The Cores — also called fragments — are the seven objects that fell in the Urknall and remain at their landing sites. Each Core emits a specific Nevril type. Each has transformed the territory around it into a biome.
The Seven Cores
| Core Name | Nevril | Location | Faction |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Heart Tree | VITAE | Southwest forests | Verdant Dome |
| The Caldera | PYRO | Eastern volcanic zone | Molten Scar |
| The Silence Throne | KRYO | Northern ice fields | Frozen Silence |
| The Wellspring | NEKRO | Northwestern swamplands | Seeping Fen |
| The Sun Spire | SOLAR | Southeastern desert | Gilded Void |
| The Bastion | LITHIC | Northeastern highlands | Mountain Plateaus |
| The Prism | PRISMA | Southern meadows | Chromatic Pastures |
Properties Common to All Cores
Fixed position. No Core has moved since landing. The Nevril radiation patterns occasionally shift but the Core itself is immovable by any known means.
Continuous emission. Cores do not deplete. They emit Nevril because they *are* that Nevril type — the emission is not a process that consumes fuel but a quality expressed continuously.
The Pulse. Every Core emits a rhythmic intensification of its Nevril output — a peak at a consistent interval, followed by gradual fade. The interval is the same across all seven Cores regardless of distance from each other. See: The Pulse.
Inaccessibility. No Core has been physically reached or touched. The Nevril density at the Core's immediate location is lethal to any organic matter attempting direct contact. The closest approach was made by Stillherrin Nivia Kalt, who sat on the Silence Throne for four hours during her ascension ceremony.
Core-Specific Notes
The Bastion (LITHIC): The only Core that went underground on impact. The Mountain Plateaus have been excavating toward it for 200 years. Current depth: 4.2 km. Estimated fragment depth: 6+ km. Pre-Urknall artifacts have been found in the rock strata near the excavation path.
The Prism (PRISMA): The only Core that demonstrably responds to external conditions. The Chromatic Pastures have documented over a century that the Prism's output intensifies when large, harmonized Chromatic forces pass through its field. Why a Core would respond to external conditions is unknown.
The Caldera (PYRO): Currently intensifying. The eruption cycle has shortened from 7 years to approximately 5.5 years over the last 50 years.
The Sun Spire (SOLAR): The pulse output is accelerating. The Day of Clarity has occurred 34 times in the last 30 years, interval compressing. Sonnenherr Ven Auris has two scenarios. Both produce the same 80-year horizon.
The Eighth Anomaly
The Hearthstone — a grey boulder in the center of Mitte — is sometimes listed as an "eighth Core" but is emphatically not one. It emits no Nevril. It produces no transformation. It has no detectable energy signature. It is either something entirely different from the Cores or the absence of something.