The Mists of Lokren are a series of barriers of dense, swirling fog that have appeared throughout the empire of Lokren since the Red Mist. The Mists have sprung up along the edges of large terrain features, generally coinciding with the provincial borders within Lokren.

Form & effect


The Mists appear as thick walls of fog, several miles across and dozens or hundreds of miles long. They form barriers to travel that have proven very difficult to penetrate for travellers. Although they are scarcely visible from a distance, appearing at best as a form of atmospheric haze, as one approaches the Mists, they become thicker and more disorienting to the traveller, eventually closing in so closely that visibility is reduced to little more than arm's length.

The Mists have shown themselves to be preternaturally bewildering to those attempting to pass through them. Travellers tend to get turned around and find themselves reemerging from the Mists on the same side from which they entered. There is evidence to suggest that a mild form of magical charm or compulsion may be exerted by the Mists, causing a traveller to lose all sense of direction, but experiments with compasses suggest that the Mists simply turn around entirely a traveller who ventures far enough into the barrier, causing them to suddenly be backtracking even though they have continued to walk in a perfectly straight line.

The Mists have been discovered to be penetrable in places, though certain locations have as yet allowed no known instances of passage. The slight confusion-type effect can be overcome by those with sufficient mental self-control and ability to navigate even in the dense fog. Travellers moving together as a group show no special ability to help each other pass the Mists, for even linking a group together is apparently insufficient to prevent the Mists from forcing back those who demonstrate insufficient concentration during the journey. Experiments with travellers roped or chained together have shown that even if one traveller in the group is able to pierce the Mists, those attached to them who are not so successful with hold those travellers back, preventing them from being able to haul their fellows through, eventually resulting in the entire group emerging from the side they began from. It is thought that not all of the Mists are equally potent, for some of the barriers appear to be easier to pass through than others.

The Mists appear to hem in the entirety of the nation of Lokren at present, though it is not entirely clear where exactly the boundaries lie. At present there is no evidence that the Mists on the Anotempi River are able to be passed, leaving Lokren cut off from the petty kingdoms of Elsavet and Anvero to the north. Attempts to sail out into the Thalas Sea have been likewise met with frustration within only a few dozen miles of port. So far, no sea-going vessel has been able to pass the Mists anywhere.

The Mists have caused significant problems in the already-shattered empire of Lokren, and may be having a similar effect in northern Lantaren if the Red Mist reached beyond the Aphieron. The complications relating to communication, movement, and transport of goods are obvious and even those who find themselves capable of passing through Mist barriers will often take considerable time to manage it, especially those travelling in larger groups, who might find themselves waiting a long time for stragglers to rejoin them.

The problems caused by the Mists, as well as the appalling loss of life seemingly caused by the Red Mist, have driven the Symbol to declare a new age in the calendar of Lokren while they struggle to manage the new post-apocalyptic status quo.

Origin & cause


It is not known where the Mists came from, but the timing of their appearance, in conjunction with their mind-altering effects, strongly suggest that they are an aftereffect of the Red Mist. Given that the Mists appear to be magical in nature, it is believed that the Mists are areas where the Red Mist did not entirely abate after the event that caused it, though they lack both the appearance and the insanifying power of the Red Mist, being both denser and less prone to causing a total loss of control over oneself. Why this has come about and what significance the sharp changes in terrain have in the formation of the Mists is currently unknown, as are answers as to how the Mists might be driven from the land.

The Mists appear to form long lines that snake across the empire, but as yet nobody can be sure whether this has happened more broadly, beyond Lokren's borders, or whether Lokren alone is cut off from Notios and the rest of Epiros. Also unclear is whether the Mists are individual discrete entities with definite end-points, or all joined together as one single shared mass that surrounds and cuts across the empire.

Known locations of Mist barriers


The Mists of Lokren have so far been discovered at the following locations: