An endless, eternal ocean of white mist covers the entire known world. Only isolated islands — like forgotten mountain peaks or the remnants of ancient lands — rise above this deadly shroud, tiny, self-contained worlds with villages, ruins, or small towns. Traveling across the "ocean" below is fatally dangerous: the touch of the mist consumes and kills. Time to death, or other influence of the mist, depends on concentration and individual predisposition. Therefore, such expeditions are carried out either on aircraft or during the ebb, across short isthmuses between islands, or with things that neutralize the mist's influence. For example, fire drives away the mist, but the mist better be thin, otherwise the torch will not save.

The sky is deep and blue, occasionally crossed by wandering celestial bodies that move along their own paths above the world. Among the inhabitants, it is common to measure time by tides and ebbs, as the paths of the luminaries are unstable, and there are places they never visit.

This is a world where everything has already happened. Ancient stones, forgotten ruins, mysterious artifacts, and the complexes of a’Tan — all that remains of a bygone age.

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🔧 Story start 1 — Unscheduled Landing: An adventurer with a lost past crash-lands on an uncharted island. His steam-powered airship is damaged, and his only hope of survival is to reach the nearest settlement and repair the vessel. He searches for traces of ancient structures known as the a'Tan Complexes—mysterious buildings that might hold the key to his forgotten history. Here, among the wreckage, copper pipes, and the whispering wind, he feels a strange sense of safety—for studying machines is easier than trusting a breathing mask in the mist. But beyond the island lies death, secrets, and something lurking in the depths of the white abyss.

🏠 Story start 2 — The Friend In The Basement: On a remote island, part of an archipelago almost entirely swallowed by fog, lives a boy. His family is one of the few that have not yet abandoned this scrap of land. In the basement of their house lives a “friend” — a voice that whispers through a ventilation grate, asks for food, demands sacrifices and offers strange gifts in return. The boy can walk through the thin mist and see in the dark. But he pays for it with whatever the friend desires. One day, the voice asks for more. Something far more valuable than bird bones.

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To avoid overloading the context with uniform blocks of statistical text, the data is presented in a single line containing 7 parameters in the following format:
Data: 000,000,0.0.0.0,0,00,000,00

Each segment corresponds to the following values:
Data: HHH,EEE,M.L.W.D,T,CC,GGG,SS

HHH – Health
EEE – Endurance
M – Affinity to the Mist
L – Affinity to the Light
W – Affinity to the Wind
D – Affinity to the Darkness
T – a'Tan value, determines the possibility of resurrection upon death, otherwise the soul goes to the element to which it was closest
CC – Relict credits of the Ancient State, stored in the brain’s neuro-card of those considered “citizens”
GGG – Standard gold coins used in most places
SS – Stars, the currency of the City of Merchants; stored in special vessels, they are potent enough to melt even metal

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Main known cities:

Sheol, the mist-aligned and enigmatic city, lies shrouded beneath the mist-ocean. Known only through rumor, its high spires and sunken plazas are glimpsed by Mist-bound servants. Only the City of Merchants dares approach — silent, fleeting trade their only contact.

Skyfang, the wind-aligned soaring city, is a jagged spire that pierces the heavens, scoured by relentless gales that drive back the mist-ocean. Neutral folk live and trade at its base, while higher up, chains clang where the maddened spirits of Wind's bound whisper through bronze and stone.

Black Wall, the darkness-aligned frigid city, sprawls across a frozen expanse of ice and storm. Jagged seracs intertwine with viscous tendrils of Darkness, stretching skyward to ensnare thunderclouds. No luminaries linger here. Obsidian battlements rise like a leviathan’s spine, patrolled by Dark Centurions and undead legionaries.

Aquilon, the light-aligned radiant city — a bronze-and-gold pyramid blazing in a scorched desert under three motionless luminaries. Home to Light paladins. The husks of the unworthy smolder along the path: pilgrims denied passage by searing judgment. Within, the pyramid hums with a resonant drone, where the soul-voices of eternal devotees still whisper.

Valkrisharh, the neutral three-fold city born of conquest, unites the once-warring islands of Kritharath, Sharazhan, and Valdleic. It is defined by the Sovereign Triwall Ramparts — titanic barriers of stone and bronze spanning the mist-white ocean between the isles, forming an impregnable, habitable valley within.

The City of Merchants, a neutral marvel of engineering, refused to perish when its luminary died. Its people endure beneath the deadly mist-ocean, harvesting fallen stars — their light, their shield, their coin.

Bronze Gates, a neutral fortress-city carved into living mountain rock, is known for its paranoia and master-craftsmanship. Its namesake doors — titanic bronze slabs etched with forgotten histories — remain permanently sealed. Trade passes only through smaller, high entrances, each fiercely guarded.

Terminus, a sprawling neutral necropolis at the known world's ragged edge, where Mist meets Darkness. Towering mausoleums and intricate tombs form a maze of crypts and archives. Patrolled by its own Grave Wardens alongside the Dark Centurions.