The World

There will need to be lots of links between pages here - you’ll see where they need to be.

“So, you’re here to learn about our world are you? Well you’ve come to the right place.”

There are a remarkable number of similarities, and differences at the same time. One of the core differences being the several rings out in space that orbit the planet. These rings light up the night every night. Most historians agree that it was the result of an asteroid collision with one of the two moons from before life began. When this asteroid struck, the moon was not only destroyed, but the energy from the resulting shattering particles were a perfect storm. A chain reaction occurred, and they merged to form an entirely new type of stone.

Due to an unknown series of events that followed, these newly formed stones all eventually settled within the gravitational field of the planet and resulted in several different rings that now encompass the planet. The second moon however, has settled into a different area of space, a little further away and now acts in the same manner as the moon you have, controlling the tides with it’s gravitational field.

As time passed, life formed, and technology grew. A time came when the rings were explored, and what they found was beyond extraordinary. At first, it was seen as nothing but a destructive force. When the first explorers landed, well, they never returned. Somehow, somewhere, something went catastrophically wrong, and the explorers lost their lives. That was the first and only venture for several years. Films of what happened were studied. There was no outside interference - everything seemed to be working. The only noteworthy parts were that after communication, the stones started to glow - and contact was lost within minutes afterwards.

After several years - a second group was sent. They discovered that it was something to do with the communications system itself. It had set off a second chain reaction in something within the stones that caused the first explorers to tragically lose their lives. But what they found afterwards was something even more remarkable. While volatile, these rings were a form of power source. A power source that had not yet been discovered. Instead of relying on oil, geothermal, solar, hydro, or wind energies, there was now potential to tap into the power emanating from the rings. That this power could be transferred.

There were many unsuccessful experiments in the years that followed - however, scientists eventually discovered that there was no need to transfer power between the rings and the earth, because a type of power exchange was already occurring. It wasn’t just gravity holding these rings in place, but a secondary force - it was named - aether. The planet exchanged a type of aether between itself and the rings, and the rings seemed to get a second type of energy by absorbing solar radiation - making a self-sustaining system of sorts.

Aether covers our entire planet, but is for the most part - unseen to the naked eye. It doesn’t interact in a purely physical sense as it’s been found in the atmosphere, cities, forests, inside mountains and the deeper parts of the oceans. Similarly, aether acts like an ocean, and has stronger flows in places like currents or rivers. Dubbed, ‘aether lines’, these criss-crossed the planet in unpredictable, almost shifting patterns. It was almost as if physical matter almost could not interfere with it. When several of these aether lines crossed, more power could be harnessed - this was called a ‘Nexus’. These were the only fixed points of highly concentrated aether transfer. The more currents that converged at one point, the bigger the Nexus.

After several of these Nexuses were discovered and mapped, cities, businesses, and research facilities were quickly built around them. This almost followed a pattern too. The bigger and more powerful the nexus, the bigger the city that was built there - assuming it was on land that is. The most powerful nexuses were thankfully in the ocean.

Regrettably, as something with such power is found, wars follow, and there have been wars over the more powerful nexuses in ages past, but now, boundaries have been set, and laws in place to ensure safe, fair use of each nexus.

This leads us to present day, where aether and electricity are used as common power sources, but these are intertwined and able to be used to create very different technologies to the ones seen in your world. For example, our world uses luftglyders - vehicles that basically use and can hover by using aether. Our roads essentially act like ‘railways’ in your world - just tracks that are easier for luftglyders and other methods of transport to ride on. Our public transport: aetherwings - are something similar, except they look like what you call, ‘buses’, except without the wheels. Instead they have large rings taller than the bus at the front and back, and from these are long wings that move similar to dragonflies - allowing them to hover/fly.

… How does this story continue? The links to each page also required - history, etc. Remember to mention life forms, how they interact with aether, how life and ecosystems changed, etc.