The Shade

Geography

The Shade is but the void within The Clock. It is a vast and empty span of nothing containing within only the faint whispers of the Cryptic inhabitants and the sounds of grinding gears and engine moan. By definition there is nothing within it, marking instead only the span of space between objects caught upon The World-Engine's design.

Ecosystem

The climate of The Shade is one of nothing. There is air to breathe true, but a deep cold permeates this gap between worlds. The heat of the Iyl Draconys does not linger upon its tides for long, and the bitter, solar winds carry upon them a soul-sapping choir, a low hum that drains and draws upon life that dare tread within its realm. Sound carries as well, but the words and music change as they linger, warping in destination and content as the Cryptics add their cries to the volume. Distance becomes meaningless over such a vast space, and the very body rebels at its inclusion in this world of spirits and wraith.
It is an enigmatic place, where direction is divined only by the glaring light of the sun, and the glittering gems in their infinite collection connected by thin streams of silver light that emerge and dissapear without rhyme nor reason. Permenancy is a lie to those who intrude upon this realm, absence being the only true god in these faithless depths.

Localized Phenomena

Despite this plethora of nothing, The Shade can become surprisingly active under the right circumstances. The first, most ill-frequent phenomena, are known as the Sever Storms, or Llan'Seitic by the Elven tribes. During times of great death and pain, The Clock will respond in sympathy, releasing vast amounts of arcane energy into The Shade. These events are as beautiful as they are terrible, for the very air alights with impossibility and creation, even as those caught upon their tides are changed and broken by their passing. They also release vast amounts of The Fel, enough even that the Cryptics cannot abide its poison, and those suffer its touch become twisted and malefic. Fortunately, a Sever Storm has not struck in several millenia, and the world is more peaceful for it.
The other is more permenant, and by nature of it always being around, more common. The Inertia are three ever-moving regions of space in which magic just... stops. Cryptics caught within them are frozen completely, trapped until they move on, and they are places of total quiet. Fortunately, for the Cryptics they are easy to avoid, for The Inertia is nothing but the shadow of The Hands, their pallid reflection abandoned of motion and change. Cryptics caught within and later released claim to have lived whole lives in a mirror world of ghosts and half-formed constructs. No sight of these visions have been witnessed from outside however, and many Cryptics put such claims down to fear and madness, hallucinations designed to alleviate the pressure of such a hellish existence.

Fauna & Flora

The only known inhabitents of The Shade are Cryptics, and they are as varied and wild as concept itself. Each is their own sovereign, each one the hero and villain of their play. As such, there is little attempt to codify what dwells within The Shade, other than that they are dangerous, manipulative and self-obsessed.
And yet, something else lingers within this land of nought. Caught upon chains impossible to see, a great object hangs before the 11th and 12th hour. Somehow formless yet possessed of a terrible shadow that cloaks this portion of The Clock, the mortal races have long given thought as to what it might be. Its nature is obscured, however, to such eyes, and if the Cryptics are aware of what it truly is, they are quiet on the matter, reluctant to speak or even acknowledge its presence. This is The Great Veil, and within its shadow lies madness and those sprits of anarchy and strife.

Natural Resources

The only true resource of note within The Shade is magic, that strange ephemeral power from which all matters arcane are drawn. In concert with this comes The Fel, the bitter twin of creation, sick and vile. It is upon these that the Cryptics feed, drawing their nourishment and therefore defining their lives. So too do mortal pull their power from here, with the aid of spirits and faeling creature, for without such assistance, they would be poisoned by the darkness and devoured whole by its touch.

History

The Shade is merely a consequence of existence, a term to describe that which was not precisely The Clock. Some believe it is a remnant of the void that The World-Engine came to fill, others that it is a byproduct of its emergence. Regardless, it has been and will be for as long as The Clock persists. What is different than when it first emerged is its ubiquity however, a strange concept considering what it represents. When first The Clock was made, The Shade existed everywhere, but as life began to emerge upon The Hands, it retreated back from the mortal realms. Though Cryptics still dwell upon The Hands as motes of light and whispered dreams, their power is much reduced, their existence tenuous unless fully manifested and, therefore, vulnerable. This has allowed mortality to flourish in its own fashion, free of the more overt manipulations. In exchange, it is no simple task to contact a Cryptic once bound in flesh and blood, requiring sympathetic ritual and effort in order to achieve success.

Alternative Name(s)

The Grey, Glymfel, Ainoch'Ar, The Vestigal Storm, The Gloaming Sea

Type

Void

Location under

The Clock