The Red Sun

Destruction and annihilation are the twin children of the Red Sun. But for many, this sun is simply change. In many ways the realm of the Red Sun is the most dangerous and the most alien. In fact, the Red Sun also embodies the strange, the alien, and the other (but not the unknown—that is domain of the Dark). It is a sun of the present moment, focusing on the now, the absolute instant of which pain and destruction make us so aware. Its number is 7.

The landscape beneath the Red Sun is jagged, like shattered glass. Most everything is brittle and covered in a fine layer of dust—the remnants of annihilated matter from earlier times. Volcanoes roar, the ground quakes, and storms rage, all destroying and reshaping the landscape over and over again.

In some ways, the world of the Red Sun might seem akin to the common conception of Hell, at least in the Christian sense. Fire, brimstone, jagged rocks, and toxic vapors. Of course, there are no souls being punished here, in Hieronymus Bosch (or any other) fashion. No hideous tortures being conducted. But it is the realm of demons. The inhabitants of the Red Sun are demons, which are called red shadows by many. This is because, like the shadows of the Grey, they lack qualia. They are not mindless, but spiritless. They can understand a thing, and interact with a thing, but they won’t experience a thing. That’s what qualia is: the subjective component of perception. It’s the difference between how your eyes perceive the color red and how your mind interprets “red.”

Demons, then, won’t get a feeling or emotion from a thing (although like shadows, they can lie believably and claim that they do). And because qualia is central to using magic, this means that demons of the Red who want to cast spells need to obtain souls from outside themselves.

The Sodality of Vryn is a cabal of sorcerers that dwells in a series of towers beneath the dangerous rays of the Red Sun. The geometry of the placement of the towers creates symbols that are sacred to dead gods and lost belief systems. The Vryn seek utter dissolution, not just death or destruction, but as yet have not proven that such is possible.

The warden of the Red Sun is Daumi, a creature with an ever-changing form. Daumi is revered by warriors for her ability to wield and control the forces of annihilation. But that’s mainly because she is utterly mad.