Entering the Shattered - test

Vibrantly fractured lands crossing ink-black space

A broken and chaotic world. A place with no memory from before 2000 years ago, looking forward the future. A place of wonder with a general fear of the unknown. A place of connection in a separated world.

Its landmasses are floating islands in space, some so small a house can barely fit on it, while others are big enough to contain countries. Floating in the same space are also the Giants —creatures so big that they can partially envelop the Creator.

Away from the islands, only death lies. Thousands of corpses of unknown creatures are scattered across the endless space, forever frozen in a state of decay. No one dares to leave the furthest islands, too scared to find what can kill and leave the corpses in such state.

Ours is a story broken in eras, of which our newest has just begun, and has provided us with the opportunity of new movement at a hand's reach. That is, if one dares to take the leap:

Welcome, to the Era of Movement,

The world

Our world is a heap of islands floating that surround the Creator, he who is full of life. There is also an endless sea of decaying giant corpses, forming an ocean of rot between us and the stars.

Our world's heart is the Creator, a spherical body of colour that bathes us in his light, darkness, and rain. Amongst the people, there's a debate on whether or not it has a mind of its own or not, but the truth is unknown.

Learn more about the Creator

Our lands are a myriad of different shapes, colours, and sized islands. They are scattered across great distance, some closer than others. We've divided them in seven areas, each with their own "hub" island. It easy to travel between islands of the same group, but venturing from a section to another is difficult and dangerous.

Learn more about the Islands

The space that bathes our world is rich and abundant with flora and fauna. There's perhaps more species in there rather than in our islands, yet, in that sea of life, a group of creatures stand over all the others: the Giants. Seven of them traverse our world, blissfully unaware of time, and regularly visit the Creator, holding him as if it comforted them.

Learn more about the Giants

On the outskirts of our world lie corpses of ageless giant creatures. Bodies existing in various states of decay, some almost looking alive, while others are rotten to the bone and near unrecognisable. Theirs is the sea of death, the endless expanse that nobody dares to disturb. Little is known about them yet they have provided ample inspiration for myths and legends..

Learn more about the Corpses

There is a group of creatures daring the deathless expanse, creatures made of the fabric of space: the Stars. Stories talk about how they used to cross the land of corpses and visited our home, and the same stories talk about how people drove them away after taking one of their lives.

Learn more about the Stars

Shattered

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A representation of Shattered, in the common layered style, which allows for a more precise distribution of the islands and avoids an overlapping of them that would be seen if the world were drawn at the same height. This layered method also adds a dark overlay over the lowered islands as you look at higher parts of the map, to show the height.

This simple coloured version aims to show the different regions of the islands, with The Creator being the most complex painted object, representing his importance in our world. The map is drawn on randomly dotted black paper, where the dots represent the faraway Stars, which we yearn to see once again. The corners of the map are painted in plain black without dots, representing the sea of Corpses surrounding our lands.

In this version of the map, permanent pins have been added representing the Creator, the islands, and even some of the Corpses (ones that have affected most people's cultures). And, as a bonus, the artist has added temporal pins that can move around to represent the Giants.

Representation of the Creator (rain) by Catoblepon

Meeraz's silhouette by Catoblepon

Snake's silhouette by Catoblepon

Fukuoshi by Catoblepon

Nera the star by Catoblepon

The story

The story of the world can be divided in seven eras. 2000 years ago is when the history of the world started being recorded, and nothing before that is known of. The world has slowly changed greatly over these thousands of years, yet, it keeps bringing new surprises: the Events.

Every five years, an Event happens. The Event can be a lot of things, from crashing of islands to new species appearing and even long states in the Creator cycle. During in those Events are also when a new era might start.

The start of a new era was marked 3 years ago, when, during an Event, portals started appearing across the whole world. These portals are still being studied by those who dare to cross them, but it's been harsh work and not a lot is known yet. If these are able to being used consistently and safely, it could be the leap needed for people to contact with other people of other regions.

Look at the story of the Shattered

Era of loneliness
The world woke up

Era of
starry night
The first stars visited

Era of
stars' gifts
Souls and magic blended

Era of darkness
The Creator sleeps

Era of
flashing chaos
Light brought havoc

Era of vanishing
The sky felt emptier

Era of movement
If one takes the leap

The living

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