Day 5: A little slice of paradise

Special individuals, blessed with the power to teleport, protect the human outposts which dot rare, habitable areas in a wasteland of fire, steam and lava.

Humanity clings to tiny pockets of warm earth that drift across oceans of fire. These islands exist in what humans call the discord -- each element, when separated from the other, provides a singular service that is lost in the roiling harmony of the outside wastes. Earth gives a home to living things, lending stability through bedrock and soil; water is a medium for life energy, which sustains both animals and plants; and fire is the cleanser, destroying the rotten and useless.

These islands of habitability are typically about 11 cubic miles; some smaller ones are known, and several larger ones dot the wasteland. They move along ley lines, or lines of life energy. It is these lines that provide the jangling, discordant force that forcefully separates the elements from their natural state of the harmony of the wasteland. These orbits are generally predictable, and they sometimes intersect. About every 30 years, two or more pockets will come close enough for its inhabitants to trade and intermarry. It's rare for the same pockets to meet twice within the space of centuries.

Sometimes, a child will be born who is mystically attuned to one of the three elements. These children have a great destiny -- rather than living their days farming in their extended family groups, they will instead grow to become great leaders. These children all have the innate ability to walk the ley lines -- they can travel between the islands of discord in the blink of an eye, relaying messages, sharing advances and working to protect humanity from the dangers of the wasteland.

It is these special humans who form the first -- and truly, only -- defense against humans' eternal foes, the beasts of the wilderness. These creatures, composed of earth, water and fire, are harmony incarnate; they roam the wasteland as its undisputed masters. The lowliest of these creatures are more one element than another; their physiology is crude and mock animal and human forms. Their most harmonious masters, however, perfectly blend the three elements and take on whatever physical form they please -- some seem to be beautiful humans, whose veins run with molten gold; others are terrifying, massive scaled and horned beasts; still others eschew such trivial forms and enjoy allowing their elemental fury to vent itself in towering gouts of flame and steam that erupt from masses of lava and mud. These creatures find humanity and their pockets of life to be anathema; they are terrified, repulsed and bewildered by the very existence of such discord.