Etrian Fever...
Boom town, that would probably be best for describing the town that appeared in South Amerika during the Hours.
People who compare pre-hours and post-hours maps will notice that the area around the town, (and a sizable section of the nearby rainforest) doesn't appear on most of the post-hours maps.
For some reason, the affected area seems to stop external methods of mapping it's interior.
And, for that very reason, Etria is a boom town. It's attracting explorers like moths to a flame.
Not just explorers though. When word got around that the forest expanse had as yet unknown compounds, scientific researchers also took interest(often hiring explorers to bring back the stuff)
Of course... the Yggdrasil Labyrinth doesn't yield it's prizes lightly...
Many exploring parties, or lone explorers(if one is foolish enough to solo..) have entered the Labyrinth... never to be seen again..
Or are they..?
Of interesting note, is that Etria was spared from most of the battle havoc of Etria.
The theorists are still not sure whether the effect that blocks out external mapping, and the one which ensured that Etria was effectively "neutral non combat" ground are part of the same phenomenon, or whether they are seperate, though overlapping, effects.
One name did stick for the 2nd effect: "Balancing Field"
Known traits of this field:
Anyone and anything over a given size gets shrunk down, operated vehicles seem to be one small exception, though robots, mobile suits and even beings like Zoids get shrunk down a couple of notches.
Details: Anything size Large or bigger gets shrunk down to Medium size, adjust stats as needed. Sentient beings (both organic and metalic) get shrunk down to Medium size, Small and smaller stay their size. Nonsentient equipment, gets shrunk down with their user, with a few key exceptions: Gundams, other Mobile Suits and other piloted robots seem, for all intents, to have been turned into stuff akin to a suit of armor (with built in weapons)
Weapon strength seems to have been likewise restricted, any weaponry not affected by the above mentioned affect(basicly anything military vehicle) don't function at all without the area. Weaponry on downsized robots and such HAVE had their damage output (greatly) reduced, or locked down.
Even non resized weapons seem to have gotten duller, weaker, or just not usable either while in the aura.
Not even beings which rely on internal abilities, rather then equipment, are unaffected. More then one martial arts user, magician and such had to learn the hard way that their stuff doesn't work like it used to.
Even physicly, new arrivals to Etria tend to feel weaker then they used to be.(everyone gets reduced to their lvl 1 stats, or the equivalant)
Those that leave Etria, however, tend to do so stronger, better equipped then they entered.
Improvements to either a being's abilities or equipment carries past the border of the balancing field.
This makes Etria an interesting training place, regardless of what you are.
Some people can't help wonder just what could be down in the depths of the labyrinth..
No one has ever reached the bottom yet, or if they have.. they didn't survive..
1st portion of what I've planned for the "dungeon crawlers"
)![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
