Otherworld

An **Otherworld** is a term that refers to any world or universe separate from the prime physical reality (known to the denizens of Halcyon City as "our universe"), primarily distinguished by its relative lack of overlap of physical laws with our reality. The term and further classification is intentionally left vague as the myriad of otherworld realms remains largely uncountable with new realities virtually discovered on a semi-daily basis.

For the sake of organization, the full known (and unknown) breadth of the otherworlds has been classified into three groups, based on how differing these realms' realities are from our own. These are the **Near Realms**, **Middle Realms** and **Far Realms**.

 Near Realms

## Nature and Access

The exact nature of an otherworld realm is vastly mutable and heavily depends on the realm in question.

The exact factors that set an otherworld realm apart from reality can be few, or a vast many. These can be subtle differences - such as the way spatial dimensions are perceived, how drastically time flows between different points, how the senses perceive the world around a person.

On the other end, the differences can be heavily drastic - including such changes as the nature of the realm's inhabitants being physical or ethereal, the mutability of spatial factors based on a point-to-point distance, the size and shape of the entire realm in question, presence or lack of concepts or aspects of 'reality' as known to us, so on and so forth.

Access to these more-or-less alien realities differs, varying in difficulty based on the 'depth' of the realm that is attempted to be accessed. Actual means of transportation can range from direct physical displacement into the realm, a spatial portal of cross-dimensional nature, magical incantations that wrap the user into a different reality, etc..

Likewise, those inclined towards the arcane and spiritual arts are capable of venturing into the otherworlds while shedding their physical form and entering as wholly non-corporeal constructs. This phenomenon is commonly known as "Astral Projection", though the term 'astral' is a common misnomer and is often inaccurate to the nature of the otherworld visited.

Finally, despite the method of travel, beings visiting the various otherworlds have been noted to be 'translated' by the reality visited into a form compatible with its own rule set, more often than not. Warning has to be made that this translation-effect is not an universal factor and travel to some realms in an incompatible form can result in harm or injury to the traveller.

## Depth of the Otherworld

As mentioned before, the myriad of otherworld realms is difficult if not impossible to categorise in sufficient detail. Instead, modern sciences have assumed a generalised, three-step form of describing the various encountered otherworlds, following a likewise basic criteria - how much of an overlap existing between the rules of the realm in question and our prime, physical reality.

The three categories are as follows:

### Near Realms

Also known as the **Shallow Realms**, these otherworlds share the vast majority of their rules with our reality. In general, gravity works mostly the same, beings inhabiting these worlds are often likened to beings existing in the prime physical world, communication barriers are easy to overcome and travel to these realms is often safe and lacking challenge.

The currently known realms categorized as "Near Realms" are:

* The Horn of the Wild
* Avalon
* Asgard

Like with its proceeding depths, the Near Realms have a general 'meta-reality' within themselves, simply called the Near Spirit Realm. While its nature as its own separate otherworld realm is hotly debated, fact remains that travel to the Near Spirit Realm is often considered one of the easier feats to perform. In the same manner, further travel to other near realms is known to be a factor easier when done from within the "Near Spirit", rather than from the physical reality.

### Middle Realms

The middle-realms of the otherworld sit on and between the border between being somewhat familiar and wholly alien to the denizens of the physical reality. A so-called middle-ground, these realms remain for most part recognisable to a traveller from the physical world, yet are known to have a number of rules or factors inherit to themselves that set them significantly apart from the familiarity of the near realms. These can include the mutability of the realm based on one's precise location, a potential multiplicity nature of its inhabitants or the existence of abstract concepts made physical reality.

While mostly a generalisation, it is said that the realms of gods from various Earth (and other) religions and mythologies exist within this middle layer. While unofficially accepted as true, no such claims are officially made by people concerned with otherworld exploration.

The known middle realms include:

* Ferinon
* Feywild

Unlike the near realms, travel to the middle realms is considered significantly harder, regardless the starting point is anchored to the physical reality or some matter of near realm. Outside of scant few specific realms and points within the Near spirit Realm that allow a traveller to slip deeper into the otherworld depths, direct jaunt into a middle realm is considered a virtually impossible task.

On the other hand, similar to the near realms, this depth of the otherworld contains a meta-reality simply called the Middle Spirit Realm, which functions in the exact same manner as does its near equivalent.

### Far Realms

Also known as the **Deep Realms**, these otherworlds are virtually completely detached from prime physical reality. Likewise, their research and understanding is considered nebulous at best, and wholly unknown at the worst case scenario. Unlike the two previous categorisations, the Far Realms stand apart from the standard model by virtue of their own existence.

Similar to Near and Middle Realms, the Far Realms are said to contain their own meta-reality of the Deep Spirit Realm, yet the realm's exact nature leaves the prior theory to crumble. With its denizens resembling entire realities or universes unto themselves, many postulate that the difference between a "far realm" and a "far realm denizen" is a false dichotomy.

The known list of Far Realms and/or Far Realm entities is as follows:

* The Dragon Spirit
* The Tiger Spirit
* The "Horrorterrors"

As one might expect, both existing within the Far Realms as well as travel therein is considered both a near-impossibility and only attempted by the most foolhardy or ignorant of the dangers lying beyond the veil.