The Taxonomy of Spirits

Before the breaking of eternity, Oshanal was known as the World of Gates. It sat at the root of the cosmic tree, in a basin pool thick with glittering constellations. In these constellations, there were more than just stars. Past the membranes of material reality, the star formations were lit by resplendent curtains of infinite radiant realms.

It was early in the known history of the lavender world when the first of the gates opened, and soon the world was covered in strange eddies and pockets where egress between realities became both possible and bidirectional. These strange gates to the outer realms seemed to develop naturally in places of great emotional and spiritual power, forming in the hedges of distant glens, the graves of old forgotten wars, and so on.

The first discoveries of these gates must have been strange moments for the spiritfolk and the mortal folk alike, but as time passed and familiarity grew, some gates grew quite well-known or even familiar.

A culture of mortals sprung forth to catalog and seek out the spiritfolk of the many realms, known as summoners, and they grew in strength and influence. Eventually, one of their number broke the world and the cosmos itself with his arrogance, and in response summoning as a practice was forbidden. Today, summoners must work in secrecy if at all, or else risk the wrath of persecution and prejudice.

However lost the arts of summoning have become, however clandestine any remnants of their old orders may be, one thing remains: the taxonomy of their research. When eternity broke, the gates did as well: but so, too, did the boundaries between eternities. Today, all of the material and radiant realms bleed together, and spiritfolk dwell in the fragments of their old realms, existing alongside their mortal counterparts fully.

The Category Theory of Eternity

The world lost a considerable amount of summoner lore (along with all kinds of lore, really) after the summoning of the monstrous divine and the shattering of eternities. However, what remains does include the concept of the radiant suites, a hypothetical taxonomy of the different kinds of realms which summoners had documented.

A radiant suite consists of two elements: an aspect, and a radiance. Summoners suggested that by coupling each radiance with an aspect, a scholar of the eternities would be able to categorize each new eternity discovered in such a way that future summoners could meaningfully explore and document those realms.

It's as certain as can be that the list of radiances known today, and perhaps even aspects, are incomplete. Many things were lost, and most of those remain hidden.

The Radiances

There are five known and agreed upon radiances, each defining a kind of eternity where a specific spiritual identity dominated. Though some realms blend radiances, it's more common that a singular radiance holds clear dominance over any others which may be present.

• Arcadian radiances, quixotic places where truly ancient and alien dreamfolk held power.
• Astral radiances, worlds of strange esoteric lore, of high concept truths and abstractions.
• Primordial radiances, realms where the basic elements of mortal reality grow and evolve.
• Stygian radiances, places of the dead, bodies of dead gods, and old realms grown cold.
• Sylvan radiances, where the primal world continued untouched by mortal civilizattion.

The Aspects

In addition to the radiances, each realm has a dominant aspect. There are only two documented aspects presently, and aspects are less a truism of the realm itself and more a term meant to describe (generally) whether or not a given realm is hospitable to mortals or predatory towards it. Usually this has suggestive connotations as well, so a realm which was hospitable to mortal life tended to have recognizable intellects in it, and one which was not would seem more alien or surreal.

• Chthonian aspects, places which have been corrupted or bent to some hostile end. Evil is not the word, but these realms are often realms of vast horror. Chthonic realms are terrible, dangerous places, full of alien and corrosive radiance.
• Empyrean aspects are places which are seemingly benign, or peaceful at least. There are of course plenty of Empyrean dangers out there, just as there are in the mortal realm, but exploration of the Empyrean takes far less effort. Empyrean realms also tend to have civilizations of a sort in place, or at least things which resemble cultures or civilization.

The Suites Themselves

Combined, the suites have distinct names. There are ten agreed upon suites: each radiance, with each aspect.

Known Spirits

There are innumerable spirits, and spiritfolk as well. Here are ten kinds of spirits, one for each of the documented radiant suites.

Aeoranid

Suite: Tides (Empyreal Primordial)

Alchemically constructed avatars of law and strange, terrible perfection. The Aeoranid are almost certainly the artifice of some other, greater, older beings, but they are almost uniformly silent: refusing to verbally or meaningfully communicate with anyone other than one another. They generally appear with a surreal, unrecognizable purpose which they inexorably pursue. Once accomplished, they either vanish or grow inert on the spot, awaiting further cosmic decree from their ancient originators.

Aranach

Suite: Shrouds (Chthonic Stygian)

Tenders of the condemned, spider spirits of tremendous size that groom massive webs of soulstuff in the deepest parts of the underworld. It's said that their backs are frilled with venomous spines, decorated with the gold of ancient, lost empires, and that their gaze turns the living who witness it to stone, killing them instantly and yielding more dreamstuff.

Azaktilun

Suite: Heavens (Empyrean Astral)

Creatures of lambent skin, the Azaktilun are close relatives of the stone-bound Celebrene. Each Azaktilun perishes in a blast of radiance, only to be reborn from their own ashes the next morning. They return changed, with all memories but an entirely new persona. Azaktilun have an array of luminous wings and eyes that are not directly connected to their body; when slain, they are reborn in an egg safe in a hidden rookery, to one day hatch anew.

Cerveid

Suite: Boughs (Empyrean Sylvan)

Stag folk and tenders of the great tree. Giant, cyclopean people, the Cerveid have one great eye that sees the passage of the stars and the cosmic truth behind all things.

Jharadim

Suite: Tempests (Chthonic Primordial)

Froglike elemental demons. They once sat in the shadows before time and wove the fabric of eternity, and resent the time they spent forced to in the Tempests, "banished" from the material. Jharadim are terrible mutations given form, and unless slain outright each wound or malady they sustain creates a sudden evolution wherein they recover and then evolve to grow stronger against that which harmed them.

Moiarach

Suite: Masks (Chthonic Arcadian)

Creatures of terrible nightmare that dwell deep in the starlike dreamlands. Once, they had ownership of much of the lands in Arcadia. In a war that mirrored those on the mortal world, the gentry of the normal dreamfolk locked them far, far away. The oldest of Moiarach are comparable to the titans themselves, and bound by gossamer chains they await the day when the dreams thin and they can regain control of the Arcadian. A given Moiarach, slain, would be terribly rebuilt from its atoms over years, a painful process which they loathe. Only one thing can prevent this: a sacred living fire kept in the hearth of every Othenaden court hall.

Nihilarocs

Suite: Voids (Chthonic Astral)

Blips at the edge of the varied eternities, creatures forever twisted and mangled past their original purpose by the crushing weight of cosmic fault lines as the ten universals began to collapse. These numerous creatures, chattering and malign, viciously dismantle anything of structure or purpose, as they feel literal pain in the presence of order and meaning. Every few centuries, a rare benign nihilaroc is made: a small, noble, adorable (and immortal) thing. Nihilarocs do not reproduce normally: instead, any mistreatment of these benign nihilarocs spawns tiny, grotesque eggs that evolve into the more chattering, bleak sort. This happens at random, but any nihilarocs that see a progenitor will seek to antagonize it however possible, thus creating ever more of themselves.

Othenaden

Suite: Pageants (Empyrean Arcadian)

Graceful, alien dreamfolk. Tall and strange, with an affectation for art and drama. Othenaden are sailors between eternities, and carry a living, sacred flame on great boats that pass through star, sky, and sea. They are directed by this strange living fire to new lands, and install it in burrows dug deep, places they call court halls. Often the lands Othenaden come to are civilized, and in those cases these people turn warlike and chase whoever may live there out, in order to establish sovereignty there. Once, the Othenaden did this with the original home of the Moiarach, and were forced to imprison this formidable foe entirely as a result. Today the Moiarach remember, and plot their revenge.

Phoerenara

Suite: Phantoms (Empyrean Stygian)

Operating in the offices of death and rebirth, the Phoerenara are strange, faceless, mostly-mute spirits that nonetheless take a very active role in the great cosmic harbors of the afterlife. Winged and furred beings, with a long lion's tail, the Phoerenara tend to dwell in the ruins of old empires, and they wander while holding small catalogs of bygone souls and items, a strange panoply of curios gathered through the centuries. When greeting strangers, Phoerenara speak only in riddles, and if one fails to answer or understand these cryptic phrases, the Phoerenara can grow hostile. Of course, perfect comprehension is dangerous as well: the curios which these creatures collect are often filled with baubles wrought from the souls of those who "perfectly understood".

Taralquara

Suite: Thorns (Chthonic Sylvan)

Descended from the fallen blood of the last eternity, the Taralquara were once mortals before they suffered the wrath of a terrible ancient power. It has been millions of years since, and although mostly they slumber, they sometimes awaken under geas of this terrible curse to conduct acts of natural wrath and keep the cosmic cauldron of eternity stirred. The true doom of the Taralquara is unknown even to them, for as they dwell near mortals or other spiritfolk, they gradually assimilate into the culture, becoming a strange sort of changeling that has its own, perfectly fabricated story. And so, often to their own horror, the Taralquara will dismantle what they have grown near and dear to, so perfectly drawn in by their own lie as they are.