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. Many aetherises cannot live at sea level, their lungs requires the oxygen that is mostly found in summits. (But not all aetherises are like this, some can live comfortably anywhere)

For those aetherises who requires a lot of oxygen, 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 these individuals to decrease the side effects of low altitude on their body, but it won't work on everyone...

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 informations 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 bodies produce heat (there’s a lot of stuff going on in their bodies after all, all those gears and processors gotta do their thing!) Another funfact: they can’t feel cold or heat, however if their bodies gets too cold or hot, their system will send them a warning (it will appear as a warning message in their vision)

Emotions can influence the temperature of a mek, such as when they are embarrassed or anxious. Another thing, even if meks don’t sleep often and don’t feel tiredness/sleep deprivation, their body does, and as such, if a mek haven’t recharged in a while, their body will exhaust much more heat than a mek who has… This can be quite dangerous on the long term, and once again, if the heat reach the threshold that the body can handle, it will send a warning to the mek.

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.

Mek communication

Meks have their own language, one that is innate and doesn’t need learning. They communicate through “frequencies”. To a ketherean, mek language (known as wavelinguistic), sounds like long and short beeps of varying pitch. Wavelinguistic isn’t as advanced as ketherean language (some words, verbs etc, are missing) but meks can still understand each other well.

When communicating with kethereans, meks are often seen as rude or blunt, that is because they are usually quite direct when they speak to others, even if they don’t have any mean intent (the fact they lack facial expressions to show their emotions also plays in this way of communication) (so yeah meks are basically autistic) (I like projecting).

Meks prefers honesty over superficial empty politeness (that doesn’t mean they aren’t polite, they just don’t fully adhere to ketherean social norms).

However some meks who are accustomed to kethereans and/or have lived with them for a long time will often adopt their manners.

How did they gain sapience?

I can't tell you all my secrets! You'll have to wait and see once I start working on my visual novel/comic :p

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…).

WORLD (SOLYEM)

Solyem is smaller than our planet and most of its denizens live in a colder setting. There are more continents on this planet, with a total of 7 habitable continents. Although, Solyem doesn’t have as many countries as we do, with only 13 countries (compared to 195 recognized countries on Earth, that’s a lot!)

75% of the world population lives in the Southern hemisphere, most of these countries are very close to the south pole.

(There are 2 other continents in the Northern hemisphere, although they do not really have much importance in the story and won’t be shown)

The 10 countries located in the Southern Hemisphere are:

• Endel
• The Northen Isles
• Ruthenhum
• Letherlands
• Cherune
• Fraalk
• West Ilys
• East Ilys
• Mealoria
• Algar

Ruthenhum and the Northen Isles are much, much smaller compared to the other countries.

Ruthenhum is located on the isle of Qasthen, which belongs to Endel but was eventually split in two circa 50 years ago... Ruthenhum is a very particular country with a different economic system that isn’t found anywhere in the world, I recommend you check "Important Locations" (STILL A WIP FOR NOW) if you’re curious.

My story focus on Endel the most, but I will try my best to mention/include other countries in the lore as well, especially the ones close to Endel (Letherlands, Northen Isles, Cherune and Ruthenhum)

Society

Hello everyone my name is markiplier (THIS IS A PLACEHOLDER)

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

Kethereans aren’t as technologically advanced as we are, but they aren’t too primitive either, they did built thousands upon thousands of robots, and their hospital has similar (albeit, a little more rudimentary) medical tools.

Computers or D-P (Data-processors)

Computers exists but they aren't very commonplace yet, the only groups who have access to such technology as of now are individuals who belongs in groups of high importance in society ; such as banks, (some) hospitals, members of the senate (government) etc…

Computers in this world looks different than our old computers, they are very thick (like our old computers), their monitors have a spherical shape and their keyboard is split in two (referred to as keyboardS), they also don't have mouses. Computers are commonly refered as “data processors” or D-P.

They don’t have the "world wide web" yet either. They have a country wide "intranet" if that makes sense, which means that users from a country X will unfortunately not be able to speak to users from within country Y (for now that is, with time they will surely develop the Internet as we know it).

Kethereans, while they have computers, haven't really designed a texting system at the moment, they do have emails but it’s a complicated process where the two computers must "sync" with one another using a program, and receiving a single short message can take up a whole hour, which is not a very effective system….

But wait, since meks exist and they used to be programmed, (just like how actual bots are still being programmed) that means computers used to exist 85 years ago…. So why do they still have such a primitive device?

Well you see, computers back in the days were the size of an entire house, yes really, it was a new technology and when the extradium crisis showed up, kethereans immediately capitulated on it to make "machines" that would get rid of extradium without danger.

But when your planet gets hit by an extraterrestrial scifiesque rock that literally destroy and morph life itself, it probably won't just affect a neighborhood or two. Solyem entered a very catastrophic era that lasted many decades (and some remnants of this event still remains to this day, such as Arialdale, who used to be a great and resplendent city, slowly became the worst place to live in Endel over the years because of many factors caused by extradium and the city/country economy that I won't go into details or else this section will be 3 pages long)

The entire world was in the crisis, everyone, no matter the country they belonged to, was in shock and panicking. The country of Endel ate a lot of their budget on robots who would get rid of this vile crystal, and for a few decades, the economy of the country became terrible. Akin to the great depression, famine was plaguing the populace and the employment rate was at it's lowest.

It took many years for Endel to slowly get better, although even to this day it hasn't achieved it's former glory. One thing that massively contributed to the improvement of the economy was the mass purchase of robots from other affected countries. Endel was the first country in the world who built these mechanic soldiers and many nations wanted to get their hands on it so they could repel a common enemy.

Entertainment

TV’s don’t exist yet, computers aren’t commonplace and the internet hasn’t been created and probably won’t for many more decades… So, do kethereans have any devices that can provide some form of entertainment then? Well, yes they do, they also have movies (in theaters only, although they are very expensive and only wealthy people can watch them (for now)….

However, radiocasts are what’s popular, radios are in every home, they are used for everything; news, weather, emergencies warnings, podcasts, interviews, fictional and non-fictional storytelling etc. the possibilities are limitless. In many houses (and even shops) radios can be heard, as they are usually turned on for countless hours.

Religion & Spirituality

There are many religions and spiritual beliefs on Solyem, however I will mostly be focusing on the main religions and belief of the country of Endel

Hell and heaven don't exist in Solyem. Reincarnation is the main worldwide belief when it comes to the "afterlife".

The two main religions of Endel

The land of Endel is rich with mysticism and spirituality but there are 2 major religions:

The numerians (polytheist religion)

A religion which regroup countless deities (up to 51 of them), each serving it's own purpose, some being more revered than others (Thadgenim and Reninphym are the most popular gods).

There is a belief among numerians that giving a name to a child with the sound "th" or with an "y", will be blessed by either Thadgenim or Renynphym and give them more luck in life. This tradition is so old that even non-numerians sometimes give names with th or y to their childrens while not even knowing the origins of such tradition.

The many deities of the numerians

There are many deities in the numerist religion, but here's the most popular deities

• **-Thadgenim, deity of crops, nature and fertility
• **-Renynphym, goddess of determination and perseverance
• -Runas, deity of knowledge and learning
• -Broakmarth, god of combat and strenght
• -Vulcan, deity of space/sky
• -Kaedmon, god of peace and relationships
• -Chanceluk, goddess of luck
• -Nohem, deity of love
• -Deshem, goddess of hope
(and many, many more)

The afterlife for the numerians

The Numerians believe that every living thing has a soul, which will ascend to the pantheon of the deities after they die. Chanceluk is the goddess responsible to assign a new incarnation (a new body, a new life) to the deceased, while Vulcan is the one who will transfer the old body to the new one and will send the newborn into Solyem.

Numerians are divided when it comes to reincarnation, some believe that actions done on Solyem will matter after death. As such, individuals who commits heinous crimes will often be reincarnated in small rodents or bugs, while those who did good deeds will continue their next life either as a ketherean, a being of higher order, such as a disciple of deities or even a mek, some numerians believe meks have an equal "worth" to kethereans. Most numerians accept meks amongst them and perceives them as their brethrens, some meks even became follower of the religion.

However, there is a small group of numerians who believe there is no morality implied and the reincarnation process is random (basically the soul will go to the body it most desires, for its experience, curiosity, etc)

The dedolists (dualist religion)

Dedolism is a dualist religion; the dedolists believes in two gods, Daneria and Danastiu, who used to be a single entity during the creation of the universe, Deanestura, who split itself in half to bring order to the cosmos; life (Daneria) and death (Danastiu). Deanestura didn’t create the universe, however it was considered its first “child”. This deity’s goal is to bring more life in the sterile universe.

• -Daeneria's responsability is to bring and protect life in the universe.
• -Danastiu responsability is to keep death and chaos in check.
• Both deities make sure the order of the universe is respected

Dedolism is based in the balance between life and death, the dedolists believe that if this fragile order of the universe is destroyed, it will enter an era of darkness and a terrible catastrophe will cause life to slowly go extinct.

Such an event happened in their mythology, and the universe who used to be filled with billions more stars and planets, flowing with life, became sterile, with Solyem being one of its rare survivors who barely made it out, this event was named “The Blackout”.

The Blackout legend tells of a battle between Daneria and Danastiu who entered a conflict after aeons of peace, their quarrel destroyed entire galaxies and moved the entire universe, thus destroying the order. After millenias of violence, they both agreed to stop, as they were destroying the world they were asked to protect. No one knows what caused them to enter such a state of violence in the first place…

Dedolists believes that this fight exhausted and severely harmed the two gods… Hence why they haven’t been able to bring back order… The two deities are slowly gaining back their strength but it could take centuries, thousands, maybe even millions of years.

Nevertheless, the cycle of life and death (souls being birthed and dying), a process who still exists on Solyem, brings mystical “energy” to the two gods… which helps them to regain their strenght. The followers of dedolism believes that by continuing the cycle of life, their gods will slowly gain more and more powers, and will eventually be able to bring order (and life) back to the universe.

Daeneria and Danastiu don't have any actual known physical appearances, they are shapeshifters who can take any form, as such, any artistic interpretations of the two gods can be perceived as “accurate”. As a result, there are thousands of different representations of these deities, however there are only 4 representations of them who are popular and often seen in places of cult.

The afterlife for the dedolists

The dedolists believes in reincarnation, although their belief system is quite different than the numerians.

They believe that when they die, their soul goes back to Danastiu (deity of death), who will split it in three; Danastiu will keep one half and give another to Daneria, the third half will be sent back on any planet in the universe who has life (in their belief, only Solyem survived the “Blackout”, so life can only reincarnates on Solyem as of now.).

The dedolists believes that every soul is incredibly strong and powerful, but this process, where the two gods keep two huge parts of it, makes it significantly weaker… They endure this since it’s the only way to help their gods earn their power again. They believe that by doing this, one day the deities will be able to bring the universe to its former self, and every living being will be full once again and the process of soul splitting won’t be as debilitating since they deities won’t need to take huge bits of it.

Although there are many religions and spiritual beliefs around the world, atheism does exist. Many kethereans are also agnostics.

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 Qwark)

Also important to note that because the countries in the Southern Hemisphere are closer to the south pole, even in summer, the temperature rarely go over 20 degrees celsius.

Cooking

Kethereans all have different diets, many are omnivores, but some are exclusively carnivores, herbivores, frutivores etc.

There exists a wide variety of popular meals that may seem odd to some of us, such as meat salads, dessert “pizzas”, ratatouille sandwiches, strawberry bread brownies or even bread bowl soups.

Of course, popular and common meals depends on where you live, every country will have its own culinary culture.

In Endel, eating meat alongside fruits (mostly berries) is very common. Meat salads (named carnis medley) and dessert pizzas (named flat cakes) are also quite popular, but that doesn’t mean these dishes will be favored and sought after in other countries.

(in my world, a lot of these “new odd meals” are just fusions of our earthling dishes)

Different flavors of flat cakes

Fauna

Hello everyone my name is markiplier

Organisations and groups

Hello everyone my name is markiplier