Fog Gates

The first thing that is known, of Thessir, is that what is beyond it, is the unknown. Thanks to the mysterious veil that surrounds the entire continent, some few hundred miles off the coast, the continent itself is effectively cut off.

What they are is not exactly explained. They appear to be an enormous, unyielding fog bank, and no wind blows where they sit. Attempts to scry them with magic have met with failure. Attempts to pierce them have also met with failure again and again. Even submersible vessels built by the dwarves have been turned around. People who go into the Fog Gates come out confused, hundreds or thousands of miles from where they went into them, or not at all - occasionally a ship will be found adrift, all hands missing, and the ship itself untouched, but totally empty. As though all the crew stepped off it and vanished into the ocean without a word.

What is known, is that on the other side of them, there must be indeed something. For almost all the inhabitants of Thessir came from the Fog originally. Occasionally, a ship, or some other device, will pass through the Fog, bearing a crew, bewildered, alone, with little memory of what came before. In ages past, that, it is theorized, is how even the original inhabitants of Thessir came to be in this land, even the Elves, whose origin is thrown so far back it is beyond memory. Some other scattered individuals appeared here or there through history, lost and wondering, with only vague memories of how they came to be there. Passing through the Fog Gates, through dreams and reality, until they found themselves in a place that they could not explain, but soon, made their home, struggling to survive in a land that defies the conventional logic, the land of Thessir - a continent awash in secrets, in mysteries and threats, some known, some understood - and some so terrible that even their knowledge threatens the sanity of the ones who bear them.

Rarely, people pass through the Fog and into Thessir, but this does not happen often. Strangely, it is something that sometimes occurs at sea, via a ship, but there are instances where a person has awoken in a forest, or a field, in strange garb and no memory of how they came to be there. For that is the mark of those touched by the Fog – upon breaching it, the memory of that which came before is gone. Perhaps the strangest part of the entire situation is that, even if an individual comes from the fog with a strange accent to their words, the language spoken by them will be that which is spoken by the individuals who live upon Thessir. While some races have seemingly developed their own languages, such as the Elves, the Orcs, and a few others, those who come from the fog have the common tongue, and while they may speak others, the common tongue is the one that they will know and understand. Even if the Fog takes all else, it at least leaves them with that.

For now, however, the extent of its mysteries remain hidden. The Fog will not reveal its purpose, or what lies beyond it. It is viewed with distrust, and indeed, those who come from the Fog are viewed often with fear. For when they have arrived in large numbers, they have changed the world of Thessir, time and time again, and are now viewed as an ill omen. Those who were born on Thessir and lived their whole lives there are, despite the fact that their ancestors come from the Fog, see those who come from the Fog with suspicion and fear – for who knows what they might do, in a strange and unfriendly world? Will they adapt to it – or change it? Only time will ever tell.