User:Rasarr/Skyward Universe

Cover of the British edition of Skyward

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Skyward Universe and cytoverse both refer to the as-of-yet-unnamed universe that serves as the setting of Defending Elysium and the Skyward series. It's our own world, albeit in the far future; as such, it's not part of the cosmere. Alongside Earth and humanity, it contains numerous spacefaring species, all of which share a magic system known as cytonics.

Underlying mechanics

The Skyward Universe is a setting possessing highly advanced technology, from laser weapons and anti-gravity to lifelike holograms and atmospheric envelopes capable of keeping entire space stations breathing. Vast empires, encompassing various species, spread across the stars, connected by faster-than-light ships. Ranging from grand merchantmen to small starfighters, those vessels are propelled by biological FTL system, based on two fundamental aspects of the universe: the nowhere and cytonics.

Nowhere

For more information, see Nowhere.

The cytoverse is comprised of two connected realities -- our own and nowhere, an interdimensional "world" with strange relation to time and space. Little is known of nowhere's appearance, though it is home to a type of beings called delvers, as well as a mineral called the acclivity stone. Regular rules of physics do not apply there completely, and everything to come from nowhere possesses extraordinary properties. The best-known among them is acclivity stone, which is used to counteract gravity and thus provide lift to all spaceships and space stations.

The easiest way for most people to enter nowhere is through a nowhere portal, a stable wormhole leading to it and back. Such portals can be found on many worlds, and though the markings on them indicate that they were made rather than arising naturally, it's unknown who created them. The portals let both people and equipment to be taken through, which allows for mining acclitivity stone.

Cytonics

by jurassicpencil Spensa and Doomslug, a sapient and a non-sapient cytonic

For more information, see Cytonics.

Apart from the portals, nowhere can also be accessed by people called cytonics. Any species, including non-sapient ones, is capable of developing cytonic abilities; how they first appear is undetermined, but once they do show up, they are passed down to the original cytonic's descendants. They allow for more than just peering into nowhere -- "cytonics" refers to a whole host of psychic powers.

Cytonic abilities include, among others, telepathy, mind swapping, illusions and teleportation. Most, if not all of them require that the cytonic connect themselves to nowhere. Teleportation in particular utilizes nowhere heavily, as the body of the cytonic, along with whatever else they're carrying, travels through nowhere to its destination. Though time appears to pass for the cytonic, to others, the jump happens instantly.

In fact, both teleportation and telepathy work instantaneously, and thus faster-than-light. As such, they are the basis of the two most crucial technologies in the universe: cytonic communication and FTL travel. All FTL-capable starships in the Skyward Universe travel using cytonics, with non-sapient slugs known as the taynix serving as living hyperdrives. Moreover, cytonics can be shared with the rest of the populace, as cytonics can be augmented with mechanical equipment; that's how a single creature can carry an entire ship across the stars. Conversely, machines can also be built to utilize nowhere, albeit to a lesser extent than living creatures.

Delvers

For more information, see Delver.

Cytonics are not without their dangers. Chief among those are delvers, the inhabitants of nowhere. Delvers despise both radio signals and, more importantly, cytonics. When sufficiently agitated, they can transport themselves into the physical world. A single delver can be as large as a moon, and possesses a number of deadly powers, including the ability to create and launch meteors, and the capacity to destroy any living being they pass through. This makes them extremely dangerous, and has led to extreme limits being put on the use of cytonics.

History

Human Wars

For more information, see Human Wars.

Inhabitants

(intro, different types of creatures, figments)

Species

Superiority leaders

• varvax (often called "Krell" in Skyward)
• tenasi
• dione
• heklo
• cambric

Other species

• humans
• figments
• delvers
• kitsen
• taynix (non-sapient)
• burl
• Cormax drones
• solquis
• wrexians
• UrDail

Human influence

(language, culture (UrDail) etc.)

The Superiority

For more information, see Superiority.

Development

by Dragos Jieanu Cover of the digital version of Defending Elysium

Defending Elysium

Brandon created Defending Elysium in 2003; it was the last story he'd written prior to selling Elantris and thus kickstarting the cosmere. Though Defending Elysium won a honorable mention at the Writers of the Future contest in 2003, it wouldn't see the light of day until 2008, when, after substantial re-editing, it won the first prize at UPC Science Fiction Award in Spain. It was subsequently published in Asimov's Science Fiction's October/November 2008 issue, and then released publicly on Brandon's website in 2009.

The travels of Spensa, space pilot

As with most things Brandon had been writing at the time, he planned to create more works in Defending Elysium's setting. His intention was always to evolve it, and see how the universe changed over time. Over the next fifteen years, many of those plans were abandoned, while others rose up in their place. However, Spensa was not initially part of the setting.

Spensa was conceived as a pilot character from Mistborn Era Four (the space-age of the cosmere). Her particular plot was not developed beyond the concept of "the travels of Spensa, space pilot". However, Brandon was most interested in a particular technological aspect of her setting -- the biological faster-than-light travel system that would eventually be folded into cytonics. As the bio-FTL did not fit with the cosmere, Spensa was cut out of Mistborn Era Four and transplanted into the world of Defending Elysium. Her story morphed into "a girl and her spaceship", and became Skyward, which came out in 2018.

The Eyes and future stories

It wasn't just the cosmere that Skyward Universe borrowed elements from. In 2016, he began writing a novella titled The Eyes, based around the concept of answering the Fermi Paradox. It was never finished, although the first chapter became a Patreon reward for $10 patrons at the time. The story of The Eyes was eventually absorbed into the setting wholesale, although in its current form, it's not fully canon-compliant. Nonetheless, some of its characters are still around by the time of Skyward, and one of its alien races made an appearance in Starsight. It's unclear which aliens those would be, though they might be the figments or the dione, as both are introduced in that book and feature in it prominently. Considering the title, delvers may also originate from The Eyes.

While so far, the future of Skyward Universe includes only the final two books in the Skyward Series, Brandon does have some ideas for more stories in the setting. In particular, he remains interested in the concept of biological FTL.

Bibliography of the Skyward Universe

Published Works of the Skyward Universe
Publication Year	Title	Series
2009 (digital)	Defending Elysium	standalone
2018	Skyward	Skyward #1
2019	Starsight	Skyward #2

Forthcoming works

The following are confirmed upcoming works set in the Skyward Universe:

• Skyward 3 - the third book in the Skyward series, tentatively titled Nowhere.
• Skyward 4 - the fourth and final book in the Skyward series.

Notes

{/{Defending Elysium}/} {/{skyward}/}