Cosmology of Eden: Adel

The world of Eden is surrounded by fantastical locations above and below. The planes of existence that interact with Eden and Eden itself are all habitable and ready to be explored. The following provides a somewhat more in-depth look at the Planet of Eden in the context of its geographical and cosmological areas.

Planet Eden

Looking out from space, the first thing to receive one’s attention is the Eden planet (referred to this way due to confusing naming schemes – sometimes it is referred to as just “Eden” but sometimes not and Dromidae refer to the planet as “Adel” which is wrong). The planet is half-submerged in a cloud of grey and black gas, with the other half partially covered by roving bands of clear white clouds. The planet is mostly ocean with one supercontinent and strings of small islands around it, some uninhabited. The Supercontinent is being very slowly divided along the three-pronged spiral of the meridian river.

Adelian Continent

The supercontinent of Adel is divided into six or so odd climate regions. Climate in Adel is a function of what spirits inhabit what area, as opposed to natural meteorological conditions. There is no “natural balance” in Adel. It was entirely destroyed by the precursor race before the Cataclysm. Adel’s climate and natural forces are passively maintained by the presence of Spirits. Having Rain Spirits means there can be rain, for example. The natural processes by which Rain was once produced were twisted and destroyed. The same can be said of anything other process. The World could be said to be in a catatonic state, acting subconsciously through the presence of Spirits as opposed to working of its own will.

The Adelian continent is divided into Seven Nations each of which will be discussed more in-depth by themselves later on. The continent has three massive rivers which connect underground at its center, and numerous branches of these. These rivers are collectively known as the Meridian Spiral.

Land Areas:

To the north and northwest, the Hetuku Mountain range stretches and creates a cold zone both at its foot and progressively colder the higher one goes. The Hetuku goes through northern Andaliel and through some of the north-western Emderuer.  To the mid-north and northeast is a temperate region comprising the fertile Andalian Southland and some of Emderuer. These respectively are the Wintry and Temperate zones, as a function of the ice spirits and agriculture/land/fertility/etc spirits that inhabit them.

In the mid-west and mid-east of Adel are the tropic zones of Sargasso and Periterim, interrupted by the mountainous central region that composes Noshiki. With warm, wet climates, the two tropical areas are prosperous and home to some exotic crops and a distinct culture. They have the most river connections to the rest of Adel. Meanwhile, Noshiki is a massive mountain nation with sparse communities on its surface, but a burgeoning civilization beneath the rock, where much of the world’s most profitable mining takes place.

The South of Adel contains the last two areas. Selvage is the Fey Jungle nation to the southeast, a thick, hostile jungle environment where the weather is erratic, plants from all regions grow into a twisted landscape of disparate natural geography. Vedaria is the desert nation to the southwest. One of the largest nations, second only to Andaliel, Vedaria mercifully has a branch of the spiraling meridian roughly through its center, giving it some fertile land and an oasis of sorts from which water can be taken, as well as multiple coasts. Unfortunately for them, the rest is harsh desert of red sand. Despite this, they are incredibly prosperous. Perhaps too much so.

Vedaria, Selvage, Periterim and Andaliel have small islands off their coasts which they claimed and utilize for their resources. Vedaria especially makes good use of its islands for their non-desert climates suitable for crop, though small as they are, there’s not as much to be had from them as they’d like. The islands off Periterim are a small archipelago known as Belares that sees a lot of outlaw activity, and the islands of Andaliel are called the Fern Isles and are believed to be extensions of the Hetuku and used to mine. Off of Selvage the islands are completely unexplored.

The Deepness

The endless ocean around Adel is both majestic to behold and terrifying to ponder. The Deepness around Adel is divided by proximity and habitability, into circular “seas” with Adel in the center. The radius of each is used to determine how far out is safest to go. The Sudden Sea is the closest to Adel, with a radius of about 600-800 miles. The Abyssal Sea is anything beyond the Sudden Sea.

Spirit Cities:

Water-born Spirits have their own small villages and cities beneath the waves. In a way they behave almost like a charming parody of Adelian life, harvesting sea plants and living in sea buildings, following sea roads, collecting sea currency (often in the form of jewels and shells) and trading for sea goods. Since most Adelians, even Damakran, cannot spend a lot of time underwater, and since Deepness cities tend to be dark and at depth, it is too much trouble to deal with them except as a curiosity.

Geography:

Forests of oceanic plants, valleys and mounds of oceanic rock, all exist beneath the waves. The marvelous life deep in the dark but close ocean has intrigued many a scholar, especially the Dromidae. Most of The Deepness in the Sudden Sea is uncharted, save for a few of the Spirit Cities.

The Abyssal Sea:

The Sudden Sea is a strange world, but still comfortably familiar. There are spirits, fish, plants and people. But the Abyssal Sea beyond the Sudden Sea is nothing such. It is a darker place, uninhabited by Spirits. Weather is terrifyingly out of control, it can rain acid and fire, and eldritch horrors inhabit the water. With no spirits to keep the Abyssal Sea calm, it has devolved into madness, like the Crawling Chaos made hydrous.

The Second Sky

Adelians see two skies above their heads. The first is the Crawling Chaos of the Forlorn Void, which is not really a sky, but one cannot fault them for thinking so. That is the black expanse that permeates everything outside the Eden planet. The second, closer sky is referred to as The Second Sky, roving bands of clouds and invisible gas that disperse and keep away the energies exuded by the Crawling Chaos and thus produce the blue sky. The clouds themselves hold some interesting things for the capable traveler to discover within them.

Spirit Cities:

Much like in the ocean, the skies above Adel hold their own sorts of cities. These cities are rather vertical and can seem at first glance like metallic aeries constructed upon hard cloud. Others are far more lavish than this. Whole palaces of dragon, sky and bird spirits exist in the sky that resemble those of the Earth, but made fully of gold and jewels and precious metals, with grand banners of cloudcloth and beautiful artwork and sculpture adorning their large homes. Their inhabitants are the royalty of the sky, tasked forever with the watching of the Sun and the basking in its riches. Meteorites ejected from the Crawling Chaos hardly ever fall upon Eden because they are collected by these spirits and used for the precious minerals they contain.

Though they are called Cities, these places are much less inhabited than even Eden villages. They are really more single mansions and their grounds, with 50-100 inhabitants at the most, usually.

Spirit Cities of great splendor are of much use to the Adelians. Normally the light of the Distant Sun would be heavily blocked by the Crawling Chaos, but the Spirit Cities above are close enough that they receive this light. The eerie purple-red sky above Spirit Cities is a testament to the struggle between the light and the forlorn void, and the majestic spirit cities reflect this light down to the Adelians to form beautiful blue skies shining down clear yellow light for them. Without the Spirits in the Sky, there would be strange intervals of heavy sun followed by eerie months of gloom from the Crawling Chaos.

Elemental Teardrops:

Floating in the second sky are strange ejecta from solar explosions and void instabilities, known as Elemental Teardrops. These are small floating islands, sometimes a mile across and much less deep, sometimes about half a mile deep and much less across. They are composed, it is believed, of land thrown from other worlds far, far away that the Crawling Chaos has surrounded, corrupted, consumed and spat out. These godless places are so devoured because they lack Spirits to protect them.

The inhabitants of Spirit Cities find Teardrops and move them closer to their mansions to use them as garden, dig into them for resources and to turn them into power sources.

Earthen Teardrops have extremely fertile topsoil, often boasting a single massive tree in their center. Water teardrops are like cups of jagged rock floating in the sky, a large pool of water in them with strange fish and sometimes gold and jewels. A Fire teardrop’s surface looks like obsidian, and deeper within them one can find horrid, fiery dungeons where the natural processes of the earth are encapsulated and ongoing, producing beautiful jewels and housing weird flaming beasts.

Air teardrops are by far the most common. Adelians call them “clouds.”

Travelers in the sky will certain spot many teardrops as they fly, and probably land on a few of them. It is believed that digging into solid Teardrops like Fire and Earth ones will allow one to find strange ruins from other worlds and forbidden knowledge and artifacts, along with horrible monsters. Only the bravest dare venture below the surface of a teardrop or otherwise mar its perfect shell.

The most fun of the teardrops are hot Water teardrops that serve as hot springs.

Septinum

The black and grey cloud mass that seems to consume half the planet actually leads to Septinum, The Hells Beneath All Creation. Septinum will be covered in-depth in its own Cosmology article. While it is possible to sail into Septinum, it would mean going through the Abyssal Sea, which is not only extremely dangerous, it is also not profitable even if you do reach Septinum. Suffice it to say, portals and other magic transport is the preferred way of reaching the Hells, if they need to be reached at all.