The Mist War (headcanons essay 2/4)
Life and Death, dictated by the flow of the Mists
The Mist War is both an event and a place at the same time, one that in theory works like a massive Fractal, but in practice varies in particular ways due to its multiverse nature and much bigger scale.
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Magic surges and resets
The Mist Warriors still only have a vague idea of the complex rules of the Mist War.
Despite learning all they could through centuries of observation and trial and error, there's too much they can never be certain of. The recent help of the Priory and the new knowledge related to the similar yet infinitesimally smaller Fractals helped a little, but the margin of error is still very large.
Magic surges are what dictates the cadence and flow of the events of the Mist War, affecting all that's in it.
Caused by the metaphysical shift of the overlapping different Tyrias, they happen everyday around midnight (skirmishes) and, on a much larger scale, when the worlds drift apart and connect with others (reset).
The daily magic surges are the most predictable event in the Mist War, and while they're not really observable by the naked eye, they're describable as a wave of magic that curses through the fabric of the Mists, a pulse strong enough for those magically attuned to sense it even if if they're not near a nexus, and a brief reinvigorating sensation for everyone.
Despite their regularity, sometimes they might shift in potency and cause temporary alterations to the normal conditions of the Mist War, be them positive (MW feeling more powerful, resources partially restoring themselves outside of resets, forced truces, supercharge of arcane tools, etc) or negative (MW feeling physically weaker or their abilities changing, malfunctions of tools and magic, higher frequency of displacements, thinner air or weather conditions that make gliding unsafe or impossible, more frequent anomalies, lack of animals and resources, skipped resurrections, etc), which usually last from a few days to a few weeks before returning to normal.
As for resets, there's no clear schedule for them, but various signs act as a warning days before it does: magical readings start fluctuating as the Mists begin to agitate, the sky gets increasingly brighter even at night, magic surges become increasingly more irregular, and the fog covering the horizon steadily increases and thickens.
Then, when the reset is about to happen, all living beings will sense a disruption in the fabric of the Mists (a sensation of falling, like the ground shifting slightly), shortly followed by enemies beginning to fade intermittently for each other. Not long after that, the fog on the horizon will roll in and cover the borderlands, rising from a thin layer at ground level until nothing is visible in front of one's nose. Notably, MW will always see the fog coming from the enemies' sides, and it's speculated to be the manifestation of each Tyria ripping itself away from the others.
This process takes from one to three hours, and the MW will attempt to return as close to the land and nexuses they control as possible, while those in the camps hurry to dismantle everything they can and return to Tyria with the loot that needs to be extracted.
When the reset finally happens, the fog itself becomes blindingly bright with the magic of the surge and, after what some describe as a "brief leap of consciousness", everyone finds themselves in the proximity of their new main camp and nexus. After a brief inspection and tune up of the gates for safety, those who left for Tyria return into the Mists, and everything begins anew.
All the extracted resources that are still on the Mists' side of the portal disappear as they "return" to their original place and status, while those that were brought into Tyria remain there.
Tyrian items and materials that were brought into the Mists tend to remain or return to the nexus, but when the anchor point shifts at reset they might end up scattered around the camp, or occasionally remain where they were and get salvaged by the enemy. As such, any area other than the main camp doesn't receive much in terms of external supplies in order to avoid wastes, and MW have to rely on freshly harvested materials to survive and build defenses deeper into the territory. While many of the Mist Warriors are just soldiers, a bunch dedicate most of their time and effort to harvest and transport resources, with others pitching in when necessary.
In the case of vital items that can't be easily moved back out of the gates, like the airships or supplies that are too far from the nexus, special runes are engraved in them during complex rituals, a necessary precaution to ensure that they'll reach the nexus every time. This is done especially for the waypoints, as setting them up at the keeps already requires a lot of time between transport and necessary security measures, and permanently losing one to the enemy would be a devastating blow.
Notably, the structures scattered around the land appear to always have been there in some capacity, and always reappear at reset even if destroyed or altered.
While it's unknown whether they were initially built by ancient Mist Warriors or manifested by the Mists themselves, they're not fully immutable. They appear to reflect cultures from various points in Tyrian history, a patchwork of foundations, repairs and improvements added up over who knows how many centuries, and they were probably there already during previous Mist Wars whose details have been lost to time.
At times, structures created by the MW will persist across multiple resets and become part of the lands, but what exactly triggers this kind of event is still unknown. Not only it can happen at any point with materials from either Tyria or the lands themselves, but it may also occasionally alter other Tyrias, or at least that's the accepted explanation for sudden structural alterations with no precedents.
One particular case are the asuran gates themselves, as they persisted almost immediately instead of requiring to be rebuilt every time, possibly stabilizing so fast due to their direct connection to Tyria.
Death and resurrection
Unlike in the Fractals or Tyria itself, in the Mist War death is not permanent, or at least not always.
The magic that forms the battlegrounds is so plentiful that it easily seeps into the Mist Warriors' bodies, changing them in more or less subtle ways [skills/traits being different in different game modes] and strengthening them, but most importantly taking an imprint of all who inhabit its lands for long enough.
The trauma and pain of death aren't lessened by the Mists, nor is that of watching fellow soldiers die and suffer, but MW usually tend to be braver and more self-sacrificial than they would ever be in Tyria, trusting in the Mists to bring them back eventually.
The bodies of those fallen in battle always disappear after a variable time between a few minutes and a couple hours following their deaths, seemingly absorbed by the Mists themselves.
Then, when the next magic surge happens, the corpses and souls of the fallen soldiers get pulled back to their original world and alive state... usually.
Those who are resurrected during the magical surges usually reappear at the nexus closest to the place of their death, which normally means the main camps of the corresponding battleground.
The smaller magic surges usually happen every day around midnight, and so do resurrections. Not all reappear at the same time, usually in waves following the magical surge and roughly in the order of their death, but there are rare cases where some reappear during the rest of the day, or miss one or more surges before returning.
The phenomenon is noticeable but quiet, just a small magical cloud forming less than a minute before the once-dead MW reappear in a relatively quiet burst, with mist-like residue around them or on them that quickly disappears. If one isn't there to witness it, they might as well think the MW arrived via the nearby waypoint, but someone always keeps watch to aid them in the first moments or call for help if needed.
At times, people can get resurrected in places other than the main camp, and might have to travel through unsafe areas of the battlegrounds to make it back.
Generally speaking, if someone is missing even after a few days and especially doesn't reappear after a "reset", they're usually considered dead for good or simply lost to the Mists, never to be seen again.
Resurrection itself is not described as a pleasant experience and the initial moments after it are always extremely disorienting, especially for first-timers and those who have been dead the longest or more often. While veterans might bounce back from it quickly, most often need some time to readjust, rest or even medical attention.
Many say that the time spent in that limbo is just a flash between their death and being alive again, while others can't describe it before they can form words again and forget it like a seemingly bad dream.
It's always generally described as uncomfortable and painful, like a strong magical shock that takes a toll and leaves one entirely aching, and it's not rare for people to start screaming or crying as soon as they get resurrected. While the trauma of it at times deters some from staying in the Mist War, overall MW tend to get used to it after a while, finding comfort in the fact that it's a fair price to pay for beating the alternative.
Things are equally puzzling on the physical side: most return to life as good as they were the night previous to their death [a sort of "saved state" at the start of the skirmish], while others still present the wounds they had just before dying or marks/scars of them, and a few fall sick with high fevers or still feel the phantom pains of what killed them.
The worst cases tend to happen more often to those who have died frequently in a short period of time, but usually it's nothing that a few days of rest and helping around camp can't fix.
Notably, those who survive with wounds also heal faster during the magic surges, but they don't get a "reset" to their pre-wounded self, which makes some willingly throw themselves into danger in order to die and avoid dealing with the recovery of particularly grievous wounds.
Mist degradation
The drawback of possibly beating death itself is that something can go terribly wrong in the process, and there's also no telling what could happen when one is killed.
The working theory is that people are "remembered" by the Mists like everything in the battlegrounds, and when a magic surge happens, it attempts to restore certain things to their previous state, just like a Fractal would do.
However, as that attempt is being made, part of one's soul and/or life essence seems to either degrade or get absorbed by the Mists themselves, and if there's not enough of it left, the MW never comes back.
This phenomenon has been called "Mist degradation", and what exactly happens to those who perish definitively due to it is a mystery.
Some say that their spirits are forever lost to the Mists, trapped in a sort of separate afterlife or directly consumed, while a few believe that they'll be reincarnated into one of the Tyrias connected to theirs at the time of death.
Whatever the exact process behind resurrection might be, the data clearly shows that the risks of not returning and lasting signs on the resurrected increase with the frequency of deaths, but that it also decreases as time passes between them, along with variables such as age and overall health.
How much those amounts are, no one exactly knows and varies on the individual, but this phenomenon is enough to keep most MW from repeatedly charging into battle without a single care.
Mist degradation is ultimately a game of chance that makes becoming a veteran fairly uncommon, as many underestimate its effects or overestimate their own abilities to survive it, or simply perish for good after a death like any other despite precautions taken.
While the longer someone has been in the War does seem to increase their chances of survival, there's no clear mark of its threshold and one can still overdo it easily, be it through overconfidence or necessity, and in a constant state of war through harsh terrain it's hard to avoid dying at least once per reset.
It's worth noting that not all MW fade into the Mists due to degradation, as many just decide to leave the Mist War for good before that happens, either by caving under the weight of neverending loss and horrors of war, or when they feel like they've done their part.
While dying during a magic surge doesn't really have an impact, dying during a reset is something one wants to avoid as much as possible, since it generally does not bode well for the MW involved.
Such an event marks a statistical peak of sudden permanent deaths, more lasting effects on those that do get resurrected, and especially MW finding themselves far from the nexus after the reset itself.
Due to such a high risk and the fact that the latter may happen to those who were alive but far from allied territories, all MW of any Tyria make sure to stop fighting and hurry back to their lands as soon as the last warning signs begin, especially in order to avoid those who specifically set out to kill retreating soldiers during the de-facto truce.
New recruits in particular are at risk of fading before they even get a chance to experience resurrection all, usually after ignoring the words of their veterans and getting themselves killed before the Mists have had the time to get a firm hold on their presence within them.
Recently-revived MW are also discouraged from throwing themselves right back into the fray, at least as long as push doesn't come to shove. Even though the time taken to travel back to the battlefront is usually enough for the risk of permanently dying to diminish, the possibility of ambushes or running into other deadly issues on the way still keeps many from leaving camp too soon.
Due to it all, MW are encouraged to take breaks and return to Tyria when they feel like they're close to surpassing their safe limit. Not all are inclined to do so, however, thinking their attunement to the Mist could irreparably waver and result in their permanent death when they return, so they usually switch to a safer role in the main camp or harvesting resources. It actually seems to be enough, as there are individuals who have continuously been in the Mists for decades and are still kicking.
Due to the many unanswered doubts, Mist degradation as a concept is also full of superstitions and subsequent scholarly debates over the validity of the huge variety of claims made by MW through the centuries.
One of the more statistically possible claims is that the chance of Mist degradation happening becomes higher the deeper the fallen are into enemy-controlled zones when they are reassorbed by the Mists, but some take it to the extreme and believe that bringing the bodies of allies back to controlled areas or even closer to the main camp before they disappear will actually increase their chances of survival. As much as some try to do such a grim yet selfless service for their allies, it's a rarer luxury the further one is from their territory, and eventually many end up leaving it up to fate.
Mist anomalies and corruption
Some areas are also said to be cursed places to die into, and while the curse itself is considered just a superstition, there have been confirmations of weird magical fluctuations in those areas, which may result in Mist anomalies.
Some theorize that such anomalies are rifts in the fabric of the Mists caused by degradation or other unknown phenomena, but their effects have rarely been documented so far.
Any equipment left to record said events gets moved during the reset, and volunteers willing to be there in person are scarcely found, so no hypothesis has ever been reached, let alone a definitive conclusion. The most common way to refer to it is that "the Mists swallowed someone", following the words of some who witnessed such events from afar.
While these anomalies are rare and even more rarely stick around for long, they sometimes leave some small places of power behind, not as strong as nexuses but useful nonetheless. While they're generally safe to interact with and study, superstitions tied to dying in the exact vicinity of those places are widespread across all Tyrias, and it generally leads to temporary truces between enemies around their area of influence.
In some rare cases, MW might barely survive Mist degradation, being resurrected but appearing "changed" in ways that are not "right".
While usually the effects are temporary (phantom pains, illness and weakness) or only affect the mind (amnesia, erratic behavior, etc), sometimes the MW can present notable physical differences or be so weak that they may quickly die for the last time.
Such differences often appear as rashes or wounds, ones that often weren't supposed to be there and can't be easily healed, which eventually end up becoming "Mist-corrupted", as the affected body part degrades and twists in disturbing ways, all as it starts emitting misty particles and at times expands to the rest of the body.
Sadly, a non-trivial amount of those so severely affected by Mist degradation end up becoming dangerously hostile and have to be put down, or eventually wander off on their own, but a few do remain stable and continue to act normally, at times barely noticing their affliction.
Mist-corruption also incidentally happens to MW who still make it back after a long time of being supposedly dead, or that come in contact with Mist anomalies. It's still unknown whether there's a link between the two phenomena or it's all just a coincidence.
One notable example is Dugan, who mentions that he managed to get his armor infused with the mist coming from the places of powers of the battlegrounds, and that another fellow who tried to touch the same energy orb ended up turning into a rabbit that allegedly still roams around camp.
Curiously, very few veterans say they remember both of them, but they all also mention that many years passed between their disappearance following the event the human described and his sudden return with quite an array of treasures for sale.
Perhaps there's more that Dugan isn't remembering or simply avoids saying, along with dodging all questions about his partially mist-corrupted body and not taking off his mask or clothes around others, but no one seems to really mind his presence.
This is not relevant to GOTP in any way other than I wanted to draw the twins in a "Traveling Through the Mists" vibe, so it was inspired by my AU while not being a part of it
Victor died, but the Mists gave him life again, only to chase him around Barovia to try and swallow him whole. My bard Feliks is uper protective of his awkward wizard bf now.
