ARCHIVES OF THE DIVIDED CONTINENTS
Volume 2: Basic Information of Bastion
I. Overview and Origins
Within these old chronicles, the story of Bastion begins. Here are the first truths, set down for all who seek to understand.
The Beginning: Reality began as boundless darkness. After countless millennia, a solitary speck of light appeared, sending ripples across space. Parts of the darkness yielded, transforming into a single, massive sphere of energy.
The Conflict: The darkness awakened with a mind of its own and tried to consume the light. Their struggle ended in a stalemate, with each claiming exactly half of the space.
The Treaty of Bastion: The Light God (Lord L) and the Dark God (Lord D), collectively known as The Makers, took humanoid forms to negotiate. Fearing their endless war would spawn a destructive third entity, they forged a treaty. They created a spherical world poised exactly between their realms of light and darkness, naming it Bastion.
The Core: Bastion has a split core. The half facing the light side is made of volatile "liquid light" (Core Radiance), while the dark-facing half is solid, crystallized dark energy. There are absolutely no natural stars in the sky
The Heavens and the Afterlife
Here are gathered the truths of realms beyond, set down for those who seek knowledge of what lies above and after.
The Heavens: The realm of the gods includes Lux (the Light God's heaven), Murk (the Dark God's heaven), and The Shift (the boundary area in space where the gods meet).
The Afterlife: A warrior of renown goes to Aeternum Vale or Valhalla (the warrior's heaven). Regular departed souls go to Midway (the soul's heaven, located in The Shift).
Wandering Souls: Evil souls are blocked by the Universal Spirit from entering the heavens. They are trapped in Bastion, unseen and unnoticed, wandering ruins or cemeteries, unless they choose to fade into nothingness
Cosmic Artifacts and Guardians
Within these pages are kept the records of great relics and the guardians who stand watch over them.
The Millennium Clock: A gigantic clock visible across the domains, Underhaven, and the heavens. It rings every 1,000 years to signal the descent of the sleeping Makers to Underhaven. Its 24-hour cycle is broken into Earth, Water, Wind, and Fire phases. It tracks time: Half-moon (first 12 hours) and Full-moon (last 12 hours).
The Mechanic: A heartless, mechanical humanoid guardian built from materials found at the subterranean convergence rim. It protects The Shift, monitors the sleeping gods, and builds mechanical warriors like King Crab and Guard Dogs (which guard the 4 elemental powers).
The Universal Spirit: A divine sage residing in the Cave of Insight. It possesses "universal eyes" and acts as a catalyst to awaken an individual's powers precisely at age 12
II. The Three Domains and Environments
The old records say that Bastion is split into three great domains, each shaped by its own light and darkness.
1. Luminos (The Light Side / Land of Mortals)
Lighting: A world of eternal day with no natural nighttime. It is illuminated by Ambient Luminescence (a glowing sky and atmosphere, where all non-living particles emit faint light) and Core Radiance (the earth glowing from the liquid light core below).
Shadows: Because light radiates from all 360 degrees, there are absolutely no natural shadows anywhere in Luminos. Shadows can only be created artificially using the fire element.
2. Unlighted (The Dark Side / Land of Shades)
Lighting: A world of eternal night with no natural daytime. It is illuminated by 8 artificial moons, the Sunclock, created by The Mechanic, which follow a Solar Battery Orbit to capture Luminos' light.
The Lunar Cycle: The moons follow a weekly order: Monday has 0 moons (darkest), Tuesday has 1, Wednesday 2, Thursday 3, Friday 4, Saturday 5, and Sunday has all 8 moons (brightest, providing 1/50,000 the brightness of the Luminos).
The Sunclock: Built by The Mechanic, it emits non-blinding light for 8 hours and shuts down for 16 hours to simulate a workday.
3. Underhaven (The Subterranean Sanctuary)
Location: Located deep underground at the exact center of Bastion, circling the convergence rim (the vertical equator where the light and dark cores grind together). It circumnavigates the planet.
Environment: It features its own distinct atmosphere, subterranean seas, rivers, mountains (the tallest is Medi-as), forests, and floating sky islands.
Day and Night Cycle: Underhaven has both day and night. "Day" occurs for 12 hours when the liquid light mantle actively expands. "Night" occurs for 12 hours when the crystallized dark mantle actively contracts and absorbs the light, preventing a catastrophic Resonance Clash between the cores
III. Global Geography, Travel, and Infrastructure
These records describe the lands, bridges, and paths of Bastion, as kept by the archivists for all who wish to journey or understand its shape.
Ugnaeyum & Golden Bridges: The great continents of Luminos and Unlighted are joined by Ugnaeyum, a wide land bridge, and by ten giant Golden Bridges, all made by ancient hands. These crossings are strong and lasting, used for travel and trade between realms.
Elevated Lands: Most towns and cities are found on the elevated lands—huge plains set high above the earth. These areas have their own forests, rivers, and lakes, and the weather changes from north to south.
Basal Lands: At the foot of each continent lie the basal lands. These lowlands are large and quiet, always beneath the shadow of the high plains above.
Intermediate Lands: Between the elevated and basal lands, these areas are layered, with many biomes. Each connected by the Terrum Walkways. Creatures and lesser races live here.
Coastal Lands: The coastal lands lie beside the sea, pressed right up against the huge cliff walls of the elevated lands. There are no other biomes between them—just cliffs standing tall and steep.
Islands: Both floating sky islands and sea islands hold their own unique lands. Ancient builders linked them with Silver Stone Walkways, making bridges in the sky and over water.
Vertical Travel Systems:
Terrum Walkways: Massive stair-like towers were built to connect intermediate land biomes, allowing people to climb up or down between basal and elevated lands, or to reach Underhaven. On the domains, these walkways start low and rise high; in Underhaven, they begin above and lead down.
Celestial Walkways: Large, wide paths naturally made by the earth and wind elements, inclining like mountains/stairs to connect land to the floating sky islands.
Empyrean Elevators: Huge elevators, made with great skill, lift people from the ground straight to the floating sky islands.
Coastal Elevators: Gigantic elevators near highly populated ports bypassing Terrum walkways to transport people from bottom coastal lands directly to top elevated lands.
Aquea Currents: Specific ocean currents used by sailors to cross domains much faster.
Entrances to Underhaven: The surface world connects to the underground sanctuary through the Mantle (the main gate), four minor entrances, deep vertical shafts, and special ocean-to-ocean Aquea entrances.
IV. The Awakening and Power Systems
Herein are kept the accounts of how power awakens in Bastion, and the mysteries that guide its flow.
At exactly age 12, the Universal Spirit catalogs an individual and awakens their powers. Affinities cannot be measured preemptively by any technology because the Universal Spirit judges based on four specific unmeasurable factors: Genetics, Memory (the main factor), The Will, and Luck (randomness or cosmic fate).
Domcrean Awakening: They awaken a Class first (which permanently limits their magical options), followed by an Affinity to the physical elements. They must get lucky to awaken 1, 2, 3, or 4 elements (more than 2 is very rare).
Templar Awakening: They automatically awaken an affinity for both pure Light and pure Dark energy. Following this, they awaken their specific Clan (a specialized variant gift). Arch Templars awaken 2 clans.
Domcrean Magic (The 4 Elements): Mortals and Shades (Domcreans) wield the 4 physical elements: Terrum (Earth), Aquea (Water), Stormut (Wind), and Igneus (Fire).
Templar Gifts (Divine Energy): Templars exclusively wield the primordial essences of pure Light and pure Dark energy, utilizing them to manifest specialized clan gifts.