Fengshui Fuyou

## Summary

Fengshui Fuyou is the home sphere of the river god Shengshi. It is an endless wetland of ever-changing rivers that carve their way through a landscape in the constant state of being fashioned by the water's erosion. The horizon is gray and misty, and the sky, like the rivers themselves, changes between clear as glass and beige as sand.

## Fengshui Fuyou

Thousands of rivers diverge and intersect across the vast span of the sphere.

### Creator

Shengshi

It is said to be where all rivers ultimately begin - it is the true source of fresh water, the world spring. At the sphere's centre is a colossal caldera, home to a great, cyan pool that branches into a network of countless rivers and streams, flowing into all parts of the universe. In between the criss-crossing web of water, small patches of land verdant and fertile peek up from underneath the waves. It is unknown, even to Shengshi, where the water that passes through Fengshui Fuyou eventually ends up. Shengshi himself reasons that, eventually, it all ends up back in the world spring, somehow. It is pretty certain, though, that much of the river water flows into Galbar.

The waters bring along all manner of nutritious soils and clays, colouring the water earthen and dark and feeding the surrounding vegetation. On Galbar, this occasionally leads to powerful growth spurts in river valleys and algae blooms in lakes and seas. In an entropic manner, the rivers in Fengshui Fuyou will occasionally flood and cover the entire sphere in dark, muddy water that drowns all non-aquatic life and levels all land. However, in time, the floods always retreat and life blossoms anew, just as lively and verdant as before, if not even more so. This phenomenon is, however, deeply despised by Shengshi, as he abhors entropy, opting rather for calm, collected stability.

## Location and Connections

While the realm of Fengshui Fuyou is located very close to Galbar itself, almost parallel, it is elevated slightly above the middle realm, as water has to flow downwards. Yet, it is certainly no heavenly realm. It is definitely closer to the Middle Sphere than its Celestial neighbours. The sphere's proximity to Galbar means it has a rather direct influence on the Middle Sphere, and Galbar has a powerful influence on it. Furthermore, the mysterious world spring itself has complex, intricate connections to a handful of other celestial spheres.

The So'E

 Fengshui Fuyou shares a close border with the So'E, home of the Rain Goddess Li'Kalla, from which it receives a great deal of mist and rain.

The Horizon Grotto

Kirron's "work" in the Grotto feeds the world spring unmeasurable volumes of water, a gift for which Shengshi is more than grateful.

The World Tree

Phystene's World Tree is also an important source of water for the world spring, where sap and dew drips from above and into the caldera to be purified. In return, Shengshi is more than happy to let the World Tree drink its fill from the rivers of his home.

The Blue

Occasionally, the borders of Fengshui Fuyou become crowded with great flocks of wisps from The Blue. These creatures drink in the nutrient-rich waters and extrete spectral gases that form great ethereal rivers between The Blue and Fengshui Fuyou that blend perfectly with the misty borders of the riverlands. The wisp blooms are short-lived, however, so the phenomenon is a rare sight.

Additionally, as water flows downwards, it is very plausible that any sphere above Fengshui Fuyou can access the world spring through the simple coincidence of proper alignment - however, it is nigh impossible for Fengshui Fuyou to randomly connect to the spheres above it.

## History

Fengshui Fuyou came into existence shortly after Shengshi's creation. Even before the god arrived, Fengshui Fuyou was already a rich source of fresh water, thanks to the supernatural phenomenon known as the world spring. All water from all other spheres and realm passed through the uncountable tunnels of the world spring to be purified and reemerge as fresh, clean water. The problem was that there was no force that could push the water through the sphere walls, so all of it was trapped.

When Shengshi arrived, he raised the world spring out from the depths of the sphere, giving the flowing water enough momentum to finally break the barriers between worlds. From then on, the sphere proceeded to provide all other worlds with fresh water. Following the creation of the spring, dubbed Shiquan, the sphere was promptly populated with various reeds and shrubberies, as well as a tiny worm creature called the Mud Worm.

However, swiftly following its creations, the sphere completely overflooded, taking with it all terrestrial life upon it. It is not yet known what implications this had on other spheres, nor what caused it. Shengshi fears that it may not have been an isolated incident, either.

## Lifeforms

#### Aquatic Life

* Insects
	+ The Mud Worm: The Mud Worm is a simple worm that lives in river valleys in Fengshui Fuyou and on Galbar. Its creation characters are 泥虫, literally "mud insect". The creature eats primarily river algae and the detritus of fresh water vegetation and animals. A typical specimen reaches a length of about 10cm-25cm. They typically live for six weeks in an undisturbed environment. As a handicap for being a popular source of food, Shengshi granted the mud worms the following trait: As long as their eggs are laid in a river, the eggshells will be coated in thick mud that few predators can penetrate.
* Amphibians
* Fish

#### Fungus

* Yeasts
	+ Sleeper's Sand: Sleeper's Sand is a potent fungal yeast used in alcohol production by Shengshi and by mortals on Galbar. Its creation characters are 睡沙酴, meaning "yeast of the sleeping sand". While the fungus is native to Fengshui Fuyou and rather difficult to come by in other spheres, it can be cultivated through expensive and difficult procedures. Therefore, it is usually only introduced to the mortal world through Shengshi's blessings. The use of this yeast in brewing yields an incredibly strong alcoholic drink that can be poisonous if portioned incorrectly. Furthermore, it is heavily reliant on sugar-rich grains or plants, and requires a constant presence of air to properly multiply. Drinks made with Sleeper's Sand are therefore considered nigh-heavenly gifts.

## Places of Interest

##### Jiangzhou, the Castle on the River:

* Upon the widest river in the network exists a single, huge junk ship, upon which a wooden castle has been built and beautifully adorned. This is the Jiangzhou, home of Shengshi. When he is not working to bring life to river basins around the world, he returns home to invite both the godly and the mortal to great feasts and parties, or sits by himself playing his harp or writing poetry. The decks of the colossal ship are manned by sizeable water globules that take care of the logistical work by carrying around items on top of them, scrubbing the floor in the meantime. It should be noted that these globules always are moving - the second they stop, they collapse into a puddle that shortly after drips off the closest side of the boat. The boat has neither sails, oars nor any kind of rudder - it relies entirely on the streams to carry it to wherever the rivers eventually lead. No matter how tumulteous the waters the ship sails, the ship will never tip over. At least, it hasn't happened yet.

##### Hemen, the Dragon Gate:

* Hemen is the main gateway to Galbar from Fengshui Fuyou. It is located on Gahe, one of the deepest and widest rivers flowing from the world spring and one of the few mostly stable rivers in the sphere. The gate looks much like an arching ribbon of river water that stretched several hundred feet into the air. It can be activated from both sides, either on direct command from Shengshi himself, or by presenting a dragon's head in the shape of the one on Jiangzhou. It leads to the Giant's Bath on Galbar.

##### Shiquan Mountain, the Centre of the World Spring:

* Shiquan Mountain is the caldera which houses the world spring at the centre of the sphere. The mountain is visible from anywhere in the sphere due to it being the only break with the otherwise near-completely flat river lands. It stretches 500 metres into the air where the top as well as several cave openings and tunnels all spill out water in all directions. In many ways, the mountain looks more like a fountain with water running down its sides at seemingly all times, with the exception of a few mounds of rock and soil which manage to withstand the flow and even sustain life.