Mist

Mists

All of Seln once belonged to the mists

The Mists are the unexplored and unknown lands beyond civilization. The Mists have no defined borders or features. Instead, these represent the dangers and promise of the unknown.

The Mists are important to define the frontier of your Overworld. The storyteller has wide latitude to set or change conditions in the Mists, and you must always be wary of danger arriving from the wilds!

As you chart your Overworld, the Mists recede. As storms or other factors set in, the Mists reclaim regions. This constant tug of war will define your map over the course of a campaign.

Within the Inner Wards, the Mists are typically small zones of difficult governance such as swamps or mountains. In the Outer Wards, the Mists encompass an equal proportion of the land as civilization (and more than half as you approach the edge of the wards). Beyond the wards, the Mists are the norm.

Mists retreat

The mists automatically retreat as you explore Seln.

While the storyteller manages most of this process, you also have a say. The storyteller may decide to present you with multiple options for a new Region.

For example: “As you crest the mountain pass, do you see…a vast expanse of prairier; a towering peak, twice what you just climbed; an inland lake glimering peacefully?”

Whichever you choose becomes the new Region. Of course, you operate on limited information, and you will have to explore to find the truth!

Mists advance

There are three common sources of the Mists encroaching into a region.

Disuse

Regions abandoned by civilization will eventually return to the Mists.

Each Equilibrium, the storyteller checks for each region that neither you, your allies, or other major factions of civilization have used in the last year.

  • The storyteller rolls 1d10
    • Adding +1 to the Result for each year the region has gone disused
  • On a Result of 10 or greater, the region lapses into the Mists on the next Equilibrium

What counts as use?

  • Encounters
  • Gathering
  • Significant travel
  • Narrative use, such as meditation or retreat

The storyteller has final say on what counts as sufficient use.

Downtimes to prevent disuse

Make use of the Survey Downtime to prevent a region from falling into disuse!

Alternatively, any Region worked by your Hearth will stay in use.

Elemental storm

When elemental storms destroy a Region’s wards, there is a chance the Region sinks back into the mists.

  • The storyteller Challenges against the Region’s wards, if any
    • (Rules on how elemental storms Challenge are in the storyteller’s section. No peeking!)
  • On a Flourish, the elemental storm reclaims the Region, destroying all improvements and rewriting the land
  • These renewed regions, though destroyed from an industrial perspective, are often home to rejuvinated reagents and strange phenomena worthy of exploration

Crystal Eruption

Though rare, a crystal eruptions automatically reclaim the region for the Mists.

Wards cannot prevent this. Sometimes, nature simply will not be denied.