The sun, Hawkoom, is the center of our story. All known bodies of the vast dark orbit the grand star. In the day it is a vibrant orange orb that deepens to near red towards its poles. At dusk and dawn, the darkening of the sky allows the observation of vents of solar debris that plume from either pole creating a hypnotic purple nebula visible until those final pitch hours of true night ere the light of the sun breaks the horizon once more reflected off of the violet miasma of premorning.
The name is thought to be of far ancient, interplanetary origin. “Jaucuhm” was once thought to be the god of gods:creator and destroyer of all. His bride, Goahlee circled and doted upon him. Nonsense.It is now fairly common knowledge that Hawkoom is a sphere of energetic fire and light and Goahlee (modernized as Gahli) is a tiny dwarf star orbiting at some distance. Gods come and go; the appropriated names carry on.
While many of the planets, moons and smaller satellites that orbit Hawkoom are populated by intelligent life, the solar system itself currently exists in a dark age in which the technology to travel and communicate between worlds has been relegated to the few and powerful.
Beyond the solar system is a vast and starless void. Staring into the depths of a moonless night can induce vertigo and existential dread.
The legendary Orbs exist between Hawkoom and Gahli and those that reside there dub that realm The Haucumgalium.
Ortuk is a minor, hot, rocky and moonless world that’s short days are dominated by the star Hawkoom that the locals refer to as Sole because they can not (due to proximity) see the “The Far Star” Gahli. There is little in the way of civilization here and what exists is cruel and cold.
Azk is a large and distant world with purple skies and chalky, azure soil and rock. The scattered inhabitant cultures range from stone to bronze age technology that remain in a state of near permanent arrested development due to the large and wild beasts that prowl the lands or lurk below them.
Ebor is also known as the Sphere of One Thousand Hells. Torturous overlords ply their craft and love on any foolish or unlucky enough to travel to or be exiled here and worse all within view of the beautiful and taunting moon of Lo: the fabled pleasure planet, closed to all travelers and immigrants.
Alon is a vast gas giant and home to a menagerie of flying creatures and magical wind beasts. Intelligence here is scattered and often vast and shifting.
Rorn and Altess are civilized moons of Alon. The humanoid inhabitants have a vast palate of skin tones that range far beyond the traditional shades of other worlds. Travel between these worlds has only recently slowed and grand magic and technologie are still the norm on the twin worlds.
If Hawkoom be the center of this universe, Nizour embodies the playground: the world on which our stories begin. The world is slightly larger in diameter than our Earth yet the mass is similar. It is postulated that great hollows may exist that would cause the discrepancy between Nizour and other orbs of similar size.
The poles of Nizour are vast and uninhabited cold wastes that encroach far and wide across landmass and ocean. The seasons themselves are mild and less pronounced than one might find on a world more askew. A wide band of badlands, mesas, savannas, and jungles stretch across the continents and islands near the equator.
The common name comes from the Old Kingdom word for “living stone.”
Days are measured in hours, minutes, and seconds; years in weeks and months. The seconds are actually slightly longer than those of earth, not that the inhabitants would know it. A day on Nizour would last nearly 27 earth hours, but they still count hours in matched dozens. The moon makes a slow orbit lasting 42 days and most cultures match the nine months to this rate. The year is 377 days in length leaving a lag day that causes months to drag in the calendar as time passes. There is no generalized rule for when a month should be adjusted to make up for the time. In ages past, a “New Month” would be added every 42 years to make up the difference and reset the calendar to the passing of the seasons. With the state of the world today, such things are often done by local decree or not at all leading to unclear timekeeping standards between settlements and kingdoms.
This is to be expected. Many a creature comfort and modern convenience has fallen to the wayside since the coming of the Pentagra and the proliferation of the horde.
Haucumgalium 