Bleakstep

The Bleakstep is one of only a handful of true elemental planes, by the academic definition of the term, in the Shardscape. Unlike Shatterspear, which is the confluence of multiple great flows of elemental energy, the Bleakstep is a realm suffused by a single form of elemental energy. Unlike the other elemental planes, Signr's Sprawl, the elemental plane of fire, and Haarakaan, the elemental plane of wind, the Bleakstep does not play host to the energies of one of the classical elements. The Bleakstep is instead filled with the elemental energy of Order.
At first glance, the realm appears to be a fairly typical steppe region. There are scattered sand dunes and large expanses of scrubland with the occasional tree—usually dead and gnarled. The mere sight evokes feelings of desolation and solitude but the landscape is otherwise unremarkable but for two things: first, that all things are drained of color—even the sky's brilliant blue is cast in lukewarm grey—and second, that nothing moves.
In the bleakstep, Order is manifested as eternal, unchanging stasis. Even though scattered sand dunes, short grasses, and expanses of hard dirt and gravel may seem haphazard at first, all these things are in the same place and in the same configuration for all of time. As nothing changes, there can be no disruption to the environment, and therefore, no disorder can be introduced.
The realm is ruled by a mysterious entity known only as the Canon, the Begotten God and incarnation of the concept of Order itself. Its will is enforced by the only beings known to live in the Bleakstep: bleak elementals. These creatures take the form of tattered bolts of black cloth. When dormant, they hang in the air, twisted and contorted in impossible ways. Their forms are unaffected by gravity or the wind, surrounded as they are by an aura of elemental Order that does not forbid the disorder of the outside world to touch them.
When unfortunates wander into the Bleakstep by accident, they are often pursued by one of these bleak elementals. If they are caught, they are robbed of all agency and placed into perpetual stasis to become a part of the bleakstep's Order. These unfortunates are rendered immortal and eternal, aware of their surroundings but trapped in a neverending limbo.
With every year that passes, Bleakstep grows, impinging on the territory of its bordering Shardscape realms and the Shardscape Wilds around it. The ruler of the realm, the Canon, is less a sapient being with motivations and desires, and more a force of nature with a single driving purpose: the elimination of disorder. As the Bleakstep grows, so too does the power of the Canon, and so too do the ranks of the bleak elementals increase. A handful of Shardscape realms have already been swallowed by the Bleakstep, forever trapped in the stasis of its Order, and as the Canon gains the strength to impose its rule further, more are expected to fall into the prison of the Bleakstep in the future.

Type

Plane of Existence