Tears

"Oh, you want to know more about the Tears? So would I frankly, but I'll tell you what we know. Just keep in mind, it's not much..."

-Elyrios Willowind, Pathfinder and Arcane Scholar

While it's true that a day on Nowhere is far weirder than a day in most other realities, the island is broadly speaking about as dangerous as any other tropical island. The lack of abundant prey makes it difficult for sizable predators to survive and any creatures randomly pulled to the island that are deemed a threat to its inhabitants are quickly dispatched by The Pathfinders.

However, Nowhere's most dangerous phenomenon, Tears, are not so easily dealt with. Tears are fractures in spacetime that appear seemingly at random around the island and cause substantial distortions in the fabric of reality. These distortions can range from spontaneous mutations in nearby living creatures, to drastic temperature changes that lead to wildfires or cold snaps, to destructive energy blasts that leave the island's terrain scarred for years to come. Tears manifest at varying rates, but on average appear once every week and a half.

Dealing With Tears

When a new Tear is discovered, a group of Pathfinders is dispatched to secure the area, deal with any Echoes that fell through it, and stabilize the space around it. This task can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days depending on the severity and location of the Tear, but once complete allows the residents of Nowhere open access to the connected reality. After the immediate danger has been contained, a group of Pathfinders is tasked with patrolling the surrounding area while the rest wait for The Keepers of the Tower to deliver a Needle to New Harbor.

Once the Needle arrives, another group of Pathfinders is sent into the Tear to correct whatever distortions they find in the connected reality. After cause of the distortions is dealt with the Tear will close automatically, and any residents of Nowhere are pulled back to the island. For more information see: Pathfinder Missions.

Travel Through Tears

To enter a stabilized Tear, a resident of Nowhere simply needs to pass through the open rift. This generally causes a brief period of disorientation as the person adjusts to their new environment, but once settled they may interact with their new reality as if it was their own. However, any actions taken by residents of Nowhere in a foreign reality while they are not in the presence of a Needle will cause mounting distortions that can eventually result in the collapse of that reality.

While passage through Tears is strictly forbidden for the general populace, many Pathfinders have deals or agreements with members of The Merry Folk and are willing to allow their agents passage into the connected realities. In exchange, The Merry Folk will allow The Pathfinders first pick of the items they bring back and access to any powerful tools that could aid The Pathfinders in suppressing the Tears. While this practice is condemned by by the Keepers of the Tower given that it actively exacerbates existing distortions, their reliance on The Pathfinders ensures that their complaints fall on deaf ears.

How Tears Manifest

While the no two are exactly alike, there are some commonalities in the way that Tears manifest.

When a Tear first appears, its form tends to shudder and shift violently as reality itself twists and unravels around it. This is when the Tear is most dangerous. Physical contact with an unstable Tear will cause grievous injuries, and the unpredictability of their shapes can catch unwary citizens off guard if they get too close. Tears in this state also radiate distortions in reality that warp or damage their surroundings, so Protectors tasked with stabilizing Tears are often forced to do so from long ranges to avoid any stray destructive effects. The frequency and severity of these effects are influenced by the amount of distortion in the connected reality, and in the worst instances can affect areas up to half a mile from the Tear itself.

Once they are stabilized, Tears resemble jagged scars in space that either emerge from the ground or float a few feet in the air. They range in size and can be anywhere from 3 to 50 feet long, but generally are no more than 10 feet wide. The edges are the visual aspect of stabilized Tears that tend to vary the most. Some are highly geometric and resemble fractured glass, others fray at the edges like torn fabric, and others still ripple and flow like water.

Type

Metaphysical, Supernatural