The Tumult

Overview

The Tumult is a persistent mutagenic phenomenon that emerged in the aftermath of The Confluence. It permeates large geographical areas of the world, causing uncontrolled mutation of reality wherever it manifests. The Tumult contains Mana, the unstable energy that drives its transformations, and remains one of the primary threats to human civilization. Through the stabilization of Mana and the practice of Alteration, humanity has managed to push back the Tumult in certain regions, most notably the peninsula of Asgartha, though vast expanses remain under its influence.

Manifestations

The Tumult appears in many different forms — fog, rain, hurricane-force winds, concentrated masses, or veils of light and darkness. Its visual characteristics vary by region: over the Tumult Depression, it manifests as pink-tinged filaments mingling with gray winds beneath the cloud cover. Wherever it takes hold, the landscape undergoes rapid and unpredictable transformation. Forests can become fields of rubble, oceans can rise into mountain ranges, and the physical laws governing a region can shift without warning.

Tumult Singularities

Tumult Singularities are concentrated, localized manifestations of extreme Tumult activity. These events can germinate rapidly when certain conditions are met, such as disturbance of areas saturated with Mana or ancient energy sources. During the City of Scholars excavation in 393 AC, drilling into Sap reservoirs triggered a Singularity to form, causing Tesseracts throughout the abyss to move and connect with unusual frenzy. Yzmir Initiates, Gephyromancers, and Phonomancers responded to evacuate personnel through emergency portals.

Effects on Life

Surviving within the Tumult is nearly impossible for unprotected humans, as exposure subjects living beings to its mutagenic effects. Chimerae are the notable exception — creatures that have adapted to life within the Tumult, constantly mutating as a result. Before humanity learned Alteration, even Oases offered only partial shelter: the land itself could resist the Tumult’s passage, but the people within remained vulnerable to transformation.

Humanity discovered that stabilizing Mana could counteract the Tumult’s influence, and through sustained Alteration, permanent habitation became viable in regions where the phenomenon had been pushed back.

Behavior in the Cloud Sea

Over the Tumult Depression, the Tumult manifests beneath a vast cloud cover known as The Turmoil. Bubbles and waves of Tumult rise through updrafts to burst at the surface, posing a hazard to vessels flying above. Mutagenic winds corrode ship hulls, and concentrated Tumult pockets can explode with enough force to severely damage armored vessels.

The Tumult’s intensity increases toward the center of the depression, approaching a boundary beyond which no physical law holds sway and coherent reality breaks down entirely. Continuous Tumult generation has been observed flowing steadily from the west.

Health Effects

Prolonged proximity to the Tumult causes an affliction with symptoms closely resembling Remanence. Though temporary, the condition frequently relapses. The leading hypothesis attributes the sickness to extended exposure to the volatile Aether carried by the Tumult. Physicians of the Rati and Muna have responded to afflicted crews — the Muna experimenting with leech species capable of siphoning parasitic Aether.

Resistance Through Ideas

The mutagenic effects of the Tumult can be mitigated by the persistence of a strong idea anchored in a region. In the Storhvit, the entrenched idea of cold, ice, and winter — emanating from the imprisoned Oneiros Kuraokami at the peak of Cais Adarra — repels Tumult winds and creates a pocket of stability, though at the cost of harsh weather conditions. This principle operates on the same mechanism by which Oases resist the Tumult: ideas rooted deeply enough in reality act as stabilizing forces against mutagenic currents.

Relationships

• Alteration: Skill used to stabilize Mana and push back the Tumult
• Cais Adarra: Mountain peak whose entrenched idea of cold repels Tumult winds
• Chimerae: Creatures adapted to living within the Tumult
• City of Scholars: Location where Singularity formed during Sap extraction (393 AC)
• Kuraokami: Imprisoned Oneiros whose presence sustains the Storhvit Oasis against the Tumult
• Mana: Unstable energy contained within the Tumult that drives mutations
• Muna: Faction experimenting with leech-based Aether siphoning to treat Tumult affliction
• Oases: Stable zones that resist Tumult influence through anchored ideas
• Rati: Medical organization treating Tumult-related health effects
• Remanence: Condition whose symptoms resemble Tumult proximity affliction
• Sap: Substance whose extraction triggered Singularity at City of Scholars
• Storhvit: Region where idea-based Tumult resistance has been observed
• The Aether: Volatile dimension whose exposure causes Tumult-related sickness
• The Confluence: Cataclysmic event that produced the Tumult
• The Turmoil: Cloud sea manifestation of the Tumult over the depression
• Tumult Depression: Geographical region of concentrated Tumult activity
• Yzmir: Faction whose Initiates and mages respond to Singularity events