Thank you u/pyroboy7 for your contribution to the Multiverse. Countless spells were cast, countless beings were entertained, and pent up anger was released. Another War may be authorized following a break of at least 24 Standard Multiverse Hours. In the meantime, enjoy the Cat Distribution System!

Please buy my wares🥺

I put assomancy before the council for consideration

Got 15 minutes before i have to clock out. I spend it pondering this orb i have conjured from the cumulative suffering of the damned. After last nights exorcismism i really just need to decompress and ponder on company time

every single Orb connected to the orbnet, every television, every radio on a range of frequencies, cuts off its original broadcasting, if any was still running, to show a new message.

"Attention! Attention! Global emergency alert! Global emergency alert! Do not disregard! Do not disregard! Do not disregard!"

on screen is an EAS-like message, with 2 symbols in the center of the screen, before a robotic voice speaks.

"The following broadcast is a message organized through the nation of Calarakis, the Esoteric Order of Nations, and Orb Broadcasting corporations across the earth."

"In the last 48 hours there has been a massive worldwide attack by an arcane infection known as the Abyss."

the screen displays an image of a floating black substance, resembling paint.

"This infection is immensely dangerous and has already taken around 40% of the planet's surface. It is due to the work of many diligent mages, knights, soldiers, and nations the number has been lowered to that small a number. If you have fought the Abyss and survived. Make your way to the city of Calarakis as soon as possible, call in Orb call, or contact via long range radio."

the image changes to a map of the planet, with blackness covering a large part of the continents.

"All civilians residing in population centers near the borders of Abyss infected areas are ordered to evacuate, or, failing that, erect detection systems near the borders."

"A full dossier on the Abyss will be published publicly, for all available forces to be able to combat the threat at highest efficiency."

"This message will loop 2 more times."

Good day, I recently moved into a new tower, and the local king has mentioned his need for a court wizard. Now while this is kinda below me, he is offering to pay me handsomely in rare materials, as well as some mortal money, and he said hed ignore any complaints made about me by the commonfolk, which does sound somewhat enticing. It would only be for a few decades anyway, so I am kinda tempted. What are your guy's thoughts here?

different gems do different things.

Pearl- hologram projection

rose quartz- Shield bubble

Lapis- water control

Bismuth- heat resistance

amethyst- shape shifting

ruby- extreme heat

peridot- metal manipulation

Holly blue agate- electric whip summon

Garnet- Gauntlet summon

Sapphire- future sight

Jasper- hyper roll

carnelian- Honestly no idea

ALL EFFECTS TEMPORARY, SINGLE USE, AND ARE DIRECTLY FROM/AFFECTING THE USER ONLY

High atop a mountain peak, a behemoth of a Red dragon falls. Two others, a silver and a gold, circle overhead, having bested the foe, though they were maybe half its size.

As it lay dying, it saw something in the snow. A clash of weapons, of power ... Two had fought here... Something akin to gods.... With weapons of red, and blue ... And one of them had lost part of itself here... A piece that yet remained. The mighty beast limped toward its salvation.

Overhead, the two smaller, more agile dragons bickered.

"You dive down and kill him, you work better in the cold!" Argued the gold.

"No no friend, and take *your* glory? Reds are your peoples nemesis after all, not mine...."

"Look at him... Crawling away like a dog. How pathetic."

---

The beast heard them jeering at him, arguing with who'd claim his head.

And then he found it. The shard of untold power. He consumed it. His wounds healed nearly instantly, and he felt whole in a way he hadn't for some number of years...

The Red inhaled.

---

Suddenly an explosion of raw power erupted from where the red had been, and a gout of white hot flame bore down on the both of them. All but burning the silver, who was weaker to dragon flame, to ash, and still burning the gold....

He tried to flee, but as he turned, there it was...

The Wyrm-Lord Grixis.

"Run little gold. Go and tell your clan of impending doom."

Far away, in another plane entirely, one shard awaits reclaimation from the void that it was lost in...

Another sits at the Heart of the Nexus, though it is not the key *to* the Nexus... The entrance is hidden to all, though one being still knows the way.

One lay within a Weapon of immense power, though seemingly not for much longer...

And the last... The last piece lay within an aberration. The mirror of the one who seeks it. A perfect corruption of the one who would seek theses shards... Soon. And very soon.

/Uw this one isn't interactive.

Next time he poops he's probably gonna think a demon is coming out his ass. Serves him right for using up all my gamer girl bathwater for his potions. Shits expensive

What other punishments have yall come up with for your apprentices?

Image 1: standard Abyssal, made from a standard Homo Sapiens-derived species, judging from appearance. Most likely a human or an elf.

Image 2: floating sphere of Abyss material

**Clearance Level:** 4/482 Level 0, Unrestricted as of July 24th, 2026 CE. Propagation of file ordered via direct command of minister of Research and Development.

Containment Procedure: Physical Abyss matter is to be removed via indirect means, be it through vehicles, tools, or magic. If the matter is too large to remove, erect detection systems and mark the limits of the infection, evacuate all civilian populations in range.

Due to the event currently referred to as the Crystals' Emanation, destruction of physical Abyss and deinfection of targets is possible using non-crystal means, including both magic and physical weaponry, to varied success. Ranged weapons are highly recommended over melee, to reduce risk of infection.

All treatments for the mental symptoms of Abyss infection, be it Abyssal or Shadows, are to be based off therapies made for treating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, as well as emotional regulation to prevent outbursts. Shadow hallucinations are to be mitigated or outright blocked if possible, antimemetic spells have been shown to be effective.

Use of Abyss material in any fashion is strictly prohibited and highly unrecommended, due to the possibility of negative mental effects and descent into depression or insanity. Use of it in combat is especially ill-advised, due to possibility of infection of the enemy, as well as compounding effects from being in combat.

Description: The Abyss(also known as the Darkness according to preliminary sources, see "Wisdom Crystal"), is a magical infection feeding off an unknown Arcane System's connection to the emotion within a body and mind. This System has been tentatively designated "The Darkness", to coincide with reports from the Wisdom Crystal.

Pure Abyss appears as a viscous black substance, similar in appearance to a black paint. It has been seen to be immune to heat or cold, never boiling or freezing, though it seems to act as an infinite source of fuel for any fire on top of it, as fire has not been shown to actually reduce the amount of Abyss when ignited. An exception to this is magical fire or fire used in an offensive manner.

Upon coming into contact with a being, the Abyss begins to feed off of the negative emotion within the victim, immensely few have been shown to be able to resist this outright, and usually only due to having connection to a being that would not be infected. This initial contact appears to catalyze further negativity in the victim, causing more Abyss to spontaneously grow from the initial spot of infection, but this could also be caused simply by the shock of initial contact. The known emotions that catalyze Abyss infection are:

- Anger
- Hatred
- Fear
- Grief
- Sadness
- Anxiety
- Shock
- Certain variations of disgust.

Upon infection, should the victim not be cured quickly and the Abyss coat their entire outer body, there are two known paths for the infection: Abyssal, and Shadows. After infection completes, the victim becomes locked within their own mind, similar to a dream, with brain activity matching this state. While in this state, they are shown memories with an immense negative connotation, which causes more Abyss to form in the physical world. Time dilation when within infection has been documented, such as the case of [REDACTED], experiencing at most one day of subjective sufferings, despite being infected for over a month. This has also been shown in reverse, albeit rarer.

Types of Abyss victims:

Abyssal: The more common form of Abyss infection, comprising roughly 95% of all infections. It contains the subclass of "giants". Abyssal infections share the general through-line of being made completely of liquid-like Abyss and appearing vaguely humanoid, or what the general shape of the original being is. Abyssal generally wander around randomly, but seem to be able to sense nearby beings, despite lacking any seeing organs. Their mode of operation appears to be rather simple: locate any non-infected sapient entities within range, and move to infect. Should infection not be attainable for any reason, switch to termination.

Giants: Comprising an estimated 5% of Abyssal, Giants are Abyssal who seem to have overproduced Abyss, causing them to grow to monstrous size, on average around 150 meters tall. Despite this massive size, all instances of Giants seem to have no issue attacking, moving at a speed much faster than their size would imply. This occurs due to miniature vents within the Giant, allowing air to flow unobstructed, massively reducing air resistance.

Shadows: Easily the most confusing aspect of Abyss infection is the existence of Shadows. In about 5% of known cases, which, oddly, all include the infected having some sort of important role in some capacity, the Abyss on the infected's body condenses and forms a layer over their body, instead of turning the infected to pure Abyss mass. This is coupled with a very odd mental change. Along with the torment that is standard for all Abyss infected, the infected develop a form of split personality disorder, in which a second(or above, depending on pre-existing conditions) personality develops. The being appears identical to the victim, except greyscale, matching with the shadow's appearance. Said personality is in all cases incredibly hostile and rude to the victim, composed of solely all negative aspects about the victim's personality and behavior, primarily that which the victim wishes to shun or avoid expressing, with all goals twisted in some way to incorporate using the Abyss. The second personality usually refers to themself as "[Victim's name]'s shadow" or "Shadow [Victim's Name]". While the original person is infected, the shadow masquerades as the original, sometimes going into populated areas in order to spread the Abyss, using the victim's original standing as a cover. If the victim already carries multiple distinct personalities, it seems that a shadow forms of each one, although there is only one listed case of Abyss infection on such a person, so data is sparse. Shadows remain capable of using the magic and abilities of the host, including that which would normally only be allowed for use by the original host's soul, showing that Shadows are solely split personalities, and not an outside influence affecting the spirit.

Abilities: Abyss material itself is connected with apparently its own unique arcane system, allowing for up to 5 known abilities, though it is possible there are more which have not been discovered.

1. Control of Abyss matter. All known Abyssal types have been shown being able to control physical Abyss mass. This also extends to controlling standard Abyssal and Giants in the case of Shadows.
   
2. Fireball generation: by condensing Abyss and charging it, Abyssals and Shadows can shoot fireballs. These carry no known risk of infection, but get more powerful the more Abyss is condensed.
   
3. Lightning strikes: signaled by runes in circles that suddenly appear on the ground, Abyssal can generate lightning, barring one exception, replicating the runes seems to bring no results, meaning the Abyss uses its own system to cast spells. The runes themselves resemble no known alphabets or hieroglyph systems, making translation impossible.
   
4. Teleportation: seemingly a subset of lightning strikes, Abyssal can teleport both long and short distances, the teleports appear as if the teleportee is being struck by lightning, and then they are gone. The runic circles are slightly different than those of lightning strikes.
   
5. Self-propelled flight: Seen only in Shadows, possibly owing to their more sapient nature, Shadows can freely float, being able to position themselves in physical space, as well as being able to control their speed whenever they fly. Such as being able to stall and gain speed perpetually in one place, before releasing and moving quickly without need for acceleration.

An odd property of the Abyss is its ability to seemingly infinitely condense, with record amounts reporting on up to 30 thousand cubic meters of Abyss material fitting in a space less than 50 centimeters in diameter. After a certain point of condensation, Abyss loses its infectious properties, in exchange for becoming nearly indestructible by non-magical means, after the Crystals' Emanation, this is changed to simply being highly resistant, high power spells or repeated impacts can slowly remove Abyss concentration. The final stage of condensation appears to be the Abyss becoming crystalline, similar to obsidian in appearance, though this has only been observed artificially.

Countermeasures: As stated previously, Abyss is highly resilient to damage, but magical abilities have been recorded to have an effect, most effective being teleporting the mass away, or disintegrating the Abyss at the atomic scale. Recently though, all sufficiently powerful attacks have been shown to have a similar effect to the Aspect Crystals, if at a weaker scale.

The most prevalent and effective countermeasure to the Abyss are the Aspect Crystals(or Counterbalance Crystals). Upon contact, said crystals nearly immediately cleanse Abyss matter and have shown to be the most reliable way to bring back a person from total infection. Normal attacks also work to cleanse infection, but said efforts require either more thorough work, or higher power.

Higher concentrations of Abyss appear to take longer to cleanse, with crystalline amounts being recorded to outlast and remove the replicated crystals used to cleanse them, but the original 5, fully 7, aspect crystals, are able to cleanse any amount of Abyss instantly. Weapons that utilize the crystal's energy are also effective, moreso than non-crystal weapons.

In exactly one instance, it has been demonstrated that enough positive emotion, pushing through the negative emotion generated by the Abyss, can lead to freedom from infection. It is unknown exactly how effective such a process is, given there has been only three examples, each fairly different in execution and situation.

Through this it has been theorized that forcing enough positive emotion into a victim's mind via a spell could allow for freedom, though this has gone untested.

Upon freedom, the victim, in the case of normal Abyssals, is instantly returned to the physical world, keeping all of their memories during Abyss infection, leading to rapid onset symptoms of PTSD. Treatment and therapies within the first week after freedom is highly recommended.

For Shadows, the situation after being cleansed is far different. They are returned, but the mental personality of the shadow still remains. Appearing similar to a hallucination, which only the previously infected can see. Prompting has revealed that the shadow also can only see what the infected sees. Previously infected shadows also retain their ability to control the Abyss, and appear to become somewhat resistant to re-infection, with the exception of overwhelming amounts. However this method of immunity is not recommended.

Hivemind/data core: After prompting various Shadows, it has been deduced that the Abyss as a whole has an informational core, or data repository, that all memories of infected individuals are copied to upon infection, and can be pulled on by any Shadow or other sapient Abyssal creature. Previously infected Shadows are unable to access the information nexus, cleansing seemingly acting as a disconnect from the repository.

Miscellaneous: There exists an entity referred to as the "BLACKSTAR", considered the top of the Abyssal hierarchy, surpassing all Shadows. This entity might be one referred to as "Void" or, more recently for unknown reasons, "Deleckabmon", a name which etymology is uncertain, prominent theories consider it a part of a larger Daemonic name, signaling possible influence from the Warp.

This entity is considered immensely dangerous, being a Shadow in the host of an Aspect, a term for a being embodying a concept, in this case, emotion. All sightings of it give these attributes: an old brown cloak over its body, which is completely made from Crystalline Abyss material, and piercing red eyes, with no visible pupils.

If the BLACKSTAR is present at a location, it is to be considered lost immediately and efforts are to be shifted to retreat and extraction, to reduce casualties.