The Spires
Scattered across the land like the remnants of a mad god’s design, the towering Spires dominate the landscapes they inhabit. Rising thousands of feet into the sky, they are the source of countless legends and mysteries. Yet those with knowledge understand that the Spires are not merely structures—they are home to the last survivors of a once-great civilization that dared to cross the stars.
Millennia ago, the Exiles arrived on Eä as explorers, masters of their craft and skilled enough to breach the vast distances between worlds. They germinated the first Spires as sanctuaries for a small community of scientists, explorers, and surveyors who, isolated for centuries, studied the planet and prepared it for settlers who would one day tame its primal landscapes. But those settlers never came. Instead, waves of refugees fleeing an unknown catastrophe arrived, a disaster that the Spires' inhabitants refuse to speak of to this day.
The last of these refugees were the nobles of the Sovereign House, who sealed the Ways behind them in an act of cold calculation, cutting off their own kind to ensure their dominance. This betrayal fractured Exile society, birthing three factions from the ashes of their civilization: the Spires, the Weavers, and the Quiet. Only within the Spires do the embers of their old civilization still burn, kept alive through relentless sacrifice and struggle.
Faced with a dwindling population, the Sovereign House turned to the darkest arts to recreate a shadow of their lost society. Unbound by religious or ethical oversight, scientists pooled their expertise into a central Directorate, transforming the art of Life-Binding into Biomancy, a cold science of life manipulation. Clones were among the first creations—lifeless reflections of the former population, created to restore the Spires’ strength and economy.
Over decades, Spire society rebuilt itself from the ground up. However, as clone numbers grew and the economy came to depend on the outputs of growth vats and spawning pools, the Sovereign House grew uneasy with the expanding influence of the Directorate. To keep the Directorate under control, cloned soldiers bred for loyalty were deployed to restrain them. But the Directorate, along with the Quiet and the Weavers, had long anticipated such moves and had meticulously planned their response. They surrendered without a fight—and let the economy collapse.
Without the Directorate’s expertise, the Spires’ delicate internal systems began to fail, forcing the Sovereign House to seek their help once again. The Directorate agreed, on the condition that power would be divided: while the wealth of the land would belong to the nobles, operational control would reside with the Directorate, which would dedicate its biomantic creations toward reclaiming their lost homeland. Once achieved, the Sovereign House would relinquish its holdings on Eä.
This fragile partnership now hangs in a precarious balance, where the Sovereign House funds the Directorate's research and projects to secure favorable policies, even as the Directorate grows in influence. But the delicate balance is under threat with the rise of the Merchant Princes—independent younger dynasties who have begun trading directly with the outside world, undermining the control of the Sovereign House. Initially encouraged by the Directorate to introduce competition, these mavericks have disrupted centuries-old power dynamics. With trade and external contacts injecting volatility into the Spires’ machinations, tensions are on the rise, and it seems only a matter of time before conflict with the younger races becomes inevitable.
In times of war, the Spires are a formidable force, despite their limited territory. Their armies are born directly from accumulated biomass and resources gathered by the root networks embedded throughout their lands. Lessons from their lost homeworld have taught the Spires to value efficiency over brute force, a philosophy evident even in their military strategies. With no ethical boundaries (their troops are, after all, clones), Spire commanders display a breathtaking ruthlessness, willing to sacrifice entire battalions if it means securing victory.
Today, the Spires stand as one of the most potent powers on Eä, their past shaping a cold, relentless approach to survival. Guided by their lost heritage and unparalleled ambition, they are prepared to do whatever it takes to restore their civilization, no matter the cost to themselves—or to others.