| The Jewel Cluster
According to legend, when the Great Goddess that created all life in the universe was finishing her work, the last worlds she placed life on were those of the Jewel Cluster. “You are my daughters,” she said of the Jewel Cluster. “The shining lights of my creation, perfection incarnate and the triumph of my desire for light to shine in the universe. Let you and your daughters be the jewels by which beauty everywhere shall be measured. Jade, the wise... Diamond, the protector... Emerald, the seer of truth... Topaz, the ever changing... Amethyst, the bearer of love... Ruby, the light which seeks out the darkness... The twin eyes of Sapphire, seeing the darkness that walks all around..." And when she saw that she was finished her work, she wept, her tears falling to each of the eight worlds, and from each tear grew a woman-child. The first queens, to which each of the daughter worlds gave a mate, and a host of servants, so that the queen would not be lonely, and might fulfill her duties as the caretaker. “Shine, my children....Always shine....” -So reads the first page of the Book of Queens |
| While much of the past of the Jewel Star Cluster is shrouded in mystery, more recent history begins with the rise of Maeve of Sapphire Lio, first of the Jewel Queens. During this time, the Cluster was a fragmented place, with bickering states on each world, and no great, unifying power. A darker time, they only fought for their own gain.
In this era, came the Warriors of the Dark Nebula, a race from beyond the Cluster's known space. To the worlds that lay before them, they came... they conquered... they enslaved. Until they had reached the seven star systems of the Cluster itself. With all the internal strife, the Warriors' conquest of the Jewel Star Cluster seemed but a foregone conclusion and it very nearly was... before the appearance of Queen Maeve and her followers. Possessed of great power, and the might of the Jewel Armour Lio, Maeve personally held the line against the advance scouts of the Dark Nebulans, seeking out the blessings and Jewel Armours of the other daughters of the great Goddess. Once the Seven had been awakened, standing beside her, and united in their purpose, there was little doubt among humanity of what course victory now favored. The first Jewel Knights carried their standard through the battle lines of the Warriors of the Dark Nebula, finally arriving at the Dark Nebulans' homeworld, and center of power. It was during the final conflict, that the Dark Nebulans' otherworldly power arose as one, forming a fiendishly vile entity, Cal-Nebulan. Though a great and terrible thing, it's evil energy could not strike down the combined power and goodness within the eight Knights; and so it came to pass, that the dreaded Cal-Nebulan was banished from the universe forever. Returning to the battered civilizations of their homeworlds, the Queens aided in the Restoration and became heads of new, provisional governments. They soon realized that to return to the ways of old, would only renew the hardship and suffering of the past. And so, the Queens took action: uniting their provisional systems into a Cluster wide government of the people, with Maeve, it's first Empress, showing the way. For the first time in recorded history, the Eight Daughters were unified, with a formal Charter of the Jewel Star Cluster, on the first day of Cluster Year Zero. Under Jewel Empress Maeve, the Core Worlds were given new life, and prospered like never before. The Empress' wisdom and kindness became as legendary as her prowess in battle, and it was said, that when she passed away at the age of one hundred fifty-two, her people wept so much, that for weeks the streets looked as if it had been raining. She had given her people hope as they had never seen before. During her reign, it was decided that the eight Armours of the Jewel Star Cluster were not enough, should another crisis befall their worlds, as it was too risky to rely on only the Jewel Queens, due to their added responsibilities as heads of the Cluster. So it was, that the Jewel Queens made a plea to daughters of the great Goddess, and their plea was answered. Each world thus gave life to seven more Jewel Knight Armours, intended for use by an elite few, chosen to defend the homes and families of the Jewel Star Cluster with all of their hearts. Forty-nine Jewel Knights in all. The Armours of the Queens were Enshrined in the walls of their palaces, intended to be used again only in times of the greatest need. All Jewel Queens are trained in their use, but not since before their Enshrining, has a Queen used these first and most exalted of all Jewel Knight Armours. While the people of the Jewel Star Cluster know peace, never shall those Armours be used. _________________ The Guardians of the Jewel Cluster Cluster Technology Levels Cluster Geography Life in the Jewel Cluster Cluster Political Structure Cluster Religion Palaces of the Jewel Cluster Peoples of the Jewel Cluster Psychics and Mutants |