The Borderland

The Borderland is an aspect of the Astral Plane that has begun to merge with the Shadowland. It manifests as a vast desert strewn with artifacts from ancient, long-dead civilizations. Its inhabitants are those who have gotten lost on their journey to the afterlife. Powerful undead also sometimes use the dimension as a conduit to move between locations on the Material Plane.   For most visitors, the Borderland is a way-station on their journey to another plane, sometimes barely noticed at all by the souls that traverse it. Some however find themselves spending longer within its domains, either through their own will or through cursed fate. The inhabitants of the Borderland can therefore comprise a confusing mixture of the living and the dead. The simplest way to tell the difference between those who can still return to the material plane and those who are destined to remain forever as a spirit is the presence or absence of the creature's shadow.   Belief shapes most creatures' forms while in the Borderland. Many will manifest as they are in the material plane, as that is the only form they know. Those from the desert kingdom of Ahsaratt who make their final journey through the Borderland often manifest as hama, or spirit birds. For the Elses or Akurans who are trapped within the Borderland, the transformation into a hama is the final indicator that they are free to complete their journey to whatever fate awaits them in the realms beyond.   The blending with the realm of Shadow has caused the Borderland to take on a hazy, indistinct aspect at times. Though the dimension seems to at least simulate day and night, the sun appears only as a dimly shining disk obscured by a thick smog, and the cloudy nights are absent of all stars.   For those of the Material Plane who spend time within the Borderland, time passes at a rate of one day in the Borderland being equal to one minute on the Material Plane. It is possible for one's spirit only to enter the Borderland, leaving the still living body behind on the Material Plane. This is more common in near death experiences, or when the body is minutes from expiring. In these cases, it becomes imperative that the spirit's owner return to their body as quickly as possible. For some reason, these visits to the Borderland are more frequently reported to occur to those travelling through deserts on the Material Plane.   Though it is has no stated ruler, the unspoken master of the Borderland is Accuris, the god of death, who is said to even visit the realm occasionally in various disguises, in order to oversee that the flow of souls to the afterlife continues for the most part unhindered.