Avishraa Reloaded

The Froth - the mortal realms - is the collection of all that we think of as the multiverse, home to uncounted worlds and unimaginably vast spaces. But those who think of the Froth at all think of it as its own entity, rather than what it really is - the meeting and mingling of greater and immeasurably older forces, like the foam on the crests of waves, which is a mixture of the air above and the sea below.

The Realm of Order, the domain of its titular Extrinsic, is where a large part of the great mixture comes from. At the very heart of Order is that everything, every speck of being, has its place, its time, and its role. It would therefore be quite wrong to say that space and time have no meaning in the Realm of Order; they are just a very different meaning than that found in the mortal realms.

All that is born from the Froth is composed of both Order and Chaos. For a mortal to physically manifest in the Realm of Order unprotected is to leave behind all in them that is Chaotic, and it is safe to say that no one subject to this fate returns alive; they, and every atom of their being, are drawn into the great structure and its measured pace.

There remain only two ways to survive the Realm of Order unscathed. The first involves rare and powerful magic, exercised by a third party, which places the visitor in a protective cocoon; but in such a situation the visitor does not experience time until returned (again by a third party) to the Froth. The second involves the goodwill of Order, who can act to keep a mortal intact if it so chooses - and, indeed, if it notices in time - but will typically only do so to direct them to leave immediately.

Those very few of the second sort who have been and returned have difficulty describing what they see. There is talk of being suspended amid vast patterns of light, symmetries both gross and subtle, and crystalline harmonies.

While there can be said to be life in the Plane of Order, it is of a very different kind than that in the mortal realms. It thinks, in a fashion, but has no free will. It acts, in its way, but it is in the way preordained for it. It breeds at precisely determined intervals, and reacts in set ways - 'if X happens, then do Y'.

The mind of Order guides them all, and one would not be far off to describe them as subroutines of its will.