The world of Jol.
The story behind the cards, one plaque at a time.
Before the count · Zzoor
The Moon Without Thought
On Zzoor, the Cogum did not need to think. Jol’s light told them what was true, and they were it.
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Before the count · Zzoor
The Tosai
The Tosai were not made of matter. They were Jol’s light, worn in crystal.
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Before the count · Zzoor
The Waters Rise
The first sign of Sol was not light. It was water.
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0 SW · The near orbit of Jol
The Breaking of Zzoor
Sol passed close enough to turn Zzoor faster than it could hold. It came apart into six.
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Early SW · The Moons
The Cogum of the Ashes
On each of the five Moons, Cogum rose from what was left. They remembered Zzoor. They could not see as Zzoor had seen.
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Early SW · The Moons
Orum
Jol’s light still reaches the Moons. What it illuminates are the Orum: brief geometric shards that move, and in moving, tell the truth of the World.
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Early SW · The Moons
The Will of Jol, in Five Shapes
Every Moon set out to live as the Tosai lived. Every Moon built something different to do it.
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Before 4700 SW · Essei
What the Orum Said
On Essei, the Orum ordered everything: the road, the water, the truth of a person.
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4700 SW · Essei
The Fading
In 4700 SW, some on Essei began to find the Orum harder to see.
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After 5000 SW · Essei
The Trilectic
With the Orum gone, Essei had to work out the World for itself. It invented science, philosophy, and a new way to reason.
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After 5000 SW · Essei
The Ether
Essei mastered the fundamentals of the Ether, and with it, its World.
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After 5000 SW · The southern axis of Essei
The Turbine
Essei built a turbine that does not turn, and let the Moon turn around it.
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c. 5100 SW · Essei
The Writings Set Aside
By the time Essei reached space, the Orumantic Writings were history. Zzoor was a creation story. The Tosai were a legend.
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5111 SW · Between Essei and Cri
First Contact
In 5111 SW, Essei met the Cogum of Cri.
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5111 SW · Cri
The Criwy
The Cri were not alone on their Moon. They lived alongside the Criwy, and the Criwy lived in them.
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After 5111 SW · Cri
The Gift of Language
The Cri spoke in signs and sounds. The Essei taught them Language.
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After 5111 SW · Cri
What the Cri Saw
The Cri worshipped Jol, saw the Orum, and lived by them — as Essei once had.
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After 5111 SW · Cri
The Limit
The Cri who took Language built cities. The Cri who did not withdrew to the Limit.
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After 5111 SW · Earth
The Empty Moon
The Essei went to Earth and found it beautiful, and empty. No Cogum lived there.
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After 5111 SW · Earth and Essei
No Orum
The Cri ambassadors who came to Earth could not see a single Orum. Then they realised Essei had none either.
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After 5111 SW · Earth
Neutral Ground
Empty, and belonging to no one, Earth became the meeting place of the Moons.
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After 5111 SW · Ziga
The Silent Moon
The Zigan did not speak, and at first did not seem to notice the Essei at all.
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After 5111 SW · Ziga and Earth
The Court of Jol
The Zigan were the most devoted people of the Moons. They named Earth the Court of Jol.
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All Moons
The Boog
Every Moon has a dark face. No Orum appear there, and Cogum who go there do not come back.
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Before contact · Ulat
The Dry Face
On Ulat, nearly all the water lies in the Boog. The lit face has been in drought for as long as anyone remembers.
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Before contact · Ulat
The Sixth Sense
The Ulat could tell what someone would do next. They built a whole politics on it.
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Before contact · Ulat
The Union of Ulat
It worked. Every society on Ulat joined one government. Then the promises began to come true.
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Before contact · Ulat
The Shearing
When the people revolted, the state blamed the antennae, and began to cut them off.
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Before contact · Ulat
The Sheared
What was left was tribes, and fear. The only Ulat anyone trusted had cut off their own antennae.
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After 5111 SW · Ulat
Among the Survivors
The Essei reached Ulat at the end of a genocide.
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All ages · Gozym
The Zyme
The lit face of Gozym is covered in a plant that eats everything that lives. Never sleep near it.
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All ages · Gozym
The Border
No Zyme grows in the Boog. So life on Gozym gathered at its edge.
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Before contact · Gozym
The Cutting and the Burning
The Gozym built their whole society around destroying the Zyme. The Zyme grows back.
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Before contact · Gozym
A World of Plenty
The Gozym eat what tried to eat them, and build with it. They are giants, and the kindest people of the Moons.
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c. 4000 SA · All Moons
Sol Approaching
For about four thousand years, Sol has been coming back. It grows larger in the sky every year.
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Told on every Moon
The White Light
A legend of Zzoor’s last days: Sol’s light was so bright the Tosai could no longer see the Orum.
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c. 4000 SA · All Moons
The Terrisol
The Terrisol believe Sol is a god, come to show the Cogum the truth without Jol — and that only Earth will remain.
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c. 4000 SA · All Moons
The Jovinet
The Jovinet believe faith in Jol is what holds Sol back — and that Earth’s resources are how the Moons survive until it wanes.
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c. 4000 SA · Essei
Life’s Wheel
A hardline Essei movement: abandon every religion, and let the science of Essei decide the fate of all Cogum, and of Earth.
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c. 4000 SA · Ulat
Erborean
A hardline movement holding that the Ulat came from Earth — and will return to it as its rightful masters.
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