Aether

Aether is the mysterious connective sinews that exist between worlds. A vast web of interstitial tissue, it hoists up all the abandoned, desolated and forgotten things that bleed out of the edges of the world, forming a facsimile of the worlds it comes from. Like dreams slipping between idle thoughts- the Aether undulates with the raw creative power of the shards. Pulsing to its own tune the aether slides, folds, crashes and divides in a model familiar to plates, to threads, and sometimes like pools of water. Along for the ride, the shards are cradled in the river rapids of the Nebula and it's many channels, canals and slipstreams as space entwines space and shards bleed into shards. Like a great ocean, the Aether blends the ejected materials, thoughts and rhythms into a chaotic collaborative slate. Constantly being formed, constantly being erased, the lands in the aetherwilds are unstable and only the strong and brave can settle such a place.

The land between the worlds is a dream. Made from the material and energy that escapes the edges of shards, the aether is an ever-changing and shifting labyrinth of environments shaped by the shards they are nearby. Shards are the origin of a powerful geomancy, Shardshaping, and are a sort of living reactor of creative energy- each with a personality of its own. These powerful genius loci maintain their domains with these creative energy and very often have to offset it by expressing it alongside the edge of it's frame- particularly in times of overabundance. Slowly, threads of aether are spun off of the hexes in great sheets and fibers, forming plates and threads of terrain that arc, grind and push across the Nebula.

The terrain that makes up the Aether in the Nebula is an accretion of half created material. While close to the plate of a shard, the aether is a strange prototypical material like clay or silt. Fertile and fecund in purpose, without direction the esoteric material almost behaves as if it is stuck between states- waiting for a condition or command to mature into something "real" or fully material. This protomaterial stays in a state of partial dormancy, absorbing some of the latent notions of the shards around them as they shift around the Nebula.

The liminal environments of Nebula as one crosses over the edge of the shard into the hinter region is very notably similar to the lands they just left. In many such cases, an unaware traveler can leave the edge of their homeworld and never realize they left until things get incredibly strange. More so, such environments can get dangerous for the natives of a shard who look for the common landmarks of their realm only to find that they are warped, missing or even worse- deviously identical. Stuck in a place that is made from memories of their home, many of which they share with their own experiences- there are fewer places in the open that are more terrifying to be lost in. The flora and fauna of such places often escapes to join the accretion of material over the edge- sometimes consuming the aether in the soil, air and beasts and changing with the landscape itself. These creatures too are dreamlike, not quite as the memory of a wanderer would recall and sometimes only remotely analogous.

These mutated inhabitants are not always aggressive, but raw aether- raw potential can see creatures shift into nightmare variants of what is fond and familiar: a bison with legs like a centipede and poisonous fangs, boogeymen from fable torn from the tomes of folklore and made manifest in a harmless grandmother or a tiger made of paper that stalks shadows devouring them while you are unaware. Within the aether still are spots made of dream: a vault with abstracts of great works, a vineyard with every variety of fruit, friendly companions made from threads of aetherstuff. While many stay out of the lands that form the boundary between our worlds, some of the best tales involve fools running in to get their fortune. These are the stories that blend dream with legend and lore with history.

As you leave the boundaries of the shards, far from the hexmagic that craves form- the aether becomes stranger. A memory of a memory, form and function become diluted as they journey from the edges of the real. It is here that the aether becomes it's most foreign and haunting, a liminality brought about by old concepts that do not exist from aeons past, a remote truth that is distanced a dozen worlds from it's source like a cosmic version of telephone. Feverish and delightful, as forms break down and reform they create with a mind of its own. It is in these parts where the aether congeals and sets. Anchored realms, moored in dust and dream- they form mazes, dungeons and palaces completely removed of their original purpose or design. In these places, bountiful wells of pure aether are sequestered from the greater multiverse hoarded by terrible beasts and monsters.

There lies great opportunity in the natural magic that lies in these lands. Just beyond the boundaries of the material world, where civilization thrives best- there is the ultimate dungeon and deathtrap. The morphic environment of Nebula's aether is dangerous territory- naturally tripped with pitfalls, monsters and trickery. It is the perfect environment for a Gamemaster to throw their players within for a taste of adventure.

Part wilderness and part dungeon, to a party exploring the aether there are many motivations and urgencies that would bring them to a deathtrap between worlds. Exotic riches exist between the planes in the form of rare metals, hides of beasts, plants, aetherial copies and caches of loot. To an adventurer, treasure can mean everything- particularly to those ritualistically inclined. Esoteric ingredients and shardshaping reagents are resplendent in the aether, where many halfway and psychomorphic materials are common.

The Summoner and the Kineticist are specially connected to this space. Eidoloans exist as living ideas and half thought dreams before they are made manifest, their echoes ringing across the multiverse for someone to recieve. It is here in the Nebula that a Summoner and Eidoloan begin their specialized bond. Kineticists on the other hand are connected to the floes of mana that result as the aether slides against itself. Cosmic leylines and fulcroms form nexuses of power which in turn is mirrored in every living thing. As the originator source of these powers they are the most at advantage exploring it thus and in turn solve more mysteries as they get closer to the source.

As a Gamemaster, run expeditions into the aether as outdoor dungeons towards landmarks and cached riches. Test the adventurers on their survival and navigational skills. Change monsters that are familiar in terrible and subtle ways to test their determination and adaptability. Rewards should include Astral Points, magical items and strange crafting reagents. Find answers to questions people never asked. What does bottled hope smell like- does it spread on toast? What would they do to distract an elephant sized cat? What would you even make out of deserted time and dreaming threads in you found them tucked in a griffon's den?

Shards are embedded, and form powerful leylines within the great seas of the Nebula. Mana travels down the leylines and like great rivers they flow from the outer boundaries of these worlds into the greater multiverse, to other worlds.

Home to vagabonds, nomads, extraplanar species and monsters- not many are truly adapted to living in this space. Home to deep canyons, dark forests and scorching deserts ecologies inside the aether are either incredibly complex or simply never develop. Living things that escape the edges of their shard are doomed to a life of wandering and scarcity. Far from being devoid of resources, the ever shifting landscapes of the aether also generates flora and fauna that shard-born creatures simply aren't prepared for with predation webs that would make any naturalist overwhelmed.