The Trading Grounds
A forsaken landscape where souls are a commodity
The Trading Grounds are a space ruled over by many entities, named Elders. Elders have little influence on other limspaces and are never seen anywhere but the Ageless Wood and their own spaces, but are capable of creating limspaces inside of their mind. Each requires a certain portion of the human experience to live and maintain their power, so they trap those who worship or stumble upon them in their limspaces to feed off of. The most powerful, and first, Elder is named the Bloodied One. It feeds off of violence. It's true form has never been observed by human eyes, however inside of it's own limspace it appears as a field of slowly-decaying corpses who have died in it's realm. Under this field is it's core, a massive primeval tree. In the sky, the moon is also it's form. The other Elders live and create in it's shadow, trading the souls of those who die in their spaces as the only thing that keeps them alive.
Lunagros
Classification
| Difficulty | 5/5 | Death lurks above, below, and around every corner. If the Bloodied One decides to kill you, you will die if you are somehow not under it's control already. |
|---|---|---|
| Entity Count | 2/5 | Many entities steer clear of The Lunagros, though the outskirts under the corpses may have the occasional attack. Giant Corpsewyrms burrow through the place, posing a threat to those underground. There is only a single Elder residing in the Lunagros. |
| Chaos Gradient | 4/5 | Whether it's entity-induced, human-induced, or the field having a mind of it's own there is virtually no sense of consistency. |
| Basset-Frazier Index | 3.33/5 | The Lunagros is exceedingly dangerous and is the reason entry to the Trading Grounds should be avoided at all costs. |
Description
Lunagros, or the Epicenter, is where all unfortunate enough to enter The Trading Grounds go, and where many of them die. The space defies all known logic. The Lunagros appears to be an infinite field of corpses. However, it is actually shaped like a pyramid with an infinite top layer. As one burrows underneath the corpses and goes deeper and deeper, their reality and location changes and they always end up in the same 200 square mile field. This is the field containing the Tree in the center of it all. However, when going upwards towards the surface, one's reality warps until they eventually reach the exact same location that they were in before on the infinite surface. Going at least sixty meters under the initial corpse layer and burrowing horizontally is the only discovered way of leaving the space.
The place itself, at surface level, is an apparently infinite battlefield. The countless people here are compelled to fight one another by the Tree, with varying levels of weaponry. The Bloodied One supplies mundane weaponry such as spears, knives, and firearms, as it does other resources. The occasional unlucky baseline animal can be found here. Due to the constant resurrection effect given by the Tree, the bodies simply keep piling and being absorbed into the Bloodied One's body. Humans who are resurrected too many times in this way start to lose their souls, and eventually become dead on the interior while continuing to fight on the exterior. The Bloodied One's aura causes these people to mutate, eventually becoming monstrosities with no way to tell that they were once humans.
Some living in this place know how to stave off the resurrection and slow degradation of the soul, however they are unable to teach it in many cases due to the danger up top. These people live in tunnels underground, hoping for those with slight reprieves from the Tree's will to come to them.
Those who come here usually immediately leave if they have the capability due to the terrible conditions.
The Old Tunnels of Oerinnemon
Notable fixtures of this area are the ancient tunnels of the now-nonexistent nation Oerinnemon. After their predecessor's historic failure, they reinforced their tunnels, and dug an entire city amongst the corpses to resist the effects of the Tree. Scholars amongst the New Oerinian Nomads in the Titinruk Steppe claim that the city was dug at an elevation of 300 meters under the infinite layer. Archivists studying the growth of the Lunagros claim that with growth since the 14th Recorded Nightfall (The fall of Oerinnemon), the tunnels would be 520 meters underground today. Travellers on a pilgrimage to the Tree claim finding eerie tunnels of bone, with long branches poking up as fixtures in the area. Investigators describe it as "Unsettling". Evidence of life was found by some, but everyone who conducted more than a brief investigation has not come back. It is theorized that the Bloodied One itself, or entities taking residence among the tunnels, are the reason. Exploration is not advised.
Surviving the Lunagros
If you enter the Lunagros through unlucky happenstance or foolhardiness, your best course of action upon entry is to drop and blend yourself in with the corpses. The Tree will reach out to your mind, and attempt to take it with an offer of immortality. Deny it's branches any hold at whatever cost. If possible, take note of the area around you. Are there clumps of people fighting? Are there stragglers? Are there any pits in the ground? Stragglers not engaged with others will run you down and kill you. However, those already fighting likely will not take notice of you. It is imperative that, if possible, you run to the nearest tunnel (Tunnels are quite common on the surface). If there isn't one, you may attempt to dig one. However, this is likely to end in your death. Simply getting under the infinite layer, due to the spacial distortion, should hide you well enough. If you have anything to protect yourself from the stench of fresh blood and rotting flesh and what disease may come with it, now is the time to put it into action. Now, you must determine the source of whatever tunnel you found. If most fresh corpses in the tunnel are mutilated or consumed or you can hear a sound of digging, take caution. This tunnel is most likely created by a Corpsewyrm, and death is nearly guaranteed if your vibrations are detected. Otherwise, simply walking through a tunnel should take you to either friendly humans or out of the Lunagros eventually. The deeper the tunnel is, the more chance it has of leading out and the more shallow the more chance it has of housing friendly humans. Some humans may not be friendly, though most hostile uncontrolled humans have moved out of the Lunagros at this point in time. Be ready for a confrontation. If you hear burrowing coming towards your location or a rumbling overhead, run for the surface if you value your life.
If you have the chance to leave, do it and never look back.
[[/div]]
Phenomena
Day and Night Cycles
The deity Sol is currently attempting to push into the Bloodied One's domain. While the space is usually in a state of eternal night, it now shifts between the two at seemingly random intervals, averaging at once every 14 years. This change is accompanied by heavy rain, an anomaly on Lunagros.
Resurrection
Those who die under the Tree's influence reappear on the surface around a year later, seemingly unharmed. This process is taxing, however, on the soul and can lead to some unfortunate consequences.
Quakes
These quakes are, in fact, not earthquakes but the Bloodied One moving to destroy someone or something who committed a severe infraction against it. It is not known what these infractions are, but they lead to consequences across the entire area. Many Surface Mole communities are wiped out by the ground movement, and larger communities may have downages or singular tunnels collapsing. Mountains and divots form out of corpses at the site of the movement. These phenomena are considered emergencies for most communties.
The Light
On extremely rare occasions, the entire underground will have a dim blue light illuminate the tunnels. Those near the bottom of the limspace describe the light as "Blinding and unbearable". None who have been sent to investigate the tree during one of these events have returned.
Rain
Saurai, goddesss of water, is no deity. She simply is the spirit of the endless ocean surrounding this Limspace and the water running from it, and thus can make changes to the world as she wishes. This causes it to rain an abnormal amount, sometimes with barely any clouds in the sky. This is a (Literal) godsend for those in the Lunagros, as the only other potentially drinkable liquid in the area is blood.
Communities
New Irinians
The New Irinians make up the vast majority of humans who choose to live in tunnels under the Lunagros. They teach how to resist the Tree over long periods of time, and live lives near the bottom of the Lunagros. They believe that through simply rejecting the Bloodied One, they will eventually escape the Trading Grounds. Many New Irinian groups maintain communication with Irinia. Those not willing to join their ranks will be given what resources can be spared in a community, and sent on their way.
Sun Monks
The Sun Monks tunneled near to the border between Lunagros and the Canume, where they formed a monastery to various religions (The major one being the Pantheon of Nature, hence the name due to Sol being the patron deity). Those who are religious live out their lives either here, or in the Noble Crescent. They accept everyone due to a surplus of resources.
Surface Moles
The most common form of civilization on Lunagros, the term "Surface Mole" refers to someone established but still close to the infinite layer. Communities of a few dozen often crop up, and are where many surface tunnels lead. These groups may not have the resources to accommodate travelers, so one may have to fend for themselves in these communities. However, they often succeed in reaching their destination and are worth living near.
Primary Sources
Collector´s Note: Found this when we first arrived.
Collector´s Note: Old T.E.A guidelines from when they were still sorting out the logistics of aboveground communities. Give a a basic understanding of how society functions today, but it is important to note that the T.E.A and the entire Torus were wiped off of the face of the earth hundreds of thousands of nightfalls ago. Digital copy, the original probably was vaporized along with the rest of Base 23.
Access
Entrances
Unknown
Exits
Tunnel in any direction from deep under the ground until you hit a border to enter either the Canume, Silane, or Forest of Salt. It is impossible to tell North from South or East from West in the Lunagros, so where you will end up is essentially random.
There are supposed other exits, however they are unconfirmed.
Overall, there is not much here but death and misery. Leave as soon as humanly possible.
Canume
+A Mountainous Reprieve
+ Description
A forested ridge above the Lunagros, miles upon miles of sparse foothills, fertile valleys, rivers, a mountain range and human life are the main characteristics of the Canume. This area is where the limspace's property of regeneration can be found having the most effect. With all natural parts of this level regrowing, rocks and rivers are locked into an endless battle of their own.
Two massive mountains loom over the landscape. One seems to be ¨Half¨ of a mountain, evening off and creating a massive plateau at around 4,000 meters of elevation. The other looks like all of the others.
While this area is generally considered ¨Safe¨, a traveler entering from the Lunagros will not be. On the rocky foothills, there are no dedicated human patrols and tens of miles of open space at a time. This makes them an active hunting ground for those corrupted beyond their human form. Even daytime travel will be difficult, and nighttime travel may become nigh-impossible.
Other humans are rare out on the foothills, but those that are are usually not under the Tree's influence. This does, however, not necessarily make them safe to be around.
The foothills themselves are small rocky hills, at only around 40 feet of elevation, leading up to a system of eroded rocky plateaus. These dissected plateaus still have rivers and pools running through it's valleys, surrounded by greenery. This is where most towns take up residence. The plateaus start to grow back to their former status as flatlands, but are always stopped by the rushing water.
Every town in these valleys may benefit from the shelter of the valley, but every few centuries they will be entirely crushed, forcing the residents to relocate. In addition, the tips of the plateaus are common places for The Corrupted to gather. Using the mountains, plateaus, and climbing skills, they are always watching from above. This forces towns to put out all lights at night.
Finally, there is a massive range of mountains looming above all.