Magic: Deep Zones
Deep Zones are contained areas of high-intensity magic of which there are potentially hundreds or thousands throughout the Coast. Boasting levels of magical intensity to rival the Sea beyond the Threshold, they are dangerous and often forbidden land for those living in their proximity. This is not due to mythology or old wives’ tales but because they are astoundingly deadly to all but the strongest human beings.
In spite of their malevolence, deep zones seem to exhibit a stabilizing influence on the land around them; almost all of the major settlements on the Coast have a deep zone nearby. The zones themselves can vary greatly in size and appearance. For instance, The Well located next to Althea is about the size of a small lake; whereas The Tear located in the center of the Northern Reach is a tremendous canyon over 700 meters (2,300 feet) long. Some deep zones are so inaccessible, so incomprehensible, or so malignant that they have escaped all human observation.
The list of known deep zones is as follows:
The Fingerprint
A perfectly round, 11km (7 mile) wide lake next to which Ashimachi was built, The Fingerprint has been hailed as a holy site for the Dreamswallowers faith since before the city's founding in LN 1. Formed more like a sinkhole than a lake, the Fingerprint's sides drop off no more than a few feet from the shore. To the best of human knowledge The Fingerprint appears to be bottomless; even a sorcerous working conducted by an enterprising young mage in LN 739 found that the lake exceeded the maximum depth a fish could dive (more than 8,000km [5,000 miles]) with no end in sight.
The upper waters of the Fingerprint are safe to dive or swim in, but the shockingly wide variety of marine animal life that inhabits it make it a dangerous proposition. The corpses of anomalous, never-before-seen creatures occasionally wash up on the shores of the Fingerprint, though where they come from remains a mystery. The Storm
Located in the sky above the Aakashe where Chamatkaar stands, the cleverly-named Storm takes the form of an everlasting thunderstorm that spans dozens of miles. Though a proposal was once made for a strike team of Drachenkrone's Falcon Knights to attempt to investigate it, the constant lightning strikes running through the clouds dissuaded all parties involved from even making the attempt.
Rainwater from the Storm has been confirmed to be magically charged, and is theorized to be the root cause of the supernatural fecundity of plant life in the Aakashe - where a cut clearing can be overgrown in a matter of hours. The Eye
South of Xinyuan, at the center of the Southern Reef, is a seemingly infinite whirlpool. Its core measures just a few feet wide, so it presents little to no risk to anything larger than a canoe and does not generate enough suction to endanger humans who fall into the water nearby. Peering down the funnel reveals pitch blackness on the other side, with the water cascading down the sides of the vortex seemingly falling away into nothing.
Once, an Explorer's Guild representative lowered into the funnel with a rope died of magic exposure symptoms before his companions could even pull him to the surface. The Throat
The active volcano around which Calava was planned, The Throat was first identified as a Deep Zone in early LN 580 when a team of Drachenkronian scientists attempted to scale its crater. Though they were able to detect the heightened magic as they approached its vent and withdrew, the entire party died of magic exposure symptoms days later. Curiously, the enchanted magma of the Throat does not seem to conduct these extreme energies, meaning Calava has not turned into a massive deep zone due to its use of the magma in heating the city. The Well
A lake formed of pure, swirling, amorphous energy, The Well is the most significant feature of Althea, which is perched upon a sheer cliff overlooking it. Lit from below by an unknown source, the Well shifts colors constantly and its surface visibly changes consistency in increments of minutes or seconds. Its surface fluctuates between displaying solid, gaseous, and liquid traits at different times. It is unknown how deep the Well runs, and Althean researchers once theorized that the contents of the zone are not any type of enchanted water or liquid at all but pure, unbridled magic. They were, however, unable to assess what mechanisms could possibly prevent such concentrated magic from simply erupting out of the Well and turning the entire region into pure chaos. Special teams of explorers called Welldivers have explored its interior with the aid of powerful artifacts. The Tear
The largest of all the deep zones, The Tear takes the shape of an enormous ravine which slices through the middle of the Northern Reach outside Maqqia. Though the surface is relatively safe for human exploration, its steep walls make for a treacherous descent, and its surroundings are filled with violent and unpredictable weather patterns, absurdist geology, and brutally hostile plant and animal life. The Reef
The best-known deep zone not located near a city, The Reef stands just outside the Threshold northwest of Ashimachi. It is a place where the laws of physics and reality are not broken, but rearranged in unnatural ways. Matter itself is pulverized into a slurry and unified with other states in a way that is difficult for the mind to comprehend. A person entering the Reef for the first time would find their mind fused with those of all the animals, plants, insects - even the dirt and stones of the Reef, and realize in an instant they had become one with the force of life within the boundaries of the deep zone.
Any attempted act of destruction instead results in new life: drawing the blade of a sword across a man’s torso in the Reef would leave a trail of spontaneously generated body parts - eyes, mouths, fingers, bones - with no injuries to speak of. Located too deep into the Coast for a settlement, the Reef has been explored and documented (by Ashimachian Dreamswallowers known as the "Chosen of the Reef") more than any other deep zone due to its relative safety.
A perfectly round, 11km (7 mile) wide lake next to which Ashimachi was built, The Fingerprint has been hailed as a holy site for the Dreamswallowers faith since before the city's founding in LN 1. Formed more like a sinkhole than a lake, the Fingerprint's sides drop off no more than a few feet from the shore. To the best of human knowledge The Fingerprint appears to be bottomless; even a sorcerous working conducted by an enterprising young mage in LN 739 found that the lake exceeded the maximum depth a fish could dive (more than 8,000km [5,000 miles]) with no end in sight.
The upper waters of the Fingerprint are safe to dive or swim in, but the shockingly wide variety of marine animal life that inhabits it make it a dangerous proposition. The corpses of anomalous, never-before-seen creatures occasionally wash up on the shores of the Fingerprint, though where they come from remains a mystery. The Storm
Located in the sky above the Aakashe where Chamatkaar stands, the cleverly-named Storm takes the form of an everlasting thunderstorm that spans dozens of miles. Though a proposal was once made for a strike team of Drachenkrone's Falcon Knights to attempt to investigate it, the constant lightning strikes running through the clouds dissuaded all parties involved from even making the attempt.
Rainwater from the Storm has been confirmed to be magically charged, and is theorized to be the root cause of the supernatural fecundity of plant life in the Aakashe - where a cut clearing can be overgrown in a matter of hours. The Eye
South of Xinyuan, at the center of the Southern Reef, is a seemingly infinite whirlpool. Its core measures just a few feet wide, so it presents little to no risk to anything larger than a canoe and does not generate enough suction to endanger humans who fall into the water nearby. Peering down the funnel reveals pitch blackness on the other side, with the water cascading down the sides of the vortex seemingly falling away into nothing.
Once, an Explorer's Guild representative lowered into the funnel with a rope died of magic exposure symptoms before his companions could even pull him to the surface. The Throat
The active volcano around which Calava was planned, The Throat was first identified as a Deep Zone in early LN 580 when a team of Drachenkronian scientists attempted to scale its crater. Though they were able to detect the heightened magic as they approached its vent and withdrew, the entire party died of magic exposure symptoms days later. Curiously, the enchanted magma of the Throat does not seem to conduct these extreme energies, meaning Calava has not turned into a massive deep zone due to its use of the magma in heating the city. The Well
A lake formed of pure, swirling, amorphous energy, The Well is the most significant feature of Althea, which is perched upon a sheer cliff overlooking it. Lit from below by an unknown source, the Well shifts colors constantly and its surface visibly changes consistency in increments of minutes or seconds. Its surface fluctuates between displaying solid, gaseous, and liquid traits at different times. It is unknown how deep the Well runs, and Althean researchers once theorized that the contents of the zone are not any type of enchanted water or liquid at all but pure, unbridled magic. They were, however, unable to assess what mechanisms could possibly prevent such concentrated magic from simply erupting out of the Well and turning the entire region into pure chaos. Special teams of explorers called Welldivers have explored its interior with the aid of powerful artifacts. The Tear
The largest of all the deep zones, The Tear takes the shape of an enormous ravine which slices through the middle of the Northern Reach outside Maqqia. Though the surface is relatively safe for human exploration, its steep walls make for a treacherous descent, and its surroundings are filled with violent and unpredictable weather patterns, absurdist geology, and brutally hostile plant and animal life. The Reef
The best-known deep zone not located near a city, The Reef stands just outside the Threshold northwest of Ashimachi. It is a place where the laws of physics and reality are not broken, but rearranged in unnatural ways. Matter itself is pulverized into a slurry and unified with other states in a way that is difficult for the mind to comprehend. A person entering the Reef for the first time would find their mind fused with those of all the animals, plants, insects - even the dirt and stones of the Reef, and realize in an instant they had become one with the force of life within the boundaries of the deep zone.
Any attempted act of destruction instead results in new life: drawing the blade of a sword across a man’s torso in the Reef would leave a trail of spontaneously generated body parts - eyes, mouths, fingers, bones - with no injuries to speak of. Located too deep into the Coast for a settlement, the Reef has been explored and documented (by Ashimachian Dreamswallowers known as the "Chosen of the Reef") more than any other deep zone due to its relative safety.
Additional Info
Magic: Overview
Magic: Power Levels
Magic: Deep Zones
Magic: Spirits, Gods, and Deicite
Magic: Wisps, Demons, and Djinn
Magic: Overview
Magic: Power Levels
Magic: Deep Zones
Magic: Spirits, Gods, and Deicite
Magic: Wisps, Demons, and Djinn
Comments