Cosmology

Erwt
The world of Erwt that its inhabitants experience is the standard 3-dimensional space, and 1-dimensional time that moves inexorably towards the future. An event has a 4-dimensional coordinate: three space coordinates XYZ, plus the time coordinate T.

From the curvature of light due to aether density, Erwt appears spherical. The precision of contemporary cartographers, coupled with the sheer size of the world, has not led to the discovery that it is geometrically flat. Nevertheless, it is flat as a pancake, and the inhabitable continent is a circle that circumscribes a relatively calm inner sea, and is in turn surrounded by a violent ocean.

Clock
On the opposite side of the inhabitable continent is an aetherial clock face. This clock face also exists in 3-space. In addition to the ordinary hours-minutes-seconds hands are a number of small dials scattered across its surface. Surrounding the clock, and leading out from along its edges in intricate whorls, are countless filaments that carry the clock ticks and other data from the clock. These filaments ultimately connect to every 4D particle in the cosmos, binding their time coordinate with the clock position.

Cosmos
The cosmos in which Erwt is suspended is a 7-dimensional cosmos. In addition to the 3+1 dimensions already described, there are two further spatial dimensions, and one unbound time dimension.

Cosmic beings are beings that exist in 7-space. Although one of their T-dimensions is bound to the clock, the other is free, which means the beings can manipulate the clock without interfering with their own motion. They just need to make sure their time is orthogonal to clock time.

Transitions
Beings that leave Erwt's surface are extruded from 4-space to 7-space, meaning they gain the ability to manipulate the clock. 7-space beings that move to Erwt's surface are projected into 4-space, meaning their time dimension becomes bound to the clock position just as native Erwt inhabitants. The extrusion/projection process is tied to aether density.

Nature of the Cosmos
Other Celestial machinery can be seen in Erwt's night sky, and can be visited by Cosmic Beings by following the clock filaments. Whether these distant devices also harbor simple life, as the clock of Erwt does, remains to be seen.

The purpose of the cosmic apparatus is unknown, but what is clear is that the entire observable Cosmos is designed and constructed by thinking, acting beings. Whether it once was chaotic and has been rebuilt into its current form, or whether it was constructed from whole cloth from a separate primordial universe is also unknown.

The nature and identity of the cosmic beings is also entirely unknown. If this Cosmos is all there is, then it stands to reason the cosmic beings are the architects and the builders who rebuilt the Cosmos into its current form, and if this Cosmos was built "from the outside", then the cosmic beings could be life that originated locally, life that was purpose-built to fill some role, external beings of even higher dimensionality that are projected into 7-dimensional for the duration of their visit in this cosmos, or some combination of these.