From the Lunar Archive of Sancta Gloria, Book V — The Shadowed Hemisphere. Compiled by Archivist Ophira Reyne, 7th Cycle.
Preface
"They are not the night's malice. They are the echo of our own heartbeat—heard backward."—From The Apologia Sarkaz, anonymous author, 7th Cycle Year 22.
Beneath the surface of our reality lies a reflection that is not water but memory.The ancients called it the Reverse Side of the World—a domain made from the residues of thought and fear, folded over itself by centuries of Flux overflow.
It is not hell, nor void, nor dream, but a distorted Earth built of lightless crystal and cold auroras, where every valley mirrors one above and every mountain peaks downward.This is the home of the Sarkaz—those born not of evolution, but of the world's shadow.
I. Origin — The Birth of Echoes
During the Fifth Cycle's height, as fluxcraft became widespread, emotion itself began to leave measurable residue.Tragedy, rage, faith—all carried harmonic signatures.When too many of these harmonics layered in the same region, they refracted reality inward, producing Reverse Points—places where reflection gained mass.
Within these points, forms began to stir.They resembled the stories mortals told: beings with horns, wings, or fangs—symbols of what was feared and revered.Thus emerged the first Sarkaz, neither spirit nor flesh, but self-aware projections stabilized by Flux saturation.
At first, they were few and silent, feeding on mineral heat and radiation.But as human wars multiplied, the Reverse Side thickened.Every death, every act of cruelty, every forgotten grief added density to their world.
Reverse-Side Chronicle Fragment:"We did not choose to be nightmare. We woke hungry, and there was nothing to eat but silence."
II. The Tribes of the Sarkaz
The Sarkaz are divided not by nation but by phenotype of resonance—each tribe reflecting a different human archetype of fear or endurance.
Tribe Archetype Description & Culture
Vampire Consumption / longing Pale, Flux-adapted; drink life energy to sustain form. Cultivate gardens of bioluminescent fungi as substitute blood.
Wendigo Survival / hunger Towering nomads who harvest thermal energy from geothermal vents; worship endurance.
Banshee Grief / loss Ethereal, voice-driven resonance beings who communicate through harmonic wails; archivists of death.
Gargoyle Vigil / defense Stone-armored guardians of citadels, active mostly at night; artisans of basalt and crystal.
Nachzehrer Decay / renewal Alchemists who consume rot and reclaim waste into sustenance; feared but vital.
Diablo Wrath / flame Smiths and forgers of weaponized Flux; sustain settlements with thermal reactors.
Lich Memory / persistence Scholars who bind knowledge into their bones; can persist beyond physical death.
Cyclops Focus / sacrifice Engineers of vision arrays; one eye replaced by resonance core for precision.
Djall Isolation / despair overcome Wanderers immune to most Flux shifts; act as messengers between scattered enclaves.
Each tribe maintains its own codes—Hospitality, Fair Trade, Vigilance, Silence, Survival—but they share one law:
"We live, whatever the light above calls us."
III. Life on the Reverse Side
The Reverse Side is rich in minerals and energy.Rivers glow faintly with conductive ores; mountains hum with static.But its ecosystem is inverted—organic matter is rare, decaying too quickly to sustain stable life.
Sarkaz physiology compensates through resonant metabolism—they absorb ambient Flux to survive, but it is insufficient for growth.Food, true food, must come from the physical world: soil crops, proteins, fruit.Hence their incursions across the barrier—not conquest, but necessity.
Sarkaz Proverb:"We raid not for blood. We raid for bread."
They built Flux gates, crystalline thresholds that align with storms or wars, when emotional turbulence weakens the veil.During the Sixth Cycle's great conflicts, these gates became highways of desperation.
IV. The Sixth Collapse — The Long Hunger
When the Flux storm of the early 20th century tore open the veil completely, the Reverse Side flooded with physical matter for the first time.The Sarkaz flooded back—not as invaders, but as refugees escaping a world that was literally starving.
The surface called them demons.The Sarkaz called the surface "the Warm Sky."They fought, yes, but more often they begged.And when they were denied, they took.Entire enclaves vanished under retaliatory bombardment.
Eye-witness tablet, recovered from ruined fluxgate:"They asked only for soil. We gave them fire. Now both worlds burn."
By the Ash Rain's end, half the Reverse Side had crystallized into static—dead resonance where nothing can move.The survivors sealed their gates and turned inward again, swearing never to cross first.
V. The Seventh Cycle — The Truce of the Mirror
The Sankta, upon restoring balance, recognized the Reverse Side as a stabilized reflection field integral to planetary Flux equilibrium.Destroying it would destabilize the world again.Instead, they negotiated with Sarkaz emissaries—the first true Cross-Reflection Concord.
Under this agreement:
The Reverse Side remains autonomous but monitored from lunar observatories.
Controlled gates permit limited trade: minerals for organics, Flux crystals for cultivated grain.
No Sarkaz may anchor permanently in the surface world, and no surface-born may traverse the Reverse unguarded.
The Sankta maintain Nadir Stations at stable points between layers—half in shadow, half in light—to mediate all contact.
Trade is slow, trust slower.But the hunger has lessened.
VI. The Sarkaz in the Seventh Cycle
Today, the Sarkaz live in tiered shadow cities mirrored beneath real ones—structures of glassy stone and faint light where temperature never changes.
Their children learn to read both directions; their libraries preserve our history from the perspective of reflection.They call the surface dwellers "the Originals."The name carries no malice—only quiet curiosity.
Many Sarkaz have begun crafting new myths, envisioning a day when the Reverse Side is no longer shadow but equal hemisphere—two faces of one world, each feeding the other.
Inscription, Reverse City of Diaphane:"When both sides are hungry for peace, the mirror feeds itself."
Epilogue: The Night That Waits
The Reverse Side persists, not as curse but as echo.The Sarkaz remain what they always were—survivors of a truth no one asked to know: that a world's fear, left unspoken, will find a voice.
They have no gods, no Aeons, no Elders—only endurance.And when storms rise and emotions boil, the veil hums softly, as if remembering.