The Divine Path

Ready for a world trip?

The Divine Path is the initial, constant set of train tracks used by The Divine Engine since time immemorial. It runs around the world, not always in any of the cardinal directions, but generally travels northward on the Nierovian hemisphere crossing the northern frigid zone. Afterward it heads south across the anti-Nierovian hemisphere, including a significant stretch across the open ocean. Finally it crosses the southern frigid zone and returns to a northward path.

Where all Roads Lead

Our journey starts just north of Menes, the ancient capital of Nierovia, the premier state and civilisation within The Rolling Belt. The Belt itself is the stretch of land closests to the Divine Path on this side of the planet and contains all advanced civilisations of the Earth. And the center of it all is Menes, the jewel of life, which we have just passed, not to return for more than two months.

Plains and Fields

Nierovia is a country of grain and agriculture, much of which we will pass along the way north. The bountiful harvest will have supplied much of Nierovian parts of the congregation with the food they need until the next visit, along with trade, tools and many more things. Along the way, one can see rolling hills and, small lakes and rivers, some of which are crossed along the way.
The Landscape, which is also called The Great Plains, is dotted with smaller and larger towns, which at first still belong to Nierovia, but soon will be part of other, lesser kingdoms, duchies and republics. The rain here is soft and the wind gentle and even the winters are brief and rarely cold enough to freeze bodies of water.

Walled Off

Traveling further, The Divine Engine begins to enter rougher terrain. Hills become mountains, dells become deep gorges. In the distance, tall mountains stretch to the skies and soon the track itself gains slope. Before the in- and declines can become unmanageable though, the Divine Path avoids the mountain ranges alltogether.
It enters into a hole in the ground, at which a settlement is only just forming. From here on, it sneaks from cavern to cavern sometimes entering narrow crevices, which had to be widened artificially to accomodate the path. Along the way much unexpected beauty can be found, like glittering crystals in the darkness, and underground lakes, whose still surfaces barely any wind disturbs. Inside the cavern path as it is sometimes called, the sounds of the Engine and the congregation can sometimes echo back and forth into an unbearable cacophony, which can leave your ears ringing. In other places, the air gets surprisingly thin. But fortunately, this too shall pass. Eventually.

The Unseelie Forest

When we finally break free of the earth and breathe fresh air again, we find ourselves inside a thick forest of pines, firs and spruces, which are covered in snow for about half the year, and rich dark greens the other. Even in the warmer months the air stays cool and in the headwind is even cooler. From here until the temperature rises again Etherians have to group up while they clean their phalaian to avoid cooling out too much.
But this place is more than a pretty scenery Nierovian tales report that these forests are where the souls of lives past reside and that the nights are full of danger. They call it the Unseelie Forest.
As a result few people live here, though there are thought to be small cottages ducking under the wind of small clans and communities. There certainly is one small town surrounded by a palisade, which formed around the second to last switch in this hemisphere.

Change of Scenery

But eventually the trees part and reveal a new leg of the journey. We are close to entering the everfrost, the part of the world, where temperatures hover so little above the freezing point of water, that vegetation becomes far and fewer. Before we lose all green though, there is a special sight to behold.

The Hovering Stones

For about three days time, the Divine Engine passes what some think to be its origin. Here strange magic is at play. Stone, ranging from small pebbles up to heavy boulders float through the air here, seemingly unbothered by the pull of the earth, which binds all else to the ground. Evergreen vines and brambles climb up between them partially concealing crumbling ruins which sometimes have even remained on the floating rock. According to Nierovian faith, this was once the home of the gods, before they ascended to the heavens.
Indeed there seems to be a subtle link between the Divine Engine and this part of the world. Around these parts, it will occasionally sound a whistling noise, clearer than trumpets and flutes, though no one knows who it is or was for and there never is any answer.

Capricornium Homeland

Upon leaving these divine lands, the terrain becomes taller again, with the Engine entering a second range of mountains, though far more navigable than the first. Here is the ancestral homeland of the Capricornia, and where a large portion of them still live. Everywhere the campfires and rocky huts can be seen in the night, which sometimes blend in deceptively with the surrounding cliffs.
The capricornia here worship the Divine Engine as the ultimate being and as a result have placed innumerable totem poles along the tracks, which depict the family trees and histories of those that placed it there. Ever so often, a young and rambunctious Capricornium will wait on the Divine Path intent on challenging the Divine Engine. Of course the collision never even slows down the machine, but Capricornia are hardy beings, with excellent physical capabilities. Most often the challenger is thrown from the tracks and survives with minor injuries and aching horns and skull.

The First Calamity

Beyond the mountains we enter the northernmost regions of the world, where no life can survive. This is the first calamity and a barrier for all travel except the Divine Engine and the congregation behind it.

The Frozen Waste

First there is an ice desert stretching as far as the eye can see. It is so cold here that Etherians need to be careful when they expose themselves to the elements. In the summer, the sun never sets, while in winter it never rises. There is beauty in this hostile place too though. Strange Lights sometimes dance in the sky, which seems to happen more often when the Divine Engine is approaching.

The Lavafields

At the very top of the world lies the actual calamity itself. A vast field of volcanoes once existed here, but in some unknown event before recorded time, they merged into what is known as the molten sea. Bubbling lava pools between fields of barely solid stone, the air is filled with noxious fumes and the divine path must run several hundred meters above the ground, supported by massive columns and towers, whenever they can be supported by the ground.

The Second Cold

Once the molten sea has passed, a second ice waste lies before us. We have entered the anti-Nierovian hemisphere and left civilised lands long behind. Large beasts resembling the bearhounds of Nierovia haunt these stretches, devouring all animals and people they can get their hands on.

Strange Lands

Once out of the everfrost, temperatures rise dramatically, as the Divine Path enters the perhaps most unusual part of the journey, known to the Nierovians as the Otherlands

The Seelie Forest

The first, physically smaller part of the Otherlands is the Seelie Forest, a more inviting counterpart to the thick evergreen forest on the other hemisphere. Here, Trees are in constant autumn colours, the large variety or trees always shedding leaves, yet never running out. Something strange is afooot here. Time seems to have a mind of its own. Whereas the time the Divine Engine needs for one revolution around the planet is constant and precise if it only follows the Divine Path, people living in the congregation seem to experience far more or fewer days while within the Seelie Forest.
Moods brighten unnaturally and the Etherians seem to become far more active and hectic in these woods. Something is afoot. Several pushes of settlers tried to use the Divine Engine to establish footholds in these lands, but they all vanish before the next visit by the train.

The Bog

Following the Seelie Forest, the Divine Path enters a Marshland, which is flooded almost the entire year round. Small enclaves of Etherians live here, traveling from place to place, but for the most part it is a wretched land. In theory many riches are thought to lurk beneath the murky waters and silty sediments, but transporting goods here to access them and then returning them is only recently become possible.

Asea

At the end of the world, the water of the bog mixes with The Great Ocean, which takes up much of this side of the world. The Divine Path runs atop the waves here, sometimes supported by buildings if the ocean floor allows it, more often buoyant, resting atop the waves. Especially here the Divine Engine could not stop if it wanted to, for it would sink too low if it ever stayed in the same place too long. Some parts of the congregation transform into two parts here. The wheels and chassis submerge with the tracks if necessary, while the rest of the wagon is made into a ship if necessary.

The Second Calamity and the Deep Plunge

Approaching the southern everfrost, the sea gets more and more dangerous but land is nowhere to be seen.

Even Colder

As the everfrost is reached, larger and larger iceberg are found floating in the water. At first they are no match for the Divine Engine and no danger to the congregation, but they will be. Eventually the entire surface of the water will be covered by ice and at the very south of the world, the frozen water reaches to the very bottom of the ocean. However, before the congregation is truly endangered, the Divine Path takes one last unexpected turn.

If not across

Out of nowhere, a truly magnificent marvel of engineering appears. The tracks sink below the waves, the tracks surrounded by a mixture of perfectly smooth stone, impossibly long, crystal glass and pure metal. This part of the journey floats through the ocean, in parts neither seeing sunlight and the surface, nor the bottom deep below. Etherians must enter hibernation in this part for they have little opportunity to clean their phalaian. Eventually the path even burrows through the everlasting ice.

Release

Returned to the Nierovian hemisphere, we eventually reach the surface of the world again. It will be a short while before land is reached, but for most this means a time of relief and hope. Soon supplies can be restocked, the congregation can gain new members and deliver some to their destination. One final danger remains

Storms and Sands

The south of the Nierovian hemisphere contains a large part of the continent entirely covered by sand. dunes stretch far and wide, but surprisingly never cover the tracks of the Divine Path itself. Lightning Storms are frequent and leave behind large fulgerites, glass sculptures melted into the ground by the lightning. These glass statues are slowly polished by the airborne sands until large glass pillars remain, which poke out of the sands everywhere. The people fear this leg of the journey, but so far, not one bolt has discharged into the Divine Engine or the congregation, no doubt due to the many religious sacrifices meant to ward them off.

Return to the Beginning

At last we return to the peak of civilisation. The Nierovian Capital nears, but even before that we can once again enjoy the fragrance of orchards and the beauty of well tended lands. Once Menes is reached, a neverending stream of things and people piles onto the congregation and off it, marvels of technology enabling almost effortless transfers at certain points. After this monumental undertaking is complete though, the journey begins anew as it has for an eternity.