Great Beast Archipelago

The last haven against that prismatic Dark, the Temple upon Her Bones...

The Great Beast Archipelago, formerly the Great Beast Island and liturgically known as Eislamn ken Lugha, is the singular known bastion of toxelugh civilization in all creation. The Archipelago is quasi-gravitationally bound together, each island maintaining a consistent relative distance from all the others as they collectively drift through the wider Evervoid.

Lugha's Bones

The Great Beast Archipelago is special for its serendipitous integration with the decayed corpse of an as-of-yet unidentified megalithic creature. Lugha, as She is officially named by the clergy of Ket Maragh, perished long enough ago to be fully buried within forming or coalescing landmasses, Her carcass neatly integrated into the land. An estimated 30-40% of the mass of the Archipelago initially came from the Great Beast's body.

Something still unknown, and in fact forbidden to be studied, about Lugha's body and bones is toxic to the Evervoid's prominent Darkshine flora. This toxicity can take years or decades to leach into newly integrated land brought into the Archipelago and is thought to be a limited resource by the lead catatologists of Khyth Vaaxa, though exactly how far the Archipelago could be extended without endangering the land to Darkshine's presence is forbidden study.

Regions

Due to terrain drift and the relatively messy events of the Sundering, the Archipelago consists of more than just the nine major islands, though the minor islands are closely clustered together enough to be influenced by their "parent", and are thus considered a part of the overarching region.

The islands were originally divided to segregate the Nine Lights and their influences from one another, and as such, the regions are currently divided along these elemental lines rather than true geographical or political borders. There are some phenomena that "spill over" into the neighboring regions, but for the most part each one retains an entirely unique environment.

Khythis

Khythis, the central island which retained the densest cities of the Archipelago and still hosts the largest unattuned population of toxelugh, is the closest in environment to the wider Evervoid. Named for Khythis Allseer, the first toxelugh to ever Attune to one of the Lights, the island's vast system of caverns serve as the infrastructure and housing for the Space Attuned amongst the Ae Lugh. Its capital city, Tagth Maragh, is the single most developed urban area on the Archipelago and was formerly the capital of both church and state, before the former's decentralization and the latter's relocation to Tagth Luuna.

Khythis' mild environment relative to the rest of the islands comes from the First Light's general attitude of non-interference. The only notable elemental corruption throughout the island is the ease of which land becomes "bound" to Khythis and sets itself on a collision course for the island's core. This, of course, poses a problem to the high civilian population, as drifting islands will often carry harmful plants or animals directly to Khythis itself.

The island's central location is further given importance by the presence of the Black Gates, structures that house the powerful line-of-sight teleportation arrays known as Silk Mirrors. While each connected region has at least one, all extant Gates connect back to their partner on Khythis. Maintenance must be undertaken by specialists within the Ae Lugh, so having half of the Gates on their designated island helps with the logistics of otherwise very dangerous esotechnology.

Imprisoned in a complex state of stasis at the core of Khythis, embedded in the fossilized remnants of the Beast's womb, is the former Grandmaster Anvil Strongheart. Her catatonic state is a resource, and has been since the Sundering. Anvil's Divine Art was one of phenomenally efficient gravitational control, which allowed her to maintain control over the total motion of the Archipelago's land. Keeping civilization from literally drifting apart became her job post-Sundering, and in absolute commitment to this duty Anvil underwent the imprisonment willingly. Khythis' integrity is vital to the Archipelago's cohesion, as even just a few weeks without the stabilizing force would cause the constructed bridges between nearby islands to break.

Vanhall

Vanhall, the island which defines "North" by its relative position to Khythis, is the hottest of the Archipelago's islands, permeated by residual Fire energy and warped into its current state. It is named after Vanhall Moorglass, the first toxelugh born Attuned to the Light of Fire. Vanhall is one of the harshest regions of the Archipelago, with temperatures often exceeding 40°C (104°F) and humidity near-absent from the land. The terrain has been weathered by the hot, dry winds and the continual infusion of Fire energy to create a vast desert.

Vanhall is near-exclusively inhabited by toxelugh Attuned to Fire and Magma, as their innate heat resistance is necessary to survive long-term on the island. Its main cities are clustered towards the Southern end of the island, where temperatures tend to be more mild, and on the two plateaus in the far North. The Ae Lugh citadels and prime sites, contrasting this, are located in the very heart of Vanhall's boiling basin, centered on the salt lake Brinesand.

In terms of food and water, Vanhall is by far the most barren of the regions. Special desert flora found by Ae Lugh Wildrunners have been incorporated into the ecosystem, but their efforts can only provide so much. The water issue is much more pressing. While Fire and Magma-Attuned toxelugh can withstand the intense heat of the island, their need for liquid water is only marginally reduced. The aridity puts great strain on their stores of water. Specialized teams and infrastructure to harvest (quite hot) water from the region of Lakesleep below Vanhall have been expanding in recent decades to combat the constant need for imports.

Vanhall's food trade is largely done in the same cycles as their sand exports to Relkim, which requires the abundant material to enrich their own soil. These exports, alongside glass, make up the majority of Vanhall's sparse industry economy.

Hahshin

Hahshin, the Archipelago's Northwest island and region, hosts a relatively mild but endlessly mysterious part of the Archipelago. Said to contain the broken-off wing-bones of the Great Beast, the island is named for Hahshin Snowspinner, the first toxelugh Attuned to the Light of Smoke. While the environment is liveable, if a bit humid, navigation around the region is difficult.

Hahshin is enveloped in a permanent thick mist, fueled by both the elemental Smoke corruption and the interactions its land has with neighboring Aevlau and Vanhall. This unending fog is fueled by the circulating wet winds brought from Aevlau and the hot currents pulled in from Vanhall. Lantern lights accompany most roads and pathways, colored by slow-burning salts for events or special locations to help people navigate the island. Even the Smoke-Attuned struggle to find their way at first, though their elemental "grip" on the vapors around them can give something of an extended sense of touch for their surroundings.

The land is both hilly and forested. Though not particularly flat or jagged, the terrain does require accommodating architecture. Hahshin's land slopes upward towards the central plateau, where the capital settlement lies. At times when the mist thins, more often towards the top of the island, the light of the moons above creates uniquely dazzling atmospheric effects. Some have compared it to Smoke's Stardawn Light equivalent, Aurora, as a sign of intrinsic connection between the dimensions.

Hahshin's damp and temperate environment makes for good agriculture, though the plants that thrive on the island must overcome the scattered moonlight they normally live off of. Cultivation of various edible fungi and spices is most common here. Only a select minority of these are exported to the rest of the Archipelago, though, as the majority of the crops grown on Hahshin are only edible to the toxin-resistant Smoke Attuned toxelugh.

Aevlau

Aevlau, the Archipelago's Western region and island, is a deceptively temperate area to the West of Khythis. Named for Aevlau Starweaver, the first toxelugh Attuned to the Light of Air, the island is perpetually battered by a cyclone centered on its core, one whose headwinds affect the prevailing air currents across much of the Archipelago. This violent elemental corruption is the most widespread of the Islands', though its most concentrated effects are only seen on Aevlau itself. Foliage is notably skewed in the direction of its growth to comply with the winds' circulation, and the three major rivers feeding into the Lake of the Eye (Lanac Eiygha) are similarly curled. Clouds have trouble forming or maintaining their shape above Aevlau, quickly choked into releasing their rain.

Moving "tangles" in the air currents, either natural or residual from the use of Attunement to Air, create more short-lived weather systems. Either friction-heavy charge currents that pull lightning from whatever clouds happen to be overhead or tight cyclonic wind columns can result from these discontinuities. These weather patterns spiral in towards the eye of Aevlau's cyclone before destabilizing themselves.

Aevlau's consistent circulation of eroding winds makes it a poor location for agriculture, save for the deposit regions nearby the banks of its rivers. Hardy crops like Voibric and various tubers are the only things that can be consistently grown against the winds, but enough supply exists that imports for food are mainly fruits and spices. Some modified rooty grasses have been cultivated for a unique Aevlauan alcoholic brew. The outer islands around Aevlau have much more gentle wind speeds, and so hold small settlements made specifically for agriculture.

Crysgaard

Crysgaard, the Archipelago's Southwest island and region, is a flat and cold tract of land. Named for Crysgaard Redmane, the first toxelugh Attuned to Ice, the island is among the least hospitable of the whole Archipelago. Temperatures across the entire island remain below freezing, with the Archipelago's last pass through a local Evervoid cold spot causing Crysgaard to temporarily plummet to -57°C. Its modern average temperature is milder, at roughly -18°C. To the Ice-Attuned, this modern cold is nothing. Even the hiemal blizzard of the last cold migration was livable for them. But very few toxelugh of other Attunements dare inhabit Crysgaard for this temperature.

Crysgaard's neighboring position to Larumer and Aevlau gives it a consistent draft of wind pulling wet air from Larumer across the island. This causes occasional snowfall on Crysgaard, which is managed by its residents to keep it from packing into a complete ice sheet over the centuries of its elemental corruption. Even with management, the soil has become permafrost, and usually has at least a few inches of snow across it. Recent technologies allow for consistently heated roads, which keep at least the roads between locales on Crysgaard visible and snow-free. Some days, given narrow weather conditions, hail may occur across the island.

Crysgaard's architecture and settlements are primarily built out of opaque reinforced ices, which are nearly as permanent and stable as stone under the island's low temperature. Against hailstorms, some settlements have entire domes of this reinforced ice. The largest of these, the city Beigh Reuna, showed the limits of these dome structures during the Meteor Shower Incident of 1058. Damage from the incident stretched through the structure of the ice much further than thought possible, and repairs took a full three years just for the dome itself. The city remains unfinished.

Crysgaard's environment is inhospitable to most plants, and no crops domesticated by the toxelugh grow on the island at all. Wildrunner expeditions have yielded only three species of trees that can root into permafrost, leaving the already flat region even more visually indistinct. Yet some Nature-modified plants have been incorporated into the island nicely, luminescent azure flowers that seem to feed off of the Ice Light concentration and general cold of an area as part of their growth. These flowers, Fossaghs, dot the landscape and are grown on the undersides of settlement domes to create an ambient light without the moons or stars visible above. All food is imported from other regions.

Larumer

Larumer, the Archipelago's Southern island and region, is the wettest reach of the Archipelago, defying some of the stratification of the Evervoid with its Grovespan-height lakes. It is named for Larumer Silkspinner, the first toxelugh to be Attuned to the Light of Water. Larumer's terrain has been partially hollowed out by its inhabitants and partially eroded away by elemental corruption, which gave Khyth Vaaxa's geologists insight into how the many sea-basins of the Humming Wilds formed. The density of Water's Light draws moisture up from Lakesleep, the layer at which most water in the Evervoid hovers, and disperses it into the air as a deep humidity.

Larumer has two major bodies of water, both over a hundred meters deep. The larger lake to the West, Lanac Leirya, hosts many settlements under its surface. These towns are exclusively inhabited by Water-Attuned toxelugh, save for a few coastal ones that can afford the modern ability to circulate air from the surface down into enclosed homes. Toxelugh can generally survive underwater for upwards of half an hour, but the unattuned can only be accommodated for so much on Larumer. The smaller lake to the East, Lanac Ghreine, is much more sparsely populated, and is where a good portion of large fish consumed by the Archipelago are raised.

Larumer's major imports include ice from Crysgaard or through secondary services of the Ae Lugh, as well as construction materials. Smithing or woodcutting on Larumer itself is difficult due to the humidity and high rains, and many underwater settlements require quarried stone instead to avoid rapid rotting. The fish trade requires ice to keep freshly slaughtered fish fresh enough to transport to the rest of the Archipelago, particularly to Vanhall and Vylgkae, the hottest and furthest regions from the island.

Larumer's local cuisine is quite meat-heavy, as most land plants struggle against the common and near-torrential rains that buffet the island and few aquatic species of edible plant have been scavenged successfully from the Wilds. While some food is imported from the rest of the Archipelago, particularly the neighboring Relkim, the locals live on very creatively prepared fish for the majority of their diet. Foods that can be eaten raw are particularly popular, as having to travel above the surface to eat would collapse every city under the lakes. Brining in pools in the deepest parts of the lakes creates the basis for the highest-quality cured meats on the Archipelago.

Relkim

Relkim, the Archipelago's Southeastern island and region, is what can only be described as a dense stretch of woodland and jungle. Named for Relkim Fallenstone, the first toxelugh to Attuned to Nature, it is regarded with great reverence as an important keystone to the growing population of Khyth Vaaxa. Of the outer islands, it has the highest population of unattuned toxelugh, brought by a desire to use the land's elemental corruption to their advantage. While proximity to Larumer gives it some level of enhanced rainfall, the wider wind currents draw more dry air into the island than wet. All this facilitates a comfortable temperate climate, and yet none of it is the corruption of Nature itself.

Nature's higher principle, a mirror to the sensation of Smoke, is that of assimilation and expansion. While neatly contained within the complex mess that is living matter, this corruption causes a quiet festering in all things that do not die. Ancient trees have grown massive, too hardy now to be felled, and enrooted themselves deep into the island. Animals that are not culled grow strange and wild, and the soil is depleted rapidly to grow new life. Despite the seemingly unified threat and wildness of Relkim, there is no shared consciousness behind it all. The Nine Lights have no mind or will, and Nature is especially separate from the concepts of thought.

Relkim produces a vast surplus of food, in a way that seems almost impossible for the region to not use. The Nature-corrupted land feeds seeds and sprouts rapidly, giving them aid in leaching the soil of its minerals as they suck the water from the air. Animals gain similarly large appetites and terrible attitudes, defying domestication more than anywhere else until imposed upon by Nature's green light. Still, when the sickle harvests meat and grain alike, there is more than enough for both Relkim and other islands that require it. Crysgaard is of highest priority for exports, since it cannot produce much of anything for food.

This rapid self-consuming power requires some help to maintain, however. Relkim exports its depleted earth in an equivalent trade with Vanhall and Vylgkae for their rich sands and volcanic silts. Sacrificed to the burning islands, this earth may be recycled, and the enriching matter keeps Relkim's ecosystems from destroying itself under its own weight.

Rakken

Rakken, the Great Beast Archipelago's Eastern island and region, has a dry and temperate climate, but some of the most vertical terrain of the islands. It is named for Rakken Riverbane, the first toxelugh to be Attuned to Earth, and holds the title of the most immediately habitable of the outer islands in the modern era. With Earth's corruption causing the land to buckle and fold over Lugha's spine, it developed the most impressive mountains of the Archipelago over the last few centuries, and has since stabilized.

Average rainfall, average temperatures, mild winds broken up further by its mountain ranges, and average crop yield all make Rakken the most welcoming of the outer islands of the Archipelago. But this peace is deceptive, for the Lights take their toll on every land they touch. One may find that the rivers run as slow as molten glass, the trees are prone to chipping like stone, and the very air thickens in places it lingers for too long. All things not replenished turn slow and dense, thickening into semi-crystal fluids or petrifying into pseudo-stone. While this is great for architecture and durable settlements, it is not so good for agriculture. So long as soil is regularly turned, Rakken does not attempt to petrify it, but diligence is a must. Crops end up tougher and more difficult to chew or process when grown, so only the fastest-growing plants are harvested on the island. Animals, which are fully beyond the domain of the Light of Earth, are much more commonly found.

Rakken's "glass rivers" are a novel attraction, but the stabilized "glasswater" is an incredibly useful resource. Able to insulate and move thermal energy in the same way as water with a much more solid and cohesive form, easily reshaped into temporary or adjustable lenses, and somewhat hydrating if one can manage to drink the glacially-malleable fluid, glasswater is an economic staple of Rakken's trade, a multipurpose boon for society.

Rakken has cave systems somewhat on par with Khythis' Underbelly, but they are entirely uninhabited. Thick and often unbreathable air pockets exist throughout most non-surface caves due to the elemental corruption, and even exiting after one breath may leave lungs too occupied or damaged to continue breathing. The impressive stone fortress-cities of the island are nestled in the peaks and on the slopes of the many mountains of the Mother's Spine, careful to never be caught in a well of stagnant wind.

Vylgkae

Vylgkae, the Archipelago's Northeastern island and region, has the most treacherous terrain of the entire Archipelago. Corrupted by Magma's Light, the whole island is an active volcano, gradually building itself up with the various spillovers and eruptions that happen each year. It is named for Vylgkae Furyqueller, the first Toxelugh Attuned to Magma. The island's neutral temperature is higher than most others, remaining at a balmy 28°C (82°F) on average. However, cooler regions sheltered from the heat circulation in valleys get down to a more moderate temperature of 21°C (70°F). This climate is made well more bearable by the fact that Vylgkae is a semi-arid region, receiving rainfall only sufficient for sparse shrubland and crags.

Strangely enough, the Magma corruption of the island has affected small species of plants as well, giving them heat-resistant new variants that can undergo raw thermosynthesis to withstand the boiling temperatures endured by much of the upper island. Scholars theorize this has something to do with Magma's connection to autonomy and motion. These plants are popular novelties among the Archipelago, with the phosphorescent compounds they can be processed into used in accents for many fashionable clothes.

Vylgkae, despite the lack of consistent water from above, has channels in its underside that collect steam from the evaporating lakes in Lakesleep below. These feed into a network of underground geothermal springs, which erupt out into tiny pools in the many crevices of the volcanic slopes. These springs are one of Vylgkae's great attractions, bringing in thousands of people each year for leisure and medical treatment. The old Ae Lugh medical academies were constructed on land that became Vylgkae during the Sundering, and the adaptation of some flora to the island gave its stewards curiosity enough to inhabit it.

Magma-Attuned toxelugh don't usually use the water springs for leisure, though. Their incredible heat resistance allows them to take comfort in the much more common lava springs present across the island. Whether small lakes gathered from the island's near-constant lava floes or small crevices filled by molten rock from a wayward lava tube, these springs are much more isolated from tourists, a sensibility that speaks to the natural toxelugh urge towards solitude.

Vylgkae does not have much internal agriculture, and what it does have is experimental in nature. To see what crops may become to survive the island, mostly. What the island does produce for staples, it consumes with very little surplus. Spices and other arid plants thrive in its fertile volcanic soils, however, and are shipped out to many other islands. The silt itself is part of a trade network between Vylgkae and Relkim, to support their own much broader agricultural industry.

Tagth Luuna

Tagth Luuna, the sole island in the Great Beast Archipelago to not initially bear a piece of the Great Beast's toxin and the only bound landmass up in Heavenspire, is the smallest region of the Archipelago. Its single island is claimed as neutral, uncorrupted territory for the basis of government. Tagth Luuna hosts the immense palatial complex known as the Temple of the Moon, where Khyth Vaaxa's internal operations are conducted. The temple mount and first transportation to it were established in ancient times, during the rise of the Half-Moon Veil faith. The lunar barques used to ferry people to Tagth Luuna fell out of public knowledge during the Dark Age, and the technology to construct them has only been recently rediscovered.

Unlike the rest of the Archipelago, which has a continuous history about it, Tagth Luuna was fully uninhabited for thousands of years, with full toxelugh presence only reestablished post-Sundering, when the Silk Mirrors were invented. The Temple of the Moon houses governmental operations, but it has also been a site of archaeological study of past civilization.

History

Formation

It is unknown how old the Evervoid is, or how old the land that eventually became the Archipelago is, or exactly when the Great Beast perished and embedded Herself in the grounds of it. History on the order of potentially hundreds of thousands or millions of years is lost to the Wilderness and the Deep Silence. But generally, it is accepted that at one point the dimension began, and that its age is ultimately irrelevant.

Ketem doctrine states that Lugha, the Great Mother who would eventually become the core of the Archipelago, perished after a great battle with Her mortal foe, the formless and faceless power known as the Deep Silence. While the Silence could not directly erase Lugha's mind, it stole those of all toxelugh in the Evervoid and turned them against Her. In an infinite expanse of enemies, the Great Beast fought defensively for millennia before succumbing. Her blessings on those close to Her at the time of the Silence's advance, a defense against its erasure, perished with Her, leaving nothing to mourn the corpse as it slowly buried itself into a large Grovespan island.

The Great Beast's body was immense, thrice the size of modern-day Khythis. As it rotted, bone and blood seared with ever-colorful hatred. Though She remained all-loving, the grief at Her loss of Her beloved people, the overwhelm of Nature with the prismatic Darkshine monoculture in thousands of guises, and at Her finality in powerlessness pushed Lugha to truly and utterly despise the Deep Silence. And so Her blood became poison, Her bones rooted into the world in defiance, and even as Her brain rotted, Her soul held on beyond the pale.

The Island that the Great Beast decayed into became as it was before the Sundering. Her eternal will lived on, withering away all Darkshine that dared attempt to seed itself, and granting the toxelugh who remained a fragment of Her unhoused Mind. And so it remained hallowed land until the Sundering.

The Sundering

The first Attunement was treated as a blessing upon the toxelugh of Khyth Vaaxa. The Orthogonal Attunements centuries after were similarly treated as such. But the Chimeric Attunements were strange, and too rapid to appear, and spelled a pattern of chaos for the far future. The Island was sacred in its form, literally built upon the remains of God Herself, but the intermingling of the Attuned threatened the order that thrived upon Her back.

The church of Ket Maragh saw the potential for anarchic or too-varied Attunements as a great danger to civilization. The careful spirituality attached to the Lights (freshly Nine of them) was under threat. The collectivist traditions that defined civilization could be unraveled if too individual of power was gained. If the Great Mother's purposes were too many, too implausible. If the Oracles could not glean them, perhaps faith would be shaken. Perhaps the sociality so carefully wrought into the toxelugh would wither.

Despite the sacredness of the Great Beast Island and the remains of Lugha embedded within, the segregation of the Attunements was deemed important enough to break the land. And so the Sundering was called, a great referendum of all peoples of the Island to summon blasphemy down to save them. The priests and Oracles spoke half-truth, that the Great Mother's ineffable Mind was growing fraught with too much will to grow, to divide, to explore, and that to avoid a spiritual cancer of their creator and afterlife, the Lights were to be prevented from propagating in number. That the purposes deigned for each shall, in defiance of the will of God Herself, be kept sanctified and pure. That the toxelugh should not remain merely Her children, but rise to be stewards of Her future.

And so it was done, by the hands of the Earth-wielding of the Ae Lugh, at the turn of the year to 376 CE. The great uninhabited bones of Lugha were shattered, the Island torn into nine. Each Attunement granted its home, made only to travel by Earth-ferry until the creation of the Silk Mirrors. And so the Archipelago was born, and so it has remained.

A legendary sacrifice was needed to keep them from drifting apart. Anvil Strongheart, one of the best-respected Masters among the Space-Attuned of the Ae Lugh, dedicated her mind and body to the singular purpose of chaining the Archipelago's motion together as one. Forever kept from the unity with the Great Mother, she is consumed in eternal meditative will to hold the islands in relative place, bound in crystal in Lugha's womb.

Elemental Suffusion

In the centuries since the Sundering, each of the Archipelago's islands has been slowly corrupted by its Light, binding such things to the Great Beast's body and soul in a way that Ketem doctrine says reminded Her of Her temperance in life. The changes were subtle at first, but were noted as being significant by the 500s CE. As this happened, minor breakages and movements of the Archipelago combined with elemental erosion made many of the islands seem entirely unrelated in shape or geography. As of 940, monitored environmental changes have ceased. The Archipelago, still defiant in imposed progress and order on the homogeneous chaos of the rest of the Evervoid.