Astroverse
Welcome to my first world building post! I didn't quite consider using my blogs to spout fun ideas for worlds until a friend of mine did so. So strap in! This is a long one.
Admittedly, this is a remake of an older universe that begun with the idea of astrology as its center piece, but then became it's own thing entirely.
The Start
For my first step, I base a world on an interesting idea or theme. In this case, I'm choosing astrology! I love the idea behind it; the stars and planets influencing life on earth, influencing fate itself.
Next, let's take a look at things I'm going to include or exclude. I'm going to explicitly avoid any gods, demons, and angels this time around. It's tiring hearing the same stories with them involved, even if they don't directly intervene. I will have magic this time, though I'm not sure at what level it is at, but I do know it's tied to the stars.
Planets and Realms
Tl;dr: Realms exist within a physical location represented as a planet. A realm isn't limited by space like a planet is. Realms have some level of sentience, which creates local laws of physics / magic.
Rather than a planet just being a physical thing, it'll be a realm in itself, while the realm's physical location is where the planet is located. But in terms of travel, things can get weird, which I'll explain in what a Convergence is. Realms are semi-sentient, like a force with a will, but most (save one) has no explicit personality or goal. Thus, all celestial forces within this universe are entirely neutral; the nature of its people are tied completely to the people itself and nothing else.
Planets will orbit the Prime realm, which sits at the center of it all. Each plant has a waning and waxing phase where it influences Prime, and much like our real life planet counterparts they have different orbit times and distances. Both the sun (Sol) and moon (Luna) orbit Prime as well.
The Zodiac, and Oblivion
Tl;dr: Stars create groups called constellations, which make up the schools of magic, which is split evenly into lunar magic and solar branches of magic. Everything outside the sphere of stars is nothingness - no weird creatures, no consuming darkness. Truly nothing.
Much like planets, stars also have a will, and exert an influence on everything they surround. Unlike our real life counterparts, stars are simply small bodies of light that exist to keep Oblivion at bay.
Stars, the Zodiac
Stars are scattered throughout the celestial sphere, which marks the end of the solar system.
However
those concentrated at the belt horizontal to Prime form the
constellations called the Zodiac signs. This is where magic is drawn
from, each zodiac representing a school or nature of magic. There are 12
signs, 10 of them are each divided into a court between Sol and Luna,
while two of them are transient, belonging to both. The zodiac is tied
to the celestial year, and not the year based on your realm (as in, it
isn't tied to a month like ours is). There are minor zodiacs that exist just outside of the belt; they hold lesser power and aren't tied to magic.
Oblivion
Beyond the stars lies oblivion. A place of true nothingness. There is no eldritch force trying to consume the light, there are no dark gods. It is simply a force of nature that lacks material. The celestial sphere "prevents" it from entering the solar system. That is to say it staves off non-existence in a metaphorical manner. Despite its seeming nature, oblivion is also a neutral force.Despite its lack of matter, a type of power can be drawn from it, but it is not considered magic. The power drawn from here begets a force of erasure and nullification. Those who have a hatred for magic almost always draw from this force.
Celestial Influence
Tl;dr: Constellations are called the zodiac, which influences people's behavior and their fate.
Ready for your horoscope? The zodiac has a true influence on the lives of people who live within the solar system. Horoscopes fall under Divination magic, by the way. This is a very real thing, but unlike most magic it isn't a science. Being born under a sign gives you a whisper of its magic. That is to say, being born under a sign of Divination magic doesn't mean you'll predict the future, but you'll often find small things edging you towards your goal. An example of this is finding a few extra dollars here and there to buy a new gaming console.
Convergence
Tl;dr: Convergence between realms allows people to simply walk to the other realm. Convergence places can be predicted via math.
Perhaps one of the most important aspects of this universe is convergence. When this happens, two realms become connected directly via a magical "bridge", so to speak. It isn't total; only a few places will have a direct connection, which changes over time as the planet travels. You may find wild growth suddenly outright replacing that office building that used to sit there. Anything moving into this area immediately transports you onto the planet converging, where you'll find the missing office. Funnily enough, this disconnect doesn't disturb the order of things - internet and electricity still works in the office building stuck on another planet (temporarily), and a tree caught between two worlds still lives normally. Here's what it would look like.
When you walk onto another plane, you don't collide with whatever is in the center when you leave.
When magic is low(er), you will only see a ghost of an image from what a convergence would have been. You can still cross, but it's more challenging.
If you're a really good astrologist, you can predict exactly where these spots will arise (and used to arise) using math. It's an actual science and can save you and your civilization a collective headache.
Realm Influence
Tl;dr: Realms magically transmute people and things to become more like the realm itself. A realm of fairies influencing the world would cause existing creatures and those who are born during the influence to have those attributes.
When the Prime is influenced by magic, planets directly interfere with Prime by exerting their will. For example, a planet of faeries would cause more of that type of creature to be born on Prime. Planets will also alter what already exists, so people, plants, and animals may spontaneously gain fairy powers and attributes, for example. During a convergence, such creatures can cross the proverbial road onto the Prime as well. This can cause problems, due to a sudden influx of feral creatures (such as beasts) trying to take over the unfamiliar territory, or cause havoc due to confusion.
Planets
I'm not sure how many planets I'll be including, but let's define just 3 to keep things quick.
Prime
Tl;dr: Prime sits in the center. Zodiac magic and technology works via this realm's sentience. Technology and magic become stronger and weaker with 20-30 thousand year cycles. The cycle doesn't effect creatures created by realm influence or their abilities.
Despite the celestial name Prime (like Sol, or Luna), the inhabitants all call it something else depending on the culture (which is true for other celestial bodies). Prime is influenced by its neighbors through celestial cycles more than other planets influencing other planets. Magic wanes and waxes over periods of say... 20-30 thousand years, where other realms have magic always on or off. When magic is waning, convergence occurs less often, and not at all during nadir. To keep things familiar, Prime looks and feels much like Earth - the difference comes in when convergence shakes things up.
The planet has ages, which is divided by waning and waxing magical influence. Each new age builds upon the corpse of the last, which acts as a "fertilizer" for the next, for lack of a better term. There has been more than one modern era, but technology and magic has a strict limit within this universe, preventing one from besting the other. A good example of this is technology becoming inoperable during the apex time of magic, and vice versa. This is the sentience of Prime at work, rather than a mundane or magic universal law.
The ages do not effect creatures born or influenced by realms. Only magic drawn from the zodiac is effected.
The Wilds
Tl;dr: Wilds are untamed. Because of its sentience, it can't be tamed and will fight back against it. Filled with animals and plants that can grow to epic sizes.
The Wilds consist of so much untouched beauty. Its inhabitants are primarily animal in nature - either humanoid or feral beasts. Plant life also takes form as their own type of humanoid and feral beast as well.
Nightmare
Tl;dr: Nightmare has more sentience than other realms. It sits a little inside Oblivion, which causes its nature. Creatures of nightmare feed on negative emotion, which reduces the amount of it in the realm it influences, but if food is scarce it creates more negative emotion instead. Those born of nightmare are extremely powerful outside of light.
The last plant we'll touch on. Nightmare sits at the literal edge of Oblivion, existing half in the solar system, half in Oblivion. It has by far the longest celestial year of any planet by a hundred thousand years, and has the weakest influence. The plant itself is challenging to see with a telescope because its surface is so dark.
Nightmare is strange. Unlike most planets, this one seemingly has a consciousness tied to it that only those influenced by Nightmare can hear and understand. Despite the name, Nightmare has a motherly nature keen on protecting its children. Entities influenced by Nightmare take on the properties of a culture and nature, rather than a set type of creature. By culture I mean it may take on the appearance of a terrible omen of destruction that would bring despair to people who see it. Or it may simply terrify beasts it exists around due to its nature. Those affected by nightmare may be freighting in one place, but not so much in others without cultural context. Those born and influenced of nightmare feed exclusively on negativity, especially terror. This consumption isn't harmful to anyone; its the fear they cause.
The planet itself is entirely "underground". Despite have a "surface", it's impossible to be on the surface. It's completely alien - anything not aligned with nightmare can't traverse it. Even if they had a guide born from nightmare they would still become lost, and eventually become a part of the planet itself, or simply consumed by the inhabitants. Light is scarce because it's literally consumed by the darkness; a strong and powerful light will do nothing. You need to be gentle with light, as gentle as you can. Dark vision does nothing here, because there is no light, heat, or cold in the first place, which is why most inhabitants have no eyes, or feel their surroundings with extra sensory perception.
Outside of the nightmare, creatures born and influenced by it are weakened by light, or their power becomes non-functional. Some are even outright killed by sun or moonlight. All creatures of nightmare share a weakness to light, it is impossible for them to divert or prevent this.
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