I briefly touched upon Realms and the Void in a previous post, but what actually are they?
In the universe of Fracture, most Realms are analogous to planets, while the Void could be considered outer space. As mentioned in my overview, the Realms were once all one massive world of unknown size called the Primordium, and after the Fracture, it was split into many pieces, flung across the sky. Some of these smaller shards became Elder Titans, living landmasses, others became Elder Dragons, defenders sworn to keep the Voidlings at bay, but most simply became Realms. There are hundreds, if not thousands of Realms in the universe, though the exact number is unclear, and many of these are inhabited by various races.
Most Realms take the form of a planetoid object suspended in the Void, orbiting around a star. There are exceptions to this, such as the Fringe, a ring of Primordium debris at the edge of the known universe, or the legendary Dark Realms beyond it. There are three primary methods of travelling between Realms, the first of which is channeling Flux, energy from the void, to open a portal. However, Void-based magic is dangerous to use as it’s known to drive mortals insane. The second using the Arcana of Yggdrasil, energy released from the Primordium that now flows through the universe, weaving across Realms into a grand tree of life. By creating a portal or using specialized gateways known as a Bifrost, one can travel through the branches of Yggdrasil, in a contorted dimension that significantly cuts down on travel time.
The most common method is to use a Voidship, a specialized vehicle designed for inter-Realm travel. Though a few are controlled automatically, most are piloted by Navigators, specially trained mages who link to runes carved throughout the ship’s hull to control it. There are many different kinds of these vehicles, ranging from royal flagships, cargo transports, military warships, and even small interceptors. The main problem with this method is that Voidships are constantly under threat from an attack.
The Void itself is an infinite darkness outside the Realms, and it’s said to have a strange beauty to it, a pitch black sky lit up by the stars. It’s far from hospitable though, with thin air colder than death, Flux concentrations high enough to make you go mad, and a lack of gravity. People have reported that if you fall off a Voidship, you continue falling forever until the ship retrieves you, you starve to death, or fall victim to the locals. It’s inhabited by all manner of creatures, falling under the generalized category of Voidlings, from the lowly X’rekens to the Great Old Ones, servants of the Dreamer and overlords of the Abyss. One common misconception among mortals is that all Voidlings are evil beings that wish to destroy the Realms, but this is simply not the case. There are many peaceful species of Voidling, and a select few have even managed to live alongside Realmborn.
As you’ll come to expect with this website, much of the concepts mentioned here will be further elaborated in future posts.
Fracture 