Starlight Commons

A little over three hundred years ago, Stellagos was a natural continent that held no life beyond small critters and wildlife that reigned supreme over its landscape. It was ripe for the picking for any Deities to choose to become a home to their creations, and it would not be much longer until three would.

The sisters Zenta, Iphion, and Emasis stumbled across the planet of Kunvadis as they sailed through their domain in the stars looking for the perfect place for their combined creations to start living a life they had dreamed of. When they finally spotted Stellagos, it was rumored that they felt such an abrupt spark of energy and potential that they could think of no place better to place their creations.

Using their combined powers, the sisters pulled together clusters of stars, hardened stardust into flesh and bone, and gave thought and individuality to their first creation, who would later become known as Hypselle Aster. As they let her fall from their hands and to the flourishing planet below, all they could do was watch.

Hypselle was designed with every thought in mind on how best she could survive: four legs for quick and adept travel, two arms for the manipulation of objects, and a mind that could survey and choose how best to go about her future on an empty continent. For months they watched as she stumbled over terrain that was new to her, took ill when she ate berries that were not edible, gained new features when she ate things that were. Hypselle was a wonder they were fascinated with, until they realized that her solitude was the problem that hindered any real forward progress after several months.

Together, the goddesses turned once more to their rich Stellar Nursery that held all of the components they needed to create additional creations to join their first. The sisters argued for several weeks over what kind would best be of aid to Hypselle, until they decided to send one of each of their ideas to her.

The second they sent down had more beastial powers that Hypselle did not possess. Armed with thick fur and sharp teeth, the young creation they sent was intended to help defend Hypselle and teach her how to use the natural creatures to help ensure survival. This creation would later be referred to as Asa Mistlight.

The third they created was one that could keep Hypselle and her first siblings entertained, while also teaching them how to swim and traverse the large bodies of water that littered the continent. Though they know they would have difficulty traversing over dry land, they saw the ability to swim and to teach compassion and critical thinking as more of a boon than a detriment. This creation would later be called Wiley Marius.

The fourth was one that would be wild with a fiercer temperament than any of the other siblings. These scaled versions of their creation was equipped with nearly impenetrable scales that would assist the second creation in the defense of the growing group, while also providing a friction point that the group would have to work together to help create new ideas that would have to include their opinions. Their leather wings would also help with flight and pulling the attention away from hostile beasts. This creation would later be called Hallias Yenerin.

The fifth and final creation that the goddesses pulled together would be the most reserved yet intelligent of the group, with an attention to detail and eyesight that far succeeded anything of their prior creations, and the ability to scout ahead with near silence thanks to their feathered wings. Though where their intelligence and wit soared high above their siblings, they were also extremely fragile, needing to be protected from the harsh environments they would find themselves in. This final creation would later be called Kairdar Elthyra.

As each of the siblings fell to the now older adolescent Hypselle, the goddesses watched as their first became reinvigorated with a new sense of purpose and interest in her role in this new world. She flourished as she taught each of them how to gather ingredients, cook, and even began to sign signals and form words with them as they aged. It was a wonder that could never cease to amaze the sister goddesses, even as time moved on to nearly a year later, where their creations had become a functioning society that thanked them everyday for their siblings and the life they were able to live.

As they flourished, the goddesses decided it was time to give their creations a name. Time and time again they argued back and forth over what would name them, until Iphion finally came up with one that rang true to each of them: Astrali. It was a name that called to their astral home, while also including at least a letter from each of their own names to pay homage to their creators. They then decided that each type of Astrali needed a distinction to make it easier when they started to create more: Clovun for the hooved, Beastion for the pawed, Cetun for the finned, Laminon for the scaled, and Quillian for the feathered.

After two years had passed since the creation of Hypselle and a year with her siblings, the goddesses believed it was time to start an entire community that could inhabit and care for the continent they had landed on. They had also seen what it was like and what their creations could use in an advanced version of their original blueprint, taking the time to add in the ability to shift into a two-legged version of themselves to ease in transportation and building.

Over the next two years, hundreds of Astrali fell to join the original group, much to their delight. They loved each other as siblings, but they had always wanted more family and friends to create a bustling center of warmth and community that they could not achieve as five alone.

These next generation of Astrali began to refer to the original group as The First, and the name still is used to this day when referring to the first Astrali who started their journey and gave future generations a jumpstart.

Four years after the goddesses sent their first Astrali that began the journey to the advanced civilization they had become, there was a wave of unease that settled through the stars. Though they had no clue what had caused their Stellar Nursery to shudder with a wave of color and the flashing of starlight, they would soon find out as they noticed a falling meteorite that sped toward their creations with terrifying speed.

On the surface of Stellagos in-between what is now known as The Burnt Prairie and The Mineral Expanse, The First and the generations following them had built a flourishing city of magic and comradery that had become known as First Landing. Each subspecies of Astrali had figured out balances and ways to work with all the different kinds they had created, and they all worked together in harmony.

The summer of the fourth year After Landing was a brutal one that had dried almost all of the grass in the prairies that the Beastion and Clovun hunted and gathered. It was difficult to keep both water and food as an option that kept each family of Astrali comfortable, but with the combined efforts of each subspecies it was a task they were willing to combat. That was until the fall of a meteor that landed just outside of First Landing, marking the end of the life they had known before.

Hypselle and the rest of The First were the ones who investigated the fall of the space rock as soon as it landed, as it looked nothing like the ones that their mothers had sent before. It was jagged and filled with metal pieces that shone in the harsh sunlight, and the Astrali that wandered out of its rocky home looked nothing like they knew.

This Astrali walked out as if it was as old as they were, with calculating eyes and metal encircled on its four legs that moved with an almost unnatural movement that did not function as theirs did. Asa and Hallias were quick to be on their guard when it approached, introducing itself as Brutus Odumborn, The First Artificial Astrali.

Most of Hypselle's siblings were shocked and angered at the quick knowledge and language this supposed 'sibling' already had, when all of them and the generations following them had to spend significant time learning how to live and speak. Hallias was the most outspoken against this intruder, however both Hypselle and Wiley were sympathetic to the new arrival. They believed that if their mother had sent a new type of Astrali to live with them, even if more advanced, it was a sign of forward progress that they should celebrate. Asa, Hallias, and the soft-spoken Kairdar did not agree, and no matter how much they talked, the fracture of The First had begun.

As The First argued and Brutus Odumborn watched on, they did not realize that the meteor that had brought the new creation to their planet had sparked a deadly flame that had quickly caught on the dead grass that the summer had cursed them with, and the flame that grew became known as Odum's Hunt. Its destruction killed many unsuspecting Astrali who could not escape, and it was the spike that tore the close siblings of The First entirely in two.

Four months after the landing of Brutus Odumborn and the beginning of Odum's Hunt, the entire prairie they had lived on completely burnt down into a wasteland that made it nearly impossible to grow any kind of crop or care for any livestock. Though its destruction did not end with The Burnt Prairie, as it also destroyed the original home of all Astrali: First Landing.

Despite Hypselle's, Wiley's, and Brutus' efforts to stop the fire as they could while putting trust in others they did not know, Wiley did not survive the event. His death infuriated the remaining First siblings outside of Hypselle, as they could not stand to hear that Brutus was beginning to be revered to as a First, when he had destroyed their home and killed their brother. They refused to stand alongside the 'Odumborn Destroyer' as an equal, no matter how much he had helped in the life saving efforts of the Astrali, while Hallias cursed his eldest sister for being a bleeding heart fool who did not see the destruction he brought until it was too late.

After this, The First fractured into several groups that followed those who they trusted the most. Asa went east toward the jungle, while Kairdar and Hallias went north toward the mountains. This left the final two First who still looked at each other with kindness and vulnerability to decide to move whatever refugees they could that wanted to move from the destruction of First Landing to a better place on the other side of the Crystal Loch.

Once Starhaven began to be built by the new generations of Astrali that fell after Odum's Hunt, it was obvious to the three that remained together that these new Artificial Astrali would not end with Brutus. Their arrivals began to resemble the calmer landings that the natural Astrali had, which helped put hundreds of the refugees at ease when they realized they were just a metal verison of themselves, and soon began welcoming them into their families.

For several years Hypselle and Brutus worked together to build Starhaven amongst their families and friends, however when its final stone was set, the First Artificial Astrali had decided it was time for him to find somewhere safe and comfortable for his fellow Artificials to settle after falling. He wanted to ensure that there was a space where they could acclimate without the standing ridicule they still received from some of the refugees, and wanted to give them the space they needed to grieve. Hypselle accepted his reasoning, waving him a teary goodbye as he left with a group to the neighboring Mineral Expanse.

As soon as he disappeared over the horizon, the strong front that The First gave to the original generations of Astrali crumbled into dust as Hypselle tried her best to stay as connected with those she could reach with the city of Starhaven, even as her original family disappeared into the winds.