The Ether

The Ether, also called the Etherial Realm or the Astral Plane is a dimension that exists separately from the physical world of Hysal, and is only accessible to those who are connected to it, namely, Soulbound Mages.

A Mysterious Realm

While the Ether has been known to exist at least since the end of the Long Winter, which was more than 2000 years ago, the knowledge that scholars possess about the dimension itself remains minuscule. This is because records detailing the etherial travels of Soulmages, both in oral and written forms remain rare and often uninsightful, for two main reasons.
The first is that very, very few people can even travel there, even amongst Soulbound mages. Second, the historic systemic oppression of soulbound mages and the illegal study of their magic in many of the most advanced Hysalian societies stunted the progress of research in this field. Thankfuly, this is slowly changing, especialy since The Fall in Arros and Enaskia, and this, combined with more advanced research from Osian, scholars are begining to have a slightly better picture of this mysterious realm.

Manifestation

Geography

The Ether has been described as a vast, largely empty realm, which some say has a vague sense of familiarity to Hysal, but with very uncanny characteristics. The land here has been described as sometimes rather chaotic, with a mix of sharp mountainious terrain cutting through large expences of rolling hills, composed of barren, bluish rock. Above and around the mountains are floating islands of various sizes and shapes, all composed of that same bluish material. In the flatter areas, a mysterious blue and opaque liquid, which scholars believe it to be a liquid form of Wild Mana energy, accumulate in shallow pools. Some of those pools are as big as ponds or lakes.

Climate

The climate here seems unnafected by Hysalian seasons. It remains generaly stable, characterized by cooler temperatures, crisp air carried by a regular light breeze, which gets a bit faster in the flat regions. a regular light breeze. There are no clouds in the etherial skies, yet rain, composed of that same weird blue liquid falls in brief, but common showers.

Astronomy

There is a day-night cycle here, but unlike in Hysal, stars are visible even during the day, though many are hidden by the sun still. Both Veos and Hoben as well as the stars remain in the same position in the etherial sky as in the Hysalian sky, and retain their cycle. Given this, it seems that unlike the climate, star positions are dependant on the Soulmage's location in Hysal.

Life in the Ether

The Ether is devoid of any life that resembles anything in the physical world. There is no plant life here, and the soil seems to be devoid of any insects. In fact, the only forms of life that can be found here are exclusively spiritual in nature. These spirits are actauly human and animal souls, which wander the land aimlessly. Some of these animal souls, become Ikshais as they bond with a human in the Physical world, making them a Shapeshifter. Human spirits here can be called upon and summoned into the physical world by Necromancers. If the teachings of Choranism can be believed, these spirits are in the Ether temporarily as they travel towards their final rest, somewhere beyond in The celestial plane.

Etherial Wild Mana

The Ether is believed to hold vast amounts of an exotic form of Wild Mana, which is the magic energy that powers the abilities of Soulbound Mages. Unlike Elemental Mages, who must rely on the limited supply of wild mana in the physical word, it seems thats soulbound mages do not have this problem, as their only limitation is how much mana they can extract via their etherial link and how much of it they can store inside their mana cores. By most scholarly estimation, the Ether seems to have an endless pool of wild mana energy.

Exploration

Who can access it?

In theory, the Ether can be accessed by anyone with a spiritual link connecting them to the dimension, which seems to include all Soulbound Mages. However, in practice, only a small percentage of them can actualy access the dimension, let alone stay inside it for any mesurable amount of time. This is because doing so requires an exceptionally strong link to it, as well as a deep meditative state of mind.

Entering the Ether

Once a strong enough connection is established, their souls automaticaly leave their bodies and travel up the link, until it finaly enters the Etherial realm. While they are inside the dimension, other soulmages will be able to see a sort of blue halo around the person's body, which will have gone limp. This blue halo slowly grows stronger until it is even perceivable by Elemental Mages, and then humans. However, by this point, the person's soul usualy returns and settles back inside the their body, ending the travel.

Inside the Ether

For reasons that we do not yet know, once a soulmage enters the Ether, their time there is severely limited. After a few minutes, they will automaticaly leave and travel back into their bodies. This means that any exploration is severely limited. The longest trip to the Ether that was ever officially recorded was 11 hours long, by a Soulstrider. While this is rather long even for soulstriders, this number is deceptive. For people watching him in Hysal, the mage's soul was gone for 11 hours, but for the mage themselves, there were in the Ether for less than 20 minutes. This discrepancy is the result of time moving much slower in the Ether than in the physical world. This time discrepancy, combined with the sometimes complicated terrain makes oportunities to thoroughly explore the realm greatly limited.

Testimonies

Here is a compilation of written record and oral transcript given to the Scholars of the University of Vrahlis by Soulbound Mages detailing their experiences while traveling within this realm.

"When i first appeared, i thought i was at the top of a big mountain or something. But when i walked towards the horizon, i saw that it was actualy the edge of a cliff and i realised that i was on some sort of floating island. I... didn't get very far."

Part of a testimony given by a Soulweaver.

"I didn't see much of anything, to be honest. I was in there for maybe 2-3 minutes, just walking around. The land was pretty flat and there was a lot of pools with a wierd liquid in it. I didn't dare touch it; It seemed like a bad idea. I did a few human spirits drifting around as well. They looked at me from afar, but left me alone otherwise. I wonder if they knew what i was..."

Part of a testimony given by a Necromancer.

"Well the place isn't super interesting if you've been there many times like me. Its part of my job as a Coursier , you see. But there was this one time that i saw a whole pack of wolf spirits, like 20 of them, running together up a nearby hill. Once on top, they stopped and howled together at the moons. That was pretty neat."

Part of a testimomy given by a Soulstrider

"I appeared on a hill, with my Ikshai beside me. The big tiger was asleep, but got up quickly as he saw me. He was happy i was visiting him. Since it was my first time, i wasn't expecting to see him, but appearently its normal for shifters? Anyways, we walked together a bit, talking. Well, he didn't talk per say, but i could understand him anyways. Too bad i couldn't stay for long, we had a nice conversation going..."

Part of a testimony given by a Shapeshifters.

"After a few minutes, i felt my movements become sluggish, and my vision got hazy. The air around me was simmering, like on a hot summer's day. Then, i felt a pull down and i was enveloped in darkness. When i opened my eyes again, i was back in bed, in the Suriat's ascension room."

Part of a testimony given by a Necromancers.

Localization

Where is the Ether, exactly?

It is generally though by most uneducated folks, including even some Soulmages, that the Ether is an realm located on the moon Veos. This belief persists for many reasons, such as the fact that the moon's light has great influence over the abilities of Soulmages, especialy their strenght. There is also the fact that the dimension is overly saturated in a blue colour, the same colour as the Moon's clouds cover and the light it emits.
However, there is no actual, concrete proof of this being the case. On the contrairy, there seems to be many clues that point to it not being the case. The most obvious being the complete lack of clouds in the etherial sky, which makes it impossible for the realm to be on the moon's surface, as it is permanantly blocked from view by a thick cloud cover. There is also the fact that many soulbound mages report seeing the moon itself shining in the etherial sky, which would be imposible if they were on its surface.
Instead, both Choranian theologians and physics scholars propose an alternative theory wich stipulates that the Ether is a dimension or realm that is separate, but adjacent to the physical world of Hysal, and possibly located just above the world's surface, as close as the world's tallest mountains. This last part would give a believable explination as to why Soulbound Mages have a much easier time connecting and traveling to the Ether at higher altitudes. However, no such scientific explination have been found regarding the profound impact that Veos has on soulmages, the cause of which remains a mystery to this day.

Type

Metaphysical, Astral

Do Soulmages affect the Ether?

A few scholars from the Continent of Osian have proposed many centuries ago a theory that attempts to explain the sudden appearance of soulbound magic in the world during the long winter. They theorise that the meteor impact that brought about the Long Winter on the world may have also caused the sudden post-long winter prolifecation of soulbound mages by disturbing the Etherial plane is some way. This destabilisation would have created invisible waves of exotic Wild mana energy traveling outwards from the impact point and around the globe. This energy may have clung to the souls of humans, and thus creating the first Soulbound Mages. Of course, it is impossible to know if any of this is true, but many Arrosian and Enaskian scholars have addopted this explination. Notably, both the Solianic temples and the Choranian suriats reject this explanation, as they each have their own beliefs, based on religius scripture.

Do Soulmages affect the Ether?

It is well known that the ether itself greatly affects Soulbound Mages in various ways, as previously discussed. But there is also some evidence that points to the opposite being true as well. Indeed, there seems to be a corolation between the geography of the terrain a soulmage will find itself in, and their state of mind. It even seems to affect the local climate, as wind and temperatures flunctuate wildly between travels. This would suggests that the Ether either reacts to the person entering it, or that the person's perception is in some way altered by it, but more research is needed to fully understand this curious phenomena.