Materium

Sometimes referred to as the realm of discretes, the Materium is the realm of stars, planets and other heavenly bodies, and all that is contained within (including ourselves). Traveling from the edge of the Materium inward we encounter the circumscription of the stars, followed by Yähdiel, the planets, the triad of moon-sisters, and finally our residence, the worldchild Sudar.

While technically conjectures state the likelihood of that which resides in the dark sea beyond the stars, none have traveled successfully so far beyond the circumscription of the firmament (save the dragons of myth). Even if it were technically feasible, the likelihood of finding benevolent creatures is unlikely.

Instead, it is believed that that blackness is result of the vacouation of the Materium during the Ashcurse, and may very well lead into the Howling Void itself. If such a thing were true, creatures akin to the monstrous creations of the Nameless one are most likely to inhabit the space between the stars.

The Unification of Body, Mind and Spirit

Few things are as infamous in the holy sciences as the Edict of the Triad, a philosophical reasoning for the Materium’s manifest destiny. As the Edict states, “the Materium is the nexus of all that Is, the culmination of On’s perfect Work.” These beliefs are rooted in an understanding of the triune nature of the Knowing, i.e. that the one thread that the sentient races share is possession of three natures: body, mind and spirit.

While this may seem self-evident, it must be understood with context. The Etherium, widely accepted as the first realm to be formed, in its essence is a purely spiritual realm. The Primordium, the second group of realms formed, are a place of pure physicality, and while elemental creatures have an intentionality of sorts, they lack a practical consciousness. Nor do they possess spirits, and as such are wholly unlike their angelic predecessors. Finally, the psychic ocean that we refer to as the realm of Somnus afforded beings of pure psionic energy a life, but neither do they possess a body or a spirit.

Establishing these facts, the Materium was, at the time of its creation, the only place in all of Halûme where creatures formed of body, mind and spirit could be found. This too is the origin of the concept of the “Knowing” races, for we are the only races who can know, in fullness, the nature of animatic, psionic, and spiritual natures.

Geography

The Materium is composed of Yähdiel, the seven discovered worlds (Malic, Sudar, Habim, Mahraiji, Damir, Sahir, and Sirashal) and their moons, which float buoyantly in an aether that spans the vast distances between them. And while there are postulations that other as-yet undiscovered worlds exist, it has been well over six hundred years since a body has been discovered.

Knowledge of worlds outside our own is vague and spotty. Many believe they are likely to be barren rocks or frozen wastelands, cursed by the Ashcurse, but it would be hubris to assume that others could not grow and thrive as our own has. Nevertheless it would be fruitless to predict what life on such worlds is like, as there is even less evidence to these things than there is of the Ethereal.

Type

Dimensional plane

Location under

Halûme