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Cosmology

Worlds & Veil

Aldémoros is not alone. Other worlds press against the thin frontier of the Veil — and each time it gives, an entire people pours through. Three known worlds. A fragile partition. A third Convergence feared.

Cosmological scheme
The worlds and their links

An Astrean reading of the known cosmology. Other schools differ on relative positions — the Veil itself is consensus.

World 01

Aldémoros

The host continent

Aldémoros is not a young world. It is old and weary, pierced in many places by the Breaths, and one breathes magic there as one would breathe smoke too thick. Six Primordial peoples were born there; seven others were spilled onto it.

Birth

No Memorian agrees on its birth. The astreans say Aldémoros “was already there”. The dwarves that it was forged. The saurians that it was written.

Geography

Deep forests in the west (Albion, Sylvestrins), the Naharemnu desert in the south-east, Mother-Mountains at the centre, Great North torn open by the Veil-Wound.

Breaths

Seven known Breaths cross Aldémoros: Life, Light, Beast, Fire, Metal, Death, Shadow. Each people privileges one or two; some forbid them.

Present state

Year 2026 of the Broken Age. No general peace. Thirteen peoples in unstable balance. The Veil-Wound does not close.

World 02

the Ash-World

Cradle of the Sculptors

The Ash-World was the first other world we learned existed — not by contact, but by spillage. It was the Plan of the Sculptors: an ordered, geometric world where the thought of the Masters shaped matter as a sculptor shapes clay.

The Fissure

In year -5,600, the Plan of the Sculptors breaks. No saving chronicle knows why. Chaos is born of this fracture — not as a people but as a condition of the world.

The Collapse

In year 0, the second rupture of the Veil pours onto Aldémoros what remained of the Ash-World: Saurians (former servants of the Sculptors) and Vermin (genetic refuse of the Fissure).

Present state

The Ash-World is consumed. What remains floats on the other side of the Veil, ravaged by Chaos. No Memorian has scrutinised it without being broken.

World 03

the World-Before

Cradle of Men

The World-Before is what humans call their lost homeland. Dwarves say it was a younger, warmer world without native Breaths, where men lived short and many.

The First Convergence

In year -2,800, the Veil yields for the first time. Part of the World-Before pours onto Aldémoros. Aldérick founds Aldérium, first human kingdom of the new world.

Inheritances

The Empire of Men, the Court of Jade, and Albion all descend from humans of the World-Before. Three readings of the same lost memory: industry (Empire), tradition (Jade), refusal (Albion).

Present state

Does the World-Before still exist? No one knows. Humans who did not cross are presumed dead twenty-eight centuries ago. A few mage-priests claim to dream of it.

World 04

the Veil

The barrier between worlds

The Veil is not a world — it is the absence of a world, the cosmic partition that separates Aldémoros from other planes. We do not see it. We feel it when it gives.

Nature

Membrane of pure magical substance. Impermeable to bodies and Breaths, permeable to dreams, prophecies and Primordial dragons. All peoples acknowledge its existence without agreeing on its nature.

The Ruptures

Two historical ruptures: the First Convergence (-2,800) pouring out the Men, and the Collapse (year 0) pouring out Saurians, Vermin, Beastmen and Chaos.

The Veil-Wound

In the Great North, since the Collapse, a tear refuses to close. Chaos seeps continually. All nations maintain a cordon of garrisons there — the “Watch of the Veil”.

Present state

The Memorians of the five schools agree on one point: the Veil thins. A third Convergence is held to be near. None agrees on what will come of it.

The Seven Breaths
Magical forces crossing the Veil

Seven known Breaths animate Aldémoros. No people masters more than two or three — the rest is taboo, suspect, or unreachable.

Vie
Ordre

Growth, healing, fertility. Breath of the Sovereign and the Sylvestrins.

Lumière
Ordre

Truth, burning, hunting shadows. Albion, Astreans, First Dawn.

Métal
Ordre

Forge, alloy, transmutation. Foundation of dwarven Elder-Steel and the Mage-Forgers.

Bête
Neutre

Instinct, pack, metamorphosis. Sylvestrins, Beastmen, Beastlords.

Feu
Neutre

Combustion, fury, sacrifice. Empire, Naharemnu, tainted dragons.

Mort
Destruction

Decomposition, return, hunger. Counts Vampire, Saurians of the Sotek cult.

Ombre
Destruction

Concealment, lie, erosion. Vermin, Infiltrated Cults, Drow.

Glossary
Cosmological terms
Voile
Cosmic frontier between Aldémoros and other worlds. Twice broken.
Souffle
Magical forces crossing the Veil. Life, Light, Beast, Fire, and others.
Convergence
Tear in the Veil pouring an entire world onto Aldémoros. Two Convergences to date.
Plaie-de-Voile
In the Great North, since the Collapse, a tear refuses to close. Chaos seeps continually. All nations maintain a cordon of garrisons there — the “Watch of the Veil”.
Aube Première
Crystal from before the peoples. Broken at the First Fracture. Its Shards burn the undead.
Pacte
Magical bond sealed between a people and a Breath, or between a people and an astrean House / a Dragon.
Mémorants
Five schools of chroniclers: astreans, dwarves of the Book of Grudges, saurian mage-priests, watching steles, human scribes.
Acier Stellaire
Alloy of the Age of Legends. Three uses — Astrean, Dwarven (Elder-Steel), Vermin (Tainted Steel).
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