Chapter Text
Chapter 0
Hämarik. The twilight continent. A land as diverse as the stars themselves. Great snowy tundras dominate the northern lands, bordered by swathes of lush green forest. In the south, thick sheets of ice cover the ground, making it nigh on impossible for life to exist there. And yet life persists. Between these extremes, there is more still: sweeping deserts and lush green hills; impossibly deep ravines and mountains that reach to the heavens; volcanic plateaus still raging with ancient fire and glacial lakes gently shifting with timeless breaths of the wind. And in the center, ruling over and caring for all, is the Lunaran Empire.
The Lunaran Empire is ancient, said to have been created by the celestial Polaris to guide civilisation into a bright future. Through millennia, the Empire has evolved and grown into the stuff of legend. The people's assembly, known as the Lineage of Stars, leads the Empire in all things and all are welcome and equal in their grand chambers of debate. There is a royalty, but it persists more out of tradition than anything else. The royals of Lunara are said to be descended from Polaris itself and do not partcipitate directly in the decision-making of the Empire, they merely observe and advise. They are often deployed as negotiators to help settle disputes between the many baronies across Hämarik that have joined the Empire.
Our story begins in one of these baronies. Oumuamu, a small but wealthy region adjacent to a volcanic plateau. The borders of the barony were originally created by a collection of trade unions, mostly miners who worked on the plateau, who sought to pool their resources to extract more worth from the thick rock they toiled against. Their collaboration was a great success, and brought many riches to the barony, allowing the unions to provide for all their people. But alas, throughout history, power and greed have corrupted many weak willed men and women, and this same story has played out in Oumuamu. The nobility have forgotten their roots and place value on lineage above all else, shuttering themselves in gilded halls and shunning the common folk.
Amongst the nobility, however, is a single kindred soul. Princeps Vela. Child of Oumuamu's lord, but child in name alone. Born to a lowly maid, they are a stain upon the royal bloodline, scorned by the queen, tormented by their elder half-sisters, and ignored by their own father. Mute, expressionless, and shrouded in quiet resignation, they moves like a wraith through the palace, enduring cruelty without resistance. To the court, they are an embarrassment. To the servants, they are barely worth the attention. But to the people of Oumuamu and to one particular Lunaran prince they are so much more, and deserves so much more than the pitiful life they lead.
Chapter 1 (wip)
Vela woke to the sound of someone knocking on the door to their room. They took to their feet and walked the short distance between their bed and the door, only for it to open before their hand could touch the doorknob.
"Finally!", the impatient face of a maid revealed itself on the other side, "I was beginning to think I'd have to come in there myself!". The maid looked Vela up and down, noting their disheveled appearance. "By Polaris, you look like you've only just woken up!"
Vela only nods in return, not speaking a word.
The maid scowls. "Lazy child. All you do is mope around the palace looking sorry for yourself and now you have the audacity to sleep in on the most important day of your father's life? I suppose one can't expect much from the bastard child of a whore." She forces herself past Vela into the cramped room and throws open the blinds, allowing the triple suns of Hämarik to illuminate them both. She nods, satisfied, and begins walking out of the room. "Now make yourself decent for your fathers sake. You have another fitting appointment with the tailor in 2 hours, don't forget." And with that, the maid left, without so much as a 'good morning' or 'goodbye'.
Vela stood silently in their room
