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Difference between revisions of "The Sunlit Man"
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Nomad's latest Skip takes him to a world of deadly sunlight, where he is immediately captured and placed in a fighting arena. There, those who lose are sent out to die in the sun, while the survivors are transformed into [[Investiture|Invested]] warriors. When the arena is attacked by refugees hoping to rescue their captured people, Nomad throws his lot with them, and soon discovers they seek an entrance to mythical lands beneath the ground, where they believe they will find safety.{{ref|name=Preview}}
== Setting ==
The planet ''The Sunlit Man'' is set on is a small, slowly-spinning world with an elaborate ring system surrounding it. The star it orbits emits vast quantities of both heat and [[Investiture]]. This supercharges the growth of plants - a sown seed can grow and mature fully over the course of a single dawn. However, as the sun rises fully, the extreme temperatures immediately incinerate both the flora and any creatures unfortunate enough to be caught in its light. As such, the planet's human inhabitants are constantly on the move, travelling just ahead of the rising sun under light reflected by the planetary rings.{{ref|name=Preview}}
They do so in two major ways. Individually, the locals have access to hoverbikes fast enough to outpace the rising sun. Long-term, they live on hovering airships, most of them roughly the size of houses. Fleets of such ships, called columns, can assemble together into mobile cities for the sake of convenience, with flat surfaces that lock together to form roads. When split apart, some of the ships are devoted to farming, sowing seeds that are then harvested during dawn as the columns travel around the planet.{{ref|name=Preview}}
Three columns are known to exist -- one commanded by a man called the Cinder King, another inhabited by refugees led by a trio of women called the Greater Good, and a little-known northern column, whose inhabitants speak with difficult-to-decipher accent. The people might be descended from [[Threnodite]]s, although they do not seem to become [[shade]]s upon death. Additionally, there is evidence that [[Scadrian]]s were once present, and may've created or adapted some manner of underground living space that now remains locked.{{ref|name=Preview}}
Aside from the sun, Investiture on the planet manifests through simmering stones which Nomad nicknames the embers. Such embers are used as power sources for hoverbikes and ships. They can also be injected into people by means of a spear, replacing the heart. People implanted with embers -- called ember men and ember women by Nomad -- have parts of their chest burnt away, leaving gaping holes in their ribs and skin, and granting them enhanced reflexes and strength. The ember men and women seem to lose their minds in the process, obeying the wishes of the Cinder King while acting aggressive towards their former friends and loved ones.{{ref|name=Preview}}
== Notes ==
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