A glossary and some description of things found in Apeiron.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V X Y Z
Apeiron | Arcanum | BIG BODY | Celestial Engine | Four Saints, The | Four Spires of Jassara, The | Gardener King | H.E. | Jassara | Karma | Nada Crisis | Ophanim | Ophanim Mark | Qualia Tower | Soul | Vanaheim
A
Apeiron
“The earliest known philosophical term. Literally ‘without limit’, it is used by Anaximander for the material out of which everything arises. Aristotle, followed by Hellenistic writers, uses it to express notions of infinite quantity and infinite progression.” –The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, 1st Ed., 1995.
Arcanum
Current ruling government of Jassara. The Arcanum assumed power in 21979 H.E. after slowly amassing support over a number of years. The Arcanum is ruled over by a High Council made of up of Ministers who are themselves elected by mayors (previously barons) of each of Jassara’s wards.
B
BIG BODY
155 141 171 141 040 151 163 040 164 162 141 160 160 145 144 040 151 156 040 164 150 145 040 142 165 162 156 151 156 147 040 142 157 144 171
C
Celestial Engine
The afterlife. Rather than existing as an ethereal realm beyond our own it is a part of our mundane physical reality that is connected to us through a vast system of interstitial organic material that intimately binds the two ‘worlds’ together. The dying typically arrive in a vast ocean where they are consumed by life-forms who digest and then transport them to their new lives in the realm of the ‘living’. Anecdotal accounts of this realm suggest a vast environment beyond the ocean that the dead find themselves drifting within. Being that it is the ‘afterlife’, scholarly information is famously hard to come by and most personal accounts of the Celestial Engine are impossible to corroborate. The technology used by humanity to access portions of the Celestial Engine was all largely destroyed by the time of the Jassaran Revolution and the establishment of that city by the Four Saints. By Darshana’s time, all knowledge of the Celestial Engine has been largely forgotten, outside of a select few who still have access to records of the ancient world.
F
Four Saints, The
The founders of modern Jassara. They are Ziyara, Ouspensky, Ptahhotep, and Damaru and each of their likenesses are carved onto the outside faces of the Four Spires of Jassara. To modern Jassarans, they are heroes who led a successful revolution and established a successful city-state which serves to protect the last remnants of humanity. Differing opinions on the Four Saints are seen as being unfaithful to the project of continued human purity and survival, as decreed by the Arcanum Governing Covenant of 21946 H.E.
Four Spires of Jassara, The
As the modern city of Jassara was slowly carved out of the ruins of the ancient tower that the Four Saints had come to inhabit, four massive support pillars were left intact as reminders of the great work—and the Four Saints themselves were immortalized on each one. The carvings of the saints face outwards; to protect against all those who would seek to take Jassara for themselves.
G
Gardener King
[ Current location unknown ]
H
H.E.
The most commonly used calendar system on Earth in Darshana’s time. The letters stand for ‘Homo Extrema’ and the calendar signifies the long-term effects of the Nada Crisis upon humanity. The H.E. calendar begins with the melting of the entire Oaxacan Imperium (along with portions of it’s neighboring countries) into a strata of the flesh-like substance that binds the Celestial Engine with our mundane world; permanently altering the planet’s geology and biology.
J
Jassara
A sprawling city built on top of a massive ancient tower. It’s estimated population as of 22015 H.E. is three million people. The word itself is from the language of the original builders of the tower meaning, roughly, ‘just’ or ‘righteous’. To it’s inhabitants, it is the last ‘human’ city left in the world. The general population is poorly educated and has very little knowledge of the outside world or of their own history.
K
Karma
A term used by Qualia and her Ophanim to refer to a form of energy that one acquires through a lifetime. Qualia seeks out particular individuals who become powerfully infused with ‘karma’ to use as part of her Qualia Tower project towards unknown ends.
N
Nada Crisis
Begins when humanity uses technology to peer into the deeper realms of existence and first stumbles upon the Celestial Engine. The terms covers the wide-ranging effects that knowledge of a physically existant afterlife had upon humanity individually as well as a species. The Nada Crisis ‘ends’ with the destruction of the Oaxacan Imperium and the start of the H.E. calendar.
O
Ophanim
A life-form created by Qualia to carry out her will. There are a wide variety of Ophanim and each ‘type’ is tailor-made for a specific purpose. The vast majority of Ophanim live out their lives toiling within Qualia Tower and have very short and, often, horrific lives. When an Ophanim dies, their remains are collected and fed back into Qualia Tower to be recycled into a new Ophanim. Usually, Ophanim lose all memories of their previous life during this experience but, in some rare cases, certain memories or feelings persist across several ‘rebuilds’. One type of Ophanim are the ‘soul-catchers’ and they are tasked with traveling between the Celestial Engine and the ‘living’ world to mark individuals that Qualia has a particular purpose for.
Ophanim Mark
The mark that a ‘soul-catcher’ Ophanim places, usually on the forehead, of a target in the world of the living so, after they die and appear in the Celestial Engine, the Ophanim may find their query without having to scour the entirety of the ocean to find them. Ophanim Marks also help preserve the targeted individual if they become entangled in mass of ‘writhing dead’; giant clumps of souls who have yet to be eaten and digested and are in the process of transforming into a larger aggregate monstrosity.
Q
Qualia Tower
A gigantic hollowed-out corpse that Qualia uses as a base of operations. A few longer-lived Ophanim soul-catchers have theorized that the corpse may be the remains of what the ‘writhing dead’ soul clumps eventually transform into, given enough time, as souls are continuously mined from it’s rotting flesh.
S
Soul
Catch-all term to refer to the form that an individual takes after they die in the Celestial Engine. It’s shape is initially determined by the form they had prior to their death but, due to the mutability of the environment, can be altered drastically. Such changes typically only occur due to being digested and prepared for reincarnation but can be caused by beings such as Qualia altering souls, or, in extremely rare cases, the individual themselves.
V
Vanaheim
A legendary star ship that was being developed by humanity to escape the effects of the Nada Crisis. The ship was being constructed in massive sections that were each intended to be launched into space to be fully assembled into a vessel capable of carrying humanity outside the solar system. The project ultimately failed and it isn’t currently known if any of the sections were ever successfully launched into space.