The Raritan Gem, referred to in the game of CrossWorlds as Shadoon, is a moon of a gaseous planet in the Milky Way Galaxy. It was uninhabited until Instatainment acquired the moon and built the physical Playground of CrossWorlds. Within CrossWorlds, the Raritan Gem is given the name Shadoon, for which Instatainment has created a story about the former civilization of the Ancients and their contemporary Shad descendants.
| Raritan Gem |
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Raritan Gem is the name given to the moon on which CrossWorlds was built. Not to be confused with the "in-game" name of the moon which is Shadoon. The diameter of the moon is roughly 12,000 km and it's mostly covered by with only one large patch of landmass. Researchers assume that the moon once had more landmass and some event led to the oceans rising. Despite the moon's orbit around a gas giant, its unique position in its solar system makes the air breathable and the temperature consistent enough to be hospitable. That's at least what people believe. |
| -Encyclopedia general entry |
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Shadoon is a planet located near a giant gas planet. It's home to the Shad and was once inhabited by the Ancients. Most of the croissant shaped land is covered by marks of the Track of the Ancients. |
| -Encyclopedia CrossWorlds entry |
Location[ | ]
The Raritan Gem is the large, rocky moon of a gas giant planet orbiting a sunlike star. The planet and star have been seen in the background of several scenes. The planet is referred to in-game as The Overseer, but its real-world name and the name of the star are unknown. The system has been said to be near Earth, but its exact location is unspecified. The moon's home system has three other planets, about which little is known.
The Croissant[ | ]
In-game map of the Croissant
In-game map of the Croissant with the A New Home DLC
The moon is mainly covered in water. There is one known continent, which is known by its player-given name, the Croissant. Other land could exist on the unseen side of the planet, particularly given the presence of large oceangoing cruise ships such as the MS Solar.
The Croissant is roughly crescent-shaped, hence its name. Its outer edge is highly mountainous, with a few hidden valleys tucked along the coastline. The shore of the central bay is lined with plains which give way to thick forests further inland. Numerous small islands lie off the coast, particularly around the points of the crescent shape. The overall shape of the continent suggests a massive, ancient crater.
The Playground[ | ]
The Raritan Gem was terraformed by Instatainment in order to create the Playground, the playable area of CrossWorlds. It's unclear exactly how much of the moon is natural, and what features have been modified to create the game. The atmosphere contains a high concentration of gaseous Instant Matter, which makes materializing it to build things possible.
The name "The Playground" is often used interchangeably with The Croissant, but the former refers specifically to those areas of Shadoon officially accessible to Seekers. Therefore, it technically includes the offshore Rhombus Square, and excludes out-of-bounds and unused areas on the Croissant like Vermillion Wasteland.
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The Playground is the official location where CrossWorlds takes place. It is often called "The Croissant" by players because of its shape. |
| -Encyclopedia general entry |
Cities[ | ]
Rhombus Square is the largest known city, and floats off the coast of the Playground in the large bay. Numerous smaller cities are known to exist on the Playground itself. The named ones are:
Inhabitants[ | ]
In CrossWorlds lore, Shadoon was formerly inhabited by the Ancients, who left long ago for unknown reasons. The current native inhabitants are the Shad, and there is also a sizeable population of human colonists.
Trivia[ | ]
- The devs have said that Shadoon does not actually have Earthlike gravity and constant day; these are merely used for ease of programming.
- An early Encyclopedia entry used the name Raritan Gem, but the entry was quickly removed for being confusing. By the time of the full release of CrossCode, the entry had been reintroduced.
Gallery[ | ]
Rhombus Square, with the Playground and the Gas Giant in the background
A concept map of the Playground
