The Shattered Sun

What remains of the sun hangs in the firmament of the skies like a condemned man, drawn and quartered. Where once was a glorious blaze, there is now only a faint, flickering light, slowly dwindling. When that last ray of sun goes out forever, so do we.

The sun - the palace to the divine creator, the god of light and glory, whose journey across the sky was trailed by prayer - is no more. Only fragments remain in the sky, blasted across the horizon by the dying screams of the god that once ruled there. Each one glow with only a fraction of the light it once blessed the world with; a feeble, dying glow.

by Midjourney by Q

The shards of the sun range in size from mountain to pebble. Some hang immobile in the sky, other slowly descend towards the ground and oblivion, as surely as a corpse rots. Most still shed light upon the world, dimmed as it might be, but with no god to direct its course, day and night has died too. Instead, the world exists in perpetual half-gloom, an ever encroaching dusk that keeps the darkness from consuming the world. Such protection is far from certain, however. Wounded, each shard flicker or dim at times, exploding with light at others, and some go dark to never shine again.

Not all shards remain in the sky. Many giant shards were sent crashing to the world below, lodging themselves into the earth like red-hot brands. Civilization grows underneath their light, but the land close to the shard have been boiled away to ashes and dust. Only pilgrims brave these dead lands, hoping to find... Something, anything, that might give an answer to what happened and what will happen yet. Besides these titans, sunshards of all sizes now form a regular part of the world and its function. Sunshards are gem-like, ranging in color from blazing orange to bright white when alive, shining with an inner light. As they cool and die, they become first dark blue like a night sky then grey before crumbling into dust. Each one carry a divine spark, no matter how small, and are not easily worked by mankind. A few, specialized smiths know how to shape and fracture Sunshards, a trade both invaluable and distrusted.

by Midjourney by Q

Sunshards are used everywhere, usually for illumination. Large pieces of Sunshard is sometimes forged into weapon or pieces of armor, the only substance known to truly wound beasts conjured by the Hungry Dark, while the wealthy grind it to powder or distill it to liquid to consume.

The world enjoyed a brief resurgence now called the Age of False Hope, when the largest fragment of the sun shone with unusual brilliance for a decade. As the light spread, lands were reclaimed from the dark, crops grew in abundance, and hope blossomed in the heart of mankind... Only to go out again as the sun-shard did, this time forever. All that had been regain was lost and more.