Year 4256
47th day of the month Olfaccium.
Late Summer
Nation of Sight - Horizon’s Dip
Early Morning

The sun rose upon the large crater known as Horizon’s Dip. Nearly a mile in size, Horizon’s Dip was an unusual landmark which scared the northern central lands of the Nation of Sight.

Based on marks of erosion across the crater’s surface and sedimentary samples taken by the Nation of Hearing’s scholars, Horizon’s Dip had once been a crater filled with water. Now, that water had largely disappeared into reservoirs beneath the crater’s surface. The only water that remained were tiny trickling streams that flowed and pooled towards the crater’s center, which then drained out into channels beneath the surface. 

For thousands of years Horizon’s Dip has been pooling water into its deep underground reservoirs yet the crater remained largely dry land. Where all the reservoir water went, nobody knew, though some theorized they emptied far out in the depths of the ocean. Perhaps shooting out from underwater vents beneath the ocean’s crust.

Over the years, the crater had become a settlement to some, and a prison to others. Along the steep slopes of the crater, many colorful buildings and houses had cropped up in a chaotic cascading fashion. People lived along the northern slopes. Many of them were workers at the prison centered atop a hill at the bottom of Horizon’s Dip. 

It was an ancient prison, built upon mysterious ruins from long ago. Ruins of strange dull blue stone that was too straight and perfect to be made by any tool known to man. Ruins that had been built over and turned into a castle of sorts. Ruins that held strange powers. Powers that could neutralize a magic weilder’s ability to wield magic. They were ruins perfect for imprisoning the Crazed.

None of these things, however, were what made Horizon’s Dip unusual. What made Horizon’s Dip unusual, was perpetual shade that coated the crater in one form or another. A shade like being under a cloudy sky in the day time. A shade never fully pierced by street lamps at night. 

It was one of many similar ruins across the land of Saencila. The area around these ruins were known as Divergents. The Nation of Sight housed four such Divergents total. Each with a prison town built to lock away the crazed. Each with its own individual quirk that seemed to defy the natural way of things.

Much of the population chose to steer clear of Divergents. Their unnatural nature brought with it much superstition. The Priests of Senses called them pockets of evil that tainted the mind and senses gifted from God himself. Others viewed them as bad luck. Regions that drew ill will and angry spirits. 

Whether or not that were true, such superstition seemed to hold merit. For when within a Divergent, bad luck seemed to happen at a rate higher than chance. Bad luck such as the immediate breakage of newly purchased objects within the day they were purchased. Early onset arthritis at the age of 16 - 20. The inability to obtain winning streaks when gambling. Or even the stubbing of one’s toe on a tiny stone outcropping from the ground just a few centimeters.

Stairs were features that no buildings had in a Divergent. They were just too dangerous. Too many people tripped and broke a leg. Instead, rough ramps were constructed when people needed to reach new heights. Ramps that were not too steep. Ramps equipped with ample railings. 

Scholars had varying views on just what Divergents were and where they came from. Some theorized them to be places where the fabric of reality grew thin. Others believed them to have once been places of mystical worship which have since become defunct. Yet still others believed them to be akinned to the Distortion - a theory that Cult of Insight was known to reject wholeheartedly. 

Regardless of their theories, there was one consensus that all scholars had. A Divergent was no place to live. Too much bad luck for a civilization to thrive. 

So it was an abnormality, in Saencila, to find settlements around a Divergent. An abnormality that the Nation of Sight was alone in. Regardless of superstition and facts, Divergent Ruins and their magic quelling powers were just too useful to not be harnessed for the imprisonment of Crazed.

Horizon’s Dip was the original of such prison towns. It was a prison town that all other prison towns in the Nation of Sight were modeled after. A prison town run by Lord Ru’Tev. A family with much history and influence across the other three prison towns in the Nation of Sight.

So as the sun rose upon the crater known as Horizon’s Dip, its beams of light unable to fully penetrate the shade as per ushe, one wouldn’t be wrong to think that today would be just an ordinary day in the prison town. However, that way of thinking would be wrong. For today, a group of Pactmakers and a princess woke in the town. The group of them having only gathered two weeks prior.

These people were here on a mission given to them by the Empire of Touch. A mission of investigation to see if this prison town had anything to do with the Crazed attacking their lines. A mission of politics to gain influence with the Ru’Tev family so that similar investigative teams could gain access to the other three prisons in the Nation of Sight. 

As the sun rose ever higher, the people of Horizon’s Dip rose from their beds and set out to work.