Exfae

An exfae is a fae allegedly sighted in the Shifting Lands, near or even within the Pachysphere. Their existence is unconfirmed and often considered a hoax.

Exfae are always spotted by excavators: workers who must spend far more time in the Shifting Lands than any other fae.

Descriptions

Witnesses of exfae often describe them as "vaguely fae-like" with mutations similar to those seen in metamutagen-poisoned fae, but to a more extreme sense. Some witnesses describe them more serpentine or squid-like. They are purportedly sighted alone or in groups of up to three. Witnesses claim that exfae will seem to watch them from a distance, usually before turning around and walking away.

Individual Cases

A total of 63 exfae sightings have been reported. Below are those with historical significance or notable elements, in order of occurrence.

Note: This needs names. Numbered crews need citadel names as well.

• Falcon Crew: This is the first sighting attributed to the exfae phenomenon. The observer sees two exfae, and a hunter sees one. Each one's account of the one exfae corroborate each other's; this is the only account of two fae spotting the same exfae.

I couldn't make out color or anything, it was dark, and kinda foggy. The silhouette is definitely that of a fae, though. They seemed tall, mostly in the legs, like a maned wolf. [The exfae was] far, but I could see they were looking right at me. And then they turned, looked at me over their shoulder, and walked away. Almost like they were beckoning me to follow. We were stunned at what we saw. We stayed there after the stranger left.

• Crew Io-3: The observer witnessed an exfae within the Pachysphere with "four long legs, four sharp ears, and no tail". After he called out to the exfae (and to get the attention of his crew), the exfae seemed to start to approach. When the observer looked toward his crew and back, the exfae was gone. The observer initially brushed off the event to his crew, fearing judgment and disbelief, but he later reported the sighting to his crew and Io. Reportedly, the crew was unaware of the previous Falcon Crew incident.
• Agate Crew: The observer witnessed two exfae, each with long legs, multiple ears, and a long, thin tail. Mistaking them for another crew, she called out to them that they were "too far", to warn them that they were dangerously close to the Aerosphere. In response, the two exfae simply turned and walked away. This sighting was the first to receive widespread attention in Luxtia, leading to the coinage of the term "extraluxtian fae". Despite this, the observer now insists it was just an illusion and refuses to speak more on the sighting.
• Meloncruncher Crew: The observer spotted a white fox with the ears and tail of a rabbit on the other side of two hills, standing next to a larger vivid red vague "object" and looking away. While scaling the first hill to get a closer look, a short, sudden momentary fluctuation in the æther forced him to take cover. When he looked back, the exfae was looking toward him, and the ground around it was cracked. It appeared as though it lacked a face. The observer chased after the exfae, which darted away at incredible speed, apparently "leaping without rising from the ground". After the exfae was gone, the observer suddenly felt the pain of the superficial lacerations caused by the fluctuations a moment before. He met back with his crew, explaining only that he was taken by surprise by a fluctuation. As a result of his negligence, and in fear of judgement, he did not share this experience with anyone; the story only surfaced when his wife (now divorced) read his account in his personal, private diary and brought it to a newspaper. He would then reluctantly attend a couple small interviews before he detached himself from the public, wishing to distant himself from his experience. He soon after retired from excavation and started a small farm in Procella.
• Viking Crew: The observer witnessed a slug-like exfae notably dissimilar to any other sighting:

It was a lot like a slug, a big slug, but with three legs. One [leg] was really thick. It had a mouth, it smiled at me, super creepy. I was staring, I couldn't move ... After a few [minutes], but what felt like an hour, it did leave. It sorta lowered all its eyestalk things down at once and I just walked away. I could move again, so I went to my crew and told them everything.

• Mad Mountain Mole Crew (Crew Ganymede-76): The crew's observer witnessed three distant exfae standing on a slope within the Aerosphere. Each exfae reportedly had four ears, a white pelt, and possibly short, thick horns. He initially believed the exfae to be another crew. One exfae reportedly shouted out to him, which the observer somehow could hear despite the Aerosphere's boundary. He couldn't understand the words but stated the voice sounded "weak, raspy, like a fae who smokes daily". He approached the exfae until he suddenly felt warmth and vibrations inside his body, which prompted him to rushed back to his crew to warn them of the apparent fluctuations. Yet, his deployed equipment read nominal. The rest of the crew would later corroborate the story, each confirming they heard the voice (with some describing it as having a "southern" accent), but the three other excavators later recanted their testimonies. The observer reported his experience to several news outlets as well as his citadel, but each initially refused his story, which angered him. A week later, after repeatedly insisting he'll photograph the exfae as proof, he snuck through {{TUNNEL_WEST}} completely alone with a camera and a beacon, as revealed by security cameras. He was never seen again.
• {{DUKES_CREW}}: The crew's observer, Duke, witnessed an exfae while straying close to the Pachysphere. It was reportedly white and yellow with four canine ears, long deer-like legs, and a long, thin tail. It apparently had a particularly strong spark that he could sense past the boundary. He approached the boundary between the Pachysphere and Aerosphere and reached a hand out toward the exfae; it reciprocated with one of its front paws. He felt it was beckoning him to somehow cross. Suddenly struck with fear, he ran back to his crew. He insisted nothing happened, but the crew, suspecting he experienced an exfae, convinced him to describe what he saw. Miraculously, Duke sustained absolutely no injuries despite how close to the barrier he wandered.

Theories

Multiple theories from witnesses, supporters, critics, and scientists alike attempt to describe the phenomenon behind exfae sightings.

In a survey, 26% of fae believe exfae are real, 45% believe exfae do not exist, and 29% are unsure.

Hoax

The easiest explanation, and the most favored among critics, is that most (or possibly all) sightings are a hoax. According to this theory, witnesses may want to bring attention to themselves or their crew, or may even want to cover up workplace negligence; witnesses usually report seeing exfae while apart from their group, which is in violation of safety regulations.

Investigations regarding the latter explanation, however, have not found misconduct to be a factor. Often, the witnesses are tasked to keep an eye on changes in the environment, which may involve them stepping somewhat further from the group, within reason.

Pareidolia

Many scientists and critics believe that witnesses may be mistaking mundane objects for bodies. Due to the chaotic nature of the Shifting Lands, jagged rocks and unusual pillars of dirt or stone are commonplace. Credible witnesses claim that the exfae is far away or obscured by fog, which adds credence to this.

The reported movements of exfae may thus be the objects coincidentally falling or crumbling.

Æthereal Hallucination

Some scientists postulate that an unknown physical phenomenon may be at play. Since a fae's spark exists on the æther, it is of course susceptible to the more extreme fluctuations in the Shifting Lands. The theory is that these fluctuations are capable of impacting the spark in a way to cause hallucinations.

According to modern understandings of the body and spark, however, the body processes the senses, such as vision, entirely on its own regardless of the presence of a spark.

Yet, the spark can indirectly affect the body, including its sensory organs, by manipulating exergy. It would require very little force for a spark to cause major hallucinations to a body it is diffused into.

Currently, scientists can only recreate momentary flashes of light or clusters of bright "stars" within a fae's vision, and doing so requires the fae to sequence.

Traveling Fae

The most accepted theory in favor of the existence of exfae is that they are visitors or travelers from other places in the world.

Luxtia is currently avoiding New Existence with the natural capacitance of its Cirrolite Core. Prior to The Shattering, other similar natural cirrolite structures existed. It is currently unknown whether any of these other locations have survived The Shattering like Luxtia, as communication through the Shifting Lands is currently impossible.

In the case other regions did survive, it may then be possible that fae in those regions may have found a way to traverse the Shifting Lands and are attempting to find other survivors. These exfae may have become mutated as a result of their journey through Shifting Lands, explaining their unusual shapes.

This theory has two major flaws. First, no communication has been established with any other regions. Luxtian citadels are currently closer to creating a radio powerful enough to send a message through the Shifting Lands than they are to equipping fae to travel deeper into the Shifting Lands at all. Other regions would presumably be in a similar situation.

Additionally, in most credible cases, exfae are described as walking away from the witness without attempting contact. This is inherently counterintuitive to the claim that these are travelers searching for other regions.

Survivors

A similar theory, though less popular, is that exfae are fae who somehow survived The Shattering. The apparent mutations in exfae would therefore be a result of the extreme changes in exergy or even adaptations to New Existence. The latter case could explain why exfae avoid contacting excavators: just as fae may be unable to survive in New Existence, exfae may be unable to survive in the "old existence" within the Cirrolite Core.

The main issue with this theory is that scientists have yet to create, let alone investigate, a scenario in which any fae could survive The Shattering. The extreme changes in exergy alone could scorch or lacerate a fae in an instance. Even if these fae were as close to Luxtia as they've been witnessed, the initial fluctuations would certainly have killed them.

Yet, fae are still susceptible to this deeper in the Shifting Lands, where many exfae have been spotted. This could be in favor of them somehow being resilient toward the effects of extreme exergy.

Spontaneous Fae

A few fae have speculated that exfae may have simply formed in the Shifting Lands. The more chaotic fluctuations are statistically more likely to create a spark, though a body is less likely to form. Still, enough time has elapsed that spontaneous body formation is, although unlikely, still possible. These bodies would only need a sufficiently complex brain and enough bone mass, and would need to be resilient against extreme exergy.

This theory is, however, only speculation. Most of the math works out, though how a body could withstand the deeper parts of Shifting Lands is unknown.

Lost Excavators

This theory revolves around the idea that a crew of excavators, often cited as the "true" Crew #1, ventured too far and were thought to be dead. In an attempt to cover this death up, Io, the citadel in charge of all excavations early on, created a new crew of similar-looking fae to take the old crew's place. Yet, according to this theory, the "true" crew survived and adapted to the Shifting Lands, unable to leave New Existence as a result.

This theory is rare, appealing mostly to conspiratorially-minded fae. Excavation Crew #1 is still active and denies the story entirely.

Concerns

Though most fae doubt the existence of exfae, the citadels still investigate reports as a safety measure. If exfae are real, contacting them would be extremely beneficial. Even if exfae are illusionary, the phenomenon causing the illusions may be of interest.

However, public perception over exfae has deteriorated to the point that excavators feel less inclined to report unusual sightings, often in fear of ridicule. This extends to far more serious issues: for example, excavators have reportedly hesitated to report signs of changing weather in fear of making a false report. Citadels have attempted to quell this fear with informative meetings and anonymous reporting systems.