Shardworld - the Game (Guide thread)

[Amaterasu]

Locations & Points of Interest

The funny thing about the Shardworld is that it has no true map. Or well, no conventional map. There are special maps which constantly need to be rearranged, sort of like a solar system representation, making them rather unpractical to carry around if they're not magitech powered. This is because the Shards that compose the Shardworld are in constant movement, rearranging themselves, orbiting each other or disappearing for long times before reappearing out of nowhere.

The means of orienting oneself are either these very expensive "World maps" as well as the much cheaper "Shard maps" which represent a single Shard only (what is on a Shard is fairly stable, so for instance a cit built entirely on a single shard won't rearrange itself) and the Shard-compasses, which point to a specific Shard at all times and are for instance very popular on airships that transport passengers from one Shard to another.

It is silently agreed on that the biggest Shard, the Central Shard, is the "center" of the Shardworld. It is one of the few stationary and stable Shards and is open to most people so long as they don't cause any trouble. Typically a World Map displays the position of other Shards in relation to the Central Shard.

As a rule of thumb, Shards further away from the Central Shard are more unstable, they move around faster and collide or disappear more frequently. However there have been recorded events of Shards appearing very closely to the Central Shard and disappearing again or flying around much quicker than others, and some Shards, despite being very far away from the Central Shard, are very stable. The further away a Shard is located from the Central Shard, the more likely it is to be considered dangerous, because there are fewer soldiers to control it, if any. Many Shards that appear out of nowhere also tend to have all types of strange, warped beings on them, said to be corrupted by the chaotic energies that plague the place that the Shard has been to when disappearing, making things even harder for adventurers - and more rewarding.

WORK IN PROGRESS!
There'll be a lot more to come here.

Means of traveling between Shards[spoiler]Teleportation A simple way that's accessible to everyone. Similarly to a Recall Station for an Omniverse base, it requires several minutes of remaining stationary while casting a conjuration to teleport oneself to a Shard which has a teleportation Nexus. Most big Shards have a teleportation Nexus which you must first have seen personally to be able to teleport to it, and not all Nexi will be available at all times - for instance if you are a member of a faction that opposes another faction, that other faction won't allow you to teleport to their Nexus. Many locations disable teleportation.
Teleportation Nexi are essentially big circular spaces to which you teleport. They are fixed in place.

Portals & Wormholes Portals are "stable" wormholes, essentially: direct links from one to another location, typically two-way, just like the Omniverse portals. The wormholes on the other hand are unstable and may collapse within seconds of coming into existence, or after weeks. They are much more random than portals because you never know where they'll appear and where they lead to. Wormholes can also be conjured up by characters and are essentially teleportation for multiple individuals, but cost energy to upkeep and can only be created at the character's location, though they can lead anywhere. Quite useful for taking your allies to the front lines or something.

Airships The major shards all offer blimps, flying ships and other means of traversing the void between Shards in a conventional way, for a small fee. Until you unlock Teleportation Nexi this is the safest way of getting around. Plus, there are some rogue ships which, for a little extra coin, won't bother to check if you really are "friendly" towards that faction whose Shard you're traveling to. They're a relatively slow way to get around, but much more panoramic.

Flight After acquiring wings from a certain raid or by having the Flight Power in the Omniverse, characters are able to move between the Shards that way. Unlike within the Omniverse flight BETWEEN Shards (not within one) doesn't consume power, so you won't end up plumetting into the eternal void because you run out of stamina.[/spoiler]

Notable Shards:

(Note that the "Level" displayed next to the name is a recommendation for the adventurer's level, but not obligatory)

The Central Shard - Level 0
[spoiler]The Central Shard is, as its name implies, the very center of the Shardworld. It’s one of the largest Shards and the only one to be truly immobile and always present, and as such forms the central point of reference of the World maps and is an important meeting point for its inhabitants. In its central plaza is where, according to legend, the God of Order unleashed the Reality Shatter, and is marked with the Shardstone’s imprint.


Due to being a neutral place, almost everyone is accepted her no matter their affiliation - although publicly displaying your allegiance to a specific faction or attempting to recruit followers is frowned upon and even illegal in certain areas. The Godless and the remaining followers of the Order religion rule this Shard with a regularly voted council and are enforcing its laws with well-equipped soldiers that use powerful magitech weapons to keep the order as necessary.

Locations in the Central Shard:

Sei’An City: The capital city of the Godless, and non-official capital of the entire Shardworld, Sei’An City is an enormous city spanning around half of the Central Shard, all by itself. Its enormous population means that the city is divided into a number of districts to keep order.
Sei’An city is one of the most modern areas of the Shardworld: the buildings have a late-medieval feel to them and are often built and enforced with magic - for instance, to keep the wood that composes most of the buildings from catching on fire. The ease of access to magitechnology means that the city prospers quite well.

-The Docks: Here Airships to other Shards land and take off, transporting travelers to various Shards. It's regularly guarded in case of attacks, and patrols may verify the legitimacy of the Airships as they land.

-Teleportation Nexus: For those with a little more coin to spare, the Teleportation Nexus allows for instant and safe travel to many Shards. The Nexus is highly secured by a Godless force, keeping intruders from invading the city or escaping it using the portals and ensuring that nobody sneaks by and uses them without paying.

-Market District: Besides shops for everything from simple cooking ingredients to relics of power and transmogrificators, the Market District offers an auction house here that allows them to sell just about every item in the game - or buy it from others.

-Blue Sun Inn: The Blue Sun Inn is somewhat of an odd place. Why? Because there’s only one Blue Sun Inn, but a dozen entrances, scattered throughout all of Sei’An City - all leading to the same place. This is believed to be the doing of the innkeeper, Harry, who is much more powerful than his unseeming appearance suggests. Giving out cheap drinks and rooms to people, the inn has become somewhat of a meeting point for all sorts of individuals.

-Housing District: This is where the vast majority of the Sei’An City residents live. Adventurers can buy a place to live here.

-Fortified District: This is the inner circle of Sei’An City. Access to the Fortified District is heavily controlled and patrols of well-equipped soldiers ensure that everyone stays safe. The central Plaza with the imprint of the Shardstone can also be found here. The district is heavily fortified and extremely hard to take by an invading force.

-The Castle: The heart of the Fortified District and of all of Sei’An City: the Castle, an impenetrable bastion and headquarters of the Godless. From here the Council rules over the Godless-owned Shards, speaks justice and, if necessary, places evildoers into the dungeons below. With magitech operated security, elite guardsmen and near-impenetrable walls the Castle can be considered to be one of the, if not the, most secure place in the Shardworld.


Farm Islands: In order to feed the gaping maw that is Sei’An city and its numerous inhabitants the Central Shard has a number of so-called Farm Islands connected to it via Reality Chains. While not physically part of the Central Shard they are counted as such simply because they are very close and never drift away from it, essentially making them extensions to the main Shard.
As the name implies the Farm Islands are large facilities where produce is grown and animals are raised to supply the Central Shard. Using magitech devices production is sped up, much to the disgust of some skeptic customers, but accepted as it’s the only way to supply such a big city with sufficient quantities.[/spoiler]

Easy Shards

Pixie Forest - Level 0[spoiler]
A Shard flying near the Central Shard which never strays very far. As a result its wildlife is mostly kept in check by the authorities, and is a very popular place for adventurers starting out on their journey. Most won’t die here unless they run into the roaming wolf packs. Pixie Forest is called this way because at night a number of pixie monsters can be spotted there. Perceptive characters are able to see the pixies directly, others will “only” see the light that they emit like large fireflies.

Locations in Pixie Forest:

Moranda City: Moranda City is located in the forest area of Pixie Forest. While little more than a town, it’s called this way as it is the only actual settlement on the Shard. There’s a number of tree houses linked to each other with cat walks and latters, though good climbers can also just climb the trees. The Shopkeepers here sell fruit and other natural harvest, which is great for beginner cooks who want to work with simple ingredients. The forest floor is pretty clear of bushes and shrubbery as paths have been made. Its inhabitants are simple people, though a few wood elves and avian beings have also made their homes here.

Forest Area: The growth of trees and foliage makes this area rather difficult to traverse unless someone uses beaten paths. These are marked by everlit lanterns and relatively safe to cross, whilst the deeper forest is more haunted with wildlife.

River Area: A river runs through the middle of the shard, splitting it in two. There are several small waterfalls, one of which has created a massive lake. The river is a favored spot for wildlife and Pixies to gather at night. The water just disappears into the void upon falling off the edge of the Shard. Why the river never runs out of water is an unsolved mystery. Perhaps the water returns to the Shard from the Void?

Lake Area: A massive lake created by a waterfall, near the center of the Shard. It holds a small island in the center that can be accessed with bridges. It’s a nice place to relax, but the villagers of Moranda City warn about the waters being dangerous. While no reports of people actually dying there or going missing exist, folks believe that something lurks in the waters. But nobody could say exactly what.

Research Outpost: Near the forest adventurers may come across a small research outpost, located near the edge of the Shard. It is protected entirely from wildlife using force fields. A few researchers there will give out tasks, usually consisting in assisting their research by collecting samples.
[/spoiler]


Asanda Town Shard - Level 1
[spoiler]
The Asanda Town Shard is a small Shard hovering not too far from the Central Shard. Due to the rarity of hostile creatures and the beautiful landscape it’s a popular place for players to buy their first home.

Asanda Town takes the shape of a medieval village with wooden and a few stone huts, covering about 30% of the Shard. The other 70% are fields and ranches that supply Asanda town with food. Being built rather chaotic means that it’s not very easy to get around the streets with a carriage and it’s possible to get lost. As the town is not very big though people generally don’t stay lost for very long.

Locations in Asanda Town

Asanda Town: Docks/Beach: The docks are located along one edge of the Shard, and actually include a sunny beach - except that there is no water. Instead a rock formation keeps the sand and people from falling off the edge into the void. This makes the beach a popular place to relax and enjoy some time off from monster slaying. A few ships also depart from here at regular intervals, offering transport from and to the Central Shard as well as to any moving Shards that may fly by.


Asanda Town: Town Center: The Town Center has a large fountain with many merchant stalls all over the place, buying and selling all sorts of goodies. Most of these are basic supplies though, and can be found cheaper in Sei’An City.


Asanda Town: Housing District: Here’s where people have their homes. The houses are affordably cheap and cozy, making for great places to start out from. The location isn’t very good because it means that one must first travel to Sei’An City and then teleport to their destination most of the time, but of course housing in Sei’An City is much more expensive as well.


Asanda Town: The Fields: Everything that isn’t part of the town on the Asanda Town Shard is part of the fields. Large grain fields, fruit orchards and a few greenhouses mark the place, with the occasional farmhouse thrown in there. The worst mob players may encounter here are oversized beetles which cause some troubles for the farmers but can be dispatched easily.[/spoiler]

Medium Shards

Labyrinthian Shard - Level 4
[spoiler]
The Labyrinthian an enormous multilevel maze spanning the entire Shard. How people live on it is kind of unclear, but there are a handful of settlements constructed in the topmost levels of the Shard, where the labyrinth walls lead into the open sky. All traffic is done through the sky to pass over the labyrinth, though the experienced travelers find their way through the labyrinth as well.
Beneath the topmost level are numerous more, each with vast labyrinths in which an unsuspecting traveler can easily lose their way and die of starvation. For those well equipped to go down there are treasures to find and bring back up however. The deeper one ventures into the maze the more likely they are to find what they seek.
The Labyrinthian holds no monsters.


Locations in Labyrinthian:


Sector 1-9-14: The largest settlement in the labyrinth. Note that the numbers of each sector represent a grid by which the labyrinth is categorized, sorted by: Depth-North/South-West/East. This applies to all existing settlements in Labyrinthian.
This slowly expanding city tears down the stone walls of the labyrinth and uses them to build new houses, it has shops with necessities such as solid thread to roll out if you venture into the labyrinth and maps of the explored areas as well as supplies and the occasional guided tour.

Sector 1-7-3: The other notable settlement besides Sector 1-9-14. They are known for the largest “descent”, a staircase leading from the first floor downwards, to a relatively well explored and mapped area. They also send out scouts with small helicopter-like machines that search the first floor for lost adventurers and save them. Guards are fairly lax around here and often neglect to warn people about descending into Labyrinthian.[/spoiler]

Volcanium Shard - Level 5
[spoiler]
The Volcanium Shard is a relatively small Shard composed of a volcano in constant state of eruption, and a safe "ring" along the edge where adventurers can land to explore the Shard. This ring is only about 10 meters thick, beyond that the Shard becomes dangerous.

This Shard is a little different from others in that adventurers have no monsters to fight. All that they must brave are the Shard's environment. It thus serves as an introduction to dangerous environments for medium-level adventurers. Those who wish to mine the valuable ores and search the caverns and summits for loot must be wary of the evershifting rivers of molten rock that block certain areas, lightning bolts and chunks of brimstone dropping from the sky and occasional ash and mud avalanches drowning wide areas every so often.
[/spoiler]

Cryopolis Shard- Level 5
[spoiler]
It is believed to be the "counterpart" to the Volcanium Shard. Its name is based on the abandoned city that dominates the center of the Shard.
A mixture of taiga, tundra and frozen area, this Shard is reminiscent of the Frozen Fields. People who come here must not only fight monsters but also the cold temperatures, the winds, snowfall, avalanches and thin ice.

The Shard's central area is made out of a snowed and frozen-over metropolis which looks like a 21st century city whose inhabitants all vanished some day. While modern things are present (cars, street signs, architecture) it is mostly decoration that cannot be manipulated. The city is overrun by looters and frost-resistant animals like wolves, and has numerous stashes of loot that daring adventurers can retrieve.
[/spoiler]

Hard Shards

Phantom Graveyard Shard - Level 9
[spoiler]
The Phantom Graveyard is an are that was hit particularly hard by the Reality Shatter. It takes the shape of a ghostly purple chunk drifting through reality, with a thick mist covering its surface. A dead forest and several abandoned wooden houses cover the surface. The fog, while not lethal, causes occasional dizziness and hallucinations to those weak of mind. Many have fallen off the Shard because they lost orientation.

The Shard has two major dangers: its inhabitants and daytime. During nighttime the surface is infested with ethereal monsters, restless spirits whose souls could not move on to the afterlife. They suck the lifeforce out of all living beings that come onto their Shard and touching one transfers some of the pain of their sudden death and their desasperation at being unable to move on to the other person, possibly crippling them as they are forced to go through the other's memories.

What is even worse however is that the Shard has an illusionary sun and moon flying in a circle around them. Every 24 hours, at dusk (8PM), the moon rises and the spirits emerge. At dawn (8AM) the sun rises and the entire island becomes ethereal until sunset, meaning that any adventurers currently on the Shard will fall through the ground and into the endless chasm below. Adventurers wishing to go there should try to reach the island as early into the night as possible to not be caught offguard.
[/spoiler]

Chaos Expanse Shard - Level 13
[spoiler]
Currently the most dangerous Shard of the Shardworld, the Chaos Expanse Shard is a true test of one's abilities, putting them against the most dangerous monsters and the greatest environmental hazards. The monsters are mostly "Chaos beasts" which look like black and red versions of existing monsters of other Shards, but with randomized stats. In other words one might find themselves against two monsters that look alike but one of which has very high defensive stats and the other very high offensive ones. Furthermore they are incredibly powerful: even characters at the required level may struggle if faced with more than one enemy at a time.

As if that was insufficient, the landscape itself seems to be set to destroy any invading elements. The Shard looks like a snowed plain offering little in the way of protection save for occasional rocks, and is almost constantly covered with snowstorms or thick mist that reduce the vision range of adventurers to ~50 meters. What's worse is that destructive bolts of blue lightning randomly strike from the sky at irregular intervals, and in rare cases small meteors drop as well, inflicting great damage or outright killing adventurers. They are hard to see coming due to the mist. The ground may also burst open without prior warning, creating deep chasms or spewing out lava or hot steam. The monsters of the Chaos Expanse are strangely immune to these environmental effects, making them dangerous only to adventurers.

And as a cherry on the cake, the world boss Chaos Phantom Dragon roams the landscape unpredictably. This boss is next to undefeatable even by a party of prepared adventurers, much less one or two unsuspecting individuals. The Chaos Phantom Dragon's deadly jaws and Chaos Breath have claimed many heroes' lives already.

Those brave or foolhardy enough to explore the Shard are awarded with some of the rarest loot found anywhere on the Shardworld, as well as bragging rights rewards.
[/spoiler]