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Path of Preservation
Covenant
Can be joined by both users and characters.
PLANNED FOR RELEASE SUMMER 2024
Fac faciendum.
"Do what is necessary."
The Path of Preservation is a Universal Covenant focused on stymieing cosmic catastrophes, conserving resources, and overall protecting life across the Universe. It is also known by a variety of other names, such the Path of the Preservator, the Path, the Preservation, and rarely the Covenant of Conservation or just the Conservation.
The Preservation places a heavy emphasis on monitering and averting temporal and spatial anomalies (temporal paradoxes, Dirges, white holes, wormholes, etc.). Preservation members may also step in to assist with planetside recovery efforts (such as during instances of natural disasters), but they are not to over-intervene in a planet's inborn progression nor the development of its civilizations--including their ends. As such, the level of emotional separation to needed become a Preservator is high and Starlyngs prone to forming emotional attachments may be better suited to roaming over maintaining a station.
The Path additionally upholds a variety of space exploration rules (called the Pact of Preservation) and regulatory locations throughout the Universe, with planetside conduct being a salient priority. This is most exemplified by Preservation Points, the Maker's Mark, and the Pioneer's Permit. Though issued by the Fellowship and the Wanderers respectively, the Maker's Mark and the Pioneer's Permit ultimately fall under the jurisdiction of the Path.
The Preservation may be the most rigid of all Factions simply due to the nature of their work and the standards they must resolutely uphold. At the same time, they are famed for their dutiful, obliging, and upstanding attitudes--rarely the type to break a promise or go back on their word. They are, without a doubt, the type to help a cat down from a tree, or help an elder cross a street. Path members are furthermore protective of and greatly value all life, which can be at odds with the hands-off approach they must take toward certain planets and populations after a certain point. It is their bighearted outlook of the Universe that is simultaneously their greatest strength, and their greatest weakness.
The Path is informed about Extrauniversal Beings (EUB) on an "as-needed" basis. Outside their abnormality-based responsibilities, they are not as enlightened about Ouroboros or the Omnicosm as the other Covenants. Hence, while the Order prioritizes a peaceful approach to EUB, and while the Path is in general agreement that the threat posed by some EUB must be dealt with, the last-resort elimination tactics of the Order is somewhat contentious amongst Preservation members. Despite their views, if a perceived in-Universe anomaly turns out to be a EUB that falls outside their level of expertise, the Path is sworn to retreat and call in the Order. Additionally, when it comes to matters of excessive deaths (impending, of Starlyngs, or otherwise), they are to make contact with the Way.
The Covenant is currently lead by the stoic yet chivalrous Prime Preservator and Second Seat of the Firstborns, Siegfried. All those who follow the Path are bestowed a Conservator's Charm, an item of choice (traditionally a necklace or weapon) imbued with the Second's protective Sourcery. The castled base of the Path of Preservation is called the Bastion.
- PRESERVATORS: Starlyngs who have extensive experience as a Warden, Bulwark, and a Herald, and who have gone on to train even further to be able to prevent largescale cosmic events. Preservators can fulfill any other role within the Preservation where needed, and many are in contact with higher-ups within the Order--some may even be in close league with a Firstborn. (In fact, due to the secrecy of the Order, the general public views the Upper Choir as another version of Preservators.)
"Largescale cosmic events" can refer to things such as the death of a star or Starlyng, the formation of a supermassive blackhole, or spacetime oddities beyond the scope of a Bulwark and within the purview of the Order. Preservators are also very much in league with Harbingers, who can presage these events (see: Dirge; Threnody).
- WARDENS: Wardens or Overseers are Preservators who are stationed in one particular area of the cosmos experiencing atypical activity. This usually means surveilling a single celestial body, although larger bodies (i.e. planetary systems, galaxies) will often see more than one Warden, especially if multiple planets present anything between nascent to teeming life. Wardens are more centralized and "smallscale" in their supervision than Preservators, tending to things like batting away meteoroids or protecting native species.
Many Wardens may choose to either orbit a planet with immense heavenly activity (Comets) or routinely visit/join in its civilizations. When grandscale or extradimensional cosmic events occur (portended by a Harbinger), Preservators (and potentially the Order and the Way) are called in. Most Wardens additionally administer a Preservation Point.
- BULWARKS: The roaming Preservators that deal in oddities in areas devoid of any neighboring bodies and often stop in to assist Wardens along their travels. Bulwarks are more specialized in resolving irregularities involving the actual "fabric" of spacetime than Wardens and, as a result, may see the Order almost as much as Preservators. Unlike the Order, Bulwarks are not attentive to (nor generally aware of) matters involving the Sourcestar; they instead spend their time rethreading the Universe within. Their roving around also means that Heralds have a harder time getting in touch with them, but it is mandatory for Bulwarks to report routinely to their assigned Warden(s).
Like Heralds, Bulwarks can choose to remain as they are and not advance toward higher ranks.
- HERALDS: The messengers and trackers of the Preservation. While largely filled by initiates in training, many Starlyngs enjoy their work as a Herald and do not go onto become a Bulwark. Heralds are mostly in the business of pinpointing spacetime peculiarities or inbound/potential hazards (asteroids) and notifying upper ranks.
However, as Heralds can possess a lot of "downtime," Heralds also act as regular "mailmen" between Starlyngs in and outside the Preservation, earning them the affectionate title Cosmic Couriers (those belonging to the Trade are especially fond of them for transporting their goods). Couriers have established a vast "postal system" throughout the Universe, with "post offices" typically built near their Wardens (see: Preservation Point).
Preservators only deal with in-Universe problems and are not inherently aware of Ouroboros (beyond what most Starlyngs know) or the Omnicosm as a whole. That being said, since EUB can cause Dirges, they will at least come to know about the existence of parallel dimensions and said entities. There is a strong overlap between the Order the Preservation when it comes to what effects a highly dangerous EUB might have on the Cosmic Cauldron, especially when they manage to escape the immediate area around the Sourcering.
As mentioned prior, the Preservation also collaborates with Harbingers from the Way. They're also close to the All is One, as they provide the tools used to repair spacetime abnormalities (i.e. Threads and Needles, Thimbles, Azoth). For regular equipment, the Path regularly commissions and/or fully employs members of the Fellowship.
