The Cacophony

The Cacophony… a term whispered by miners who have spent too long within the Echoing Cairns, and a term the Silent Monks of Durin's Peak dread. It is not a creature of flesh and blood, but an entity woven from sound, a swirling vortex of discordant harmonies and maddening rhythms. Imagine, if you will, the collective grief of The Great Sundering, amplified and given form, a living embodiment of discord.

Its presence warps the very fabric of sound, turning familiar echoes into twisted parodies, pleasant melodies into grating screeches. Those who encounter it often experience disorientation, nausea, and a growing sense of paranoia, as their minds struggle to reconcile the conflicting sonic input. The Crimson Cartographers know that it shifts and flows along Gloomstrands, which are somehow both a cause of and influenced by The Cacophony. Its existence is tied to the Language of Madness.

The Cacophony seems drawn to places of intense emotional resonance, particularly those touched by tragedy or loss, such as forgotten battlefields or abandoned settlements. It is believed to feed on negative emotions, amplifying them and spreading them like a contagion. Encounters with it are rare, but invariably devastating, leaving lasting scars on the minds of those who survive. A new Chapter of Sound may need to be written to describe its origins.

Some speculate that The Cacophony is a manifestation of the earth's Auric Resonance, distorted and corrupted by the horrors of the past. Others believe it to be a sentient being, a malevolent entity seeking to unravel the very fabric of reality. Perhaps the Forgotten Smith may have tried to stop it, by creating a device that amplifies the silence found in the Null Fields, or maybe this is why he abandoned society. The Truthseekers may have had a vision of it long ago. Could this be what the Herald of Emptiness is guarding against? Is it also drawn to Valia, the Empty? Can the Sunstone of Aethelgard be used as a Resonance Dampener? Perhaps Eamon, The Twisted knows more than he lets on. There are whispers that it can be defeated by constructing the Aural Monolith.