Connects to 18.07, 18.26 and 26.17.
Overview
The exterior of the Black Ziggurat (18.26) and half of the chequers in the Chequered Room (26.17) are made of umberstone. It is the pitch-black substance believed to comprise most of the moon’s mass. Although the moon gleams bright, astrologists know that only its outer layer produces light. Umberstone, on the contrary, absorbs all light. On earth, it also disrupts the flow of time. It is believed that the quantity of the substance found on the moon makes the moon exist outside of time as mortals understand it.
When the moon god loved the earth, umberstone pierced the Shrouded Lands in many places. Most of it became inert and lost its potency, only able to affect time’s flow when tapped by advanced magic users. This type exists in the Chequered Room, and allows for unnatural beings to exist in the material world for short periods of time. They appear in the Chequered Room at irregular intervals and move the game pieces to solve disputes that might otherwise disrupt reality on a larger scale. The more potent variety, mostly derived from ore extracted from the cocoon of the Moon Child (18.07), covers the Black Ziggurat. The strange moon elementals spent ages collecting and refining the stuff, and now the fruit of their long labor may be realized. Elf scholars believe that they built the Ziggurat in order to expand the moon’s influence on earth. Based on the place’s short history and its bizarre, dangerous nature, this has not been proven.
Hooks
- What would the moon’s expanded influence mean for the Shrouded Lands?
- Which mortals have interacted with the beings that appear in the Chequered Room? Are they partially responsible for its creation?
- How is umberstone refined?
- Do the Ziggurat’s windows open to other times? Which ones?
- Are the weird creatures around the Ziggurat in league with the moon elementals, or did they arrive by other means?