The Myriad 0.1

[Saturicc]

Hey, so I'll be using this thread to post about and collect the information about a space opera-esque setting I'm building. I'm doing it for fun and it's neither a novel or a dnd setting (not yet anyways).

Sooo let's begin with the introductions.

The Myriad is a collection of thousands of moons orbiting a sunless gas giant. The moons have been snatched from their original places in the universe by an ancient race of beings for a purpose lost to time. More such localities exist in the universe, but their cultures and customs vary significantly from the Myriad.

The Myriad comes in three layers and they are: good ol' Redeye (the gas giant), the moons and the Outer Ring, which harbors curious stones that invert reality, seem to change their orbits at will and are covered in a weird, shapeshifting code that can be used to influence reality in its written/carved/spoken/signed form.

Children of gods exist in the Myriad, and the Crowns are their mothers. Crowns are extremely dangerous individuals that can wield incredible amounts of both raw, destructive power and have access to ancient knowledge. They follow a process of reincarnation and two Crowns can't coexist at the same time. The races in which a Crown "chooses" to be born are seen as blessed, and form a council simply named the Twelve. Their eventual goal is to ascend to godhood, like the elders before them.

The Elder gods of the past aren't, for the most part still around due to ancient treaties, but still maintain and shape the events in their backyard on ocassion.

[Saturicc]

The Twelve races chosen to harbour various incarnations of the Crown are, for the most part, seen as the unquestionable rulers of the Myriad. While wars among their ranks are common, they form a council that meets and 'attempts' to work in unison to combat extraordinary threats or just solve border disputes and diplomatic... incidents. Mostly they just bicker and some lust for more power, but most take the perservation of peace really seriously. Most favor one of the five Elder god factions over the other, but those that are neutral exist.

This post is envisioned to give a quick overview of each of them and is not meant as a final or anywhere near indepth guide to any of them. (i havent got any good names, just placeholders for them so bear with me). They exist to be background fluff and mostly to fill and shape the world to be interesting and have a narrative other than the main 'story'.

The Eels - an aquatic race of snake-like beings the size of buildings; they glow a bright blue as they slither about their coral palaces and attend to their many servants. They don't have eyes, have a translucent, slimy body and a stretchy jaw filled with comb-like teeth. The head has a harder plating and doesn't exhibit the glow as intensely. They communicate through telepathy and lay claim on most aquatic worlds in the Myriad.

The Industrialists - they occupy exactly 3 moons that have been turned into factories and produce most of the Myriads spaceships and parts. They prefer a temperature of Very Hot and see themselves a gods of engineering. It is unknown what they really look like outside their chunky suits. They love the number 3, triangles and symmetry.

The Hives - one of the more laid-back Twelve, their intelligence is more akin to beasts than to most other civilized life. An "individual" is a swarm of hundreds of luminous creatures. They are capable of building incredible, complex structures out of wax. Their cities are a sight to behold and often harbour many different races. They are also home to elaborate dance parties. They have many districts on many different worlds and produce a wide array of chemical substances, ranging from recreational and useful to deadly and extremely dangerous.

The Knights - built by the Elders as a tool of war, these ancients are included in the council simply because they are so damn old. Most are solitary and wander worlds aimlessly until they are either destroyed or mounted as oracles, but have a Seat on an otherwise barren, uninhabitable moon. They are made from stone, light and sound and if you were to destroy one, the inside would be lotsa little pipes. Their only Crown laid to rest after a massive conquest of a 1001 moon and the remaining members of the race meet and mediate underneath the shadow of his massive corpse.

The Heirs - see themselves as the children of the Prisms, an Elder race. Like them, they bring light to shapeless worlds and have a drama kink. They are beings made of crystal that have shaped themselves in the image of their forefathers and pilot neat suits. They look like a clear crystal encased in a glass egg, with several long tentacles supporting it. They erect massive spires that give off light and warmth and create artificial ecosystems and cultures, even when noone asked them to.

The Shadows - in the days before their first Crown, they were little more than parasitic transdimensional creatures, attracted to the Myriad because of its weak reality, allowing them to exist in great numbers. They can attach themselves to a living host and drain all of their lifeforce over a very slow period of time. They are 2-dimensional creatures with no mass and any real influence on matter (that isnt photons or charged electrons), but thirst to affirm themselves in this reality. Most members of the Myriad are kind of skeptical about them, if only because their seat at the council feels and looks like a black void.

The Gazers - a race of floating ring-like creatures with several eyes and no mouths. OBSessed with the passage of time and hold the biggest library in the Myriad.

The Planewalkers - a race of tall, blue human-like beings that dwell on the inside of Mirrorgates. They don't have heads or necks and posses only three fingers on each spindly arm. Look like goo on toothpicks. They don't own any territory in the Myriad itself but are said to be fierce conquerors. Most incidents during Mirrorgate network travel occur because of them, but noone's really supposed to talk about that. If you stab them, a blue gas comes out that quickly turns to foam.

The Tree - technically just one huge organism, the Tree is definitely the most aggressive of the Twelve and attempts invasions on a regular basis. Its branches and roots connect and engulf several moons and its ability to morph ecosystems into what it needs is what has earned it a "seat" at the council. Technically never was a Crown itself but corrupted one. It communicates through corrupted drones and seems to be amused by the others, considering them something akin to friends.

Reapers - hold a lot of territory within the Myriad, they are warlike and extremely religious. They are huge, bulky humanoids and proud warriors and are frequently at war with at least 4 other council members and themselves. They don't have the best technology and exist in a clan-dominated culture but reproduce faster than any other race in the Myriad. This has made them popular and frequent mercenaries. Their cities are built on the insides of craters and they worship death.

The Watchtowers - these giant-ass beings stand as structures on their city-world and are entirely artificial. They are also mobile foretresses and can at any point detach themselves to float into outer space to deal with anything threatening them. They spend most of their time at war and prepping for war.

The 12th race is ****ing cats lmao I like to think I'm very funny ok.