A Planet is really easy for everyone to understand - just take a look around you. For many people, however, it is the only reality they ever know. Those of us who can traverse the Megaverse often forget that by far the vast majority of sentient beings have no such ability and rarely an understanding of such things. Planets generally orbit stars, and as far as we can tell, the majority of them that exist are either entirely lifeless or only supported life a very long time ago. Our own planet Terra has been dated to some 4.5 billion years old, volumes of time that we can barely grasp, so often times with planets it is a matter of the right time as well as the right place. I will forego the discussion of such aspects as geology, climatology and such, as you can find these works to review on your own.

The important thing here is to understand that planets are large things of varying nature that typically orbit stars and are generally where most of the life in the realities exist, in whatever form it takes. Life can be very varied as it adapts to different conditions, so rest assured that what looks like a dead planet may contain life very alien. Generally, it supports an ecosystem of some sort, and maintains an atmosphere. There are assorted types of planets that any basic astronomical guide can detail far more efficiently than I can.

1.0.1.2 - The Star

Stars are burning objects that exist in space. Again, a brief survey of any good astonomy book will cover the types and colours of stars that exist, but essentially stars are huge nuclear furnaces, and when they run out of fuel, they can collapse or explode. Stars typically have a fair amount of gravity, and as such, capture things ranging from planets to comets to other stars. Stars give off plenty of energy, both in light and in radiation, which in turn are often used by life on planets to survive.

An interesting note about stars is that as Aurelanis reported in his last work, stars seem to be a local source for ley lines. So it is entirely possible that stars put out magical energy as well, diluted down through the web of ley lines. As to WHY it is that stars do this, that is a more intriguing mystery. Popular theory is that a tiny dot inside the star accesses a realm somewhere, but there would be other telltale signs of that. At present, it remains a mystery.

Solar Systems are exactly what it sounds like, the name for a star and its collected gravitationally-held brethren. More rarely, multiple stars are involved in one solar system, but the best known and most common ones typically have one star. Anywhere from one to many dozens of planets may orbit in the solar system, as well as a host of other astronomical phenomenon that I will not touch upon. Using our own system as a guide, of course, there is the asteroid belt and on the edges of the system, the Oort cloud of debris. Often, small chunks of rock or frozen matter will get snared by a solar system and will form comets. By and large, solar systems are very large. However, typically the distance from the furthest planet out to the star will be a great distance indeed. An old value of Terran measurement, an Astronomical Unit, is the distance from our star to our planet, roughly 90 million miles. Pluto, the furthest planet in our system, is some 40 AU from the sun. You can see how we are already running into that difficulty of scale.

It is typical for non-natives of the solar system (travellers there) to designate the star a name, and then count the planets outward from the star. This is a generally accepted method of cataloguing discoveries, although natives or later visitors may call the planets something entirely different. It is also worth mentioning that as I said above, space is very empty, and solar systems are an excellent example of that. Spacefaring civilizations may have a variety of outposts, colonies, defenses and so forth, but encountering much of anything in space is a rare thing indeed, especially the further you get from civilized areas.

1.0.1.4 - The Galaxy

A Galaxy is generally a vast collection of stars, solar systems, and a host of other astronomical aberrations, typically bound together by gravity. The galactic scale is very large indeed, and minor movements can take millions and billions of years. Galaxies come in a host of types, just like stars, and I shall encourage you again to seek a competent astronomy manual and discover them for yourself. Galaxies come in a range of sizes, but even the smallest ones tend to be very large by solar system standards. Entire civilizations rise, flourish, and fall, without ever seeing more than 1% of their galaxy. There are usually millions of systems and stars in a galaxy. There are literally piles of astronomical oddities in galaxies, including white dwarfs, brown dwarfs, red giants, and the infamous black holes. I cannot even scratch the surface of all of them.

Spacefaring civilizations typically assign a system of navigation to their galaxy, typically quadrants and sectors or some permutation thereof. Occasionally, understanding and circumstance can lead to civilizations which span more than one galaxy at a time, although such things are, as of yet, quite rare.

The Universe is the term given to a host of galaxies and assorted oddities which are held together loosely by a strong force of gravity. Universes consist of millions of galaxies, and are immense beyond recording. For the longest time, Terrans thought there was only a single universe, but we have since come to understand that there are hosts of them out there. Getting to them tends to be the problem. As with the Megaverse, there is no proverbial "edge of the universe" point as the universes usually curves subtly (the so-called "curving spacetime"), so you would literally end up back where you started. Our own universe was dated to roughly 14 billion years old, so as you can imagine, the universal scale is nearly impossible enough to contemplate on its own. However, no matter which universe you are in, the basic laws of reality will remain the same. Universes are definitively part of reality.

Universes are not necessarily all huge epic things, either. Advanced beings tell tales of creating universes in bottles, or in smaller items. For all we know, our entire Megaverse could simply be one tiny atom in a blade of grass somewhere. However, the metaphysics of this serve us little in this book, so I will disregard them for the moment. Accessing other universes is a long and involved discussion on its own merits, but it's certainly possible. If you were, for instance, to access a universe that was in a proverbial bottle elsewhere in reality, you would scale automatically as part of the travel. More on this below. I suggest you do further reading if you are interested in the universes. They are truly epic things and not to be taken lightly.

I'm not entire sure that this title is accurate, and this is where the confusion comes in. In general, I am certain that the existence of Other Realities was the reason we have come to describe Reality (as part of the Megaverse) as a singular term. Theories have told of an infinite number of other realities, complete with universes, galaxies and everything. The learned folks tell us that these alternate realities form from different probability paths. What that means is that for every action you could take, an infinite number of realities pops up where some action took place. The catch is, of course, that the wilder and least probable of them only exist for moments, and they exist on a greater length of time based on how close to dominant Reality. Thus, you can find a reality where the Egyptians rule over the Earth, but it may be destined to collapse, or may have already. However, with an infinite number and varying lengths of time, you are sure to find what you want out there somewhere.

Without getting too technical, our reality "vibrates" at a certain resonance. Other alternate realities "vibrate" at another resonance. This is a very basic way of understanding it, the mathematics is a lot trickier. Essentially, alternate realities exist "out of phase" with us. Accessing them is as simple as varying your "resonance", although that simple sentence covers long and painstaking work, especially if you are trying to get somewhere specific. It helps a lot to have something from that reality to use. Alternate realities are a part of the fabric of Reality and violate no laws, although nearly every alternate reality has a time limit on it, even if it is exceptionally long.

All of these realities maintain the same basic laws of science and nature, as they are by definition a reality. However, their content is the alternate part. Popular stories of the pre-Rifts times were filled with these reality-hopping heroes. Alternate realities come completely stocked, so there are alternate versions of you and your friends and so forth, unless something happened to them there. An Eternal I was fortunate enough to talk to once told me that it often visited alternate realities close to its own to gain insight on its enemies. A chilling thought indeed. Extremely powerful mages and advanced beings of all kinds can create their own alternate realities, in which case the creator has some sway over what is in it. There are technological means to do this also, although at some point, as the great man once said, technology and magic become indistinguishable. There are many artificial ways of propping up a collapsing reality, but that is another complex topic.

The important point to remember here, however, is that alternate realities still conform to the basic laws of science and nature. This helps distinguish them from our last definition of reality, dimensions.

The idea of Dimensions is one of those things that is brutally misused, and sparks a condescending ire in the learned folk. The colloquial use of the word has overtaken the scholarly one, thanks in part to the mislearned mages of the Federation of Magic and the overuse of the word by the Coalition. Colloquially speaking, it is used to refer to what is typically travel either between universes or realities. In another more literal definition, it refers to the dimensions we live in (the first three) or can work in (the fourth). The fifth dimension and higher are both inconceivable and are thought by some to contain hordes of nightmare creatures. That will not be addressed here, but be aware that some scientists especially will use the term in that context. The "fourth dimension" is the so-called "hyperspace" dimension, adjacent to the first three (namely, length, width, height, to be layman about it). The fifth dimension would likely be adjacent to the fourth, which is impossible for us to visualize, although there are many beings in the Megaverse that live freely amongst the higher dimensions. The dark entity behind Atlantis is rumoured to exist in as many as six dimensions, but merely appears as the tip of the iceberg in the first three that we perceive easily.

However, in its correct Megaversal form, dimensions refers to what can best be called "parallel realities." They exist "beside" reality, although I am sure that just confused you more. The major difference between the dimensional realities and the alternate realities is that the dimensional realities draw upon the Realms as their source, whereas the alternate realities draw upon reality. Thus, other dimensions can literally exist outside the normal laws of spacetime. This could mean small things, like the sky is red, or blue roses, or it could mean huge things like rivers that flow backwards, breathable methane, and the like. You are best served to do some real research before you blindly enter into another dimension. This is where you would find strangeness like discworlds, or spindle-planets, and the like. Most anything is possible, although even within the dimension, the laws of the dimension must be followed. Thus, it would be as impossible to change a rain of beer as it would be to change a rain of water here. They can be practically identical to reality except for a few minor things, or be so alien and bizarre as to be near impossible to traverse. Of course, you could simply enter a dimension completely identical to our own reality except for the complete absence of shrimp. As with all of the "minute changes" realities, you might go to one and never realize you left reality. Not every true dimension is radically different and toxic to humans. But be aware that they are the dangerous ones that CAN be.

True dimensions seem to exist in infinite numbers, or at least very close to infinite. Unlike alternate realities, dimensions have a decidedly more stable existence. Because they were at least in part birthed near a Realm, they tend to remain linked to the realm in question. Thus, unless the realm they are linked to shrink to the point where they cannot support the dimensions anymore, they are generally fairly stable. Unlike Realms, true dimensions need no lord, and thus can be created and left to their own ends. Dimensions are sometimes referred to as "sub-Realms", but while semantically correct, not every dimension is so obvious a shard of a Realm, and thus confusion would result. In essence, it brings together the chaos of the Realms and the order of the Reality.

1.0.1.8 - Terminology

Lesser Realms are typically small realms created by beings for relatively temporary purposes, such as experimentation, relaxation, or other reasons. They generally are linked to fewer energy sources and are thus smaller, rarely stretching for more than 1000 miles. Many times, beings with aspirations of nobility will literally create their own kingdoms in these small realms, or will otherwise use them as a home. Why would anyone live in a Lesser Realm when they could live in a Greater one? Lesser realms are easier to create, take less maintenance and are easier to secure. It is suspected that many Prime Dragons continue to exist in "lair realms," passing the eons away in security.

Lesser realms generally require their Lord to be present, or else it slowly starts to shrink. It is entirely possible that a lord leaves his realm and it fades out of existence when he is gone. The rate that it disappears depends on how many energy sources are linked to it, but the longest I have ever heard a lesser realm surviving its master's withdrawl was a matter of months.

1.0.2.2 - Greater Realms

Greater Realms are the superior version of lesser realms, and are generally created with a more permanent idea in mind. Such realms are created by beings with aspirations towards godhood, organizations seeking a home base, or even just a large preserve for beings to hunt in. The reasons are infinite, but the result is fairly uniform, a realm that can be upwards of 100,000 miles, containing entire civilizations and planets. They are somewhat less secure than lesser realms, with more permanent entry points, but these points are usually defended by nasty guardians.

Greater Realms can exist as long as a single Lord remains. They can have up to twelve Lords at any given time, meaning that they can rotate through and get out of the realm if they desire. These realms usually require a great deal of magical energy, and more often than not use faith to sustain them, rather than nexus points, as the latter are too weak except in vast quantities. However, greater realms exist that do tap hundreds of nexus points, so it is certainly viable.

1.0.2.3 - First Realms

As I noted above, the First Realms are, as far as we can ascertain, as old at Creation itself, and thus seemingly have always been here. They are fairly widely known, although their size and nature often lead people to believe that they are in fact smaller realms joined together. They are very stable, and while many beings claim to be Lords over them, none have managed to definitively prove their status. If there are any Lords of the First Realms, they are either beings of inconceivable nature, or long since passed from Creation. They are relatively hard to enter, unless you follow the right paths, and they are designed that way purposefully, it would seem. In many ways, it seems that the First Realms act as a sort of prototype for all Realms to follow. Some of the commonly known ones are:

Across the entire Megaverse, their appearance may vary but the basic animal remains pretty much the same, driven by instinct and cunning. Animals tend to rise as a result of evolving from lower beings, and tend to be adaptive to their environment. So the form of the animals might be incredibly odd, but it is usually designed for maximum effect. They can be incredibly varied, but generally act in a similar manner, seeking food, shelter and reproduction.

2.0.2 - Supernatural Animals

The primary difference between natural and supernatural animals tends to be that supernatural animals are often designed by more advanced beings. They are altered by powerful magic or technology for specific purposes. Long-dead beings would likely be surprised how well their creations adapted into the Megaverse. Supernatural animals most frequently emerge from the Realms, where the laws of Nature are less stringent, but many species find homes in reality. Surprisingly, they also show a shocking ability to adapt to different environments, meaning that some of them actually evolve on their own. Compared to normal animals, supernatural animals are positively rare, but they tend to be, by and large, dangerous predators.

2.0.3 - Natural Races

By far the vast majority of races in the Megaverse are natural races. Like natural animals, natural races are distinguished by a history of evolving from lesser creatures, and more often than not, in reality as opposed to the realms. Natural races can present a host of abilities, and either thrive or perish as fate and their nature dictates.

2.0.4 - Supernatural Races

The supernatural races consist of a broad amount of races that have either altered themselves or been altered by others, or else have been created in the Realms. Some scholars refer to them as more evolved, but rather it should better be called more altered. Many times, these alterations took place in the distant past, beyond memory, but it decidedly happened. By studying the histories and myths of the races, we can see definite evidence of alteration by greater beings. As with supernatural animals, often the supernatural races evolve on their own when they are freed from their masters, but many times they were created with inherent limitations, so sometimes such races are nothing but dead ends.

There are few beings who do not know of the Undead. The Undead exist in their own classification because each and every one of them, from the animated skull right up to the most ancient demilich archmages, are a gross affront against Nature. The Megaverse has a fairly distinct and recognizable Order to it, namely you are born, you live, and you die. The Undead are brought back to a mockery of life by application of negative energy, and they defy death and Order as they continue to exist. Each and every Undead ever in existence once lived, and in the case of the lesser undead, their remains were hijacked and animated, and in the case of the greater undead, they made a conscious choice to become one. It is little surprise that nearly all races and beings of any note consider them vile.

I have had the sad misfortune of interacting with a Necromancer before, and his self-delusion was impressive indeed. He felt that once the body died and the soul fled, the remains were merely a shell, and much as we pick up seashells that were once home to a crustacean, so too do Necromancers use the remains of the dead for their purposes. The elaborate levels of justification that they go to only makes them appear more insane. The Undead are a blight on Creation, and those who create them are barely better.

However, I do try to stay my hand more for ghosts. Not poltergeists or other entities, but rather the true spirits, which are souls trapped between the material world and the Lands of the Dead. They often have compelling reasons that keep them around, and they evoke more pity than horror in me these days. I try to find out what it is that is keeping them bound to this plane, and act to liberate them. Some ghosts are truly insane and violent, and that is truly a sad thing, but in the end they must be put down like rabid animals. But try and have some compassion for ghosts, they can be quite reasonable.

2.0.6 - Celestials/Infernals

Removed from mere supernatural animals or races are the celestials and infernals, who are two sides to the same coin. While many of the lower ends of these beings can be mistaken for supernatural creatures, it is their point of origin that makes them unique. The book "The Hierarchy of Heaven and Hell" by Santos the Archmage details the subject, but essentially, these beings originate in Paradise of Inferno, or its shadows. There is something of a distinct resonance when dealing with these beings, compared to the lack of such when handling "mere" supernatural species. However, the highest ranks of these species are easily powerful enough to qualify as gods, especially if they have believers.

The majority of these beings are simply servants, regardless of any delusions of grandeur. Some of the high-ranking ones forget what they are, which is more common in Inferno than in Paradise. However, both types of beings have extremists that are pretty much dangerous to everyone. An extremist Infernal seeks to obliterate your soul rather than capture it for Hell, and an extremist Celestial seeks to purify your soul which, so sorry, obliterates it as well. The moral of the story is, extremists are bad. However, the majority of the beings in question are generally of a better disposition.

What's that? You don't believe in souls? That's fine, you can call it whatever you want to keep yourself happy. Scientific types talk about consciousness leaving the body, or the universal consciousness, or whatever. Frankly, we use the term "soul" for your essential core self and its energy because it is dramatic and impresses upon even the skeptical that it is not something to be bartered around lightly.

Gods are beings of immense power, near immortality, and massive ego. While it is possible for some mortals to ascend to godhood, the truth is that the majority of the gods were created with the Megaverse, and evolved along the way to their current incarnations. Gods are defined heavily by the fact that they gather followers that worship them as divine. This worship gives the gods plenty of power, although they must also tend to their flock or else risk having them lose faith, and thus the god loses power. Gods are often seen as immense and immortal beings, but the interesting truth is that the followers of a god will often impact on that god subtly with their worship. It's never overt, but the followers help define the god, and in that sense, the god is simply a vastly powerful being of sorts. But they stand well above the rest of the crowd. Gods all have spheres of influence, which they tend to, such as Love, War, Spring, or whatever. These spheres tend to be defined by the culture that worships them.

Gods and their ilk generally belong to larger groupings called pantheons. It is simply a grouping of gods by culture or social reasons. Sometimes gods of one pantheon cross over and join another pantheon, and the reasons for such a thing are usually compelling indeed, but generally speaking, even the most harassed gods stay in their original pantheons because they have a set of followers there already. The pantheons of the gods are divided into one of three primary classifications - Light, Grey, or Dark. Rarely is it so incredibly obvious like that, but mortals are creatures who like order. While mortals enjoy making tales of Pantheons of Light and Dark warring with each other righteously, gods tend to be a little more practical than that, although never to their followers, of course.

Demigods straddle both mortal and god realms, and as such, can serve as vital avatars for a god, or can act as the god's most potent threat. Demigods are the result of a god and a mortal coupling, which happens far more often than you might believe. Demigods are usually taken into the godly realm and raised there, although sometimes they are left on the mortal plane for reasons only known to the god in question. Demigods often become great heroes or villains on the mortal plane.

It is infinitely trite to say that the Eternals are gods to the gods, but that is the best way for you to understand them. Eternals are named because they are truly immortal, and slaying them merely temporarily removes them from reality until they incarnate again over a variable time. Much as mortals evolve their understanding beyond their form to become lesser gods, so too do some gods manage to evolve their own understanding. They come to realize that godhood is merely another task on a grander scale. This is very rare, for gods are very typical beings, given to intense selfishness and ego, but sometimes one of them truly evolves, and the end result of that is that he becomes an Eternal. Occasionally, some brand new Eternal emerges out of a corner of the Megaverse that no one realized existed, claiming to be newly created, so it is possible that the Megaverse has its own order to the Eternals, although what it might be, I cannot even begin to guess.

Eternals exist on a power scale beyond imagining for us mortals, and while they are not entirely omnipotent, they are certainly close enough. What it is that they do isn't known, but one can assume that they must bring the gods to heel from time to time, or attend to matters of Megaversal importance. I came into some information by way of a god that owed me a small debt that Eternals don't exist as a single being, but rather have shards of themselves everywhere, to better deal with things. If this is true, it has some startling implications. This would help explain the reason why we don't see titanic lords of the cosmos striding across the face of Creation.

Some eldar beings from the beginning of time likely qualify as Eternals, despite never walking the path to get there. The thirteen Prime Dragons, the Turtle, and other immense and ageless figures likely are Eternals as well, although I doubt if they would ever answer to the name. Tales of Eternals don't seem to put them in any moral shading, which is to say, they don't seem "good" or "evil". This is likely because they have since transcended our mere morality. Perhaps at the Eternal level, morality is self-evident enough to simply know it.

Outer Horrors is sort of a blanket category for all of those things that exist out there that don't appear to fit in the natural order. The so-called "alien intelligences" that are so overpopulated these days fall into this category, right up to the Old Ones themselves. In this case, your stereotyping of the name might be correct, as most are cosmically powerful and, to us, totally amorally insane. Such things can't be quantified in any true way, because their nature is to defy understanding. Most can exist in several places simultaneously, although none can usually fully manifest down here without a lot of magical energy, which is more of a pity for those of my readers who reside with me on Terra these days. Not only are their natures entirely alien and terrifying, but their manifestations tend to be as well. They surround themselves with chaos, death and power, and mortals tend to go quite insane around them unless suitably prepared.

By and large, most of the Outer Things that are encounted in reality are mere shadows of the true Thing. Their nature allows them to straddle multiple dimensions and realities at a time, but only as the result of fragmenting themselves. Many lesser parts rather than one whole total. The lesser parts are, of course, terrible enough on their own, but if anyone ever saw the true form of an Outer Thing, it would result in instant insanity at least, and likely death, out of sheer self-defense. Thus, even when their lesser parts are manifested in reality, we still refer to them as Outer Things because they never truly come Inside. Thank goodness. Outer Things tend to have vast scores of servants, minions and allies at their disposal, even in their lesser forms. This makes driving them from reality harder, as you have to fight through an army of fanatics.

Finally, you may ask what could be worse than the Outer Things? Well, things exist in the Megaverse that we have no information on at all. In some cases, we can only surmise on their existence as conjecture or logical extension. At least in the Outer Things, we know what we are generally dealing with, but with the Hidden, we have no idea what their nature is, or even what to call them. There are a host of mysteries around the Megaverse that cause us to believe there are some Hidden elements to the entire ordeal. Here is a mere sampling.