Universe

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

Star Systems in Gondwana are ordered by their level of development, population, and interstellar importance. On imperial and unionist charts, these orders are designated descriptively. Equivalent administrative titles do exist in most factions, but do not necessarily apply to those outside the Twin Civilization. First Order of Systems To the First Order are counted systems shaping the fortunes of many hundred worlds beyond. Their unsurpassed significance is earned with age,

The basis of human technomancy are the feral nanite progeny of von-Neumann machines. Predating even the earliest human expansion, self-replicating probes from Terra spread throughout Known Space. Countless instances of mechanical evolution produced all manner of robotic wonders, but none so often as the feral swarms with near unlimited potential. Over time, machine cities and automaton worlds grew rare, but the microscopic mechanisms remain ever-present. Wether in shimmering

The nature of space in Gondwana is commonly described in terms of planetside geography: a starscape of mountains, plains and rivers shaped by the gravity of celestial objects and phenomena. Unlike landscapes planetside, stellar geography extends in three dimensions, its features always relative to the gravitically dominant body. Capturing the starscape in all its intricacy is the ceaseless work of stellar cartographers and astronomers, filling countless libraries. Cosmic dus

Seeded by progenitors more than a hundred millennia ago, life of terran origin permeates known space. Along ancient leylines of the first expansion, verdant planetary biopsheres abound, as exotic and varied as the worlds they were planted on. Experimental efforts of splintered human strands elevated some into space, growing asteroid gardens and sun-drinking swarms. Most voidborne life is far younger, however, dating back twenty thousand years to the Witchspace War. Millennia

Gravitic phenomena are ever in motion and not always stable. From sudden quakes to bleeding rifts, all manner of eruptions of energy and exotic particles occur on the astronomical scale. Such changes to the gravitic starscape are highly disruptive and only partially predictable. Certain hotspots and recurring patterns are known dangers and follow cycles of seasons, opening and closing trading lanes in spans from days to years. But other dangers arrive with no forewarning. Und

Situated high upon the Serpens Rift, the Star Frontier of Gondwana lies just beyond the Inner Spheres, approaching the upper galactic periphery. A deep abyss separates it from the thriving stellar nurseries and main outward thrust of humankind's Twin Civilizations. Through much of history, the abyss was scarcely braved at all, and to this day interstellar caravans from the Core are preciously few. Nevertheless, the star frontier has grown rich wonders built by progenitor civi

Open Plains Space is never truly barren, especially where humans have dwelt for nigh one thousand centuries. Rogue worlds and les ser stars, wisps of ice and matter have long been by the union seeded or turned into imperial islands of civilization. In comparison to denser regions, the civilized presence on the open plains is minuscule. Even so, there remain crucial if fragile bridges between the higher worlds. Waystations and lighthouses mark navigable paths, as the apparent

Cosmos represents the ordered, comprehensible universe in accordance with natural law, commonly also called symbolically “the Light”. Oblivion, or Darkness, represents everything beyond. In the Known Galaxy, Cosmos, the comprehensible order in the universe, is fleeting. The universe tends towards entropy; sentience tends towards eldritch godhood; technology tends towards fracture, singularity, and nanites. For a civilization to last, to reach the heights humankind strives for