Night Realm

The Realm of Night

What are the Themes of the Realm?

Night is a realm of spirit, and of eternal darkness. It is a subtle realm where passion rules, and where instinct overcomes rationality, where the joy of mysteries and riddles lies in their unravelling not just the secrets they conceal, and where transformation is the order of the day. It is a realm that is at once as subtle as a caress and as obvious as a murderous rage. It is an emotional realm, a realm of feelings and the primitive drives that are the foundation of mortal activity. It is a realm that echoes with the idea that nothing is ever entirely as it seems, that mystery is an end in itself, and that change is the lifeblood of creation.

It is a Realm of freedom. Each interaction between individuals is determined on its own strengths. A creature is dominant over another only to the degree that it can enforce that dominance. Individualism is the natural order, but bands of individuals may come together due to shared experience or common goals, or just because they enjoy each others’ company. Those bands dissolve just as quickly, and without recrimination.

It is a realm where assumption is the enemy – what was true yesterday need not necessarily be true today. Anything can change between one encounter and the next, it is a realm that glorifies the subjective over the objective experience of the world. This is a realm where the boundaries are blurred, between now and then, and here and there, and between what is and what could be..

What kind of Magic does it cover?

The most obvious use for the magic of Night is in concealment. Rituals of the magic of Night can provide protection from divination in all its forms, expecially the rituals of the magic of Day. It can also conceal elements of a person’s identity – it can be used to create amnesia in a willing person, removing painful memories for example. It can be used to construct a glamour that removes all outward signs of a person’s Lineage. It can even be used to allow a group or individual to move through an area unnoticed by the inhabitants, or conceal a location from casual observation – not by creating invisibility but by subtly persuading creatures of weak spirit not to notice someone (This is likely to be ineffective against PCs but can be used as part of a plot, or to protect a Resource from being lost along with a territory for example).

It also covers the magic of transformation – most often of changing the qualities of a living creature. It can make someone appear to be a member of a Lineage, or help them reconstruct their entire personality and personal history within their own minds.

It might also be used to create a permanent or temporary transformation of species, although this is likely to be a difficult and dangerous endeavour. It can also undo such transformations, but always in terms of another transformation rather than the restoration of the original state, a subtle but important difference.

The magic of Night does not create or destroy, however, and is rarely of use to imbue something with brand new qualities or properties. It might be used to steal properties from one object or creature and give them to another, but this is likely to involve physical theft and trickery as part of the ritual rather than an orderly transfer of power.

It is also the magic of mysteries, and there is an element of divination here – it is much better than the magic of Day at discerning the potential futures because it is capable of accepting the chaos that the future grows out of.

The magic of Night can influence dreams, especially dreams that have a visionary feel or that deal with powerful emotions. It can be be used to kindle and empower roleplaying effects related to passion and madness.

Of interest to religious characters, it may possess rites that allow one to learn about ones’ past lives, with reference to their motivations and their emotions – it is useful to find out what a past life was like, more than what they did.

What is the Realm like physically?

The Realm of Night is, unsurprisingly, dark. The sky is always black, but it is peppered with tiny winking stars. There is no moon in the Realm of Night, but there are often dim sources of illumination that serve to create oases of safety – or danger – in the general darkness. Firepits, lanterns and torches are common elements here, often serving as the centre of a small settlement or the site for a few hours of revel or battle.

The Realm of Night has weather – a night may be hot and sultry or cold and bitter. It might rain, or there might be a dense fog. Weather conditions tend to suggest the presence of a powerful Eternal of Night in the vicinity – the Realm and its weather systems are strongly subject to the will of the Eternals.

Much of the Realm exists beneath the ground – there are caverns the size of countries in which forests and cities exist, as well as winding mazes that dip through three dimensions in their complexity. The underground realm is as fecund and magical as the aboveground realm – where there is no soil, the rock itself gives forth life in the shape of mushrooms and luminous mosses.

The surface is wild, and unconstrained. Much of it is covered in dark forest – and folk tales say that this forest connects in places directly to the darkest and wildest parts of the mortal world and one who has abandoned rationality (drunks and distraught lovers) can wander across the boundaries into the Realm of Night if they are not careful.

What are the inhabitants of the Realm like?

The Eternals of Night are shapeshifters. They change their actual appearance as a mortal might change a set of clothes – and they attach about as much significance to it. However, they are incapable of changing their essential nature – the core of their being. An Eternal that is clever and riddling is clever and riddling no matter what it looks like. Likewise, they commonly manifest “tells” – elements of their appearance that are thematically or literally the same regardless of their form.

That said, there are two essential classifications that appear to be true of the Eternals of Night. One group commonly adopt the appearance of winged serpents, and tend to be associated with and interested in the more ephemeral aspects of the realm – mysteries, riddles and philosophy. The other group commonly have animal-like attributes even when they assume humanoid form, and are more concerned with the more elemental aspects of the realm – emotions, passion and cunning.

Traditionally mystics refer to these two “shades” of Eternal as Snakes and Foxes. Indeed, the traditional game of the same name began life as a simple tool for teaching initiates the ways of the Realm of Night. The distinction is that the snakes are long, and connect disparate sections of the board – landing on one of their squares can result in a dramatic change in ones’ fortunes. The Foxes however connect two squares that are quite close together- landing on a fox square “nudges” one’s fortunes in the game only a small amount.

This is how it is considered to be with the Eternals as well. The draconic serpent eternals deal with large concepts and the overarcing questions of the realm. The more animalistic eternals deal on a smaller scale with specific individuals and short-term goals. The dragons are unlikely to engage in physical contact with other creatures, but the beasts may take lovers, or cheerfully attack and consume, other creatures.

All Eternals of this realm love art and artifice – they love the creation of clever and beautiful things. They are less impressed with beauty as a naturally occuring thing however. A pretty mortal who is dull is of no interest to them compared to a quick-witted, creative and passionate mortal who is ill favoured.

Eternals of this realm shy away from preconception. They try not to make assumptions. They deal with each individual as an individual – they tend not to connect a person with any larger structures. This means that if the last three Pogostanians the Eternal dealt with were idiots, he will not automatically assume the enxgt Pogostanian is an idiot. They also tend to be careful when meeting someone again after a period of separation – has the creature changed completely since they last met?

Within the Empire the lineage of Naga is associated with the Realm of Night. There is some discussion as to whether they draw their power from the draconic serpents, or from the more bestial serpents – some would say that it makes little difference one way or another. They are creatures of emotion and subtlety whose blood sings when they revel in the joys of their own passions.

What do the Eternals want from Mortals?

The Eternals of Night want secrets. They want to know things that only one or two other people know, and they want to cherish that knowledge. They love riddles and mysteries as well – they love conversation for its own sake, and they love puzzles that challenge an individual to think in new ways.

They also want to influence the Empire and make it more primal and more passionate. They encourage mortals to build theatres and to celebrate art, as well as to explore individual freedoms. They encourage transgression of written laws, social morals and the expectations of others. They especially like to see pompous hierarchs brought low by their own weaknesses.

They encourage conflict, and oppose compromise. They encourage the idea that the individual owes nothing to others except where he or she chooses to offer a relationship. The needs of the individual outweigh the needs or demands of the crowd. Howeve the Eternals of Night appreciate subtle, clever responses to challenges more than they do brute force approaches. They encourage subversion and channelling of opposing attitudes and goals rather than their simple destruction. Turning an enemy into a friend, or robbing an enemy by turning his friends into your friends, is a much more elegant approach than simply killing your enemy.

What are some things these Eternals can give to Mortals?

The Eternals can offer change and transformation, of the spirit and the body, although these gifts are often two-edged. In fact any gift of the Eternals of Night may bring with it a powerful roleplaying effect that can prove quite troublesome.

They can provide articles that enhance or focus the magic of Night. A particular resource they can offer are crystalline fruit that temporarily boost a Night ritual.

As with the Realm of Day, they love to offer riddles and mysteries when they deal with mortals. A ritual focus, for example, could be enscribed a poem that grants additional power if the secret it contains is worked out. These riddles are rarely simple matters of cogitation – they often require leaps of logic to uncover.

They might lend a mortal artifacts that create useful effects to do with concealment, freedom, passion and transformation. They can offer a number of things that have a narcotic effect – greatly exciting certain passions – but these substances are designed for Eternals and not mortals, and may be highly addictive or have dangerous side effects.

What themes aren’t appropriate to this Realm? This isn’t a happy touchy-feely realm. It’s a realm where thieves and assassins prosper, a realm of trickery and of double-edged gifts. It’s a place where the appearance of camaraderie and straightforwardness always hides a deeper, darker motivation.

The inhabitants, even the most spiritual winged serpent, are creatures of passion. They can switch from being friendly and talkative to murderous rage if you give them the wrong trigger. That’s not to say they are “wacky” or “zany” – their mood swings always have a deeper motivation if you know what you are looking for.

These creatures are passionate, but they’re not stupid. They’re quite capable of thinking several moves ahead, they often just don’t bother because they know that the chaotic universe tends to unmake their plans.

This is a realm where the inhabitants literally do not care about strangers. The subjective nature of their realm might suggest that they tend to assume people they can’t see right now don’t really exist.