The Dark Ocean

Summary

Above Veltrona, and higher above even Prak, lays the Dark Ocean of glittering stars, shifting nebulae, and life to which no words can describe. Since the dawn of civilization, people have looked upon the dark sky with wonder, awe, reverence, and sometimes fear. A place out of reach, yet discernible by their eyes, and filled with things both beautifully alluring and bizarrely alien.
Some believed it the realm of the goddesses, though whose is endlessly debated. Others thought of it as another world, one farther away than the farthest horizon. For many, all sorts of theories, wild fantasies, and scholarly inquests formed a more nuanced, if biased, understanding. It was their desire to know more of such a strange, heavenly place that professions like astronomy and astrology soon took shape.
In an ironic twist, the more people understood the Dark Ocean, the more questions they were left with.
How could it be reached? It would be from the mouths of dragonkind who, attempting to fly higher, found less and less air until there was none at all. That made many speculate then as to how anything stayed up in the Dark Ocean, or moved around it. Was it filled with water? The same dragons refuted this, they never found air nor water. How, then, did anything survive there? They didn't know, and it aggravated dragonkind greatly.
What were those things moving around up there? Rachtoh scrutinized such 'creatures', their powerful vision giving them a clarity others struggled to understand. They saw great rings moving with animalistic purpose, strange angular shapes too lively to just be rocks, and ever more bizarre beings not unlike jellyfish, or snakes who'd fused with centipedes, 'swimming' through the Dark Ocean. The rachtoh dreamed for generations of hunting such beasts, and finding out what they tasted like.
Was it the Heavens proper, or something else? The baarham and their Anktorlas long stared upon the Dark Ocean, ponderous of its nature, and frightful of what it might conceal. They saw not only the vast darkness, but also the glimmering divinity of the Heavenly Realms that seemed both a part of it and something separate. The duality of that relationship aggravated the Anktorlas, who dearly wanted to understand why the divine abandoned the baarham.
Was it something to be feared? Humanity did not, for they stared upward and yearned to reach the unreachable. They desired to confront the unimaginable, and to triumph over adversity they couldn't even describe. To them, it was a place they would set foot in one day or another.
Ultimately, for all the mystique and unknown of the Dark Ocean, it ever remains above the world, seen but untouched. For most, this is the gracious normalcy that soon fades into the background of their lives. For the unlucky few, the attention of that which dwells in such a place is never a simple thing.

Geography

To describe the Dark Ocean is to attempt grasping hold of the greater kosmos, an often maddening endeavor. Many generations of astronomers and astrologers have, however, generally figured out their 'kosmic' town somewhat.

The Six Planets

The conceptual star system that Veltrona inhabits is defined by six planetary bodies, and any number of much smaller bodies. While the names for these planets vary across cultures, as is typically the case, draconic regard forms a basis for reference. While dragonkind won out on naming Veltrona proper, there's greater contention around the other planets in the star system. For example, Atenkhet refers to the star itself as Akenra, and sees it as the literal manifestation of their deity.
For simplicity's sake, the draconic names will be listed as follows:

Tsalona

The first planet in the star system, and the nearest one to Veltrona proper. A world principally ice-aspected, its beauteous colors and reflective nature make it easy to observe due to its close orbital proximity to the star itself. Originally believed to be a fiery world because of that same fact, its existence has perplexed astronomers for thousands of years.

Veltrona

The second planet in the star system, and the world of life as can be conceived of normally. Veltrona is considered the 'veltron-aspected' planet in the kosmic town.

Paansuzo

The third planet in the star system, and a purely water-aspected planet. A sibling planet of Veltrona, Paansuzo and Tsalona are closely together in their orbital patterns in relation to one another. Although Paansuzo is not as reflective as Tsalona, it's generally not hard to observe in the night's sky. Paansuzo was the first other planet discovered by dragonkind as a result, and a key influencer into the perception of space as the 'Dark Ocean'.

Nuraah

Initially confused for a second, much tinier star, Nuraah is the fourth planet in the star system, and primarily fire-aspected. Ra-lineage astronomers were fascinated by such a planet, and so named it after themselves for many generations. By the time other lineages figured out the fourth planet's existence, the Ra's name had stuck. It proved quite the friction point among the other lineages, who found naming such kosmic locations after one's self as too arrogant even for them.
However, few of them really care about contesting the Ra wanting to live on a fiery planet. Where the Ra see a second home waiting, everyone else would rather never go there.

Lahnmet

The fifth planet of the star system and a relatively difficult one to discern because of its distance. Lahnmet is believed to be a metal-aspected planet, principally due to some of its very veltron-like, but not quite exactly right, characteristics. A popular, if ancient and somewhat dubious, theory is that every planet in the star system embodies one principle mana-type, so between being veltron or metal, most consider it a metal world.

Uldtun

The sixth planet of the star system, and generally considered the last in most astronomical circles. The tempest-aspected Uldtun's great distance at the 'edge' of the star system is offset by its relatively enormous size. Unlike all other planets, little direct observation is possible, but its churning atmosphere and fast rotational speed suit it for being a windy planet.
Uldtun's discovery, and the lack of any certain evidence of a planet beyond it, spurred on several different theories about the kosmos. If the 'one planet per mana type' theory panned out, the star system should've had at least eight planets, if not ten, total. That some planets, like Uldtun, may double-dip in embodying two types of mana (wind and tempest, respectively), has caused uncertainty of such a view.

The Rock Belt

Helunae astrologers have long believed the star system to possess eight planets, and consider the final two 'hidden' from mundane eyes. While such speculation isn't new in the field, helunae beliefs stretching as far back as they have has always been an odd detail. Mathematicians observing the orbital flow of the Dark Ocean ultimately determined that they may have been onto something. However, whether or not something would be discovered was a different question.
Improvements in both astronomical technology, as well as mathematical calculations, have affirmed of that 'something's' existence. A relatively recent find in the last few centuries, the Rock Belt appears to be an orbital 'ring' of much smaller rocks, moons, and planetoid bodies too small to be directly observable. It wraps around the entirety of the star system, and is seemingly corralled by Uldtun itself.
Its discovery caused unease in helunae astrology, who suddenly worried that the final two planets of the star system had been destroyed at some point. The density of the Rock Belt and its relatively stable orbit imply both great quantity of material, as well as having long established its routine. A counter opinion that came up swiftly, however, is that there is simply too much material in the Rock Belt to be just two planets worth. While the calculations are fought over, most everyone usually predicts upwards of a dozen or more planets worth of material in the Rock Belt.
Some have gone further and argued the Rock Belt is the 'veltron-aspected' planet of the star system. What, then, would Veltrona be? The answer there varies, though the most audacious sorts say it is a world of 'every mana type', and hence why it is so special compared to its kosmic town. Without a clear consensus, most arguments about the kosmic-makeup of the star system mix scientific fact with personal belief on the regular.

Ecosystem

Only the broadest concepts of an 'ecosystem' can be applied to the Dark Ocean. There are, ostensibly, forms of life that vary between predator, prey, or 'ignored'. In some places, there are proverbial islands where great concentrations of these bizarre and alien forms of life congregate. The nature of said islands can vary between a hunk of rock to an unusually concentrated amount of mana and star dust. In some cases, they're drawn to the ephemeral manifestation of Heavenly Realms, interacting where the multitude of realities intersect one another.
What they eat, how they live, whether or not they reproduce together or independently, and many more questions are always asked, but rarely answered. Sometimes a potential species is only observed for a brief time before disappearing from the night's sky forever. Others are noted only by a single specimen that could be just as much a unique mutant or some kind of anomaly than a species proper. The more regular species can be anywhere from seasonal to centurial in their appearances.
Their names vary greatly, and unfortunately their uncertain natures means even identifying them categorically can be difficult. Most astronomers and astrologers regard them by broad terms, such as 'star beasts', 'dark dwellers', 'horrors from beyond', and similar nomenclature. For the most part, they stay in their realm as much as most everyone stays on Veltrona.
While there are records of star beasts coming to Veltrona, the environment is often horribly dangerous to them. The best example of this is when one such beast, a creature of shimmering metal and segmented, centipede-like nature, was captured by the Imperium. It survived only for a few days, and apparently suffered in agony the entire time while being exposed to Veltrona's atmosphere. Its demise was denoted by how it literally melted into a toxic, silvery-white substance, and never reanimated or grew back from such a state.

Natural Resources

While most people are content with saying the Dark Ocean is 'rich beyond imagination', and that is generally accurate, actually dividing up its concept of resources is tricky. The most stable prospects, such as the other planets, their moons, and wandering objects like asteroids, represent untold material potential. The extreme distances involved, and generally hostile environment no one has figured out how to deal with, make reaching them nothing more than a foolish dream.
Transient prospects, such as mana-rich solar winds cast off from the star, ebb-and-flow through the star system in unpredictable ways. Some speculate their concentrations are so powerful that even the strongest beings on Veltrona would be obliterated by them. The question of the Heavenly Realms, and their bizarre bounties, is also a difficult one to answer. In theory they're islands of relative safety, but each one is so unique from the other, they may simply pose entirely different dangers instead.
The bounties of the Dark Ocean that come crashing down to Veltrona herself are much more well-known. Whether as meteors or the decaying corpse of some star beast, their fall is often a fiery streak and calamitous impact into the world. These rare fortunes offer the clearest glimpse of what may await in the night's sky. Even mundane elements, such as iron, take on fantastic properties that astound blacksmiths and alchemists alike. Celestial Blackstone is one such material that is highly coveted for its incredible, and arguably 'Heavenly', capabilities.

Alternative Name(s)

Night's Sky, Sea of Stars, Great Expanse, The Heavens, Realm of the Goddesses, Yontroka

Type

Galaxy