Severed Realm: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 19:52, 6 June 2023

While there is a plethora of mythologies that bifurcate the world into distinct dominions of heaven and hell, such as Christianity, this dichotomy isn't entirely accurate. The Severed Realm closely resembles the traditional concept of hell. It's the resting place for wayward souls after death, particularly those unable to liberate themselves from the negative emotions that tether them to the material plane. Consequently, souls retaining their anger, hate, envy, and similar sentiments are cut off from the other realms, ensnared within the Severed Realm. Over time, these negative energies corrupt the soul, transforming it into a demon. These demons populate the Severed Realm, gorging on the energies of souls yet to relinquish their ties to this realm, or release their burdens and earn freedom.

Attraction of Negative Energy

This plane could also be conceptualized as a "negative energy plane," acting as a magnet for similar energies from the cosmos. Although the material planes are composed of diverse energies, the contents of this plane are primarily pure negative energy. However, this doesn't denote negativity in an electromagnetic context, but negativity detrimental to life - an anti-life energy. In some respects, it's the inverse of Aether, and in others, a corrupted version of Aether. It's the result of primal elemental forces that constitute life becoming tainted and destructive rather than life-giving.

Objects infused with such energy gravitate toward this plane. Its power can be harnessed to pervert life, as in necromancy, which taps into this plane to reanimate the deceased. Since death is a natural component of life, its reversal via magic signifies a corruption of life.

Shedding Negativity

Escaping this realm requires a soul to shed its negative energy, an act inherently fraught with the risk of instigating corruption. A more apt description would be the necessity for one within the Severed Realm to purge their own corruption to facilitate escape. A deceased soul can perform this easily, being pure energy, and the absence of physical form simplifies the separation of corruption from life. However, for a living entity, such as a human, this process is complex and carries repercussions. Releasing one's negative energy within the Severed Realm can offer a route to escape, but a new seed of corruption will be drawn in. The return journey to the material plane from the Severed Realm is costly and could result in severe consequences if the seed of corruption is left unchecked once the person re-enters the realm of the living.

Physical Properties

The Severed Realm manifests as a barren wasteland, stiflingly hot and humid in an intensely uncomfortable way. There are virtually no traces of life or positive energy there. Though plants do grow, they're twisted versions of their material plane counterparts. Consequently, these plants are typically toxic, and the non-poisonous ones tend to feast on the flesh or souls of visitors. Any plants that can be eaten usually possess venomous qualities or some other sinister means of making death seem merciful. Running water exists, but it's brackish and dirty, teeming with harmful poisons and parasites that can be fatal swiftly. Expertise in elemental manipulation or specific magical energy usages can purify items found in this realm. Scientific methods can also be employed to evaluate the extent to which found items can be safely consumed, given sufficient knowledge of poisons, parasites, and other lethal factors.

Magic, Psionics, and Aether

Given that this realm is a bastion of corruption, it's an inevitable consequence that the use of magical or psionic energy exposes one to the negativity and corruption of this place. The effects accumulate, and individuals with weaker mental fortitude risk succumbing to the negative energy and corruptive influence of the Severed Realm.

Death is No Respite

Here, death offers no sweet solace; instead, the plane actively seeks to corrupt and/or kill anyone who dares to enter. If one perishes here, their soul risks permanent corruption, and even if it resists, they will face a fierce struggle to shed their negative energy before the corruption becomes so pervasive that escape becomes impossible.

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-While there is a lot of mythos that divides the world into distinct realms of heaven and hell (such as Christianity), this isn't very accurate.  The Severed Realm is as close as the actual planes get to some version of hell.  This realm is where discarded souls go after they die when they cannot rid themselves of the negative emotions trying to bind them to the material plane.  Since a soul that cannot release their anger, hate, envy, and other such emotions they are cut off from the other realms and trapped within this realm.  Over time these negative emotions and energy will corrupt the soul and it will be transformed into a [[demon]].  These demons populate the Severed Realm and will feast upon the energy of souls which have yet to decide to give up and stay within the realm for eternity or release that which holds them to the realm and be freed.
+[[File:{{#setmainimage:severed-realm.jpg}}|thumb]]
+While there is a plethora of mythologies that bifurcate the world into distinct dominions of heaven and hell, such as Christianity, this dichotomy isn't entirely accurate. The Severed Realm closely resembles the traditional concept of hell. It's the resting place for wayward souls after death, particularly those unable to liberate themselves from the negative emotions that tether them to the material plane. Consequently, souls retaining their anger, hate, envy, and similar sentiments are cut off from the other realms, ensnared within the Severed Realm. Over time, these negative energies corrupt the soul, transforming it into a [[demon]]. These demons populate the Severed Realm, gorging on the energies of souls yet to relinquish their ties to this realm, or release their burdens and earn freedom.
-== Pull of the Negative Energy ==
+== Attraction of Negative Energy ==
-This plane could also be considered a ''negative energy plane'' which attracts and absorbs like-energy from the cosmos.  While on the material planes everything is made up of a mix of energies the contents of this plane are relatively pure in the negative energy.  That is not to say negative energy in an electromagnetic sense but negative as in harmful to life - anti-life energy.  This is the inverse of Aether in some way and in other ways the corruption of Aether.  When the primal elemental forces which make up life become corrupted and destroy instead of give life.
+This plane could also be conceptualized as a "negative energy plane," acting as a magnet for similar energies from the cosmos. Although the material planes are composed of diverse energies, the contents of this plane are primarily pure negative energy. However, this doesn't denote negativity in an electromagnetic context, but negativity detrimental to life - an anti-life energy. In some respects, it's the inverse of Aether, and in others, a corrupted version of Aether. It's the result of primal [[elemental]] forces that constitute life becoming tainted and destructive rather than life-giving.
-All things which are tainted with such energy are drawn to this plane and its power can be used to corrupt life such as in necromancy, which draws off of this plane to animate the dead (since death is a natural part of life, reversing that through magic is a corruption of life).
+Objects infused with such energy gravitate toward this plane. Its power can be harnessed to pervert life, as in necromancy, which taps into this plane to reanimate the deceased. Since death is a natural component of life, its reversal via magic signifies a corruption of life.
-=== Release of Negativity ===
+=== Shedding Negativity ===
-To escape this realm a soul must sacrifice it's negative energy but it is impossible to do so without planing the seeds of corruption.  A better way to explain it is that when inside the Severed Realm one must purge their own corruption in order to escape.  A soul of the dead can do this easily as they are pure energy, separating corruption from life is easily done with no physical form.  A living being, such as a person, attempting to do so will find that releasing ones own negative energy within the Severed Realm is not so easy and it comes with consequences, for the body will release the negativity that one feels and allow escape, but in doing so a new seed of corruption will be drawn in.  Escaping from the Severed Realm back to the material plane is costly and can cost one dearly if the seed of corruption is allowed to take hold unchecked once the person returns to the realms of the living.
+Escaping this realm requires a soul to shed its negative energy, an act inherently fraught with the risk of instigating corruption. A more apt description would be the necessity for one within the Severed Realm to purge their own corruption to facilitate escape. A deceased soul can perform this easily, being pure energy, and the absence of physical form simplifies the separation of corruption from life. However, for a living entity, such as a human, this process is complex and carries repercussions. Releasing one's negative energy within the Severed Realm can offer a route to escape, but a new seed of corruption will be drawn in. The return journey to the material plane from the Severed Realm is costly and could result in severe consequences if the seed of corruption is left unchecked once the person re-enters the realm of the living.
 == Physical Properties ==
-The Severed Realm is experienced as a barren wasteland, hot and humid in the most uncomfortable way.  There are virtually no signs of life or positive energy there.  Plants do grow, in a way, but are corruptions of the material plane.  Thus plants are nearly always poisonous and those that are not tend to feast of the flesh or souls of visitors.  These plans that can be eaten are nearly always venomous or hold some other kind of dark and sinister way to make death an easy thing.  There is running water but it is brackish and dirty filled with dangerous poisons and parasites which once they take hold can be fatal very quickly.  Someone skilled in the use of the elements or with certain other uses of [[Magical Energy|magical energy]] can purify items found to be used here.  Science can also be used to determine the extend to which what is found here can be consumed without dying (given enough skill at studying poisons, parasites, and other things that kill).
+The Severed Realm manifests as a barren wasteland, stiflingly hot and humid in an intensely uncomfortable way. There are virtually no traces of life or positive energy there. Though plants do grow, they're twisted versions of their material plane counterparts. Consequently, these plants are typically toxic, and the non-poisonous ones tend to feast on the flesh or souls of visitors. Any plants that can be eaten usually possess venomous qualities or some other sinister means of making death seem merciful. Running water exists, but it's brackish and dirty, teeming with harmful poisons and parasites that can be fatal swiftly. Expertise in elemental manipulation or specific magical energy usages can purify items found in this realm. Scientific methods can also be employed to evaluate the extent to which found items can be safely consumed, given sufficient knowledge of poisons, parasites, and other lethal factors.
 == Magic, Psionics, and Aether ==
-Since this is the realm of corruption it is a side effect that the use of magical energy or [[Psionic Energy|psionic energy]] will open up a person to drawing in the negativity and corruption of this place, the effects are cumulative and a lesser fortitude of the mind would certainly be at risk of being overcome by the negative energy and corrupting force of the Severed Realm.
+Given that this realm is a bastion of corruption, it's an inevitable consequence that the use of magical or psionic energy exposes one to the negativity and corruption of this place. The effects accumulate, and individuals with weaker mental fortitude risk succumbing to the negative energy and corruptive influence of the Severed Realm.
-== Death is no Release ==
+== Death is No Respite ==
-Here, death is no sweet release and the plane actively attempts to corrupt and / or kill anyone who enters it.  If one dies here, their soul could be permanently corrupted and if it is not, they will find a battle on their hands to release their negative energy before they are so corrupted that they cannot escape.
+Here, death offers no sweet solace; instead, the plane actively seeks to corrupt and/or kill anyone who dares to enter. If one perishes here, their soul risks permanent corruption, and even if it resists, they will face a fierce struggle to shed their negative energy before the corruption becomes so pervasive that escape becomes impossible.
 [[Category:Planes of Existence]]