World and Star Types

The Material Plane of Creation functions in a manner both similar to and radically different from other parts of the Multiverse such as Terra. Instead of the planets being solid rock, magma, and a semi-solid metallic core, formed through naturalistic processes of accretion and governed purely by physics and tectonics, most of the worlds of Creation are essentially titanic geodes, whose surface is the outer shell and whose interior is more or less hollow and filled with crystalline aether. The stars of Creation are even more divergent - instead of blazing gas and nuclear fusion triggered by raw pressure and gravity, Creation's stars are solid crystalline aether of such size and purity as to radiate heat and light, and have solid (if dangerously hot) ground, liquid aether seas, and gaseous aether atmospheres. Between them lies the Astral Sea, which unlike the hard vacuum between worlds in other realities is a usually-breathable gaseous aether medium, although sometimes this gaseous aether can become dangerously concentrated and poisonous.

Notably, gravity on worlds and stars of the Material Plane in Creation are more or less constant, and as a consequence one need not fear struggling to carry the weight of their own hair while exploring the caverns and seas of Seliir than they do on Seedorus. The same cannot necessarily be said for atmospheric or water pressure, but most worlds have areas that can be accessed safely while others have unique properties that prevent fantastic extremes of air or water from being dangerous. However, all worlds and stars have some common features that allow them to be categorized in broad terms.

## World Types

### Aerious Geode

The crystalline aether core of aerious geode worlds is disproportionately composed of air-resonant aether, resulting in a world with unusual properties. Aerious geodes usually have other elements present, albeit in lower quantities, and typically have very few solid continent-sized landmasses or oceanic bodies of water, as the lands and water sources are often suspended in unfathomably deep cloud layers with open voids between them. These nuggets of solid world feature the majority of the earth-, fire-, and water-resonant aether these worlds have, but there may still be connective structures of crystalline air-resonant aether interlacing these solid bodies and keeping them stable relative to each other.

### Aqueous Geode

The crystalline aether core of aqueous geode worlds is disproportionately composed of water-resonant aether, resulting in a world with unusual properties. Aqueous geodes usually have other elements present, albeit in lower quantities, and typically have very few solid continent-sized landmasses, assuming they have any at all as these worlds have far more water than anything else. These ocean worlds may have "islands" above or below the surface of the water where the air-, earth-, and fire-resonant aether cluster, or they might be more evenly distributed. Air-dominant islands sometimes exist as colossal solid "bubbles" bobbing forever in the world-sea, and frequently these islands become the homes of civilizations. The water depths - and resulting pressure - can grow to unbelievable extremes in the deepest fathoms of these worlds, though many aqueous geodes generate a sort of "counter-pressure" from their core that prevents the vast majority of the world from becoming completely uninhabitable.

### Artificial

Artificial worlds are, as the name implies, artificial constructs rather than aether-cored geodes. Artificial worlds vary considerably, but most are deliberately designed and assembled with metals, stone, and other substances. There's no such thing as a "typical" artificial world, but generally speaking they only exist for a specific purpose that cannot be fulfilled in any other way, as bringing together the magic and resources necessary to build even a small world is a daunting challenge even for the largest and most powerful astral empires. This world's purpose may not be clear, as is the case with Sunwatch, or it may be as blatantly obvious as Kalia-Divaara's life-saving farms and shipyards.

### Astral Kaiju

Some worlds aren't really "worlds" at all in the traditional sense, but rather the body of a truly Titanic Astral Kaiju. Although strictly speaking any Titanic Astral Kaiju can qualify for such status, usually only Medium or larger Titanic Astral Kaiju are even considered for planet-equivalent status, and anything smaller is a moon at best. Depending on the size of the Astral Kaiju, the "world" might very obviously be a living organism whose hide and scales are the terrain, or it might be so large as to develop an entire ecosystem on its flesh that masks its nature. Each Titanic Astral Kaiju is a unique entity which responds differently to various stimuli, and some might be oblivious to having what amount to microscopic parasites on their hides, while others might respond violently to so much as a typical shovel hitting their flesh (even if it's far too small to do any real damage to the creature).

### Depleted Crystal / Exposed Depleted Crystal

The crystalline aether core of depleted crystal worlds is disproportionately composed of non-resonant aether, resulting in a world that is either decaying into nothingness or never truly was a planetary geode to begin with. Decaying depleted crystal worlds, such as Juaz, were formerly a different type of planetary geode, but for whatever reason the crystalline aether at their core lost all elemental resonance and no longer regenerates the planet's structure. These worlds oftentimes have unreliable magic or significant interference in trying to cast spells, but this isn't a universal trait among all such worlds. Most natural disasters are notably weaker and less common on these worlds, with the exception of earthquakes. The latter exception, unfortunately, is due to the world's structural decay, and eventually large sinkholes start devouring the world's geography little by little. Sadly, when these sinkholes punch through ocean floors, the cataclysmic aftermath usually spells doom for whole civilizations, and over tens of thousands of years they eventually become indistinguishable from exposed depleted crystal worlds.

Exposed depleted crystal worlds, such as Dianox, were never planetary geodes in the first place, either because they were malformed or because something interfered with the world's elemental atunement, and they aren't decaying in the same sense as they never had anything else to lose. These worlds are more akin to enormous snowflakes of depleted aether, and though they lack traditional terrain features they usually have a geography of sorts created by mountain-sized crystal formations, clusters of crystal nodules, and solid shards dozens or hundreds of miles in length.

### Fragmented

Not so much a world as the debris that used to be a world, fragmented worlds were formerly of another type but suffered a calamity of such scale as to cause the entire world to literally shatter. As fragmented worlds are adrift in the Astral Sea's gaseous aether and not hard vacuum, the individual fragments are not instantly reduced to lifeless husks, and a fragmented world might, in time, evolve into a unique ecology with creatures flitting between small islands adrift in the aether. Depending on the nature of cataclysm that shatters these worlds, they may not get the chance, however, in cases where worlds are destroyed by their star exploding or suffer a necromantic event that kills the entire planet.

### Organic

Not quite a Kaiju but still a living world

## Star Types

### Shadow-Taken

Death star (no, not that kind of death star)