cosmicablog

[cosmicablog]

Some uniform design concepts for Inyat I did yesterday, I like the skirt idea a lot :)

Inyat, one if my ocs in Cosmica, is an employed guard/soldier for one of the wealthy land owners named Odessi.

She is stuck between her ambition and her empathy. On one hand, her society rewards the upholding of the status quo, and the persecution of minorities. If she does the same, her ambitions will become reality, she'll be elevated, honored. By punching down at those who have already been made lowly, she will be promoted.

But her empathy strains against this idea. She has compassion for the poor, the destitute. She sees community where other soldiers see refuse.

And so when she befriends Sitar, a lowly worker at the steel mill she patrols, she finds herself at war with her heart.

[cosmicablog]

Inyat, one if my ocs in Cosmica, is an employed guard/soldier for one of the wealthy land owners named Odessi.

She is stuck between her ambition and her empathy. On one hand, her society rewards the upholding of the status quo, and the persecution of minorities. If she does the same, her ambitions will become reality, she'll be elevated, honored. By punching down at those who have already been made lowly, she will be promoted.

But her empathy strains against this idea. She has compassion for the poor, the destitute. She sees community where other soldiers see refuse.

And so when she befriends Sitar, a lowly worker at the steel mill she patrols, she finds herself at war with her heart.

[cosmicablog]

I havent gotten to work on this much lately with school and all but!

I have continued to think

I was thinking about magic systems because I just finished Hero of Ages and I'm reading Elantris right now, and watching Wheel of Time (i plan to read the books too dont yell at me)

So I'm thoroughly engulfed with the idea of gendered magic.

Magic in Cosmica is kinda like water.

So, mostly, magic is like a liquid. Its an energy and a power, but universally its supposed to be a liquid sort of substance. It ultimately comes from the idea of the water between worlds, which allows people to travel between the cosmica planets. The headsprings, ver krina.

Because when you draw upon magic, i think there's this idea that you draw upon the waters of the worlds, like this ancient spring of magic. It doesnt have a name.

So on Urutae, the main cosmica planet, magic is associated with religion HEAVILY. Magic users are almost synonymous with priests/holy people. And so use of magic, and parallel practices, are considered ritual.

Part of this religion includes wrapping the arms (and sometimes the legs) with specially woven strips of cloth, which are often fashioned after water patterns or stream-like designs. In some parts these are considered to be able to help the magic user channel their powers, while in other areas it is a signifier of their power/religion which sets them apart from others.

Traditional magic user garb concept I whipped up the other day. Very rough, but you get the idea with the cloth strips. (Ignore the shoulder pieces)

So gendered magic? yeah i dont know what im going to do with that idea, i liked the concept of women doing the magic (ty wheel of time), but i dont want to take it the same direction as RJ so, I'll think of something.

Maybe it's something to do with the church, maybe only women can join the church so they are the only ones taught the magic. I havent decided if i want to go genetic or non-genetic for my magic system, though im leaning toward non-genetic because I think that's a bit more fun and flexible.

[cosmicablog]

Im going back and forth between the genre of work this is. Is it fantasy? Is it sci fi? Where are the lines? Do they have nanotech? Are they in the middle ages?

I sure dont know!

[cosmicablog]

Cosmica's higher powers are not really gods. They are more divinities, or divine wills. Pieces of power that have been specifically shaped by mortal wills.

They are as such called "Numen", literally 'divine wills'.

Spite - numen of spite and the will to survive. A savage, vengeful essence, that feeds on lives lived in spite, and things done in spite.

Preservation - numen of preservation and the will to persist. To bond so deeply with a thing that you cannot be separated from it. A will of protection and security for the cherished item, whether person or place or thing. It is a quiet, melancholy essence that feeds on the ache to protect until you yourself are destroyed.

Conquest - numen of control and the will to power. To subjugate and rule all things, to tame every wild threat and wicked tempest. To bridle the wind, to bend the backs of the trees. A heavy, lumbering essence that feeds on the need to conquer, the hunger to gain under yourself all things.

These are early ideas, and subject to change, but I love the concept of divinities feeding on and being shaped by the mortal desire to be alive in different ways. Living, whether through spite, greed, or yearning, is a draw for these divinities, and each has been sculpted to represent a different aspect of "the will to live."

[cosmicablog]

Most of the stars you see there are dead.

Sitar turned to see Preservation standing in the air near him, their long black cloak like a funeral shroud, their simple silver band seemed heavy on their brow.

"Dead? But they still glow."

Dead but dreaming of life, Preserved, if for a short time after death. To be seen.

"Do you keep them half alive like that? Do you make them dream of burning?"

You mistake me again, Sitar, I do not do. My existence is merely a matter. It is. When you feel yourself tied so deeply to the earth, that is me. When you reach out to your past, brushing fingers with your dead selves, that is me. I am the persistence of all things, making themselves known to the universe just a little while longer.

"Isn't that cruel? To make something live when it should have died? Isn't that what happened to me?"

You are the one who ties yourself to this land, this country, these people. You live because they persist. You persist because they live.

"I wish you'd speak straightforwardly for once," Sitar grumbled, turning back to look at the stars.

Dead but dreaming of life, burning just a little while longer.

Preserved.

Like him.

[cosmicablog]

I was standing in my kitchen making lunch and realized I never decided what class the guards and military are in.

They probably have their own sub-class that sits either very high up in Lower Middle Class or at the bottom of the Ancillary class.

They are exactly what they sound like: trained soldiers loyal to whatever ancillary ruler and landed gentry they serve under, ultimately swear loyalty to the figurehead as well, but that's less important.

Government and social class for cosmica is. Certainly something.

So basically the class system goes like this

The Figurehead

- this guy is just pretty to look at

- the common people wanted someone to "represent them", but the rest of the upper class with all the actual power didn't want someone who would threaten their power, so they created the figurehead position.

- you have no power but you get your own plot of land and a nice house and everyone is supposed to respect you

- if you owned land, you don't now. It goes to your heir or you give it to someone else, but you legally cant own more land than the parcel of property surrounding the palace.

The upper class

- aka the landed gentry. They own the lands, and usually these plots are the sizes of countries

- they make most of the rules, and have actual power to change laws

- theyre kinda uppity

The upper middle class (Ancillary)

- aka the ancillary. They are rulers on a smaller level. The landed gentry appoint these people to take care of their lands on a more detailed level

- they must defer to the upper class in terms of ruling.

- some wealthy merchants populate this class

- for political reasons, ambassadors and rulers from other countries are treated as if they are this class

Lower middle class

- educated people. More important tradesmen, specialists, religious leaders (maybe). Average merchants and people from other countries populate this class

- they sometimes own land, but never enough to move up classes

- theyre equivalent to like, average people who went to high school at least

Working class

- tradesmen who dont own land, or who are employed for their craft by the landed gentry

- these are your blue collar workers I think

- they get by just fine, but if the economy shifts, theyre the first to fall

Lower class/slave class

- people employed by the landed gentry or ancillary to do menial labor/hard labor that doesnt require much instruction. Usually criminals, political traitors, and social outcasts.

- those in abject poverty are usually here

- its possible to buy one's way out of slavery, due to the law of universal pay, but the system is built to make that very difficult.

- sometimes the working class can be pressed into service by the landed gentry and ancillary when there is a labor shortage

A plot point I decided to put in my story is what happens if one of the landed gentry manages to become the figurehead, and makes a sect of powerful followers who give the figurehead power.

It would completely shift the power balance in the land and would make a lot of the other landed gentry and ancillary people nervous.

[cosmicablog]

Government and social class for cosmica is. Certainly something.

So basically the class system goes like this

The Figurehead

- this guy is just pretty to look at

- the common people wanted someone to "represent them", but the rest of the upper class with all the actual power didn't want someone who would threaten their power, so they created the figurehead position.

- you have no power but you get your own plot of land and a nice house and everyone is supposed to respect you

- if you owned land, you don't now. It goes to your heir or you give it to someone else, but you legally cant own more land than the parcel of property surrounding the palace.

The upper class

- aka the landed gentry. They own the lands, and usually these plots are the sizes of countries

- they make most of the rules, and have actual power to change laws

- theyre kinda uppity

The upper middle class (Ancillary)

- aka the ancillary. They are rulers on a smaller level. The landed gentry appoint these people to take care of their lands on a more detailed level

- they must defer to the upper class in terms of ruling.

- some wealthy merchants populate this class

- for political reasons, ambassadors and rulers from other countries are treated as if they are this class

Lower middle class

- educated people. More important tradesmen, specialists, religious leaders (maybe). Average merchants and people from other countries populate this class

- they sometimes own land, but never enough to move up classes

- theyre equivalent to like, average people who went to high school at least

Working class

- tradesmen who dont own land, or who are employed for their craft by the landed gentry

- these are your blue collar workers I think

- they get by just fine, but if the economy shifts, theyre the first to fall

Lower class/slave class

- people employed by the landed gentry or ancillary to do menial labor/hard labor that doesnt require much instruction. Usually criminals, political traitors, and social outcasts.

- those in abject poverty are usually here

- its possible to buy one's way out of slavery, due to the law of universal pay, but the system is built to make that very difficult.

- sometimes the working class can be pressed into service by the landed gentry and ancillary when there is a labor shortage

A plot point I decided to put in my story is what happens if one of the landed gentry manages to become the figurehead, and makes a sect of powerful followers who give the figurehead power.

It would completely shift the power balance in the land and would make a lot of the other landed gentry and ancillary people nervous.

[cosmicablog]

I have been hounding this idea for ages and im not certain where its going but i WILL follow it.

Basically travel between solar system planets in cosmica is possible through these gateways on each planet. I havent decided if there are multiple per planet or just one each.

These gateways allow you to go to the waterways, also called the headwaters, also called ver krina. You can travel the headwaters between planets like navigating a vast network of streams and rivers. And then you go through another gateway and congrats youre on another planet!

Its my solution for high fantasy space travel, because i wanted star wars but like high fantasy. and it operates basically like the Nether. X miles in outer space is Y miles in ver krina.

For now the network doesnt extend beyond the edge of the main solar system, in order to prevent other worlds from this wider universe from accessing cosmica (because that would be too complicated for them rn)

There is a lot of water imagery and language surrounding ver krina and travel between worlds, but not in the way that the ocean is. Its very firmly river-like

[cosmicablog]

Some art of Sitar Amerati, the guy who's supposed to save the world

[cosmicablog]

So what is this?

Cosmica is an old project. Though I've been working on it for 4-ish years now, there is not a lot of concrete information. And that's mostly because I've been unable to commit to much.

but the basics are that it's very much inspired by the cosmere, dune, and star wars.

There is a network of stone gateways that allow people to travel to other planets in the solar system. There is magic, I think. There is a class system, a figurehead ruler, and a corrupt wealthy class oppressing the rest of the population. And there's a guy named Sitar who is destined to stop the world from ending