Vigil Worlds

A Place of Learning

we sit in the dark waiting to reach our next destination. After making port in The Fever Breach, Fray took the reins. This has to be the fourth warp jump we've made. The waiting has me more than a little nervous.
We venture deeper into Eden space, though Fray isn't as forthcoming as I'd like concerning where.
They say, "You'll see. This is the last jump. We have just a few minutes more."
"Can you at least tell me what we're doing when we get there? I'm getting anxious."
Their face softens, barely illuminated by the red emergency lighting fretted along the cockpit. "You told me about your childhood, how you are a woman plucked from time by the will of some kind of monster."
"Nergal, yes. I was in cryo, but what does that have to do with anything?"
"Maybe nothing, but recent events have me wondering. I called in some favors and arranged passage."
"Passage?"
Fray sighs and shakes their head. "We're going to Daien."
"Daien? A system?"
"No," They reply. "It's a planet, the vigil I grew up on."
"I remember learning about eden space at the academy in case I ever needed to resupply. Why haven't I heard of it?"
"The system was left unnamed. You won't find it on any star chart. We tend to keep them hidden."
"Why?"
Before they answer, we drop from warp. The lights flicker on as the ship slowly restores its systems, one by one. Life support kicks in first, followed by communications, then engines.
They turn to me, and laugh as I rub my eyes. They're struggling to readjust to the burst of light. "I have an acquaintance who operates a clinic in orbit, one of the most sophisticated medical facilities the Lebha have ever built. I'm hoping they can help."
Fraeia activates the panoramic view. The tiles of the floor and ceiling rotate. The screens on the opposite side flicker on and the sight from outside leaves me breathless.
I'm staring at a planet, a continental world with vast oceans between equally vast masses of land. Clouds obstruct the surface but nothing can hide the vigil rings.
Along the equator and meridian of the planet are massive structures, vertical and horizontal rings that circle the entire planet. The rings rest on a set of pillars, rising just shy of 500 meters into the sky. What baffles me the most is how fast the planet is turning, and how it seems to slow the closer we get to it...

For the eden, a vigil is a test. Almost every member of their species will take at least one. A vigil is taken on a vigil world, a planet chosen and enhanced to challenge those who venture to its surface. Vigils are built to hone one of six distinct traits, traits that serve as the pillars of eden society.
Vigils are more than just places of learning. They are designed to shape you, to take the talented but raw mass of flesh and bone and mold it into something akin to perfection. What happens on the surface if a vigil is unclear. Each has its own rules, its own method of forging those deemed worthy enough to enter.
Taking a vigil is no simple task. You must be judged and deemed worthy. To step foot on such hallowed ground Is an honor but it's also a heavy burden. A vigil can be a lifelong endeavor. While anyone of any species can take a vigil, species with shorter life space aren't even considered. It'd be a waste of their precious life. Once you begin, it never ends. The only way off of a vigil world is to succeed or die trying.

Construction

Vigil worlds begin as either dead worlds terraformed to meet specifications, or habitable worlds lucky enough to meet the requirements. Meeting the requirements isn't enough, however. For a habitable world to be considered, it needs something special.
The requirements may be underwhelming for some. The candidate must have no signs of intelligent life, not even ruins. Vigil worlds must start out pure; untouched. They would rather transform a lifeless rock than consider a world tainted by others. The planet's climate, flora, and fauna are also factors in the process of selection.
Vigil worlds tend to be very dangerous. Their climates are hazardous, from literal acid rain, radiation, and plague to extremes in temperature. Worlds with particularly dangerous flora and fauna are highly valued and considered ideal. This is where similarities between vigils end.

A world outside of time

When a vigil is selected, construction on the vigil ring begins. Vigil rings are key, the secret sauce in what makes the eden so effective in literally everything they do. Their military, scientific community, and even their political organizations are the best because they found a way to cheat.
A vigil ring uses higgstech to bend gravitational forces in reverse. The greater the gravity, the slower time passes for those inside the gravity well. Higgstech can reverse this process, a peak instead of a dip in space-time. Time bends, stretches to a halt outside of the ring's influence. Once inside, you have all the time you need. Years go by on the surface in what appears to be a matter of weeks For those outside.
How they do it, like most things concerning the lebha, is beyond our understanding of science. It shouldn't be possible. The Eden themselves fail to understand how it works, the technology created long ago. They have the schematics, the blueprints for a megastructure given to them by their gods, but the science is long gone.

Vigil?

It's not a mistranslation. This is the appropriate name but it's weird. What are they meant to be vigilant of? Is it referring to those who watch applicants and determine if they succeed? Neither of these are correct.
The name is a holdover from the eden's history, and the reason is lost to time. However, it's clear the name was deliberate and those who succeed are meant to be vigilant of something outside of the vigil, as opposed to the vigil world itself.
It's as if vigil worlds were initially created to prepare for an arrival, an eventuality that couldn't be avoided. This checks out given recent events. The ancestors of the Lebha built the thought graves, each refusing to fight as they wait for 'a foe worthy of war.' Maybe the lebhni took the hint and chose to prepare as well...