[Lore] The Divide

[Swgrclan 2635]

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE7S4nLrThs

“I saw it in dreams.

Waves of a delicate, gray mist that drifted across a bleak landscape as if the land was plagued with sandstorms. Dull skies, lacking of color. A distortion of my sight, where nothing stood still. Something was always moving. I saw people - what they were on the inside, under the flesh and blood. I saw those that had passed, still bearing the desire to walk amongst the living unseen. I was watching the clockwork of the plane tick by; shifting in ethereal waves and taking shapes.

 

I was staring into the Divide, and it stared back.”

It was but a spark that had brought about the creation of the universe. A single light in the Void, brilliant and ever-distant, had ushered life into the endless abyss; forming a reality from a canvas with nothing to draw with. Whether it was by the hand of fate or from the will of the Creator, elaborate, methodical planes began to take shape. The mortal plane was born in violence; stone shaped with earthquakes, bringing about the formation of the world the masses know. After a time, other planes were developed. One deep within the darkness, wrought of brimstone and ever-flame, and one high in the sky, wrought of light and purity unmatched. Even the Void itself stood independently as it’s own plane; one unable to enter, but one able to manipulate.

But the world simply could not operate without a form of background calculations; something to keep things in check, to assure the gears are not rusted. They called it the Pale, in a time - a place of bleak sight, the land gray and oddly dull - but peaceful. Things could be seen; people, even places. Ghosts of structures now crumbled, spectres of those long passed. Within the Pale, the unseen could be seen. The Lich, whose soul had been contained in a crystalline prison miles from it’s host, could be seen with a visible tether pointing to where it’s long-abandoned essence possibly hid. The conjured pet of a mage could be seen alite with ethereal azure flame within the Pale after it’s change, showing it to be a soulless creature; not of the mortal realm, something drawn from the Void with mere use of mana and concentration.

All things tied together. One string led to the next; splitting into three to meet six more. The mere tick of a grandfather clock bore a calculative aura, and a flowing river it’s own too. The intricacies of the world were tucked in the pocket-realm; this dream-dimension, a simple backround not meant to be seen. God shaped the mortal plane for it’s beauty, and the Pale for it’s assessments.


 

It’s stale, albeit peaceful neutrality did not last for long, however. Even the mortals, without their sight of the unseen, could reach far and touch what was not intended for them. Magic was not something the pale could logically calculate. When the first evocationist brought about his flame in Aegis, it ushered a fluctuation into the Pale; disrupting the work it had made, the work it wrought for the sake of the mortal realm’s stability. It could not cooperate with what was not logical. The Void defied the Pale’s very core reasoning, and the countless magi and Wizards that had raised up in years’ time had brought about an unseen era of mayhem.

What was once a peaceful sub-realm of silent calculations and clarity had been twisted into a hidden badlands; a wasteland, bearing strange fog-storms and twisting gray winds. The very earth around those who would peer into the Pale would be broken; a shell of the mortal realm, the very destruction of the land unseen by the naked eye by the hands of the Void and it’s mages. Such a state only got worse, however. The magi grew in size, and the types of magic were ever-expanding. The Pale was decimated, annihilated -- yet, it lived.


 

There once lived an old collection of humane tribes scattered across the south-west territories of old-Aegis Oren. There, these tribals lived lives of peace; the men went out to hunt, the women gathered essentials from the land, and the elders stayed behind to educated the youth in life-lessons. This collection of tribes, however, held something common human societies did not. They bore shamans in their ranks of hunters and gatherers, but their shamans did not dabble in the worship of spirits; they did not sling fire, peer into the future or bless oneself with the strength of Krug. The devastation of the Pale was so catastrophic, that it began to reach out beyond the broken realm. The Pale reached out, as if in a panic to gather assistance, and seemed to touch those of the tribe; and whether it was mere cause and effect or by the very will of the gray plane itself, it changed the tribals.

They could dream. In these dreams, it was the Pale they saw, the mess it had become; having been gifted this sight, but after the time of it’s undoing. The shamans both did not understand the Pale and accepted it; deeming it simply the realm of the dead for the Pale’s properties regarding the spirits of the deceased. Knowing naught it’s true name, the tribals gave it a new one on behalf of the twisted reality they dreamt of - they call it the Divide.

The tribes gradually died off from the rise of the Undead, but the word of the Divide lived on in rumors and in their treasured history-scrolls which, by modern day, are either ash drifting the tainted winds of the darkened land of Aegis or in the hands of the greedy, never to truly see the light of day again. The Pale, or the Divide, never did bless others with this sight in such wide quantities again - it is but sparse figures that only ever were born with such a gift, often deemed seers if they caught on to such a power.

While the ages passed on by, while the lands of the masses were tossed away like used rags, the bleak Divide dwelt the underlying fabrics of the mortal realm in dormancy. Despite it’s ruined state, the calculations continued on. Even the Void and all of it’s mages could not disrupt that; only corrupt the visage of the realm itself.

But, after a time, the gifts came to another.

The creation of Gravelords, Dreadknights and the other illogical aberrants had taken a toll on the Divide, and it was once again that it’s gift was sent out; but only in lesser forms, bearing that of mere, meager images and visions that came in the form of hazed dreams. They came to the Knave of Graves, and with the know of this realm, there came the why of it. The Knave, with his mind a-riddle with broken gears and backwards pistons, assumed it the gift of God; the simple sight of the blessed despite the Divide’s actual intentions bearing no such relations of the ‘blessed’, nor the Creator any longer.

Perhaps, after a time, the unseen could be seen again. Time would only tell; and until then, the Divide’s assessments shall continue to tick away. Though… there was an old legend, tucked within the scrolls of those tribals. A lesson for all young shamans - a strong message, one they were all trusted to follow. The greed of man, whether they be Orc, Dwarf, human or Elf, is strong. Sometimes it can bring someone to their knees, form them into a shell of themselves. The Pale, with all it’s unseen glory, was not meant for mortal eyes. Greedy, curious shamans went blind from their far-seering excessive, for the Pale was such an unbridled force that it’s very visage, overtime, could take one’s sight if seen too much - permanently. Even the touch of a Cleric could not bring it back. The Divide claimed it, tucked deep in it’s precipices of madness.

 

The lesson the Elders wrought for the shamans was not to strive to see the unseen, but to resent it. Because greed was tricky, it was sinister -- and it was not the discovery and use of the Divide’s Sight that was hard to get.

 

It was letting it go.

---

The Divide is a sub-realm of the mortal plane; another reality where the land is distorted for the sake of “background calculation.” Without the Divide, the properties of the mortal plane would be chaotic, backwards and unable to sustain the life it does and has before. It makes the water flow smoothly, the clouds pass by - even the force of gravity itself is a by-product of the Divide, being but a brush-stroke to the canvas of logical reality.

Within the Divide, many strange things are visible. Because of it’s unbridled properties and relation with souls, essence and aura, the Divide harbors the visage of ghosts and even physical representations of the works of magic despite the Void conflicting with the Divide so much, even to this day. Within the Divide, those who had changed into immortal creatures may be seen as what they once were - what their soul, whether it is corrupted to the core or not, truly portrays themselves.

A Gravelord can be seen as a pale, ghost-white depiction of what it appeared to be in life before it’s change. A Dreadknight would look what it would had, too, when it was not melded to it’s accursed armor. Ghosts are even visible in the Divide; having led to why the old tribals praised their shamans so much. Additionally, one, if they are capable of peering into the Divide, can see the clockwork of reality churn and turn; what goes on in the mortal realm is displayed in an open, logical fashion within the Divide.



The Divide is not what it once was. As the Pale, it was a simple plane bearing the similar functions it’s latter form does today. However, because of the use of Void-magic and the Pale’s inability to register such an “illogical power”, it damaged the Pale; broke it up, and turned it chaotic. One may even speculate because of the Pale’s changes that the strange, otherworldly or otherwise abnormal events that transpire in the land of Anthos and ones before and beyond may be of the Divide’s doing.

The tribal line of “Pale-Dreamers” have long-since died off, however, this has not prevented new dreamers from surfacing. The ability to peer into the Divide is limited to them, however, to but images and vague scenes; to truly see the unseen, one must delve and dabble in the unknown to forge a sight unintended for mortal eyes.

---

As a role-play tool, the Divide is incapable of truly benefitting those who are authorized to “peer into it”, or hold an object in their possession that bears the same operation. The Divide is capable of many things, and should elaboration be required for what it may do, it can be provided.

Anyone who wants their character to look into the Divide may do so, but only in vague images portrayed through dreams. Anything more vivid requires either the assistance of enchanting or LM approval. It must be known that a strong capability to see into the Divide comes with it’s drawbacks. Like the old tribal shamans, those who prolong their use of the Divide’s Sight can go blind - permanently. This blindness is not the common type, however, as it is brought about from looking into another dimension or realm, which was formed without the intention of regular people looking into it, implying both holy healing, whether it be from Clerics or Druids, and traditional healing.

 

[Lago 2569]

Infra-red vision but for magic, in effect?

[Heero 4078]

I don't get it.

[Lago 2569]

Magic vision. You see the world in an abstract way, seeing the shadows of life and magic instead of seeing through light. And you walk into golems a lot.

[Swgrclan 2635]

Magic vision. You see the world in an abstract way, seeing the shadows of life and magic instead of seeing through light. And you walk into golems a lot.

 

nfra-red vision but for magic, in effect?

 

Yes, essentially. It's harmful in the long-run though.

[spqrSancus 173]

Interesting read, but the concept is a bit confusing, and I'm not certain if current lore currently conflicts with it... All in all, I think it might be abused for PG, but then again, whatever. I'll leave it to others.

[SodaiKamikaze 651]

I am not really sure what it does or how to use it.. But I think  I like it.

[Swgrclan 2635]

It's use could be kind of like far-seering, except it's simply looking into another realm - which, as Lago stated, is an abstract and darker version of the one everyone's characters see. It's truly up to the player who's approved for Divide Sight to how they'd use it, given that they would plan to stay in it's boundaries.

[3Pac 104]

Swgr this is so swg nicely done

[Iosif 72]

I like this alot, via some kind of conection would it be possible to make others view what you see?

[Swgrclan 2635]

I like this alot, via some kind of conection would it be possible to make others view what you see?

 

Not very possible beyond relaying memories through a mental mage or something relevant to that.  

[Iosif 72]

That was the issue. If the divide rejects void magic then it wouldn't really make sense tuse void magic to let somebody else see it.

[Swgrclan 2635]

That was the issue. If the divide rejects void magic then it wouldn't really make sense tuse void magic to let somebody else see it.

 

Ah, no. When I referred to mental magic, I did not mean direct portrayals of the mental mages' current experience, only its' memories. If you're willing, you may provide suggestions for other ways the Divide can be seen - I'm open to any offered.

[Iosif 72]

By "Background Calculations" would you say, see the speed of a river or maybe the trajectory of a bird? Would it be possible to sort of walk in this enlightened state? A little like the eagle vission thing in Assassin's Creed? So long as meta gaming was strictly avoided a la not using this in combat or predicting or influencing people's decisions.

[Swgrclan 2635]

By "Background Calculations" would you say, see the speed of a river or maybe the trajectory of a bird? Would it be possible to sort of walk in this enlightened state? A little like the eagle vission thing in Assassin's Creed? So long as meta gaming was strictly avoided a la not using this in combat or predicting or influencing people's decisions.

 

That would probably best describe the Divide, yes, with other minor differences pertaining to auras and the like, and the fact the Divide itself is not supposed to look very nice. I wouldn't say it'd be very pleasant to walk around whilst peering into the Divide - it's seeing what was supposed to be unseen, so it would probably hurt ones' eyes after a short time. Prolonged used leads to blindness, after all.

Divide Sight would actually inhibit those who would use it during combat instead of support them. Too many unfocused things going on to pay attention to a fast-moving target or magic, which is even worse when using Divide Sight.