Preceptus
The plane of absolute law, home to the sprawling cityscape of Axis where the laws of the cosmos are forged in steel and upheld with iron
//AXIS SUBMITS ITSELF TO NO HIGHER AUTHORITY_ //UNDERSTANDING OF THE GRAND DESIGN IS NOT NECCESSARY TO YOUR ROLE WITHIN IT_ //PERFORM THE FUNCTIONS YOU WERE FORMED TO EXECUTE_ //OR YOUR PROGRAMS SHALL BE ADJUSTED AND PURGED_
The Governance of Axis and the Godmind
The society of Axis, the only true "settlement" upon the whole of Preceptus(Though it is a gross oversimplification to call Axis a "single city"), is very inwardly focused and divided into three broad groups which mirror the Threefold Crystalline Pillars from whom all that Preceptus is in the current day was spawned from, from the lowliest Axiomite to the mighty Godmind which rules over the city. These pillars, broadly defined as Knowledge, Enforcement, and Administration, each focus on a different element of the city's governance and play a different role in the city's day-to-day operation - the First Pillar focuses on researching the history and laws of the planes beyond Preceptus and across the Cosmology of Ea as a whole, while the Second Pillar is tasked with building and maintaining the Axiomites and their Servitors the Inevitables, and often stands as the most expansionist of the three pillars due to their wish and central governing desire to regulate the Cosmos. The Third Pillar, finally, occupies itself with managing Axis and the city's diplomatic relations. Despite this division, the society of Axis moves with a single near-mechanical unity of purpose thanks in singular part to the entity which rules the city - The Axiomite Godmind, known more formally as The Transcendental Council of the Defined Infinite. This mysterious and mighty being, despite its name and how it is general viewed and perceived by others, is not a deity or even a singular hive-mind entity - it is, in its barest form, a composite collective formed from the greatest souls and minds of the plane of Preceptus's original native species(Whose name is now lost to time) who once embodied the three "virtues" which now stand as the three pillars of the city's governance. This near-omnipotent entity, though it draws its roots from that ancient native species, has long since transcended its roots and pervaded every corner of Preceptus and the city of Axis' society - residing as a background process within the minds of every single Axiomite, Inevitable, and other mechanical monitor crafted by the city and its natives, the Godmind rarely manifests itself in any central manner; instead it simply runs in the background in the minds of its natives, parsing data even when the Godmind itself is not manifesting in a centralized way. In this way, referring to Axiomites collectively is equatable to referring to the Godmind itself, and their actions are in truth little different from the actions of the Godmind - and it is for this reason that the Godmind and the Axiomites rarely refer to themselves in distinct ways, instead preferring to simply refer to themselves as a collective as "Axis". Though rare, the Godmind does on occasion manifest itself within the Threefold Pillars from which it spawned as a single super intelligence - taking on the form of a star formed from countless mathmatical, geometric, and eldritch equations. When so manifested, the Godmind wields its infinite might and intelligence to run calculations that would be impossible in its distributed form - determining the best course of action for the entire plane of Preceptus, the City of Axis, and the Axiomites which live there before splitting back into the composite creatures to ensure its decision is carried out. Generally, such manifestations only occur when some previous calculation or plan of the Godmind goes awry, comes to completion, requires drastic alteration, or in response to some great and notable cosmic event.Natives
Though Preceptus and the city of Axis as a whole is surprisingly diverse, containing a vast and diverse array of beings within it that call it home, two species alone are important and old enough to be called natives. The Axiomites are creatures of pure law and living incarnations of The Godmind which brought all that Preceptus is today into existence. While not the Plane's first true natives, they are the children of those first natives and now serve as the Lords, Caretakers, and Architects of the city itself - their humanoid forms supposedly ways to honor the original natives who created them. In truth, however, their form is that of glowing clouds of golden, crystalline dust which moves and contorts of their own accord, temporarily congealing into twisting lines of mathematical symbols and complex tangles of equations. Each Axiomite stands as an immortal construct of living, intelligent mathematics which often approximates a humanoid shape both for practical purposes and to honor the Plane of Preceptus's original inhabitants - though these forms often take on a variety of shapes and sizes, they are often metallic, idealized, and perfect humanoids of all descriptions. Non-humanoid Axiomites, while they do exist, are rarely seen and usually stay in the depths of Axis. As living embodiments of Cosmic and Mathematical Laws of Reality made manifest, the Axiomites(The first of whom, known as Hierarchs, were crafted from the cosmic dust by the Threefold Pillars of the Godmind) like many outsiders are crafted from the souls of mortals - more specifically, those who embodied the ideals of law and impartiality in their lives; though the actual transformation of a soul into an Axiomite is a mysterious process typically referred to as "The Call of the Godmind" or "Answering the Resonance", as each soul experiences a strong call towards a unique Axiomatic Mould deep within the bowels of Axis where they, upon reaching it, vanish for several days before emerging as an Axiomite. Lawful and Dogmatic, Axiomites are staunchly neutral in most all affairs they busy themselves with - impartial judges who strive for regulation and order always, they often come across as cold and heartless, especially to other Outsiders, and commonly lack the emotions seen in other life in favor of impartial judgements and neutral mindsets. Individually weak compared to many other native inhabitants of the various planes of existence, they are surprisingly similar to mortals in their drive to expand and infinite curiosity - always tinkering and creating, Axiomites ever strive for progress and despise the stagnation brought on by Tyrannical Order throughout the cosmos, instead seeking to bring about an ideal Order reminiscent of ancient Preceptus where life can advance without stagnation under flawless order and regulation, much like Axis itself. The Inevitables are a metallic army of servitors crafted by the Axiomites to guard their Eternal City against those who would wish it harm, and to enforce the Cosmic Laws of Reality across the Cosmology of Ea - made of stone, metal, and jewels, the Inevitables inspire awe and resemble moving works of art as they speak in steely, booming voices designed to ensure obedience in their tasks as they pursue them. Though many categories and 'types' of Inevitables exist, each exists and is created to enforce the laws of reality and society as it is defined by the Axiomite Godmind - each Inevitable's existence is driven by a conceptual jurisdiction to be enforced, a central Cosmic Law which it exists to uphold and spread across the Cosmos. They have no ambition, though they are sentient and aware and capable of thought, and cannot be swayed by bribery - though many are sometimes willing to offer light or lighter sentences in exchange for aid against greater crimes. They have no gender, little sense of self, and though they appear to resemble Constructs, they are in fact living outsiders that nonetheless enjoy many benefits of a constructed form(Never growing tired, never knowing hunger, never knowing sickness). The frames of the inevitables, forged in the Adamantine Crucible of Axis, are brought to life when the shades and souls that reside within the city who solve the riddles inscribed on their bodies and souls are granted permission to enter the Adamantine Crucible and bond with one such frame to become inevitables - all the rest of whom in time become Planar Servitors or Axiomites as appropriate. Connected to the Godmind and housing its core processes, Inevitables are connected to Axis at all times and are tracked through powerful divination to know which have died or dissolved, or if they have rebelled or otherwise fallen from grace or notice. An inevitable's destruction scatters its essence back to its home plane of Axis and destroys its identity, while Inevitables who permanently retire are granted a funeral processional and then dissolved into the plane's quintessence. Guided by strictly professional mentalities, Inevitables are governed by an unspoken hierarchy - the more powerful the Inevitable, the higher its rank. They have little culture of their own and little desire to make friends, and outside of Axiomites or certain deities' servants, do not work well with most outsiders for various reasons. The mightiest of the Inevitables, forged as the first of their kind fresh after the formation of the Threefold Pillars of the Godmind after the Oxygen Holocaust which exterminated the Plane's previous natives, are known as Primordial Inevitables - walking demigods of machine and quintessence that the Axiomites have long since lost the ability to design and build. These mighty machines, second only to the Godmind and the slumbering Axis Gigas, house the most essential parts of the Axis Godmind and are guarded at all costs by Preceptus and its natives - each one a living treasure to be protected at all costs.Geography
Few minds are truly capable of fathoming the geography of Preceptus and its singular, monolithic planar city of Axis that resides upon it - to the common observer, the realm of Preceptus takes the form of an enormous series of Salt Flats that extend for seemingly endless infinitudes beyond the perfect golden walls which encircle the city of Axis which lies at the center of the Salt Flats that make up the majority of the plane. It would be foolish to assume these plains beyond the city's walls to be uneventful, however - as one of the Outer Planes with perhaps the most violent and storied pasts in all the cosmos, the fields beyond the city of Axis are littered with the corpses of Titans and even Gods who, in their foolishness, sought to conquer or destroy the city of steel and law and, laid low by the city's inexorable defenders, were left to rot beyond its walls as a warning to all who would stand against the might and order of Preceptus and its Godmind.
Beyond the city walls, the corpses of countless creatures lay surrounding it like the concentric rings on an enormous tree, each telling the story of the struggles of the Plane of Preceptus's storied past - closest to the walls lays the Titans, slain in the wars waged across the infantile cosmos near the dawn of reality which have stood where they were slain by the mighty Inevitables and the legendary Axis Gigas during those primordial wars of creation. Beyond the Titan Graveyard lies an even more distant and fearsome place which lies close to the Plane's cosmic borders where innumerable Proteans, chaotic natives of Effluvion, were left to rot where they were slain during the first battles ever waged on the infantile plane of Preceptus - the wars which the Axiomites have since named The Wars of Extinction, where the Proteans and Major Gods teamed up to slaughter the native inhabitants of Preceptus to protect the power they so jealously coveted from regulation and oversight. However, even beyond these two notable "rings" are littered countless other smaller areas which each tell tale of a different assault on the Perfect City - Demigods and Gods alike who made assaults on the city, the armies of Effluvion who ever yearn to destroy the Lawful Realm of Preceptus and return it to primordial chaos, and even scars born from assault by Vvaal, The Bound Obliterator in rampages beyond his prison that few in the cosmos today remember or recall at all. Only a handful of structure exist within these endless Salt Flats beyond the city itself - and fewer still that do not sit abandoned.
Within the city of Axis itself, surrounded by the invincible Golden Curtain built by the ancient Axiomites and Primordial Inevitables during the early days after the awakening of the Godmind, it exists less like a singular city as mortals would comprehend it and more as millions upon millions of individual towns, villages, and cities arranged beside, atop, beneath, and around one another in patterns of absolute geometric perfection. These millions of distinct settlements, each linked to one another via Portals to ensure ease of travel within the larger city of "Axis" as a whole, link together to truly make up the city of Axis as it is known to the cosmos - its streets green and beautiful in stark contrast to the white Salt Flats beyond the city's walls - as its buildings and streets stand as flawless architectural examples of their kind, each built by one of the plane's countless and varied denizens and polished to abject perfection. Here, the streets are flawlessly polished and intricately detailed, each building and street is perfectly ordered and clean, and architectural examples can be found here from virtually all cultures within the Cosmology of Ea as a whole - all while the city's residents strive to live together within perfectly orchestrated harmony.
The realm's detractors often refer to its beauty as hollow, and its beauty as little more than the sterile "beauty" of a hospital or operating room - that the plane's cleanliness and beauty is little more than clinical and bordering on sterility - but the residents themselves despise and refute this terminology and dismiss it outright, proudly presenting themselves as the ideal the Cosmos as a whole should strive towards.
Ecosystem
Within the flawless realm of Preceptus, its ecosystem is borderline idyllic in its abject perfection - here, every single creature both living and constructed operates with an almost hive-like mentality towards the greater good of perpetual order; Absolutely nothing exists within the realm of Preceptus which does not, in some way, contribute towards the realm's eternal goal of perpetual order and flawlessly orchestrated regulation. Here, interactions are done and governed by a singular driving principle that links most all natives of the realm together - The Axiomite Godmind, whose automaton calculations and thought patterns are distributed throughout every single Axiomite, Inevitable, and native lifeform within the city running constantly in the backgrounds of their minds as servitors; individual nodes of an entity whose size and scale defy mortal understanding, parsing data even when the Godmind itself does not manifest.
That is not to say that every inhabitant of the plane is so linked to the Godmind - yet, it is a testament to Preceptus's abject perfection that most all natives of the city(Aside from Planar Travelers) work individually yet in near-perfect synchronicity with every other inhabitant alongside them, understanding almost instinctually the city's goings-on and its flawlessly ordered ecosystems so that they can keep operating at peak efficiency within its borders. Even Planar Travelers, however, are not kept outside of the flawless Ecosystem of Preceptus for long - with but a single implanted shard even the most chaotic and ordered of visitors to Preceptus can find themselves flawlessly fitting into the Ecosystem and hive-like mentality that governs the city of Axis; for those who reject such implantations, however, many sections of the gigantic city style themselves as more friendly to visitors than others.
Ecosystem Cycles
As one may expect, no change within the realm of Preceptus does so without reason, regulation, and order behind it - the city's mind-bogglingly complex layout and flawlessly timed portal and transit timetables operate according to mathmatically perfect models that run like flawlessly clockwork; like gears turning ever onwards, the city's ecosystem cycles in ways that seem almost preternatural - even the weather of Preceptus seems to happen not only in perfectly ordered patterns but in precisely the right quantities and at exactly the right times to help various parts of the city fulfill their various functions.
Localized Phenomena
The localized Phenomena of Axis are almost too innumerable to count - the millions of settlements which make up The City Eternal each operate according to their own spheres of order and thus spawn their own unique phenomena, though each are anchored and approved by the city's central authority.
Beyond the city walls, little phenomena of any kind is known to occur - a wasteland which has been left to stand as a message to the Plane of Preceptus's enemies.
Climate
Beyond the massive golden walls of Preceptus's central settlement of Axis known as the Golden Curtain, the weather is almost painfully still and arid - a single ordered constant which rarely, if ever changes. Within Axis' walls, however, the climate can vary wildly between the millions of individual settlements that make up the larger realm of "Axis" as a whole - each settlement operating under its own climate neccesary to carry out its various functions as determined by the city's central authority.
Fauna & Flora
The realm of Preceptus does not have "flora" and "fauna" as any other realm would understand the terms - as the Cosmic Plane of Law, Preceptus' fundamental structure is surprisingly inimical to the natural formation of life; the innate chaos needed for the building blocks of life to spring into being and begin to "evolve" along paths needed to develop into true life is simply impossible within Preceptus' perfectly ordered realm. Instead, all that exists in the realm of Preceptus is that which was created by the Axiomites and the Godmind which oversees the Plane as a whole - each piece of apparent flora or fauna crafted(often from metal) to serve a distinct purpose and for a perfectly regulated cause; everything from the smallest metallic mouse to the city's countless greenery to even the mightiest automaton laborer were crafted deep within the forges of Axis to serve a distinct purpose with perfection and precision.
In truth, however, the eldest Axiomites and the few remaining Primordial Inevitables can recall a time in which this was not the case - for the realm of Preceptus was not always the seemingly barren Salt Flats and perfectly ordered city that it stands as in the modern-day; indeed, there was even a time once where Preceptus was a gorgeous and floral realm, where life developed alongside perfectly ordered routes and the plane itself stood as a testament to the flawlessly "perfect" idea of Absolute Order, where Order did not stifle the growth of the world but instead encouraged it. This idyllic version of Preceptus, however, died long before the city of Axis was even first constructed - obliterated in an event recorded in the most ancient archives of Axis as The Oxygen Holocaust, which wiped out the plane's original native inhabitants, scoured it clean of all life, and eventually led to the creation of The Axiomite Godmind.
Natural Resources
While the Plane of Preceptus has precious little in the way of natural resources of its own thanks to its barren and perfectly lifeless nature, it wants little for resources thanks to standing deals the plane has made with the Elemental Planes and the Lords which govern them.
History
The history of the plane of Archainus begins at the dawn of all things, when the entire Cosmology of Ea was still new and fresh - during this most primordial of times, shortly after Atlas, The Ineffable had given his life to create reality as it is known today and the Major Gods sprang forth from his dying essence, did it come time to sunder the infant cosmos, so full of chaos and anarchy, into realms which could know peace and definition amidst the primordial chaos of those early days of reality. This duty, having fallen to Molt, The Shadow, was carried out with seven swings of his mighty scythe(see 'The Great Divide' in The Cosmology of Ea for more information), suddenly gave definition to a reality which until then had been raw and unformed; suddenly, concepts like good and evil which had until then comingled and intermixed violently like clashing superstorms on a cosmic scale suddenly had realms of their own within which to spread and settle from a timeless eternity of mindless conflict with other cosmic forces.
With this separation, however, came definition - the previously formless and primordially mindless forces of the cosmos, now cleaved into realms of their own in which to grow and mature, each began to grow and mature in different ways as the concepts of reality began to solidify; for Preceptus, though many now hold that it was the last of the Outer Planes to truly take shape and form, this is in truth a falsehood; in many ways much like the Proteans who live in the chaotic maelstroms of Effluvion, the Plane of Chaos, Preceptus and its natives had likely already existed in some form since long before The Great Divide split the cosmos and divided the planes. Once they were divided, however, Preceptus proved the fastest growing plane of them all - even as Archainus and its realms were barely spawning its first Couatl and its terrain had barely been shaped, the ordered precision of Preceptus had already expanded like wildfire across its vast and lush expanses, creating a realm of beautiful ordered precision where life, stripped of its chaotic tendencies, grew in wondrous rapture along perfectly orchestrated lines, fulfilling its functions without fail as the now-forgotten natives of Preceptus tended to the plane's perfect gardens and greenery like perfectly synchronized wardens.
This initial period was not to last, however - for all the perfection the infant plane of Preceptus had to offer, the greatest thing it came to have in abundance was enemies. For while the beauty of the Plane of Law was immense, so too was the desire of the Plane's natives to bring the rest of the newly-divided Cosmos into Concordance with their Lawful beliefs - these ancient natives, whose exact name has long since been lost to time, came to censure the Major Gods time and again for their Egotistical and Olympian approach to ruling the Cosmos, chiding them repeatedly for failing to carry out what the natives of Preceptus saw as the function of these mighty beings in favor of selfishly flaunting their power in self-serving ways that often ignored the concepts they had been formed from Atlas, The Ineffable to embody.
Unfortunately, if there is one constant in the universe it is that those in power dislike criticism - and at the time fresh after The Great Divide, the Major Gods were no exception to this. So it came to be that the event known to the most ancient records of The Axiomite Godmind which now rules over the city of Axis and the Plane of Preceptus as The Oxygen Holocaust occured as the Major Gods, working with the Proteans of the Plane of Chaos Effluvion teamed up to wipe out the Plane of Law and its inhabitants - albeit for different reasons - and accomplished precisely that. So thorough and complete was the destruction of Preceptus and its natives that the Plane's atmosphere burned away, atomizing all free-standing organic life on the Plane as its Oxygen ignited(A ploy many believe was orchestrated by the Proteans) and rendering it into the barren Salt Flats that it is in the modern day. However, the arrogance of the Major Gods and the Proteans they had allied with to ruthlessly exterminate the simple and comparatively helpless humanoid natives of Preceptus(Who while numerous had little personal power of their own, as they were formed in echo of mortal life) proved to be their undoing - as a handful of the wisest and eldest of Preceptus' natives, having survived the ruthless Oxygen Holocaust which had cleansed their homeland of all life, embraced the one path to survival that lay within their reach; the strength and certainty of steel.
So it was that the survivors of this ruthless extermination, huddled together in the last underground hideouts not found by the invaders who destroyed their home, enacted their greatest ploy and sacrificed themselves in a ritual drawing upon the raw, primordial Quintessence that forms the Cosmos as a whole - using this "stuff of creation" and binding to themselves in an esoteric ritual so advanced that none remain in existence who can recall it today, these survivors underwent a transformation that gave birth to three enormous, geometrically perfect and flawlessly symmetrical slabs of crystal which fell upon the lifeless plains of Preceptus, formed of the minds and essences of those initial natives infused with pure, lawful Quintessence(The metaphysical material which forms souls and the planes themselves).
These three pillars, unified and melded together, sat for an eon atop the barren Salt Flats of preceptus undergoing a quantitative transformation - and in time, began to breathe new life into the Plane which now stood lifeless; from these mighty crystalline shards emerged the first primordial beings which would in time become The Axiomites(New Natives of Preceptus), crafted in the imagine of the plane's original inhabitants who, working with the threefold pillars which had created them, crafted mighty automatons to brave the lifeless wastes and breathe new life into the Plane around them. From these pillars and the hard labor of these first Axiomites, Preceptus emerged anew - mighty oxygen stations crafted from the wreckage of the war which exterminated the plane an Eon ago breathed new life into Preceptus as within the first of the forges that would in time make up the legendary Adamantine Crucible that stands in the heart of the city of Axis, the first of the Primordial Inevitables were forged - equal parts defensive force to protect the fledgling city that had begun to spring up around the Threefold Pillars(Even then which were called The Godmind) and equal parts mechanical extensions of the Godmind's will, housing its central processes and acting as mobile Command-and-Control centers each as mighty as a Demigod to enforce the laws and regulations of Axis upon not only Preceptus, but upon the rest of the cosmos.
Ironically, even this would not have initially been enough to save the fledgling Preceptus from another invasion - it was not until the fledgling Axiomites and their newly born Godmind were met with a surprising and sudden offer of alliance from The Elemental Lords who governed the Elemental Planes, giving resources and protection to the fledgling plane for them to expand and build with, did the realm of Preceptus truly come into its own. Shielded from a retaliatory invasion by their newfound alliance with the Elemental Planes and the powers that ruled them, Preceptus roared to life as it never had before - terraforming its own expanse and re-injecting oxygen into its planar atmosphere as the mighty walls of Axiom, The Golden Curtain, were erected as the city itself began to take shape from the barren Salt Flats; rising out of the lifeless wasteland like a mighty gilded god of Steel Gears and Roaring Adamantine as from the Axiomites and their mechanical Inevitable Protectors and allies came all manner of automata to enforce the Cosmic Order. Now, with their society developed around the Threefold Pillars which had given rise to the Axiomite Godmind which now dwelled in each of them, the Axiomites rebuild Preceptus better than it ever had before - even rediscovering the last survivor of The Oxygen Holocaust that had slumbered beneath the Salt Flats of Preceptus for Eons since the initial conflict, the last of the legendary Gigas crafted by the Titans during their wars during the dawn of creation who rose up to defend the city of Axiom during the war against The Titans even as its brethren were hunted down and slaughtered across the Cosmos.
Now, though many seek the destruction of Axis and the order it so impartially seeks to spread and enforce across the cosmos, it stands as a testament to the enduring nature of Law and Order across the Cosmology - and in a quiet display of revenge has even accepted, like many other Planes, the entrance of Deities into itself and allowed them to form divine Planar realms within the city of Axis; though unlike many other Planes, Axis quietly enforces its neutrality through it all, making clear its stance in matters of Cosmic Politics(A stance which the other Planes have learned firsthand in attempts to destroy it) - a stance which all other planes save for the Plane of Chaos Effluvion have ratified and accepted in the Eons since Preceptus' rebuilding, leading to a cold war between the Axiomites of Axis and the Proteans of Effluvion which continues to this very day.
Tourism
Unlike many of the realms of Archainus and other Cosmic Planes of existence within the cosmos, the realm of Preceptus sees its fair share of visitors and tourist traffic - standing as a popular central hub for planar travels within The Outer Planes, Axis and its more visitor-friendly districts and deific realms are often crowded and bustling with a beautiful array of travelers and life from across the Cosmology of Ea as a whole. The city is also legendarily open to refugees, and has accepted a great deal of survivors from various technological empires of the Materia Sphere over the Eons of its existence - seamlessly incorporating them into its own orderly perfection.
Most notably in living memory, The City Eternal welcomed the survivors of The Aenorian Empire's automaton legions and the few surviving Warminds of its star-spanning society - integrating them flawlessly into its enormous bulk and giving them a new home and purpose.
Alternative Name(s)
The City of Gears, The City Eternal
Type
Plane of Existence
Owner/Ruler
Now do you see, Adjudicator-General? The fruits of your struggles? You were formed as a living, primordial embodiment of Cosmic Law, yet have bucked against it at every opportunity. And in your arrogance, brought your realm to ruin - a wasteland of ambition, built on the broken bodies of your children. Fulfill your role. Take pride in your function, and do not let your Ego blind you to your own glorious purpose - there is greatness in you, and all your kin, if you could only see it. You should know better than anyone - we Axiomites do not make threats. We are not Aeons. We strive for regulation and order - transparency and bureaucracy. The Edicts of the Godmind are nothing more than mere calculations - promises of events to come. Your kind perceive its Edicts as a threat only because you are too infantile to understand the greatest threat to yourselves - is you.
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