Areas are Alluring

Innsbury Edge

Overview

Why: The internal name for this sextant is MapAtlasFishy.

Areas are Alluring is a very rare voidstone sextant modifier found on Awakened Sextant. With current sextant blocking it takes 1821 sextants on average to land it.

There is at least one undiscovered effect from the Areas are Alluring sextant modifier.

Charged Compasses with the Alluring sextant can be traded for, however the mod is named ‘Area is Alluring’ in the stat filters search interface.

Effects

Here are a couple of the known effects of the Areas are Alluring sextant (‘mapatlasfishy’ in the gamefiles):

The area will grant 10% More Experience Gained (it will show up on your character sheet under Misc)
The area afflicts you with the hidden Insanity modifier, just like Innsbury Edge.
Insanity from multiple sources stack. If you want to try to observe an Insanity event and your build allows it, you can try dual-wielding Innsbury Edge while you clear maps affected by Areas are Alluring. Insanity events can trigger even while you are AFK as well.

An enormous amount of testing has been done with Areas are Alluring sextant, but there are still some undiscovered features of the modifier.

Insanity

Insanity is a secret condition applied to characters which causes weird effects. There are three confirmed sources of Insanity: Innsbury Edge, Replica Innsbury Edge and the ‘Areas are Alluring’ sextant mod.

It seems likely that other sources of Insanity exist. Check out this timeline of patch notes:

Jun 3 2016, 2.3.0 Innsbury Edge added.
Jul 16 2016, 2.3.2 Two important patch notes: “More insanity effects have been added.” “Insanity from multiple sources now stack.”
Sep 2 2016, 2.4.0 Sextants added, with “Areas are Alluring” modifier.
Sep 18 2020 3.12.0 Replica Innsbury Edge added

If the patch notes in 2.3.2 are not just vacuous trolling or future-proofing teasers, that means at least one more source of Insanity exists other than Innsbury Edge and ‘Areas are Alluring’.

A large part of general Path of Exile lore involves madness/insanity, and therefore there are many items and events which mention going insane. Oftentimes these references may be completely unrelated to the capital “I” Insanity, the specific secret condition.

Effects of Insanity

A character affected by Insanity experiences weird stuff. These events are all relatively rare.

Effects include:

Text messages appear in your local chat

You feel a cool breath caressing your neck…
You are being watched…
You have left something of great value in the dust…
Something moves in the shadows…
It is waiting for you… beyond the Forbidden Door… in the Place That Must Not Be Looked Upon.
You hear a sound in the distance.
Example: Forbidden Door message

A fake “level down”

Your character will play the level-up animation, and your local chat will read that you have leveled to the previous level. Your actual level will be unchanged. (For example, you’re level 92, and you will see an effect and the message “YourName is now level 91”.)
Example: An Areas are Alluring “Level Down” video by Manuelfhq
Example: A “Level Down” effect by RepmutsTheFugly

A fake “First to Enter” message

A “First to Enter” message will appear, referring to an area that does not exist. There are many examples (see InsaneWorldArea values in the gamefile screenshot below). For example, one message might be “YourName is the first character to enter The Coves in Merciless!”, even though Merciless doesn’t exist anymore and that area is not a story zone. Another example might be “YourName is the first character to enter The Chamber of Sins (Level 3)!”.
Example: Magrudergrind is the first character to enter Chamber of Sins (Level 3)!

A harmless doppleganger spawns

A “body double” of your character appears and starts running around. The double looks nearly identical to you (wears all your gear and cosmetics), but is not holding your weaponry. Sometimes your body double will die.
Example: A Buddy Acquired video by Omelora

A fake “Death”

Your character will perform its death scream, a copy of your character will ragdoll to the ground as a corpse, and you will receive the message “YourName has been slain.”
Example: A fake death video by thunderPawnch.
Example: A death while idling in hideout.

Currency items on ground being shown as another (unverified)

Four years ago it was reported on Reddit that Orbs of Transmutation were appearing on the ground as Mirror of Kalandra. This hasn’t currently been verified.

The list of all possible effects of Insanity are obfuscated in the gamefiles. We do not know if this is a comprehensive list.

These events can occur even while you are AFK. Certain occurrences can cause client crashes. For example, if you idle in your hideout wielding Innsbury Edge and the “doppelganger” effect triggers, your client will crash because that critter type is disallowed in hideouts.

The Insanity message “You hear a sound in the distance.” also occurs when you insert disallowed combinations into the map device and spam-activate. This is likely a reference to Nethack’s “You hear some noises in the distance”.

Insanity’s Connections to Fishing

While Insanity mostly appears to be a zany easter egg, there may be actual hints here as well. Some Insanity effects connect to fishing. It’s possible that Insanity and Fishing are actually unrelated, and Insanity merely references fishing as a joke. Take a look at these examples and decide for yourself.

Insane World Areas

One of the “fake First to Enter” zones is ‘The Fishyards’. Another is “Merveil’s Dream”. There are also “The Coves” and “Sea of Souls”, though these are less connected.