Astralium

To know the stars, one cannot study them in a single night; it takes time and learning to understand them; that is the true purpose of the Astralium - Stargazer

Across Embera, in the highest of places, there are those who dedicate themselves to the study and understanding of the stars seen across the Starry Veil. Each one is filled with Stargazers who strive to achieve all they can in this pursuit of knowledge and use it to better the lives of the people and protect them from the dangers that the stars may tell them about.

Purpose / Function

The sole purpose of the Astraliums is to study and store knowledge of the stars, aiming to understand their movements and the messages they may bear in the night sky. This will aid in predicting events and preparing for them in the future.

Architecture

Each Astralium is built around the designs of the native architecture in the region in which it is found. Yet most follow the same design layout to better suit the needs of its residents. These sections include living quarters, dining hall, archives, monitor chamber, garden grove, spa chamber, and astral hall. The sizes of each one differ depending on the foundations on which they were built.

Defenses

Vigil Warder : Most Astraliums lack any defenses or guards to protect them from possible dangers that come up to the mountains but in the likelihood of a Gloomspawn attack, they are protected with warders keeping them out.
Heavy Gates: Due to the harsh terrain that these monasteries are built on, attacks on them are often unlikely to happen, but just in case of raids, reinforced gates protect them from harm and keep anyone out that is not welcomed.

History

Hope from the Stars

In the time of the twisted and wicked Age of Shadows, hope was something of a commodity to all, except a few, as they struggled to survive the endless horrors that came from it. Most just thought of survival and keeping the dark powers of the time away from their doorstep. Yet there were a brave few who dreamed of a better tomorrow and believed it to be found with the Starry Veil, for they were the first Star bound to understand the star signs that brought their messages to the world. While this brought home to those who could read them, they were far from safe as The Gloom and its minions sought to snuff out any sign of light in their domain of darkness. To ensure their safety and message of hope, those who managed to escape went off into the highest places in the world to become isolated and protected from the dangers that sought to destroy them.
When they settled in their sanctuaries of isolation, they began to build the first Astraliums with what materials they could scavenge and start their studies of their stars and the signs that bared their messages. Many of these first Stargazers never left their Astraliums for the rest of their lives to pursue this knowledge, along with their descendants who stay on them, expanding it for each generation. Each one sticks to a single rule of isolation to keep everyone from knowing their existence. Ensure that they and their knowledge of the stars would not be destroyed or stolen by anyone who sought it out. It would not be until Johan the Star Touch, who aided the end of the Shadow Dominion, that these sanctuaries of knowledge would be revealed to the world with all their knowledge shared in the studies of the stars.

Mounments To The Veil

Since their founding, the Astraliums have been at the forefront of everything involving the Starry Veil and the stars encompassing it across the night sky. So much so, the Stargazers worldwide began to communicate, ended decades isolated from one another and later founded the Astral League to communicate their findings and improve upon previous works to help one another. It was through this cooperation that much of the Radiarchies of Embera look to them for guidance in all things involving the veil to prepare better for the things to come. This vast knowledge of the subject led to them helping many lives and avoiding calamity on several occasions. However, the Asterliums maintain a strict set of rules to ensure that they do not cause panic or that their knowledge is abused to protect themselves and the people.
They also become an epicenter for all Starbound to travel to and access the teachings of the stars. All are welcome to understand the ways of the veil without the need to pay or receive special requirements to join them. So long as their minds are open to the stars' possibilities, they can understand them. Due to this, the teachings to become a Stargazer are much more effective than most other forms of education, as they are never grounded in certainty, only instinct and observation. While it may take longer for students to understand some learning faster than others, it allows them to have hands-on experience and their meaningful journey to unraveling the vastness of the Starry Veil. This has also led to advanced ways to study them and their movement better, with some of their student creating machines and gadgets such as the Star Projector or the famed Optical Monitor that each Astralium has built into them to look at certain stars in the sky directly. All of this has ensured that the teachings of Stargazing will never be forgotten or abandoned, as to do so would only cause problems as the veils are a gift that should never be cast aside in a world where darkness lingers in every corner; it only natural to prepare for what the future might hold.

Tourism

Due to their distance and isolation, very few people visit Astraliums unless necessary. The only people who tend to travel to them the most are Starbound or Astra Crafters, who seek to learn all about the stars. These people often stay in Astraliums for years until they finally finish their studies.

Alternative Names

Veilorium

Type

Observatory / Telescope

Monasteries of the Stars

by Jester%

We have been chosen to learn from the stars and all they offer, so here we stay to learn as much as time will allow us to do so. - Stargazer

To become a Stargazer is to become fixated on the stars for the rest of your life. That is how most people who come to Astraliums stay at them for much of their lives as they continue to study everything they can. Much of the archives across all Astraliums come from notes and documents from previous Stargazers who lived in them. To all of them, knowing that the stars may hold the key to saving their world, for the light of the veil has held back the darkness of the beyond for so long, what else could it achieve?

Cosmic Archives

by Jester%

All you see before you are records of countless generations of dedication and devotion to our cause, which has helped us immensely in times of need. - Elder Rohas

Within the archives of each Astralium holds centuries of knowledge of the Starry Veil and its many stars that are found across it. Thanks to these documents, the world better understands the stars and their mysteries. Yet despite this, it often takes a good set of eyes and a solid memory to ensure that reading and matching them up with records does not result in miscalculations in their meanings.