Astral Space

Astral Space is the non-corporeal regions — the Realms Invisible — of the Mage cosmology, defined by the minds, ideas, thoughts, and emotions of beings within the Fallen World. It may have at one point contained, included, or bordered upon the Supernal Realms, although it is now separated from them by the Abyss. It contains three main Astral Stratum, or levels: The Oneiros, which is a unique reflection of every person's mind, the Temenos, a reflection of the minds of all mankind, and the Anima Mundi, which is a reflection of ideal forms and essences of the natural world.

The Mastigos, through their mastery over the Arcanum of Mind, are the Path who deal the most with this realm.

Reaching Astral Space

To reach Astral Space, a mage must pass through though his or her Astral Threshold. This requires entering a state of meditative lucid dreaming in a Hallow, Demesne or Synese. The Astral Threshold is generally some emotional or psychological concern or strain on the mage that manifests as an obstacle that must be overcome by spending mana. Then, the obstacle sets the tone for the rest of the journey by setting a path that the mage must follow. For example, if the mage's obstacle was one of drowning, the rest of his path will likely be underwater. By progressively travelling deeper, the traveller can access deeper Astral Strata, starting with the Oneiros, then the Temenos, and finally the Anima Mundi. Anyone who 'dies' in the astral space is simply flung back into Fallen Realm. The further one travels, the greater the shock, manifesting in the Soul Shock condition if one was slain in the Temenos or the Anima Mundi.

The Oneiros, The Personal Soul

The Oneiros is the first Astral Stratum and is unique to each person. Approaching it on the Astral Path gives a mage a sensation of being too close to an uncomfortable truth about themselves. Despite what many mages intially believe, each Onerios is not a planet unto itself but a series of collected scenes and disparate locations that embodies each person's memories, fears, Vices, and personality aspects.

The lowest layer of the Astral proper contains individual thoughts, beliefs, and passions in dozens of cells, side by side. They hold memories, beliefs, Vices, Virtues, and personal fancies. Each cell is an individual realm and on the inside, is large enough to contain any setting. A traveler’s Oneiros creates the people, places, and things she needs to act out the scene at hand. Most of these are weak Goetia, known as Dream Actors, who continually replay important memories, sub-conscious desires or fears.

Within the Oneiros, the mage can learn about themselves, explore repressed or forgotten memories and even make changes to their own mind or personality by interacting with or destroying the goetia they find within. Each person's Oneiros has a 'daimon', or embodied 'higher self' which is a powerful goetia that strives to provide insights and help their host improve. The Oneiroi are also host to goetic demons - representations of powerful negative impulses, Vices, and traumas that can be dangerous to unwary astral travellers.

The Temenos, The Soul of Humanity

The Temenos is the realm of "Physicalized Abstractions," which mirrors the collective unconsciousness of mankind. Approaching it on the Astral Path gives a mage a sensation of being pointedly ignored by many people. If any two people have talked about something, it will have a representation somewhere in the Temenos. The more people who talk and think about an experience, the more powerful goetia congregate around a concept, and the bigger the Temenotic realms representing them are. The Temenos is host to all the heroes, villains, monsters and celebrities of human culture, and represent the way that humanity perceives and thinks about them. It does not necessarily show the truth, because humanity has a tendency to exaggerate, lionize and demonize those they discuss. But even long buried secrets, myths and location remain hidden in obscure parts of the Temenenos, even if a thousand generations have forgotten them. Enterprising mages attempt to influence human cultures by meddling with the goetia in the Temenos. By destroying key goetia - or empowering them, they can change the way ideas are perceived.

The Temenos is ever-shifting, but a few locations can always be found:

• Metropolis - The archetype of the city. It contains parts of New York, Shanghai, Paris - and ancient Rome, Babylon, Karakorum, Victorian London. Every city that ever was, is, or might be is depicted here - including futuristic arcologies. It contains many secrets, and is an ideal realm to influence public opinion.
• Alkahest - A militant state that periodically marches forth and subjugates other Temenonic realms, converting them to their ideology. Alkahest is powered by a throne at its centre, and whomever sits on it drives the ideology of the state.
• The Realms of Mars - This strange warlike realm contains all the representations of Mars, the red planet. One can find the real planet, barren and inhospitable, or the Mars of pulp science fiction stories full of alien princesses and slavering monsters. It has alien invaders that thirst for the blood of men - and ancient dying races that strive to preserve their fading species. No matter which version of Mars one is in, all of them are realms of conflict and war.

The Primordial Dream of the Begotten is part of the Temenos; Beasts refer to the rest of the realm as the Bright Dream.

The Anima Mundi, The Soul of the Cosmos

The Anima Mundi is the world soul, containing the idealizations of the natural world and of mankind's impact upon it, as well as the farthest borders of the Fallen World, where remnants of the Supernal Realms lie. Approaching it on the Astral Path causes a sensation of vast age and size that makes a mage feel small in comparison. Bordering on the Abyss, it is not possible for a mage to pass any farther on an Astral Journey since it is the deepest Astral Stratum.

The Anima Mundi is a bizarre and sometimes alien place. It contains the dreams of animals, stones, rivers, the earth itself, the sun and the very stars. The Ecstatic Wind blows here, and strips humans of their memories and humanity. Mages who travel there may use an amnion to protect themselves from becoming subsumed by the things they see. Even with an Amnion, mages cannot stay here for too long.

There are several locations of interest in the Anima Mundi:

• Omphalos - A giant wall that separates the Temenos from the Anima Mundi. Covered in Atlantean runes, it is said to protect humanity from the primordial monsters that dwell beyond.
• The Spire Perilous - Said to be a remnant of the Celestial Ladder that bridged the gap between the Fallen Realms and the Supernal, the Spire represents mankind's ambition. The top of it is shattered, and its foundations are gnawed at by primordial monsters who work to undo the sins of the past. Within it dwell the souls of mages who have died in the Anima Mundi - or were imprisoned here. They can share much insight, if they can be found.
• The Swath - A plane of innovation, devastation and conflict between humanity and the natural world that is full of pollution, radiation and environmental devastation.
• The Wellspring - A hidden realm surrounded by extinct animal civilisations. The wellspring is very difficult to find as it does not stay in the same location for long, but if it can be found, at the centre there is a water source which transforms animals who drink from it, awakening them in some personal sense.
• The Aeonic Citadels - Homes of beings that might be ancient dragons, primal concepts and gatekeepers of the Supernal Realms. Known as the Aeons, there is one for each Arcana, and mages seek them out for wisdom or boons. They are mighty beyond reckoning and can work magic beyond that of the Awakened.
• The Ocean Oroboros - The end of the Anima Mundi, where the Abyss divides the astral from the supernal. An endless dread black ocean that has but one virtue: anything cast into it is irrevocably lost. Memories, vices, artefacts, souls, abyssal tomes - once thrown in, they vanish from all realms, and can never be reclaimed. At the edge of the Ocean Oroboros is a shack in which lives the Other. An old man, he is the Aeon of the Abyss, and there is something imperceptably wrong with him. He never uses force, but simply welcomes petitioners to step inside his hut. Anyone who does so becomes a servant of the Abyss for all time.