The world people see every day is only a small part of the universe as
it is known to scholars and mystics. It is little more than an echo or
manifestation of much greater workings only a blessed few can perceive.
These other mechanisms behind the Veil bespeak the truths of the Faith
and the righteousness of those who oppose Chaos in its many forms. The
learned often speak of these other layers of existence as planes, which
are essentially other realities. The most important of these are
discussed to some degree below.
The Material Plane
The
Material Plane, also called the Prime Plane, the Mortal Plane, the
Mortal Veil, or more simply put, the world, is the normal, physical
world people spend their day-to-day lives existing within. It has
constant physical laws, a constant time flow, and is largely immutable.
Within this plane, the sun is a burning orb of fire that lights and
heats the world below, and the moon is its cool, pale mistress. The
stars are tiny pinpricks in the benighted firmament that are often
associated with spirits of madness, drunkenness, depravity, and revelry.
These turn about the world in unfathomable cycles, yet still Man has
deciphered many of the uncanny rhythms of the stars and learned to
navigate by the dark knowledge they bestow. Below the airy skies, great
continents rise from the abyssal depths of the world's oceans whose
origins lie in the Eternal Ocean of the Dreamer.The Ethereal Plane
"Spirit Plane," "Near Astral Plane," "Spirit World," – all of these and more are names commonly given to what planar scholars call the Veil. This is a thin, astral-like plane that coexists with the material plane and acts as a buffer between it and the Astral Plane. It is a plane between planes that shares traits of both, yet is neither. Gravity in The Veil is not subjective, but its grasp does not as reliably anchor residents to the ground. Solid objects in the material plane may or may not be reflected in the Veil, and even when they are, spirits can often pass through them.Occupants of the Veil are completely invisible and intangible to those in the corresponding material plane, although some more sensitive people find they can catch glimpses of this hidden world. Similarly, those in the Veil are only able to view a denuded and faint image of the material plane and cannot affect it anymore than those in the material can affect the Veil. In this way, the Veil is a ghostly reflection of the material world.
Ethereal Sinks
At certain times and in certain places, a Veil and its material plane have been known to merge partially or wholly. These places and times are called ethereal sinks. At or during an ethereal sink, those in a Veil and its material world can more easily see and interact with each other. The degree to which this is possible depends on the individual sink, but such locations and times are often held in high regard, either as sacred or unholy haunts, for only through powerful magic, miracles, or at an ethereal sink can an individual bodily travel from the material to the Veil or vice versa.
How sinks come to exist is not truly understood. Some sinks appear to have always existed; while, others were spawned by a definite event. Still others pulse in intensity with an unearthly rhythm. The most commonly known method for creating a true ethereal sink (and not just a magical rift or gate) is via a traumatic or intense emotional event, such as a murder or death surrounded by intense hatred, love, longing, or sense of regret. Such sinks are closely related to haunts and ghostly activity.
Between the Planes
Some entities exist between the Veil and the Material Plane, able to perceive and affect and be affected by them both to an extent. Many nature spirits experience this dualistic nature in one form or another. Some are sensitive to the presence of the other side, while others can actually see, feel, touch, smell, affect, and be affected by the other side. Such entities are sometimes colloquially called inbetweeners.The Astral Plane
Far more difficult to describe than the Ethereal Plane, the Astral Plane is within and without the observer. It is the architecture that underlies the material world. It is the both the Dreamer and the Dream – the collective spirit of the universe. It is everywhere and nowhere at once. It is what lies beyond the Veil and inside every spirit and soul in the world.
While it is possible to bodily visit the Astral Plane, such a feat is quite difficult. Instead, most people journey there by projecting their souls beyond the Veil or through by projecting through their own soul's connection to the World Spirit. In either case, the projector appears as a spirit in the Astral World. Mystics most commonly do this. They also use the Astral Plane as the medium for reaching out and touching the spirits, minds, and bodies of other entities. It is via everything's inherent connection to the World Spirit that this is even possible.
Despite the variable and very personal nature of the Astral Plane's appearance, the Astral Plane is not without certain landmarks or regions. The most commonly visited of these is the Plane of Dreams, and perhaps the most hidden and sought after is the Akashic Library. Far more common are soul portals – the means by which a mystic can touch and affect another entity via the Astral Plane.
Soul Portals
Soul portals are the means by which each spirit's soul shares in the World Spirit. They are windows into that out of an entity through which someone in the Astral Plane may enter or leave, or through which an entity may reach into the Astral Plane. Precisely how this is accomplished cannot be easily explained and takes years of meditation and instruction to accomplish, but it is by this means that mystics can touch the minds and souls – and even the bodies – of anything in creation.Many mystics who have encountered demons and been fortunate enough to survive the affair have remarked that demons do not possess soul portals. Those who have traveled extensively through the Astral Plane have never found any and connection between the World Spirit and chaos spawn – only the weeping wounds left by their passage on the soul of the world. This has led some to conclude that the denizens of chaos are not of this world whatsoever and others to further speculate that the corruption creeping across the Material Plane is nothing less than an attack by an alien universe on our own.
The Plane of Dreams
When anything dreams, the barriers between its mind and certain parts of the Astral Plane weaken and dissolve. The dreamer's psyche actually enters a portion of the Astral Plane known as the Plane of Dreams. There, each dreamer carves out a small domain shaped by his own mind, but it is not terribly difficult for those aware of this fact to learn to pierce the Dreamveils that separate dreams. Indeed, Dreamwalkers are those who can traverse the nightly dreamscape, passing from one person's dream to another, encountering different people, speaking with them, appearing in their dreams, and even shaping them. Moreover, because dreaming transports a person's psyche to the Astral Plane, this can be an easy but dangerous way to enter the Astral Plane.The Plane of Dreams can be perilous, however. Not every dream is pleasant, and not every dreamer is friendly. While dreams may not be real, the sort of psychic harm that can befall those within them is. Unscrupulous dreamwalkers may exploit this feature to attack their enemies, or unwary dreamers may unwittingly stray into the twisted nightmares of a crazed lunatic. Worse over, there are myriad dream spirits, some friendly and some maleficent. The most feared of these are the dream stalkers, entities who induce hellish nightmares that cause more than lost sleep and insomnia – the wounds they inflict on your dreams are made real in the waking world.
The Akashic Library
The Akashic Library is a small domain deep within the heart of the Astral Plane. There resides the memories of the entire world. Every experience, every sensation, every piece of knowledge gleaned by anyone who shares in the World Spirit is stored there. Accessing it requires special training or magic, but those who do can learn absolutely anything they are capable of mentally processing. Of course, sifting through every memory since the birth of time itself can be difficult, tedious work, so it is typically easier to find information that was or still is held as a common knowledge than obscure facts. The veracity of the information stored in the Akashic Library can also prove dubious, as what is stored there are memories – not absolute facts. If a person believed something to be true, it may appear as a true fact, even if the person was incorrect. Despite these limitations, the Akashic Library is a tremendous resource for those talented enough to access it and is often credited with much of the sagacity attributed to mystics.
The Maelstrom
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