The Layers of Creation
The Celestial Realm
Above all existence lies the Celestial Realm, the radiant dominion of Solarin, Lunira, and the Stars. It is a place of pure light and divine order, where the currents of Aetherium flow unbound and creation itself bends to celestial will. Only beings of immense power may dwell here, for its brilliance would unmake any mortal form.
The Radiant Veil
Separating heaven from the mortal world is the Radiant Veil, an eternal barrier of blinding light woven by Solarin after the Twilight Rebellion. It seals the Celestial Realm from Caelthys below, preventing direct divine influence. The Veil shimmers faintly in the heavens, visible as the auroras that dance across the night sky.
The Skies
Between the Veil and the land stretches the boundless Skies, where winds, storms, and drifting islands carry traces of Aetherium’s breath. Elemental beings and dragons once soared freely here, though few remain after the Rebellion’s ruin. Scholars say the skies still hum with celestial resonance — echoes of the stars that once walked among mortals.
The Shattered Reach
The Shattered Reach forms the uppermost layer of Caelthys, a broken world of continents and seas torn apart by celestial war. Mortals of every kind make their homes here, upon the scars of Solarin’s creation. Though beauty and ruin coexist across its lands, the Reach remains the cradle of civilization and the heart of mortal endeavor.
The Shadowscape
A mile beneath the surface sprawls the Shadowscape, a vast network of caverns and chasms carved by the Aspirants as refuge during the Twilight Rebellion. In the ages since, it has become home to those shaped by darkness and exile — the drow, tieflings, duergar, and deep gnomes. Though some have returned to the surface, most dwell in the depths, thriving in the dim glow of crystal-lit cities far from Solarin’s light.
The Abyss
Below the Shadowscape festers the Abyss, the prison of Solarin’s fallen armies. Banished when the Krisis was claimed by the Faithbound, these once-radiant hosts have been twisted by madness and voidlight. The Abyss is a place of endless descent — a realm of horrors where even celestial memory decays. Few who venture there ever return.
The Void
At the foundation of existence lies the Void — a fathomless expanse beyond light, time, or reason. Nothing lives within it, yet whispers claim it hungers. Some believe it to be the tomb of Vaelen, the rogue star, while others call it the unformed darkness that existed before Solarin’s first light. All agree on one truth: the Void is the end of all things.