The World of Tensei

The world is much too large and too filled with wonder to cover in a single lifetime. Fortunate then that the Well blesses us with many. From the Well and all the way to the edge of the world, there is still so much to see and so much to know. Never stop searching, never stop exploring.

— Reijin Min, the Wandered

The lands of Tensei ripples like waves in the water from a central point - the Well of the World. It has given birth to land and water, raised mountains from pebbles and forests from weeds. Through the ages, the radiant glow of the Well presses outwards and new life rise from what was once barren. Gods and monsters shape and shatter the continents in their passing and with their wars, making Tensei into the world it is.
It is the Well that gives life to the soil and water. The further away from the Well any land is, the more barren it becomes. Far from the light of the Well, there is only ash, dust and lost souls.

The Well

If there was only one sight I could see through any life yet to come, it would be of the Well.

— Reijin Min, the Wanderer

The beating heart of the world, the Well is the seed from which creation has blossomed. It is the Well of Souls and the source of all that is and ever will be. Only the gods have ever gazed upon the Well and lived. The mountains that guard the Well is said to touch the stars and its root dig to the abyss beneath the world. Few mortals ever pass the Heavenly Realms to even see this wondrous land but those who do are forever changed.

The Source of Souls

The Well is where Souls are first born and to where they return when flesh fails. It is an inexorable vortex that draws the souls of the dead to it and it is where they rest until they are reborn.
Although the Well holds a place in every culture, the Gods are jealous of their worship and only heretical cults place their faith in the Well directly.

Seed of Life

The world of Tensei is still growing. As millennia pass, the light of the Well grows and barren lands at the edge of the world bloom. As life spread further, death follows in its wake with war and conflict.
Some of the oldest souls in the world can remember when the world was bleak beyond the land of the gods. As ages pass, flowers spring from dust.

by Ninne124

The Heavenly Realms

Few of us ever see the home of the Gods. Fewer still return. I have seen the Heavenly Gates and wandered their winding paths - the gods work mountains as men might clay. Do not enter their homes uninvited.

— Reijin Min, the Wanderer

Just beyond the Well lies the Heavenly Realms, the home of the gods. Everything here has seen the touch of the Divine, with rivers carved by heavenly blade and forests tended by dog-faced spirits. So close to the Well, life has grown grand and magnificent. There are sparrows the size of wolves and trees with branches that hide the heavens, canyons that cut down to the abyss and mountains of crystal and gold. The borders between the land of gods and mortals are made out of impenetrable mountains, deadly forests and storm-wracked oceans.
It is said that the Gods have made 101 great kingdoms within their realm, each one larger than any mortal empire. Like the gods, each realm is different - some are filled with grand estates and incense-filled temples, while others are little more than untamed wilds.

The Heavenly Gates

Seven paths that lead from the land of mortals into the Heavenly Realm, known as the Heavenly Gates. They are heavily guarded and the land itself conspire against trespassers.
The safest way to pass into the realm of gods is by invitation, but stories tell of heroes who brave the Gates without them when the need is great.

The Celestial Order

The Gods war and quarrel among themselves as much as any mortal might. It is only under the auspice of the Celestial Order that the divine form a common cause.
The Order is an accord between gods as to how things should be. It oversees dispute and feuds, but far from all gods respect the word of the Order; only by power can the Order enforce its decrees.

The Old World

The birthplace of civilization and a graveyard of empires. It is the most ancient land outside the Heavenly Realm and home to the largest realms in Tensei. So close to the Well, the land is fertile and full of life. Its citizen lack for nothing, except peace.

— Reijin Min, the Wanderer

The first lands of mortals, the Old World has seen eons pass. It stands in the shadow of the Heavenly Realm and under the gaze of the gods. Ancient empires share these verdant lands, more beautiful and bountiful than any other in the world. It is almost a singular continent, separated only by age-old feuds and terrible battles.
The Old World is vast and sprawling; it is said that everything that exists can be found somewhere in the old world. From its jungles to the south to the sky-piercing mountains of the north, it is not far from an exaggeration.

A Blessed Realm

Closest of all mortal lands to the Well, the Old World is a living, writhing thing. Seeds grow into crops unbidden, the waters swell with fish and humble wild-flowers bloom with iridescent rainbows upon their petals. It is a land blessed by plenty.
Horrors and beasts grow large, too. In dark forests and ancient, forgotten places where mankind has no place, the Well's light reaches all.

Seat of Civilization

The first cities ever made by humanity still stand in the Old World. The first kings, the first emperors, the first wars waged - the Old World is the birthplace of humanity. It is a fact those who live there never fail to remind others of.
Across the rest of Tensei, the Old World is viewed with jealousy and greed - as one might view a dragon sleeping on its treasure.

The Middle-Marches

Dynamic, vibrant and jealous. The petty kings and tyrants of the Middle-Marches rule lands much less blessed than those in the Old World. Maybe not as venerable as the empires of the Old World, but there is a fire to the people of the Middle-Marches.

— Reijin Min, the Wanderer

Lesser than the Old World in both size and splendor, the Middle-Marches is the second land of mankind. Separated from the Old World by an ocean, the Middle-Marches have settled and ceased to move or grow. It is spread across several continents and countless islands, scattered across an immense expanse of ocean. Much of the Middle-Marches is still undiscovered and unsettled, luring explorers and traders to cross the waves in search of their fortune.

Rising Power

The kings and conquerors of the Middle-Marches are ambitious and always scheming. There is always opportunities to be found in the Middle-Marches, new lands to explore or old ones to conquer.
It is a lure that attracts people from around Tensei, even from the Old World. In the Middle-Marches, there is always chaos and in the chaos there is freedom.

Across the Waves

The oceans of the Middle-Marches are filled with adventure. Traders travel between the Old World and their homes in search of profit, explorers brave the unknown and pirates prey on them all in turn.
Entire wars have been fought and settled on the seas of the Middle-Marches. It is a graveyard of broken ship and drowned sailors.

The Borderlands

At the edge of the Well's light, the land grows rugged and harsh. The borderlands are still young and forming. The lands splinter and come together, wracked by earthquakes and tidal waves as the Well births new lands, new mountains and new disasters. People of the Borderlands live far from the light, in small and primitive societies. It is an arid, rugged place that most see little reason to visit. The islands and continents of the Borderland are smaller than the Middle-Marches, scattered slivers of land in an empty ocean.

Deadlands

So far from the Well, the eddies and swirls of its life mean the difference between life and death. A slight deviation means nothing in the Old World, but give rise to places of death and ash in the Borderlands.
Deadlands are places in the Borderlands devoid of the Well's touch. There is nothing here; no life, no wind, no light. Only dust and empty winds.

Oasis

In other places, the swirls of the Well intersect and pool into gardens of splendor. Such places are fiercely guarded when found, for they can feed a petty kingdom for generations.
Inevitably, the flow of the well Well change and life fades from the Oases and the soil returns to jagged stone and ash. Famine returns to the people.

The Bleak

It is the end of the world. A place without life, without hope. If you die here, your soul will wander forever in this grey place.

— Reijin Min, the Wanderer

Beyond the edge of the world lies the Bleak. It is an endless wasteland of ashes and dust, too far from the Well to hold any life in its barren soil. In the Bleak, the waters are still, grey and empty while the wispy clouds stagnate against an empty sky. It is an empty, desolate place that ring the known world like a noose. Most of the Bleak is a vast, featureless plain that seems to stretch infinitely towards the horizon. In places, the dust and ash have piled high into hills or water has seeped in to turn the Bleak marshes of tar-like sludge.
In this cursed, damned place, only mankind lacks the sense to stay far away.

Beyond the Bleak

No one knows how far the Bleak goes on for or what lies at its end and to some such mystery is unbearable. Every question must have an answer. Does the Bleak go on forever or is there another Well, far away?
Bleak-trekkers make it their call to brave the ashen plains and see what lies beyond the end of the world.

Ruins and Dust

Sometimes, something is found out in the Bleak. Ancient masonry, shards of pottery, signs of civilization where there should be none.
Languages long dead and creations long forgotten are dredged from the Bleak. Greed has joined curiosity in drawing men and women into the ashes and dust.

Voice of the World

Blessed and cursed in equal measure, Reijin Min is Tensei's most well-traveled scholar and author of many journals. Few can call upon their past lives with such clarity as her and it is with this ability that she has spent lifetimes in travel.
With every reincarnation, she ventures into new lands. Her works and maps are widely used by those who can afford them.
Read About Reijin Min - The Wanderer

by Hasui Kawase

by Hasui Kawase

Not every god resides in the Heavenly Realm. A few gods roam the mortal realms either as unseen shadows or terrifying forces of nature.

by Hasui Kawase

The south-east shores of the Old World have been shattered by the divine fury of the Great Dragon, turned to an archipelago of broken land.

by Hasui Kawase

by Ohara Kaigan

by Ohara Kaigan

The Other

Hell

In the void above the world, Hell hangs like a blade waiting to fall. It is a sprawling palace of crystal, its towers and spires pointing down towards Tensei. No mortal ever visits Hell, save when abducted by Devils at the whim of its ruler - the Empress.
Souls who have returned from there remember crystalline courtyards and sculpted rooms, lit by strange pale lights and echoing with screams. Within the palace halls, the Devils experiment, stitch flesh and research the forbidden, arcane science of their mistress.
The true size of Hell can only be guessed at, but scholars think it rivals the Old World.

The Abyss Beneath

Far beneath the surface lies another world; a world of caverns, glowing fungi and chittering terrors that worship strange, alien gods. Those who have ventured there and returned speak of living darkness and crystals that speak.
The Pit is the realm of the Worm-God Acharaj. Underneath all of Tensei is an ocean of black water, where endless gnawing horrors are thought to dwell. When such water is brought back to the Surface, it evaporates when touched by the sun but has been used to forged terrible things.
Some say the Pit is the path to another world, but Acharaj lets no one pass through his realm without paying the price.

by Hasui Kawase