Introduction

Fracture is a lost world. After The Great Split, its constituent realities fell apart and reformed into pockets of existence. Surrounded by half-transformed, half-familiar landscapes, its first new inhabitants asked themselves what it meant to survive through calamity. Now, thousands of years after their arrival, its natives must reconcile with a new arrival.

Fractures

Each pocket of reality is known as a Fracture. Between the fractures lies Nullspace. A vaccuum is an absence of matter; Nullspace is the boundary against which matter and information falter. Once thought to be impenetrable, a few safe transport methods can survive it.

Following indexing order, the following Fractures are identified:

1. The Absolute Fracture (\(\mathbb{F}_{0}\))
2. Mitost (\(\mathbb{F}_{1}\))
3. Fracture II (\(\mathbb{F}_{2}\))
4. Weltall (\(\mathbb{F}_{3}\))
5. Fracture IV (\(\mathbb{F}_{4}\))
6. Fracture V (\(\mathbb{F}_{5}\))
7. Fracture VI (\(\mathbb{F}_{6}\))
8. London (\(\mathbb{F}_{7}\))*
9. A glitch. (\(\mathbb{F}_{8}\))*

* Not part of the King of Fractures’ domain.

Inhabitants

The Great Split brought three new sapient species to Fracture.

Humans came from Earth from the midst of their own global conflicts. In the face of existinction, they helped their peers and persevered. Brilliantly diverse and social, humans are some of the brightest lights within a community.

The Eldritch species—commonly Snow Elves—discovered the key to genetic fragmentation in their now-lost old world. Eldritch lineage can be almost indistinguishable: they physically adapt very quickly between generations. Innately sensitive to Macrodesire, and long living, elves of any sort can be great archives of their home’s history.

Orcs evolved following a very different path compared to their peers: amphibious and electrogenetic. Living across two environments helped them quickly innovate and engineer new technologies, before and after the Great Split.

The Coraxi are native to Fracture. Their sudden augmentation protected the three new species in the immediate aftermath of the Great Split. Chitinous, antlered, and tree-dwelling, Coraxi were thought to be lost to time for thousands of years. With the old populations brought back, the diaspora now seek their identity once more.

Macrodesire

Macrodesire is an enigmatic system that shapes reality outside of purely mechanical means. It brings water to crops and the whetstone to a blade. Fractures—and their societies—depend on these remnant pockets of intent to stay whole.

Fractured Remnants are solidified forms of Macrodesire, used for their power and, increasingly, as currency.

Dramatis Personae

The King of Fractures

The King of Fractures rules over the six main Fractures from his own personal realm, \(\mathbb{F}_{0}\). As peacekeeper and oracle, he maintains the pathways of least resistance across Nullspace. In each Fracture he employs a vassal to represent their struggles, needs, and successes. His counsel is a neutral place, from which all vassals may collaboratively uplift their homes.

While the many do not directly see his influence, his mediation has been paramount throughout our lands’ history. Those who seek advice received it plentifully; those who threatened him would come to regret it. The self-imposed King of Fractures is the best we could have.

Pakaru

The material|being|patron|god that defies our categorisation. Pakaru is a manifestation of the need to survive: it uplifted the Coraxi after the Great Split; heals the sick and nearly-dead; yet, somehow, remains untraceable. Its precence is always an omen, especially given its notoriously playful nature.

Airve Snowblood

Few people have had such an effect as great as Airve Snowblood. Born in a lowly Santarri, \(\mathbb{F}_{2}\), he usurped his parents’ throne and co-created the Sanctuary, a place of refuge that soon became the cornerstone of the city’s newfound growth. Most famously, he used The Binding Stone to reconstitute fate and bring the Coraxi back from extinction.

With such power, many wonder about his true nature. Who first told him of the Coraxi? How much did he orchestrate for his own benefit? Even since his disappearance, is he truly gone?

See also

• The Calendar Year