Skyf is the world in which many of the games that I run is set. Skyf is massive, beyond easy comprehension. Below is the lore that I have so far created.
All of the information on this site relating to the world of Skyf remains my intellectual property. If you wish to use any of this content please contact me directly.
Skyf – an immense disk, encircling a burning yellow Orb, spinning through the Void, surrounded by Nothing. From its surface, gazing up, one sees nothing but darkness; No stars sparkle in the black, no moon looks down upon the earth. Beyond Skyf and its sun, only Nothing exists.
The size of the disk cannot be truly comprehended by most of those that live upon it. The parts of Skyf that are furthest from the Orb are frozen wastes; very little of the Orb's life-giving heat reaches here. Too close to the sun, and the heat is enough melt stone and metal alike, and rivers of lava flow through the landscape. Only in a relatively narrow band near the middle is the temperature suited to supporting the myriad of races that live upon Skyf.
The stories that tell the history of the races that live here are varied, but the history of every single race that abides shares one thing; Skyf is not their true home. The stories tell of lives lived upon other worlds, of empires and legends long since forgotten. Many mention a Hole in the sky, a blackness consuming everything, and growing as it feasted. It is not known how much time passed thus, but one day came the Majisters, saviours offering succour from the growing Hole. They brought with them portals, doors, bridges and ships, offering new life, in strange new lands. Those that accepted came to Skyf, and sought new beginnings.
Although many of the races that settled here came with the best off intentions, of rebuilding their lives in peace, many others did not. The Settlement Wars were a terrible time, lasting years in some parts of Skyf, and for decades in others. Empires grew and fell, and many races, having survived tragedy upon their own worlds, ceased to be entirely, with little evidence left that they ever existed.
When the dust settled, an uneasy peace began. Many kingdoms and empires had formed during the Wars, some standing alone, and others in tentative alliances. The races were still largely unknown to each other, and it was only now that they discovered their shared histories, and the true nature of the those that had brought them here.
The Majisters were not a race, but representatives of the Alliance, formed across the stars, sharing knowledge and technology to the betterment of all. They may not of all been friends, but they were allies, at least until the hole was found, it started to hunger. It ate everything around it, growing as it did, and that growth in turn accelerated its appetite. The hole consumed whole planets, even stars, and grew outwards towards still more. The Alliance recognised the threat to their galaxy, and tasked the Majisters with finding a solution.
Understanding that the hole itself could not be contained, the Majisters sought some way to preserve as many lives as they could. Using their mastery of the singularity element, majistum, the Majisters began to create a new world, one large enough for the many people that lived within the borders of the Alliance.
This initial bit is less a lore section, and more trying to help you understand the sheer scale of Skyf. There's some references here that will be explained further below. Some numbers for you (all are approximate):
Distance from the Orb to the Inner Wall - 32 million miles
Distance from Inner Wall to habitable area - 55 million miles
Height of the Inner Wall - 900 miles
Breadth of the habitable area - 26 million miles
Distance from habitable area to outer edge - 71 million miles
Thickness of Skyf - 1200 miles
Total habitable land area on Skyf - 16,300,000,000 million square miles.
For comparison:
Diameter of Earth - 7917 miles
Total land area on Earth - 57.3 million square miles
Estimated total habitable area on Earth - 24.6 million square miles
Therefore, Skfy has approximately 284 million times the amount of habitable land area that Earth has. Per side.
Skyf is based on a theoretical megastructure known as an Alderson disc. I won't bore you with the minutae, but there's a few things that might be of interest to you beyond those numbers.
On the inner edge of the disc, just slightly closer to the Orb than Mercury is to the Sun, is a massive wall, curving out slightly towards the sun. It performs 2 primary purposes - it helps to distribute the heat from the Orb, stopping it from melting the disc over time; it also keeps the atmosphere from burning up in the heat from the Orb. Despite this shield, the surface of Skyf closest to the Inner Wall is a hellscape of molten rock and magma.
Although the areas closer and further away than the primary habitable area area hostile to most life, some races do exist there, along with plenty of dragons, which seem to be able to adapt to almost any environment, regardless of how hostile that environment is. Only creatures specialised in surviving in those environments last long in such extremes.
On the freezing outer edge of the disc, the surface begins to breakup as it becomes thinner, leading to 'small' splinters of matter breaking away from the edge over time. Gravity is patchy and weak at best due to the thinner structure. The atmosphere is almost non-existent by the stage, so any being attempting to travel here will have a multitude of things to contend with just to survive.
When Skyf was being built, the Majisters attempted to make it as natural as possible. Life was encouraged to develop as naturally as possible, though at a much accelerated rate. Seed animals and plants were brought in from hundreds of worlds and were allowed to find their own place in the growing ecosystems. The main plane of the disc was created mostly from stone, though reinforced in places with an enormous honeycomb structure consisting wholly of exotic material. Minerals and ores were placed through the ground in an approximation of natural formation, and all of this was repeated on both sides.
Large bodies of water also had to be formed, along with rivers and streams. With that water, once an atmosphere was added, weather also eventually formed in fairly recognisable patterns. One interesting decision was to have the oceans be literally bottomless; in theory, any creature able to survive the amazing pressure within the ocean could swim through. Stories exist of this, but at this point these stories are just that.
There are many Majisters with many different interests, but they don't tend to hold sway over domains the way gods on other worlds do. Instead, the way the grant powers seems to based upon the interests of those that venerate them; it is as if the passions of their followers shape the power that is given. Often, this leads to groups of similarly-minded individuals working together, but not always.
The many races of Skyf see the Majisters in many different ways, despite the truth having become widespread during the Settlement Wars. Some see them as incarnations of the gods they once knew on their homeworlds, reborn anew by the strength of their belief. Some view them as fiends, having 'tricked' the Refugees to come here, or perhaps even having been the creators of the Hole. Others still consider them warmongers, using Skyf and those that now live there as nothing more than an arena for their entertainment, and there are many other ideas and theories competing across the surface of Skyf.
In truth, they were once some of the most powerful beings as part of a star-spanning alliance of races. The rarest of the rare, those that would become Majisters were born among a million different races with a nearly unique ability to control the element majistum. This element, when handled by a being with this ability, allowed control of matter at the sub-atomic level, allowing those wielding its power to literally change reality over time. Many of these Majisters worked for the good of the alliance, though some preferred to focus on their own causes, as is the way of such things.
Once the Hole had been discovered, and the threat that it posed was realised, the Majisters were asked by their alliance to find a solution, some way of slowing, or destroying it. Despite their vaunted powers, the Majisters failed. The Hole grew at an incredible pace, increasing its size and, as it grew, increasing its appetite, drawing whole stars into it.
Another solution was formulated. If the Hole couldn't be contained, the Majisters save as many as they could from its hunger. The Majisters resolved to stretch their powers far beyond their known limits, and to create a new home for those that now needed one. They began to build what would one day become known as Skyf, a truly massive disc, around a star far, far, away from the Hole. The Majisters drew the resources they needed from the worlds closest to the Hole, moving them across the galaxy to the area they had selected, working together to create a new world from nothing.
It took centuries, with the Majisters quite literally emptying the space closest to the Hole, moving all of the matter that they could to their nascent world. All the time, the Hole grew, devouring everything left in its path while the Majisters worked on their solution. Skyf grew, slowly. Mountains were raised, rivers began to flow, and new life began to flourish. And when it was nearly complete, the Majisters opened portals, doors to the worlds in the space they deemed to close to the Hole, and invited any and all living creatures to pass through to a new home. Despite most of those creatures being aware of the Hole, having watched it grow over the years, some chose to remain, not trusting those claiming to be their saviours. Most, however, chose to begin a new life on Skyf, bringing with them their own culture, lore, and traditions.
As the Refugees explored their new home, the Majisters finished their project, closing off the portals when the Hole grew too close to the worlds to which they connected. And once the last door had been closed, they finally rested. The plan had cost the Majisters in ways that none of the Refugees could truly comprehend. In their absence, the alliance they had been born into had crumbled; without the Majisters themselves, wars had broken out and the alliance was broken, splintered. All of the lives they had been connected to, were now gone. And the Majisters were all that was left.
The Majisters had been working together to complete the project for centuries, but when they became aware of the impending end of the alliance that had brought them together their group began the fracture. Some of the Majisters began to express their own ideas, sometimes in direct opposition to the original goals.
Having each been given responsibility for a group of planets with intelligent life on them, it was only natural for the Majisters to develop favourites amongst their charges. Around five hundred and sixty years ago, when Skyf was nearing completion, a few Majisters began to open the portals earlier than expected, giving the races they were responsible for the first opportunity to claim new lands, sometimes in locations already allocated for settlement by others, leading to much resentment.
There were other problems too. Despite the incredible amount of space that Skyf provided, hundreds of thousands of Refugee civilizations were brought to the disc. Some Majisters brought the peoples in their care to places far from any other, so that they could recover and grow in peace, but many other races were settled closer to one another. Sometimes this was a benevolent plan, with people left closer so that they might learn and and trade with each other, but other Majisters had different plans. Either for their entertainment, or in the name of survival of the fittest, some Majisters brought several Refugee races together in places with only scarce resources, all but ensuring competition between them.
Competition, resentment, and jealousy turned into conflict, and war. It didn't take long; fighting started almost as soon as the Refugees had established themselves. In some places it was those that were disadvantaged, almost desperate for resources, trying to claim something for themselves. In other places it was a more oppressive group looking for slaves, and still others it was caused by fear that others would take what they had. Whatever the cause, war broke out almost everywhere that had been settled.
No-one knows why the Majisters failed to step in and end the fighting, after all they had done to save life beforehand. The Settlement wars lasted for years in places, decades in others; some modern sages suggest that they never really ended. Hundreds of civilizations that had escaped the threat of the Hole, had been brought across the stars to a new home, were wiped out completely. The winners claimed the best lands for themselves; the survivors moved on, or became vassals, or worse. Many races became entirely extinct, now remembered only by the few artifacts and writings that lasted longer than their creators.
Once the Settlement Wars ended, the real time for recovery came. Conflict still came and went, but on a much smaller scale; most civilizations began to grow once more. Alliances were formed, and trade began to flow, allowing both knowledge and resources to be shared. Life began to flourish once more, just as the Majisters had seemed to plan.
When the Majisters opened the doorways to Skyf, they approached all intelligent life on those planets and offered them a choice - relocate to a new world, and make a new home, or remain, and live out their lives on a planet doomed to die. Not all accepted the offer; fear, disbelief, and false hope were all used as reasons to refuse. Other beings were not intelligent enough or too alien to understand the offer. In an effort to preserve as many as possible, the portals were left open for as long as possible, and in some cases some did come through.
Not all of these late arrivals were truly intelligent though. Any type of creature might crawl or fly through, and many of the beings that came this way were the sort to be termed monsters. These monsters have come from innumerable worlds, and take almost any form, many of which are entirely alien, with the races that did once possess knowledge of them having long since departed.
Due to the enormity of Skyf, some of these monsters do find places in which to thrive, away from civilization. Other times they might lie dormant, or move underground; in rarer cases creatures have appeared in the midst of more intelligent races, sometimes causing havoc, and sometimes being captured or even domesticated.
Dragons are different.
Seemingly attracted by majistum, which exists in tiny quantities across and throughout Skyf, dragons populated Skyf some time before the Majisters brought the first Refugees across the stars. The Majisters tolerated their presence, as much of the surface of Skyf is uninhabitable, and used their powers to encourage them to make their lairs in the other regions, and on the flipside. The dragons, intelligent enough to recognize the power that the Majisters held, avoided conflict, and made their homes away from the more temperate areas.
The dragons have dwelt here now for far longer than any other creatures, other than the Majisters themselves. It is rare to see the larger specimens, though occasionally one will appear from uninhabitable frigid lands normally too far from the Orb to support life, or too close to the Orb, where its scorching rays are fatal for most lesser creatures. There are stories of other dragons coming from the flipside, emerging from the deepest caves or the bottomless oceans, but if true these events are incredibly rare.
It is possible that only a few types of dragon first came to Skyf, but now there are hundreds or thousands of differing forms that they take. From what the sages have learned of them, dragons emerge from the egg somehow changed by the environment in which they have lain. Dragons of all types have been catalogued, from tiny thorn dragons that feed on berries and insects, up to mighty battlefield dragons large enough to take on armour and riders.
It is not understood how or why this happens, and it seems difficult to replicate and control. Various attempts to breed captured dragons or influence the eggs have largely failed, and so anyone wishing to pair with a dragon must somehow find and bond with a wild dragon just as it hatches. It is difficult, and sometimes risky, especially as one never knows exactly what will come from an egg, but once bonded they will be paired forever, so long as the dragon is treated well.
All dragons are intelligent, though to differing degrees, and they grow more intelligent and more powerful as they age. Dragons shed their scales at several points in their lives, whenever they grow too large, becoming vulnerable for a short period as they regrow them. Dragons never stop growing, though only a few varieties are known to grow much larger than a horse. As they age they do begin to exhibit new abilities and many do gain magical powers based upon their origin.
Unbonded dragons, or those that outlive their bondmate, eventually make their way a more remote area to create a lair, and lay eggs. Those that do create lairs do not always choose one in an area similar to that in which they themselves originate. Once a dragon has created a lair, they tend not to move far from it without need, as they tend to imbue their lair with a certain defences, making it very dangerous to approach one there.
Skyf is truly massive in scale; and yet despite the material space there is much more to be found, different levels of existence that overlay the disc. Protected by barriers of mist and secrecy, these planes of existence can normally only be accessed through magic and majistum, although some seem to be able to pass through the barriers innately.
Directly overlaying the Base plane of Skyf is the Ethereal plane. Only slightly separated from what most think of 'reality', the Ethereal plane seems 'wrong' to those that visit for the first time. The world is familiar, yet out of place. The Ethereal plane mirrors the Base plane, but everything is slightly...shifted, and out of position. The Base plane can be seen as ghostly images that flow through and past objects on the Ethereal plane without interacting with them. A creature's senses seem dulled here; sounds and colours are muted, scents seem distant, and even their sense of touch is diminished. Living creatures on the Ethereal plane seem to 'bleed' colour into their suroundings, but the opposite is true of the undead; they seem to absorb colours from around them.
Directly overlaying the Base plane of Skyf is the Ethereal plane. Only slightly separated from what most think of 'reality', the Ethereal plane seems 'wrong' to those that visit for the first time. The world is familiar, yet out of place. The Ethereal plane mirrors the Base plane, but everything is slightly...shifted, and out of position. The Base plane can be seen as ghostly images that flow through and past objects on the Ethereal plane without interacting with them. A creature's senses seem dulled here; sounds and colours are muted, scents seem distant, and even their sense of touch is diminished. Living creatures on the Ethereal plane seem to 'bleed' colour into their suroundings, but the opposite is true of the undead; they seem to absorb colours from around them.
The Outer Realms are many and varied. Each is home to their own denizens, many of which are powerful beyond the dreams of mortals. As a result, the only information of them to be had is in the hands of the most dedicated sages.
The Pure Planes are also accessible through the portals of the Astral Wastes. These almost innumerable planes are both amazing and entirely inhospitable to most forms of life. They are made up of truly exotic materials, in their most pure form, which is a hard thing to explain to those that haven't witnessed it in person. In the Plane of Elemental Fire, for example, everything is made of flame, in the way that everything in the Base plane is made of matter. The flame there can be formed into objects, in the same way that wood or stone can be used in the Base plane. It all burns,, but still comes in many forms that have different properties such as colour or heat. This pure elemental fire can even be removed from the plane, and has been used to create fantastic things on Skyf in the past.
Each of the Pure Planes is made of a single exotic material that has it's own properties. Many planes have been documented; Pure Planes of Shadow, Light, Misery, Happiness, Metal, and Time have all been proven to exist. Because these planes are so alien to the lives of most creatures, special measures must be taken before even attempting to enter even the most benevolent realm. Attempts are made though, as the potential rewards are considered to be worth the effort.
Many majisters chose favourites from among the Refugees that came across the stars; Thath is one of those. After having spent much time with a stout race that lived almost entirely beneath the surface of their world, Thath chose them to be the first of the races that they brought to Skyf.
The dwarves, as they were known, were heavily split into clans that each had their own goals and allegiances. Although there were no other sentient races upon their world, the dwarves often fought amongst themselves, something that both fascinated and appalled Thath. When Thath approached the clan that led the dwarves at that time with the news of the Hole, and offering a route to a new home away from the threat, the clan leader offered access to the portal to anyone that wished to use it.
Their opponents were distrustful, and spread word that the leading clan was using this as a way to remove their political opponents permanently. Distrust became fear, and the numbers of those opposed to the mass immigration swelled. The leader of the ruling clan, a relatively weak woman who felt that it was her birthright to rule, passed laws that would enable the forced relocation of those that were unwilling, in order to save as many as she could, but these laws caused those in fear to revolt.
Civil war erupted at a time that the dwarven people could least afford it; chaos ruled now, fear and fury fueling the uprising against those that would save them. The ruling clan found themselves nearly alone, and against the tide of paranoia had no choice but to flee alone through Thath's doorway. Many didn't make it, cut off from their escape route by those who did not or could not understand.
Those few that passed through the portal found themselves in a lush jungle upon a large island. A single mountain in the centre of the island overlooked a vast territory unclaimed by any other races, and offered protection to those unused to living above ground.
Unable to bring any inorganic matter through the portal with them, the dwarves took some time to build a new home, and named it Eabrith. As they did, many other races came to the island and the surrounding lands. The dwarves, far fewer in number than Thath had hoped for, befriended as many as they could, welcoming those other races into their growing underground realm and learning much that they were ignorant of. A great library was built to contain that knowledge, along with any items of power that they had forged or found. Then the Settlement Wars came to their new home, and caused ruin once more.
Although many races came together within Eabrith, many others did not, and coveted the knowledge and power that the dwarves and their allies were known to have. These races came together in common cause, and attacked the inhabitants of Eabrith. The siege was long. Attacks came at the weaker positions, slowly chipping away at the defenders numbers, and forcing them back into new lines of defensive positions. Underground farms supported the dwarves and their allies for a time, but once access to these valuable resources was lost, food began to run out.
The final line of defence was a temple that the dwarves had dedicated to Thath, whom they had come to see as their saviour. The temple also acted as the entrance to their library, and they held it for as long as they could, fighting fiercely to hold on to what they had worked so hard for. The end was inevitable as this stage though, so tunnels were dug, leading away from their home, under the waters surrounding their island and towards the relative unknown. While a desperate last stand was fought, those that could fled down these corridors, collapsing the entrances behind them.
The survivors, refugees once more, ran. They travelled though deserts and jungles for many days, suffering many more casualties as they struggled against the unfamiliar terrain and weather. It was here that Thath found them once more. By chance, Thath had been relocating another races to Skyf, and taken the time to look upon his favourites. Seeing their plight, Thath offered aid once more, and led them to a deep crack within the earth, where the refugees might feel safe, and once again begin to build a new home. They named this new home Karbrug, the bridge over the unknown.
In honour to the Majister, who had saved them once more, the few remaining dwarves pledged themselves to Thath. All members of that first clan would present themselves to Thath, in a shrine high within a mountain that overlooked Karbrug, and a chosen few would afterwards pledge their lives in Thath's service, defending those in need with powers only a Majister could grant. Although no longer the rulers they once were, the dwarves still keenly feel the need to protect those they feel are in their care.
Constructed and primarily populated by races used to living in underground spaces, Karbrug spans an enormous chasm, acting as a bridge across it and the lake that lies below. The chasm runs from East to West and extends to the surface, meaning that the city is well lit during the day. Multiple lifts raise and lower people and cargo to the surface where farmers grow crops and traders, well, trade. Mountains climb sharply up on one side, and fertile fields turn quickly to desert on the other; roads snake between the two, following the contours of the land.
Below ground, other farms exist, where huge mushrooms and delicate fungi are harvested. Boats travel across the lake below the city, travelling through hidden canals to outposts from which more trade and diplomacy takes place. Fish are also gathered from the lake, supplementing the diet of the inhabitants.
Mines are the primary source of the wealth for which the city is famed. Thick seams of iron and coal lie in the rock, and truly exotic materials are often found here; some even claim to have found tiny crystals of majistum embedded alongside other crystals. This brings but only wealth, but also inventors and scientists to the city, eager to experiment on these rarest of elements.
The city is led by their Queen, who is advised by a council of mages and clerics. Rumours of those spellcasters being the true rulers of the city are common, and there have also been accusations that they occasionally kidnap citizens. No proof exists, but why would there be?