Cosmology (Dawn of Abel Supplement)
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Inner Planes[edit]
The Material Plane[edit]
This is the plane in which Abel and most celestial bodies are located. Abel was created by Ragan and is the name of the main planet of the setting, which harbors a variety of life created by the gods. Ragan covered Abel in valleys, hills, plains, and mountains. He also covered the planet in plant life, though there is little variation in the plants currently. Abel has oceans and a water cycle, courtesy of K'tah, and a sky thanks to Illiaru. Kyros gave it a desert, and gave all mountains a lava core as well.
At the core of Abel lies Cain, a sentient and ever expanding orb of fire that slowly devours Abel from the inside out and will colapse and explode violently in the far future once it is big enough.
Abel is surrounded by orbs of light called stars, created by Illiaru. Most are about six inches in length and form a sphere around the world. They originally marked the barrier where the air stops until K'tah pulled the air tighter around Abel and pushed all celestial objects further from each other. The largest star, Seth, is the main source of light for the world. It is a star inflated by pride until it became 500 feet in diameter. Because of the overabundance of heat in the world, Illiaru changed Seth so that it brings cold to Abel instead of warmth. Abel and Seth circle around each other simultaneously. The stars, at the whim of Illiaru, are also organized into constellations, that tell the story of the land beneath them. Currently there are five constellations: Bird, Whale, First, Dragon, Spider, and the Bureau of Creation.
Orbiting around Abel are its moons, David and Saul. Saul is the larger, David is the smaller. They cause Abel's tides. The moons do not always look the same from the earth; they appear to shift shape from crescent to full to completely invisible over the course of time. Also circling Abel are three rings of ice, created by Llh'than. The rings were formed from the powdered shell of the icy egg that birthed Baloth.
Shadows Under the World[edit]
Created by Aurora. The Shadows Under The World are a sort of twisted version of the rest of the world. Currently they are inhabited by the Fae.
The Shadows are easily entered either by accident or by bargaining with a Fae to take you there. It is co-terminus with Abel, and is divided into domains of various Fae and wilderness, with plenty of space for other things to move in. When you enter by accident, you always show up in the Summer Court (when it gets made, it's coming), but can then leave the Court and go elsewhere in the plane. If you enter with a Fae, you are at the Fae's mercy where you end up (which is often the end of the mortal).
Azura[edit]
Created by Ragan. Azura is located inside a coral colored, pearl-like sphere halfway between Abel and the stars. It is meant to become the new core of Abel, therefore it is also known as the "heart of Abel". Azura has normal gravity but pulling from the hollow center to the shell. It is timeless except for plants. Plants age and multiply normally until they reach their maximum age, upon which they start to grow and age backwards until they dissapear. Also time does not catch up retroactively once you leave. It has a finite, self-contained shape. The plane is just as big on the inside as the sphere is on the outside. But Azura will be growing to match Abel once they are united (and if). It is divinely morphic to Ragan and to a much lesser extent to any invited god that wants to create something nice and peaceful. It is sentient. Azura is like a loving mother that embraces nature and life as her children. She is not critically or rationally thinking as the gods and the First are nor is she thinking in words but in feelings. She will try to protect always defensively and will not attack any strangers. Also she loves all mortal life independent of their creator. It has healing and nurturing similar to planes which are minor-positive-dominant. Any aggressive magic will be weaker on this plane and may be lead astray similar to planes with the Impeded Magic trait. Azura is coexistend with the material plane and takes space in it. You can not go into the sphere without entering the plane and the shell is indestructible and impenetrable without godly powers. Teleportation still works as normal.
Mirror[edit]
Created by Nepenthe. Mirror is home to dead spirits that have nowhere else to go. It has subjective directional gravity. As with most everything in the Mirror, gravity is dependent on the perception of the individual, allowing for any creature to have the power of flight while on this plane. Objects can be manipulated through physical force, just like in Abel, and can even be manipulated to a certain extent through sheer willpower, even by mortal, non-magical beings. It has a finite, self-contained shape, as with Abel. All magic is considerably easier in the Mirror, and even creatures that normally have no magical ability may be able to use magic if they are capable of wrapping their minds around the concept of altering their perception of reality. The Mirror is completely co-existant with the material plane, and is virtually identical to it in terms of landmass and physical features. Due to it's connection to Death, all spirits on Abel are naturally drawn into it upon no longer possessing a physical body, although remarkably strong willed souls, both alive and dead, may be able to pass through to one or the other. As a result, almost all "life" in the mirror is comprised of desceased souls, thus anything related to that life (forests, cities, man made objects, etc.) could vary wildly between the Abel and the Mirror. Spirits are corporal in Mirror, appearing how they did in life (or however they wish to appear depending on their mastery over the nature of the realm), however they do not have actual bodies. The difference being that a creature with a physical body will be corporal in both Abel and Mirror, while spirits can only be corporal in Mirror. Also, with no body to be destroyed, souls cannot be harmed by normal means in Mirror. Anything that would normally cause damage to a physical body simply cuts through the tangible form of the soul and is afterwards immediatly repaired. Beings with a physical body, however, can still be harmed and killed in Mirror as well as they could in Abel. Spirits in Mirror are not bound by the restrictions of their physical bodies. Thus lame can walk, blind can see, and trees can move and even attack (though they tend not to unless provoked, due to having no need or want for movement under normal circumstances)
Outer Planes[edit]
Celestia[edit]
Created by Aequitus. Celestia is a plane for the souls of the worthy. The worthy are chosen by Aequitus and guided there by his seraphs. Elysium is a mirror of Abel within Celestia, infused with the light that infuses all Celestia.
Elysium is also to location of the Court of Celestial Judgement, a great structure made out of marble, glass, gold and ice. At its center is the courtroom with a central seat for the presiding judge (Aequitus the God of Law) and designated seats for each member of the Bureau of Creation. In addition there are representatives of all kinds of elementals aswell as one of each kind of mortal from Abel.
Nexus[edit]
Created by Ejis. Nexus intersects with every other plane and acts as a crossroads between them. It has light Gravity, pulling from the disk. It has flowing time. the closer an individual is to the centre of Nexus the faster time flows, on the edges it flows three times slower than normal, in the very centre it flows three times faster. This doesn't, of course, apply to gods. It is alterable and divinely morphic, anyone can effect Nexus, deities have more control, primarily Ejis. It has enhanced teleportation magic, all magic to do with teleportation, to, from and throughout Nexus is easier to cast. Nexus links all Planes together, it is co-terminous with every plane and from many locations most other planes can be seen in the sky through the blue myst. The disk currently has ponts, rivers, lakes and rocks at its edges and purple leaved trees with green flowers and moss as native plants. Fae inhabit the disks edges and Shiftlings live in a great city in its center. There is also a great permanent portal that links Nexus to Mirror located on the disk between its edge and its center.
Desaru's Labyrinth (formerly known as Haven of the First)[edit]
This plane was originally created by Desaru to keep the First safe. It had floating, immobile islands of the elements. There was a ball of fire in the sky which glowed large when the day begins and dimmed when day ends. There were islands of ocean, cyclones, infernos and earth and each carried a stone bridge which all reached a floating city in the middle of the plane and in the centre of the city was a giantic, glowing, stone arch that acted as a permanent portal between the Haven and Abel.
After Desaru went insane however he unleashed the Rushed upon this plane and after many First had fled and many Rushed had followed them Desaru destroyed all the islands and the plane lied empty and barren for a while. After many years Desaru returned once again and transformed the plane into a complex labyrinth. He gathered what was left of the Rushed and deployed them as guards to attack any tresspassers that would enter his plane. They were meant to act as challengers to see who is worthy of gaing Desaru's gift of necromancy.
The Golden Safe[edit]
The Golden Safe is an infinite plane of impossible architecture resembling the relativity drawing of mc. Escher. As such it has Subjective Directional Gravity; the person trapped in its clutches wanders from staircase to ceiling to wall, to floor till nothing makes sense…for infinity. Everything in the plane is made of gold, and the plane is always lit, even though there is no source of light anywhere. The metal shines and reflects everything golden, leading to even more confusion in the infinite relative jungle of staircases. The reflections reflect the other golden reflections, leading to maddening golden infinite regression, in every direction. Time in the Golden Safe is timeless, nothing ages or is tarnished. Additionally the Golden Safe is static and has dead magic. It is nigh impossible to move any object, nor even use magic – this effect is somewhat true even for the gods, but hey can easily use their powers to change it their whim, just with a little more effort than ussual. The only condition is if a person or being is wearing gold anywhere on there person; if so then the plane is morphic to the degree that they can rearrange staircases at will to anywhere they want and even have the walls of the plane fall down for them to continue onwards in the maze of gold; and use magic at whim. The problem is that if one doesn’t have gold, they can't physically or magically move the gold in The Golden Safe; as such they need to enter The Golden Safe with gold. Petitioners to this plane simply wander the splendid maze for eternity; that is unless Thravos has plans for them. The Golden Safe is a Coterminous Plane, a portal is opened to it, whenever anyone has amassed their weight in gold {they cannot escape the portal, the gold travels with them}. Same for getting out, you need to own and possess your own weight in gold {though when you arrive the gold that travels with you will inevitably fall off the narrow walkways and roll away to the maze, although if you find a way to prevent this – once you have your weight in gold you can call upon a portal to Nexus, or any inner plane at will. (Of course you can still enter it through Nexus.) Thravo’s always wearing crazy amounts of Gold jewelry is basically a walking portal to this plane. The plane is currently empty- as no souls were delivered to it; nor is their enough gold in the world for anyone to fall into its clutches....
The Unwaking[edit]
This plane is impossible to describe; the unwaking is the world where people go to dream, and is a vague, shifting realm of symbol, belief, and imagination. If any dreamer dreams of theft or anything equivalent to theft like adultery, then within their landscape of dreams they will see a golden castle and a path leading up to it. Now they don’t have to go down that path, and may wake up. But if they choose to go down it and open the castles doors, their dreams and souls are lost within the Golden Safe. The unwaking is infinite and coterminous with the material plane (people go to it whenever they dream) and the Golden safe (only at the point of Thravos’ Castle which is the center of both planes at once). Everything is highly morphic, if a person dreams it, it will be real in the Unwaking. Dreams don’t usually mix, but if a person is willful enough they may cross into others dreamscapes. Thravos has complete control over everything in the Unwaking, but other Gods may almost do whatever they will, since as soon as they think something it will happen within the Unwaking
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