The Books of Blutora

22 : The World Bones

The planet of Teldess, our planet that we call home, the foundation to our civilization, those who came before and those still to come. It's made up of three continents; Blutora, Endenxul, and Xizios, two archipelagos; Kei, and Veirie, and three vast oceans; the Creule, the Deiheu, and the Yulean. Across these various landscapes big and small, as well as the seemingly endless expanse of the seas, are various climates and weather patterns, all of which follow a very unique ruleset and consistent pattern. The temperatures of the world are not influenced by the sun - Ilpeo, nor the larger planet we orbit - Lisetil, rather an extremely powerful collection of anomalies known as 'The World Bones'.

In various locations across Teldess there are large crystal like formations that seem to control and regulate the extreme temperature zones of the world. Exactly how these formations, or 'bones' seem to function and possess such an ability has remained unknown to this day. The commonly accepted belief however is that the World Bones were formed over the course of millions of years in which Teldess was imbued with a Ley Line. It is believed that deposits of an extremely rare metal known as Eizerdin were directly malleable to the effects of the Ley Line and as such the few natural occurrences of this resource were all molded into the crystal like formations that regulate the climates to this day.

In present day, Eizerdin is no longer obtainable as it no longer exists within Teldess, at least as far as we know. The last traces of it were discovered long ago during the A-Era when the Macabre of northern Blutora dug up one of the World Bones. Surrounding the base of the crystal formation were shattered pieces of a strange green metal, that slowly vaporized into thin air upon exposure to the elements according to the reports of the discovery group. It's from these A-Era reports that much more recently scholars have come to infer that the strange metal that once was, is the very same in which the World Bones were forged from. Unfortunately as a result of Teldess now being void entirely of Eizerdin, we will probably never get to test its usefulness in what could have been potentially lifechanging advancements. 

All is not grim however, thanks to these Eizerdin deposits existing within Teldess, we need not worry about unpredictable outside factors beyond our world, or so our scholars seem to believe. The World Bones, as they are now known, are consistent, predictable, and stable as per our research despite not knowing much about how or why they operate. If not for the regulating factors of these crystals, the climates across Teldess would be extremely different, and quite possibly so much so that we may not exist today. Things have a strange way of working out sometimes, and this is a perfect instance of the perfect storm of events allowing things to play out as they have. 

In total, across Teldess there are believed to be twelve known World Bones that reside in some of the most extreme climates among the lands. Two of which are in Blutora, the first being within Filantalos in the far northern lands of Kyn Alora, and the second being in Schium sitting within the heart of the Withering Sea and lands of Odelia. On the continent of Endenxul there are believed to be two more World Bones, one to the far reaches of the north and one towards the southern lands. Xizios is theorized to be home to a vast majority, hosting eight of the twelve known World Bones, scattered all across its lands north to south and east to west.

Each of the World Bones are likely different in appearance from the last, albeit all making up a very crystal like appearance on the exterior. In Blutora, the northern crystal is made up of shades of green and a messy shape. The southern crystal is made up of shades of dark red and orange, while maintaining a perfect diamond shape. As for the bones residing on the remaining continents, not much is known as there's no way to currently travel to either. All information that we have on them is through thorough research and educated predictions and theories. One such widely accepted theory is that the crystals do not follow any certain pattern in appearance or shape, and as such the formations are likely all unique from one another. Another is that the World Bones only seem to steer the climate of it's surrounding area into one of two directions, that of freezing cold, snow covered landscapes, or sweltering hot and extremely dry deserts and badlands. 

Over the course of our history, many have attempted to use the crystals for their own gain or power. Some have attempted to break the bones into smaller pieces to try and sell them for a large profit. Others attempted to absorb its powers through meditation and rituals to no avail. There's even been the odd cases of sacrifice to the crystals with the belief they were a direct line of communication to a deity. Despite all of the various different attempts at altering the formations or using them for self gain, none have succeeded and the World Bones appear to be entirely indestructible and immovable outside of vertical movement specifically. The best example of this is seen in the city of Schium where the southern crystal floats in place as part of the Eraikull Palace.

To this day most of the information and understanding we have on the World Bones is based off of research and theories. This being the case, there are still many who believe that the World Bones aren't just a result of Ley Lines and Eizerdin, instead a result of direct influence and manipulation from a deity within the realm of Annocia. Most common among those of this train of thought believe this deity to be Rirza specifically, Queen of the Sun and Moon, and as an extension perfect balance, hot and cold extremes. Whatever the case, we can only hope we come to find the correct answer within our lifetimes, and more importantly, understand how and why the World Bones operate the way they do. The influence the crystals possess over the world of Teldess is immense, and if ever something were to go wrong or off course in relation to the bones, the results could be catastrophic not only to us on Blutora, but the entire world of Teldess as a whole.