Wild Places

"There are places in the world where the normal rules don't apply any more. Magic happens on its own there, and dreams will pop out to smack you in the face." - Cianán Líathdhuine

In some places around the Great Ring, the realms of Spirit and Dream are pressed so tightly against the Physical Realm that they bleed through. These are known as the Wild Places, and they are some of the strangest and most magical places in the world. In a Wild Place, a person can slip between one realm and another - and the connection goes both ways.

Wild Places can be anywhere, and they can be as large as The Middlesea or as small as a wardrobe. Some are hidden on remote islands or deep in the wilderness, while other encompass the homes and cities where people live. The only thing that all Wild Places have in common is that they all alter reality in some way.

Into the Dreamlands

Many Wild Places are connected to The Dream deeply enough to allow passage into it from the Physical Realm. This is how Dreamwalkers usually access the Dreamlands, those places that exist only in the realm of thought. Those who wish to travel into the worlds of imagination can enter through these Wild Places to begin their journey. Of course, these Wild Places are also gateways out of The Dream, and more than one creature has used them to escape into the Physical Realm. You can read more about Dreamlands here.

Living Stories

Wild Places with a deep connection to The Dream are often places where stories come to life. Narrative rules take on all the forces of physical laws, and people are pulled into the stories to play whatever roles the plot calls for. These Wild Places are subject to constant Invasive Narratives, where the tales of other worlds intrude into our world to play out whatever storylines the script requires. You can read more about Invasive Narratives here.

Wild Magic

Not all Wild Places are dominated by The Dream. Some have a stronger connection to the Spirit Realm, and the energies which fuel Magic. In these places, magic happens more readily and less predictably than in other parts of the world.

Plants and animals that live in a Wild Place that is high in magic will often be transformed by it. The flora and fauna of these areas are often strange and otherworldly, with characteristics that defy explanation. Some plants are capable of producing potent magical effects, while others can move and react like animals. Similarly, animals in the Wild Places are often larger, stronger, and more intelligent than their counterparts elsewhere.

This kind of Wild Place can also warp space and time. Visitors may find themselves experiencing time differently, with minutes or even hours passing in the outside world while only moments have elapsed in the Wild Place. Space can also become distorted, with distances appearing longer or shorter than they really are, or objects seeming to be in multiple places at once.

Using Magic in a Wild Place like this is a dangerous affair. Spells may be more powerful than normal, or their effects may be altered to suit the narrative needs of the current plot, if the place also has a strong Dream connection. It is always somewhat unpredictable, and most True Mages avoid testing their magic in the Wild Places of the world.

Wild Places and the Egregoric Force

Some people believe that the Egregoric Force creates the Wild Places, pushing the realms apart in places that people know well and squeezing them together in areas considered mysterious. Others believe that the Wild Places have always been there, and that beliefs about them arise afterwards. Identifying which came first is a problem that has fascinated philosophers for centuries, and no answer is yet forthcoming. If you want to form your own opinions on the matter, you can read more about the Egregoric Force here.

Making a Wild Place

While it is uncertain whether the Egregoric Force created all the Wild Places, it is proven that it can happen. The island of Oileán Fiáin, and most especially the city of Aerendel, are examples of this. These areas are not naturally forming Wild Places; they are results of experiments conducted by the Clarati sorceress Celestina which magnified the power of the Egregoric Force. This had the effect of binding the Physical realm and the Dream more tightly together, and the entire island has qualities associated with Wild Places as a result. She demonstrated that the power of collective belief could influence the creation of Wild Places - but philosophers still argue whether it did in natural occurrences.

Are All Magical Places Wild?

There are many places in the world that have persistent magical effects, but are not in fact Wild Places. One example of this is Istoríos, where a moment of contemplation stretches forever. These places are typically created and maintained by some entity or group of entities - in the case of Istoríos, this is created by the god Istoríos, and would fade if the god chose. In general, if the unusual effect persists despite the influence of thinking beings, it is a Wild Place. If the effect vanishes when someone stops maintaining it (or people stop believing in it), it is not a Wild Place.

The Known Wild Places