Cassiopeia

The damp edge of Gaian society, Cassiopeia was once a surging highway in the Ancestral Gardener Network, servicing the many worlds of Sector Serpent, as well as providing connection to Sectors Sentinel and Garden. By the time the Gaians arrived, though, a miasmic magical catastrophe of unknown providence had laid waste to the vast majority of Sector Serpent, and Cassiopeia was lucky to only be mostly mulched.

The dangers associated with its surroundings and many of its residents mean Cassiopeia is not the prestigious destination it once was, but its swamps and halls still hold populations in the tens of thousands and the world serves as capital for the few Serpent worlds which still cling to life. The Garden and Sentinel worlds may stretch off in borderline copies of one another, beautiful but variations on a theme, nevertheless there's nowhere else in all the Gaian worlds quite like Cassiopeia.

Politically, Cassiopeia is no less exceptional than geographically. The Oracles in the House on the Crab famously refused to obtain licenses for prophecy in Ganymede's push to legislate dangerous magic, and their refusal marked them apart from the other Gaians who are called leaders.

Society
As the atmosphere on Cassiopeia is somewhat unsavory, it proved a somewhat tempting locale for somewhat unsavory characters. The terrain boasts plenty of places to hide, and threatens many places you wouldn't wish to look. In the beginnings of Gaian habitation on Cassiopeia, several minor settlements attempted to exist in isolation from one another - Faculty researchers kept their distance from smugglers hiding from Ganymede's Guilds, and those who would defy the authority of the Faculty themselves would build homes here, emboldened by the controversy of the prophecy.

For a while, these micro societies persisted separately, but as arcane storms spread through Sector Serpent it became clear that, as always, human cooperation was the only thing that would allow the residents to survive. The gargantuan, cathedralian masterpiece of overdrive architecture around the original Portal Hub had been left untouched due to contamination, but the settlers' only hope was to reignite some of its protection fields with new energies. Once they were successful in this endeavor, they all gathered in the enormous structure for safety, and even when the storms had passed the Cathedral remained the epicentre of Cassiopeian society.

As a result of this mingling with misfits and outlaws, Ashshell Branch does not always enjoy the same respect as other Faculty branches.

The Oracles
To be documented

Ashshell Branch
To be documented

Boa Cradle
To be documented