Cosmology

This is, surprisingly, just a barebones cosmology at the moment. I'd like to add more on the Elder Gods and such, and that will likely come later.

History of Shadow

Pardon the cliché, but in the beginning there was Chaos.

Not the Courts of Chaos, but raw, primordial Chaos. Shadows came into being and died in rapid succession with no rhyme or reason. It was from this Chaos that the first gods rose. By force of will they bent shadow to their will, and created their own worlds out of nothing. Few know what these gods were like, though it's presumed that they were in many ways very alien compared to what exists now, even in the reality twisting corridors of the Courts of Chaos.

As is the case with shadow, a myriad of lesser versions of the Elder Gods sprang up in the nethershadows bordering on the gods' worlds. These demigods, demons, and other entities sprang grew slowly into power and began to covet the monopoly these Elder Gods, and sought to undermine their power.

At first great armies were raised up, and battles raged back and forth through shadow between the demons of Chaos and the strange minions of the Elder Gods. When that gained the demigods nothing, they forged a series of artifacts, which drew off the power of shadow, and were designed to first immobilize the Elder Gods, and then begin using them as an additional power source. From then on the artifact would use the god's own power against it. In later ages, these artifacts came to be known as the spikards.

The great worlds of the Elder Gods faded once the Elder Gods were incapacitated. However, with the spikards as their tools, the new rulers over shadow were able to strengthen more shadows than just their own, and many new worlds came into being.

However, for some, this just wasn't enough. One entity, known as the Serpent, struck upon an idea to improve his power significantly. Utilizing the power of one of the spikards, and with the aid of his own band of demon followers, he forged a new construct which drew its strength from the very Chaos that lay beyond the influence of the spikards. This artifact was known as the Logrus, and the demons which ruled over it dubbed themselves the Lords of Chaos, worshipping the Serpent in exchange for the power granted them.

In the eons that followed, the weilders of the spikards faded into the mists of time, some dying, some having their precious artifacts stolen from them and they themselves slain. As the weilders of the spikards faded from shadow, a new demi-god, who later came to be known as the Unicorn, sought to rival the power the Serpent, battled the Serpent and wrested fromthe beast one of his eyes. Using this, and the aid of a visionary Lord of Chaos named Dworkin, a new artifact, based upon Order, came into being.

Y'all probably know the rest.

Two distinct sets of poles exist in shadow. The more common one known to most is are the set of poles comprised of Order and Chaos, embodied in the constructs of the Pattern and the Logrus. What most are not aware of is that there is a second set of poles, creating a wholly different continuum of reality. Merlin named this area the Undershadow, and it runs between the archetypes of Creation and Destruction, known more commonly as the White Fountain and the Abyss.

The best way to describe "where" this continuum exists would be to say runs perpindicular to normal shadow, but yet manages to coexist in its entirity with each point in shadow to one degree or another. In terms of accessing either one, it takes significantly longer to access the Abyss than the White Fountain. Ironically, the farther you get from a major source of power, the less influence it tends to have. Note that this isn't an entirely accurate description of the system. It's just the best that fits.

Though symbolically various powers in shadows gain their strength from Chaos, or the like, the actual backbone of all power comes from this alternate continuum. It's spawned by the White Fountain, and later destroyed by the Abyss. A nice simple structure, with a good deal of harmony.

The Undershadow can be entered by those with power over shadow bordering on exalted by force of will. Also, there are a few locations throughout shadow that are just general openings to the Undershadow.

The first among these is, obviously enough, the Abyss that surrounds the Courts of Chaos. It takes a good deal of falling to actually enter the Undershadow this way, and if the impact doesn't kill you, the entropic forces surely will. The Primal Chaos that lies under the Courts, from which the Logrus draws its energy, is a primarily a generative force, creating the shadows which Pattern lends form to. The Abyss exists there.

Other fairly major entrances to the Undershadow consist of rapidly appearing gaps in the Dancing Mountains, as well as a strange grove that exists in the heart of Arden. The grove contains a cleverly hidden portal that one must truly work to find.

Another "entrance" of sorts is the Fount of Power, located in the keep of the four worlds. Where the four shadows intersect, great fault lines in shadow occur, creating a geyser of energy from the Undershadow. Because of the raw intensity of this energy, it would take one with considerable protection to actually enter Undershadow, but the energy let out can be tapped and utilized to ones own ends.

There are three types of creatures commonly found in Undershadow. The first, more well known examples, are the Pattern and Logrus ghosts. For various reasons the powers will send these entities down into Undershadow, sometimes just to resolve some sort of personal dispute without getting real people involved. Second are creatures which appear to be simple motes of light, which are typically known as Motes, Fountites, or (just recently) Brainchiggers. These creatures are the natives of the White Fountain end of Undershadow, and are initiates in its power much like Amberites are initiated into the Pattern. On the other end of Shadow are the Abyssians, which obviously are natives to the Abyss, and initiates into its power. These creatures appear to be pools of entropic blackness, and tend to disolve everything they touch.

For the most part, Shadow and Undershadow, though interconnected, don't really mix well. Though a hair unnatural seeming, creatures from Shadow can exist fairly well in Undershadow, though the food isn't too nutritious for them. However, Shadow based powers such as Pattern or Logrus do not function well there. Conversely, the powers of Abyss and White Fountain work even better in Shadow (especially White Fountain), but the natives of Undershadow find Shadow totally inhospitable, and unless certain buffers exist, they die rather quickly.

One way that the denizens of Undershadow have found to survive in Shadow is a host. If they can take over the body of an initiate of a Shadow based power, they can protect themselves from Shadow, and use their significant powers from the host. The flaw in this that the Fountites and the Abyssians have no native way to accomplish such a thing. They must be willingly brought into a host in some fashion, and from there do their work. The Fountites earned their name of "Brainchiggers" well, as they tend to destroy the brain of the host and assume control over all such functions. The Abyssians, on the other hand, form a highly destructive symbiosis with their host, essentially destroying the creature's life force, though they still retain their identity.