Fundament
Fundament is a gas giant planet in an unknown star system that gave rise to the Hive billions of years ago.
History
Long ago, the rocky planet that was the homeworld of the proto-Hive collided into Fundament and shattered. The shards of the planet came to float upon a vast sea, the Fundament Ocean, within one of Fundament's layers, and became "continents" upon which the proto-Hive eked out a meager existence; 511 other intelligent species also inhabited Fundament's sea through presumably similar circumstances. In Fundament's orbit lay 52 moons inhabited by the spacefaring Ammonite civilization, which benefited from an alliance with the Traveler. Deep beneath the Fundament Ocean dwelled a creature called the Leviathan, a disciple of the Traveler. Deeper still, the Worms, direct servants of the Darkness, were imprisoned for millions of years.
Life was quick and harsh for the proto-Hive. Their natural lifespan rarely exceeded ten Fundament-years, though proto-hive who ate "mother jelly" became able to spawn and live longer. In terms of environmental hazards, Fundament was almost inhospitable. The Fundament Ocean was toxic, the storms constantly ravaged the skies, the rain was poisonous and sometimes corrosive, lightning had enough energy to vaporize anyone it struck, "living clouds" called Stormjoys would prey on the populace, and the proto-Hive were frequently in conflict.
One kingdom of the Fundament Ocean was the Osmium Court, ruled by the Osmium King. When the King went mad out of fear of the "Syzygy", a catastrophic and artificially-induced alignment of Fundament's moons that would create a devastating global tidal wave, Taox, the teacher of the King's three daughters, invited the rival Helium Drinkers of the Helium Court to invade and install her on the Osmium Throne. The Helium Drinkers did so, but failed to kill the King's three daughters: Xi Ro, Sathona, and Aurash. The sisters escaped on a ship, swearing an oath to avenge their father by overthrowing the Helium Drinkers and hunting down Taox.
Eventually the sisters salvaged and reactivated "the needle", a derelict, high-tech ship designed to explore Fundament's deepest depths. Deep below the sea, the sisters encountered the Leviathan, who warned them away, but they continued on and encountered the Worms and made a pact with them to gain immortality and power, taking on the Worms' parasitic larvae and spreading them among the other proto-Hive; thus the first true Hive were created, and Xi Ro became Xivu Arath, Sathona became Savathûn, and Aurash became Auryx.
In a few short years the Hive conquered a large swathe of Fundament's surface, reclaiming the Osmium Court and harrying Taox off-world. After building their first starships, the Hive followed Taox and encountered the Ammonite civilization that lived among the moons, as well as the Traveler. The Ammonite were far more advanced than anything on Fundament's surface and were initially able to repulse the Hive advance, especially as Auryx held the Hive back in the hope of achieving a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Decrying Auryx's weakness, Savathûn killed her brother. The Worms then vested Auryx and his sisters with the power to defy death so long as they continued their conquest and fed their worms. Auryx returned to life and together he and his sisters defeated the Ammonite, killed the Leviathan as it tried to reach safety on the Ammonite home moon, and forced the Traveler to flee.
The three leaders of the Hive transformed Fundament's 52 moons into mobile colonies for the Hive and set out to conquer the universe in the name of the Darkness and find Taox, who still eluded them. Fundament's fate afterwards is unknown, though the Syzygy had already taken place before the Hive had begun to war against the Ammonite. It is likely the global tidal wave, the God-Wave, took place and wiped out what remained of Fundament's surface civilizations. However, the ultimate cause of the Syzygy is unclear. The Worms claimed that the alignment of the moons was caused by the Traveler to prevent the surface civilizations from contacting the Worms, while the Leviathan claimed that the Worms were behind the event in its final plea to the Hive.
Locations
Fundament's surface
- Bone Plaza
- Helium Court
- Land of the Helium King and the Helium Drinkers
- Hydrogen Fountain
- Kaharn Atoll
- A gathering place for Fundament's many species
- Osmium Court
- Home of the Osmium King, the teacher Taox, and the royal heirs Xi Ro, Sathona, and Aurash
- Shvubi Maelstrom
- Star-surgery
- Land of the Starcutters
- Tungsten Monoliths
Fundament's orbit
- Fundament's 52 moons
- Large ice moon
- Capital of the Ammonite civilization
- Dry moon
- Large ice moon
