Zael (planetary body)



Zael, otherwise known as "The Blue Eye", or "The little sister" is a planetary body set in the Great Nothing, located near the stellar systems of Artyom and Zagaray. Zael is not a common planet, for it was originally a fallen star which was salvaged in extremis by the nearbye star-beings, and terraformed into an habitable planet over a million years-long process. It is the central - and only known - world in the Zael series, and as such, is the home to the many mortal races.

Birth of a planet
Some thousands of eons ago, Zael was a stellar body - a star amid others, located in the Lede system, an agregation of innumerable suns and stars. For unknown reason, the Lede system drifted apart over time, spliting into two stellar systems commonly known as the Artyom and Zagaray systems, named after their main star, respectively. As such, Zael was the source of this tremendous amount of energy constantly floating throughout the Great Northing and twisting the infrastructure of space and time - stars as a whole were a fountain of unimaginable power. This power would later be identified as the very essence of all magic.

The dormant consciousness of stars - which derived from this same energy - shaped the universe accordingly to some higher plan, and therefore the main stars of Zagaray and Artyom are always seen as intrumental in the fate of Zael and its close surroundings. They were the key architects of the soon-to-be planet. Zael, whose light had been fading away with time became at risk of dying and collapsing upon itself, endangering the balance of the surrounding stellar system. It is believed the powers of Zagaray and Artyom combined tried to salvage Zael instead, and stabilised the core of the star, putting it into a dormant state. Over milleniums, Zael was terraformed, achieving its transformation into a star-planet. How exactly remains a mystery - it is however hinted that the sole inner power of stars could singlehandedly achieve such a prowess.

Terraforming and shaping of the world
The first necessity for the star architects was to channel the near limitless power of the dormant star; otherwise it would have eventually consumed all sort of matter built over it. In order to achieve this, Zagaray and Artyom shaped the space-continuum around the star-planet, thus creating parallel dimensions into which the unimaginable power of the star was transfered. Contemporary scholars believe it might in fact be one extremely complex multi-layered dimension that was created by the star architects, each layers corresponding to a different level of proximity and connection to the very heart of the planet, and thus its energy. However, it is commonly accepted to dissect what is know as reality, into four dimensions. Simply put, reality was divided into four distinct levels, some more accessible than others depending on the nature of the observer.

Most of the inifite power was locked away in the Void, the fourth and deepest layer. It is a dimension of pure and utter chaos, where energy roams freely. The third layer corresponds to the Elemental Plane, symbolyzing natural stability, from which elementals and their magic sprung. The second layer is the Flux, a world where the rules of physics do not apply for there is neither space nor time - it is also the second most accessible layer of the world to the mortals, enabling a higher use of magic. The first layer at last, namely the Concrete, is the visible world for the common mortals. Here, rules of space and time do apply regularly. In order to bind every layers together, the architects added the spirit-link, a virtual road traversing each four of the layers, allowing a constant flow of energy to pulse from the void to the concrete.

The forging of Zael as a planet was rendered possible because of the existence of many crucial elements in the Great Nothing. First of all, the two star-suns of Dyolos and Ghe'ras were essential in the terraforming and subsequently, the birth of all life - it allowed a vast vegetation to flourish on the planet's surface. The satellite of Nëll was also important in order to organize the tides. However, the shaping of the world as it is today took place after these first stages, when the Architects realized it lacked "the spark", to harbour life. The birth of the Primes saw the natural elements awakening and engaging in a long struggle, which gave the planet its current appearance as well as the said necessary spark to create life.

See Primordial War

It is thought Zael once had a single continent covering less than fourty percent of its surface, and that it was subsequently shattered in many bits of land during the elemental wars. Others believe that Zael had mostly reached its current form towards the end of the Divine War, which followed the conflict between the Primes. Having stormed the earth and the skies, the Primordial Gods had cause havoc throughout most of the planet, but it wasn't all for the worst - fabulous ecosystems were created by the clash of the elements, and life grew from the wounds of the earth. Forests became thicker and deeper, sprouting all over the continent that had been washed over by the seas. They grew greater yet where fire had scorched the land... Entire species of creatures came to life, growing from bacteria to beasts over the course of hundreds of years. And eventually, where water was plentiful and weather generous, amid all this enchanting chaos, birthed the first intelligent and sentient race - those later to be called "Mortals - of the world : the Svart.