Nephele
Nephele is the 4th planet from the sun. It is a gas giant, and features one major moon in its orbit, Ozymandius. High winds on this planet make it very foreboding even by appearance for spacefarers who come into its gravity. But upon closer inspection just within the atmosphere, blended between the masses of swirling clouds can be found numerous islands. The cloud layer of Nephele is almost like an ocean to those who dwell on these islands. The curious issue with these islands is that they are in fact on the back of tremendous Titans.
How old these Titans are, and what their purpose is, it cannot be said. Some of these Titans are truly massive, having never been fully explored, while others are (while still massive) of a more manageable size. What all of these Titans look like remains a mystery, only glimpses of such being seen on lucky days when some of the upper clouds clear. Many seem to take what almost appear as humanoid shapes, while others appear more like whales or dragons. The largest of these Titan islands is nearly the size of Ezo on Rakuen, while the majority of others are a smattering of smaller islands of many shapes and types.
These islands come with various make-ups, and are surprisingly habitable, bordered by the Cloud Sea. As long as residents do not build villages in a position where the Titan will descend beyond the boundary of the Cloud Sea, the weather is balmy from the interior heat of both the planet and the Titans. The oddity of the living arrangement is that the Titans are always moving. Some are more sedentary than others, moving at only a few miles per year, while others travel many miles per day.
The residents of these Titans have no control over the Titans’ movements, and they seem to follow no predetermined or understandable logic. It is also unknown whether these Titans can communicate with one another, but it seems as much, given that they have almost never collided in recorded history (those moments where a collision had occurred obviously having been horrifically disastrous). The only commonality among Titans is that they tend to move in straight lines, and do not turn very frequently; when they turn, these can be events that can take days or weeks. Because of these monotonously slow movement, residents are rarely affected, although some of the faster moving Titans can cause tremors throughout the land during these laborious motions.
The reason for the requirement of living on a Titan is that below the Cloud Seas of Nephele lie something altogether strange. The middle gases of the planet appear to be toxic to all types of organic life, including that of Warforged. Even some constructs cannot survive below, and those that can, only for very short periods. Arcane scientists who have attempted to study this believe it is not simply a noxious type of gas (although ammonia is heavily apparently in the atmosphere), but instead some form of organic lifeform that is too small to see with the naked eye. Similar to plankton, they are dispersed through the clouds in infinite numbers, and inhalation of these strange beings for prolonged periods of time can suffocate the individual for lack of oxygen, or worse, eviscerate the lungs and esophagus through billions of sharp incisions made by the creatures, causing horrific internal bleeding.
The only places below the highest layer of the Cloud Sea that are habitable are within the Titans themselves. Whether they were part of the Titans geology, or whether they were built after millennia, large ruins exist within the very bodies of many of these titans, especially the oldest and largest of them. What their purpose is beyond descending the Titans are unclear, but they are places that have safe spaces from the strange plankton - known as Drifters colloquially - where adventurers can explore deeper down than normal. Great care must be taken however, as any crack, leak, or opening that is not appropriately sealed within these ruins mean Drifters are circulating in the space, and one who is not careful of their circumstance can easily find themselves dead in moments if they are not aware.
All manner of people are found throughout Nephele. Most common are the normal humanoid races of all varieties. There is also a preponderance of aarakocra, as seen in nowhere else in the entire solar system. These Aarakocra tend to form their own societies away from humanoid societies, nesting far lower than most humanoid colonies can reach, and also in less hospitable zones, giving these Aarakocra communities a great deal of independence from humanoids. Most Aarakocra are peaceful, but there are a number of powerful armies of Aarakocra that seek to subjugate other nations.
There are also a variety of races not found in very few places elsewhere in the solar system. Gith are prominent throughout the space, as well as Loxodons and Minotaurs. Aasimar are also common, and also take a diminutive view toward other humanoid colonies. Although many are amicable, similarly, those who throw off the shackles of human culture and gain their abilities of flight have been known to form their own communities on Titans which have not yet been colonized, or in impossibly difficult locations upon the Titans. Changelings also seem to be native to Nephele, although no historical records show how they might have arrived or propagated, and their populations are desperately small.
Titans, while greatly revered throughout Nephele, are also temporary. Although it is unclear how these Titans come about once they rise mysteriously from the Cloud Sea, it is known that they all eventually die. Only a very few Titans have been noted to die throughout all of recorded history. Their deaths are foretold by immense earthquakes, terrible erosion of land, land quality degrading entirely and ruining crop yields, and eventually the descent of the being, as it slowly begins to dip below the Cloud Sea. These events are considered calamities by Nephelese, and most communities work hard to take in the diaspora of people who will soon find themselves homeless. On a positive side, this greatly increases unity between communities, with a thorough mixing of populations over eons; on the downside, the death of a Titan causes untold amounts of strain, tension, and political infighting between numerous groups with investments on the untold amounts of harm that come from a refugee crisis of this magnitude.
Type
Planet
Included Locations
Comments