Wake

I don't know who will read this... Gods, I don't even know if you will be able to read my language. That thing is still coming. I followed the Mandates! I did. Bastards. The whole thing was a lie. It was rigged to fail. I hope you have a better stab at it than I did. I bured my pistol by that old oak tree behind the Brewer's. Take it. Use it. Hope it does you better good than me. Shoot the Lord Beneath if you get the chance. No way he's as immortal as they say, and maybe it will break this whole curse for all of us.

Jorie said she saw a crack... Maybe you can use it to climb the side? Don't let them beat you. You can do this.

And above all, remember that Old Red has-

— Unsigned Message

Wake cannot be found anywhere on the surface of Synergasia. Its inhabitants never arrive by choice and instead arrive once a year as a collection from those who attempted to pass through the borders of their own regions... and once they have arrived, those who attempt to escape quickly discover they cannot. Travel far enough to the borders and as you push through the fog, you will find not the temporal borders that most regions of Synergasia find, but rather lumpy and uneven rock walls, suggesting the entire nation exists completely beneath the surface. This effect is further pronounced by the constant state of twilight, with even the day being only dimly illuminated under diffused light of a blue orb known as the Second Sun.  

The Inhabitants

Although many people are born directly into Wake, the primary way the region grows is with the arrival of new Embers each year during the Season of Light. All Embers arrive in the town of Safehold where they are given a high level overview of what to expect, and then they are turned loose to find their own way.

These new arrivals come from all other regions within Synergasia. People who attempt to pass the borders of the region are instead wisked away to Wake, and there is no easy escape from this realm.  

Technology and Magic

Wake exists primarily in the Iron Age, although there are pockets of anachronistic tech all throughout the realm. Since the people come from many different regions, they often bring technology, and at minimum, knowledge with them. Unfortunately, the further beyond early iron and steel tools a technology gets, the less reliable it becomes. A person from TBD may bring a musket with a bag of powder and shot... This may work as expected until gone, but someone from TBD may have the latest laser weapon, and find it blows up on the first use. This unpreditability has forced technology to remain quite limited simply for reliability's sake.

Magic follows a similar course. Those with connections and receiving power from some collective source will find themselves cut off from this source, or if they are receiving power, it comes at a trickle at best... At worst, it is wrong somehow. The Lord Beneath will have different levels of opposition to advancement, with some allowing a tiny measure of progress technologically speaking, or some flavor of magic, but some go so far as to push this advancement backwards, making it a terminal crime to be found even in possession of a magical ability. The capricious nature of the Mandates causes the denizens of Wake to carefully guard their secrets for fear of retribution, and use power or technology sparingly, if at all.  

Life in Wake

Wake is in many ways, a great contradiction. It is both a place where people struggle for survival, and a place of wonder. Because the people come from all walks of life within Synergasia, Wake can sometimes bean exciting place: a hub of magical, technological, and cultural differences, a hodge-podge of random trinkets and treasures. There is something new to discover in any city you visit.

This wonder is only surface-deep, however. Life in Wake is terrible. Strict rules govern the cities, rules enforced by a strange kind of magic that seems to permeate the very rock and soil. Life beyond the cities is dangerous if not suicidal, as fearsome creatures lurk and hunt. A cunning being can make a living and survive, following the Mandates laid out by the Lord Beneath (a position that changes heads each year) and knowing when to stand fast and when to run. But never of course, to hope.

It is like a candle slowly burning out. Initially, it may burn quite bright as people see amazing new things, things ripe with possibility... But inevitably, that hope sputters and is snuffed as the realm grinds anew. Technology fails. Magic seems to come unglued. There are rules at play beyond any control, and there are consequences for breaking those rules, regardless if you knew the rules or not. You are trapped emotionally and physically. The realm exists in a persistent state of dangling on the edge of hope.

And maybe that's the point.

Ultimately, life in Wake is about struggling with the uplifting and yet very dangerous concept of hope. Hope releases wonder and majesty. Maybe the next visitor from the broader Synergasia will bring a secret, or a technology, that can free the denizens who survive! Maybe the constant cycle of Vying for Lord, and facing the hardships will eventually yield a pattern that can be learned... And conquered. But hope is also toxic. How much hope can you consume before it kills you? Will hope drive you crazy? And yet... is life worth living without it?

Survivors within Wake ride that line carefully, hoping enough to keep turning the pages of life, but not enough to feel the crushing, crashing despair when hope is extinguished. They seek escape back to Synergasia. It has (occasionally) been done. If it couldn't be done... What's there to hope for?