Garou glyph for the Aetherial Realm.
The Aetherial Realm, also known as Aetheria, is the farthest expanse of the Near Realm within the Umbra that spans over the Spirit Wilds up to the Membrane. It is reflected in the physical world as the skies above that constantly cycle through night and day.
Geography[]
The Aetherial Realm is accessible from the clouds of the Spirit Wilds. Its lowest point is the fantastical mountains made out of clouds and inhabited by aerial spirits. They have a spongy top layer but are solid and easy to walk on. The clouds shift and flow to their own rhythms and form wondrous landscapes of plains, hills, valleys and mountains that all have the same spongy solidity. Behind that, the sky is in a deep dark blue, illuminated only by the lights of Luna and Helios. Garou either have to gain means to fly higher, or use Moon bridges that lead upwards. More risky approaches are climbing up the Pattern Web.
Between the domains of Helios and Luna, other planetary Celestines spin around each other, each a separate Realm into themselves within the greater Aetherial as well as an independent Incarna spirit that is even able to act as a Totem. Each of their realms harbor unique dangers and conditions linked the Incarna in question. The Garou Nation maintains a single Sept among these Realms, the Sept of the Stars, an disembodied sept under the leadership of the Stargazers that is dedicated to unraveling the mysteries of this realm.
Behind the domains of the planetary Incarna lie the Aetherial Reaches, which are the domains of the Triat and stretch from behind the Membrane that separates the Aetherial Realm from the Deep Umbra. Numerous Anchorheads tie the Aetherial to the Deep Umbra.
- Weaver Reaches: The Weaver Reaches are strands of calcified reality, similar to an astronomer’s computerized map. The web’s intersecting nodes lock cold stars and frozen planets to an unnatural symmetry. No signs of life exist. Colossal Weaver spirits such as ‘star spiders’ patrol and maintain the web and ensure everything remains in its ordained place.
- Wyld Reaches: The Wyld Reaches are a place of chaos. Planets and comets dance around each other with colliding according to ever-shifting laws. Burning cold suns that freeze everything around them and others that push everything away with antigravity waves circle among them.
- Wyrm Reaches: The stars within the Wyrm Reaches have burned-out to lifeless husks or collapsed into black holes that usually lead into Malfeas. Nebulas of pollution and balefire swirl around them, obscuring their constellations from anyone who looks at them, making them dark blotches within the Umbral sky.
Incarnae[]
The planetary Incarnae are facets of greater Celestines that embody the planets of the earthly solar system. The Garou see their influence on the physical world codified within the Garou Lunar Zodiac.
- Eshtarra, Incarna of Earth and an aspect of Gaia
- Katanka-Sonnak, Incarna of the Sun and an aspect of Helios
- Sokhta, Incarna of the Moon and an aspect of Luna
- Mitanu, Incarna of Mercury
- Hakahe, Incarna of Vulcan
- Tambiyah, Incarna of Venus
- Nerigal, Incarna of Mars
- Rorg, Incarna of the Asteroid Belt
- Zarok, Incarna of Jupiter
- Lu-Bat, Incarna of Saturn
- Ruatma, Incarna of Uranus
- Shantar, Incarna of Neptune
- Meros, Incarna of Pluto
In the Final Nights, Anthelios, the Red Star, pushes from the Wyrm Reaches into the Aetherial Realm. Those Garou alerted to this fear that this marks an attempt of the Wyrm to finally breach into the Gaian Realm and begin the Apocalypse.
Minor Incarnae include spirits associated with constellations, comets and meteor showers as well as specific stars like Polaris, the North Star, or Sirius.
Aspects of the Realm[]
When traveling upwards, the air remains “breathable” for creatures that are part spirit. Gravity, however, ceases and if the being steps sideways into the physical world, it ends in outer space (where it will probably immediately decompress and die).
If a being falls within the Aetherial Realm, it gains no damage. Instead, it falls through the clouds into another Realm, where it will land without taking damage from the fall.
Contacting star-spirits, Lunes and Helions is far easier within the Aetherial Realm than it is in the physical world.
Trivia[]
- During the Dark Ages, the Aetherial Realm was referred to as "Aetheria."
References[]
- WTA: Umbra: The Velvet Shadow, p. 31-38
- WTA: Umbra Revised, p. 41-44
- WTA: Rage Across the Heavens
- DAW: Dark Ages: Werewolf Rulebook, p. 162
- WTA: W20 Umbra: The Velvet Shadow, p. 46-48