The Far Realm is a place of madness that exists outside of the cosmological makeup of
Realmspace. This maddening realm is feared for its power to twist unfortunate visitors into gruesome monsters, and it is from here that
Aberrations originate. It is thought that the Far Realm is an existential threat to all the spheres of the multiverse, and that all crystal spheres are subject to its corruption.
Description
The Far Realm is comprised of an infinite number of layers. Unlike the layers of many
Outer Planes, these layers are very thin, ranging from an inch to a mile in thickness, and they are all fully connected, with each layer separated from the next by a transitional space only a few feet wide. These layers are also transparent, and travelers can glimpse through twenty or so, with each appearing increasingly blurred.
The layers are also highly morphic. On the whim of the alien entities that drifted through them, the layers continually evaporate, divide, spawn, and breathe. Changes in the elemental and energy traits of the layers continuously occurr, creating the Far Realm equivalent of storms. These changes can be seen from far off, moving from layer to layer rather like a storm drifting across a natural world.
On the Far Realm, landmarks and entities are multidimensional, existing on multiple layers at once. One could imagine the layers as a stack of translucent parchment, with a given feature appearing as a single mark upon each page. Taken individually, such marks might have no meaning, but when viewed all together in the stack, they seemingly coalesce into a three-dimensional object.
Although full of a dark nothingness, the Far Realm is also full of bizarre scenes and what passes for wilderness. The translucent layers are penetrated by rivers of milky white fluid that floats freely, sometimes flowing along a layer's edge for a few feet, then pouring through into the next layer. Strange blue globes rain down from unseen heights, bursting when they strike something and unleashing horse-sized ticks that immediately scuttle away to hunt for blood. Gelatinous worms crawl through the layers. Forests of writhing tentacled vegetation are encrusted with orange moss, growing above an amoebic sea. At the very limit of sight drifts huge multi-layer shapes, vaguely resembling creatures of the deepest ocean, but the smallest being the size of a city, and they don't even notice the lesser beings that occupy only a single layer.
Gravity and time do not exist in the Far Realm. The only kind of movement possible on the Far Realm is passage between layers, which needs only a thought. The air is as viscous as syrup—it is possible to swim through it, though it is very hard to do so.
Inhabitants
The Far Realm has many different inhabitants, many of them sentient. Some resemble mammals, while others are insectoid. Some are even as powerful as deities (whether they are sentient or not may be hard to say). When meeting beings from the
Prime Material Plane, the
Inner Planes, or the
Outer Planes, Far Realm entities often adopt forms of creatures familiar to the viewer.
The simplest natives of the Far Realm are the pseudonatural creatures that roam the different layers, occupied with unguessable errands. They dwell beyond time itself and the regular planes of existence, living forever in a state of seeming insanity. When summoned to the Material Plane, they often emulate and take the shape of familiar creatures, although they are always more gruesome than their material counterparts. Sometimes, however, they appear in a form more closely related to their origins, usually a mass of writhing tentacles, although more terrible forms are always possible.
The next step up in the bizarre evolution of the Far Realm inhabitants would be the kaorti. Born of the corruption of an exploring order of wizards, the kaorti eventually returned to the Material Plane, which they can no longer inhabit. The first of them died out, but the second wave came in suits of protective resin, and they use the same secretion to form protective cysts to live in. They now seek to conquer the Material Plane and turn it into a new Far Realm. They created several creatures for this task: the flying mount creatures known as skybleeders and the living siege engines known as the rukanyr.
The Lords over the Far Realm are the uvuudaum. These are horrifying creatures that have two arms where you would expect to find them on a human. However, the similarities end there. The lower body has six arms instead of legs splayed spider-like below it. Loose clothing drapes its grotesque legs. The real horror is the tail-like appendage replacing what would be the head on a normal creature. At the very end of the appendage is an iron-hard spike.
Mortal travelers to the Far Realm are usually subject to insanity. All sorts of horrifying changes can occur to them, such as eyes sprouting from their palms. They can also relive hundreds of warped memories simultaneously.
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