Astral Reaches

By definition, the astral reaches, astral realm or high umbra is anything you can stand on inside the Astral Umbra. In practical terms, what you're standing on are clusters of fairly solid thoughts. They begin on the fringes of the Penumbra and work outward from there. As the concepts they represent grow more and more abstract, the Realms grow further and further "away," becoming harder and harder to reach, until only the most advanced minds can even comprehend them. Just as all beings with souls or spirits are present in the Middle Umbra in some small way, every thinking being has a slight presence in the High Umbra. Minds (human, dog, dolphin, Umbrood or other) jump from idea to idea, and dreaming minds in particular seem to travel instantly between Realms. Each mind that passes through an area leaves a track or residue. Some thinkers build up an area, some break it down, but most have no effect. Real dreamers and true iconoclasts are rare. Astral Realms occur naturally when many people invent or consider the same concept. They occur artificially when spirits, Incarna, powerful U mbrood or great mages gather thought-stuff together. The most advanced Realms, the Epiphamies, extend past human thought patterns altogether. I assume that Oracles of the mental disciplines form such refuges from the tapestries of their own minds. Since no one I've ever met can verify having traveled so far out, my own thoughts on the matter will have to occupy Realms of their own.