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Cosmology

Page history last edited by Hal! 5 years, 1 month ago

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Cosmology


There is much more to the world than meets the eye – in fact, worlds would be a more apt term. The material world, also known to some Otherworldly denizens as The Sunlit Realm, the place where mankind daily treads, toils and dies, is but one of reality’s many layers.

 

While there are many different planes of existence, the material world does seem to be a center point of sorts, a hub to which the spokes of the other realities connect in the vast wheel of fortune that is Reality. Several distinct worlds, usually invisible from the perspective of the average man, lay parallel to the material, each taking upon itself some of the nature and appearance of the material but differing in significant ways and inhabited by beings that are often quite alien to Man. Events in the Material and in these other planes may send off ripples that affect the other, but this mostly occurs in subtle ways, hard to distinguish at first.

 

            The few scholars that have any knowledge of those planes that directly connect to the material world tend to classify them as either Underworlds or Overworlds, depending on the overall nature of the places – they are also sometimes collectively known as the Mirror Realms or the Otherworlds, for the way that they appear to reflect (or be reflected by?) the material world itself.

 

A short list of the major Otherworlds follows:

  • Underworld (realm of the dead, the spectral realm)
  • The Heavens
  • Paradise/Arcadia/Faerie/The Spring Country
  • Autumn/The Blight/Unseelie
  • ethereal/astral (conceptual spirit world) 

 

These so-called Mirror Realms tend to connect, in turn, to other more distant planes of existence that often bear common traits to the relevant Mirror Realms: The Abyss, for example, is a darksome realm, a sort of hell connected to the Underworld, but it does not directly abut the material realm, and so beings wishing to pass from it to the Material must usually pass through the Underworld first. There are means to skip the intermediary points, but these usually require outside intervention...

 

Dimensional Travel

 

Sorcery

The most reliable means of travel between the mortal world and the various Otherworlds is sorcery. The magic of certain Principles opens up doors to certain specific Otherworlds, but the most adept spirit travelers are students of the Principle of Horizons, who may access any or all of the below Otherworlds and if sufficiently erudite can open portals allowing multiple other individuals access as well as having means to summon Otherworldly denizens themselves. Concordians, the masters of space and distance, can also breach the barriers to any Otherworld, though not quite with the same facility and flexibility as Horizon-Walkers: only Masters may accomplish the feat, and lesser Concordians must instead use their power over connection to find and exploit Thresholds (see below). Visionaries and Enchanters are a special case: Adepts of Vision and Masters of Mind may embark on vision-quests by projecting their consciousness and awareness as a spirit themselves, but cannot physically access other realms. How other Principles may allow access to particular Otherworlds will be covered in the entry for the individual Mirror Realms themselves, below.

 

Thresholds

There are places in the material world where the barrier between Sunlit and Mirror Realms is thin enough for the sufficiently learned or unwary to pass between. Academics refer to these as Thresholds. Those Thresholds that connect to Spring or Autumn in particular are often connected to the barrows of ancient times, places where the ancient faerie lords' footprint is still felt. Sometimes, these barrows lead to some lonely place, but sometimes they may even lead to wondrous barrow-realms where lords of the Sí reign over their lesser fey brethren. The Fomori, children of both Autumn and the mortal world, are able to freely move through this form of Threshold at will. However, other mortals too may cross these gateways either by sorcery, by enacting certain triggers (say, sleeping in the midst of the faerie ring) or simply being there at a time or season when the barrier is so thin as to simply stumble across by ill chance. Mortals that spend overlong in these realms have a tendency to take upon them some of the place's nature, becoming the Lost. Also, these same Thresholds can at certain times or seasons allow the beings of the Mirror Realms access to the Sunlit World as well, either under their own agency or with magical help. Adepts that can access the Mirror World to which a particular Threshold connects will find this process greatly eased if employing the Threshold, either to traverse themselves or to summon something from the other side. In fact, many less-educated Adepts don't realize that they can perform these feats elsewhere.

 


Spirits

"Spirit" is a collective term that encompasses pretty much every being native to any of the Otherworlds.

 

God(s)

The current theology prevalent throughout most of Occida and its surroundings holds that there is only one being in existence worthy, mighty enough and important enough to hold the title of "God." However, the sentient races have not always held this to be so and there are numerous very powerful spirit beings that will at least claim to hold such title when the opportunity permits or if they feel that they are in a position to be believed. Whatever the truth, there are indeed a number of extremely powerful spirit beings surrounded by courts of servitors, and many of these have been in the past or are still presently worshipped on some level as gods by someone somewhere.

 

The Spirit Courts

Most types of spirits do not exist within a vacuum. They have societies, organizations, even a spiritual ecysystem of their own...

 


The Otherworlds

Below are listed and described the most significant and well known of the Otherworlds, as well as their denizens and means of accessing them...

 


The Underworld

The Underworld is known by many different names: purgatory, sheol, hadesh, limbo, the realm of the dead, the spectral realm and more. Along with the Heavens, this realm forms a pair that together are closely associated with the souls of mortal beings.

 

Denizens of the Underworld

The most commonly encountered inhabitants of this realm are the shades of departed mortals. They are hardly its sole residents, however...

 

Reaching the Underworld

The easiest way to reach the Underworld is to die. However, those that would like to return would do well to employ the magic of the Principle of Death, which can make it possible to enter this realm either corporeally or in spirit form, the latter being a much safer and simpler prospect...

 


The Heavens

"The Heavens" is a term used for the spiritual plane inhabited by beings often known as the blessed dead. It is generally considered to be an Overworld corresponding to the realm best known as the Underworld...

 

Denizens of the Heavens

Apart from the Blessed Dead, this realm is frequently visited and possibly even inhabited by a more foreign class of beings that are most easily classified as angelic in nature....

 

Reaching the Heavens

While this realm is directly connected to the material plane, an interesting quirk of spiritual geography is that it is actually much easier for mortals either magically or otherwise to reach this place by first journeying through the Underworld rather than making the transition directly. The Principle of Death allows access to this plane.

 


The Spring Country

If the two parallel fey realms are to be regarded as matched over- and underworlds, then the Spring Country is the higher of the two...

 

Denizens of the Spring Country

The Seelie are the fey (or Sí, to use their own term, also used in the Fomorach) folk that dwell here...

 

Reaching the Spring Country

Spring is accessed via essentially identical means to Autumn, detailed below.

 


Autumn

A fey underworld of sorts...

 

Denizens of Autumn

The Unseelie are the Sí that dwell here in Autumn, opposite number to their brethren in Spring...

 

Reaching Autumn

In addition to sorcery typically the Principle of Horizons, the Fomori and the Lost can access this plane via the Thresholds at any time, rather than having to otherwise abide by these pathways' special times and seasons.


The Ethereal Plane

The ethereal plane, also known as the astral plane, is a strange realm of ideas and correspondence, where abstract concepts can take tangible form...

 

Denizens of the Ethereal Plane

 

Reaching the Ethereal Plane

Adepts (rather than Masters only) of the Principle of Mind can access this realm by projecting their consciousness here. Even Horizon-Walkers and Concordians find physically accessing this rarefied realm difficult, and most wishing to visit the Astral prefer to project their spiritual selves in a manner similar to Enchanters and Visionaries. This is not a place for flesh, but for pure thought and spirit.


The Far Realms

These Otherworlds do not directly connect with the mortal plane, and so must usually be accessed by first traveling through one or more intermediate realms...

 

The Abyss

The Abyss is a grim and hopeless domain descending down beneath the Underworld...

 

Denizens of the Abyss

(more to come. demons and damned souls, between which there may be little if any difference...)

 

The High Heavens

Connecting with the Heavens, this is the abode of numerous choirs of angels as well as the ascendant beings known as saints. Sentieria teaches that there is yet another heaven beyond this one, which their teachings refer to as "The Highest Heaven"  or "The Throne of God." No mortal is known to have entered that glorious realm and returned, though several prophets have recounted visions of its magnificence...

 

Denizens of the High Heavens

(more to come. Angels, Saints and strange heavenly beings)

 

The Summer Country

The highest courts of the fey that rule over the Spring Country are to be found in the Summer Country, and in fact these beings and most scholars consider the Spring Country to be a marcher domain that functions as much as a buffer or border between Summer and the mortal world as anything else...

 

Denizens of the Summer Country

(the Seelie Courts, the Tuatha de Sí)

 

Winter

This is the vast and trackless realm of the Lords of Winter, of which Autumn is at best a border province keeping the mortal world protected from Winter, and perhaps on some level even protecting Winter from the mortal universe...

 

Denizens of Winter

(the Unseelie Courts, the Tuatha de Sí)

 

The Lords of the Seasons

There is much (quiet) academic debate regarding the nature of the Lords of Summer, Winter, Autumn and Spring. Are they tremendously powerful faerie lords? Pagan gods? Demon lords? Is there indeed a meaningful distinction between these terms where such ancient, powerful and inscrutable entities are concerned? Whatever else they are, these beings are mighty spirits that reign over the lesser fey races with many deep pacts, ageless cunning, and awesome raw power, and they intrigue among themselves and against the opposite seasons, ever vying for position in some grand game that only the players can truthfully claim to understand. 

 

Balor of the Evil Eye

Lord of Winter, Tyrant of the Underworld

Balor of the Evil Eye prelim sketch

As a Lord of Winter, Balor is almost unimaginably powerful and utterly alien. He (it?) embodies the will to dominate and ravage, basically being the personification of the tyranny of a looming, hostile and terrifying universe. Balor is usually considered the Lord of Winter that is most interested in and actively engaged with the material world. Apparently Balor desires dominion over mortals as well as, more importantly, permanent control over the Summer Country. While Lords of Winter are essentially formless, ancient and primordial forces of supernature and therefore do not have a stable appearance if indeed their true nature can be percieved visually at all, they (or perhaps their avatars - the particulars are unclear to current scholarship) do tend to take on certain forms when interacting with lesser beings. Balor tends to appear as a cloaked and robed giant roughly of humanoid outline and wearing a large mask that completely conceals his face. Masks of this nature appear to be a common feature of the Lords of Winter as well as some of their mightier lieutenants, and it is speculated that they might be some sort of artifact used to help them contain themselves in corporeal form. Occasionally an apendage emerges from the robes, but the specific nature of the appendage appears to vary as well. What does not vary is the single great eye that is his defining attribute: Where the poisonous gaze of Balor falls only ruin and devastation remains, for his slightest glance is lethal in the extreme. This eye is generally closed and concealed behind an eye-plate in his mask, and this eyelid/plate is only lifted when Balor elects to obliterate some being foolish enough to have drawn his ire.

 

Cernos The Horned One

Lord of Winter, Master of The Wild Hunt

hornedone

Most scholars of the arcane seem to agree that The Horned One is probably the oldest and most powerful of the ancient Lords of Winter. The Horned one embodies the relationship between predator and prey, the concept of predation and the danger inherent in the universe. He is the Great Hunter, and he exists for little more than the Hunt itself. As might be expected, the Horned One's giant and inconstant form is notable for always incorporating a pair of long and impressive horns or antlers, and he always carries a hunting horn as well. While some moralists might argue that Balor the Tyrant is a great evil, the same claim would be much harder to apply to The Horned One.

 

Ullr and Ulln

Lord and Lady of Snow and Ice

As The Horned One hearkens back to a time when mankind was bent on establishing itself as the dominant predator species on the planet, so Ullr and Ulln also come from a time when the glaciers were in retreat from Occida, but still kept a harsh grip upon most of its lands. Snow and ice were matters of survival, facts of life, and death, as close to every human's awareness as the furs they wore. Ullr once was placated as a God of Winter, but his place in Winter's Courts is that of another of its Lords, with his twin sister Ulln at his side. They are the personification of the powers of Snow and Ice, of blizzards, avalanches, and ice storms. Some tales attribute skiing and snow-boarding to Ullr, whose favorite way to enter a battle was by snowboarding down the side of mountain on a great round shield, laying into enemies with a great sword made of purest, primordial Ice. His sister Ulln's song is said to summon great sheets of ice to cover the land, a song that was stolen from her ages ago by agents of the courts of Summer, who could not rule in their season while eldritch glaciers covered everything, all the time. It is said that if Ulln ever regains her song she will sing the great ice back into the world for all time. 

 

Morr'ghu of the Black Feathers

Lady of Winter, Bringer of Dooms

Also known as the Raven Queen, the War Crow, or the Lady of Phantoms, Morr'ghu of the Black Feathers is a fearsome Lady of Winter associated with looming, ominous Fate. She dispenses ill omens or premonitions of death and incites both the courage and the fear born of battle. This fell being is seen as both messenger of Fate and the executor of its decrees, influencing the outcome of war and then escorting the slain to their final place of rest or torment. Those Fomorians that carry black feathers or corvid features are known as the Morrighni in her honor.

 

Ludh the Green One

Lord of Summer, Master of Growing Things

(details)

 

Sunna the Radiant

Lady of Summer, the Summer Sun

One of the greatest Ladies of Summer, Sunna represents the heat and brilliance of the summertime, both in its abundance and in its destructive power. She was the custodian of Ulln's Song, which she took and locked away in ancient times that the world no more be sheathed in ice.

 

Cromm Crugh

Lord of Autumn, the Crooked Head

Also known as the Bloody Lord and Lord of the Mound, Cromm Crugh is a Lord of Autumn, tributary in theory to Balor but a power in his own right. This winding entity is a master of the harvest, but in return for his bounty, he requires sacrifice and blood, for nothing in this world or the next is free, and all life is struggle.

 

Ilargi of Many Faces

Lady of the Moon

She of Many Faces, the Owl Woman, Traveler in Dark Places, and many other names besides have been applied to this enigmatic being, who appears to be equally welcome as honored guest in all four seasonal courts, but restlessly moves between as if none of these is truly her home. She is protean in nature, her aspect varying across the realms as if she is a part of all and none: the ancient lunar goddess in Spring is the Maiden Huntress, in Summer she is a Warrior Mother, in Autumn a Wisewoman, and the hideous and irascible Crone in Winter. She marks the turning of time and the seasons in their regular order, at once trickster, psychopomp, and bringer of change, confusion, and madness. The faerie realms only seem to have a moon visible in their skies when Ilargi is personally in the realm in question, and its phase is always correspondent to the season (for instance, the waning third quarter when in Autumn).

 

(add an Autumn Lord of Dusk and a Spring Lord of Dawn?)

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