DARNALI
Darnali is the largest island of the Rayskels and the most populated. Located along the easternmost edge of the archipelago, it is mostly natural rainforest, rolling hills, and starglass beaches. Sustenance is found deep in the forests from fruit, seeds, and nuts; myriad small, trappable animals, including sladds; and the common caliet tree, which draws saltwater into its trunk and drips fresh water from its red, heart-shaped leaves.
VONNAI
The largest city on Darnali is Vonnai, a sprawling construction located along the eastern shoreline. With a population of nearly 30,000 people, it is arguably the largest city in all of the Cays (although the citizens of Darrad would likely take umbrage with that, considering the sheer amount of space that Darrad takes up). Tight and compact, the city is built of houses and
STARGLASS
Starglass, a substance that is slightly larger than sand and utterly transparent, comes from the broken glassine hivelike structures that dot the landscape of Darnali. These oval hives are about 5 feet (2 m) in diameter and stand anywhere from 10 to 20 feet (3 to 6 m) tall, typically clustered around a single large tree. The hives are built every winter by colonies of fist-sized, winged marsupials called
sladds, although it’s not known how they create the structures or from what materials. Every spring, the winds that cross Darnali tear most of the hives apart, creating starglass storms that bite and sting the flesh like insects.
“I don’t care what my people think of me, as long as they are alive to think it.” ~Loles Loles: level 3; Armor 2 (4 when she’s inside or in contact with her house); carries a lunar-powered razor ring that inflicts 5 points of heat damage
Sladd: level 1 Starglass storm: level 3.
Anyone caught in such a storm takes 2 points of Might damage for every minute that they can’t find shelter. Any exposed, damaged flesh bears tiny star-shaped scars for about a week.
In some places, there is so much starglass along the beaches that it makes the shores seem transparent, as if you could see down through them. Because the starglass constantly shifts, it’s like looking through a wet mirror. Look too long, and you’re likely to feel a bit nauseated.
attract lekohs, small round grubs that give off a flickering red light.
But for most people, those small
pleasures aren’t worth the risk of drawing a
sandsulche to their residence—and worse, having to look at it through the translucent sinker wall. These iridescent, many-legged amphibious worms grow up to 50 feet (15 m) long, with hard scales across their top and a pellucid underside that shows their organs clearly. They’re attracted to sinkers for reasons unknown, and it’s not usual for one to take a liking to a particular sinker, wrapping its entire length around and around the tube, exposing its clear underbelly, with all its internal workings, to anyone inside. It would be one thing if sandsulches were herbivores or had more complex digestive systems. However, their carnivorous nature, combined with a digestive system that is essentially one long constrictor tube big enough to encapsulate a full-size decaying mammal, makes for quite the gruesome show.
On the other hand, sandsulches will eat She is most often accompanied by her
partner, Tanet, the genius architect behind the entire city’s structure, as well as the creator of her house and weapon. He specializes in harvesting the moon’s tidal energy to create power.
KINIDER
Kinider is a village at the southernmost tip of Darnali, along a peninsula called Goryl’s Breath. Despite having a population of nearly 225 people, the village is almost impossible to see from a distance. That is because the majority of buildings are deep under the surface of the earth to protect them from the Terrible Exhale.
Created inside long tubes called sinkers, homes and other structures are made of a clear, glasslike substance, yet with a surface that is slightly malleable to the touch. The tubes run between 50 and 100 feet (15 to 30 m) in diameter, and anywhere from 10 to 100 feet (3 to 30 m) deep. There are exactly one hundred sinkers dotted along the shore, buried deep with just the top few inches sticking up out of the sand. The top openings always stay level with the sand as it shifts, as though buoyed by the very earth itself. Elaborate webbed membranes stretch across the tops of the sinkers to provide protection from the elements, while still allowing an exchange of air.
Ladders, sliders, complicated risers, and other devices are used to enter and leave the long tubes. Very little sticks to the walls of the sinkers, so inhabitants build elaborate standing screens and tall furniture. They will tell you that it’s for the beauty of it, but in truth, they’re merely blocking the horrible views. For through the crystal clear walls, it’s possible to see any creature that burrows, digs, or buries itself in the earth around the sinker. Most of these creatures are harmless—and in some cases, lucky children will wake up one morning and find that an adorable, pink-skinned ossill
has taken up residence in a burrow near their bed or that a swarm of insects are busy building an underground city against the wall in their living room. Others place large bouquets of sea mattrians around the rooms, hoping that the bright flowers will
THE TERRIBLE EXHALE
At various times throughout the year, a hot, fluid-filled wind whips across Goryl’s Breath. The wind consists of watery bubbles that carry all manner of things inside them, from live snails and small fish to broken bits of dishes, equipment, and weapons. The bubbles release a noxious smell just before they explode, turning their contents into shrapnel, sending shards or guts or shells out with great force up to a short distance. This seasonal phenomenon is known as the Terrible Exhale, or just the Hale, and it works hard to destroy anything in its path. It can occur up to two dozen times in any given year and can last from an hour to many weeks.
Characters caught in the Hale might get lucky and lose only a few points of Might, or they might find themselves
stunned or knocked a step down the damage track by a particularly violent explosion of shrapnel.
Tanet: level 3, all tasks involving designing, spatial awareness, lunar knowledge and manipulation, and the numenera as level 6
Stunned, page 95
Lekoh: level 1
Sandsulche: level 7; Armor 2; can ingest an entire creature (no bigger than a human child) in a single action if the creature is within short range; ingested creatures take 4 points of damage per round until they break free or die