Sherilyn Hill

For those newly arrived in Astrivena, the following notes may prevent confusion, injury, or accidental political involvement. Proceed with caution.

A Warning:

Astrivena is not one land, but many. The maps disagree, the histories contradict one another, and the gods (when they bother to speak at all) rarely clarify anything.

The following notes have been gathered from fragmented records, unreliable witnesses, and at least one conversation with a creature who may or may not have been a dragon.

Proceed accordingly.

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1. Astrivena Consists of 9 Realms

Astrivena was once a single realm. After a war among the gods, the world fractured into eight distinct realms, bound together by a ninth: the Shadow Realm, a connective plane that exists outside of time itself.

Today, each realm operates under its own rules of magic, culture, and power. Travelers quickly learn that crossing a realm border is less like crossing a kingdom and more like stepping into a different reality.

2. The Shadow Realm Is the Only Way Between Worlds

Realm travel is rare, restricted, and, at present, mostly impossible.

The ancient portals that once connected the realms are closed, leaving only one path between them: the Shadow Realm.

Two beings can still open its crossings:

• Nightlings, the shadow-born caretakers of the realm
• Dreadmanes, dragon-like creatures whose presence alone bends the boundary between worlds

Neither are easily persuaded.

The Shadow Realm itself is not hostile, but it is not forgiving either. Little grows there, and time does not move as it should.

3. Magic Does Not Behave the Same Everywhere

Each realm holds its own relationship with magic.

In some, magic lives within people. In others, it lives in the land itself. Some realms contain both. One contains none at all.

Using the wrong magic in the wrong realm does not always end disastrously but it is often useless.

An elemental mage, for example, may find their power silent in the Blood Realm, where magic does not reside in the elements at all.

4. The Shadow Realm Is Dying

Few records mention this plainly, but the signs are increasingly difficult to ignore.

The Shadow Realm was created to stabilize the division between worlds. It was maintained by the Nightlings, the very beings who are now buried beneath ancient wards within the Elemental Realm.

Without them, the Shadow Realm weakens.

Crossings grow unstable. Distances shift. Travelers report longer passages and fewer safe exits.

No one agrees what will happen if the Shadow Realm fails entirely. It’s safe to say no one is eager to find out.

5. No One Agrees How the World Split

Ask five scholars how Astrivena fractured, and you will receive seven answers.

Some claim the gods divided the world intentionally after one fell in love with a mortal. Others insist the split was an accident, a magical catastrophe mistaken for divine will. A few argue the realms were always separate, and only memory changed.

Every culture preserves its own version.

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These notes are ongoing. New records surface regularly, though their accuracy remains questionable.

If you wish to receive future archive entries (particularly those involving unstable magic, disputed prophecies, or politically inconvenient history) you may request access below.