Official Lore Base v0.1
A fragmented universe
All Hail the Cone takes place across worlds, floating islands, suspended cities, cosmic portals and territories that do not entirely obey ordinary reality.
At the centre of it all stands an apparently simple object: the Cone. A traffic cone.
No one knows who made it, where it came from or why it carries cosmic significance. Some say it existed before the stars. Others attribute it to a lost civilization. A few maintain that it is an ordinary object around which an entire faith happened to assemble.
Almost everyone accepts one thing:
The Cone guides.
Where it guides remains uncertain.
The Ascension
Before the present order, thousands of civilizations existed in isolation. Portals appeared and vanished without warning. Cities woke beneath unfamiliar skies. Floating islands wandered. Trade routes disappeared overnight.
Then came The Ascension.
At an unknown location, someone found an ordinary cone on a stone platform. When they tried to move it, a wave of energy crossed multiple worlds. Portals stabilized. Wandering islands halted. Incompatible systems began to work together.
For several seconds, many civilizations witnessed the same phenomenon: a golden star appeared above the Cone.
That was enough. The object became known as The Sacred Cone.
Higher Ground
The connected worlds formed Higher Ground. It is neither exactly a nation nor entirely an empire. It is a network of territories, cities, institutions, interdimensional routes and communities united by one principle:
There is always a way to higher ground.
This philosophy is called The Guidance. Its followers believe the Cone offers no answers. It offers direction.
Higher Ground Awaits.
The King
Higher Ground’s foremost political figure is known simply as The King: a capybara, astronaut, monarch, explorer and diplomat, and possibly the calmest creature in the multiverse.
His true name does not appear in official documents. Some say he relinquished it. Others say he never had one.
During the first years after The Ascension, he led expeditions through the newly stabilized Gates. He made first contact between civilizations and prevented wars among territories that had only just discovered one another. At some point, he became the ruler of Higher Ground. Nobody knows precisely how. Curiously, few people seem to have questioned it.
He rarely gives long speeches. He drinks tea through interdimensional crises and treats every important meeting as an occasion for a proper cup.
Good Tea. Better Decisions.
The Sacred Cone
The Cone stands in The Sanctuary, a colossal structure at the centre of The First Ground. Thousands visit every year.
The Cone interferes with portals, reacts to certain stars, occasionally produces energy signals and influences navigation systems. It appears impossible to destroy. Its age cannot be determined, and different sensors return mutually incompatible results.
There are hundreds of theories about its origin. None is officially true. Its origin must never be completely explained.
The Order of Guidance
The Order of Guidance studies and protects the Cone. It is not a conventional religion. It combines science, philosophy, bureaucracy, exploration, ritual and infrastructure maintenance.
Its members believe the Cone does not rule. It points. The Order maintains observatories, archives, scientific centres and outposts throughout Higher Ground.
Its mark is the Cone surrounded by an orbital halo with a star above it.
Guidance, not answers.
The Keepers
The most dedicated attendants of the Cone are small robots known as The Keepers. They began as maintenance machines. After The Ascension, they gathered spontaneously around the Cone. Nobody programmed that behaviour.
Asked why, they usually offer a variation of:
Direction confirmed.
The Keepers now maintain the Sanctuary, analyse energy, manage lighting and security, conserve artefacts and perform ceremonial tasks. Whether they possess faith or follow an ancient instruction remains unresolved.
Bread Operations
Higher Ground’s bureaucracy is unusually ambitious. Bread Operations began as a food-distribution office and grew into a formidable logistics institution responsible for transport, supply chains, trade, strategic reserves, portal routes and resource distribution.
Its director is a pigeon known only as The COO. He is extremely competent, entirely serious and almost completely intolerant of logistical delays.
Bread Builds Worlds.
The Potassium Division
Most of Higher Ground’s technology is maintained by The Potassium Division. Its director is a sentient banana. Nobody considers this remarkable.
The Division oversees computing, communications, technological research, energy systems, automation, artificial intelligence and portal infrastructure.
Potassium Fuels Progress.
The Banana holds a seat on the council of Higher Ground and regularly enters bureaucratic conflict with Bread Operations. The departments disagree constantly and work remarkably well together.
The Maestro and The Resonance
Politics, logistics and science do not sustain Higher Ground alone. Its interdimensional routes carry an enormous artistic culture.
Its most famous figure is The Maestro, an octopus who directs festivals and musical transmissions between worlds. The Maestro operates The Resonance, a network carrying music, art, news and cultural events through the Gates.
Music Unites Worlds.
The Gates
Portals are officially called Gates. They connect places separated by millions of light-years. Some appear engineered. Others emerge spontaneously. Ancient Gates existed long before The Ascension; their builders are unknown.
The stability of most modern Gates appears connected to the Cone. Higher Ground therefore lives with one enduring fear:
What happens if the Cone stops working?
The known universe
- The First Ground: home of The Sanctuary and the Cone.
- Crown City: the administrative capital of Higher Ground.
- The Floating Realms: islands linked by Gates.
- The Deep Cities: civilizations built in immense oceans.
- The Outer Routes: the principal routes of space exploration.
- The Silent Worlds: apparently abandoned planets.
- The Far Ground: poorly explored regions beyond the maintained network.
Thousands of worlds may remain undiscovered.
The returning symbol
Ancient records from civilizations with no known contact display the same form: a vertical triangle, an orbital circle and a star. Some are millions of years older than every known record of the Cone.
This has produced a controversial theory:
Perhaps The Ascension was not a beginning. Perhaps it was a return.
The present disturbance
New Gates have begun opening onto places absent from every map: abandoned cities, immense structures, unknown signals, alternate versions of familiar territories and symbols associated with the Cone.
Instruments inside The Sanctuary now detect a repeating signal from beyond the known universe. Its message appears to contain only three words:
HIGHER GROUND EXISTS.
Nobody knows who is sending it. For the first time since The Ascension, nobody knows where the Cone is pointing.