SGM-02: Da'iro

A rough elevation map of Da'iro.

### Inhabitants

The Féni, Kèr and Zheyta. In addition, the realm of the Deas is connected to the Segment.

## Introduction

At first glance, it might seem as though the large Segment Da'iro is a paradise, or "garden of Eden" of sorts: it appears like a perfect, natural world where everything is right and good. And you'd be right... Mostly.

In the present, three races live on the Segment: the Féni, the Kèr and the Zheyta. For a long time, they have lived alongside each other- at least, the first two. The Zheyta, a wise race with plenty of knowledge of their history, have made it their mission to protect the more "innocent" races from the harm that should have never occured. And not just the history of the Ur-Planet and the Greater Fracture, but from the many wars in more recent history as well.

## Geography

Da'iro's landscape is, generally speaking, very boring. Due to the fact it does not orbit its own axis, and thus always faces Ma'anlo, the climate is pretty much the same everywhere. The Segment's surface is covered by massive trees, some of which stand as high as a hundred meters tall. Their thick foliage makes it difficult to see anything on the ground below it, though plenty of Ma'anlo's light still manages to reach the surface.

The Segment is composed of around 65% land, the rest is covered by ocean. That is, the top side. The underside (which is roughly shaped like a half-sphere) is completely made of solid rock. Da'iro does not have a hot core, like Earth does; instead, it is only warmed by Ma'anlo's light, resulting in a very stark contrast in climate on both sides. The lit upside has a warm, subtropical climate, whereas the dark underside is cold. If there was any water on that side, it would be completely frozen.

For these reasons, life can only exist on the green side of Da'iro- and so can magic. Because Ma'anlo's light doesn't reach the underside, the only magic that exists is from the stars, which is weaker to the point of being practically nonexistent. There have been expeditions to the underside before, mostly by the Zheyta and the Kèru, but they all failed to establish any settlements. It's simply too difficult to create the right conditions for life to thrive on Da'iro's inhospitable side.

Da'iro's flat, green side is, well, flat. There are barely any hills present, let alone any mountains; the highest point on the Segment is only a few hundred meters above sea level.

On the majority of the Segment, big cities and actual nations don't really exist. The only place that could reasonably be called a country is the Zheytan theocracy. They live at the far edge of the Segment, hidden away from the Féni and Kèru.

The Zheytan nation is also where the Segment's Runegates are located. Unlike on some other Segments, Da'iro's Runegates are located practically next to each other. Despite this, they do adhere to the regular "rules" of Runegates; the Receiver Gate only receives from Alpha, whereas the Sender Gate only sends to SGM-03. However, if one of the Wild Segments is close enough, both Gates are capable of connecting to the Gates on the Wild Segment. Whenever this happens, the correspondence between Da'iro and its neighbour Anchored Segments is temporarily blocked. Instead, the Runegates will prioritise travel from the Wild Segment.

In the past, it was possible to change the priority Segment(s), ensuring that communication between Da'iro, Alpha and SGM-03 could continue as normal. However, the magic needed for this has been lost, meaning the prioritised Segments regularly switch every so often, without any outside influence.

Even though there are no major factions on Da'iro, there are some places that certain races prefer to live. The Kèru, for example, prefer living in less forested areas, which can be more easily reached by Dah-Veh's light. They prefer the heat of those places, which tend to occur around the Segment's "mountains". Even though there isn't much of a difference in elevation, the soil is different near the hills, meaning the massive trees can't thrive as well near them. This is caused by how Da'iro was created during the Breaking, as well as being intensified by the Kèru's own efforts.

The Éféni, on the other hand, prefer cooler, shady environments. They generally live in forests and near coasts, which provide them with a much-needed background for their camouflage abilities. As the forests are the ideal environment for them, they haven't changed their surroundings nearly as dramatically as the Kèru do.

Da'iro's forests are mainly composed of massive trees, which stretch up to a hundred meters into the sky. At the very top, their leaves- and even their branches- are a bright, even green. When looking at them from above, they don't stand out at all in the landscape. Underneath the top layer, though, their leaves can have any colour of the rainbow, and are almost always multi-coloured. This is a result of cultivation, as well as magic use, by the Éféni.

These trees are not only incredibly tall, but also very wide; they are specifically selected by the Éféni, as they are big enough to partially hollow out without hurting the tree. Using magic, the Éféni build their homes in these trees, making sure to keep them healthy and not hollowing out too-large chunks. However, despite the house trees needing lots of care and maintenance to survive, they are perfectly capable of thriving without any magical influence.

## History

### The Greater Fracture and the War

Only a minority of sentient species managed to survive the Greater Fracture, and many of them lived on the area of the Ur-Planet now known as Da'iro. Before the Fracture and the Alignment, it had been a sizeable, wealthy continent, and so many Mage-Companions lived here. Their skill and magic was the only thing that saved hundreds of millions of people from their demise, thanks to them shaping a chunk of the world into a new place to live. Many of the Mage-Companions gave their lives in this process, however, and all advanced technology was lost, for a combination of magical and mundane reasons. Where the old civilisations had possessed electricity and travel through space, among many other things, the unstable magic that had been used in keeping Da'iro together disturbed their mechanisms, forever destroying this technology. Even when they tried to reinvent their machines, cycles later, they still wouldn't work.

Despite all of this tragedy, everything seemed to be going well. The Segment barely even noticed the direct effects of the Lesser Fracture, as it happened on the other side of the Annulus compared to them. Of course, they did notice one thing: the sudden disappearance of all Mage-Companions that had survived the Alignment. For as long as anyone had been able to remember, they had been a stable presence on Da'iro- and the Ur-Planet before it. They had saved it from its doom, and for all anyone knew, they had been punished for doing so. And the price they paid for it had been their life.

This did not stop Da'iro as a whole from thriving, however. For a long time, it seemed as if life was perfect; despite the deaths of the Mage-Companions, societies thrived, and were able to recover from the destruction and instability of the Alignment. Nations grew and expanded as they discovered the new lands that had been created during the Alignment. Just like when the Ur-Planet still existed, different races thrived alongside each other, no matter their differences.

However, after a few hundred cycles, one of the races began to change in their mindset. The name of this race has been lost over time, but it is said they were the most massive among all of Da'iro's races, and had kept most of their technology following the Alignment. Now, the only names used for them translate roughly to "War", "Blood-hungerers", or similar words. Back when they lived on the Ur-Planet, they had been the least technologically advanced, but this new environment had eliminated their opponents' advantages over them, and they saw it as a chance to take what they considered theirs. After all, they were massive beings, both in size and in population, so why shouldn't they own the most land?

But their quest for power didn't stop at "most" of the Segment. Their greed had them taking more and more, and killing more and more innocent people in the process. Once, there had been over a dozen, if not dozens, of different races living on Da'iro. After the wars, there were only three.

The war had only been stopped thanks to the combined efforts of these three races; the peaceful Féni, who were able to change the colour of their skins to blend in with their environment; the tough Kèr, almost as massive as the war-hungry race and strong enough to challenge them one-on-one; and the wise Zheyta, who may have lost their technology during the Alignment, but they had not lost their vast knowledge and quick minds.

The Féni were a mostly peaceful, kind race, and so it may sound improbable that they, of all peoples, managed to survive. However, the characteristic that defines them as a species is their ability to change their skin colours like a chameleon. This allowed them to blend in with their environment almost perfectly, and made them excellent spies and assassins. At least, the Féni who wanted it; the majority of the population had never touched a weapon, much less raised it against another being. It was a small percentage of Féni that ended up making the difference and helping end the war.

The Kèr were much more naturally suited to combat: they were twice as large as the Féni, and their massive muscles rivalled the bloodthirsty race. This allowed them to combat them one-on-one, and sometimes, those duels would even result in a win for the Kèr. Their armies might have been much smaller, but they knew what they were doing, and worked together with their allies.

Lastly, the Zheyta had kept most of the knowledge that they possessed before the Alignment. They had always preferred keeping their records on physical mediums, rather than saving them using their technology. During the war, they were able to develop strategies that made use of their smaller numbers, the strengths of their allies, and the weaknesses of their opponents. Somehow, these strategies ended up leading them to victory, despite all odds seeming to point in the opposite direction.

### After the War

After the grand war, which decimated the majority of Da'iro's sentient races, it took the three remaining races a much longer time to recover. Soon, however, the cruel and bloodstained history was forgotten by two of them. The Zheyta, with their longer lifespans, still remembered the dark history much more clearly, but they knew this knowledge wouldn't survive among their shorter-lived friends.

They decided to retreat from public view, opting to hide away from the other two races. They felt as if it was their fault that the war had happened in the first place -- they still remembered the Greater Fracture in fine detail, and the events that led up to it, yet they had been unable to prevent the same thing from happening on Da'iro only centuries later. This time, however, they were determined to prevent anything even remotely bad from happening to the Éféni and Kèru.

They moved to the very edges of the Segment, where the Rune-Gates reside. They protect them to this day, ensuring that no outsiders can harm those they consider under their protection. Although they have forgotten why they began, they have faith that it is for a good reason.

Meanwhile, the Éféni and Kèru did what they do best; forget. They have almost no recollection of the events of their past, and are unaware of the Zheyta and their mission. Only when one or two come out of their well-guarded nation do they occasionally see them.