Ouranos

**Ouranos** is the location of the afterlife of the Sharp Zero universe.

## Background Information

When an individual dies on Earth, they go to Ouranos and gain a new physical form. The location they arrive in and the form they initially take are determined by the way they lived and died. Their next form is determined by what God they pledge to combined with their initial form.

Ouranos has its own culture, which may vary by region.

Ouranos is a planet and has at least one moon. Stars can be seen in the sky above Skytown.

## Known Locations

### Fields

The fields of Devil country are where Elliot arrived when he died. They appear to have a lot of a tan grass-like plant, a river, and a large path. Gorgons are known to live in the fields, including Stephanie.

Elliot arrived where he did because he lived and died recklessly, according to Kal. Since Kal has been dead for thousands of years, he likely has a good understanding of how death and the afterlife work and should be considered a reliable source.

A large city and at least one mountain can be seen in the distance from the fields. It is unknown what city this is.

### Crystal Caverns

The Crystal Caverns appear to be some sort of city in Ouranos. They are between the fields of Devil country and Willow's house. According to Samji, there's a boy who lives there that Kal likes, though Kal denied this.

The Crystal Caverns are underground, as implied by the name, and appear to be lit exclusively by naturally occurring luminescent plants and crystals.

It appears to be a fairly complex network of caves, though we only see a small part of it.

### Willow's House

Willow's house is a house integrated with a tree. It is unclear if the house was deliberately combined with the tree or if the tree simply grew through the house and Willow, or a previous resident, decided to let it happen. The house is surrounded by what appear to be glowing vines. There are no known neighbors.

The only known resident of the house is Willow, a Druid who is friends with Kal and Samji. It appears that they come over regularly for lunch, or it may be where they've chosen to bring Freshly Deceased.

Upon seeing the house, Elliot stated that "*Ouranos is such a crazy place? Like it's old and new at the same time.*"

### Skytown

Skytown is a city on the plateau above the Crystal Caverns. It contains the nearest temple to the rest of the known locations in Ouranos.

Skytown appears to have a very high population even though its real name is unpronounceable - according to Samji, attempting to pronounce the true name of Skytown makes your ears bleed.

All the lighting in Skytown is red, though it's unclear where the light is coming from indoors.

## Gods and Pledging

There are 5 gods in Ouranos: Apollo, Janus, Athena, Hades, and Circe. Only 4 of these gods can be pledged to.

It is unclear exactly what significance pledging has outside of determining what physical form one takes on Ouranos and what powers one gets. While Kal did express concern about Elliot making rash decisions about pledging, he didn't try particularly hard to stop him.

The chart on the right shows the forms one may take after death, according to how many eyes they have (top) and what god they pledge to. In order from top to bottom, the gods are Hades, Apollo, Athena, and Circe.

The oldest god is Janus, who is referred to as "Janus the Eternal". The next oldest is Hades. The newest god is most likely Apollo, who was replaced within the last 5 years.

## People

The people of Ouranos have no known name as a whole. The world appears to mostly be populated by undead humans in their various forms, though there appear to be some beings that are native to the planet. This is currently a prevalent theory about gorgons such as Stephanie.

The culture on Ouranos is largely unknown, though there appear to be formal introductions, generally following the format of "I'm [name] the [form]" (e.g. "I'm Samji the imp."). It's also considered polite to bow to a Freshly Deceased.

There was a movement approximately 5 years prior to the start of the comic involving the previous Apollo, seemingly led by angels. Some are still part of it, and Samji describes the whole thing as being "really political". This has resulted in graffiti reading "Trust no angel" being in Skytown.