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The Story

Do you dream of spending your life in the magnificent forests of the North, attending the gathering of the great Illusion magicians, or simply enjoy the market of the city of Teromberg? Perhaps you are from Sol Thu‘ma and want to cross the galaxy in a spaceship, or spend your twilight years on a pleasure planet?
Then I have some bad news for you. That’s not going to happen. For you are chosen to be the defender of your homeworld. That is your destiny.
That probably sounds better than it is. Very few inhabitants of your sphere know what you really do. You won‘t be celebrated as a hero, you won‘t get a medal, but you do have a good chance to die an early death.
It’s not a job you can just quit. Your task is immensely important. If you fail, not only you and maybe your friends die, but the whole sphere. On Valcreon, that may be one planet, but on Sol Thu’ma, your failure would lead to the extinction of an entire galaxy. Thousands of planets, billions of lives.
No one said it was going to be easy. So, stop complaining and get ready. The adventure has already begun…

The cosmos

„I thought my world was rich in adventure, magic and wonder, full of strange species, mysterious animals and exotic plants, until the first time I was allowed to see through the eyes of my sphere brother. I had no idea.“

Spherechild is home to a variety of worlds, the spheres, which differ in way of life, level of development, and size. They include worlds full of magical wonders, vast galaxies traversed by starships, and planets with creatures that have left their materiality behind. Three have been described so far for Spherechild:
Valcreon is characterized by the elements of fantasy without machines and gunpowder, but its spellcasters have created a fantastic world of their own. Magic is integrated into everyday life, from healing illnesses to the great teleportation circles that transport a person hundreds of kilometers in the blink of an eye.
Sol Thu’ma is science fiction, a galaxy with many solar systems at the center of one of the largest and oldest spheres. Faster-than-light spaceships travel between the planets and trade between different species booms. Supercomputers are leading science and medicine into a brighter future. Most parts of Sol Thu’ma are mapped except for the great anomaly and a few unexplored remote areas. All secrets seem to have been uncovered – but this could not be further from the truth.
Icros was occupied for decades by alien invaders called Ekla until they were driven out in a sacrificial war. The characters are shifters, alien hybrids who used to do the Ekla’s dirty work but were left behind when they escaped. At that time, the vengefulness of the inhabitants was unleashed on them, even if they were also only slaves. Only because they are outwardly indistinguishable from the population, a few tens of thousands survived. But they swore revenge on their creators. This time is not far, because the satellites of the community of states receive signals from the alien space fleet.
These three spheres could not be more different. But they are distinguished by a special history.

The return of the myths

„As children we listened to the stories about black men, scary beasts and haunted cities. But in recent years, we found everything is true, worse even than in the most gruesome tales. I can‘t tell when it began. All I know is that life was never the same after that.“

A few years ago, the spheres experience a phenomenon known as the return of the myths. Horrible creatures from legends roamed remote villages, mystic islands rose from the seas, and lost planets appeared on starship sensors. At the beginning a rarity, these oddities soon got out of hand and became a threat.
On Valcreon, after centuries, the Boak returned, a cruel species, powerful as they were ruthless, willing to rise again as masters of the world. The other species barely had time to face this threat. But this return is not the only danger.   Many regions were haunted by creatures known only from ancient tales. Child-stealing ghosts, flying lizards which ruled the skies, or creatures that were immune to any kind of magic. The knowledge from the libraries was useless and even the brightest minds resigned themselves to this new threat. Solely the ancient knowledge of the ancestors promised salvation. But their records are rare. Many of them are lost.
The history of Sol Thu’ma dates back more than ten thousand years. The oldest records tell of a species of conquerors who ravaged the galaxy. The fearsome Usuur required new slaves for their war god. The species of today were barely developed, savage Barbarians, without a common language, millennials away from spaceships, computers and modern science. Only the Raan were able to oppose the Usuur at that time. But the Raan have long since disappeared, while there are increasing signs of a return of the Usuur.
On Icros, the legend has been told for a hundred years that the alien invaders infected an unknown number of slaves with their genes during their escape and that these were passed on unnoticed for generations. Scientists thought this was an old-time fairy tale until seventeen years ago when ten ordinary citizens mutated into so-called EN7s. Outwardly unchanged and unrecognized, they became highly intelligent, ruthless infiltrators through mutation. It took only a few years for each of them to become influential and wealthy. By the time governments became aware of the danger, it was almost too late. The EN7 are putting their plans into action – the return of the alien invaders to Icros.

This metaplot runs through all worlds. At some points there are overlaps that go beyond the boundaries of one sphere. The questions are the same everywhere: Why did the myths disappear back then, and why are they returning now?