Cosmology

The cosmology of Ba'tier is very intrenched in it's resident's ways of life. Influencing their religions and ability to survive underground. They hold the homes of gods and they contain the souls who have passed on. They house vast conflicts between aevons and devils, yet they also provide a place for a everlasting peace. The elemental realms spill their essence into the realms next to them, providing the capacity for life to exist even in the deepest, darkest parts of the world.

## Shape of the Universe

> "While theories often vary, I agree with most other scholars that the shape of our universe is the same as that which appears in our textbooks. While many may enjoy fantastical cosmological theories I can assure you that our universe does not, in fact, exist on the back of a giant turtle. Instead our cosmos functions more practically, like most other things that can be comprehended by our mortal minds. Our cosmos is a disk that radiates outwards into different realms with the realm we currently inhabit in the centre, it has four rings that we know of. They are the realm mortalis, the elementals realms, the heavens and hells, and finally the realms of the aspects."
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-Lyen Stebar, *Musings of the Cosmos,* pg 1.

The universe of Ba'tier is shaped in the same way that Stebar has stated, four rings radiating outwards in a disk-like shape. In the centre you can find our own realm, the realm mortalis, where all the mortal creatures find their home. While it is thought that there is more beyond the subterranean world we inhabit it is difficult to find the means to research it, although I would be inclined to believe it is a vast and unending sea of nothing.

The next ring one can find is the elemental plane, hosting four realms, one for the elements of earth, air, fire and water. These realms are uninhabitable, being made purely of their elements, the realm of air does not hold earth and neither does the earth hold air and due to this these realms are uninhabitable to those in the realm mortalis. Although they are not without inhabitants of their own.

After the elemental realms you can encounter the heavens and hells, this plane is home to the gods and split into two sections, the heavens and hells. Furthermore it can be broken down into quartiles that take their names from the four most numerous inhabitants of this plane, the angels, archons, devae and demons. The individual realms of this plane are split between their own gods equally and each realm is either a haven or a hell.

Finally we have the final ring, the realms of the aspects. This one is inhabited uniquely by the aspects of the gods, the minor deities who make up the essence of a god. This plane is very similar to the heavens and hells and because of that they are often times treated as part of heavens and hells, and when treated as the same the two are referred to as the divine realms.

## The Elemental Realms

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> "The elemental realms are incredibly interesting. They come in four parts, each one almost seemingly having their own identity and all are made of just a single element. However, although they are so plain sounding on the surface they have complex and diverse ecosystems with unique terrain and diverse peoples."
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-Toula Lafont

I think this quote sums up the elemental planes well, while in concept they sound featureless, described as if they are a block of fire or water on the surface. But people seem to forget that fire, water, earth and even air are present in a multitude of forms, all of which are unique and different then an element's next form. This gives rise to creatures and intelligent peoples who have the ability to survive in extremely deadly climates. Each elemental realm is vastly different from the other and they will be covered briefly in their own sections below.

#### The Realm of Water:

The realm of water is a realm of endless water. I would call it a bottomless lake but that would imply a surface, which would mean the existence of something, even if nothing, that is not water. Here you can find yourself enveloped by water and the vast abyss of a bottomless and topless lake. You may also find yourself pushed through the water by unseen and seemingly random currents that constantly shift, moving the contents of the surprisingly bright nothingness in unpredictable directions. You might take note that there really isn't much life here, if lucky you may see a gargantuan yet docile creature in the hazy distance but this scene, the most common state of this realm is near nothingness.

While throughout most of this realm life is hard to come by some locations are teeming with life, these are most commonly found clustered upon chunks of, what is best though of, as ice, although they are somewhat uncommon. Although they are not necessarily cold, simply solid or crystalline water. Here life is exceedingly common, the towns and cities of tritons or forests of corral can be found clinging to the large or small surfaces of them. These can come in gargantuan sizes, capable of supporting whole nations on their surfaces while others can be compared to a small ball.

Nations here are limited to a single piece of ice as conquering and keeping other chunks are difficult, although the largest and mightiest nations have learned to incorporate other chunks. Most sovereign peoples are limited to the size of a small town of a few hundred or less people, harvesting from a small ecosystem they share a ice chunk with. The larger nations are cities, occupying a incredibly large chunk and can be found next to thriving coral forests. Then the largest, most notable groups of peoples have nation sized chunks or have one the size of a city but possess a vast, interconnected network of incorporated chunks. However a decently large chunk is very difficult to find.