[This chapter serves as a compendium of knowledge about the world of the novel. The information is gradually revealed within the story and is duplicated here for ease of access. As such, it may contain minor spoilers.]
General Information
❖ World Building
The story takes place in a fractured kingdom divided into two distinct halves:
- Zenon (The Upper City)
A city of opulence, order, and engineered perfection. Its people live in luxury, surrounded by technological marvels, alchemical advancements, and rigid social hierarchy.
- Aris (The Undercity)
A decaying world beneath Zenon, where disease, famine, and neglect define everyday life. Its people struggle to survive in the shadows of a system that has long abandoned them.
The world itself is built upon a fusion of alchemy, machinery, and philosophy—a place where science borders on magic, and power is often indistinguishable from divinity.
❖ Philosophies & Regime
The narrative is heavily inspired by the duality of Yin and Yang—not as simple "good vs evil," but as a shifting balance where each contains a fragment of the other.
The story constantly raises a central question: Is morality absolute… or merely a matter of perspective?
___ Zenon — The Upper City ___
- The Sovereign — Aurora (Yin)
A figure of grace, control, and quiet authority. She represents order, stability, and concealed power. But good is rarely absolute. What sins lurk behind her righteous façade?
- The Council — The Seven Courts (Seven Deadly Sins)
Each member embodies a fundamental flaw of human nature—Pride, Envy, Greed, Lust, Sloth, Gluttony and Wrath
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." — Voltaire
- The Enforcers — "The Blind"
Loyal, unquestioning executors of the Sovereign's will. They follow orders without hesitation or moral judgment.
"Stupidity is the same as evil if you judge by the results." — Margaret Atwood
The Enforcers are not inherently evil—but their obedience allows evil to manifest.
___ Aris — The Undercity ____
- The Sovereign — Theron (Yang)
A tyrant who rules through force.
- The Republic
A revolutionary faction that seeks to overthrow both the Sovereign of Aris and the system of Zenon. They believe themselves to be liberators.
Their ideology carries echoes of socialist and revolutionary philosophy—the idea that equality must be taken, not granted.
- The Elite (The Awakened)
Those who survived the plague… and emerged changed
They possess abilities that defy natural law, often tied to natural elements. They are both feared and exploited.
- The Protagonist — Elena
A morally dark character who is stained by hate and wrath from all of her life's misfortunes. Her past has stripped her of innocence, leaving behind someone willing to do whatever it takes to reshape the world. She seeks vengeance and justice through gaining more power to crush her enemies.
The real question is: What is justice?
But the deeper question beneath it is far more dangerous:
"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster." — Friedrich Nietzsche
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." — Lord Acton
History shows a pattern—those who seek to impose justice often become tyrants themselves.
So the question becomes:
Will Elena be different… or is she simply the next iteration of the same cycle?
Does history repeat itself—mercilessly?