The Obelisk at the End of Things Building / Landmark in The Canticles | World Anvil

The Obelisk at the End of Things

Dive into the unknown

Beyond this place, you can forget what you know. The familiar becomes the unknown, the perilous. If you sail too far, you'll reach the point of no return, where all is lost.
 

187 Obelisks of the Song of Things mark the edge of the intricate network that delimit the sung world. Beyond this edge lies only Silence and danger. It is obvious that these marks would attract deranged communities, motivated by the call of the void. If all frontier obelisks gather at their feet a sizeable crowd, none come even close to the Obelisk at the End of Things.

 

Proeminence in the mesh

 

Anyone who ever looked at a map of the galaxy wondered two things: how come a third of the Milky Way is outside of the obelisk's network, and what is this solitary extension that plunges into the void? If the former cannot be answered, the latter is the obelisk of the Song of Things that is further from the galactic center.

 

Towering at a bit less than 700 meters, it is made entirely of a smooth black stone, with dents made by time and erosion. It has multiple spires on its sides, and a mound of debris clutter its base, like it has been carved out of a block of stone and the sculptor did not bother to discard the byproducts of its art. Overall, it is not the most impressive obelisk and even seems more worn out than most of them, though it is not necessarily older than the rest.

 

Due to its distance from the rest of the network, the resonance of the Song of Things is weaker in the whole system, and the obelisk's range is shorter than most. This has been proposed as an explanation for its poor state, implying that the stronger the resonance an obelisk receives, the sturdier it is.

 

Explorer hub

 

Despite the danger of the unknown, thousands of explorers leave the Treyel system each Rinayel year. Drawn to the unknown and the excitation of making a groundbreaking discovery, from the lone fool to the Cantor fleet, they go in legions, never to return.

 

Still, a buzzing town has settled in the debris mound at the bottom of the Obelisk, hiding from the heat at the surface and the lack of atmosphere. There, merchants selling their dubious goods to adventurers eager to depart and vessel makers of various level work together to send more people to their inevitable death, all under the watch of the Infinity Brotherhood, a cult venerating the obelisk and the open infinity of space.

Size
683m
Diameter
150m (mean)
 
System
Teyel
Planet
Rynayel
 
 
Obelisks of the Song of Things
Building / Landmark | Apr 1, 2023

Cover image: Obelisk of the End of Things

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