The Ethereal Plane

The Ethereal Plane is one of the transitive planes, which connects all planes together. Even other Transitive Planes, such as the Astral or Elemental Chaos, or more specific transitive planes, like the River Styx. It is the equal and opposite to The Warp.

The Ethereal Plane, despite being one of the most well-known, is also one of the strangest. Unlike other transitive planes, the Ethereal experiences no "bleed" from other planes, and also unlike other transitive planes, the Ethereal is a Layered Plane. These two facts tie together, because the Ethereal's layers are what prevent the bleed. Essentially, where the Ethereal meets another plane, it conforms to the orientation and nature of the plane it is touching in what is called the Border Ethereal. Within this border, the connected Plane and the Ethereal plane are very close, and beyond being close they also share the majority of their properties, including the shape of the terrain and structures. Generally, any Huge or larger object which is anchored to the terrain also carries into the Border ethereal.

The difference comes from the fact that the Ethereal Plane's properties still apply within the Borders, mostly anyway. The physical is not; Only creatures are solid in the Ethereal, everything else is merely pseudosolid and can be moved through as though difficult terrain. Gravity also doesn't fully function, and any creature can levitate or fly within the Ethereal, including the borders.

The Ethereal is home to the Spirits, the only natives of the plane. Their nature is closest to that of Elementals, though they are quite different. Spirits come in two forms, Reflections and Representations. Reflections are spirits who mirror the existence of creatures directly, and this is the group which includes various "Human Spirits", "Dragon Spirits", and so forth. They are often called Echoes to make clear they are not the same as a Ghost or similar entity. They do not reflect a specific creature per se, or perhaps it's better to say they treat specific creatures as "Seeds" to exist. They exist as a reflection of a given creature, but the two are not the same, and the Echo may age to be very different, not to mention being unaffected by the seed creature's experiences or death. Representations on the other hand are spirits who reflect elements of the world itself; A desert may have one or many spirits associated with it. A City might have one, and old buildings might have one. Trees, Oases, Lakes, Rivers, take your pick. Representations have many names, depending on what plane you're reflecting, but are often generically referred to as "Spirits". An annoying and often confusing fact which has persisted despite itself.

## Connection to the Warp

The Ethereal is often considered to be a mirror to the Warp, and to a lesser extent the Phlogiston or Elemental Chaos. These are worse examples due to their closed connections (The Flow only connecting physical destinations and the Elemental Chaos only connecting the elemental ones), though the Warp connection is true.

The Warp and the Ethereal Plane are both Universal Transitive Planes; Where the Ethereal conforms to each plane perfectly, the Warp connects only by tenuous threads. The Ethereal proper experiences no bleed from the planes; The Warp limits the bleed to very tiny connective areas, leaving the Warp proper untouched by the bleed. The Ethereal contains echoes of souls, which appear from nothingness and grow slowly; The Warp contains echoes of emotion, which grow quickly and are crafted from the plane's "sinews". Despite these parallels, both planes are freeform and willpower-driven, disconnected from bodily experience, with nonsensical and twisting space.

The two are almost two halves of the same whole, and appropriately both violate their normal rules in regards to the other. The Ethereal has no layer for the Warp (No Border Ethereal), and the Warp connects with the Ethereal in a stable web of planar sinew, rather than tenuous strands as with other planes. The border is like liquid in many places, rippling and obscuring the true veil between realities.