Spirit world

The Crystal Trees

There exist large, holy trees with-in the center of the solar temples that produce a clear strong sap, that when flowing can be shaped to produce a very strong and durable building material, however, the trees are a rare species needing a special environment, for instance a large greenhouse. These trees provide the materials to build the soaring cities and supports for the most opulent of buildings. This comes at a price however, as the trees require certain...sacrifices to produce the necessary quantities.

The highest priest in the tallest, clearest tower hear the required sacrifices in the sound of the chimes or in the play of a rainbow across the clear play of water. The Ancient trees, clear of all pigment, made of a strange material halfway between this world and the other, needs to feed on that rarest of materials, the soul. This is the clearest truth the universe offers, and to extract it requires a diligence and steady hand. The Mirror wraiths are the result of this going wrong, but it succeeds, then the trees grow, whispering secrets and producing the materials to let the cities thrive. The price is growing however, as more young men and woman disappear from the edges of the alleys. It is said that some trees develop certain taste, and others will consume the souls of things strange than people. The most anceint tree is said to require the soul of a god, and it grows hungry.

At the heart of each of the five factions there are the crystal trees, that serve as the holy grove of each faith. Initially a very rare species of plant based on silicon and growing at a relativly slow rate, these trees serve as the perfect ideal, a living creation in tune with the spirit and the body. These trees originally grew only in the spirit world, but a few were brought over to the other side of the glass and planted. As has been written before, these trees feed on the souls and spirits of the world to survive and grow, and take on the characteristics of its diet. (think NWOD spirits, but only for these special trees.) Every city of any note will have a grove of these trees, and the richest citizens may have a small sapling or even a small orchard. The largest city's have ancient trees that have stood for hundreds, even thousands of years, if the sages are to right. The shadows cast are rainbows and each of the four fold paths trees correspond to the ideal of the location. The four subspecies are all offshoots of the original tree, lost somewhere in the spirit world, and if ever found, would allow for the creation of another path. It is because of this that many seek it, and few ever glimpse even a hint of the thing. The void, the great darkness, that which consumes and stifles, is not a tree but a shadow. It is the missing parts or pieces of creation, or lost paths and forgotten dreams. Some say the darkness is truth, and that the light can blind, and it is for this heresy that they are blinded, to forever follow the crooked path they choose, and to be ever denied the joys of the four paths.

--stephen_dean

The spirit tree of Iridos has an opalescent trunk, iridescent branches, and leaves of every possible color.

--shanoxilt

Sacrificing

Many outsiders look to the practice of raising the Sacrifices to feed the crystal trees as an evil act, and say that this path follows towards the void. many make comparisons to the Hollow men and other nefarious groups. However consider for a moment the life of an A future sacrifice. A young mother already has six children, and the seventh happens to have white hair, red eyes and is sensitive to the sun. Rather than suffer a life of pain and squaller, the child is given to the Temple of Clarity to live a life of quiet study, preparation and luxury. Then, perhaps decades later, the child has become a master of an ideal, and willingly walks to be embraced by the world tree, knowing that her soul will guide the city for years. This noble sacrifice is not evil, no more than a soldier fighting the legions of the damned eating away the reality of the world. No, it is beautiful. Would you rather we did like those cities of brick and stone you speak of, and let the child starve in the streets instead? No, no-one starves in the city of Transparency.

The Capture and Care of Mirror Wraiths.

So you finally caught a mirror wraith in the crystal caves, or perhaps you inherited one with you new Wizard tower. The first question you have to ask yourself is, what is the nature and possibilities of your new boon/problem. The key to understanding the Wraith is that, first, you cannot grasp the motives of an entity focused on one desire. If it is vanity, your wife will certainly look better for awhile, or your husband might head to the spas more, but eventually they may not be the person you fell in love with. If it is anger, well, lets just say that is easier to notice. The key to keeping a Mirror Wraith is a careful and regular mixture of emotions. If well fed, the Wraith can act as a useful source of information, advice and potential favors. The more affuent among you may even have a crystal tree sapling. Now I know your asking youself "why can I not just feed that Anger Wraith to my crystal tree, whats the problem?" Just look to the first shattering. The Crystal trees are clear because they are given only the purest of souls. A wraith is a twisted shard of a person. One aspect of the whole. Feed a Crystal tree this and you have a real problem on your hands. How do you suppose these laws came into being my good sir. The ruins of the Immaculate Concave make it clear. A crystal tree fed an unwilling supplicant or an impure soul, one who has fear in its heart, or one with hate or spite, will warp the trees into those strange obsidian trees that litter the ruins. Those glass valleys in the deserts of Hubris were once cities of great power, now they are only places without even grass. The madness that comes from these places can be prevented by you. Remember, only you can prevent shatterings.

The Nature of the Spirit World

The spirit world forms, and conforms, according to the particular themes of any given place. Despite this, the goals and basic nature of the spirits and their world are the same in every themed location. Spirits percieve themes simply as a "wardrobe" in which to reveal themselves.

--shanoxilt

Spirit World of Narcissus

The Metropolis of Narcissus is stalked by creatures that live entirely in the reflected world, similar to our own but warped by mirrors of imperfect craftsmanship. The mirrors reflect the worst aspects of the person, or amply fears of the onlooker, and over time, feed a desire for perfection leading to strange alterations. A person can inadvertently become the city's namesake, looking helplessly as every flaw and fear are amplified, until slowly starving to death. The spirit of the person then roams the mirror world forever. The only known non-magical way protect oneself is to catch the creature with it's own reflection in a crystal of fine quality. The resulting crystals are used to power some of the more hidden aspects of the city.

The other world is the world of the reflection, a place embraced by the narcissistic faction and declared heresy and heresy by the other. It reveals truths, but ones that are altered or slightly warped, and is inhabited by things other than the mirror wraiths. It is not a true world, but rather like a shadow, existing only as a reflection, but can be used to travel great distances if one is willing to risk the passage from one mirror to another.

--stephen_dean

To enter the spirit world from Narcissus, one does so through mirrors and reflections. Indeed, there are so many mirrors in Narcissus that the borders between worlds have grown thin -- it is possible to enter the Other Side easily, or for things from the Other Side to come through unaided. There are many wonders and horrors on the Other Side, though, which are exploited by the Mirror Fisheries. The mirror-fishers use silver fruits from the mirrortrees to bait their lines.

--Kakito Kojiro

Spirit World of Iridos

The spirit realm of Iridos is accessible through natural rainbows, artificial rainbows, and colored glass.

--shanoxilt

To enter the spirit world from Iridos, one does so through prisms and rainbows... or one would, if one could survive being fragmented into a rainbow of primary spirit-selves. This is considered a humane manner of execution in Iridos, however, so murderers and other heretics are refracted into rainbows, which are then harvested for use. There are a host of strange entities there -- infra- and ultra-colors unseeable by human eyes -- and they all tend to be rather monomaniacal. But it is difficult to exploit this spirit world; you can look, but it's difficult to touch. The scitalis and simorgh emigrated from there, however, so color sages still seek the means to enter safely.

--Kakita Kojiro

Executed criminals whose spirit-selves are not harvested become seven ghosts. These ghosts are fragments of the individual's personality. They share a weakly unified consciousness. They wander Iridos, yearning for wholeness. These ghosts are known as "spectres".

--shanoxilt

Spirit World of Diaphane

One does not enter the spirit world of Diaphane -- the Invisible World is already here, all around us, unnoticed and imperceptible. The spiritual enlightenment of Diaphane allows its inhabitants to perceive, somewhat, the Invisible World around them. True masters interact with the Invisible World as though it were the natural world -- and may, in time, fade away completely into the Invisible World (as their city's founder is said to have done). The inhabitants of the Invisible World are considered full citizens of Diaphane, causing much confusion and peril to outsiders to whom they do not even exist.

Spirit World outside the cities

Away from the cities, the borders to the spirit world are more fixed, and the spirit world there may shift from the Other Side to the Shadow World or the Invisible World -- or may be a mix of all. There are shamans in the wilds who have a smattering of lore, enough to peer into reflective pools, or see invisible spirits, or perform other tricks considered petty and mundane in the cities. However they are the only ones away from civilization capable of dealing with the escape of a rogue mirror-wight, or of tracking a shadow-beast, or of exorcising an unseeable color.

The followers of the Clear Prophet have speculated that a spirit may change its nature if taken from, say, Iridos to Narcissus -- but the only entities capable of answering that question, the invisible citizens of Diaphane, were gravely offended to be asked it, and the questioner disappeared soon thereafter.

Amidst the ruins of the Thousand Flowing Waters, there is no spirit world of any sort, of course. It was eaten or corroded by the undead in ages long past. There, mirrors are only mirrors, shadows only shadows -- unless one of the Empty Masters or a vampire is around...

To enter the spirit world of the Cult of the Opaque, one does so through shadows -- but only particular shadows, special ones formed by the intersection of specific geometries under specific illumination patterns. Most of these have been discovered by accident (when someone goes missing, having accidentally fallen into the Shadow World), but are recorded and kept secret by the Cult of the Opaque. Shadows and opaque things glow there, whereas the sun is black. Spirit entities of the Shadow World seem to be regular creatures, plants, and objects -- but their essential properties are exaggerated. There are apparently no strange entities as there are in the other spirit worlds (e.g., mirror-wraiths, color spirits, etc.)

--Kakita Kojiro