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Parallel to the physical world of Dran is the Spirit World, formed from the spirits of every living thing on Dran.
This can be seen into, and can be visited by those who know the correct magics, such as those of the College of Two Worlds. Some animals, such as cats, also possess the ability to see into the Spirit World, making them react strangely under certain circumstances. All mages who power their magic from spirits can reach into the Spirit World, essentially at random, and capture spirits which are then destroyed for power. The degree of resistance the spirits give to this process depends on the relative powers of the mage and that of the spirit.
The Spirit World is an 'interpretative' place based on how living things perceive the physical world, mixed with the interpretation of their perceptions through their unconscious mind. It follows the geography of the physical world, but is defined by the perceptions of the things which live in a given area. The areas of a given region of the Spirit World relative to its physical area is usually proportional to the density of creatures perceiving it, giving a constant 'density of perception' in the Spirit World. Because of this, areas very dense with life, such as rain forests, cover very large areas in the Spirit World, while barren areas such as deserts, ice caps and so on are very small there, and in some cases utterly lifeless parts of them disappear altogether. The relative areas of different parts of the Spirit World shift with changes in the distribution of creatures within them.
The 'resolution' of an area is also defined by the perceptions of the organisms perceiving it. Plants give very blurred, low-resolution perception so that forests generally show little detail. Humans give the highest resolution so that cities tend to be very well defined. Physical world creatures are visible in the Spirit World, but they are conglomerate representations of what other organisms (as well as themselves) perceive them to be. This means that an organism can be invisible if nothing can perceive it (though parts of itself it is aware of will probably be visible). Invisible beings and attacks will tend not to be visible in the Spirit World. No non-intentional (that is, non-voice) sounds exist in the Spirit World, but voices from the physical world do reach into it. There are no echoes there. Also, spirit representations of the physical world can be somewhat surreal and hard to interpret due to their being filtered through the perceptions of other living things (for example words and voices will only be heard as such if they are perceived by something which comprehends them; if not they will be incomprehensible noise). Some entities of the Spirit World may be able to interact with the physical world; this is the origin of poltergeists.
In the Spirit World the sky is dark apart from a (non-luminous) sun, the two moons, and a few astronomical objects, such as some stars and the planet Urshanis. The quality of the 'light' in an area, and its general 'feel' are defined by its emotional ambience in the physical world. 'Positive' emotions give brightness, 'neutral' ones silver-greyness, and 'negative' emotions feel dark. There is no day-night cycle in the Spirit World (although the 'sun' rises and sets). Objects are visible by their being perceived, but have no shadows. Their colour depends on how and by what they are perceived. There is also no perceptible weather, though the spirit representations of objects may show the effects of weather conditions on them. The walls between the living and Spirit Worlds thin in thunderstorms and violent weather, so that ghosts and so on are seen much more often in bad weather.
All living things contribute to the Spirit World, but the more intelligent life-forms contribute more. Because of this humans dominate the Spirit plane in the same way as they do the physical world. Humans are more plentiful and their perceptions, because of the intelligence behind them, tend to dominate those of other organisms, though this obviously varies with the level of the local human population relative to that of other living things.
Passage to the Spirit World is similar to those having a near-death experience - one seems to move along a dark tunnel, with a light at the end, through which one emerges into the Spirit World.
Travellers to the Spirit plane from the physical world look like their self-image (which may or may not resemble their physical body). They always maintain their own size regardless of the scale distortions of the Spirit World. They are solid and visible to beings in the Spirit World, but are instantly distinguishable from beings 'native' to the Spirit World, seeming to 'glow' with an internal light, whose colour is governed by their internal emotional state in a similar way to that for the general ambience of an area.
The Spirit World absorbs the minds and souls of all organisms as they die. The spirits of living organisms wander the Spirit plane for a while before gradually fading as they are absorbed into the Spirit World as a whole. This fading occurs more slowly if the death of the organism involved strong feelings and emotions. Unforgiving and highly traumatised spirits are particularly persistent and tend to remain in the area of their death - this is the origin of ghosts. Battlefields, prisons and the like are particularly densely populated by disturbed spirits of this kind.
It is possible to retrieve the minds of the dead from the Spirit World if the person has not been dead for long. However, there can be problems with this. There are always changes from life to death, and no-one has yet found a way to truly return the dead to life - the best that can be done is a semblance of such.
The raw materials for new souls are pulled out of the Spirit World during the growth of the new creature. Of course, Cthon is now corrupting that world, and many responsible mages worry about the long-term effects of this.
In game terms, in the Spirit World all physical statistics are derived from the Willpower of the being. Mental statistics remain unchanged. They can manipulate the stuff of the Spirit world with their minds, with the stronger mind being able to have a greater effect. Being trained in such, that is, if one is a member of the College of Two Worlds or the equivalent in the Lunar Empire, greatly increases ones effectiveness in doing so.
The World of Dran | Feel of the World | History | Inhabitants of Dran | Larger Universe | Magic
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Copyright © Tony Jones, 2007.
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