Pathseeker's Guide: Ginvaris

The Ginvarian capital city rose out of the jungle like a tumor, bulbous and malformed. The gray-sided buildings were supposed to mimic the fungi commonly found on the jungle floor. But rising tall from crimson-bowed trees and towering flowers, they managed to seem even more unnatural than the straight lines Zarani had seen on other worlds. Or maybe it was just that she’d been gone so long from her home that it had somehow become foreign to her, its changes like affronts to treasured memories. No matter, she wasn’t going to be here long. Just as soon as she could find her way into the vault-like Well of Pathways, she and her stolen fragment would be on the other side of the known universe.

Ginvaris is a world of thick forest and jungle that hides some of the finest raw materials in the Octarchy, for those willing to brave its depths. It is inhabited primarily by two native species. The dominant, many-jointed Sudaorn have a reputation across the Pathways for intricate artisan works and delicate, perfectly balanced sci-magic creations. The tall-eared Meseags are most often unskilled labor or criminals. This wealth and rights disparity causes some to question the world’s inclusion in the Octarchy, but the vast store of material goods and four regularly-functioning Pathways are too difficult to set aside. In recent centuries, outside influences have opened the way for Meseag involvement in Sudaorn politics, but it is still not easy to be born a member of the smaller feline species on Ginvaris.

Their artificers provide a counter-balance to total Star Sage monopoly over innovation in Constellara, with their universities approaching competition with those on Astrent. In this way, they may be the most capable of separating from the Ochtarchy, were it not for the massive population imbalance between the Sudaorn upper and Meseag lower classes.