Elysium - The Soul Forge
Searching for the souls of the recently deceased is said to be an impossible task. Surely Ania thought as much as she stepped across the Ripple and into the place known as the Soul Forge. “Fitting,” she thought to herself as she looked upon the shifting, ethereal echo of the room she stood before. Translucent bodies shifted through the walls of unrecognizable race or form. A cracking made her look down as she stepped forward onto a floor of bones and eyeless skulls piercing her with their gaze.
Shivering, she forced her stride as the room around her shifted jarringly. It felt “slow”, like swimming in molasses, but also “fast” as the echo of what was the material plane streaked by in a heartbeat.
…There, beyond the veils of shadows and mounds of flesh she saw what she was looking for: The shining light of a Stygian Pool. Filled with the writhing, moaning souls of thousands of recently dead. There stood at the bank an Angel of Death, stirring the pool with its tall ladle. And only a stroke of luck has left her yet unseen. A frown appeared on Ania’s forehead. This is going to be harder than she thought.
Elysium
Description
The Soul Forge is a dark realm covered in shadows, a ghostly reflection of the material realm. Spectres roam freely and their cries echo the lands, ever present. Great, shining pools shimmer on the horizon, a place where the souls of the dead congregate
There is no physical place in the cosmos that can describe the passage of time as well as the Soul Forge. A vision of ultimate destruction in death, but also in ultimate creation though resurrection. It reflects the Material Realm to some extent, being an Echo Plane, but objects have little substance or reality here. The only truth about Elysium is that shadows and death manifest freely here.
Angels of Death
Section titled “Angels of Death”Stalking the fields of ever flowing souls, the Angels of Death roam to harvest the souls of the dead. Their powers are unbound to the realm itself, and stories are told by those who have witnessed them come to claim the dead even in the material realm.
The Angels are not claimed by the gods of death. Neither Ornim or Zarach know their motivation. They are by nature, extensions of the realm itself, serving the cosmic balance of passing energies, collecting the souls of the dead into the swirling pools of the Soul Forge.
Those who find themselves in Elysium be wary. As to come face to face with an Angel is to be reduced to the cosmic winds. Their minds destroyed and their souls harvested to feed the energies of the realm.
Features
Section titled “Features”Stygian pools
Section titled “Stygian pools”Some locations in Elysium manifest, where masses of ethereal wisps will conjugate in massive pools of ectoplasmic substance. It is a haunting visage and Angels of Death frequently tend to these pools, stirring them with long ladle-like spears of black obsidian.
It is believed that these pools are the entry points into Elysium for the recently deceased. The ethereal wisps moan and scream in haunting tones as their life essence fade into the fabric of the plane itself, being consumed by it and fueling its existence.
The Chains
Section titled “The Chains”Throughout the Soul Forge, massive chains rise up from the surface and into the swirling skies above. No one knows their origins, but their purpose has been deduced. They anchor the plane to the rest of the Overlap, a manufactured facsimile of the Roots of the World Trees. Planer travelers who venture into the Soul Forge will always find themselves entering the realm close to one of these.