Spectacle

On the 29th Mirrors, a storm gathers above the nightmare-ridden city of Song-Lu. Vivid blue and magenta lightning crackles through the clouds and the wind howls around the city’s borders, fiercely enough to knock even the strongest off their feet. Onlookers summoned here through dreams or rumours watch from a safe distance on a nearby mountainside, holding their breath as a vast silhouette emerges from the clouds.

Eight gossamer wings unfurl, trailing mist and shimmering with opalescent colour. Iryneia, child of Iridus, descends from the sky.

Flanked by their sentinel noculi, they alight outside what was once the grand main gate of Song-Lu city. Raising their head, an ethereal melody fills the air, sending a wave of dizziness over everyone who can hear. Iryneia remains like this for a long time, singing and weaving a dream-like magic, until suddenly the gates burst open. Confetti flies out from the colourful madness within the city, and a giant white fox - like something from Songluan myth - leaps through.

It carries a bloodied body in its jaws, which it lays down at Iryneia’s feet. The god child touches its head briefly before it leaps back inside the city. Before long, more people stumble out through the gate - bedraggled and bewildered, but alive. These are the last survivors who were trapped within the city.

Quickly, Iryenia scoops them all up onto their long, chitinous body and flies to the mountain where the onlookers have gathered. As they draw near, their body shifts, transforming from divine beast to an elderly woman. With a now-human voice, the god child entrusts the survivors back to their own people - in particular, the bleeding, mangled body of their lost Chancellor Tor’ang.

With the city now truly empty, a rumble of magic shakes the air. In the storm overhead, the outline of Iridus’ wings flash before lightning and thunderclouds pour down on the buildings below. At the same time, a ring of earth spikes up around the city, and water from the sea flows in to surround it. Before everyone’s eyes, the land is reforged to lock away the mad capital. When the quaking finally calms, Song-Lu city is no longer visible - only a volcano-like island off the reshaped coast remains, shrouded in mist and clouds. Within it, the fiery madness - beyond even the power of the gods to dispel - will continue to dance, but now none shall set foot inside it again.

Thus does Song-Lu, the harbour that once built and named this region, come to an end.

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Tale of Ash and Blood

Song-Lu’s madness is finally put to rest, but its story has not. What of the ‘fire god’ and mysterious Huozai gem? To those gathered on the mountain, Iryneia has a tale to tell. A cutscene and RP for this ran between 27 Dec - 2 Jan.

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As people on the mountainside allowed the weight of reality to sink in, the rescued survivors spoke up about their long, harrowing experience living inside the mad city. Struggling to care for their raving loved ones, finding the rare few others who were still sane, escaping the clutches of the fire-haloed 'apostles' of Huozai... fortunately it was all over now, the nightmare sealed and the fire apostles crumbled to ash.

Iryneia then told the story behind the Huozai gem and why its fiery power was beyond even the gods. The shards of Huozai were actually fragments of 'blood' from the primordial god of chaos and destruction, Alvus. Long ago, Alvus brought the trinity gods Therras, Mareus and Iridus to life from the remains of His predecessor Cora - the primordial god of creation and order, and the first god to ever exist. When Alvus eventually split Himself into the twin gods Aurea and Atros, his 'blood' accidentally spilled upon the world, creating the Huozai shards and myth. The power of the merged Huozai gem is thus the power of pure chaos, untouchable by all.

On the 29th Mirrors, the seas above the sunken city of Nisalvini begin to dance and swirl. Specks of jewel-like colour appear in the water as the sentinel creatures of Mareus gather, twirling about like flowers amidst the foam. From above, people who have likewise gathered here watch from the safety of skyship decks, while far in the ocean depths below, the people of Nisalvini gaze upwards from their shielded abodes. Whether fearful or trusting of Mareus’ dream-spoken words, all anyone can do now is await the promised storm.

The waves grow more tumultuous, churning around into a steadily growing whirlpool. It circles an immense area, as wide as a city, before its centre heaves upwards. The glittering crown of Maraenel, child of Mareus, bursts through, followed by her sweeping frills of sapphire and vermilion. 

Seconds later, the gargantuan shadow of Mareus’ body twists within the water below, Her eye flashing at the heart of the whirlpool. The surface of the ocean explodes into droplets, raining cold saltwater and mist over the spectators above. Maraenel’s tendrils flick outwards in an instant, suspending the bulk of the water in the air so the skyships aren’t inundated. Within the sea, the waters around the remnants of Nisalvini are also forcibly held still, shielding the city from the fierce current that rips through. The people underwater watch their surroundings go white with churning froth, and feel the seabed beneath them shake and shift.

When the froth and mist finally clear, an incredible sight emerges. From above, it’s as if a massive circle has been carved out of the ocean’s surface. The surrounding sea pours continuously down into it like waterfalls, yet the gap never fills. At its centre, three enormous spires of pearly rock rise from the lowered water level. While not visible from above, these spires continue far underwater, merging into a giant, twisting tower that spirals all the way down to the ocean floor. The remnants of Nisalvini’s old city now nestle upon loops of this rock, still submerged but now lifted away from the deepest, murky depths of the seabed.

Nisalvini’s plantlife, ever colourful and changing, burgeons in new growth all over this tower. Coaxed by Mareus’ divine hand, they bloom into unnamed fruits, spread sheltering vines, and breathe vast bubbles of air into the many caves and alcoves dotted along the tower. Pockets of liveable spaces for people become plentiful, from the top of the tower to its deepest depths.

Shifting into the form of a woman, Maraenel smiles and beckons those on the skyships down to see this new miracle for themselves. As if leading the way, she dives down into the parted waters, down past the spires and thriving marine flora, and goes to tell the people of Nisalvini the good news: Mareus’ gift of bounty has been given. Nisalvini shall once again thrive, now as the brightest jewel of the sea.

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Treasures of the Sea

Explore the new Nisalvini through art and gather treasures to keep as you do. See 'Activities' below for more details.

On the 29th Mirrors, the rumbling rock and soil at Cantor’s easternmost border finally go still...

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