Other World

The Other World is one of at least 275 planets—universe notwithstanding—that are or are believed to be to be capable of sustaining life. It is orbited by the moon-like satellites Zaji and Ruvu.

Geography
The continent of Bol is marked by mountain chains that sometimes serve as natural borders between nations. One such mountain range delineates the Byandy Peninsula in the south against the neighboring Kingdom of Nyanild and the rest of the continent; this peninsula's name shifts to the Abandoned Peninsula in the wake of the Byandy Empire's collapse. Far north of the Abandoned Peninsula and toward the continent's center lies the continent's tallest mountain chain, at the heart of which stands its tallest mountain: Saint Mount Boldorazo, in which is nestled a holy site of the Geldwood Church, Geldwood being the national faith of the Kingdom of Nyanild and several other countries.

This tall mountain chain shadows the Principality of Djadjamnyl, the Republic of Zurodakka, and another small country in addition to the Kingdom of Nyanild. Nyanild is located southwest of the mountain chain and the Republic of Zurodakka northeast, with the latter's capital situated on the coast. The mountainous border has hampered attempts to foster strong relations between Kingdom and Republic, the latter of which is far more interested in commerce—which especially flourishes in its capital port city—than it is in the Geldwood faith. Geldwood has failed to penetrate the polytheistic countries clustered on Bol's northern tip, where many villages worship dragons as gods.

Various countries have banned their citizens from entering the Abandoned Peninsula, where it is rumored ghosts and demons roam in the ashes of the Byandy Empire. The mountain range that once separated the Empire and the Kingdom of Nyanild is seen as a natural barrier that prevents the ghouls from overtaking the rest of the continent.

The Principality of Djadjamnyl is ruled by the vampire Myrcadia Lulula, whose husband and fellow vampire Gardener Panan once mentored the Imperial Court Sorcerer Romaning Woodlands, a Wood Mage like himself.

Early History
Until a thousand years prior to Corpse God's reincarnation, the Other World enjoyed a recurring bidirectional connection to the habitable planet Earth. This connection, which is wide enough to facilitate movement of a country's entire population over the span of years, is often referred to as a 'path' or more accurately as a 'hole.' The special magic and technology needed to open this connecting pathway have been lost with the ancient culture that invented them, leaving the dragon Ordom the only being known to be capable of boring open the path anew. He is rumored to be currently doing so despite his typical disinterest in such affairs.

Numerous similarities between the two planets suggest that both enjoyed a rich interplanetary exchange of flora, fauna, populations, technology, ideas, and other concepts while they were linked, with planetary conditions fundamentally affecting what flourished where. Where the Other World's Elemental-rich atmosphere and surfeit of gems have allowed magic and necromancy to thrive, Earth's comparatively Elemental-poor atmosphere and paucity of gems have impeded magical practice, therefore relegating it to local traditions and superstition. Although the Other World and Earth harbor major human populations, the former's vampires, dragons, giants, and elf-like Viveenya and others remain the subject of Terran myths; conversely, Earth's whales are legends in the Other World. Which planet originated what—humans, life itself—is an unanswered question requiring further research.

Recent History
Five hundred years after the interplanetary link is closed, a nation ruled by a vampire becomes strong enough to shift the balance of power on the Bol continent. This leads to vampires becoming more accepted by many other countries, though the fact that a majority of people have never seen vampires on account of their small population perhaps makes it easier to accept the odd public figure.

Where the existence of vampires may be believed as more folktale than reality depending on where one lives, the existence of the Viveenya, the "long-lived race," is actively suppressed by the Geldwood Church by the time of the most recent century. Dragons remain entities of awesome and fearsome repute, with some countries' populations worshipping them as gods and others' populations fearing them as evil monsters, if not world threads, due to the disastrous actions of a select number of dragonkind. The dragon Pirawizzo, who bears the telling moniker the "Poisonous Dragon of Destruction," is personally responsible for slaughtering numerous kings and emperors of numerous kingdoms and empires that Pirawizzo opposes over the decades and centuries.

On the continent of Bol, the Byandy Empire becomes a fearsome military power spanning the Byandy Peninsula, one annexing some principalities, potentially conquering others, and at constant, often combative odds with the neighboring Kingdom of Nyanild. As the seat of the Geldood Church and eponymous faith, Nyanild has long been in ideological strife with the Empire, whose employment of necromancers is anathema to Geldwood's theological tenets.

Turn of the Last Century
One hundred years ago, a traitorous faction of the Byandy Empire colludes with Geldwood to force open the interplanetary hole to Earth. Pani Guldmarg believes that this the same massive hole that opened within the heart of the imperial capital and what Easlies Swordfrail guards to this day to prevent its reopening. The ruination of the capital is one of several factors that cause the Empire to collapse within the short span of one year; of these, one of the most prominent is Corpse God's involuntary assassination of Emperor Framrodia Byandiraz, brought about by the machinations of an enemy necromancer.

If Pani's statements are true, then it is possible that the soldiers of the imperial army who fell into the hole—i.e. all of them, save those of the Imperial Gorgeous Unit—may have been transported to Earth rather than killed. It is known that members of the Bastard Children of Sabaramond cross over to Earth, brainwash children in Shinjuku, Japan, and collect items representing the latest in early twentieth-century Terran technology, from World War I-era aircraft and carrier jet models, firearms, and ammunition to radiocommunication equipment, a Tesla coil, and a projector. Many of these items remain in the possession of Elsia Sabaramond a century later. Several stowaways discreetly accompany the expedition to Earth, including Riddhe Malacougar.

Last One Hundred Years
In the wake of the Empire's collapse, its Imperial Court Sorcerers scatter. Corpse God kills a squadron of Geldwood soldiers and isolates himself in a writhing labyrinth of the undead, causing Geldwood to deem him one of the many so-called 'enemies of the world.'

Shagrua Lugrid is born in the final third of these last one hundred years and witnesses the fallout causes by Pirawizzo's assassination of the former king of Nyanild. As a holy knight of the Geldwood church, Shagrua is instrumental in the three month-long war to expel Pirawizzo from Nyanild; his apparent slaughter of Pirawizzo earns him widespread acclaim and instantly becomes one of his most celebrated feats.

Elsia Sabaramond, the Geldwood saint who purportedly masterminded the fall of the Empire one hundred years ago, remains alive and plots to reopen the interplanetary hole once more. Geldwood's weaponizing of Shagrua against Corpse God is one such step taken to this end, for Corpse God is one of the former Imperial Sorcerers who would potentially intervene if Geldwood meddled with the peninsula. Although Corpse God's soul is no longer on the Other World, several individuals remain behind to monitor if not oppose Geldwood's plans, including the surviving Imperial Court Sorcerers, Pani Guldmarg, Shagrua, and Recuria Lofilardo.

Trivia

 * Otherworlders also refer to Earth as the "other world," the "other side of the sky," and the "reverse side of the sky."
 * The 275 potentially life-sustaining planets are planets located in Earth's "sea of stars," which Pani Guldmarg states is a "very different sea of stars" to that of the Other World. It remains to be confirmed whether or not the Other World and Earth are located within the same galaxy, universe, or even dimension.