The Realms Arcane

[Luther]

We had a lot of confusion about what is what in terms of the planes of material existence the last few sessions, so I though a real basic "what's what" dimensional primer was appropriate.  I am going to keep this pretty bare bones, because the more esoteric the plane, the less likely your character is to know anything about it.  Twilight and Shadow are the two "states" most commonly tripped across on a mission, with some FBAA operatives able to enter either.

Material World - where we all live.  Cars, guns, people, computers, etc. - the material world or "real world" is the world that exists all around us.  You live there.  It is where you keep your stuff.

Twilight - Twilight is not another world, it is simply an alternate state of being.  A being "in Twilight" occupies the same space as the Material World, but does not interact with it.  A ghost in Twilight can walk through walls, bullets pass through them, they are invisible, etc.  Twilight is actually not one state of being, but short-hand for several that are exclusive from one another.  The three main beings that exist in the Twilight state are Ghosts (i.e. the recently or restlessly dead), Spirits (the natural representation of forces, objects or ideas) and Astral Projecters.  Those three states are as removed from each other as they are from the real world, meaning, that while a Ghost can punch a Ghost, a Ghost doesn't even know a Spirit is there and vice-versa.  Similarly abilities, perceptions, and objects that effect a Ghost in Twilight do not effect a Spirit in Twilight, or an Astral Projecter.  If you have a power that is death-based that allows you to enter Twilight, Ghosts and items that effect Ghosts will effect you, but Spirits and Spirit items will not (same holding true for the other methods of Twilight travel).

The Astral Plane - The Astral Plane is the realm of ideas, dreams, and the collective unconscious.  It can be contacted by a variety of different methods, notably drugs, lucid dreaming, or meditation.  Physically, it has no parallel to the real world - if you need to think of it as being somewhere, imagine that it is within everyone, but interconnected (it is possible, for instance, to meet someone who is also astrally travelling if you are both adept at it).  Astral Travel and Astral Projection are *not* the same thing.  Astral Projection sends your mind out of your body to travel the material world in a state of Twilight, whereas Astral Travel allows you to visit places in your own mind or the universal unconscious.

The Shadow - also called the "Spirit World", the Shadow is the spiritual manifestation of the material world (though some argue that the converse is true and the material world is nothing but a metaphor for the Shadow).  The Spirit World exists in parallel to the Material World, but does not touch it, seperated by a wall called the Gauntlet which is perforated by small holes called Loci.  Shadow Denizens (Spirits) are the manifestation of the spiritual component of material objects - such as the spirit of a toaster, or a particular forest, or even an idea such as murder.  In most cases, the spirits of the Shadow sleep and are as inanimate as they are in the Material Realm.  Some spirits do awake, and tend to gravitate towards places and items in the Material World that resonate with their nature (for instance, more bird spirits will center on a wooded area, and the SE DC is probably littered with Murder spirits).  However, since they are imperfect metaphors for each other, one cannot directly effect the other.  If you shoot a bird-spirit, a bird will not die, for example.  Just because there is a house in front of you, it doesn't necessarily hold that there is a house-spirit in front of you as well.  When Spirits pierce the Gauntlet and enter the Material World, they usually do so in a state of Twilight, although they can also sometimes materialize or possess people.  Spirits in Twilight are fully in the Material World, however, and cannot perceive or interact with the Shadow anymore then a human can (unless they have powers that do so).  It is also possible to travel even more deeply into the Shadow and end up in places that have no metaphor in the real world, but are more similar to the Astral Realm - pockets of ideas, or even ancient manifestations of the belief in dieties, with strange pantheons springing up here and there.  The roads to those deeper worlds are hidden and require guides or even deeper arcane knowledge to find.

The Underworld - When a person dies their Ghost usually lingers only a short while in Twilight unless something binds them there through a Fetter (an object, place or person of great importance to a Ghost).  If they have no such Fetter, they end up in the Underworld - the land of the sleeping dead.  The Underworld can be found by traversing the Shadow, and, perhaps, in other hidden ways known only to the most potent of Necromancers.  Bringing someone back from the Underworld is a much trickier process then dealing with a Ghost in Twilight, and is a much rarer gift to find.

The Supernal World - the so-called Heavens, the Supernal World is the world that magicians draw their magic from.  An almost endless realm of fantastic mysteries, its three best known realms are the Aethyr (Heaven), Pandemonium (Hell), and Arcadia.  Even mages only deal with these powers from a distance and see this realm only through dreamed glimpses, musty texts, and complex formulas.  Travelling to the Supernal is all but unheard of, and denizens of the Supernal make appearances on the material only very rarely, and usually with cataclysmic outcomes (Gommorah, anyone?).  Mages believe that the Supernal World birthed the Material World and ultimately controls its rules and structure.

The Abyss - The space between the Supernal World and the Material World.  The Abyss is unbeing and uncreation.  It is filled to the brim with horrors that should not be, madness, and pure destruction.  The primary way that the Abyss is felt is through the Paradox that Mages accidentally bring with them when they summon power from the Supernal.  At its worst, the Abyss can belch forth incomprehensible horrors in the form of Acamoth - Abyssal Spirits that seek to destory the world.  The most sadistic of Mage kind sometimes become Scelesti - magician high-priests to the Abyssal Nightmares.

OK - that is it.  Let me know if there are questions...