Altus

Realm of the Deep

Technology

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Magic

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Survivability

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Diversity

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Connection

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Realm of the Deep

by Blook

Creation Era

Third

Adherence Title

Abyss Dreamer

Sophont Count

9 Native

Odius

Castus

Introduction

Underneath a starless sky an angry ocean convulses and froths in defiance to the emptiness above. The surface of the Realm of the Deep is treacherous for even Elementals, forcing all living creatures to reside deep within its crushing depths. The ocean of Altus is unending and covers the entire realm, having consumed even the stars that once lit the sky above. So massive is Altus’ that its only ocean is the source of every ocean across the Cosmos.

Far below the surface exists an abyssal realm, alien from all others. The native life has been forced to become misshapen; their forms evolved to survive teh crushing depths and to navigate without sight. Most notable are the mythological leviathans that defend the fissures that leak water to all other realms and the immense krakens that feed on the aquatic Titans that all civilized life rely upon for survival. Worse, unknowable creatures traverse the darkest regions of Altus where the water becomes one with the darkness. It is these creatures that wish to escape into the oceans of other realms and feed.

Energy Sources

All native life within Altus rely on Primal energies to survive. Primal Air is the most abundant, but other forms of Primal are relied upon as well. Glow, originating from the Drowned Stars, is present but highly dangerous to use.

Glow

Glow leaks from the Drowned Stars, boiling the highest level of the ocean and irradiating all life that rises too high from the depths. Only the machines of the First Men rely upon this dangerous source.

Primal

Primal Water is abundant as natural water and is used by most creatures to survive. Primal Shadow becomes equally as abundant the deeper you travel but is increasingly taboo.

Faith

Each Hydrapolis has its own collection of minor divines that can be worshipped. Some cultures, however, have found it more beneficial to worship the Titans themselves.

Titan-Bound Hydrapoli

Life deep within the ocean of Altus relies upon the life, and death, of massive Water Titans known as hydras. These hydras are so large they function as nomadic ecosystems with kelp forests growing on their backs with thousands of aquatic lives calling them home. For the purpose of civilization, the native Sophonts have learned complex feats of both magic and architecture to carve open these immense Elementals so that cities can be built inside of them.

The process to transform a hydra into a hydrapolis requires the Titan to be broken both mentally and physically, making it prone to predation by ever-hungry krakens that lurk deep below. When a hydra is killed through natural or unnatural processes, its corpse, and the civilization within it, will begin to sink forever downwards. With much of the ecology of the lower Depths of Altus relying on corpses for survival, each Titan slain will feed many generations of smaller creatures.

Altus

Realm of the Deep

Water

Shadow

Realm Index

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General Information

Primary Element

Water

Type

Magical Realm

Location under

Astral Anchor

Inhabiting Species

Adhere to Altus

Altus Abyss Dreamer

Geography

Similar to continents, Altus is has large open-areas described as depths to help organize the realm. These depths, which size is determined by the sea-plate it resides on, are filled with exotic life despite the hostile environment.

Suns Depth

Taking its name from the two suns trapped beneath its waves, the Suns Depth is the highest and most dangerous Depth of Altus. No life can be found within the Suns Depth, elemental or otherwise. The plasmatic waters are so hot that even Fire Elementals are melted down to their most primal forms. It remains unrecorded when the ocean swallowed the twin stars.

Boiling Ocean

The surface of Altus boils from the heat of the twin suns. Huge pockets of the ocean have been ionized into a form of primal plasma.

Lights Depth

Extreme in temperature and oxygenation, the Lights Depth is considered inhospitable to the native life of Altus. The light of the drowned suns still reaches this depth giving the ocean an eerie glow. Growing cabals of both Fire and Light Elementals have taken to calling the Lights Depth home, tirelessly working away to sink the drowned suns lower so that they can claim more of the realm.

First Men

The First Men also took interest in Altus and attempted to conquer the realm. Many of their creations can be found floating silently through the Lights Depth.

Wardens Depth

Mostly safe from the heat of the drowned suns and their cursed light, the Wardens Depth is a massive, empty zone inhabited only by only specialized creatures. It is named after the Wardens, a collection of massive, floating coral structures that were constructed to absorb the latent heat from the higher depths. Little is known about their creators.

Vast Emptiness

With no Titans to live alongside, life has not yet found a way to inhabit much of the Wardens Depth leaving the region to be vast, empty, and haunting.

Titans Depth

Most life within Altus exists at this depth, living alongside or within the aquatic Titans that float blindly through the region. No light from the drowned suns reaches this depth but many creatures have taken it upon themselves to glow in their stead through bioluminescence or magical means. It is this region that connects to all other oceans within the Cosmos, making exoteric travelers infrequent but expected.

Fissures

Gashes can be found scattered about the Titans Depth that function as gateways to the other Realms. Leviathans, of nearly every variety, nest around these fissures and protect Altus from exoteric threats.

Hungers Depth

Too cold and too pressurized for survival without extreme adaptation, the Hungers Depth is a deadly region of Altus claimed by the ever-hungry krakens. Though some Sophonts claim this region as their homeland, very little in the way of civilized life can be found. Much of the ecosystem feeds on the cropses of dead hydras and the cities found within them.

Large chunks of earthen material can be found at this depth, formed from the biomatter of dead Titans. This submerged islands are the basis for civilization for the ||SHADOWFOLK|| and their exoteric allies.

Krakens

Born from the Shadows Depth, krakens are Shadow Elementals who exist to feed upon the titanic hydras and the civilizations they carry. Coming in almost any form or size, the most common shape krakens take is that of elongated squids or impossibly large sharks. Each kraken has a unique song that it sings to corrupt their prey so that their hunt is almost a mercy.

Shadows Depth

Home to things ancient and unknowable, the Shadows Depth is a region without heat, light, or even water. Things that should not be put to words float through the darkness, singing out songs of madness that permeate not only Altus but the Cosmos beyond.

Eternal Presence

Those that exist within the Shadows Depth have existed for longer than the Cosmos and will exist long after it.

Sophonts

Beastfolk

Aguin (Eelfolk)
Kor-Lo (Sharkfolk)
Tj'mian (Crabfolk)
Ytoth (Squidfolk)

Deadfolk

HyClot

Faefolk

Psyella (Merfolk)
Ythoult (Umbrafolk)

Formedfolk

Ward

Manfolk

Loaran

Aligned Realms

Water Realms	Altus Caelus Glacus Helius Marus Meridius Satulus Ulmenus Undus

Shadow Realms	Altus Caligus Larus Sepulus Sulumus Tenamus Ubrus Velamus Venarus

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Comments

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Councilor of the Inner Sanctum Serukis

Nov 14, 2024 23:21 by Dr Emily Vair-Turnbull

Nope nope nope nope. The idea of an ocean being big enough to swallow the stars and sun is actually terrifying. I would love to know more about the sophants that live there.

Emy x
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