SWN

SWN, or Selected World "N", is a world known for being ruled by an extra-dimensional council of extraordinarily powerful beings. It has far less of a penchant for absurdism than SWS or SWE, and as a result is more serious in tone.

Cosmology
The main universe of SWN is known as the Sphere to the Council Members, and it consists of eight dimensions in four opposing pairs, with two much larger dimensions to the upper and lower of these, and a central enigmatic dimension. The four opposing pairs are the dimensions of Fire and Water, Air and Earth, Darkness and Light, and Death and Life. The Boundary dimension lies above Fire, Air, Darkness, and Death, and the Anchor dimension lies below Water, Earth, Light, and Life. The Enigma dimension lies in the center of this all. Most of these dimensions only have very limited relevance to the recorded events of SWN; most of those are relegated to a single fringe celestial body of several that lies within Life, usually simply known as The World. The World has limited connections to other dimensions; for thousands of years it has been connected to a corner of Fire known as The Lower World, and to a small part of the surface of Boundary known by many names.

The Sphere itself is just the greatest of many Formed Worlds tended to by members of the council, and the council members themselves reside in a meeting hall within the infinite near-empty space known as the Dream-Ghost-Fragment.

The World
Humans: A broad category of races that share morphological similarity and supposed common ancestry. The most populous species in the Selected Kingdoms as of the Common Reference Era, a couple thousand years after emigrating from the Far Lands.

- Artifice: The majority race of the Golden Kingdom and the state of Artifact, as well as a notable minority in the Dragon Kingdom and Hell City. They have brightly colored eyes, dark hair, and often latte-colored skin, and usually stand between five and six feet tall at adulthood.

- Drakes: The majority race of the Dragon Kingdom, with coal or flame-colored eyes, black to white hair, and purple skin. They usually stand between six and seven feet at adulthood.

- Terrans: The majority race of the Mountain Republic, and a notable minority in the state of Artifact. Have a wide variety of hair and eye colors, but have extremely pale skin. Stand between three and six feet tall at adulthood, with a significant predisposition for much greater muscle mass than other humans. Viewed as kind of stupid by Artifice and Drakes, as their culture upholds martial prowess more than mental prowess, unlike themselves.

- Farlanders: Actually an extremely heterogenous and unreconcilable group, the human inhabitants of the Far Lands are known to those in the Selected Kingdoms as a single group due to bigotry. Not only are the individual cultures ignored, but modern immigrants from the Far Lands are even given the last name Farlander, as most Far Lands cultures utilize mononyms instead of the two or three-named denizens of the Selected Kingdoms.

- Gravemen: nearly wiped out by a genocide perpetuated by Artifice several hundred years ago, they now seal themselves in caves and do not see daylight. Have green skin.

- Fay: The link between the Selected Humans and the Farlanders, a people who bridge the gap. Often fair-skinned, small, and deeply fond of animal symbolism.

Settledfew: The non-human natives of what is now the Selected Kingdoms. They are not as technologically advanced as the humans and are therefore often at their mercy. While they were genocided at the hands of the Drakes in the early years, their disjointed remains are now settled in peace in the Golden Kingdom, Artifact, and (especially) the Mountain Republic.

Helens: The only race to be immune to the Graveturning curse, and even have the capacity to harness it somehow. Greatly feared by humans.

The extinct architects of the various ancient temples...

Whispers of sentient ghostlike entities...

Dragons...

The Lower World
Unculids: The hulking, tusked native denizens of Hell City. Powerful and intelligent, and feared as brutish and cunning. Not broadly particularly fond of humans, but willingly allow them citizenship.

Hellish: Actually a race of human, the Hellish were stranded in the Lower World nearly two thousand years ago, and are not even recognized as human in the Selected Kingdoms. They are recognized as human within Hell City by the Unculid administration, but do not fare especially better.

Ignarians: Actually the same race as the Unculids, these are the semi-organized farming tribes the Unculids have oppressed for thousands of years despite most of their food being produced by them.

Lords: The original builders of Hell City, now almost all died out. Some still reside on the sealed off lowest levels. Have an unknown form on account of using huge bulky suits of metal whose lone chest port seems to only reveal magma.

Steel-Eloquent: Living abstract sculptures of red-hot metal. Probably related to the Lords, if they are indeed living magma, perhaps as well as the non-sentient crawling magma blobs that also live in the Lower World. The Steel-Eloquent are rare in the modern era, though they seem to have used to serve the Lords in the original Hell City. None, or insignificantly few at most, can still be found in Hell City today, even in the Lords' layers, but they make their homes among the other distant ruins where the Lords instead are rare.

Boundary
Last: The tall, slender, and powerfully magical beings that make Boundary their home. Incredibly powerful and intelligent, but are extremely susceptible to suggestion, and can spontaneously be driven mad by strong sunlight and clear reflections, or really any trick of light. This change causes them to be very violent, paranoid, delusional, and physically powerful but also significantly less magically powerful. It cannot be reversed by any means known, but the severity often fluctuates, with maddened Last still capable of fragmented speech in total darkness and solitude being occasionally noted.

Others...?

Timeline
- The path to the Lower World is opened for the first time, and some people become stranded in that world

- ?????

- The first doorways to the Lower World are reopened, beginning the Hell War

- ?????

- A traveler from the far lands begins his research into the nature of the world

- ?????

- The War of Guilds

- ?????

- Jake Halcyon, an ordinary local hero, inadvertently delays a war between forces from the Death dimension and Hell City

- Halcyon's fame skyrockets by slaying several terrible beasts

- Halcyon is invited to a grand banquet held by the Last King within Boundary

- The forces of Death pour forth onto The World's greatest kingdoms, and are thwarted by the leadership of Halcyon, the Last King, and, behind the scenes, one Draxx Farlander

- A nameless sorcerer driven mad by a forgotten power wreaks havoc on The World and is thwarted by Halcyon

- Halcyon is personally invited to the Council, and kills Tear the Gray

- Halcyon is killed by Draxx Farlander

- Draxx Farlander and a hired hand by the name of Terran Vega pursue gateways into little-known dimensions

- ?????

- The Second Hell War occurs

- ?????

- The Last King merges with a strange entity from Anchor, and becomes the transcendent being ANKYRA

- ANKYRA bestows enlightenment on a dying descendent of the ancient far lands sorcerer laboring to find the ends of the Fire dimension, and he becomes REDNALRAF

- REDNALRAF and ANKYRA ascend beyond the Sphere and war with the Council Members