My world is dying. Slowly. Painfully. One piece at a time. Chunks tearing away, returning to the Maelstrom from which it came. I don't know how the world was born, I wasn't there, but I do know it floats in a sea of chaotic energy. I know that however it happened, my world was shaped and formed from that energy. And I believe to that energy, it is returning.
Over 7,000 years ago, 7149 to be precise, the first hole appeared. The great dwarven citadel of Marzakal was swallowed in a pit of fire. It is still there, deep in the Homeforge Mountains. A hole, jagged around the edges, cliffs forever calving off the mountains, as if feeding the molten maw of some hellish beast. It is 27 miles across now. Some sages and scholars predict it will consume the entire Homeforge range within another 100 years.
These days there are thousands of holes. Too many to count. Not all of them are fiery and molten, like the Doom-Hole, as the one at Marzakal is now known. Some are inky nothingness. Some ooze some sort of tainted muck that corrupts all it touches. It was one of those that got Carrasett, the great college of wizardry. That hole opened some miles from the towers of the college, but the creeping ooze consumed everything in what is now called the Chaos Bog. The towers and structures of the university still stand, but their foundations and lower levels are coated in the ooze, giving rise to all manner of hideous swamp-things.
The Edge-Holes, also called the Steam Pits by some, form the boundaries of our world. There were those who once believed our world was round. Now, all that's left is a flat piece of earth, hemmed in by blazing chasms. Our oceans and seas pour into them, wreathing the precipice in shrouding mists.
Not all the holes are old, huge, or famous. In fact, most are no larger than a modest castle. New ones are forming almost monthly. Yet, for all their differences, they share one thing in common: they mark a point where our world has returned to the raw Stuff from whence it came. They are an encroachment of chaotic energies into our world. They corrupt all they touch, and their influence spreads, once the hole is made. They are killing my world.
=-=-=-=-=
Powered by Blogilo
Over 7,000 years ago, 7149 to be precise, the first hole appeared. The great dwarven citadel of Marzakal was swallowed in a pit of fire. It is still there, deep in the Homeforge Mountains. A hole, jagged around the edges, cliffs forever calving off the mountains, as if feeding the molten maw of some hellish beast. It is 27 miles across now. Some sages and scholars predict it will consume the entire Homeforge range within another 100 years.
These days there are thousands of holes. Too many to count. Not all of them are fiery and molten, like the Doom-Hole, as the one at Marzakal is now known. Some are inky nothingness. Some ooze some sort of tainted muck that corrupts all it touches. It was one of those that got Carrasett, the great college of wizardry. That hole opened some miles from the towers of the college, but the creeping ooze consumed everything in what is now called the Chaos Bog. The towers and structures of the university still stand, but their foundations and lower levels are coated in the ooze, giving rise to all manner of hideous swamp-things.
The Edge-Holes, also called the Steam Pits by some, form the boundaries of our world. There were those who once believed our world was round. Now, all that's left is a flat piece of earth, hemmed in by blazing chasms. Our oceans and seas pour into them, wreathing the precipice in shrouding mists.
Not all the holes are old, huge, or famous. In fact, most are no larger than a modest castle. New ones are forming almost monthly. Yet, for all their differences, they share one thing in common: they mark a point where our world has returned to the raw Stuff from whence it came. They are an encroachment of chaotic energies into our world. They corrupt all they touch, and their influence spreads, once the hole is made. They are killing my world.
=-=-=-=-=
Powered by Blogilo
Sounds grim indeed. In such an environment, I can see dramatic cults springing up. Some trying to bring comfort, and others cynically trying to exploit the fear and hopelessness. Maybe paradise lies on the other side of some of those holes, against all odds, or at least escape from this dying realm. Lots of game hook potential here David, good stuff. :)
ReplyDeleteCool!
ReplyDelete