Elysium

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.

Excerpt from "The Travels of Ania Fairlight Aleister", by The Princess Tahromaerith

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 Shadow-manifest.

Angels of Death

The divines tied to the cycles of life have an intimate connection with Elysium, like Ornim or Zarach. Their agents roam the Soul Forge, tending to the millions of ethereal wisps that once were sentient.

These agents are collectively known as "Angels of Death", though not much is know of their true nature or origins. They do not speak and their actions are guided by the cosmic balance of the universe, sometimes even contradicting the will of the gods that claim dominion of the dead.

These entities are known to be able to traverse the boundaries between realms without effort. Skipping into any of the known realms, harvesting the souls of those who are said to be at odds with the the balance of cosmic reality.

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 destroyes and their souls harvested to feed the energies of the cosmos.

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.

Cosmic Chains

There are places in the Soul Forge that are closely aligned with the Ripples from the Myst Aether. These manifest as massive, radiant chains, stretching into the dark skies of the plane. They are said to be the anchors that bind the roots and branches of the World Trees into Myrth and its cosmic neighbors.

Gateways

Some Dimensional Crossroads of Aegis do lead to gateways inside Elysium, however these are very guarded places and not commonly used for travel. In fact it is very rare for someone to be granted access to Elysium using a dimensional gate.

A more "common" albeit much more dangerous route into Elysium is by travelling down the Roots of the World Trees, through the Myst Aether, as these pathways sometimes lead to one of the Cosmic Chain anchors.