the Persistence

In a world where most of the land can't decide on what it is, there is a point of stability: The Persistence. There, the dragon god Vaelezar and her offspring built a tyranny that has lasted three millennia. Magic has been monopolized. It makes them cleverer, keeps them healthy, and stretches their lifespans by centuries. Most of the other species try to get by. Some resist.

Around the Persistence the Flux roils and flows. It is not quite chaos. Instead, it's closer to force held in superposition with reality collapsing into a stable state only when it is observed. The name 'Persistence' is a counterpoint to this force. That it persists is only interesting because the rest does not.

At the edge of the Persistence, the people have found a ways to deal with the Flux which has transformed their societies until they are barely recognisable. The people must pay constant attention to each other and their surroundings to keep the lands still.

At the centre, the Flux has a more dependable resource to keep things stable in the form of the constant seep of stability from other dimensions. Some of this comes through Vaelezar herself. Others through small tears in the fabric between worlds known as 'Slivers'. Who controls these, controls stability. And in a world where this is hard to come by this is incredibly valuable. Almost all manufacture, food production and resource gathering relies on this stability to succeed. Those who control these Slivers farm it. Those who don't try to survive in what leaks around the edges. As the number of Slivers is both small and fixed, realms go to war over them.

Yes, there are other realms. Out there, in the Flux. Sometimes they collide. Sometimes they trade. Sometimes they just prey on each other from a distance. The Inquisition constantly watches for these incursions. As the Flux can creep in anywhere, this is much harder than just watching the borders. Listeners are everywhere. Unannounced and unrecognised, they listen and watch for dangers from far-away lands as well as closer to home. What they find, they report to their superiors.

The Inquisition is not the only religious institution. In fact, the Persistence is a theocracy. Vaelezar is its deity and her children its saints. This is not a benevolent religion. 'Catching Hey eye' means to become the victim of misfortune. As she is not a fount of meaning, the peoples of the Persistence try to find it in other ways. Some in their community. Others by turning to almost dead and outlawed gods.

The Inquisition pursues those who practice such alternative faiths. But not with too much vigour. There is plenty more to do. And the truth is, the poor are not a great deal of concern to the Dragons and their Drakin offspring. They would rather focus on each other as that is where the real power lies.

This gives opportunity to the poor who wish to fight for a better life. They organize bellow the attention of the authorities. There are many organisation but the most well known is the Broken Scales. They fight a war that is existential to them but as yet little more than a nuisance to those in charge.

Cracks are beginning to show. An institution that has been running largely unchanged for three thousand years becomes a victim of its own success. Decadence, corruption and institutional rot have crept in; undermining its efficiency. The presence of an actual physical god means criticism is impossible and change all the harder. Add to this that some of the more powerful dragons are disappearing from and the gods are going silent, and there are opportunities opening up.

What the people will do with them is as yet uncertain. The goblinoids use the slow decay of the institutions to raid ever deeper towards the centre from the Flux. The dwarves plan revenge for the betrayal of the kings by Vaelezar thousands of years ago and the discrimination they've felt ever since. The elves, whose great age makes them inflexible, retreat further into their cities to escape the chaos. The humans, who are the most recent arrivals, use these opportunities to worm their way into more positions of power. The gnomelings hold their own council as they continue their nomadic lifestyle selling their wares and telling their tales.

What is to come is as yet uncertain. Will the regime break? Will the people rise up? Will other realms invade? And what comes after? Something better? Something worse?

Welcome to the Persistence.