The tops of the colossal trees, blooming with millions of soft toned bulbs, towered up into the aurora winds. True monoliths of the Fey, a tribute to the primal essences of nature. The contraption fitted to the massive trunk seemed almost alien, like a giant mechanical lizard snaking its way down in a smooth motion. Aria had to go deep into the core of Gaia to find what she sought. Deeper than the elaborate caves dug by the Kazugrö.
The mechanical lizard stuck its tendrils into the earth as the descended into the deep. Lights danced as critters and fungi fled from its path. It slithered through the majestic Undermountain, pillars of crystal intertwined with roots and gigantic mushroom trees lighting the way down. The sight was beautiful yet primal and instinctual. Ania shuddered at the thought of her losing her mind to this place, as so many have done before her.
Excerpt from "The Travels of Ania Fairlight Aleister", by The Princess Tahromaerith
Gaia
| Type | Echo Plane |
| Composition | Planet-core, Faerie Realm |
| Dominion | Courts of the Arch-Fey |
| Natives | All manner of Fey (75%) Malkovians (18%) Kazugrö (3%) Other (4%) |
Summary Description |
|
| Gaia is a realm of chaos and change. It embodies the primal essences of nature and reflects each aspect of it in its purest, raw form. | |
Gaia, or The Fearie as some call it is a wonderful and majestic place that mimics the natural flows of the Material Realm. It stands as the primal source of what the world is intended to be in its most primordial form, and its energies feed the power of the World Trees across the cosmos.
Time and Timelessness
The concepts of time, cause and effect, and the nature of the passing moments are obscured, skewed and ambivalent. In some instances it seems to be a realm untouched by change, and in contrast it can be more chaotic than Nox itself. It is common to see cities appear overnight as if a hundred years have passed, only to disappear like mist before the sun, as if its rise was a mere dream.
Its nature has Gaia locked in a state of perpetual motion in a motionless bubble. Seconds can translate to hours in the material world, and equally an adventure of a decade may be but a few weeks. As such the denizens of Gaia are foreign to the concepts of time and industrial progress.
The Roots of the Worlds
Within Gaia is the strongest seeping of the Myst Aether. More than any other cosmic dimension. The whole plane is, in effect, a colossal Myst Ripple. As such it is a profoundly magical place, attuned and in line to the ebbs and flows of the Myst.
At the heart of Gaia is the primordial manifestations of the World Trees. They tower into the heavens of Gaia, their canopies the platforms for the greatest cities of the Fey, and their roots sinking into the furthest reached of the Undermountain
Undermountain
Kazugrö
The Kazugrö are a simple folk. Small in stature with tuffed whiskers and scraggy beards. Some believe them to be cousins to the Dver, while others will say they incline more towards the Gnomes.
Regardless of their true heritage, a Kazugrö is friendly, industrious and simple minded. They tend to the mushroom groves of Undermountain and dig the riches from the magical caverns below.
Deep below the soil, where the sun of Gaia never touches, is a place of lights and shadows known as the Undermountain. Massive caverns open up to foreign, magical places. Untouched by even the concepts of time and space, they are bubbles of history, capturing the essences of every primal and modern age of Myrth.
Within it lives everything that ever was, and everything that will ever be, as if a picture painted to encapsulate the primal form of what it is to represent. It is impossible in practice, to navigate the tunnels of the Undermountain and only a handful of its Visions, as the denizens call them are frequented. The largest of the Visions are inhabited by a strange, Dwarf-like folk, called the Kazugrö. These resourceful, yet simple creatures spend their time endlessly digging and excavating the mines of Undermountain and is rumoured to have ways of moving beyond the limits of the realm.
Notable Features:
Meadows of the Everchange
Malkovians
War often touches the lands of Gaia, as the Fey races compete for power, and none does it better than the Malkovians.
Tall, strong, and beastial, they embody the primal form of what humanity can become when confronted with the chaos of Gaia.
In the ages of Myth, it is told that the god of war, Garkash gathered an army of Malkovians to invade the Material realm. He severed their their bonds to Gaia, and they now live as free folk on Myrth, now known as the Kashites.
The fields of Gaia are vast and varied. Mountains, forests and lakes meld together in pronounced and amplified mix of biodiversity and ecology.
Found scattered across the land are settlements of the native Fey, and most commonly the Imperial cities of the Malkovians. Ancient castles are flanked by bustling cities of invention and magic. Fields of crops are worked by conquered laboureres from all over the cosmos. Herds of Fire beetles are gathered, and the land is mines and stripped for its resources. All fueling the Malkovian need for power and individuality. A true meritocracy, where brutality and ascention are considered prime virtues.
Troops of colonial enforces march across the meadows, digging trenches and setting up war camps. As the imperial war machine of the Malkovians dominate, nature responds. It weaves its timelesness around the battles and skirmishes. What the gunfire burns down, nature regrows. What nature decays, the war machine gathers into its ranks. Such is ne nature of primal humanity, scattered on the Primordial Meadows of Gaia.
Notable Features:
Cities in the Sky
High above the treetops, the resourceful Fey of Gaia have built their cities. Mountains floating on the wind dance across the skies. Some are trussed to the branches of the Manifested World Trees. Others have bridges spanning miles to one another overlooking mountain peaks below. Others still have massive sails or engines powered by Myst, steering them across the heavens. Beatial Malkovians, Fairies, Pixies, Fey of all shapes and sizes dwell here int the floating fortresses.
Each of the cities are home to one of the Arch-Fey, where they court and play the game of politics. The cities reflect the whims and characteristics of their progenitors in a physical way. Some are eternally basked in sunlight while others are overgrown and wild. Some have majestic spires where their citizens live, while others are filled with caves and tunnels. The possibilities of each are endless and due to the nature of the realm and that of the Arch-Fey, nothing is eternal.
Notable Floating Cities:
The Primordial and the Arch-Fey
Mimicking the primal natures of the dimension, Gaia is under the rule and/or guidances of several ancient, Arch-Fey. Though their power may rival that of the gods of Myrth in some instances, it is bound to the physical realm of Gaia itself due to the intangible nature if the dimension, though it is possible to make pacts with them as a Warlock.
Each of the Arch-Fey have their own ambitions, but they are all primal in nature. Their emotions are always an extreme, almost overly exaggerated version of itself, which can be a very dangerous experience.
But the source of all the Arch-Fey's power is what is known as The Primordial. It is what drives the tangible magic and keeps the realm of Gaia manifest within Myrth. No one knows what The Primordial truly is, but it is known to be sentient to some extent at least, and that it grants powers based on merit. The most common belief for the denizens of Gaia is that The Primordial is one of the ancient creator gods, resting at the core of the cosmos and that Gaia is the manifestation of its dreams.