Otherworld
How does one ascribe locations to non-physical realities? How, when language is an artefact of our mortal existence, could it ever prove adequate to describe a world entirely other than our experience? This unfathomable reality, not of matter, but of mind and spirit, is the Otherworld. It is distant, and yet but a stone’s throw away, felt in whispers in quiet places, where its chill touch may fall lightly upon the back of one’s neck. It is below, around, or beside the World, reachable, sometimes, by untethering the soul, and sometimes by passing boundaries that turn the barrier nebulous. Some claim to have reached it over oceans, rivers, mountains, by passing through forests or bogs, or delving the deepest of caves. Or perhaps these physical journeys are but catalysts for spiritual wanderings into sidereal planes.
As one plumbs the seemingly limitless depths of this Otherworld, one at last begins to grasp how fragile our World is, precariously surrounded as it is by this alien existence. Inexorable predators move through these murky spaces, beings of eldritch power and unknowable intent, and we are left to hope we remain, at best, unnoticed and beneath their regard.
For the Otherworld, despite trappings of occasional beauty, is Hell, and each Realm within is a place of torment. Every being within is capable to rending and consuming our very souls, and some believe even the land itself would eagerly devour all we are.
Too, the Otherworld is home to eidolons—beings of Man-like form, and holding at least partial tethers to mortal consciousnesses. These beings, ghosts and fae, are oft as gods to Men, and yet, they may well be the least of the denizens of the Otherworld. Ample evidence suggests, they too serve as prey to the deeper powers, and that is, mostlike, one of the reasons they seem ever eager to find ingress into our World.
As one plumbs the seemingly limitless depths of this Otherworld, one at last begins to grasp how fragile our World is, precariously surrounded as it is by this alien existence. Inexorable predators move through these murky spaces, beings of eldritch power and unknowable intent, and we are left to hope we remain, at best, unnoticed and beneath their regard.
For the Otherworld, despite trappings of occasional beauty, is Hell, and each Realm within is a place of torment. Every being within is capable to rending and consuming our very souls, and some believe even the land itself would eagerly devour all we are.
Too, the Otherworld is home to eidolons—beings of Man-like form, and holding at least partial tethers to mortal consciousnesses. These beings, ghosts and fae, are oft as gods to Men, and yet, they may well be the least of the denizens of the Otherworld. Ample evidence suggests, they too serve as prey to the deeper powers, and that is, mostlike, one of the reasons they seem ever eager to find ingress into our World.
Other Names: Naraka, Jiok/Diyu/Yomi, Hell, the Underworld, Kahyangan, Tuonela
