PersonMan
2011-11-18, 03:35 PM
OOC. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=223043)
The air is fairly still. A faint wind blows from the plains of iron, and beneath you the massive platform sways slightly, although that may be due to the great size of Akiote. It's clear that whoever designed the supports wasn't intending for them to hold up something of such great size, and the builders simply solved the problem by adding dozens of additional supports. The sky is light green, something which has become normal to you during your stay in the pseudo-plane, and no clouds provide shade from the disc of light that illuminates the artificial staging ground. Behind and below the platforms hundreds of people wait. As the bells begin to toll, signaling the beginning of the Expedition, dozens of picnics are packed away, children gathered and supplies secured. The great scaffolding, empty without the portal to fill it, seems to bend slightly, moving in only semi-possible ways as the energy of the Far Realm begins to trickle through.
Not long ago, a theory about the Far Realm was put together that posited that the strange plane was just as distorted by contact with the Material Plane as the latter was by contact with the former. If the theory is true, the 'pure' Far Realm would be held at bay by the Material Plane influenced region. This would, theoretically, allow for the bulk of the members of the Expedition to not die horribly the moment they crossed the threshold into the other plane. Of course, it's unknown whether or not the beings of the other side will have taken notice of the portal, so the main force would stay behind to leave you enough time to clear out the area before they follow you. Now, the theory will be put to the test. Arcane energy fills the air between the edges of the specially-made scaffolding, weakening the already thin planar boundaries even more until, with a sound akin to shattering glass and ripping fabric combined with a whale's cry, a part of the air before you swells up and seems to burst. Through the portal is an incredibly distorted landscape, almost impossible to recognize due to what is probably the effect of the tear in planar boundaries warping it beyond recognition. You are able to identify what seem to be white towers, although how many there are and how tall is impossible to tell.
Going through the portal is an odd experience. All of you went through planar travel to reach the staging area, but this is different. Rather than going through a carefully constructed arcane or divine pathway, you're pushing your way through a hole in the fabric of reality. Everything around you is hideously warped for a moment, and in the corner of your vision, no matter how you turn or where you look, it seems like the space between the planes is visible. An odd mixture of utter void and complete possibility, it seems to stir just as it fades from your view. Deep within you a strange feeling arises. Something that could be called fear, or awe...yet is clearly not either. It seems as if anger is there as well, and joy seems to be contained within it as well. A mixture of every emotion imaginable, followed by pure emptiness, all in the fraction of a second. In response to this feeling the void stirs. Infinite possibility seems to be held within it, about to take form, when it disappears from view, replaced by a distorted green above you and gray-brown below you. Then it becomes clear, and you enter the Far Realm fully.
Surprisingly enough, the air is...well, air. Although the smell of iron is thick and breathing is more difficult, it doesn't present much of a problem. You seem to be on a massive outcropping of bone leading to the hole. The bone extends up from what is by far the most massive corpse you have ever seen. The flesh of the former colossus, if it could be called flesh, resembles clay, and beings that resemble a cross between mind flayers and beetles walk or crawl across the surface, probing at the decaying ground, seemingly at random, before diving into it and disappearing from view. The carcass extends for an unknown distance, as the horizon seems to bend slightly as you look at it, deforming further if you concentrate on it any more. One thing is for certain: what seems to be about half a mile away are fifty-two towers of white, swaying like the almost-dead tentacles of some impossible beast. Around it are clouds of dark purple, shot through with red and black, in stark contrast to the light green sky, which appears to be dripping city-sized drops of similarly colored liquid. The drops seem to disappear before they hit the ground, although quite a few curve around the horizon and out of view. Occasionally one does strike the barren flesh-soil beneath your viewpoint, releasing a swarm of elephant-sized creatures flying on butterfly wings with bodies that seem to be massive eyes with dozens of pulsating worms extending in all directions. In other places, pieces of flesh-earth seem to be pulled away from the central mass with sickening noises, trailing translucent liquid that bursts into flame the moment it comes into view, only to slam into a falling drop of sky and explode before...simply freezing. After a moment the details of the meeting begin to fade, and you can recognize the outlines of what may have been similar collisions within the constantly-warped region that should be the horizon.
Suddenly, a massive worm explodes from the flesh of the corpse-landscape, shooting into the air and letting out a screaming noise from dozens of mouths along its triangular body before falling, bursting as it hits the ground and quickly melting into the clay-like 'earth', leaving behind only a small ridge as proof of its existence. From the distance, potentially from the white towers, comes a sound that seems oddly similar to that made by the planar opening, only heavily distorted and notably lower. Something falls from the sky; a liquid that's partially solid and runs unevenly, sometimes flowing quickly and other times moving upwards or not at all, with a strange brown-white color. The bone seems to react to it, and patches of blood-red grass-like shoots erupt from the formerly lifeless-looking material.
This is the Far Realm.
The air is fairly still. A faint wind blows from the plains of iron, and beneath you the massive platform sways slightly, although that may be due to the great size of Akiote. It's clear that whoever designed the supports wasn't intending for them to hold up something of such great size, and the builders simply solved the problem by adding dozens of additional supports. The sky is light green, something which has become normal to you during your stay in the pseudo-plane, and no clouds provide shade from the disc of light that illuminates the artificial staging ground. Behind and below the platforms hundreds of people wait. As the bells begin to toll, signaling the beginning of the Expedition, dozens of picnics are packed away, children gathered and supplies secured. The great scaffolding, empty without the portal to fill it, seems to bend slightly, moving in only semi-possible ways as the energy of the Far Realm begins to trickle through.
Not long ago, a theory about the Far Realm was put together that posited that the strange plane was just as distorted by contact with the Material Plane as the latter was by contact with the former. If the theory is true, the 'pure' Far Realm would be held at bay by the Material Plane influenced region. This would, theoretically, allow for the bulk of the members of the Expedition to not die horribly the moment they crossed the threshold into the other plane. Of course, it's unknown whether or not the beings of the other side will have taken notice of the portal, so the main force would stay behind to leave you enough time to clear out the area before they follow you. Now, the theory will be put to the test. Arcane energy fills the air between the edges of the specially-made scaffolding, weakening the already thin planar boundaries even more until, with a sound akin to shattering glass and ripping fabric combined with a whale's cry, a part of the air before you swells up and seems to burst. Through the portal is an incredibly distorted landscape, almost impossible to recognize due to what is probably the effect of the tear in planar boundaries warping it beyond recognition. You are able to identify what seem to be white towers, although how many there are and how tall is impossible to tell.
Going through the portal is an odd experience. All of you went through planar travel to reach the staging area, but this is different. Rather than going through a carefully constructed arcane or divine pathway, you're pushing your way through a hole in the fabric of reality. Everything around you is hideously warped for a moment, and in the corner of your vision, no matter how you turn or where you look, it seems like the space between the planes is visible. An odd mixture of utter void and complete possibility, it seems to stir just as it fades from your view. Deep within you a strange feeling arises. Something that could be called fear, or awe...yet is clearly not either. It seems as if anger is there as well, and joy seems to be contained within it as well. A mixture of every emotion imaginable, followed by pure emptiness, all in the fraction of a second. In response to this feeling the void stirs. Infinite possibility seems to be held within it, about to take form, when it disappears from view, replaced by a distorted green above you and gray-brown below you. Then it becomes clear, and you enter the Far Realm fully.
Surprisingly enough, the air is...well, air. Although the smell of iron is thick and breathing is more difficult, it doesn't present much of a problem. You seem to be on a massive outcropping of bone leading to the hole. The bone extends up from what is by far the most massive corpse you have ever seen. The flesh of the former colossus, if it could be called flesh, resembles clay, and beings that resemble a cross between mind flayers and beetles walk or crawl across the surface, probing at the decaying ground, seemingly at random, before diving into it and disappearing from view. The carcass extends for an unknown distance, as the horizon seems to bend slightly as you look at it, deforming further if you concentrate on it any more. One thing is for certain: what seems to be about half a mile away are fifty-two towers of white, swaying like the almost-dead tentacles of some impossible beast. Around it are clouds of dark purple, shot through with red and black, in stark contrast to the light green sky, which appears to be dripping city-sized drops of similarly colored liquid. The drops seem to disappear before they hit the ground, although quite a few curve around the horizon and out of view. Occasionally one does strike the barren flesh-soil beneath your viewpoint, releasing a swarm of elephant-sized creatures flying on butterfly wings with bodies that seem to be massive eyes with dozens of pulsating worms extending in all directions. In other places, pieces of flesh-earth seem to be pulled away from the central mass with sickening noises, trailing translucent liquid that bursts into flame the moment it comes into view, only to slam into a falling drop of sky and explode before...simply freezing. After a moment the details of the meeting begin to fade, and you can recognize the outlines of what may have been similar collisions within the constantly-warped region that should be the horizon.
Suddenly, a massive worm explodes from the flesh of the corpse-landscape, shooting into the air and letting out a screaming noise from dozens of mouths along its triangular body before falling, bursting as it hits the ground and quickly melting into the clay-like 'earth', leaving behind only a small ridge as proof of its existence. From the distance, potentially from the white towers, comes a sound that seems oddly similar to that made by the planar opening, only heavily distorted and notably lower. Something falls from the sky; a liquid that's partially solid and runs unevenly, sometimes flowing quickly and other times moving upwards or not at all, with a strange brown-white color. The bone seems to react to it, and patches of blood-red grass-like shoots erupt from the formerly lifeless-looking material.
This is the Far Realm.