World Where the Stars Fell [World-building]

[Eunoia]

THE WORLD & THE FALLING:

Around 900 years ago, an event known as the Falling completely changed the world. For seven nights, stars fell from the heavens, destroying entire civilisations, reshaping continents, and leaving enormous craters behind. When it finally ended, much of the night sky was empty.

Over the following centuries, new civilisations emerged around the impact sites, where people discovered a strange celestial substance with extraordinary properties. This material eventually became one of the world's most valuable resources, influencing everything from warfare and medicine to architecture, technology, and international politics. Entire kingdoms have risen and fallen over control of the deposits. Nobody actually knows what the stars were or why they fell. Different religions have their own explanations, while scholars have spent centuries trying to understand the phenomenon.





RESONANCE & THE RESONANTS:

The magic system is called Resonance, and the people capable of wielding it are known as Resonants.

Spoiler: Resonant Garb

Resonance works by manipulating the natural forces and properties of the world through celestial material. Rather than creating something from nothing, Resonants influence forces that already exist. Their abilities follow certain physical principles, so there are limitations and consequences to using them.

The ability to wield Resonance is hereditary, although not everyone born into a Resonant family inherits it. A person needs to possess a natural affinity for celestial energy, which might remain relatively weak or dormant until they undergo a particular ritual.

Within the Aurethian Empire, Resonance is almost exclusively associated with the nobility, whose bloodlines have preserved the ability through generations of carefully controlled marriages. Commoners are generally incapable of wielding Resonance because they lack this inherited affinity. To maintain this distinction, imperial law strictly forbids relationships between Resonants and commoners, ensuring that celestial power remains concentrated within the aristocracy.

Children born from such unions are derogatorily referred to as halfbreeds. Although they may inherit the ability to wield Resonance, their very existence threatens the Empire's rigid social hierarchy. As a result, they are considered unlawful and actively persecuted by imperial authorities. The official justification is that Resonance must be kept out of untrained or unworthy hands, although the law primarily serves to preserve the nobility's monopoly over celestial power.





THE AWAKENING RITUAL:

People born with an affinity for Resonance must undergo a dangerous coming-of-age ceremony to fully awaken their abilities. The ritual involves drinking the blood of a celestial creature, which strengthens the connection between their bodies and the celestial forces they're capable of manipulating. However, the process is extremely dangerous. Not everyone survives it, and those whose bodies cannot withstand the transformation die during the ceremony.

Those who survive become fully fledged Resonants, although the experience can leave permanent consequences. Some might suffer from recurring nightmares, strange visions, heightened sensitivity to celestial phenomena, or the sensation that something is watching them. Others might hear voices or experience memories that don't belong to them.





THE FIVE DISCIPLINES OF RESONANCE:

There are five main disciplines, although these are essentially scholarly classifications of the same underlying phenomenon. Resonants might have a natural affinity for one discipline, but particularly talented individuals could potentially learn to use others.

Kinesis:
Manipulating movement and momentum. A Resonant could redirect arrows, slow a falling object, or transfer the force of an impact elsewhere. However, they cannot simply create momentum from nothing, so the force must go somewhere.

Cohesion:
Altering how strongly matter holds together. This could allow someone to weaken stone, separate metal, reinforce structures, or manipulate the integrity of physical objects. They cannot simply transform one material into another.

Conduction:
Transferring energy, particularly heat and electricity. Someone could draw warmth from one object into another, freeze water by removing its heat, or redirect existing electrical energy. They still need a source and somewhere for that energy to go.

Refraction:
Manipulating light. Resonants specialising in this discipline could bend light around themselves, create visual distortions, conceal objects, or produce illusions through the redirection of existing light. They cannot create light in complete darkness.

Attunement:
Perceiving vibrations and disturbances through surrounding matter. These Resonants might detect approaching footsteps through stone, identify structural weaknesses, or sense the presence of celestial deposits. They'd be particularly valuable as scouts, investigators, and scholars.





THE ECHO:

There's a mysterious condition known as the Echo, which affects some Resonants after prolonged exposure to celestial energy.

Early symptoms might include ringing in the ears, disturbed sleep, unusual dreams, or heightened sensitivity to vibrations. In more severe cases, people begin hearing voices, experiencing memories they shouldn't possess, or sensing the presence of something they cannot see.

Most scholars believe the Echo is a form of neurological deterioration caused by excessive Resonance. However, some people suspect that the afflicted are actually receiving signals from the celestial beings themselves.

The Awakening ritual makes certain Resonants particularly susceptible to the Echo, since they're introducing celestial blood into their bodies. It also raises the question of whether the ritual is simply strengthening their magic or changing them into something else.





THE CELESTIAL CREATURES:

The stars didn't fall alone. Strange creatures descended alongside them; a mixture of beautiful, almost divine beings and disturbing eldritch horrors. Not all of them are hostile, either. Some might be relatively harmless, while others are so enormous that their mere presence could cause a catastrophe.

Starborn:
Creatures that arrived during the Falling and have since adapted to the world. Some resemble ordinary animals, although their anatomy can be incredibly strange. They might have translucent bodies, unusual numbers of limbs, or organs that interact with Resonance. Some could even have been domesticated over the centuries.

Hollowed:
Creatures native to the world that have been transformed by prolonged exposure to celestial material. They might develop crystalline growths, unusual sensory abilities, or mutations that allow them to manipulate Resonance instinctively. These would probably be among the more common monsters encountered near impact sites.

Astrals:
The most extraordinary celestial beings, some of which may have been the stars themselves. They can be unimaginably enormous, ancient, and difficult for humans to comprehend. Some are dead, some dormant, and others might still be conscious. Entire impact sites could potentially be the remains of a single Astral.

Unmade:
These are entities that seem to exist outside the ordinary laws of nature, perhaps originating from places where the Falling damaged the boundaries of reality itself. Some might occupy multiple locations simultaneously, imitate voices, or possess forms that the human mind struggles to interpret. They're extremely rare and not necessarily understandable as living creatures.





THE KINGDOMS & POLITICS:

The Aurethian Empire is one of the most powerful nations, built around an enormous celestial impact site. Its wealth and political influence come largely from controlling the extraction and distribution of celestial material. The imperial family claims a degree of divine authority over the fallen stars, and the empire is an important centre of religion, scholarship, and magical research. It has a fairly complicated political system, with influential noble families, religious institutions, and competing interests surrounding Resonance.

The Veyr Holds are a collection of mountainous principalities, known for their independence and their skill in working celestial material into weapons, tools, and architecture. Rather than being ruled by one monarch, they're bound together through alliances, oaths, and rivalries.

The Serevan Coast consists of maritime republics whose prosperity comes from trade, navigation, and salvaging celestial material from the sea. The Falling drastically altered their coastline, leaving ancient settlements submerged and strange creatures inhabiting the surrounding waters. Enormous celestial leviathans occasionally surface offshore, with local communities interpreting their appearances as religious events.

The Glass Expanse is a vast region where the heat of the Falling fused the earth into enormous stretches of dark, reflective glass. Nomadic communities inhabit its outskirts, while expeditions venture into the interior in search of untouched celestial deposits and ancient ruins. It's also one of the more dangerous regions because of the creatures and unexplained phenomena found there.


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