Codex Gondwana

24.15.2135, from the Chancellors’ introduction at the reformation council, reaffirming the mandate of the United Planets of Carpadan (UPC): One hundred years ago, on this day, the skies were opened above our world Carpadan. For the first time in centuries, our fathers saw the stars of old, saw the constellations of our myths and remembered them. They saw the cosmos of the ancient days, when we ruled worlds beyond our own, and our forefathers held the might of stars in the pal

Eleven centuries ago, blue fire from the Hallowed Crown brought the coming of a cosmic winter. A frozen vestige of the Witchspace Prophets was set loose upon the worlds of Gondwana, the titan's binding chains torn asunder somewhere deep beyond the veil. From the blue fire ignited, a fell storm raged from beyond the horizon of reality and brought forth ice and darkness swallowing the stars. Fleets and nations were swept away, the dreamers saw no omens in their sleep and the or

Religion in Gondwana It is possible to chart the faiths and practices of humankind in Gondwana according to their basis and relation. The result is not a comprehensive list of all sects and denominations, as one would be impossible to compile for all their multitudes and constant change. But such a chart offers insight into the foundations held by all permutations of religion that there are. High Resolution Image Light of an Orderly Cosmos Rather than a religion, this highest

The twin civilizations exist in the equilibrium between two divine entities aspired by humanity. Each represents the final culmination of one path towards ascension, shaping the faith and goals and actions of the great powers following them. Egregor The Transcendent God of the Terran Empire is the Egregor, one singular all-mind arising from the confluence of all human spirits by way of Psionic Providence, one eternal consciusness transcending and imposing cosmic law. In the e

of the Arts and Works of Humankind Three Spheres broadly encompass the collective works of humankind, each pertaining to a different realm of masteries over nature, mind, and technology. High Resolution Image First and oldest is the Biosphere, the totality of all biological life and natural systems, shaping organisms and the worlds they live upon. Second is the Cognisphere, of all sapience and human spirit upon which culture and society are built. Third is the emergent Techno

Witchspace is the name given to space beyond space, a layer of reality not distinct but one dimension removed from the observable universe. Through it, Humankind walks among the stars, bypassing the bounds of space and time. Starships enter witchspace like labyrinthine catacombs below the shallow fabric of known space. In the natural universe, there are thinning seams and tears that allow for the transition. In many systems, relays and gates are built to open fixed witchspace

Ascendant Federation of Exoworlds Populations: Vulpecula Heartlands: Enchanted Paradises Common Polities: Federal Administries ​ The Vulpecula are an Archon-clade creation, an artificial state endowed with unparalleled psionic technologies and imperial authority sanctified by Hallowed Calhall. They were made as peacemakers, keepers of the balance between Trantor and Cambria. This purpose seems to guide their Federation still, though no one knows all that moves the powers that

Old Demarchist Kin of Gondwana Populations: Demarch Heartlands: Precursor Monument Worlds Common Polities: Vetkarati Demarchies ​ Where most precursor’s works fell to ruin, the Vetkarat Demarchy is a living relic of ages before the union and empire. This is the Old Kin, the last sovereign vestige of a lineage dating back to the Cambrian Ringbuilders. Their worlds are monuments to uncounted millennia of persistence, carved from their planet’s glowing mantles. Their people whol

The Innermost House of Trantor Populations: Ortus and Demarch Heartlands: Inner Babylonian Shells of Trantor Common Polities: Vadunite Dominions ​ Far down Trantor’s Babylonian shells, Vadun lies in command of the Deep. Where there is neither light nor heat but the planet’s beating heart, the innermost house delves for libraries of untold knowledge, for resources and works of forgotten ages, and even peoples long abandoned to reclaim. Vadun does not venture beyond the inner

Eternal Empire of the Ursu Firstborn Symbiotes Populations: Ursu Symbionts Heartlands: Eternal Fortressworlds Common Polities: Sublime Courts ​ The remnant realms of the Eternal Empire are long diminished, driven from Gondwana's heartlands onto the Marred Frontier. But untold worlds remain where the Ursu symbiotes reign as Gods unbroken, false idols worshipped as heirs to the Ringbuilders. Their strongholds are truly ancient. Stagnant as though they may be, the Ursu have int

Inevitable Vanguard of the great Northern Threat Populations: Umstrands Heartlands: Entrenched Fortressworlds Common Polities: Hegemon States and Warbands ​ Like a warped mirror to the Twin Civilizations, the Hegemony is a conglomeration of a myriad peoples, a culture steeped in influences from the galactic abyss, driven by a false light they call the Ummon-Ur. Its thrust south cleaved through the Eternal Empire and unleashed upon Gondwana the unbound war. The Hegemony’s ine

Ruins of the Lighthouse War Populations: Varied Strands Heartlands: Fractured Worlds and Systems Common Polities: Warlords, Lesser Houses, Clade Domains, and Wilderlands ​ Ravaged by the Lighthouse War and wrestled from the fold of their former patrons, many worlds began anew before the coming of Gondwana’s winter. Remnant hosts of Trantor and errant Clades left by the Union were left to settle them, when the storms began and cut-off of interstellar travel. Unique combination

Collective Cambrian Clades of the Spirit Crucibles Populations: Substrand Collectives Heartlands: Shuttered Hiveworlds Common Polities: Gestalt States ​ Fierce are the realms of Sanctacaris, clades of the spirit crucibles, builders of grand hives and collectives. In their pursuit of the Demiurge, the manifold collectives meld the minds and knowledge of their populations, creating mental prisms governing every aspect of their rule. Throughout the Union’s northern stars, Sanc

Verdant Clades of the Cambrian Geneweavers Populations: Bioroida Heartlands: Verdant Brambleworlds Common Polities: Primacari Cladelodges ​ The Geneweavers are creators and shapers of life, delighting in the complexity of organic systems, intricate tapestries of growth and decay. Their clades dedicate themselves to every aspect of biology, molding ecologies and organisms for their every pursuit. They are old, the first to leave the Ringworld Cambria and settle along the banks

Peripheral Kingdom of Nanoforms Populations: Polycephal Nanoforms Heartlands: Coalescent Matriceworlds Common Polities: Polycephal Princedoms ​ Zinnober is the sole remaining peripheral power untouched by the expansion of the Mechanist Union. The unspoiled domain enjoys especially attentions of the Eldonian clades fascinated by Zinnober’s extraordinary strand of humankind. The Polycephal Nanoforms enmesh their physiology with the nanite technosphere, yielding unprecedented g

Ascendant Cambrian Clades of the Electric Spirits Populations: Nullbodies Heartlands: Faceless Cyberworlds Common Polities: Nectocari Nexuses ​ In the pursuit of machine-ascendance, the Nectocaris Clades shed the mortal shell of flesh and blood, inscribing their existence onto circuitry. Their worlds are much akin to machine cities and hubs of long-dead strands of the nanomachines, inaccessible almost entirely to homo sapiens. ​ Driven by urges and desires from deep within th

The Merchant House of Trantor Populations: Ortus Heartlands: Gilded Contorworlds and Bazaar Orbitals Common Polities: Hansa States and Syndicates ​ The mercantile republics of Misadin lie at the heart of Trantor’s imperial realms, controlling worlds along the Ardent Range and its vibrant trading routes. Born from guilds and caravaneers, Misadin was long among the lesser houses, and preserves to this day traditions of merit and opportunism above all. Its lords are not dynastie

Cambrian Nomad Clades of the Engineherders Populations: Augments Heartlands: Roaming Worldfleets Common Polities: Megachaira Clans and Chiefdoms ​ Most outsider contacts with the union and mechanist expat clades originate from the Engineherders of the Megachaira. They are nomad smiths and artisans, prolific in trade and scavenging of all things forgotten. ​ Machinery comes alive under their hands, automaton nature sculpted from the detritus of civilizations. Robotic flora an

The Youngest House of Trantor Populations: Bioroids and Ortus Heartlands: Primordial Frontier- and Derelict Worlds Common Polities: Noble Houses, Guild Exclaves, Colonial States ​ North of the Great Ardent Range, Trantor’s youngest house commands territories long held by vassals of the Eternal Empire. Many ruins and wreckage fields still speak to the wars fought for millennia, now long overgrown and decayed. ​ Kamadriisi lies on the frontier, and close to peripheral powers e

Arisen Metaculture of Cambria Populations: Nullbodies Heartlands: Heavenly Chain upon the Suneater Common Polities: Essatir Convergence ​ Beyond starfire walls and gravitic bastions, a perfect paradise was built by the Essatiri Metaculture ascendant. All worlds of Trevrizent enraptured in a web of noosphere excellents conjured from the nanite swarms of the system. No outsider has ever set foot on those world since, no lord ever receveived work back from their envoys. The bord