
Greetings, fellow adventurers. It is kind of obvious that the world of Elteria is not exactly stable. The fabric of reality itself seems to shift, twist and reshape itself under the influence of clashing tides of intense magical energies, transforming inanimate objects, living organisms and sometimes even entire biomes into something new and often, dangerous. One of these phenomena is of particular interest to adventurers and explorers. Why? Because its the exact same way we, humans, have reached this place. This phenomena is called Rifts.
Essentially, Rifts could be considered cracks or tears in the fabric of reality, sufficiently stabilized by the chaotic energies of this world to allow for actual interdimensional travel to places rarely, if ever, seen before.
At the moment, no Rift on Elteria (except for the one that brings in new Adventurers, of course) is stable enough to be frequently active. Still, these gateways to the neighbouring dimensions do pop up all across the islands from time to time, allowing us to at least collect some data on the most prominent of them.

Warning: there is a possibility of Hematite Grove having some sort of a connection with an entity known as Levin.
The phenomena of the Rifts is still severely unexplored, and this exploration requires a high degree of caution, as even the specialists of this field cant tell for sure just for how long any particular Rift can actually sustain itself. The only thing we can assure you in is that no one trapped on the other side upon a Rifts closure was ever retrieved afterwards, alive or otherwise.
The following notes provide information on the possible dangers of the Rifts and, as such, they are to be distributed for free, and to be taken into heavy consideration whenever you come across such an anomaly. We advise you not to attempt to cross it and, if you are in no danger, make notes of its observable characteristics from the relative safety of Elteria.
What is a rift?
Put simply, a
Rift is essentially a portal, or a wormhole to a completely different dimension. Every such dimension is reported to consist of a massive, single Biome that is different from the biomes found on
Elteria. Sometimes, categorically different. The ecosystems of such dimensions are different as well - though they do bear key resemblances to the Elterian environments.
Due to this, some researchers and explorers tend to hypothesize that the energies of these neighbouring dimensions are a significant factor in what makes Elteria so unstable in the first place. This in turn raises the question: why do these dimensions cause the instability of
Elteria? Is there some sort of catalyst for such anomalies or did this instability play a part in the formation of this world for a long time?
Either way, as of this moment the
Rifts appear more and more frequently and last for a longer time with each passing day, which makes it that much easier to collect data on them.
So far, weve established two frequently reappearing Rifts:
Hematite Grove
This
Rift sometimes surfaces in the deepest, most dangerous parts of the
Tentacle Grove. The explorers that have entered this place report of the crimson crystal trees and blood-red magical gems unlike any other that can be found on the islands of
Elteria.

And while there were no outbreaks of such flora, or magic gems on
Elteria, some researchers tend to believe that the magical energies of this place have something to do with the formation of Hematite deposits.
Hence Hematite Grove, the name of this place.

Because of the safety concerns regarding the lifetime of a rift, the explorers did not venture far enough to find any locals. They did, however, report of finding animated suits of armor and apparitions that seemed to be guarding this place.
As of this moment,
Hematite Grove is marked as a place of special interest, since it might contain either an advanced civilization - or the ruins and artifacts of one. Either option would help greatly in the settling of
Elteria.
Moon
Some
Rifts (much unlike the
Rift to
Hematite Grove) tend to appear in completely different places of
Elteria each time they manifest. This drifting of such Rifts is currently widely believed to be caused by the instability of the magical currents and the shifts in the interdimensional fabric.

Warning: there is a high probability that the Moon Rift has some sort of connection to an entity currently known as Anastasia.
One of such
Rifts leads to the
Moon. And not to the Moon Dimension, or a place that has the properties of the Moon - we are talking about the actual Moon that lights the Elterian sky at night.
Establishing this amazing fact required the construction of a sky beacon, since this
Rift currently appears only for a minute or so at a time, and practically never in the same place on either side - but almost always faces the planet. And, after such a construction and several months of waiting for an opportunity to take the corresponding measurements, we were lucky enough to determine that yes - this
Rift really does lead to the
Elternian Moon.
Because of the dangerously short lifespan of this
Rift, we were not able to enter it for longer than just a few seconds. Still, we have managed to establish a few facts. First, the
Moon has the expected low gravitational pull. Second, it unexpectedly has enough air to sustain life. Third, a closing
Rift can slice your head (or, in fact, any other body part) off in an astonishingly clean fashion. This, less astonishingly, would work the same wonders for the human body, as a guillotine would.
Also, the research group has managed to collect enough of a material currently named
Moon Ore to create a single suit of armor:

This, for now, concludes our series of notes for our fellow adventurers. Please stay safe as you explore the islands of
Elteria - and be on a lookout for anything out of ordinary.
Godspeed, everyone.[ 2019-10-09 14:11:17 CET ] [ Original post ]