The continent of Aestra was once a world where magic flourished, but after the “Great Silence” several centuries ago, magic gradually began to wither. It has not disappeared entirely, but has become dangerously unstable. Those who use it often pay a terrible price: bodily mutations, mental derangement, or shortened lifespans. Society has collapsed and been rebuilt, and technology, from steam power to clockwork, struggles to coexist with the remnants of magic.
Time Sand: An extremely rare, dark-gold grit that contains the power to distort space and time. Legend says it came from the chaotic core at the dawn of the world, or is a fragment of the “time organ” of a fallen outer god. Contact with Time Sand may bring visions of fragments of the past or future, but it can also corrupt those exposed to it, accelerating their aging or causing indescribable mutations.
Whisperers: People who can faintly sense the presence of Time Sand and, under its influence, interpret information from fragments of space and time. They are regarded as madmen, prophets, or dangerous heretics. True Whisperers are exceedingly rare, and their abilities are highly unstable.
Keepers of the Clock: An ancient, secretive organization that claims its mission is to collect and seal away dangerous Time Sand before its power spirals out of control and destroys the world. Its members possess fragmentary knowledge about Time Sand and the truth of the world, and they are mysterious and ruthless in their methods.
Gear Council: A rising alliance of technological city-states that drives the continent’s industrial development. Its members covet the immense energy contained in Time Sand and seek to use it as an inexhaustible power source to usher in a “New Era.”
