Arcana Universum
In the age before reality shattered, in the existence governed strictly by the laws of physics and chemistry, humanity lived blind to the deeper, arcane architecture of the cosmos. Anima and Umbra, twin currents of motion and stillness, flowed unnoticed and unfelt beneath our reality, invisibly shaping life in ways no instrument could measure. Only when desperate scientists from a dying Earth, stripped nearly bare of all life-giving resources, uncovered Goddessite on the moon did humanity take its first true step toward discovering the hidden layers of the universe. Decades of prosperity and plenty graced Earth before The Merge shattered Earth, collapsing our known reality with one saturated naturally abundant in Magick fueled by Anima and Umbra. Earth as we knew it fused instantaneously with the Earth from this other reality, combining technologically advanced metropolises with ancient ruins from this parallel arcane realm and unleashing creatures born and evolved under laws humanity never imagined.
Humanity nearly ended in that first generation as The Merge boiled oceans, shattered continents, grew twisted alien biomes, and monsters long attuned to the arcane currents hunted the survivors. It was only through the creation of the AEGIS, an arcane biomechanical implant powered through Goddessite, that humanity learned to wield Magick and push back against inevitable extinction. AEGIS units became both salvation and burden, the means by which a species never naturally sensing the currents could now finally survive amongst them.
Despite the tremendous strength gained by the adoption of the AEGIS, Earth was deemed uninhabitable from the destruction wrought by The Merge and its aftermath. Thus, the remnants of humanity fled into a novel equally wondrous and terrifyingly unknown cosmos already influenced and shaped by countless eons of Anima and Umbra. Among the stars, we found quadrillions of beings, ancient ruins, semi-sentient and ever-changing Riftspaces, and countless worlds and cultures sculpted by the arcane forces that now flowed vividly around us.
This is Arcana Universum: a reality where Magick is as fundamental as gravity, where the scars of The Merge still haunt the survivors of both universes, making them all seek meaning and survival among stars that are governed by the combination of two entirely disparate laws of reality, alien and foreign yet entirely familiar.
Disclaimer:
The setting of Arcana Universum is one without any true limits of what's possible. It's a setting where EVERYTHING is emergently told in real-time, crafted and built upon from my interpretations of die rolls on random tables and Oracles. Much of what is recorded is discovered during the play of my solo TTRPG campaign using the Basic Roleplaying system. It's critical to state that I'm an adult intending to write for other adults. The articles and stories contained herein may, and likely will, document, explore, detail, or reference mature and potentially offensive subject matters and themes such as, but not limited to: foul and explicit language, death, violence, gore, sex, slavery, racial tensions and/or discrimination, scrutiny of religion and religious icons, and other mature topics and themes. These subjects, as with everything in Arcana Universum, are extrapolated using my own human mind using information and context obtained from the situation and random die rolls. I pledge to you, dear Reader, that I will do my utmost to handle the prose and narrative with the highest level of care and grace that I feel is warranted. Every word written in every article is written explicitly to enhance the world, characters, and narratives only. Real-world instances of abuse of any kind, slavery, discrimination, and sexual violence will always be condoned.