Volaria

The Elemental Seal. Illustration by Lionel23.

Map of Volaria

**Volaria** is an unstable artificial plane located within Volarian Local Space.  It is the location of the set *Volaria*, that takes place in 365VY (66 PM). This world was destroyed in 513VY (214 PM)

## Physical Constitution

Volaria is an artificial plane created by an ancient planeswalker in -795 AVY (1094 Pre-Mending). It is composed of primarily matter and aether, collected into the fabric of the plane. This fabric is further divided into eleven modified forms of aether called *elemental energy.*

Volaria's atmosphere is lightly aetheric. Nonplaneswalkers that enter the plane are afflicted with aether poisoning as the corrosive material attacks their body, which will kill a person unless it is isolated and treated. Volaria's natives are immune to this poisoning, as the result of genetic adaptations that allow their bodies to control the amount of aether within them.

Volaria is collectively three worlds. The first is Volaria proper, which consists of a single island surrounded by a wall of concentrated aether, and vast expanses of land and water covering every other part of the world. The second is called the Starless Expanse, and it is a dark, lifeless world that has an island the size of mainland Volaria and empty space that expands infinitely into all directions. The third is the Shadow World, an ethereal world that is the prison and afterlife of Volaria's deities.

### Elemental Energy

Elemental energy is a modified form of aether that has similar effects to combinations of colors of mana. A planeswalker that can utilize mana can recognize and use elemental energy in the same way. However, a Volarian that can utilize elemental energy cannot recognize and use mana. Life native to Volaria is reliant on elemental energy, and is able to convert aether into different forms of energy to utilize it.

Elemental energy is divided into eleven *elements:* Light, Darkness, Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Ice, Force, Thought, Emotion, and Balance. Volarian spellcasters use combinations of these eleven elements to produce spells. For each of these elements, there is an Elemental Spirit in charge of it, which serves as its deity and the natural source of that element's energy.

### Volarian Biology

*(Full Article: Volarian Biology)*

Volarians have an internal biology very similar to that of other species. They breathe, eat, sleep, drink, think. The key difference comes from their body's resistance and reliance on aether. A Volarian has an amount of internal elemental energy that they use for bodily functions, such as cellular reproduction and destroying infection, and a Volarian's body can turn aether into these types of energy. Without aether, these elements decay until the being is afflicted with Aether Exhaustion, which is fatal if untreated.

### Resources

Volaria has easy access to three primary materials of note.

* Magical crystals called ryla, which can be used for spells, lights, or technology to make energy.
* A magical metal called aethersteel, which is more resistance than steel and resists all but the highest concentrations of aether.
* Access to a heavily concentrated amount of aether, which can be contained in aetherglass containers and shipped to other places.

## Cities

Volaria is home to ten cities. Each of them have their own government, run by a single person called that city's Elemental Master. They each have a section of land devoted to them. The cities used to be known as factions until 365VY (366 PM), when Avery Etinaias suggested that the term "faction" was a term bound to war.

\* Family name retroactively applied

## History

### The Volarian Calendar

The Volarian Calendar follows an annual system of twelve months of thirty days, with seven-day weeks. The calendar places Year 0 as the year that Volarian Common becomes a more common language than Ancient Volarian. Years before that are labeled as negative years AVY (Ancient Volarian Year). Years after that are labeled as years VY (Volarian Year). When this calendar is used outside of Volaria, instead it is labeled as years RVY (Relative to Volarian Year).

### The Elemental Spirits

**-794 AVY (1093 Pre-Mending) - The Birth of the Elemental Spirits**

In -794 AVY, the Elemental Spirits were created by an ancient planeswalker. The energy within them spread out into the world, providing the entire world with elemental energy. Using the knowledge the ancient planeswalker left them with, the Elemental Spirits created a small civilization as they explored the world and understood what their purpose in the world is. Binas served as their leader, organizing and ensuring the other Elemental Spirits did not stand against each other.

### The First Masters

**-675 AVY (974 Pre-Mending) - Mortals Rise**

In -675 AVY, mortal life forms were created out of the elemental energies of the Spirits, with additional pressure caused by the planeswalker's meddling. The Elemental Spirits watched them rise into a civilization and learn the founding principles of magic, technology, and culture.

Shortly after their arrival, Binas became annoyed with the presence of the mortals. In his view, the world was a world created for the Elemental Spirits. Seeing that he planned to use the other Elemental Spirits against the mortals, the Elemental Spirits lightly poked the civilization, being treated as Gods as they searched for suitable leaders to one day stand against Binas.

**-650 AVY (949 Pre-Mending) - The Rise of the Factions**

In -650 AVY, most of the Elemental Spirits (Binas excluded) granted a portion of their power in the form of Power Scripts to ten mortals. The unified Volaria divided itself into ten factions, each lead by one of these people who would come to be called the First Masters. The First Masters decided that every month they would meet up in the middle of the plane, where they first came to be, to discuss matters between factions.

Within the first six months apart, Litaran agents kidnapped Master Theia's daughter and attacked the Elemental Spirit of Light. Theia called an emergency faction gathering to explain the situation. Litar offered Theia her daughter's safety in exchange for an expensive amount of raw ryla crystals. Master Theia instantly refused and declared war against Litar, gaining the support of Shaido and Ental. In the first Litaran attack against Theria, Theia shot down Litar, ending the short war.

### The Resource War

**-617 AVY (916 Pre-Mending) - The Resource War Begins**

During the first gathering of -617 AVY, Master Theia announced that Theria had run out of aethersteel for faction use, declaring an emergency for Theria to locate more resources for her faction. In response to her emergency claim, Ria-Demai's Master Phyl offered that they may be able to come to a deal, as Ria-Demai had wiped out their supply of wood. After a discussion, the two factions could not reach an agreement and went separately. Less than a week later, Ria-Demai attacked Theria to attempt to take Therian forest by force.

As the war between Theria and Ria-Demai waged on, numerous other factions ran short on food, aethersteel, wood, or other resources, and declared war against each other for regional dominance. By -607 AVY, only Litara had not entered war.

**-600 AVY, Month 7, Day 1 (899 Pre-Mending) - The Unknown Attack**

After seventeen years, in -600 AVY, rumors were on the wind that the factions would finally give up the war and reach a peaceful conclusion. No one wanted to fight. No one had the resources to fight. The war had to end. At this gathering, a magical detonation was launched by an unknown organization, killing most of the two hundred civilians in the hall, severely injuring Shaidosta's Master Nyri, and placing the blame firmly on Entela. Master Ental took Nyri and teleported back to Entela to protect her. Recognizing Master Ental had no reason to want the war to continue, Rya Nisita acted as an agent to find whoever actually orchestrated the attack, hiring the few people that survived the massive spell to assist her. She left on her own, hoping to meet up with her new allies in Shaidosta.

As Rya attempted to return to Shaidosta, she found that in the Master's absence, a rebel movement had taken control of the city. She fled west to Litara, where a trap had been laid by Master Tylin. Tylin was detained by Rya's hired assistance and killed by an Oscuran strike team. Recognizing that the situation had more conspirators, Rya traveled back across the plane to Entela to research more. Along the way, her allies suggested that Elance would like Rya to surrender to them on behalf of Shaidosta, in exchange for its assistance in providing Theria with food. Rya agreed.

**-600 AVY, Month 8, Day 1 - The Aether Alliance**

As the next faction gathering began, all factions agreed that their in-fighting can't continue. Litara's replacement Master lead the factions through peace treaties. This gathering was interrupted by an on-foot assault by a group calling themselves the Aether Alliance, calling for the fall of the elemental factions. Shaido was killed in combat, and fearing the worst if the battle continued, Master Ental channeled and cast a large teleportation spell, evacuating the remaining Masters and their allies to their home factions. Sometime while Ental was gone, Master Nyri was assassinated. Rya placed the blame on her brother Latas Ylerne, who was the only person with access to her. He fled to Mirora, Rya tracked him down, and he was killed in a short duel after confessing that he had a part to play in the Aether Alliance's attacks.

**-600 AVY, Month 8, Day 11 - Solari Falls**

As the factions worried about the Aether Alliance, Rya and her allies made their way to Theria to hopefully gain some insight into the remaining people that threatened Volaria's safety. In Theria, Solari had vanished, leaving in her place Therian citizens that chanted for the fall of the factions. Rya was sent with the intent to find and attack the Aether Alliance's camp with a small strike force. Along the way, she came face to face with Solari. The Spirit attacked Rya, and Rya was forced to kill her. As Solari's breath disappeared, her memories were implanted into Rya's. Solari had stood against Binas. Solari had preferred death to fighting her friends. But instead, Binas enchanted Solari, taking control of her body without disrupting her mind. Rya officially released her hired help from duty, content to finish her job alone.

Rya returned with Solari's body to Theria, to discuss the fallen friend with Master Theia. Theia took Solari's warning, and turned it into a declaration of war against the Elemental Spirits themselves. Messengers were sent out to the other factions, warning them of Binas's treachery and making their declaration of war known.

**-600 AVY, Month 11 - The Fall of the Spirits**

Over the following months, the factions rose in power, striking down the Aether Alliance and uniting themselves under the joint leadership of the Masters, however temporary it may be. Following data about the flow of elemental energy and understanding what happened to Solari, the factions unified in the Elemental Seal to declare their stance against Binas. As if in reply, Binas materialized himself before them, with the other nine remaining Elemental Spirits in his control, and attacked the mortals. Eventually, the mortals overpowered the Spirits using their bestowed Power Scripts. As their dying words, the Spirits left their marks on the world. Most importantly for Volaria, Soris left the mark of Elemental Equilibrium, which would cause the very resources that caused the war to be replenished for a faction if ever they ran dry. This day was marked as the end of the Resource War.

### Outer Volaria

**-433 AVY (732 Pre-Mending) - Entelan Aetherships**

In -433 AVY, Entelan technicians produced a spell that could temporarily hold off concentrated aether for long enough to take a wooden ship through the aether wall. Over the next year and a half, research outposts were established in the so-called Outer Volaria region, beyond the aether wall. Life in Outer Volaria was exceptionally dangerous, with uncontrollable fluctuations of elemental energy and living things that fail to follow the laws of Volarian life.

**-434 AVY (731 Pre-Mending) - The World's Collapse**

By -434 AVY, Entela only had one surviving research outpost. It was at that outpost that Entelans discovered a fact of Volaria's existence: The aether that marked the outside of the plane in all directions was collapsing. The Blind Eternities was enclosing Volaria. After a short conference, the researchers in the outpost realized that with nothing they could possibly do to solve the problem, knowing that the world was dying would do nothing to help Volaria and may only cause it to hurt itself. All research relating to the world's collapse and travel outside the aether wall was destroyed, and anyone involved in the project's memory was erased of the project, including the Master of Entela.

**-34 AVY (333 Pre-Mending) - Entelan Massacre**

As Entela continued to push people into researching aetheric technology, citizens of Elance and Oscura pushed back against them, fearful of what would happen if Entela had control over the world's utilities. Unprovoked, Elance and Oscura made an attack against Entela to strip away some of its power. Many people on all sides were killed, both civilians and otherwise, and both Elance and Oscura were heavily sanctioned by Entela's allies in Theria and Shaidosta. Over the next two years, disease would flourish in these factions and spread to the rest of Volaria, killing hundreds of thousands of people. Once the sanctions were removed, Miroran and Entelan bioaetherists cured and destroyed the disease.

### Volarian Common Era

**0 VY (299 Pre-Mending) - The Census**

Entelan census data tracked the commonality of language. At this point in time, Volarian Common became a more common language than Ancient Volarian, and a new calendar was set at the beginning of the year. Most important books were translated to Volarian common in some capacity.

### The Aether Flux

**299 VY (Mending) - The Aether Flux**

In 299 VY, at the same time that the Mending affected the rest of the multiverse, the careful balance of aether and elemental energy used in enchantments and aether technology snapped, resulting in a massive surge worldwide of elemental energy and destroying any functional aether technology. Homes ceased to be powered, refrigerators and ovens utilizing Entelan technology stopped working, and the containment enchantments for energy cores across Volaria collapsed, causing detonations leveling large sections of cities.

In the resulting darkness, loss of food, and missing equipment, threats and investigations were leveled against Entela. Skirmishes were fought on Entela's boundary as it was blamed for the lives lost. Trust in Entela's technology was lost, and only Shaidosta and Entela continued to use it to its full extent. Roughly one third of Volaria's population was lost in the following years.

**301 VY (2 PM) - The Entelan Core**

In the aftermath of the Aether Flux, Entela recreated its aethertech to be more resistant to alterations in the environment. First: the core. The Elemental-Electrical Cores that powered cities before the Aether Flux were iterated on, and the result was a series of failsafes that disrupted the aether inside the core if anything happened to the containment.

### The Triumvirate War

**364 VY, Month 1, Day 24 (65 PM) - Arina's Defection**

In early 364 VY, Shaidosta faced a rising rebellion against its elemental master. Working as Shaidosta's First Advisor, 13-year-old Arina Nisita poked the rebellion from various angles, trying to find a way that the rebellion could succeed while hoping to find a way to dethrone her mother without an attack by Shaidostan citizens. Fearing for her life, Arina fled Shaidosta to seek a new life -- one separate from Shaidosta -- in Entela, leaving her friend Sylvares Valerna as an ally and potential replacement Master.

**364 VY, Month 6, Day 19 -** **The Oscuran Triumvirate**

Following the defection of Shaidosta's young heir, Oscura offered an alliance to both Shaidosta and Litara. Shaidosta was offered power in a new world order, and Litara was offered as much wealth as Oscura was able to pay. This announcement caused Arina to begin poking into Oscura and Litara's intelligence, hoping to find a reason why Oscura might need allies and expecting an upcoming war.

**364 VY, Month 8, Day 17 - Assassination**

On the brink of success, Arina traveled to Mirora to find ancient texts referring to an event called the "Resurrection of the Spirits" and to relay this information back to Entela. In Mirora, the young Oscuran First Advisor Revela Ylerne was sent to assassinate her. Arina fled, Revela gave chase. At the end of this chase, Arina was struck down, and her planeswalker spark ignited. Later that night, Entela declared war against Oscura for the assassination of their researcher.

**365 VY, Month 2, Day 27 (66 PM) - Call for Aid**

As the war waged on, Fulmen Delcarlo used a prototype piece of Entelan technology and his planeswalker spark to bring two childhood friends from Virilin to Volaria, in a hope that they may be able to help him stop Volaria from dying. Marina Selenia and Kalia Leone were quickly taught the fundamentals of magic and pushed in a direction from there; Marina became an enchantress, and Kalia became a geomancer. The three friends functioned as guerrilla units in upcoming battles, serving to help others.

**365 VY, Month 3, Day 25 - Erasure**

On Day 25 of Month 3, Entela's First Advisor Sara came across a piece of memory in her own mind that felt off. After digging through many documents in Deep Storage, Sara realized that one of the key enemies, Releva, was an Entelan that had her memory shattered by her father, and realized that the two of them were sisters. Learning her family's Power Script, Erasure Process, Sara corrected her memories and confronted her father, arresting him for treason against Entela and starting a war across Volaria, and made her way to the upcoming battle in Oscura.

**365 VY, Month 3, Day 29 - The Battle for Oscura Citadel**

Four days after Sara's discovery, Entela and Theria launched a joint attack against Oscura, joined quickly by Elance, Tirena, and Mileran. Sylvares dueled Master Icilica and slayed her, causing Shaidosta and Litara to surrender. Sara sought out Revela, and caught her during a duel. Sara explained what she learned to Revela, offering to correct her memories. Revela turned against Oscura, striking down its Master herself. Kalia was killed in the resulting fight against Oscura, and the heartbroken Marina ascended, leaving Volaria behind.

In the following days, Sylvares, Sara, and Revela were declared to be their cities' respective Elemental Masters. Revela was stripped of responsibility for causing the war, a responsibility handed to her father for his terrible acts.

**366 VY (67 PM) - Deep Storage Credit**

In the second gathering of 366 VY, Master Sara shows an idea for a new form of tracking currency, using the stability and traceability of Deep Storage documents to track credit. For the first time since the Aether Flux, all the cities agree to accept Entelan technology for the purpose of accessing Deep Storage. In this gathering, the Masters officially decide to stop calling the cities "factions" and only to refer to them as cities.

### The Eternity Era

**370 VY (71 PM) - The Beginning of the Eternity Project**

Halfway through 370 VY, the Eternity Project for Interplanar Development was brought together by Master Sara of Entela under the leadership of Veser Nevai. It accepted seven other researchers and a student and began to push research into the limits of the world. The goal of the Eternity Project was simple: expand past the borders of Volaria to extend trade and research to other worlds. The project was devoted a high amount of Entelan resources.

**378 VY (79 PM) - *The Integration of Aether Tunneling***

In late 377 VY, the Eternity Project ran the first successful test of a modified spell cannon to break through the aether in the eastern sea. In only six more months, on Day 12 of Month 5, 378 VY, the Eternity Project's now-grown-up student Seiva Zeni published a document in the form of a thesis named *The Integration of Aether Tunneling*, alongside the first functional device that could be used to leave the plane. This device became known as the Aether Tunneler, and while its discovery and creation was attributed to Seiva as the person that proposed the first successful test as well as blueprints for the Tunneler's creation.

After the Tunneler's discovery, the project shifted gears and Veser stepped down as the project's head, having lost his devotion to the project. He offered the spot instead to the Seiva who had never stopped being inspired by its possibilities. The project became focused on first sending people into Outer Volaria and retrieving them, and then into locating a way to survive off-plane without aether before finally setting up outposts for interplanar development.  The Eternity Project managed to create a device that could link to the tunnel through aether, but could only do it from Outer Volaria.

**379 VY (80 PM) - The Ancient Entelan Outpost**

In 379 VY, two Entelan explorers in Outer Volaria discovered an outpost belonging to a group of Ancient Entelans that seemed to have been recently evacuated.  The oscillator core was unharmed, doors were locked but food was left out, books were left open with unfinished sentences in them.  The explorers called for the aid of two further Entelans to assist with salvaging anything usable, including Seiva and a core engineer.  With the core engineer to give the outpost power, the Entelans discovered information long lost to time:  the world was going to die, and it was doing to do so within the next 200 years.  The four Entelans consulted with Master Sara, and it was decided that the world's collapse would be kept secret, until they had a real answer to the problem to share with the world.  The core engineer asked that he forget this event, as he couldn't be certain he would be able to hold his tongue.

**381 VY, Month 3, Day 11 (82 PM) - The Arena**

In 381 VY, the Eternity Project for Interplanar Development began work to set up their first interplanar outpost, sending the young core engineering student Hannah Delcarlo-Nisita to The Arena set up an oscillator core and a one-directional aether tunneler back to Entela.  After two weeks, Seiva arrived on the Arena as well, to assist Hannah and begin preparations of her own for the Eternity Project's presence.  The owner of the Entelan Ebony Phoenix restaurant set up shortly after, in hopes of expanding into a food empire across the planes.

**381 VY, Month 4, Day 1 - The Eternity Project for Interplanar Cooperation**

On Day 29 of Month 4, the Entelan outpost was evacuated in the case of uncontrolled antimagic fields, and fifty Entelan stabilizers were set up to lock a grid in the sky against a threat known to Entela as nightmare rifts.  During the battle, Seiva was forced to return from Entela to repair the stabilizers and slightly adjust their aim.  From this battle, Seiva realized the scope of the Eternity Project's goal had changed.  They were not simply for Development, and this allowed her to show her desire to others.  When days earlier she had declared themselves the Eternity Project for Interplanar Development and Cooperation, she had a firm grasp that she was definitely correct.

This name only lasted for two days longer, and on Day 1 of the next month, a conversation with Pidge lead to the name as the Eternity Project for Interplanar Cooperation.  Upon suggesting this name to Master Sara, Seiva was offered the chance to integrate EPIC into the Entelan government as a branch in charge of all non-hostile interplanar relations.

**382 VY (83 PM) - Shaidosta Will Rise, Shaidosta Will Be Reclaimed**

In early 382 VY, a Shaidostan rebellion group pushed back against the tyrant Sylvares.  The city was destroyed for the most part.  Many, many people died or fled.  In the middle of the year, Sylvares made a move to kidnap Hannah Delcarlo-Nisita, hoping to lure Arina to rescue her.  The plan worked, and Arina Nisita and Karina Oblay both went to Shaidosta to rescue her, pushing the rebellion to action.

The rebellion attacked seven key points in the city, forcing the evanesciers of Shaidosta to respond to them and pulling them away from Sylvares.  Arina dueled Sylvares directly while Karina went to locate Hannah, and while Arina lost the duel, Hannah arrived to freeze and kill Sylvares before Arina was killed.  Arina was instated at the new Master of Shaidosta.

**386 VY (87 PM) - The Extraction Project**

In Month 2 of 386 VY, Entela negotiated with the Hanashi region of Virilin to allow Entelan researchers to protect and teach magical youth from theSpellbane until they became of age or decided that they wished to move to Entela.  These youth were taught about both Volarian and Virilin science, shown how to cast spells, taught how to speak Volarian Common, and eventually would make the decision whether to undergo the inoculation process to safely move to Volaria.

In Month 7 of this year, the Saroan government attacked the outpost with the assistance of the spellbane.  Entelan enforcement and Shaidostan military forces traveled to Hanashi to protect the outpost, including both Fulmen and Arina.  The Saroan government was repelled, but Fulmen was killed by and killed the Spellbane member that took his friend from him so many years ago. An emergency meeting of the Global Council was called to prevent the war from escalating further.

### Volaria's Collapse

**495 VY (196 PM) - Sara's Message**

In 495 VY, Master Sara called together a gathering of only the Elemental Masters, without any citizens of any city. At this gathering, she relayed the information she learned about the world over a hundred years prior: the world was dying, but now Entela had an answer. She explained and showed off the settlements they had beyond the aether, ready to be moved to. Begrudgingly, the other Masters accepted, and they came up with a plan over the next five years to acclimatize the people of Volaria to the idea living in new worlds.

**500 VY (199 PM) - Outer Volaria's Decay**

In 500 VY, the first noticeable decay of the aether was caught. Master Sara commanded Entela to be ready, and the people of Volaria were slowly and arduously tunneled from Volaria to one of the other planes that had Volarian settlements on them. The Entelans were the last mainland Volarians to leave, ending with Master Sara.

As Master Sara prepared to leave, the spirit Solari realized that the almost permanently active aether tunnels had carved a hole through the fabric between worlds, giving the Spirits the ability to leave. Solari, Severa, Lyr, and Istali left the Shadow World. Talis and Soris stayed behind to keep Binas locked in the Shadow World. The other Spirits decided that eternal rest was what they would prefer.

**513 VY, Month 5, Day 30 (214 PM) - Volaria's Collapse**

In Month 5, Day 30 of 513 VY, the aether surrounding Volaria collapsed. The blind eternities rushed in, aetherizing the world and anything that remained on it. The remaining Spirits let themselves be taken. The world was destroyed.

## Governance

Volaria is governed by 10 factions (before 365 VY) or cities (365 VY and later). Each of these cities has their own government, which has two primary roles that every city shares: The Elemental Master, who serves as the head of state for the city, and the First Advisor, who serves to assist them with everything that running a city requires.

### Elemental Masters

The Elemental Master of a city is that city's head of state. They have control over the military and enforcement, they make the final decisions about trade, immigration, and intercity relations, they track credit among other cities, and they make other large or important decisions about the city. Commonly, these tasks are divided onto the city's First Advisor to lessen the workload.

The Elemental Masters are chosen differently in every city. In most cities, however, it is the city's First Advisor that becomes the Elemental Master, and this usually happens if the Master is killed or otherwise steps down. In Entela, the next Master is chosen democratically, and in Theria and Shaidosta, the Master is (usually) passed down their First Master's bloodline. If a city lacks a First Advisor when the Master is killed, the new Master is chosen by the people of the city.

### First Advisors

The First Advisor is the person that acts as the Elemental Master's replacement if they ever can't do something or have been killed. The First Advisor is also often the person that communicates the most with citizens of their city, but there have been numerous Masters that have fulfilled that role. The First Advisor is assumed to have the same power as the Elemental Master, including surrendering during war, except for when the Master is available to make a decision on the topic.

### The Eternity Project for Interplanar Cooperation

Entela's government has a branch called the Eternity Project for Interplanar Cooperation. This branch of government is lead by a person appointed by the Elemental Master of Entela, and handles almost all non-hostile interactions beyond the borders of Volaria. This includes most trade agreements, settlements, outposts, interplanar cooperation, and merchant travel.

## Art and Culture

### Currency and Payment

Volarian currency uses aethersteel coins and magical crystals in a currency called "Ryla". In **-210 VY**, aethersteel coins were made into a unified currency with a precise set of specifications. These coins were used throughout all of the rest of Volaria's life, but in **367 VY,** the Deep Storage Credit System was introduced, using a system of receipts and storing data within Entelan Deep Storage in place of using physical coins. Physical coins were still accepted alongside the credit system.

### Elemental Gatherings

The Gathering Week is a large celebration every three months that attracts people over the course of the week. Merchants and cooks set up shop over the course of the week, games are played, and stories are told as the cities mingle with each other.  There are small residential areas, primarily for the Masters, duelists, and a small amount of other high-paying customers.

During the first five days, the cities host a duelists’ tournament.  Each city puts in 1000 Ryla and sends forward a duelist. The cities go through a Round Robin tournament, with two rounds happening each day to prevent accidental overchanneling.  After the last round, the scores are counted, and the top four cities send their duelist into a free-for-all duel. The last city standing wins the pot, and the duelist takes 30% of it.

The duels follow official Volarian dueling rules.  That is, physical weapons are not allowed, nor are spells with a higher concentration than 9S (essentially, power scripts and spells that pretend to be power scripts).  Spells must be nonlethal and cannot have effects that persist after the duel ends. In addition, a duelist loses when they either concede the duel, go unconscious, or begin overchanneling.

The sixth day is the actual purpose of the Elemental Gatherings.  The Elemental Masters sit around a decagonal table within vision and audible range of anyone who cares enough to listen.  This is where alliances are forged, political issues are brought to light, criminals are declared, and plane-wide adjudication is suggested.

On the seventh day, the Masters participate in a free-for-all duel.  There’s no prize for this duel, and there is a slightly different ruleset: While the “no spells with persistent effects” and “no lethal spells” rules are still intact, there is no concentration limitation.  That is, power scripts are perfectly valid as long as they don’t break either rule. After this duel, the Gathering is called to a close, and the cities return home.