Abyss versus Far Realm

[GreatLemur]

I mean, what happens when Far Realms entity interact with the abyss, or vice-versa ? How do they view each other ? Tools ? Rivals ?

I'm thinking the Far Realms entities are just as incomprehensible and disturbing to demons as they are to mortals.

Reminds me of a conversation from the first Discworld novel about the blatantly-Lovecraftian temple of Bel-Shamharoth:

"I don't like it," said the picture imp, from his box around Twoflower's neck.

"Why not?" inquired Twoflower.

"It's weird."

"But you're a demon. Demons can't call things weird. I mean, what's weird to a demon?"

"Oh, you know," said the demon cautiously, glancing around nervously and shifting from claw to claw. "Things. Stuff."

 

[tomBitonti]

Abyss a subset of the far realms?

Hi,

From where I set, the Abyss (even though it has an infinity of planes) has the seeming of being the most comprehensible fringe of the outer planes. The top layers are relatively benign, but the deeper layers get to be indistinguishable from far realms.

There is a key difference in that demons have a grounding in religion, whereas the far realms is more grounded in horror literature. Also, there are some demons that still have a recognizable psychology, while many far realms creatures, by definition, do not.

 

[Piratecat]

This leads to the question : Which is stronger, ninjas or pirates ?

Lava.

 

[Scribble]

Lava.

Yeah but that one guy from the abyss was a navy seal. and he had a nuclear bomb on a crazy robot thing. And flying water creatures. Can lava beat that?

 

[Desdichado]

Yeah but that one guy from the abyss was a navy seal. and he had a nuclear bomb on a crazy robot thing. And flying water creatures. Can lava beat that?

Confused. Yes, of course. If a navy seal with a nuclear bomb and a crazy robot mount with flying water creatures falls into lava what happens?

He dies. No save.

 

[Rechan]

In all honesty, I don't really attribute the Far Realms to evil, necessarily. It's just alien. Madness comes from the human mind introduced to the changing properties of the Far Realm. It's chaos in the sense of change. True CN given magical property.

The Abyss is Destruction. The Demons, it seems, want to basically Unmake everything, to tear it down brick by metaphysical brick. The Abyss is like a sentient black hole, intent on consuming all and thus ending it.

Sure, "The End" may be Cthulu's gig, but I'm more along the lines of "Made in my image where I rule" attributed to the Far Realms, and "Death to Everything" as the Abyss.

edit: Woah, Stormtalon said what I wanted to, several posts above mine!

 

[rkanodia]

Lava.

Now THAT is a Far Realms answer

Personally, I really like the concept of the Far Realms 'spilling over' into the regular world. At the least extreme end, it allows there to be a sprinkling of weird monsters popping up in different places without having to explain how they fit into the local ecosystem. At the most extreme end, well, I always liked the concept of the 'non-Euclidean geometry' favored by the Old Ones, and combat maps with tiles shifting around every turn won't be the half of it.

"I charge at the monster."
"As you run, the ground makes a 72-degree turn. You think you are falling into some kind of tunnel, but then your foot makes solid contact with the underside of the hull of a Spelljamming vessel. The ship shakes with the impact of a ballista bolt, sending you reeling off the edge. You land with a thud in a cheese shop. You don't see the monster anywhere."

 

[D.Shaffer]

Possibly borrow from Warhammer a bit here with its gods of Chaos.

The abyss is the chaos of hatred and destruction. It seeks only destruction. Blood, ash, entropy. An end goal of nothingness.

The far realm is the chaos of creation. It doesnt want to destroy, it wants to create, shape, and change into completely new forms...all of which appear as abominations to us as they are formed using utterly different rules then we're used to. Rules that change each moment.

 

[Dausuul]

The far realm is the chaos of creation. It doesnt want to destroy, it wants to create, shape, and change into completely new forms...

Isn't that the Elemental Chaos?

 

[D.Shaffer]

Isn't that the Elemental Chaos?

The elemental chaos is the primordial chaos. The substance from which all things were initially formed. It is the building blocks of the universe, swirling and mixing. It follows rules we're aware of...Fire+Water=Steam.

Far Realm is taking these building blocks and warping them into completely new and different way. It takes Fire+Water and gives us a fractal crystal that is nothing like its building blocks.