The Spirit World

Part of a series about magic and the spirits.

• Evocation
• Channelling
• The Elements
• Totem spirits
• The Spirit World
• Animism

It has been known since time immemorial that the world of Arginet exists in parallel with the spirit world - a realm of magic from which the elemental powers originate and which represents the afterlife to which mortal souls depart after they die.

The nature of the spirit world defies description, even by the spirits themselves. As far as can be discerned, though, it is a dreamlike reflection of the mortal world where material places and ideas have immaterial counterparts, but where the normal laws of reality are subject to the wills of the spirits themselves. Individual spirits and elements pursue their own goals, sometimes partaking in shifting alliances and sometimes opposing each other in arcane conflict.

No living mortal has ever travelled to the spirit world. However, the intangible Veil that separates it from the mortal realm can be crossed by its own inhabitants, the spirits of the five elements and of mortal ancestors. For the entirety of human history, it has been possible for mortals to commune with the spirits through ritual, and for the spirits to lend their power to people, places, and material objects.
Since the Breaking these abilities have been greatly enhanced - spirits of the elements are now able to manifest in physical forms, and some ancestors have returned to their bodies as unliving wights. What this means for Arginet is unclear but the effects are sure to be dramatic.