Avishraa Reloaded

The emergence of Avishraa resulted from a conjunction of two factors. One was the existence of free, ad-supported messageboard provider InsideTheWeb (ITW), which operated from 1997 to 2001, and which made it disturbingly easy for anyone to create, customize (in a basic way) and post on a messageboard, or even many messageboards. The second was Shyriath, Avishraa's creator, first obtaining Internet access toward the earlier end of the same timeframe, while he was in high school.

Shyriath vaguely recalls searching for promising locations for fantasy roleplaying, and hitting upon, as one of them, an ITW board called Amber's Place. Shyriath never did become fully aware of its history before his arrival, but at that time, being a spot for peacefully roleplaying any of a variety of fantasy creatures - particularly dragons - it had begun to develop into a kind of hub for other, less-active boards that functioned as various characters' private realms.

Shyriath's character was a magically-powerful but physically-pathetic dragon, also named Shyriath; the name, in fact, was created for the character, since up to that point the person behind him had not previously required any kind of username. Those powers that the character had were mostly telepathic, but the details were not consistent and shifted in accordance with the player's needs and/or whims. However, feeling a need to give the character some background, Shyriath gradually built up a picture of where he was from and why he'd come to Amber's Place, and the result was the Avishraa setting.

Avishraa consisted mostly of background information, and very little if any of the world was ever directly seen in any of the continuity, though it remained a persistent influence. Shyriath's ITW board, title Citadel of Life, was set in a kind of living building complex that had been magically transported from Avishraa to the same world (or plane, or reality, or whatever it was) that Amber's Place, as well as the private domains of the other players that Shyriath had become familiar with, all resided in. Several of the threats the character faced throughout the character's career emerged, directly or indirectly, from there, especially Zadireth, his eternal nemesis.

Shyriath's participation in ITW, however, declined as 2000 approached, and so did that of much of the rest of the community. In Shyriath's case, this had much to do with the end of high school, applying to colleges, and getting a part-time job. Given that many of the other players were in a similar age bracket, this may have been the case for them as well, though Shyriath had noticed, on wider-ranging sojourns throughout ITW boards, that many other communities seemed to be suffering from a similar problem. Certainly, a drop in ad revenue was cited by ITW as the main reason for shutting down in 2001, and may have been linked to the rise of EZBoard at about the same time.

Many ITW users fled to EZBoard as the main free board provider left standing. Shyriath was ultimately among these, though he did not immediately make the jump; what was left of the community had effectively been scattered by ITW's closing, and Shyriath had not known where most of the familiar players had gone. He eventually joined two players, Racky and Wyvr, at a board created by the latter, named 'Amberworld' in honor of Amber's Place. There, the characters of Shyriath and Zadireth were developed and given more complexity, Ilirith was introduced, and several more years of fun were had - on a smaller scale than on ITW, more self-contained and slow-burning, but easier to keep up with through Shyriath's college years.

The EZPlague of 2005, in which a hacking attack caused thousands of boards to be lost of corrupted, affected Amberworld as well, and in a sense marked the beginning of the end of the RP. While it continued for several more years, the loss of so much work demoralized the participants, and combined with lack of inspiration and various personal concerns, the RP finally trailed off in the late 2000s, marking the end of the continuity

Over the course of about ten years, the idea of what Avishraa was like, how it worked, and the rules its natives had to abide by, all changed with repeated reevaluation - some well-thought-out remedies to earlier flaws, some on-the-spot decisions that added convenience to an RP session. What follows here is broadly a picture of what it was like toward the end of the process, focusing on the most stable parts.

Avishraa is, then and now, the large, habitable moon of a gas giant, previously called Telvahr (the equivalent of current Kastun). At the time, the implications of this for day length had not been thought through, though the effects of tides had, and there were instances where Avishraan characters, introduced to worlds where tidal pull was not so strong, felt this as a curious absence.

Avishraa was in a star system centered on a close binary star, the Eyes of Avikael (Sharii and Shayel), with the planets orbiting around both of them. Telvahr was one of six planets (and an asteroid belt). At least two other major moons of Telvahr were identified.

While Avishraa's status as a habitable moon has not changed, much of the rest of the solar system cannot be assumed to be the same. Though most of it has not been determined at all, it is known that the system has only one sun, Mikurmiya. This has a lot to do with Shyriath's desire to ensure that that Avishraa would be realistically inhabitable; he felt that having both a binary sun and a habitable moon around a gas giant would introduce too many complicating factors.

(On a related note, Avishraa is also now far enough away from Kastun that being able to feel tides in one's body is rather unlikely, if indeed there was a point where that wasn't the case. The distance is far enough to avoid getting fried by the planet's radiation belts but close enough to be shielded by its magnetosphere.)

Aside from a few specific locales and features, little was known about what Avishraa was like, except that it was warm and mostly tropical. Something like this remains true today; Avishraa is, on average, warmer at sea level than Earth is, and its sapient species all originate, and thrive most easily, in warm climates.

The Sahvarr was one of the largest rivers on the planet by volume, and its watershed was the epicenter of Avishraan civilization. It flowed through deserts and canyons in its upper reaches, and jungle and rainforest in its lower reaches, before finally reaching the sea.

While the Sahvarr has been placed in a more detailed context, relatively little about it has actually changed. Though the deserts have been relocated away from it, so that the watershed is almost entirely forest or wetland of one stripe or another, it remains exceptional both in its size and as the region most densely populated by the takmar.

Udunshraa, the Citadel of Life, was the home of the Davir Sria. It was, in effect, a small city, built around a kind of source of pure order that manifested as an orb of white light, shimmering in innumerable patterns. Udunshraa housed only Srians because Kaeans found it to be repulsive; the reverse was true of Udunneyaa. When Davir Sria and Davir Kaea had to meet, it was generally outside the walls of either.

Shyriath described Udunshraa as being alive, a fact that resulted in its Thuban depiction as a kind of giant, inhabitable organism (which, he admits in hindsight, was a much cooler idea - and one that wasn't entirely outside Srian capabilities to implement). However, what was originally meant was simply that it had a kind of consciousness and magical power of its own, capable of reconfiguring itself and of responding to commands and requests. Physically, however, Udunshraa consisted simply of buildings and walls, though their specific design owed much to Srians' penchant for order and symmetry.

On Avishraa, it was originally in the highlands, away from the Sahvarr River, but was magically transported to the world containing Amber's Place. Shyriath then made his home there for a while, but eventually abandoned it before ending up in what was, on the Amberworld board, called A Nice, Green Place.

Udunshraa has no precise equivalent in the worldbuilding project; though the Citadel exists as a home for all Chosen separate from the world, there are no Srian-specific locations (though there is a tendency for Srians and Kaeans to cluster together in certain areas).

Udunneyaa, the Citadel of Death, was the Davir Kaea counterpart to Udunshraa. While the two were meant to be equal but opposite, one may gauge from the author's choice of name that his own feelings about the two were not nearly so balanced at that time.

Udunneyaa was never explored in nearly as much depth as Udunshraa; in the setting, the Davir Kaea had long since been killed or assimilated by the Hzataalar Kaea, who themselves had mostly relocated to mek'Tarae, and any Kaean characters introduced were generally from the latter. It was known, however, to be built around a source of pure chaos - equivalent to the source of pure order in Udunshraa - and to have a similar consciousness and abilities, though with a very different aesthetic.

The concept has largely been merged with that of Udunshraa into the Citadel in the context of the project.

The Hzataalar Kaea, after splitting away from the other Chosen, established themselves on another world. Orbiting binary red dwarfs, they named it mek'Tarae (“in blood”), for the ruddy color of its sunlight.

While the planet was habitable, with ample water and an oxygenated atmosphere, the life native to it was strange to Avishraan eyes, and while edible was unpleasant-tasting. It didn't help that the region the HK arrived in was an archipelago that wasn't particularly biologically rich to begin with; it was cold and rocky, and the Avishraan predilection for living underground was reinforced by this environment, since away from the surface they could live in warmer and more visually pleasing surroundings.

The HK had built a civilization of sorts across the archipelago, consisting mostly of widely spaced estates or homesteads; there were a few local capitals, mostly trade hubs or favorable sites, as well as the Great Citadel carved into Mt. Aduruth; this was their major population center and the seat of their rulers.

While mek'Tarae has not reappeared within the worldbuilding project, its influence continues to be felt. The name of the Citadel, its general organization, and the nature of its center in Oldstone are all heavily inspired by mek'Tarae. As for Dlyss' followers, the Friends of the Future - the forerunners of the Hzataalar of the worldbuilding setting - they may yet find it convenient to have a world to be used as their private meeting place.

Shyriath was the first Avishraan character to appear. Prior to the events of the RP, he had grown up on Avishraa, the child of a nonmagical mother and a Davir Sria father who was a refugee from the extermination of his fellows by the Hzataalar Kaea. When the latter group caught up with the family, Shyriath's parents and brother were executed; however, Shyriath himself underwent an age-related spike in magical ability, and, somewhat by accident, fried the brains of the attackers. This included Mortoth, the leader of the HK and the father of Zadireth, as well as many of their empire's other important personages. This triggered a civil war and societal collapse on mek'Tarae.

Only narrowly escaping after Zadireth located him, Shyriath jumped from world to world in an effort to shake his pursuer off his trail. He eventually arrived at Amber's Place, where he remained unchased for long enough to form friendships and alliances with several of the locals, particularly Eldynir, who he frequently visited in DragonDale; when Zadireth at last caught up to him, he was repelled with their help, and Shyriath aided his friends in their battles as well. Divine intervention on Avikael's part eventually brought him an adopted Davir Sria daughter, Ilirith, with whom he made a home by summoning Udunshraa to his new homeworld.

In the timeskip represented by the gap between ITW's closing and joining Amberworld, Shyriath became separate from Ilirith, Udunshraa, and most of his friends, by an unspoken calamity, and wandered into A Nice Green Place a disoriented amnesiac. Settling in with the dragon Shiloh, her demon-fathered child Kaliko, and Shiloh's human friend Gilead Githby, he joined with them in defense against the alliance of Zadireth with Gilead's mother, Amanda. Shyriath and Shiloh eventually became mates.

Despite his pivotal role in the establishment of Avishraa as a setting, he made his reappearance in the worldbuilding project at a relatively late stage. While parts of his history echo those of the original, his personality is considerably changed. The original was relatively inoffensive, even timid, while the new Shyriath is a harsher personality, and though averse to danger, expresses it through suspicion verging on paranoia. While both incarnations had psionic abilities, the current Shyriath trades off some telepathic prowess for the ability to control stone and rock.

The original Zadireth was made to connect Shyriath more strongly to his history on Avishraa - if he wasn't present there, it would come to him.

Zadireth was the son of Mortoth, the ruler of the Hzataalar Kaea. Internally, the HK practiced a very ambitious, survival-of-the-fittest sort of philosophy - probably not quite as over-the-top as certain other fantasy races, but nonetheless it encouraged an environment of greed, ambition, and huge amounts of backstabbing, and Mortoth was as much an enthusiast of this way as anyone. Zadireth, along with a sister, Zanareth, were the only survivors of a rather larger clutch, and well into adulthood Zadireth did not like others approaching his food, lest it be stolen from him.

While Zadireth adapted relatively well, in a way that his sister never really did, he nonetheless spent much of his youth outside of his father's household, preferring to build up his own power base and network of contacts, and to not spend time around his father. He was, as a result, not present during the argument between his sister and his mother that resulted in the latter's death; his reaction to the incident was never recorded, though he was rather fonder of his mother than of Mortoth. Mortoth himself was noncommittal, apparently weighing the death of his mate against his daughter having finally grown a spine.

The deaths of his father and much of the HK elite cut Zadireth's ambitions short. The abrupt power vacuum, coming as it did on top of a heap of other preexisting problems, resulted in a cataclysmic civil war on mek'Tarae. Zadireth was one of those ruthless enough to survive, if somewhat the worse for wear, but after discovering what had happened during the execution of Shyriath's family, committed himself to hunting the Davir Sria down and giving him a slow and painful end.

Zadireth followed Shyriath from world to world, ultimately tracking him down in DragonDale, which he assaulted several times to no avail. A later attempt to waylay Shyriath at A Nice, Green Place resulted in severe injury, and he retreated to the Cimmerian Palace that was the stronghold of the human Amanda, a servant of the Red Powers of destruction. While recovering there, the two formed an alliance; in exchange for allowing Zadireth to use her palace as a base of operations, he would help her abduct her son, Gilead Githby - a servant of the Green Powers - and turn him.

While waiting for an opportunity, Zadireth, much to his surprise, came across a female Davir Kaea spying on him. Learning from her that his sister Zanareth was alive and was leading a faction that had re-converted back to Davir Kaea, Zadireth procured Amanda's aid in giving the scout's mind a factory reset, and then transformed her into a Hzataal Kaea. Adopting the name Tareith, she became Zadireth's colleague and eventually his mate.

While Gilead was successfully abducted, Amanda's attempt to turn him to the Red Powers very nearly killed him before Shyriath and Shiloh retrieved him. With Amanda nearly incapacitated by remorse, Zadireth and Tareith began to take charge of the palace - which, considering their rapidly expanding brood, was just as well, since they needed the space. After this, Zadireth's focus on Shyriath began to wane in favor of other pursuits - particularly since Tareith preferred him to pay attention to her.

Zadireth has fairly consistently been a villain of one stripe or another in many incarnations of Avishraa, though in some senses only the name and general appearance have remained the same. This is true of the worldbuilding continuity as well; his personality is quite different, being a high-functioning and fairly well-disguised psychopath, and his personal history bears little resemblance to that of his Amberworld predecessor. The original Zadireth's powers were relatively ill-defined but specialized in manipulating matter, and this made the transition to the project as a combination of shapeshifting and the ability to transmute substances.

Ilirith was, originally, the adopted daughter of Shyriath. Her precise origin is not known, except that Avikael caused her to be in a spot where Shyriath could come across her; whether Avikael created her out of whole cloth, or transported her through time to spare her from the massacre of the Davir Sria, is unclear, and Ilirith herself was too young at the time to coherently explain where she'd come from (or, later on, to remember any of it). She played a relatively minor supporting role through the course of the continuity, demonstrating the ability to “convince” rocks to move; this ability was, in the worldbuilding continuity, assigned to Shyriath instead.

Comparisons with her worldbuilding counterpart are limited, since the latter is a young adult while the former was a child. Ilirith has essentially kept her Amberworld coloration; her prominent hips were borrowed from Shiloh, who was after all her adopted mother in Amberworld. There is little resemblance in personality; Amberworld-Ilirith was a relatively optimistic child, while the current one has had caution and planning beaten into her. Her powers have largely switch places with Shyriath's, in that the current Ilirith is now entirely a mentalist.

Aveshinoth appeared in Amberworld, though almost nothing connects her to her worldbuilding counterpart except the name and a certain amount of pridefulness; she was one of Zadireth's daughters by Tareith.

From the beginning, there was an idea that the division between Davir Sria and Davir Kaea was caused by their alignment with the Spirits of Order and Chaos respectively. These were representatives of cosmic tendencies - effectively gods, though they were never called as such. The Spirit of Order was Avikael, the Allmother, and that of Chaos was Telkael, the Allfather, but in practice, when Telkael put in an appearance, it tended to be as female; gender was sort of an optional concept for them in any case.

They made, between them, the Davir Sria and Davir Kaea to promote their respective interests in the mortal world, and made the changes to them that gave them their power. While originally remaining the background, they began to appear as characters and in Amberworld came into increasingly frequent use. Both were relatively benevolent, and actively sought to aid what remained of their respective followers; they were fun characters to play, but resulted in increasingly outlandish scenarios, as the introduction of god-powers might reasonably be expected to do.

Their “home” was outside the material universe, and was portrayed, humorously, as a cosmic apartment building, in which Avikael and Telkael occupied different units. Their counterparts, on a perpendicular axis of alignment, were the Green Powers and the Red Powers, the spirits of creation and destruction respectively, who were Wyvr's creations and the sponsors of her characters' powers. (Other inhabitants were the gods, who lived on the floors below the abovementioned spirits and who were considered by them to be rowdy and childish; the Old Man in the Attic, implied to be the Creator; and the Dark Powers, eldritch beings of pain and misery, who lived in the basement. The material universe was the ground floor.)

Alas, the cosmic apartments no longer have a place, as such. That said, the essential ideas behind the above cosmology remain intact: beings outside our universe, the Extrinsics, control, or at least affect, it at their whim; they inhabit realms that reflect their own nature; they are less limited than the gods. (I haven't yet decided whether gods truly exist or what their nature is if they do, but they would be bound within a particular universe, rather than being outside it.)

The two most powerful Extrinsics are still Order (aka Seluurin) and Chaos (aka Khezri), though they are far less benevolent than their Amberworld counterparts; not necessarily malicious, either, but not really concerned with how mortals feel about what is done to them, in the same way that a human walking across a field would be hard-pressed to care about whether he or she is stepping on any ants. The Dark Powers, another creation of Wyvr's, are reflected in Hunger (aka Uvuun).

The connection between the Chosen and their supposed patrons is less clear-cut in the worldbuilding project than it was for Amberworld. While it is generally implied that Order and Chaos are at least partially responsible for their creation and that their division into Srians and Kaeans reflects this fact, the question of why they did so remains opaque. Certainly, they have no need for mortal agents to do their work for them - partly because their influence is already pervasive, and partly because they are not as directly antagonistic toward each other - and evidently do not feel any great obligation to protect or aid them. It is possible, should the RPs in the current setting result in a meeting with them, a mortal may be in a position to ask for and receive answers. It is equally possible that the answers, once received, may be heavily biased, misrepresented, even outright falsehoods, or possibly may not even be comprehensible to mortals.

The creation/destruction axis is no longer on an equal footing with that of order/chaos. While there may be Extrinsics that embody them, they would be subordinate to order and chaos and arising from their interactions.

Hunger, meanwhile, while a very destructive force, is not the embodiment of destruction as such; he does not seek the mere tearing down of things into their components, but their utter nonexistence, though destruction is a good first step. And while Order and Chaos do not substantially advance their agendas through mortals, Hunger will, on the basis that even a tiny step toward oblivion will quell his hunger that much more quickly.