In Praenost, Avoalet, and Visoria, the lands outside of the Depths of Corruption are relatively normal, save for the obvious Broken running around. But once you get into the Depths of Corruption and the lands beyond, the air is saturated with magic, and veins of Break have pushed up through the earth. Even shards of the Break float through the air in defiance of gravity. It's obvious that magic is all out of whack in these places.
[Praenost vs Praenost Depths]
[Avoalet vs Avoalet Depths]
[Visoria vs Visoria Depths]
In Junoon, however, it's almost the opposite. Break has shoved itself up in the lands outside of the Depths, and particles of it float through the air. But inside the depths? Those lands are almost untouched by the Break (except in Farcoast Terrace, which is almost nothing but Break, but we don't talk about that accursed place if we can help it). The air is saturated with magic in Junoon's depths, giving the atmosphere a soft violet haze, but the most prominent veins of Break and gravity-defying shards are outside of the Depths.
[Junoon vs Junoon Depths]
What a fascinating bit of environmental storytelling. I thought that those bright rocks and floating stones were just atmospheric effect in the Depths, but they're not! They seem to show where each Tanta finally lost herself to the Corruption. We know the exact location where Cinta fell. She told us. Also there's a fucking crater there.
Except I'm probably wrong? Because while the veins of Break are clearly prominent around the crater, the floating Breakshards aren't. They're very conspicuously absent around Junoon Castle as well, though the castle gardens have Break-infested plants.
Clearly more research must be done.
But there's one more thing I find fascinating. There's somewhere else you can find veins of Cinta's magic pushing through the earth. Do you know where it is?
It's Cipal, specifically all the lands around it.
You can baaaaaarely see some red Break in the distance, where the Blessed Plains boarder with Praenost, but all the rest of it is Junoon. (If you're having trouble finding the red Break, look at the bottom of the cliffs below the right side of the aurora. You may have to zoom in a little)
Anyway, I'm delighted at how much more there is to discover just by paying attention to the environment :3
Lily thought she'd come to know pain by now. She’d lost so much—Petunia, Sev, even Mary in a sense—but she was a fool. This was all of that loss compressed into something blistering in her chest and compounded by every ounce of magic known to man.
Inspired by @jilymicrofics January Prompt 17: Pity, along with the James POV companion piece.
Alfred Molina scenes in A Further Gesture AKA The Break. YouTube video is not available in Spain. To view it if you are located in Spain, click the DAILYMOTION link.