| races | aberrations, demons, horrors |
| neighbors | {"N"=>"zephyr"}, {"NE"=>"rup"}, {"E"=>"mountain"}, {"SE"=>"selva"}, {"S"=>"elyria"}, {"SW"=>"arallu"}, {"W"=>"ocean"}, {"NW"=>"trell"} |
An uninhabitable zone bordering the nations.
All nations border the Flux, a nightmarish zone of ever-shifting reality. Those entering the Flux rarely survive, but those that do emerge changed and warped in unpredictable ways.
Near the edges, the Flux appears to be a normal scrubland. But as one delves deeper, the earth heaves, air bursts to smoke, the sky rains acid, the night freezes the clouds which fall like boulders, and fires spring to life, coalescing into gargantuan forms. People’s minds twist, and as they go mad they physically contort into shapes defying all sanity and reason.
Sometimes, demons emerge from the Flux to threaten those foolish enough to have settled nearby.
A tower is visible deep within the Flux, nearly touching the sky. Some say it contains vast wealth beyond mortal imaginings, but no one has survived an expedition there.
Wild Magic
Some sorcerers skirt the edge of the Flux to practice a style of magic known as wild magic. Most others believe them to be insane.
Outbreaks
Mallory tells the party that several new areas of Flux have emerged, including one where the Stormherd camp was, and another at the old SPI headquarters under the Mountain. He says that their colleague Audreth has been dispatched to Euphoria to research ways to combat their growth. Mallory stresses that the SPI’s new top priority is to prevent, or failing that, contain explosions of wild magic from now on (e.g., like Cal tried to do by destroying the Flux weapon), until a way is found to reverse the Flux at these hotspots.
- (after case 05) The Temple of Symmetry was ultimately sucked into the unstable vortex which was created when Vondal disrupted the Zenithal Summit. Sonan the Scholar is dead, from the wounds he suffered curing Vondal. Ceowyn wants a place where he can meditate in seclusion, as recompense.
- (after case 04) Growing where Brian was.
- (discovered during case 03) Where first SPI HQ was.
- (after case 06) Where Stormherd camp was.
- (after case 08) Where circus was in the RUP.
The Crystalline Flux
A surreal realm of structured chaos. See Case 09.
Chronicle
Case 13e04
Vondal used wild magic to weave the Flux around Alye’adu’s entrance, transforming it into a wild magic door to protect the village.
Case 14e00
Referenced as wild magic that may have scattered agents; discussed in Mallory’s context.
Case 14e02
Sensed throughout Evershroud Manor, creating wild magic surges and chaotic tendrils everywhere.
Case 14e03
Present throughout the manor as chaotic tendrils; pulled directly into Lady Nightshade when she ripped open reality.
Case 14e04
Described as unreality, everything outside the world; kept out by divine binding of elements; appears to be breaking down with a potential missing ninth element.
Case 14e05
Referenced by Vondal when using his Wand of Wonder to avoid igniting it in the manor’s environment.
Case 15e03
Encountered as pervasive dark energy during the Hunt in the Soulbound Rest; presents constant magical danger.
Case 15e07
Revealed to have been created by the sabotage of a ritual performed on a tower by three elves and one halfling attempting healing magic.
Case 16e01
Agents discovered the Flux leaking from directly beneath SPI headquarters; it appears the World Tree roots are expanding and creating additional breach points throughout reality.
Case 16e05
Shadow creatures emerged from the World Tree’s corrupted roots, attacking agents; these undead Flux-touched entities bear the faces and forms of duplicates and split selves.
Case 16e08
A catastrophic battle occurred at the heart of the Flux; reality fractured and reformed multiple times, agents were permanently transformed by the Flux’s power, and a gate to the true Afterworld was revealed.
Case 17e00
Remained a critical threat to the SPI tower and its inhabitants; Lorelei’s infection from the Flux prompted urgent discussions about the planar instability affecting the tower and its unknown connection to the Feywild and Afterworld.