The Astral Sea
The Astral Sea is a shimmering expanse that makes up the vast majority of the known Multiverse, a nigh infinite realm brimming with aether (see Introductory Alchemy, Codex of Miscellanea). It is a place of profound emptiness, where the uppermost edge of the Material Plane slowly blends into the distant reaches of the Nine Realms. During the cataclysmic events of the Syzygy, the very foundations of the Multiverse were shaken and split into little pieces, leading to the birth of numerous magical realms that would eventually become the dominions of the gods. Amidst the drifting fragments of these realms, one can also find the scattered remains of Annwyn, the long-lost home of a pantheon of elvish demigods known as The Eldest, who all but perished with the destruction of their plane.
But beyond these divine dominions, beyond all the heavens and hells of the Nine Realms, there lies the Outer Darkness: an inky void that fills the space between stars, existing outside everything else. In ancient times, strange entities would creep in from this void, drawn by their curiosity for sentient life. However, since the mythical sealing of the Black Door, nothing else may enter or leave the Multiverse without the explicit permission of the gods, securing the boundaries of creation. The transitive properties of this place are at their most potent near these firmamental borders, with astral projection being the most popular among mortal mages, but this sea of endless possibilities (like any other sea) can also be physically traversed by those brave enough to sail its metaphorical waters.
Oracular Observations: The Byzantium
｢ Although I pride myself on my observational skills, in my vain attempt to reduce the Multiverse down to its categorical facts, I realize now that I lost sight of the truth. All that’s to say, there are some things out there in the great unknown that may never truly be explained. One such “thing” is the Byzantium: an impractically huge skyship that has been found wandering the shimmering expanse of the Astral Sea at least since the Syzygy — seemingly with a mind of its own. Heralded by a thunderous waltz, which reverberates deafeningly from an unseen megaphone aboard, the ship is rumored to be piloted by a figure not seen for generations — Harken, Eldest of the Evening Star. If these rumors are to be believed, then the archfey Riparioth—formerly Eldest of the Babbling Brook—is not the last of Annwyn’s lost divinities. ｣
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