Darkreach — Outer Planes
activeOuter Planes of Darkreach
The Echo
A warped reflection of Darkreach — realm of dreams and nightmares. Spirits drift there after death if they are lost or unwilling to face Ljos’ judgment. Memory reshapes landscape; emotion becomes terrain.
The Echo is fed by the living. When mortals dream of the same being often enough and with enough intensity, that idea can take form. Myths, fears, obsessions shared across generations may coalesce into something real — and those beings may then begin to influence the ones who created them.
Spirits can grow strong enough to break free:
- Most can only brush the waking world through dreams or exhaustion
- Some force themselves into corpses as vessels
- Rare, powerful spirits may possess the living, overwriting will and identity piece by piece
Currently inhabited by: Helliari (banished here during the War)
The Haze
An iridescent, fog-like substance shimmering with unnatural colors. A thinning of reality where Darkreach brushes against elsewhere — a medium of interdimensional travel.
The Haze seeps into everything within it — flesh, breath, memory, thought. Many die from exposure. Those who return are rarely unchanged. Some hear whispers inside it; accounts never fully agree.
Navigation is perilous: Without a guide, travelers may wander forever. Ravagers stalk its mists, drawn to the living like sharks to blood. The fates they inflict on those they find are whispered of only in fragments.
Historical significance: Imperial scientists discovered The Haze, accidentally summoned The Ravaging through it, and then fled into it — arriving in Darkreach and starting the War.
The Underworld
The Black Gates stand identically in both Darkreach and the Echo, marking the threshold of the realm of the dead. They do not open for the living by choice. Souls walk through the Echo toward the Gates after death, drawn to judgment. Beyond them waits Ljos.
Three destinations after judgment:
| Destination | Who Goes There |
|---|---|
| Hel | The truly wicked — frozen plane of torment, hatred, endless cold |
| Valley of Rest | The virtuous — quiet, peaceful, burdens fall away |
| Lodge of Legends | Hunters and the honorable — roaring fires, eternal camaraderie, continued hunts |
Special case — returned souls: Ljos may stay judgment for those taken too soon, sending them back to the living world for a second chance. They return changed, marked by death.
Last updated: 2026-04-06