#aumverse

The Aum Universe

Takes place in the galaxy we know as the Milky Way, but on the other side of the galaxy from the Sol system. The people in this society know the galaxy as the Carisad Galaxy. Homo sapiens is the dominant species in this system and no other sentient life has been discovered.

There are 35 inhabited solar systems, with a total of 57 planets, 32 moons, and numerous artificial satellites inhabited by humans.

Government

The largest galactic government is called the Carisad Federation, which governs interaction between the planets in the Federation between each other and those governments not part of the Federation. They also address the rights of people. Actual authority on most planets is limited, except in the case of tracking interplanetary criminals and Being Rights. Being Rights state that a being has the right to live their life as they see fit, provided they harm no other creature.

The Carisad Federation is lead by an elected head, the Minister. The Minister is randomly selected by lottery from the body of representatives sent by their planets. This Minister is responsible for ensuring that the Federation is run smoothly and that the powers of the galactic government are not abused. The term of a Minister is only three years. At this time, the membership of the Carisad Federation is at 36 planets. Those planets that are not members are either newly colonized, have not been invited or have declined the invitation to join. It is not illegal to travel to these planets, but it is highly suggested that travel and trade to these worlds are limited for the safety of federal planet citizens due to the dangers involved.

Most planets have their own government. Provided they do not inhibit the rights of their inhabitants, the galactic government does not get involved in their lawmaking. Even so, some planets have rather restrictive social rules. Most who don't agree with these social rules try to leave the planet if they can.

Technology

The most prominent aspects of technology in this realm are Communications and Transportation.

Transportation between planets is made possible by Star Drives. These drives operate by harnessing the power released by colliding the smallest portions of matter together. This power is then used to create a tunnel anomaly the ship can use to travel between systems. Before the invention of these Star Drives, interplanetary travel could take months for systems close by, even years for systems that were further apart. Now, intergalactic travel between most members of the Carisad Federation takes less than fifteen days. The longest travel time between the two systems is only thirty days.

Communications is the most advanced area of technology. Using energy and space-bending qualities of certain complex silicate structures, Communications is nearly instantaneous between most planets, the longest delay is no more than thirty seconds. Also, this technology is lightweight, allowing for personal interstellar communication devices, called comvices, about the size of a thin paperback novel. These can be pricey though and are usually only owned by the well to do or those belonging to an intergalactic organization, such as the Adept Organization. Most people own a planetary communications device, called plancoms, which are no larger than a matchbox. These must hook into an interstellar system, usually with a fee, to connect to a person off the planet they are on.

Another interesting aspect of technology is the lack of robotics in this realm. Once robotics replaced most people in factory type jobs, the field did not advance much further. The only region that robotics has continued to grow is in the medical field in limb replacement and regulatory devices.

Technology is also closely connected to magic. Magic can be used to power technical devices, but care must be taken to not over load the circuitry. Magical energy has been known to blow out batteries as well. As such, most mages usually can't carry anything more complex than a plancom and even those devices have to be modified to allow for the high levels of energy mages put out.

Medicine

Due to the fact that magic is able to assist with healing speed, long-term medical care is not typically known by those in the medical profession. Most stays are no longer than a night, with the extreme lengths of stay being only about a week at the larger hospitals with a large medical mage staff. Smaller practices with only one or two mages can have longer stay times.

Unfortunately, many diseases are still an issue faced by this society. Many bacterial illnesses are easily cured, but virus based illnesses still cause a problem for medical science. There is an interesting side effect with mages and illness. Most mages do not get ill very often, and any that have been through the saging process rarely become ill. The theory is that constant exposure to life based energy results in a higher resistance.

Gene therapy has advanced greatly, able to relieve all but the most severe of disorders people are born with. Those disorders that are too severe for corrections are usually tested for before the fetus is eight weeks old. Most women who receive positive results are encouraged to induce miscarriage.

Unless one is a mage, life expectancy can reach up to three hundred years, though the average life span is 197. For mages, that number can nearly double, the oldest mage not having gone through Saging died at the age of 654. For those who have Saged, aging effectively stops and there isn't an upper limit on how long a sage can live. Most Sages will fade away (see below) at an average of three thousand years.

Magic

The ability to modify the world with just the energy of the universe. Magic is most effective on planets, due to the higher concentration of life energy, but can be accomplished anywhere. It can cause any number of effects, but it is limited in many areas. Magic cannot be used to directly communicate. It cannot be used to travel through space nor can it be used to instantly transport items or people from one point to another. While it can speed healing and protect the practitioner from disease, it cannot cure ongoing disease or replace lost body parts. It can be used to stabilize a critically injured person, but it cannot be used to resurrect the dead.

While anyone can train to use magic, only those who have talent for it truly shine. Most people in the medical profession are trained to use it to speed healing, but very few are able to progress beyond that point. Very few without a little bit of talent bother to train the ability to use magic due to the difficulty of learning it from pure training.

Those who are either very talented or very determined with their training eventually go through a process called saging. This occurs once the body has reached a certain capacity and exposure to the energies used in magic. Aging slows tremendously and the mage, now called a Sage, becomes very resilient to disease. Female Sages also experience a drop in fertility but an extension in the length of time they are able to have children. An outward sign of this process is the bleaching of hair either at the temples or at the forehead hairline. The average age of saging is 32, but the youngest known occurrence was in a fourteen-year-old girl on the planet Culia.

Once sages reach a certain point mentally and emotionally, they can also undergo a process called ‘fading away’. This process leads to the eventual death of the Sage, as they loose interest in reality and eventually willing accept death. This is the leading cause of death in unaffiliated sages.

At some point, nearly three hundred thousand years ago, a Sage by the name of Jopin Yhus formed an organization of Sages, named The Adept Organization. After this organization was formed, the members were called Adepts to differentiate them from those Sages who were not a member of the Organization.

The Adept Organization

Usually shortened in conversation to ‘The Adepts’, this organization was formed by founder Jopin Yhus nearly three hundred thousand years ago. This coincides with the invention of the Star Drive that allowed faster travel between the systems. Many historians agree that without the Star Drive, Jopin’s vision of an organization of Sages would not have become a reality.

Soon after their creation, the Carisad Federation has granted the Adept Organization status as a non-profit organization and granted it tax free status with their government. As such, the Adept Organization built their headquarters on the planet Arithed and support the Carisad Federation whenever they can.

The Adepts serve the galactic community as historians, peacekeepers, teachers, diplomats and occasionally as law enforcement. They have an on going mission to prevent the misuse of Sage level power, sending members out to try to dissuade first and then to stop by force those who abuse their power. Many who use their power for darker reasons and are proud of it take the title of Dark Adept, almost as a goad or insult towards the Adepts.

Organizationally, the Adepts are run by the High Adept and any number of higher-ranking Adepts as needed. The High Adept is voted into office when the previous dies or steps down. There is also the ability of the Adepts to remove the High Adept from office, again by vote, but that has only occurred twice in the Organization’s history. The High Adept must be from a First Adept, the top Adepts in terms of skill and capacity. The lowest rank of Adepts, those who have just gone through saging, are the Fifth Rank. Increasing one’s rank is accomplished by testing and acceptance by the Office of the High Adept.