Ringrealms of Vagevuur
THE RINGREALMS AT A GLANCE
Floating within the infinite spacetime loop of the Engulfing Darkness, the Ringrealms of Vagevuur appear as four enormous ring-worlds revolving around a moon-sized planetoid. The four rings spin tirelessly around the core, producing a centrifugal force that maintains the 32 feet per second per second of acceleration necessary to prevent the preciously thin atmosphere of each ring from slipping away.
For two hours (recognized as mid-day) of a thirty hour day, the rings align to form a flat, circular disc just over six thousand miles in diameter. Seen from afar, the disc reveals itself to be comprised of four concentric rings with the core rising in the center. Each ring possesses its own self-contained ecosystem, with distinct geographical features and native flora and fauna that form complex, vibrant ecologies filled with unimaginable wonders and terrifying dangers. From outermost to innermost, there is Bjerg, the ring of rock, Ís, the ring of ice, Eyomirk, the ring of desert, and Vatn, the living vine. Together, they surround an artificial wooden planetoid called Bosch.
Over the fourteen billion years of the most commonly used timeline, countless nations, cultures and civilizations have risen and fallen. Wars have been fought and peace made. Whole species have evolved and gone extinct. What remains a constant, however, is the sweeping spin of the rings and the steady rotation of the core, which together comprise the Ringrealms of Vagevuur.
The constant rotation of the rings serves to both bind the spacetime of the Tangible1 and Intangible Universes together, even as their rotational wake pushes the galaxies within apart. Before they were realms, before they had any mass at all, the rings were four simple strands of Techno-Thread just a single molecule thick that revolved around the Techno-Engine, the generator of all time and space, eternity and creation.
Over billions of years, however, unimaginable volumes of cosmic matter have collected on the four Techno-Threads, creating distinct geographies for each realm. The fourth, outermost ring of Bjerg is known for the mountainous terrain, dense rock, and sheer cliff faces that make passage beyond the Ringrealms impossible. Moving inward, the third ring of Ís is renown for ice-covered oceans that cling like pearls along a necklace, each one ripe and fertile with mysterious and exotic life. Continuing toward the center, the second ring of Eyomirk is famous for open plains and sand dunes interrupted by mesas, buttes and super-dimensional trees that reach miles into the sky. The first and final ring, Vatn, is a single, enormous vine coiling and twisting its way around the innermost Techno-Thread, each of its leaves large enough to build towns and small cities upon. Finally, at the center of the four ringrealms lies the artificial planetoid of Bosch. In actuality an artificial construction of wood, Bosch is just over one thousand miles in diameter and allegedly constructed by the legendary (some would say mythical) beings known as the Unknown Architects.
While each is dramatically different, the four ringrealms and planetary core are united by one common feature, again attributed to the Unknown Architects: the Labyrinth. Carved in the mantle of the mountains of Bjerg, the oceanic crust under the waters of Ís, the cratonic rocks beneath the deserts of Eyomirk, the spongy, chambered pith of Vatn, and the intricate woodwork of Bosch lies a complex, twisting, and very often deadly series of passages that range from several hundred feet to several thousandths of a millimeter in dimension. While expeditions from each ringrealm have attempted to survey the Labyrinth, most scholars estimate that less than one tenth of one percent of their true depths have been mapped, and flora and fauna have begun to spread into them, the bulk of these passages are unexplored and untouched by the outside world.
THE SOUL
The soul exists as a single point of concentrated information, an intangible set of coded instructions responsible for storing our very being and united with a husk — a tangible form controlled by the soul that allows it to interact with other tangible objects. At the moment of conception, the soul is attracted by the spark of sperm meeting egg and it finds its way to the husk, residing within for the duration of its tangible life.
Taking root in this spark, the soul sends instructions to the flesh, fueling it and helping it grow. As the soul moves through ‘life’ in tangible form, the sum of its experiences collect as memories within an organic storage unit residing within the husk. This elegant, yet simple storage unit is typically defined as a brain, but the form of this organ can vary depending on species. The memories within manifest as hatreds and desires, nightmares and dreams, and hopes and instincts. Every animate, self-aware being, no matter the species, possesses a soul and a brain that blend together to become us in tangible form.
While brains have evolved into remarkably precise instruments capable of storing immense volumes of data, the transfer of information and instructions between its tangible form and the intangible soul that resides within is not lossless. Indeed, the typical soul is capable of utilizing only a limited amount of the brain’s full potential, and this manifests on a daily basis in the form of confusion, forgetfulness, déjà vu, senility and other simple ‘tricks’ our brains appear to play.
Additionally, the husk form, like most objects confined to the Tangible Universe, has a finite existence and inevitably begins to degrade and break down as it ages. The durability of the tangible form is dependent on its construction and the bonds between the Smaller Things that comprise it and, at a certain point, the tangible form breaks down to such an extent that the soul can no longer remain anchored, the bond between the soul and the brain is broken and the two separate. While the basic coded instructions are collected by the Manifold and randomly recycled into another husk within the Tangible Universe, the data and memories stored within the brain are ultimately lost as the tangible body decomposes.
When the natural laws of the Tangible Universe take their course the information is lost forever, resulting in Memory Death. This isn’t to say that the data and memories stored in the brain cannot be recovered, however, and instruments and methods exist to do just that. As a matter of fact, to trained voyants, errants, and trenchers, it’s often possible to reunite the soul with its memories.
LOST SOULS AND MELANGERS
Derogatively referred to as lost souls, the denizens of the Ringrealms of Vagevuur go about their daily lives with no knowledge of their world’s function in the cosmos, nor their place in it. Aspiring to nothing more than the status quo, they rise each morning to toil at menial jobs, only to return exhausted in the evenings to eat, sleep and repeat the next day.
There are those, however, that seek to expand their knowledge and mastery of the world around them. They delve deeply into mysteries, uncovering ancient secrets, solving riddles and debunking falsehoods attributed to magic and the supernatural. They seek a deeper scientific knowledge of the relationship between the soul, the mind, and the body, as well as the means to affect and alter the grand cosmic machinery.
In order to do this, these scholars, explorers, adventurers, and warriors ingest massive quantities of a mind-altering, psychotropic drug called vasen. The drug is refined from vasen, a substance found in limited quantities deep within the crust of the rings. Vasen comes in several forms, and can be inhaled, consumed, or injected. Once absorbed into the body, it strengthens the link between matter and the background code of the universe, and the mind and the background code of the soul. Through a knowledge of physics and the workings of spacetime, as well as large doses of vasen, melangers that consume vasen open malleable doorways between multiple realities, and even blend new ones, creating melange states, in which literally anything is possible.
With abilities mistakenly attributed to magic and the supernatural by less educated members of the population, these melangers (as they are referred to for their ability to mix and blend reality) are deified as often as they are vilified. While some exploit the benefits of their celebrity status, the average melanger keeps quietly to the shadows, preferring not to draw attention to themselves or their extraordinary talents.
A careful observer recognizes a melanger by the distinct, rust-colored flakes within their irises, which is a sure sign of vasen addiction. Unfortunately, however, a good deal of the population is already addicted to the stuff in countless, less potent forms found in everything from foods and spices to medical cure-alls. There is also, of course, the blackmarket form mindlessly abused by feverish addicts looking for a high. Because of this, it can sometimes be difficult to separate true melangers from more mundane users and a smart citizen proceeds with caution when in the presence of someone they suspect to be using.
While there are at least nine distinct types of melanger, and more being discovered every day, the three most common and widely recognized are the voyant, the trencher, and the errant. Each specializes in a different aspect of spacetime mastery.
The voyant uses trained techniques to pump vasen through the blood-brain barrier, therefore allowing it to quickly and directly permeate and soak the brain. This supercharges large regions of the voyant’s brain, unlocking an avalanche of previously unknown perspectives, possibilities, ways of thinking and ideas.
The trencher, more concerned with brute force, consumes vasen orally and through injection directly into their musculature and skeletal systems. By loading their bodies with large quantities of the drug, they open themselves up to ways of manipulating and infusing themselves with the kinetic energy of matter both within and without.
It is often said that the errant is balanced somewhere between the two, but this is not really true. The errant inhales vasen, allowing it to infuse the cells of their body as well as their soul and opening up a sixth sense they call the ‘inner eye’. Through this inner eye, the errant is able to tap into the currents of spacetime, ’seeing’ forward and backward in time and space.
To the ignorant, the talents and abilities of the melangers can seem frightening. In actuality, however, they are somewhat akin to athletes who have improved the functioning of their bodies through training and sound scientific principles.