Difference between revisions of "Ravimarga"

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* System of planets, designed according to "Points of Light" design - few settlements, most of them large, with most shipping and transportation arranged by sunships.
 
* System of planets, designed according to "Points of Light" design - few settlements, most of them large, with most shipping and transportation arranged by sunships.
 
* [[Ravimarga Character Creation]]
 
* [[Ravimarga Character Creation]]
 +
* [[Antiapaya|''Antiapaya'': Wondercrafts of Ravimarga]]
 
==The ''Ravimarga''==
 
==The ''Ravimarga''==
 +
[[Image:Ravimarga.jpg|right|450px]]
 
* A band of "solar winds" upon which ships may sail to move quickly from one place to the other in the Ravimarga system.
 
* A band of "solar winds" upon which ships may sail to move quickly from one place to the other in the Ravimarga system.
 
** Requires the use of "sun sails," sails of various colors that shimmer with golden pearlescence, which can catch the solar winds and propel a ship quickly.
 
** Requires the use of "sun sails," sails of various colors that shimmer with golden pearlescence, which can catch the solar winds and propel a ship quickly.
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* Forms a lemniscate path, with "windstop" points along it that provide access to the myriad systems.
 
* Forms a lemniscate path, with "windstop" points along it that provide access to the myriad systems.
 
* At its center is Barhis, a great port of call for many of the sun-ships.
 
* At its center is Barhis, a great port of call for many of the sun-ships.
 +
* Because sun-ships run on the power of the sun (which is embodied in the Ravimarga), it is the only way sun-ships can travel between different solar systems.
 +
** If a sun-ship leaves the Ravimarga, they are cast adrift into the Void, where there are no suns, only cold darkness interrupted by the occasional twinkle of a far-off star.
 +
* Because most ships are not constructed entirely of ''thevaqan'' (risking the danger of fire for them) and because accidentally leaving the Ravimarga can be such a death sentence, most ships rely on the ark-ships to carry ships between the Four Suns.
 +
** Ark-ships are massive, hollow constructions of ''thevaqan'' and ''qamani'' glass that other ships can fly into and anchor with while the ark-ship flies the Ravimarga to other sun-systems.
 +
** There are six ark-ships in existence: three that are the property of the ''Rastram Kanaqa'' (named the ''Flare'', the ''Scintillant'', and the ''Majestic''); the ''Crossroads'', which is the dominion of the Keeper of Baharis; the ''Heartbeat'', property of the Blood Imperium; and the ''Stalwart'', property of a mercantile cooperative called the "Stalwart Shipping Manifesto," organized solely to provide merchants who invest in the Manifesto with guaranteed space in the great ark-ship.
 +
 
==''Barhis''==
 
==''Barhis''==
 
* At the great Solar Crossroads is Barhis. It is a mighty station shaped like a round-edged diamond crafted of stone, ''thevaqan'' and massive panes of ''gamani'' glass.
 
* At the great Solar Crossroads is Barhis. It is a mighty station shaped like a round-edged diamond crafted of stone, ''thevaqan'' and massive panes of ''gamani'' glass.
 
* There are five "levels" to it - a wide central disc (the Commons), a disc above it in the cone where the very rich and noble dwell (the Regentum), and the topmost disc, which is the palace of the Keeper of Baharis. Below the Commons is a smaller disc where the very poor are relegated to dwelling (the Flushings), and the bottom-most disc is where the Keeper's engineers work in darkness.
 
* There are five "levels" to it - a wide central disc (the Commons), a disc above it in the cone where the very rich and noble dwell (the Regentum), and the topmost disc, which is the palace of the Keeper of Baharis. Below the Commons is a smaller disc where the very poor are relegated to dwelling (the Flushings), and the bottom-most disc is where the Keeper's engineers work in darkness.
 
* Strange arcane engines at either end of the diamond generate light, heat, and channel the power of the ''Ravimarga'' through the points of the station, providing for all its needs.
 
* Strange arcane engines at either end of the diamond generate light, heat, and channel the power of the ''Ravimarga'' through the points of the station, providing for all its needs.
−
==The Golden Sun==
+
==Systems & Cultures of Ravimarga==
−
[[Image:Golden-sun-system.jpg|right|250px]]
+
* '''''[[Golden Sun]]'':''' Called ''Varijaia'' by its people, home of the ''[[Rastram Kanaqa]]'', sometimes called the Golden Empire. The Golden Sun system is the origin-place of ''thevaqan'', and thus the birthplace of sunships and sun-flight. The whole of the system is under the domination of the ''Rastram Kianaqa'', and is considered the foremost bastion of civilization and order in the Four Suns.
−
* Called ''Varijaia'', a name which means "the Golden Sun."
+
* '''[[Dragon Sun]]:''' Home of the [[Tyrranicum]], a republic of dragons. Its sun burns bright and hot, and spews projectiles across its length, occasionally raining fire down on its myriad planets. The worlds of the Dragon Sun are largely wild places, with small pockets of civilization in well-defended bastions. The Tyrranicum largely rules the inner worlds, but its outer worlds are in a state of rebellion against the republic of dragons.
−
* System of 9 planets.
+
* '''[[Blood Sun]]:''' Home of the [[Blood Imperium]], a nation of petty warlords in conflict with the [[Void Sodality]], a gathering of worlds at its edges ruled by pirate kings. The Blood Sun burns hot but dark, though in its light life grows vibrant and rich. The Blood Sun system is known as the home of the ''Tsusni Shulam'', an order of blood-witches.
−
* Considered the cradle of civilization because it is the source of ''thevaqan'', the strange gold that is reactive to the solar winds.
+
* '''[[Frost Sun]]:''' Home of the [[Academy of Night]], a scholarly institution that provides basic government from citadels high in orbit over worlds full of "frost-worlders," who live often-subsistence-level existences. Though the very rich and connected pay good coin to attend classes in one of the Academy citadels, those from the Frost Sun system live existences of extremes: either lives of desperate struggle and survival on the worlds themselves, or lives of cloistered learning and academia in the glittering everfrost citadels.
−
===The ''Rastram Kanaqa''===
 
−
'''Themes:''' Imperial India, [https://www.pinterest.com/emeebee/solar-punk/ solarpunk], glass & gold, Sanskrit language
 
−
* "The Golden Empire" made up of six of the nine planets of the system, though they control all nine (the other three are a colony world, a penal world, and an uninhabited protectorate).
 
−
* Advanced civilization that produces and uses most of the ''thevaqan'' in the Four Suns.
 
−
* Once a solar theocracy, their culture has long since separated its ''thevaqan''-technologies from its religious orders, forming the ''Suryavarna'' faith, and the Sunwrights, the engineers who craft ''thevaqan'' into useful ships and tools.
 
−
'''First Band Worlds'''
 
−
* '''''Adhivirajate:''''' "Surpassing in Brightness." The planet closest to the sun, considered holy for its proximity to the Golden Sun. The faithful make pilgrimages here, and only those aligned with the ''Suryavarna'' may dwell here. The original homeworld of the thevana (all gevana are born into the ''Suryavarna'' by default). Very sandy, the sand of which is used to craft ''qamani'', the colored glass iconic of the Rastram.
 
−
* '''''Tejabrabha:''''' "Sword's Lustre." A military industrial planet, headquarters of the Rastram's shipyards and munitions factories.
 
−
'''Second Band Worlds'''
 
−
* '''''Kanaqa:''''' "Golden." The homeworld of the Rastram Kanaga, and home to the Kanaqa Sajkara, the Imperial Emanation, who is an emanation of the Golden Sun itself. It is also the source of ''thevaqan''.
 
−
* '''''Alambusa:''''' "Garden." A water world where a great deal of agriculture takes place in great floating garden-barges, each acres across and turned into their own miniature biomes.
 
−
* '''''Grahpana:''''' "The Bazaar." A small mountainous world that acts as the headquarters of the Sunwrights. Connector point to the ''Ravimarga''. Almost entirely covered in industrial or mercantile settlements.
 
−
* '''''Suksetra:''''' "The Good Fields." The breadbasket of the Rastram, where most common food items are grown.
 
−
 
 
−
===The Outer Three===
 
−
'''Third Band Worlds'''
 
−
* '''''Lagudyavati:''''' "New Home." A still largely-wild colony world with a handful of settlements. Lawbreakers who do not warrant imprisonment may instead find themselves assigned dwellings at the edges of these settlements and expected to do work for the community as a whole while demonstrating their fitness to rejoin society.
 
−
'''Fourth Band Worlds'''
 
−
* '''''Bandipala:''''' "Keeper of the Imprisoned." A world with a very thin atmosphere, dotted with various prison complexes.
 
−
* '''''Vadyazila:''''' "Execution Stone." An uninhabited protectorate world with an almost non-existent atmosphere. Once a place where criminals being executed were abandoned, but that practice has gone out of use in the Rastram.
 
−
 
 
−
==The Blood Sun==
 
−
* System of 13 planets.
 
−
===The Blood Imperium===
 
−
'''Themes:''' Mongol language; facial tattooing; polyamorous society; blood-using witches; Dronigmar
 
−
* Empire of human warlords, often at odds with the Void Sodality; often use great Dronigmar stoneships
 
−
* '''Khortgal:''' "water" world, though planet is toxic and water is some chemical; floating harvesting camps used to gather precious substances for alchemical work; five alchemist guilds pretty much dominate the world, protected by the Imperium; surface of liquid catches on fire during the day
 
−
* '''Chuluu:''' barren stone world very close to the Blood Sun; one of two worlds considered homeworld of the Dronigmar
 
−
* '''Shimtei:''' mountainous world with rich valleys with human settlements; second of two worlds considered homeworld of the Dronigmar
 
−
* '''Rondil:''' multi-biome world (mostly forest, savannah, and swamps), HQ for Imperium
 
−
 
 
−
===The Midmarches===
 
−
* '''Khili'ann:''' Desert world known for Maker ruins; lots of garifolk
 
−
* '''Saitai:''' Mining world known for metallurgy and automatons
 
−
* '''Tarnigast:''' world filled with big monsters, largely unoccupied, single mountain-top settlement/port
 
−
* '''Rootworld:''' Rootworld Orthodoxy, rootsingers, garden/agriculture planet
 
−
* '''Shulamai:''' Swamp world; headquarters of the Blood Witches
 
−
* '''Takhal:''' Abandoned, plague-ridden world
 
−
===The Void Sodality===
 
−
'''Themes:''' Piracy, cold, void, Uzbek language, black steel, layers of coats/cloaks
 
−
* Outermost three planets of the system, made up of five allied "Void Lords" whose night-ships somehow manage to travel great distances despite the total lack of use of ''thevaqan''.
 
−
* Reputation as raiders and pirates.
 
−
* '''Oqshom:''' A world whose distance from the Blood Sun results in a near-perpetual state of twilight during the day, and deep black freezing nights. Ruled by the Void Lord Noza, a notorious pirate. Oqshom has a single moon.
 
−
** ''Girdob:'' A small moon in orbit around Oqshom, Girdob is ruled by Void Lord Mardya. She is the wife of Noza, and a notable pirate queen in her own right. Girdob is a water world, with terrible storms that constantly criss-cross its surface. The only land are patches of tall spires, the result of weak volcanic activity, that stick up out of the ocean, out of which settlements are carved and interconnected with bridges.
 
−
* '''Qecha:''' A thin-aired world of deep rivers and extensive swamplands, with only three small seas. The lands are all low and marshy, but the native plantlife here generates both air and heat naturally, providing the ability to inhabit the world. Qecha is ruled by Void Lord Roqalia, an infamous torturer and interrogator. It is orbited by two moons.
 
−
** ''Tuman & G'ubor:'' These two moons are the dominion of Void Lord Ardumaq. Both are mountainous bodies carved with deep, mist-filled trenches. Though the air is very thin above the layer of the mist, the fog itself traps both heat and breatheable air produced by carefully-tended tree gardens in the trenches.
 
−
* '''Sovuq:''' A world with two moons, which is perpetually ice-covered, ruled by Void Lord Wavaq. Cities here are built deep underground, to take advantage of planetary geothermals. The air above-ground is all but unbreatheable, so thin is it, but local airborne microplankton dwell within its subterranean caverns, producing breatheable air as part of their natural life cycle.
 
−
 
 
−
==The Frost Sun==
 
−
* A pale blue sun that doesn't give much heat
 
−
* System of 5 planets, three of which are frozen.
 
−
* '''xxx:''' x
 
−
* '''Erudan:''' The second world, a water world, with cold waters that are constantly freezing and thawing as they rotate to face away from and then toward the sun. Home to erudael, a humanoid people who dwell in subaquatic/subterranean homes near the warm center of the world.
 
−
* '''xxx:''' x
 
−
* '''xxx:''' x
 
−
* '''xxx:''' x
 
−
==The Dragon Sun==
 
−
* System of 8 planets
 
−
** 5 Planets: The Tyrannicum - an empire of dragons, ruled by the most ancient of dragons. (Volcanic mountains/ice caps world, swamps/forests, desert/storms, savannah/agricultural, water)
 
−
** 3 Planets: The Rebel Worlds - worlds not part of the Tyrannicum, including one that is all-human, one in which dragons and humans work together, and another that is in the hands of a militant religious order of sorcerers.
 
−
===The Tyrranicum===
 
−
'''Themes:''' Roman empire, Latin-sounding, slavery, elemental themes
 
−
* '''Staenix:''' Desert/storms world
 
−
* '''Andimar:''' Human slave-breeding world (savannah/agriculture)
 
−
* '''Tyrranicum:''' x - Senate world, dragons-only, ruled by the Senate of Tyrants (volcanic mountains/ice caps)
 
−
* '''Vyrdun:''' Swamp/forest
 
−
* '''Pelagos:''' Water world
 
−
===The Rebel Worlds===
 
−
* '''xxx:''' x - one that is dragons + humans
 
−
* '''xxx:''' x - one that is all human
 
−
* '''xxx:''' x - military theocracy
 
−
==Races==
 
−
* '''Humans''', the most populous of the peoples due to their original discovery of sun-flight. Human genetics are very vulnerable to the emanations of the different suns, resulting in four "nations" of people. A child born to someone who have lived for a long time in a given system is likely to be born bearing the traits of the humans of that system, especially if his parents are of different heritages. Two humans of the same nation who have a child in a system other than their home system will likely have a child of their own heritage, but if that child remains in the system of his birth, his own children are likely to be natives.
 
−
** ''Rastramal (Golden Sun)'', tall and graceful humans, usually with smooth long blue-black hair, golden-to-bronzed skin, and eyes that range from amber-gold through brown to black. They frequently adorn themselves in wraps of cloth and wear gold jewelry.
 
−
** ''Kunmarg (Frost Sun)'', a tough and warlike nation of humans native to the Frost Sun, with pale skin and thick light-hued hair (usually in white, pale blonde or red) on head and body. They are well-adapted to cold environs, and tend to be thickly built but rarely over six feet in height.
 
−
** ''Andimarans (Dragon Sun)'', the humans of the Dragon Sun with dark, swarthy skin, and kinky (often dreadlocked) hair of varying chromatic hues, including dark reds, dark greens, blues, browns, and blacks. They are heavily tattooed, and found in one of two states: the city-dwelling folk who have accepted the rule of their dragon overlords, or nomadic tribal guerillas who rebel against the dragons. The latter are often hunted by dragons for food and sport.
 
−
** ''Rondilar (Blood Sun)'', humans whose skin tone ranges from a pale but dusky pink all the way through the red spectrum to a deep brick red, usually with white or grey hair, and silvery, grey, or blue eyes.
 
−
* '''Gevana''', the tall, jet-skinned people of the Rastram Kanaga. They do not need water, and their eyes are always protected by a nictating mirror-reflective membrane protecting their delicate gem-colored eyes. They have six digits on the ends of their limbs and narrow chins. They wear implanted stones of ''qamani'', the glass created by their people. They are the originators of the ''Suryavarna'' faith, and all their people are assumed to occupy a position of clergy within it, even if they are not part of the religious structure per se.
 
−
* '''Amagari''', a race of bird-like anthropomorphs that inhabit a variety of the worlds of the Four Suns. They, and the other "gari" were said to have been created by a people they call "the Makers" who remain only in legends and strange ruins. The Amagari are artists, with profusions of beautiful feathers and multipartite voices capable of mimicking nearly any sound, and running multiple "tracks" of sound simultaneously. They hold Maker ruins and relics as precious.
 
−
* '''Zungari''', a race of bat-like anthropomorphs. They share legends of "the Makers" but claim they were terrible slave-masters whom the zungari overthrew and slew ages ago to win their freedom. They despise Make ruins and relics, and are often violent toward amagari.
 
−
* '''Qyrgari''', the last of the three gari peoples, who appear to be anthropomorphic mammals of some kind, with double tails, short talons, tall, pointed ears and sets of sharp teeth in stubby snouts. They are a desert-dwelling people found almost exclusively among the tombs of the Makers on various worlds, sites that they defend. Despite this, they are a largely non-violent people, and known for their philosophy.
 
−
* '''Dragons''', a great race of reptilian tyrants native to the Dragon Sun system. They are notorious for their skill in genetic engineering, a trait that they claim to have taught the Makers (though the Gari claim it was the Makers who taught the dragons). Though they are said to have not always done so, dragon start off in humanoid form, and as they age and strengthen through the years eventually grow into draconic forms. For the first century of their lives, they have six arms, one set of which can develop into wings as they age (though they begin to lose use of it as a manipulating limb).
 
−
* '''Erudael''', an aquatic, scaled race from Erudan, an aquatic world in the Frost Sun system. Though they are resistant to cold, they are not immune to it, and erudael settlements are all built near the warm core of the world, deep in its trenches. They have three counter-jointed digits on their forelimbs with poisoned talons.
 
−
* '''Dronigmar''', a sexless race of amorphous slug-like creatures who long ago evolved a sticky slime that acts as a powerful glue to rock and stone. Over time, they developed stonewright skills, eventually crafting themselves bodies of interlocking stone pieces that they constantly shed as they grow and develop. Dronigmar who survive to two centuries of age develop into childwrights, elephantine creatures who split off "buds" that develop into new dronigmar (the word is singular and plural). They sail in great stone ships.
 

Latest revision as of 20:30, 26 August 2015

"Ravimarga" means "Path of the Sun"

  • Fantasy setting with ships that move among the stars.
    • They are called "sunships."
  • Solar system with four suns, each quite distant from one another, appearing only as very bright stars in the night sky.
    • Each generates its own gravity, with multiple planets orbiting it.
  • System of planets, designed according to "Points of Light" design - few settlements, most of them large, with most shipping and transportation arranged by sunships.
  • Ravimarga Character Creation
  • Antiapaya: Wondercrafts of Ravimarga

The Ravimarga

Ravimarga.jpg
  • A band of "solar winds" upon which ships may sail to move quickly from one place to the other in the Ravimarga system.
    • Requires the use of "sun sails," sails of various colors that shimmer with golden pearlescence, which can catch the solar winds and propel a ship quickly.
    • The longer a ship remains in the solar winds, the hotter it gets, with heatstroke and even spontaneous combustion of wood and cloth after too long.
    • Ships that are crafted of the "divine gold" - thevaqan - are immune to this effect, and in fact move faster than other ships within the Solar Wind.
  • Forms a lemniscate path, with "windstop" points along it that provide access to the myriad systems.
  • At its center is Barhis, a great port of call for many of the sun-ships.
  • Because sun-ships run on the power of the sun (which is embodied in the Ravimarga), it is the only way sun-ships can travel between different solar systems.
    • If a sun-ship leaves the Ravimarga, they are cast adrift into the Void, where there are no suns, only cold darkness interrupted by the occasional twinkle of a far-off star.
  • Because most ships are not constructed entirely of thevaqan (risking the danger of fire for them) and because accidentally leaving the Ravimarga can be such a death sentence, most ships rely on the ark-ships to carry ships between the Four Suns.
    • Ark-ships are massive, hollow constructions of thevaqan and qamani glass that other ships can fly into and anchor with while the ark-ship flies the Ravimarga to other sun-systems.
    • There are six ark-ships in existence: three that are the property of the Rastram Kanaqa (named the Flare, the Scintillant, and the Majestic); the Crossroads, which is the dominion of the Keeper of Baharis; the Heartbeat, property of the Blood Imperium; and the Stalwart, property of a mercantile cooperative called the "Stalwart Shipping Manifesto," organized solely to provide merchants who invest in the Manifesto with guaranteed space in the great ark-ship.

Barhis

  • At the great Solar Crossroads is Barhis. It is a mighty station shaped like a round-edged diamond crafted of stone, thevaqan and massive panes of gamani glass.
  • There are five "levels" to it - a wide central disc (the Commons), a disc above it in the cone where the very rich and noble dwell (the Regentum), and the topmost disc, which is the palace of the Keeper of Baharis. Below the Commons is a smaller disc where the very poor are relegated to dwelling (the Flushings), and the bottom-most disc is where the Keeper's engineers work in darkness.
  • Strange arcane engines at either end of the diamond generate light, heat, and channel the power of the Ravimarga through the points of the station, providing for all its needs.

Systems & Cultures of Ravimarga

  • Golden Sun: Called Varijaia by its people, home of the Rastram Kanaqa, sometimes called the Golden Empire. The Golden Sun system is the origin-place of thevaqan, and thus the birthplace of sunships and sun-flight. The whole of the system is under the domination of the Rastram Kianaqa, and is considered the foremost bastion of civilization and order in the Four Suns.
  • Dragon Sun: Home of the Tyrranicum, a republic of dragons. Its sun burns bright and hot, and spews projectiles across its length, occasionally raining fire down on its myriad planets. The worlds of the Dragon Sun are largely wild places, with small pockets of civilization in well-defended bastions. The Tyrranicum largely rules the inner worlds, but its outer worlds are in a state of rebellion against the republic of dragons.
  • Blood Sun: Home of the Blood Imperium, a nation of petty warlords in conflict with the Void Sodality, a gathering of worlds at its edges ruled by pirate kings. The Blood Sun burns hot but dark, though in its light life grows vibrant and rich. The Blood Sun system is known as the home of the Tsusni Shulam, an order of blood-witches.
  • Frost Sun: Home of the Academy of Night, a scholarly institution that provides basic government from citadels high in orbit over worlds full of "frost-worlders," who live often-subsistence-level existences. Though the very rich and connected pay good coin to attend classes in one of the Academy citadels, those from the Frost Sun system live existences of extremes: either lives of desperate struggle and survival on the worlds themselves, or lives of cloistered learning and academia in the glittering everfrost citadels.
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