World Shards
A World Shard is what is left of a world after it has fallen to darkness, or the World Heart has left said world without finding a Princess of Heart. It's either a piece of a world, or a world in itself - out there. Sometimes, these World Shards take the form of a giant world in space, filled with darkness. But yet sometimes, they may be found in other worlds; fallen and attracted to the power of other World Hearts.
Think of the Winnie The Pooh book for instance - a shard embedded into a book found in Merlin's House. Other examples for us are Figaro, which has fallen under the desert near Agrabah - and the Cloisters of Spira which have been littered along the worlds.
Some of these World Shards are revived on their own, if enough light remained within that world - but those Shards are rare. Most World Shards are dormant, locked... and they require a special kind of person to Unlock them. A special kind of Key to open that Lock. They need the power of a Keyblade Wielder.
So to summarize, a World Shard comes in three varieties. Note that they can come 'broken', meaning that pieces of the same shard need to be collected before they work. It's also important to note that it's impossible to tell for the crystalized shards, what type of shard they are, until they are unlocked.
- World Fragment: A part of a world, broken off from their original and come to life elsewhere. Example: Spira's Cloisters
- World Gate: A portal to a new world. These can be found locked as a crystallized object or already unlocked. Examples: The portal to New Orleans, or the Winnie The Pooh book.
- True World Shard: A shard that contains a world. When unlocked, it places the world within the greater universe again - but its heart must be locked to save it from the heartless. When locked, it's a large crystallized piece that represents the world. Example: The Manhattan Shard.
