heaven's edge
"I, and I alone, shall revive the power to fell gods."
Heaven's Edge is a fantasy universe that is split into three separate "stories" within the same universe. Originally, I didn't intend to make a linear story out of the universe, but I changed my mind because I thought it would be fun. The story of Heaven's Edge follows Tessa, a Navy sailor who has been marooned in enemy territory. She is rescued by a group who does just that- rescues those far from home because of the war. The war efforts are lead by the president of Tessa's home country, Rosa Kafka, as she wishes to restore magic to the people. Long ago, the people of Euik were able to use magic, but gave it up for the greater good to prevent endless world war. At least, that's how the story goes...
There are three main "species" within the Heaven's Edge universe: humans, keepers, and supernaturals. Humans are self explanatory. Keepers are humans that have animal traits, whether this be ears or a tail or a full animal form. They are called keepers because they "keep" as many genetic characteristics as they can as they produce offspring. Keepers may look human or animal, but so long as they have "animal blood" in some way, they are keepers, not humans. There is no historical, large scale racism or species-ism against keepers. They're fundamentally equal to humans on every macro level, and keeper discrimination is extremely rare and frowned upon. The origin story of keepers say that a god gave a wolf the ability to walk on two and talk, and from there, keepers are born. They are a scientific mystery even to this day, so this folklore origin story is widely accepted even among researchers.
Supernaturals is just a placeholder name for any non human and non keeper magic-having being. This includes gods, any type of angel or demon, or mythical being like the kitsune or succubus. There are no supernaturals present on Euik; it is reserved for humans and keepers alone. Humans and keepers also do not have any magic "within" them, they have to channel magic through... something. History has forgotten how they use magic, so they aren't sure how to bring it back.
three worlds, split apart
Long ago, the world was whole, but trapped in endless war...
Heaven's Edge is split into three continents- Euik, Weistad and Apos. They exist almost as 3 separate universes, each with their own unique system of magic, living creatures, society, and terrain. The beings of the world hardly even care about the other 2 continents, and, in many cases, don't even know they exist. The main "story" takes place on Euik, but the other two continents have their own separate narratives as well. Euik is the continent for humans and keepers, free of magic. Weistad is the land of magic, ripe with supernatural beings. Apos is a sort of combination of the two, with humans living on the ground, and gods watching over them, unbeknownst to them. Each continent is vastly different and unique; so unique, in fact, that these differences caused the world to be at war for hundreds, if not thousands of years.
Because each continent has its own unique magic, when these different magics clash, they create world altering side effects. Destruction like no other, the warping of time and space, the loss of life at an absurd scale, and the deconstruction of the land itself was not only possible but common in the early days. In order to keep some semblance of order, the gods of Weistad and Apos formed a loose allyship to keep the humans, keepers, and supernaturals under control. The supernaturals were easily righted, either overpowered by magical skill or sated with gifts. The humans and keepers, though, were the true loose canon. Unlike supernaturals and gods, they tended to form large groups and organize themselves into wide, powerful factions. The gods did not like this organization, which ultimately caused more war as no one could agree on how the world should work, and did their best to supress these groups. Eventually, the wars became organized in a way that boiled down to "gods versus mortals." Gods would enlist supernaturals to eliminate mortals, and mortals would hunt gods for sport. The mortals banded together on Euik and, impressed by their might, the gods of Weistad and Apos decided to split the three continents and lock the magic of the mortals away.
The vast majority of humans and keepers were forcibly moved to Euik, and those who were "from Apos" were returned there. Some keepers and humans remained on Weistad, but they were far outnumbered by supernaturals. And so, the three continents were created. Euik, a land of mortals. Weistad, a land of gods. Apos, a land for humans and their guardians. And there it stayed for hundreds upon hundreds of years...
euik, the land of mortals
[pronounced YEW-ICK] Following the world split, Euik remained bathed in blood for hundreds of years. Many of the conflicts revolved around inter-species complications, not only between humans and keepers, but within the different types and species of keepers themselves. Despite all this conflict, not one demographic was historically marginalized; every battle seemed to be a different one, and eventually these confused feelings and bad blood simmered out and the people of Euik came to a time of peace. There was also a great deal of conflict between the different regions (broadly, the north and south of the mountain range that divides the continent) and the mortals from Weistad and Apos who were dumped onto Euik.
In the current age, Euik is home to seven countries: Maltswa, Tomersey, Roenia, Runmagua, Namizer, Lanti, and Sturley [from north to south, broadly].
Euik's seven countries are surprisingly culturally isolationist from one another, despite only having access to each other and not the other two continents. The seven regularly exchange goods and industry with one another, but have very closed off immigration policies, and generally do not have very open borders for tourism or visitation. There is one singular road that goes from the very top of Euik to the very bottom, twisting through all of the countries, but other than that, each country has its own transportation. The borders are not heavily guarded, as the countries are friendly with one another, but the overwhelming isolationist culture throughout the countries prevents movement of citizens.
The mortals of Euik have been without magic for very, very long. Not much is known about the magic of Euik, but the few remaining tales state that magic "comes from" Euik and must be channeled through something (either something outside the body or through the body itself); Euik's magic is also very fickle, hard to control, and potentially dangerous, but also potentially very powerful. In the modern age, magic has been almost forgotten entirely, relics of a past long dead. However, the country of Maltswa has made a push in the past few decades to attempt to revive the magic of Euik. It undoubtedly existed- exists- so who is to say that it can't be done today? However, the other six countries fear the balance of the world and do not want to break their centuries old reality.
Rosa Kafka, president of Maltswa, announced that she would officially be making a push towards bringing magic back to Euik. Initially, Tomersey allied itself itself with Maltswa, but after Tomersey faces pressure from the other five nations, the president takes this allyship back. The other 6 nations state that if President Kafka continues in her search for magic, they will declare war on Maltswa- and they do. Tomersey declares war on Maltswa, the president of Tomersey is killed, and in the chaos, President Kafka swiftly conquers the country of Tomersey. One by one, the countries declare war on Kafka and one by one she defeats them, until one day, she recieves a strange letter from someone claiming they know the secret of Euik's magic...