Cortascius

Cortascius (pronounced Korr-tass-us, IPA: kɔr-tæs-ʌs) is one of the major planets in the Abrujanian Divergency Event that defines the Dozerfleet Megaverse, residing in the Volkonir-Bison Universe. Its share of the Abdygalis is known as the EccentriaCore, and behaves in a similar manner to the Marlquaan in the Gerosha multiverse and the XomiaFaeCore in the Dromedeverse.

The EccentriaCore is linked to the planet's core, and allows pseudo-magic to be possible in that universe. Of the interconnected Abrujanian Continuities of the Dozerfleet Megaverse, Cortascius ranks as a key alternate planet to Earth right alongside Phaeleel, Metheel, and Xomia. This excludes the non-Abrujanian timelines considered non-canon to that super-megaverse, such as the planets in Stationery Voyagers.

Pre-settling
After the Divergence happened, one of the two FaeCores bonded with the core of the planet Cortascius, and disappeared into one of the timelines whilst not being copied over to any of the other main timelines. This FaeCore became known as the EccentriaCore, descended from the Abdygalis. Abrujanian historians were divided about the value of this: some believing it divine virtue that the Divergence happened whilst others believed that the Abdygalis should be re-forged from its descendant BEP and the timelines merged again by man rather than by God.

The planet of Cortascius became a sort of parallel of Earth in a different star system, but with the EccentriaCore providing those who could tap into it with the ability to create wormholes to make the distances between Earth and Cortascius much shorter. The world was filled with many of the same lifeforms as Earth initially. However, the EccentriaCore began modifying plant life to depend more on EccentriaCore energy than solar energy, and also produced storm systems that limited the starlight getting through the atmosphere. As such, Cortascius often had short days and long evenings across its surface regardless of time of year - yet remained fairly warm. Most other conditions were Earth-like. It had no human population, yet the animal life adapted - some of it altered by the EccentriaCore.

The Great Migration
In addition to the EccentriaCore, the universe Cortascius became a part of also gained two key relics: the Gem of Mulicia on Earth and the Stone of Bovinil Peril on Cortascius.

A band of Abrujanian historians gathered in Ireland to explore the Gem of Mulicia's effects on a hillside. After discovering its ability to transport objects, they gathered together themselves with several missionaries, Coptic Egyptians, and others from Europe who were looking for a fresh start. The Gem eventually allowed for these displaced settlers to arrive on Cortascius, where they formed a deeply religious, unified nation.

For several generations, there was peace as they settled Cortascius. They learned of - and were exposed to - the effects of the EccentriaCore. This caused the early Cortascians to develop subtle elf-like features, along with other physiological alterations and enhancements from default humanity.

Guindar rebellion
Trouble brewed when the 15th Guindar Tribal Leader rebelled against the Cortascian Church. While the main Cortascian King Hasbirtral believed that the EccentriaCore's powers should only be used in limited context to aid the kingdom - or for God's glory - the Guindar leader declared that Abrujan was right to rebel, and that the EccentriaCore should be used by the Guindars to merge the timelines prematurely and rebuild the Abdygalis.

Bitter civil war broke out over this religious conflict, and this led to misuse of the EccentriaCore by the Guindars to aid in their rebellion against the Cortascian main kingdom - which started referring to itself as the "Mighty Kingdom" to the Guindars' annoyance. This misuse led to the Guindars' subjects becoming mosquito-like in appearance, transforming them into the Gwirdons. This further led to a third tribe being turned against their will into the Lirquinwurs - who would be seen as outcasts to both Cortascians and Gwirdons alike.

The Gwirdons were sometimes able to transform the higher-ranking and more-intelligent of their members into various EccentriaCore-empowered monstrosities to attack Mighty Cortascia with. Regular Cortascian soldiers quickly found themselves exhausted battling these brutal onslaughts. The more-human-like Gwirdons became known as the Gwirdon Leaders, an elite sub-race within Gwirdon-kind. Their much-less-intelligent grunts were turned into foot soldiers dubbed "Treaders," who bred rapidly and became the first line of assault for the Gwirdon Kingdom.

The 21st Gwirdon Supreme Leader, King Yugabod, realized that the war was proving costly for both sides. He elected to sue for a shaky peace between the Gwirdons and Cortascians, and King Homaphest of Cortascia agreed. However, Yugabod was only buying time.

Grinodos' failure
See also: Grinodos, The Bison

One particular Cortascian, Grinodos, was placed in charge by Cortascia of guarding the Stone of Bovinil Peril from all cattle-like lifeforms. He used that time to become a master at inventing devices that could channel the EccentriaCore to form what he called "the Tapestry." He taught as many members of the nobility as he could about the Tapestry, in the hopes that they would use it wisely should they ever have a need. He also ensured that the Tapestry was linked to Earth as well, should any users need to access it from there. He further concluded after a brief Percolation event adventure that the Marlquaan and XomiaFaeCore would act as substitute hosts for the Tapestry if the EccentriaCore were unavailable. One of the younger Grinodos' most devout students was the young prince of the time - Morlikus.

Things took a dart turn when a disgraced Gwirdon royal decided to steal the Stone of Bovinil Peril to conquer Earth with. Grinodos abandoned his position on Cortascius to chase Lozeikath, fearing what could happen if Lozeikath got too close to a bovine. The two fought bitterly, with Grinodos being transformed into a statue that would not revert to his other form until the Stone was consumed by a bovine. Lozeikath exploded violently, and the Stone was tossed into orbit.

Many centuries later, the Stone would fall out of orbit and land somewhere in New Jersey. Surviving the impact, the Stone would be discovered by scientists - who would have it transferred on a truck along with other discovered artifacts to a lab in Nevada for analysis. However, the transport truck was raided by a gang in Nebraska looking to ransom the artifacts for cash. They killed the driver and made off with the goods, except for the Stone of Bovinil Peril. Assuming it a worthless blue rock, one of the gang members tossed it into a field just off the road. It caught the attention of a buffalo in the fields, which became mesmerized by it and ate it upon the Stone's suggestion. This plains buffalo bonded with the Stone of Bovinil Peril, and developed an evil mind. The merged beings became the Bison, who would wreak havoc across the Megaverse various times since then.

Rise of Gwirmalesh
It was after the untimely death by disease of Yugabod's successor, King Thrutchigor, that Prince Gwirmalesh himself became the new king. Gwirmalesh decided to rebuild the armies of Gwirdonkind, and also began combining the EccentriaCore with his own dark arts to eventually combat the Tapestry. He began making preparations for the development of Gwirdon camps beneath the mountains of a place on Earth he had been made aware of, unaware it would one day be called Chestnut Mountain in Montana.

His idea was that to truly conquer his own universe and then invade the other timelines via the Percolation Wave to fuse the timelines back into a single universe, he had to first conquer both Earth and Cortascius together. His plans were delayed slightly when his wife bore him a child. Since he needed a male heir, he set in a contingency that should he fail to produce one, Mogabir would be the new king when he died.

Marzwhatti debacle
At some point, a particularly sadistic Lirquinwur named Marzwhatti began playing pranks on Cortascians and Gwirdons alike that frequently led to massive death tolls for both nations. His favorite was to get young women to see him, then set time limits on their lives based on how many times they mentioned his name. Cortascia, now ruled by King Morlikus, saw to it to capture Marzwhatti using their latest creation: the Argon Vole Cortascian Knight powered armor. It existence, however, further increased tensions between the two kingdoms, as Gwirmalesh began transforming key higher-caste Gwirdons into various monsters that he believed would be able to take on the Argon Vole.

A condition for continued peace was that Morlikus hand over Marzwhatti to Gwirmalesh to be punished for his crimes against both kingdoms. Since the royal captain of Morlikus' guard was also murdered by Marzwhatti, there was some desire for the Cortascians to execute him personally. However, Marzwhatti managed to escape custody and flee to the countryside. Before vanishing to Earth and going into hibernation for several centuries, he made sure to murder Princess Gwantina - leaving taunting messages all over her bedroom.

This outrage infuriated Gwirmalesh, who vowed to destroy the Cortascians' kingdom it it were the last thing he ever did. Numerous assaults by Leaders and Treaders and Monsters alike began terrorizing the subjects of Morlikus' lands, and many were turned into enchanted trinkets. The Pool of Healing was established - along with its room's entry portals - as a way to help the trinkets be restored from their enchanted object spells. The Candle of Hope - an "eternal" flame gas line going into a gas feed beneath the surface of Cortascius - was established as a way to symbolize to Cortascians that the Gwirdons had not yet defeated them.

Alas, the war trumpets blared. Morlikus put his ambitious son, Prince Volkonir, in charge of guarding the Candle of Hope.

Creation of the Knights of Cortascius
Gwirmalesh's rapidly-breeding forces grew in their level of aggression against the Cortascians, and so did the menace posed by his monsters. As he aged, Morlikus began studying Grinodos' craft more and became less physically fit for use of the Argon Vole powers. He resolved to fix this by taking his most loyal core of elite knights and making powered armors for them as well, tapping them into the Tapestry of EccentriaCore. These Knights were Horzhed Crimazol, Silnya Semaphry, and Reelo Rumastik. They became the Red Serpent, Crystal Swan, and Silver Ferret Knights, respectively. Crimazol was given the weapon Olschtact, a red lightning-shooting staff, as his chief weapon, among others. Rumastik was given Whiskrahn, a war fork that enables limited space-time dilation (similarly to Time Capsule's wand.) Semaphry was granted the machine gun bow Muflaze.

Fall of the Knights
Gwirmalesh's dragons would eventually claim the lives of two of the Knights. Reelo was the first to fall, and Morlikus confiscated the mogriffer for the Silver Ferret to hide away, until he could find another warrior deserving of Rumastik's title. He realized that his son, Volkonir, was getting ready for more responsibility and longed to prove himself. Volkonir idolized Silnya Semaphry, and was willing to work as her assistant on missions. The prince's humility impressed Morlikus, who rewarded Volkonir with the youngest of the mogriffers: the Golden Lion Armor.

As the war progressed, however, tensions began to strain the kingdom. More and more civilians became turned into trinkets, and Morlikus couldn't have them sent to the Pool of Healing fast enough. Morlikus created a new wand to aid him in this process, a wand that was much stronger on Cortascius than on Earth. This wand was used to create enchanted trinkets from his enemies. A particularly nasty onslaught led to the capture of the Red Serpent mogriffer by Diabloq, who was then placed into storage with it. Horzhed himself was executed on the battlefield.

Silnya and Volkonir then headed out to face one of the dragons, yet they were ambushed. Volkonir was distracted just long enough to prevent him from saving Silnya from an assault by Hiktomoph, who de-mogrified her and then turned her into a statue with a wand similar to Gwirmalesh's. The statue form would be necessary to protect Silnya. But it was not a perfect casing: she would still age rapidly and die if not released from it in a timely manner, and would then only be able to "live" in the statue form. Hiktomoph transported her to Earth with the wand next, vowing to find it as he headed to Earth with Gwirmalesh's forces. Before Hiktomoph could use the wand on Volkonir, Volkonir used Selshon to break the wand. Hiktomoph retreated.

Hiktomoph was then issued orders to prepare the troops on Earth for their hibernation chambers beneath the chosen mountain. After about 400 years, they would conquer Earth. While all this was happening, Gwirmalesh entered the Cortascian throne room and caught Morlikus by surprise. Morlikus was turned into a wooden trinket, which Gwirmalesh took as a trophy. Spying on Hiktomoph's messenger, Volkonir learned of the attack on the throne room. He headed toward the Candle of Hope, in order to make his last stand.

The battle was fierce, but Gwirmalesh was able to overpower Volkonir with the sheer massive number of Treaders sent after him when he was already tired. Gwirmalesh turned the prince into an enchanted stuffed toy, then sent him to Earth. The gas line to the Candle of Hope was then extinguished, right as Volkonir was being exiled. Volkonir was taunted that he was on his own to find someone willing to take him to the vortex to the Pool of Healing - if anyone on Earth would believe his story.

Dormancy
With Cortascius conquered, Gwirmalesh moved his forces to Earth to hibernate beneath Chestnut Mountain. It would be around 400 years later that Volkonir would get free from the toy spell. He would quickly form allies with Dr. Fred Hanom of HanomCorp - as well as the hybrid offspring of humans and Cortascians living in exile on Earth. It would not be until Volkonir and his friends finally defeated Gwirmalesh, however, that Morlikus would be restored from trinket form. Only then, was Cortascius restored. In that 400-some-year interim, the planet returned to the pristine conditions it was in before the war.

Reconstruction
After the restoration of Morlikus, the new Knights of Cortascius head back to Cortascius from Earth to help the ancients reach the Pool of Healing. HanomCorp gets a special contract to aid with the restoration of Cortascius. New Knights are created with lighter armor to protect Earth interests from the new King Mogabir's scouts on Earth. Meanwhile, Mogabir moves his forces back to the old Gwirdon Kingdom to resume control and undermine the Cortascian reconstruction. Following the death of Morlikus, Volkonir and his new bride, Kayla Tarington-Mason, elect a rescued ancient resident to become the new Argon Vole Knight. Volkonir dedicates himself to the restoration of Cortascius - and the modernization of the kingdom per its connections with HanomCorp. Even the eventual defeat of Mogabir doesn't stop the Gwirdon's evil religion. Yet, the planet reinforces itself and its populations so that no evil force can ever again defeat the planet the way Gwirmalesh once did.

Climate
Cortascius has an average surface temperature of around 64 degrees Fahrenheit, making it about 5 degrees warmer on average than Earth. In its more deciduous regions, the temperature difference is barely noticeable. There is a considerable amount of life diversity, though much of it in higher-functioning beings is a mirror of Earth - unless otherwise altered by the EccentriaCore. The nations of Mighty Cortascia and Gwirdonia make up a majority of human-derivative species dwelling on the world. These two nations take up a very small portion of the otherwise-pristine world, and are tiny neighboring nations at that. Both specialize in desalination along their coasts, as there is a limited supply of fresh water near the coastlines and very little high elevation to produce snowfall streams. Collection of rainwater is also considered fair game.

The planet has an albedo of 73%, largely due to the EccentriaCore's influence on surface rocks in higher elevations and on its upper atmosphere. This explains both the slight rise in temperatures and the fact that days are not as bright on Cortascius as on Earth. Tosbari's cooler temperature also ensures that daylight isn't as bright. Life on Cortascius has adapted to this by way of utilizing the soil composition to create vitamin D much more efficiently than plants on Earth, also with aid from the EccentriaCore. Plants altered by the EccentriaCore often take on strange properties, leading to glowing thistles at night that are good sources of dietary phosphorus - though certain species can also contain deadly levels of the mineral.

A day on Cortascius lasts the same amount of time as a day on Earth, and the seasons are almost identical. However, Cortascians use the Julian calendar alongside the Cortascian calendar. They reference the "Glorious 214," the days of the Julian calendar that are missing on the Cortascian calendar. This is due to the fact that it only takes Cortascius 151 days to revolve around Tosbari. Cortascius achieves this by being much closer to Tosbari, a feat only possible due to Tosbari being a lower temperature than the sun. In effect, an entire year's worth of seasons can be experienced on Cortascius in only 41-43% of an Earth year.

Planetary stats
The planet's core is about 29% made of iron and similar heavy metals, making the planet more magnetic and metallic than Earth. It's 98.8% similar to Earth in total, and has 92.8% life sustainability odds. With the EccentriaCore's help, it is able to protect life whilst also having a magnetic field about 12 times as strong as Earth's. This, combined with the EccentriaCore being inside the planet, allows Tapestry-using beings such as the Cortascian Elite Knights to unlock more abilities faster with the right Weaver knowledge than what is possible on Earth. Cortascius moves along its orbit at a speed of 1,193 MPH.

BEP
The Barely-Explicable Phenomenon that surrounds the world - but influences its entire universe - is the EccentriaCore. In addition to making the Tapestry - among other things - possible, the EccentriaCore also helps Cortascius maintain its powerful magnetosphere. This further enhances the lives of Cortascians, shielded from the harmful effects of Tosbarian solar winds.

Neighboring bodies
The planet revolves around a star named Tosbari, which is a K-class star about the same size as the sun. However, it's distinctly cooler. The surface temperature of Tosbari is about 6,500 degrees Farenheit, compared to the sun at just under 10,500 degrees.

Satellites
Cortascius has two moons: Stamphelli and Mozban.

Stamphelli
Stamphelli is the larger of Cortascius' two moons. It's also the "steam world," as a young Prince Volkonir once described it. At around 478 degrees Fahrenheit for a surface temperature, Stamphelli's being made 13.7% out of pressurized water makes it a hostile place for lifeforms. It's around 504 miles in diameter, making it 1.3% the size of Earth's moon. It rotates around its own axis in 2 Earth days plus 17 hours, 45 minutes, and 36 seconds. It completes one revolution around Cortascius every Earth 3 days, 11 hours, 45 minutes, and 36 seconds, and is located 60,361 miles from its host planet. It Earth-daily exudes 65,000 kilowatt-hours of tidal energy, roughly six times the output of an average US consumer's electrical use in one year.

Mozban
Mozban is the smaller moon, with a mass of 243 billion gigagrams, making it about 268 gigatons in weight by reason of Earth's gravity, roughly 0.00033% the size of Earth's moon. It has a diameter of just over 44 miles across. It's located about 68,567 miles away from Cortascius, and orbits the planet completely every 4 days. Not tidally locked like Earth's moon, Mozban's surface "day" lasts about 7 hours and 39 minutes. It has no real atmosphere to speak of, but maintains a comfortable surface temperature of about 40 degrees Fahrenheit. In spite a thin outer crust of mostly silicates, the majority of Mozban is comprised of liquid water.

Small chunks of rogue silicate and iron mixture allow for pockets beneath the surface and up to 2 miles deep in the ocean to provide home for underwater colonies to exist. In spite the possibilities for this, the greatest challenge to Cortascians is in proving there to be a practical use for such colonies.

Places of interest

 * Cortascia
 * Throne room
 * Pool of Healing
 * Candle of Hope


 * Gwirdonia
 * Gwirmalesh's throne room