Places

During the dust-ups a few years back, many portals slammed shut, Nodes were seized or destroyed, and Horizon Realms were severed from their Earthly ties. This proved catastrophic to the inhabitants of those Realms. The lucky ones escaped to spread nightmarish tales of Realms that folded up and sucked everyone and everything within the Realm to an unknown – but clearly uncomfortable – destiny. Some become those Ghost Realms I mentioned earlier – spectral reflections filled with Disembodied spirits who essentially believe they’re still alive. The most unlucky people, I assume, either perished or wound up in some dimension we have yet to learn about. The results of this catastrophe tipped the balance of power in the Ascension War… and, more vitally, showed the true cost of what it is that we do. To be Awakened is to risk everything for a glimpse of self-made miracles. And sometimes, through little or no fault of our own, we find ourselves swallowed by forces beyond our control.

Cast against the Horizon by the physical and metaphysical light of the Sun, the Shade Realms – once known as the Vada – feature strange vortices of energy that are said to contain the essence of the Nine Magickal Spheres. Occupying what could be thought of as the Umbrae of various planets – which, through some head-twisting quirk of celestiography, typically manifest on the Horizon of our own world – these Realms often go by the abbreviation S.R. followed by the Sphere associated with the Realm in question.

In Tradition cosmology, the planets within our solar system are associated with gods, energies, earthly phenomena, and magickal Spheres. Science, of course, seeks to strip away those associations and replace them with measurements of cold, dead space. Even then, however, the awesome spectacle of planetary might cannot be purged of wonder entirely. Scientists can wipe Pluto off the celestial roll-call, but the uncanny essence of S.R. Entropy still wears its mysterious shadow-cloak … or so folks say. The Euthanatos Tradition sealed access to this Realm long ago and supposedly still control the few portals that reach it… which may, of course, have something to do with why those scientists purged it from the rolls!

Like Horizon Realms, these regions can be visited only through direct portals or Umbral wanderings. Several of them, like S.R. Correspondence, cannot be reached from Earth at

Shard Realm/ Planet Shade Realm (S.R.)

all, although lesser Realms – essentially their moons – can still be found by a dedicated traveler. Occasionally, Shade Realms manifest as natural gateways on the skin of the Horizon, boiling with the energies associated with each Realm. Several – most especially S.R. Life and S.R. Forces – have long histories as Ascension War battlegrounds. The Doissetep conflagration sparked a war in the ruins that drew mages of all kinds to the stormy domain of S.R. Forces. Such conflicts, though, demand vast resources from everyone involved, so they rarely last for long. The few mages who indulge in such adventures are brave, powerful, and often crazier than hell. Grudges, greed, curiosity, and boredom inspire these daredevils, and very few of them return to Earth intact, if they return to Earth at all.

As for the Realms themselves, they blaze and shudder with their associated energies. S.R. Forces is one huge, eternal tempest with tiny islands of temporary calm; S.R. Life boasts a primeval ecosystem that could shame the Hollow Earth; and S.R. Correspondence features more dimensions and perspectives than Picasso on an acid trip. S.R. Time is extremely hazardous, as moving through it at all results in temporal distortion and uncontrolled time travel. In S.R. Mind, a traveler’s experiences depend entirely upon what she expects to see, whereas S.R. Spirit strips all illusions from the mortal/ spiritual divide, allowing a mage to speak face-to-face with her Avatar. S.R. Matter is thought to be the Hollow Earth itself (or, perhaps, a series of related Hollow Earths), and S.R. Entropy supposedly showcases the grand designs of mortality, possibly cycling directly back into the Underworld. The recursive nature of these regions and the especially subjective nature of their environments both demonstrate the folly of thinking too literally about landscapes or geography when discussing the Otherworlds!

Certain cosmologists insist there’s a second Horizon – a True Horizon – located out past the moon and Mars, in the region of this solar system’s Asteroid Belt. Between Earth’s Horizon and this True Horizon, a cosmic Umbra often called Etherspace reaches outward toward the stars. Here, a traveler might pass from the hard vacuum of scientific space into the strange expanse of spirit space, where the laws of legend still prevail.

Out past Earth’s Horizon, reality as we know it is far more fluid than it ever was back on Earth. Here, the principles of magick, faith, and science remain in constant flux. We have the airless vacuum of space, true enough, but as I mentioned earlier, certain mages survive just fine there without life-support gear.

In the old days, it’s been said, flying ships waged strange wars and journeyed to distant planets in what was known as the Void of Heaven. In the Age of Steam, star-faring Etherites journeyed out into Etherspace, setting up colonies on Mars and Luna, discovering civilizations of other beings that could simply have been conjured by their own imaginations. (There are, after all, certain types of legendary Martians – Bug-Eyed Monsters, tentacled horrors, red-skinned nude beauties, and so on – and who’s to say whether those entities exist on their own terms or whether they’re there because someone expected them to be there…?) More recently, the Void Engineers, the Etherites, and occasional other explorers staged weird battles in this fluctuating space. Etherships and rocket ships out of science-fiction fantasies populated this space between the stars. Once again, however, that wild era screeched to a halt when the Avatar Winds kicked in and travel beyond our Gauntlet got more perilous. Given the distance between destinations and the risk of Disembodiment, few travelers have dared to start that space race up again. Supposedly, phantasmal ghost ships still flow through Etherspace, re-enacting cosmic firefights or flitting between colonies of ghost-ridden ruins. If these rumors are true, it puts an eerie spin on that whole idea of a space ghost…

To pass through this second Horizon, you’d need to find Etherspace Anchorheads – elusive vortices of arcane energy that flare and fade around the distant reaches of Etherspace. Like the lesser Anchorheads in the Earthly Horizon, these swirling clouds of energy can take a traveler out past the barrier. In this case, however, all known Anchorheads are warded by powerful entities that challenge and often destroy mortal trespassers. These beings are very territorial, and they must be tricked, appeased, or otherwise defeated before you can venture into deep space. It’s been said that these creatures were once Master mages, or even the fabled Oracles, whose powers or understanding grew too great for Earth to contain. Now, though, they often appear as mad gods, protecting their Anchorheads

like cosmic Cerberoi, snapping at anyone who intrudes upon their domains. If that’s the origin of such entities, then the ideal of Ascension may be just an esoteric joke. There’s nothing enlightened about these monsters at all!

Oh, and speaking of jokes, here’s one on the Technocracy: the theory of Ether was supposedly disproved by scientific consensus around the turn of the last century. That disproval, in turn, was the reason the Etherites cited when they left the Order of Reason. Now, however, a new scientific theory posits that the universe consists of a near-zero-viscosity superfluid. And although no one’s officially calling it Ether yet, the Technocracy may find itself hoist by its own metaphysical petard.

Creation works in very strange ways.

Genesis stories both secular and sacred allude to a Big Bang that birthed the universe. According to certain cosmologies, the Shard Realms – which we now know as the planets of our solar system – were especially significant chunks of metaphysical debris. Reflecting mystic principles, these Fragmenti were considered the realms of ancient gods: Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, and so forth. We can see their influence in the everyday puzzles of astrology and the corresponding zodiac, through which we are “children of Mars” or “littered under Mercury.”

To Otherworldly travelers, the planets are enigmas of the scientific revolution. According to the archives of Etherite explorers, those planets were, until recently, worlds unto themselves, with workable atmospheres and indigenous life. Now, though, the cold hand of Technocratic wisdom has reduced these worlds to spinning protoplasmic cauldrons and icy stone. Certain Etherites suggest that the only things standing between Earth’s wonders and a similar fate are the mages who refuse to let such things happen. I don’t know how true that is, but the idea is worth considering.

Whether or not the fabled adventures on Mercury and Mars actually took place on the planets themselves or within their Umbral Shade Realm reflections, it is a matter of record that modern-day mages occasionally travel further than Earthly scientists would have us believe. These days, the Shards are more or less “dead” by human estimations; if the great god Mars still makes his home on that red ball of rock, he’s hiding his presence well. Still, the Etherites and Void Engineers send spaceships to the various planets and their moons, occasionally finding ruined Skyriggers and other mysteries on those planetary surfaces. Although the more obvious magickal phenomena seem restricted to the Shade Realms… at least for now… there has clearly been more mystic history throughout our solar system than the average person would possibly believe.

Out past the Asteroid Belt and its True Horizon, the Deep Umbra (or Deep Universe) plays host to the most powerful Marauders and Nephandi – mages too unstable for Earthly confines. Rumor has it that the Traditions and Technocracy joined forces during and after World War II to drive these demented creatures out past the Horizon. Afterward, the story claims, those factions thickened one or both Horizons to keep the Mad Ones, the Fallen, and their various cosmic horrors on the far side. If that’s true, however, then Earth’s Horizon is a poor protection – a powerful wizard can get around it easily enough. Beyond that, though, the story has another major flaw in its logic: if the Horizon is supposed to keep sinister titans out in deep space, why have so many Technocrats and Etherites been dedicated to leaving Earth behind and venturing off into the dark?

Because, yes – there are demonic entities out there in the Void of Heaven. That much is a matter of record. Just as the deepest seas contain creatures too vast for dry land, so the Deep Umbra teems with creatures who’d eat Godzilla for a light snack. The Void Engineers have their Pan-Dimensional Corps to deal with such threats, but their record is spotty at best. The age-old terror of alien invasion is apparently valid, and although the Engineers and Etherites maintain their Earthly rivalry in deep space, they also share camaraderie and occasional cooperation in the face of mutual threats.

So why go there to begin with? Because Paradox, the scourge of magick here on Earth, does not exist in deep space at all. A

mage who’s powerful enough to fly through space naked while shooting fireballs out his ass can do so without Reality slapping him into next week. The difference between “realspace” and “Umbraspace” gets hazy out beyond the Horizon. Both science and magick seem equally possible in the Void.

Such metaphysical ambiguity makes the Deep Umbra a natural playground for the Mad Ones, who’re crazy enough to create their own bubbles of personal space. Powerful wizards can, and do, construct majestic fortresses on asteroids and distant planets, tapping cosmic sources of alien Quintessence to fuel deeds that would be impossible back on Earth. Distant moons and solar systems supposedly hold Nephandic strongholds of cyclopean scope. For obvious reasons, the Deep Umbra seems like a tempting destination for mages who want to remake Reality in their own image.

Thing is, most mages can’t survive in this environment. Toss any Technocrat – and almost anyone else, for that matter – out an airlock door, and she’s dead. If nothing else, her own belief will kill her. Travelers who’ve been less indoctrinated by the scientific view of space stand a better chance of survival in those situations, but even the most primal willworkers still have to eat and drink… and such resources are not exactly common in the Void. Without some sort of spaceship or portal, a traveler could spend centuries getting from one place to another. In the meantime, she’d probably go mad from sheer monotony. Think of space as an infinite desert, featuring occasional oases separated by mind-numbing stretches of epic nothing. When you realize how vast this Deep Umbra truly is, it’s a wonder anyone comes back from there at all.

Supposedly, deep space leads back into the Earthly realm. I’ve heard that Umbral travelers occasionally wind up in the blackest regions of our oceans and that deep sea travelers discover portals into space. Once again, recursive quirks in the universe connect “out there” with “in here.” Perhaps, as the Masters of Correspondence say, all places really are one place. The distance between them is merely an illusion we can transcend if and when we learn to forget everything we think we know. Just think of it this way: right now, you could be standing in a park or sitting in a room while your mind roves out across the universe. My words might come to you across vast distances of space and time… and yet, for a while at least, we occupy the same space and time. By sharing visions of what magick could be, what our world might be, what human potential might be

if and when we stretch beyond what we think we know, we can span eternity without moving a step.

And that, fellow traveler, is the truest magick there is.