I'm assuming the word, rather than the phenomenon?
Very very hard to comprehend?Just a minor nit: What does "virtually incomprehensible" mean?
The title of the article is a little misleading in that respect! I mean, what is the Far Realm other than the place beyond the stars.
Very very hard to comprehend?
I think they are using "virtually" as a synonym for "nearly", and hence, by an assumption of transitivity of synonymy, for "almost", with the result that "virtually incomprehensible" means "almost incomprehensible".Virtually has a meaning of "in effect though not in fact; practically; nearly". Does the author really mean "Aberrations are practically incomprehensible, but not actually incomprehensible"?
[MENTION=509]Viking Bastard[/MENTION] understood me upthread - the Far Realm is the name for what is beyond the stars, the source of alien life in D&D. This is most obvious in 4e, where the stars are in the Astral Sea, but it is in REH and HPL too - the home of these monstrosities, with its mindblasting defiance of human comprehension (ie that place that D&D has labelled The Far Realm), is beyond the stars.beyond the stars isn't a reference to the far realm its a reference to alien life.
I think they are using "virtually" as a synonym for "nearly", and hence, by an assumption of transitivity of synonymy, for "almost", with the result that "virtually incomprehensible" means "almost incomprehensible".
I agree that it's not the most elegant usage of all time. But I suspect not that uncommon. I think the use of "virtually" for "almost" has become quite usual.