The Zone of Darkness

Hey, everyone! This is a topic for all things “Zone of Darkness”!

The Zone of Darkness is a funny thing to me. It is a pocket dimension consisting only of darkness and a flat stone ground. Nothing else. The name is sinister, but it’s kind of just a quirky place. No one knows how or why the Great Beings created it. It has a population of about 3, by the end of the story. I’ve just had some funny observations/questions about it.

First of all, when the Zivon, the Tahtorak, and Krahka fall into it, do they just stop fighting? Tahtorak and Krahka come back later, but the Zivon does not follow them. Did they destroy it? That doesn’t seem likely since the Zivon seemed stronger in their fight.

Additionally, how do they survive for 1,000 years in there? Does the ZoD pu you in a sort of stasis? I could see the Kahgarak occasionally dropping food in there to keep the Zivon alive, but that wouldn’t explain how the others survived. Also, would the Kahgarak actually want the Zivon alive after Sidorak and Roodaka aren’t there to boss them around?

I’ll assume that the Zivon is still there, since we never heard otherwise. Other than it, there are two more known inhabitants. The first is a Kahgarak that accidently sent itself there. But I imagine that all the Kahgarak know how to get out, like the one that Whenua and Bomonga followed. The second is a Rahkshi of Limited Invulnerability. It seems like such a small thing, but I am genuinely curious what happened to it. With its specific powerset, it would probably survive for at least a little bit against the Zivon. I like to imagine that they get into all sorts of Tom and Jerry hyjinx as the Zivon hunts it to no avail.

What do you guys think of the Zone of Darkness? What theories, questions, or observations do you have? How would you have used it in the story? This is the place to discuss!

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This sounds great. It would play out like a mission in Halo, where the Rakhshi just has to wait for his power to recharge every so often in order to remain invincible.

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I’m sure I could come up with a lot of ideas, but here’s one that I just thought of: could the Zone Of Darkness be related to the Tunnel Of Darkness that Jaller’s team encountered on the way to Karzahni? Perhaps the Great Beings “found” the Zone Of Darkness, and reverse-engineered it to make the Tunnel.

It could also be the other way around: the Tunnel might have been a prototype for an entire light-absorbing dimension.

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Or the tunnel goes through the Zone of Darkness, and is basically there to prevent anyone getting lost on the way to Karzahni.

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Precisely! The Rahkshi keeps away from the Zivon for as long as he can, and right when the Zivon catches him and tries to chomp him, he’s juuust barely too late and the Rahkshi activates his invincibility power.

I betcha Brutaka watches this “show” through his Olmak when he gets bored. Better than dropping a whole Tahtorak on Metru Nui. Speaking of Olmaks, Vizon most definitely watches this “show,” too! He tries to make inside jokes about it to Brutaka, but Brutaka denies ever wasting time with such “frivolous entertainment.”

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I’d be fascinated to read a story about a patchwork society that forms in the ZOD and fights to survive on what little it can collect from the portals

I mean for all we know there are settlements and fortresses scattered throughout. We have no idea how far it extends

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