Overview

Emea is more than just the world of dreams. It is everything that surrounds the world of Idalos, and the space between every plane of existence. It could also be considered raw, pure chaos, though is not as destructive or active as the term implies.

Think of Emea as the universe. It is infinite in size and contains all of existence. Every atom of physical material and every concept we know in Idalos, and so much more, floats around Emea in an endless swirling cloud of chaos. There no up or down, no time or distance, and no barrier between reality and imagination. This space is referred to as "The Beyond." There are suggestions that Emea possesses a sentience of its own, but if it does it is on a scale so broad that it is beyond the comprehension of anything on Idalos.

Filling this endless beyond is the energy known as Ether. Just like how the ocean is filled with water, Ether fills Emea. Ether gives power to concepts: it keeps them alive, allows them to move, and binds them to other concepts and materials they encounter. Because of this, at random point in Emea various concepts can clump together and begin to pull in other concepts and materials around them, just like planets forming in space from materials colliding and pulling other materials into them. This process creates what an Idalosian would call an "Emean Being."

Emean beings are strange, unique creatures; most born of concepts and materials that do not exist on Idalos, and as a result possess peculiar appearances and powers that Idalosians struggle to comprehend. Most are very small and animalistic in nature. They tend to be driven by simple urges: to wander peacefully, to guard a specific location, or to devour other Emean Beings. When an Emean Being devours another being it absorbs the entirety of that beings existence itself, and will then either repurpose that material in order to create offspring in its own image, or integrate that existence into itself and transform into a bigger, stronger and more powerful being.

Once upon a time a huge cloud of all the materials and concepts we know clustered together and formed the Great World Spirit Idalos. Idalos was composed both of every physical material present in the world of Idalos and every basic, natural concept; such as love and war. Idalos divided sections of the billions of concepts it is comprised of into seperate entities to create the very first pantheon spirits; the Verses and other ancient spirits, out of parts of itself, which all connected back to it through a spiritual connection called the Spiritsong. With their aid Idalos created what is known as "The Spirit World" or "The Beneath" around itself, like a shell formed around a nut. Then Idalos directed the ancient spirits to shape the physical materials it was made of into a set form and built "The Real World," which is where most gameplay on this site takes place. You could almost view this as a planet: with Idalos being the molten core, the spirit world being the inner layer, and the real world being the earth's crust around it. This example is only in the metaphorical sense however; the spirit world is not literally located underground. A being of such size and complexity as Idalos creates a great presence, similar to how a planet creates gravity, that keeps these layers together.

When the Shay were created Idalos wanted these being to be innovative, and so created "The Mindscape" layer which these Shay possessed a weak connection to. Through this connection their souls could travel through this layer while their bodies slept. This layer is also purely conceptual in nature, and is far less constrained by the laws Idalos set in reality. In this place the natural concepts of Idalos could flow freely and mingle together, creating innovative new concepts that could be brought back into the reality layer by the Shay. You could think of this layer as the sky in the earlier example of a planet.

Finally Idalos wanted to prevent any alien concepts (concepts that should not have existed in Idalos, such as necromancy) from coming in and disrupting the natural balance it had established, and so created "The Veil" layer as a shield. This layer is like the atmosphere, and prevents Ether from entering Idalos. Without Ether to move in most concepts alien to Idalos, and thus most Emean Beings, could not enter Idalos. Plus without Ether the concepts native to Idalos would not grow out of control on their own, and thus not upset the balance of nature Idalos had created. Only the things born within Idalos, those it crafted from the "native" concepts of Idalos itself, could survive there.

However Emea is infinite. In the vast space known as the Beyond there are countless other worlds formed from different concepts, which in turn have very different laws of reality. One of these worlds is the one the Originals came from. This world was destroyed by something, and the eight Originals fled through the Beyond, loosing their memories in the process, and by chance stumbled across Idalos. The Originals possessed enough power to break through the Veil, and were powerful enough to survive in Idalos without breaking apart through their own force of presence. They encountered the spirits and the dragons, and set about history as we know it.

The important thing to note is that the Originals were made of concepts alien to the natural laws of Idalos, allowing them to do things that no natural creature of Idalos could. They also figured out how to create the Immortals as a means of capturing control of the key concepts that form Idalos (the world) away from Idalos (the spirit). The Immortals were made by stealing away the concepts from slain spirits and mixing them with a portion of their own power to create a kind of smaller satellite world orbiting Idalos, called a Domain. Going back to the planet metaphor you could think of each Immortal domain as a moon: orbiting within Idalos' gravitational pull, and able to affect the world with its own pull (like how the moon's gravity affects the tide). These Immortal worlds could be considered the truest form of an Immortal. Along with a few other smaller worlds made by other means they are collectively called "The Untold."

The Onion Example

If the above explaination likening Idalos' planes of existence to a planet was a little confusing, here's a simplified allegory: the onion example.

• Just like an onion, Idalos has layers. In the centre there is Idalos-the-spirit.
• The layer around that is The Beneath: the spirit world.
• The next layer along is The Real World: the place where most gameplay is set.
• The next layer is The Mindscape.
• And finally there's a layer of peel around it to keep it safe from the germs floating in the air outside: the Veil.
• Unfortunately the veil has a few holes bitten in it, which has made some spots in the layers beneath it go a bit nasty. That's like ether getting into Idalos through fractures and making it turn weird.
• Around the onion there are a lots of little shallots (mini-onions.) These a smaller, seperate onions, but close enough to bump into the main onion sometimes. They together are The Untold.
• Everything else around the onions and the shallots, stretching out into infinity, is The Beyond. It's everything else that is not part of the onion.

Ether

Ether is the fundamental energy of Emea, the raw power of chaos and transformation. On its own Ether is harmless, however what is special about Ether is the way it interacts with concepts. Concepts feed on Ether, drawing power from it that allows them to move and grow much like how fish in the ocean require water. Ether is used up in this process, but as it appears to be of infinite supply this is not a problem.

The Veil acts a barrier that prevents Ether from entering the world of Idalos, since when Ether is introduced to Idalos it causes any concepts it meets to grow and move, causing phenomena that bend or defy the rules of reality Idalos created. If enough Ether was to flood Idalos then it could cause the laws of Idalos to break completely, at which point the world would break apart and fall back into the unrestrained chaos of The Beyond. Unfortunately it is possible for the Veil to be damaged, and when this happens it creates holes that allow Ether to trickle into Idalos, called Fractures. When The Originals shattered and created the seven Grand Fractures this created permanent holes through which ether could seep into Idalos, and as such there is a low amount of ambient ether saturated into pretty much every part of Idalos that was not shielded against it before the shattering. It is this ether that mages absorb and draw through their own soul to power their magic abilities, and though it might seem like a lot to most mages, those who have felt their spells overcharge out of their control while in a fracture or when exploring Emea will begin to realise how little ether is truly present in Idalos. Right now the effect of the ambient ether on Idalos is so small as to be nearly unnoticeable, only resulting in the odd genetic mutation in every ten thousand or so life forms, but were it to increase Idalos could well begin to twist into a realm of madness and chaos.

The Immortals also use Ether, but not in the same way as humans do. Each Immortal's domain orbits around Idlaos beyond the Veil, and is thus surrounded by natural Ether. These domains absorb the Ether around them in far larger quantities than a human could manage, and refine it with the concepts associated with their corresponding Immortal to make Divine Ether. This Divine Ether is then channeled through their physical forms on Idalos to enact their miracles, or shared with humans through a Blessing or Curse. Divine Ether can only be used to perform feats associated with the concepts it was refined with.

It should be noted that Ether is not the same as Ephemera or Ectoplasma, which are the materials spirits and souls are made from. Ether is usually quite toxic to Ephemera as it destabilises it, but seems to be conducted through Ectoplasma rather than reacting with it.

Fractures and Vergences

It is possible, though often difficult, for beings to pass through gaps between the different layers of Idalos:

• A fracture occurs when a gap in The Veil opens, allowing ether from Emea to pour into the world and warp the land around it into something chaotic and weird.
• A vergence is a deliberate opening between The Beneath and Reality; a doorway between the real world and the world of the spirits. No vergences are kept open permanently to prevent ether leaking into The Beneath, however there are certain spots in the world where vergences open more easily, or even automatically at a specific time.
• Like any opening, any being can pass through either side of both fractures and vergences in order to enter the realm on the other side. Should you as a player wish to jump through either of these gaps you can, but be prepared for what you might find waiting on the other side.[/list]

Dreamwalking

Through the act of sleeping, a soul is able to temporarily disconnect from its body and access the mindscape. Dreams are the things the soul witnesses as it expolores the mindscape, though the act of moving around through such an unstructured realm causes soul to forget most of their experience when they return to the body, hence why dreams are often so hard to remember upon waking. As time and space are fluid in the mindscape one can encounter people from the other side of the world in dreams, or spend what feels like days exploring the mindscape while only a single hour passes in the real world. Although the soul can wonder from its body it is still connected to it, and will be pulled back in immediately when the body is woken.

Through study and practice it is possible for a human to learn to control this ability, allowing them more lucidity as they dream and control over where they go when exploring the mindscape. This ability is known as dreamwalking. With a great amount of practice and expeirence, or with the help of a powerful being such as an Immortal, a dreamwalker can even slip through the Veil and explore the world in the Untold, or even go further out into the Beyond. However to do this is to expose onself to the dangers there, and also runs a high risk of memory loss.

Dreamwalking cannot be used to go down into the Spirit World. However it is possible for humans to enter the Spirit World with the help of a powerful being, or by locating and passing through a Vergence. As of yet no mortal has even been able to go down past the spirit world and meet the Great Spirit Idalos, who has been inactive since the war with the Originals.

Other Worlds

The Untold

• Zuudaria: The Domain of Famula
• Raj'ufnaj: The Domain of U'frek
• Saoire's Dream: The Domain of Saoire
• Santa Maledicia: The Domain of Tio
• The Eight Fold Labyrinth: The Domain of Sintra
• Uleuda: The world of the Yludih
• The Misty Miasma: Unknown

The Beyond

• Sherbert: The world of the Originals
• Gilgarod: The world that devours kingdoms
• Masarvva: The silent city
• Colegut: The ashen tunnels
• Olamanelle: The silver sky