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It is the only remaining island after the catastrophe, the last habitable surface in all of the world.

The maps show the state of the Empires when the story begins, and how they've changed by the end of it.

Map of the Overworld also called the "Mainlande".

In the first world map we have seven Empires:

The Fairy Court; Pixandria; The Grimlands; Avian Peaks; The Ocean Empire; Sanctuary; The Cod Empire.

On the top left, pink, is The Fairy Court, led by Empress Stress.

Its capitol is Fae Fair, while its regions from North to South are: Glimmer Grove, House Blossom, The Pale Gardens, The Dark Forest and Hermitopia.

On the bottom left, orange, is Pixandria. It's led by Copper King Pix.

North to South we see: the Ancient Capital, south from there are the Villager Trails and Sand Merchant Trails. On the most South point is The Vigil. Then an island off shore called Love Tropics.

On the centre top, red, is The Grimlands, led by Viscount fWhip.

The capitol is Eastvale, and other regions are from West to East: The Undergrove, Evermoore, Gobland, Crystal Cliffs, Outer Grimlands and Mangrovia.

On the centre middle, gray, is Avian Peaks, led by Emperor Grian (official name Xelqua).

The capitol, The Frozen Citadel, sits on the centre mountains. The regions, West to East are: Cogsmeade, Scarland, Stratos and Gilded Helianthia.

On the centre bottom, blue, is The Ocean Empire, led by Queen Lizzie.

The capitol, Critter City, sits inside the rings of Outer Animalia and Animalia. From West to East there are the Gotham District, the Froggy District and the Panda (Magic) District; the regions on the East are Olipeligo and The Eversea. Not known as that in the story, but next to it is the Lost Empire.

On the middle right, yellow, is Sanctuary, led by Protector, Sovereign Sausage.

Its capitol, Sanctuary, on the West and to the East where his empire meets with Jimmy's, stands the Great Wall Of Cod, in the region of Mythland.

On the far right, green, is The Cod Empire, led by Emperor Jimmy.

The capitol is Capitol Cod, and the regions are North to South: Chromia and Tumble Town, the rest miles of mesa where once Mezalea stood.

Next is the World Map after the main story has ended, expanding the world and lore, we see the split of a few empires and the birth of new ones, bumping the number up to 10.

The Fairy Court changes borders, now giving the old Fairy Court where Fae Fair stood to the Grimlands. In exchange it gains a new territory: The Undergrove. It has also given territory to the new Empire of Chronos.

Now the Capitol is House Blossom, led by the righteous heir to the throne Princess (now, Queen) Katherine Elizabeth.

Chronos, (aquamarine on the map) now envelopes a portion of the Dark Forest from the previous Fairy Court, its capital stands on the Hermitopia region, it now envelopes Cogsmeade, as well has the old Gotham District from the Ocean Empire. There stand Rotting Hills and Rotting Fields.
This Empire is led by Earl (now, King) Cleo of Chronos.

Pixandria has given a little bit of land to Chronos, but otherwise stays the same.

The Grimlands now envelope the old Fairy Court, now renamed "Memorial Cortege" to the souls lost to the wars. It has also split in half to give life to the Empire of Dawn.

Dawn, (lilac on the map) envelopes Crystal Cliffs, Outer Grimlands and Mangrovia. The capitol is on the east coast: Dawn. This Empire is led by Princess (now, Queen) Viscountess Dame Gem of Dawn.

The Avian Peaks have also changed, splitting territory to give life to Gilded Helianthia as an Empire. It now envelopes the old Outer Animalia region, which is now called Birchleaf Peaks, after the ancient birch hills that populate the region.

Gilded Helianthia (gold on the map), includes the capital of Helianthia and Stratos. It has gained land from the Cod Empire, now it includes Chromia as well. The Empire is led by Farmer Lady Pearl of Gilded Helianthia.

Sanctuary stands mostly the sam; it's been expanded a little towards the south.

The Ocean Empire has given its Gotham District to Chronos, Outer Animalia to Avian Peaks, a slither of east land to the Cod Empire and another bit to Sanctuary.

The Cod Empire has given Chromia to Gilded Helianthia as a gift to Pearl.

This map could be subject to changes depending on new series that come out, or unexpected turns in the story.

First draft: April 7th, 2025.

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THE WORLD:

The world of the Scales of Fate AU is a mostly corrupted one with only a big island called the Mainlande/The Overworld.

All around the land, where the Empires and people all reside, are corrupted waters where the code eats anything that gets into them. The world beyond those waters is abstract and unreachable.

Lizzie's dreams of lands that look like wastelands of nuclear catastrophes are visions of what's out there where the code is utterly broken.

This world (the Mainlande; the Overworld) is the remaining uncorrupted land left from the world respawning again and again from faulty code, seeds all crashing together.

It's shown in the story and the map that lore and empires from season one and two of Empires SMP are present and alive. Twined together with Hermitcraft and the Life Series to create a rich background of characters and places.

That is why you'll find something like Sanctuary's Magical Lore Tree and The Hidden Rift in Avian Peaks.

It's not just a mash up, it's those worlds all colliding into one, it's the code jumbling together to allineate timelines and characters, their builds and empires.

For example: Lizzie is the Ocean Queen, with her Prisma Palace and all, but her capital is Critter City, and Animalia is the big district around the city (along Outer Animalia).
The Ocean Empire too, is made of districts like in Empires season 2, with also the same lore important landmarks like the Landarium, the Prisma Palace and such.
There's also stuff added by me, the Author, to create a cohesive story.
And more that will be found in the future.

The concept of the AU is this:

There is one Universe, but across it span galaxies which are the storylines (cinematic universe) from series such as X Life, Afterlife, Empires, Evo SMP, Life Series and Misadventures SMP.

In those galaxies are worlds, which are all the possible ways the stories could have gone which we haven't seen.
It's my concept for something (story, characters, etc) going a different way, placeholders for fans' AUS, art and written fiction that depict the story or characters picking another route.

The Universe is Everything and Nothing.
It's everything it encompasses: anything that we the fans have seen, the Canonicity, but also everything we've seen posted by other fans and read as fanfiction. Every possibility.
It's Nothing because without its contents it's just a shell, if you don't know what comes next, what's been, it's just blank. You're experiencing it for the first time, brand new.

Deeper, there's themes.

Themes of Love, Fate, Hate, Inevitability and more.

The galaxies have concepts like Time, Space, and Reason.

These concepts are what drive the plot of stories forward, the Universe gives personification to those attributes.

This Universe is a sort of Loop, but it's for sure a Cycle.
Concepts for something like Death are applied to both Cleo (as zombie, as member of the Life Series) and Scott (as he was a Necromancer Witch in his WCSMP timeline and canon).
The Sun, or light (Pearl from Empires 1, Gem from Empires 2, Grian's sun imagery in the Life Series, etc). The Stars or the Void (Lizzie from the Life Series, Scott's Life series) etc.

The Universe's creators (the Watchers, which are me [the Author] and others that help me plan things) have plucked who they want to embody those concepts.
For example, we've chosen one who's meant to be Lizzie's counterpart, since Lizzie is meant to symbolize Life, Rebirth and Magic, Fate and Devotion.
It is Cleo, who can control Time and Space, folding those, themself,22 and other's perceptions to wring them out like an accordion, often calling out Reason in a situation that shouldn't be happening. Defying the odds through sheer Spite.

The galaxies all contain Lizzie, as otherwise the Universe wouldn't exist.
Inside each of those galaxies are stories being told.
Of protagonists and antagonists, villains, heroes, bystanders.
They're happening as this story goes on.
The galaxies include newer stuff like Wild Life and Misadventures SMP.

So, the Universe is made up of galaxies with incredibly complicated worlds inside them.
The focus is on this special one, which I'll call the Weave of Starlight, sewn back together with the remains from each SMP that's now ended or ongoing, spun like a spiderweb all around Lizzie.

Past and present and future are all happening at same time, in some sort of fucked up way.

And all these characters, these people, the massive number of them, is finite in the Universe.
So, each time a story starts, it remolds their previous being and Lizzie into something not yet cracked, something smooth that'll dry out and crack like a pot thrown into an unstable furnace.

That's why we see these characters, why we focus on these protagonists.

Looking closely there are also missing people (ones you'd expect to see, but that aren't there for a few reasons).
They are the ones lost to the glitches, and something more.

Code now eaten to nothing as the Universe crawls to span further and hinge open its jaw to digest a new prey.

In the Universes there's also timelines: tidy little things that say "You Start Here! and "End Here!" in bold letters, that's the way we'd categorize those SMPS with clear endings.
It's how you (as the reader) are able to know objects and moments gone now, happened already and repeating. Deja Vu.

Timelines are easy to get tangled in the stream of numbers and memories that look almost the same, I hope it's clear enough in the AU what happens and what doesn't.

There's also a common theme running through this world, which has been infected by one dangerous one: The Hunger.

The Hunger, bloody and red, but also blue and thirsty.

The Hunger is that bloodlust that Red Names feel in the Life Series, it's the need to win, to sink your teeth into prey and pray that you will feel full, that your wishes will be fulfilled.
The Hunger is something that most characters deal with, whether on a more literal sense, like the Vampires we'll see in the future, both spiritually and also, there's leftover feelings, especially for the Winners of the Games.

The Hunger takes hold and shape, showing itself in different ways.

Lizzie is the Ocean, hungry for those who fall in her waters, but from whom everything was created. She longs for Love.

Pearl is the Wolf, beast-like and blinded, searching for anything that will fill that void inside her. She longs for Understanding.

Cleo is the Zombie, part of a mob that doesn't accept free thinkers, who longs for something she once had, who longs for something that'll restore everything to how it should be, how it was in their memories. They long for Safety, holding a knife and brute force as their defense mechanism.

Gem is the Fawn, the tree nymph that belongs to the Light and the Morning, she's the wielder of Nature and Light. She's the soft sun as it creeps up, she's the sun of the burning hours, she's the glow as it seeps into the horizon. She longs for company, a level ground, she wants Independence.

Three of our protagonists are Winners.

It is incredibly important for the AU who all won Life Games.

The Winners, unlike everybody else, truly are something special.

In this AU, each one was granted a wish when they won, while they floated in that Void between games. They do not remember what it was, and whatever it was is what brought them here.

I'm counting the Winners for the April's Fool Specials, too. One, because I love Cleo's win. Two, because it's really funny to me that Scott won twice.

Though, Cleo doesn't remember it fully, as it was so short. It's the Win that counts. It's also why Scott seems to remember some things better.

Grian, Scott, Pearl, Martyn, Scar and Cleo all exhibit different kinds of Hunger, seen and to be shown yet.

Joel will be there, but per his wish, he will give all of himself for the one he loves the most. That leaves someone who will not run after Lizzie, someone who is not that other Leviathan from the myth. He glimpsed into this reality and chose to gift his wife a good (?) ending.

MAGIC SYSTEM:

Magic is the ability to mold Energy into something else, like shapeshifting or elemental magic, most people of this world are able to use Magic.

Magic and Energy come from the XP mechanic in the Minecraft game.
You gain it by living, and lose it once you die.
It will be absorbed by whoever is around you, but only a little.
It's not one on one from the game.

Energy is what XP has become.

It's something woven in the Soul, every being has a capacity for Magic based on their Energy.

Magic as it is here originates from the World's creation, Lizzie's repeated death as the Dragon (Leviathan charred black after the apocalypse caused by the Strife of the Stricken) who when killed spills Experience (Energy/Magic/Soul) onto the Egg (which contains a new being, now a new Lizzie). This Cycle has gone on so long that the Energy and Magic have seeped between dimensions.

The Universe's is made of pure Magic, of pure Energy.
Originally, far back, it could be used through catalyst objects like Enchanting Tables. Since that long gone period, the world has absorbed enough Magic to then infect the inhabitants as well.

The world being a mess of code means that the dimensions have smashed with the typical Overworld, we'll find the Nether Lands and the Void in the future.

There are also Magic Runes and Symbols, also descendants of what used to be the old language floating around Enchanters.

In Universe, Magic capacity is measured on the person's Energy.
A person's Energy is something not very understood but that is theorized to depend on one's lineage, the place where they were born (as that land may be infused with more magic than other places) and lastly, it grows with age with the right amount of cultivation.
Most mages are able to live longer because of their ability to retain Energy, by absorbing the Magic all around them.
Necromancy is for that reason seen as Forbidden Magic, because instead of using the land's natural excess of renewable Energy, it takes Energy directly from people, killing a being to resurrect someone else.

There's also tattoos that shapeshifters (or anyone skilled enough) use to hold the parts of the body they're hiding, where that Magic is concentrated. It takes effort to keep up, which is why most Seedlings naturally look like animals or people.

(Yes, furries. If you look at the majority of Minecraft player skins they're always a mix of animals and characters/beings from so many genres like fantasy and cyberpunk. You can even see people dress like hotdogs. Which I think is incredible.)

Some people are more gifted than others.

Average people of the world can use magic in small bursts, or through runes and spell.
Many use magic to glamour their appearance to look different (for example: to hide wings, or tails, ranging from small things to changing their whole body based on their magic capacity.).

POPULATION:

The population of the SOFAU world is made up of animal and mob hybrids, humans, elves and nymphs, vampires, werewolves and many such fantasy and mythology beings.

A person of this world will be called either by their Empire's denomination, or Seedling, as Minecraft Worlds are created from seeds.

Commonly used denominators are also dependant on their appearance or species (ex. axolotl; tiger; avian; vampire; vex, etc).

Age and death depend on the Seedling's upbringing, and unless infused with incredible amounts of magic, they will not live thousands of years like our protagonists.

Even elves and nymphs, who live long, don't last much more than humans if their Energy dwindles.

LANGUAGES:

The most spoken language: English, said to be called this after an ancient Queen called Ingil, an eagle hybrid that rose over the current mountain of the Avian Peaks.

Spanish, born along the coasts of Sanctuary's river "Espana", and its sister language Portuguese, named after the ports of those rivers. French, from the goddess Freija high up in the Fairy Kingdom.

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Page can be subject to changes.
First draft: May 17th 2025
Second draft: June 1st 2025
Third draft: July 3rd 2025

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This will be the Author's guide for people who need help with the order of the works.

The AU, Scales of Fate, is one, but the series and POV's are many.

I have posted the first arc of the story as separate works, you can find them ordered chronologically in the Scales Of Fate - First Arc series.

For convenience, I have also compiled them into one single work, called The Ocean Empire. Manuscript I.

The series (the folder) it's in is The Manuscripts - Scales Of Fate AU.

This specific series will be containing all of the major story, or Manuscripts, as each Empire and Sovereign met will be a Manuscript.

So far, (it is July 2nd, 2025) we have two Manuscripts:

• The Ocean Empire. Manuscript I.
• Journey to Sanctuary. Manuscript II.

Soon you'll be finding there "Journey to the Cod Empire. Manuscript III." as well.

If you'd like to stay up to date with anything new going on in the AU, subscribing to this specific series will be the most helpful.

Especially because as first works you won't find the Manuscripts, but first this Guide, and second the work "Starchild" which explains the Prophecies from the Manuscripts.

There's also the three other series in the SOFAU:

• "A Peek Into Avian Peaks" which revolves around the Avian Court And Empire, specifically Grian and Scar's relationship and some world-building. It contains NSFW.

• "Tales and Snippets from the Other Empires" which is exactly as the title says, small stories pertaining characters form the other Empires, some we've yet to meet. They are ordered following the timeline, in this one it's easy to get spoiled the ending of the AU. This series deals with past, present and future of the Scales Of Fate AU.

And, "Scales of Fate ~ NSFW" which are straight up saucy NSFW works, not strictly canon.

Nothing is one hundred percent canon unless it's part of The Manuscripts - Scales Of Fate AU series.

If you ever have any questions or doubts, or need for help finding the best way to read the series, don't hesitate to ask in the comments.

I will be updating this guide with world-building chapters, explanations and character lore as the story goes on.

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First draft: July 2nd 2025

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INTRODUCTION

Queen Lizzie, ruler of the Ocean Empire, previously the Water Empire as it also included the Swamp Empire, now split and ruled over by her youngest brother, Cod Emperor Jimmy.

Lizzie's been alive for centuries, around a millennia, though she spent her childhood alone waiting for the eggs to hatch, and subsequently spent about two centuries taking care of her brother(s) as best she could before Jimmy broke off to go on his own.

It's part of the intended story to have a secret brother that's going to be revealed later in the story, along a big chunk of Lizzie, Jimmy and the brother's backstory.

It's around her 500th birthday that she decides on settling down, creating a safe haven for people of her kind, along a teenage Jimmy who then goes on to rule his own slice of the lands.

Her rule, before the split, was the biggest on the entirety of the Mainlande. It still is one of biggest Empires.

Lizzie's shy but overbearing; devoted sometimes to insensibility.
She wishes the best for everyone, yet can't see she may not be what others need.
She's sweet, and generous.
She's anxious around people and paranoid.
All these elements clash to create a disturbed individual, who tries her best but is destined to destroy the world.

PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES:

Lizzie is a water nymph, like a siren/mermaid and as such is a shapeshifter, morphing from humanoid to axolotl and bird however she likes.

In her humanoid form she stands quite short, about 150 cm.
When in her natural axolotl form she usually stands at 310 cm.
When she expands, still as axolotl, she can reach to 10 metres before slowly turning to Leviathan.

Her wings span wide, but she keeps them hidden most of the time. She uses them to swim faster or rarely, to fly.

Being an axolotl, she has regeneration abilities: she can heal fast from wounds; regrow hair and limbs.

Lizzie is a rose-breasted cockatoo and blue axolotl hybrid, a Nereid (water spirit) and Oceanid (ocean spirit), and part fairy. Her lineage is muddled because in the lore, she's a mix of infinite Lizzies with many forms, magic powers and lives.

(Also called a Chimera in the story, she's a rare kind of hybrid that happens when two or more races are mixed.
Example: Bird and Fish; Vex and Elf; Deer and Butterfly; the norm for people is to look humanoid, there are still humans, though they can mix with elves, which are also humanoid, so they don't count as Chimeras).

Lizzie is fat, depicted with soft lines and generous curves.

Lizzie's eyes have a special kaleidoscope aspect tied to past lives and her mood.
They're usually heterochromatic with the left one being blue and right one shaded garnet.
They can also often change to light blue and lavender.
Sometimes both appear lilac, pink or magenta.

Her teeth are sharp.

Her hair is long (reaches under her hips, but can grow to be longer based on her magic flow) and wavey.
It grows from the root as hot pink, shading down to a soft pink, bleaching to gold and ivory.

Lizzie has has big bright teal gills and blueish membranes, on her head grows a natural crown made of hard tissue resembling blue coral.

The inspiration for her wardrobe is Rococo mixed with Regency era dresses. Dresses mostly blue, white, lilac and pink.

ENERGY & MAGIC:

Magic capacity is measured on a person's Energy.

A person's Energy is something not very understood in universe but that is theorized to depend on one's lineage, the place they were born (as that land may be infused with more magic than other places) and lastly, that it grows with age.

Most mages are able to live longer because of their innate ability to use Energy by absorbing it from the world around them without doing any harm.
Necromancers are, for that reason, seen as black magic users, because instead of using the land's natural excess of renewable Magic, they take Energy directly from people.

Killing to resurrect someone else is seen as the major crime that one could enact.

Lizzie has elemental magic, specifically water and wind. Fire, too, being the Leviathan.

She can read Ancient Runes, known only by very knowledgeable magic users.
(She's studied these all her life, starting out of sheer boredom by reading books she'd find on beaches and shipwrecks, because of loneliness while the eggs hatched, then out of curiosity and interest.)

She's also able to use normal magical runes for respiration and such (which are based on the concept of Enchanted Books from the game of Minecraft, but now in universe that magic can instead be focused into a simple symbol thanks to the way magic has spread through the land, not needing a catalyst like the Enchanting Table, though it is still an existing item).

Average people of the world can use magic in small bursts, or through runes and spells (like those of the Enchanting Table), many use magic to glamour their appearance to look different (for example: to hide wings, or tails, or even something bigger like their whole appearance based on their magic capacity).

Magic references to a person ability to use their Energy, for how long and how complicated their spells/glamour are.

Lizzie is a well of Magic. She's constantly overflowing with Energy.

Deeper, something lurks.

It's the power, the Magical Energy of thousands of Lizzies, of the thousands of worlds come before this one, instilled all into one being.

She struggles with the grasp of her powers after her Soul is detached from her body, when she dies and is brought back in Chapter 11, Old Ocean of Journey to Sanctuary.

A Soul is a person's mind, tightly connected with their Energy, Magic and Fate. It is the clay that gets remolded each time a world ends.

Lizzie literally glows because of that Magic, she's a star in the darkness shining over the ocean, a reflection of herself. Her past, her future, her present all muddled into one.

LORE & PLOT:

Lizzie's trauma pertaining death, loss and grief are due to her being so old, growing up alone while waiting for the eggs to crack and being ripped away from one brother, before gaining a new one (Jimmy) and having to watch him grow and fearing losing him, too. When later, that last brother's life is threatened by the same forces who took the first, she breaks down.

Her relationship with Jimmy is somewhat good, buy she acts more as guardian than as a sister.
They've spent centuries together, yet, they barely know each other now.
A lot has changed.

Lizzie hates change, despite that, she's always the force that, one way or the other, pushes herself to move and flow. She's stayed stagnant for a long time and although it's been slow, she's trying to be better.

Lizzie doesn't like exposing both her axolotl and bird attributes together, feeling too seen, too under the crowd's judgement.

She shows herself as both only when she's extremely comfortable, or to assert dominance as Queen.

Lizzie has not always longed for stability in the Empires like this, she's started to push exactly when this world's code started changing shape, allowing echoes and memories of other reality through: the presence that should be here beside her, Joel.

Especially in The Ocean Empire. Manuscript I. we see the echoes of that past life (Empires 1) Joel trying to come through, only to be stopped by the higher forces of this Universe.

So, Lizzie longs for company and suffers from separation anxiety.

She's a mix of too trusting and guarded, flipping between both when her fears of loneliness rise up.

LIZZIE'S GOALS AND WISHES:

Lizzie's actions are what starts off the Scales of Fate AU.

After countless letters and months of back and forth, she pushed for the Empires, in celebration of 250 years without any major wars, to declare a peace agreement called the "White Dove Peace Treaty".

The story with the main cast starts in "Blood In The Wine" with the Olive Branch Ceremony taking place in her Prisma Palace where the Queen welcomes into her Ocean Court as Oceakin, Knights and Ambassadors Gem, Pearl and Cleo.

Welcoming Gem, Pearl and Cleo into her Court is the first criterion for a stable communication with the Grimlands, Avian Peaks and the Fairy Court, the Empires that she wasn't previously allied with.

Second benchmark to meet is The Great Empires Tour.
Lizzie was given the option to do this, but she knew she would need to accept and leave her empire for the foreseen 9-10 months to visit each Empire and Sovereign to show this isn't all for nothing, but an actual intended peace. She needs to show she's powerful even away from her home.

Lizzie and her new Courtiers journey through the entire Mainlande, starting on August 17th.
They reach Sanctuary on September 9th, leaving on the 16th.
They reach The Cod Empire on September 20th.

Third, yet to be discussed and finalized, is welcoming every Sovereign into the Ocean Court at the end of the Journey.

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First Draft: July 5th 2025