Breakdown

A Breakdown is what happens when large magical events take place, that often permanently shape the surrounding area. Often times though, they are the leftover of a magical catastrophe. They are areas in which the known laws of physics have completely broken down and the rules of nature cease. Grass becomes crystalline, mountains become jagged eruptions of arcyte, and even ecosystems become broken down, only to be renamiated and rebuild by the magical disaster.

The location of a breakdown is immediately noticeable. Things that were lighter become heavier, and things that are heavier become lighter. Grass and trees lose their leafy green color, and begin to take on a more blue color. However, the most noticeable feature of a breakdown, are the purple veins that protrude outward from the site of the disaster. Ground zero is generally incredibly inhospitable, and outright deadly to any living thing - plant or animal.

Types of Breakdowns
There are two types of breakdowns: Both are simply referred to as breakdowns, but there are two different classifications.
 * 1) Disaster Breakdowns or D-Breakdowns
 * 2) Mancer Breakdowns or M-Breakdowns

Disaster Breakdowns
Disaster breakdowns are breakdowns that form at the site of a huge disaster. There are currently only two in existence: the Ash'lakir Crystal Deserts, and The Magical Cordon. Both have completely warped and corrupted the landscape. D-Breakdowns are marked by three enormous tendril-like veins that protrude outward. These more often than not can be traced back to the exact spot that the explosion took place. These breakdowns are a massive source of arcyte, but mining, and even living in these conditions is nearly impossible. Prolonged exposure to D-Breakdowns often ends up with mutation or even downright insanity.

Mancer Breakdowns
Mancer breakdowns are the leftovers of a particularly powerful mage who has died, or otherwise consumed enough arcyte to physically alter the landscape. While not nearly as destructive as D-Breakdowns, they are dangerous in their own right. Often times, when a powerful mage is killed with high levels of arcyte in their blood, they violently explode, often taking everyone and everything around them. These leftover sites are called M-Breakdowns, and do not consume and spread like D-Breakdowns. M-Breakdown ground zeroes are marked with the three veins protruding outward in equidistant fashion, corrupting the earth beneath them. It is often rumored that particularly powerful mages die, only to create a new source of arcyte in their wake. Then of course, the Cerulean Confederacy promptly sets up mining operations as they harvest the leftovers.

Ash'lakir Crystal Desert
''"If there ever was a hell to exist, it's that damned crystal desert." - ''Unknown Desert Trooper

The Ash'lakir Crystal Desert used to be an actual desert, with large dunes and rocky mountains. Home to the Baccyan people, it was often referred to as an inhospitable wasteland. However, the Baccyan thrived there, building large trading cities around the sparsely located water areas. When arcyte was discovered, it completely rocked the Baccyan people.

Untethered use of arcyte and magic eventually culminated in a series of proxy wars fought within their own capital city. These events culminated in a magical explosion, that destroyed the entire city, and with it, half the Baccyan population. But, without the anti-magical devices of the Adamant Commonwealth, their plight continued.

The breakdown slowly began to consume the desert, and before long its entire landscape had changed. Millions more Baccyan died as their once desert empire collapsed, and gave way to a new crystalline forest. Where sand dunes and rocky mountains reigned supreme, instead grass made of arcyte sprouted from the ground, as huge chunks of land uprooted themselves and began to drift. Blue forests of magical energy sprouted where previously there were none - and incapable of ever being.

Mountains shifted, valleys formed, rivers sprang up, all taking on the appearance of the magical blue crystal. Ash'lakir rivers are no ordinary rivers, in that their very waters are simply liquid arcyte, waiting to be tapped.

The capital of the Baccyan people was devastated. While some of it still remains, it is simply a husk of what it once was. Its pleasure gardens and ornate palaces gave way to a hellish landscape. The explosion kicked up enough dust to block out the sun almost completely, casting a perpetual haze over the Ash'lakir Deserts. The city is home to horrific lightning storms, monsters, and is known to drive any who venture to it insane.

Three tendril like patterns in the ground erupt from a singular spot in the capital city. These "veins" of sorts have burrowed their way through the desert wasteland, twisting and changing the landscape as it did. These three veins can be traced all the way back across the magical wasteland to the capital city, to the exact spot it originated from.

The Magical Cordon
The Magical Cordon is the site of the famous Khazak Disaster, the very same one that turned them away from the crystal. A remote outpost erupted in a giagantic explosion that could be heard across the ocean, on the Hafgar continent, several thousand miles away. While loud, it left he planet relatively unharmed.

This breakdown is unique in that it has been mostly contained by the Adamant Magical Containment Brigade. Their nullifying towers were promptly erected to contain the disaster, stemming the corruption of their island, and saving their species.

The Adamant Commonwealth were some of the first to perform large scale experiments with arcyte shortly after its discovery. They believed that it could change the world and how it operated, and for the better. This all changed when an explosion rocked a remote research station in one of the more inhospitable parts of the island marsh. It wasn't before long that a series of explosions followed, shaking the dwarven mountainholmes nearly a hundred miles away. A shift in ideology occurred shortly afterward, turning the Half-Dwarven scientists away from arcyte, vowing to eradicate the stuff from the world.

Being ingenious inventors and tinkerers, the entire might of the Adamant industrial machine was put to work constructing the anti-magic pillars that now contain the corruptive magical energy. However, they were not fast enough to prevent the corruption of their second mountainholme, which lead to widescale panic and evacuation. Now, the mountain range is home to magical beasts and abominations. Some even find their way to the surface, and escape into the vast marshlands of Ky'lan.

In response to this, the Bronze Directorate hastily created a response force, designed to contain and evaluate breakdowns as they happen. Equipped with the best gear a dwarven smith can make, they serve as a rapid response team to troublesome mages and occasionally dive into D-Breakdowns in the vain attempt of clearing out the hellish wildlife. This rapid response team is called the Cordon Special Forces.