The Grand Fracture of Anox
The Scar of the Desert
War meant everything to Anox. He saw the shay as soldiers, his Immortals as generals, and Idalos as a land to be subdued and sculpted to his will. Anything that couldn't be taken by force wasn't worth having, and anyone who wouldn't kneel to him should be destroyed. With such a mindset it would be easy to label him as a witless brute, however that wasn't necessarily true. As brutish, straightforward and blunt as he was, Anox demonstrated a innate talent for goading others to violence and turning their own flaws against them, as well as a proficiency for bullying weaker beings into submission and condition them into thoughtless soldiers who'd throw away their lives in his service. He ruled the area now called The Hotlands like a khan ruling a barbarian tribe: butchering the spirits that lived on the border of his territory, enslaving the shay who lived there, brainwashing them into soldiers and leading them out against more spirits.
It is believed by those who research the mysteries of The Originals that when the shattering occurred it caught Anox alone and unaware. Believing himself to be under attack by an invisible opponent he swung his axe around madly in his dying throws, directing the energy of his crumbling body out in huge waves that tore gigantic cracks in the earth in four directions. These cracks became his grand fractures: a titanic, x-shaped canyon of angry red rock that even to this day remains barren of plant life. Due to the enflamed red hue of the rock those who have seen it in the past have likened it to a scar, thus leading to its moniker of the Scar of the Desert.
The Scar is usually difficult to find. The area around is scorching hot even for a desert, and those who pass through are assailed by mirages that guide them away and obscure the scar from view. However the veteran mercenaries of Yaralon have recently discovered a trick to finding it that they share with those who earn their respect. All you have to do is slay another living creature while under the mirage's sway, and rather than lead you away from the fracture the mirages will instead lead you to a entrance to it.
Date Opened
The time of The Shattering: 600 arcs before the end of the War of The Immortals and The Oath.
Entrance
There are four entrances to this grand fracture: the four tips of the cross. The canyon walls are too steep to climb up and down and are lined with razor-sharp rocks, so it is only at these points when the sand slopes gently downward that one can safely enter. Flight is possible, but the lack of wind and scorching heat makes it difficult to for anything more than a short, sharp bursts.
Foyer
At the tip of each entrance one can find the beginnings of a small stream; little more than a trickle of water, but enough to wet the throat. As it is always absurdly hot and dry within the fracture these little streams are hard to ignore, especially for those who have just crossed the desert, and the further one travels down into the cavern the hotter it gets and the larger the stream grows. For the undisciplined or unprepared the temptation to ignore the water is irresistible.
Yet to drink the water of the scar is to fall prey to its insidious trap. Like Anox this grand fracture hungers for war, and will do everything in its power to make those who enter it fight with any and every living creature it sees. The moment the water meets their lips the drinker will find a red mist descend across their vision as they are driven into a mindless, berserk rage that compels them to kill everyone around them. While this rage wears off after a while it perversely leaves the drinker feeling even thirstier, compelling them to drink again. Even those who refuse to drink the water feel the fracture's influence, for the blistering heat frays tempers and stirs even the calmest of hearts to anger, and in moments of silence faint auditory hallucination plague explorers; tricking them into thinking they can hear their companions whispering or laughing at them behind their back. It would take expertly disciplined soldiers lead by a masterful leader to stay together in this fracture without turning in on themselves.
If that wasn't enough then throughout the fracture one can find predatory beasts from all four corners of Idalos, as well as some other strange emean predators, that have been drawn into the fracture and consumed by battle madness. Without exception all of them are alone and so furious as to attack anything on sight. The deeper into the canyons one goes, the bigger the beasts that reside there are.
Veins
The area where the four canyons converge is considered the sole vein of this fracture. Here the four streams converge into a large oasis, around which grass and trees that produce various fruits grow undisturbed. The air here is pleasantly cool and refreshing, and though the water is still dangerous the fruits are juicy and refreshing. It is almost as if the spirit of Anox is rewarding those who have survived the struggle to get this far for their strength.
However the bones of the animals littering this oasis betray the fact that all is as it seems. The oasis is the home of the Sand Titan: an invincible emean collosus that seeks to kill anything that dares enter its territory. There is to reasoning with this creature and nowhere to hide from: before it the only options are to flee or fight.
Heart
The heart of the fracture is found hovering above the water in the middle of the oasis. Although there is nothing left to guard it, something about the heart is utterly terrifying to behold. It is as if the heart possesses a bloodlust that triggers the most basic instincts in those around it to run away from a predator they cannot hope to defeat.
Well Information
Any and all types of wells can be found here embedded in the canyon's walls. The closer one gets to the heart, the more powerful the wells they can find.
Permission
Characters can only access this area as part of a modded thread. Please ask at the PSF if you would like to explore.
Knowledge of this fracture's existence is incredibly rare. Your character must have earned a specific knowledge about its existence in a thread to know that it is real and that it is a grand fracture, however any character may have heard the legend of the scar of the desert, so long as they do not know that it is actually real. This knowledge can be gained by talking to an Immortal, studying The Originals, or even just deciding to did deeper into the myths surrounding it and discovering some interesting facts.
Notes
- Raskalarn is the only Immortal who has cared to find and delve into this fracture. She respects those who have the strength and discipline to enter this fracture and emerge again, and has been known to ask some of her followers to retrieve a well from this fracture and bring it back to her as a test of their abilities.
