Luridity Galaxy Basics in Luridity | World Anvil

Luridity Galaxy Basics

Luridity Galaxy is made up of 6 distinct Zones, each containing multiple star systems, and each of those containing story after story after story which is recorded here for you to read! Each Zone has evolved independently, with tech levels and societies at times so vastly different that each Zone lends itself to particular genres for those tales. There are also stories shared from a few notable star systems outside the known Zones.  

Zones

  • Eros Zone: Home to three systems, all post-apocalyptic. One system opts for plant-tech, living ships, bio-mechs. The second system opts for a blend of steam-and-scrap-power and a misunderstood concept of nano-engineering, and rather than space faring or exploration desires, it focuses more internally, making it an innovative trade-centric populace, a place where rare and unique items are often bespelled, taken apart, put back together, and sold, as well as a hub for inventors the galaxy-over. The third system, PN S Mytir, is the furthest system from the center of the Galaxy. Once two star systems, it is now one, its planets and people responsible for and impacted the most by The Collision. This system contains the bizarre combined planet of Suborian, which is the home of my Underhaven stories.
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  • Meta Zone: There are three systems here, but the most notable contains the supervillain owned and oppressed planet of Pluton. Though other superhero stories take place here, Pluton is notably home to my Relek City series.
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  • Centraleasque Zone: Containing a dozen systems with many habitable worlds between them, this zone is more commonly known to the people of Luridity as "Plunder Straits" for its high levels of space piracy. Many sci-fi shenanigans happen here, including Marleeta and Kellen's adventures.
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  • Centralvest Zone: 7 star systems with enhanced tech and plenty of implants to go around! Centralvest is home to Fate and Sascha, cyberpunk utopias and dystopias, and moons and planets of other "'-punk" varieties of settings.
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  • Ehjing Zone: This Zone is perhaps the closest to an Earth-like collection of Goldilock's Zone planets across 4 star systems. As such, it hosts more contemporary settings...and the occasional stereotypical "alien". One of the systems includes the planet of Telluria, a dangerously faction-heavy home to Humans, dozens of Kynd clans, Oracle, and Ardalu...to name a few sentient peoples. Connor and his people live here.
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  • Luridity Express Zone: 6 systems are encircled by the Ghet Rail, the Express Zone's most important feature. The Ghet Rail is a spacetrain that runs to all of the systems within it. There is piracy but less of it is spacebound and more of it is planetside. More specifically, skybound, as the Express Zone goes from spacetrain to airship to "wild wild west" and everything in between. These systems host less apocalyptic steampunk-esque places than peoples in Eros Zone have to contend with, but some are just as rough and rugged. This Zone is well known for its oversaturation of extranatural telepathic abilities of various levels of benevolence........or malevolence. Wind Me Up takes place here.
 

Non-Zoned Systems

  • Ferzona: Where my Shiftless series (Tiger's Catch) takes place.
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  • Galvanic System: Where my Sparked series takes place. Multiple planes of existence have formed here, and there are two unique species which have formed due to the active war taking place.
 

Populations

The Galaxy was slowly settled by the HMS Copulatory Imperative long ago, small groups of various species dropped here and there. Most survived...any way they could. Some individuals have developed "Powers" (seen below, in the section on Extranatural abilities) in addition to their base species, and these tend to be found spread across the Galaxy, rather than limited to one species. Among the peoples in Luridity you'll find:
  • Humans are present in every Zone. They are descendants from Earth humans, and may or may not also have developed Extranatural capabilities in their bloodline. Ancestors of Luridity's humans were abducted by what they'd call "aliens", but rather than being returned home to tell the tale, they were studied, experimented upon, bred, and eventually had subsequent generations placed throughout Luridity. Humans aren't spread equally, however, and in some star systems where they find themselves in the minority and with barely equalizing abilities, they are hunted.
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  • Ardalu are a magicless, seemingly ageless people who can manipulate physical energy from others. Not even the Overlords know where they are from, but regardless, they permitted the Ardalu to call the Ehjing Zone home. They are generally peaceful, academic sorts, constantly seeking knowledge and observing how their worlds change. Physical energy--stolen or given freely--seems to maintain their vitality, and they have been known both to seek long-term volunteers and to sip on the lifeforces of those who dare enter their territory. More aggressive Ardalu might seek to duel, energy going to the victor with heavy disadvantage to the loser. In true battle, an Ardalu can drain an enemy's energy all at once, rendering death with the mere brush of a fingertip.
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  • Serpentian are peoples with a blended lizard and dragon ancestry. They have four, short legs and the elogated body and tail of a lizard, as well as an armored upper body of scales containing two pairs of appendages--one approximating arms, the other wings with an approximation of talons or scaled hands at their tips. Function of one pair or the other may or may not be attained and varies between each member of the species. Their heads are decidedly dragon-like, with unsettlingly sharp gazes. They are not DragonKynd, and cannot shift between an alternate state and their fully reptillian form. They can, however, acquire an affinity to an element. Woah there, don't panic: Rather unlike legends of dragons no Serpentian has been witnessed unleashing fireballs on unsuspecting thatch-roofed cottages. Instead, upon gently breathing on an item, they can transform it using the element which they have attuned to.
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  • Kynd are many and varied and have subspecies galore. They are seeded throughout Luridity although they will commonly keep to their own settlements among their subgroups: WolfKynd, CatKynd, or FoxKynd, for example. Some Kynd can change between a human form and their bipedal animal form, and they recieve the additional designation of "Shifter".
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  • Birbiankin are a bioengineered people with, you guessed it, bird-like features and mannerisms. A vivacious and colorful people, they are born with distinct forms and wing patterns that have little to do with parentage and everything to do with the enormous genetic engineering resources available to a brooding pair. Most Birbiankin live on two planets in the Eros Zone, however recently there has been discussion of migration by the younger generations. There are those who have contracted spaceships individually or by family, then, and the Birbiankin are beginning to enter the Galaxy at large.
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  • Gilled are peoples with...gills. Much like the Kynd, they have several distinct groups among them, but rather than sticking to their own kind they mingle in an enormous community built both above and under the water. While many Gilled are humanoid and might appear human, distinctive features are visible: gills, occasionally webbed hands and/or feet, a bioluminescent orb at the end of a stalk which protrudes from the top of their head, and fins along the sides of their limbs are the most common adaptations. Other Gilled have additional aquatic qualities thanks to bioengineering done early in their family lineage. These Gilled might vary radically from one another and possess features such as: several rows of teeth, fins and tails rather than legs, suckers along their limbs or fingers, tentacles instead of limbs, an imperviousness to cold and pressure found deep in the ocean, and the ability to live their lives completely submerged in water without ever needing to surface.
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  • Overlords are immortal beings who run the Eros Zone. Sadly, they are beyond their glory days, weakened by The Collision. Prior to the event, they experimented on and seeded sentient species--including the Owners, Oracles, and Kynd--and tested settlements across the Galaxy. Currently they recover enough magic every decade to oversee only the Eros Zone, and must rotate their watch over the planets under their care in order to maintain enough power to slow down additional catastrophes. When they are not engaged in oversight activities, the Overlords recover in a moderately tangible voidspace at the edge of one of the Eros Zone's star systems.
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  • Owners are demigods created by the Overlords to oversee planets in the Eros Zone. There were two generations at the beginning--the all-powerful first generation, each of whom managed a planet of their own, and the less-powerful second generation, each of whom were expected to maintain a specific population on worlds they shared with other second generation Owners. These days, a number of Owners have been imprisioned by the Overlords for their part in the Collision Catastrophe, while the others have had their magic dramatically weakened, requiring frequent recharge for what little they do have, even as they are still expected to lead specific populations.
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  • Remnants are a playful, frisky people who resulted directly from the Collision Catastrophe. They were forged by the Overlords from the atoms of the peoples who were annihilated in the event, and placed in a specific Owner's care. They have magic, though they can use it in only minor ways to run their technology and homes. As such, they are also a source of magic replenishment for Owners. They live exclusively on one planet--Suborian--in the Eros Zone.
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  • Oracles are magic users without an internal source of the Power. They are able to access it instead via crafting, learned skills, and invention of spells and reagents, food and potions, all of which are only possible via a special Prism which holds center stage in every one of their settlements. They originated in the Eros Zone, much like many of the various peoples of the galaxy, with one notable settlement in the Ehjing Zone.
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  • There are surely more, but Luridity Galaxy is, of course, a big, big place...
  **Extranatural Capabilities include:
  • Telepathy
  • Telekinesis
  • Foresight
  • Elemental Command
  • Enhanced Strength
  • Exceptional Night Vision
  • Uncanny Intelligence
  • Self-Powered Magic


Cover image: by DaniAdventures (design elements via Canva, background generation by Midjourney, logo by TJ Trewin)

Comments

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Sep 11, 2023 15:20 by Molly Marjorie

Having my own odd kitchen-sink type galaxy with planets and solar systems representing different genres, I really enjoyed reading this. I would recommend adding a definition for "magic" because even though the ardalu are stated to be "magicless," the manipulation of physical energy sounds a lot like magic to me.

Check out Natural Magic : a coming of age fantasy novel, because life is hard enough when you're fourteen, even without saving the world. Or listen to it in podcast form .
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