The Syzygy Cosmology
"Put light against light - you have nothing. Put dark against dark - you have nothing. It’s the contrast of light and dark that each give the other one meaning" - Bob Ross
Synopsis
Since the very beginning, the broad spectrums of reality have been concentrated into two divine beings, each at either end of the ultimate dichotomy: law versus chaos. First, Ashra the Sun, who seeks to create structure and maintain order in the Universe, and Boda the Moon, who undermines authority and wishes to see the Universe free of restrictions. For eons, Ashra chased Boda through the The Astral Sea, never losing ground but also unable to catch her, until finally their conflict erupted into something unexpected: mortal life.
A millennia of agitating the Elemental Planes between the Sun and Moon finally caused them to burst, creating a nexus of Elemental Chaos. At its centre, the planet Cynos was born. Both Ashra and Boda felt a sense of duty toward their new creation—or, perhaps a sense of ownership. Unwilling to abandon Cynos, and yet also unable to put their own rivalry aside, the chase resumed, but they circled the planet instead of speeding through space.
Such was the new status quo for thousands of years. All manners of life developed on Cynos, from the untamed wilds to civilized settlements. Beings on the planet could see Ashra chase Boda across the sky each day. With their new orbits around the planet, Ashra and Boda would occasionally pass near each other and cause eclipses. Lunar eclipses were not especially meaningful, but solar eclipses were significant. Not only could Boda's silhouette be seen against Ashra's light, which was a beautiful sight to behold, but solar eclipses were also the times when Boda was most vulnerable to attack from Ashra. As a result, solar eclipses became celebrated as something of an Ashraeli holiday, with the most devout Ashralites even going so far as to hold prayer ceremonies to strengthen their god in his efforts to destroy the Moon.
The Syzygy Starmap, which depicts the Universe after the creation of Cynos and before the death of Boda.
Shards of the Moon plummeting toward Cynos.
The Universe was dramatically changed on the 30th of Suncrest, 0 BDB when Ashra succeeded in killing his rival Boda during one such solar eclipse. Rays of golden sunlight burst through the Moon, cracking her celestial form, and sending it plummeting down toward the planet Cynos below. Surfacers watched, first with awe and then with terror, as the Moon fell toward them, growing and growing until it seemed to occupy the entire sky. Catching alight in the planet's atmosphere, the Moon broke apart into eight gargantuan chunks of rock that impacted Cynos in different areas, each sending enough ash, dust and debris into the air to blot out the Sun's light and shroud the world in darkness. This immediately led to the Great Winter, an impact ice age that would last for centuries and change life on Cynos forever.
The death of Boda.
The Celestial Planes
Ashra and Boda each embody Law and Chaos, respectively, but so too are Law and Chaos internally divided by Good and Evil. As a result, Ashra and Boda both embody Good and Evil equally, but each in their own lawful or chaotic way. The Celestial Planes are dimensional realms that exist as aspects of Ashra and Boda, each manifested as a Good or Evil environment from either the Lawful or Chaotic viewpoint.
Ashra, the Lawful Sun, commands the lawful-good realm of Mount Celestia and the lawful-evil realm of The Nine Hells. Boda, the Chaotic Moon, commands the chaotic-good realm of Arborea and the chaotic-evil realm of The Abyss.
The Mortals' Afterlife
For eons, the Celestial Planes existed only as a place for each aspect of the gods to thrive and be fully expressed. Beings and creatures of the appropriate alignment lived and flourished in their respective Planes. It wasn't until the inadvertent creation of Cynos and the subsequent emergence of mortal life that the Celestial Planes took on an additional purpose. When a Cynosian mortal dies, their soul passes through the Ethereal Plane and out into the Astral Sea, where the natural currents carry it to its final resting place in the appropriate Celestial Plane. Lawful-good souls are taken to Mount Celestia, lawful-evil to the Nine Hells, chaotic-good to Arborea and chaotic-evil to the Abyss.
Divine Judgement
Many, if not most, mortals die with a clearly-defined alignment, allowing the Astral Sea to carry them directly to the appropriate realm. Some mortals, though, lead lives of mortal ambiguity, or walk a combination of good and evil paths over their years. For these individuals, the Astral Sea could take them in the right direction but not straight to the final destination. Instead, depending on whether the soul was lawful or chaotic, it is brought before either Ashra or Boda. The deity evaluates the life and actions of the individual and sends them accordingly to either the Upper or Lower Plane that is the closest fit.
Soul Tearing
It is a rare mortal indeed who lives a life of true neutrality between Law and Chaos, but if it happens, a disturbing phenomenon known as the Soul Tear occurs. If the currents of the Astral Sea are unable to pull the soul in question toward either Ashra or Boda, it will continue to try until the soul splits in two. The lawful half of the soul is then brought to Ashra, and the chaotic half to Boda.
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