Timescape

The Timescape was the sages' term for the multiverse. It contained manifolds and the Astral Sea between them.

Manifolds, also called "worlds", "planes", or "universes", were defined primarily by their energy level. Low-energy worlds lacked the energy for advanced technology to function, and thus relied on sorcery to break the rules. In higher-energy manifolds, psionic power was increasingly accessible, enabling alien technology like starfreighters, hard-light blades, and hard-light blasters.

Worlds of the Timescape

Sages on Orden indexed the planes of the Timescape, beginning with Orden as Manifold 1. The manifolds they knew of included:

Upper Worlds

• Axiom, the Plane of Uttermost Law, home of the memonek, containing the five-tiered city of Ordos.
• Proteus, the Sea of Eternal Change, home of the proteans.
• Quintessence, the Plane of Elements, containing Alloy.

Lower Worlds

• Orden, the Mundane World
• The World Below, home to the voiceless talkers and the olothec.
• Equinox, home of the shadow elves.
• The Seven Cities of Hell, the last plane of law, home to the Devils.
• The Abyssal Waste, at the bottom of the Timescape, home of the Demons.

Position unknown

• Arcadia, the manifold of Val, home to the true celestials.

Traversing the Timescape

The space between manifolds was called the Astral Sea, or the Sea of Stars. It connected all worlds, but its geometry varied between different parts of the Timescape.

In the lower Timescape (Orden, its concurrent worlds, and below), manifolds behaved like flat planes, and interplanar travel was difficult. There, the Astral Sea appeared as a liquid ocean blanketed in fog. Stars, deep beneath the water, were a mirror image of the constellations visible from Orden. Provided they had a way to get there, mundane ships could sail the Sea of Stars without special equipment.

High in the Timescape, manifolds behaved more like planets. The Astral Sea there was like outer space, and psionic vessels like memonek mindships or protean changeships could ascend from spherical worlds to travel among the stars.

Factions of the Timescape

UNISOL

UNISOL, or the Universal Solar League, was the dominant faction of the Timescape. Its members primarily memonek, UNISOL protected trade between the upper worlds of the Timescape, defending starfreighters from pirates like the Time Raiders or the Starchasers.

Many denizens of the Timescape viewed UNISOL and its inflexible laws as an oppressive force.