Inner Universe is a vast world of galaxies full of floating cities, outposts, inhabited(and uninhabited) moons and planets. Divided into the Edge Galaxies where the main language is Old Galaxian and the Far Galaxies where Middle Galaxian is the preferred mode of speech.

A map with black background and a blue ribbon at the top labels it, Edge Galaxies. There is a legend with six symbols in the bottom left corner. The map has thirteen named galaxies in various pale colours.
A map where the background is black and a blue ribbon at the top labels it, Far Galaxies. In the bottom left corner is a legend with six symbols. The map has ten named galaxies in various colours.

The above maps are not to scale, the Far Galaxies have much larger distances. Note the lack of Squamate settlements from Portal Galaxy onwards through the Sand Galaxies. Humans in the Sand Galaxies have been known to kill and eat Squamates during famines.

A purple circle on a black star map with swirls and haze. The title is River in the Twin Cities Galaxy and a brief paragraph about the river is in the lower left corner.

The galaxy river as re-imagined by Tara, note the inclusion of the crocodylichts, something not remarked upon on the map Merlon’s father drew.

A drawing of an old-fashioned wooden ships with 3 masts and sails. There is a black and blue flag flying from the middle mast.

Space travel happens on wooden ships built using a special preservation technique that leaves the wood alive and ‘breathing’ which creates a small atmosphere of high-oxygen air in a bubble around the ship. The sails, while looking like plain grey canvas to our eyes, are woven from energy-catching fabric which propels the ship forward. The people of Inner Universe have extra cone cells in their eyes and can see the UV rays on the sails that flare up when energy hits the fabric. These extra cone cells also mean the people of Inner Universe see much better in the dark than we do.

Species Studies: Squamates

While the overaching themes are steepled in mental health struggles the world of Inner Universe if full of exciting creatures. The most promiment non-human sapients are the Squamates (occassionally called Scaly Beings). With the smallest only around 3ft/90cm tall and the biggest just under 9ft/280cm there is a huge variety!

Brown leaf tailed gecko, a Squamate, on all fours wearing red shorts and lots of jewellery.

Hellspawn is a small Squamate at 4ft when standing upright on her hind legs. Here she’s shown in an aggressive defense stance on all fours. Note the jewellery adorning her, a sign of her wealth and high status.

A teal green and white lizard standing on the hind legs, adjusting a vest and wearing brown shorts.

Jim is a large Squamate at over 7ft tall. He is shown in work attire as he would appear aboard his ship, Racketeer, where jewellery would get caught in the rigging.

Species Studies: Crocodylichts

These huge space crocodiles require a high argon-gas atmosphere and are extant on a few uninhabited gas giants in Twin Cities and Haven Galaxy. Due to lack of human travel to these planets the crocodylichts are unknown to humans - that is until Merlon and his crew travels into the galaxy river which contains high levels of argon. Like earth crocodiles, crocodylichts will eat anything that fits in their mouth.

A green crocodile with flippers instead of legs and feet. A silhouette of a person is shown to the right for size reference.
Tales From Inner Universe

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