Welcome to NOVA CARINAE
Where the science is MORALLY QUESTIONABLE
The safety standards are NOT IDEAL
The ethics committee is DEPRESSED
And the funding is DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT
I wrote a lot of this like 3+ years ago and am currently in the process of updating it.
Lore strays pretty heavily from canon.
Summary: My clan is basically Mass-Effect-2 era Cerberus in vibes though not in motives, with maybe a little less money and a little more altruism. What started off as a small group of outcast scientists has become a super-secretive morally questionable paramilitary/research organization who somehow seem to have their fingers in everything. NC has people scattered across Sornieth, as well as a main base of operations called the Vigilance somewhere under the great ocean and (unbeknownst to the outside world) an advanced space program. They don't have nearly enough funding and resources to be doing all this science safely, and do not ask where the funding and resources they
do have come from because it's not
all crime we promise. (It is mostly crime though.) They've been accused of being a cult, terrorists, conspiracy theorists, and Shade sympathizers who are challenging the Gods, the last of which is the one that makes its members most uncomfortable when trying to defend the organization because it's not exactly
wrong.
Morally gray scientists discovering maddening truths and creating their own manmade horrors beyond comprehension in defiance of the gods, my beloved <3
We had a simple goal, though perhaps not a humble one: we were seekers of knowledge. We grew from modest beginnings in the depths of the great desert. From disgraced researchers and spurned engineers, we became visionaries and architects of the future. We learned not to fear the unknown.
That was our first mistake.
We should have been afraid.
Welcome to NOVA CARINAE
Where the science is MORALLY QUESTIONABLE
The safety standards are NOT IDEAL
The ethics committee is DEPRESSED
And the funding is DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT
I wrote a lot of this like 3+ years ago and am currently in the process of updating it.
Lore strays pretty heavily from canon.
Summary: My clan is basically Mass-Effect-2 era Cerberus in vibes though not in motives, with maybe a little less money and a little more altruism. What started off as a small group of outcast scientists has become a super-secretive morally questionable paramilitary/research organization who somehow seem to have their fingers in everything. NC has people scattered across Sornieth, as well as a main base of operations called the Vigilance somewhere under the great ocean and (unbeknownst to the outside world) an advanced space program. They don't have nearly enough funding and resources to be doing all this science safely, and do not ask where the funding and resources they
do have come from because it's not
all crime we promise. (It is mostly crime though.) They've been accused of being a cult, terrorists, conspiracy theorists, and Shade sympathizers who are challenging the Gods, the last of which is the one that makes its members most uncomfortable when trying to defend the organization because it's not exactly
wrong.
Morally gray scientists discovering maddening truths and creating their own manmade horrors beyond comprehension in defiance of the gods, my beloved <3
We had a simple goal, though perhaps not a humble one: we were seekers of knowledge. We grew from modest beginnings in the depths of the great desert. From disgraced researchers and spurned engineers, we became visionaries and architects of the future. We learned not to fear the unknown.
That was our first mistake.
We should have been afraid.
[center][img]https://imgur.com/M3ZfDjl.png[/img]
[font=book antiqua][b]Regulus and the Messenger[/b]
[i] These are no longer abstractions. These are Worlds. Maybe there's life there. They've changed how we think about Earth.
Onward to the Edge, we're moving onward to the Edge.[/i]
lore lore lore lore
Regulus and the Messenger
These are no longer abstractions. These are Worlds. Maybe there's life there. They've changed how we think about Earth.
Onward to the Edge, we're moving onward to the Edge.
lore lore lore lore
[center][img]https://imgur.com/M3ZfDjl.png[/img]
[size=4][font=book antiqua][b]The Shade and the Rift[/b][/size][/center]
------
[center][font=book antiqua][i]There is a powerful recognition that stirs within us when we see our own little blue ocean planet in the skies of other worlds.
Onward to the Edge, we’re moving onward to the Edge.[/i]
[b]The Law of Conservation of Energy[/b]
[i]The law of conservation of energy states that the total energy of an isolated system remains constant. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; rather, it can only be transformed or transferred from one form to another.[/i][/center]
[font=book antiqua]It is impossible to argue against the fact that magic drives Sornieth on a planetary scale. Magic shaped the planet's origins; it is the tool with which the First Four sculpted its landscapes, the energy which gave rise to the pantheon of the Eleven. Much study has been dedicated to the properties and applications of magic, but little is known about its origins, about its relation to the Deities and its fundamental connection to Sornieth. Many such questions have remained unanswered, perhaps due to the impracticality of their study, or their potentially sacrilegious nature, or simply due to the commonly accepted ideas that the Deities would reveal all that Dragonkind ought to know. It is these questions that NC seeks to answer. Where do the Eleven draw their power from? Why does Sornieth alone have such a high concentration of magic? How can magic and its frequent use by Sornieth's inhabitants be scientifically reconciled with the current understanding of physical laws?
And what, exactly, [i]was[/i] the Shade?
[center][size=4][font=book antiqua][b]The Rift[/b][/size][/center]
[font=book antiqua]The elemental magic that is channeled through the Deities does not originate within them; nor is its source within the bounds of this universe. The core of Sornieth is home to the [i]Rift[/i], a tear in the fabric of space-time connecting this universe to the core of a star in another. Energy is drawn from this core and then channeled through the Eleven all across and through the planet in the form of structures commonly referred to as leylines.
Whether the Deities opened this Rift intentionally, or are simply taking advantage of a cosmic coincidence, is yet to be discovered. However, there has been reasonable doubt cast on the accepted origin story of the First Four; some analysis has shown that the Deities may have existed prior to the Rift- and magic in general- existed on Sornieth. Some questions have been raised about whether the Deities even originated on Sornieth itself. The current, leading theory- at least within the realm of NC's current scientific understanding of the Rift and Sornieth's geologic history- is that the Deities were some advanced but mortal beings of extraterrestrial origin, who either settled Sornieth when they found the Rift, or opened the Rift themselves, either to cross over from the other side themselves, or simply as a source of energy.
[center][size=4][font=book antiqua][b]The Shade[/b][/size][/center]
[font=book antiqua]Perhaps the actions of the Deities would have had few consequences, were it not for the fact that life- advanced, sentient life- existed around the star on the other side of the Rift. When these beings first began observing their star in earnest, they found troubling evidence that the star was losing energy and dying much faster than their models predicted. An exhaustive effort was made to reconcile their understanding of physics with their observations and disprove what many believed to be flawed data. And yet with every passing year, with every new expensive telescope launched in the hopes that previous findings had been in error, the evidence mounted that their sun was cannibalizing itself from the inside out long before its time. It took them many years to find the cause, a phenomenon even the finest minds hadn’t seriously considered: a tear in the fabric of space-time they came to call the Rift.
NC's only direct data on the Rift comes from the accounts of beings from the other side of the Rift, most notably [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/49976917]Celeste[/url], though some of the [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/den/450999/1858719?name=&type=undefined]others[/url] have also provided remarkably consistent corroboration: the Rift could not have formed naturally. It had been engineered, created with some purpose unknown to Celeste or her people. Created, as they came to believe, by the Enemy. Although the inhabitants of the other side of the Rift couldn't be sure the Enemy had malicious intentions, their entire future was on the line. If too much energy was drained from the core, or if an instability appeared in the Rift, it could trigger a supernova and wipe them out within a flash. And so, eons ago, they began to build a weapon.
Of course, no ordinary weapon would do; ballistics and nuclear weaponry would be useless against the unknown Enemy they fought. What sort of civilization could do such a thing- reach out across the barrier of worlds to tap into the core of a sun? No, it would have to be something of an immense power, on a scale never even conceived before. They fashioned their weapon out of the primordial fabric of the universe, out of emptiness and spacetime and the seething violence of quantum mechanics. They gave it intelligence, in a way; but most of all they gave it hunger, a hunger for the energy the Enemy sapped from their sun, and a desperate drive to do one thing and one thing only: close the Rift, and make sure it was never opened again. It slipped through the Rift with ease, and they took to watching the skies once more.
This is the force that Sornieth has come to know as the Shade.
The Shade and the Rift
There is a powerful recognition that stirs within us when we see our own little blue ocean planet in the skies of other worlds.
Onward to the Edge, we’re moving onward to the Edge.
The Law of Conservation of Energy
The law of conservation of energy states that the total energy of an isolated system remains constant. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; rather, it can only be transformed or transferred from one form to another.
It is impossible to argue against the fact that magic drives Sornieth on a planetary scale. Magic shaped the planet's origins; it is the tool with which the First Four sculpted its landscapes, the energy which gave rise to the pantheon of the Eleven. Much study has been dedicated to the properties and applications of magic, but little is known about its origins, about its relation to the Deities and its fundamental connection to Sornieth. Many such questions have remained unanswered, perhaps due to the impracticality of their study, or their potentially sacrilegious nature, or simply due to the commonly accepted ideas that the Deities would reveal all that Dragonkind ought to know. It is these questions that NC seeks to answer. Where do the Eleven draw their power from? Why does Sornieth alone have such a high concentration of magic? How can magic and its frequent use by Sornieth's inhabitants be scientifically reconciled with the current understanding of physical laws?
And what, exactly, was the Shade?
The Rift
The elemental magic that is channeled through the Deities does not originate within them; nor is its source within the bounds of this universe. The core of Sornieth is home to the Rift, a tear in the fabric of space-time connecting this universe to the core of a star in another. Energy is drawn from this core and then channeled through the Eleven all across and through the planet in the form of structures commonly referred to as leylines.
Whether the Deities opened this Rift intentionally, or are simply taking advantage of a cosmic coincidence, is yet to be discovered. However, there has been reasonable doubt cast on the accepted origin story of the First Four; some analysis has shown that the Deities may have existed prior to the Rift- and magic in general- existed on Sornieth. Some questions have been raised about whether the Deities even originated on Sornieth itself. The current, leading theory- at least within the realm of NC's current scientific understanding of the Rift and Sornieth's geologic history- is that the Deities were some advanced but mortal beings of extraterrestrial origin, who either settled Sornieth when they found the Rift, or opened the Rift themselves, either to cross over from the other side themselves, or simply as a source of energy.
The Shade
Perhaps the actions of the Deities would have had few consequences, were it not for the fact that life- advanced, sentient life- existed around the star on the other side of the Rift. When these beings first began observing their star in earnest, they found troubling evidence that the star was losing energy and dying much faster than their models predicted. An exhaustive effort was made to reconcile their understanding of physics with their observations and disprove what many believed to be flawed data. And yet with every passing year, with every new expensive telescope launched in the hopes that previous findings had been in error, the evidence mounted that their sun was cannibalizing itself from the inside out long before its time. It took them many years to find the cause, a phenomenon even the finest minds hadn’t seriously considered: a tear in the fabric of space-time they came to call the Rift.
NC's only direct data on the Rift comes from the accounts of beings from the other side of the Rift, most notably Celeste, though some of the others have also provided remarkably consistent corroboration: the Rift could not have formed naturally. It had been engineered, created with some purpose unknown to Celeste or her people. Created, as they came to believe, by the Enemy. Although the inhabitants of the other side of the Rift couldn't be sure the Enemy had malicious intentions, their entire future was on the line. If too much energy was drained from the core, or if an instability appeared in the Rift, it could trigger a supernova and wipe them out within a flash. And so, eons ago, they began to build a weapon.
Of course, no ordinary weapon would do; ballistics and nuclear weaponry would be useless against the unknown Enemy they fought. What sort of civilization could do such a thing- reach out across the barrier of worlds to tap into the core of a sun? No, it would have to be something of an immense power, on a scale never even conceived before. They fashioned their weapon out of the primordial fabric of the universe, out of emptiness and spacetime and the seething violence of quantum mechanics. They gave it intelligence, in a way; but most of all they gave it hunger, a hunger for the energy the Enemy sapped from their sun, and a desperate drive to do one thing and one thing only: close the Rift, and make sure it was never opened again. It slipped through the Rift with ease, and they took to watching the skies once more.
This is the force that Sornieth has come to know as the Shade.
[center][img]https://imgur.com/M3ZfDjl.png[/img]
[font=book antiqua][b]The Eleven and the History of Sornieth[/b]
[i]Think about worlds unnumbered. The laws of nature create vastly different Worlds with the tiniest changes.
Onward to the Edge, we’re moving onward to the Edge.[/i]
lore lore lore lore
The Eleven and the History of Sornieth
Think about worlds unnumbered. The laws of nature create vastly different Worlds with the tiniest changes.
Onward to the Edge, we’re moving onward to the Edge.
lore lore lore lore
[center][img]https://imgur.com/M3ZfDjl.png[/img]
[font=book antiqua][b]Mare Incognita[/b]
[i]Here we are together, this fragile little world.
Onward to the Edge, we’re moving onward to the Edge.[/i]
lore lore lore lore
Mare Incognita
Here we are together, this fragile little world.
Onward to the Edge, we’re moving onward to the Edge.
lore lore lore lore
[center][img]https://imgur.com/M3ZfDjl.png[/img]
[font=book antiqua][b]The Shade Beasts of the Holding Facility[/b]
[i]We're not the only world to think about. Think about worlds unnumbered.
Onward to the Edge, we’re moving onward to the Edge.[/i]
lore lore lore lore
The Shade Beasts of the Holding Facility
We're not the only world to think about. Think about worlds unnumbered.
Onward to the Edge, we’re moving onward to the Edge.
lore lore lore lore
[center][img]https://imgur.com/M3ZfDjl.png[/img]
[font=book antiqua][b]Horizon Seeker II[/b]
[i]The Moon has a sky. It has a horizon. It's another World. It's got Earth in the sky just the way we have the Moon in the sky.
Onward to the Edge, we’re moving onward to the Edge.[/i]
lore lore lore lore
@Straka
@Straka
Horizon Seeker II
The Moon has a sky. It has a horizon. It's another World. It's got Earth in the sky just the way we have the Moon in the sky.
Onward to the Edge, we’re moving onward to the Edge.
lore lore lore lore
@Straka
@Straka
