Item from Mage Errant by John Bierce
Ancient structures surrounding mana wells — tears between universes built by the mysterious Weavers, producing labyrinth stones and posing constant danger to the civilizations that depend on them.
Labyrinths are the infrastructure of magic on Anastis. Each one surrounds a mana well — a tear between universes through which raw magical energy bleeds into reality. The ancient Weavers built the labyrinth structures around these tears for reasons that remain debated: containment, cultivation, or something else entirely. Labyrinths produce labyrinth stones — crystallized mana with powerful magical properties. They also produce monsters, spatial anomalies, and occasional incursions from whatever exists on the other side of the tear. Civilizations build near labyrinths for the resources but must maintain constant defenses against the dangers. Skyhold is built atop the continent's largest labyrinth, which gives it unmatched access to mana but also makes it a perpetual target for whatever the labyrinth generates. Hugh's labyrinth demesne — an internal mana storage structure that mirrors labyrinth architecture — is one of the rarest and least understood magical phenomena on Anastis.
Labyrinths vary enormously in form depending on their type. Mazeform labyrinths are literal physical mazes filled with traps and monsters. Mistform labyrinths are psychological — shifting corridors that attack the mind rather than the body. Ruin labyrinths are the remnants of collapsed structures. Marine labyrinths exist underwater, stellar labyrinths hang in the sky, and hybrids combine characteristics. All share the faint, unsettling hum of mana bleeding through a tear in reality at their core.
Also known as: labyrinths, the Labyrinths, mana wells, labyrinth structures