Preternaterium

> "By the sovereign authority of the Emperor of the Universe, of the Blessed Apostle Pyotr of the Apocryphal Era, of Archregent Kamen I, and by the apostolic authority of the Universal Magisterium, we infallibly declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Preternaterium, as the Realm of the Preternatural, as the bridge between the Supernatural and the Natural, is the agency by which all the Children of Creation will be united in Him, Our Creator, the Nachalo Konets."
>
> From the De Natura Primorum Parentum of the Universal Magisterium, the Apostolic Constitution declaring the Preternatural Dogmas

## Characteristics

### Alternative Name(s)

Hyperuranion, Primum Mobile, Chasm, Beyondspace, Void

### Adjective(s)

Preternateric (referring to the realm itself), Preternatural (referring to its effects)

## Physical Characteristics

### Apparent size

Near infinite

The **Preternaterium** (Stanislavan: *Praetoryestestvennoya*; Oratio Ecclesiastica: *Regnum Praeternaturale*), also referred to as the **Preternatural Realm**, the **Hyperuranion**, the **Primum Mobile**, the **Chasm**, the **Beyondspace**, and most commonly as the **Void**, is a transcendent preternatural realm of space within the Universe, which is said to be the bridge between the supernatural realm known as the Supernaterium, and the natural realm known as the Naterium, which is the realm we reside in.

The Preternaterium is one of the many concepts which arose from the Celestial Revolution, shaking the foundations of human science, philosophy, and theology to their core. The Preternaterium is often conflated with the Noosphere, though the nature of these two concepts has been continuously argued within the Great Debate. On one side, the Noospherists believe that the Preternaterium is the physical manifestation of the Noosphere. On the contrary, the Preternaterists believe that the Noosphere is one of the many 'domains' of the Preternaterium, and as such, the Noosphere is simply one aspect of the Preternaterium.

In Preternaterist naturology, one of the many domains of the Preternaterium is the Universalis Tenebris, a parallel region of space that allows spacefaring civilizations to conduct Superluminal Travel, thereby breaking the speed-limit of light, in contrast to the Universalis Lux which is our region of space which abides by the speed-limit of light. The Chelovayyan Empire and other human factions utilize the ALICE System, a preternatural system which changes the nature of the matter contents of any object or human being to that of the Universalis Tenebris, and vice versa.

It is unclear what the Preternaterium is composed of, but the most common name for this 'fabric' is Psionic Energy, a form of Near-Divine energy which gives rise to many preternatural occurrences and even grants preternatural abilities to living beings. The use of psionic energy is referred to as Psionics, as defined by the Universal Magisterium's Apostolic Constitution titled the De Natura Primorum Parentum, translated in Anglian as "the Nature of the First Parents", which described the preternatural powers of the Chelov-Primogenitors, two human beings named Esh and Esha. It is believed that every human, and possibly every mortal being, has innate psionic abilities, though some more than others.

## Superluminal Travel

### **ALICE System**

After the end of the Annus Anathematis, humanity was suffering through a grave logistical problem that was considered as humanity's second existential crisis after the Death's Hand. The existential problem was known as the Kolmogoroff Equation, positing that the advancement of civilization will accelerate the need for mass extraction and transportation of resources, causing a strain in galactic economics that would bring humanity closer than ever to the Great Filter. The problem arises in the theorized impossibility of faster-than-light or superluminal travel that would be required to extract enough resources from the Milky Way Galaxy to sustain the exponential growth of a galactic-tier civilization.

In response to this, the Emperor of Chelovayya approved the commencement of the OLGA Program in F.E. 30, which was a proposal by Archregent Kamen I to find a solution to the Kolmogoroff Equation, thereby bypassing the speed limit of universal communication. On F.E. 50, the Star System Corps discovered a ship which was named the Erinyes Vessel Alpha or E.V.A. for short, on Enceladus. The E.V.A. was retrieved by the Star System Corps and it arrived on Zemelia in F.E. 60. Around the same time, Sankt Jagur Barthelemy S.M., the 1st Supreme-Commander of the Earthly Host, was instated as the Techno-Overseer of the OLGA Program. By wielding the Archangel's Sword, Barthelemy was granted vast quantities of knowledge over the E.V.A. ship. This knowledge allowed the scientists of the OLGA Program to reverse-engineer the E.V.A ship, and replicate its superluminal abilities.

The OLGA Program gave rise to ALICE, a power-generating device which creates a field of dark energy known as Alicite, which allows the conversion of the nature of any body of matter to that of the Universalis Tenebris, through a process called Alicization. In the case of interstellar travel, the use of ALICE converts the properties of the ship to be aligned with that of the Universalis Tenebris, allowing the ship to undergo superluminal travel. Since the Universalis Tenebris and the Preternaterium as a whole is massless, the ships and everything inside of it, including any inhabitants, are temporarily massless when undergoing this process.

This type of superluminal travel is referred to as the ALICE System, and it is the most common use of superluminal travel across the Heart of the Universe. As of the Third Epoch, the Chelovayyan Empire continues to use the ALICE System as its modus operandi for faster-than-light interstellar travel. Non-aligned factions such as the Corsairs and the Confederacy of Foederati use the ALICE System as well.

### **Labyrinth System**

A long time ago, far before the dawn of humanity, the Nineveans, the original extra-terrestrial species which founded the Galactic Federation, constructed the Labyrinth, an interconnected series of Preternateric Gates which connects several different points in space-time together. Unlike the ALICE System, which requires painstakingly-difficult navigation and is subject to several potential failures due to miscalculations, the Labyrinth is highly-efficient and highly-effective due to its instantaneous mode of travel which allowed the Nineveans to unite the Milky Way Galaxy with relative ease. Although the Nineveans are now extinct for reasons unknown to us, their Foederati successors carried on the Foederati's Mantle, utilizing the Labyrinth to its advantage.

The Preternateric Gates are rifts found within the Naterium which originate from the Preternaterium. Under normal circumstances, any matter passing through the Preternateric Gates, will violate the nature of the Preternaterium, and will immediately cease to exist, but not before being violently torn apart by the Preternaterium. However, ships equipped with a Labyrinth Index are able to create a particle field within their vicinity, rendering the ships as objects of the Preternaterium, which allows them to pass through the Gates.

Following the defeat of the Galactic Federation during the War of the First Coalition and its dissolution during the aftermath, the Labyrinth was abandoned by most of the Foederati, and most of them switched to the ALICE System, due to the overwhelming influence of the Chelovayyans. For thousands of years until the Third Epoch, the ALICE System was used instead of the Labyrinth, and the Labyrinth fell out of use. The Chelovayyans did not switch to the Labyrinth System, as the Preternateric Gates were found in regions which astrographically made sense to the Federation, but not to the Empire. The lack of Labyrinth Indexes in the hands of the Chelovayyans also prevented their mass-adoption by the Chelovayyans.

After the Fifth Agone, when the Typheons attacked the region of space known as the Coensio Diocese which effectively crippled the Chelovayyan Empire, the Foederati living in the outskirts of the Coensio Diocese began to advocate for the restoration of the Galactic Federation. The Galactic Federation was restored in the War of the Seventh Coalition, although they occupied only a small area of territory in the Coensio Diocese. Following the restoration of the Federation, the Labyrinth System was used by the Foederati once more.