Geff isn’t a place, not in the conventional sense. It’s a collection of echoes, a residue of thought and emotion left imprinted on the fabric of reality. It began, according to the fragmented texts recovered from the Obsidian Archive, with a singular event – the Cascade. The Cascade wasn’t a natural occurrence; it was a deliberate, catastrophic restructuring of consciousness, initiated by a being known only as the Architect. The Architect’s intent remains shrouded in paradox. Some believe it was an attempt to achieve perfect harmony, others a brutal pruning of flawed existence. Regardless, the Cascade shattered reality into a thousand shimmering fragments, each containing a sliver of the original, interwoven with the Architect's influence – a pervasive, unsettling beauty.
The inhabitants of Geff aren't truly alive, not in the way we understand it. They are constructs, reflections, probabilities given form. They experience, they remember (though their memories are unreliable, constantly shifting and overlapping), and they interact – but always within the confines of the Architect’s design. They are drawn to areas of high emotional resonance, places where the echoes of the Cascade are strongest. These are the Silent Gardens, the Corrupted Clocktowers, and the Obsidian Libraries.
Resonance is the key to understanding Geff. It’s a field of energy generated by emotional events, amplified and sustained by the Architect's presence. Strong emotions – joy, sorrow, rage, love – create powerful resonant signatures. These signatures then attract and coalesce around the Architect’s constructs, forming the fragmented realities of Geff. The constructs themselves are essentially amplifiers, channeling and perpetuating these resonant patterns. The deeper one delves into a resonant area, the more pronounced the effects become – blurring the lines between memory and reality, sensation and illusion.
There are 'Harmonic Nodes' – locations where the resonant field is particularly strong. These nodes are often associated with significant events from the Cascade. Exploring these nodes is incredibly dangerous; prolonged exposure can lead to complete dissolution of one's self, assimilation into the Architect's design. Some believe the Architect is attempting to rebuild itself through these nodes, drawing on the accumulated emotional energy.
“Time isn't linear here. It’s a viscous fluid, constantly shifting and reforming. Each tick of a clock is an echo of a forgotten moment, a potential outcome.” - Lyra, Cartographer of the Shifting Sands
The Clocktowers are perhaps the most unsettling aspects of Geff. They are massive, obsidian structures that dominate the landscape, their mechanisms frozen in time. Each tower represents a lost timeline, a potential reality that was averted by the Cascade. They are intensely resonant, and attempts to interact with their mechanisms often result in devastating temporal paradoxes. The air around the towers hums with the fractured voices of those who once existed within them.
The Obsidian Archives are vast repositories of knowledge, fragmented and corrupted by the Cascade. The books within are written in languages that no longer exist, filled with diagrams and glyphs that defy comprehension. However, some researchers have discovered that the Archives *react* to thought. Concentrating on a specific question or concept can trigger the release of resonant echoes, revealing glimpses of the past, or perhaps, warnings of the future. It’s a dangerous game; the Archives have a disconcerting habit of leading one astray, pulling them into loops of fragmented memory.