“And you are not concerned?”
“I am now that you reminded me.” Gaius laughed.
“So?”
“Very well,” Gaius replied with mock resignation.
Gadius waited, staring up to the bottom of Gaius’s bunk, waiting for the knight to test the ship’s defenses.
“Hmm, that is very odd,” Gaius said, sooner than Gadius had expected.
“What is odd?” Gadius asked.
“I shifted, and I felt the shift, but after shifting I was still in the material realm. Right here, not aethereal.”
“What do you mean? You could not shift to the aethereal realm?” Gadius asked.
“No. I shifted, or at least it felt that way; however, everything stayed the same. It felt like the material and aethereal realms were one and the same,” Gadius said, and paused. “I have not shifted back, in fact.”
“So you think you’re aethereal now? I should not be able to hear you,” Gadius said.
“There, I shifted back, and I’m still — still here. This is very odd. I have never encountered this, nor heard of it.”
“Thinking back to school, was there not some philosophical speculation that the Outer Planes had no aether? Similar to the Astral Plane?” Gadius asked.
“Hmm. Good point. Let me think.” Gaius went silent for a few moments. “I do think you may be correct. Although there were different arguments about the why of this. But perhaps that is the answer.”
“The Abyss is an outer plane?” Gadius asked. That seemed to go against everything they had been taught.
“I am not sure I would go that far, but it would appear that the Abyss is something different. It is not one of the Planes of Man. Perhaps only the Planes of Man have aethereal realms?” Gaius said.
“Well, given that the aethereal realms are distinct with each Plane of Man, that would make some sense. They may be an aspect or dimension of the Planes of Man.”
“I am now wishing I had paid more attention to those philosophy classes,” Gaius said, “or taken some advanced ones.”
Appendix II: Introduction & Overview of Time, Space and the Multiverse
Mortal mages and scholars have a limited understanding of how the multiverse functions. This is perhaps understandable, as it does take centuries of study to even truly appreciate the complexity of time and multispace; this is why the gods tend to have the best understanding of how things work. However, with the assistance of the Altrusians, the djinn, and some input from moderately cooperative gods, Doom’s understanding is far beyond that of most mortal scholars.
In this article, I shall restrict myself to speaking of the Planes of Orc, the material world. Discussion of the Outer Planes, Elemental Planes, Astral Plane and the Abyss can be found in other articles within the Library of Doom. I shall include some information on the æthereal realms, as these realms are intrinsic to the various material planes. Further, as this is but an introductory overview, I shall not discuss the mathematics, nor the actual magineering requirements and proscriptions. Those too may be found in numerous other documents.
We begin with clarifying basic terminology that is often confused and conflated.
• The multiverse: The entirety of creation, including all planes of existence
• The Elemental Planes: Should be well known as the material components of the multiverse: Earth, Air, Water, Fire and Spirit. It is the interaction of these five elements that creates mana.
• The Planes of Orc, Man, Elf, etc. These are the material or physical planes created by the combination of the five elements, called Midgard by jötunnkind, the Æsir, the Vanir and many others.
• The Outer Planes: A “halo” region outside of the Planes of Orc. It is very mana-rich and animus friendly. These regions reflect aspects of the material planes and do so subject to the machinations and manipulations of very powerful magineers — commonly referred to as gods.
• The æthereal planes are contained within the Planes of Orc. They are specifically tied to individual material planes of existence. They are Spirit shadows of the material plane to which they are attached.
• The Astral Plane: A very unusual plane that is accessible only to animus and mana, more so than the Outer Planes. The Outer Planes may have refleca materials which are reflections of material objects and which have the semblance of material properties; however, these do not exist within the Astral Plane. It is a realm only accessible to animus and mana, similar to the æthereal realms; however, unlike the æthereal realms, there is only one Astral Plane and it connects all of the other planes of the multiverse. Some scholars have alluded to it being the “grouting of the multiverse.”
• The Demiplanes: Djinnistan. A realm of spirit and elements that is arranged differently than the material planes. In some ways they might be considered an alternate set of material planes; however, apparently there are not an infinite number of time streams. Unfortunately, for security reasons, the djinn are not particularly forthcoming about their own plane(s).
• Limbo: A layered buffer realm, or set of planes “between” Midgard and the Outer Planes. Many deities and pantheons use it as a staging area for followers awaiting Judgement or Assignment.
• Purgatory: A layered buffer realm, or set of planes “between” Midgard and the Abyss. Many deities and pantheons use it either as a staging area or as a threat of damnation for those of their followers who require either additional review or a milder punishment than having them thrown to demons or the dark gods of their own pantheon.
• The Abyss, aka Home: A place that defies logic, contradicting the laws of both magic and physics.
As far as we can determine, the Abyss is infinite in extent.
It has materiality, like the material planes, yet also is quite friendly to animus and mana. This should not be possible.
There is only one Abyss. Unlike the multiverse, it appears to be time invariant, i.e., it is not possible to bifurcate its timeline. This presents numerous issues with regard to events in the material planes as well as those in the Outer Planes (which reflect events in the material planes).
Some scholars, both demonic and godly, have referred to it as the bedrock, or foundation of the multiverse. However, this, plus its time invariance, contradicts the Standard Model of the Multiverse and its relationship to time.
This has caused some to suspect that the Abyss may lie outside the multiverse, which of course is contradictory and ontological; however, this theory would imply that the multiverse exists somewhere within the Abyss. I do not pretend to understand the ramifications of such a statement.
Understanding time is critical to understand the vast majority of the multiverse. Time is the zeroth dimension, and orders (and reorders) the multiverse. It is different from all of the other 665 dimensions that form the multiverse, in that it is the baseline for the ordering of the different universes of the material planes.
For clarification, the Planes of Orc — the material planes — comprise the majority of the multiverse and are its heart, assuming something that is technically infinite can be the majority of something super-infinite. The material planes are bound by, and ordered by, Time. The Outer Planes, as reflections of the material planes, are thus affected by time as well; however, the very powerful magineers (gods) living there are more than capable of distorting their own reflected worlds. I must cut this discussion short, because, while quite interesting, it comes perilously close to discussing one of the touchiest issues between the accords of the gods and demons, the Rules of Temporal Manipulation. Allowing that the RTM are a very political issue, I shall not discuss them further in this article.