Introduction to Black Light

Many people have gone where the light ends, and none of them have returned. I wish I could follow them, but I have been stuck here for millennia and I see no way out. I've seen, experienced, and done everything there is to see, experience, and do. I'm exhausted. And yes, I keep trying in hopes that the next time, it will be different. I'm too old, too tired to change anything. So I leave this journal here hoping that someone, maybe you, will use it for the benefit of all.
— From Min-aniara Laita's travel journal.
  The universe is a vast dark place, a darkness that is just occasionally interrupted by little stars that shine with powerful light and allow life to exist in some planets. Most of them, including the habitable ones, don't contain any kind of intelligent life. Other than my home planet, Minama, four inhabited planets have been discovered: Einya, Frasfu, Kra, and Earth. However, no contact has yet been formally established with any of the civilisations—although many people and organizations from different planets are secretly in contact with each other.  

Sapient species

Almost all the sapient species I have discovered so far, with the exception of Chikai and.Llunthui (also known as lightlings and shadowlings), have a body that can be considered minoid in some way. Einya and Earth have a single sapient race, called "humans", while Kra has four, Frasfu has nine, and Minama has one.  

Worlds

Our galaxy has countless worlds, and we haven't explored all of them yet. Many of them are habitable, and five of them are inhabited by sapient species (including Minama, my home planet). We still haven't contacted any of the planets, either because their technological level is not advanced enough or because we consider that they are not prepared to deal with an external civilisation.   Still, the MASE regularly sends scouting teams to each of the known planets to study their cultures with the goal of making an eventual open contact easier for both parties. These scouting teams often work with local factions that are aware of our existence. There are other organizations not from Minama that are also able to travel between planets, such as the White Eye and the Exiled Ones.

Who wrote that?

Most of the content from this world comes from Min-aniara Laita's travel journal, where they documented their journeys on different planets and regions of the universe. Most content is to be understood as paraphrasing the contents of the journal, although first-person pronouns are common, especially in direct quotes taken from their journal.  
Min-aniara Laita
Character | Aug 30, 2023

Minling astrosociologist who shaped the current understanding of the universe.

 

Color coding

In order to easily distinguish which planet an article is talking about, each planet will have a different color scheme. This is the list of background colors for each planet:  
  • Pink (this page): general article that applies to the entire universe.
  • Orange: articles about Einya
  • Yellow: Articles about Kra
  • Green: articles about Minama
  • Red: Articles about Frasfu
  • Cyan: Articles about Earth
All articles specific to one planet are also inside their planet categories. You can use the category tree in the world home page to confirm which planet an article is talking about.

Einya

Einya is a planet orbiting a star locally known as Maineia in the local international language. The planet does not have a moon, but is surrounded by planetary rings that are visible even during the day, turning the Einyan sky into a breathtaking view.   This planet, which has high resonance activity, has a single sapient species, humans[/tooltip]. They have managed to colonise the whole planet and are currently in a pre-spatial era, studying how to safely send humans outside of their solar system.  
Einya
Generic article | Mar 16, 2023

One of the five known inhabited planets, divided into several cultures highly influenced by magic.

Earth

Earth is a planet orbiting a star locally known as Sun. It's part of a solar system with eight planets, of which Earth is the only habitable one.   Earth is similar to Einya in many ways. Their only sapient species is also humans, although they aren't as advanced. Additionally, due to the nearly nonexistent resonance activity, everyone's consciousness has a visible physical form they call daemon that presents as an animal.   Channeling on Earth is known as Arcanurgy and is based on engraving certain words and symbols on objects to grant them a magical aspect.  
Earth
Geographic Location | Dec 13, 2023

Minama

Minama is an odd one, although I only realised that after leaving it. It's the only known inhabited planet that is tidally locked and part of a solar system with other habitable planets (which have been colonized).   Minlings are the sapient species of the planet, known for their unique connection to both their direct ancestors and Min. In Minama, magic is something that is not kept as a secret or a mystery. However, many minlings have long abandoned the study of this discipline in favour of more advanced technology, which is, in my humble opinion, a mistake.

Frasfu

Frasfu orbits a start that is located relatively close to Einya's system (which is why they were discovered by the same spaceship). It's the most diverse planet, with nine different sapient species.  
Frasfu
Generic article | Jul 2, 2023

Kra

Kra is the planet with the youngest civilisations; they have barely entered Bronze Age and most of the world is still unexplored. The planet has two natural satellites, often referred to as "The Twins" or "The Sisters", although their denomination varies from clan to clan.  

The spark of magic

Channelling, or magic, as it's commonly referred to, has many different manifestations throughout the universe, to the point where even many travelers consider these manifestations to be completely different. But while the fireball of a selenurgist from Frasfu might look completely different to the more subtle craftsmanship of an arcanurgist from Earth, both are based on the same fundamental principles.  
Meta: The magic system is currently being redesigned so this section is still incomplete.

Comments

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Jun 23, 2019 14:34

I really like your colour coding idea!

Jun 23, 2019 16:27

Thank you! And thank you for reading too <3 Remember to follow the world if you want to join me in this worldbuilding journey! :)

[they/them] Creator of Black Light, a science-fantasy universe.
Dec 16, 2020 01:20 by Cassandra Sojourn

I like the way you framed this page with the traveller who explores the other planets in secret. This is a great introduction to your world. Excellent job!

Choose your poison:   Phasmatum: An Afro-Solar-Fantasy world created for my epic novels.
Adazuri: A shonen-inspired magitech fantasy world home-brewed for 5e.
Dec 16, 2020 11:48

Thank you! Really appreciate the feedback :D

[they/them] Creator of Black Light, a science-fantasy universe.
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