Jovar

The land rolls in low, jeweled ridges and terrace-cut slopes, each vein throwing back a sober, ember-red glow; roads of pale adamantine aggregate run true between them, marked by mile obelisks and lantern-posts of crystal. Above, there is no sky in the mortal sense: Jovar lies within an immeasurable geode-vault whose faceted heavens bathe everything in warm, hearthlike light. Far across this gleaming landscape stands Yetsira, the Heavenly City, built as a seven-tiered ziggurat with broad stairways on every face and ring-streets that carry processions, patrols, and petitions upward.  

Notable Locations

Yetsira, the Heavenly City

A seven-terraced ziggurat of gem-brick and white stone. Each terrace has its office of virtue:  

1. The Registrar’s Ring (names, heraldry, travel-writs
2. The Treasury of Lights (accounting of alms, pledges, and celestial stipends
3. The Courts of Petition (reconciliations, redresses, and safe-conducts
4. The Archives of Edict (codices of just law, sealed precedents
5. The Armiger Academies (wardens, auditors, and standard-bearers drilled together
6. Pax Exaltea (Sealtiel’s fortress and parade fields
7. The Bridge of al-Sihal (see below).

 

Bridge of al-Sihal

A single span of living light extending from Yetsira’s crown toward Chronias. It is perpetually open yet passable only to the truly pure; a solar named Xerona stands judgment at the last landing, and even archons step back at her raised hand.  

Gemwarden Hills

Low ranges whose exposed seams ring like bells when a watch is lax; patrol posts are built directly into the stone and answer the hill-song with countersigns.  

The Ledger Hall

A cool basilica where acts of mercy, defense, and honest speech are entered as lines of slow-burning script; false entries do not take the fire.  

The Ember Gates

Interplanar doors sheathed in red crystal, opening to other Heavens by writ; they read a bearer’s oaths as cleanly as a seal.  

Governance

Jovar is ruled by Sealtiel, the Defender, marshal of Heaven’s standing host and warden of Chronias’ threshold. He governs from Pax Exaltea (Vanguard), a glittering bastion on the sixth terrace of Yetsira, where watch-orders, relief-rotas, and lawful compacts are issued. Most of Celestia’s registries, archives, and treasuries answer somewhere in Jovar; ledgers balance, edicts are copied, vows are recorded, and the gates to the Seventh are kept.  

Travel and Access

Most arrivals surface on gem-strand quays below Yetsira and proceed to the Registrar’s Ring for lawful entry. Long roads across the hills will loop a traveler back unless they travel under writ, keep a declared duty, or march in relief of some need, then new milestones appear and distances shorten. The ascent to Chronias is not a road at all but the al-Sihal: a passage of worth measured, not miles trod.  

Inhabitants

Archons in glittering harness, hound, warden, and sword. share the way with lantern archons, trumpet-messengers, inevitable couriers, and a steady tide of mortal pilgrims seeking redress, sponsorship, or simply the certainty of right order. Administrant petitioners serve as registrars, clerks, advocates, and bursars; paladins and justiciars bivouac on the drill fields between circuits. Angels also monitor the plane act as their servitors.

Oath-Sheen

Gemfaces brighten softly when vows are made and kept; they dim when terms are dodged or twisted.  

Ledger Echo

Names spoken at a gate echo once if rightly given, twice if borne under writ, not at all if false.  

False-Word Frost

Deceit draws a dry, prickling chill; quills refuse to take ink for lies in the Courts of Petition.  

Hill-Song

The Gemwarden ridges thrum a low note if a watchpost neglects its hour; the closer post answers with bell and banner until the sound recedes.  

Mercy’s Margin

Judgments rendered here tend to leave the losing party a lawful path to amend and return; those who take it find the roads kinder on their next circuit.