Errant Edge

Speak not of it
Dare not even say its name
Forsake the thought of being there
Or ne'er be seen again

— Keiman Warning

The Errant Edge is a location seemingly separate from space-time itself, or so Acatians say. It is a very special location because it doesn't stay in one place, shifting itself a few miles over the course of only days.

Geography

The Errant Edge doesn't stay in one location for too long, shifting along the surface of Acate when traffic gets too low, and thus the geography can change drastically between two visits (if one is able to visit it twice, that is). Few things are said to be innate to the Errant Edge in order to identify it:

The wildlife is either silent or absent in the immediate viscinity

Trees and other flora are different in a significant way (warped or twisted, sickly, or flourishing if the area is known for sickness)

Many tiny outcroppings of thaumite

The landscape is irregularly flat or rugged

A thaumite crystal larger than a child is found

While one of these might not be too much cause for alarm, two of these are seen as a bad omen and the area is quarantined for a portion of time (usually about a week).

Cultural Perception

The Edge is known not only as a place of death and mystery, but also one of the twisting of fate and glory. Most people who wander into the Edge don't come out alive, but those who do survive come out Awakened. Trying to seek out the Edge in hopes that 'it won't happen to me' happens all too often, especially to teens or young adults.

The Errant Edge seems to pick and choose who it Awakens at random, and thus people see Awakened as a whole in a highly cautious light. Will they use their new-found powers for good? Will they kill someone because they can? Caution or fear are the words most would use.

Alec, it's best if you simply forget your sister ever existed. It might be difficult, but these things are better left unsaid. She'll be fine out there on her own, trust me.

— A parent to their son about their newly Awakened daughter

Suicidal folk sometimes seek out the Edge just to end their suffering in a way they don't have to do it themselves. More visceral and violent tribes exile their people to the Edge to see if they'll come back stronger. There is even a small cult surrounding the existence of the Errant Edge and hoping one day that it will claim them and make them Ascend into godhood.

Victims

The Errant Edge eliminates any breathing thing that it comes across with thaumite-tipped tendrils made from the land and/or plant life around it. It constricts and crushes tiny beings like birds or rodents, while spearing and impaling larger prey like bears or people. It's rare that the Edge leaves any corpses behind, it somehow preferring to drag them beneath the surface. What it does with these cadavers, no one knows.

Survivors often have impalement wounds in non-vital areas with entry and exit scars. They might also have minor gash wounds from trying to traverse the strange terrain it has around it or from trying to avoid the land's tendrils. Corpses on the other hand are found nearly unidentifiable, usually torn apart or half-embedded in the ground where the Edge once was.

The rare times where many people travel through the Edge at once, corpses are often found within trees, on cliffsides, in rocks and within other parts of the landscape itself, even when the Edge leaves. These remains are rarely perfectly preserved and left to the elements, so finding loved ones or trying to figure out who the persons were is nearly impossible after enough time passes.

Alternate Names
The Edge, Awakening Zone, The Corpsehaul