Beyond the Ice Wall of Antarctica; THE TRUE SHAPE OF THE WORLD. IT MERGES WTH ANOTHER EVEN VASTER REALM, PREEMPTIVELY NAMED "AKUPARA."

 

THE TRUE SHAPE OF THE WORLD.

 FOLLOWING THE DISCOVERY OF THE ICE WALL, THE GENERAL PUBLIC HAD BECOME CONVINCED THAT IT REPRESENTED INDISPUTABLE PROOF OF THE ANCIENT VIEW OF THE EARTH AS A FLAT DISC-SHAPED PLANE, BUT NAVIGATORS AND ASTRONOMERS REMAINED UNCERTAIN. SUCHA MODEL WOULD DEFY EVERY PIECE OF EVIDENCE GAINED THROUGH MILLENNLA OF OEBSERVATION AND RESEARCH. IT COULDN'T BE THAT SIMPLE.

AS TIME PASSED AND EXPLORATION CONTINUED, THEY WOULD COME TO FIND THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER: THAT THE EARTH SAT ATOP SERIES OF LARGER GLOBES, THE ICE WALL REPRESENTING THE POINT AT WHICH THE EARTH MERGES

INTO THE SECOND GLOBE, DUBBED "ATLAS" THE MONTANE RING ENCIRCLING ÁTLAS WOULD PRESUMABLY BE WHERE IT MERGES WTH ANOTHER EVEN VASTER REALM, PREEMPTIVELY NAMED "AKUPARA." SCALE IS NOT THE ONLY WAY THAT

THESE GLOBES DIFFER FROM OUR OWN, AS IT WOULD APPEAR THAT THE VERY LAWS OF NATURE WOULD WEAKEN WITH EACH LAYER AS ONE TRAVELED SOUTH. THIS MANIFESTS IN VARIOUS WAYS, THE MOST APPARENT BEING ATLAS' PECULIAR ARRAY OF ENVIRONMENTS, WTH EACH OF ITS MAJOR REGIONS BEING SEEMINGLY DOMINATED BY A SINGULAR PARADIGM; HOW THE ORCHESTRAL CONTINENT OF ATEN SEEMS TO BE IMMERSED IN CONSTANT CACOPHONOUS NOISE, OR THE ABUNDANCE OF DECEIT AND MISDIRECTION TO BE FOUND IN THE REGION OF MIN AND MNEVIS, OR HOW EVERYTHING SEEMS TO COME IN PAIRS IN GEMINIA, WTH ALL OF THEIR NATIVE LIFE FORMS EVOLVING TO PORTRAY THESE CONCEPTS THROUGH SHEER COINCIDENCE. IT WOULD BECOME

APPARENT THAT PROBABILITY ITSELF WORKS DIFFERENTLY IS DESTABILIZED IN LOWER ELEVATIONS, COINCIDENCES BEGET MORE COINCIDENCES, CREATING A FEEDBACK LOOP OF SYNCHRONICITIES THAT GUIDES THE COURSE OF GEOLOGICAL AND EVOLUTIONARY DEVELOPMENT. PATTERNS DEVIATE MORE THAN THEY WOULD IN THE KNOWN WORLD,

AND UNLIKELY EVENTS ARE MORE LIKELY TO OCCUR, SUCH AS THE ETERNAL MOVEMENT OF THOTH AND ITS FOLLOWER ISLANDS, OR THE DREADED ANTILLIAN PARASITE'S CONQUEST OF ALL ANIMAL LIFE IT COMES IN CONTACT WITH.

THE EFFECTS OF THIS BREAKDOWN OF REALITY DON'T END THERE, EXTENDING BEYOND THE NATURAL WORLD AND INTO THE REALM OF THE SUPERNATURAL. A LEARNED MAN ON EARTH WOULD BE JUSTIFIED IN DENYING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF

OCCULT RITUALS, OR THE EXISTENCE OF SPIRITUAL BEINGS, FORTHEY ARE SO RARE, SO FAINT AND SO FLEETING IN THE KNOWN WORLD. EVEN AMONG MORE SUPERSTITIOUS CIRCLES, FAITH IN THE PARANORMAL HAD WANED IN THE DECADES

FOLLOWING THE BLACK MOON EVENT. FEWER AND FEWER WOULD TESTIFY TO HAVE SEEN OR BEEN IN COMMUNE WITH OTHER WORLDLY ENTITIES, TO POSSESS PSYCHIC ABILITIES, OR TO HAVE BENEFITED FROM MAGICAL RITUALS IN ANY WAY. A RATIONAL NATURALISTIC VIEW OF THE WORLD WOULD BEGIN TO PREVAIL, AS THE SUPERSTITIOUS BELIEFS THAT WERE ONCE SO COMMON IN THE MEDIEVAL WORLD WERE CHOCKED UP TO THE FOLKLORE OF A LESS ENLIGHTENED ERA.

THOSE LIVING ON THE SECOND GLOBE WOULD NOT FALL UNDER THE SAME ILLUSION OF RATIONALITY, AS THEY WOULD COME TO SEE JUST HOW REAL THE FORCES BEYOND THE PHYSICAL WORLD WERE. VISIONS, MAGIC, PSYCHIC PROJECTION, AND ETHEREAL BEINGS MANIFEST FAR CLEARER AND IN GREATER ABUNDANCE IN ATLAS THAN THEY EVER DID IN THE KNOWN WORLD. MOST PEOPLE YOU ASK WILL HAVE AT LEAST ONE STORY TO TELL YOU OF A SUPERNATURAL EXPERIENCE,

AND SECRETIVE GROUPS OF OCCULT PRACTTIONERS THRIVE ON THE SECOND GLOBE. SOME SOCIETIES VENERATE THOSE IN TOUCH WITH HIGHER POWERS; MOST HAVE DEVELOPED A JUSTIFIED FEAR AND SUPPRESSION OF THOSE WHO DABBLE IN THE DARK ARTS. WHEN IT COMES TO THE FABLED "AKUPARA" THERE IS AN ABUNDANCE OF FEAR AND FASCINATION

REGARDING WHAT MIGHT BE POSSIBLE IN A WORLD EVEN FURTHER REMOVED FROM THE LAWS OF REALITY.