Great Fissure

The Great Fissure is a colossal rift located on the edge of Sunscald, comprising much of the former territory of the Armaidan Empire, whose destruction left the rift in its wake. Through the intense concentration of lingering arcanist energies, much of the Fissure remains an area of 'unreality', where many of the fundamental laws of the world do not apply. Consequently, uniquely dangerous and frequently illogical creatures and obstacles have emerged within the area. The Great Fissure is avoided by all but the most foolhardy, and has consequently cut off much of Sunscald from the land beyond it.

History

Despite its immense size, the Great Fissure is a very recent geological phenomenon, emerging between the third and fourth century. Prior to the Fissure's creation, the area was was a very fertile region with many large waterways, and the site of the Armaidan Empire centred on the city of Armaidas. Armaidas was the largest and mightiest of the so-called 'arcanist empires', states from antiquity who made vast and widespread use of arcanist magic. Unlike the now much preferred practice of channeling, which achieves supernatural means in concord with the fundamental laws of the universe, arcanism operated by actively destabilising and undermining these laws, allowing for more diverse and extreme magical effects. Armaidan society progressively began to rely more and more on arcanist technology, even - or especially - for minor conveniences such as household food storage. Between 400 and 500, the saturation of arcanist enchantments and artifacts in Armaidas had reached the point that the fundamental laws of the universe had began to unravel in localised areas - the rules had been bent in so many different directions that they finally snapped. This was most obvious in large city centres, where parts of the city had begun to implode, literally turning on themselves. This was exacerbated by the initial Armaidan response of attempting to stifle the damages with arcanist enchantments, further damaging the threads of reality. Over the following years, the Armaidan population centres began to literally implode inwards and sink into the earth, with these fissures continuing out into the countryside to the very fringes of the Empire. Most of the scattered Armaidan groups able to escape the Fissure fleed to the small Armaidan colonies on the Sunscald coast. Though the 'unreality' that caused the Great Fissure to emerge has decayed around the edges, preventing the further expanse of the rift, much of the interior remains an area of intense illogicality. New life forms making use of this unreality have emerged in the environment, aided in their growth by the occasional 'mutagenic bursts' that occur in the Fissure. The environment is considered extremely hostile, and is avoided by all but the most desperate or foolhardy. Consequently, it has cut much of Sunscald off somewhat from the other side of the continent.

Geography and Environment

The Great Fissure is, as the name suggests, a gigantic fissure - a crack in the earth that slopes down to cover much of interior Sunscald, reaching its deepest point around the old capital of Armaidas. The sheer concentration of arcanist enchantments and artifacts, lingering on for nearly 1000 years through the implosions around them, has kept the fundamental laws of the universe very shaky and unstable in the area, with this 'unreality' tending to be stronger the deeper one travels into the Fissure. While the laws of the universe appear to have stabilised around its rim, no one is quite certain what the 'half life' of the unreality in its depths is. The concentration of unreality in the area has birthed some strange geological formations. The chasm's ground is extremely gravelly - this is believed to be the remains of crushed Armaidan houses. Rock formations often defy physics, jutting out at gravity-defying angles or simply floating in the air. These rocks are sometimes described as 'whimsical', as they may suddenly 'decide' to obey the laws of gravity, crushing whatever is beneath them. A full millenium of unreality has caused life in the fissure to take on physics- and logic-defying forms. This is aided by the rare phenomenon of 'Spontaneous Retroactive Mutagenic Bursts' (SRMBs), essentially an explosion of unreality that can retroactively mutate lifeforms in the area, rapidly advancing the potential pace of evolution, if evolution is even an appropriate term. Some species include:

Cyclopes, strong, territorial, vaguely humanoid (though clearly pre-sapient) creatures with shaggy pelts. Much of their heads and skulls are occupied by a single giant eye, and the creature's vision is assumed to be extremely good. The eye does not appear to leave space for a brain of any substantial size.
Hoop snakes, also known as flounder snakes, serpentine creatures with their heads rotated 90 degrees compared to the rest of their bodies, and both eyes positioned on the same side of the creature. They appear sluggish in traditional forms of serpentine locomotion, but can coil themselves vertically into a hoop shape and inexplicably roll like a wheel.
Dart birds, small birds with extremely pointy beaks that hunt by dive-bombing directly into larger creatures and sucking blood from the wound they create. They have no visible wings and yet appear fully capable of high-speed flight within the Fissure.
Dagger root, or antlion root, a carnivorous root vegetable. It has razor-sharp, serrated leaves that are hidden under a thin layer of dust. When a creature steps over the root, its leaves spring out from the dust to impale the creature's foot, absorbing the spilled blood for nutrients. The few adventurers daring to enter the Fissure tend to wear steel boots as a result.

The Fissure is also home to remnants of Armaidan technology, most of which is malfunctioning after centuries of disuse and 'unreality' around them. Booby traps were a common defensive measure in many old Armaidan mausoleums and necropolises, and functioning or malfunctioning components of them are sometimes dredged to the surface of the Fissure, posing another threat for travellers.

Human Exploration

While the Great Fissure is widely avoided by a vast majority of people, a small number are attracted to the area on the promise of fortune and glory. Armaiadas was a rich empire with complex material practices, leading to large stashes of gold and precious jewels buried deep into their palaces and necropolises. Consequently, some in the Sunscald have opted to take on the mantle of 'treasure hunters', venturing into the Fissure in search of riches. The ruins of Armaidas also contain a bevy of rare and esoteric artifacts, both magical and mundane. Even the most well-constructed artifacts are rarely functioning effectively after centuries in the Fissure, but they can often be sold at a high price to collectors, especially the Alethe Chamber of Curiosities in Argyria. As well as fortune, treasure hunters can be attracted by fame, as successful explorers can attain renown and prestige for their journeys, especially if they can tell their stories well. Success is by no means an easy feat, however - the death rate of treasure hunters is very high and any easily accessible treasure was undoubtedly looted centuries prior. Those tempted to go into the Great Fissure must show utmost skill and preparation, or risk joining the bones of the explorers and Armaidans before them.

Type

Gorge / Rift

Inhabiting Species