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Core

Core was a higher dimension named after its universal design; the entirety of Core orbited around an emerald star known as Omitor-Capdex. It was the homeworld of Anton Tostapane Accetoni of the Archangel's Heroes before being destroyed by Demons in approximately 35 PBD by Legerian measurements.

Universe #

Omitor-Capdex #

At the center of the Core dimension was the gargantuan Omitor-Capdex emerald star. It had a diameter of approximately 2 million kilometers and was surrounded by a vast asteroid field known as the Iotpan Cloud.

Omitor-Capdex released a unique form of radiation called Vivificante rays (often abbreviated to VV rays). Nearly every Corian organism required VV rays to survive. There were no other stars like Omitor-Capdex in the entire dimension, meaning that it was the sole life-giving celestial body in the entire universe.

Iotpan Cloud #

The Iotpan Cloud was a thick grouping of asteroids that orbited Omitor Capdex. The Iotpan Cloud was also the home of the Humans of Core before the events of Lo Slancio.

Occhio Nebula #

Several thousand lightyears away from Omitor-Capdex was the Occhio Nebula, a crimson mass of gas and dust that was the breeding ground for a mysterious race of alien worms called the quavas.

The Occhio Nebula fully encircled Omitor-Capdex at its extreme distance.

History #

Iotpan Sparks #

The Humans of Core began their civilizations independently on their asteroid worlds throughout the Iotpan Cloud. They progressed technologically at incredible rates thanks to the energy imparted to them by Omitor-Capdex.

These early Core civilizations, referred to by later Core historians as the Iotpan Sparks, went from agricultural kingdoms to space-faring societies in just over a thousand years.

Iotpan War #

While the existence of other human civilizations throughout the Iotpan Cloud were obvious to the Iotpan Sparks, their initial contact was characterized by warfare. As space travel become more prevalent, the Iotpan Sparks began to form factions to fight over the asteroid field. The war spanned several hundred years and greatly accelerated the technological advancement of these splintered Core societies.

The First Quavas Invasion #

The Iotpan War came to an end when the first invasion fleets of the quavas worms arrived at the edge of the Iotpan Cloud. Truces were formed between the Iotpan Spark factions as they attempted to defend their land from these alien creatures who were attacking their homes without any explanation.

The Iotpan Sparks easily dispatched the invading quavas, and realized that when united, the humans of Core were a formidable force. Deep space scans revealed that in several hundred years, another fleet of quavas would arrive. The Iotpan Sparks decided to unify themselves, setting aside difference to face this truly alien threat.

Lo Slancio #

After allying themselves, the Iotpan Sparks began to build superstructures that would permanently link the various asteroids of the Iotpan Cloud together. This formed the skeleton of what would soon become their dyson sphere metropolitan planet home--Core Prime.

As the first quarter of Core Prime finished completion, technological advancement made another leap. The incredible efficiency of energy harvesting from Omitor-Capdex allowed for an enormous array of brand new technology to be developed.

After approximately another thousand years, the Iotpan Sparks finished the construction of Core Prime around Omitor-Capdex while constantly repelling quavas invaders.

Regni Centrali #

Also known as Core's golden age, Regni Centrali was characterized by a bustling metropolis that spanned the surface of Core Prime as it harvested energy from Omitor-Capdex. Incredible medical technology extended and improved quality of life, and advanced weapons given to the highly trained Guardia Spaziale kept the quavas at bay. The people of Core began to expand to other planets surrounding Omitor-Capdex, although this prompted more frequent and aggressive quavas incursions.

Regni Centrali lasted for about two million years.

Shedim Invasion #

The end of Regni Centrali was brought about by an enemy that Core had never faced before--Demons. For the last several years of Regni Centrali, Guardia Spaziale reported reduced numbers of quavas. Most people believed this was simply because they were being pushed back and killed by Core forces so quickly that their numbers were beginning to dwindle. In reality, it was because Demonic forces from the edge of Core's null-film had wiped the quavas from existence.

The forces of Core managed to fend off the Demons and their endless hordes of Imps for several years, although the endless tides of supernatural adversaries began to strain supply lines. One by one, Core strongholds on colonized worlds fell until only Core Prime was left.

Core Prime was rapidly descending into chaos as refugees from fallen worlds arrived seeking asylum. Infrastructure designed to support trillions of people struggled under the weight of a quadrillion.

Hampered by this humanitarian nightmare, Core Prime had an opening in its defenses that allowed the Demons to mount a direct assault on the dyson sphere city. Demons swept across Core Prime and channeled a vile, destructive energy into the heart of Omitor-Capdex. The Corians watched in horror as in the blink of an eye, their star fizzled out like a candle between wet fingers. Immediately, Core Prime's structure began to shear as the gravity of Omitor-Capdex was no longer present to anchor it as it was designed

All seemed like it would be lost, until the Angels arrived. With their armies of seraphim and cherubim, the servants of The Creator helped the Guardia Spaziale to stem the tide of demons threatening to slaughter the Corian people. With the protection of the Angels, the surviving Corians were evacuated to various space stations within regions of space not influenced too greatly by the sudden shift in gravity throughout the universe.

The Alti Signori met with the Archangel Michael, who had assessed the situation and offered a solution. Core was doomed as the current trajectory was going. With no VV Ray-emitting star to sustain life in Core, the total annihilation of existence was inevitable. But the Angels could help the Corians by relocating them to other Higher Dimensions within the Archangel's jurisdiction. But this wasn't without complications:

The Alti Signori agreed that despite these downsides, this was the best case scenario for their people to continue on. But the Angels could not just move the Corians without a price--in exchange for sanctuary, the people of Core would have to collaborate with the Angels to produce mechanical life forms with the express purpose of helping to defend the multiverse from the forces of evil. The Alti Signori agreed to the deal, and Michael stationed Angel legions in Core to defend it until the job was complete.

With knowledge and materials provided by the ophanim, the people of Core set to creating the divinely-designed and fueled automatons--The Ancients.

The Fall of Core #

As the Corians began to field test the Ancients, the tide turned greatly in their favour. The Ancients were mechanical warriors of incredible power, and all across Core the Guardia Spaziale were able to repel demonic assault without the help of Angels by fielding one or two Ancients.

Over time, the fury of the Demons' attacked waned, and the Angels began to receive reports of increasingly intense Demonic invasions across other dimensions. Believing the Demons had turned their eyes away from Core for the time being, Michael departed alongside many of the angels to defend other Higher Dimensions in his charge. A skeleton army of Angels were left behind to oversee the completion of the Ancients.

With the general absence of the Angels, the Alti Signori began to reevaluate their deal with Heaven's armies. The nobles of Core were fattened with pride as they reveled in the might of the Ancients, forgetting that their creation would not have been possible without the gifts from The Creator delivered by His servants. The Alti Signori began to doubt the capability of the Angels to protect the people of Core. They saw the Ancients as a tool that they should hold onto to protect themselves with instead of relying on the whims of the heavenly hosts.

A sweeping vote passed through the Alti Signori, with all of them agreeing to withhold the transfer of all the Ancients into Angelic possession. Instead, they would only present the Angels with a fraction of the total. However, a single member of the Alti Signori, Signior Accetoni, voted in favour of keeping their deal with the Angels. For this, Signior Accetone was isolated and ridiculed, effectively removed from the Corian leadership.

When the Angels returned to Core to collect the Ancients, the Corians presented only a fraction of the machines they had put together. When questioned where the remaining were, the Corians doubled down on their deception and assured the Angels that these were all of the Ancients. The Angels were not blind to the lies however, and cursed the people of Core. If they would not uphold their end of the bargain, then neither would the Angels. The Angels pulled out from Core, leaving the native inhabitants to fend for themselves.

Quickly Core descended into apocalypse. The Demonic forces surged, razing world after world, destroying every space station that housed the surviving remnants of the once mighty Corian empire. The Guardia Spaziale high command dissolved as supply lines, means of communication, and the rank-and-file were eliminated. The powerful Ancients that the people of Core had put their faith in fell into disuse as few were left to oversee their deployment.

The remnants of the GS gathered to fight for the handful of Corian space stations that floated within the cold, darkened void of space. Every day saw the death of thousands, the extinction of another colony of survivors. Anton, a GS soldier and son of the nonconformist Signior Accetoni, was among one of these small bands of GS warriors. As the Demons amassed to destroy his home, what remained of his allied unit defiantly took up arms to die in a blaze of glory. While such a noble death--at least in the eyes of his people--was available to Anton, he refused to fight. He would not defend the remnants of his corrupt people. Instead, he dug through his now late father's files and discovered the location of where many of Core's Ancients were kept, inactive and waiting. With a combat fighter threatening to fall apart with every maneuver it made, Anton made the risky flight to Core Prime's derelict corpse, maneuvering through the crumbling structure's streets to locate the storage of Ancients. Fending off Imps and other demonic assailants singlehandedly, Anton would find the Ancients and attempt to transfer them to the location in Citta Alta where the agreement between the Angels and Corians had originally taken place. Anton knew it was too late for his people, but it was not too late for others across the multiverse. He begged into the stars for the Angels--for The Creator--to take the Ancients so that they could wage war against the forces of evil plaguing Creation.

Bleeding out from his wounds as Citta Alta's remains collapsed, Anton was sure to die. But in his final moments, Michael appeared to Anton, seeing that his faith and loyalty hadn't waned even in the midst of the tragedy and influence of his peers. Anton would be whisked away to Legere as the sole survivor of his people.

With the dyson sphere in ruin and painted red with the blood of the Corian people, the universe of Core was dead. With no life and no purpose to justify its existence, Core's null-film began to peel and The Void leaked in to digest its reality.

Corian Denizens #

Humans #

Identical to the Humans found on Legere, the humans of Core had a minor alteration to their biology. In order to catalyze their metabolic processes, Corian humans had to absorb Vivificante radiation emitted by Omitor-Capdex.

Corian humans had pale to light brown skin, depending on which Iotpan Spark world their family descended from. During the latter half of Regni Centrali, the mixing of Corian ethnicities resulted in a largely homogenous look across the population.

Quavas #

A prymex leads its quavas fireteam in a boarding maneuver.

The worm-like quavas were a semi-sapient race of aliens that lacked the ability to directly absorb VV rays from Omitor-Capdex. Instead, they were forced to extract the energy of Omitor-Capdex from living tissue. As their kind multiplied throughout the universe of Core, they consumed most living things aside from the Corian humans, whose technology posed a significant challenge to the quavas.

The quavas were space-borne creatures that spontaneously manifested from the fusion of astral materials floating through the Occhio Nebula. They augmented themselves cybernetically, enhancing their bodies to support destructive firearms and other implements that would allow them to face the increasingly formidable Guardia Spaziale.

Quavas were fleshy, red creatures with numerous legs adorning an endoskeletal, centipede-like frame. Almost immediately at the moment of their spontaneous birth, quavas were clad in alloy shells, giving them a distinctly more insectoid appearance.

They clicked their mandibles and expelled air from their gas bladders--their eldritch way of communicating with each other. What kind of malefic plot were they constructing?

Quavas communicated with each by using their numerous legs in a very advanced and complex form of sign language.

Caste #

Quavas had no true societal structure, but were loosely organized by leaders called prymex (sometimes called quavas fathers by the Guardia Spaziale). A prymex was naturally born larger than other quavas, and its smaller kin could cling to it as it travelled.

As astral conflict with the human race increased, the quavas developed Othon battleships by heavily modifying the cybernetics of a prymex until it was encased in several miles of machinery and auxiliary systems. These vessels were steered by the host prymex, and could house hundreds of lesser quavas and bear a myriad of devastating weaponry. ^9c31c4

Traversal #

Quavas were able to traverse the vacuum of space by emitting short ion pulses which would generate enough thrust for them to change directions. Cybernetic augmentation increased the capacity and power of these ion pulses. Certain quavas that specialized in space combat were agile enough to create issues for Guardia Spaziale fighters. They would also use each other as push-off points.

On land, quavas could use their numerous legs to quickly locomote across a variety of surfaces--especially helpful in zero-gravity areas.

Relativistic Translation Rockets #

Quavas performed long-distance transportation by building relativistic translation rockets. These massive, rope-like spacecraft were steadily accelerated across long reaches of space until they reached significant fractions of the speed of light. They were accelerated in the direction of where the quavas sensed their next prey.

Upon impact with something, the rocket would explode and substances within the rocket would generate a wormhole that allowed swarms of quavas warriors on standby to move in.

Extinction #

The quavas were wiped out swiftly and mercilessly by Demons during the Shedim Invasion. The flurry of Demonkind through the Occhio Nebula tore it to shreds, and no more quavas ever spawned in Core again.

Core Prime #

During Regni Centrali, a sprawling metropolis along the surface of the Omitor-Capdex dyson sphere sprouted, providing residence to billions and eventually trillions of Corians. The architecture and purpose of different regions of the sphere varied. Some places held massive greenhouses where beautiful gardens of fruit and vegetables were grown. Others were elaborate waste processing plants that ensured Core Prime remained clean and tidy.

Citta Alta #

The capital of Core Prime was Citta Alta, which was a region of the dyson sphere characterized by the highest spires and towers. Citta Alta was where the Alti Signori leadership of Core would gather to discuss pressing matters and pass laws for the good of the people.

Society #

During the era of the Iotpan Sparks, most Corian societies were feudal. During the First Quavas Invasion, the lords of the various asteroids united to form a government that could unify efforts in repelling the quavas.

Alti Signori #

Originally established from the various lords of the Iotpan Sparks, the Alti Signori was a leadership of elected representatives who vouched for different Corian groups across Core Prime. At its peak, the Alti Signori consisted of 1000 officials (900 of them from Core Prime and 100 from colonized worlds).

Guardia Spaziale #

The Guardia Spaziale was the warrior class of human society, formed following the First Quavas Invasion in preparation for the next. The Guardia Spaziale consisted of 37 different combat corps. 30 of these were designed to combat quavas tactics and technology specifically, while the other 7 were trained as peacekeepers to quell dissident uprisings and separatist movements.

Notable combat corps of the GS included:

Dissentism in Core #

There were two main factions that went against the wider accepted views of Core humanity. Dissentism itself was not outlawed, and was in fact encouraged to constantly analyze and evaluate the status quo of Core.

Simpazzitanti #

First were the Simpazzitanti, who believed that the military actions being taken against the quavas were what incensed them in the first place. In the political landscape of Core Prime, they lobbied for the defunding of the Guardia Spaziale while also underhandedly providing resources to insurgent groups that would draw the GS's attention away from the quavas (in theory.)

Simpazzitanti Extremists

Simpazzitanti were largely regarded negatively by Core society due to their sympathetic view on the alien quavas, of whom many had lost loved ones to. They often struggled to gain sympathy with the public, especially when Simpazzitanti extremist groups could go so far as to betray their own kind by actively sabotaging GS operations in quavas-contested space, as well as directly provide support to quavas by leaking intel and sending resources. Stories of these extremists always reached the ears of the public, with outrage as the usual response.

Veri Signori #

Second were the Veri Signori, a group of political separatists that believed the unification of the Iotpan Sparks was detrimental to the cultural heritage of where humanity had come from. They sought to reform the Alti Signori and the wider society of Core to splinter into their ancestral groups.

The Veri Signori's view on heritage was great skewed, especially considering that during Regni Centrali the mixing of Iotpan ethnic groups large eliminated the ability to differentiate who came from where.

Technology #

The humans of Core had incredible technology at their disposal, especially during Regni Centrali. Interstellar travel was trivial, short-range teleportation was used on the daily, and the dyson sphere of Core Prime afforded the people what was effectively an endless supply of energy.

Hard Light #

With energy in constant abundance, the people of Core invented hard light, a pseudo-material created by trapping and condensing photons into a shape.

Sintesium #

Early on during Lo Slancio, Core scientists developed Sintesium, a wonderous material that could cover the role of a ceramic, alloy, or polymer with its versatility. It was used liberally by humans throughout all of Core.

Communication #

Gyron-Network #

The primary method of communication was the gyron-net, a decentralized intergalactic system of interconnected computer networks. It allowed for the transport of all manner of information. Encryption protocols meant that both sensitive military or governmental information could be sent through the gyron-net alongside more civilian data (like entertainment or commerce data). The gyron-net had networks designed to operate at various levels of localization--planetary, system-wide, and intergalactic. Each network was, however, ultimately connected to the vast intergalactic network--they may have not been optimized to work at that capacity. This effectively meant that with enough power and technical precision/expertise, the network for managing a crop irrigation systems on a border planet could be used to connect with banking networks on Core Prime.

S.A.G.E. #

A major assistant of Core's supercivilization was the S.A.G.E.--or Self-Adapting Guidance Engine. S.A.G.E. was an artificial intelligence housed in a supercomputer megastructure on Core Prime. Its vast intelligence, which could reach through the gyron-net allowed it to help run both the military and government of Core. S.A.G.E. was regularly monitored by members of the Alti Signori known as Data Barons. Data Barons would regularly monitor S.A.G.E.'s systems to prevent corruption or degradation of such a crucial piece of Corian society. S.A.G.E. remained a reliable advisor and servant of the Guardia Spaziale and Alti Signori, right up until the Shedim Invasion.

S.A.G.E. was also accessed by members of the Guardia Spaziale through neural implants connected to their spinal cords. S.A.G.E. would act as an intermediary between the conscious and unconscious thoughts of a GS operative and their equipment. For example, S.A.G.E. could modify the instruments and rudders of an orbital gunship based on the pilot's thoughts and desires on where to move. It could also read vital signs, calling for emergency medevac upon grievous injury. S.A.G.E. could also communicate directly with GS operatives, providing tactical advice or relaying information from equipment that it was interfacing with.

Civilians did not have access to S.A.G.E., since its systems and capabilities were far too advanced for mundane tasks.