What is the Well of Souls?

[dfacto]

From the Insider:

1436-1451 Hyperspace instability caused by gravitational tides from Well of Souls stellar remnant makes jump drive unreliable.

A supernova I take it, or is there something more exotic going on?

[Ktrain]

I thought it was a web domain....

[Arioch]

The Well of Souls is a black hole that forms a jump travel barrier anti-spinward and galactic north of Historian and Umiak space. It is unusual in that it seems to be much more massive than it should be for an ordinary supernova remnant. It is significant in the lore of the allied nations primarily because the Barsam religion claims it as the point of entry through which their angelic deities entered this universe from another.

It is relevant in the story, but a looooong way off.

[sunphoenix]

OH CRAP! Its ...'The Warp'!

[GeoModder]

I reckon this supernova couldn't have ignited too close (astronomically speaking) to inhabited planets. They would have been irradiated...

[Grayhome]

Struck me as a wall someone threw up to keep someone/something else out/contained. Might fail soon (THE DRAMA).

[Ktrain]

Struck me as a wall someone threw up to keep someone/something else out/contained. Might fail soon (THE DRAMA).

It's a plot wall which has limited the expansion options for the combatants in this story. If there were plenty of room for both Umiak and Loroi to expand then there would be little reason for an extermination war.

SpoilerShow

Humanity is not native to Earth and they are the scourge of the Universe

[Trantor]

The Well of Souls is a black hole that forms a jump travel barrier anti-spinward and galactic north of Historian and Umiak space. It is unusual in that it seems to be much more massive than it should be for an ordinary supernova remnant. It is significant in the lore of the allied nations primarily because the Barsam religion claims it as the point of entry through which their angelic deities entered this universe from another.

It is relevant in the story, but a looooong way off.

From the map-thread:

...The top of the map faces galactic Spinward (up the Orion arm), and the right faces toward the Galactic Core. Human space is located Coreward and toward Galactic North ("up" out of the map toward the viewer) roughly two map-widths.

So humanity is the spinward neighbour of the Well of Souls?
So this is connected with what the Barsam said?
The plot thickens...

[Arioch]

The Well of Souls is actually on the opposite (Rimward) side of Loroi space from Human territory. I'm working on a map of known space, but it's some work to reconcile (fragmentary) real data with the needs of the story.

My Insider article on the Soia (written from the Barsam point of view) is far from completion, but I can summarize the content for you. This isn't really a spoiler, as the information can be inferred (as it has) from the comic.

The Loroi view of galactic history is that the Soia were Loroi ancestors (the word "soia" literally meaning "ancestor"). There is no direct archaeological evidence left by the Soia themselves, who apparently maintained their habitats exclusively in space, and there is no current evidence of the proto-Loroi prior to the period of the cataclysm which ended the Soia empire. The Loroi take this as clear evidence that the proto-Loroi were indeed the Soia themselves, and that some internal conflict (of which there are analogues in the ancient Loroi telepathic heroic tales) tore the empire asunder. The Loroi view maintains that the Barsam and Neridi were engineered species created based on Loroi biochemistry as servant races, and the Soia-Liron grains and animals that populate the local region were derivatives of a lost Loroi homeworld somewhere in an unknown region of the galaxy. As proof, the Loroi point to their telepathic ability, which no other known race possesses, and which could certainly help explain the dominance of the Soia.

The view of the Barsam religion (which is currently supported by the Barsam state) is that the Soia were angelic creatures from another dimension, who restored order to a "mortal" galaxy of feuding Dreiman and Delrias/Morat empires. Barsam tradition holds that the Soia-Liron species were created as "ideal" versions of "imperfect" local species, to serve as agents for the divine Soia who never themselves really existed physically in our universe. Captain Mozin's glimpse of Alex was a revelation that confirmed (in his point of view) the long-held Barsam position that the Loroi were also a "copied" servant race of the Soia rather than the Soia themselves.

As you might expect, neither of these legendary and self-serving views is entirely correct. But there are elements of truth in both of them.

[manticore7]

where is the Soia Article? I cant find it in the Insider.

[Grayhome]

It isn't up yet, my guess is it'll appear later in the story after Alex has a friendly chat with the Barsam.

[fredgiblet]

where is the Soia Article? I cant find it in the Insider.

My Insider article on the Soia (written from the Barsam point of view) is far from completion

[manticore7]

where is the Soia Article? I cant find it in the Insider.

My Insider article on the Soia (written from the Barsam point of view) is far from completion

oh , sorry