"There was no long-term, and trying to cling to one would only spoil it all."
This article contains spoilers regarding the ending of Worm and plot of the sequel.
The Firmament or The Shardspace[1] is the dimension that serves as a physical representation of shard-connections.
Geography/Description[]
The Shardspace is a dimension full of fractal dark-red crystals that are borderline incomprehensible to the human mind. The crystals glow dimly.[2]
It is at least a semi-virtual space where real distances are inconsistent with distance traveled. How much of it is physical, and the degree of interaction with the real physical space is questionable.
The Shardspace is divided into islands over bottomless darkness. Each island represents a specific shard and its host, and houses Endbringer-like shard-avatars. Islands can be merged or bridged by power interactions in real-space. Presumably, the crystals forming each individual island is the real body of a shard.
The space between distinct islands is filled with un-distinct connective tissue, which can be claimed by individual shards or several. After Zions's death those claims became chaotic and overburdening, leading to mechanical conditions that produced Broken Triggers and Titans.[3]
Interaction with Parahumans[]
The firmament is essential as the diagnostic and the information-gathering tool for when a shard triggers and decides the parameters of the powers it grants,[4] as well as the modeling structure for Precognitive abilities.[5]
When a group of capes entered the shardspace through a dream room of the Mall Cluster, they were de-powered and constantly sent out visible pings of light to the avatars of their agents. The intensity of pings seems to vary depending on distance or their mental state. The hosts and agent-avatars, presumably, can voluntarily merge when nearby.
The hosts are also semi-immortal while inside the shardspace, since they always can get a new, memory-based "body" from the crystal surface. However, fatal wounds still can sever the connection and render them brain-dead in real space.
After reality broke, cracks opened into the world that allowed anyone to enter the shardspace. When entered this way, the capes in question retained some of their abilities, though they become significantly weaker, the further they are from the conventional reality. The Wardens deployed artificial portals to provide power-support for their capes forced to act inside the Firmament.[6]
Notable Residents/Points of Interest[]
History[]
Background[]
The Shardspace is an important part of the Cycle, being created when Scion and Eden distributed their shards into multiple different dimensions.
Post-Gold Morning[]
Suffered extensive, but unspecified damage, that impedes its functions since that event.
Post-Time Bubble Pop[]
Teacher had uncovered a portal to the shardspace.
Post-Attack on Teacher[]
Breakthrough alongside Tattletale, Decadent, Syndicate, Chicken Little, Love Lost, Colt, and Damsel of Distress III broke into the Shardspace through the Mall Clusters dream room. There, they witnessed several shard entities including Grasping Self and others from the Mall Cluster, several shard entities from members of the Taught, Tattletale's shard, the Wretch, and Teacher's shard entity itself.
Post-Ice Break[]
When the ice broke, dimensional rifts opened up throughout the City and other Earths. Through these dimensional rifts, the Shardspace was visible.
Ten patrol officers with dormant Corona Pollentias, including Gilpatrick, were tinker-linked by Lookout to Rain, allowing them to invade the virtual side of The Firmament. Two of the officers were impersonated by Matryoshka and Bijou.[7]
On Victoria Dallon's advice the Wardens organize a mass incursion into the Shardspace. It instantly agitates the nearby Titans, [8] and Ziz[1] The sabotage succeeded in temporarily weakening Titans.[9]
Breakthrough, accompanied by Chris Elman and Harbinger V, visited Contessa's seat of power inside the Shardrealm.[10]
In preparation for the final attack against the Simurgh, Titan Fortuna had four Titans(Titan Amenonuhoko, Titan Auger, Titan Drillbit, Titan Ghast) running interference by destroying the segments of the The Shardspace via drilling, carving and digging.[11] During his dreams brought about by the parahuman plague, Chevalier discovers that Fortuna's network was drilling as a method of communication into Shardspace, of sending a message; the message being "answers". Tattletale believes that Fortuna wasn't drilling, but "etching" something into Shardspace, and she interprets Chevalier's dream to mean that the message contains answers Fortuna believed important enough that that she would damage Shardspace in order to tell the rest of the Entities about it.[12]
Trivia[]
- Black and red are common as colors of power manifestations in the story. A lot of villains also favor those colors in their costumes. It may be that this aesthetic is a default influence of shards in some form.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Radiation 18.z
- ↑ The cold air from above was seeping into this void, which was more temperature-neutral. Where the cold air from our world met the neutral air of this world, it formed vapor, that hung over the plain like a fog, and settled onto the crystal as a frost or beads of moisture.
Barely any light from the crack above us. Most of the illumination came from the crystal itself, like it was all lit by light from a light turned to the lowest possible setting on a dimmer switch, tinted red. It colored the fog, moisture, and frost. - Excerpt from Infrared 19.7 - ↑ “This landscape added up once upon a time,” she said. “Everything interconnected, it fed more easily. Now it’s… a hundred hard drives crammed into one computer’s housing. Each agent lays some claim to real estate, builds their houses. But when information isn’t flowing freely, and some houses get built on broken or missing ground…”
“Broken triggers,” I said.
“And Titans, when there’s enough support from the system to keep them propped up." - Excerpt from Infrared 19.7 - ↑ Chiro
I was wondering as of late, why Taylor can't control Breed's parasites? Is it because they as lifeforms don't fall into the portfolio of creatures Taylor controls, or because Breed controls them already?
Kyakan
might be as simple as them not being around when Taylor's power was defining what counted as "bug"
Wildbow
Kyak has it right. Bonesaw talks about how shards conceptualize their idea of what X is when the trigger happens.
It's why Taylor's notion of what a 'bug' is remains pretty nebulous, including some things (crabs, earthworms, arachnids, insects) and bypassing others (skin mites, bug case 53s).
And it's not just Taylor- it pulls from the shard network of wider human knowledge across hosts. - Discord conversation Archived on Spacebattles. - ↑ It's worth stating that a lot of the simulation is only possible because the shards are already there, gathering, sharing, and collating data. - WB on reddit
- ↑ “Don’t stray too far from the portal!” Moonsong called out to Furcate. The portal near the center of the work site was their lifeline, feeding them their powers, in this place where powers were dampened or gone. - Excerpt from Infrared 19.e
- ↑ Infrared 19.b
- ↑ Radiation 18.10
- ↑ Infrared 19.2
- ↑ Infrared 19.7
- ↑ The Titans had gathered and stood as a defensive line, spaced apart like each one’s position mattered on some fundamental level. Four of the Titans had powers that drilled, dug, or carved. Titan Amenonuhoko, Titan Auger, Titan Drillbit, Titan Ghast. All four Titans were tearing up the crystal landscape below them, aiming for specific paths and locations. - Excerpt from Last 20.a
- ↑ Last 20.e1
[]
| Earths | Earth Bet • Earth Cheit • Earth Gimel • Earth Nun • Earth Shin |
|---|---|
| Continents | Africa • Antarctica • Asia • Europe • North America • Oceania • South America • Gimel.US |
| Countries | Australia • Canada • Chinese Union-Imperial • India • Indonesia • Ireland • Japan • Russia • Switzerland • United Kingdom • United States of America |
| Cities | Anchorage • Atlanta • Austin • Baltimore • Boston • Brockton Bay • Cedar Point • Chicago • The City • Detroit • Ellisburg • Flint • Houston • Las Vegas • Los Angeles • Madison • Minneapolis • New York • Philadelphia • Phoenix • Raleigh • San Diego • San Francisco • San Jose • Seattle • Vancouver • Washington |
| Schools | Arcadia High • Clarendon High • Immaculata High • Winslow High |
| Other | Ruby Dreams • The Firmament • Quarantine Sites • The Well |