The World of Eryndal
Before the Fracture, Eryndal was a single, contiguous world — vast continents, deep oceans, and towering mountain ranges stretching from horizon to horizon. Civilisations rose and fell across millennia. Cities were built, empires were born, and the Arcane Mages stood as quiet stewards over it all — not rulers, but guardians.
That world no longer exists. What remains of Eryndal is shattered — thousands of floating islands suspended in an endless sky, held aloft by the last desperate enchantments of the Arcane Mages. The ground is gone. The oceans are gone. Only the fragments remain, drifting slowly apart as the magic holding them weakens with every passing day.
Players arrive in Chapter 1 during the immediate aftermath of the Fracture — the dust has only just settled. The Arcane Mages have managed to anchor a small cluster of islands into what they call The Nexus, but the rest of Eryndal drifts in fragments, hostile and unclaimed. The Dark Wizard is gone — but his corruption is not.
What Broke the World
The Age of Eryndal
For thousands of years, Eryndal flourished under the quiet watch of the Arcane Council — the governing body of the Arcane Mages. They did not rule from thrones, but from towers: observatories scattered across the continents, maintained by scholars who studied the natural flows of magic that underpinned the world itself.
The Arcane Mages believed that magic was a current — something to be understood, shaped gently, and respected. Their enchantments were woven slowly, deliberately, with deep knowledge of consequence. They minted Ancient Silver and Ancient Gold as the world's reserve currencies, backing them with stabilised magical energy. Every coin was, in a small way, a piece of the world's own power.
The Dark Wizard
Zaveth was not always the enemy. Historical records — those that survived the Fracture — suggest he was once a student of the Arcane Council, later expelled for pursuing what the Mages called Void Theory: the belief that raw, unanchored magic could be wielded without constraint if one simply had the will to bear the cost.
The Council called it reckless. Zaveth called it freedom. He spent decades in exile, building power outside the structures they had built — drawing on void currents the Mages refused to touch, corrupting the flows they had spent generations stabilising. By the time the Council understood what he had become, he was already standing at the edge of Eryndal with enough power to unmake it.
The Battle & The Fracture
The battle lasted nine days. Zaveth's assault on the Arcane Council's seat of power in the city of Valdenmoor drew every senior Mage to its defence. The conflict that followed was so catastrophically powerful that it did not merely destroy Valdenmoor — it split the fundamental magical infrastructure of Eryndal itself.
The world fractured. Continents cracked into islands. Islands became fragments. The ground fell away beneath millions of people in a matter of hours. The void — the empty, dark current Zaveth had spent decades cultivating — rushed in to fill every seam.
Zaveth, wounded but alive, fled into the void currents before the Mages could finish him. The Council's survivors — exhausted, broken, many of them mortally damaged from the effort of the battle — used the last of their collective strength to do the only thing left to them: pour their enchantments into the seams of the world and hold it together.
It worked. Barely. The islands stopped falling. But the enchantments are failing. Slowly. The Mages who cast them are dying. And somewhere in the void currents below, Zaveth is waiting.
The Timeline of Eryndal
The Old Age · Unknown Duration
The Age of Eryndal
A continent-spanning civilisation thrives. The Arcane Council establishes the Arcane Towers across the world. Ancient Silver and Ancient Gold are minted as reserve currencies, each coin bound to stabilised magical energy.
~200 Years Before Fracture
Zaveth Expelled from the Council
A young scholar named Zaveth is expelled from the Arcane Council for pursuing Void Theory — the study of unanchored, consuming magic. He vanishes into exile, but the Council does not pursue him. A decision they will regret.
Year 0 · The Fracture
The Battle of Valdenmoor
Zaveth, now a figure of almost incomprehensible power, attacks the Arcane Council's seat in Valdenmoor. The nine-day battle shatters Eryndal. The world breaks into thousands of floating fragments. Zaveth flees into the void. The surviving Arcane Mages pour themselves into holding the seams together.
Year 0 · Days After the Fracture
The Void Corruption Spreads
Zaveth's void currents, now untethered, begin saturating the fragments he fled into. What will later be called the Infernal Realm begins to form — islands warped by his corruption, hostile to life, seething with dark energy.
Year 0 · Weeks After the Fracture
The Nexus is Anchored
Archmage Valdris Orin and the surviving senior Mages manage to stabilise a cluster of fragments into what they name The Nexus — a safe harbour in the broken sky. They begin gathering survivors. Reconstruction starts.
Now · Chapter 1
The Stabilization Effort Begins
Players arrive. The Arcane Mages are stretched thin holding the world together. The Stabilized Shard — a larger fragment temporarily anchored — is made accessible as a resource zone. The factional realms are sealed pending stabilisation of the world's magical framework. The story begins here.
The Arcane Mages
The Arcane Mages are not a military order. They are scholars and stewards — the last remnants of a civilisation-sustaining institution that has been catastrophically broken. In Chapter 1 they are exhausted, reduced, and desperately holding together what is left of the world with failing magic and sheer will.
Archmage Valdris Orin
Leader of the Surviving Council
The most senior Arcane Mage to survive the Fracture. Ancient, grievously weakened by the effort of anchoring the Nexus, but still sharp. Valdris is the one who sends players out on quests — he knows what is needed but no longer has the strength to do it himself.
Warden Seris
Keeper of Records · Quest Giver
Valdris's right hand. A younger Mage who survived the Fracture in the field rather than at Valdenmoor. Practical, dry-humoured, deeply knowledgeable about the old world. Maintains the Codex and briefs players on the state of the fractured realm.
Artificer Rhael
Crafter of the Arcane · Items Vendor
The Mages' resident enchanter and item-smith. Rhael designs the custom items and enchantments available through gameplay — and has a deep, personal grudge against everything Zaveth built. Items from Rhael carry her mark: a small silver rune.
Broker Tane
Keeper of the Ancient Mint · Economy NPC
The Arcane Mages' economic administrator. Manages the circulation of Ancient Silver and Ancient Gold — what remains of the pre-Fracture monetary system. Tane is mercantile, neutral, and will trade with anyone.
The Veilsworn
The Veilsworn are the armed defenders of the Benevolent Realm — those who have sworn an oath to protect what remains of Eryndal's seams from further collapse, and to stand against the void corruption spreading outward from the Infernal Realm. They are not the Arcane Mages. The Mages hold the world together through magic and knowledge. The Veilsworn hold it together through presence, steel, and refusal.
Before the Fracture, no such order existed. Eryndal had no need of one — the Arcane Council governed through scholarship, not force. The Veilsworn formed in the weeks following the Battle of Valdenmoor, as survivors from across the broken world converged on the Nexus and found themselves asking the same question: what do we do now? Archmage Valdris Orin gave them an answer. He could not fight. He could not leave the seams. But he could point, and the Veilsworn became his arm.
Their numbers are modest in Chapter 1 — perhaps a few hundred active fighters spread thin across the Benevolent Realm's islands. They are not a professional military. They are former scholars, traders, labourers, and the rare trained soldier who survived the Fracture. What unites them is not skill or bloodline. It is the oath, and the understanding that without them, there is nothing left to protect.
Structure
The Veilsworn
Sworn Defenders of Eryndal
United by oath rather than bloodline or rank. Their emblem is the broken ring — a circle with a gap, representing the Fracture seam they are sworn to close. Every member carries one, usually scratched into armour or burned into wood. It is not decorative. It is a reminder.
The Seam Watch
Front-Line Squads · Fracture Patrol
Small mobile units assigned to specific Fracture seams across the Benevolent Realm. Their job is early warning — when a seam weakens, the Watch signals the Arcane Mages. When Void Remnants break through, the Watch holds the line. Most Watch members do not expect to hold it for long.
The Remnant Hunters
Specialist Squads · Dungeon Clearance
Elite Veilsworn tasked with pushing into corrupted fragments and clearing out Void Remnant nests before they can destabilise nearby seams. These are the squads players are most likely to encounter in Chapter 1 dungeons — either fighting alongside them, or arriving too late to find them.
The Oathkeepers
Command · Veilsworn Leadership
The small council of senior Veilsworn who liaise directly with Archmage Valdris and Warden Seris. They set patrol routes, manage resources, and make the decisions no one else wants to make. In Chapter 1 there are three Oathkeepers. There were seven at the Fracture. No one discusses what happened to the other four.
The Infernal Raiders
Where the Veilsworn were built on an oath, the Infernal Raiders were built on opportunity. In the immediate aftermath of the Fracture, the fragments that fell deepest into the void currents — the ones the Arcane Mages could not reach in time — did not simply sit empty. The void got there first. And some of the survivors who washed up on those corrupted islands made a choice: not to fight the corruption, but to use it.
The Raiders are not a unified military force with a command structure and a mission. They are a collection of warbands bound together by shared territory, shared hunger, and a shared leader who has given them something the Veilsworn cannot offer: permission. Permission to take. Permission to expand. Permission to stop mourning what the Fracture destroyed and start building something new — even if what they are building stands on the bones of the old world.
In Chapter 1, the Raiders operate from the depths of the Infernal Realm's corrupted fragments. They do not yet have the strength to challenge the Benevolent Realm directly — the sealed realm boundaries hold. But their raids into the Stabilized Shard, their interference with Fracture seams, and the growing number of survivors who choose their banner over the Veilsworn's suggest that when the seals break, the conflict will be immediate.
Structure
The Infernal Raiders
Warbands of the Corrupted Fragments
Loosely organised across a dozen or more independent warbands, each controlling a cluster of corrupted islands in the Infernal Realm. They share resources, intelligence, and — when it suits them — fighters. Their emblem is the cracked shard: a fragment of the old world, split clean through. They do not see it as a wound. They see it as a key.
The Void-Touched
Corrupted Fighters · Void-Enhanced
Raiders who have voluntarily exposed themselves to concentrated void energy — long enough to develop enhanced strength and endurance, short enough that they have not yet become Void Remnants. It is a line that is difficult to see clearly from the inside. Several former Void-Touched now populate Chapter 1 dungeons as mid-tier enemies. Their former comrades do not speak of them.
The Fragment Runners
Scouts · Shard Operatives
Fast, lightly armed Raiders who operate in the Stabilized Shard and on the edges of Benevolent Realm territory. Their job is intelligence-gathering, disruption, and the occasional targeted raid on Veilsworn supply lines. Players in the Stabilized Shard should expect to encounter Fragment Runners. They are not always hostile on sight. They are always a threat.
The Raider Commander
Leader of the Infernal Raiders · Identity Sealed
The figure who unified the Infernal warbands under a single banner. Their identity and motives are a Chapter 1 mystery — players will hear the name before they learn the face. What is known: they were present at the Battle of Valdenmoor. What is suspected: their connection to Zaveth runs deeper than mere circumstance.
Zaveth, the Dark Wizard
Zaveth is not present in Chapter 1 — not directly. He fled into the void currents during the final moments of the Battle of Valdenmoor, wounded enough that pursuit was impossible. His corruption, however, is everywhere. The fragments of the Infernal Realm are saturated with his void energy, and whatever creatures now inhabit them have been twisted by prolonged exposure.
Players will not encounter Zaveth himself in Chapter 1. They will encounter his remnants — the dungeons he built during his exile, the items he left behind, and the corrupted creatures that were caught in the Fracture's void surge. Each is a clue. Each advances the storyline toward what is coming.
Zaveth
The Dark Wizard · The Exiled · The Fracture-Bringer
Whereabouts unknown. Last seen entering void currents beneath what was once the continent of Valdenmoor. His power is immense. His motivations remain consistent: he wanted to prove the world was a cage. He succeeded. What he does next is the central question of the Shattered MC storyline.
The Void Remnants
Corrupted · Chapter 1 Enemies
Creatures, constructs, and fragments of Zaveth's void experiments that survived the Fracture. Custom-textured, lore-accurate enemies populating Chapter 1 dungeons. They are not loyal to Zaveth — they are simply what happens when void energy has nowhere else to go.
The Severance
Not every faction that opposes the void opposes it in the way the Arcane Mages do. The Severance was formed in the aftermath of the Fracture by survivors who looked at the seams, looked at the void corruption spreading through the Benevolent Realm, and reached a different conclusion than Valdris Orin: the void cannot be managed. It must be severed from the world entirely.
They operate in the Benevolent Realm as an independent force — not aligned with the Veilsworn, not aligned with the Arcane Mages, not aligned with anyone who believes that working alongside void energy is acceptable. Their methods are aggressive. Their mission is total. And they are not wrong about everything.
Who They Are
The Severance draws from three backgrounds: former Veilsworn soldiers who lost colleagues to void corruption, Arcane Mage scholars who concluded that studying the void gives it legitimacy it does not deserve, and civilian survivors whose communities were consumed entirely. They share one belief: there is no safe use of void magic.
What This Means For Players
Severance field operatives — called the Null-Sworn — patrol the Benevolent Realm and are hostile to players carrying void-enchanted gear on sight. This is not malice. It is policy. Players who are not carrying void items are treated as neutral. Players who discard void gear are left alone.
The Severance also fields world boss-level commanders in the Benevolent Realm. Defeating them yields Severance-type enchantments — purification and anti-void techniques that cannot be obtained anywhere else. Note: Severance enchants deactivate immediately if you equip any void-type item. The Severance's magic does not tolerate compromise any more than the Severance does.
The Nexus
The Last Anchor
Spawn · Guild Housing · Quest Hub · MarketsA cluster of seven islands manually stabilised by Archmage Valdris and the surviving Arcane Mages in the days after the Fracture. The largest island holds the Arcane Sanctum — the Mages' base of operations and the primary quest hub. Surrounding islands have been opened to players for Guild housing, each Guild claiming and developing their own fragment. The Nexus is the only truly safe space in the broken world.
Arcane Sanctum — Central island. Quest givers, NPCs, the Ancient Mint (economy). Guild Islands — Surrounding fragments. Claimable by Guilds for housing and bases. The Waystone — The portal structure that connects all worlds. Located at the Sanctum's heart.
The Stabilized Shard
A Borrowed Fragment
No Claiming · Full PvP · Spawner Placement · Monthly ResetA large fragment of the pre-Fracture world that the Arcane Mages have managed to stabilise temporarily — but the enchantments holding it are the weakest of all, and they know it. Every month, when the enchantments finally fail, the fragment shatters and falls into the void. The Mages re-stabilise a new one. The cycle repeats.
Because no one knows how long the Shard will last, the Arcane Mages have declared it a lawless zone — no claiming, no enforcement. Bring what you need. Take what you can. Build if you dare. The only rule is that nothing survives the reset. Players who place spawners here do so knowing they will lose them when the fragment falls. The risk is the point.
The Benevolent Realm
The Arcane Mages' Shattered Domain
🔒 Sealed — Unlocks Through Chapter 1 ProgressionThe remnants of the civilised world — golden islands, ancient towers, the bones of cities that existed before the Fracture. The Arcane Mages' enchantments are strongest here, which is precisely why the path to this realm is sealed until the Waystone is repaired. Access opens once the Nexus portal connection is re-established — a late Chapter 1 quest.
The Infernal Realm
Zaveth's Corrupted Void-Fragments
🔒 Sealed — Unlocks Through Chapter 1 ProgressionThe regions where Zaveth fled — saturated with void corruption, hostile to the enchantments that hold the rest of the world together. Entering here before the world is stable enough would destabilise the Nexus itself. The Waystone to this realm remains sealed until the portal connection is stabilised — a late Chapter 1 quest.
Spell Scrolls
Eryndal has no alchemists. The Fracture destroyed the conditions under which alchemical work was possible — the ley lines that stabilised reagent reactions, the climate-controlled towers where distillation happened, the academic tradition that understood it all. What survived is older and simpler: the Arcane Mages' scroll tradition.
Spell Scrolls are compressed pieces of spell knowledge — a prepared effect waiting for activation. Every scroll is stackable, every scroll has a purpose, and every scroll is made by hand at a Scroll Workstation in the Arcane Sanctum from Reagents gathered or grown across Eryndal.
Delivery Types
Scrolls are not simply consumed — they are cast. The delivery method depends on how the scroll was prepared: Self (instant on the caster), Focused (thrown at a single target), Splash (shatters on impact, affecting a radius), or Lingering (creates a persistent effect zone). Positive effects never harm allies. Hostile effects cannot target the caster.
Reagents
Every scroll requires Reagents — botanical, mineral, or creature-derived components that carry the raw material of the effect. Base Reagents are grown by Farmers. Rarer Reagents are gathered by Pathfinders, dropped by specific mobs, or recovered from dungeons and world boss encounters. The scroll economy flows from the land upward: Farmers supply the foundation, Artificers assemble the product.
Who Can Craft
Any player can assemble a Common-tier scroll at the Workstation. Higher tiers — Refined, Potent, Masterwork, Ancient — require investment in the Artificer profession. The most powerful scrolls in Chapter 1 can only be crafted by a player who has dedicated serious time to the Artificer path.
The Ancient Currencies
Before the Fracture, the Arcane Council minted two currencies for Eryndal — both physically backed by stabilised magical energy drawn from the world's natural flows. They were designed to be indestructible as long as the world itself stood. When the world broke, every coin became a relic.
Ancient Silver
The common currency of Eryndal, minted in enormous quantities to facilitate everyday trade. Each coin bears the Arcane Council's seal on one face and a map fragment of Eryndal on the other — a grim irony now that the map no longer matches the world. Ancient Silver still circulates freely because survivors from every corner of the broken world carried it with them. It is the primary currency of Shattered MC: earned through quests, dungeons, trade, and drops.
Ancient Gold
A reserve currency — rarer, minted in far smaller quantities, used to back the Silver supply and held primarily by the Arcane Council and the great trading houses of Eryndal. Ancient Gold coins contain a higher concentration of stabilised magical energy and have proven almost unnaturally durable through the Fracture.
In Chapter 1, Ancient Gold is found scattered across dungeon caches and hidden throughout the world as drops — the old hoards of the trading houses, now inaccessible or buried in fracture debris. It serves as the premium currency and can also be supported directly by players who wish to back the server. All Ancient Gold purchases are cosmetic or quality-of-life — never gameplay advantage.
Notable Items of the Fractured World
All custom items in Shattered MC are grounded in the lore of the Fracture — pre-Fracture Arcane Mage craftsmanship, void-derived objects, or things created in the aftermath. Every item tells a story.
Legendary Items
The Ward's Mandate
"Built to hold the line. Still holding it."
Off-hand shield construct · Void damage reduction · Ward Pulse active · Nexus world boss
The Last Index
"Two centuries of nothing. It still tried to learn."
Off-hand tome · +15% XP · Lore entry active · Nexus world boss
Vael's Judgement
"She kept a count. She never told anyone what it was."
Sword · Bonus damage vs void-buffed targets · Null Strike active · Severance world boss
The Aldric Doctrine
"He built a doctrine for a world without the void. He just didn't finish it in time."
Chestplate · Consecration active · Benevolent major world boss
The Primordial Core
"Older than the world. Older than the break."
Void orb off-hand · Void bleed immunity · Infernal major world boss
Weight of the Twelve
"They held the line. They just didn't know what the line was."
Chestplate · Absorbs lethal blow for ally · Immovable active · Infernal world boss
Fragment of Convergence
"It was still trying to finish something."
Off-hand accessory · Void Touched proc · Saturation Burst active · Dungeon 2
The Fracture Remnant
"A fragment of Valdenmoor itself, held together by nothing explicable."
Accessory · Chapter 1 story completion reward · M9/M10
Notable Named Items
Artificer's Mark
"Rhael's personal stamp. She says it's quality control. Her apprentices say it's vanity."
Sword · Quest reward — M7 storyline
The Seam-Starved's Remnant
"It held the line."
Accessory · +8% damage vs void mobs · Dungeon 1 rare boss drop
Orin's Focus
"Valdris carried this through the Battle of Valdenmoor. It is cracked down the middle."
Cosmetic staff · Chapter 1 final reward · M10
The Stalker's Mark
"You learn to hear the silence before the strike."
Ring · Ambush damage reduction · Detect invisible active · Nexus world boss
Lore Collectibles
Lore collectibles are display items — they can be placed in Guild housing, read in-game for story context, or brought to specific NPCs for unique dialogue. They have no gameplay function beyond unlocking Codex entries.
Venn's Field Notes
Magister Venn's core research finding. Brings unique reactions from Valdris and Rhael.
Lore item · Readable · Unique NPC dialogue · Severance world boss drop
Corrupted Research Page
Fragments of genuine pre-Fracture Council research — corrupted but partially legible.
Lore item · Readable · Connects to quest chain lore · Nexus world boss
High Paladin's Seal
Contains a line: "By authority of the Warden-Exile." Players who pay attention will understand.
Lore item · Codex entry · Reveals Severance hierarchy · Benevolent world boss
Fuse Point Echo
The most emotionally heavy item in Chapter 1. Brings Tane's only non-neutral moment.
Lore item · Unique Tane dialogue · Infernal world boss
Codex of the Fracture
Three-piece collectible set. The full Chapter 1 lore record, assembled by players.
Set · 3 pieces · Chapter 1 quest completion reward
Key Materials
Void Shard Fragment
"Whatever this was before the Fracture is unrecognisable now."
Crafting material · Void enchant components · Dungeon 1 and mob drops
Convergence Core
Required for Void-tier enchant crafting. Exclusively from Dungeon 2.
Crafting material · Void-tier enchants · Dungeon 2 boss drop
Purification Core
Made from anti-void arcane techniques. Required for Severance-tier crafting.
Crafting material · Anti-void enchants · The Void-Scourge drop
Primordial Shard
Something older than the Council. Required for Ancient-tier enchants.
Crafting material · Ancient-tier enchants · Primordial Fracture boss drop
???
"Something survived the Fracture that should not have."
Accessory · Unknown properties · Chapter 1 final reward