Chronias
Ervenian Era, 1051 AB
Chronias is the Seventh and final Heaven: the crown of Celestia, where law is without cruelty and goodness without pride. It is less a country than a consummation, a place where the mountain’s long ascent resolves into quiet, light, and the nearness of the Watcher.
Customs and Rites
There is no coercion in Chronias; mercy moves of its own will. Words spoken in anger dissolve before the last syllable; bargains struck to another’s harm cannot take shape. Restitution here is not demanded, it is desired. The penitent find the shortest way forward; the unyielding find only silence and the long, level horizon.Approaching the Open Gate
Parties pause at the Golden Threshold and take Three Quiet Breaths: one for truth, one for mercy, one for courage. Guides will not prompt you; the Gate receives intent more than words.Words & Silence
There is no formal liturgy. Kindness is speech; contrition is grammar. Harsh utterances unmake themselves into hush. Those who cannot pray may sit where water runs—the Rills of Accord carry unspoken hopes as well as psalms.Acts of Restitution
Penitents practice the Three Acts:- Returning: bring back what was taken or give forward in equal kindness.
- Repairing: mend what was harmed, even if only by witness and work.
- Rejoicing: celebrate the good you once begrudged, naming it aloud.
Geography
Travelers speak—briefly, if at all—of a summit-plain enclosed by a Golden Wall whose single gate stands forever open. Beyond it lies a Garden of the Summit: lawns like woven light, clear rills that sing without words, and groves whose leaves never cast fearful shadow. Some say a colossal fruit tree rises at the Garden’s heart and that its boughs carry the scent of remembered kindness. Others swear there is only an immense, empty throne upon a dais of dawn. The truth of Chronias seems to meet each pilgrim according to what they can bear.
Notable Locations
The Open Gate
A tall, doorless breach in the Golden Wall. No seal has ever closed it; no force has ever stormed it. It admits only those the layer itself receives.The Garden of the Summit
Paths wander among pale fountains, sunless groves, and stone seats warm to the hand. Here burdens ease and then lift.The Tree of Accord
A living pillar (for those who see it). Its fruit tastes like a forgiven debt; its fallen blossoms are said to root into old wounds and close them.The Throne of Silence
An empty chair (for those who need it). Pilgrims who kneel before it rise with faces lightened—and with no words for why.Cloister of First Light
A quiet precinct where the truly innocent, the stillborn, the unknowing, the unchosen, are kept in joy until they are given onward.Governance
Zaphkiel, the Watcher rules here and nowhere, present as radiance, guidance, and a gentleness that admits no falsehood. He keeps no court, yet all vows feel witnessed; he commands no army, yet no malice can stand within his light.Travel and Access
The Bridge of al-Sihal rises from Yetsira in Jovar, but its last landing is judged by Xerona, a solar who need only lift her hand to turn back the unready. No spell nor stratagem opens a different way. Those who cross the Open Gate do not “travel further” in any mortal sense; and those who choose to leave again discover that details of the Seventh will not cling to speech.Inhabitants
No host musters here. Lantern archons sometimes appear like fireflies in dew and pass on. A few solars stand ward at the al-Sihal below. Petitioners who reach Chronias do not remain as citizens, they are received, and in receiving are changed. Of Zaphkiel’s presence: some describe a golden storm of kindness; some, a figure whose beauty burns; some, only warmth and music.Localized Phenomena
The Burning of the Middle
Neutralities and divided hearts cannot hold shape here. What is generous in a soul brightens; what is cruel thins and blows away.Golden Quiet
Wrathful words fall apart on the tongue. Oaths sworn to spite cannot complete themselves.Mercy’s Gravity
The moment one wills restitution, the path shortens underfoot; distances answer contrition.Shadowlessness
Fear casts no shadow; malice finds none to hide in.Fruit of Remembrance
A sweetness on the air like an old kindness recalled; touch it, and a grudge you carried seems suddenly foolish.Veil of the Innocent
Where infants’ souls play, even grief is gentle; the sound of their laughter cannot be imitated elsewhere.Trait Type |
Description |
|---|---|
| Gravity | Objective down to nearest surface. |
| Time | Time is 50 times slower than the Prime Material Plane; Celestial stars keep perfect hours; bells and beacons are synchronized across the coast. The First-Night Covenant (guest-right) is socially binding until dawn, hospitality first, judgment later. |
| Shape & Size | Infinite; An endless jeweled vault with repeating hill-belts and a city whose terraces welcome all comers without crowding. |
| Morphic Traits | Law-bound, oath-responsive. Structures that fortify, record, reconcile, or guard are easy to raise and mend by rite; works of sabotage or deceit are stubborn and brittle. |
| Elemental Energy | None Dominant |
| Alignment | Lawful Good. |
| Magic | Protection, warding, law, good, divinations of identity/intent, oath/contract magic, light, and teleportation to a documented destination within Jovar are enhanced. Chaotic, deceitful, or coercive compulsions are impeded; unauthorized teleportation into restricted precincts (Pax Exaltea, the Bridge approaches, sealed archives) fails. Calling/summoning evil outsiders is impossible within Yetsira. |
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