The Jungle Of Fallen Stars

What is the Jungle of Fallen Stars?

Long ago the ancestors came to the world of Aeio in great vessels that travelled across the stars. The ancestors changed Aeio, made it their home and brought forth many children, as varied in form as the ancestors were themselves. For years beyond counting the ancestors watched over their children. Under their guidance great civilizations rose up in partnership with nature, working in tandem to create a paradise for all. This might have remained for eternity if not for the arrival of the ancestor’s oldest enemy, the gods. 

To both the lords of law and the princes of chaos this world of balance was heresy. With power and corruption they brought about a great calamity, causing Aeio’s smallest moon to fall from the sky. The vessels of the ancestors were shattered, their debris raining down upon the land, the places where those vessels fell were forever changed. This jungle is one such place, the fallen stars being the ship debris that rained down as though fiery stars were falling out of the sky. The world has never recovered, but these broken fragments each contain powerful magic and technology, drawing the bravest or most foolhardy to search these locales for scraps of the power the ancestors once wielded.

The Gods on Aeio

“All gods are mad gods, no matter their placations and promises they seek nothing but the insanity of a truly uncompromising belief”

Ancient ancestor saying

The people of Aeio have a complex relationship with religion. Most of Aeio's people are fearful or hostile to those who speak of god's. The moonfall and the subsequent age of war have ensured most beings fear and despise the gods. Instead most of Aeio's people follow an animism inspired by the ancestors. Believing that animals, plants and even places have an essential spirit that must be honoured in order to live in harmony with them. This belief is looser than a formalised religion and is only lightly guided by druidic practitioners into anything more ritualistic. Worshipers of the gods of chaos and law are viewed with fear and disgust by most.

Recent History

After the calamity of the moonfall an age of war swept all of Aeio, the powers of chaos reigned supreme for a time but as is their nature, their dominion soon fell to infighting. Those who kept true to the path of the ancestors finally began to emerge as true civilizations using a blend of ancient traditions and salvaged ancestor technology to connect with the world of Aeio and bend it to their needs. This rise of civilization had an unintended consequence, a strengthening of the lords of law. Deios, also called “The Authority” or “The Golden Law” used this power to incarnate in a mortal vessel, the so called Golden Lord. By pairing his divine might and understanding with the technology of an intact ancestor vessel he created the four armed warrior species known as the Barssu and set out with them on a path of conquest that he calls unification.

For a time the Golden Lords victories seemed unstoppable and many of the new civilizations fell beneath his golden fist. His first true resistance came from the northlands where the destruction caused by the moonfall had so scarred the land that the laws of reality became malleable and turning to the princes of chaos often became the only route to survival. These surviving peoples, twisted by chaos could match the golden lords strength and divine magic and soon the northlands became a meatgrinder of constant back and forth territory swapping with little gain on either side.

In the South the golden lord’s forces made their way through several of the young kingdoms yet at last here too he found an obstacle he could not break with military might alone. Three young civilizations put aside their differences and united in a pact to defeat him. The industrialised kingdom of Molg, the magocracy of Aetherum and, most importantly for the jungle of fallen stars, the tribal confederation of Sarune. In a series of battles they cut off the supply lines of the golden lords main force and in their greatest victory broke the curse of authority that bound the Barssu giving them free will for the first time since their creation and causing a wave of desertions, defections and chaos within the golden lords forces. In the aftermath the Golden Lord retreated to his more secure lands determining more subtle methods would be required to defeat these foes. Even now cults of order secret themselves on vessels travelling to the more isolated parts of the Sarune confederation seeking to sow the seeds that will eventually bring them victory.