Main > Compendia > Realms > Shard Realms

This category enumerates the realms known as Shards.

Shards (Enchiridian) are the name of a collection of realms of the Integrum. Their name comes from their origin during The Shattering, when the original, singular realm of the Integrum was fractured into a multiplicity, collectively called the Shards.

Lore about the Shards is plentiful and accurate, being the subject of much study by gods and mortal scholars alike, especially how the function in the Integrum and how to travel between them.

The Shards were formed during the cataclysm known as The Shattering, at the beginning of the Shattered Age, all of which share an etymological meaning. When the grand designs of Destiny was destroyed, time and space within the Integrum were forever damaged. The singular realm of the Integrum was split into an unknown number of pieces.

Travel between the Shards first became possible when the fey of Pelithos invented pattern sails which allowed them to fly into the astral sky, which adjoins all of the Shards. By flying their pattern sails into the Astral Sky, they could descend into any Shard they could navigate to. This is the first time that the inhabitants of the Shards met each other.

Later in the Shattered Age, the humans of Acrolon were able to create another form of travel between shards: shard gates. Unfortunately, this invention was soon used to perpetrate wars among Mortals and Gods across the Shards. After peace was restored, a multi-Shard society prospered until the end of the age.

After The Fall, the Shards lost contact with each other as both pattern sails and Shard Gates topped functioning. It wasn't until several centuries later that the Dark Empire of Acrolon used shadow magic to restore operation to some of the Shard Gates, which they used to start another war that lasted until the end of the age.

In the current age, the known Shards are all in contact again, through the restored Shard Gates.