Notes On The Void
From Atlantic Roleplay Wiki
Title: Notes on the Void
Author: Sigmel of Umbra
I present this collection of essays on the Ethereal Void and its cosmology. I have collected these from many sources. I cannot verify the accuracy of all information since I am only willing to risk my own sanity and life so much.
- Sigmel of Umbra
The Nature of the Vortex
By Bartholomew the Tall
To understand the Ethereal Void, one must start with certain base principles of magic. While many living things contain mana, the greatest wells of magic are land itself.
To use these, one must understand leylines. Leylines are powerful geometric alignments of mystical places that resonate with mana. The locations involved in a pattern determine the type of mana produced. The various leylines of our world are like a spider’s web.
Not all points of this web are the same. Like the spider web in a dark ceiling corner, some strands touch the walls of some larger structure. These places poke through the bindings of reality and enter the Ethereal Void. One very practical application of this is the natural moongate nexus that connects so many points in our world.
Some have described the Ethereal Void as a sky full of stars where one travels as if by thought. Some describe it as empty, but they are mistaken. The Void is not an empty waste, but more a dark ocean or vortex with a hundred currents to get lost on. It connects our world to the distant past of Old Sosaria and to tomorrow’s possibilities.
It also connects to terrible places even demons fear.
The Dark Path
By Unknown
The Dark Path is some ancient artifact crafted by an unknown party that allowed travel through the Ethereal Void. Travel on the path requires a serpent jawbone, likely a tribute to the powers that maintain the path. All of the trails on the Path lead to a central area that has exits to the domains of Fire, Air, Water, and Earth. Some say that there was originally an Obelisk at the center of these doorways, but that it was destroyed long ago.
Those who find a way to walk the Path or observe it from a carefully constructed Observatory can gain access to great power, but just as likely be crushed like an insect by a great power. The Dark Path was once easily navigated, but a cataclysm twisted and broke many of the trails. This doesn’t help the sanity of those who travel on this Path. Elemental Places By Jeram the Wise
There is an old myth that the greatest elementals, those called the Titans, travelled from the cradle of Sosaria into the Ethereal Void. Each explored as was his or her way: Stratos - the Emissary, Hydros - the Silence, Lithos - the Defiler, and Pyros - the Conqueror. Each found a place in the Ether and built a domain.
Some mages could once call on the power of those domains when casting, but now, many of the paths through the Ether are gone.