Editing Shattered Sun (section)

=Peoples and Places=
The world under the Shattered Sun is mostly defined by the Shards that fly over it.

==The Shardstreams==
While few in number, the various Shardstreams of the world are the most stable areas for the emerging human civilization under the Shattered Sun. The coalesced bands of Shards provide constant Light and warmth for the Cities that spring up forth from these areas. Strobes colloquially call citizens of these lucky states ''tanners''.

===The Holy City===
[[File:The Holy City.jpg|200px|thumb|right|An artist's rendition of the Holy City.]]
The Holy City is by far the largest and most populous City under the Shardstreams. It was founded soon after the Phoenix’s Awakening under the first Shardstream that stabilized. Its sky is now dominated by the Shard of Gargonel. The Holy City is the seat for the world's best Astronomers. It is also a hotbed of politics, many factions of people vying for attention and resources in the quickly growing City.

====''The Council of Kings''====
When the Phoenix hatched, the world was plunged into disarray. But the old Kings still had power, and when news spread of a place where a fraction of the sun shown eternally, the Kings took their armies and their households and set out. The journey was long and hard, and they arrived in much diminished numbers. Gargonel arrived first, and he claimed the area. But others arrived, with their armies, and wanted a piece of the land. No King could hold against the other, so they warred very little before reaching a solution. They would form a Council of Kings, and would rule as a group. This plan was formed by Arzot, for the royal Houses had undergone much strife and death, and he was the only living King who yet had an heir, and thus he hoped that his son should rule all without resorting to conquest.

However the other Kings appointed their greatest servants as their heirs. And indeed, those people appointed their own greatest servants as their heirs, even over their own children. And so it came to pass that the Holy City is ruled by a Council of Kings, and none of the Houses save the House of Arzot have hereditary succession.

Each King issues only one vote for each issue. In the case of a tie, the issue is brought before the Citizenry for an up-or-down vote. Despite the expected infighting amongst the Houses, the system works a lot more smoothly than the occasional cynic would think.

=====''House of Gargonel''=====
[[File:Gargonel.png|200px|thumb|Gargonel Coat of Arms]]
The oldest House of the lot is also the one with the most exclusive membership. Although the House no longer rules over the entirety of the Holy City as it did briefly upon its founding, its members' devotion to the sanctity of the Phoenix as well as their gratitude for the sparing of the Citizens' lives remains today. Now, the House presides over those who give thanks to the Phoenix for their survival and eventual salvation from these dark times.

=====''House of Wass''=====
This long-standing House is a group of Astronomers who have integrated their charting skilled with political savvy, able to influence the highest levels of the Holy City’s government. They stridently defend the right of the Astronomers' voice in the government, also advocating all Citizens' right to pursue knowledge of Astronomy. Many famous Astronomers of the Holy City hail from this House, leaving a storied heritage of experts of both Astronomy and policy.

=====''House of Arzot''=====
This House has its roots in the long history of the Holy City, the only one of its kind after the Awakening. More appropriately, its roots are in the preservation of said history. Despite their little voice in the government and perennial lack of funds, great respect is given to their care of the ancient Shard Charts which many up and coming Astronomers look to learn from, as well as well-established Astronomers look to gain new insight from. It is a staunchly traditionalist house, and is the only house to use hereditary succession.

=====''House of Ulan''=====
[[File:Ulan.png|thumb|left|200px|Ulan Coat of Arms]]
This relatively new House is a group of Astronomers who aim to use their skills for the direct benefit of the people, whether it’s in the aid of Alchemists’ research or determining the best trade routes for neighboring Strobes. The House's endeavors leave them well-off financially, encroaching into the political arena with their increasing wealth. While the lofty words of a Wass win attention, an Ulan's money is starting to win loyalty in its stead.

====''Other Influences''====
[[File:Studying the Shard.jpg|150px|thumb|right|A youth studying a Shard in the Holy City.]]
Other than the official ruling Houses of the Holy City's government, there are a number of organizations and institutions which hold a significant amount of sway in the City.

=====''The Astronomers League''=====
Founded by the four Houses as their first collaborative legislation, the Astronomers League was designed to operate separately from the official government as the City's primary Astronomy apparatus. This was intended to eliminate any political bias the League's work could incur if under the supervision of the Houses. However, the importance of the League to the Citizens slowly but surely helped it build political capital of its own, regularly conflicting with Astronomical policy set forth by the Houses.

It is headed by a High Astronomer, usually selected from within upon his predecessor's retirement or death by a council of experts within the League. From there, a simple bureaucracy of Astronomers is set up for different aspects of the League: Shard Charting, Policy Advisory, Alchemist Collaboration, Public Relations, so forth and so on.

=====''The Third Egg Movement''=====
With the Phoenix's Awakening through and persuasive rumors of the Other Egg floating about, some of the City's intellectuals and theologians have come up with the idea that the world itself may also be an Egg. Furthermore, the theory suggests that the world may crack as the Sun did, causing a fatal catastrophe with no chance of survival.

While most Citizens shrug off the idea as an example of quackery and little else, the correlation behind the theory is convincing enough for a group of believers to take root in the City. The Third Egg Movement, as they call themselves, consists of Citizens from all walks of life, from lowly peasants to even a few officials in the Houses. They do not seem to have an established leader among them, only meeting clandestinely at some of the residences about the City and the surrounding Twilight

The growth and intensity of the group seems to have earned the notice of the government recently, the Houses calling for an outlawing of such irrational, panic-inducing behavior. It seems however that the Movement is more than capable of working around such limitations, their numbers only increasing.

===The City of Terec===
[[File:Terec.jpg|200px|thumb|left|An artist's rendition of Terec.]]
The City of Terec is unlike any other in the Shardstreams. Instead of the usual civic splendor and rigid structure of Cities such as the Holy City, Terec was founded completely on the innovation of highly skilled Alchemists. As such, the Alchemist Guild is easily the dominant power in Terac, and the High Master tolerates no questioning of his rule. Still, life in Terec is generally far more comfortable than in any other City known to man.

====''The Alchemist Guild''====
Unlike the theoretically shared government of the Holy City, Terec is ruled by the de facto authority of the Alchemist Guild, who largely funded Terec's construction. While the Guild generally puts forth their policies for the betterment of their Citizens, voicing dissent is greatly discouraged. As the Guild's High Master once put it, "Running Terec is like keeping an old machine running: repair parts when you can, replace them when you cannot."

=====''The High Master''=====
The leader of the Guild and, incidentally, the entirety of Terec is called the High Master. While his underlings may craft policy for the City, it is ultimately up to the High Master to decide whether or not said policies go into effect. For the most part, the High Master is seen as wise in his decisions, building up the standard of living in Terec to the level it is considered among the rest of civilization. However, the High Master is also fond of maintaining policies which limit the public opinions of the Guild's critics.

=====''The Masters''=====
Beneath the High Masters are a selected cabal only known as the Masters. They officially represent the highest-ranked specialists in all of Alchemy, charged with the duty of selecting new members to the Guild as well as promoting those beneath them. They also unofficially serve as the High Master's advisory board. While they generally support the High Master's political agenda and craft policy in line with it, there is about as much infighting among the Masters as there are in the Holy City's Houses.

=====''The Practitioners''=====
The highest level of the Guild completely dedicated to actual Alchemy are the Practitioners. They are the ones who generally come up with the Guild's countless innovations and are the front which maintains the Guild's legitimacy in the eyes of the Citizens and the rest of the Shardstreams. However, they are closely monitored by the Masters and even the High Master in some cases. During their tenure as Practitioners, they are watched for not only their advances in Alchemy, but also for their political way of thinking as well as their loyalty toward the Guild. From this pool do the Masters choose their successors to further serve the High Master.

=====''The Journeymen''=====
These are the graduates of the Guild's apprenticeship program who are sent to travel the world in search of further knowledge. While the Guild generally keeps a tight ship in Terec, Journeymen are freely allowed to determine for themselves whether to return to Terec after their travels to set up shop as Practitioners or to seek their future elsewhere with no penalty. Depending on their observed behavior during their travels however, they may end up closely monitored by other Journeymen at the discretion of their Masters.

=====''The Apprentices''=====
By the Guild's principles of promoting Alchemical knowledge, anyone with a basic understanding of reading, writing, and arithmetic is allowed to apply for the Guild by enrolling into an education program as Apprentices. They learn the basics of Alchemy under Practitioners who specialize in educating others. After the five years of the program, the Masters evaluate the Apprentices' progress and choose those who will advance into the Journeyman phase, and thus officially into the Guild itself.

====''Other Influences''====
Despite the tight-fisted rule of the Alchemist Guild over Terec, there are still others who maintain a modicum of influence over the City.

=====''Daedalus Workshops''=====
An Alchemy firm in the City of Terec widely known for the mechanical applications of the Shards’ power. While their innovations are generally in the realm of domestic appliances and limited motorized transportation, some folks say that Daedalus recently acquired of a large fallen Shard from the very boundaries of the Strobelands' reach. Some of the crazier folks in the taverns say that Daedalus may have plans for flying machines, but those are likely no more than lies told to impressionable tourists. After all, who ever heard of a machine that could fly?

===The City of Eternal Shardlight===
A legendary City that was rapidly growing in size and power, claiming an ever growing region and attaining ever greater feats of engineering and science. It had lasted intact for hundreds of years when a stray Shard, unnoticed by even the City’s finest Astronomers, crashed into its Stream, sending down a rain of Shards unto it. It burns in the resulting inferno even today.

====''A City of Shards''====
The City of Eternal Shardlight. It is a household name in most of the Cities beneath the Shardstreams. To most, it is an allegory for the lesson of moderating power. Too much power in your possession and you become blinded to what most would see as obvious.  The tale is a tragic one of a City’s rise and fall, prosperity and destruction.

For some enterprising minds however, the City is a treasure trove waiting to be pilfered through: according to the tales, a rain of Shards fell upon the metropolis upon its end. Technology even exists now which make it possible to retrieve fallen Shards and extract their Light to a degree. While this would lead many to the conclusion of a massive opportunity waiting to be taken advantage of, there is only one thing in the way.

Fire, and lots of it.

The City was engulfed in a ferocious blaze defying all reason and logic upon the Shards’ fall. While no one can accurately put a date upon the catastrophe itself, it is widely known that the fires have been burning unabated for quite a long time. Even as most of the City itself has been reduced to its bones and ash, the fires still burn forth from the fallen Shards within the ruins. This discovery has led to a variety of theories as to how to actually get in the City to claim its riches.

====''The Burning Question''====
There is always the possibility of digging beneath the City to evade the inferno above. However, early attempts at this solution led to the finding of the City being founded upon an incredibly hard layer of rock, thwarting even the most sophisticated tools around. With advances in digging technology quite some time away, the Alchemists of Terec have been trying to come up with a way to neutralize – or at least dramatically lessen – the scathing heat of the Shard-borne fires long enough for an expeditionary team to go into the City.

The best they can come up thus far with is an armored suit made with a Stardust-metallic alloy designed to ward off the worst of the fires from its wearer. The resonance of the Stardust within the suit is calibrated specifically to work counter with that of the Shards in the City. In theory, at least – the latest test subject was burned to a crisp within the suit, although the suit itself brushed the bright flames at the perimeter of the City right off of it. More research seems to be required to deal with the issue of the heat.

The suggestion of imbuing the Strobers’ Rite of Phoenix’s Blood upon a team has risen on occasion. Many see it as pursuing an unproven legend in lieu of a more scientific solution. Others who are more familiar with the Rite cite the dangers of too much Stardust within a person’s skin, which can cause extreme hallucinations for the subject, not to mention the possibility of a most violent and spontaneous combustion before even entering the City. Furthermore, it is nigh impossible to calibrate the resonance of the Stardust when it is in someone’s skin as opposed to when it is in a non-living metal.

Then there’s the possibility of entering the City from above. As the rumors of Daedalus Workshops’ flying machine percolating in the Cities, some believe that such a device can help spot exactly where the Shards lie within the City. Furthermore, supplemental machinery can be inserted from above to retrieve the Shards within, all without putting human life at significant risk. However, some scholars studying the technology of the old world beneath the Cerulean Heavens have noted the wind-generating effects of such intense fire and heat, which would make such a solution dangerous at best.

As elusive as entry into the City may be, such a facet of the City urges on further innovations and ideas from the greatest minds under the Shardstreams. Perhaps you will be the one who comes up with the idea that actually works.

==The Twilight==
The lands just around the Shardstreams are dotted along the edges of the Light's reach. The denizens of the Twilight use this moderate Light to prosper in agriculture, feeding the Cities as well as themselves. While they are subject to the occasional raid by the more thieving folk beyond the Light's reach, the Twilighters prove to be a hardy and persistent lot. They also happen to maintain a spirit of independence from the others around them. Some of the Cities may believe the rural Twilighters are under their dominion as a Kingdom would its Serfs, but they are quick to rout out any formal City rule from their lands.

===Copesa Village===
The village of Copesa is a mostly quaint place on the outskirts of the Holy City’s influence, upon the very rim of Gargonel’s Light. Named after the supposed fifth King who sought to lay claim upon the lands of the Holy City – and failed miserably – the village has more or less removed said King’s ill repute of failure. Though it is technically a territory of the Holy City and does indeed pay the City its due tribute of food and stock for the City’s protection and representation in its affairs, the sprawling village does not take kindly to anyone from the City trying to make that fact public. Its people are fiercely independent, seeing themselves as more in a trade agreement with the City than anything else.

And it’s not just their spirit which is so resolute. Their fighting ability is rumored to be up to par with the best warriors the City can produce. Time and time again in recent history has the village of Copesa resisted or downright defeated armed groups from the Holy City and other nearby Cities wishing to more formally annex the village into their Cities. Even though there is no mistake that the men of the village are hardy as their agricultural traditions make them out to be, there is another factor that plays into the village’s success: the Innerlight.

====''The Innerlight''====
It is widely known that the Light from the Shards has mystical properties which are harnessed by many: Astronomers who track the Shards and form a bond with them through their study; Alchemists who harness the power of the Light into mechanical form; Brandishers who create a permanent bond between person and Shard with Stardust-imbued tattoos. Being under a constant state of dusk gave some Twilighters, those in a culture already abound with stories of its many travelers full of mystery, intrigue, and magic, a fresh perspective on the Light not known by those basking under the Shardstreams’ glow. When these special villagers focus their eyes in just the right way, they see a faint glow that overlaps the person they are looking at. Depending on the circumstances, this “Innerlight” may simply be residual, or flaring up in various colors and directions.

Some villagers have used this ability as a sort of aural reading to better understand those they meet. Others can determine the subject’s desires and wishes to a degree. Even others have protracted such predictive ability to tell the subject’s future in general terms. But there are some who are somehow able to draw forth the Innerlight itself into the physical realm, conjuring powerful effects even when out of the immaculate shine of the Shards themselves. While there is no one being who can fully extract another’s Innerlight – too much of it removed and it literally saps the life out of the subject – there are those who can reconfigure the Innerlight within someone to make them stronger, more resilient, more able than they ever imagined. There are stories of small groups of villagers fending off an entire army only with a profound mastery over their Innerlight. Spears buckled upon them. Swords dulled on their skin. And woe is the unsuspecting infantryman who got caught in the gaze of one of these villagers for too long.

While Copesa is known to be the first to discover this ability in some of its villagers, many of the other villages in the Twilight are known for their own that are gifted in the Innerlight. For the most part though, this ability seems to reside only within those born and raised in the Twilight, although there has been the odd case of someone from either the Shardstreams or the Strobelands who have picked up the ability in their travels through these villages.

====''The Patriarchy''====
Copesa is also a veritable model of self-sustainable government to many of the other villages in the Twilight. By and large, the people of the village are ruled by a small group of elder men selected by their peers. While matters such as the economy and social affairs are usually left to the people themselves, a sort of common law which most of the villagers grow up to understand, major matters such as diplomacy and military issues are left to these elders. One of the only acknowledged weakness of this system is that the size of this council tends to fluctuate over the years: elders tend to die off over time; there’s usually not a similar number of elders to take up the mantle from generation to generation; there’s sometimes not many who the villagers see fit to lead the village; so forth and so on. Regardless of this bit of chaos in order, the system works for the most part.

The makeup of the council is usually based around the needs of the village at any given time. If the village is at war with a City, it will usually feature a number of former warriors and experts in the use of the Innerlight. In times of economic strife, there will be entrepreneurs in all sorts of fields available. In times of great prosperity, there will be members of a number of vocations to keep the prosperity going. In terrible famines, farmers and hunters will be present in the council. While there is always the issue of popularity and rhetoric within the elders’ politics, people who can address the village’s needs generally trump the best public speakers in the selection of the council.

====''The Economy''====
The village is a primarily agricultural economy, specializing in the cultivation of grains and the raising of livestock. Their supplies are, for the most part, theirs to keep to further sustaining the village, but there is a great portion of it that goes to the Holy City in exchange for its protective services and representation to other Cities abroad. Smaller portions of their products are relegated to Strober traders who bring their goods further in the world in their chase of the Shards. There is also a budding demand for the village’s craftsmen and artisans as the ‘Copesan style’ is growing in popularity among the Holy City’s social elite.

There is also a growing black market of sorts beneath the rustic veneer of the village’s people. Magical baubles and mystic trinkets are hot sellers to those in the know, and for those who are willing to pay a pretty piece of gold for it, lessons in learning how to see the Innerlight. There is even a very small Shard trade which pays some of the elders greatly, though nothing nearly on the scale of the Shard trade of an Alchemical City such as Terec. For the most part, the black market is harmless and understood by the villagers, but can be looked down upon by outsiders, especially if the Holy City found out about the village’s Shard trade.

==The Wandering States==
Unlike the shardstreams, these smaller towns, sometimes cities are located at temporarily safe havens of light. Founded on astrological prediction of a safe-spot for the next couple of years, maybe decades, enterprising souls trying to exploit previously inaccessible resources. During their brief existence, the States can amass enviable fortunes, raise strong troops or recover relics. The promise of change, of striking out and making a better life, is palpable in the States, many of which are formed from groups of men, be they Strobers or Twilightmen or Baskers, who are doing just that.

However the light waits on no one, eventually the city has to move on. With their the new found power and wealth, ''wanderers'' often hire astrologists and pay massive fortunes for research of the next site in the hope of attaining further fortunes, further power. Some Wandering States have existed long enough to make the ''Move'', the ''Journey'' or ''Exodus'' into a ritual of their own, a massed, regulated effort instead the haphazard exploration of their elders.

Power games, intrigue abound as the time of ''Move'' approaches, and the astrology is therefore highly politicized. Fortunes are lost, dynasties fall with the careful shifting of a Exodus by a year. All too often the city's elite has tried to play the game too fine, and entire States go up in flames, or are ransacked in orgies of violence by Vampires, (or, if they survive, dispersing into new tribes of strobers).  The light waits on no one.

==The Strobelands==
[[File:Strobe.jpg|150px|thumb|left|An artist's rendition of a Strobe scout.]]
The Strobelands make up most of the world, and hold most of its people. The shards over the Strobelands are erratic, and its people are nomadic as a result. No area remains habitable for longer than a few months, and settlements must frequently uproot to find new homes. The Strobes send out adventurers all the time, guided only by their knowledge of Astronomy and protected only by their own strength, to find new places to settle, and clear the dark lands of potential threats.

===Trading===
As the Strobes are always on the move, they are the ones most likely to chart new territory and discover the ruins of the old world. It is no surprise that the Strobes then make for excellent traders, even in their constant pursuit for the next Shard. Mostly, their trades are between their tribes. Once in a while however, solitary Strobes venture to the Shardstreams to trade with the Citizens. In exchange for rare treasures, the Strobes gain goods from the Cities and Astronomical knowledge to bring back to their tribes. Or to keep for themselves.

===Tribes===
Strobes are a nomadic people, grouped not by settlements or families, but by tribes. While there are some basic unifying features of the Strobes, each tribe has its own cultural and functional differences from each other.

====''Tribe of the Dawnchase''====
Strobes are commonly known as “Chasers of the Dawn” among other folk primarily because of this tribe. Unlike some members of the other tribes who have come to settle and mingle with other peoples, their expertise in tracking and following the Shards of the world is so ingrained into their tradition that settling anywhere is almost out of the question. Their expertise is so strong that even some of the best Astronomers of the Cities seek travelling groups of Dawnchase in hopes of learning their techniques.

One of the most elusive techniques the Astronomers seek is known as the Rite of the Phoenix’s Heart. High-ranking members of the Dawnchase are signified by grotesque scars upon their chests, burns which many imagine they shouldn’t have lived through. Rumor has it that upon their entry into the higher echelons of Dawnchase society, these individuals are branded with a Shard against the chest for a specified amount of time. If the person lives through the ordeal, she becomes closer to the Shards than any Astronomer ever hopes to be.

It is almost as if she feels the Phoenix’s heartbeat through her own scar when Shards are present, and can track and predict them with seemingly impossible accuracy and precision. Their ability can track down even the minute grains of Stardust, making them excellent trackers of anything bearing even a trace of the Shard’s Light.

====''Tribe of the Lightbearers''====
It is widely known that Strobes are hardy and persistent adventurers, especially among their scouts. Their scouts tend to travel through uncharted and extremely dangerous terrain, always likely to meet their match in the ferocious creatures and harsh conditions of the wilderness. With one tribe however, the spirit of adventure has been perfected into an art form, according to some of the legends. The Lightbearers made their name as a go-to source for those who need a guide or a scout for an expedition, be the clients Strobe or otherwise.

While they have suitable ability in Astronomy as do the other tribes, the Lightbearers actually specialize in Cartography and knowledge of the wild. Their maps have made travel of the world much easier for non-Strobes since they first shared them with a band of travelling musicians long ago, making them a pretty profit when they find folks who don’t already have one of their maps. Of course, they have the adventuring skills to back up their map-making ability, proving to be more cunning and more perceptive than the Cities’ finest warriors at times.

Given their mercantile approach to adventuring, the Lightbearers have learned to easily socialize with the other peoples of the world. While they can be easygoing in their pursuits, just a word of warning – do not underestimate or belittle their skills and knowledge. They tend to be rather temperamental about it.

====''Tribe of the Sunprism''====
This little-known tribe has splintered off from the Dawnchase in recent memory into its own tribe. Unlike their forefathers who came to relish the hunt for the Shards, the Sunprism has come to follow the legend of a Prismatic Shard shimmering with all the colors of the spectrum in its Light, rather than the usual fiery orange and yellow Shards skittering across the skies. This tribe believes that this particular Shard contains the very soul of the departed Phoenix and will return to the world one day to deliver its salvation to its people.

Their pursuit of the Prismatic Shard has led them to only follow the other Shards for their survival until they come across the legendary Shard. Instead, the Sunprism have poured most of their resources into the acquisition and interpretation of lore across the world from many ages, all in search for clues as to the location and arrival of the Prismatic Shard. Though much of the lore they collected over the years has led to nothing in their search, they still have come to cherish it as their accomplishments. They deciphered texts which established translators have no hope of figuring out. They confirmed and busted legends about older civilizations. They discovered forms of magic not reliant on the Shards.

If there is a mystery about the world – even outside of the Prismatic Shard – odds are that a Sunprism is the one you should be looking for to get more information about it.

====''Tribe of the Shardwatch''====
[[File:Rite of Phoenix Blood.jpg|150px|thumb|right|An artist's rendition of the Rite of Phoenix's Blood in action.]]
This is the tribe of Strobes in which the Citizens of the Holy City are most familiar with. They are the traders who fill the bazaars. They are the swordsmen who assist the guards. They are the mystics who tell their stories. In return, the Citizens offer their money, their goods, and their knowledge unto these Strobes.

While they clearly value the knowledge of Astronomy from the Cities beneath the Shardstreams, their culture has developed a sense of mysticism in their pursuits.

Many of the Shardwatch believe that certain pictograms and patterns have both physical and spiritual meaning. These are generally tattooed on the skin through what many scholars in the City call "Brandery." Certain patterns denote rank among tribesfolk. They are also used to provide a visual history of their exploits during the members' lives.

The pinnacle of Shardwatch Brandery is the Rite of Phoenix's Blood. Candidates are selected based on a combination of his or her Astronomical knowledge, the rank in the tribe, and just plain how much he or she has survived danger. A Brandisher tattoos special marks upon each candidate's skin using a mix of ink and especially concentrated Stardust, making a permanent link between candidate and Shard. Few survive the procedure altogether. Even fewer come out of it without permanent damage within and without. Fewer still succeed the Rite and ascend to the highest echelons of Shardwatch society.

==The Starry Seas==
Though there has been a general lack of travel due to the new circumstances presented with the Awakening, it also presented people an opportunity to explore lands forever changed by the catastrophe. One of the most puzzling areas one can explore are the seas of the new world. While the effects of the Shards can be most easily observed and studied on the land, it is not such an easy task on the seas. The only thing that is generally known about the seas is that some of the Shards fell into them, altering their environment dramatically.

Most sea life will not venture near the submerged Shards, which render the waters around them inhospitable to all life except for extremophiles. However, they will congregate, hunt, and travel along the paths of the Shardstreams circling the world, attracting aerial predators to the Light-lit areas also. For the seas untouched by the Light, travelers will encounter ice floes and an unforgiving cold which present a grievous challenge even to the most experienced sailor. As such, trade through the seas is reserved for the hardiest and most daring entrepreneurs, while only the most dedicated Strobes traverse the seas in their chase of the errant Shards.

===The Anchordread===
[[File:Anchordread.jpg|150px|thumb|right|An artist's rendition of the Anchordread.]]
Both a terror of the deep in stature and skill as well as a benevolent trading partner when the opportunity arises, these denizens of the seas are a complex people of no words at all. To the people above the surface, the Anchordread are most known for their improvised weapons of discarded sailor technology, be they chains, harpoons, or even the anchors of their namesake. They are also known for their deadly electric shock, which can travel through a mere touch with another, through their weaponry, or even through the water in which they travel. However, recent research has put the Anchordread beneath a more civilized lens, daring explorers and hard-working scholars painting a picture of a highly sophisticated people far different than the people on the surface.

====''First Contact''====
It all began with a shock.

Soon after the Awakening, desperate souls seeking somewhere safe to settle took their chances on the turbulent seas to find their promised land. Many died on their journey through the seas in about as many ways as there were victims. One of the most common tales of such a demise is at the hands of fierce warriors emerging from the choppy surf to plunder the lumbering vessels as they were churned in the waves. Chains were wielded with the ease of a rope as the sharp fixtures on their ends slashed through the crew with blinding speed, all before the warriors descended beneath the waves minutes later with their spoils.

Of course, such tales soon became mere legends once the sailors figured out how to best avoid said warriors' roving war bands. But on the off chance, one of these notorious warriors peered its head out of the water at a passing ship, an almost curious gaze set upon its bestial head. The creature quietly studied the people on board from afar until one day, it silently approached the vessel in broad Shardlight. Unknowing of the creature, the crew drew their arms as quickly as they could, even as the creature climbed upon the deck without a weapon on its being. After a tense silence, the creature merely extended one of its long, spindly arms, extending its spidery fingers in an awkward invitation for a handshake.

Moments later, the captain of the ship lowered his blade and slowly approached the creature once he sensed its lack of aggression. The creature stood still, allowing the captain to make his advance until finally, their hands clasped together to seal their meeting. Unfortunately for the captain, a powerful blast of electricity surged through him from the creature's hand, killing him in an instant. Horrified at their captain's fate, the crew charged the creature, who retreated back into the seas, bewildered by the result as well.

There was no sign of the creature for the rest of the day until the following morning. The crew awoke to find the creature on the deck with an old fishing net chock full of sunken treasure and fish, all of which valuable and useful to the crew. It was as if the creature studied the crew far deeper than they thought and retrieved these things for them. As the creature departed back into the waters, the crew soon realized that this was the beginning of an unusual and unspoken trading agreement with the Anchordread.

====''Trading''====
Sailors in the know soon learned of this incident, most of which using this knowledge to furthermore steer clear of the Anchordread wherever they sailed. However, a few more enterprising minds used the tragedy to make incredible gains on the high seas. More of the creatures began to appear along the common trade routes, allowing themselves to be brought on board the ships unarmed. Just like the incident, they would extend their hand in the familiar gesture, at which the crew would put forward one of their prisoners or lower crewmen, someone expendable. The poor soul would be instructed to either shake the creature's hand or walk the plank, at which the usually unwitting person would choose the former of the two. A powerful shock later and the sacrifice was made, the killed man tossed overboard and the trade made in the morning.

This knowledge continued to spread to the coastal communities, the Anchordread somehow learning of these communities as well. In due time, the creatures began to appear on the coasts, most people knowing the meaning of their appearances by the time they did so. At first, the villagers put forth their their prisoners and unwanted, just as the sailors did before them. However, the Anchordread began to take on a more noble persona, new stories emerging from these communities depicting them as servants of the seas who bring forth the souls of the departed into the welcoming waters. The villagers then began offering the infirm, invalid, and the terminally ill to take on the Anchordread's swift embrace.

The change in attitude brought changes from the creatures as well. For one, they would bring more lavish riches and goods to the surface. They also seemed to bury those who died from their contact in a bed of kelp, bringing forth a sense of deep respect for those whom they take from the world. There was a powerful significance of their touch with those they put out of their misery, just as potent as the shock given by the touch.

====''The Embrace''====
People soon began studying these interesting creatures however they could. Scholars became driven by the possible discovery of the meaning behind their lethal touch and the mysterious culture that seemed to surround it. The first inkling of knowledge behind the touch came from a passing ship traversing along one of the Shardstreams. Observers noticed a pair of Anchordread swimming together much like a pair of mated dolphins would playfully traipse the surface. At times, their fingers became entwined, eliciting strong pulses of light surging through veins in their arms while they made pleasant sounds from the contact. It was then when it was first suggested that the electricity they possessed was not just a weapon, but a means of communication between them.

The story spread like wildfire through the research community, bringing forth countless theories behind what a possible Anchordread society may entail. Social scientists and wildlife experts teamed up with the world's finest Alchemists to bring their studies closer to the creatures than they could above the surface. Over time, the Alchemists came up with sturdy submersibles which could bring people under the seas for the first time in their memory. At first, such adventures bore very little fruit. Maybe a sighting of one of the creatures, or perhaps even a group of them in transit. But nothing groundbreaking, as they were hoping.

All until they found a group of them with a pod of orca-like cteylaxes, seemingly riding them like warriors would horses on the land. The aquatic steed were every bit as swift and agile as the sailors told them to be, making it tremendously difficult to discern them in detail. Fortunately for the researchers, the Anchordread seemed able to detect their presence and acknowledge their curiosity by slowing down. This gave the researchers the ability to glimpse at just how the creatures were able to hold on to them. They held onto bored holes in the steed's head, the electric light subtly pulsing along their arms as they manipulated the behemoths' every movement. It was as if the Anchordread were accessing the cteylaxes' minds directly through their touch.

====''Breakthrough''====
An expedition seeking new lands in the north of the world stumbled across an especially revealing sight of the Anchordread: a brutal fight between them and a mighty aboleth. It is common knowledge that even the largest creatures in the Starry Seas will steer clear of the colossal eel-like creature at any and all expense. Between its boundless electric shock, terrifying speed, and unimaginable aggression, the aboleth is truly a thing to fear and avoid. The Anchordread however were fighting it tooth-and-nail, so to say. Their chained weapons arced above the waves, seeking to strike the terrible foe true, all while the slithery mammoth of a beast whipped and lashed about at its quarry. Many Anchordread perished in the battle before they retreated, but one stayed behind to try its hand at felling the foul aboleth, grabbing its tail directly in its last-ditch effort.

The flash of electric light was said to rival even the Shard of Gargonel with its brilliance.

The poor Anchordread was all but vaporized in the blast, its kin crooning out a dirge of sorts upon its folly. With the Anchordread's ranks injured and severely reduced in numbers - and with the aboleth soon leaving the area - the ship took in the survivors of the battle. Medics carefully applied their medicines and treatments to the creatures. Then the impossible happened - one of the creatures touched one of the medics. His fellows feared the worst, but the medic only suffered a numbed arm from the contact. It seemed that the creature became able to control the voltage of its touch. But an even more remarkable happening occurred as the medic felt emotions he shouldn't have had given the circumstances. He felt an intense hatred for the aboleth which took the life of the creature's comrades, almost brought to tears from the profound sadness that followed the loss.

The touch of the Anchordread took on a far greater function than weaponry and simple communication - it somehow conveyed the creature's very emotions with others.

====''The Legacy''====
While it was incredibly difficult to believe that the touch of the Anchordread did not always kill the people whom they touched, more stories began to crop in the research community about such a phenomenon. The creatures were beginning to understand humans in ways that mere monstrous races should not. They were growing a sense of empathy with the surface-dwellers. But just why were the creatures this involved, this interested in humans? Why were these aquatic beastmen pouring as much effort into this endeavor as the humans were in their research of them?

The answers to these questions would only come to the boldest researchers, those who took the place of the Anchordread as the initiators. At first, the contact was quite trivial and hard to decipher. But with further study, more open-minded researchers would finely tune the emotions and sensations brought upon them to bring forth a clearer picture of the creatures' situation, while the creatures would better accommodate their message to the humans' understanding. Through countless mental conversations with their counterparts, the researches came across the core value of the Anchordread's society: the freedom and exchange of information; "the Legacy" as the Anchordread termed it.

A basic understanding of the Legacy is akin to the oral tradition of storytelling in human cultures. Information about one's people is accurately passed down from generation to generation through the practiced and repeated telling of a carefully tailored story. Basic facts, adventures, exploits, achievements, failures, everything that someone needs to know about one's family, tribe, city, so forth and so on, were all contained in the story. Once the story became lost or altered somewhere along the line, the information became such as well. The Legacy works like that, but through the electrical imprinting of information upon cherished objects, such as the weapons passed on through the Anchordread's generations. It is also passed through intimate contact with each other in a familial fashion. Once the objects become contaminated or when relations sour between Anchordread, the Legacy changes.

While a story can easily be changed among humans in the oral tradition through a mere change in perception, the Legacy is not as much so. The Anchordread exhibit a powerful sense of empathy and understanding, allowing them to look past feelings which may alter another's state of mind and to gain the core information behind such a facade. This clarity of mind has allowed the Anchordread to read into human history through their touch with an unbiased and extremely interested perspective, fueling their own research and connection with humanity with as much fervor as the scholars put into their own knowledge of the creatures.

====''Relationships''====
All this discovery has led both mankind and the Anchordread to the present. Sailors and coastal villagers enjoy a rather beneficial relationship with the creatures. The Anchordread serve as not only undertakers for those at the end of their lives, but valuable traders to the bold and adventurous. Not only are they worthy allies on the Starry Seas with literally generations of battle prowess behind them, but they are also profound historians with ages of knowledge available to the most worthy of human researchers.

Away from these communities though, the Anchordread is sadly a being of legend only, monsters who are merely known for their utmost savagery. Were one to approach the Cities and beyond, their understanding of humanity may forever be skewed for the worse...

==The Darklands==
Beyond the Strobelands lie relatively scant parts of the world where there is extremely little or no Light at all. These lands are rarely explored by Citizens and Strobes alike, and for good reason. If it isn't the unforgiving cold that bites through any and all clothing you may be wearing, the truly horrifying creatures who somehow survive here will do you in before you get too far.

===The People of the Soulshard===
[[File:Sacrifice.jpg|150px|thumb|left|An artist's rendition of one of Their sacrifices to the Soulshard.]]
White, short, and stocky in stature, the People of the Soulshard (or as the rest of society calls them... ''Them'' and ''They'') live in a great underground cavern, lit by a single fallen Shard They found soon after the Phoenix's Awakening. While They were primarily an underground people before the Awakening, They required to grow crops and hunt game on the surface in order to survive. But with the Dark fast encroaching Their lands and the flora and fauna around Them dying as a result, They brought the Shard underground with Them to rebuild Their civilization there. The Soulshard, as They had come to call it, would allow Them to continue Their lives uninterrupted by the Dark for many ages.

In due time however, even the life-giving Light of the Soulshard dimmed to but a flicker. In the time of desperation, a religious cult seized power upon Their fear of extinction and introduced a barbaric policy of blood sacrifice. Even though the policy seemed far-fetched and far more radical than most of Them would prefer to follow, it bore fruit at first. The Soulshard miraculously reignited when regularly fed with blood, giving Them the hope they so desperately needed. But the Light of the Soulshard eventually took on a strange, silvery glow instead of its usual golden glory. The Light began to do strange things to Them. Over generations of inbreeding and exposure to the Ghostlight, Their culture mutated into a hive of diminutive albinoid creatures, only just recognizable as people any more.

Very rarely will They come forth to the surface. Even rarer do They interact with the other peoples, who only see Them as utter monsters. Maybe it's Their emaciated appearance. Maybe Their chalk white skin. Maybe Their ferocious battle prowess. But They are a people to be feared in the eyes of those under the Shattered Sun.

====''The Vampires''====
Even with the nourishing Ghostlight of the Soulshard, They still require some form of physical sustenance to survive Their harsh environs. As such, They had to resort to hunting the terrifying creatures which came to exist in the Dark of the surface. However, the creatures of the Dark can be just as fickle as those of the former world under the Cerulean Heavens.

They migrate. They are quick. They are cunning.

Sometimes Their hunters are unable to catch a meal for their kin underground. Long enough of such failure and They become desperate. They sometimes scrape up strange vegetation and fungi from beneath the permafrost. But there is the occasional case of the extremely desperate hunter who spots a stray Strobe or Tanner venturing into the Darklands. Almost assuredly, the hunter is able to capture the stray and bring him or her back to the caves underground to feed the rest of Them.

Despite Their culture of blood sacrifice, They usually use the blood of Their own and frown upon the killing of and especially the consumption of people who have absorbed the Light of the Shards. But sometimes the pangs of hunger overrule Their cultural tenet. They who end up eating the flesh and drinking the blood of such outsiders initially feel far more invigorated than Those who primarily rely on animal food and the nourishment of the Ghostlight. However, a truly horrifying madness sets in over time. The rest of Them have no choice but to exile one of Their own gone mad by such means to the Dark of the surface.

There are as many theories as to the cause of this madness, the Vampirism, as there are scholars and thinkers. But everyone knows the signs of one of Them who has gone Vampire. Her eyes glow a paralyzing shade of crimson as she stalks about her icy environs in little more than a loincloth. Once she springs into action, her speed is truly frightening. And once she strikes, her strength is enough to snuff out the Light from her most unlucky target. Her destruction knows no bounds, seemingly on the hunt for any and all life. Her hunt will only seemingly stop once the world is devoid of any life other than herself.

====''Reaction to the Light''====
While the Vampires are clearly an exiled lot from the remainder of Their culture, They as a whole suffer from a terrible stigma in the eyes of Citizen and Strobe alike. There's of course the issue of the Vampires running around the frigid landscape of the Darklands. And there's the brutal way of fighting They learned through Their hunting of the awesome creatures that roam the surface. But there's also a natural aversion to the Light of the rest of the world under the Shards.

For generations, They basked in the glow of the Ghostlight, which mutated Them somehow into the pale and lithe creatures They are now. The Ghostlight also seems to be of a lesser intensity than that of the Light which the Citizens and Strobes seek refuge under, making for far more sensitive eyes. Finally, despite the Ghostlight illuminating the caverns and nourishing Them in a yet unexplained way, it gives off very little warmth, leaving the caverns almost as cold as the surface above.

When introduced to the Light of the Shards, They show the signs of an extreme allergy to such energy. First, Their eyes become blinded and throb in pain from the sheer intensity of the Light. Over a short period of time, Their skin will show growing fields of blisters where the Light touches the most, giving the illusion of Their skin boiling to an observer. As exposure continues, Their internal temperature will rise to dangerous levels, making Them suffer not unlike an overdose of Stardust to a Citizen or Strobe. In the final stages, They will suffer similarly to that of a stroke, all while dehydrating to fatal levels.

====''The Lurkers''====
Despite the fact that most of society under the Shards see Them are mere monsters and nothing more, some of Them do grow an enormous sense of curiosity about the world of the surface, especially the world beyond the Darklands. Most end up perishing the thought, either through the needs of Their society, the danger of the creatures above, or the greater danger of the exiled Vampires. But there is occasionally one of Them who ventures out, never to return to the caves of the Soulshard.

They soon become nomadic and follow the Shards above, much like a tribe of Strobes. However, They travel in the Dark between the Light of the fleeting Shards, lurking just outside the Light's reach of a tribe at times. They are always at the peril of being noticed by a traveling tribe of Strobes, given their enmity toward the Their kind. Instead, They would try to meet a scout from the tribe if at all necessary. Most of the time, such a meeting is ill-fated, always ending up in a fight to the death. However, there has been a few recorded instances of a more peaceful meeting.

These Lurkers, as They have come to be called seem to be the only way the scholars and thinkers of the civilized world under the Shattered Sky learn anything about Them and Their culture. Monsters though They may be.

====''The People''====
[[File:Them Raider.jpg|150px|thumb|right|An artist's rendition of one of Their raiders.]]
The surface-dwellers know this much about Them - blood-thirsty creatures of a cult mentality who sometimes splinter off from their cult to better understand others around them. However, this knowledge is only the tip of the iceberg about Them. As a matter of fact, They consider the Vampires and Lurkers to be extremely fringe elements among Their society. The following is anecdotal knowledge of Their culture, passed on by a rare Lurker who made successful, peaceful contact with a Strobe tribe.

=====''The God of the Sun''=====
Long ago in the world under the Cerulean Heavens, long before the age of Kings and even longer before the Awakening, existed one People. This People looked up to the Sun in the sky above them and saw it as a mighty God, a God who bore the People from the mud of the world with only his benevolence. In return for the God's gift upon the People, the People brought forth gifts upon the God as thanks. Over time, the People recognized the greatest gift of all to their God, the blood of the God's children. Only through the blood could the God understand the lives and experiences set upon His children and find joy in His existence.

The God's joy brought forth lesser Gods to govern the wilderness around the People, Gods in which the People could more directly come into contact with. The God had hoped that delegating His responsibilities would give Him more time to understand his People better. However, some have come to ally themselves with these lesser Gods, who they found kinder and more peaceful than the God who required their blood for appeasement. The splintering of the People brought the God into a righteous anger, commanding His People to quash their heretical brothers and bring them back under the God's fold.

=====''The Shattering''=====
Witnessing the merciless, divine fury of the Sun God, the People continued to drift apart. Some of them further allied with the lesser Gods who grew in power thanks to their worship. There were others who sought to reform their worship of the Sun God to make peace with their splintered brothers and sisters. Others still sought to eschew their bonds under the Gods' control altogether. The Sun God found Himself growing weak from the dwindling devotion of the People, watching them disperse across the corners of the world. The weakness turned into loneliness, and the Sun God could only watch the very People be borne grow into their own, shedding their ties to the Sun God altogether.

In due time, even the lesser Gods felt the backlash of an increasingly disparate People, watching them splinter off into peoples of their own before they succumbed to a terrible slumber. However, the peoples continued to exist alongside the lesser Gods' domains of nature, allowing them to continue existing despite their slumber. The Sun God however met a far more awful fate. So drained of His power from the complete and utter lack of devotion, He would not merely fall into a slumber as did His counterparts. Instead, He would die in a brilliant flash of Light, His vessel shattered in countless pieces. But only the very few who still recalled the old days of His glory saw it as such. The heretics would only come to know of this as the Phoenix's Awakening.

=====''The Orthodoxy''=====
With the Sun God destroyed, the few who still carried faith in Him saw it as their ultimate forsaking. The Sun God has finally rejected his People in return for their rejection of Him. With the darkness and cold growing around them, the true believers went underground with a piece of Him they came across in their journeys in hopes of rekindling His glory. This piece of Him would become commonly known as the Soulshard, and its story would become well known through the world's travelers and adventurers. However, They (as the true believers would become known as to the outside world) would live through the Soulshard's demise and the further degradation of Their culture. As the bards of the surface recall, a cult would take over and bring forth a policy of blood-spilling to feed the dying Soulshard.

This cult claimed to have the knowledge of the Sun God from the People's earliest days. While the idea of spilling blood to feed the Soulshard understandably was met with resistance, the results were undeniable. They increased Their numbers and Their underground territory over time with the newfound powers of the Soulshard, even growing lush forests and jungles within the otherwise dark caverns with the Soulshard's Ghostlight. They even started to expand into underground Cities of their own, some of which rivaling even the mightiest Cities under the Shardstreams. The Orthodoxy, as the cult would come to call themselves, soon found themselves in a position of power beyond their wildest dreams.

=====''The Rebirth of a God''=====
Though They grew and prospered under the rule of the Orthodoxy, They also came to understand that They could only go living on under the Soulshard and the other Shards They would come to take underground from the surface for so long. A more permanent solution was required for Their survival. Facing this inevitability, the Orthodoxy presented an idea which most would consider laughable, at best. For a dying People however, the idea was so crazy that it had to work.

They had to reassemble the Sun in order to resurrect Their God.

They had to find all the Shards they could, for starters. Fortunately though, enough of their blood spilled upon a Shard would allow them to grow, so they didn't have to find every single Shard in existence, which would pose an impossible task. While this part was possible, there is always the problem about putting the Sun back into the sky. This part would require a great deal more muscle than They could collectively muster. For this task, They would require the assistance of the slumbering lesser Gods to put the new Sun into the sky.

=====''The Enemy Above''=====
As the true believers of the Sun God, They came to the realization that the lesser Gods would not reside with them underground, as the heretics above allied with them during the Shattering. Instead, the lesser Gods would most likely reside within the spirits of descendants of those who originally worshiped them long ago. They would have to venture above and find those who house the lesser Gods and free them from their bodily vessels. Given Their already present disdain for the Enemy Above, this was an idea that They could get behind - slaughter the heretics above and resurrect their God in one fell swoop.

There are circumstances which make Them pause before going out to do so, though. For one, there is the surface itself, an Enemy of its own kind. Cold and relentless compared to the incubating warmth of the Soulshard-lit underground, the Darklands above makes for challenging terrain for the People, requiring many layers of clothing to combat the cold and, if they make it there, resist the piercing Light of the Shardstreams. Then there are the detractors. They exiled the Vampires, which incidentally made them a second Enemy on the surface. More importantly, there are the Lurkers who seek peace with the Enemy Above. While largely unsuccessful given the Enemy's bias against the People, there are likely to be a few who are successful in Their endeavors. Such as the one who gave this information to the passing Strobe tribe.

=====''The Enemy Within''=====
Though They are largely united for Their survival, there is one issue which divides Them - the practice of sacrifice. Those in the core of Their civilization are very willing to give Their own blood to the Soulshards as there are more of Them concentrated there. Besides, Their blood is far more pure for the Soulshards' needs and indeed grow the Shards' power much better than that of outsiders. For the communities on the fringe however, Their relatively scant numbers limit their ability to feed their own blood into Their Soulshards. They have to resort for hunting for others to sacrifice to Their Shards, which in turn slows down Their progress compared to those in the core.

The disparity between the core and the fringe, as well as the factors above ground, force Them to bide Their time before launching Their assault on the surface. The quandary thus becomes as follows: bide too little time, and They will become too weak to succeed above; bide too much time and They may die off before They can get the chance to attack. They must figure out how much time They need to take before launching the offensive, especially before the Enemy Above catches wind of Their plans.

===The Old Dineh Lands===
Legend has it that there was once a civilization in the far north of the world who was luckier than most during the Awakening. While its people, only known as the Dineh, suffered much in the Shards' fiery wrath, their City was left relatively intact. They were somehow able to retrieve a Shard that landed nearby and brought it into their City. For ages since, they have prospered as the lands around them succumbed to the oppressive Dark. Weary from the tortured cries of the ravaged souls beyond the City's bounds, the Dineh erected a mighty wall of alabaster around the City. In due time, the Light from the Shard died off and the City began its downfall within the impenetrable wall.

From there, the legend seems to intersect with that of the People of the Soulshard. Desperate times called for desperate measures and blood was spilled to prolong the life of the Shard, with similarly sinister consequences. Perhaps They are descended from the Dineh, who seem to have disappeared altogether from their former City. Regardless of the truth, not even the bravest of adventurous Strobes dare approach the Dineh's former realm. It is said that the souls of their dead, as well as the souls of those they ignored seek the souls of the living to finally free themselves from the Dark's irresistible thrall.

===The Rotting Swamp===
To the East of the Cities lies a large swath of land coated by eternal darkness. This in of itself is not unusual, at any one time more than half of this world lies in grey twilight or blackest night. It is however what hides within this blanket of shadow that makes it both unique and terrifying. Deep within the shade, lies a massive swamp where a great forest and a small City, with no remembered name, used to rest.

====''The City's Former Life''====
The City, at what may charitably be called its prime, was home to near seven thousand and was well known along the Eastern coast as a major source of timber, charcoal and other by-products of wood. Despite its status as a major producer, the City was also extremely poor due to its main exports being cheap raw materials and its rapidly expanding populace consuming its resources. This sad state of affairs was further reflected from both its high unemployment rates and massive amounts of acid rain and smog, generated by the charcoal 'factories' and the constant drizzle of rain that seemed to permeate the air half the year.

As a result of the corrosive precipitation and general lack of sturdier materials, the vast majority of the City’s residential buildings were constructed from the native timber of its industry. The buildings of the City, rather than reach towards the heavens above with majestic spires and towers, clung to the ground as if the Citizens were afraid it would run away, featuring deep basements designed to maximize space while minimizing cost.

====''An Unusual Rebirth''====
With the Phoenix's Awakening, this area was to be one of the few in the world unfortunate enough to not be gifted with any Shardstream or stray beacon of Light at all. As its occupants fled, the nocturnal denizens of the forests advanced in the never-ending night, and the town soon fell into severe disrepair.

Gradually the wooden buildings came to be covered with thick clumps of moss and fungus, the only things which could thrive in such a hostile environment, and rotted to the ground. The sturdier stone factories and official buildings became the refuge of wildlife scavenging the city for its dwindling food sources. The forest, or rather, certain types of fungus, also continued to grow with massive speed, and within two decades the entire area was covered by a thick layer of nutrient hungry fungus that turned everything of organic nature into slush beneath it. The fungi also decayed the rest of the City into ruins with the aid of the still acidic and regular supply of rain water. The larger animals of the forest died out sometime after, providing yet more food for the insatiable plant life.

Over the intervening centuries between the Awakening and the present day, the fungus and decay, combined with the massive amounts of organic matter provided by dead animal and plant life, have been converted into a deep sea of muddy swampland. It stretches almost five miles wide by the best estimates, atop the carcasses of its dead parents. The only life to be found now are massive, sprawling fungi that reach dozens of feet into the air and thrice around, and small insects that feed off of nutrient-rich liquids (including the blood of animals and, by some accounts, the wayward adventurer), algae, and small amphibians.

====''A Cradle of Life and Death''====
There is nothing alive in the City besides its now-established ecosystem of fungi and insects. Other creatures may survive there for only a paltry week before the spores in the air begin to take effect. The kinder ones merely causes intense hallucinations while the more common (and deadlier) ones cause tenacious mushrooms to take root in the victim's lungs, and from there devour it from the inside out.

The insects seem to swarm constantly in the dank coldness, biting and stinging anyone who draws near to their domain, causing infections and disease unknown to even the best physicians of the Cities. The insects are only held at bay by Light, be it from a Shard or even a fire, something so alien to them it overcomes even their hunger and drives them off in their hordes. The ground is uneven and contains otherwise invisible, gaping sink-holes that can swallow horses whole, with muck and slime so thick that men have broken bones being dragged out by their friends. 

If not for the steel machines still within intact factories and the chance of a large sum of gold held throughout the City's bank, as well as the promise of knowledge from before the Awakening, no-one would dare to enter the swamp and face the wrath of its ever expanding, tainted grasp. But, there still exist a few who dare to go where others have died before in search of glory, riches, knowledge, perhaps even more...

And the Rotting Swamp will gladly welcome their corpses.

===The Gateway to Hell===
There were other gigantic Shards which streaked across the blazing sky. One such specimen struck one of the vast deserts of the south shortly after the birth of the Phoenix. Due to the massive sandstorms raging through there at the time, the Shard's downwards course was hastened through the miles of endless storm and debris and eventually crashed into the ground with indescribable force felt even during the worst of the Awakening across the world.

The shard plowed through the ground for miles, burning sand into the pure crystal in every direction much of the way down before it finally stopped and lay still. Rather than fill with sand from around the impact, the area soon afterwards began to calm down as the Shardstream above eventually changed course, broke apart, or simply fell to the Earth below as they were won't to do at the time. The intense storms finally stopped as the land began to turn to eternal night. In the darkness, the Shard became the only source of Light in the entire desert. Its golden-red glow, a mockery of sunset caused by the dust particles in the air, could be seen for miles in all directions. The brilliant glow lit up the sky for hundreds of feet upwards, refracted by the tunnel of crystal encircling the Shard.

====''Hell's Gatekeepers''====
As the local animal and fauna died out all around, the ones near the Shard seemed to thrive as its magical properties rapidly reformed them from the inside out in a matter of years. Cacti grew to massive, gnarled, and twisted sizes, their tendril-like arms interlocking and forming an organic maze around their new source of nourishment. As the cacti sucked raw energy from the air, they eventually evolved into entirely new species. The animals, or more accurately, the scorpions, evolved to their new surroundings, feeding on the swarming insect population and any living creature stupid enough to come to the light looking for warmth. Their already dangerous poisons brewed to new heights of potency by the energy wisping underneath the cacti's reach underground.

====''Into the Scar''====
The actual Scar however, was the most dangerous place yet.

A constant stream of sand whisked into the tunnel by the winds were burned as they passed into the Gateway and drew too close to the Shard. The intense heat surrounding the Shard caused the sand to glow a brilliant yellow as it was thrashed upwards by the scalding air, and the overall effect being that of an endless stream of embers creeping up the tunnel. These embers regularly set fires to the Cacti, whisking a flurry of ash onto the surface which provided the survivors with precious nutrients. The burning smell lingered through the desert as it was spread out towards its many corners.

The Shard glowed an angry red from above. Those who descended into the Scar itself were blinded by the diffused and refracted Light with a multitude of rainbows from all directions, making it even harder to navigate the tunnel's smooth surface. Even worse, it made such poor souls more likely to fall in too deep and be burned to cinders by the sudden increase of temperature. The air within was dry as bone, without a drop of moisture to be found, causing trouble for the throat and lips only a fraction into the cavern.

====''A New Oasis''====
Overall, the massive amounts of fire, ash, poisonous animal life, twisting walls of needle, and hellish glow gave everyone who saw it but even once the impulse to run for their lives from what was surely the home of demons, and gave birth to it's local nickname.

Until recently, that is. In the last few years the Shards Light and heat has begun to die. The fires became fewer, and one can even venture much deeper before the heat begins to become stifling. Because of this turn of events, foolhardy adventurers and businessmen alike now lead expeditions down the Gateway in search of the treasures of the Gateway. Awaiting the successful are the valuable resources of the Shard which could still be exploited for profit, as well as the poison of the scorpions, a very sought after ingredient for both Alchemist's potions and assassins daggers alike.

===The Castle on the Shard===
There are also legends of a truly massive Shard which obliterated an entire Kingdom by itself upon the Phoenix's Awakening. Even the hallowed historians of the House of Arzot touched upon the disaster in their annals, despite their diligence to omit rumors and legends from their texts. In the current day, the crater caused by the impact filled with water now deep in the Darklands.

But why water rather than ice in the impossible cold of the Dark?

Perhaps the answer lies in another question: Why is there a castle in the middle of this lake? It is rumored that the castle has something to do with the Shard. Either that it's built upon the Shard which caused the crater lake or, more astonishingly, the castle IS the Shard. Given the power that such a Shard had to have in order to wipe the former Kingdom off of the map, it would make little sense that the Shard lost enough of it for normal people, even the People of the Soulshard, to excavate by themselves. Whatever power carved into the fallen Shard has to be absolutely terrifying to most.

But alluring to others...