The last lit shard

This is the story the people of Aldermere tell. Scholars in Highmarch argue over the details. The outline is the same in every telling.

One world, broken

Long ago there was one world. Then it broke into many mirrored worlds, called shards. No one alive knows what broke it.

Each shard held its own people, its own kings and its own wars. For an age they burned side by side, and none knew the others were there.

The going dark

Then, one by one, the shards went dark. No one who stayed behind on a dying shard was ever heard from again.

Today one light is left. It hangs in the sky over Highmarch, the brightest thing in the heavens. Aldermere is the last lit shard.

What the people know

• The other shards fell.
• Souls from the dying shards still reach Aldermere. See Tetherstones.
• Pieces of the dead shards wash up in Aldermere. See The dead shards.

What no one knows

Why the shards went dark, and whether this one is next. Those are the questions behind the optional storyline. You never have to follow it.