Here’s a look at one part of what we’re working on!

The Oruns

The Celestial homes of the Peoples of the Union of Ascendancy
There were eleven known Orun, each a home world to the ten Peoples, plus the central Orun known as Prime. Each Orun is a solid shell 50,000 kilometers in diameter, with energy provided by tapping and regulating the gas giant’s energy. All Oruns are designed to replicate an idealized version of each home world, a perfectly reproduced paradise for each people to live upon. Each Orun is large enough to hold 20 trillion inhabitants, but most contain only a fraction of that amount. The majority of any Orun is untouched wilderness, dotted with large machines used to regulate and maintain the workings of the world. Each Orun exists in an orbit of one astronomical unit around a star that shares the same name as the Orun. Much of the Orun’s star system was used in its construction, and some planets were moved to make room for the new world. Each system has other terraformed worlds used for vacation or industry, but all are dominated by the Orun.

Anatomy of an Orun

The Oruns are varied in their layout and design, but each has several attributes in common.

The Star

Not truly a star, the central gas giant of each Orun was modified by the Orisha to act as a source of energy and light for the Oruns. The color varies and is usually engineered to be pleasing to the inhabitants. The light source even shifts emitting less visible light during “night time.” The light source does not denote the class of star as normal and is a cosmetic feature built into the start to the specifications of the inhabitants. Before the last Sapona war, the color of a star could be changed for celebrations or ceremonies; now it is fixed at its “default” setting.

The Seneschals

The Seneschal drones maintain the Orun and are ever present in the sky of the Oruns. They do what the populations have lost the ability to do after the Psychic Wars, maintain the Oruns. It is estimated that over a billion Seneschals exist on a given Orun, ranging in size from .3 meters to 2 meters. All Seneschals are an autonomous artificial intelligence with one programmed goal, to maintain the Orun and to keep the inhabitants happy and safe. Mostly the Seneschals are ignored and left to go about their business, but it is a bad omen to see a gathering of Seneschals as that means there is trouble in the Orun that needs their attention.

The Megaliths of the Orisha

Each Orun has a megastructure near the primary Iris portal. The structure is a free-floating block of blue-silver 10 kilometers long, 5 kilometers wide, and 2 kilometers thick. There is no way into the Megalith, and all are inactive since the destruction of Orisha Prime.

The Primary Portal

The large iris portal sits at the exact equator of the Orun and is 20 kilometers in diameter. Radiating out another 40 kilometers are the machines and facilities that regulate the opening and closing of the enormous structure. Through it, the largest of the Union ships may pass. One hundred smaller portals, none more significant than half a kilometer dot the Orun surface and are used for maintenance.

The Union of Ascendancy Moon

Orbiting the Orun’s star is a moon 3,000 kilometers in diameter. The Union Moons are considered the capitals of each Orun and house all the bureaucracy for the Orun systems. Each is populated by a staff that numbers into the billions.

The Ring

At the equator of the Orun is a metal ring 100 kilometers wide and 20 kilometers high. The only opening into the inner shell of the Orun can be found here, and each is guarded by Seneschal wardens.

The Outer Surface

The outer metallic surface “skin” of the Orun is a dull silver. In some places, the outer surface is rocky and littered with cosmic dust from meteor impacts. Some of the impact sites have been cultivated into livable terrestrial areas with breathable atmospheres.