Orphin

*‘The River Planet’*

## Description

A planet with a high axial tilt compared to Earth. This reverses the climate at the poles and around the equator. With such a tilt the average temperature of the planet would be expected to be higher than Earth and it is but because of the large amount of water present on the planet there is a lot more cloud cover than earth and this means the albedo of the planet is high, reflecting more light and therefore heat. This means that the temperature is higher on average, but not by much.

A large part of the planet is landmass, with the two largest oceans being at the poles. There are, however, extensive systems of rivers and some large lakes that function as freshwater seas due to their size.

Because of the ring of polar climate around the equator the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere developed quite separately from each other for the most part, blocked by the polar climates along the equator. The only exception of this is through what is called the Heartlands in the modern day. This is a strip of mountains going from the southern ocean (and through the coral sea) to the northern ocean with a large river through it.

The middle of the Heartlands is occupied by a large and mostly circular freshwater inland sea (Home Lake) which is a remnant of the Upheaval that took place early in the planets history. The planets molten core is irregular and closer to the surface here which makes the climate milder and means permafrost doesn’t exist within the region.

## History

#### Creation

1. The being known as The River God finds the fledgling planet Orphin, drawn by its magic.
2. The River God pours its magic into the world Orphin, awakening it and starting the process for life to form. The entire planet is oceans with few areas of land.
3. Over time the land begins to emerge and one large ring continent forms with a  few breaks in it for oceans.

#### The Upheaval

1. The being known as the Lodepoint is pulled into time but the magic energy of The River God being concentrated into Orphin.
2. The sudden disturbance and the Lodepoints confusion at being in a physical realm causes The Stray Planet to be pulled along with the Lodepoint as it travels to Orphin out of curiosity for the force that pulled it into time.
3. The River God comes to meet The Lodepoint. The Stray Planet is on collision with Orphin and The River God notices.
4. The River God places itself in the path, the planet impacts Orphin but The River God redistributes the force mostly.
5. A giant crater is made, the future site of Home Lake. T
6. The force travels through Orphin, creating three world fissures under the surface where most of the oceans drain into.
7. Scars on the surface become rivers. Underground Oceans and rivers are formed.
8. The Lodepoint assists The River God and creates Orphins moon from the remains of the planet and removes the debris dust.
9. The River God sleeps as the world changes. The Lodepoint pours its magic into the world Orphin.
10. The Lodepoint creates new life

#### Delayed Meeting of Gods

1. The River God wakes. Life has flourished on Orphin.
2. The two beings cannot synthesise into one being, a period of upheaval as new balance is found.
3. The remnants of the Stray Planets innate magic are given life in the magical centre of Orphin and Worldspirit awakens.
4. The Worldspirit creates the Lattice that stretches throughout the local system and stabilizes all planets within it.
5. This signals the beginning of the new balance.
6. The River God sleeps
7. The Lodepoint becomes Balance
8. Life is in balance again. Civilisations form on the planet.

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#### Star Walkers

1. The world Orphin is found by the Star Walkers and deemed suitable but too far on the fringes of their own civilisation for a population effort.
2. Marked for potential resources. Strong magic and odd magical structures are noted. Refugees and settlers are allowed to settle on Orphin and join the local civilisations
3. The Lattice created by Worldspirit is discovered. It is studied but Worldspirit forces the Star Walkers out of the system, hiding the system from further discovery.

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#### Empire

1. The Orphic empire is born. The Everplane spreads.
2. Planets are terraformed and orbits are altered by use of the Lattice
3. The Everplane is torn down in The Shift. Orphin is cut off from the wider universe, the Ways are now the only way to travel within its own system.

#### New Empire

1. The Guidelight is created, copied from the magical imprint of Worldspirit
2. Limited settlement of local clusters' planets, various empires flourish.
3. The Everplane is active within the local system to a small degree, making small connections between worlds at almost identical positions in their systems and around their suns.
4. The Empire is segmented up peacefully over a long period of time. Cultures drift apart

#### The Starlit Period

1. The Fallorin Union is founded as Way travel magic starts to spread and cooperation between powers is beneficial.
2. Families become powerful and the era of the Castle Bloodlines begins. Personal Way travel is used and the Castles are the focal points for various forms of traffic.

#### Present Day (\*\*\* age)

1. The being known as Corruption finds the edges of the system by following the remnants of the Lattice to its source and begins trying to force its way in.
2. Way travel becomes difficult as the Lattice degrades in self defense from the onslaught of Corruption. Wars breakout and many Castles are destroyed. Kingdoms and organisations claim control over the use of the Ways, rebellion is put down hard.

## Kingdoms

The Heartland Kingdoms

The Inner Sea Kingdoms

The Channel Sea Kingdoms

The Valley Kingdoms

The Coral Sea Kingdoms

The Southern Ocean Kingdoms