PART 1
The Deities
PART 2
The Seven Heavens
The Heavens
The Seachd Neamhan, or Seven Heavens, are a concept within the universe of Adam. The universe began as one heaven, but Seachd had split it into Seven, dividing various dominions among each. Ascending levels have certain powers over the others, in a hierarchy fashion.
These heavens act as the structure, the backbone to the universe, and dictate how many things interact with one another. Oftentimes, higher heavens tend to have far more power over lower heavens.
There are four main levels of heaven, all of which have their own hierarchy. The first is the Void, followed by the Plane of Existence, the Plane of Law, and then the Soundgarden. These divisions act as an organization for heavens with similar seeming aspects or roles in the universe.
The Void: Falamh
The void is sometimes categorized among the Heavens and is commonly referred to as the Zeroth Heaven. This Heaven acts as the breeding ground for things reduced to ideas. Nothing truly moves in this heaven. It is purely devoid of life born from it. However, when life enters into this heaven, it most certainly is still alive. Its perception of reality is slowed and dulled. Its thoughts are almost stagnant. This acts as the main punishment for the most evil souls in the Universe of Adam.
However, while this heaven is said to be motionless, it is thought that some powerful deities have been sent there as punishment, leading to the prevailing theory that this heaven may be a hellscape of some demonic creature that split itself off, or perhaps is an ever changing landscape of evil souls fighting for power. However, of those that entered into the void, not much has been said. The only well-known soul to have made it out of the void has been Pink Floyd.
This Heaven's entrance is said to be guarded by a 60 foot tall man, disemboweled and crucified upside down, with the crucifix being made of red pikes impaling into and out of the body of the man. His disemboweling appears to have been done while he was still alive, as a look of utter, tortured fear appears frozen on his face. His heart also seems to be missing, with the crossing of the crucifixion pikes meeting in its stead.
Whether or not this is the god of the Void is unknown, but he is colloquially called Falamh, due to his prominence in relation to the void.
Below him appears a pit of murky, almost algae-like water. This is said to be the true veil between the void and reality, only breakable by a Deity of indomitable might. What lies beyond is up to speculation.
The Planes of Existence
The following Heavens are categorized under the Plane of Existence, acting as the umbrella under which most beings that aren't godheads or deities exist.
This Plane holds what would be considered the main universe. It is split into three Heavens: Nadur, Inntinn, and Righ.
The First Heaven: Nadur
This Heaven is simplest in form. Nadur, commonly called the Plane of Objects, is a plane of three dimensions, often held under foot of all of the other heavens. It houses all natural, physical, and tangible objects. Atomic structures exist and die here. However, this plane is only of the objects. These objects are bound by rules that are often dictated by higher levels. Without any of the other higher heavens, the plan of objects would simply be an empty space of simple forms, without motion or flow.
With the other heavens’ dictation, this plane houses all things of nature, science, bodies, and celestial forms. Some objects even come to be bound to other beings in higher heavens, often spirits and deities.
The Second Heaven: Inntinn
Inntinn, also commonly called the plain of the mind, defines a form of consciousness created by complex structures and procedures that are activated by a stimulus and respond accordingly. These are often formed out of brain synapses, but can even be imbued into inanimate objects through artificing, no matter how simple the mind may be.
The majority of beings on this plane are typically humans, but include various other biological creatures. Some nonbiological creatures are included in this, like elementals.
However, it is important to distinguish that machinery is not considered to be within the Second Heaven. These are considered mere fabrications of the Second Heaven held soley on the first Heaven.
The Third Heaven: Righ
The final heaven within the Planes of Existence is Righ, commonly referred to as the Ascendant Plane. Righ is mainly filled with extraspiritual beings, such as familiars, stands, or even patrons. These can be considered similar to demigods, often with more of the properties and power of a spirit, but still remaining with a more physical plane. The beings in this plane are vast and diverse because of how different each stand or demigod may form and what powers they may have, but it is best to consider it the middle ground between spirits and bodies.
The Planes of Law
The Planes of Law are a grouping of all of the heavens that often dictate the heavens below, and occasionally each other. They dictate how beings will perceive the world and even how they will interact with other beings and forms. They act as the rules of existence itself, and the most powerful creatures have control over some of these aspects of reality held within the Planes of Law.
These planes include Beatha, Aite, and Uine.
The Fourth Heaven: Beatha
Beatha, also called the Plane of Immortality, Mortality, Consciousness, or Life, commonly refers to a plane that dictates almost every aspect of a living. The first major aspect that this Heaven dictates is Consciousness. Every living creature has some level of consciousness found within the mind. However, some creatures may go further beyond and have a level of self-aware consciousness. That rests on this level, and is entirely dictated by that.
Another aspect is a creature’s mortality and fate. The lifespan of a creature, their likely cause of death, their status are all stored here. Whether they can die through time or must die through physical or spiritual means is determined by this. Power over this Heaven would mean control over how people perceive certain things, whether a person dies now or dies later for a certain cause, etc. It controls a creature’s consciousness and perception.
Due to the control this heaven has over many people’s lives, despite the fact that the rules of the Universe and Time still mostly control a lot of what happens in this heaven, many have believed that this heaven may be the most important. After all, the things that matter most to people that they feel they can control are dictated by this heaven.
The Fifth Heaven: Aite
Aite, otherwise known as the Plane of Order, represents the all of the Laws and Rules that dictate the physical plane, specifically in the properties of Matter. Things like Gravity, Decay, and other physical laws and guided by this world. Any disturbances to it can cause major catastrophe on the Planes of Existence.
The Sixth Heaven: Uine
The Plane of Time, or Uine, is the penultimate Heaven, controlling all things of time. The length of divisions of time, manipulations in time, and all things relating to or dependent on time and dictated here. While manipulations may seem simple, it can ultimately have major consequences in determining Laws found on Aite, as well as Lifespans found on Beatha.
The Plane of Omnipotence: Dia
The Plane of Omnipotence goes by many names, mostly based on what people associate it with, such as the Seventh Heaven, the Seachd, the Soundgarden, the Godhead, and of course Dia, in its traditional naming convention. This is the highest level of being within the known universe. Notably, it holds the Chamber of Guf, the Divine Tree of Life, and the throne of the Original Deity. Most notably, it holds the existence of the Highest Divine who wields said throne and rules over the Seven Heavens.
However, this Highest Divine typically keeps to the Seventh Heaven, tending to the Soundgarden and ensuring order among interactions with the Heavens themselves, rather than typically intervening. There are occasions when this god will intervene, but they are sparse and have multiple conditions. In the ancient times, there could be multiple interventions in the span of a few months. However, more recent interventions have been limited to granting some power to prophets, as well as sending a descendant, Yeshua, in an attempt to reinstate order in the world.
The Soundgarden
The Soundgarden itself is what it thought to be the palace of the Seachd. It is shaped like a trigonal pyramid amidst a sea of red. It has purely black walls with a reddish sheen in its lit areas. It is said to have been the battleground of many angels and demons, explaining the red, signifying perhaps the remnants of fallen souls.
At the top of this pyramid resides a flat area where the tip should be, with an open space and a smaller, near mirror image of the pyramid below floating above it. Within this upper castle of the Soundgarden resides the Tree of Life, as well as the Throne of the Original Deity.
It is rumored that the most mystical, secretive items reside on this level, having maximum protection from the Seachd themself. However, none have ever seen inside of this chamber. What exactly resides inside remains a mystery.
The Tree of Life
When the Original Deity split themself off, the souls formed by the Divine Split created a Tree that blossomed fruit. These fruit became the souls bound for the new world. This Tree Continuously blossoms fruit that is deposited in the Chamber of Guf, bound for the world.
However, the tree has a limited amount of spiritual energy granted to it by the Original Deity. Thus, there is a limit to how many souls can be produced by it. It is speculated that when this tree runs out of fruit to bear, no conceptions can ever occur, and it would signify the true end times.
The Chamber of Guf
The Chamber of Guf, or Guf for short, acts as the repository for all souls on the Seventh Heaven. When the Original Deity split themself off into the souls of the Universe, the first souls to enter into the Heavens split by the Seachd were put into this Chamber, awaiting arrival on the 4th Heaven.
The Tree of Life continuously delivers new souls into the Chamber, that go through the same process of forming a shell called a Spirit and descending into the 4th Heaven to be anchored to a new Soul. The beings in charge of this process are not specifically known by name, but some worship them as the gods of Fertility and Conception.
Traversing the Heavens
While the existence of the Heavens themselves may be daunting enough, as well as understanding what each does, traversing them is quite simple. There are two main methods to get from one heaven to another.
Black Rain Circles
The first method is known as the Black Rain Circle. The circle is a summoning device with specific parameters that provokes a ritual. The circle opens the Black Rain Gate, which can be used as a tunnel of transport across the Heavens. The key takeaway is the sacrifice necessary to perform the ritual. When a user is ascending the Heavens, a proportional sacrifice, dictated by Aite, must be given up. Many knowledgeable users often prepare sacrifices knowing the amounts of what must be given. However, descending the Heavens grants and takes nothing, and is either done naturally or with a...
Gates of Delirium
A Gate of Delirium utilizes the same summoning circle as the Black Rain Circle, but uses the natural binding of those on being sent or summoned to its advantage. When a creature that is bound to the Planes of Existence ends up on higher Planes, the Black Rain Gate can be opened and they will passively be sent across, as they are being pulled by their natural heritage to that Plane.
However, pulling creatures across Falamh is different, and no creature can be pulled across without a sacrifice of some sort.
Order of the Heavens
While the order of the Heavens may seem obvious with the numeric connotations representing ascending power, it is important to make some very specific and clear distinctions in what holds power over what. The order of the Heavens is, in fact, a model representing power, but not necessarily importance, which changes depending on the viewpoint. Further, even those with power over certain Heavens need to be weary of the extent.
Hierarchy
The order of the Heavens is typically called the 'hierarchy', with many wishing to achieve what they believe to be the highest level of the hierarchy for various reasons.
Traditional Order
The traditional order of the Hierarchy is based entirely in power, and is ordered. Each higher Heaven is thought to provide more power than the last, and ascending the Heavens grants the wielder powers closer and closer to the Seachd. In ascending order, it goes Nadur, Inntinn, Righ, Beatha, Aite, Uine, Dia.
Note that Falamh is left out. Considering the possibility of all of the negative energy spawning from Falamh and more energy accumulating there over time, complete power over Falamh would almost be equivalent to complete power of Dia. However still, it would require all of the energy of Falamh being grouped into one being, which is unlikely to happen.
Space and Time
While space (Aite) and time (Uine) are almost always colloquialized to 'Spacetime', in the traditional order, Time overrides Space in terms of power. Complete control over Time often mitigates or outright destroys any advantage Space may have. Most of the order provided for by the laws of Physics found in Aite having no meaning without time defined in Uine. As such, despite being next to each other on most diagrams of the Heavens, Uine will typically override Aite.
Consciousness Centric
With the current prominence of Nadur-bound beings, there is a prominent ideology of Beatha being the centralize point of dominance. Certainly, in battles between those bound to their perceptions that all fall under Beatha, without the means to peer into the higher planes, have a disadvantage against anyone who has power over any part of Beatha.
However, when a being has the ability to move their sight from plane to plane, controlling perception through Beatha may become more and more obsolete. Still, advantages do exist and can be used to great effect.
Power Scaling
While it has been said that each higher Heaven is correspondingly higher in power than Lower Heavens, creatures holding power may vary in might regardless of what Heaven they may have power over.
Existence
Mere existence on a Heaven signifies some partial power over it, though it is limited to the area in which that creature takes up. They may have no means of actually effecting change beyond their physical form. As such, this is the lowest level of power one can have over a Heaven.
Partial Power
The next level up in power is holding partial power. This could mean a variety of things based on the extend of said power or what Heaven is resides over. However, it typically means that a creature holds power over an aspect of a Heaven, all things within a limited range, or a combination of the two. Combat between two creatures holding partial power of differing Heaven and to differing extents is not set in stone. It varies depending on the resourcefulness and extent of power each combatant has.
Dominance
The ultimate level of power over a Heaven is known as dominance. This is when a creature reigns supreme over every single aspect of a Heaven regardless of range. This is typically held by Deities that reside over a Heaven. Battles between said Deities are often determined by the Traditional Order of the Heavens. More often than not, dominant creatures can overtake any creature with partial power, regardless of what Heaven they have partial power over.
PART 3
Structure of Life
Living Creatures
There are many different types of living creatures that exist within the Universe of Adam, often descending from the Original Deity. Most have a similar structure defined below. The structure is based around the existence of a soul that is anchored to the Nadur.
Each part has its rests on its own heaven due to the job it performs. While some creatures may have formats that differ, this is the main form that is most compatible with the Seven Heavens created by the Seachd.
Anatomy of Living Creatures
While many living creatures may vary in physical form, often the anatonomy of that creature relative to the Seven Heavens remains the same. Each living creature consists of a Body, which acts as the Vessel for the Mind. The Spirit acts as the Vessel for the Soul. The Life Force acts as the Anchor between the Mind and the Soul and transfers spiritual energy into the physical world. Many, if not all, creatures interact with the Seven Heavens based off of this structure.
Body
Exists on the 1st Heaven
The body is the physical vessel of the Sentient creature. It acts as their ties to the physical world. It houses all ailments, disabilities, and corruptions. Normally, they have natural cycles of decay, but these can be reversed with the aid of the life force flowing from the soul to the body, through the mind.
Mind
Exists on the 2nd heaven
The mind acts as an extra physical structure of logic and reasoning, often as a result of complex processes of a sentient being. Minds often form within creatures that have brains, but can even be granted to inanimate objects through the power of artificing. Because the mind still exists bound by the physical, it oftentimes is subject to deterioration over time due to its connections with a process that exists solely on the physical. As a brain may naturally decay and deteriorate, so too does the mind. It is purely limited by the constraints of the body.
Life Force
Exists on the 3rd Heaven (if it is a stand) or as a tunnel to the Spirit
The Life force acts as a form of interplanar energy that flows from the Mind to the Spirit. It acts as the anchor of a Soul to a physical body. Whenever life energy runs out, the soul is often released into higher heavens. It also acts as a tunnel for spiritual energy to be manipulated and used, often used by spellcasters, stand users, and many other forms of manipulation of a spiritual energy.
Spells
The Life force is where most magic comes from. Due to its ability to exist on multiple dimensions, it can bring a sentient’s natural soul and spiritual energy to the physical plane, casting spells or curses upon others.
It is the gateway to limitless potential.The use of life energy can heavily drain a soul. This is why there are limits to some spells or a certain amount of times they can be used before a spellcaster becomes fatigued. The life force becomes rejuvenated whenever the spell caster allows their soul time to heal, thus allowing their bank of energy to be refilled.
Stands
However, certain sentient creatures exist that have such strong spirits that the energy can take on a much more physical form. This acts as a separate form from the spirit, as the spirit is more of a ghost-like presence whereas a stand can take a more physical presence, impacting the physical world as well as higher heavens.
Each stand has their own form of heavenly control. Some can partially control the mind, whereas others can have full control over the more natural heaven of objects. They vary incredibly based on the character of the soul and spirit itself.
Spirit
Exists on the 3rd Heaven
The spirit’s main purpose is to act as the vessel of the soul. It is like a physical container for the energetic spirit to ensure that it doesn’t fly off into higher heavens. It also acts as the hub for everything that a person is. Their personality and fate may all be stored within the spirit. How each person’s soul looks is unique. Some creatures that have a stand may have a statue at the center of their soul, signifying the physical aspect of their life force.
Other Soul connections
Other souls may also be attached to a person’s spirit. Patrons or magical inheritance, like those of Warlocks and Sorcerers, may connect themselves to a person’s spirit and grant them extra spiritual energy to be sent as energy into their life force. Souls can also attach themselves to a person’s spirit after they die, if they choose to willingly give their remaining power to them. However, some may be unwilling and trapped inside of a soul-keeping stone or some sort of spell that saps life and soul energy from someone.
Regardless, these all act as other forms of energy that can attach themselves to a spirit besides a person’s own soul.
Soul
Exists on the 4th heaven
The soul is a rather simple form. Souls are pieces of energy that are split off from various deities, most originating from the original deity at the beginning of time. Some may come from later deities or extraheavenly beings that began as regular creatures. Most souls tend to have the same basic structure: child-like at first, with the potential for growth and purpose. This format was created by the original deity. However, later formats have been created successfully, oftentimes by patrons creating slaves to do their bidding. These creatures may vary wildly, but their interaction with the 7 heavens remains the same, all in accordance with the above anatomy of life.