The Sovereign Road

by Aaron Calhoun

  Etherreaver: Interplanetary ships capable of generating intense bursts of gravitic energy used for planetary and stellar engineering. Earlier designs were used extensively in the Philosoph War.

  Ether Chariot: Small interplanetary craft used for transit. Each is equipped with a Laridian Ring system capable of both standard propulsion and wormhole generation.

  Five Heirophants: The five ruling technocrats of the Conclave. Their titles are derived from the four forces of nature plus entropy.

  Chromatocron: The Hierophant of the Strong Nuclear Force. The Chromatocron is the philosophical leader of Conclave society and is charged with maintaining the social forces and attitudes that bind that society together. He is also responsible for maintenance of the three suns ongoing activity and output.

  Entrope: An enigmatic figure whose origins are shrouded in mystery. Heirophant of Entropy, he plays no societal role but functions instead as a seer and oracle. Unlike the other Heirophants, the Entrope effectively becomes his own successor by a process of cloning and memory transfer overseen by the Irkallan Infochryst.

  High Gravitist: Currently Gedron Donar, the High Gravitist is the Hierophant of Gravity. It is his responsibility to maintain the Laridian rings that keep the worlds orbiting each other without collision and serve as the main transit devices of Conclave society. He is titular head of the Gravitic College.

  Ouranos Radii: The Heirophant of the Weak Nuclear Force. The Ouranos Radii oversees all commerce and is responsible for maintaining the Conclave’s biocomputational and infochrystic networks.

  Photocanth: The Heirophant of the electromagnetic force. The Photocanth oversees all Conclave energy production as well as the interplanetary entertainment networks.

  Infochryst: Infochrysts are the primary computational devices of the Conclave. Grown by imposing neuroelectric patterns on the native crystalline lifeforms of Latis, infochrysts range in size from small personal devices to the massive core infochrysts used by the Conclave’s scientific and governmental institutions.

  Harut and Marut: Infochrystic artificial intelligences used by the High Gravitist to control the neutronium forges.

  Ionocaric Infochryst: The core infochryst of the Arx Memoria. The Ionocaric Infochryst functions as a metalibrary and data mining engine. It contains copies of every piece of written, filmed, or otherwise recorded material the Conclave has ever produced.

  Irkallan Infochryst: Stationed deep beneath the Omegahedron, the Irkallan Infochryst functions as life support for the developing body of the next Entrope. Unlike most infochrysts some of the Irkallan Infochryst’s architecture is psychoactive in nature, and is used to transfer memories from one Entrope to his successor.

  Nagmochron Infochryst: The core infochryst of the Omegahedron. The Nagmochron device collates and analyzes all data it receives regarding societal trends and movements. It is capable of making long-term sociometric predictions with near perfect accuracy.

  Radithesia Infochryst: A secondary infochryst that functions under the supervision of the Nagmochron device. The Radithesia infochryst monitors and analyzes entertainment system data from across the Conclave.

  Ramachrond Infochryst: The core infochryst of the Arx Scientia. The Ramachrond Infochryst collates data from deep stellar probes and the Large Neutronium Antenna, giving it the ability to closely monitor the activity of the three suns and the entropy clouds. It is frequently used by the High Gravitist for stellar engineering simulations.

  Large Neutronium Antenna: A gravitational wave detection and generation device used by the College of Gravitists to monitor the activity of the three suns and the entropy clouds. It consists of two asteroids linked together by an immense bridge of crystalline neutronium tuned to the resonant frequency of the three suns.

  Laridian Ring: A key technological innovation introduced early in the life of the Conclave, laridian rings allows for the near-effortless manipulation of the space-time manifold. Within each ring, spinning bands of crystalline neutronium are coupled with a membrane-like field polarized to the strong force to create space-warping beams of virtual fermions. Laridian rings are used extensively for transit, orbital stabilization, and stellar manipulation. The Conclave as it currently exists would be impossible without their use.

  Neutronium Forge: Moon-sized space stations designed to gravitically extract the neutronium needed to create laridian rings from the cores of the three suns. The extraction process is overseen by the Harut and Marut infochrysts.

  Once-Men: Denizens of the corrupt city of Hyrosol Eld in the world of Mythos. In ages past the Once-men sold their souls to Lord Daath in exchange for power and are now trapped in a living death. During the process by which they became Once-men their eyes were replaced by living gateways into the Shadow.

  Oneirochryst: A type of infochrystic device capable of interacting with most electromagnetically-based nervous systems. Oneirochrysts are particularly calibrated to extract, archive, and alter subconscious thoughts and dreamstates.

  Oneirograph: Portable data crystals used to store and view extracted subconscious thoughts and dreamstate information.

  Philosoph War: The galaxywide war that lead to the downfall of the Dar Ekklesia and the founding of the Conclave. Also called the War of Unification in the sanitized version of history currently taught in the Conclave educational system.

  Psychochryst: A type of infochrystic device capable of interacting with most electromagnetically-based nervous systems. Psychochrysts are particularly calibrated to extract, archive, and alter conscious thoughts, emotions, and memories.

  Great Psychochryst: The largest and most powerful psychochryst. The Great Psychochryst is used by the Heirophants while in conclave to create a shared thoughtspace in which their movements, expressions, and thoughts can be instantly understood. Via its interactions with the other core infochrysts, the Great Psychochryst also allows the Heirophants to directly manipulate societal and scientific data and to alter the large-scale activity of Conclave systems.

  Scintillus: The chief city of the planet of Latis and capital of the Conclave. Built in the center of Latis’s lightside, the city is bathed in the brilliant sunlight of a perpetual noon. Its buildings, grown from the Latis’ native crystalline lifeforms, are considered one of the wonders of Conclave engineering.

  Arx Memoria: The chief library and information storage facility of Scintillus. The Ionocaric Infochryst functions as its core information processor.

  Arx Scientia: The central institute for science and education of Scintillus. The College of Gravitists maintains a set of laboratories there. The Ramachrond Device functions as its core infochryst.

  Kinetorium: The Kinetorium is the chief transit hub for the planet of Latis. In its center is an obsidian sphere containing a series of titanic Laridian rings. These rings are used to maintain the transit corridors that link Latis to other worlds and to stabilize the planet’s orbit. Each world of the Conclave has at least one kinetorium.

  Omegahedron: The central administrative building of Scintillus. The Omegahedron houses, among other things, the Throne Room of the Five Heirophants, the Nagmochron Infochryst, and a division of the College of Gravitists.

  Vacuum Sculptor: A device designed by the Chromatocron and Ouranos Radii that is capable of altering certain physical constants within a limited area.

  War of Unification: See Philosoph War.

  Worldship Gog: One of the two flagships of the Conclave. The Gog is the size of a small moon and is built to resemble an open lotus blossom. Lined with thousands of Laridian Rings, the Gog can generate more gravitic distortion than entire planets.

  Worldship Magog: One of the two flagships of the Conclave. Though similar to the Gog in size, the architecture of the Magog is built along a more chaotic pattern and consists of irregular shafts of crystal bound together by imagnite struts. The Magog’s gravitic distortion capacity is similar to that of the Gog.

  Dramatis Personae:

  Phaneros:

  Garin Donar: Son of Gedron
Donar, High Gravitist of the Conclave. His journey on the Sovereign Road is chronicled here.

  Trielle Donar: Sister of Garin and daughter of Gedron Donar.

  Kyr: An elderly man who first meets Garin and Trielle on the streets of Scintillus.

  Gedron Donar: Father of Garin and Trielle and current High Gravitist of the Conclave of Worlds.

  Dyana Donar: Mother of Garin and Trielle and chief gravitational wave analyst for the Large Neutronium Antenna.

  Erskilion of Garuda: A member of the winged Garudan race and current Photocanth, Heirophant of the Electromagnetic Force

  Tauron of Latis: A human colleague of Gedron’s and current Chromatocron, Heirophant of the Strong Nuclear Force.

  Silindii: A member of the Gelasian race and current Ouranos Radii, Heirophant of the Weak Nuclear Force.

  The Entrope: The nameless Heirophant of the Force of Entropy.

  Anacrysis: Young man whom Trielle meets in the Arx Memoria.

  Tseramed: A human and Abbott of the Holy Order of Gatekeepers.

  Xellasmos: A member of the Ferisian race, historian of the Sur Ekklesia, and resident of En-Ka-Re.

  Yochenath: A human priest of the Sur Ekklesia and resident of En-Ka-Re.

  Yithra-Gor: A member of the Gerellian race and Master Gravitomechanist of the Worldship Gog.

  Materia:

  The Perichorr: Denizen of the Great ‘hedron and archetypal incarnation of the Electron.

  First-Of-The-Bound: Denizen of the Great ‘hedron and archetypal incarnation of the Quark.

  Chromoclast: Denizen of the Great ‘hedron and incarnation of the third symmetry of the Weak Nuclear Force.

  The Exofuge: Denizen of the Great ‘hedron and incarnation of Gravity.

  The Mass: The antagonist of the Exofuge and assailer of the Great ‘hedron.

  The Shadow:

  Daath: Once one of the Arethoi, he is now the enemy of creation.

  Mythos:

  Hyperion Starfather: Denizen of Mythos and sire of all the myriad stars of the Cosmos. He dwells in the Sepulcher of Suns.

  The Mariner: Denizen of Mythos and navigator of the Mare Primum.

  The Beloved: Sleeper in the crypt beneath the Shattered Temple and Kyr’s betrothed.

  Arethos:

  Malkuth: One of the Arethoi. He is also called Kyriakos, the Steward of Sovereignty.

  Gevurah: One of the Arethoi. He is also called Rhadamanthos, the Steward of Judgment.

  Tiferet: One of the Arethoi. She is also called Kallos, the Beauty and Joy of Creation.

  Numenos:

  Keter: One of the Arethoi. He is also called Zeodotes and Chavath, the Crown of Life.

  Metatron: One of the Cherubim and Lord of the City Imperishable.

  Sandalphon: One of the Cherubim and Lord of the City Imperishable.

  Mater Marya: One of the Fathers and Mothers of the Kal Ekklesia. She dwells within the Cosmic Rose.