The Vakoth Archive

Lore archive for @the_brankster's science-fantasy setting, 'The Song of Vakoth'.

[songofvakoth]

INTRO TO VAKOTH

Hi! This blog is about my science-fantasy setting called Song of Vakoth. It's been an ongoing project for about two years off and on now, and has been through a lot of reworks. It started as a small-scale, hard-sci-fi setting focused on humanity's internal divisions and interactions with aliens; but has now evolved into a galactic-scale, space fantasy setting focusing on authoritarianism and it's horrors, and more specifically follows a character's path towards open rebellion.

//What is Vakoth? Vakoth is the setting's name for the Milky Way. Humans are not the dominant species in the galaxy, nor the most numerous; and this is reflected in both the names of the galaxy and the places within it; the galactic basic being unrelated to earth-originated languages (although english is used as an out-of-character placeholder), and a variety of other things.

//What is it about? Fascism, Totalitarianism, and other political evils. Centralized regimes dictating the fates of billions in pointless, multi-generation wars; fantastical discoveries being used to further military-industrial complexes; and how the 'good guys' often become the 'bad guys' with enough time.

//Aside from worldbuilding, what is the story? The actual story follows Ayna Whitlocke, a soldier in the Coalition of Local Stars; one of two major human factions in the galaxy, centralized in the Sol system, and the remnants of a once-democratic alliance of nations turned cultlike regime. Without going too deep into future plot I may write, it follows the path of her and those close to her breaking from the government's propaganda and joining an ever-growing resistance movement sponsored by the Coalition's mortal enemy, and also how rebellion isn't always so clean-cut and pretty.

//How will it be formatted? I'm not quite sure yet. After this post, I'm considering making all lore-posts from the in-character perspective of an extradimensional documentation organization with dubious canonicity to the actual setting; aptly named the Archives (with sub-groups named after the region they are monitoring, e.g. Vakoth Archive). Not 100% sure yet.

Feel free to ask further questions below! this applies for the onward future of this blog, and i'll try to keep up to date with any/all comments.

[songofvakoth]

CHAPTER ONE; SECTION 2

AGE OF GIANTS (BEFORE THE WAR IN HEAVEN)

The first arrival to vakoth was known as the 'Infinite Empire'. Ironically, they came to flee their own dying universe- though through what methods it was dying is yet undiscovered by the archive. A mobile station the size of a small planet, known as "Kavesanta". It housed the majority of their remaining population- mostly comprising of the upper class. The Imperial family, party elites, officers; generals; and admirals. Several smaller stations and living-vessels followed suit with regular populace; as well as military vessels with soldiers and sailors.

The Empire found itself nearby the galactic center- a few star systems away from a supermassive black hole. They named it "Karvest", meaning 'To devour'. Quickly establishing themselves in the galactic core, the Infinite Empire expanded, subjugated, and consolidated resources and native species under their rule. Species similar enough to the ruling Corivith (humanoid) were granted second-class citizenship, and called 'Corivilke'. Any deemed to be lesser were enslaved and known as 'Karvenon', roughly translating to 'the ones that are devoured'.

The second nation to arrive was known as the 'High Imperium', or simply the Realm. A broken fleet ruled by houses of post-human demigods, the Imperium's past is shrouded in just as much mystery as the Infinite Empire's. What is known, however, is that a hostile encounter thrust a war-fleet helmed by the Imperium's twin rulers into a never-ending wormhole. Stuck for generations, 'The Long Dark' finally came to an end abruptly as they arrived at the far rim of the Milky Way; born anew.

In the face of almost unending resources, the survivors of the Old Imperium formed a new Realm; the Twin Imperators- Elandra Vos and Alhergus Vakorian- were revived in the form of clones implanted with their consciousnesses to lead the realm once more. Beneath them, an upper senate of the six greater houses, and beneath once more a lower senate of the dozens of lesser houses. The High Imperium prospered, and after another lifetime; the twin imperators rested in death once more- refuting drefthood- until the realms next time of need.

Fifty thousand years belated; that time came. Less than a thousand years after coming into contact with the Infinite Empire, the two powers came into conflict; over ideology, territory, ego-- many reasons. But the war would last- on and off- for about four hundred thousand years. Across those four hundred millenia, entire cultures and species rose and fell- weapons the scale of stars destroyed one another in endless conflict...

--NEXT SECTION // THE FIRST WAR IN HEAVEN--

[songofvakoth]

CHAPTER ONE; SECTION 2

AGE OF GIANTS (BEFORE THE WAR IN HEAVEN)

The first arrival to vakoth was known as the 'Infinite Empire'. Ironically, they came to flee their own dying universe- though through what methods it was dying is yet undiscovered by the archive. A mobile station the size of a small planet, known as "Kavesanta". It housed the majority of their remaining population- mostly comprising of the upper class. The Imperial family, party elites, officers; generals; and admirals. Several smaller stations and living-vessels followed suit with regular populace; as well as military vessels with soldiers and sailors.

The Empire found itself nearby the galactic center- a few star systems away from a supermassive black hole. They named it "Karvest", meaning 'To devour'. Quickly establishing themselves in the galactic core, the Infinite Empire expanded, subjugated, and consolidated resources and native species under their rule. Species similar enough to the ruling Corivith (humanoid) were granted second-class citizenship, and called 'Corivilke'. Any deemed to be lesser were enslaved and known as 'Karvenon', roughly translating to 'the ones that are devoured'.

The second nation to arrive was known as the 'High Imperium', or simply the Realm. A broken fleet ruled by houses of post-human demigods, the Imperium's past is shrouded in just as much mystery as the Infinite Empire's. What is known, however, is that a hostile encounter thrust a war-fleet helmed by the Imperium's twin rulers into a never-ending wormhole. Stuck for generations, 'The Long Dark' finally came to an end abruptly as they arrived at the far rim of the Milky Way; born anew.

In the face of almost unending resources, the survivors of the Old Imperium formed a new Realm; the Twin Imperators- Elandra Vos and Alhergus Vakorian- were revived in the form of clones implanted with their consciousnesses to lead the realm once more. Beneath them, an upper senate of the six greater houses, and beneath once more a lower senate of the dozens of lesser houses. The High Imperium prospered, and after another lifetime; the twin imperators rested in death once more- refuting drefthood- until the realms next time of need.

Fifty thousand years belated; that time came. Less than a thousand years after coming into contact with the Infinite Empire, the two powers came into conflict; over ideology, territory, ego-- many reasons. But the war would last- on and off- for about four hundred thousand years. Across those four hundred millenia, entire cultures and species rose and fell- weapons the scale of stars destroyed one another in endless conflict...

--NEXT SECTION // THE FIRST WAR IN HEAVEN--

[songofvakoth]

Are the old planet-sized Editors still around? Are they still functional? What are they used for now that they’re effectively obsolete?

Yes! Many still exist; some are nonfunctional, but a good few are still in use. Larger editors like that have a couple advantages over smaller ones. For one, they have more room for rangefinding, communications, and sensing equipment- which allows them to function at much greater distances. By nature of their scale, they're also much harder to destroy than say, a warship or person sized editor.

As for downsides... Aside from the obvious of a massive structure requiring a lot of time, money, manpower, and conviction; they make for very big targets while being constructed, and are generally becoming outclassed in every way by smaller, warship sized editors.

A couple examples of still existing large-scale editirs

-The Editor. The first widely known example of the technology, made towards the end of the first war in heaven. It was made around a stellar scale black hole, and fired before it was complete out of desperation; which wiped out its target star systems, but also tore the station apart. It's no longer functional, but most of it remains in a condition that, with time, could be fixed.

-Caroulscanti battery. A ring of hyper specialized editors built, again, during the first war in heaven. They had two functions- opening a wormhole to a target planet; and firing an entropic lance at the target. Despite the name, the lance functions moreso by equalizing matter by either fusion or fission into a porous iron web that collapsed in on itself. Still functional, but rarely used (mostly due to politics).

[songofvakoth]

OOC Lore Morsel #1

What is an Editor?

Simply put, an editor is a really, really powerful quantum computer. In real life, that's still just a computer. In vakoth, some latent physics that i dont care to figure out allow a strong enough (and by strong enough, i mean thousands of years beyond modern capabilities) quantum computer to warp, tear, and manipulate the fabric of reality by calculating a given variable hard enough to change the variable. Call it space magic, because it is.

Some editors are general purpose, which requires them to do regular calculations for quite some time to figure out the pre-existing variable before they can change it. Others are of singular mind and purpose- one calculation done in advance, so all they need to select is where they want it to happen, and what they want to change.

The most prominent type of specialized editors are called shift-forges. These, simply put, change matter into something else. Put in some dirt, get out some sand. Put in some metal alloy, get a perfect wrench with truly zero tolerance. Simpler shift-forges require the right kind of materials to be put in to make what you want, while forges used by pre-modern nations like the Infinite Empire or High Imperium could turn literal piles of dirt into weapons of war, or over the course of a few days replace the surface of a planet with a fully-constructed ecuminopolis.

In the modern era of Vakoth; editors are becoming miniaturized-- long gone are the gigantic megastructures of old, computers the size of planets. With direct teachings from old Irawoi data caches, editors small enough to be implanted in the skull of an adult human are created; while remaining powerful enough to alter the immediate area around it's user.

[songofvakoth]

CHAPTER ONE; SECTION ONE

AGE OF THE CHOIR (THE GREAT BEFORE)

Long before nations rose and fell; before galaxies had names and stars were charted, the galaxy was quiet. Stars like sol were still young and violent; and many planets had yet to form.

In that dark, something new appeared- a fleet of nomads. They call themselves the Omo-Irawoi; translating roughly to 'star children' or 'star callers'. Most have come to refer to them as the Starcallers for simplicity. To avoid overlapping with later chapters on the Irawoi, only a simple description of their culture and origin will be given here.

Their creation is history long lost to even them, and they rarely reproduce. When they do, it is in a lab and with machines- growing new children around powerful quantum-editors, skeletons made of unidentifiable alloys, and nerves akin to fiber-optic cabling. Although they seem to be bred for battle, Irawoi are nominally peaceful, and believe any mote of life is sacred.

This leads into their purpose in galaxies like this. They seed life; both planting ecosystems from scratch, and nurturing young microbes into full-fledged biospheres. It is a slow, deliberate process that requires minimal direct interference. This is what happened for a majority of this time period.

Another purpose of the Irawoi is still clouded in mystery to us. In Vakoth's largest satellite, they began a great work; a mega-structure larger than the most grandiose of stars. They called it Ibori; or the Veil-guard. Our observers only discovered this universe after it's construction, so we have no record of what it was like before.

However, this was not the only mega-structure made by the Starcallers. A few others include the Eternal Choir- an artificial star system that sends out an eternal song through controlled radiation emissions; while acting as a temporary home, and later a prison for a fallen child.

Their most prized construction was that of Earth, and Luna. An artificial planet built around sol to house a species made in the very likeness of the Starcaller, by mixing their genetic material with samples taken from a neighboring native species on the once-lush world of mars. They were to be called, 'Humans'.

The Humans were to be guided loosely by a young, but trusted starchild; Ayansa; while her brother Ithran was to guide the Martians. The two species eventually reached space- and much to the dismay of their guardians; devolved into warfare between one another. After nearly a decade of conflict-- in which the two guardians were unallowed to intervene-- the Martians invaded earth, and ravaged the human species.

Unable to sit by and watch, Ayansa lashed out in anger at the violent martians- in less than a day she broke the occupation, and singlehandedly destroyed the surface of mars, leaving it uninhabitable, and nearly leaving martians extinct. In her eyes, she brought justice. To the Irawoi, she was an interloper; a murderer.

As the starcallers prepared to move to their next galaxy, Ayansa was to be imprisoned at the center of an artificial singularity for the rest of eternity, and left behind in Vakoth. Her brother took on the prestigious role as guardian of Vakoth in his people's permanent absence, while also charged with preventing his sister's escape, and guiding humans back to civilization.

Thousands of years later, Ithran would sleep at the core of Earth's artificial moon. Watching, and waiting.

Not long after, ugly new faces appeared from beyond the veil, from far far away...

--NEXT SECTION // AGE OF GIANTS--