Incredibly vast is the cosmos of the Multiverse, which teems with a multitude of worlds as well as myriad alternate dimensions of reality, called the **planes of existence**. Within the Shattered Realm the planes of existence refer to The Shatter, and many other realms that serve as the domains of raw elemental matter and energy, realms of pure thought and ethos, the homes of demons and angels, and the dominions of the Paragons. Many spells and magic items can draw energy from these planes, summon the creatures that dwell there, communicate with their denizens, and allow adventurers to travel there. As your character achieves greater power and higher levels, you might undertake a quest to rescue a friend from the horrific depths of [[#The Brink]], or find yourself hoisting a tankard with friends old and new in [[#Kinstead]]. You might travels oceans that stretch into infinity or test your mettle on a battlefield where the fallen are resurrected with each dawn. <br> ___ ### The Shatter The Shatter is the plane of existence inhabited primarily by mortal beings. It is the plane that souls are sent to in order to be born, and the plane that souls depart from when they die. Sometimes called the Material Plane, it is the plane that the majority of heroes will have their adventures within. <br> ##### Planar Travel Beyond the Shatter, various planes of existence are domains of myth and mystery. They’re not simply other worlds, but different qualities of being, formed and governed by spiritual and elemental principles abstracted from the ordinary world. When adventurers travel into other planes of existence, they are undertaking a legendary journey across the thresholds of existence to a mythic destination where they strive to complete their quest. Such a journey is the stuff of legend. Braving the realms of the dead, seeking out the celestial servants of a [[The Paragons|Paragon]], or bargaining with an efreeti in its home city will be the subject of song and story for years to come. Travel to the planes beyond the the Shatter can be accomplished in two ways: by casting a spell or by using a planar portal. <br> >**Spells** >A number of spells allow direct or indirect access to other planes of existence. [[Divine Spells#Plane Shift|Plane shift]] and [[Arcane Spells#Gate|gate]] can transport adventurers directly to any other plane of existence, with different degrees of precision. [[Divine Spells#Etherealness|Etherealness]] allows adventurers to enter [[#The Hollow]], and which serves as a transitory plane to other [[#The Astral Realms|Astral Realms]]. ><br> >**Portals** >A portal is a general term for a stationary interplanar connection that links a specific location on one plane to a specific location on another. Some portals are like doorways, a clear window, or a fog-shrouded passage, and simply stepping through it effects the interplanar travel. Others are locations — circles of standing stones, soaring towers, sailing ships, or even whole towns — that exist in multiple planes at once or flicker from one plane to another in turn. <br> ____ ### The Astral Realms Beyond the veil of mortal perception lie the **Astral Realms**. Realms shaped by the will of the [[The Paragons|Paragons]], where concepts become landscapes and belief bends reality. These are not mere afterlives or distant planes, but the living embodiments of cosmic principles. To tread across the Astral Realms is to stand inside the souls of Paragons, and risk of becoming a part of them forever. <br> ##### Bastion Bastion is a realm of perfect structure, where even the winds obey immutable laws. A towering citadel of seamless white stone, its spires piercing a sky locked in perpetual twilight. Every corridor is a contract, every arch a verdict, and no secret goes unjudged. The air hums with the sound of scales balancing themselves, and the few mortal petitioners who enter find their sins etched into their skin. The realm’s heart is the **Court of Absolute Accord**, where trials are presided over by spectral adjudicators; each one a former mortal, chosen by [[The Paragons#Beynn|Beynn]], who sought perfection in law and became part of Bastion’s architecture. Stray from the designated paths, and the walls reshape to imprison you until your guilt or innocence is determined. <br><br> ##### Beacon [[The Paragons#Alodar|Alodar's]] realm, Beacon, is a sanctuary where souls flicker like stars before their journey into the world, and none who enter are ever truly extinguished. A radiant, ever-bright expanse where the essence of living things gathers like motes of light. Rolling fields of golden grass pulse with heartbeat rhythms, along with trees that look to grow upside-down, their sky-ward roots cradling embryonic souls under a sky of perpetual dawn. Wandering the plains are the Returned, translucent figures of those who've died too soon, waiting for Alodar to weave them new bodies. <br><br> ##### The Brink The Brink is not a realm. It is an affliction, a creeping rot that infects the mind. Some say it’s the collective prison of those who’ve lost themselves; others claim it’s the true face of reality, stripped of comforting lies. A fractured wasteland where gravity shifts like moods, and the sky is a mosaic of screaming faces. Landmarks dissolve when stared at too long, and paths rearrange themselves to lead travellers deeper into delirium. The **Asylum of the Forsaken** floats at the realm’s centre; a crumbling palace to [[The Paragons#Jynryss|Jynryss]] where the walls whisper your deepest shames. Visitors often meet doppelgängers of themselves, each one a manifestation of their worst fears. Some are hollow-eyed and pleading; others grin with too many teeth. <br><br> ##### The City of Shroud The City of Shroud is a city of shifting alleys and false fronts, where every reflection winks back and shadows trade places with their casters. Buildings rearrange themselves when unobserved, and street signs whisper misleading directions. [[The Paragons#Valketh|Valketh]] doesn’t rule here; he curates the chaos, rewarding cleverness and punishing trust. At the city’s heart lies the **Vault of Whispers**, supposedly containing every secret ever uttered. Occasionally secrets are auctioned off to desperate visitors, but the price is always another, deeper secret. <br><br> ##### Dominion Scar Dominion Scar is [[The Paragons#Nytaris|Nytaris']] masterpiece. A realm where pain is law, and only the strong-willed survive. A fortress of black iron and jagged obsidian, where the air reeks of scorched flesh and molten metal, and the ground is paved with the shields of broken armies. At its heart lies the **Pit of Acquiescence**, a coliseum where captives duel for the "privilege" of serving Nytaris. The realm’s rivers flow with liquid iron, and those who drink from them feel their will erode into numb obedience. <br><br> ##### Eon Eon is time itself, and [[The Paragons#Ozros|Ozros]] is merely its keeper. A desert of glass where every grain is a frozen moment, crunching underfoot like bones. Towers of stacked clocks rise from the dunes, each ticking out of sync. In the distance, cities bloom and decay in loops, their ruins rewriting themselves. The **Archive of Almost** is central to the wastes; a library of books filled with events that nearly happened. Mortals who wander here often meet version of themselves from past or future, though Ozros demands they they never be acknowledged. <br><br> ##### Eversea Eversea has no borders or rulers, only the promise of discovery. An endless ocean under a sky of shifting constellations, its waters warm and impossibly clear. Ships with no crews drift here, their sails patched with maps of places unknown. Islands appear and vanish at the whim and will of [[The Paragons#Nythis|Nythis]], offering temporary refuge; some are lush paradises; others hold puzzles that, if solved, grant a wish. The **Tide of Echoes** carries whispers from every vessel ever lost at sea, and those who listen too long forget their own names as well as any ties that bind them. <br><br> ##### The Foundry The Foundry thrives on exchange of ideas, goods and souls. [[The Paragons#Rhyond|Rhyond]] rewards ingenuity but despises greed, and his realm is open to all who bring something new. A cavernous, ever-expanding workshop where forges burn with blue fire and anvils ring with unearthly harmonics. Bridges of molten gold connect floating platforms, each hosting markets where souls barter skills for upgrades: a blacksmith trades his ability to dream for hands that never blister. Golems of stained glass and wire tend the furnaces, their multi-coloured bodies constantly refracting the light of the flames they stoke. <br><br> ##### Fracture A realm of shattered logic, where gravity buckles and time stutters. Landmasses drift like icebergs, colliding to form temporary continents before splitting apart. Fracture is [[The Paragons#Haphit|Haphit's]] playground; a shifting nightmare of paradoxes that delights in upending expectations. He rules from the The **House of Havoc** flickers in and out of existence, its rooms rearranging to frustrate visitors (one door leads to a dragon, the next to a very confused badger). Rivers flow uphill, rain falls as frogs, and the sky is a cracked mirror reflecting other realms. <br><br> ##### The Gardens The Gardens thrive on emotion, shifting to reflect the souls within them. [[The Paragons#Eltia|Eltia's]] labyrinth of blooming vines and hidden glades, where roses sigh when touched and rivers run thick with honeyed wine. The air is heavy with perfume, and every fruit plucked from the trees tastes like a lover’s first kiss. At the realm’s heart lies the **Pavilion of Whispers**, a silk-draped hall where memories of romances, both triumphant and tragic, drift like ghosts, replaying their most intimate moments. Paths shift to lead visitors to their deepest desires, or their worst heartbreaks. Some who enter never leave, becoming statues entwined in flowering ivy, forever frozen in ecstasy. <br><br> ##### The Gloam The Gloam is where mortal minds wander when they dream; a place of prophecy, temptation, and sometimes terror. A midnight expanse illuminated by soft, luminous, white spotlight shining down from above onto the realm below. Mortals who dream here wander as translucent figures, their bodies trailing threads of silver, the tethers to their sleeping forms. The landscape shifts to the dreams of it's visitors, ensuring that no two visits are ever the same. The **Theatre of Forgotten Dreams** stands at the realm’s centre, its stage perpetually performing scenes for [[The Paragons#Kiowen|Kiowen]], taken from dreams no one recalls upon waking. <br><br> ##### The Hollow The Hollow is the pause between breaths, the moment after death but before what comes next. It does not judge, guide, or interfere. Some souls slip through unnoticed; others wander for eternity. A mist-choked reflection of the material world, where everything exists in translucent shades of gray. Living beings appear as faint afterimages, while the dead manifest fully, lingering until they resolve their unfinished business. At the edge of perception looms **The Threshold**; an archway that shifts form to match the soul’s expectations (a gate for soldiers, a cradle for children, a quiet inn’s hearth for the aged). It only appears when a spirit is ready, is where [[The Paragons#The Unnamed One|The Unnamed One’s]] voice finally speaks as your own, asking one question: *"Are you ready?"* <br><br> ##### Jewelspire A mountain of gold and gemstones, its slopes littered with the corpses of those who tried to climb it unprepared. The 999 sisters of [[The Paragons#Xafiiysha|Xafiiysha]] lounge on terraces of ivory, their rival courts a whirlwind of poisoned banquets and gem-encrusted betrayals. Deep below the mountain lies the **Gilded Maw**, a cavern that swallows treasures and the greedy alike, digesting them into new baubles. At the peak, the **Crown of Vai’zyzryn** rests on a pedestal of fused skeletons, its rubies pulsing like hearts. The sisters war endlessly for it, but the crown fits none of them perfectly. <br><br> ##### Kinstead Kinstead shifts to fit those who need it; a cottage for a lone wanderer, a bustling hall for a reunited clan. The scent of baking bread lingers in the air, and the streets are paved with tiles made from the fingerprints of those who’ve died among loved ones. At the village square, the **Hearth Eternal** burns with a flame that never dims, fed by offerings to [[The Paragons#Dalgost|Dalgost]] of hair braids and childhood toys. At dust, Kinstead's residents join together at the **Table of Plenty**, which always bears a feast tailored to the diner's fondest memories of home. <br><br> ##### Longmarch Longmarch is a paradise to the valorous; an eternal battlefield where champions engage in glorious combat for all time. An endless golden plain where the sun never sets, its skies crisscrossed with the banners of fallen champions. The air rings with war-horns and the clash of steel, but no blow lands fatally. [[The Paragons#Cyrix|Cyrix]] ensures that warriors rise again at dusk, their wounds healed, their vigour restored. At the field’s heart stands the **Armory of the Fallen**, where the weapons of legendary heroes materialize, only to disintegrate unless grasped by those righteous enough to wield them. <br><br> ##### Mirthreach Mirthreach is a realm where creativity has no limits and even sorrow is made beautiful. A sprawling festival carved into a range of snowy peaks, where the sunlight refracts into perpetual rainbows. Vine-covered pavilions cling to cliff faces where laughing ghosts perform plays and the audience becomes the cast. Fountains spout liquified joy that erases sorrow. The **Aria's Embrace** is a grand amphitheatre carved into the mountaintop, where the walls are embedded with thousands of instruments frozen mid-song. Kept within are stolen harmonies; the first laugh of a child, the perfect note from a master bard, the sigh of a lover’s last breath. [[The Paragons#Kaldmiir|Kaldmiir]] occasionally plucks one from the air to gift a worthy reveller, though the sound never lingers long before returning to the stone. <br><br> ##### Necropolis Necropolis is not a place of torment, but a kingdom of perfect silence, where death is not an enemy, but a mercy. A silent city of bone-white spires stretching into a starless sky, its streets paved with the teeth of the slain. Shades of murderers and victims walk side by side, re-enacting their final moments in endless loops. At the city's centre stands the **Black Mausoleum**, where [[The Paragons#Kal-Drameth|Kal-Drameth]] keeps his prized collection; skulls of kings who thought themselves beyond death's reach, each one whispering their regrets to empty air. <br><br> ##### Rotmire Rotmire is [[The Paragons#Molgeron|Molgeron's]] laboratory; a place where suffering breeds evolution. A festering wetland where the water is black with rot, and the trees weep pus from hollow knots. Mist slithers along the ground, carrying murmurs of symptoms in languages no healer knows. The **Root of Suffering** rises from the swamp’s centre, a gnarled tree whose fruit contains cures any any illness; but eating one transfers your illness to someone you love. Around it, Molgeron disciples, bloated, veiled figures, stir cauldrons of bubbling phlegm, crafting plagues as "gifts" to test mortal resilience. <br><br> ##### Ruinfall Ruinfall is a realm of mindless carnage. A crucible where battles are waged for little reason, and only the strongest ideologies survive. The sky burns with the glow of eternal siege fires, and the wind carries the stench of gangrenous wounds. The **Pillars of the Vanquished** stand at irregular intervals; towers of fused armor and screaming faces, each commemorating a civilization [[The Paragons#Barrogoth|Barrogoth]] has erased. At the realm's heart, stands the **Bell of the Last Stand**, which tolls only when a species nears extinction. Its sound drives all who hear it into a frenzy of violence. <br><br> ##### Sanctum Sanctum is a labyrinth of knowledge, but its doors open only to those who seek wisdom, not just power. An infinite library where shelves spiral into forever, each book a life, each shelf an era. The air thrums with the sound of turning pages, and the wingbeats of [[The Paragons#Koris|Koris]] browsing the endless shelves. **Living Tomes**, scholars who sought too much, wander the stacks, their bodies now parchment, their ink-blood still scribbling revelations. At the centre floats the **Oculus Veritas**, a lens that shows the unvarnished truth of any subject; truths that may cost the viewer their sanity. <br><br> ##### The Wheel The Wheel is [[The Paragons#Oreus|Oreus']] gameboard, and all existence plays their game. A colossal roulette wheel suspended in a void, its sections depicting ever-shifting fates. **The Paragon's Wager** spins lazily at the wheel's centre, hosting games of chance for all who find themselves on either side of luck's coin. Dice roll themselves, cards shuffle mid-air, and slot machines pay out in possibilities. Win, and reality bends in your favour. Lose, and you may something vital. <br><br> ##### The Wilder The Wilder operates by the oldest law: grow or die. An untamed expanse where fluorescent trees grow to reach the sky and rivers flow in spirals. The sky is a kaleidoscope of predator's eyes, and the ground quivers with the heartbeat of something colossal buried beneath. The **Stone Throne**, a slab covered in claw marks, sits atop a hill where [[The Paragons#Fyena|Fyena]] claims dominance, waiting something stronger comes along. Those who survive become one with The Wilder, their bodies adapting to their environment, much as the ancient fey once did. <br><br> ##### The Weeping Vale The Weeping Vale is a refuge for the broken, a place where pain is not healed, but shared. A valley of perpetual rain where the mud is made of crushed lamentations. The trees are petrified mourners, their branches outstretched in eternal supplication. At the vale's lowest point stands [[The Paragons#Woe|Woe]]; their roots drink from The **Pool of Last Words**, a collection of final utterances of the dead, which gently rise as sobbing whispers from a basin of tears shed for the lost. <br> ___ ### Other Planes Existing somehow between or beyond the known planes of existence are a variety of other realms. <br> ##### Kahreya's Astral Realm While each of the [[The Paragons|Paragons]] has a known and documented Astral Realm, [[The Paragons#Kahreya|Kahreya]] appears to be an exception. If Kahreya does have an Astral Realm, it has never been discovered, at least by any credible or verifiable sources. Some claim to have visited Kahreya's domain, although when put under any amount of scrutiny, most of these claims have turned out to be false. Recently, the lack of any evidence towards a domain of Kahreya's own has caused a number of their most devout to claim that [[#The Shatter]] is in fact Kahreya's astral realm. Followers of this belief claim that Kahreya is testing them, that heralding other [[The Paragons|Paragons]] within their realm is a grave offence, and that when the time is right, Kahreya will reward the devout. At the moment, these claims as well appear to be unfounded. Despite this, Kahreya's followers have been growing in number across the Shatter and have been accepting and spreading this line of thinking as truth. <br><br> ##### The Outbetween The Outbetween is what lies between the known multiverse. In fact, it might be an entirely separate multiverse with its own physical and magical laws. Where stray energies from The Outbetween leak onto another plane, life and matter are warped and twisted into alien shapes that defy ordinary geometry and biology. The entities that abide in the fabric of The Outbetween are too alien for a normal mind to accept without damage. Titanic creatures swim through nothingness, preoccupied with alien concepts. Unspeakable things whisper awful truths to those who dare listen. For mortals, knowledge of The Outbetween is a triumph of mind over the rude boundaries of matter, space, and mental stability. There are no known portals to The Outbetween. It's rumoured that the [[Kasatha 🛠|Kasatha]] and [[Thri-Kreen]] crossed the boundary from another neighbouring Realm to arrive in [[#The Shatter]], but neither species claims to have memory of how they managed to enter, let alone travel through The Outbetween. Other methods might still exist, marked by the alien forces leaking through to corrupt the Shatter around them. <br><br> ##### Pocket Realms Pocket Realms are small extradimensional spaces with their own unique rules. They are pieces of reality that don’t seem to fit anywhere else. Pocket Realms come into being by a variety of means. Some are created by spells, such as [[Arcane Spells#Pocket Realm|pocket realm]], or generated at the desire of a [[The Paragons|Paragon]] or other force. They may exist naturally, as a fold of existing reality that has been pinched off from the rest of the multiverse, or as a splinter Realm growing in power. A given Pocket Realm can be entered through a single point where it touches another plane. Theoretically, a [[Divine Spells#Plane Shift|plane shift]] spell can also carry travellers to a Pocket Realm, but the proper [[Adventuring Gear#Spellcasting Components|carving required for the Phoelsum crystal]] is extremely hard to acquire. The [[Arcane Spells#Gate|gate]] spell is more reliable, assuming the caster knows of the Pocket Realm.