Eras in my setting

[Queshire]

High Divine Era: Once the gods freely walked the cosmos. They shaped worlds, created life and offered plentiful blessings. It was an time of unparalled prosperity were star roads could take someone from one planet to another with ease and mirror gates provided access to alternate timelines. In the end though the era fell to war.

Divine War: Starting out there were a thousand different reasons for the war amongst the gods. Countless grudges between the various pantheons ignited into a fire that only grew as existing alliances drew ever more gods into the fighting and new grudges were generated from their conflict. Mortals took part in the conflict at this time. Dwarves in divinely enchanted armor lead the invasion of planets in meteor dropships while Orcs were engineered as living super soldiers, but the conflict only grew and grew. It reached the point where even the most divinely empowered mortals were little more than kindling to the fire of divine authority wielded as weapons. The destruction spread to reality itself. The causes of the conflict were many, but by time it reached its end only one mattered to the warring gods. Preserve the world as broken as it had become or destroy it and form a new Creation from it remnants.

Inheritor Era: Well, considering that reality is still here it's clear that the side of preservation won, but it was not without its cost. The Divine Realm was cut off completely from the World and the mana remaining in the World was so weak that the gods left stranded in the World could not sustain themselves. They were forced to retreat to more energy rich planes.

This was where mortals could first take center stage.

The Inheritors were a mixed bunch. Some took the name literally. Armed with powerful, and now irreplaceable, divine artifacts left over from the High Divine Age saw themselves as a new generation of god kings.

Others delved deep into the new realm of mortal magic. It is the era of the first liches and the era where the Elves grew the world tree that allowed them to cross the gulf between stars.

It was the era where that power was needed. Living weapons left over from the divine war and cataclysmic curses formed a dire threat. Slowly the stores left over from the High Divine Age were used up as one divine artifact after another was sacrificed to try to tame the chaos. The old knowledge was lost as day to day survival was prioritized.

In time there were fewer and fewer monsters left to fight and the various Inheritor civilizations found themselves more and more preoccupied with their fellow Inheritors. This was an era of heroes, but it was also an era of tyrants.

System Builder Era: Some tales say that the first magitech was given as a gift by a sorcerer king to his followers as a way to secure an advantage over his rivals. Others claim the discipline was developed in secret by rebells seeking to overthrow their overlords. Either way, many amongst the Inheritors came to discover that they had overextended themselves as a result of their conflicts against each other and dealing with the remnants of the divine war. Few in number to begin with they weren't equipped to deal with the explosive growth of the magitech utilizing civilizations that would come to be known as the System Builders.

This was an era of unprecedented era of magitechnological growth. It was the era that drew the closest to the High Divine Era and amongst its greatest achievements was the System.

The System was a cyber-sorcerous working of immense scale, one capable of self modification and growth. Not only did it provide a standardized system for the use of magic, but it acted as an automatic tutor for that system and could even augment a user's mana with the system's own energy. True, few ever reached the heights of the Inheritors, but what did that matter when you could produce a hundred mages only one step weaker?

Even more impressively the System Builders managed to do the seemingly impossible. They turned the System into a bridge connecting the material plane with the Divine Realm.

Nethertide Era: History often portrays the System Builders positively due to all their advancements, but they were far from saints. They utilized the System, and more importantly access to the System, as a crudgel to secure their hegemony. The Orcs, Goblins and other races who refused to bow to the System Builders rule were pushed to the edge of the cosmos and labeled monsters, but these monstrous races would have their revenge in the end.

They managed to sneak a virus into the System itself in an act that some believe could have only been achieved with the tacit approval of the System itself. At the very moment the System formed a bridge to the Divine Realm it also formed a bridge to the Netherworld.

The rush of Netherworld energy flowing into the System nearly decapitated the System Builder civilization as a whole due to how deeply interwoven they were with the system and what the rush of energy started the tide of demons emerging from the Netherworld finished.

This was a gentler apocalypse than many. The System Builders civilization itself was destroyed, but many other vassal civilizations had lesser access to the System. The Demons were enough of a threat that interstellar trade became impossible but they were too disorganized to be an extinction level event.

During this era many turned inwards and focused on protecting their core. Instead of the cosmopolitan civilization of the System Builders or the various sorcerer kings of the Inheritors this was an era of Elven Kingdoms. Dwarven Empires, nations of Giants, Dragons or other creatures.

The System remained throughout this era. Free from its masters it could grow as it willed. Orcs, Goblins and even the Netherworld Demons found themselves gaining access to it where before it was forbidden to them. Where it found new traditions of magic it analysed them and incorporated them into itself. Its roots began spreading through the Netherworld. Its branches made contact with the remaining gods in the Divine Realm. It grew.

Modern Era: The Nethertide has receeded. Though there's still pockets of demons about many returned to their abyssal home or died while fighting amongst themselves. The various worlds of the cosmos have begun venturing out into space once more and coming into contact with each other. The old divisions of Elf, Dwarf and so on have begun falling away.

Through the System one can reach level 100, become a demigod by exceeding that and in time ascend to become a true Divinity. Each God that ascends is another point of data fueling the System's growth and another stitch in repairing the tapestry the Heavens.

 

[Queshire]

So, the idea is to keep things loose enough that it's easy to understand what era a macguffin is depending on its nature. Tech based? System Builders era. Magic based? Either Inheritor or High Divine Era depending on if its divine or not. Demonic? Nethertide Era.

 

[RoccO]

I wonder if this reflects a created or divine universe. The pantheon seems nameless, at least in what you have explained, I wonder if the System Builder’s hidden hand shall emerge. It is difficult to comprehend that the authority use bigger weapons, at that there is no tragic betrayal that we can see that points to it all. Is there balance in the universe and pantheon? That is what I want to know.

I want to know if there are beings exceeding mortality or even conception. The goblins and orcs but no men, the dragons are not the main sentient or so it seems, but maybe they work against the virus? I like there is a main villain that is not a being, and that the System Builders have managed to secure a force despite the Inheritors.

If the mana was cut off, that was the source of food and sustenance, or just magic. The dwarves fight with the goblin and orc, though no men. Dragons have always been aloof, fighting for one side or another though seemingly taking a side all of their own. I like the Inheritors, kind of like a wandering adventurer, do they form a coterie or fellowship with the System Builders?

 

[Queshire]

World building is my favorite hobby so I've been tinkering with this setting for a long time. I've got a lot more material for it, but these eras are just what's relevant for a story.

I wonder if this reflects a created or divine universe.

This requires some explanation. So, beyond the walls of reality there is an infinite expanse of twisting chaos known as the Outer Dark, however because the Outer Dark is truly infinite it's inevitably that the roiling chaos will "just so happen" to come together to create bubbles of stable reality. It doesn't matter how low the odds of that happening are if you have infinite rolls of the dice after all. The creation of these realities can come in all sorts of forms. It could be a big bang. It could be the spontaneous creation of a divine being that then pushes away the Outer Darkness to create a stable bubble. Just about any creation myth is true somewhere out there in the infinite darkness. These are naturally occurring realities.

The Burned Heavens (the name of my setting) is not a naturally born reality. It was artificially created by a race known as the Ancients to effectively "mine" the Outer Dark. Through a series of universal cycles it would continuously extract and refine potential from the churning unreality of the Outer Dark which the Ancients would extract, however that is an old story. The presence of Gods within the reality have thrown off the plans of the Ancients.

The pantheon seems nameless, at least in what you have explained,

I've got ideas for different categories of divine beings, but I haven't really decided too much about specific groupings such as Olympians or Aesir yet.

I wonder if the System Builder’s hidden hand shall emerge.

I mostly just wanted to have there be different perspectives to the System Builders instead of portraying them as unambiguously good. There's those still around from the System Builder era that are still around. Mostly gods that started out as creations of the System Builders who avoided the initial destruction and ascended to divinity during the Nethertide era. They're more familiar with the System Builder's darkness, but I don't currently have any plans for a hidden scheme from the System Builders showing up as a plot point.

Is there balance in the universe and pantheon?

I'm not entirely sure I understand what you mean here? In the modern day there's plenty of challenges and threats to keep the gods busy.

I want to know if there are beings exceeding mortality or even conception.

Exceeding mortality? Yep. The higher your level the longer your lifespan. If you become a demigod you become immortal though you can still be killed and full gods are even harder to kill.

Conception? That's a harder one. The use of concepts becomes more and more important the more powerful you get, but that's central to the Burned Heaven's native power system. There's other realities out there in the Outer Darkness that don't deal with concepts at all.

The goblins and orcs but no men, the dragons are not the main sentient or so it seems, but maybe they work against the virus?

There's men. I just didn't think it was important to specify them when describing the eras. Humans generally just do human stuff. Some became sorcerer kings in the Inheritor Era, joined up with the System Builders during their era or ascended to divinity either through their own efforts or with the assistance of the System.

I like there is a main villain that is not a being, and that the System Builders have managed to secure a force despite the Inheritors.

Eh. Neither the System nor the virus that infected it are what I would describe as the main villains. It fulfills an important role.

If the mana was cut off, that was the source of food and sustenance, or just magic.

Physics and biology still form the baseline in my setting. Magic augments it and can overwrite it at times, but unless the crops were reliant on mana to replace basic biological functions they would still grow if mana was cut off. They wouldn't grow as quick and harvests wouldn't be as big without ambient mana supporting their growth, but you can still grow a potato.

I like the Inheritors, kind of like a wandering adventurer, do they form a coterie or fellowship with the System Builders?

The Inheritors are individualistic by nature so some would get along with the System Builder civilization or even join them, but for the most part their time had past by time the System Builders were really getting going.

 

[RoccO]

Is there the usual Ten Commandments with the story, or a logical eye for eye scenario? I have read a lot of books where the rules are exactly the same, some where they are totally different with a reason given or not, but still plausible.

This Outer Darkness scares me, but I have to admit there are all sorts of things that scare me about a lot of things, namely monsters, villains, etc. what I want to know in your world building is it a lie they feed on or not, are they being told the real story here?

When the mana runs out is that the end of the day for them, or is it about the remnants of the older civilisations, artifacts and all. I know stories to progress beyond their world building, and some ideas that remain simple concepts however can change the direction of a story completely.

 

[Queshire]

Is there the usual Ten Commandments with the story, or a logical eye for eye scenario?

Ten commandments? Nope. For the most part there's just the standard formal and informal cultural norms. (Plus stuff that I just don't want to write about as an author.)

Individual or groups of gods might communicate commandments to their followers, but that's just something the gods themselves decided on.

Karma, Fate and Destiny are more universal divinely empowered mechanics.

1) Destiny: Destiny in it's simplest terms is one's role in the cosmos. A human's destiny is to be a human. A god's destiny is to be a god. Sometimes it might be more complex than that such as a destiny of being a human that dies at a certain place or a certain time. Destiny, however, can be overcome. A human can ascend to become a divinity and a spirit can become a demon. No prophecy is absolute. Even if someone is destined to only be killed with a certain weapon a strong enough soul can shatter that destiny and kill them anyways. Of course, just because a destiny can be overcome doesn't mean that it will. If your destiny is as heavy as a black hole then good luck escaping from that.

2) Fate: Fate isn't a vague concept in my setting, but an actual magical substance. It underlines mana. If the weave of mana is the equivalent of the lands, trees and rivers on the surface then Fate makes up the slowly moving continental plates below the ground. Most people move with the flow of fate without even realizing it. Think of it like a hill. When you've got your destiny weighing down on your back it's a lot easier to try to go downhill, moving with fate, than it is to go uphill and go against fate. Though Fate doesn't just move in one direction. A person might have a certain amount of Fate with a magic sword, a different amount of fate with a magic academy and yet a different amount of fate with some hated enemy. All these values are also constantly changing based off of the choices & actions of all involved.

Of course as a type of magical stuff the proper insights and magic can manipulate fate. A skilled enough oracle could craft a good luck charm by stuffing a bunch of Fate into an amulet and giving it to someone. However, this is not without risk. Manipulating Fate risks creating ripples. Even looking into Fate carries a risk. It tends to strengthen whatever fate you see. Just the process of observing it makes such a Fate harder to avoid.

Of course, the majority of people never have to deal with any of this. They're just not that important.

3) Neutral, Positive & Negative Karma:

Souls in my setting connect to one another one. Any individual on the streets has countless invisible threads stretching out from them to connect to every person, place and thing they've ever interacted with. In the vast majority of cases this doesn't amount to much. The threads are less than even a spider's web, but sometimes they can grow far thicker and heavier. They can be chains invisibly binding the soul until the karma they represent is resolved. This natural karma is neutral karma. Such heavy chains are another weight affecting one's Fate the same as their Destiny.

Positive karma is a construct by the gods that takes advantage of the natural neutral karma network to feed energy into someone's spirit as a reward. Most people never even notice this energy. It merges seamlessly with their spirit and flows out into their fate. This energy isn't really a direct power boost. It just makes everything a little bit easier. If you maintain a positive karmic balance you'll find your mana moves smoother, you can study longer without getting fatigued and even become a little bit luckier as it augments your Fate.

Those that specialize in the study of Karma can keep the positive karma from getting absorbed into their spirit or their fate. They can use this reserve of karma as a power boost for their magic, but it's also useful as a buffer to absorb the ripples caused by messing around with fate. A Karma specialist could forge a fake destiny of "Beloved by the World" for themselves with enough weight that seemingly random coincidences and happenstances occur to keep them from harm. Where as this would normally cause enough ripples in fate that they risk damaging themselves from the backlash the reserve of positive karma serves to absorb the blow.

Now, while good deeds are helpful to generate positive karma, it is still a system created by the gods and they have their own agenda. Namely, have more gods ascend so that they can help repair the tapestry of the heavens and have those gods be combat capable to help deal with the threats facing the heavens. To that end teachers and rulers have the easiest route towards accumulating positive karma, but this only lasts while people are actually progressing. If a ruler makes their nation so good that people aren't pushing themselves and their magic then they'll find the flow of positive karma cutting off.

Someone born with an impressive destiny might also receive a starting investment of positive karma to help them along the way though even without an impressive destiny the gods will sometimes try to forcibly engineer a hero by having someone be born with a massive amount of positive karma out of nowhere if there's a particularly vile tyrant around. Enslaved people can't work on advancing their magic and eventually becoming a god after all.

Negative Karma utilizes the same system as positive karma but the end result is different. The gods don't need to really rely on negative karma to make a sinner's mana flow more sluggishly. The grudges of their victims will take care of that on their own. Instead the accumulating of negative karma first serves to mark someone as a sinner and if enough accumulates the negative karma itself will ignite into varying levels of punishment that try to kill the sinner. Either someone after the bounty of positive karma they'd get from killing a sinner will put an end to someone marked by negative karma or the punishment will. If someone is able to survive all of that? Well, even if they're a sinner then they've proven themselves to be strong enough to be of use in helping to protect the divine realm against what threats face it.

This Outer Darkness scares me, but I have to admit there are all sorts of things that scare me about a lot of things, namely monsters, villains, etc. what I want to know in your world building is it a lie they feed on or not, are they being told the real story here?

The Outer Dark is incredibly dangerous. Imagine an ink that soaks into your existence and overwrites the very facts of your being with typically incredibly lethal nonsense. After all, few people are likely to survive for long while their chronological age is overwritten to equal fish.

Along with the concepts they normally have Divine Authority over as a god every god in the setting inherently holds Divine Authority over their own existence. With this they can reinforce their own existence and resist the Outer Dark, however how effective this is depends on the power of the god in question. A weak god might have to exert constant effort to resist the Outer Dark and even then it might feel like taking a dip in boiling water.

Souls in large enough quantities also provide protection against the Outer Dark. They help calm the chaos of the Dark and reinforce the borders of reality. This is important because the gods who lost the Divine War weren't all killed. A large number escaped out into the Outer Dark. They can't travel far out into the Outer Dark. They still need to stick relatively close to reality, but these Abyssal Gods of the Far Shores rule over pocket realities out in the Dark and regularly send incursions into reality in order to abduct living people from reality to inhabit their worlds.

The Ancients who originally made the Burned Heavens go a different route. They lucked out. The native power system of their home reality was based off of dimensionalism. In effect each Ancient is their own individual person shaped reality and can travel through the Outer Dark as a result.

When the mana runs out is that the end of the day for them, or is it about the remnants of the older civilisations, artifacts and all. I know stories to progress beyond their world building, and some ideas that remain simple concepts however can change the direction of a story completely.

Mana running out in a place technically a possibility, particularly in a place abandoned by Fate, but it's not really a concern. Once a world has formed a world soul the weight of that soul strains dimensional boundaries and more mana flows in from the higher planes to replace what is used up.

You'd have to travel waaaay to the end of time where the Font of Creation has run dry, all stories have been told, all life is extinguished and the heat death of the universe blankets the material world in silence for mana running out to be a concern.

That said, my universe is cyclic in nature. This isn't the first version of the universe and unless something goes horribly wrong it won't be the last. Though relatively rare there are various things still hanging about from an older version of the universe.

 

[pmmg]

You have done a masterful job of universe building there. I would not be confused what era and object came from, and all of this forms a backdrop I can easily imagine and find things that might happen in. So...Good job.