A CLOCKWORK COSMOSBuild an Orrery; countless bodies circling in meticulous motion.
Wrought from fundamental matter, the Orrery is painstakingly assembled from a multitude of cogs, gears and wheels. Countless perfect spheres of metal whirl in perfect unison, mechanical arms gliding throughout the cosmos. In fact, the worldwright devises an engine so great and intricate that it stretches across all of creation, the mechanism capturing the lesser orbs made by other worldwrights and spinning them into fixed movements in the cosmic pattern.
Ignition. From nothing bursts hydrogen and oxygen, exploding and burning within the
aether. From this they collapse, fusing into the endless seas.
One worldwright chooses to ignore the great mass of pure potential, instead bringing forth gouts of firey steam from the emptiness of nothing. Despite their talent for the explosive, this is a lesser medium for the task at hand, and the dark seas form a minor part of the great pattern of empty worlds, gathering to wash endlessly over a handful of the smaller spheres.
Create the music of the spheres, romancing the cosmos into an elaborate, swirling, endless dance set to classic rock hits.
Music rings out across the mass of potential, and a constellation swirls into being, stars and planets glowing white, pink and red with limitless desire. The dancers take their places in the movements of the mechanical cosmos.
At first, the celestial bodies shine with a tender love, but as the ceaseless dance continues and they move no closer to one another in their eternal orbits, this gentle feeling deepens and intensifies, until the stars are incandescent with limerent obsession.
The work is observed, classified, marked, remarked, sent to counsel to be debated, denied, reconsidered, lost, found, approved, and finally filed.
It is found that there are Eight major celestial objects of relevance, Five minor celestial objects of irrelevance, and a still debated number of lesser objects trapped within the celestial circle.
The major objects include Two stars, One class O and One class G, Two gas giants of indeterminate mix, One standard issue “earth” type planet, and One life viable Oceanic planet.
Of the minor, there are two moons, one rocky dwarf planet, and one and two thirds exo-planets, one of unstable existence, the other of unstable orbit.
They are arranged as follows- (1) Type O star is at the Center, it is orbited by a majority <(1) exo planet excluded arbitrarily 1/3rd of each solar cycle> of all Celestial objects, orbiting nearest is (1) gas giant, which itself is orbited by (1) moon and (1) Oceanic planet, further away, (1) dwarf planet orbits, next is a standard “earth” type planet, between these two planets is (1) asteroid field containing 98.3% of all lesser objects, the standard “earth” type planet is orbited by (1) moon, further away (1) type G star orbits, it itself is orbited by (1) gas giant, past this point- (1.666) exoplanets spend a majority of their orbit, (1) of which travels “backwards” relative to the rest of the solar system.
It is Written, and it is So. A subtle and responsive material, a section of the pure potential responds to the observations, and the system is created as specified: a great blue sun circled by a smaller white-gold star, planets of water, metal and gas, as well as various other bodies. The two stars, so closely marked and measured, provide a splendid quantity of light and heat.
The statue tears away one of the rags covering its body and wraps it around the primordial chaos like a shroud.
Whatever comes after this, let it be inexact. Let no one, be they demiurge or divine or mortal, gain a full understanding of this world or of its contents, and let what is unseen remain malleable.
A portion of the mass of potential is hidden, removed from view, it's nature uncertain and unknowable. The one thing apart from the great clockwork whirring across the skies, it swirls between the stars and moons, an uncertain shape, shrouded in mist, streaming between the worlds.
The Work
A vast clockwork mechanism underpins the great whirling cosmos. A huge blue sun rotates near the centre, while countless other spheres of diverse metals and star-stuff perform an intricate dance all across the heavens. Among these, a constellation of stars aglow with terrible red light light emit a desperate and insatiable yearning, while at the periphery of things, small worlds spin gently beneath dark oceans, waves rolling across their smooth surfaces. Between these bodies winds the Unseen, an unknowable part of creation, abstracted even from the near-absolute vision of the worldwrights.
It is clear to any artists as skilled as the worldwrights that certain aspects of the mass of unfinished creation before them would be profoundly useful in the next stage of the work. There are only a handful of such materials to be found at any stage in the process, and use of lesser materials, while not impossible, is likely to produce lesser forms.
Brilliant blue light streams from the largest star, a splendid material and enough for any number of crafters to use comfortably. From the red constellation emanates a terrible desire, an awful, unquenched need and a difficult material to work properly. From the clouds veiling the Unseen there streams endless mist, a fine mass of water drifting aimlessly between the worlds. The cogs of the sky themselves emit a ceaseless stream of sparks as the immutable metals grind and strike. Finally, a fifth of the mass of pure potential remains, the ultimate medium, enough for a single artisan to work with.
It is now time to create the realms of the universe. The worlds must be adorned with forests and mountains, deserts and ocean depths - even the heavens for the gods to inhabit or the underworld for the dead, if such places will be.It is found that there are Eight major celestial objects of relevance, Five minor celestial objects of irrelevance, and a still debated number of lesser objects trapped within the celestial circle.
The major objects include Two stars, One class O and One class G, Two gas giants of indeterminate mix, One standard issue “earth” type planet, and One life viable Oceanic planet.
Of the minor, there are two moons, one rocky dwarf planet, and one and two thirds exo-planets, one of unstable existence, the other of unstable orbit.
They are arranged as follows- (1) Type O star is at the Center, it is orbited by a majority <(1) exo planet excluded arbitrarily 1/3rd of each solar cycle> of all Celestial objects, orbiting nearest is (1) gas giant, which itself is orbited by (1) moon and (1) Oceanic planet, further away, (1) dwarf planet orbits, next is a standard “earth” type planet, between these two planets is (1) asteroid field containing 98.3% of all lesser objects, the standard “earth” type planet is orbited by (1) moon, further away (1) type G star orbits, it itself is orbited by (1) gas giant, past this point- (1.666) exoplanets spend a majority of their orbit, (1) of which travels “backwards” relative to the rest of the solar system.