Nalw

Nalw (pronounced /ˈnɑluː/) is a godworld of Loge, shaped like a gigantic sphere covered in long spines. The surface of the world is covered with water, only the spines providing dry land to settle on. Nevertheless, its inhabitants have made the best of things, managing to erect buildings and found cities on the limited space the spines provide. It helps somewhat that the sides of many of the spines are terraced, though it's not clear whether they are naturally this way or whether this is the result of human intervention. Not only the terraced spines are inhabited, however; even the steep slopes have their settlements.

Geography

About five thousand kilometers in radius at sea level, Nalw has no natural land surface aside from what little steeply sloping land is afforded by the spines. These spines dot the entire surface of the world in roughly uniform density, spaced on average about four hundred kilometers apart. Generally, the spines, where they emerge from the water, are about 360 kilometers in diameter. They extend on average some twelve thousand kilometers into the air, but are rarely inhabited above one kilometer or so, though there are some hardy creatures that thrive in the dizzier heights. Fresh water exists in vessels inside the spines, but is often difficult to find or tap, the inhabitants of many spines relying on the few streams and runnels and flow precipitously down the spine's surface, or on desalination procedures to make use of the waters of Nalw's ocean.

While the sides of most of the spines rise at a steep angle, they are not completely without flat surfaces. About twelve percent of the spines are terraced, with flat platforms against vertical walls. Even on the non-terraced spines, flat surfaces are often provided by the life growing on the spines. Giant deck fungi and land coral, in particular, form enormous platforms that can support surprising weights. At sea level, thick carpets of moss, algae, and other growths by the sides of the spines form floating surfaces thick and stable enough to build on.

The world's inhabitants have further ameliorated the scarcity of flat land with the construction of sanshees perched high on some of the spines, a few of them spanning multiple spines. At least three of these sanshees are large enough to qualify as semiwolks. While entirely artificial in origin, many of these sanshees have been around long enough to have developed complex ecosystems. Of course, not every faunum living on the spines requires flat ground; some arboreal creatures, for instance, are quite happy sticking to the treetops and unbothered by the slope of the surface—and on those spines where the trees grow particularly large and dense, some human cultures, too, have hit on an arboreal way of life.

Five of Nalw's spines are not only significantly longer and larger than most of the rest, but have additional smaller spheres on their ends, referred to as the Worldly Heavens. These are so called because the god Nalw, according to popular belief, sends there those few it particularly favors, to live lives of immortal bliss. Some say that at least once in the past (if not twice) one of the Worldly Heavens has budded off to form a new godworld (and perhaps a new sphere grown in its place to keep the number of Heavens constant), though many scholars dismiss this as a myth.

Life

Most of Nalw's large native life is aquatic, the few creatures that found footholds on the spines being mostly smaller organisms. The sea, however, covers the whole surface, and provides a rich environment for all sorts of life. Great two-headed cridians share the depths with giant cephalopods like the malnon. Fish of all varieties swarm in the seas, along with cnidarians and a plethora of other plankton and nekton. The submerged bases of the spines support ecosystems of their own, from mussels and barnacles to the huge copfish. The benthos between the spines has been little explored, but no doubt is full of life of its own.

The oceans of Nalw are not without noetic life, too, including the tentacled stharmi and the armored lodin. These two races are, in many places in the world, engaged in a constant war, although there are some few locations where they manage to coexist in peace. For the most part escaping the notice of either race are the tiny kozaks, which build their civilizations on the sides of the spines and perhaps on the mysterious sea floors.

Compared to the oceans, the life on the spines is relatively sparse, with few large native creatures. Plants, even large trees, are plentiful, Nalw's flora having devised means to spread their seeds between spines by wind or water. Land animals tend to be less conspicuous; there are plenty of insects and birds, but few fully terrestrial mammals and reptiles, and those that do exist are small. The largest widespread land animal on Nalw is the human, only recently evolved from aquatic primates. Another terrestrial noetic race is the zot, chiropteran humanoids that can fly between the spines.

Culture

Given the fact that, until the relatively recent creation of the semiwolks, human civilization on Nalw has been confined to isolated spines, it's not surprising that a diversity of different cultures and beliefs blossomed among the many separate peoples. To some degree, as the once sequestered civilizations have rediscovered each other, there has been a good degree of intermingling and sharing of cultural and technological developments, but there remain frequent huge differences between the customs and lifestyles on adjacent spires, let alone spires on opposite sides of the world.

The sanshees and semiwolks have been settled more recently, of course, and there there is more room for cultures to spread out and grow. Yet each of these has been settled by a single civilization, and each has its own tumultuous history thereafter, so that life there has also proceeded in very different ways. If there is one place on Nalw that is culturally most like a typical terrestrial world, it is perhaps the largest semiwolk, Kaluda, where indeed several separate cultures have managed to form or find a foothold, and where affairs near the semiwolk's center often take no notice of the rest of the world.

One thing that has become common to many cultures of Nalw is the reverence they hold for philosophers. A renowned philosopher on Nalw may have tremendous influence; he may not be a king, but kings may follow his word. Schools that follow the philosophers may be as politically significant as nations, and while they may not often come to physical war (though they sometimes do), they exercise their power in other ways. Most of Nalw's respected philosophers live high on the spines, above most normal life—in fact, such a residence seems to have become something of an unspoken prerequisite for being taken seriously as a philosopher. Many philosophers claim to live at the very tips of the spines, and to spend most of their time perched there meditating, though it's likely that far fewer philosophers actually do live thus than claim to.

Magic

Common on Nalw are both void magic and aaiia, the latter an arcanum provided by a distant god visible from Nalw as a red star. Aaiia, or red magic, is an often subtle arcanum that leans toward altering the interiors of things, or setting effects to trigger at later times. Also fairly common, no doubt because Nalans associate it with the shape of the world, is thorn magic, an arcanum provided by a distant godworld not readily visible from Nalw's surface. Spit magic, a particular application of void magic, is not unique to Nalw, but much used there.

The magic native to Nalw and provided by the god Nalw itself is known as the Pale. It is rarely used in most societies, compared to void magic and aaiia, because twists and changes the user, gradually transfiguring him into a monstrous being. There are ways to slow this transformation, but not to prevent it entirely. However, there are those who have harnessed the Pale to create their own arcana that do not have such direct effects, the best known of which are Haluan magic and phantasmia. These magics do have their own corollaries, though, that are less obvious than the warping of the Pale used directly but for all that may be more insidious.