Lore / Baned Hemisphere

While we rejoice and prosper upon Meora’s body, basking in Her Light and protecting Her in return, on the opposite side of this planet the scourge of all that exist is brewing. A place for which many people abhor eating fish that live and flourish in Her tears alongside the corruption and Hellish Spawn, and for the same reason some of Meora’s children detest the aquatic-adjacent sistren tribes. Marked by The Ocean of Mud, from which no ship returns – it is here that the terror shoals of Jealous Beastiary are born, parasites begotten from the mind of the Eternal Serpent, formless and mindless. Surrounded by three archipelagos called the Cursed Islands, where no life can thrive anymore, where the Leviathans evolve and breed no lesser horrors to unleash upon us.

There are two popular explanations of the Baned Hemisphere – for the different minds to believe while living in the world where It exists.

The scientific one understands that the Ocean of Mud is located on top of a colossal chasm, which Meora dug out in order to then shove the still lifeless carcass of the Serpent inside this planet. She had prepared the place to be Her resting bed after wrapping the entire surface in own silken hair and truly sealing the creature within, but tired and wounded, She no longer had the strength to complete own plans. To such, the planet’s crust remains thinnest at the bottom of the chasm, made mere of Her hair, allowing the Serpent’s influence and deathly dreams to pierce high enough above the surface and birth nightmares into reality. The Cursed Islands themselves are believed to be little more than mounds of earth left over from the opening of the planet’s core, once as green as Her Hips, but now unable to sustain true life because of rot and poison spread through the vomit and ichor of Umbral Horrors spawned. Oceanic Mud is assumed to be the result of unknown natural subterranean activity of the planet – gooey mass quickly reaches the surface with hot rising streams, and then rapidly settles down before reaching the borders of the oceanic bowl. The only redeemable existence for this place is the easterly winds, which pickup particles and dust from the Rusted Archipelago, rich with natural elements and minerals, carry them across the Tempestuous Ocean and bring them to the Northern Continent, where throughout the year millions of tonnes of this Rusted Dust fall with rains, providing the soil of these regions with nutrients.

Ecclesiastical explanation of the Baned Hemisphere is more direct and horrifying. As that side of the planet is opposite to where Meora rests, the Alleater holds greater authority there. The oceanic bowl is Its attempts to erase reality; the Cursed Islands – are the traces of Its spine trying to break through the planet’s crust, directly mortifying any life that treads them; and the Ocean of Mud is made of Its terror-hungered saliva which slowly erodes the walls of Its personal tomb, seeping through the cracks and creating a brine where unholy creations are born. Its essence affects us, turning us into Envious, turning us against each other, turning us against the Allmother – the winds bring Umbral Dust from the Ocean of Mud, which we inhale and become more susceptible to Its influence, but some of us breath more than our minds can handle, and fall under control of the Evil. If what this explanation says is true… how long it be before the Fathomless Feaster breaks free into the world?… and what... will we have the power to stop It?… will She?...