Far Realm

In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, the Far Realm is an alien dimension of cosmic horror. It is the home plane for many aberrations and strange monsters.

Creative origins

The Far Realm's mix of horror, madness, and strange geometries was largely inspired by the work of American writer H. P. Lovecraft.^[1][2]

The Far Realm is particularly inspired by Lovecraft stories like "Through the Gates of the Silver Key."

Publication history

The Far Realm was created by Bruce Cordell, and introduced in the second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons adventure module The Gates of Firestorm Peak (1996).^{[3] [2]} James Jacobs later called Cordell's work an "adventure with a distinctly Lovecraftian feel", noting that "Deep inside Firestorm Peak lies a portal to an insidious region beyond sanity and light known only as the Far Realm, and the unknowable but hostile entities of this hideous region prepare to pass through into the world."^[1] The adventure featured a magical portal that produced creatures and energies from the Far Realm.^[4]

In third edition, the Far Realm was incorporated into the Realm of Xoriat in the Eberron campaign setting.^[2]

In fourth edition, the Far Realms were included in the new cosmology design of Dungeons & Dragons.^[3] In this edition, members of the Warlock class can forge a pact (called the Starpact) with the entities from or near the Far Realm in order to gain power.^[5]:32 The Far Realm's association with the new setting has been detailed in various supplements.

Description

The Far Realm contains an infinite number of layers, these layers range from inches thick to miles, and it is often possible to perceive multiple layers simultaneously. These layers can grow, spawn further layers, breathe and possibly die.

The Far Realm is home to many powerful and unspeakable beings ripped from the nightmares of the darkest minds of the waking world, beings so unfathomable that their very existence is a perversion of reality itself. These beings are governed by lords of unimaginable power and knowledge completely alien. The Far Realm is a plane far outside the others and often not included in the standard cosmology. It is sometimes referred to simply as "Outside", because in many cosmologies it is literally outside reality as mortals understand it.

Fourth edition

An anomalous plane, the Far Realm is bizarre and maddening. Creatures native to or connected with the Far Realm have the aberrant origin. Distant stars have been driven mad by proximity to the Far Realm, resulting in the abominations known as starspawn. The Far Realm also breaks into reality at various points in the Underdark, leading to the rise of the aboleth and mind flayer empires. Natural humanoids tainted by the Far Realm are known as foulspawn. The Far Realm was originally sealed off from reality by a construction known as the Living Gate, which lay at the top of the Astral Sea. The Living Gate awoke and opened during the Dawn War between the gods and primordials, and was destroyed in the same war, thus allowing the Far Realm to break into the D&D universe. Psionics are believed to have developed as a means to fight the Far Realm, in the same way that a body develops antibodies to fight an infection.

Inhabitants

Many of the Far Realm's inhabitants are too vast and inchoate to even notice visitors to their domain. Others take an interest in mortals, communicating with them through the veil between realms and sponsoring magic-users called alienists.

Gibberlings, gibbering mouthers, illithids (mind flayers), kaortis, uvuudaums, grell, wystes, foulspawn, and other aberrant creatures have their origins in the Far Realm.

References