In very recent history, Paradys has been rediscovered, though it is still hard to reach, and it has been revealed that a Sphinx colony (half-Vartans who insist on calling themselves Vartans) has long been on there ... along with a colony of jaguar-morphs which, unfortunately, were almost entirely destroyed.

Pilgrims' Road is a path that cuts through a mountain pass from Gallis to the Sanctuary of Order, just into the edge of the Forbidden Zone of Bosch.

This path is regularly patrolled by warrior-priests from a number of different sects who share a desire to combat the madness of Bosch -- While they can't drive back Bosch, they maintain a series of wards and shrines set along this road, which seem to be sufficient to hold at bay the bulk of the horrors of Bosch. However, safety cannot be guaranteed for travelers on this road, so the pilgrims who brave the horrors of Bosch to visit the Sanctuary of Order most often travel in large caravans.

Pilgrims are warned not to stray from the path, despite the trickery that Bosch may throw at them: temptations, terrors, or attempts to cause confusion. The only solace is that, for whatever reason, Bosch cannot replicate the image of the Sanctuary of Order, nor of the wards and shrines that can be found along the path. For some, it is not the stay at the Sanctuary which is the true objective of the pilgrimage ... but rather the passing of the trials presented by the journey itself.

These living "vehicles" are apparently giant insects with mechanical components that served in the arsenal of the Sabaoth of Babel, until their destruction in their ill-fated assault on Rephidim. These giant fliers get their name from their weapons of choice: They carry within them biological weapons -- poisonous spores, disease-ridden vapors, and sometimes swarms of smaller bugs, such as horribs.

While the Plaguebringers are armed to resist most any blow, it was discovered that they have two weak points: their wings, and the "eyes". The pilot resides in a hollow space in the head behind the latter, making him vulnerable to attack.

At some point, this "Savanite Empire" collapsed, and over the years, the formerly ruling Savanites became slaves to those races their ancestors had once enslaved. In recent years, however, the City of Hands was rediscovered, and a settlement of escaped Savanite slaves formed there, choosing a woman known alternately as "Jezebel", "Third-Vision" or "Third-Eye" as their leader, as a new "Priest-King". (Sometimes, this is translated as "Priest-Queen", but the original hand-sign is gender neutral.)

5 New Year of 6103 RTR, Xenea became an independent territory, with its capitol situated in the port city of Safar, its first recognized ruler being Priest-Queen Jade-Eyes (also known as "Azhtar"), sister of the former Priest-Queen.

The ring is so named because ancient myth holds it to be a procession of the recently departed souls making a pilgrimage to the land beyond the stars. The larger points of light follow fairly consistent orbits (despite frequent collisions with smaller chunks of space debris) and have been attributed with names corresponding to major persons of history long past -- the names having survived much longer than the memory of what exactly made the owners of them worthy of such immortality in legend. These "guides" are held to remain forever in the Procession, leading the way to the lands beyond.

The theory has its ties in long-lost sciences dealing with the make-up of matter, and the term itself is believed to have been coined long ago, perhaps back in the Expedition era. The theory is that some force within the heart of Sinai has an effect on the movements of particles that make up matter, disrupting their natural order. The closer one is the surface, the greater this influence has on particles, thus making matter behave in slightly unpredictable ways.

Due to the regulatory nature of biological matter, it seems that living beings are not affected in quite the same way complex machines are, but there still is a higher incidence of mutation on the surface ... a phenomenon which may well be linked to Quantum Uncertainty.

Peculiar devices such as the Chronotopian Quantometer are designed to "measure" this phenomenon, though -- by definition -- without a high degree of accuracy. Quantum Uncertainty generally increases with a decrease in altitude, but it also increases within places known to be unfused with high levels of magic -- such as Forbidden Zones and ancient First Ones sites.