⇨ [8] Death | Sprites, Fade, and Shards [U/C]

[Lanfaer]

__________________Death || An Overview
tab Death, the final frontier, as many cultures across the multiverse have been found to believe. A barrier between life and death that can only been crossed once one's soul, or energy, is released from their mortal coil. Just exactly what exists beyond this barrier is a subject of philosophy and spiritualism that, frankly put, leads to a great deal of conflict due to the fear of that unknown or, in some cases, the desire of reward that comes from it. In Shattered Past we recognize that no one culture can completely agree on this subject, and so we aim not to answer it or argue it here. Instead, we have implemented our own spin on things for the fundamental purpose of making sure that when, or if, your character ever dies that the journey need not end. Within this guild Death is its own world, it's own place with its own rules, inhabitants, and yes, societies. There are levels of existence, mysteries to discover, and a whole host of adventurous possibilities just as if Death were a new planet to travel to. When reading this information please understand there will be similarities to real world myth, but we are beholden to none of them. If you have an issue with this depiction of Death while I respect it, please do not expect it to change. This is a fictional universe, after all.
tab Death in Shattered Past exists as one of many Fractal Worlds within the cosmos, a universe unto itself that coexists parallel to our own. Unlike many of the others the two are not meant to mix, with the matter from Death considered a blight until the land of the living. Normally, as it has always been, travel from one to the other was only ever permitted through physical death in the living world, after which the personage becomes a Shard of their original self, and a completely spiritual one at that. Traveling across the barrier has always been a one-way street, with no true ability to haul back the dead to the living world without someone, or something, taking its place.
tab No more.
tab As survivors of the dreaded Taking awaken they have found the world over natural rents in the fabric of creation that lead from the living world to various levels of Death. Too, strange beings known as Sprites and Fades walk the earth in "physical" form, each following a strange, as yet unknown law that allows them to exist here. What has happened, many have wondered, and herein you will find the answer. Below we will go over what planes exist with in the Land of the Dead, the nature of Shards, and the true nature of Fades and Sprites in detail. Please keep in mind that this knowledge is new-age, meaning no character can begin with this knowledge unless approved by both a member of Event Coordination and the Approval Committee, as there are some cultural and historical reasons why some people might have part of the truth, but never all of it from the get go.  

[Lanfaer]

__________________Death || The Realm of the Dead
Overview
tab The Realm of the Dead is a strange, abstract place, where the laws of physics and the norm of the living world is subverted at the whims of powerful, ancient beings and the uncaring architecture that so runs it. It is filled with the Shards of the Dead, and through their Emotions, fueled to maintain its inexorable existence. But what many refer to as the Land of the Dead is but the first of many layers that encapsulate this strange universe, with each layer offering it's own rules, its own laws, and its own appearance. Each is separate in the grand scheme of things, and each carries its own unique purpose that effects how the Realm functions. They are described in detail below:

The First Layer ► The Younger Plane
tab Also known as the Tether, the Younger Plane serves as the welcoming place for the newly formed Shards and as the closest Plane to that of the living world. For the most part, the Tether resembles the world of the living, if the world was drawn with pastels. Colors are brighter, silhouettes somewhat indistinct, with every sound giving the impression of being part of some grand song in nature, the Tether can arguably be called a relaxing form of paradise. That is, as long as you stick to the right places. A brand new Shard might first notice how different the sky is, with a warm, brilliant green where the sky is normally blue, but with burning white stars as if night were overlaid with a thin, green film. These stars shift and sway, never remaining in one place for long, and never truly having a universal direction to go with stars often crisscrossing one another in opposing vectors. The next might be the moon, as best one might describe it, a perfectly round circle that resembled a void in space but with a bright corona of white light around it. A Shard might well be forgiven in mistaking it for the sun, for there is no Sol here, no brilliant star in the sky that gives light to the world. Only that Void Moon, which never changes location, never gets closer, never rises nor sets, no matter how far one travels or where one's perspective lies.
tab As mentioned previously the Tether appears to resemble a paradise, a much more splendorous rewrite of the living world. But much like any dystopian paradise there is a dark underbelly just beneath the surface. Sprites and Fades wander here in search of Shards for reasons discussed under the Shard section, and either side will do much to make sure that they, and only they, get this prize even if it means destroying the Shard to stop their opposition from attaining them. As such the "snake oil" business is thriving here, with many trying to woo Shards into working for one side or the other, if not forcing the decision upon them where possible.
tab The moniker of "the Tether" comes from the structure of the plane itself and, more specifically, how it functions as the waypoint between the world of the Living and the deeper recesses of the land of the Dead. When Fades, Sprites, Wraiths and other dead beings both quasi and full manifest in the living world it is through the power of a Focus that anchors them in our world, for the land of the Dead continues to haul on one's essence from the moment a Shard crosses over. This pull can be seen when nearing natural and unnatural vortices into the locale,