The World
From Lost Eidolons
Contents |
Ayos
Ayos is a planet. Largely spherical, with a single moon, Ayos has a diverse geography which encompasses tractless wastelands, lush jungles, jagged mountains, and vast seas. Almost all of this is unexplored by humanity.
The actual size of Ayos is something often disputed, as there has yet to be a successful, verifiable circumnavigation of the globe.
Birth of a Planet
The exact origin of the planet is a fiercely debated topic amongst philosophers, but loudest among them is the story preached by the Church of Phenex. Church doctrine is based upon a scroll that is said to have been written by Adephon himself, the first of humanity, and handed down through the generations.
The scroll tells of the brothers Phenex, Agares, and Raum, who travelled to the Greater Deeps. There, demons tempted Phenex and drove him to madness. Eventually, the brothers came upon the Land, whereupon Phenex set Agares to sleep and cast Raum upon the mountains. In sorrow over his actions, Phenex cast himself down upon the land and, using his very lifeblood, created Adephon and charged him to cleanse the land and make it good.
The Modern World
Though the majority of Ayos is still unexplored by humanity, maps of the areas around the Cities are both fairly common and fairly accurate.
The Cities
The vast majority of humanity lives in gigantic city-states. Each of the Cities stands as a monument to human ingenuity and perseverance--despite war, disease, famine, and the countless horrors that roam the world, the people of the Cities have stood fast, and today the looming towers and mighty engines give testimony to the will of humanity. It is important to note that outside of a few walled and militarized encampments, there is no human civilization outside of the Cities. Once you leave a City, you enter a land unbroken by villages or roads.
The Wilderness
The lands between the Cities are forbidding, unforgiving places. Trackless wastes lead to foetid jungles and blasted deserts. Jagged mountains end at ocean-side cliffs, or abyssal canyons. The terrain is the least of a traveler's worries.
Horrors stalk the land. From feral Dorr to poisonous jengitcharthas, from vicious witherspites to foraging Thek, the hazards of overland travel are many, and varied. Taken together with the sheer distances involved (the Cities are often more than a year apart by foot), it is easy to see why travel by rail, sail, or airship is so important to Ayos.
History
A time line of events can be found here.
Religion
There are a number of religions on Ayos. Humanity favors three major religions, the Church of Phenex, the Chayodyne Order, and the Way. Some of the desperate, the weak willed, and dregs of society have fallen under the sway of cults.
The various populations of Dorr are often surprisingly spiritual. Domesticated Dorr follow whatever religious path their masters dictate, while the Dorr outside the cities tend to subscribe to various forms of the Ik'Nuq faith.
When question regarding their personal beliefs, Thek generally reply that they hold no beliefs--certain deities exist, and it is irrelevant whether the Thek believe in them or not.
Other Peoples
Despite the obvious primacy of Humanity, there are other peoples on Ayos that must be taken into account if a truly thorough overview of the planet is to be achieved. Furthermore, there are enough preternatural variations on the human form that studies of each would not go amiss.
Ancient Cultures
The march of time is both omnipresent and unforgiving, and the face of Ayos today is not the same as it was in the dim recesses of the past. Centuries ago humanity's cultural and political makeup was quite different from the various Cities of today. Archaeologists, often considered heretics by the Church maintain that, in the murky aeons before Phenex created humanity, strange and forgotten creatures had civilizations beggaring the frail structures of humanity.
Institutions of Learning
There are many famous universities, colleges, and academies throughout the various Cities and city-states of the world. Here you will find a list of examples of some of the more popular or well known schools - though these schools are certainly not the only ones on the face of Ayos.
