Yggdrasil

Yggdrasil

The World Tree itself is massive, stretching upward into infinity. The exact height of it is not known, and to date, no one has ever been able to see the top of it. Although the width around Yggdrasil does not impose the idea that there is a massive distance between each realm, it's been suggested that what people see when they traverse Yggdrasil is not the actual distance between them. Although attempts have been made at trying to understand the ethereal nature of this, all efforts have been in vain. Measuring tools fluctuate wildly between miles to astronomical units, telescopes are either unable to see across the Yggdrasil or are able to see the fine detail of the wood from far away, and so forth.

Branches

The branches of the Yggdrasil are formed from a piece of crystallized resolve that, on rare occasions, will have lodged itself into the tree at just the right angle. These branches grow out to be massive, with huge crystal leaves jutting out from the ends of them.

These branches have the potential to form into a full-fledged realm, though the exact mechanism of which this occurs is not well understood. When a branch forms a realm, it begins to curve and twist itself around, with a ball of energy made out of pure resolve eventually forming in its grasp. This energy will grow over a span ranging from several years to many millennia before eventually forming into a realm, the size of it dependent on how long it had taken to grow.

It's unknown how many Branches are truly on Yggdrasil, as each time you travel around Yggdrasil and go in a circle, you're always going to find a completely different set of realms up on it. Exploration of these other realms that are outside what's been colliqually termed The Main Set is considered to be the highest priority, though efforts have not been too successful given the risky nature of entry into these realms. The Main Set of realms are Earth, Terra Eclipsis, The Sands, and Strakh-- and by extension, Sheol, given its connection to Strakh.

The Void Ocean

Although the top of Yggdrasil cannot be seen, the very bottom can be reached if you traveled down far enough. When you reach this point, you will find the Void Ocean. It's effectively how one can enter the The Void, though it's never recommended due to the inherent risks that come with traveling it. The Void Ocean itself is made of an unknown type of liquid, with its surface appearing as black as the night sky; yet when you submerge yourself underneath it, you'll find that the surface has become white. However, it's perpetually dark underneath it, with the only light you would have being all that comes from above.

On the surface of the Void Ocean, if you were to travel out far enough, you would inevitably encounter various oddities in the sea, such as the megastructure Null. Alongside that, there are severed branches of the Yggdrasil found throughout the Void Ocean, holding realms long-lost and considered dead and abandoned to all. Entrance into these realms is considered to be risky, although efforts are made by many groups to explore them for resources to help the other realms in their efforts to survive the effects of The Withering.

If a branch is beginning to sink underwater, though, it is to be considered lost and as such, entrance into these realms is to be considered dangerous.

The Sycamore Tree

Underneath the Yggdrasil, bound with branches wrapped around each other with a deafening silence beneath the waves, is the Sycamore Tree. Much like Yggdrasil, it is impossible to see the end of the tree. Going down the Sycamore Tree, going further into the void, all you would find of the tree is it splitting into different, massive branches, endlessly going down. This is where most realms that have been severed from the Yggdrasil will eventually end up, drifting into the pitch black void to be lost forever. Ancient structures designed by the Stars are found within this region, such as the Library Of Babel.

After The Withering, a good majority of souls will end up lost under the Sycamore Tree, where Psychopomps wait to try and guide them to Sheol before they go too far or become consumed by the darkness; becoming lost in one of the sunken realms or taken by an entity that resides in the dark.

Traversing the Yggdrasil is not an easy task. Although the space encompassing the air of Yggdrasil is breathable, it is filled with an unimaginable amount of Mana. It crackles with energy and as such, it's easy for an unprepared explorer to become immensely warped by the mana. Alongside that, accessing a realm from the Yggdrasil without the proper tools will often result in them being warped to a completely random location. A good 99% of the time, this results in a hapless explorer ending up in the deep void of space. Of the 1% of the time that they do end up remotely near where they desire, it's often still miles off at best, or somewhere uninhabitable such as the middle of the ocean.

Although the issue of overexposure to Mana can be prevented via various protection wards and what-not, to compensate for entryway into the different realms, the Stars had devised two different methods to safely enter them:

Exploration of the Yggdrasil is of upmost importance. Alongside the desperate search for more resources to ensure the safety and survival of the realms after The Withering, the innate curiosity within all species to explore new places has sought out many explorers who wish to traverse the Yggdrasil and find any and all new realms that can be accessed. Professionals who climb Yggdrasil for discovery and resource gathering are known as Tree Climbers, of which there are a surprising number of from all across the realms. It's thanks to them that the realms of The Land Of Nod and Waste were discovered, as well as various others.

Of all the realms, one of most importance to gain entry into is Blackstar, the realm the Stars had traveled to after the 10,000 Days and The Schism. It is commonly believed that the treasures and resources that are available in that realm are what can properly save not just Earth, but all the realms from the effects of The Withering. Access into Blackstar has been difficult, as since the Götterdämmerung occurred in the 900s, the realm has been sealed off. Any Bifröst Key that is attuned to the realm are nonfunctional, seemingly intentionally made so.

Yggdrasil is ancient, having been around since before the dawn of recorded history. The earliest records of it date back to when the Stars roamed the Earth, before the 10,000 Days. It's in this era that the Yggdrasil was known as the Holy Tree Of Life, upon which all civilizations were born. The branch that holds Earth dates back hundreds of millennia, making it older than any of the realms of which Humanity has had contact with. In this time, when other branches formed, the Stars would set up pathways and entrances into these other realms with ease, with methods that are still long-lost.

In the era since the Stars, the Tree Of Life would be recorded and written down in various forms throughout history, each permutation of the Tree Of Life becoming slightly more and more different over the eons. It would eventually become known as Yggdrasil by Norse myth, the great ash tree of which holds each realm upon it. In early Elven history, it was worshiped as their form of the afterlife, the Holy Tree that all Elves would climb up in death, where they would meet their ancestors and earn their eternal rest. Nowadays, the Elves use it for exploratory purposes, with groups constantly exploring the branches both higher up and down in the sea to try and find new lands for them to live on.

For Reptilia from The Sands, they would begin to envision Yggdrasil as a holy land to reach one day, the fabled realm of which there is endless grass and water, a place where they would no longer need to endure the intense heat of The Sands and no longer have to fight for what they want. Strakhians, meanwhile, would see the Yggdrasil as a symbol of infinity, an idea of how massive the universe is and as such, would use a symbol of a tree on religious artifacts and depictions to indicate something as powerful, strong, or massive.

Since The Withering, exploration of Yggdrasil had ramped up soon after the realms were able to form some sort've governance across all of them. Although resources and able bodies willing to explore Yggdrasil are much sparser than they were before, ARC, as well as other groups such as horizons, are actively exploring Yggdrasil day-by-day to find more realms to use for everyone to survive.

The largest concern had by protective groups across the realms is that The Withering may bring the Yggdrasil at risk of experiencing a great rot of sorts from its effects, though whether this is something that can actually happen has yet to be seen. Further research is to be had on this phenomena.