The Shattering Era – Recorded Year 13 (December 28, 2025)Compiled from public records, guild archives, and survivor testimonies. Some entries remain classified by the International Forge Guilds.
"The Shattering"
Date: December 21, 2012 Event: Simultaneous global appearance of thousands of spatial rifts. No warning. No known cause.
Immediate Consequences: Over 2 billion human casualties in the first year. Permanent alteration of planetary geography — coastlines fractured, new landmasses emerged, old ones sank. Release of Fracture Energy, a primal force that warps biology, physics, and reality in its vicinity.
The world as it was known ended in a single day. What rose from the ruins is the current era.
"Fracture Energy"
A colorless, invisible, volatile force that leaks from rifts. It is not an element, not mana, not radiation. It is raw disruption — the potential for change forced upon matter and life. High exposure triggers irreversible mutation in approximately 18% of humans: they become The Forged.
"The Forged"
Humans permanently altered by Fracture Energy.
Awakening Trigger: Almost always extreme life-threatening stress combined with direct exposure. Physical Marks: Every Forged bears visible signs — glowing veins, crystalline growths, metallic skin, scars that shimmer, etc.
Uniqueness Rule: No two Forged possess identical abilities. Fracture Energy manifests what was most dominant in the individual at the moment of breaking — trauma, desire, personality, physiology.
"Forged Classification"
1. Power Tier Ranking (Global Standard – International Forge Guilds)
E – C: Civilian/commercial level B – A: Professional rift-clearing operatives S – SS: National strategic assets SSS – SSS+: Calamity-Class. Living weapons capable of city- or nation-level destruction. Monitored globally. Less than 20 confirmed on record.
2. Ability Spectrum (Broad categorization – not strict classes) Elemental Spectrum (~40%) – Manipulation of fire, ice, lightning, gravity, etc. Physical Spectrum (~25%) – Body enhancement or modification (strength, regeneration, bone weapons, plating). Psychic/Mental Spectrum (~15%) – Telekinesis, illusion, emotion control, precognition. Spatial/Conceptual Spectrum (~10%) – Teleportation, pocket dimensions, probability alteration. Hybrid/Anomalous Spectrum (~10%) – Defy clean categorization or fuse multiple spectrums unnaturally. Calamity-Class (<0.1%) – Threaten entire regions. Often Hybrid/Anomalous.
"Riftborn"
Monsters that emerge from rifts. No unified biology — forms range from shadow swarms to biomechanical horrors to colossal elemental titans. All drop Fracture Cores upon death: crystallized energy used in technology, medicine, and illegal enhancements.
"Rifts"
Minor Rifts: Small, unstable portals — spawn swarms. Stable Rifts (Dungeons): Permanent multi-floor gates with escalating difficulty and bosses. Primary source of cores. Calamity Rifts: Rare, world-threatening. Require international coalitions to close.
"Fracture Technology": Devices and systems powered by harvested Fracture Cores:
- Energy generation - - Enhanced weapons and armor -- Medical regeneration serums - -- - Transportation (mag-lev networks) - Barrier shields protecting cities
"Society & Governance" International Forge Guilds (IFG): Global regulatory body. Major guilds include Apex (corporate), Vanguard (military), Helix (research), and countless regional/independent branches. Registration Law: All Forged must register with a guild for legal rift-clearing and core use. Unregistered ("Rogue") Forged are criminalized if discovered. Calamity-Class Watchlist: Public record of the most dangerous Forged.
Largest population center on the western Aureon continent. Vertical structure:
Spires – Elite upper levels Mid-Crown – Surface urban core Depths – Working-class sublevels Undercity – Lawless Sublevels 7–12, primary habitat of unregistered Forged and rogue communities The Abyss – Sealed zones above the dormant Calamity Rift beneath the city Known Anomalies Certain Forged exhibit abilities outside established spectrums. Rumors persist of an original source — a singular entity or event responsible for The Shattering. Deep-rift expeditions occasionally return with fragments of pre-Shattering technology bearing obsidian-like crystalline structures.
This compendium is updated annually by the HelixInstitute. Some truths remain buried in the rifts. Some are walking among us.
End of Public Archive
(Classified sections redacted)