Mencu

*This article is about the world. For the article about the creator, see Mencu (Deity).*

Mencu is a vast and mysterious world where the *The Crest of Zabutur* series all takes place. It is the home of many lands, over a dozen different sentient races of humanoid inhabitants collectively known as Serenza, and thousands of different types of creatures, common and rare alike. Most of the series takes place on Tsominku and on Munjang-Îue, two continents on the planet's southern hemisphere.

## Role

In actuality, Mencu is the 52nd of 201 Facsimiles of a world known as Kalmora, or "The Archetype". Over the millennia the aetheric balances of these worlds have tipped or deteriorated at different rates, and the collapse of each fascimile, or "Star", has heralded a supernova-type astronomical event that scholars across the world used as an indicator of a new Age. Since the events of the *The Crest of Zabutur* series all take place during the 197th Age, this means that all but four facsimiles have collapsed. The surviving worlds include Tokorima, The 5th Star; Mencu, The 52nd Star; Sepher, The 148th Star, and Zurado-Kura, The 197th Star. These four worlds and their inhabitants have thus far shown remarkable resilience and stability, and have maintained enough aetheric balance in some form or another that they have remained intact throughout the millennia, and this anomaly has caused the 197th Age to last an unusually long time compared to Ages in time past.

## The Jalenga

Since the early days, Mencu had been a popular destination for the Jalenga, who enjoyed the world's unusual stability and resilient inhabitants, both as subjects for their genetic and alchemical research, as well as the abundance of stable aether, which continued to increase with each other Star that collapsed. Short of their own home, The 52nd Star was their favourite stomping ground, even more so than The Archetype itself. It was also on this world where they perfected their sentient creations, the Kumenza. Known colloquially as dark elves due to their grey skin and similar physique to elves on Mencu and on Kalmora, they were a landmark in the Jalenga's history due to their sentience and their biological compatibility with other Serenza.
After their success on Mencu as early as the 2nd Age, the Jalenga later worked to create similar creatures on other stars as well, eventually even causing them to appear on Kalmora itself. Most of the dark elves on the Facsimiles are similar in nature to the Kumenza, but the ones on Kalmora, known locally as Kalesh, were a slight modification of the original. Despite this, Mencu often remained something of a "practice ground" for the Jalenga and their studies.

### 195th Age

During most of the 195th Age, the Jalenga controlled a massive empire on Mencu known as the Sayenzi Imperium, ruling benevolently from their seat of Pikas-Jorgomna in the heart of what would later become the Sayenzi Greatwood.

### 196th Age

When the collapse of Sayenzi-Jorgomna, the 201st Star and the Jalenga's original home world, caused the advent of the 196th Age, some of the few surviving Jalenga relocated to Zurado-Kura. Many others went back to Kalmora, and others to Kulak-Fe, the 93rd Star. The Jalenga who remained on Mencu were in a The decimated Jalengan population worked to rebuild, although eventually the stability of Kulak-Fe began to falter. Nearly all of the remaining Jalenga, who feared they would be accused of causing the star's collapse,