]

The Astral Glories

Astral Glories are a strange type of Ascended, created by the goddess Nyx through a clever-bout of reverse-engineering and then divine “programming”. Like the stars that power them and which they're named after, the Astral Glories glow with power so bright and stellar it can stop even the strongest and most foolhardy in their tracks. They let off glorious aurorae after intense displays of power and burn with sidereal light. Theoretically, they have infinite power. However, much like the stars, the hotter and more intense they burn, the shorter their time of power can last; and if they burn too brightly for too long, they're doomed to be a burnt-out white dwarf at best, and a deadly supernova at worst.

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The Origin of the Astral Glories

The Astral Glories stem from all the way before Hell began to encroach on the Divine Plane. Back when the Aspectual Souls were planning to create the Hellspawn, they surmised that they needed to examine how the Heavenborn were created in the first place. The natural Divinity of an Ascended human soul would need endless amounts of highly complex infernal sorcery to warp it to Hell's needs. They figured that the only way to figure out what sorcery they needed to place was to steal some prototype souls from Ingenuity itself. So, with some Heavenborn they had converted to their side, they raided Ingenuity's inner sanctum for the prototypes. A massive battle inevitably broke out, causing massive amounts of damage and dragging several hundred Heavenborn into the fray. The ones on Hell's side actually managed to escape, but were caught and mostly killed (five managed to get back, hence why the Aspectual Souls managed to create the Hellspawn).

The capture and executions happened on the Fief of one small goddess, Nyx. A lovely woman with blinding silver hair down to her knees and lightly-tan dark skin, and piercing violet eyes, Nyx loved the night sky and the stars, but also wanted to improve her lot on life. When the executions occurred, she found a prototype soul lying nearby, having been forgotten in the rush. Picking it up, she immediately set to work the next day on decoding and reverse-engineering its inner workings. If she could do that, she could do what many gods wished to do, but thought impossible: create her own kind of Ascended. That would propel her up the divine social ladder very quickly. Besides the difficulty of reverse-engineering, the sheer power needed to empower a soul to Ascended levels was simply out of the realm of the gods. Nevertheless, Nyx persevered on.

Eventually, after several years, Nyx had mostly figured out the internals of Ascension. However, how could she empower humans? The answer lied in the stars. One day she went outside on a night where it seemed that every star burned the brightest it ever had. The sheer light coming from them nearly overwhelmed her. So many stars—so much power. Then it dawned on her: why power the humans themselves when you can let the stars do it? This came with one drawback, however: modifying the method of ascension that Ingenuity used to create the Heavenborn to this extent was impossible. That method required the empowerer to use their own power, and her idea required sorcery. She would have to create her own kind of Ascension, by peering into Ingenuity's work and “coding” her own. This was the divine equivalent of coding a massive program, using only the raw machine code of another program (the only such program in existence) which had been written by the same being who created machine code, with the intended program doing things the original one didn't. The result was tedious work. Several times, Nyx simply couldn't figure out what to do, and had to patch over problems with her own fixes, and then apply fixes to those fixes when they inevitably broke something else (it's a miracle that Astral Glory souls work at all). Nevertheless, she managed to create the Astral Glory ascension.

The “code” wasn't perfect, of course. Originally, Nyx intended for Astral Glories to connect with the stars through a pure sorcerous conduit inscribed directly on the soul itself. However this never worked right with the rest of the ascension, and she settled for using sorcerous tattoos implanted directly onto the skin of the Astral Glory in question. These tattoos are the signature trademark of an Astral Glory. Starting from the feet and arms, they snake over the body in artistic patterns, some geometric, some flowing like flames and water. All of the various “branches” eventually meet the center of the chest, where they converge into a complex spell circle. The tattoos receive power from the stars, then feed it to this spell circle which is connected with the Astral Glory's soul, thus powering it with sidereal Divinity. The ink used for these tattoos is either black, white, or silver, but when expressing great power they flare a glorious and beautiful rainbow of colors; with more power the sheer Divinity feeding into them causes them to emit massive flares, and with extreme amounts of power they give of intense aurorae. They may be suppressed willingly, but this cuts down their intake till they eventually don't take any power whatsoever.

Nyx was unsure of just what to do with her new kind of Ascended, and made almost zero Astral Glories for a long while. Then, as the Heavenborn themselves began to doubt as Hell nearly overtook the Divine Plane, she saw it fit to strike. Revealing her new Ascended to the world, she spread the news of how to become one. Quickly, people began to turn themselves into them, building up cachet for her and rocketing her to the top of the divine social ladder in an instant. No god or goddess could determine if they were impressed at Nyx or hated her for doing what they could not, but the Astral Glories became a new presence on the field, and they haven't left...

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The Peculiarities and Inner Workings of the Astral Glories

Compared to the other Ascended and the Ordofices, the Astral Glories are exceedingly strange. They are empowered humans, yes, but in almost every aspect they differ.

For one, the process to become an Astral Glory is initiated completely by the human in question. The Heavenborn ascend when they commit heroic acts that draw the Attention of Ingenuity's own divine scouts, the Hellspawn are offered power by the Aspectual Souls, the Ordofices are empowered by official priests blessed by Order [AN: I probably should have mentioned this in the Ordofices post], and the Akuma are blasphemously raised from the dead by the Shinigami. Even the Dreamwrought appear to have divine backing, and the Truthwarped Ascend when they come across gaps in reality.

The Astral Glories, however, ascend when a human performs are very intricate sorcerous ritual, that strangely enough requires no knowledge of sorcery or divine ability. On a midnight, the human in question must trek to a place where the sky is completely clear. Once they do so, they must sit down and chant to the stars while holding a star chart of the area in question, and while completely naked—those who will not expose themselves fully to stellar glory are not worthy of taking stellar power. It is incredibly grueling. For the first few days, they must remain there, barely moving, and subsisting on almost nothing, chanting every midnight for an hour. After a few days, they will notice that they've become nocturnal, falling asleep during the day and waking as soon as the stars appear in the night sky. Then they must continue to chant each midnight. At this point, the sorcerous power is already flowing through them. It peers into their very souls, seeing if they are worthy, viewing their past feats and they're true purpose for trying to gain this power. Many foolishly believe that simply having performed great things will get them an ascension. In reality, what matters just as much is what they wish to do with that power. Even the most insignificant person can become an Astral Glory if they have the drive, and a pure heart. It can take arduous weeks of chanting before the final phase occurs: a large spell circle opens up underneath the to-be Astral Glory, and a single knife of raw starmatter appears in front of them. In awe of what they are to become, the person must then take said knife and gouge a deep cut in one of their arms over the center of the circle. When the blood flowing out touches the circle, the stars seem to shine millions of times brighter than normal, blinding the person as the ascension rushes up their blood, into their body, and finally takes root in their soul. They fall unconscious, and when they wake up, they are now an Astral Glory.

It is not all fun and games, however. If Nyx could've designed the Astral Glory ascension however she wanted, she would have automatically implanted the tattoos through sorcerous means right then and there (or at least plant temporary stabilizing tattoos). But this was far beyond her after she had already spent years getting the sorcerous connections with the stars to work. When the new Astral Glory wakes up, they have a raw unfiltered connection to every star in the night sky. Of course, this is far too much, and if they try to exert their new powers they'll instantly burst into white-hot starflame and die. They must receive their tattoos before they do anything. These can be administered by any Astral Glory or Nyx with the Horoscope Encoding Sidereal Limits. When a new Astral Glory ascends, her fellows are innately alerted to this, and in almost all cases a new Ascended will receive their tattoos in a few weeks at the very most.

Due to their innate connection with the stars, the Astral Glories are always capable of “seeing” the stars (in reality it's more like they are inherently sensing them). During the night they can always see the stars clearly and ignore things such as light pollution. During the daytime, they can still see the stars, giving the day sky a much different appearance. Even if they are completely blindfolded or have closed their eyes, they can still sense where all the stars are. They also innately know what every star is, and can use this to perfectly triangulate their position. During the night, they can use this to perfectly tell how far away something off in the distance is, by looking and seeing which stars it appears under compared the ones they're under.

This connection extends to their abilities, which radically differ from the other Ascended and the Ordofices. Those possess “reserves” of Divinity in their bodies, which their souls then use to augment themselves or affect the immediate world around them to a limited extent. When they run out of juice, they must replenish it and no longer can perform any kind of special abilities. The Astral Glories, however, are connected to the stars, which are incredibly numerous and powerful. Effectively, an Astral Glory has infinite reserves of Divinity to use and infinite power. A new Astral Glory who just ascended could immediately call up enough strength to shatter continents the size of Eurasia into dust with his bare fists—he would immediately die, though, and let off a massive supernova (more on that later). The limiting factor is that an Astral Glory's tattoos and soul can only take in so much power. If they go over their limit—referred to as “burning up”--they risk immense harm at best and a catastrophic meltdown at worst. Much like the stars themselves, an Astral Glory who chooses to burn as brightly and powerful as Sirius will reach their limit much quicker than one who chooses to burn only as bright as the sun. As they gain more experience, they learn to control more and more power, letting them tap into more and more before going over the limit.

Their divine connection also provides a more esoteric benefit: All Astral Glories have an innate knowledge of sorcery. When a person becomes one, they automatically gain the ability to perform low-tier sorcery if they did not before. This is not learned knowledge, but rather as raw and instinctual to the Astral Glory as web-weaving is to the spider. Taking sorcery further requires study, but the Astral Glory does not need to pore over formulae and books to do this. They may learn simply from watching or trying out the spell through trial-and-error. Because of this, Astral Glories are often stereotyped as all being a bunch of starry-eyed and ephemeral sorcerers with arcana connections to the world. This is of course not true: there are many Astral Glories who don't practice sorcery intentionally (though almost all still take the time to learn at least a few useful spells), and the ones that do still count the classic “book-obsessed researchers” amongst their kind. What is true is that all Astral Glories know sorcery and many know at least a few spells. From the moment of their ascension they know three specific spells:

Encoding Sidereal Limits: The spell for placing the sidereal tattoos on a newly-ascended Astral Glory's body. By giving every Astral Glory this spell upon ascension, Nyx ensured that there would never be a time where a new Astral Glory could not receive her tattoos; all she needs is to come in contact with another one.

Infinite Astral Knowledge: This is the spell which allows them to sense the stars and know the position of every light in the night sky. Astral Glories effectively have this always cast on them, but they can also use this to empower someone else with said abilities.

Star-Hurling Astrology: The Astral Glories reject mundane astrology as pseudo-science; viewing the stars do not allow one to predict the future and change it. However, with the power of the Ascended, one can influence the future: so long as one influences the stars directly. With this spell the Astral Glories can take a rare glimpse into what is to be. For many Astral Glories, this is the most important sorcery they know.

In the Divine Plane, each and every person is inherently connected to a star in the sky (despite this, the vast majority of stars in the sky are not associated with any person, waiting for a soul to connect with them). Most are unaware of this connection, and even those who are such as the Ascended are unable to change it. As they go through their lives, the stars move around according to their actions. Because of this, predicting the path of the future is impossible; people are just too unpredictable on their own, and when you take into account the millions of miscellaneous actions of millions or billions of people everyday, and the Ascended, Gods, Celestials, and Aspects causing catastrophic changes, everything becomes overwhelming. But the Astral Glories are inherently connected to the night sky. They are are not bound by these restrictions. This is the basis for Star-Hurling Astrology; when performed, the Astral Glory connects to the stars and forces them to do what she wishes. If she wishes to force a person to go down a specific destiny, she takes hold of their star and forces it to remain still. If she wants to change the future, she grabs the stars themselves and hurls them into what position she wants, forming constellations which create massive surges of divine power, altering the very fabric of the world. She may even change her own destiny, by taking hold of her own star. Common things done with this are making oneself suspiciously lucky or making everything go wrong for an opponent. Astral Glories may even peer slightly into the future, by simply brute-force calculating the actions of the stars based on their current paths, though the sheer amount of sorcerous calculations this requires (these have nothing to do with math ability, and are done unconsciously) tires even them out severely; anything over a few minutes into the future and the predictions become vaguer and more likely to go haywire. The more stars she includes in her calculations, the more precise the calculations will be, lessening the chance of unknown factors getting in the way, but the more taxing it becomes. An Astral Glory will never know the exact future of the world. At best they may have vague predictions which have to be interpreted and which could turn out completely wrong. To make matters more annoying, affecting an Ascended's star is even harder, for they burn with such power and divine right that they're much more stubborn.

The positions of stars during a particular time in a particular area can be cataloged and preserved in a starchart. Looking at a starchart allows the Astral Glory to then “see” the events of that time, as if they were there, but in a very fuzzy way and without any cues like sound. All they can know is the rough locations of the people in the event and who was there.

Constellations normally dissipate after a while, but some are more permanent. One of the most common examples are parties of Astral Glories who have joined up. Their stars inevitably float together and become a constellation linked between them (since this happens “naturally”, there is little danger of something going haywire), allowing them to sense each other's presence and know where the others roughly are assuming they are close by (as they drift apart, the constellation breaks until they come together again.

Of course, there are drawbacks. Astral Glory astrology requires incredibly precision—if they overextend themselves, then things can backfire horribly. Even something as minor as a random citizen's star going through a constellation can wreak absolute havoc. They already put down precautions and sorcerous protection, but the further they stretch themselves, the harder this becomes. Not to mention that the balance of the sky is very precarious. Even if nothing goes wrong during the constellation's construction, there can be “snap-back” where ripples blast through the night sky, with predictably bad results. Astral Glories must be careful, for if they get too free with their astrology, it can have disastrous consequences.

Astral Glories cannot affect inanimate objects with astrology, for they are not connected to stars. Usually. Sometimes they are, and then one gets the Inanimate Personae...more on those later.

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The various amounts of power used are categorized like star temperatures, starting at red and ending up all the way at white. Burning up when at red simply results in pain. At yellow, however, burning up results in intense, burning pain as the tattoos on the Astral Glory's body begin to burn bright red, like a star becoming a red giant, and intense stellar flares blast from the body. After this crippling pain, the Astral Glory finds themselves glowing white, having become a White Dwarf which is incapable of using up stellar power for up to a month. Sometimes, however, that is well worth the risk.

At blue or white, the results of burning up can be catastrophic. The Astral Glory's body ends up divinely collapsing and the result is a massive Supernova. This is not a literal explosion, though is it accompanied by a massive burst of starflame. In the night sky, the Astral Glory's star violently explodes, sending massive astrological ripples through all around. The resulting damage can take months to unravel, and during that time nothing makes sense whatsoever. People have completely unsure destinies, luck seems to change on a whim, and things such as sorcery and workings become much more difficult. The Astral Glory in question is still alive, but they are no longer an Astral Glory: they're a normal human, one who has burnt away their ascension with the sheer power they have acquired. They make become an Astral Glory once more, but this requires performing the ritual all over again. In addition, as a normal human, they find themselves unconnected to any star. In the process of going Supernova, they burnt away their connection to the stars. Now they have no destiny, no fate. Whether this is good or bad depends on them.

But there is something even worse than this: if the Astral Glory is calling forth an unprecedented amount of power, they will not only go Supernova, but fully die and become a Black Hole. As their star explodes in the sky, the sheer amount of stellar power radiating out rips straight through reality, forming a massive hole sucking everything outside in. Stars caught by a Black Hole are impossible to affect with astrology, and those tainted by its presence suffer endless curses; curses directly influenced and directed by the Astral Glory's particular personality. And the Astral Glory who died? They didn't “die”. They rise again, but this time not as an Astral Glory, not as a normal human, but something else: a being antithetical to the idea of fate and destiny....

There is no way to stave off these events except by carefully limited their power. All Astral Glories must take care to control how much they intake at all times, lest a horrifying tragedy occur.


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The Astral Glories are free-spirits by nature. Nyx does not control them at all and lets them do whatever. In addition, they are not highly allied together, and usually go their own ways. Regardless, most Astral Glories work on the side of humanity and oppose Hell. The few who have perverted themselves and fallen for Hell's lies are known as “Hellsuns” or “Sidereal Devils”.

The Astral Glories have a strained relationship with the Heavenborn. The Heavenborn are naturally suspicious of anyone who claims to do their job—never mind that these newcomers are born from possibly-shady reverse-engineering. The world was meant for the Heavenborn to protect, and quite a few of them aren't sharing. Even to the day they have trouble seeing eye to eye. The themes of each Ascended type also come into play. The Heavenborn are not usually ones for subtlety. Even when they are subtle, they do things in an overt, glorious way. The Astral Glories are, in general, more subtle and esoteric, preferring nuance and trickery to full-out power. To put it simply: a Heavenborn will smash straight through an enemy's defense; an Astral Glory will have already spent the previous night astrologically cursing their enemy so that their defense fails when they need it most. But the attitudes are changing, and more and more Heavenborn and Astral Glories are allying together. In the end, the Astral Glories are the only true allies the Heavenborn have (the Truthwarped and Dreamwrought are still far too new to be trusted).

The Ordofices view the Astral Glories with nothing but suspicion at best and disgust at worst. In their eyes, the Astral Glories represent a perversion of the natural order, which was supposed to be Heavenborn-only. Nonetheless, they're often too busy opposing Heavenborn to pay much attention to them.

Astral Glory spells are called “Horoscopes” and sorcerers are called “Starweavers”. Astral Glory spell circles tend to feature spiral and galactic designs. Their God Machines and Divine Automatons are lovingly curved like real people, but with striking skin made of pure starmatter colored such colors as red and blue. From a distance, they look like real people, just with technicolored skin and faint lines of divine circuitry snaking around their bodies. However, more artificial designs exist as well. The most famous God Machine, indeed, is an Astral Glory creation: Mechanical Lasciviousness, a God Machine crafted by the sorcerer-craftsman Antares. Lasciviousness is one of the most massive God Machines in existence, standing over 50 stories tall. Inside, a huge amount of divine automaton concubines, both male and female, work inside; Lasciviousness is, indeed, a brothel. The sexual release and pleasure of its clients powers it, and the skills of its prostitutes are legendary.

Besides the clients, the only humans on board are Antares three daughters, who are all Astral Glories themselves and work as bodyguards and overseers. They practice the martial art Overt Bare Stealth, and also work as strippers in the main lobby of Lasciviousness. Antares himself died in a battle with a Hellspawn soon after creating Lasciviousness.

Some notable Astral Glories:

Achaia: Not her real name, Achaia is one of the most prolific warriors amongst the Astral Glories. Achaia hails from the Vytrisk Peninsula, a small arctic country which lies right next to a large area of Helltaint. Her brother was meant to be a Heavenborn, but he ended up dying from a Hellspawn attack. Seeing the trouble which could fall upon her country, she took the plunge and became an Astral Glory, vowing to always fight against Hell for as long as she lived. As of now, she randomly wanders the world, endlessly chasing whatever Hellspawn she learns of. Her name is known amongst a large portion of the Divine Plane, mainly for her displays of incredible strength, in which she burns with coronae that can make the night as bright as day. She does not like to ally with others, making her job much more difficult, but her sheer skill pulls her out of nearly any situation. Her most recent accomplishment was killing the Hellspawn Iblis Ajrin, and taking his extremely powerful sword Azrael's Feather, which looks like it was hewn from the feather of a fallen angel's wing, wrapped in writhing bands of black-and-red Divinity. She currently wishes to purify it of its tainted Divinity and wield it herself, but that will be quite the herculean task. She travels with its twisted form on her back. Little does she know that her brother has risen as an Akuma...

Achaia willingly accepts challenges from other Ascended, but any such challenger best be aware that she is an extremely touch opponent to fight. Her current sword, an unnamed saber, is less a sword, and more a handle which projects a sword-shaped flare of starfire. It constantly shifts shape and causes burns which curse one to be unlucky astrologically. Outside of that, she specializes in the two martial arts Starry Saber Style (a homegrown Astral Glory style for sabers) and Star Bounds Regimen (a style which focuses on constant jumping and athletics to confuse the opponent). Achaia's fighting style focuses on endless movement. Her entire defense is based on simply not getting hit in the first place, and her sword's unique composition means that blocking with it is nearly impossible (other weapons merely phase through its starfire). Even though her saber is one-handed, she does not use anything in her other hand besides basic items like starmatter grenades or bottled spells, and frequently switches hands to launch an endless assault of slashes at her opponent. Her saber's composition assists with this: it passes through opponents, meaning that she can twist it around, slash, and stab endlessly without worrying about it getting stuck.

In battle, Achaia has many abilities from her martial arts:

-Shooting a burst of starfire from her sword
-Never ever losing her balance when flipping around or flying around
-She can maintain her balance on even extremely thin or unstable ground
-Sticking her sword in the ground and making starfire erupt from a nearby area
-After dedicating a few seconds in solemn contemplation, she may perfectly dodge any one attack coming at her no matter what, and unleash a devastating counterattack
-Achaia may take a knife and cut a deep wound in her body, and then fling the blood at an opponent, which bursts into a raging conflagration of starfire (this is by far her most powerful attack)
-With a declaration to the stars and raising her saber up high, Achaia automatically makes any arrows or bullets aimed at her deflect and miss unless they are specifically destined to hit her
-For a modest expenditure of Divinity, Achaia can force one opponent to fight her one-on-one. Even if others are there, they are incapable of affecting Achaia or her chosen opponent.
-As long as she is chaining together attacks fast enough, every attack Achaia performs is wreathed in starfire. Due to this, she's well-known for awe-inspiring onslaughts where she chains sword slashes together with starfire-wreathed kicks and punches; one combo she has done so often it's named after her is a sword slash followed with a hook and then a jumping roundhouse.
-After expending Divinity, Achaia may rush towards a designated enemy; during this rush, she shrugs off all but the most utterly powerful attacks, running straight through them like they're nothing.

Outside of battle, Achaia is, of course, extremely competent in athletics, but she is also a surprisingly well-red person who likes to read about history. She knows a few rudimentary spells, but does not focus on sorcery very much.

Siria Suri: When asked to imagine an Astral Glory, someone in the Divine Plane will almost certainly imagine someone like Siria Suri. Siria fits all the stereotypes: she's an esoteric and ephemeral sorceress who seems so tenuously connected to reality that she might float away if the wind pushed her along. Her words seem to echo, and her eyes have no pupils, instead being massive black orbs inside which nebulae of every hue hypnotically swirl. Her hair softly glows and feels hot to the touch, having had so much stellar Divinity flowing through it that it's become part starmatter. But the reason that she embodies these stereotypes was because she made them. Siria was one of the first Astral Glories ever, having been a mortal student of Nyx, hoping to ascend into a Heavenborn and become a full-on sorceress. When Nyx finished making her Ascended, however, Siria decided to show her loyalty and become one herself. Ever since she has been one of the most knowledgeable and powerful sorcerers in the entire Divine Plane. Siria has made nights last weeks, split the skies apart, summoned armies of spirits the size of skyscrapers, and determined the course of wars single-handedly with her astrological workings. While these are her most famous endeavors, she doesn't like fighting much, instead clinically viewing it as a way to test spells. Her most favorite aspect of sorcery is simply its ability to warp the world. She had developed many spells; below are some examples:

Gifting Luck To The Worthy: Many Ascended forget the role mortal humans play in the world. While they will never match even an Ordofex in terms of sheer power, mortal humans can rise up to do great things and are the reason the Heavenborn and Astral Glories keep fighting. Siria devised this spell to show her thanks. The sorcerer must craft a spell circle and then walk around the area they wish to affect with the spell. As they do so, their fingers trail stardust. When they have circled the area, they chant softy as the stardust dissipates into nothing. Every mortal human in the area will receive dreams when they sleep. When they wake, they find themselves filled with great luck, able to perform at their absolute best for the next week. It's up to those affected to use this luck to do great things, no matter how minor they are.

Absolute Nova-Stabilizer: The possibility of burning up and going supernova is a simple fact all Astral Glories must deal with. But the Ascended were made to defy fate and logic. This spell, which can only be cast once every decade, allows an Astral Glory to use up immense power without burning up no matter what. How Siria managed to do this is still unknown to all but her. The sorcerer must craft a spell circle at midnight at the peak of the highest mountain they can reach. The sheer size of the circle required means that this can take a week or more. In the middle of this circle they must chant to the stars for a day straight. The power of the chant keeps the immediate area in permanent night until it is finished or the caster messes up. As they chant, the stars begin to quiver, disturbed at the magnitude of this request, but when it is over, the sorcerer will not go supernova for a week no matter what.

Stellar Hellfire: Possibly one of the most extremely powerful spells ever invented by anyone, Stellar Hellfire was intended only as an experiment for how powerful a spell could get, but copy escaped Siria's workshop during an intense fight with a Celestial and a Hellspawn. Now, its terrible power is free for almost any sorcerer to use...the only deterrent is the sheer power required to use it. When this spell is cast, the skies themselves part and the stars burn as bright as possible, even during the daytime. They continue to get brighter and brighter until the entire sky seems to be a blazing light...and then it seems as if every star blast forth gouts of stellar fire. The number of beings which can endure this attack and live can be counted on two hands. Even the most powerful Ascended and Gods fall before this spell's terrifying power. The one time it has been used in combat, it scoured away the surrounding 300 square miles until everything in the vicinity was dead and the entire land was blasted into a scorching hellhole. Entire mountain ranges simply burnt away into dust, lakes dried in an instant, and cities were leveled flat. Perhaps the most disturbing aspect is that this spell doesn't merely destroy things—it simply vaporizes them, leaving almost no trace of what was once there. In the aftermath, there were many Ascended who looked at the devastation and, for the first time in their lives, were terrified of the sheer power that their kind could attain. It has never been used afterwards. The sheer power it requires means that only about 50 people in the Divine Plane, Makai, and Shamayim combined are capable of weaving it.

Coruscant Truth-Mirror: Normal mirrors, forged by humans, merely reflect light. Mirrors crafted by Ascended, however, may reflect the soul itself. After swirling their hands together inside a spell circle, the caster summons a mirror carved from ornate and perfectly reflective glass, with various ornamentation and design as the caster sees fit. The mirror exudes Divinity, and anyone who holds it can tell that it's something special. When held up to someone, it reflects their true self; as such, a person, when they see themselves in it, instantly is freed of any unnatural mental influence put upon them. It may also see through disguises, reflecting the person's actual visage.

Taint-Purging Lotion: The twisted Divinity of both Hellspawn and Akuma can leave deep, aggravated wounds which heal slowly even for an Ascended, and are permanent on a normal human. After casting this spell, the sorcerer's hands appear to be covered in a film of smooth and creamy lotion which softly radiates with Divinity. When rubbed on a person's body, it soothes these twisted wounds, prompting them to heal quickly even for a normal human. It also acts as an extremely effective lotion in general. Siria devised this spell after seeing the suffering twisted Divinity can have on a person's body. When the Akuma were born, she quickly updated the spell to heal the wounds they could cause as well.

Rain Which Purges Untruth: Rain does many things, but one of its most noticeable effects is to wash away things. Siria took that one step further: rain which washes away lies and untruths. The caster must prepare a portable jar of water, and then bless it in a spell circle while etching incantations into it. Afterwards, they must go to the area they wish to affect, and scatter the water around (the jar will never run out of water) during the day. The next day, a torrential rain overcomes the area. Anybody under this rain feels overwhelmingly compelled to always tell the truth. Telling a lie results in freezing pain as the rain beats down. This compulsion is impossible to resist for normal humans, but Ascended can sense the effect and willingly resist it. The rain also washes away all disguises, which merely slough off like shed skin. The caster may declare someone to be immune to the spell's effects, but must touch this person and write incantations into their skin with a finger. The rain has zero effect on the local weather after it dissipates.

Seimaru Nagaharu: In the northern areas of the Divine Plane, there are tales of a man who lives on the highest mountain peak for several hundred miles. They say that his body is covered in snaking tatoos like the branches of a cherry blossom. That man is Seimaru Nagaharu, and he does indeed live in a mountain range as a hermit. Having become an Astral Glory when he was but 17 years old, Seimaru has dedicated his life to asceticism, and spends most of his days compiling starcharts. By now, he has thousands upon thousands of the smooth glass plates with dots of Divinity standing in for stars. Why does he compile these charts? Only he knows the answer.

For most Astral Glories, however, Seimaru is of interest because he knows several extremely powerful martial arts such as Hell-Shredding Fists Style and Way of The Falcon Arrow. Seimaru has mastered martial arts pertaining to bare fisticuffs, shortswords, spears, quaterstaves, axes, bows, and throwing knives. He is also willing to teach anyone who comes to him (though only the Astral Glories even know that he exists in the first place). As soon as one reaches him, he asks what martial art they wish to learn, and training begins immediately. There is no test for the to-be student to pass--because merely getting to Seimaru, who lives at the edge of civilization in a nearly-inaccessible mountain range, demonstrates the character one needs to learn these martial arts.

The recent arrivals on the scene of the Akuma, Dreamwrought, and Truthwarped, however, have shaken him, and for the first time in centuries, a day passed without him cataloguing the stars. Seimaru does not mind, however. He has faith that things will work out in the end. And if they don't...then he'll have to make a move for the first time in centuries....

Fighting Seimaru is a fool's game. He is one of the most powerful Ascended to ever have lived. In his hands, even the most random table leg or steel beam becomes a deadly weapon. He can crack mountains with his fists, shout so loudly that the sun is terrified to move, lengthening the day, and kick with such strength that reality itself tears apart. He can endure tsunamis with his bare skin, and meditates in the volcanic flows of his home mountains. His power is such that tornados form when he flexes his muscles. He can run hundreds of miles in an hour. Only the most powerful Ascended have even a chance to beat him.

Recently, he's been tired of the layout of his mountain range, and has spend a few weeks moving the mountains around through lifting them from the ground and chucking them into place. He also decided to destroy three of them with his fists since they were just getting in the way.

Soleth Prime: Soleth was once a man, and an Astral Glory. He was a pretty wild spirit who adored street brawls and practiced a few martial arts based on bare-knuckle fighting. He spent most of his life as a aimless vagrant who wandered around, challenging people he thought impressive and beating down any Hellspawn he saw.

Then, during one battle, he found himself pushed to the limit. Knowing the danger, he went blue, hoping that this would be enough to stave off the opponent he was fighting. When back-up arrived, however, he was outnumbered. The fate of a nation of several hundred million was in the balance with this battle, and Soleth decided to go completely white. During this battle he held out against exactly one hundred Hellspawn single-handedly, fighting with such blazing glory that the night was as bright as day for hundreds of miles around, and for thousands of miles around people could see a blazing aurora so massive it made the sun look like a tiny dot. Soleth shattered mountain ranges with his voice, created blazing tornados of starfire with simple flexing his muscles, and at one point smashed a Hellspawn so hard she flew into the sky and blew the moon into pieces. But when it was over, he went supernova and became a black hole.

He was the first ever.

The Astral Glories wept for their comrade, and gave him a glorious funeral where they scattered his ashes to the stars. Little did they know that he would rise again....

No one knows what Soleth is now. The few eye-witness reports describe him as an awful being seemingly formed from ever-changing black matter, a massive gaping hole in his chest slowly swirling, sucking in all. All who see him suffer terrible curses and have their very destinies changed and reversed. He wanders aimlessly, seemingly unaware of what he once was. Whatever he is, he is a being antithetical to the very order of the world itself. A being with no fate, no desire, no dreams...just a hollow black hole sucking in endlessly and cursing all others. Can he be saved? The general consensus is "no". Can such a being even die in the first place, and be freed from his suffering?

No one knows.


////////

Wow, that was a lot longer than before. I've added much more detail than before. It's funny how I haven't actually talked about the Heavenborn, but they're just so...plain. They're basically the prototypical Ascended, and all the others are twists on the basic formula.

[cntrational]

This would make a good setting for a story or rpg. But not a conworld.

[gestaltist]

This would make a good setting for a story or rpg. But not a conworld.

Why not?

I am not a big fan of this kind of fiction, but I don’t see why it couldn’t be worked out into a coherent whole.

[Chagen]

This would make a good setting for a story or rpg. But not a conworld.

If it's a fictional world that a story or RPG takes place in...it's a conworld, so your statement is rather nonsensical.

[DesEsseintes]

This would make a good setting for a story or rpg. But not a conworld.

If it's a fictional world that a story or RPG takes place in...it's a conworld, so your statement is rather nonsensical.

I have to agree with Chage here. A conworld is a constructed world. For whatever purpose.

Or is cntrational using a different definition of "conworld"?

[cntrational]

Well, to me, a "conworld" implies an independent world -- created as a thing in itself, where worldbuilding is the motivation.

All this isn't really true "worldbuilding". Can you imagine the daily life of a mechanic in the Divine Plane? Can you think about their culture and art? Does it seem like a world where things happen at the small scale?

A thing about real life is that there is no actual story that truly connects everything; gods never warred to create us. Prototypical conworlds imitate this; most leave the mythology up in the air and create competiting religions, there's no monoculture that dominates everything, everything is detailed as far as possible, there are many groups who're not all against or with each other, and no culture is truly evil (though the background story might contain EEEEEEEEEVIIIIIIIIIIIL folk).

The Divine Plane has none of that. The components don't have chaotic meaningless interactions, everything is done in lockstep with the story. Everything is dominated by the grand scale plot; small scale things have no meaning nor contribute to anything -- it's all grand heroes who Change The World, or Mighty Beings who're Weird™.

None of the sides have real subcultures. Chagen mentions concepts like church-mechs or whatever, but gives them no subdetails (where do I see anything about how the church-mech mechanics lived their life, for example? is there anything about the competing subfactions of the gemstone dudes?). Every side has a clearly defined role, and everything in it works in lockstep -- any deviation from the locksteps is clearly meant to be part of the Story, as well.

There's no differing opinions on how the world works, it's all layed out and evident to everybody. Even the people who're allied with hell realize that they're EEEVIIIIL, they don't believe that what they're doing is right, or if they do, they're religious bigoted fanatics who're Insane and Wrong.

It's not a world, it's a premise for a story. These are not things that all conworlds must have, but the prototypical good conworld does, and the more deviant you get from the prototypical conworld, the more questionable it is whether it's truly a member of that word-meaning-space.

[Chagen]

Well, to me, a "conworld" implies an independent world -- created as a thing in itself, where worldbuilding is the motivation.

All this isn't really true "worldbuilding". Can you imagine the daily life of a mechanic in the Divine Plane? Can you think about their culture and art? Does it seem like a world where things happen at the small scale?

Yes? I just haven't gone over the cultures yet.

Things do happen on a small scale in the Divine Plane. It's just that there's all these demigods throwing their weight around.

A thing about real life is that there is no actual story that truly connects everything; gods never warred to create us. Prototypical conworlds imitate this; most leave the mythology up in the air and create competiting religions, there's no monoculture that dominates everything, everything is detailed as far as possible, there are many groups who're not all against or with each other, and no culture is truly evil (though the background story might contain EEEEEEEEEVIIIIIIIIIIIL folk).

What.

In your view, any fantasy world with an actual pantheon would not be a conworld. I have never heard anyone besides you state that a conworld has be "meaningless".

Would you consider Exalted's Creation to not be a conworld then? Because if so then...what.

The Divine Plane has none of that. The components don't have chaotic meaningless interactions, everything is done in lockstep with the story. Everything is dominated by the grand scale plot; small scale things have no meaning nor contribute to anything -- it's all grand heroes who Change The World, or Mighty Beings who're Weird™.

None of the sides have real subcultures. Chagen mentions concepts like church-mechs or whatever, but gives them no subdetails (where do I see anything about how the church-mech mechanics lived their life, for example? is there anything about the competing subfactions of the gemstone dudes?). Every side has a clearly defined role, and everything in it works in lockstep -- any deviation from the locksteps is clearly meant to be part of the Story, as well.

The various Ascended have defined roles because that's the way the world works. Each side has a theme:

Heavenborn are the protectors and guardians of humanity, lifted up from humans destined to do great things.

Hellspawn are twisted perversions of the Heavenborn who have thrown away fate and given themselves to Hell's will in desperate hopes of gaining power.

The Ordofices are champions of Order, who fight to maintain the status quo, till they eventually become so obsessed with it that they lose all self-control and sanity.

Akuma are humans destined to be Heavenborn who died before they could ascend, and are resurrected into abhorrent zombie demigods for purpose of their master, forced to commit horrific acts just to live and damned to become either horrifying abominations or tragic and surreal living works of art.

....and so on.

The thing you're missing is that these groups are very wide. A particular Ascended will have been influenced by their life as a mortal. They still retain their culture and the like. These posts are basically the conworlding equivalent of rough sketches, remember.

And these groups are very tenuously-connected, outside of the Ordofices. An Ascended does what they want, that's kind of the entire point of them. There can't really be subcultures in these groups because these groups don't even have cultures in the first place. There is no "Heavenborn" culture, for instance. People just become Heavenborn and then are free to do whatever the hell they want.

There's no differing opinions on how the world works, it's all layed out and evident to everybody. Even the people who're allied with hell realize that they're EEEVIIIIL, they don't believe that what they're doing is right, or if they do, they're religious bigoted fanatics who're Insane and Wrong.

What? The Hellspawn are literally agents of this world's equivalent to Satan whose explicit goal is genociding all of humanity. That's pretty damn evil.

What matters more is why they have gone to such extreme lengths. A Hellspawn literally throws away their fate and replaces it with inevitable damnation, twists their body with deviant Divinity, and allies themselves with beings hellbent on genociding humanity. Some do it because they want power. Some are just plain genocidal. Others have failed, and in shame they seek power, no matter what. Some become bitter that they never became Heavenborn, so they go to Hell's side. Some think that they can run rogue and carve their own destinies (no easy task as one of the themes of the Hellspawn is that they are chained to their destinies, compared to the Heavenborn who are free to carve their own destinies).

The Hellspawn hope that when all is done and humanity is dead, that the Aspects will bless them for their service. In reality, the Aspects are just going to kill them when they've outlived their usefulness...but the Hellspawn don't know that. For now, that is.