The IX Series - World Building - Part 11

 Damone

Hello again.

Last week we took a closer look at the Exordium Star System where we learned that Exordium was once one of three planets: Exordium - Vilen - Liberty.

This little system is governed by Damone, a brown dwarf aurorae, one of the few stars capable of surviving the ravages of so many black holes within the Verianda Nebula.

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Now, I know you'll have envisioned what Exordium looks like as you read the book, and I won't spoil that, as her natural diversity of flora and fauna was ravaged by the emergence of the Horde. 

BUT - do you remember the first "glimpse" we got of Exordium's surface when Caym and his companions completed an astral long-range survey of the planet?

Here's an excerpt:

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Back to back, two sentinels whirled slowly round and round in midair, maintaining an ever-vigilant watch over the five individuals in their care.

Below them, safely ensconced within a protective barrier of infrared, thermal, and photonic properties, Caym, Zagam, Roth, Urium, and El’chan appeared to be relaxing, sitting as they were in a circle, holding hands.

In reality, while their bodies rested within the cool interior of the Shadow of Autumn’s main engineering deck, their minds were far away. Light years away, in fact. And at this very moment, the nucleus of their conjoined psyches was descending upon the broad expanse of a gray and ochre colored world, bathed in wan light from a brown-dwarf sun.

As executive of the concert, Caym lightly sounded the biosphere.

Fibril echoes lingered, teasing him with spectral reminders of the teeming diversity which once graced this planet with vibrant life. Today only a desolate husk remained, where dust storms ravaged brittle, wind-scoured deserts.

An impressive chain of islands still stretched more than halfway across its globe, splitting a vast ocean and connecting both sides of an immense, world-spanning continent in a lopsided grin like a string of broken teeth.

The mélange of flora and fauna here must have been breathtaking, Caym remarked, can you sense it?

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Well can you? Sense it?

Here's the map I devised during the World Building stage to work from.
(Don't worry about the size, just click on the map and it will enlarge)

Yes, I added a spot of color to make it pretty - AND - as you can see, it contains details you don't actually get to read about in the books.

The action takes place within the environs close to the capital - Barsoonet - and the CIART (Cosmological Institute of Advanced Research & Technology)

Keep that in mind as you revisit the continent of Origen, because next week, we'll take a closer look at the CIART headland so you get a better idea of what our heroes had to contend with.

See you then :)