Sealed Expanses

[NOT DONE WRITING, NOT READY FOR REVIEW]

"With Order's final breath began the perpetual battle. Chaos with its unknowable intentions began to seep into the new world, threatening to unravel all that was and all that would be. And so Space, daring to challenge the beast that knows no bounds, began to carve this world into pieces, **to seal away the march of calamity front by front.**" - *The Book of Creation*, Evolvi mythology

The Sealed Expanses are the partitions of reality built by the Creator of Space to slow the progression of Chaos, mostly equivalent to the idea of planes from Dungeons and Dragons. Sealed Expanses are segments of the Material Field that very deliberately are nearly inaccessible from the main space and from other Sealed Expanse, a part of reality separated from the rest by a process analogous to cutting holes in fabric. However, like fabric these expanse can be sewn again to the main space, as Chaos has created thin, secluded bridges that allow it and that which has developed in these forbidden places to escape back into the rest of the world.

Notably, the Soul Field is not a Sealed Expanse, as it exists alongside the material things everywhere.

#### Connections to the outside world

Despite the efforts of the Creator of Space, interconnections between places sealed away are inevitable. Some links, though, are stronger than others.

*Bridges* are physical spaces that connect Sealed Expanses to other places. They are rare, and while more permanent are dangerous pathways between these different expanses.

*Chaotic tunneling* is far more transient transportation between expanses, similar to teleportation. Like quantum tunneling on a large scale, chaotic tunneling pushes a very chaotic object across a barrier in space it would not normally be able to cross. This is often involuntary, much to the dismay of the creature being tunneled, and its distance can range wildly.

### Examples of Sealed Expanses

This section contains examples of spaces in the world that are considered to be sealed. It requires detailed knowledge to navigate from one of these spaces to another, at least voluntarily.

#### The Main Space

The main space isn't really a Sealed Expanse, but rather everything that has not been sealed away. Continuing the fabric analogy, the main space would be the original sheet of fabric that the Sealed Expanses are cut out from. This is where Parvolon and the overwhelming majority of material things are in the universe.

#### The Cataclysm

The Cataclysm ("a large, sudden, and violent disaster") is the nearest Sealed Expanse to Parvolon, and accordingly the one which interacts with Parvolon the most. Following an experiment with magic far beyond mortal capabilities by an advanced civilization, an immense amount of Chaos was allowed to seep into a system around a hundred light years away from Parvolon, to the point Chaos began altering the very laws of physics in the local area. The civilization very quickly paid the price for their hubris, as a society on the verge of becoming an interstellar power was suddenly holding on by threads. To prevent the expansion of Chaos into neighboring systems, Space had the systems surrounding the civilization sealed away to control and contain the disaster.

As time progressed in the Cataclysm, the altered rules of this world have created abhorrent creatures adapted to this unforgiving place. The modern Cataclysm is a dismal space, consumed by a bitter circle of life and the corruption of their Natural Order. The creatures that inhabit this space are most akin to *demons*, as they serve the aims of Chaos and their ferocity appears malevolent to outsiders. A *demonic being* in this universe is more of an alien that was real messed up by Chaos rather than a being pledging loyalty to a divine antithesis, but thematically it fills the same role, just as a carnal and savage monster rather than a coordinated superintelligent being. *Demons* from the Cataclysm possess a grotesque appearance and an unnaturally high affinity for magic.

Despite being patrolled actively by the *Seraphon*, the Cataclysm still leaks out into the neighboring systems. Even Parvolon, light-years away from the place where the Cataclysm once was, is every once in a while exposed to its effects. Chaotic tunneling occasionally dumps a demon into Parvolon, much to the horror of the neighboring villages.

(And to answer the question: Yes, an Evolvi being teleported to the Cataclysm would be a near instant death sentence for them. It would require specialized equipment to attempt to survive on a world in this place.)