The Ethereal World · Ethereal region
The Open Ethereal
Thought has physical form. Unanchored travelers drift here.
Thought has physical form
Deeper into the Ethereal, the echoes fade. Thoughts have physical form here - a strong enough emotion can manifest as weather, terrain, or architecture. The ruins of civilizations that have forgotten themselves drift through the deep Ethereal as memory-fossils, perfectly preserved but inhabited only by crystallized recollection.
Thought as Physical Substance
In the Ethereal, thought is the physical substance other things are built from. A strong enough fear, held by enough people, can calcify into something you could walk around. Travelers carrying strong unresolved emotions may find those emotions taking form around them. Not as hallucinations. As participants.
Regions
Floating staircase
Lone door
A cloud in the shape of a face
Survival Requirements
Traveler's notes
The Ethereal does not require normal biological maintenance. Travelers in the Ethereal do not need to breathe, eat, or sleep in the same way the Material demands. This is an advantage on short transits and a trap on long ones - the absence of the body's usual maintenance requirements removes the natural rhythm that keeps mortals oriented in time. The primary hazard of the Ethereal is drift. Extended presence without an anchor - a physical object of strong personal significance, a living creature who will notice if you start to fade, a destination that you are actively moving toward rather than simply existing in - allows the Ethereal to begin incorporating you. Drift Ghosts are the extreme endpoint of this process. Travelers who feel their name becoming less important, who find themselves thinking about nothing for long stretches, who notice that the emotional significance of their memories is thinning, are drifting.
Secondary hazards: predators (Mist Horrors, Thought Leeches, Veil Weavers), manifested fears taking physical form near emotionally volatile travelers, and the specific disorientation of the Memory Sea if entered without preparation.
Minimum preparation: an anchor object (strongly preferred), a companion, a clear destination. The Ethereal Anchor Rope is specifically designed for this. If none of these are available, a written record of who you are and why you entered the Ethereal, kept on your person, provides measurable psychological resistance to drift.