Coda

The **Coda** is a pivotal location in Reflection. A mysterious other realm beneath the world, the Coda is the home of the Demonic Courts and their apocalyptic incursion into the world above.

## Nature and Geography

### Structure

The Coda consists of a series of regions called "layers", or "floors", all stacked on top of one another. Each layer is different from the others in structure, inhabitants, and even the very laws of physics. Generally, each successive layer is understood to be smaller in area than the one that came before it, but this is difficult to precisely measure for a variety of reasons. The layers are numbered from top to bottom, with layer one being the very first.

#### The First Layer

The first layer of the Coda is a vast, flat expanse. The ground consists primarily of a sprawling series of colored stone tiles that seem to be the end result of an unknown processes initiated by the first layer that slowly melds the earth of the world above into itself. This includes raw continental earth as well as artificial ground areas like stone or metal hallways. Large swathes of the floor are covered in pools of raw liquid Elements of various size. Some are barely knee-height while others are tens of feet deep or more. With the correct equipment and knowledge, these pools can be manipulated to form various kinds of new terrain. Various pieces of ancient architecture dot the landscape of the first layer, most of it in ruins.

While many Demons are known to inhabit the first layer, it is apparently more sparsely populated than some of the layers below it.

Reflections can be found in abundance on the first layer.

#### The Second Layer

The second layer of the Coda is perhaps the most lethal of the layers known to OPIA. It consists of an uncountable number of massive Penrose triangles stacked on top of each other and clustered next to each other, all of them moving and rotating at different speeds. The triangles themselves are made up of architecture from various worlds consumed by the Coda. When two triangles make contact, most of the matter on them is pulverized into a dust cloud of raw Elements.

Within this layer, the rules of gravity begin to completely break apart. If a person walks off the edge of one of the triangles' faces, instead of falling off, they will simply end up on another face. As such, it is extremely difficult if not impossible to traverse the layer by simply falling through the triangles. To progress down towards the third layer, a Coda diver has to hunt for "flaws" in the triangle they find themselves on. Interacting with the flaw will cause them to drop down into the next triangle. This process must be repeated several times before arriving at the third layer. With a team of well-trained and equipped professionals, it would still take around three days on average to traverse through the second layer.

At the very bottom of the second layer, there is a film of an unknown substance that acts as a sort of final filter for anything moving between the layers. If an object does not enter the third layer through specified channels, and instead passes through or falls into the film, they will dissolve into raw Elements instantly.

The second layer is even more sparsely populated by Demons than the first due to its raw lethality. However, a population of large Demonis aligned with the Court of Logic permanently reside on the layer for the purposes of upkeeping the efficiency of the layer's vast, unknowable machinery.

##### World Tree

By connecting a series of Element-manipulating probes to another series of probes on the first layer, the OPIA AI Mic created a massive World Tree that pierces through the very center of the second layer and connects directly to the first. Within the bounds of the tree, the alien physics of the second layer are disrupted, and the Penrose triangles are shattered into individual platforms. One can easily and quickly traverse between the third and first layer by simply ascending the tree, bypassing many of the dangers of the second layer.

#### The Third Layer

The third layer of the Coda is the farthest layer known to be reached by any Coda diver. Even then, only ten percent of those who make it this far are known to return to the surface. The third layer is, surprisingly, safer than the second and possibly even the first. It consists of a vast landscape flush with natural growth. Raw Elements periodically fall from the second layer above in the form of motes of multicolored "snow". Upon making impact with the ground, these Elements will begin to clump together and arrange themselves into various structures resembling plant or fungal life. Small areas incredibly rich in raw Elements can be found throughout the layer. In various spots, there are small outcroppings of human-made architecture, most of it partially consumed by the overgrowth.

The state of the Demonic population of the third layer is not well-known. Various small villages inhabited by autonomous constructs can be found throughout the layer. At least one of them makes a habit of collecting the idle Flames of people who have died on the third layer and transporting them to a "graveyard" made out of Flame-channeling cables for safekeeping.

The third layer is the highest layer most Archdemons can ascend to barring incredibly unique circumstances.

#### Other Layers

Past the third, there is little information about the remaining layers of the Coda. At the bottom of the Coda lies the Derelict and the Sea of Ash. The Archdemons and the Queen of Flames reside here.

### Properties

#### Flame

Flame is known to act strangely within the Coda. When a person dies in the Coda, rather than their Flame returning to the Flame of Creation, it remains idle in place. Over time, their Flame will begin to seep into the environment around them if not placed in a suitable container. This experience is understood to be incredibly painful and traumatic.

#### Transformation

The Coda is vaguely understood to induce some kind of transformative effect on non-Demons who descend into it. The deeper one progresses into the Coda, the more the shape of their body and their Flame are "compressed" into a specific pattern. What exactly these changes look like and what exactly this pattern is are not yet understood.

Over time, the terrain surrounding the Coda will begin to be leeched of its Elements. Matter that is leeched becomes discolored and fragile.

#### Timeless

Clocks, analogue, digital, or otherwise, cease working within and nearby the Coda.

#### Reflections

Reflections are found in abundance within the Coda, and seem to appear there naturally.

## Inhabitants

### Demons

The Coda is inhabited by a wide variety of Demonic life. Barring a handful of exceptions, all Demons living within the Coda are bound to a specific Demonic Court, which are the six political entities that rule the Coda in its entirety. Demons span a wide variety of sizes, shapes, and levels of intelligence, and fulfill various kinds of roles within the Coda, including leaving the Coda to attack settlements and people on the surface. While outside of the Coda, the appearance of some Demons becomes difficult to percieve by humans.

### Non-Demons

While Demons make up the vast majority of the Coda's permanent residents, small pockets of other forms of life dwell on the various layers.

#### Constructs

Multiple layers of the Coda are inhabited by small, sapient constructs powered by Flame. Generally, these constructs have large, screen-like heads that can display information. Usually, they display eye-shaped lights, but they can also create words and other pictures. The constructs have a humanoid body shape with a torso, arms, and legs with both hands and feet. On the third layer, these constructs live in small villages, and have done so for multiple cycles.

## History

### Creation

The Coda was created in the ancient past by the Pyromancers. Its shape and structure were designed by Fio. Over multiple cycles, the Coda attached itself to worlds and consumed them. The impetus behind this cycle of world consumption is unknown.

### World Twelve

Early in the history of the twelfth world to be created in the cycle, the God of Humanity foresaw the coming of the Coda and sought to summon it himself. He was, however, cornered by his advisors and killed before the ritual could be completed. Millennia later, the Coda appeared anyways, although rather than in Cialla, it manifested beneath Fuse City. Although originally placid, after a few decades of uninterrupted exploration, Demons began to leave the Coda and attack Fuse City, killing many people.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Superhero
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Tumbling Down
3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 For Today
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Chasing Ghosts
5. ↑ For Tomorrow
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Above and Below
7. ↑ Neon Sparks
8. ↑ I'm Still Alive