Salt Flats

The Salt Flats are an expanse of salt water, thought to be a natural feature of Sundry.

Appearance
The Salt Flats are difficult to recognise at a distance, as the water perfectly mirrors the grey, clouded skies of Sundry, thereby blending in with the surrounding ash. The effect is disorienting as one draws nearer; one feels that one is about to fall into the sky. Closer inspection reveals an irregular pool of water with a slight raised edge of salt crust around its borders. The Flats measure approximately 1.4km by 2.5km at its greatest extent, and 0.8km by 1.9km at its narrowest. The water within it is always still, seeming to absorb any ripples near immediately. Due to its reflective qualities, it is impossible to gauge the depth of the Flats by eye, even when standing directly before it. One is liable to assume that it is shallow like most salt plains - a likely dangerous error. Analysis of the water has revealed that it is identical in composition to that of Sundry's sea, with a salinity of 6% and sulphur component of 1.8%. No organic matter has been detected.

Phenomena
Despite its homogenous appearance, the Flats are highly variable beneath the surface. The lake appears to be divided into invisible hexagonal tiles of approximately 1.3m diameter. Each tile has differing properties, and neighbouring tiles may be similar or wildly different. The chief varying qualities are depth and temperature. Temperatures as low as -146C and as high as 250C have been detected. Whilst the majority of the tiles at the shore are only a few centimetres deep, these are interspersed with tiles of greater depth, ranging from 10cm to greater than 5m. The average depth increases as one moves from the shore, with some tiles being too deep to estimate accurately (exploration of the depths pending heat and pressure resistance improvements to the Plumes). Other, more minor variations, include differences in acidity, surface tension and trace metals.

Regardless of its actual properties, the surface of each tile is identical on observation, making exploration a deceptive affair. Water removed from the Salt Flats and placed in another container reverts to have identical properties to that of Sundry's sea. Careful exploration of the shallower tiles has revealed only the ash of Sundry beneath.

Field notes
The robot seemed to think it was safe enough after its round of analysis, so I tried some more practical tests in hopes of getting some actually useful answers. This is difficult when the water turns into "normal" seawater as soon as I put it into a beaker. I was about to pronounce it useless, when on a whim I decided to substitute it in one of my simpler alchemical recipes that calls for brine. The strength of the potion was attenuated greatly, so that it held only a whisper of the magic that it should have. This was consistent across samples drawn from different tiles and with other kinds of potions, but did not occur when I used the samples of seawater I had saved.

Powerless potions aren't of great use to me, but I'd be interested to see if I could dull someone else's magic with a concoction using this water... More experimentation is required, but I'm not exactly keen to drink it myself. Maybe I can feed it to the fairy.

&mdash; C. Vas