INTRODUCTION TO THE WORLD OF SOLYEM

THIS PLACE IS A MASSIVE WIP!!!

WARNING: I'm not someone who writes stories often, especially in English: a language who isn't my native tongue, so there will definitely be some grammar mistakes in this page... I'm also a beginner when it comes to writing lore or worldbuilding stuff... If you notice mistakes or you'd like to share some constructive criticism: things I could formulate better etc, feel free to do so in the comments section of my neocities profile!

Anyway. YAP SESSION STARTS NOWWWW!!!!

(Information about the planet coming someday...)

Before I present more elements about the world and the environnement found on Solyem, I will first present to you the people living on this planet.

SPECIES

THE KETHEREANS

Kethereans are the dominating sapient species on the planet Solyem, alongside the Meks. They are organic beings whose appearances greatly vary from an individual to another. Very few kethereans looks alike and many of them will have different abilities. Some will have horns and fur, others scales, some kethereans are venomous, some can see perfectly in the dark, etc…

The only thing common to all kethereans is that they are all bipedal

Kethereans belong in 3 different categories based on their appearances and abilities:

• The aetherises
• The hydryans
• The terranials

The aetherises

Which regroup flying types of kethereans, ONLY those who can fly, a ketherean with feathers who cannot fly for exemple, is not an aetheris. Most of them live in high places, like mountains, very few aetheris lives at sea level, their lungs requires the oxygen that is mostly found in summits.

It isn't lethal if they do decide to remain in low altitude, but health issues may arise (shortness of breath, chronic fatigue, dizziness, etc...)

Some medications can help aetherises to decrease the side effects of low altitude on their body, but it won't work on everyone, since every body will have a different reaction to it.

The hydryans

Hydryans are kethereans with the ability to go underwater for long periods of time (or indefinitely), all hydryans have aquatic caracteristics and many of them have gills.

They are excellent swimmers and are most commonly found living near shores or other bodies of water

The terranials

Terranials are, as their name suggest, are terrestrial ketherians, they cannot reach the sky nor do they have the ability to stay underwater for too long.

But terranials also have their own skill; they have much more stamina. They can walk for long distances and aren't as exhausted as their fellow hydryans or aetherises.

THE MEKS

I mentionned the "meks" a few paragraphs above, so who or what are meks? Meks are sapient robots, the kethereans built them but they were created to be simple working robots with a very primitive programming, they were never meant to gain consciousness... The origin of their sapience will be explored in further details in later sections. (not yet written)

Just a little warning, this section has A LOT of information...

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON MEKS

Meks have their own form of sleep, which they refer as going "offline" or "recharging": it is a state of non-consciousness where the robot will filter necessary and unecessary information that has been accumulated since the last time they went offline. Offline mode can last between 45 minutes and 5 hours (depends on the amount of information that needs to be filtered and the last time they went offline). Most meks goes offline every week, but some others have much more irregular schedules.

Meks do not get tired nor do they feel physical pain as their bodies are completely devoided of any captors or receptors that could reproduce that kind of feeling. They can slightly feel touch and pressure however. But just because they can't feel some physical stimuli doesn't mean they can't suffer mentally/emotionally… They may not feel pain but they can be terrified of death, in fact many meks seems to struggle with thanatophobia.

Meks tend to be generally more emotional than kethereans (their emotions are more intense), some theorize that it is possible this high emotional sensibility might be because their brain modules are compensating for the lack of physical stimulus.

Meks are not immortal, their AI chip/motherboard cannot be transfered from a body to another, they will live and die in the same body who gained sapience, they are their own body and cannot have another one. However, some components present in a mek body can be replaced or repaired, but if their skeleton gets damaged, it becomes irreversible as it is their most vital point (the skeleton is the mek "real form", I will explain what I mean below)

The true body of a mek is their skeleton

A mek skeleton is hidden under their robotic "shell", the inner skeleton of a mek is protected by a second innershell that is much thinner and takes the form of their skeleton. The skeleton of a mek is considered their "true form" it is the body they were "born" with and cannot be modified, just like an organic body (you can't add another pair of arms to a mek for exemple, it'll just dangle like if it was a prop attached to their body)

Under the skeleton, there are various cables, wires and other technological elements that allows the robot to function. Just like the skeleton itself, if any of those elements gets damaged, it will be impossible to fix it. Basically the shell and innershell acts as an armor to protect the skeleton.

Meks skeletons are made of a metal alloy that was made to last (to be as effective as possible and to reduce reparations cost, to avoid rust and other possible issues). Of course meks aren't fully immune to rust, and will occasionally use anti-rust products to get rid of it, however, their skeleton and inner shell is much more resistant to rust than their external shell.

Every year, meks entirely remove their external and internal shell to apply various products on their skeleton, in order to avoid rust and other vital problems that could arise. Meks who undergo this complicated and minutious process usually have less issues than meks who doesn't. It is recommended to do this procedure with a professional who understands the mek body.

If a mek lose a body part, an arm for exemple, they will never be able to use that bodypart ever again. Like I said earlier, meks cannot add bodyparts to their body and expect it to work, it will simply dangle.

Meks aren't water resistant and will avoid rain and other liquids as much as possible, however, in the most recent years, products such as waterproof sprays designed for meks started to show up in various stores. (Will protect against the rain but they can't swim)

With that being said, meks can still live much longer than any organic species if they are lucky and have the means to take care of themselves. (For now the oldest meks are 85 years old, but I'm sure some lucky ones could live up to 500).

Mek and aesthetics

The external shell of a mek, not being a part of their "true form" (the skeleton) can be modified and even removed, think of it as some sort of very protective clothes (armor) or accessories. With this in mind, many meks decided to transform their own bodies to better reflect their selves and to show their own individuality.

With modern technology, meks found a way to make shells that are both protective and lightweight, which means that the options available for body modifications and the way a mek can look has skyrocketed.

This is the main reason why meks are physiologically so diverse. When they were built initially, there were many models who looked the same (based on what they were made for) (pretty much every models used to have dark gray-ish colors).

Very few meks nowadays haven't edited at least a part of their bodies.

How did they gain sapience?

coming someday....This one is really hard to explain, I'm still trying to write a coherent summary :')

THE BOTS

Bots are regular non-sapient robot, they are mere machines since unlike meks, they haven't gone through an "awakening". Bots aren't commonly seen in town nor cities, they are after all, a tool to get rid of extradium, so most of them are working on extradium sites (check the Extradium crisis section to understand what extradium is).

Wealthy people and some organisations, can, however, commission their own bot, and ask the company to program it to serve their needs (butler bot, guardbot, etc…).

Society

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Queerness

Queerness is not really perceived as abnormal amongst kethereans.

Many religions on Solyem has genderless deities, or gods who have a gender who goes outside the binary, some cultures even have a third gender.

Heteronormativity isn't as common on Solyem than on our planet. Individuals who use pronouns such as they/them are respected, same thing for people who aren't heterosexual and/or cisgender.

Patriarchy is also not as big as it is here on Earth… There isn't a single country in the world of Solyem where a woman doesn't have the same equal rights as a man (and also earn the same salary!)

Polyamorous couples, while rarer than monogamous ones, are not seen as "odd". In fact some people can sometimes have 3 parents.

Although, with that being said, it's not a perfect world either… There is still bigotry (misogyny, homophobia, etc) BUT it's on a much smaller scale, bigots truly are in the minority.

Queerness amongst meks

Many meks don't understand the concept of gender. However, even if the vast majority of them can't fully grasp it, some meks still use gendered pronouns to refer to themselves. Although the proportion of meks using gender neutral pronouns is still very prominent.

All meks are asexual, they do not feel sexual attraction (some meks are okay with a more intimate relationship with their ketherean partner but it's not common) and just like kethereans, they can have different romantic orientations. While aromanticism seems to be quite common amongst meks, there is still a handful of them who aren't and pursue romantic relationships with either other meks and/or kethereans.

The extradium crisis

Context (Summary)

The kethereans, sapient beings inhabiting the planet Solyem, entered a new age, one of technological breakthrough and of prosperity. Factories started to rise, machines carrying people appeared in the streets, diseases that were once thought lethal became nothing more but a bad memory thanks to the advancement of medicine. It was considered one of the brightest ages in their history.

Unfortunately, an event who goes beyond their own solar system would sabotage their hard work…

A century ago, astronomers charted a small asteroid, projected to hit the planet. At its size, it was unlikely to cause much damage, and most of it would dissolve upon entering the atmosphere. Specialists ignored it, not classifying it as a threat.

However, what was contained inside the celestial object was a different story...… A brand new element never seen before, an object akin to a crystal which contains both silicate AND organic properties, that releases a toxic form of radiation deadly to biological life wherever it goes. This material corrupts organic matter, injecting its own strange properties within it. Extradium, the pink devil, will ravage the lands of Solyem.

This otherworldly object was carried on the asteroid and survived entry into the atmospheric layer protecting the planet, crashing onto the ground in an isolated place. It started to spread, unbeknownst to the kethereans... that is, until it was too late to save those living close to the impact.

The senate of the country of Endel, the first country touched by this plague, used their state of the art technology to build mechanical workers. These robots could get rid of the pink matter, while keeping their organic creators, who would be too sensitive to its deadly toxins, safe from handling the substance.

In the few years following the extradium impact, scientists discovered that while extradium is an extraterrestrial matter, it can still be affected by elements that reside on their planet. Simple mineral compounds, such as salt, seem to not only repel these pink crystals, but also slow their growth temporarily… With this knowledge in mind, and with the help of these manufactured robots, the extradium crisis calmed down… though some areas of Endel were still permanently infected by this growing crystal, especially the impact site and its surroundings.

After a decade, while fear and uncertainty remained, extradium stayed in its lane. The temporary solutions the kethereans found were working.

However, this would give way to a new event that would turn the world upside down forever… The robots, these non sapient mechanical workers, slowly began to act erratically… Until one day, one of them spoke up, saying something they were never programmed to say. These machines had an "awakening" of consiousness, and after a few years they fully gained sentience.

The senate kept it a secret, or else the ketherean population would panic if they ever saw talking machines walking alongside them. If they allowed these mechanical beings to live amongst their society, they would lose a valuable tool against extradium. And so, these robotic people continued to work every hour of the day and night... being treated like slaves, even if they were closer to personhood than objecthood.

The robots led a revolution a few years later, and after a period of turmoil and conflict, they claimed their rights and won. After their existence became known to the public and a long battle against the senate that lasted half a decade, the robots were able to become official citizens of Endel.

They named their species, "Meks". The origin of the meks' sapience is still a mystery to this day; thousands of researchers, scientists, and engineers have looked into the subject, but have found absolutely nothing but fanciful theories. Extradium is obviously the main hypothesized culprit, but no one is able to find any links that might connect the meks' slow rise of consciousness to the extraterrestrial mineral.

Whoever finds tangible proof of the reason behind these robots' mass awakening will be revered as if they were the first person to discover fire. The truth could change everything…

As time went on, tension rose between meks and kethereans, as a few of these organic beings did not like their new robotic brethren… Some are terrified of the unknown, the idea of going through this chaotic world alongside a new species made out of metal, one whose very thoughts and personhood appeared out of thin air... It bothers them.

Fast forward to the present day, Extradium no longer haunts people's minds despite the fact that it has still not been completely eradicated. Robots are still being manufactured, however, these new models have not gone through an "awakening" unlike the first built generation. These bots still work on extradium sites to get rid of the big mess it created, sprinkling the crystals with various elements that repel it.

Nowadays, Meks have gained more respect and are now considered equal to kethereans. But because of their mechanical nature, they cannot reproduce, and their species is a single generation. Each of them who dies brings their kind closer to extinction…

Extradium is still a threat, but it's been swept under the rug. They were able to minimize its consequences; various organizations are always publishing new research and breakthroughs on the pink matter. They promised to the people that they would find a way to obliterate these parasitic crystals from Solyem someday - but it's been almost a century now, and yet they still use the same repelling techniques as they did back in the day…

The question remains; what if one day, all those procedures, all those efforts, stop working? What if it evolves and becomes resistant, what if it starts growing as fast as it did back then, then what will become of the world...?

Technology

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Religion & Spirituality

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Calendar

Kethereans have a different calendars than ours with 13 months

Each month is 19 days long; a complete revolution around their star is 247 days

Here are the names of the months and their closest earth equivalent

• Jan (January)
• Fabv (February)
• Qwark (March)
• Avyltis (April)
• Maynyl (May)
• Junil (June)
• Foules (July)
• Sventen (September)
• Toccuten (October)
• Rohem (November)
• Deshem (December)
• Welex (13th month of Solyem)

The names of these months are based on ketherean deities and entities from various mythos and religions around the globe. Two of them are named after important historical individuals. (Welex and Foules)

Cooking

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Fauna

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Organisations and groups

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