The Realm of Strife is the prime material realm in which all of the Third Creation resides following the Downfall. Theoretically there is an infinite number of planets, dimensions, realities, and realms that host the Third Creation. Collectively they are all still known as the Realm of Strife. Here, player characters can experience an inexhaustible number of adventures and epic story arcs, limited only by their imagination and a GMs creativity. But of course, there is more…
Prior to the creation of the Realm of Strife there was the Realms of Origin: the very substance of Creation embodied in Realms all their own. Though they were fractured when the denizens of Hell orchestrated the Downfall of the Third Creation, these Realms still exist today. In order to preserve creation and prevent its unraveling into timeless chaos, the Angels and agents of the First Creation placed barriers around each of the Realms of Origin. Meant to contain and shield these realms from all outside influence, these barriers were thought to be impassable.
Such is the curiosity and ingenuity of the Third Creation, that for those possessing the knowledge and will, the Realms of Origin are not completely beyond reach. Though it would require a great expenditure of magic or the ability to travel through the Astral Realm of the Soul which connects all things, any one brave (or foolish) enough to travel to the Realms of Origin would do well to understand their complexities.
Contents
Realms of the Natural Domain
coming soon…
Realms of the Arcane Domain
coming soon…
Realms of the Elemental Domain
There are four Realms of Origin that comprise the the Elemental Domain. Though they are often modelled as interconnected concentric half circles, they are each a Realm their own. One cannot travel from one Elemental Realm to another in the conventional sense, as they do not truly border one another. And yet by virtue of the barriers put in place around them they are connected.
Traversing an Elemental Realm has little to do with travelling in a particular direction, but instead is about travelling away or towards a particular element or polarity. Though it is perhaps an over simplification of a geometry and geography that defies mortal understanding, the concentric model was developed to describe the Elemental Realms of Origin, with a finite point of order at its center and an infinite horizon of chaos at its exterior.
The Inner Realms
There are two Inner Realms within the Elemental Domain, founded upon Order. The deeper one would travel into these realms the closer to pure and incorruptible order they would approach, until a the very center of the Realm they would be lost forever to eternal perfection. Conversely, if choosing to travel away from order, towards chaos, one would eventually find themselves facing one of the impassible barriers between the Elemental Realms.
The Realm of Stillness
A realm of water; clean, pure and still.
The Realm of Stillness is mostly comprised of the Sapphire Sea, an immense fresh water ocean stretching on for unfathomable distance and depths. The Sapphire Sea appears as a conventional body of water on a windless day, but is marked with great floating islands made of a magical coral like substance. These living islands float peacefully upon the water, home to all manner of elemental life and even hosting towns, cities, and palaces for the denizens of the Realm of Stillness. The water itself is teeming with life, from the smallest fish and plankton to great aquatic leviathans.
If choosing to move towards order, the water becomes calmer, almost appearing as glass. As the Sapphire Sea becomes increasingly still it begins to crystallize and form ice. The coral islands begin to appear more like icebergs, and eventually give way to true icebergs, and further in a thick sheet of glacial ice. Further in the ice fields rise to a snow covered mountain known as the Frozen Heart. Here order achieves perfection and all movement ceases for eternity.
If choosing to move towards chaos, the Sapphire sea will eventually reach a horizon of dense mists. Within the depths of these mists the water itself gives way to clouds of purest white, which roll and stack upon one another like a towering shoreline, a border realm known as the Great Cloudbanks.
The Forge
A realm of earth; solid, immutable and unyielding.
The Earthen Plains, Crystalline Forests, and Mineral Steppes. At its center, the Iron Headwall.
The Outer Realms
As the Elemental Domain shifts from order back to chaos, the Outer Realms take form. These realms begin at the barriers between order and chaos, but are immediately marked by the influence of chaos. The further one travels in the Outer Realms, the closer they get to the infinite depths of timeless Chaos. With no true end, one could become lost forever pursuing that direction.
The Realm of Storms
A realm of air…
The Aetherium Expanse, giving way to the Cyclonic Horizon.
Lighter than air coral islands and castles, drifting on unpredictable currents of air.
The Furnace
A realm of fire…
The Scalding Plains, Crags of Sulfuron, Great Lakes of Fire, giving way to the Burning Marshes and Caustic Mists.
The Border Realms
The impassable barriers between the Elemental Realms of Origin are not so much a finite physical barrier or boundary but more a region of intermingling elemental forces. Where each of the Realms touches or overlaps, is a hybrid border realm. While denizens of each Realm can enter them and therefore interact with denizens of another realm, making trade or war, they cannot cross through them (at least not under normal circumstances).
There are six border realms within the Elemental Domain:
- The Muckmire Beaches (water+earth=mud, unstable)
- The Ashenwaste (fire+air=smoke/ash, unstable)
- The Steamreach (fire+water=steam, balance)
- The Great Cloudbanks (water+air=cloud, balance)
- The Dustfury Desert (air+earth=dust/sand, balance)
- The Magma Sea (earh+fire=lava/magma, balance)