Hieron: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 05:15, 11 July 2022

A partial map of Hieron by Janine Hawkins near the beginning of Autumn in Hieron, and adhering to the Dungeon World adage of "Draw maps, but leave blanks."

The continent of Hieron and its surroundings are the setting first created for Autumn in Hieron, Friends at the Table's first Dungeon World campaign, and revisited in Marielda, Winter in Hieron, and Spring in Hieron.

Many years ago, it was struck by a cataclysm known as The Erasure.

Places

Major Settlements

Towns

Ruins

Domains

History

“

I know what you're thinking, Sige. If every god sprang from something else, where did I come from? Well, one day, Nothing flinched, and there I was. And instantly, it regretted me, and so my good friend Tristero was born. Haven't seen him in a minute, though. Still, the point is, that, in moments like these, gods don't design what their offspring looks like.”

– Samol, "Four Conversations"

The land of Hieron is the body of the god Samol. During Samol's appearances in the story, the state of his body is a direct reflection of the state of Hieron.

Hieron is surrounded on all sides by an empty void known as Nothing. Samol was spontaneously born from Nothing, immediately followed by Tristero, the god of death, who ushers the souls of the departed back into the void. Samol refers to the ability for gods to spontaneously emerge from strong or unexpected emotions as "the divine impulse".

Through the divine impulse, Samol spontaneously brought Severea into being from his desire to see the empty world filled with life, and Samothes from his desire to see that life shepherded and cared for.

In his most legendary act, Samothes entered a mountain of fire and metal and forged the Sun, filling the world with light and introducing time to Hieron through its rising and setting. Prior to that, the only light on Hieron was the "ambient glow" of the gods themselves.^[1]

The gods used their divine authority to write and rewrite history, undoing past events that had caused things to occur in a way that they did not approve, in a process known as Reconfiguration.

In time, however, Samol began to fall ill, afflicted by the Heat and the Dark. Under these circumstances, the relationship between Samot and Samothes dissolved and the two gods eventually went to war over differing opinions regarding the Heat and the Dark. In a desperate act, Samothes' people retreated to the southern city of Marielda and, from within Samothes' mountain of flame, he tore the city from the mainland to keep away Samot's forces.

Tristero, growing weary of presiding over dead souls' trips into the void, retired to the city of Nacre, partially giving up his godhood to preserve it amid the dark days ahead.

Shortly afterward, Samothes himself was killed by his son Maelgwyn, who killed him with the Blade in the Dark in a misguided plan to protect Hieron. At the moment of Samothes' death, Marielda reconfigured itself to contain his tomb, a magic artifact which sapped away the gods' divine authority to rewrite history in order to protect the city.

At some point after this, Hieron went through an apocalyptic period of loosely related cataclysms known as the Erasure which decimated many civilizations and left others struggling to survive. The Mark of the Erasure was caused by a failed mage experiment, and the displaced land became the northwestern island of Ordenna.

Samol claims that the name "Hieron" comes from someone mishearing him say "some place higher on", referring to how Hieron floats in the void of Nothing.^[2]

Geology

During the Autumn in Hieron worldbuilding episode, Hieron is established to be the size of New York state. Hieron is a flat world and does not have a horizon.

Cosmos

Hieron's sun is a structure created by the god Samothes.

Hieron's sky also contains two moons, Del and Bri, created by Severea and Galenica. During the events of Marielda, Samot created the Stars in an unfinished effort to engineer a solution to the Heat and the Dark.

Strata and Laminae

Although the gods of Hieron possessed the ability to rewrite history and undo events, the most major reconfigurations did not erase the previous world entirely. Previous versions of Hieron are layered on top of each other below the "surface" level of the world. "Subterranean" dwellers use a system of "strata" and "laminae" to orient themselves within these different levels, with the surface being Stratum Zero and numbers increasing as one advances downward.

Austin explains that during Reconfiguration, "you don't get to erase anything. [The Strata] all exist, they get partially fucked up in the layering ... which is why it's not just complete worlds ... Each stratum is a reset all the way to zero, whereas each lamina is just loading a slightly previous version, and changing from there".^[3]

Stratum Zero has two laminae: Lamina Zero, the surface world, and Lamina One, and a threshold space that the party enters during Winter in Hieron 08: The Meeting House. Stratum One is the world from immediately before Samothes' death.

Nearly every strata has its own sun, created by Samothes.

The lowest stratum of Hieron represents its state at the time of Samol's birth, and can only be visited by Samol and his kin. The second-lowest stratum is the empire of Death. At the end of Marielda (season), Dark Sun Samothes is trapped there by the magic of Samothes' tomb.

References

[1] Hieron: The Months of Autumn Pt. 1

[2] Marielda 14: The Killing of the King-God Samothes By The Traitor Prince Maelgwyn Pt. 4

[3] Spring in Hieron 00: What Came Before

[1]

[2]

[3]

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 The continent of '''Hieron''' and its surroundings are the setting first created for ''[[Autumn in Hieron]]'', ''Friends at the Table''<nowiki/>'s first ''[[Dungeon World]]'' campaign, and revisited in ''[[Marielda]],''  ''[[Winter in Hieron]],'' and ''[[Spring in Hieron]].''
-A great many years ago, it was struck by a cataclysm known as [[The Erasure]].
+Many years ago, it was struck by a cataclysm known as [[The Erasure]].
-The large island on Hieron's southern end was once connected to the continent before [[Samothes]] pulled the city of [[Marielda (city)|Marielda]] away from the mainland.
 == Places ==
 === Major Settlements ===
 * [[Velas]]
 * [[Ordenna]]
 * [[Nacre]]
 * [[Marielda (city)|Marielda]]
@@ Line 39: / Line 37: @@
 * [[Adularia]]
-== Cosmology ==
+== History ==
-=== Creation ===
+{{Quote|''I know what you're thinking, [[Sige]]. If every god sprang from something else, where did I come from? Well, one day, Nothing flinched, and there I was. And instantly, it regretted me, and so my good friend Tristero was born. Haven't seen him in a minute, though. Still, the point is, that, in moments like these, [[Deities of Hieron|gods]] don't design what their offspring looks like.''|[[Samol]]|"[[Four Conversations]]"}}
-{{Quote|''I know what you're thinking, [[Sige]]. If every god sprang from something else, where did I come from? Well, one day, nothing flinched, and there I was. And instantly, it regretted me, and so my good friend Tristero was born. Haven't seen him in a minute, though. Still, the point is, that, in moments like these, [[Deities of Hieron|gods]] don't design what their offspring looks like.''|[[Samol]]|"[[Four Conversations]]"}}
+The land of Hieron is the body of the god [[Samol]]. During Samol's appearances in the story, the state of his body is a direct reflection of the state of Hieron.
-Hieron is seen as either being synonymous with the god [[Samol]], or having been made by him. Prior to its existence, Samol claims to have been spontaneously born from [[Nothing]], immediately followed by [[Tristero]], the god of death, who ushers the souls of the departed back into the void.
-The divine impulse of Samol's wanting to see the lonely world filled brought [[Severea]] into being, who created the living creatures that populate it. Seeing their lack of self-sufficiency, Samol's desire to see them shepherded and cared for gave birth to [[Samothes]], who built homes, roads, and bridges.
+Hieron is surrounded on all sides by an empty void known as [[Nothing]]. Samol was spontaneously born from Nothing, immediately followed by [[Tristero]], the god of death, who ushers the souls of the departed back into the void. Samol refers to the ability for gods to spontaneously emerge from strong or unexpected emotions as "the divine impulse".
-In his most legendary act, Samothes entered a mountain of fire and metal and forged the Sun, filling the world with light and introducing Hieron to the notion of time through its rising and setting.
+Through the divine impulse, Samol spontaneously brought [[Severea]] into being from his desire to see the empty world filled with life, and [[Samothes]] from his desire to see that life shepherded and cared for.
-=== History ===
+In his most legendary act, Samothes entered a mountain of fire and metal and forged the Sun, filling the world with light and introducing time to Hieron through its rising and setting. Prior to that, the only light on Hieron was the "ambient glow" of the gods themselves.<ref>[[Hieron: The Months of Autumn Pt. 1]]</ref>
-At least two other gods were created, the protector [[Samaantine]] and the teacher [[Samot]]. The gods used their divine authority to write and rewrite history, undoing past events that had caused things to occur in a way that they did not approve.
-In time, however, Samol developed a sort of illness, inflicted perhaps by the looming Heat and Dark of the nothing which surrounded Hieron. Under these circumstances, the relationship between Samot and Samothes dissolved and the two gods eventually went to war over differing opinions regarding the Heat and the Dark. In a desperate act, Samothes' people retreated to the [[Marielda (city)|southern city]] from which they had first come and, from within his mountain of flame, he tore the city from the mainland to keep away Samot's forces. Though the Boy-King's armies eventually made it to the island, the ingenuity of Samothes repelled them.
+The gods used their divine authority to write and rewrite history, undoing past events that had caused things to occur in a way that they did not approve, in a process known as [[Reconfiguration]].
+In time, however, Samol began to fall ill, afflicted by [[the Heat and the Dark]]. Under these circumstances, the relationship between [[Samot]] and Samothes dissolved and the two gods eventually went to war over differing opinions regarding the Heat and the Dark. In a desperate act, Samothes' people retreated to the [[Marielda (city)|southern city of Marielda]] and, from within Samothes' mountain of flame, he tore the city from the mainland to keep away Samot's forces.
 Tristero, growing weary of presiding over dead souls' trips into the void, retired to the city of [[Nacre]], partially giving up his godhood to preserve it amid the dark days ahead.
-Shortly afterward, Samothes himself was killed by their son [[Maelgwyn]], who killed him with the Blade in the Dark in a misguided plan to protect Hieron. At the moment of Samothes' death, his island city Marielda [[Reconfiguration|reconfigured]] itself to contain his tomb, a magic artifact which sapped away the gods' divine authority to rewrite history in order to protect the city, which, amid this chaos, was finally conquered by Samot, who renamed it the City of First Light.
+Shortly afterward, Samothes himself was killed by his son [[Maelgwyn]], who killed him with the Blade in the Dark in a misguided plan to protect Hieron. At the moment of Samothes' death, Marielda [[Reconfiguration|reconfigured]] itself to contain his tomb, a magic artifact which sapped away the gods' divine authority to rewrite history in order to protect the city.
+At some point after this, Hieron went through an apocalyptic period of loosely related cataclysms known as the Erasure which decimated many civilizations and left others struggling to survive. The [[Mark of the Erasure]] was caused by a failed mage experiment, and the displaced land became the northwestern island of [[Ordenna]].
+Samol claims that the name "Hieron" comes from someone mishearing him say "some place higher on", referring to how Hieron floats in the void of Nothing.<ref>[[Marielda 14: The Killing of the King-God Samothes By The Traitor Prince Maelgwyn Pt. 4]]</ref>
+== Geology ==
+During the Autumn in Hieron worldbuilding episode, Hieron is established to be the size of New York state. Hieron is a flat world and does not have a horizon.
+=== Cosmos ===
+Hieron's sun is a structure created by the god [[Samothes]].
+Hieron's sky also contains two moons, [[Del]] and [[Bri]], created by [[Severea]] and [[Galenica]]. During the events of Marielda, [[Samot]] created the [[Stars]] in an unfinished effort to engineer a solution to the Heat and the Dark.
-At some point after this, Hieron went through an apocalyptic period of loosely related cataclysms known as the Erasure which decimated many civilizations and left others struggling to survive. During or after the Erasure, the northwestern island of [[Ordenna]] came into being.
+=== Strata and Laminae ===
+Although the gods of Hieron possessed the ability to rewrite history and undo events, the most major reconfigurations did not erase the previous world entirely. Previous versions of Hieron are layered on top of each other below the "surface" level of the world. "Subterranean" dwellers use a system of "strata" and "laminae" to orient themselves within these different levels, with the surface being Stratum Zero and numbers increasing as one advances downward.
-=== Composition ===
+Austin explains that during Reconfiguration, "you don't get to erase anything. [The Strata] all exist, they get partially fucked up in the layering ... which is why it's not just complete worlds ... Each stratum is a reset all the way to zero, whereas each lamina is just loading a slightly previous version, and changing from there".<ref>[[Spring in Hieron 00: What Came Before]]</ref>
-Though the gods of Hieron once possessed the ability to rewrite history and undo events, these past versions of the world have not disappeared entirely but exist, in a certain sense, below the 'surface' level of the world, though they do not appear to be caves from the inside. 'Subterranean' dwellers refer to a system of "strata" (which are themselves subdivided into "laminae") to orient themselves within these different levels, with the surface being stratum zero and numbers increasing as one advances downward.
-In addition to the sun, Hieron's sky was also populated at some point by the two moons, [[Del]] and [[Bri]]. Later on, possibly around the time of the Erasure<sup><ref>https://twitter.com/austin_walker/status/858161671050858501</ref></sup>, the night sky was also filled with [[stars]], who may have been created by Samot as part of a plan to avert Hieron's destruction by the Heat and the Dark. Hieron likely does not exist as an oblate spheroid floating in 'space' in the same way as our world. It may or may not have a horizon.
+Stratum Zero has two laminae: Lamina Zero, the surface world, and Lamina One, and a threshold space that the party enters during [[Winter in Hieron 08: The Meeting House]]. Stratum One is the world from immediately before Samothes' death.
-The two moons of Hieron are named Del and Bri.
+Nearly every strata has its own sun, created by Samothes.
+The lowest stratum of Hieron represents its state at the time of Samol's birth, and can only be visited by Samol and his kin. The second-lowest stratum is the empire of Death. At the end of [[Marielda (season)]], Dark Sun Samothes is trapped there by the magic of Samothes' tomb.
 == References ==