The Whispering Expanse
Geography
The Whispering Expanse is the quiet heart of the Temislow Canyons—a dark, glassy pond sitting in the carved-out hollow where a mighty lake once churned. Its surface is eerily still most days, with wind barely touching it. Despite its reduced size, it retains a shocking depth—over 70 meters in the center—leading many to misjudge it as shallow.
The canyon walls that surround it are steep and jagged, streaked with mineral lines from centuries of evaporation and erosion. Crumbling trails zigzag down toward the pond, often slippery and unstable, but that hasn’t stopped the curious or the foolish.
Ecosystem
Despite its size, the Expanse supports a dense and strange ecosystem:
- Thick mats of moss coat the rocks around the waterline.
- Gnarled, drought-resistant trees cling to the edges of the cliffs, their roots wrapped in stone.
- Water lilies drift lazily across the surface, blooming with pale, bioluminescent flowers at night.
- Frogs, some translucent and nocturnal, sit motionless until disturbed.
- Insects have adapted to the Expanse's still air and damp shade, including one species of humming mosquito that buzzes at a frequency that irritates magick-users.
- Fish, mostly small silvery varieties, dart through the black water. At least one has bioluminescent organs that flicker under stress.
Ecosystem Cycles
The Whispering Expanse follows its own rhythm:
There are two primary seasons—Drownedlight (wet, cold, fog-heavy) and Bonebright (dry, hot, evaporative).
During Bonebright, water levels drop sharply, exposing cracked mud shelves around the edges, revealing bones, old offerings, and even scraps of clothing. In Drownedlight, thick fogs roll in, often lasting for days, muffling sound and making it hard to tell distance or direction.
Moonpull Tides—Three times a year, when the two moons align, the Expanse swells unnaturally, like it’s breathing in. No known source of the water has been found.
Localized Phenomena
Ralnin lives here. Once a nightmare that dragged victims from the riverbanks, Ralnin is now dormant in the deep, coiled around the jagged stone vents at the bottom of the pond. His presence warps the pond's nature. The water never warms, even in Bonebright. Sound carries strangely; people claim to hear whispers from beneath the water, even when alone. Sometimes, the pond exhales—a deep, wet, sucking sound as if something stirred beneath. “Catch and release” stories persist: some swimmers vanish for minutes, return pale and silent. Some never come back. Magick behaves oddly here and divination often fails.
Fauna & Flora
Pale-Eye Frog: Can only be found in the Expanse. They live in crevices near the water and have glowling yellow eyes. They fall silent when Ralnin stirs, acting as an early warning systems for locals.
Shimmerfish: These silver-scaled fish use light pulses to communicate. Sometimes they from swirling "light rings" near the pond's center. Locals believes this is a sign that Ralnin is listening.
Whisper Lilies: These large, nocturnal lilies that emit a soft flow and gentle hum at night. The sound varies by wind and the season. Some scholars believe it’s mimicking voices it has "heard." The petals contain mild sedatives—used in rituals by thrill-seekers.
Natural Resources
Whisper Lily Extract (sedative; mildly addictive).
Mud of Memory: The dark pond muck contains strange minerals that are rumored to allow vivid hallucinations or past-life recall.
History
Centuries ago, this pond was a massive lake, fed by a river that carved the Temislow Canyons over millennia. As the climate shifted and the river dried up, the lake shrank. But the real damage came from human obsession. Tourists, collectors, and cultists dredged the bottom for souvenirs—bottled water, handfuls of mud, even netting fish and frogs to take home. Eventually, the lake could no longer recover. What remains is the Whispering Expanse—a shadow of itself, with Ralnin curled at the bottom, dreaming, waiting.
Tourism
Despite warnings, the Expanse remains a major tourist draw, especially for:
- Urban thrill-seekers
- Amateur cryptid hunters
- Budding cultists
- Romantics hoping to be “marked by the monster”
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