The Warp

The Warp is a Universal Transitional Plane, connecting to all other known planes of existence, including other transitive planes such as The World Tree.

The Warp is lesser known to it's equal and opposite, the Ethereal Plane. It's connection to the planes are narrow, in a certain sense. Shifting between the planes is harder with the Warp, the only reliable ways involving the ripping of planar boundaries. The Warp has an uncommon planar structure; It is sinuous in a very strange manner. The plane is reactive with itself, these sinews often getting caught and tangling with other strands. Many magics and creatures can rip these planar strands, causing the creation of wild portals through the multiverse, and some are able to shape them into unique planar boundaries and rifts. The planes are connected through these sinews, and so can be disrupted with relative ease. That said, the plane rebuilds itself over time, like a living organism, and these ripped connections can restore in twisted ways, sometimes causing even more convoluted connections.

Many creatures harvest the Warp's sinews to create portals, and that leads to the already tenuous connections becoming less and less stable in many places; This is part of the reason why the Warp is not acknowledged as much as the Ethereal Plane, and why many forms of magic don't account for Warp Travel. The Warp is a dangerous, dangerous place, between these twisting passages, crushing dimensions, and it's native inhabitants.

The inhabitants of the Warp are inconsistently written-of; Some call them Daemons, particularly those who travel the Flow and Elemental Chaos, and thus have less interaction with the entities usually called Daemons, or Yugoloths. Some call them the "Sworn" but that... Is weird. That name comes from a perceived connection between them and the Sorrowsworn of the Shadowfell (Who are similar as beings twisted by dreadful emotion, but are distinct). Some people call them Warp Spirits, those people often being the ones who say "Ethereal Spirit" to refer to the inhabitants of the Ethereal Plane. The most commonly accepted name, used in Alloy, is Neverborn.

Neverborn are the echoes of thoughts and emotions which became too powerful in another realm. An intense rage (Such as those produced by Barbarians), impossible depression, true delirium, or any other emotion powerful enough causes the sinewy connection to the Warp to ripple. Those ripples never stop, however when enough ripples meet, usually in the Warp proper rather than a connective tissue, the plane rips and folds into a member of the Neverborn. Some powerful Psionicists (Typically Wilders) are able to force Neverborn into existence on their own force of will. Regardless of source, Neverborn are strange amalgamations of expectation, magic, and planar energy twisted into a foul creature, often one which would look at home in the Abyss.

## Parallel to the Ethereal

The Warp and the Ethereal Plane are equal and opposites in many way. As Universal Planes, they both connect to all other planes of existence, including eachother. However, where the Warp connects tenuously, the Ethereal completely conforms and envelops any plane it touches (Except the Warp). The Warp's sinuous connections create sacrificial portions to prevent planar bleed, while the Ethereal embraces and blocks off the bleed in layers. The Warp's Neverborn are echoes of creatures' emotions and thoughts, while the Ethereal Plane's Spirits are echoes of souls which form on their connected planes. Many spells and magics interact intimately with the Ethereal Plane, while the Warp is considered esoteric and obscure even among groups of archmages.

Despite these many opposing reflections, both are Universal Planes who reflect the planes they connect to, disconnected from those plane's realities outside of strange border properties, driven by willpower and thought rather than pure physicality, and filled with strange creatures. Both are used as planar shortcuts, and serve as prime candidates for the very few gateways to the outside of the universe.

They are equals and opposites, two pieces of a puzzle, and this fact is obvious in how they interact. They do not touch eachother as they do other planes, instead conforming cleanly, like liquid. The border is obscure, hard to tread but not impossible, and there is no reason to break through when you can dive deep and find the other anyway.