so the metaphysics/cosmology of the greater world of araman are something i find really interesting, i've explained it a couple times in text already, but i had the thought it might be easier with visuals, so have some diagrams!
(to the best of my lore knowledge, with the understanding that these things do not exist solely in 2d space, so the places i've put them are where was convenient for the connections, not necessarily what actually neighbors what)
so this is what the world looked like for the past few millenia of shaper rule. dead souls end up in the tenebral reaches (the deep dark woods), to be guided on to their respective afterlife from there. some gods had celestial psychopomps, like olbalad, to guide the souls they deemed as theirs. house tachonis did that job for tansul, because their sorcery draws power specifically from that shadow realm, they know it intimately. azgra had a crueler method, and cursed the souls of all dead orcs to follow a river of his own blood directly from araman, through the underworld, and into the dying fields
and lurking underneath it all, the oldest path, the first one ever made. the druids can guide souls themselves, back to this plane in a new form, but they were almost wiped out during the shapers' time, forced to continue their work in secret if they did so at all
sylandri wasn't allowed to keep the elves as immortal as she wanted them, but she wanted them always in the light, to never know the world of shadow. so the stone of nightsong was eventually created, to open a bridge between araman and faerie, such that any mortal injury they did befall, it would carry their souls to faerie
with the shapers gone after the war, their psychopomps mostly went with them. the afterlives are theorised to still exist, but with the paths closed, no one could prove it. gavzidra's drying up with no recourse for the souls trapped in it. and with nowhere to go, the dead just pour into that shadow space that can't hope to contain them, swelling precariously as it tries. the old path is more vital than ever now, but it's like trying to drain a bucket of water through a pinhole, there just isn't enough time or druids to make a real dent
and then 8 years ago. the chaotic expanse of necromantic energy bursts directly into faerie and almost kills everyone in it. faerie has no choice but to seal themselves off or die, leaving the golden orchard behind as the last bit of true faerie left in this world
and to the dire state of the present day, prior to opening night at the theatre. the underworld has gotten so big it's started creating only theorised geography, like the sea of lachris. elf souls and orc souls and everyone else who died after the shapers war are lost here somewhere. tachonis are doing whatever the fuck they like with an ever expanding portion of the universe/its people that they see as rightfully theirs
but then thjazi's ritual. blood from gavzidra, made into paint. painted on the walls of an old temple to azgra, reforged into a place of joy and hope for all orc people. hal and shadia and the rest of the ko'therai cast telling a story that reaches across planes, touching the actual souls who lived the story, souls trapped in the dying fields, freed through the repurposing of the same river that brought them there. anchored to this theatre, to the pariah blades in shadia's hands, unaware she holds the legacy of her entire people now. the bridge is open, for thaisha, who's spent her life training to guide lost souls, to show them where to go
the problem: one bridge alone can't keep its form, there's pressure acting on it from all sides, it's shaking and swelling like the underworld has been for 70 years. it needed stability. needed something whose purpose has always been to open a bridge
a triangle can withstand a lot more force than a single line. and with the hope and blessing of vaelus and hannan and every faerie in that theatre, two more bridges were created, reopening the path to faerie so that the lost souls could find their way there instead. it's still not an open bridge for mortals, and the elf souls who died without a path to faerie are still lost out in the shadow somewhere. but if the stone is still doing its job, the shadow can't interfere with this one. and maybe one day at the end of all this, when hannan and vaelus have found all the elves out there in the dark, they can all return to faerie together
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