Cosmology (Chrono Stars)

Within the broad universe of Chrono Stars, certain elements of its cosmology influence the settings and media that take place within it. The most defining elements of its cosmology may be background details in some stories and prominent in others; however, these elements still factor heavily into the foundational aspects of the setting.
==Dreamers==
Though called a variety of euphemistic titles and terms, none fit this type of being more than the simple term of "dreamer". They have been called gods beyond gods, for they are equal parts incomprehensible and immeasurably powerful; their dreams influence reality as they lay dormant at the centers of their vast galaxies. A given dreamer may affect reality more than another, with some dreamers simply granting a blank section of the universe a spark of life to begin its creation and others choosing to oversee their galaxies and carefully and deliberately create everything within them. All dreamers are so mighty that even gods such as Arplakoon the Timedreamer, known to far exceed what any mortal could ever become on their own, fear a living dreamer.
Dreamers are not living beings in the sense of mortality, however; they are most easily compared to facets of nature that are so powerful that they can will themselves to be understood even by mortal minds. A dreamer's senses of morality and ethics are normally tied to their specific designs for their galaxy or the continued protection of it. When they convey these aspects of their wishes, it may be done through the lens of morality simply because that is the way for their mortal audience to comprehend them, not because the dreamer itself has any sense of what a living mortal could conceive of as right or wrong. Their central roles in a galaxy's creation might make them akin to enormous stars, blindingly brilliant in light and far too much for any living creature to withstand except at a far distance. Light is consequently associated with all dreamers; even if light might not be how a dreamer conveys their presence, the darkness of the void is inherently opposed to creation and is associated with the enemy of all dreamers, ZGN.
===Dreamer Domains and Magic===
Religious impressions of a dreamer might have "domains of power" such as life, death, magic, or fire. However, dreamers themselves do not have associated domains; they hold enough power that they might conceivably manifest any divine magic that they require or that suits their dreams. Because mortals cannot truly understand dreamers, it is close to impossible for someone to maintain their own sense of self and their place in the world and draw on this limitless power of the dreamer. The closest that most living beings may ever have is revering a religious representation of a dreamer that has been "distilled" through mortal culture and thought.
Dreamers are often associated with particular facets of magic instead, such as Ealdremen's dreamer Eht Kerleraph and necromancy; not every dreamer is necromantic as Eht Kerleraph is. These associated forms of magic are not consciously selected by the dreamer and are instead integral to their very composition and being, much as a star cannot choose what elements become prominent within it. A dreamer's primary form of magic influences the ways they create and what they create. Ealdremen's ties to necromancy influenced its eventual development as much as Eht Kerleraph's own dreams.
Magic itself can vary across galaxies depending on the individual dreamer. Some parts of magic may be similar across galaxies, but this is less because there are universal rules to magic and more because those dreamers had similar manifestations, presences, and dreams in some way. Given a vast enough universe, there will always be similarities simply by chance, though the roaming enemy of the dreamers, ZGN, may also influence a galaxy's forms of magic.
===Dreamer Names===
Dreamers who become known throughout their galaxies could be given a variety of names, and those names might be influenced by any number of factors, such as mortal linguistics, culture, or religion. A dreamer's presence in a galaxy is powerful enough to alter reality in often subtle ways, so it is common for even different mortal names for a dreamer to somehow go back to the dreamer's true name or to be similar to one another.
Dreamers' true names are preceded by a title denoting where they are in their life cycle: Eht for currently dreaming and creating dreamers or Aht for dreamers that have ceased to create. The nature of dreamers is such that Aht might also be considered a title for dreamers that have died. A dreamer's "personal" name, used more akin to a unique identifier much like a term for a star, are multisyllabic and generally with repeating vowel sounds, with typically only one unique vowel sound in the name. For example, Eht Kerleraph is a dreamer presently creating (Eht), and its personal identifier has the repeating vowel e with the only different vowel being the a in the last syllable of its name.
A dreamer’s true name is often so ingrained in their galaxies that languages tend to derive specific concepts or terms from the name in some way, especially early on in the galaxy’s creation. For example, kerl, clearly originating from Kerleraph, appears in languages like Ealdremen's Leraphian or Shekzardic, as the word for dream.
====Leraphian====
Leraphian is a language "spoken" by all dreamers, and the very name Leraphian comes from a shared linguistic element of all dreamers’ true names; their names always contain leraph somewhere in them. These syllables may sometimes broken up across the name, but they most commonly are simply part of the beginning or ending of the name. The might of the dreamers is such that whatever they will to be understood shall be comprehended, no matter what tongue they choose to "speak" in; as such, it is more accurate to state that Leraphian is the language that most closely matches the dreamers’ incomprehensible patterns of thoughts and methods of creation. Because Leraphian is so closely tied to the dreamers, it appears in many different forms throughout the universe, each form tied inherently to a given galaxy’s dreamer. Different forms of Leraphian are only mutually intelligible if the speaker can influence reality enough to impose comprehension on the listener.
===Known Dreamers===
: Eht Kerleraph, also called Kraderag and al-Kaniali in the various mythologies and religions of the galaxy it created, Ealdremen. It is known to have dominion over necromancy and is heavily associated with the precursors and colossi, both of which it has called its "lost children".
: Eht Veneleraph, the creator of Vyken that holds its galaxy within the many tines of its boundless horns. Though unmoving within the darkness of space, its presence is such that it bequeaths life unto its creations.
==ZGN==
The natural enemy of all dreamers and their worlds, ZGN does not create; They simply devour worlds whole. Where dreamers are stars, ZGN is a black hole that pulls everything into Their grasp, even light; Their presence distorts reality and alters it even against an active dreamer's own changes to a galaxy. Because ZGN's eminence influences time and space, Their memories of past worlds that They have destroyed manifest in galaxies where ZGN resides. In Ealdremen, ZGN's presence became permeable during the ritual that altered precursors and changed them into forms that eventually became known as Kylians, Ealdremen's modern-day races. This change to the precursors was not random; the strange variety in species they became is representative of the countless worlds that ZGN has devoured, and even Ealdremen's dozens of races do not come close to accounting for all of the galaxies laid to waste in ZGN's wake.
ZGN does not destroy galaxies immediately upon arriving, and Their arrival and eventual conquering of a galaxy takes place over thousands of years. During those years, the dreamer may futilely attempt to fight off ZGN and Their army of gods, all the while the galaxy continues to grow and evolve, unaware of the finite lifespan and the parasite that will eventually swallow it whole. When a galaxy and its dreamer are both dead, ZGN harvests a small selection of survivors from it and raises them unto godhood, and those new gods are brought along to new galaxies that eventually share the same fate.
===ZGN and Magic===
ZGN naturally opposes the dreamer of wherever it resides. As such, its dark, voidal powers associated with black Chrono will become especially volatile and destructive when faced with whatever magic is most associated with that galaxy's dreamer. In Ealdremen, this presented in a dichotomy of white and black as Eht Kerleraph's necromantic composition rose to defend Ealdremen from the void that is ZGN. It is not true in every galaxy that ZGN's powers over time will oppose necromancy, merely those where necromancy is a natural counter towards the galaxy's greatest enemy.
===Gods===
"God" is the term given to mortals that become part of ZGN's forces, raised unto omnipotence that they could have only imagined when they were alive. It is not known to them how ZGN selects mortals to be saved and turned into gods, nor is it known exactly why. Gods themselves seem to be incidental parts of ZGN's destruction of worlds, as ZGN's presence alone is enough to alter a galaxy, and ZGN does not impose many restrictions on a god's behavior. Even gods such as Renul the Wandering Star, who eventually tried to betray ZGN and uphold a dreamer's designs for a galaxy, did not lose their powers, and many gods wile away the thousands of years a galaxy has left in their own ways, ranging from living among mortals in secret to connect back to their lost lives in their dead homes to consciously seeking to disrupt a dreamer's defenses.
Unlike dreamers, gods have specific domains and areas where they are most powerful; they cannot create worlds as dreamers can due to this comparatively limited scope of their abilities. Their individual abilities are often, but not always, tied to who they were or who they wished to be when they were mortals. Some may find the circumstances of their galaxy's destruction instrumental in forming their deific powers. It is rare for these gods to have only one area of power; instead, they have a "primary" domain and numerous "secondary" domains that further define their powers. For example, Alvarus the Netherlord is a death god, and his powers over ancestors, repose, and judgment, but lacking in powers such as undead, demonstrate what manner of death god he is.
Because gods were once mortal, they tend to display strong mannerisms, personalities, and even habits that may seem contradictory to their existence as gods. This is especially true of young gods; because gods do not age, they measure time more in the number of galaxies they have seen fall. Young gods especially may seem more like mortals "locked" in immeasurably powerful bodies, their minds struggling to comprehend their current existences and the persistent horror of watching world after world become devoured by ZGN. These thousands of years may change a god's personality, but it is also common for a god's personality and beliefs to be "stuck" in the moment they became gods at the end of their galaxy.
====Time Domain====
Because of ZGN's association with time, there are no true gods except for Arplakoon the Timedreamer that have time as a domain.
====Godsblood====
Many, but not all, gods have crossbred with mortals across many galaxies, Ealdremen included. Such individuals in Ealdremen are said to have godsblood and are capable of wielding the mythical godslayers forged to kill their dreamer. Those without godsblood, such as precursors created by Eht Kerleraph or simply individuals whose lineages lack godsblood, are burned by the weapons and cannot hold them, much less make use of them.
====Mortality====
Though gods are ageless, they can still be killed; for example, in Ealdremen, the godslaying weapons originally made to kill Eht Kerleraph are more than capable of injuring or outright killing a god that ZGN created. Gods like Dalaera the Firecaller, Faratroxi the Unweighted Scales, Elamadi the Lightfont, and Seldrin the Martyred Child were killed in Ealdremen by its mortal denizens. If a god's death can be undone, ZGN does not seem concerned about doing so. Gods have treat such deaths as permanent reminders that they may be more powerful than they have ever been, but in some ways, they are still frighteningly mortal. A god's death is the death of a final survivor of a bygone galaxy, which now may only be remembered by the one who destroyed it to begin with.
Category:Cosmology