Flux

The Flux Realm is one of the thirteen Near Umbral realms in the Umbra. But that is as simple as the definition gets. When the universe was young and the Weaver had yet to raise the Gauntlet, the domains of the Wyld permeated the Gaia Realm. The laws of reality were more fluid back then, and time and space were at the command of those with enough spiritual power. But now those are but a distant memory, however within the Flux Realm, the laws of the Wyld's demesne remains supreme

Whiles it isn't as vast as the Wyld's formerly spiritual domains, the Flux Realm is still a place of great spiritual power. Within the Flux Realm the Wyld ways of creation and change run rampant still. It is a place of chaos, of constant change and endless possibility.

Those who have never visited this strange realm will be extremely disoriented. There are no fixed landmark, for the realm is in a constant state of metamorphosis. Mountains are born and crumble, deserts bloom into jungles and forests only to wilt into ash and be reborn yet again. Expanses of forests float through the sky, a sky that itself is no one colour but a myriad of exotic shades and hues. Each of these colours dribble and flow into an ocean (or perhaps the other way around) before igniting into flame. The very laws of physics are useless as earth falls away from itself in defiance of gravity.

Even celestial phenomena are uncertain here. Luna has vast power within the realm, and occasionally spouts smaller versions of herself in the manner of an amoeba, then reabsorbs them later. The Sun burns with as many colours as the sky, blue, black, green and red. Stars and constellations wheel randomly in the heavens. Time itself is malleable, consequences happen before the their reactions. Minutes can pass like days, weeks in the blink of an eye. Some more knowledgeable shapeshifters have learned how to use this concept to their advantage, entering a point in the material world at an earlier point in time.

Those who call this place home are stranger still. The Flux Realm is inhabited by the spirit-children of the Wyld, as well as by various Bygone species that can no longer exist in the material world. Wyldstorms howl through the realm, rending reality in their wake, while great vortices rumble and tear through the firmament. Chimerae, griffins, Great Beasts and other lost monsters of the elder days rampage through the area, changing as frequently as the surroundings they live in.

Those shapeshifers caught in the constant chaos of the Wyld find themselves changing rapidly — and most of the time, uncontrollably — from one form to another. Shifting from human to hybrid to animal and back again. They have even been known to meet themselves, or versions of themselves (perhaps older or younger or even of a different gender) within the realm; some visitors have been transformed into different changing breeds entirely.

The Coil

The chief inhabitant of the Realm is a powerful Wyld Incarna known as the Coil. This ancient being can take countless forms and shifts among them on a whim. Werewolf visitors have observed it sporting with the votices and Great Beasts, riding the realms tectonic shifts and assorted disasters, otherwise playing amid the chaotic effects of the Realm. The Coil is thought to be the most powerful and other visiting Incarnae seem to pay it a great respect. The capricious, laughing Incarna seems to exert some degree of of control over the region's phenomena, calming Wyldstorms with a wave of its appendage or turning an entire continent molten. Some Theurges speculate that the Coil has transcended his spirit nature to become an avatar of the Wyld, others wonder whether the old Incarna has bonded with — or been absorbed by — one of the great vortices that haunt the region.

Shapeshifters rarely attract the Coil's notice, much less treat with it. However, the Coil sometimes acknowledges shapeshifters as creatures bearing a brotherly spark of the Wyld within them and occasionally deigns to help them.. Though asking for this spirits help is at your own risk. As the Coil can be sometimes more detrimental as the harm that would have otherwise come to them. For example it make help a pack of Garou besieged by a Bane-army by mystically fusing the pack into a gigantic, monstrous colossus of heads, arms and maws… then forget to change the misshapen beast back to normal thereafter.

Going In… And Never Coming Out the Same

As a domain of the Wyld, the Flux Ream is accessible from any moon path. However Spirits of the Weaver have shrouded the realm in a vast Pattern Web. Thus, finding the realm is very difficult; and once the realm is found shapeshifters much breach the barrier around it. This in turn attracts Pattern Spiders. The good news is that theses creatures cannot exist in the pure Wyld of the Flux realm. The bad news is that they will still attack those who try to break their pretty pretty webs.

Exiting the Flux Realm can be tricky and very difficult. Exits appear randomly, moon paths, Spirit Gates, or glowing spheres of radiance. These portals my lead to a variety of locations. And recognizing which leads where is pretty difficult. Additionally, attempting to travel directly from Flux Realm to the Material world is fraught with peril. Those who fail to enter the right gate may find themselves in the Deep Umbra, the Mirror Zone, or even the Null Zone.

Because the laws of space and time are mutable in this realm, it's possible for a Garou leaving to experience a time warp, in which days, months or even seconds have passed.

The Order of Chaos

  • The landscape of the Flux Realm constantly changes composition, color, and geography. Generally, these effects are not severe enough to kill travelers (some Theurges speculate that visitors exercise sufficient unconscious control over the area to avoid lethal tectonic upheavals), but anything else is possible. Mountain ranges can rise, fall or flatten to plateaus; the sky can turn purple or be filled with seething arcs of color; strange objects can float or roll by.
  • Shapeshifters in the Flux Realm tend to transform uncontrollably. One must recognize that they are changing to try and resist the realm's power. However, if the Flux Realm changes you, there is no telling what you will become.
  • Transformations within the Flux Realm are easy. One doesn't have to use one's rage to transform into any form they desire.
  • Shapeshifters may actually manipulate their local environment by using their Gnosis. Generally speaking, manipulations to increase an area's stability (changing a roiling volcano into a peaceful, grassy glade) are easier than attempts to disrupt it (changing an area into a conflagration or field of silvery knives).
  • No entity may be psychically bound or controlled while in the Flux Realm, and all entities entering the realm are freed from such control. Psychic control includes Gifts that induce such states, as well as vampiric powers such as Blood Bonds and Dominate, spirit possession, mage Mind magic, and similar effects. Additionally, mundane fetters such as alcoholism, drug addiction, and even codependency are shattered for so long as the sufferer remains in the Flux Realm. Finally, spirits bound into fetishes are freed, though ephemera are not.
  • The raw energies of the Wyld are extremely disorienting to shapeshifters. One must use their willpower against the madness of the realm or enter into frenzy. If this happens they will gain a derangement. This derangement may not be cured while in the Flux Realm; subsequently, the Mother's Touch Gift or expenditure of great amounts of Willpower may cure the derangement.
  • Knowledgeable shapeshifters within the Flux Realm may use large amounts of Gnosis to consciously change their physical appearance or body composition. Cosmetic changes are easy; more radical changes (transforming one's body to living silver) are very difficult if rare. The more radical the change, the more likely it is that the shapeshifter will suffer detrimental effects upon returning to the material world; some metis have tried to undo their deformities in this way, only to have their imperfections redoubled when returning to the physical realm.
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