Upon The Cosmos, The Anatomy of Stars & The Great Clockwork

[Sanguine]

Upon The Cosmos, The Anatomy of Stars and The Great Clockwork
Written by Kassian Cervantes

I. Foreword

II. Definitions
  a. Terrestrial & Celestial
  b. The Fivefold Elements & Composition of Celestial Bodies

III. The Great Clockwork Cosmology

IV. Anomalies
  a. The Nuitari of Sithicus
  b. The Moonless Sri Raji

I. Foreword

The stars and the sky predate our ability to perceive or even formulate the concept of tracking time. The cosmos is primordial, everlasting and a vast font of knowledge for those who understand its importance and power, its wondrous nature not only known to scientists and astrologers, but also to diviners and seers alike.

In this thesis, the stars of the Core will be defined and rationalised through the Lamordian model of the Great Clockwork (or Groot Tankjet Raut in their native tongue) to outline the contemporary cosmos as we know it, or at least have come as far to comprehend. It is important to firstly understand that this is the scientific endeavour to explain and understand our complex universe through natural means, but know well that this model has been influenced and skewed many times over the years of the Barovian Calendar due to significant supernatural events during our lifetime. One such example is the warping of the stars post-Grand Conjunction. While this, and other phenomena, could become a dissertation within itself, it will perhaps be cited and revisited in later works as the main principle of this work is promote a basic and fundamental understanding.

II. Definitions

There are some mandatory concepts that must be acknowledged in order to further our understanding of the stars and their celestial tapestries. These are the absolute definitions with which we can later derive and use to explain the Great Clockwork model later on, and can even be used to deconstruct similar models or schools of thought should they exist.

a. Terrestrial and Celestial

The terrestrial and the celestial, otherwise known as the sublunary and superlunary, are how we define the two spaces between the world and the skies above. The terrestrial signifies everything 'of the surface' and, conversely, the celestial signifies everything 'of the stars'. Typically, we use the Moon itself as the milestone or marker to define which is categorised into their respective subjects; sublunary being 'below the moon' and superlunary being 'above the moon' makes the whole definition rather self-explanatory in these regards.

b. The Fivefold Elements & Composition of Celestial Bodies

To understand what exactly is a star, one must consult the fivefold elements: Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and the enigmatic Quintessence.

The four elements (Earth, Water, Air, Fire) are those that encompass and makeup the sublunary world as we know it. Earth itself represents the dry and cold, and solids like rock or stone. Water itself represents wet and cold, and takes the form of liquid. Air itself represents hot and wet, like that of vapours and other gaseous forms. Fire itself represents hot and dry, like that of a pure flame.

(The Terrestrial Elements depicted, Quintessence is normally depicted as the center)

In this order they are arranged from heaviest to lightest (Earth, Water, Air, Fire). Earth, being solid, will always sit upon the bottom. Water, being liquid, cannot penetrate the solid surface, so it sits above. Air cannot penetrate liquids nor the ground, so it sits above this. Fire, being the lightest of them all, as the heat rises until it can't anymore.

These elements, however, are not mutually exclusive. Whilst they can be used to denote and categorise the world around us, they are corruptible and transmutable. Each and every thing in our material world can be composed of varying degrees of these four elements. Think of the human body, for example: your skin primarily constitutes of Earth, but the warmth of your body is Fire, the blood in your veins is Water, and the air in your lungs and breath is Air. Due to the ever-changing nature of the mortal world, it is very rare (perhaps impossible) to ever encounter a 'pure' element naturally. Simultaneously, this explains why things comprised primarily of earth or water will always deviate towards the ground.

The last element, Quintessence however, is very much unlike the primary four that we encounter in our sublunary space. Quintessence is the primary and only element of the stars, and in its purest form it takes the shape of a perfectly circular sphere, the truest geometric form - this much we know from the full moon itself, when not otherwise obscured by the night sky. Quintessence itself possesses none of the qualities of our terrestrial world, it is not hot or cold, nor dry or wet. It similarly doesn't follow the linear progression of elements aforementioned, and instead is only capable of moving in perfect circles by itself. In its natural form, it follows a complete pattern around the living world of the Core, destined to a star's eternal lifecycle.

All celestial bodies, including the Moon and Sun, are stars themselves, pure of all terrestrial elements. The most notable and demonstrable qualities of the stars is their ever-burning radiance, but it burns like no light we could replicate through purely man-made means. The stars themselves are all incredible distances from our terrestrial world, spanning potentially years and years of theoretical travel in order to actually ever reach one of these stars in relative terms. The Sun and Moon themselves, of course, are the closest known stars by proximity, due to their superior presence in our skies.   

It can, however, be found in more diluted forms upon the terrestrial plane, namely that of the Mists themselves - whilst impure and mixed with the other four foreign elements, it still possesses the unfathomable qualities of the celestial element. The vistani, and perhaps others, are capable of manipulating the quintessence within the Mists to travel as quickly as a star would, in this example. Whilst this sample isn't enough to base a conclusive hypothesis, it is still enough to speculate upon the incomprehensible power quintessence holds when rightfully applied, even in a shallow fraction of its purest state.

III. The Great Clockwork Cosmology

The main prevailing scientific theorem and framework that complies the contemporary knowledge of our cosmos stems from Lamordian roots, the Great Clockwork or Groot Tankjet Raut. The Great Clockwork model asserts principles and rules based upon academic research, and that which can be explained without absurdity or the influence of the divine. Whilst, perhaps, once upon the time the gods might have woven the fabric of the stars, their presence in today's celestial plane is widely dismissed, as the system is considered mostly autonomous in nature. In today's scientific climate, the unreliable and ephemeral nature of pre-existing deities must instead be attributed to logic, evidence and analysis.

(The Great Clockwork depicted)

The Great Clockwork prescribes that the Mists are an eternal and mercurial pool, otherwise termed the Easchtwolkj, which surrounds the Core, its clusters and islands, continually veiling and unveiling yet undiscovered lands. The Weltaulkúgel is an orb that encapsulates the entirety of our known world, from the terrestrial to the celestial, and fundamentally serves as the edge of the existing universe. The sun and the moon themselves rotate around fixed points, always parallel from one another in their continual cycle, and as previously mentioned, all other stars and constellations follow in their fixed rotations, suspended by quintessence. The Sun and the Moon themselves, by this model, are also stars.

A point of contention however is the composure of the celestial and the stars themselves, there is debate among astrologers upon whether the Mists that we known upon the surface are the very same that compose the stars, otherwise known as Feftelstoff. It is highly probable, however, that his theory aligns with our current working knowledge, but has yet to have been conclusively agreed upon.

IV. Anomalies

Whilst this piece has covered the categorisation and application of working models unto our known universe, we must likewise understand that this system is not exhaustive, nor completely prescriptive. Whilst we can explain the natural formation of the stars and skies, our world is not one devoid of supernatural or magical manipulation, which promotes curious phenomena among the Core. From misguided tampering to significant historic events, it seems humanity itself is capable of corrupting the stars with terrestrial elements when vast torrents of energy occur - shooting and falling stars are the most common appearance of these strange occurrences, but there are otherwise noteworthy anomalies worth addressing. Though I consider these worth elaborating upon in their own merit, we shall at least touch upon examples that argue against our working knowledge.

a. The Nuitari of Sithicus

Since the Hour of Screaming Shadows of the Year 752, there are many accounts of a second moon having emerged in the aftermath of the calamity, which resulted in the umbral moon of the Nuitari. There is much mysticism surrounding the appearance of this moon, now replacing its former cousin, and not much that can be attributed to scientific explanation. Most curiously, it is only visible within Sithicus, and the baleful moon's surface changes depending upon the viewer.

b. The Moonless Sri Raji

Further exemplifying the oddities among the Core, the jungle island of Sri Raji has no visible moon entirely. Even when the skies are clear, there is supposedly no moon to be seen, resulting in nights of perpetual and utter darkness throughout. The stars themselves offer a small glimmer of light perhaps, but pale in comparison to the absence of the moon itself.