Dark Matter Universe

Despite the truly staggering number of stars, planets, and other celestial bodies in the galaxy, they altogether account for less than a fraction of a percent of its volume. Indeed, space is filled with an unfathomable amount of empty nothingness. This featureless, cold, and lifeless vacuum is often referred to by spacers as “the Black.” It is truly ubiquitous, for every world in the ‘verse floats within it. The massive expanse of the Black is the single greatest challenge to all long-distance space travel. While travel between planets in a single star system is possible for slower vessels, to cross even the shortest stretch of Black between habitable worlds without faster-than-light (FTL) travel takes many human lifetimes (and even a few elven lifetimes). Lack of air, food, water, and light means that life support systems are essential for any interstellar journey, and to find yourself stranded means slow, certain death (assuming a rogue burst of radiation or a stray asteroid doesn’t speed up the process). While powerful terrestrial mages can cross a planet with a wave of their hand and a magic word or two, spells of that nature (such as teleport) don't penetrate far into the Black, nor can similar spells that utilize planar travel.  

Dead Magic

No obstacle in the Black is as perilous and impassable as Dead Magic Zones. In these areas, where the magic of the ‘verse has worn thin and ripped wholly asunder, no magic functions, including that which powers ships and drives Dark Matter engines. Navigation systems fail, life support fizzles out, and engines go silent. Finding oneself in one of these zones without a nonmagical means of escape is truly a death sentence. Though Dead Magic Zones might appear fixed in place on a map, their boundaries are ever-shifting and churning; they warp, grow, shrink, separate, and merge, all seemingly at random. The largest masses of dead magic appear largely static, but only on the scale of lifetimes.  

Sepulcher Star

Situated at the very center of the galaxy is a sight which has sparked transcendence, insanity, and holy crusades: the great Sepulcher Star. An utterly massive star—one which defies all logic in its continued existence—sits in a slow, orbiting dance with an equally large, tidally-locked black hole. While exceptionally little is known about the star itself, the avia-ra (as well as several other groups) claim that it is the holiest site in the ‘verse; the avia-ra’s holy city, the Solar Citadel, orbits this very body. Many of their oldest scripts (which contain some of the first written lore in the galaxy) state that at the center of the so-called Sepulcher Star sits the First God, the carver of the maws, the true creator of the stars (and of all creation), the Old Un. Indeed, sophisticated scans have verified that some structure exists in the core of the star: a sepulcher composed of incomprehensibly strong exotic metals that can withstand the perpetual inferno. But this is not the star’s only mystery, for the Sepulcher Star is far too massive to be as old as it is; by all rights, it should have burnt out billions of years ago under its own mass. As its orbit closes in on The Core’s black hole, it sheds even more mass, and yet continues to survive. Within a few hundred thousand years, however, the star is likely to be consumed by the black hole altogether. The fact that the Knights of the Sepulcher, as well as other individuals, can draw magical power through the colossal star also lends some credence to its power. That the Sepulcher Star contains something of immense might is unquestionable, but the nature of what dwells within the star is completely mysterious. Perhaps Old Un is a being of light and creation, retired in its venerable age to rest within the star, or maybe Un is a malicious creature of the Void, or an Old God of the Far Realm, imprisoned within the star until the universe’s end. Or perhaps the truth is stranger still; all that is known for certain is that Un is powerful and inexorably ancient.  

The Maws

Were it not for the maws, galactic civilization couldn't exist on the grand scale that it currently does. These massive, antediluvian bones are the remnants of some colossal and long-extinct breed of voidbeast, reinforced with ancient machinery and clutching a massive portal into the Void within their jaws (hence the name). These portals are linked to one another in a network, allowing space travelers to perform perfectly-controlled jumps between the maws, crossing the ‘verse with ease. No one is completely certain how the maws work, or who originally constructed them, but they have nonetheless become the backbone of galactic trade. Discovering the maws was a catalyst for the rapid expansion and colonization of the galaxy thousands of years ago, and their importance hasn't lessened since. Acting as a rapid transit network for ships, which can cross the galaxy in mere days, the maw stations connect the galactic empires, act as a neutral meeting ground for intrepid travelers, and form the cornerstone of galactic trade. Each maw station is a vibrant, multicultural trade city and spaceport, playing host to creatures of all sizes and shapes from across the ‘verse. If something is to be bought or sold (legally or illegally), it is likely to be found on a maw. Unlike most outposts in the galaxy, the maws are uniformly neutral. All beings, even those from far-off planes of existence, are welcome to traverse the stations freely, without fear of reprisal. Demons and angels may be found sharing tables in taverns, chaos beasts can be found haggling with contract keepers from the Plane of Law over shipping manifests, and the bitterest of rival races may hammer out treaties between their peoples in the main courts. Maintaining this peace and neutrality are two unique groups: the amoeboids, a caretaker race of vaguely humanoid, translucent oozes native to the maws, and the Order of the Sepulcher, a relatively new organization of peacekeepers. Though the elves were the first humanoid race to discover and use the maws for their intended purpose, their creation and creator are shrouded in mystery. Only a few pieces of that mystery have been uncovered, the most prominent being the amoeboids themselves. Given that they are the only creatures native to the maws, they seem to be tasked with the continued upkeep and maintenance of the stations, and are especially apt to do so. However, the amoeboids' histories contain no record of their origins, or indeed, on the origins of the maws. Galactic Frontier   There is but one exception to the maw network’s absolute connectivity: the links to the outermost ring of stations are one-way, allowing transit out to this outer-edge of the galaxy, but not back. Moreover, the outer ring itself enjoys only intermittent connectivity between stations, with an almost 25% chance for a failed jump between outer maws. As such, this far removed swath of space, called the Galactic Frontier, is as unexplored as it is lawless.   At its heart, the universe seems to be built on the incomprehensible. Through different lenses, wizards, engineers, alchemists, and scientists all struggle to understand its fundamental mysteries, but nothing exposes their ignorance more so than the Void. The Void is not a plane of existence like the Material or Elemental planes; in fact, it is very much their opposite. The Void represents the space between planes, the absence of everything, containing nothing—not sound, nor space, nor time. It isn't just dark, but completely dimensionless; an infinite pinpoint adjacent to every point in reality. By entering the Void and traveling through it, ships can leap vast distances in the blink of an eye. In such a process, called a Void Jump, ships are warped to an infinitesimal size for the briefest possible time, from which they can take a step in any direction and hop across the universe. Greater jumps require more energy, but allow longer steps from the Void through the 'verse; doing so, of course, is extremely perilous. Paradoxically, the Void is filled with streams of hideous lights, which filter in from the most gravitationally extreme parts of all other universes and planes of existence. Because the Void has no substance and is adjacent to all possible realities, only the most energetic radiation passes into it, all of which is antithetical to living things. Any creature exposed to the Void is irrevocably changed, hideously mutated in a process called "the warp." To avoid such a fate, most pilots jump blind from behind protective blast shields, relying only on tenuous magical navigation. Even technological assists fail and are burned out in the Void; unless protected beneath a thick, metallic hull, nothing withstands its ravages for long. It is exceptionally difficult to access the Void from the confines of planetary gravity, making in-atmosphere void jumps all but impossible.