#uriaslore

In the Fold, where the Teeth of the North abruptly switch directions, is located the River of the Dark. This river is so named because it emerges from a series of deep underground caverns that are infamously mazelike and complex. This has made it a perfect hiding place across history.

Its first notable inhabitants were a group of hermit Khul. They were primarily responsible for mapping and clearing the River Caverns. Eventually, they died off or were driven out, and the caverns were later retaken by a number of Faen refugees fleeing persecution. Over time, the caverns were expanded, with groups slowly digging out new tunnels or expanding existing rooms, until the underground installation could hold a thousand people and supplies easily.

The base never saw widespread knowledge. With brief periods of use combined with gaps of multiple centuries between usages (a result of safety concerns about it not being hidden), the base remained either unknown or believed empty.

The most significant of all the occupations the base saw was that of the Alterran Flame. They were able to create entirely new wings and a second entrance at the end of the Valley of the Fold. It was also discovered that the deeper sections of the River Caverns, far down and deep into the mountains, intersected the Underchasm, which made the location even more valuable.

The Flame also made the base much more secure, given the great opposition it faced. The entrances were properly gated and hidden, and the mountains of the Fold were tunnelled through and mounted with turrets. A teleportation system, built by Lunara, became the new access method. Traps were built, most notably a set of new tunnels and a reservoir at the River of the Dark's beginning. The intent was for the River, the Underchasm security tunnels, or the base itself to be floodable if necessary. Guard positions were also stationed along the two "front" entrances. Lastly, if it was discovered that the base was occupied again, there was a plan to give the impression that it was simply an Izemin heritage site (based on the previous use).

The Elderspeak near the centre of Irkhangr is the tallest mountain on the island, and home to some of its deepest secrets.

The three most obvious objects on the outside of the mountain are the Crux at its peak, the Spire of Eyes on its northern slope, and Vaelim on its south. These are all connected under the mountain by the Undercrux.

Vaelim is the biggest of the old Progenitor mansion-castle-fortresses, and only got bigger with its repeated occupation by cultists. The mansion's main entrance is built over a moatlike ravine called the Pharsis Pit. Vaelim, at first glance, appears to be a fairly normal mansion built a little way into the mountain, but inside, those who can navigate magical, impossible, and vast corridors and rooms and stairs can reach Lower Vaelim. This area is directly below the upper part of the building, and is about the size of the upper level. It is still safe here for cultists (less so for intruders, though they should barely get past the front hall).

Secret passages in Vaelim's underground lead to a complex labyrinth of carved rooms and corridors - the ritual chambers. These are still relatively sane places, disregarding the high probability of running into summoned monsters and mad cultists. The uppermost areas of the ritual chamber are built around a dark point of material, which is a spur of the Undercrux and a critical part of some rituals. Past the ritual chambers is one large, cylindrical room with either no bottom or one too deep to see. The Undercrux is present here as well. This is the Room of Aqhelos, and, with the proper rituals and conditions, this room can alter its geometry to reach the Forbidden Chamber when necessary.

The exact nature of the Crux is unclear. It may be a lightning rod for Irkhangr's magic, or perhaps a focus for it, or an emitter. Whatever the case, it is an important part of the isle's magic and its religions. The Crux is an utterly black spike that appears to have been driven up from within Elderspeak (which is probably true). It is somewhat cross-shaped with two minor bars near the point. Around its base is a well-worn path, the Pilgrim's Path leading up from Vaelim on the steep slopes of Elderspeak to the House of the Moon and the Crux itself. This path is a major element of a ritual in the novice ranks of the Cult of the Moon, but of little other use to more advanced members.

The Crux, if one were to dig it out from Elderspeak, continues deeper into the mountain as it widens. Another bar sticks out, jutting out of the mountain towards the Spire of Eyes. At some point above the height of Vaelim, the Crux splits into two, marking the Undercrux's beginning. One of the "legs" reaches toward the Ritual Chambers, the other toward the Red Roots of the Spire of Eyes. The Undercrux connects those two to the Forbidden Chamber via the Spear of Keys. Above the border of the Crux and Undercrux is a large cavern and arcane library, the Temple of the Forgotten. Accessible only by those who know the secret ritual of travel through the Crux, this temple library doubles as a vault.

The Spire of Eyes is located on a nearly unreachable part of Elderspeak. Accessible only by a long footpath from Vaelim that hugs the cliffs of the mountain, the Spire is something like the equivalent of the Pilgrim's Path but for intermediate-level members. It is a large, leaning, fleshy tower covered in eyes and bathed in magic. From the peak of the spire, one can see across half of Urias by arcane-assisted eyesight. However, the real power of the Spire of Eyes is below - beneath it, anchoring it to stone, are the Red Roots. These roots touch the Undercrux and the Room of Darkness, and those who know their magic can access their power.

The Forbidden Chamber is an immense, seemingly bottomless space under Elderspeak, yet somehow not. If one was to simply dig through the stone, it would be missing, plain stone in its place. Its contents, nature, and details are barely known at best, but it connects to the larger world by the Room of Aqhelos and by the Spear of Keys. It is believed that something alive, not a Starspawn but even stranger, lives within the deep reaches of the Chamber, and that this being is the source of the Spear of Keys.

The Spear is a long, thin spiky spur of material (similar to that of the Crux, but more so) with its base in the Forbidden Chamber, pointing upward through stone, piercing and bisecting the angle between the spurs of the Undercrux. It was likely the source of the Crux and Undercrux, and possesses incredibly powerful magic, though its sheer size (half the height of the Elderspeak and significantly thick) and liminal nature (crossing from the Forbidden Chamber to the normal world) make it impossible to utilize or study directly.

The last element of Elderspeak's magical nature to note is the Room of Darkness and the Unsettling Depths. The Depths are the regions of stone surrounding and coexisting with the Forbidden Chamber, which are liminal in a similar way to the Spear of Keys. They are conduits for Chamber magic, and their focus is the Room of Darkness. The Room of Darkness, under the Spire of Eyes, is essentially a cave filled to the brim with the power of the Forbidden Chamber, but more accessible and usable without requiring celestial conditions and a sanity-eating ritual in the dangerous Room of Aqhelos.

Oskalhis is capable of displaying world-data for any point in the past (up to a millisecond previously). It is also capable of analyzing world-data on various scales and generating predictions for the future, of varying accuracy. Oskalhis is also capable of generating "dummy" clones at desired points, which when chained allow for world-data alterations at distances such as teleportation and two-way communication. Oskalhis also acts similarly to a computer in that it can store information and perform calculations.

The above abilities are "preprogrammed" into the device. Its programming language is very complex and requires very advanced knowledge of logimagik (which was basically nonexistent on Urias before the Magnusian Revolution, due to the fact that logimagik is a Time Collision holdover, and the immense majority of logimagik tech was in the Void before the Revolution)- but Oskalhis can indeed be programmed. The only people in all of Urias's history who could do so are the Fiery One (due to a LOT of study of the thing) and Magnus (from spending two millenia surrounded by studyable logimagik), but it is possible to do.

Note that while each Lost World has a title “of something”, these are not inherent to the worlds themselves. Also, posts detailing these worlds further are likely to already exist, or to be written.

Inner Urias- The Lost World of Power. Found inside Urias, it primarily manifests in the Urian Artifacts, all of which can also be used as gateways to Inner Urias.

Leth-Andjr- The Lost World of Starlight. The closest LW to Urias, and the most well known. It has a well-developed portal system.

Sarabane- The Lost World of the Unmoving. Accessible through an impossible gate in the Ragnos, Sarabane suffered an immense cataclysm that broke even the World Mechanisms. Its time was stopped, and the World quarantined.

Once-This-Was- The Lost World of the Past. It used to be a beautiful, magical realm of life and nature, but died out and the magic faded long ago, leaving only a ruined world.

The Realm of Souls- The Lost World of the Unknown. By all accounts, a VERY unpleasant world that also spawns very unpleasant monsters from those who venture into isolated and lonely spaces. All known predictable gateways were destroyed by the Progenitors, but the unpredictable ones remain.

Enkine- The Lost World of the Self. This world is actually sentient, and takes whatever form its inhabitants wish. Eventually, however, the darker aspects of the self inevitably turn up, and devour those who do not leave.

Mira Iahos Yaban- Lost World of Truth. This world is an endless starless space populated only by repressed memories, existential terror and self-hatred. This world tears apart façades and lies and forces people to confront their innermost, fundamental fears. Eventually, everyone leaves this world, in seconds or centuries, but no one is ever the same.

The Shard- The Unworld. Not actually a Lost World, but a fragment of one. It is home to Avzimos, Pryxiln, and worst of all, the Unknowable. The Shard is the only reality the Unknowable does not destroy by its mere presence, for some reason.

Asharine- The Lost World of Sacrifice. The good who visit are tempted into corrupting deals for power, while the evil who visit can be given power to redeem themselves at the price of their life. Since most only get one visit ever, this must be handled carefully.

Krais- The Lost World of Nature. Incredibly beautiful by all accounts, a pristine wilderness, but this is largely because Kraian Nature is sentient and very territorial. Simply put, do not interfere with nature, and nature won’t hunt you down and eat you.

Mnemospiral-The Lost World of Memory. Reports vary on the exact nature of this world, but it is apparently somehow founded on memory. As memories pass, the world turns and changes, leaving none who leave quite the same as they were. It is not unlike Mira Iahos Yaban, but far less likely to traumatize.

Ulhaemos- The Lost World of the Dark and Deep. Apparently the world whose magic is responsible for Irkhangr’s Shadowgates, and whose magic is taught to the Mergris’ Abyss Family. The World itself is a dark, half-material place of immense pressure. It is not in itself an evil world - just one easy to use for evil.

The Skybroken Desert- The Lost World of Death. An endless desert with a broken sky, through which endless other worlds are visible. It is full of corpses of those who fell to the world before, and can be harnessed to create potent death magic. The Desert is populated by only one being- an invincible representation of Death, who is powerless when observed but who can teleport and kill when unseen.

Tessariem- The Lost World of the Sky. With no ground, only floating islands in endless daytime sky, this is a beautiful world to visit as long as you’re careful about wind and where you step, and you watch out for harpies.

KOHREN SAMHRAIN, The Bygone- A tangled mass of sinew, shaped like the prongs of a trident and curved at its heart to infinity. One of the oldest living beings in the universe, and was once practically omnipotent. Now it is only as strong as the greatest of the Starspawn- very dangerous, but not the juggernaut it was.

AIMELTHAIEL, Mother of the Deep- Resembling a titanic Cephalogaunt made of shadowy matter, she resides in the deep trenches of Yuyur Ezgir, between Stohl and Mettora. She is probably not a Starspawn but a Urian native. The Cephalogaunt species began with her children with an actual Starspawn, making them descendants of two abominations.

KUHKAIMA, That Which Must Not Be- A haunting mass of miasma covered in eyes, mouths, and dead hands. If damaged, it seems to need to eat people to heal and become stronger. It was supposedly once nearly obliterated, its miasma dispersed, only for the attacker to die of fright of its fleshy form, restoring it to power.

EVELA, The Whisperer- Seductress of children everywhere, she looks like a twisted human torso and head, with ghostly hair and tentacles where her hips should be. Her arms and face look and feel feminine, and her whispers sound like children’s mothers as she kindly tucks sleeping children in. However, should a child notice her, they will be strangled and possibly killed.

CAELOS, That Which Walks Alone, The Nightwanderer- This giant, skeletal, four armed shadow creature is always spotted roaming in the night, in dark places, making a strange alien rattle as he breathes. He will not bother you, should you stay away from him, not attempt to illuminate him, and not look at him up close. Should you get too close while looking at him, you will vanish forever. If you attempt to shine light on him, the light will fail and you will again vanish forever. But if he is not provoked, after a while he will simply vanish. He can appear anywhere at any time, so it is told that if you hear a deathly rattle of breath in your room at night, you must shut your eyes and not open them until the sound ends.

ROBEN-KUTAEL, Demon of Six- Six winged, with five eyes around one central eye, and with three tentacles and three spidery legs, this abomination is only ever seen when invoked. How it is invoked varies each time, but it always requires the number six appearing six times in six minutes. If its conditions are met, whatever they are, it will appear for six minutes and drive all who see it mad.

50-MA, The Shattered Mechanism, The Ghost of Sarabane- Hailing from the Lost World Sarabane, this creature appears to be several spires of light merged together, like an aggregate of Sarabane’s world-holes and mechanisms. It distorts reality around it, and appears only briefly before being dragged back to Sarabane.

BAIKH-AENOS, The Ungrown- A creature made of tangled, living vines and part of a Starspawn, this monster has five thick rootlike tentacles upon which one large stemlike tentacle stands, with a mutagenic stinger at its tip. It can create seedlings, which can turn into it should it be destroyed.

UTAROS, Fountain of Despair- A white, floating orb, surrounded by darkness which falls from the orb and forms a mist of tendrils on the ground below. Whether the fountain part is part of Utaros or whether it is simply the orb is unclear. As its name suggests, it radiates and leaks depression and despair.

RAEJT, The Empty Door- A four sided frame of shadowy, jagged floating stone, this living door’s real power is that it serves as a portal. Passing through one side of the Door will take one to another timeline, and then passing through the same side leads to another universe or timeline. Going in reverse takes you back to the previous world. Repeatedly going through one side or the other has different consequences- one way leads on endlessly, while the other eventually reaches the Lost World and fellow eldritch creature, Enkine.

ENKINE, The White Room- Enkine is a place, a Lost World, and a sentient being all at once. It takes the shape of an endless, white blank expanse, but one inside it can shape it with their thoughts and subconscious, with it usually starting as a paradise and becoming hellish. If someone dies while in Enkine, it devours them and all they created to sustain itself. While Raejt can lead one into Enkine, Raejt cannot lead you out, meaning that specialized Lost World travel systems are needed to leave.

WHLSEBA, Theory of Madness- A sentient idea that takes a physical form when thought about, and drives those who think of it to madness. Its physical form is a series of concentric rings and arcs, with impossibly straight and infinitely long lines extending from its centre. If its centre is seen, it implants the idea in the viewer’s mind. Thankfully, it has been almost totally eradicated, as those “infected” by it were systematically killed. The only remaining place that the idea exists is in a carefully guarded piece of paper in the Eternal City’s Vault District.

SANGLAEGN, The Iron Globe- One of Urias’s native, nonphysical conceptual abominations. It is shaped like a wide, thin ring with a sphere and a tendril at its centre. When the ring spins, anyone inside the sphere or touching the tendril is struck with a permanent bloodlust and berserk state that can only be cured by swallowing a pure iron ball.

YLILIN, The Knowing- One of the more benign of the abominations. It looks like a crystal covered in rings and infinitely sharp spines, with a staring eye inside the crystal, but only takes a physical form when it is looked at directly. It is highly unsettling to see and can scare people and cause massive headaches if stared at, but does not attack and cannot be harmed. It is also incredibly smart and aware- over eons, it knows now practically everything, but will not communicate any of it.

Glitterglow Cavern was first discovered by a Progenitor explorer, who plunged deep into the stale air (but still far above the Eye) before returning, noting that he felt something sinister emanating through the cavern the deeper he got.

Some time later, in the era of the Fiery One, the Eternal City (which had already recovered the Heart of Urias) experimented on the Urian Artifacts and caused an immense Corrupt Blood leakage from every Artifact. Corrupt Blood is highly dangerous and extremely mutagenic to life, but hardens slowly over time. In an unfortunate twist, a Faen exploration team in Glitterglow was in the cavern when the Blood erupted with a horrendous shriek, and after returning to the surface for supplies they managed to plunge all the way to the bottom of the chasm before the Blood hardened.

They discovered a large room, an underground lake, with an island at the centre. The walls dripped with some unknown dark liquid, which a few of the team scraped by hand into vials for study. At the island, there was a strange white spherical stone with several radial dark spots- like an eye. One of the team members picked it up and stared at it- until suddenly, they found themselves elsewhere.

It was a dark, immaterial void, which was described as feeling blurry despite nothing to see. With no body and no reference points, it was a surreal floating sensation like floating in nothingness. Terrified, the Faen team leader, whose identity is lost, attempted to pull back- and found themselves back in the physical world.

They then repeated the experiment, knowing what to expect. However, something seemed to urge the disembodied mind in some direction, and upon following the lead, they found themselves in the physical world, outside their own body- invisible and intangible, like some spirit. However, through some experimentation, they discovered a few ways they could affect the world: they could push and pull on objects, float great distances in an instant, and even glimpse into the past- whereupon the leader saw the dark liquid burst forth from the world in the region of the strange artifact.

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(A diversion, on the power of the Eye- As a Urian Artifact, the Eye has a few inherent properties. It cannot be destroyed or unmade unless all Urias goes with it. It is linked to the world known as Inner Urias- speculated to be a Lost World somehow within Urias. And like all Urian Artifacts, it grants vast powers to those who can use it. The Eye's power is essentially astral projection, but one that can affect the world. It allows one to observe and travel anywhere in the present, apply force to nearby points, see glimpses of the past, and seemingly create energy by pulling it from Inner Urias. Should one's body be killed or knocked unconscious while using the Eye, the mind will be trapped in the border world between Inner Urias and Urias, unable to do anything but observe, travel, and apply force- somewhat like a poltergeist, until the body is restored to a usable state and given the Eye. The Eye grants the most obvious power of the three known Urian Artifacts, and so is the most dangerous.)

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Now aware of the origin of the liquid, and considering the artifact's power, the leader returned to their body and warned everyone to take extreme caution- do not touch, do not stare at the liquid, simply keep away from that stuff. Unfortunately, it was far too late. The other expedition members, already showing grey in their veins and metal beginning to poke from their skin and replace their flesh, had touched Corrupt Blood on the walls or vials- enough to irrevocably change a person. Blood acts incredibly fast in a living environment, and now showing little empathy, degraded minds, slowly becoming more aggressive, the once-Faen were becoming metallic Blood monsters with no mind or urge but aggression towards those not like themselves.

In desperation, the leader grabbed the Eye and used it to toss the mutating monsters into the walls, and once they were clear, the land was pushed and pulled, redesigned into an extremely secure fortress inside which the Eye would be locked forever. The passage leading from Glitterglow to the chasm was nearly collapsed, left reliant on a single support, and when the route was clear the leader returned to their body, hid the Eye in the top of the fortress, and bolted for the exit.

It was close- the creatures had closed in, and the leader nearly slipped face-first into Blood- but finally, they reached the exit. Pursued still by several of the creatures, the chase was on through the dark caverns and up long ropes and walls. Eventually, at a certain distance from their target, the monsters gave up and returned to the cavern of the Eye, leaving the expedition leader- the sole survivor- to climb their way out alone. They collapsed the tunnel on their way out, hoping to contain the horrors and the power none should possess deep below. Finally, beaten and battered, they saw light and returned, reporting the deaths of seven others in a tunnel collapse.

The Valley of Falling Waters is located in the west of Holto, or the north of Destona as a whole. Famed for its natural beauty, the Valley is the point where the Holto River flows out into the Holto Expanse, bringing life and fertility to the land.

The Valley is located between four main peaks: Belia in the northwest, Scathra in the northeast, Coeth in the southwest, and Nenye in the southeast. At the mouth of the valley, on the east, stand two carved stone spires- the Gate of the Valley. Traffic in and out of the Valley almost always comes through the Gate, because it's easier than climbing the mountains.

The Holto River is the heart of the Valley, falling down the Great Falls into the Valley and forming a wide ravine or canyon as it flows east. Five other rivers join it inside the canyon- the Belialien, Yellowgrass Creek, and Burning River coming from the north, and the White Gift River and Nenyelien River from the south.

There is a small community built into the Valley- the City of Falling Waters. Clustered mostly around the wide point of the canyon, towards the east, the City has stood for a long time watching over the Gate. The Nenyelien and Burning Rivers fall over and past and through the city, in a truly beautiful fashion. Waterfalls are surrounded by pathways, or have buildings built around them. Even the city's water supply is handled beautifully, being carried through aqueducts. All of this is the result of ages of work from those who truly wanted to preserve the beauty of the Valley.

The City has a few buildings on the west, including a path to the Valley Overlook. However, the main building on the west is the Temple of Waters, built into the rock just north of the Great Falls. The Temple largely serves as part museum and part meditation sanctuary, being a place of beauty, rest, healing and learning. It can also serve as a shelter, in times of disaster. However, it also has a hidden passage leading to a cave behind the Great Falls, where a pair of powerful maidens (Avarinne and Lothain) guard the Valley's great treasure, the Animus Stone. Beyond the Blue Sanctuary, as the cave is known, is a rather spectacular cave system called Coeth Cavern.

The Animus Stone is an enchanted artifact that essentially radiates life. By being so close to the Great Falls, it enriches and lightly enchants the Holto River, so downstream of the Falls, any nearby land will become fertile and beautiful. This stone is believed to be the primary source of the Holto Expanse's great fertility and beauty, and may contribute to the beauty of Mettora via enchanted water droplets on the wind.

The first of the industrial revolutions on Urias was with the Progenitors. It approximately coincided with the creation of the Eternal City (though the City was far more advanced, making it unclear if they were coincidences or if the City was some hyper-advanced offshoot). Their Revolution was powered largely by fossil fuels- uniquely among the Urian revolutions- and was on the edge of running out before Avzimos terrified the Progenitors out of their revolution, resulting in the destruction of most of the technology and their reliance on magic (which made them further averse to technology anyway). A few spots of machinery survived- the Eternal City, which disassociated itself from most of Progenitor society (and didn't run on fossil fuels but on lava, preventing it from experiencing an energy crisis), Nucharon's laboratory (which he took over from its abandoned state a few centuries after its construction, and which later ran on a Temporal Difference Engine that produced power putting fossil fuels to shame), and other hidden places like the Sunken Kingdom, parts of the Ragnos Kilemn and the gate to the Arkhris Sohl, and the Windows of Kilära.

There was a period of medieval stasis during the long ages of the Faen and Khul, though wind and stone technology were advanced somewhat during the Fiery One's time. Much of that technology was used to store him within his hidden prison-citadel.

Whenever the Wild Ones emerged, their technological revolution came fairly quickly as the sigillic magic was mastered, but it plateaued there for ages as sigillic magic was quite powerful, quite tricky, and more than sufficient for the isolated people's needs (including doing feats like creating Wands and redesigning the temple over the Mouth to be incredibly secure).

Colossi and Elves were never good technologically- the Colossi for size and rarity, and the Elves for biomagic related to their Trees. However, the biomagic of the Elves was quite powerful- serving similar functions to technology by manipulation of nature and genetics.

The Great Civilization did see a resurgence in technology, led by Humans and Izemin. It primarily functioned off steam and clockwork and magic, and the infusion of magic into brass led to new laws of magic and possibilities thought unimaginable being explored. Enchanted Mirrors were one of many technologies, expanded upon by Sulaedros to study time and plane magic, and finally Arkana hoped to facilitate the fusion by creating a fountain of infinite magic by mechanical plane manipulation, allowing safe and endless use of magic to power technology. Half thanks to flaws in the machine technology and half due to sabotage, the machine failed truly catastrophically. It was also during the Great Civilization that Stohl advanced heavily and discovered the local Eternal City outpost.

While there was some advancement between the end of the Great Civilization and the return of Arkana before the Moment of Chaos, there was not dramatic advancement until Arkana's work for the Nihanes and Lunara's work for the Flame began. Both wound up expanding clockwork, magic, and their fusion, though the Moment of Chaos clearly made the magic elements useless. Instead, for the months between the Moment and the surge of Magnusian technology, clockwork technology dominated the land.