After the Great Collapse Ragnesis has turned from a single world into many detached islands. The space between islands is filled with some swirling gaseous substance; ernalies called this substance “lifeless mist”, or “merrel”.

Origin of merrel is not known, while its properties have not yet been sufficiently surveyed as of the beginning of Era of Clans.

Some erlanies suppose that the lifeless mist represents modified energy that the “body” of Lahrden, the deceased Celestial, consisted of. From here the followers of this theory disagree: some of them believe that Lahrden has merely proceeded to another phase of existence, and He is still “alive” (they also add, that is it Lahrden who keeps islands from being finally destroyed and from being dispersed into larger distances); others consider the mist to be merely Lahrden’s dead “flesh”.

Other erlanies insist that merrel had existed prior to the Large Collapse as well. The mist appeared when the Small Collapse occurred (or, others say it had existed forever, starting from the earliest days of Ragnesis). It was merrel that surrounded Ragnesis during the period between the Small and the Great Collapses. And it was merrel that was seen by those not numerous erlanies who managed to get to the end of the world and then to come back and describe what they had encountered.

Among other theories that are worth mentioning is a supposition by Craetos Ehseedann that merrel is the transformed souls of those erlanies who during the Great Collapse had found themselves in the very focus of the disaster and had died forever.

But in general, most theories somehow or other indicate that merrel is related to the “insides”; they claim merrel to be the transformed primeval energy, and they emphasize: it’s dead energy, even though (according to some hypotheses) it is able to keep memories of the living beings that had once comprised it.

Experiments with the lifeless mist are carried out quite reluctantly in Ragnesis. During the first years after the Great Collapse scholars and wizards had other things to do; they were busy with more urgent matters. Then some individual researches started focusing on merrel, but they failed to get any interesting results. At once there even were some rumors that anybody who undertakes to investigate merrel’s properties will soon die without, however, any visible signs of violent death or disease, and a soul of such an erlany will never return to the material world from the spectral one. By the beginning of the Era of Clans such superstitions were not in force, but scholars and wizards preferred to undertake other researches – more interesting and potentially more profitable.

There also were rumors about certain secret cults that allegedly used merrel in their rituals. In particular, Lahrdenists (members of the Order of Lahrden’s Rebirth) were mentioned; but the details that were referred in this regard can make any sensible erlany feel nothing but perplexity – so absurd and nonsensical the described rituals are.

But still, what is known about the lifeless mist for certain?

It fills up the space between islands, but it never crosses borders of islands even when wind is blowing in the direction from the shore. Researches point out that the level of merrel can fluctuate: there is so-called littoral zone, or a zone of rising tide. Width of the littoral zone varies in different islands: once it can be just as long as a few fingers, other times it will be longer than an elbow. Plants that grow at the end of the littoral zone are quite unusual and very enduring; their leaves, stems, roots and fruit are poisonous. Life cycle of such plants to a great extent depends not on weather conditions, but rather on high and low tides of the lifeless mist.

When a rope is pulled down into the merrel, it will break after it stays there for over half an hour. Iron objects will be covered with rust much quicker – within about 10 minutes. Plants that are dropped into the merrel do not merely wither: they seem to loose all their saps, while leaves, stems, and flowers seem to be corroded by acid. Animals that get into merrel will die in several minutes. In this case we can observe signs that are characteristic of the death of suffocation; at the same time their bodies are as if affected by poison which seems to corrode them from inside.

Some priests claim that those erlanies who get into the merrel, will not find themselves in the spectral world after they die (which will happen very soon), instead their souls merely vanish.

There are several theories in this regard. Some stick to the opinion that a soul of an erlany who died in the merrel will be ultimately ruined. Others believe that in a certain while such a soul will be born in a new body and will not remember its former reincarnations. However, in certain circumstances it will be able to recall individual events, words, faces… which may account for a rare mental disease called “false remembrance”. According to a legend, it is possible to cure “false remembrance” if a patient takes the smallest doses of extract made of the plants gathered in the littoral zone of merrel, but the extract must be taken on a regular basis.

According to scientific observations, islands are not stable in the merrel, they seem to float; and some scientists claim that they slowly disperse farther away from a certain center which supposedly is the place where the capital of the Etreions was located before the Great Collapse. Probably, this process of dispersion will be stopped one day, if not – then it’s quite possible that thousands years later even portals will not manage to support links between islands. We can only imagine what will happen to Ragnesis then, and we have no other choice but to hope for the Celestials’ mercy. However, there is a Fraternity of Expiatory Sacrifice whose members rather reckon on their own efforts. The “Expiators” believe that ritual killings can stop dispersion of islands. It is not known whether it is true or not, but the Fraternity is forbidden on the territory of the most islands; while its members, when caught, usually find themselves in prison, and then depart to the spectral world