Urias

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.

-They came to Urias with Mthrarcd near the beginning of time, and were present in the Time Collision that created Urias as well.

-Their name is a leftover of from the Time Collision: there was a group of eldritch beings called Star-Spawn in one of the pre-Collision worlds, and there was a group of eldritch beings called Starspawn in Urias. However, only the name migrated: the original "star-spawn" did not make it to Urias.

-They are descendants of Mthrarcd, each and every one. They all have some (at least slightly) eldritch nature, they all are immortal unless killed, and they all generate some undoing energy. However, they are of varying strengths- those closer to Mthrarcd on the family tree are stronger and stranger than their descendants, and those born in the Conceptual Reality are much stronger than those born in Urias.

-They generally do not produce more of themselves, but are capable of doing so in a multitude of ways. Starspawn are generally of the same power as their parent(s), though being born outside of the Conceptual Reality causes a weaker Starspawn than would otherwise be born. As a result, the weaker Starspawn are all Urias- born descendants of Urias- born parents for several generations.

-Sufficiently weak Starspawn begin to be capable of reproducing with Urian species. These Starspawn- Creature hybrids usually go on to create their own species, and the group of species descended from the Starspawn is known as the Great Species. This group includes many Wild Continent creatures, most sea monsters including the Cephalogaunts, dragons, and the Elves' Trees.

-There are several groups of Starspawn on Urias: Those of the Mouth, those of the Polar Valley, and those of Irkhangr. Others exist, primarily as lonely beings wandering the world (mostly the weakest ones who spawned Great Species). Each group has its own features.

-The Starspawn of the Mouth are best described as fanatical. Extremely powerful, numbering in the several thousands, they are part of the original group of Starspawn. Their goal is to wait until Mthrarcd escapes the Urian reality and use the Mouth to control and shape the world in Mthrarcd's name. They are kept in check by their own technology, used by the Wild Ones against them.

-The Valley Starspawn are nearly as powerful as the Mouth ones, also being part of the originals or single generation descendants, though they are fewer. They simply want to be left alone, and rarely bother anyone. Simply stay away from the South Pole, keep to the mountains and you'll be fine.

-Irkhangr Starspawn are weak, and not really a unified group beyond simply finding the island to be comfortable. The cults of Irkhangr honour their presence and are generally willing to serve them for an occasional favour.

-No two Starspawn share the same form and abilities. Each is unique. However, the general guide is "something powerful, weird and terrifying and probably exists in defiance of several laws of physics and/or biology".

-Even the weakest Starspawn is still eldritch and above any race, and more than capable of putting up a fight with all but the best. As a result, anti-Starspawn fighting tactics tend to rely heavily on either numbers or very advanced technology/magic. Some spells and weapons exist, but for the most part the correct way to survive a Starspawn is "don't encounter a Starspawn".

Sigillic magic is a Starspawn- and Mthrarcd- specific form of magic that functions independently of undoing energy. Sigils, and combinations of sigils, produce their own magic and interact with themselves in complex ways to cause effects more reliable and potent than undoing magic. Sigillic magic is especially powerful when Mthrarcd and the Starspawn are involved, since it is their magic.

Sigils are usually drawn or carved, as complex shapes and patterns. These shapes and patterns are believed to be either the Starspawn writing system (or at least that's the closest analogy) or the Starspawn's equivalent of computer circuits (as theorized after Magnus's return). However, sigils are not limited to mere drawings: they can take the form of specific sounds, or thoughts, or any such form. This unique system functions on the idea that anything with the meaning of a sigil is a sigil. Since sigil meanings are generally far too strange to accidentally run across, this normally causes no accidents. However, a very lucky drawing or a word accidentally spoken in the sigillic language can be sigils, and if they are the right sigil in the right situation, unexpected magic will occur. (This is the basis of many rituals and inexplicable magical accidents.)

There are three groups on Urias who possess essentially complete knowledge of sigillic magic: the Wild Ones, the Eternal City (via the Ragnos Kilemn), and some cult leaders in the heart of Irkhangr.

The Wild Ones have developed many, many technologies based on sigils, and the greatest of their achievements is the Temple over the Mouth of Urias. With the Temple's systems altered, hijacked, and new systems added, the sigils carved in stone and activated by thought and voice, their work is one of the marvels of Urian intellect.

The EC does not generally use sigils, but stored all they knew about them in the Ragnos Kilemn's library. Over time, and a few trades with the Wild Ones, their knowledge was effectively completed and put to use as a Ragnos security system.

The cultists of Irkhangr, being close to the Starspawn and possessing millenia of records, as well as Irkhangr itself being a haven for users of strange magic, have naturally accumulated much knowledge of sigils. The sigils, along with other forms of magic from Lost Worlds and the like, are mixed together into complex rituals which can be of surprising power and effectiveness, and are often handed down from cult leader to cult leader.

Sigillic magic was used, but not mastered by, many academics in old schools. Arkana, while sane, took mild interest in them as a possible way to use safe magic. He also used sigils in his Machine, when moving parts would have been ineffective or inefficient, or when the Machine had elements that needed to be secret (such as hidden doors).

The Yuin-Hamn cult was a cult consisting primarily of Ihmen (the ancestors of Humans and Izemin). They believed most fundamentally that the world rested on a balance of despair and hope, and they would act accordingly. They had many notable rituals- the Rituals of Birth and Death, the Charge of Brevsin and the Great Hunt, and the Crossing of Knives at the beginning of each new year.

They primarily used deep underground caverns for their rituals, considering them to be secure. They would carve out the cavern while preserving its natural beauty, creating rather beautiful places as symbols of hope, and staining the stone with blood to create symbols of despair. While many objected to their rituals, they themselves didn’t find the despair elements of their religion enjoyable - merely a necessary evil. They were in fact often misrepresented as murderous lunatics despite being normal people overall, though their numbers still suffered and they eventually died out.

Their concept of balance concerned not just themselves, but the entire universe. They believed that the universe was born of hope for a new beginning and despair over the ultimate death, and they believe that that balance must be maintained- should it tip towards despair, the universe would be frozen and torn apart entirety, and a tip towards hope would inevitably consume everything. It was believed that eventually, the balance would tip one way or the other, leading to another rebirth as the cycle continued- because the cult’s members would suffer the despair of ending, and be full of hope for the next cycle. That was why it was necessary to keep the balance - not only to prolong the universe, but to provide the conditions for its rebirth. As with everything, the certainty of destruction was a source of despair, but the fact that it could be delayed was a source of hope.

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.

Probably the most powerful tool the Transcendent Army wielded was the Time Shield. The place and time inside the Shield was totally disconnected from the outside world, unless certain periods of time were unlocked by the manipulator of the Shield. Unless the Shield's manipulator, Lord Jokosta, desired it, nothing that happened inside the Shield could possibly have an effect on the outside world. This could be used as a reset button: even if the Parallel army won everything but the machine controls, that timeline could be deemed as having no effect on the outside world, essentially resetting it, but if the Transcendents won, they could retroactively remove the bubble and fully integrate the defeat into the timeline. It could be compared to a save-reload feature that only affected a specific area.

The Shield also served some other purposes. It blocked everything from the inside affecting the outside, even in a merged timeline, and prevented observation of either side from the other. It was even impossible to leave from inside without fusing the timeline, meaning that the battle wound up essentially occurring inside an indestructible bubble. However, its most useful effect was trapping the Army in Parallel inside a region where even a near complete victory could be negated.

Coming from an altogether different universe (not a Lost World), Laros, Drussa and Runal possessed a special sort of magic different from Urias's.

Their magic took a semi-physical, manipulable form which could be condensed and frozen into physical forms or hidden inside a physical object. Their special weapons were normal items full of magic hidden inside, and they themselves were extremely charged with the stuff.

To wield magic, it simply required that a learned effect be sent as a package at a target. Magic would not be used up, simply altered in form and returned to its caster. In this way, unless most of their magic was sent all at once or too fast, they barely had to worry about running out of magic. The easiest way to achieve a specific effect with maximum results was to associate the effect with something- most easily a name, which could be shouted or thought while casting to optimize. If an effect was not optimized, it would be less precise and less effective generally, but still useful.

Each of the Trio wielded similar amounts of power, though their special items stored or focused in different levels. Runal's glove was a strong battery and focus, Laros's sword was a great focus with a little battery (her armour held some magic as well), and Drussa's wand was primarily a battery. Batteries stored magic in intangible form for use, while focuses reduced the "blurring" resulting from unoptimized spells.

It would be possible for one to create new matter out of the magic. This matter would serve as a much more effective battery and be able to alter its form, but would require specialized equipment or abilities to be useful. The only one of the Trio who used anything like that was Drussa, whose wand was part charged opal and part magic-in-opal-form. That did little, however, beyond allowing the Wand to disguise itself as any form of jewelry.

The Trio, after death, were buried together and with their items. It was hoped that no one would have known that they still possessed magic or how to make that magic work, seeing as how they rarely shared the secrets of their power.

---

TRIO STATS

Laros- Possessed the most raw power, but had the weakest item altogether and the least variation in abilities. That did, however, mean that she could rapidly attack with her powers far more than either other could.

Runal- Possessed the weakest raw power (though again, not much total difference between her and Laros), but had by far the most varied abilities and effective item.

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.

---

(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.)

---

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.

Tournament Rules: Knock your opponent(s) unconscious for three seconds in order to claim victory. Technology and planar powers are allowed, from any point in the character's life. However, characters are limited to inventions and abilities they created or possessed/learned themselves - not copying or using another source of abilities. The fight is performed during the day.

Arkana (Post-MoC) VS Kintira (post-Transcendent)

Magnus (post-Void) VS Katherine (and Lunara)

The Fiery One VS Nucharon (Independent)

Sophine (Recreated) VS Laros and Runal

Round 1

Arkana opens with a narrow Unstructured Unfocusing as Kintira prepares to stop time, temporarily causing chaos and draining the region's magic. Arkana, however, is a wimp physically while Kintira is battle-trained, and Kintira begins kicking him around. Arkana, determined not to lose, holds her off with his ancestral sword until magic returns, at which point he blasts her with a force-fireball. Kintira is thrown back and momentarily stunned, but prepares to stop time once more. Arkana, noticing the spell close to casting, attempts to prepare his most costly spell in order to prevent Kintira from casting her spell. However, his failure to think things through only results in the time stop being a time slow, so Kintira gets a chance to close the gap. Desperately, Arkana unveils his Chaos Form- and half his body erupts into a painful-looking Remnant-esque mass of bones and tentacles. Kintira is immobilized and about to be vivisected by the uncontrollable Chaos Form before Arkana calls off the Form. He doesn't want to hurt anyone! Kintira, however, is left shaken, and forfeits.

Magnus faces the Lunara-Katherine tag team. While they possess a confidence boost from the Isle of Titanias, they cannot actually use the Isle, and Magnus is a powerful Order Mage. Katherine attempts to lock Magnus down physically while Lunara unveils an Orb Cannon scaled down to human sizes. However, Magnus invokes force laws, and Katherine flies into Lunara, knocking them both over uselessly. The match is in the hole- Magnus uses a bit of Order magic and a bit of logimagik tech to convince their brains that it's time to sleep. Magnus wins.

The Fiery One, unkillable tyrant with split-second magic, faces Nucharon as recreated by the Truthspeaker. Nucharon immediately locks himself into an unchanging state, and the Fiery One is surprised to see an opponent stand after a split-second inferno flash. Nucharon charges forth with flawless sword techniques and immense strength, while the Fiery One leaps above him. Immediately, Nucharon wills himself to a position almost inside the Fiery One and takes a midair swing. The blade hits, but simply melts against the Fiery One's body- leaving an opening for the Fiery One to body slam Nucharon onto the ground. Nucharon is unharmed, still being in "unchanging mode", but then immediately attempts to Fundamental-manipulate the Fiery One into unconsciousness. It works- but unbeknownst to Nucharon, the Fiery One had protections in place against unconsciousness-inducing attacks, and wakes up a second later. Nucharon has not yet returned to protection mode, and the Fiery One does score a great blow across Nucharon's chest, but Nucharon's knowledge of Khul martial arts allows him to ignore the damage and keep fighting. The battle lasts like this- two immovable forces- with Nucharon getting angrier and angrier while the Fiery One is more and more pleased at having a real opponent. Eventually, however, the Fiery One's "Undying Flame Wing" attack, which has been charging for several minutes, proves simply too strong for a tired and angry Nucharon. The Fiery One nearly rips Nucharon in half and definitely takes a victory.

Sophine possesses Fundamental powers stronger than Nucharon's, but lacks his focus or other abilities. Laros and Runal lack the Fiery One's sheer ability, but make up for it in variety. As an established opening, Sophine momentarily "unchanging"izes herself while Laros activates Sunlight's Embrace and Runal uses Information Sight. Runal discovers that Sophine must either be overpowered or attacked when attacking or distracted. Laros then tosses an Orb of Light at Sophine's face, granting an opening for Runal to use Information Flow and beam the plan to Laros. Now with a plan, Laros unleashs Sun Daughter's Rage to both distract Sophine and trick her into attacking (because the spell makes the target float still in the air before unleashing a supernova-like explosion, it works as a feint). Sophine, at a great disadvantage, is immediately torn at by several Crescent Weavers sent by Runal. Sophine dulls the pain from fire and cuts, and goes on the defensive again, but has already been weakened. Laros distracts with Hell Scorch while Runal casts Eclipse Dawn, allowing her night powers for ten minutes. Laros Mass Ejections the arena floor, spraying debris all over Sophine and providing a moment for Runal to transform. Using the ten minutes of night, Runal casts her ultimate, Night Mother's Judgement, and in her godly form attempts to obliterate Sophine. Sophine is too strongly defended to be destroyed, but is knocked out for several hours at least.

Round 2

Arkana VS Magnus

The Fiery One VS Laros and Runal

Arkana's magic and Magnus's Order are polar opposites, and largely cancel out. Neither can gain the upper hand that way, so Arkana resorts to his Chaos Form and Magnus whips out his technology. Magnus unveils a gun and shoots the writhing Chaos Form half of his brother, but it simply reforms. The Chaos Form pins Magnus, but Magnus uses a sword from the Void to sever the form, and once free charges Arkana. By tackling Arkana and holding his sword where Arkana's shoulder will be when Chaos Form ends, Magnus wounds Arkana enough to knock him out with his technology.

While Laros is protected from the Fiery One's fire attacks, Runal is not, and as Laros has no healing powers, half the team is taken out instantly. Laros nearly forfeits on the spot, but casts Mass Ejection only to have an attack from the Fiery One blast the debris back at her. Since neither of their fire powers work directly against the other, the fight moves to the physical. The Fiery One charges towards Laros when she attacks, but Laros slides under her opponent and puts him in a Full Nelson while casting Nuclear Strength. With her super boosted strength, clinging onto the tyrant's armor, Laros has the Fiery One on the ropes- until the Fiery One tosses his sword over his shoulder. With Grasping Hand, Laros avoids getting hit by tossing the sword away from her, but the spell takes a hand and allows the Fiery One to headbutt her in the opening. Laros quickly reverses her Grasping Hand and the Fiery One's sword hurtles toward him- only to bounce off his armor as he lunges backwards, crushing Laros underneath him. Now free, he grabs his sword, presses it and his boot to Laros's chest. Laros looks down- "MASS EJECTION!" The Fiery One is thrown to the side, and Laros and him stand up for one last movement. Laros points her sword at the Fiery One and casts Grasping Hand. The gap closes, every indication suggesting a skewered legend, until an explosion counteracts the motion, freeing the Fiery One to simply run up and knock out Laros in a single punch. Victory is declared three seconds after.

FINALS

The Fiery One only struggled with Nucharon and Laros because they could resist him in some way. Had things gone differently, he might not have managed to make it to the finals- Laros and Runal would likely be in his place. Magnus, however, had no such split second resistance. He could counter with a moment warning, but it would not be enough to block the Fiery One or even distract long enough to retrieve some gadget. Magnus stands no chance and the match ends in three seconds, with a victory for the Fiery One.

RUNNERS UP ENCORE

Magnus VS Laros and Runal

ON THE TRUTHSPEAKER PLANS

Nucharon's study of the Fundamental Plane was focused around the concept of altering the truth. Proper manipulation of the Fundamental Plane involved stating a lie as true, and forcing it onto the world. Nucharon's Truthspeaker effectively served as a semi-autonomous instrument for this. However, the Truthspeaker was not meant to be the instrument for the entire cosmos- a common misunderstanding.

The Truthspeaker, as per its name, "spoke" truths about the world, and made it so. The plan was for it to wipe the face of Urias bare, turning it into a perfect sphere orbiting in a perfect circle around the Sun. The Truthspeaker would then Speak onto the simple stone sphere, allowing it to manipulate the entire planet and turn it into essentially a more powerful Truthspeaker. From there, the Sun could be rewritten, and so on until eventually all the cosmos could be reshaped in perfect, simple order as per Nucharon's dream.

The Truthspeaker could not simply rewrite everything from the laboratory. A Fundamental manipulator is limited by its size and its target's complexity. The Truthspeaker could only rewrite a few mountains at first before needing to move to another location, but as Urias was remade, its range would grow to countries and continents and eventually the planet as everything simplified. With a planet-sized Truthspeaker, over a few years the Sun could be rewritten.

Each planned incarnation of the Truthspeaker was intended to carry along a computed essence of Nucharon. Nucharon personally recreated himself in the first one, as an independent control personality that could be given a physical form by Fundamental manipulation. The plan was to copy the personality again to the planet when it was rewritable, and the first Truthspeaker destroyed. Each Truthspeaker would carry Nucharon's mind, and he would plan each step up in scale.

-----

ON FUNDAMENTAL MANIPULATION

It should be noted that "speaking" is generally loosely used. While Nucharon personally could rewrite the nearby world by stating how he wished it to be, actually talking is an inefficient method of Fundamental manipulation. Nucharon and Sophine could simply will things into form, while the Truthspeaker's lack of an independent mind meant that it relied on a planar wave system that clearly travelled to the target. This system was powerful on large scales, but weaker on smaller ones and could be countered by the (on average) much weaker Sophine.

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.

The objects of the system, in order of closeness to the Sun.

-Seiius: The Sun, Sola. It is the dominant body at the centre of the system.

-Bhazgul: Innermost planet to the Sun. It is rocky and very, very hot, to the point where it's practically half-melted. It used to have a moon, before it migrated inward and the moon was torn into the Sun.

-Vastla: What we would call a "hot jupiter" - a gas giant close to its star. It spins at a nearly 60-degree tilt, and possesses respectable rings. Depending on one's view of Vorsynn, it is either the second or third largest planet. It has two (non-ring) moons.

-Kyondr: The Rock Giant- a rocky planet almost as large as Vastla. It is famous as the only other celestial body besides the Moon and Sun to appear as a disc to the naked eye. It has no moons.

-Urias: Third smallest "true planet", and the only one known to harbor life. The Reality Bridge used by Mthrarcd is located a few Urian radii away from the surface. Urias used to have a moon, before the Moonfall resulting from the Moment of Chaos.

-Thlass: Somewhat like Urias in its varied biomes, but rather chilly, being half covered in water ice. It could be hospitable (somewhat) to Urians, if they were able to cope with the heavy atmosphere, tiny gravity (as the smallest planet), and temperatures matched only by the Peaks of High Cold in winter. It has seven moons, most of which were captured from Amonaria.

-Amonaria: The Outer Gas Giant, and the largest or second largest planet (Vorsynn is bigger, but of debatable planet status). It boasts huge rings that occasionally cause meteor showers on Thlass, and is famously regular (its orbit nearly circular, and almost no tilt). It has dozens of moons- most tiny, but a few are of significant size.

-Ulumarë (Jenyaa and Pyrdotr): Ulumarë was once believed to be a single planet, but was discovered to be a pair of planets orbiting each other. Jenyaa, the slightly larger of the two, is believed to have a warm atmosphere of greenhouse gases. Pyrdotr, meanwhile, is largely a boring rock with the highest mountains of the system (in proportion to planet size: Kyondr has taller mountains, but is a larger planet). The planets share a moon, which orbits in something of a figure eight around both planets. Additionally, some smaller satellites circle individual planets or around the entire system.

-The Far Ring (Nenü, Somotokohl, Estarioa, Frestin, Odyx): This is a ring of asteroids, dust, and five major "planetoids". Of the planetoids, Nenü is the largest, followed by Estarioa, Somotokohl, Frestin, and Odyx. Not much is known about them, but they are known to have incredibly thin atmospheres and to be rocky conglomerates.

Spontaneous magic is generally tied to strong emotions- love, hate, anger. These emotions come pouring out in the form of magic and, unless you are a truly exceptional case, are completely uncontrollable. To master and control spontaneous magic is to master and control your most powerful emotions in a way that does not suppress them- and since emotions of this magnitude can easily tear self-control away, this feat is all the harder.

Given the near-uncontrollable nature of spontaneous magic and the power of emotion required to control it, it may seem surprising that the system can be inverted. In some cases of extreme depression and despair, spontaneous magic can anti-erupt- the magic targets its source and deepens itself, causing a disastrous snowball effect.

If the person and circumstances are right, their spontaneous magic will stop coming in bursts and become continuous. Their minds will be eroded away, as magic does, but the incredible emotional potential of the feedback loop will sustain itself and other parts of the mind. Instead of becoming a Mthrarcd cultist with incredible power over the external world, the blend of eldritch power, emotion, and Mthrarcd influence will turn inwards, reshaping the person into something awful.

-----

This being is a creature made as much of magic as matter, with little of their original selves left save their own twisted emotions and a few scattered memories that support them. Their bodies usually become twisted reflections of themselves, being shaped by their emotional magic, though some retain an outwardly human form with their magic form as a second form. They have incredible spontaneous magic powers and even have control over them, but rarely have enough self left for non-spontaneous magic usage.

Often, these twisted eldritch forms of people- known as Remnants- will hide themselves in places secluded from the world. Caves, abandoned basements, sewers, deep underwater, in the air, or even hidden pockets of reality are popular choices. They may hide because they feel that they don't deserve to be looked at, or more often because they are often hunted down. In particular, they are hunted because their magic can harm others (sometimes by lashing out and attacking those who they see as wronging them, sometimes by leading people into the same emotions that created them, and some even feed on people to sustain themselves). There is no way to help them except by killing them- which is often something they want anyway but cannot bring about themselves. In the rare legends that involve them, sometimes they are restored to humanity, but to do so in practice would require incomprehensible power over the Planes or a physical portal to the Chaos Plane, which is damn near impossible and would cause far greater chaos anyway.

Remnants are almost unheard of, with few ever becoming remnants and fewer still surviving them. To fight a remnant is usually a suicide mission. As mentioned, legends featuring them are very rare and usually get most of the details wrong anyway. As a result, few have heard of them, and of those who have, few believe, and even of them, few look for them, and that's usually a suicide mission if it is successful at all.

In regards to specific people, Jean Ohakus nearly became a Remnant who would have hidden at the bottom of the Lake-of-Sky, underwater or tossed herself into the immense, deep, mazelike volcanic caverns under Stohl. Enna Fos could have become a remnant as well, had she been a little less full of anger and a little more full of self-loathing (a much easier way of creating remnants). She would likely have destroyed the base herself and taken refuge in the Underchasm.

-----

Some common kinds of remnants are the Vampire-types, which usually take human forms to feed on people, the Shapeless-types, which have no definite form, the Phantasm-types, which have lost all their physical existence and are nearly untouchable, and most commonly, the Psycheforms, which take material but eldritch forms reflecting their psyches. Each of them is capable of warping reality to some extent- whether it is creating objects, warping space to create realms bigger on the inside, or even simply replacing parts of reality with their own wishes. Again, as noted, remnants are usually shy and avoid coming out into the open unless something motivates them to.

Remnants do not need to form from undoing magic- any sufficient nonmaterial imbuement will do. The real key is that emotions must result in planar manipulation turned inwards in a positive feedback loop. Void remnants, Fundamental remnants, Order remnants, and Transcendent remnants are entirely possible, but have not happened in the entire history of Urias due to the sheer rarity of those imbuements. The only exception is Transcendent remnants- there has been one, specifically during the Battle of the Transcendent Plane, when one Transcendent soldier lost control. The resulting remnant was more sane than most, had an almost entirely physical nature, and had inconceivable power to rewrite the world. She used that power to vanish to the Outer Void and create her own universe, thankfully- had she been attacked and fought, she could have easily leveled half of the Destonan continent. Such is the power of the strongest of all Planes, amplified by emotional feedback loops.

The last topic to cover is the fate of the Remnants who were present during the Moment of Chaos. As the broken minds lost in the Chaos Plane returned to their owners, and undoing magic was lost, the Remnants around during that time lost their magical abilities and regained some of their sanity. Some of them would likely have returned to fully human, if depressed, but many would have died, and some became stuck in their forms with much of their sanity restored (save that lost to the emotional destruction and not to the Chaos Plane). Those remnants, as usual, could get no break from their horrible lives.