The World
The world of the Tower is a world of everlasting golden light; celestial aether pours forth from the sun, and the world itself sits amidst a great aetherial sea. From this, all things are born. From this, all things are made. Life forms betwixt earth and sky in an instant of miraculous circumstance, and from this essential seed grows all things: simple life, the conscious, and the Enlightened. To live in this world is to live in the birthplace of civilization, to be able to trace the lineage of existence to its earliest moments with absolute certainty.~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The Tower is both the name of the country, and the government which runs it. So-named for the 'tower' constructed by the ancient Xares, the first of the Enlightened. So say the Firstborn, the mere sight of the humble Tower was enough to shock the conscious beasts that saw it into enlightenment, and thus, into the company of Xares.Xares is long gone, though none could say as to why or where, but the Firstborn remain, and the society they built has not forgotten the circumstances of its birth.
The world as it is, is on the cusp of a great change. The coalescing of centuries of collected knowledge and the birth of new sciences and philosophies heralds a new era in the Tower, one marked not by legends and villages, but by grand cities and vast industries.
Aether
Aether is the fundamental building block of the universe; all things, from rocks, to enlightened beings, are constructed out of Aether in various arrangements and forms. It may be thought of as a sort of analogue to the atom in reality. 'Enlightenment', or sapience, in more commonly understood terminology, is defined by the ability to consciously and directly manipulate aether and oneself. This ability extends even to the wholesale alteration of the physical body; denizens of the Tower have wildly varied appearances, from the beauteous to the horrific.The Three Pillars
The Three Pillars of the Tower are the groups specifically represented in The Tower as a government, each will be covered in detail later, but a short description of each follows:
The First Pillar is the Great Clans; Clans are a shared sense purpose and identity, each member physically and mentally changing themselves so as to align with the identity of the Clan. The Great Clans, are, simply, the most widespread and powerful clans, be it in the political, economic, or military spheres. The exact number of Great Clans varies, but each recognized Great Clan has a seat in the Tower.
The Second Pillar is the Masked Cults; the Masked Cults are the religious, and to an extent, scientific, authority in the Tower, and each of them serves a different purpose in the greater society. They are explicitly non-deific, and consider the worship of gods, or even directly of Xares, as simple idolatry, something to be avoided, and, if necessary, stamped out by force. They make no distinction between the clanned and clanless in their number, and any may take up the masks that mark their faith. While there are multiple Masked Cults - and multiple lesser orders within them, - the Cults do consider themselves to be slight variations on the same eternal truth. This unity, of course, does not extend to their seat on the Tower, and each of the three major Cults has their own seat in the Tower.
The Third Pillar is the Firstborn. The Firstborn are the those immortals Enlightened in the age of Xares. Note that while they hold immense social and political power, they are not fundamentally special, (aside immortality,) and have neither magical powers, nor extreme skills. They have a tendency to lose interest in mortal affairs, and thus slumber for decades at a time, until they feel the world has become interesting enough to warrant their attention again. Each Firstborn may individually take a seat in the Tower, at will.
The Great Clans
Sul-Tira
The Sul-Tira are a deeply traditionalist warrior clan, finding their base in the shattered remains of their myriad predecessors. They see themselves as the honorable protectors of the lesser-clans and the Clanless, but they are more chiefly, as a Great Clan, the enforcers of The Tower's law. Traditionalism to them, is a matter of history and hierarchy. To the former, they have named themselves for two of the great Founding Clans of the Tower, the Sul and the Tira, who would shed their status for the sole purpose of continuing their conflict. It would, ultimately, lead to the extinction of them both, and the end of the era of warriors in the Tower. The Sul-Tira thus, see themselves as the inheritors of this violent legacy, though they are determined not to repeat the destructive mistake of their namesake. To the latter, they hold that the Clans are above the Clanless, the Great Clans above them, and above all, the Tower. They believe that the Clanless should rightly devote themselves to the service of the Clans, and that the Lesser-Clans should rightly serve beneath the Great Clans. It is the right and purpose, therefore, of the Great Clans to enforce this, all that the Tower might grow into a higher era.
The Sul-Tira appear as tall, lanky creatures, covered in hard scales and bony spikes, their heads adorned with great horns. The horns in particular are a matter of great pride, and are often carved with images of legend.
Alen-Va-Sen
The Alen-Va-Sen are a progress-minded Clan; they have few ties to history or grand traditions, and draw their power from new understandings and the organization of the Clanless into a new army of labor. The core of the Alen-Va-Sen are philosophers and merchants, the learned peoples for whom the advances in craft and aether herald a great change. Their formal territories are broadly-spread and only rarely connected to eachother, but their influence flows out from these few centers, making them a high authority virtually anywhere in the Tower. While the Great Clans of history have concerned themselves with law and the great chains of hierarchies, the Alen-Va-Sen are mercantile and industrious, they leave matters of governance to other Clans, though ones carefully integrated into their structures.
The Alen-Va-Sen appear as graceful, developed beings, the picture of Enlightment, rejecting the bestial and crude features common among the Clanless.
Tols-Irun
The Tols-Irun are the last of the Founding Clans, those ancient forms who stood first among the Tower. Their power has waxed and waned throughout history, often closely tied to the desires of the Firstborn whom they dutifully serve. As a Great Clan, they serve as spies and archivists, their nature plain, but unavoidable; though they are few in number, and have few true holdings, they are often tasked with the maintenance of great secrets or those things which must be held away from most others. Even at their least, they are the voice that whispers in the ear of the Firstborn, and to the Firstborn, the will of the Tower bends. Traditionally, they are regarded as a progressive force, popular among the Clanless and known to advocate for their needs; a position which saw them crushed to near extinction in the early era of the Tower. At present, stewardship over the Min-Aken Greatforge and the myriad advancements drawn from it serves as the basis for their status, though rumors say that they now regret what they have unleashed.
The Tols-Irun appear as small, cloaked figures, their features hidden by the great shimmering wings that they hold draped around themselves. Beneath them, they are insect-like creatures, as only befits a clan so closely tied to the Firstborn.
The Masked Cults
Cult of the Sun
The Cult of the Sun is the oldest of the Masked Cults, - though the difference is measured only in the small terms of decades, - and the one from which the schisms grew. Their core truth is that of Creation; the divinity of the creative force that casts aether into life and non-life alike. To the Masked Cults, all things are emanations of Creation, different only in degrees. The prime symbol of this emanation is the eternal font of aether which hangs in the sky above the world; the black sun, ringed purewhite by the aether that pours from it into the aetherial sea. The Cult of the Sun holds that Xares was merely the first of the Enlightened, and that Enlightenment inherently carries an awareness of Creation and a reverence for it; they say that Xares thus gifted Enlightenment to the lesser creatures of the world, to bring them closer to Creation, and to bring them to awareness of the, and their, divinity. Once this task was completed, Xares voluntarily returned to Creation, and now exists within the very life they Enlightened. The Cult of the Sun is thus the inheritor of this first and greatest mission; Enlightenment and Veneration, are one and the same.
Cultists of the Sun wear masks of purewhite, a natural material that resembles the corona of the sun. Though they are not a clan, the nature of such strong belief does often bend its followers; the hallmarks of the Cult of the Sun are primordial crystalline features, otherwise found only in the Fields of Glass, and a righteous, if uninquisitive mind.
Cult of the Sky
The Cult of the Sky was born of the First Schism, splitting from the Cult of the Sun on matter of Xares and Transcendence. Their core truth is that of Ascension; Enlightenment as it is known is only the first step; as there are orders of life below it, so must there be orders of life above it. Thus the Cult of the Sky sees a sacred duty to seek a Transcendence, a great changing of self and form, to seek the aetherial sea and what lies beyond. They believe that Xares as Xares was first of the Enlightened, so too were they the first of the Transcendent, having finished their great work of Enlightenment, and grown beyond terrestrial life. They further hold that the nature of all things is to seek ascension, from the unliving to the unconscious, from unconscious to the conscious, from the conscious to the Enlightened, from Enlightenment, to transcendence, and possibly beyond.
The Cult of the Sky wears masks of seagold, a material produced by great effort to resemble the translucent golden light of the aetherial sea. As with the other cults, the Cult of the Sky leaves its mark on its followers; its members are often characterized by eccentric, or even horrific forms, and detatched, or even entirely incoherent thoughts.
Cult of the Earth
The Cult of the Earth grew out from the Second Schism, rejecting both the doctrine of Transcendence, and the right of Higher Beings proferred by the Cult of the Sun. Their core truth is that of Duty. To the Earth, as the highest - though not greatest, for no creature can be proclaimed to be greater than any other, - beings of creation, there exists a duty to the world, to lesser life, and even to non-life. All are the product of cCreation, and each is as sacred as any other. To them, Xares was the first, and simply the first; they were no greater than any of the Firstborn, and like them, they slumber, awaiting the moment of their return. They believe that Enlightenment may come to all things in their own time, or it may not, Creation does not seek that all things be of one form, nor does it seek to constantly ascend from one form to another. To Cultists of the Earth, fhe forests do not grow because they await axes; animals do not war that the Tower might pick over their remains; they are simply as Creation has cast them, and this deserves respect.
The Cult of the Earth wears dimwhite masks, a feature-hiding earthen substance common among the earth. Like the cults from which it was founded, the Cult of the Earth marks its followers; their forms are often bent in plantlike manner, and they oft have humble and honest minds.
The Firstborn
The Firstborn are the eldest among the living; they are immortal beings, Enlightened from the lower beings in the time of Xares. It is from them that all knowledge of the first days flows. They are fractious and often indifferent to the affairs of the world around them; many of them spend their days in deep slumber, awakened occasionally by the Tols-Irun to inform them of all that has gone by without them. Despite this, they hold by right great respect and power, as the eldest and truest of the Enlightened. They cannot often be discussed as a single entity; the Firstborn disagree on much, and some even reject the Tower that the founders created. It is whispered, in quiet halls and dim nights, that their power has waned since the first era; where once they were warrior-kings and lords of empire, they are now the old voices of eras long dead. No clans they founded yet remain, and those who first called together the Masked Cults have abandoned their faith in disgust. And so, few awaken to the Tower, and with the quieting of their voices, their differences grow louder, and their power wanes further.
The Firstborn, being of the time of Xares, strongly resemble the conscious beasts they were before enlightenment; where modern Enlightened have adapted for tools and work, the Firstborn are clumsy and imprecise. This must not be mistaken for a weakness of the mind; with incredible age comes wisdom and perspective.
The World, continued
The Eternal
The Eternal are those among the non-firstborn who are immortal. In the first era, this was a reasonably common occurence, though few from that era remain as a result of its conflicts. Since the disappearance of Xares, however, immortality ceased to be the rule, and the occurence of it has consistently become rarer as the years go by. The Tower, despite great efforts at uncovering the secret of it, does not know why immortality, nor its decline, occurs.
The Exiles
Exile is the highest punishment in the Tower, and comes in two forms. First, Exile into the Fields of Glass, the wasteland that surrounds the Tower. The Fields of Glass are believed to be a primordial place, the source of life on the world. They are so named for the fact that life within them comes in distinctly crystaline form, straddling the line between life and non-life. Notably, all creatures within the Fields of Glass are Eternal, despite lacking enlightenment. As far as the Tower knows, the Fields of Glass go on forever; none who have ventured far into them have returned.
The second form of Exile is Exile into the Sea of Hate; the great sea to the south of the Tower. It is so named because, as far as they can tell, it just hates life, and will roil and rise to consume any living thing that ventures into it in a horrific manner. This form of Exile is, even moreso than the Fields of Glass, effectively a death-sentence, and is only rarely used due to this. The Tower does not know why the Sea of Hate is like this, and its violent nature prohibits study.
The Min-Aken Greatforge
The Min-Aken Greatforge is the crowning achievement of an ancient Great-Clan called the Min-Aken; they were, in their time, the masters of aetherwork, and they rose to dominance as a guild of artisans and craftsmen of incredible skill and capability. The Greatforge was the height of their accomplishment and study; it was, in essence, a living factory formed of unconscious life coaxed into a form which could be guided to create and change. The secrets of its operation were known only to the Min-Aken that built it, and at the apex of their power, they tried to overthrow the Tower. They failed, quickly, the full force of the Tower being brought to bear against a Clan who had made few allies in running their competition into the ground. The remaining members of the Clan, following the failed coup were exiled into the Fields of Glass, and they took with them, the knowledge of the operation of the Greatforge. It fell thus, into disrepair and disobedience; a thing alive must be fed, and thing that creates must create. For centuries, entry to the Greatforge was strictly forbidden, it being a place of great danger - and, as concerned the Masked-Cults, the potential to upend the understanding of Enlightenment, - until the Tols-Irun were granted its custody, and thus, the opportunity to study it.
The Tabanthi Wild
The Tabanthi Wild is a place in the Tower formerly known as the Tabanthi Plain; for hundreds of years after the inception of the Tower, it was, simply, normal. A place with farmland and villages and nothing of great note beyond the many battles fought in it. One day, something began to grow, and it grew with terrifying speed; in days a mysterious tree had become a dense jungle, and it continued to grow ever faster, consuming the plains, wildlife, and the villages within it. And then it stopped, and it began to die. Where once was jungle was now thin rot and wasteland. Months later, the process repeated, and the phenomenon of the Tabanthi Wild became cyclical and uneventful; The Tols-Irun studied it for a time, ultimately coming to the conclusion that entire wild was a single organism that rapidly consumed its surroundings, (Be they of nature or its own decayed remnants,) grew beyond its ability to sustain itself, and promptly died back into dormancy until it began the process again. Interference with the cycles has been strictly forbidden by the Tower, for fear of causing it to grow beyond Tabanthi.