Aether Phenomena

“The Aether shows us wonders and horrors in equal measure. Both will kill you if you’re not careful.”
—Navigator’s Proverb

Quick Reference

Aether Phenomena: Constellation Lights and Star-Showers

Constellation Lights

Description

At “night” (following traditional 24-hour cycles), glowing patterns appear in the Aether—the constellations themselves.

Visual Characteristics: - Appear as networks of luminous points connected by faint lines - Colors vary by constellation (silver-white, gold, purple, etc.) - Visible from any point in the Aetherium (no horizon blocks them) - Move slowly across the “sky” over 8-10 hours - Fade at “dawn” as Aether brightens

Constellations Visible

The Six Major: 1. The Radiant (Constellation of Light): Brightest, silver-white 2. The Hammer (Constellation of the Forge): Red-gold, anvil shape 3. The Hidden (Constellation of the Veil): Purple, eye-like 4. The Wanderer (Constellation of the Voyager): Sky-blue, compass pattern 5. The Keeper (Constellation of Memory): Amber, book shape 6. The Liberator (Constellation of the Broken Chain): Bright silver, broken manacle pattern

The Forbidden: 7. The Coiled (Constellation of the Serpent): Sickly green-purple, serpent eating its tail (appears only in The Murk and corrupted areas) 8. The Falling (Constellation of the Abyss): Absence of light, black hole in the constellation field (visible only from The Deeps)

Astronomical Patterns

Positions Shift: Constellations don’t follow predictable paths like pre-Shattering stars - Some nights, all six majors are visible - Other nights, only two or three appear - Pattern seems random but Star-Readers claim to detect cycles (disputed) - Constellation positions affect prayer efficacy

Alignments: Rare occasions when multiple constellations overlap - The Convergence (all six majors visible simultaneously): Occurs ~once per year, prayers are most powerful - The Eclipse (when The Serpent overlays The Radiant): Occurs irregularly, Rot accelerates - The Void Night (no constellations visible): Occurs 2-3 times per year, deeply unsettling

Cultural Significance

• Navigation: Constellations used as reference points (though unreliable)
• Religion: Prayer requires constellation visibility
• Agriculture: Some crops planted/harvested by constellation phases
• Romance: Proposals under The Radiant considered auspicious
• War: Battles avoided during The Eclipse (bad luck)

Star-Showers

Description

Occasionally, glowing motes “rain” from above (or below—directionality is unclear) through the Aether.

Appearance: - Look like falling stars but much slower - Glow gold, silver, or pale blue - Drift gently through Aether like snowflakes - Dissolve after 10-30 minutes if not collected - Leave no trace when they dissipate

Frequency: 1-3 times per month, unpredictable timing and location

Duration: 5 minutes to 2 hours

Star-Dust Collection

The motes can be collected and solidify into Star-Dust, a valuable substance.

Properties of Star-Dust: - Glows faintly in darkness - Warm to the touch - Weighs almost nothing - Never decays or loses potency

Uses: - Alchemy: Primary ingredient in high-tier potions (healing, purification) - Religion: Burned as incense in chapels (enhances prayer) - Currency: One vial of Star-Dust = 50 Aether-Coins - Rot Resistance: Wearing Star-Dust amulet provides minor protection from corruption

Collection Methods: - Nets: Airships deploy nets to catch falling motes - Glass Bottles: Collectors use bottles with Aether-seal lids - Bare Hands: Touching a mote causes it to solidify (tingly sensation)

Origin Theories

The Constellation Theory (Clergy Position): - Star-Dust is pieces of the constellations themselves, shed like skin cells - Collecting it is sacrament—handling divine matter - Explains why it has purifying properties

The Aether Theory (Alchemist Position): - Star-Dust is the Aether crystallizing temporarily - Represents the Aether’s “metabolism” - Explains nothing about its origin

The Shattering Echo Theory (Archivist Position): - Star-Dust is debris from the Shattering, still falling 287 years later - Time works strangely in the Aether—the Shattering may still be “happening” - Explains irregular timing

The Horror Theory (Whispered): - Star-Dust is bait - Something in The Deeps is luring humanity to look up/down - Explains why collecting it sometimes correlates with disappearances

Rare Variants

Dark Star-Dust: Rare black motes - Appears during Eclipse events - Used by Rot-Touched in their rituals - Causes mild corruption if handled without protection - Highly illegal in most settlements

Crimson Motes: Blood-red Star-Dust - Appeared for first time in 267 S. - No known uses (alchemists afraid to experiment) - Clergy claims they’re “wounded stars”

The Breath

Description

A rhythmic pulse felt throughout the entire Aetherium every 27 hours.

Manifestation: - Aether’s luminosity brightens and dims over ~30 seconds - Subtle pressure wave (like standing near a large bell that rang) - Some people experience mild vertigo or tingling - Animals become briefly agitated (birds cry out, beasts pause) - Rot-corruption visibly pulses (darkens, then lightens)

Timing: Precisely every 27 hours, down to the second (confirmed by chronometers across multiple islands)

Duration of Effect: ~30-45 seconds

Physical Effects

On Living Things: - Heart rates synchronize briefly with the Breath - Pregnant women often give birth during Breath (labor triggered) - Plants visibly grow slightly during each Breath - Rot-Touched individuals experience euphoria or pain (varies)

On Materials: - Star-Dust glows brighter momentarily - Blessed water in chapels ripples - Aether-needles (navigation compasses) spin wildly - Pre-Shattering artifacts sometimes activate briefly

On the Environment: - Aether-Currents surge slightly - Island gravity wells fluctuate (weight feels 5-10% lighter for a moment) - Sound carries further during the Breath - Temperature drops 1-2°C

Cultural Significance

Timekeeping: The Breath is the most reliable time reference - Chronometers synchronized to Breath cycles - “Three Breaths ago” = ~3.5 days ago - Children learn to count Breaths to track age

Religious Significance: - Clergy believe the Breath is divine respiration—the constellations breathing life into the Aether - Prayers spoken during the Breath are considered more likely to be answered - The Breath is when the barrier between divine and mortal is thinnest

Rot-Touched Significance: - The Breath is when the Voice Beneath speaks most clearly - Corruption spreads fractionally faster during Breath - Some Rot-Touched time rituals to coincide with Breath

Births: Children born during the Breath are considered blessed or cursed (depending on culture) - “Breath-Born” have reputation for being unnaturally lucky or unlucky - Some become powerful Star-Readers or fall quickly to Rot (higher variance in life outcomes)

Origin Theories

The Living Aether Theory: - The Aether is a single vast organism - The Breath is its literal breathing - Implies we live inside something alive (terrifying)

The Echo Theory: - The Breath is a shockwave from the Shattering - Somehow the event created a perpetual resonance - 27-hour cycle is the “frequency” of the Shattering

The Machine Theory: - Pre-Shattering technology still operates somewhere - A massive device pumps energy through the Aether on a fixed cycle - The Nexus Spire may still function

The Constellation Theory: - The constellations collectively maintain the Aether’s stability - The Breath is the “pulse” of their combined will - If it ever stops, the Aether will collapse

Mystery

Why 27 hours? No one knows. Pre-Shattering days were 24 hours. The 3-hour discrepancy has never been explained.

Echo Zones

Description

Pockets of Aether where sounds repeat endlessly, trapped in loops.

Characteristics: - Permanent locations (don’t move) - Size varies: 10-meter bubbles to kilometer-wide zones - Sounds loop for hours, days, or years - Multiple sounds can overlap, creating cacophony - Eventually sounds fade (time varies: hours to decades)

Known Echo Zones: - The Wailing Expanse: Near Murky Chasm, full of screams from a massacre in 156 S. - The Choir: In Veiled Heights, beautiful singing from pre-Shattering religious ceremony (still audible 287 years later) - Merchant’s Babble: Between Skyport Eos and Ironhold, market chatter echoes endlessly - The Last Goodbye: Small zone where a mother calls her child’s name (child fell off island edge in 203 S.)

Practical Uses

Message Boards: Travelers shout information into Echo Zones, others retrieve later - “The Ironhold shipment leaves on the third Breath of next week!” - Works but unreliable (other sounds overlap) - Privacy: none (anyone can listen)

Memorial: People shout names of the dead into Echo Zones to “preserve” them

Navigation: Some Echo Zones are loud enough to hear from kilometers away, used as landmarks

Dangers

Psychological: Listening to Echo Zones too long causes distress - Hearing the same scream for hours drives people mad - Some echoes contain Rot-Speech (understanding it increases corruption)

Acoustic Weapons: Screaming into an Echo Zone during combat traps enemy in wall of sound

Overload: If too many sounds enter an Echo Zone, it becomes sonic chaos—painful to approach

Formation Theories

Aether Memory: The Aether “remembers” sounds and plays them back (implies Aether has memory)

Dimensional Pockets: Echo Zones are folds in space-time where sound waves loop eternally

Constellation Phenomenon: The Keeper (Constellation of Memory) creates them to preserve knowledge

Mysteries

Why only sound? Light, smell, and touch don’t echo—only sound. No explanation.

Can they be cleared? Some Echo Zones have spontaneously gone silent. Others persist for centuries. No pattern detected.

Ghost-Islands

Description

Islands that appear briefly, then vanish.

Characteristics: - Visible for minutes to hours - Appear solid and real - Sometimes contain structures, vegetation, even people - Vanish without trace (don’t drift away—simply cease to exist) - Reappear in different locations (sometimes)

Documented Sightings: 47 confirmed reports in 287 years

Notable Examples: - The Phantom Market: An island covered in market stalls, appeared near Skyport Eos in 213 S., vanished after 2 hours. One merchant reportedly landed, bought goods, took off—goods remained real. - The Bleeding Tower: A ruined tower dripping red liquid, appeared six times in various locations. Always identical. Never stays longer than 10 minutes. - The Green Garden: An island of lush vegetation (pre-Shattering beauty), appears rarely. Those who land report feeling “wrong”—time moves strangely.

Interactions

Landing on Ghost-Islands: Dangerous - Some people landed and vanished with the island - Others landed, took items, returned safely - No pattern to who survives

Items from Ghost-Islands: Persist after island vanishes - Proven real (not hallucinations) - No special properties detected - Clergy confiscates them as “heretical evidence”

Origin Theories

Dimensional Bleed: Ghost-Islands are fragments from alternate realities, briefly intersecting with this one

Echoes of Lost Islands: Islands consumed by Rot or lost in the Shattering occasionally “replay”

The Silence Connection: May be related to The Silence Phenomenon—islands that lost populations

Time Loops: Some islands are trapped in time, repeating the moment of the Shattering endlessly

Hallucination: Mass hysteria or Aether-Sickness (unpopular theory due to physical evidence)

The Shimmer

Description

Rare visual phenomenon where the Aether itself appears to ripple and distort, like heat haze.

Appearance: - Patches of “wavy” Aether - Colors shift through impossible spectrums - Distance becomes difficult to judge - Sometimes accompanied by strange sounds (musical tones, whispers, silence)

Frequency: Extremely rare, <10 confirmed sightings in 287 years

Duration: Seconds to minutes

Effects

Navigation Disruption: Airships passing through Shimmer zones emerge at wrong locations - One ship entered Shimmer near Bright Reaches, emerged in The Murk (500km displaced) - Another ship entered, never emerged at all

Temporal Anomalies: Time moves differently - Crew reported Shimmer passage took “seconds”—clocks showed 3 hours passed - Another report: crew aged 5 years in minutes

Psychological: Those who witness Shimmer report lasting effects - Enhanced intuition - Nightmares of “other places” - Some develop ability to sense Aether-Currents - One Star-Reader claimed to hear the Voice Beneath for first time after Shimmer exposure

Theories

Gateway Phenomenon: Shimmer is a portal to other dimensions or locations

Reality Instability: The Aether is cracking, Shimmer is a warning of further Shattering

Constellation Manifestation: The constellations themselves passing through Aether (their “true forms”)

Connection to The Nexus Spire: The lost Spire is somehow generating Shimmer from wherever it is

Current Status

The Shimmer has appeared more frequently in recent years: - Pre-200 S.: 4 sightings total - 200-287 S.: 6 sightings - The Archivists are actively studying reports - The Clergy suppresses information (considers it heretical)

Minor Phenomena

Aether-Glows

Small patches of unusually bright Aether, harmless but disorienting

Gravity Fluctuations

Random areas where gravity strengthens or weakens for no apparent reason (minutes to hours)

Sound Amplification

Zones where whispers can be heard kilometers away (opposite of Echo Zones—don’t loop)

Temperature Inversions

Pockets of freezing or burning Aether (no explanation)

The Silver Rain

Rare liquid that “falls” from above in The Veiled Heights, evaporates before hitting islands. Not water. Composition unknown.

Related Topics

• The Aether - The medium these phenomena occur within
• Sky-Islands - Solid matter in the Aether
• Mysteries - Unexplained aspects of the Aetherium
• The Constellations - Divine entities affecting the Aether

In-World Document

“Phenomena Log” by Navigator Elara Drift (280-287 S.)

Entry 47, Year 283 S. > Witnessed Star-Shower near Ironhold. Collected 12 vials of Star-Dust. Standard gold glow. Sold for 600 coins. Unremarkable.

Entry 89, Year 285 S. > Echo Zone discovered between Thornvale and Eos. Someone crying. Sounds like a child. Crew voted to avoid it. I wanted to investigate. Outvoted. Probably wise.

Entry 103, Year 286 S. > The Breath felt wrong today. Lasted nearly a minute instead of 30 seconds. Crew felt it too. No official reports. Mentioned to Archivist—told me to stay silent. “Panic helps no one.”

Entry 127, Year 287 S., three days ago > Saw the Shimmer. I don’t care what the Clergy says. I saw it. A patch of Aether maybe 50 meters across, rippling like water. Colors I don’t have names for. My co-pilot wanted to steer into it. I wanted to. We both wanted to. > > I steered away. Hardest thing I’ve ever done. > > I can still see it when I close my eyes. I think it’s calling me back.

Entry 128, Year 287 S., two days ago > Returned to where we saw the Shimmer. Nothing there. Co-pilot says we imagined it. But I found this tucked in my jacket pocket: a flower. Species I’ve never seen. Petals are silver and warm to the touch. It doesn’t wilt. > > Where did it come from?

“The Aether is not empty. It’s full of things we don’t understand and shouldn’t touch.”
—Archivist warning to explorers