Today I Save Myself

by Greg Laurel

  “The Aura is of the universe, a power that cannot be a lie!” Miles declared, throwing the bolt at the Opponent, which caused the evil shade to stagger. Though it had no visage, there was no mistaking: it was shocked. Truly taken aback by Miles’s power over it, instead of the other way around.

  Miles fired another bolt, this time punching a fist-sized hole in its body. Another, and one of the Opponent’s legs was blown off, scattering into nothingness. Now, to finish it. Miles dropped back into a stance, one he’d never use in a fight. But to conjure a great sphere of azure energy, swirling and flashing with power? This was its purpose.

  “You are defeated!” Miles declared, and with a great heave of his entire body, Miles propelled the blast forward towards its quarry with his left hand, leaving it extended as the orb of power barreled towards an opponent doomed. The explosion engulfed the landscape around him, turning the once red arena blue, and the wailing walls of wind calmed and dissipated as the Cynofrax around him returned to normal, and he stood once again in his home. Only one thought in his mind, that became voice.

  “Today, I have saved myself.”

  Planetary Glossary

  Cynofrax — The origin planet of the Vulpian species, Cynofrax is also the resting place of the Aura Prism, a sentient manifest of cosmic power that holds the barriers between reality and the Burning Hells. Though the barriers are not impenetrable, they are able to ensure that Demons do not walk freely within the universe, and that incursions are exceptionally uncommon. Cynofrax also acts as a cultural hub for much of the generally united universe, and central planet for just about everything else, including trade, research, and developments within. Most of the planet’s habitable surface is known as Sectora Neutros, the landmass dotted with self-governed towns and cities that, while by definition independent, still give their allegiance to Cynofrax as a whole, and will stand together in crisis. Cynofrax is also home to the Arenaland province, in which willing participants enter a pseudo-virtual reality where they inhabit a copy of their body within the area and the entire province, about the size of Portugal is an open combat zone. This allows people to train lethally without actually dying, but in the event their avatar is killed, a person is required to take a minimum two-week away from Arenaland as they recover from the surreal nature of ‘dying but not really.’

  Orvitaire — Orvitaire is known as the Martial Planet, having been founded by Loriken warriors, philosophers and other free-thinkers and free-acters as a means of escaping an incredibly bureaucratic time in neighboring planet Sharaeine’s history. The planet hadn’t quite reached the level of needing to fill out a form to get government permission to go to the store, but it certainly was at the level of needing government permission to be successful as a person. The warrior side of the equation of Orvitaire’s founders were in the majority, as sport and competition on the Loriken homeworld had been regulated to the point of maliciousness, as if the entire planet had been taken over by the Concerned Mother’s Brigade(TM), so to speak. Orvitaire is and has always been a planet of fighters and warriors, and the unofficial collective motto is “To be stronger warriors, and better peoples.”

  Turazin — Home of both the Conclave of Sentience and The Hideout (along with its Grand Database), Turazin is seen widely as an incredibly important planet for the cause of the general unity of most of the universe. General unity, in this sense, being mostly ‘communicable’ more than anything else. The Conclave of Sentience is not a governing body, and the only law they actually implement and enforce is the non-interference law when it comes to species not officially recognized as sentient, but that clearly are, and have yet to finish their development to the point of contact. The Conclave mostly acts as moral guidance for most of the universe, essentially being the beacons of ‘best practices,’ with their rulings (but honestly more like determinations) on the Essential Uncompromising Rights of sentient species (which boil down to access to food, water, shelter, communications, medicine, right to equal and unbiased protection under law, and right to self-defense), and the common decency ‘law’ known as Spirit of the Stone (which is basically the law of ‘don’t be shitty’), among others.

  Redaria Prime – Redaria Prime is the homeworld of the Redarian species, even though they originated from neighboring Redaria Omega. Homeworld and the term “Capitol World” are rather interchangeable. Regardless, Redaria Prime is home to Alstralzin, or more colloquially “The City of Progress”, wherein the sciences see some of their most significant developments in the modern universe. Initially this title was more earned on Redaria Omega’s city of Falko-Rakara, but while Redaria Omega’s scientific community is certainly nothing to sniff at, Alstralzin has rather replaced it in reputation over relatively recent times.

  Redaria Omega – Though certainly not a lawless or hostile world, the Redarian origin planet is decidedly more rough around the edges. It is on this planet that more controversial scientific methods and scientists find their home, if only because it is significantly harder to enforce common decency regulations on Redaria Omega than Redaria Prime, given that Redaria Omega is significantly larger as a planet, hence. Redaria Omega’s two moons, however, are the haven of ‘black market science’ as it were, and even most on Redaria Omega would rather not deal with the methods employed in the name of science on the moons of Aldin and Virak.

  Talvakorrik – Sometimes referred to as ‘the beating mechanical heart of the galaxies,’ Talvakorrik is the planet the Talvas Vulpian species hails from. Being one of the three major descendants of the Old Cynofraxian species (The others being the Cynofrax and Death World Vulpians), Talvas Vulpians are essentially the dwarves of the lot, almost quite literally. An adult Talvas Vulpian rarely stands above four feet tall, and as a species, they are very mechanically inclined. Some of the best engineers the stars have known were Talvas Vulpians. They have generally shied away from weapons tech, save for a few notable examples (Such as the AZP-621 Multi-Munition Pistol), preferring instead to machinery in ships, power generation and architecture, leaving the weaponsmithing to their cousins, the Dor-Val-Der Vulpians.

  Pogo-Pira – Pogo-Pira is the origin planet and homeworld of the Hydenti and Hykentiu species, though few Hydenti actually remain in existence, a consequence of natural evolution and genetic offshooting. One of the many planets in the universe with far more water than land, much of Pogo-Pira’s species, particularly the sentient ones, started as aquatic life before inevitably evolving amphibious capability. Pogo-Pira is one of the few water-majority planets that gains significant tourism and visitation for just about any other reason, as many land-base species have a tendency to be slightly unnerved by Pogo-Pira’s underwater cities, and there is a common condition generously named “Landstrider’s Nervewrecker” that is essentially what happens when someone from a land-favoring species has a nervous breakdown in one of Pogo-Pira’s underwater towns and the like. It’s not as prevalent as it used to be, as at least 90% of Pogo-Pira’s sentient population lives underwater.

  Caren’Das – The homeworld/capitol world of the Hajivakk species, Caren’Das acts as a major trade hub for the communicable universe, being a larger than average planet with six moons of decent size. Naturally, there’s a lot of space on Caren’Das. Both it and the rest of the Nashira Strand solar system have seen their fair share of conflict, being as central a planetary system as it is.

  Laksor – The homeworld and origin planet of the Laksorian species (obviously), Laksor has earned a mixed reputation across most of the universe, and one’s opinion on the planet as a whole largely depends on how acceptable they find brothels. Though not Laksor’s dominant feature, as the planet also has a very strong scientific and philosophical community, and while Laksor isn’t the only planet to have them, their most prominent feature is how much they charge for services, or rather, the fact that they don’t.

  Gliropa – Though a mainly Hykentiu planet, Gliropa doesn’t have as large an underwater population as Pogo-Pira, located in the same solar system (or Celestia
l Array, as the common term is in most places). As such, some have referred to Gliropa as “Pogo-Pira lite”, but that is slightly a misnomer. It’s more like “If Pogo-Pira wasn’t mostly underwater”, if that makes any regard of sense. Gliropa is considered ‘a strangely average planet,’ as its history, while not uneventful, isn’t enormously significant, and the same can be said of its cities and landscape. This would likely make Gliropa a hidden gem for tourists, if any of those smart travelers decided to spill those beans.

  Mjarfus (Pronounced Myar-fuss) – Despite only very brief mentioning, Mjarfus is the origin planet of the Hajivakk people, and, while being the center of Haji-Son culture in many ways, is quite cold as a planet. Most of Mjarfus’s solar years are a constant state of winter, but never quite ‘dead of winter’. This gave rise to the phrase ‘There is always snow on the grounds of Mjarfus, but its cold never stings’ which usually means something along the lines of ‘Something might look harsh on the surface, but is actually quite fair, and the appearance weeds out the unworthy.’ This phrase did fall out of favor. It may have risen, but has recently fallen, much to the relief of many species who aren’t fond of metaphors. Snowball Combat is a very prominent sport on Mjarfus, hosting regular tournaments on both regional and planetary scale. The largest of these tournaments is often opened by the Exemplar themselves.

  Alabasteron – Colloquially referred to as “The Graveworld”, Alabasteron is decidedly the planet that had the most battles upon its surface during the Sentience War. The entire planet is scarred moors, and the ancient skeletons of warriors from long ago still constantly fight each other, but cannot die. The consensus has generally been that those on Alabasteron at the time fought with fury and passion such that not even death could quell their will. None dare set foot upon the shattered planet these days, given that there’s no real reason to, and that they’d rather not be caught in the crossfire between indestructible warring factions.

  Bol’Drakkin – Though many different types of Dragon species exist in the universe (referred to as Genetic Castes), the Bol’Drakkin Draconians are the most numerous, and their home world is Bol’Drakkin itself. Among the Dragons of Bol’Drakkin, there exists clan-families known as Battle Brothers. The main difference between Bol’Drakkin Battle Brother Families and traditional clan structure is that one has absolutely zero need to be born into them. In fact, the main way these Battle Brother Families gain members is Dragons (and other species sometimes, if they’re into that sort of thing) simply ask to be allowed in, after which a test is administered, and often passed. The morals and values of Battle Brother Families are easily attainable knowledge, and joining them is usually a matter of one’s own values aligning. For example, one of the more prominent Battle Brother Families, the Jurovendr, they hold the motto of “Though honor is luxury before right, ours is to do well by the worlds,” and another well-known Battle Brother Family, the Veyret-Kai believe, “Strength through skill at arms, all of them”. The Veyret-Kai are well known as warriors and academics.

  Raon-Arashal – Often called “The Devouring Jungle”, Raon-Arashal is the home world of the Death World Vulpians, decidedly the more warrior-like Vulpian species between their Cynofraxian and Talvakorrik cousins. Death Worlders hold survival skills in high regard, electing to send themselves for up to weeks at a time into the planet’s “Black zones”, areas where the natural environment is so hostile, one Loriken researcher called these zones “The kind of place the reaper might not want to bother with for fear of his own continued life”. Permanent cities do exist on Raon-Arashal, such as Firatyne and Kendradeyne, but still many choose to hone their skills in this ultimate test. In fact, some elite militaries in the universe train their special forces in Raon-Arashal’s Black Zones.

  Zharekk – Even with Zharekk not as naturally hostile a place to live as Raon-Arashal, the Zharekai Vulpians are not to be overlooked when compared to the Death Worlders they descended from. The planet of Zharekk is well known as having some of the most potent tornadoes and windstorms for several galaxies, and in fact, more settlements and cities on Zharekk use weather-shielding technologies than neighboring Raon-Arashal. Zharekk has also been historically, a popular place to exile oneself to, as many bunkers and fortresses dot the planet, that warriors both ancient and modern had chosen to spend their days in solitude in.

  Sharaeine (Pronounced Sha-rain) – The Loriken origin planet of Sharaeine has had a rather turbulent history, much to the chagrin of its people nowadays. All the way from not long after the Demon War of the Third Cosmic Era, the planet has had many regimes ranging from the bureaucratic to the tyrannical, to the incredibly flawed as a direct result of an immediately prior tyrannical regime. Even now, in what is considered the ‘modern’ universe, Sharaeine and its peoples still struggle with progressive ideals, due to many on the planet simply being too paranoid that something new and bad is going to happen again, as it were. Many people, Loriken and otherwise who leave the planet for brighter prospects are rather reluctant to divulge the fact they came from Sharaeine, due to its reputation, and the reasons it exists.

  Kalivan Tor – The Strife Planets are three: Zharekk, Raon-Arashal, and Kalivan Tor. Not much is actually known about this planet, or its reclusive Vulpians, referred to as the Siivalar. Kalivan Tor is home to one of the few collective societies that have successfully lived underground, its necessity stemming from the high surface temperatures on much of the planet, given its proximity to the parent star of the system. In their few dealings with the outside universe, Siivalar Vulpians have shown a rather odd sort of inherent Psionic tendencies. Because while Cynofrax Vulpians have themselves latent Psionic power, the Siivalar Vulpians have a disposition to “Burst-type” power-wielding, i.e., short bursts of exceptionally potent raw power, a Psionic ‘style’ that many had believed to have fallen out of relevancy long ago.