Dead Realm

Introduction

The Dead Realm is, as its name implies, the section of reality where the dead dwell, constantly remaining in the living world but unable to reach it. Ghosts populate it and their remains shape it, a gloomy overlay of the physical Atharen under its own grim light. A very select few are granted power over death itself and become able to see or even reach this shadow of existence while still retaining their lives; the vast majority of inhabitants of Atharen widely ignore its existence, and to them ghosts are just fairytale and legend material.

Origin

The Dead Realm seems to be an anomaly. Not a true realm, but merely another layer to reality, the Dead Realm was most likely originated by a malfunction in the flow of living souls after their death. The emergence of ghosts and the decay of life formed a spectral ecosystem with its own material laws and its own mechanics, partially separate from the living world while coexisting. The Dead Realm grows with death and calamity, its existence becoming denser and more diverse over the ages.

Structure

The Dead Realm is a layer of reality superimposed on the physical framework of Atharen. This layer is composed by all the residual spiritual particles existing all over Atharen, forming an extensive, unique ecosystem. Spiritual particles are a form of ether intangible and invisible to most living beings, which conceals the Dead Realm from the physical world. They are the form of ether that constitutes the soul of living beings, and also the totality of lesser spirits. While alive, souls are made cohesive and bound to a body by a force commonly called Life, or traditionally named the Spark of Y'shendra; this keeps the soul as an aggregate and fused to the body it's part of. Upon proper death when the body ceases to support the fusion with its soul, this force tethers the soul as a whole and pulls it beyond Atharen. However, if the person disturbs this process upon death, Life ruptures and the soul remains on Atharen, disembodied: it becomes a ghost. Given that Life (which functions as a binding agent) is gone, ghosts slowly decay. Their forms leak spiritual particles that dissipate through the dead realm, forming miasma. Because of this, most ghosts end up eventually dissolving completely into the miasma that coats the Dead Realm.

The word miasma refers to the whole of free spiritual particles that shape the Dead Realm, formed by the decay of ghosts and the scattering souls of non-sentient living beings. It's formed light enough to become airborne, forming fogs of varying density. However, unbound spiritual particles lack the necessary strength to remain generally intangible. Because of this miasma also tends to stick to stationary physical matter such as rocks, trees or buildings, and forms thick rugs over the ground that puff when stepped on. Different parts of the world (and thus different areas of the Dead Realm) have different miasma densities; this is indicative of the amount of death or calamity the area has endured. Miasma also faces a type of deterioration of its own. Given that it's a form of ether, it ends up becoming pure ether after hundreds of years, vanishing from the death realm. However, this is barely noticeable even among spectral entities.

Appearance

The Dead Realm is invisible, and mostly intangible. Made up of ghosts, spirits and miasma almost exclusively, most animals and mortals pass through it unfazed, never knowing if they've stumbled upon one of the Realm's dwellers. The reason for this is quite simple; light in the visible spectrum just crosses right through the etheric particles composing the realm, with no reflection to be perceived. However, some beings (ghosts, Sigilic Pyromancers and some animals among others) are able to see within the Dead Realm. The reason for this is a type of radiation or light some call deadlight; this wavelength interacts with both physical matter and spiritual particles. Because of its low intensity, beings able to see deadlight would find visible light to be blinding; because of this, creatures adapted to the Dead Realm usually only see deadlight, discarding the visible spectrum.

In deadlight, the low intensity of the wave makes the Dead Realm look dark and grim; colors are less intense, the world seems to be illuminated by light as bright as moonlight, and the dark sky takes on a slight red hue. Miasma seems to be pitch black; the high concentrations stuck to all solid surfaces give the realm a grim appearance, as ground, trees and walls are as dark as can be; even grass or flowers are devoid of all color. Besides, sometimes packed miasma forms structures of its own, like dripping stalactites in tree branches or fungal-like protrusions on different surfaces. Since only spiritual entities reliably move miasma from its place, areas of the soil where the black rug seems thinner reveal paths ghosts frequent. Miasma also forms fogs in the Dead Realm, which gives the air a distinct grayish hue, and in areas of high miasma concentration, makes it hard to see clearly after a good few steps.

Ghosts, however, tend to have distinct appearances, based on their previous life, their state of decay and the amount of miasma they have consumed. However, there's a few rules of thumb when seeing a ghost within the dead realm that may give a lot of information about them. First, their opacity: ghosts that look completely solid are fresh, since they have a good amount of spirit particle concentration in their form, reflecting all deadlight touching them. As ghosts decay, they lose density, making deadlight less likely to be reflected, and as such they become somewhat translucent. An almost transparent ghost is likely about to dissolve. Secondly, their color is also indicative. Ghosts with grayer or darker hues, especially around their mouths and chests, are miasma consumers; they have assimilated miasma to increase their spiritual density and avoid fading. Black and transparent ghosts are hopeless; miasma consumption can't help them anymore. Finally, ghosts that leak considerable amounts of miasma around them tend to be highly dense and rapidly decaying, which indicates their power; the bigger the miasma aura around a ghost, the more powerful it is.

The few spirits visible in the Dead Realm are an entirely different question, as they exist outside of the miasma cycle; they're not dead to begin with. As such they can have wildly different appearances and different colors. They might exhibit the same color and form within the Dead Realm as they do in the physical world, or have them be completely different.