The Aurelium Exculta

"Nothing is permanent on Eden, afterall." — Unknown Aurelian

The Aurelium Exculta

Information
Homeworld	The Eden Construct
Habitats	Artificial structures
Unique Traits	Human features, pointed ears, colorful markings
Writer(s)	Kay, Xavier

Despite their pointed ears, colorful markings, and varied skin tones, Aurelians take pride in their similarities to the humans of old. Being native to their artificial construct world Eden, they view themselves as conquerors of nature’s laws. Surrounded by machinery and steel, Aurelians believe in the Binary, the innate ability for a machine to communicate regardless of its programmed functions. They favor order and predictability, creating a culture that is ever evolving as it breaks down knowledge in order to understand and incorporate it into their society. The sole exception to this is magic, which has been widely outlawed due to its chaotic nature. This, coupled with their desire to influence the universe with their worldviews, has labeled them as brash colonizers by other species. Despite this, Aurelians harbor numerous trade relations and are, at the very least, cordial in their dealings. Regardless of their views, trade is important in the upkeep of the Eden Construct, especially as overpopulation slowly plagues their society.

Core Worldview

Aurelians often see themselves as conquerors of the natural universe. While others had to settle on a planet and adapt to it, the Aurelians constructed their own planet to live on, refusing to bend to the challenges the universe presented them. Because of this, many believe they have the ability to craft pure and raw power with their hands and minds. Living on the Eden Construct has greatly shaped their worldview, enjoying certainty, predictability, and order.

Living on an artificial planet has also heavily influenced their work beliefs. Everyone must contribute to the betterment/maintenance of their planet, and given their belief of the mechanical Binary, their planet is essentially a living organism of their own creation that must be taken care of. They emphasize the preservation of history and culture to keep track of Eden’s health, a habit they carried over from their ancestors after they watched their homeworld fragment.

Because of their desire for order/predictability, many things that are unknown to them are meticulously broken down to reveal their inner workings so their pattern can be understood. The sole exception of this is magic, which the vast majority of Aurelians view as heretical (technomancy is one of the few magic types allowed, but it is not viewed as magic).

They have the perspective that they need to help those around them due to an innate belief that because they can help other species, they should.

Physiology and Design

Aurelians rarely live past a century, sharing similar life spans to humans. All Aurelians are humanoid in shape with pointy ears. Common traits include: markings of several sizes, shapes, and colors; a variety of colors in skin.

While it may not be clear to others, there are subtle differences Aurelians can see within themselves that denote certain attributes about their lifestyle. T

• Asteruleus: Aurelians from this class are slightly taller and more slender, emphasizing generations spent in regal settings. Have more star shaped patterns and markings, often resembling celestial bodies etc.
• Kathebrum: Aurelians from this class often mimic the technology they so-often work with. Some markings may mimic circuits on a motherboard, or their fingerprints are geometric in nature rather than organic and spiralling. Some may reflect their holy work, with bright silver/white streaks in their hair or pastel marking/hair color or skin that shines brighter than the average Aurelian. (These markings glow stronger than others when using said magic)
• Mechinos: Aurelians from this class have spindly hands to aid in their computer work. Additionally, many of their markings, whether big or small, are patterns that can stretch across their entire body (mimics lines of code/1s and 0s).
• Skoredem: Aurelians from this class are generally stocky and heavyset, having adapted to constantly carrying heavy materials for construction. Markings are more akin to welding marks, sparks or fireworks. Markings are more commonly among their hands or arms.
• Syntrubeus: Aurelians from this class range from stocky and heavyset to spindly and lithe depending on their ancestral job. However, many Syntrubeus have markings that extend from their eyes, a reminder of the fast-paced labor this class is often consumed with and how a healthy amount of sleep is a rare privilege.

Social Structures and Community

Merit-based social classes. Every month, the Celestial Coucil (Convocation running Eden) release the Eden Enterprise, which is a planet-wide task the entirety of the Aurelians undertake. At 3.5 weeks, the task must be completed, giving enough time for the next Enterprise to be released. Progress towards the Enterprise is tracked by family names, and reputation points are allocated towards all who contribute. And subsequently taken from those who don’t perform adequately.

• Asteruleus: Nobles. Most families have at least one Celestial seat, but those who don’t are typically diplomats/emissaries for Eden. The vast majority of Asterlues are incredibly wealthy.
• Kathebrum: Priestly class. Kathebrum often commune with machines should they begin acting up while others act as investigators/secret police, rooting out chaos magic wherever it crops up.
• Mechinos: Mechanics/programmers. Many wind up working on the systems/machinery that keeps Eden operational, as well as the creation of ‘sentient’ AI.
• Skoredem: Engineers/architects. Skoredem are responsible for constructing/repairing Eden itself, whether it’s an aquatic filter or the foundation for a spire. Deaths aren’t infrequent, but given that they’re working on the planet, it is viewed as Eden itself ordaining their death.
• Syntrubeus: Unskilled hard laborers. Syntrubeus mainly work in the more undesirable fields, such as sewage collection, garbage disposal, and animal upkeep. Many often die in grisly accidents, but their frequent deaths stalls the rapidly approaching overpopulation problem.

Major cities/locations shift every year with the Great Reconstruction, where the planet breaks apart buildings into spaceships and rearranges them based on areas that are lacking in resources/manpower. This often affects Syntubeus/Skoredem/Mechinos districts the most as they’re the working classes, while blue districts are often kept together and only slightly rearranged to make space. White districts are moved where there is magical activity to quell the terror. Buildings of lower classes are more blocky/sharp, built to fit in spaces as efficiently as possible Upper-class buildings are more round, fanciful, and detailed. These buildings have much more thought/effort put into them, symbolizing the amount of effort the families residing in them have contributed to the Eden Enterprises. Many resemble aquatic animals.

Religion and Spirituality

Aurelians largely disregard the Nullstar and, in fact, quell any worship of it. Magic is something that is unpredictable and chaotic, which will not be tolerated in Eden. Instead, the vast majority of Aurelians abide by the Binary of machines, the belief that the steel and circuits themselves are alive regardless of whether or not a machine has been programmed with the ability to think.

The priestly class (Kathebrum) are often skilled in technomancy and can ‘speak’ to machines using it to coerce them to work more efficiently

Technology and Science

Aurelian science is mainly geared towards engineering, mechanics, and computer science

• Computers are flavored to be akin to holographic projections powered by magical components.
• Lapis Lazuli is generally frowned upon in machines as it is a potent reagent for chaos magic, but is still used in niche scenarios.
• Many machines have circuits made of dead Aurelians, specifically their nerves. Service to Eden never stops, even in death. Aurelians who die are tasked with the greatest mission of all: keeping machines pure of the taint of AI.

A lot of Aurelians are well-versed in astronomy as well. Star charts as well as the monitoring of stellar bodies is important for the continued survival of Eden.

• Given that Eden is an artificial planet, any anomalies in the current star it is orbiting can have detrimental effects without the natural processes a regular planet has. Knowledge of stellar bodies allows the Aurelians to prepare for incoming solar storms or incoming asteroids/comets
• Star charts are used for many reasons: trade, emissary work, and the inevitable expansion of the Aurelians. However, it is most importantly used to map a potential course Eden could take to relocate if its current star grows too volatile.

Any knowledge/pursuit of creating a fully sentient, self-thinking AI or of the understanding of magic is forbidden. There are a few exceptions to this:

• If the pursuit of magic is specifically for technomancy, learning more about it is permitted. The same goes for any pursuits dedicated to defend/counter/nullify the ‘heretical’ magic of other species, most notably those of planet Virelune.
• There are underground factions/rebels that seek to find a magical solution to the growing problem of overpopulation. These rebels live mostly in hiding and keep their magical prowess unknown. Discovery means at best reeducation, and at worst death.

Traditional Clothing and Fashion

Aurelians wear formal or work clothing when outside, they have the perspective that you should always be ready to serve. Depending on an Aurelian’s social class, they wear certain colors: red is lowest, then goes to orange, yellow, white, and finally blue. The amount of ornaments and details increases as the hierarchy advances, people in the lower levels don’t have the time to take off all these unnecessary trinkets, but most will have at least one with some level of sentimental value that they don’t take off.

High quality and effective clothing for work is something that this society will not let up on, so even the lowest of the low have a patterned compression shirt that shows the pride of their district while looking acceptable. The reason for this is because before the district system/their planet came into place, and before there was even a “higher class” everyone had to know how to do these things. Even if you were in your fanciest ballgown, if the thrusters of the ship broke down you needed to be able to fix it if you were the closest one there.

Lower classes wear clothes more akin to TECHWEAR, outfits that share similarities with spacesuits. Most of the lower class works near machines that run very hot for long periods of time, TECHWEAR balances temperature for the workers.

Occupations

Occupations amongst the Aurelians differs depending on your class level and physiology.

• Asteruleus/Asters (Blue Class)
  • Diplomats and ambassadors, kinda only taught the basics of actually working with their hands in tech and more invested, often known as  better at communicating than the rest of the sections. They work more on trade and communication, and are well worded.
• Kathebrum (White Class)
  • Priests and investigators. These jobs are a lot more faith-based and distrustful of others’ magic, using their communion magic to hunt down dissent in Eden
• Mechinos (Yellow Class)
  • Programmers, anything involving robotics, AI, computers, etc. While uncommon, those of Mechinos will sometimes lend their skills to engineering.
• Skoredem (Orange Class)
  • Engineers, mostly working with heavy machinery. While those of Mechinos will sometimes lend themselves to Skoredem, the opposite is not true.
• Syntrubeus (Red Class)
  • Mostly, Syntrubeus workers are unskilled and usually fit into jobs that are dependent on their physiology.

Starships and Space Travel

Ships are generally based off of aquatic animals, as they’re viewed in a sacred light for the Aurelians.

• Stingray/Manta Rays: typically act as corvettes/personal ships for 1-4 people. Generally used for travel.
• Whales: typically are carriers and very large. These carriers can be used for cargo or other ships.
• Squid/Jellyfish: typically are mining/maintenance vessels, where multiple extensions of the ship can be used for multiple tasks at once.
• Sharks: typically battleships/warships. The exact battle strategy of the ship changes based on design. For example, a hammerhead ship could be used for ramming while a great white ship would be a battleship.

Currently they travel exclusively for trade and resource gathering, going to all sorts of planets and trying to investigate the food and resources there.

Intraplanetary travel is mostly trains; created by Skoredem, programmed by Mechinos, managed by Androids. Higher-class train stations look fancier and lower-class stations are less maintained overall. Trains are connected via tubes to the main planet for easy transport of Aurelians, tubes collapse when planet shifts happen. Trains and train tracks orbit the planet loosely.

Cultural Quirks and Daily Life

Daily life is entirely based on the section you live in, but the most common trait between them all is near-constant work with calculated amounts of rest.

Asteruleus/Asters:

• Young Asters live a very calm life, full of an active education specified into their interests, these are highly specified.
• They become highly knowledgeable on their specific subject and usually become high ranking members of their field.
• Magic is more based on convenience than necessity, like making a coffee machine start if it’s a bit janky. Less of an everyday life thing compared to others
• They are normally considered leaders due to their status.
• Their food has more time into it but still prepared and made fairly fast.

Kathebrum:

• Normally go into churchwork/cathedrals, “psychologists”, educators, Investigation/high level police work.
• Daily life spent normally communicating with people for work and can technically be considered “social”.

Mechinos:

• Often feel a bit estranged by other classes: too rough to mingle with the upper classes and too refined for the lower classes.
• Often light-hearted and care-free, they enjoy moments away from work as programming is an intensive, draining job for them.

Skoredem

• It is common for Skoredem to be perfectionists in their work, as their job is one of the most important in Aurelian society. That, and common belief is that Eden itself may grow displeased if a Skoredem’s work is bad.
• Many tend to be blunt and direct in personality.

Syntrubeus

• Often are a part of tight-knit unions pertaining to their respective job.
• Because of the general ignorance shown to their class, Syntrubeus often enjoy a great degree of freedom, free from most class-based expectations other higher classes have.
• Many are patriotic, becoming soldiers to fight for Eden should the need arise. The most disciplined are sent to fortify diplomatic posts.

Notable Locations

The Eden Core

The Eden Core is the original Eden ship that the Eden Construct expanded from. Only the most high-ranking Aurelians are allowed to even lay eyes upon the structure. Within the ancient walls of the ship is a sprawling expanse of wires, monitors, and devices dedicated to keeping 5 Aurelians immortal. These Aurelians were the first members of the Celestial Council and, as they’re still alive, have final say on every decision of Eden’s government.

Celestial Hall

The Celestial Hall is a squat, rounded building that glimmers with opulence and formality. This is the main government facility of Eden where the Celestial Council meets to discuss plans for Eden’s future.

Underhome

The Underhome is the inner part of the planet. Most of the Asteruleus class lives down here, but some Mechinos also work and live in temporary lodging here for government projects. The Underhome is almost like a second planet, with this side being organized into strict, uniformed grids. Unlike the surface, the Underhome does not undergo a yearly reconstruction.

Interactions With Other Species

While the vast majority of Aurelians are generally agreeable with other species, the Asteruleus class is typically the first thing people think of when Aurelians are brought up, and they are often not viewed in a favorable light. Aurelian diplomats are fairly haughty but determined to establish strong relations with other species for the betterment of Eden.

• Magic-inclined species/planets, such as Elyndra, are treated with a more imperialist manner: they try to impose regulations on magic and, essentially, colonize the planet.
• Species with similar societies and specialties, like Ferrans and Thalassans, are viewed favorably. However, this is only the case for high-ranking socialites in these societies, and anything that does not align with Aurelian society (like magic) is encouraged to be either changed or not brought up in the presence of Aurelians.
• Flourishing planets, like Virilune and Sauris, are held in the highest regard. Only the best diplomats are sent to foster relations with the species present, as their natural resources are extremely valuable to Eden’s growth. Very few comments are made on the differences between cultures.

Concept Art

Concept art for Aurelians. Artist: Kay (@day_kay)

Concept art for Aurelians. Artist: Xavier (@drathah)