Cosmology
The world is not simply a monolith, a single place to occupy and explore. Instead, it stands part of a greater cosmology, one that is intimately tied with its history. Many scholars study cosmology, although the Krakaw are by far the foremost experts in the field
Two Worlds
This world, to cosmologists and some more devote revelists, is known as Xan'rius, and is the native home of the kingmakers, bobbins, ogar, and krakaw species. It is an enormous world full of life and energy, with lands as varied as can be imagined. It is not, however, the only world.
Long ago, in the sky, a moon - another world - orbited this one. Sh'than, as it was called, was described as a mirror world, one that from such a distance looked much like Xan'rius would have been imagined, if one could have stood so far away.
How the first Sh'thani came to our world is not known, but with her she brought their advanced spiretech, and notably, the first of the mirrors. By constructing a precise and powerful mirror on each world, and providing spiretech energy, she was able to open a gateway - a portal between these two worlds, from which the Sh'thani invaded.
The spires that were constructed during that time served as both seats of power, and also as mirror beacons - each spire having a mirror at its apex, and having a sibling on Sh'than. Travel, while limited to the Sh'thani and those they took with them, was nearly trivialized between the two worlds.
The great war ended with the near destruction of Sh'than - it now hangs in our sky as a shattered and dead husk, bits and pieces still orbiting Xan'rius in some sort of mockery of its former self. To the best understanding of scholars, the world still lives - if a pair of mirrors can be found in the wreckage of the spires and activated, transport between the two worlds should be possible, but Sh'than is now an even more dangerous place than it ever was before.
Three Realms
Xan'rius and Sh'than are not the only places in the cosmos, although scholars debat the relationship between the three realms and the two worlds, it is clear that Fae'rela, Zh'vael, and Ra'zad must be accounted for when speaking of cosmology.
Fae'rela is the realm of the Faerie King, native home to the great houses of the fae, and former home to the fallen fae houses of Fizus, Chaxxi, and Sprit. Fae'rela is not a single world, but is instead a collection of pocket dimensions, known as estates, each owned by a single being who has been granted access by the Faerie King. These estates can take any form the owner chooses - they are intimately tied to that being who has complete control over them. Those who have such access can often create a portal into their estate at will, allowing Xan'rius to touch Fae'rela for a moment.
Zh'vael is the realm of Athya, the Weaver, goddess of fate and time. A mostly empty void, Zh'vael is dotted with endless islands, floating chunks of rock each of which is tied by a single gold thread to the nexus on which Athya weaves the Great Tapestry. When a mortal dies, their spirit is said to follow its own thread down to one such island, where the island becomes a their personal memoryscape, a land shifting between their thoughts and experiences of their time amongst the living.
Ra'zad is the realm of Shara, the Storyteller, goddess of the divine tale. Very little is known of Ra'zad - while almost no records exist of Xan'rius from before the Age of Spires, what little exists suggests that Ra'zad was entirely unknown to the inhabitants of this world at that time. Knowledge of Ra'zad came from the Sh'thani, a people seemingly more connected with Shara. Details of the realm and its patron were fiercely guarded, and with the fall of the spires, precious little information remains in this world. For now, Ra'zad, and Shara herself, remain shrouded in mystery.
Scholars and cosmologists debate the connection, if any, between the three realms. The pattern of a single mortal being attached to one island, and perhaps being granted one estate, each of which react to the thoughts and experiences of that person, seems more than coincidence, and has led to a great amount of research on the subject. How Ra'zad may tie into this pattern is not currently known.