Vieulx

About

Vieulx is an alternate version of Earth where progress did not replace the divine—it was built directly on top of it. Beneath streets of steel and glass flows Lumen, a naturally occurring planetary energy carried through immense subterranean veins. In the modern age, Lumen is treated as infrastructure: refined, regulated, and consumed to power cities, medicine, transportation, and magitek technology. Its origins are explained away as geological anomaly. Its past as something sacred is denied, classified, or quietly forgotten.

Long before corporations and megacities, Lumen was worshipped. Ancient civilizations rose where its flow was strongest, shaping societies where magic, ritual, and daily life were inseparable. Control of Lumen meant prosperity—and eventually, power. Wars followed. Then collapse. Lumen storms, ecological failure, and unchecked instability tore those civilizations apart. What survived was buried beneath centuries of development: shattered temples, forbidden records, glyph-etched Shards, and religions stripped down until only symbolism remained.

The modern world of Vieulx belongs to cities. Vast urban centers operate as powers unto themselves, often eclipsing the nations that supposedly govern them. Wealth and safety climb upward into luminous skylines, while labor, pollution, and risk are pushed below into industrial districts and undercities. Even rural regions, once sanctuaries of tradition, now feel the slow pressure of extraction as Lumen is commodified and stripped of meaning.

No city embodies this contradiction more than Natales. Built atop one of the world’s most concentrated Lumen hotspots, Natales thrives on abundance—and a secret it cannot survive without. Sealed deep beneath the city lies Lilith, a primordial Astral whose presence amplifies and stabilizes the surrounding Lumen. She does not create the energy, but her imprisonment makes it reliable, exploitable, and indispensable. Natales is prosperous because of her—and doomed by that same dependence. As Lumen disruptions increase and social fractures deepen, the illusion of stability begins to crack.

Humanity rules the present age, but it has never been alone. Arcans, descendants of humans touched by Astral influence, still exist—unrecognized by society and often unaware of themselves. Their abilities surface quietly, mistaken for intuition, talent, or coincidence. Astrals, godlike beings who once shaped the world directly, withdrew long ago. Divided broadly into Seraph-aligned preservers and Nephilim-aligned forces of ambition and chaos, their presence now lingers only in myth, bloodlines, relics, and sealed places that were never meant to be disturbed.

Vieulx is a world sustained by denial. Gods are reduced to infrastructure. Faith is rewritten as energy policy. Magic is declared extinct—not because it vanished, but because it no longer fits the narrative. And as the forces buried beneath concrete and doctrine begin to stir, the future threatens to expose the truth the modern world was built to forget.

Overview

Genre

Urban Fantasy · Science Fantasy · Drama

Timeline / Era

Modern Era

Setting

Vieulx is an alternate Earth whose familiar geography hides an unfamiliar truth. Beneath continents, oceans, and cities run vast veins of Lumen, a naturally occurring planetary energy that shapes the world as surely as tectonic plates or climate. In the modern age, cities dominate the landscape—towering, industrialized hubs powered by refined Lumen and governed less by nations than by economic influence.

These urban centers are defined by magitek infrastructure, dense skylines, and rigid class stratification. Aboveground districts glow with efficiency and excess, while beneath them lie underdistricts and forgotten layers of history: abandoned transit lines, collapsed ruins, and the remnants of civilizations that existed long before steel and concrete claimed the surface.

Regions rich in Lumen often exhibit strange environmental effects. Soil becomes unnaturally fertile. Ecosystems shift or destabilize. Energy surges ripple through the land. Rather than protected, these areas are aggressively exploited, their anomalies reframed as logistical challenges or profitable resources.

At the heart of the modern world stands Natales, a vast metropolis built over one of the planet’s most concentrated Lumen hotspots—and the ruins of an ancient sacred site. Its upper city symbolizes governance, wealth, and technological dominance. Far below, the undercity of Tabes endures as a dense, marginalized sprawl of workers, traders, and underground factions, sustaining the city while remaining largely unseen by those above.

Lore

In the ancient world, Lumen was not a resource—it was sacred. Early civilizations formed around its flow, believing it to be the lifeblood of the planet and a bridge to higher powers known as Astrals. Magic was commonplace, woven into architecture, ritual, and daily life through the use of Shards, crystalline conduits that allowed mortals to safely interface with Lumen.

As knowledge spread and power consolidated, conflict followed. Rival factions waged prolonged wars for control of Lumen-rich regions, destabilizing both society and the land itself. Environmental collapse, catastrophic energy surges, and unchecked Lumen corruption led to the fall of these civilizations. Their temples were abandoned, their histories fractured, and their truths buried beneath the foundations of future cities.

Centuries later, during the industrial age, Lumen was rediscovered—not as divinity, but as opportunity. Corporations, ruling families, and emerging powers reframed it as a natural energy source, stripping away its spiritual context and redefining it as infrastructure. Magic was declared obsolete. Astrals faded into myth. Arcans, descendants of humanity touched by Astral influence, became unrecognized anomalies rather than a known people.

At the center of this global denial lies a truth deliberately obscured: Lumen is naturally occurring, but its greatest concentrations are amplified and stabilized by sealed primordial Astrals. Beneath Natales lies Lilith, one such being—imprisoned deep underground. Her presence does not create Lumen, but makes it dense, reliable, and exploitable, allowing the city above her to flourish.

As Lumen disruptions grow more frequent and political tensions between ruling powers escalate, the foundations of this deception begin to crack. The buried history of Vieulx is no longer silent—and the future built upon it may not survive what comes to light.

Vieulx is a world shaped by denial: of divinity, of responsibility, and of the cost of progress. It is a place where gods are sealed, magic is misclassified, and the consequences of forgotten truths are finally beginning to surface.

Society & Culture

The World Society

Vieulx is a world built on Lumen-powered progress layered over deep and persistent inequality. Society is intensely urbanized, with massive cities functioning as semi-independent powers rather than simple population centers. These cities act as hubs of industry, governance, and influence, sustained by refined Lumen and shaped by those who control its flow.

Social class in Vieulx is defined less by nationality and more by proximity to Lumen. Access to refined energy, advanced education, and political leverage determines status. Upper districts enjoy safety, innovation, and abundance, while undercities and industrial zones shoulder the cost—providing labor, resources, and silence. Undercity populations are closely monitored, stigmatized, and overworked, yet they persist through strong communal bonds, informal economies, and quiet forms of resistance that keep culture alive where authority rarely looks.

Education & Schools

Education in Vieulx is officially standardized, but in practice it reflects the city’s social gravity. Where a student goes to school shapes not just what they learn, but who they meet, what doors open, and which futures quietly close.

Undercity Public Schools

Undercity public schools serve the lower districts and industrial zones, often housed in aging buildings or repurposed facilities. These schools follow the standard public model and are separated by grade level, with different institutions for different age ranges.

Resources are limited, class sizes are large, and materials are often outdated. Curricula emphasize basic academics, civic compliance, and vocational readiness. Many students balance school with work or family responsibilities.

Despite this, undercity schools foster strong community bonds. Teachers know students personally, peer loyalty is strong, and informal mentorship fills gaps left by systemic neglect.

Reputation:
Underfunded, overlooked, stubbornly alive.

City Standard Academies

City Standard Academies serve the middle districts and form the backbone of public education. Like undercity schools, they are divided by grade level.

These institutions are adequately funded, technologically supported, and aligned with municipal and corporate standards. Students are tracked early based on performance and behavior, with clear pipelines into technical, administrative, or corporate roles.

City academies prioritize stability, efficiency, and system literacy over ambition or disruption.

Reputation:
Reliable, competitive, system-friendly.

The Garden of Natales

The Garden of Natales is the largest and most influential school in the city—and the only Garden within Natales. It is a full-spectrum boarding school, accepting students from early education through upper secondary levels.

Admission is academically based rather than socially restricted, but the student population is dominated by children of influential families. Attendance carries social weight, and connections formed within the Garden often shape future power structures.

The Garden emphasizes advanced academics, leadership development, Lumen theory and ethics, physical conditioning, and crisis response. While not militarized, its structure is disciplined and demanding.

Living on campus creates an insulated environment where students grow up immersed in networks of influence. Graduates are heavily represented in governance, corporate leadership, research, intelligence, and elite operational programs.

Reputation:
Prestigious, overwhelming, quietly decisive.

Informal & Unregistered Education

Education also occurs outside official institutions through workshops, family trades, religious spaces, and informal networks. Authorities tolerate these practices selectively, intervening only when they threaten stability or control.

Culture

Modern urban culture prizes efficiency, innovation, and visible progress. Lumen-powered devices shape art, entertainment, fashion, and daily life, producing a sleek, industrial-modern aesthetic closely tied to corporate branding and technological status. Advancement is celebrated. Productivity is moralized. History, when acknowledged at all, is simplified, sanitized, or packaged into harmless symbolism.

In contrast, rural regions and undercities preserve fragments of older traditions. Festivals, oral storytelling, folk practices, and symbolic rituals endure—often stripped of their original religious language, but still resonant with the world’s ancient past. These customs are dismissed by elites as superstition or nostalgia, even as they quietly echo truths society has chosen to forget.

Politics

Political power in Vieulx is concentrated not in nation-states, but in corporations and elite families. Economic control routinely outweighs legal authority, with infrastructure, healthcare, transportation, and information managed by private interests rather than public institutions.

Cities operate as political entities in their own right, forming alliances and rivalries based on trade routes, contracts, and Lumen access rather than ideology. Conflict is rarely overt. Instead, it unfolds through espionage, corporate sabotage, legal manipulation, and resource denial. Undercities and criminal organizations are often entangled in these struggles—used as tools, scapegoats, or pressure points in larger power games.

Religion

Religion has largely retreated from public life, replaced by scientific rationalism and industrial logic. The most prominent remaining belief system is The Lumen Doctrine, a faith that frames Lumen as a life-sustaining force connecting all things.

Cathedrals and sanctums built atop Lumen veins glow with flowing light rather than traditional iconography, depicting energy currents instead of gods. In major cities, the Doctrine is treated as ceremonial or cultural—harmless, symbolic, and outdated. In rural regions and undercities, however, its rituals remain deeply ingrained in daily life. Unbeknownst to most adherents, these practices are remnants of genuine divine truth, rooted in ancient Astrals and sealed powers long denied by modern institutions.

The Lumen Doctrine

The Lumen Doctrine is the dominant religious institution of the modern era, having evolved from ancient planetary worship into a regulated system of belief compatible with industrial society. Officially, the Doctrine teaches that Lumen is a life-sustaining force that connects all things—symbolic rather than divine, inspirational rather than literal.

Churches constructed under the Doctrine are typically built atop Lumen veins, designed to regulate, observe, and ritualize proximity to energy sources. Their architecture emphasizes flowing light, geometric symmetry, and abstraction, replacing depictions of Astrals or gods with symbolic representations of Lumen currents.

In practice, the Doctrine serves as both cultural institution and informational filter. Its clergy preserve fragments of ancient ritual while stripping them of context, framing reverence as tradition rather than truth. Publicly, the Doctrine promotes stability, unity, and acceptance of the modern order. Privately, its higher ranks maintain restricted archives, sealed records, and classified histories tied to the Containment Period.

In urban centers, the Doctrine is largely ceremonial, its influence symbolic and political rather than spiritual. In rural regions and undercities, its rituals retain deeper significance, preserving echoes of older belief systems beneath layers of sanctioned interpretation. Whether through faith or omission, the Doctrine plays a central role in shaping what the world is allowed to remember.

The Grand Church of Lumen (Natales)

The Grand Church of Lumen stands at the spiritual and geographic center of Natales. Publicly, it is presented as the holiest site of the Lumen Doctrine—a place of ceremony, unity, and symbolic reverence for the energy that sustains the city. Its towering architecture, radiant interiors, and constant Lumen flow make it both a landmark and a reassurance of stability.

In reality, the Church was deliberately constructed directly above the sealed Astral Lilith.

The Church’s foundation incorporates ancient containment architecture predating the modern city, layered beneath industrial reinforcement and ceremonial structure. Its primary function is not worship, but regulation. Rituals performed within the Church double as stabilization protocols, subtly reinforcing Lilith’s seal and smoothing fluctuations in the surrounding Lumen veins. Most clergy are unaware of this function, believing the rites to be symbolic traditions rather than active containment measures.

Access beneath the Church is heavily restricted. Sublevels are classified, monitored, and structurally isolated from the rest of the city. These lower sanctums house sealed records, dormant Shards, and monitoring systems designed to detect Astral activity. Only a small number of individuals—drawn from ruling families, Doctrine authorities, and specialized oversight bodies—possess partial knowledge of what lies below.

The placement of the Church serves multiple purposes. Architecturally, it anchors the city’s Lumen flow. Politically, it legitimizes authority by linking governance to tradition. Socially, it redirects reverence away from the truth of Lilith’s imprisonment and toward a controlled, symbolic faith. The population is encouraged to associate safety and prosperity with ritual compliance rather than questioning origin.

As Lumen instability increases, the Grand Church has become a focal point for anomalies: unexplained energy surges, auditory phenomena, ritual deviations, and unauthorized awakenings among certain individuals. Whether the Church continues to function as a stabilizing force—or becomes the site of catastrophic revelation—remains uncertain.

Official Doctrine position maintains that no sealed entity exists beneath Natales.

Government

Governance in Vieulx varies by region, but in major cities authority is divided between symbolic leadership and true ruling powers. Monarchies, councils, or ceremonial figures exist to preserve tradition, stability, and public unity, while real control rests with corporate boards, ruling families, and economic councils.

In cities such as Natales, a royal family maintains public authority, but decisions affecting healthcare, trade, transportation, law enforcement, and the undercity are dictated by elite interests. Laws are enforced selectively, prioritizing economic stability and uninterrupted Lumen flow over justice or equality.

Technology

Vieulx possesses advanced modern technology augmented by Lumen-based systems. Refined Lumen powers city grids, industrial machinery, transportation networks, medical advancements, and magitek tools that blur the line between science and the miraculous.

Access to cutting-edge technology is uneven. Upper districts and corporate sectors enjoy constant upgrades, while lower districts rely on outdated, repurposed, or jury-rigged systems. Shards—ancient conduits once essential to magic—are now treated as curios, collector’s items, or unstable relics, their true function misunderstood or deliberately ignored.

Environment

Vieulx’s natural environment closely resembles Earth’s, with forests, mountains, deserts, and oceans spanning the planet. However, regions dense with Lumen veins display subtle but unsettling anomalies: accelerated growth, warped ecosystems, unexplained energy surges, and ecological instability.

Rather than protected, these areas are heavily exploited for industrial use. Nature endures, but it bears the scars of extraction and neglect—a living reminder of a world that consistently chooses progress over harmony.

Races & Species

Humans

Humans are the dominant population of Vieulx and the architects of the modern world. They possess no innate connection to Lumen, yet through ingenuity, industry, and social organization, they have built vast civilizations powered by its refinement. In ancient times, humans were capable of channeling Lumen through Shards, but that knowledge has long been lost. Magic is now regarded as obsolete—something that belonged to a primitive past rather than the modern age.

Human culture varies widely by region and class. Urban populations favor practical, modern clothing shaped by corporate aesthetics and magitek utility, while rural communities retain simpler styles rooted in tradition. Advances in Lumen-powered medicine have extended average lifespans to 70–90 years, particularly among those with access to quality healthcare. Humans may not feel Lumen—but they depend on it absolutely.

Arcans

Arcans are rare descendants of humans touched by Astral influence. Once revered as intermediaries between mortals and the divine, Arcans possessed an instinctive attunement to Lumen that allowed them to wield power without ritual or machinery. In the modern era, Arcans have not vanished—but recognition of them has.

Most Arcans appear entirely human. Their abilities manifest subtly and unpredictably: heightened intuition, empathy, resistance to Lumen sickness, flashes of precognition, or unnatural physical resilience. Many Arcans never realize what they are, mistaking their abilities for talent, coincidence, or psychological quirks. More visibly altered Arcans—marked by faint luminescence, unusual eyes, or physical traits tied to ancient bloodlines—are exceedingly rare and often hidden.

Arcans tend to live longer than humans and are more sensitive to fluctuations in Lumen. Prolonged exposure to refinement zones or corrupted Lumen can cause physical strain, dependency, or psychological instability. To the public, Arcans are a myth. In truth, they walk the world unnoticed.

Example:
A person who can read emotions—or thoughts—without understanding how would be classified as an Arcan, not a psychic or mage.

Seraphs

Seraphs are Astrals aligned with order, preservation, and balance. They are often described as luminous or radiant beings, marked by manifestations such as wings of light, halos, or overwhelming presence. In ancient times, Seraphs acted as guardians, judges, and stabilizing forces—guiding early civilizations and enforcing cosmic laws.

Rigid by nature, Seraphs struggle with moral ambiguity and change. As the world shifted away from reverence and toward exploitation, their influence waned. In the modern era, Seraphs persist primarily through religious symbolism, ancient relics, and sealed sites where their power still lingers.

Nephilim

Nephilim are Astrals aligned with ambition, transformation, and raw power. Unlike Seraphs, they adapt easily—but often dangerously—to desire, emotion, and change. In ancient myths, Nephilim appear as destroyers, tempters, conquerors, and tragic antiheroes.

Nephilim are volatile by nature. Their presence warps environments, fuels corruption, and destabilizes Lumen. Many were sealed or driven from the mortal world after causing irreparable damage. Their legacy survives in forbidden texts, dangerous artifacts, and persistent legends.

Example:
Succubi, incubi, and similar entities would be classified as Nephilim, not demons.

Astrals

Astrals are ancient, godlike beings who once shaped the world directly. Neither born nor mortal, they embody vast cosmic forces and exist in close resonance with Lumen. In the distant past, Astrals were worshipped, feared, and bound into the structure of civilization itself. Their conflicts reshaped continents. Their absence reshaped history.

Most Astrals withdrew from the mortal world after the collapse of ancient civilizations. Some were sealed to prevent catastrophe. Others faded into distant realms, leaving behind myths, relics, bloodlines, and places where reality feels thin. Astrals cannot freely exist in the modern world without consequence—either to themselves, the environment, or those around them.

Astrals are broadly divided into two alignments: Seraphs and Nephilim.

Golems

Golems are ancient constructs formed not by mortal hands, but by the planet itself. Born of Lumen and shaped by the will of the world, they exist as living safeguards—beings created to protect planetary balance when natural systems are threatened. Though often mistaken for artificial constructs or forgotten myths, Golems are neither machines nor simple elementals. They are sentient, enduring, and purposeful.

At the heart of every Golem lies a Golem Core: a dense crystallization of planetary Lumen that functions as both consciousness and power source. This core grants Golems immense, near-limitless energy, allowing them to survive catastrophic damage, environmental extremes, and the passage of time itself. Most Golems adopt humanoid forms to interact with the world discreetly, though their true bodies are shaped by necessity rather than biology.

Golems do not age in the conventional sense. Some persist for millennia, living continuously as silent watchers or dormant guardians. Others enter cycles of reincarnation, allowing their cores to shed damaged vessels and emerge again in new forms—sometimes without memory of previous lives. These rebirths often occur during periods of planetary stress, environmental collapse, or Astral interference.

Unlike Arcans, Golems are not descendants of Astrals, nor are they tied to worship or faith. Their allegiance is singular: the planet itself. They may act as protectors, judges, or instruments of correction, intervening subtly or catastrophically depending on the threat. In the modern era, most Golems remain hidden, mistaken for humans, anomalies, or legends—yet their presence is felt whenever balance begins to fail.

Example:
A being with an internal core, inexhaustible endurance, and an instinctive pull toward protecting land, ecosystems, or Lumen stability would be classified as a Golem, not an Arcan or Astral.

World Building

Power Systems

Power in Vieulx is derived from Lumen, a naturally occurring planetary energy that flows through vast subterranean veins beneath the world’s surface. In the modern era, Lumen is no longer understood as sacred—it is refined, regulated, and distributed as infrastructure. Cities, industry, medicine, transportation, and magitek technology all depend on its controlled use.

Lumen exists in two states: raw and refined. Raw Lumen is volatile, unstable, and dangerous to unprotected life. Refinement stabilizes it, allowing safe large-scale use while stripping away its spiritual context. This process enables civilization to function—but also severs Lumen from its original meaning and consequences.

In the ancient world, direct interaction with Lumen was possible through magic and Shards, crystalline conduits that acted as interfaces between living beings and planetary energy. That knowledge has largely been lost. Today, Shards are treated as relics, curiosities, or dangerous anomalies—rarely understood and even more rarely used correctly.

Power manifests differently depending on the being involved:

Humans rely entirely on refined Lumen and technology.
Arcans possess latent biological attunement, allowing subtle, instinctive interaction with Lumen—often without conscious awareness.
Astrals embody Lumen on a cosmic scale, shaping reality through sheer presence rather than refinement.
Golems are planetary constructs powered by internal Golem Cores, acting as living stabilizers and protectors of the world itself.

All power in Vieulx carries a cost. The greater the deviation from refinement, the higher the risk—physical degradation, psychological instability, corruption, environmental damage, or social persecution.

Messengers

Messengers are humans directly chosen and marked by Astrals to act as intermediaries between divine forces and the material world. Unlike Arcans, whose connection to Lumen is inherited and often unconscious, Messengers are selected deliberately and altered with purpose.

An Astral’s mark grants a Messenger abilities tailored to function rather than spectacle. These gifts vary by Astral and assignment, but commonly include heightened perception, resistance to Lumen corruption, limited manipulation of Lumen, or awareness of phenomena hidden from ordinary humans. Messengers exist to deliver warnings, observe developing threats, guide specific individuals, or carry out narrowly defined acts that Astrals cannot perform directly without destabilizing reality.

A Messenger remains biologically human. Their power does not originate from lineage, Shards, or refinement, but from an external blessing that persists only so long as the Astral’s interest remains. This connection carries consequence: prolonged service often erodes personal autonomy, blurs identity, or imposes compulsions tied to the Astral’s will.

Messengers are not rulers, prophets, or objects of worship. Many live quietly until activated by circumstance, while others are drawn into conflict by the nature of their role. In the modern era, their existence is largely unrecognized, misclassified as coincidence, anomaly, or legend. Records referring to Messengers are fragmented, suppressed, or deliberately obscured.

Glaives

Glaives are elite operatives created through controlled exposure to refined Lumen, advanced magitek augmentation, and binding oaths enforced by political or corporate authority. They possess no innate divine connection and are not chosen by Astrals. Their power is engineered, conditional, and strictly regulated.

Glaives function as containment, enforcement, and rapid-response assets in situations where conventional forces are insufficient but unrestricted power would be catastrophic. Enhancements may include amplified strength, accelerated reflexes, limited Lumen projection, environmental resistance, and integrated magitek weaponry.

All Glaive power carries a known cost. Extended deployment results in physical degradation, neurological damage, shortened lifespan, or psychological instability. These limitations are not flaws, but intentional safeguards. Glaives are designed to be powerful enough to act—and expendable enough to be controlled.

Publicly, Glaives are framed as elite guardians or special forces. Privately, they are treated as assets within larger systems of authority. Their existence reinforces the belief that power can be contained, measured, and owned, even as it echoes forces the modern world insists no longer exist.

Shards

Shards are ancient crystalline conduits formed through prolonged exposure to concentrated Lumen during the Pre-Industrial Era. They are not batteries, weapons, or simple artifacts, but interfaces—designed to allow living beings to safely interact with planetary energy without catastrophic consequence.

In the ancient world, Shards were used to regulate magic, stabilize Lumen flow, and mediate interaction between mortals and Astrals. Proper use required ritual knowledge, environmental alignment, and restraint. When functioning correctly, Shards acted as safeguards as much as tools.

Following the Resource Wars and the Containment Period, most Shards became unstable, inert, or dangerous. Without the supporting frameworks that once governed their use, Shards now behave unpredictably—amplifying Lumen, distorting environments, or triggering physical and psychological harm.

In the modern era, Shards are treated as relics, curiosities, or hazardous anomalies. Some are locked away in private collections, corporate vaults, or restricted archives. Others surface in undercities and black markets, where their true nature is poorly understood. Despite official dismissal, Shards continue to react to Lumen fluctuations, Astral activity, and certain individuals, suggesting their original purpose was never truly lost.

Power Source

Lumen

Important Factions

The Ruling Families of Natales – Control healthcare, governance, transportation, trade, and the undercity.
Corporate Conglomerates – Global entities that dominate Lumen refinement, magitek development, and planetary infrastructure.
The Scribes – Information brokers operating from the Grand Church, trading secrets and curated truths.
Undercity Gangs – Smugglers, siphoners, and syndicates dealing in unrefined Lumen, Shards, and black-market tech.
The Lumen Doctrine – Religious orders preserving ritualized belief in Lumen, stripped of its deeper Astral truths.

Notable Figures

Lilith – A primordial Astral sealed beneath Natales; her presence amplifies and stabilizes surrounding Lumen.
The Royal Family of Natales – Ceremonial leaders symbolizing tradition and unity.
The Heads of the Ruling Houses – True power brokers shaping policy, economics, and conflict.
Ancient Astrals – Long-withdrawn beings whose actions shaped the world’s early history.

Central Conflicts

Increasing instability in Lumen flow and unexplained anomalies
Rising tension between ruling families and corporations
Social unrest between upper cities and undercities
The suppressed truth of Lumen’s sacred nature and Lilith’s imprisonment
The potential re-emergence of Arcans, Astrals, Golems, or magic itself

World Rules & Limitations

Magic is not publicly accessible and is considered extinct.
Raw Lumen cannot be safely used without refinement.
Power always has a cost: strain, corruption, instability, or persecution.
Astrals cannot freely exist in the mortal world without destabilizing reality.
Golems act according to planetary balance, not human morality.
Knowledge of Lumen’s true origins is actively suppressed.

Economy & Systems

Languages

Common (Global Standard), Regional Dialects, Liturgical / Old Tongues, Astral Language

Trade & Economy

The economy of Vieulx is driven almost entirely by Lumen. Refined Lumen is not currency, but it underpins nearly all wealth—powering industry, medicine, transportation, infrastructure, and magitek technology. Control over Lumen means control over society.

Trade networks are dominated by corporations and elite families who oversee Lumen extraction, refinement, and distribution. Cities function as economic engines, exporting refined energy, technology, and manufactured goods while importing raw materials, labor, and data. National borders matter far less than access to supply lines.

Currency – Standardized digital and physical currency regulated by corporate banking institutions. In undercities, informal systems thrive: barter, favors, debt markers, and black-market tokens.
Lumen as Power – While Lumen itself is not legal tender, access to it defines status, influence, and survival.
Underground Economy – Undercities sustain thriving black markets dealing in unrefined Lumen, Shards, stolen technology, restricted medical supplies, and information.
Economic Divide – Upper districts enjoy abundance, innovation, and security, while lower districts endure scarcity, predatory debt cycles, and systemic exploitation.

The flow of resources reinforces hierarchy. Those closest to Lumen control remain insulated from consequence, while those furthest from it absorb the cost.

Travel & Transport

Transportation in Vieulx reflects the same imbalance as its economy: efficient, advanced, and tightly controlled in cities—limited and unreliable elsewhere.

Magitek Transit Systems – Lumen-powered trains, subways, lifts, and rail lines move millions daily through urban centers.
Automated Vehicles – Personal cars, freight transports, and cargo carriers powered by refined Lumen are common among the middle and upper classes.
Air Transit – Corporate-owned aircraft and airships handle long-distance travel and high-value transport, largely inaccessible to the general public.
Maritime Trade – Cargo ships and industrial vessels remain essential for global trade, particularly in port cities such as Natales.
Undercity Routes – Hidden tunnels, abandoned rail lines, maintenance corridors, and service passages form an unofficial transit network used for smuggling and covert movement.
Rural Transport – Rural regions rely on conventional vehicles supplemented by low-grade Lumen tools, often outdated or poorly maintained.

Teleportation and instant travel exist only in myth, forbidden texts, or distorted legend. In the modern world, distance still matters—and those without access to infrastructure feel every mile.
If you want to keep tightening cohesion, great next steps would be:

History

The history of Vieulx is defined by repeating cycles of reverence, collapse, rediscovery, and suppression. What the modern world records as progress is built directly atop civilizations, belief systems, and beings deliberately removed from public memory. Each era inherits the consequences of the last—whether acknowledged or not.

The Pre-Industrial Era

(also referred to in restricted texts as the Lumen Age)

Before the rise of industrial society, the land itself shaped civilization. Vast veins of Lumen flowed close to the surface, influencing settlement patterns, climate, and early development. Communities formed around these concentrations, regarding Lumen as a fundamental force that connected the world to higher powers later classified as Astrals.

Architecture, governance, agriculture, and medicine were structured around direct interaction with Lumen. Shards, crystalline interfaces attuned to planetary energy, enabled controlled use of this power. Arcans, descendants of humans influenced by Astrals, served as intermediaries.

As populations expanded and understanding deepened, restraint gave way to competition.

The Resource Wars

Rival factions sought exclusive control over major Lumen veins, Shard sites, and Astral-linked territories. Conflict escalated into prolonged warfare, destabilizing planetary systems.

Unchecked extraction and militarized use of Lumen triggered environmental collapse and energy surges. Astrals were drawn into mortal conflict, amplifying instability. Golems emerged as planetary safeguards, preventing total annihilation but unable to preserve civilization.

The Containment Period

Surviving authorities concluded that uncontrolled Astral presence posed an existential threat. Primordial Astrals were sealed beneath the earth to stabilize planetary systems.

Among them was Lilith, imprisoned beneath what would later become Natales. Lumen continued to flow, but its spiritual framework was severed. Magic weakened, Shards destabilized, and Astrals withdrew. Records of these actions were classified or destroyed.

The Interregnum

Humanity rebuilt in fragments. Myth replaced history. Astrals became legend. Shards became relics. Arcans faded into obscurity. Documentation from this era is incomplete and inconsistent.

The Industrial Expansion

Lumen was rediscovered and reclassified as a natural energy resource. Ancient sites were dismantled, ruins buried, and refinement technologies developed. Cities formed rapidly around Lumen sources, entombing the old world beneath infrastructure. Undercities emerged as displaced populations settled below.

The Urban Consolidation

Refined Lumen centralized power. Cities expanded vertically, concentrating wealth above and labor below. Corporate entities supplanted religious and civic institutions.

Natales rose as a global hub, sustained by an unusually stable Lumen supply. Beneath it, Tabes developed as a marginalized but essential undercity.

The Contemporary Era

(classified as the Suppression Era)

Lumen is treated as a neutral resource. Magic is declared extinct. Astrals are reduced to myth. Arcans are dismissed as anomalies. The Containment Period is absent from public record.

Religion persists only through The Lumen Doctrine, stripped of its original meaning. Denial is institutional.

The Current Instability

Lumen disruptions increase. Environmental anomalies spread. Shards reactivate. Golems stir. Arcans awaken. Political tensions escalate.

Vieulx has entered a state of instability. The truths buried beneath its foundations are beginning to resurface.

Additional Information

Themes

Vieulx is a world built on suppression. Its central conflict is not the existence of power, but how that power is controlled, rebranded, and denied. Progress is achieved by severing truth from its source, transforming the sacred into infrastructure and the divine into a commodity.

Core themes include the exploitation of forces beyond human understanding, class inequality enforced through access to Lumen, and the deliberate erasure of history as a mechanism of stability. Divinity is not destroyed—it is repurposed, regulated, and buried beneath systems designed to make questioning feel unnecessary or dangerous.

A recurring tension lies between faith and denial. Ancient reverence for Lumen has been stripped of context and reshaped into industrial logic, while remnants of belief persist in ritual, architecture, and cultural memory. Secrecy, information control, and social stratification—particularly between upper cities and undercities—reinforce a world where truth is fragmented and carefully managed. What is buried does not remain silent forever.

Inspirations

Vieulx draws inspiration from several narrative traditions, particularly:

Final Fantasy VII – Industrialized energy extraction, planetary exploitation, and buried ancient truth
Final Fantasy XV – Astrals, divine authority, containment, and the cost of inherited power
Arcane – Class division, undercity culture, technological progress built on unstable foundations
Game of Thrones – Elite power struggles, institutional denial, and morally gray political conflict

Notes

Name Meaning — Vieulx

Vieulx is an old-style name with roots similar to French words for “old” (vieux) and “life” (vie). The spelling is intentionally archaic, giving it a worn, preserved feel.

In simple terms, Vieulx can be read as: