Ages of Mast

in Ivicris

While much of the knowledge of the Sunless Age in the Modern Age comes from the exploration of the ancient Lendari ruins; thanks to amber, many ancient darkborn (as they are called in the new era) were able to survive past this time period and recount their lives under the sunless sky. The largest written collection of these biographies is a series of articles titled “Interview with an Awakened” and the revisions thereof. This ongoing article has been a sort of hazing ritual among those who pursue scribery or journalism as a trade and has been running in print across the planet since the late days of the first empire. Though many of the journals have been lost, through collections, smuggling, reprinting, and probably no small amount of luck the collection still boasts over four thousand articles in over a hundred different languages. Usually, you will find at least one volume in the catalog of anyone who considers themselves literate. The rest of the information on this era comes from the writings of Divine Vestrid (which have been heavily embellished since becoming part of religious doctrine) and the journals of Divine Asdradan I (many of which have yet to be released, residing in the private library at the Divine Estate in Halbraven.)     What is known is this. The star was dead, but there was much debate and conspiracy as to how it happened. All darkborn knew there was a living world before this and some cataclysm caused the planet to be flung from its solar system, they also knew the situation was bad enough that the only thing they could do was try to make a new star and use the amber to wait out however long that would take. Society reinforced this truth by having a sort of adulthood ritual where as soon as you reached stasis age you would be led to the surface door, carve your name onto the wall with any tool you have, and then step out into the sunless desert. Everyone has a different story about what they did after they stepped outside but all confirm that the surface of the planet was a darkened moonscape with no life, atmosphere, or even light except for what was artificially provided.   Underground was a somewhat different story, but very little “natural” environment existed. Most of the public was able to regularly see the largest organisms, giant mushrooms that could grow to around 20ft in height and provided most of the atmospheric pressure by releasing nitrogen from fed ammonium salts. Oxygen was provided by large pools of hybrid algae/yeast that was also harvested as a staple crop for the lendari diet. Outside of the public existed the “secret” farms. While not exactly secret, these were more or less primordial terrariums and were most definitely places you wouldn’t want to break into (though people still did). There have been stories of slimes, molds, lycans, and even small invertebrates being farmed in these places but nothing much larger than a lamprey. Anything that couldn’t be consumed by the Lendari was bred to be fed to something that could be used and everything was bred with a preference towards long periods of dormancy.     Most known darkborn have a similar tale. They went to sleep in the sunless age and then woke up in the modern age. Very few have a story in between where they woke up and then were forced to return in order to survive and because most have experienced this uninterrupted stasis there is very little knowledge of the world in between. Fossilization is rare and most civilizations have been forced to settle in specific areas due to large stretches of dangerous wilderness. Paleontology as a science has had varied levels of esteem throughout recorded history and, when it is respected, most of the focus and funding for that study has been towards locating Lendari ruins. Because of these factors, almost all of the knowledge of the environment during the Silent Age has been from the account of First Mate Irist, in her biographical novel “Skyhammer.”   In the aforementioned novel, she describes a world of eternal spring morning. Flat spans of different colored pools and micro seas spread to a mountainless horizon in every direction. Due to the thin atmosphere, the surface was bombarded with higher levels of radiation. From her descriptions of the sky (no moons, the sun always to her shoulder) it is believed this was sometime either before the planet reached the orbit of Tastaru or sometime after but still before the planet began rotating and due to her own limitations and an absence of other witnesses, very little is known about the environments of this time outside of the immediate terminator region, if any were even able to exist. Irist also doesn’t mention the nebula bramble trees or any variations but if the location she was found is any indication, it is likely the trees at the time would have been located in the tide-locked, star-facing direction.   The staple of this environment was the leviathan (Zalatzioth), who at the time Irist described as being much smaller than his modern equivalent, yet still around six hundred feet tall and several miles long. Her uncanny knowledge of the biology of the beast (Many things she described have been confirmed through the study of the leviathan corpse) lends credence to her claims as well as the “Father of All Beasts” theory. She also encountered a primitive version of his children, the RNA-based parasites which were basically giant viruses, at the time around the size of ants. Recently the hypothesized life cycle of the leviathan had gained some alterations as it is believed the beast and the viruses were in fact two separate organisms living in a siphonophoric relationship. The cycle of which goes something like this.   The leviathan eats biomass (at this time it was mostly a primitive seaweed-like plant and microscopic (Krill-like) mollusks. There is no “waste” product, instead whatever nutrition that isn’t used to increase his size is converted into eggs which hatch into the parasites sometime after they are released through the rear. Once the eggs hatch, the individual viruses seek out other biomass and consume roughly their own body weight, and then suicides by ejecting all their water. The body dies and shrivels up. A short time later (varying depending on the virus’ size and environment.) The corpse becomes rehydrated, transforming into the outer shell of an egg which contains a swiftly changing microbiome within. Upon hatching it releases the new biome to the atmosphere containing bacteria, fungal spores, plant seeds, and (if anything like their modern brethren) even new live creatures that are vastly different from the ones consumed. These new life forms then seek out energy in any manner they can, evolving, multiplying, selecting, and eventually becoming a larger, healthier biomass from which the leviathan can feed.   The modern age is used when describing the time period in which the planet settled into the orbital period it uses today. There is some debate as to how it happened but still some consensus that Tastaru, like Ivicris, was captured into the star's orbit from outside, and the Jovian’s 90-degree offset rotation seems to support this. Thanks to the tidal forces from the host Jovian and the ballast from the moon (now a comet), the core has been restarted and plate tectonics now occur. Day and night cycles settle into 27 hours from west to east, and a 1200-day orbit around the host Jovian, coinciding with one single orbit of Tastaru around the star. Ivicris’ top over orbit is somewhat offset towards and away from Felkfir (the star) causing a period of 600 days of warmer weather (The warm years) and adversely 600 days of cold (The Frost Years). It also has a small bobble towards and away from Tastaru causing a tilt so within those extended years are their own 300 day seasonal rotations. This cycle, along with normal sapient life expectancy, is why 1 year is 300 days and not 1200. The atmosphere has thickened thanks to numerous factors (leeching from Bilari and Tastaru, geothermal forces, photosynthesis) and becomes breathable up to 44k feet (during warm years.) This redistributes the heat across the planet and also provides extended radiation protection. Eventually, the planet’s biome spreads to these new niches, dispersing well beyond the leviathan’s territory into every nook and cranny it can fill, further growing and evolving into a large, expanding, and diversified biosphere that today is divided into several climates.