Volaria

(This article is in progress.)

Volaria is an unstable artificial plane located within Volarian Local Space. It is the location of the set Volaria, that takes place in 4571AR (365VY). This world is destroyed in 4719AR (513VY)

Physical Constitution
Volaria is an artificial plane created by an ancient planeswalker in 3411AR (-795VY). 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 are reliant on elemental energy, and are able to convert aether into different form 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)

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 4571AR (365VY), when Avery Etinaias suggested that the term "faction" was a term bound to war. * Family name retroactively applied

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 - 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 - Mortals Rise

In -675 AVY, mortal life forms were created out of the elemental energies of the Spirits. 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 - 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 Script 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 - 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 - 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 this had more conspirators, Rya travels back across the plane to Entela to research more. Along the way, her allies suggest that Elance would like Rya to surrender to them on behalf of Shaidosta, in exchange for its assistance in providing Theria with food. Rya agrees.

-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. In this combat, Shaido was killed. Master Ental channeled and cast a large teleportation spell, evacuating the remaining Masters and their allies to their home faction. Sometime while Ental was gone, 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 over 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. Those citizens were struck down, and 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. Solari attacked Rya, and Rya was forced to kill her. As Solari's breath disappeared, her memories were implanted into Rya's. Solari stood against Binas. Solari prefered 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 takes Solari's warning, and turns 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 materialize 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 is marked as the end of the Resource War.

Outer Volaria
-433 AVY - 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 - 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. In essence, the world was dying. After a short conference, the researchers in the outpost realized that with nothing they could possibly do to solve it, knowing 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 - 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 are removed, Miroran and Entelan bioaetherists cure and wipe out the disease.

Volarian Common Era
0 VY - 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 - 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 - 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 - Arina's Defection

In early 364 VY, Shaidosta faced a rising rebellion against its elemental master. Working as Shaidosta's First Advisor, 14-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 - 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, Sara

Volarian Books
(Main Article: List of Volarian Books)