Broken Moebius

A strip of ribbon found in isolation is generally not regarded by residents of the Manifold as much more than an item for tying one's hair, securing a gift package, or adorning a piece of apparel. A strip of black ribbon found in a broken figure-8 configuration with a single twist at the intersection and the broken ends parallel, however, is regarded by most humanoid cultures to be a dark omen without comparison. This motif, known as a broken moebius, is generally avoided for its frightful associations with chaos, death, and destruction.

Significance

Different cultures and religions have developed different myths regarding the broken moebius motif. In Rostran Esotericism, the symbol connotes a profane break in the spiritual cycle. For the Way of the Biocosm the symbol is reminiscent of an organism bursting or, for more educated faithful, an image of apoptosis. Forgism and the Unexpector faith lack such dramatic origin stories for their fear of the symbol, but evidence for the symbol as a sign of ill portent can be found in various pieces of religious art deriving from these faiths. Captured members of the 125 Hands are known to blanch at the sight of a broken moebius, though they often find it difficult to put the source of their unease into words. For some unknown reason, only the Unnamed Ovinex Religion completely lacks a faith-mediated fear of the symbol. While the origin of the broken moebius as a dark omen remain unknown to historians at this time, what is known is that the symbol has appeared as a motif in a rare few places where great calamities have occurred; it is notable that these instances almost invariably are found where no witnesses are left alive to attest to the symbol's origin.

An Ancient Conspiracy?

In one example of ill fortune surrounding the broken moebius, the Free Faces League expedition to the Glass-Block Fortress uncovered a block with the symbol hastily scratched into it from an archeological dig conducted at the site. The surrounding strata included bits of broken bone, charred plant matter, and other signs of a massacre; tool marks in the surrounding soil indicated that the remains of the people and their camp were unceremoniously buried, perhaps even before the material was completely extinguished. Curiously, while there were primitive writing implements, it appeared that all writing from that strata had been taken away. The researchers speculated that whoever conducted the massacre had taken great pains to conceal the event from the investigations of subsequent visitors.

Broken Moebius by BCGR_Wurth

A replica of the artifact found at the Glass-Block Fortress.

When they were attempting to deliver their findings to the University of Triple Mesas, the researcher's airship suffered numerous mechanical failures just before arriving at the Dorsal C/Eastern G Skystation. Mechanics aboard the station noted that the engine had damage consistent with a sabotage attempt rather than a routine mechanical failure or simple lack of maintenance; the saboteur was never found. Later, when the researchers did arrive, the campus library where their preliminary notes were being held caught fire one night under suspicious circumstances, destroying the original copies of these documents. Much later, the block itself was found to be missing when its case was to be loaded onto an airship for transfer to the University.
It is only due to the team lead's eidetic memory that any of this information has survived for perusal in the current day, with the existing documentation having been reconstituted solely from his recollections. While it is possible that all of the aforementioned events were simply coincidental, there is limited evidence that someone has made a concerted effort to prevent the knowledge of the broken moebius' ancient origins from becoming public. Voxelian Bards-Recursant - having come from a culture invested in maintaining cultural hegemony - were initially suspected, as causing the League to lose an important ancient artifact would be a public relations scandal. However, evidence pointing to Voxelian involvement remains scant, and all such investigations have since gone cold.

Item type

Art

Rarity

Sightings of an intentionally manufactured broken moebius symbol are quite rare, though they cause a commotion when they do occur.

Tools

The most common forms the broken moebius takes are an old scrap of black ribbon found in ruins or, alternatively, a version of the symbol carved into a hard material or stitched into a piece of ancient fabric. The symbol is not generally regarded to have any ill portent about it if it occurs by chance (i.e. a ribbon falling into the configuration when dropped) or when made out of ignorance (i.e. a teenager using it as a motif in graffiti to look edgy), but most humanoids who know of the rumors surrounding the symbol try not to intentionally make it.