Heaven's Fence

Heaven's Fence is a fictional, unique star and planetary system, described as a colony. It is comprised of seventy-eight planets and seven stars. It is held together by the Keywork, a beam of energy surrounding each spatial body. It is the primary setting for The Amory Wars. It is often shortened to just The Fence.

Discovery & Exploration
People are not sure when Heaven's Fence was formed, or how. All seventy-eight planets and their seven stars are easily accessible and highly explored, if not inhabited. Observing other stellar and planetary systems, it becomes obvious that Heaven's Fence is entirely different. This is largely due to the Keywork.

It is said, "Long Ago, the universe held nothing but cold, obscure darkness... then, light fractured shadow giving birth to to many worlds, each one as magnificent as the next. A colony, comprised of seventy-eight planets was formed, aligned in a triangle... bound together by a beam of light known as the Keywork. Along with its creation, came its division—Twelve sectors were appointed and given equivalent power. The colony was deemed Heaven's Fence."

The Keywork was explored exactly once, as far as we know, by Dr. Sirius Amory, who spent 547 days inside its beams. His public report on his findings concluded simply that the stars that make up Heaven's Fence "fuel" the Keywork, and "generate essential elements needed to sustain life on all the planets."

Structure & Composition
The seventy-eight planets in Heaven's Fence are arranged in a triangle in the center of seven stars called "The Seven Stars of Sirius" and indicated by numerical value, with the Keywork surrounding each celestial body and interconnect. The main inhabitants that make up the colony are Humans, Mages, and Prise. Other, minor races also inhabit The Fence.

Planets
As mentioned, the planets are divided into twelve Sectors. Each Sector is governed by a Mage, a powerful race in the colony. The Stars are not included in a sector due to their size and number (some overlap Sectors). Each Sector has a designated capital planet with five follower planets, with the exception of Sector 7 and Sector 12, which have eight follower planets. Most of the inhabitants in Heaven's Fence are human. Notable planets include:
 * Sector 1
 * Omega (Capital)
 * Apity Prime (Capital)
 * Apity Central (City)
 * Kalline (City)
 * Sinosure (Mage Headquarters at the center of the planets) *
 * Sector 2
 * Sector 3
 * Sector 4
 * Sector 5
 * Sector 6
 * Morlunus
 * Sector 7
 * Sector 8
 * Sector 9
 * Sector 10
 * Sector 11
 * Hetricus
 * Jersey (City)
 * Valley's Hill (City)
 * Helvar
 * Shylos X
 * Si-Revody (Camp)
 * Godder Damm (City)
 * Sector 12
 * Paris: Earth (Capital)
 * Known as Silent Earth: 3 after Sector XII is separated from The Fence.
 * Dil-Ariuth IX

* This may be a planet; it's described as a "world" dead center of the Fence.

The following are other locations, some of which we do not know where they are in the Fence.
 * NulKigh-Cutta (Planet) Mayo Deftinwolf trains new soldiers here.
 * Howling Earth (Planet) Where Coheed and Cambria have their first mission; they take out a mining operation that harvests Keywork energy.
 * Donar  (Planet) The storm planet. Prior to the Mage War, Donar was a paradise. The atmosphere was ruined by Ryan's magic somehow. Legend has it that the last man on Donar refused to leave, cursed Ryan, and God turned him into a mythical sea dragon for his effort.
 * Valencine (Planet) Home of the Amorys; overpopulated with feral cats.
 * Javan III (Planet) Site of a memorable campaign Deftinwolf took part in that is still talked about today. Name may indicate there are at least 2 other Javans.
 * Hilmgore (Home of the Narrows above the Fence)

Stars of Sirius
Named after Sirius Amory, the astronomer who discovered it was the Stars that fueled the Keywork. They are designated by roman numerical values, starting at the top, zig-zagging through and ending at the bottom.


 * Star I (big, top)
 * Star II (small, top left)
 * Star III (small, top right)
 * Star IV (small, center)
 * Bendelesh (Home of the Prise)
 * Star V (big, bottom left)
 * Star VI (big, bottom right)
 * Star VII (small, bottom)

Keywork
Though Dr. Amory's reports indicated concrete evidence that the Stars in Heaven's Fence supported the Keywork and stabilized its life, later reports after his death revealed that, in fact, the Keywork collected and is made up souls of the dead. There are two "levels" to the energy:


 * The Mono A surface level with many souls who are in turmoil; sorrow, anger, restlessness.
 * The Samaritaine An inner level with a smaller population of souls truly at peace; a sort of utopia.

Entities
The souls that reside in the Keywork are called Entities. They cannot escape, but should someone find their way inside of it, they do have the capacity to do damage to someone through possession. Alternatively, peaceful souls do not seem to cause damage. This largely depends on the intention of the soul that possesses. It was also shown that souls in the Samaritaine can cross back to the Mono, but it is almost entirely impossible for Mono souls to enter the Samaritaine while still harboring negative energy.

Wilhelm Ryan knows that Entities power the Keywork and has figured out ways to harvest them as energy. They have been shown to be able to possess people nearby if given an opportunity. Ryan is also able to carefully contain the individuals and apply a serum that transforms them into tangible monsters to do harm.

History
After the end of The Mage War, Wilhelm Ryan began to feed off of the Keywork for energy, and the United Red Army began disposing of political prisoners, as well as an uncatalogued race known as the Stars, by feeding their essence into energy streams on the Fence. By the time of Good Apollo Volume One, Ryan has fed off the energy to such a degree that the spirits of the Keywork are feeling physical pain and contact Claudio through his dreams, demanding he destroy Star IV.

Trivia

 * Sanchez said he chose 78 planets because he was born in 1978.
 * The Keywork was named after the owners of a pet store Sanchez worked for before the band took off.