Table structure:
- Introduction - Wikitext
- Origin_and_Nature - Wikitext
- Significance - Wikitext
- Osia_and_the_Osiari - Wikitext
- Cultural_Significance - Wikitext
- See_Also - Wikitext
- Bibliography - Wikitext
This table has 4 rows altogether.
| Page | Introduction | Origin and Nature | Significance | Osia and the Osiari | Cultural Significance | See Also | Bibliography |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ákyar (edit) |  Ákyar is the fundamental energy in the cosmology of Adaris. It consists of chaotic particles that fill the Napadéh, and everything that exists is made of them. It is widely regarded as the basic building block of reality. |
Ákyar has no known origin. It is believed to have always existed. Its particles are in constant motion, interacting and changing, and each holds the potential to become anything. Things continuously form from Ákyar and dissolve back into it, so that the world is constantly renewed. Relationship with the Primordial Spirits editUmalyu, the first consciousness, emerged in the Napadéh, and Pavkanai, imagination, arose from it. The interaction of Umalyu's consciousness and Pavkanai's imagination gave Ákyar form. From that interaction the other seven Primordial Spirits arose: the spirits of darkness, light, earth, fire, air and water, and later of time. Each is a stable expression of Ákyar, embodying a different aspect of reality. |
|
||||
| Cosmology of Adaris (edit) | |||||||
| Great Equilibrium (edit) | The Great Equilibrium is the balance between light and darkness in the Dawn Wars, the endless conflict between Tñarilu and Náiluv, the Primordial Spirits of light and darkness. It constantly tips one way and then the other, and its shifting produces day and night on Dalel. |
The Great Equilibrium came into being with the Dawn Wars, c. 55,000 BME, when Konmai, the Primordial Spirit of time, emerged at the end of the Great Erosion. Light and darkness, whose realms, Qaaniguaq and Woncu, lie on either side of Dalel, began to contend for the space between them. Neither has been able to win. The Equilibrium is often described as a scale. When light gains ground, the scale tips toward day; when darkness gains ground, it tips toward night. The warden races of the two spirits, the Inguik and the Nuworno, fight on their behalf, and their struggle is the tipping of the scale. Each swing lasts roughly the same length of time, and the scale never comes to rest. Why the balance holds is unknown. |
The Great Equilibrium governs day and night on Dalel. Daylight and darkness are divided across the plane in concentric rings, following the same pattern as its climate. The center of the plane lies in permanent daylight; Haberria, which lay at the center, knew no night. The outermost reaches, beyond any inhabited region, lie in permanent night. Between these, the boundary between light and darkness moves as the scale tips. When light gains ground, the boundary moves outward: dawn comes first to the regions nearest the center and last to the outer rings. When darkness gains ground, it moves inward: dusk comes first to the outer rings and last to the regions nearest the center. Dawn at any place is the moment the advancing light reaches it; dusk is the moment the returning darkness does. Regions near the center therefore have long days and short nights, and regions toward the edge have short days and long nights. A full day, from one dawn to the next, is the same length everywhere; only the share of daylight changes. |
The Great Equilibrium lies beyond the reach of Osia. Disciples of the Path of Tñarilu and the Path of Náiluv work with lesser spirits of light and darkness and can brighten or darken a place for a time, but they cannot affect the balance itself. The Primordial Spirits do not heed mortals, and any attempt to reach the Equilibrium is regarded as extremely dangerous. |
The turning of day and night shapes life across Dalel. Calendars are reckoned in days, and work, markets and travel follow the daylight. Many animals are most active at dawn and dusk, and hunters and herders plan around their movements. The Equilibrium also appears in everyday speech, in sayings about the turning of the scale and the return of light or darkness. Philosophy editWhether the Great Equilibrium could ever break is a long-standing question. Some hold that it is a law that cannot be broken. Others hold that it lasts only as long as neither spirit gains a lasting advantage, and that a world of endless day or endless night could not sustain life. |
||
| Napadéh (edit) |  Napadéh is the boundless expanse in which Adaris exists. It is filled with Ákyar, a chaotic energy of pure potential. The Primordial Spirits came into being in the Napadéh, and the realms of Adaris lie within it. |
The Napadéh has no known origin and no known boundary. It is not empty: it is filled with Ákyar, whose particles are in constant flux and hold the potential for all existence. Umalyu, consciousness, was the first spirit to emerge in the Napadéh. Pavkanai, imagination, arose from Umalyu as a natural consequence of consciousness. The other seven Primordial Spirits arose from the interaction of Umalyu's consciousness and Pavkanai's imagination, which gave Ákyar form. Coming into being in the Napadéh itself is what distinguishes the Primordial Spirits from all other spirits. The Napadéh still exists. The realms of Adaris lie within it, and Adaris as a whole is the realm of Umalyu. |
The Napadéh is the source of everything that exists: every spirit and every realm arose within it, from Ákyar. |
The Napadéh is a central subject of Adarian philosophy and religion. Philosophy editThe origin of the Napadéh is a matter of belief, and three views are held. The most widely held is that it has always existed. A cyclical view holds that the Napadéh is both the beginning and the end of the universe, and that Adaris will one day dissolve back into it. A less common view holds that the Napadéh is a ripple within the consciousness of a greater being, who brought Umalyu forth by their own will. |
|