Whats so special about the Far Realm?

[Hexmage-EN]

I'd rather the Far Realm be a place that seems chaotic, but isn't really, to keep it conceptually separate from other planes. In fact, I don't understand where the idea that the Far Realm is a place of chaos came from; a place of madness that can't be comprehended by mortal man, sure, but a region of pure chaos?

Another way to make the Far Realm conceptually distinct is to liken its effects to glitches seen in video games. Demons destroy the land, and slaadi transform it according to their whims. When the Far Realm intrudes, though, the metaphysical planar fabric of the world just sort of shatters without being destroyed (and there might be some sort of strange order to the transformed landscape).

 

[Hexmage-EN]

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

What is THAT?

(I mean, besides the obvious- a stretchy character in a video game.)

Specifics, son! SPILL!

 

[Goblyn]

What is THAT?

(I mean, besides the obvious- a stretchy character in a video game.)

Specifics, son! SPILL!

What do you mean? What game? That's Fallout 3. Maybe New Vegas. PC is holding a rail gun.
Stretchy character looks caught in a graphics glitch ... The question is so vague. I can't tell what answer would be useful to you. 0.o

 

[Leatherhead]

What do you mean? What game? That's Fallout 3. Maybe New Vegas. PC is holding a rail gun.
Stretchy character looks caught in a graphics glitch ... The question is so vague. I can't tell what answer would be useful to you. 0.o

That's Fallout 3, in Rivet City labs. The character is holding a portable nuke launcher (the Fat Man) and looking at Anna Holt who is distorted due to a glitch.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

What do you mean? What game? That's Fallout 3. Maybe New Vegas. PC is holding a rail gun.
Stretchy character looks caught in a graphics glitch ... The question is so vague. I can't tell what answer would be useful to you. 0.o

That's Fallout 3, in Rivet City labs. The character is holding a portable nuke launcher (the Fat Man) and looking at Anna Holt who is distorted due to a glitch.

My question is answered. Thanks!

 

[Hexmage-EN]

I posted that picture to illustrate how the effects of glitches in video games could be likened to the effects of the Far Realm. That human character wasn't stretched into a freakish form by random chance: instead, the rules governing the character's form produced a result freakish to the observer but still in keeping with the coding of the game.

If the Far Realm is a dimension that appears chaotic, I would rather that chaos be unintended to distance it from planes whose denizens actively pursue chaotic goals. Instead of actively trying to spread chaos, the creatures of the Far Realm try to establish their own form of order. Unfortunately, each type of aberrant has its own definition of order that the others find repellant.

If the factions of the mortal world compete for control over territory and resources, the factions of the Far Realm compete for control over the laws of reality. Whereas mortal kingdoms can eventually succeed in shaping order from chaos, the eternal war over the nature of reality seen in the Far Realm causes attempts to create order ending in greater chaos.

To summarize, I'd paint the Far Realm as a bizarre twin to the world. The aberrants do not entertain such lofty goals as trying to further the cause of law or chaos for their own sakes. Instead, they just struggle to survive in the same way that mortals do. The primary difference is that mortals try to survive day to day in a reality governed by set physical laws, whereas the aberrants must eke a living in a dimension where the nature of reality can suddenly be altered by their enemies in ways antithetical to their own nature. Invading more stable planes, such as the mortal world, is an attractive option for aberrants as those dimensions are easier to reshape into new forms hospitable for them.

On a separate tangent, am I the only one who thinks that tentacles have become exceedingly cliched for Lovecraftian monsters? Sure, tentacles look kind of weird, but not that weird.

 

[Aloïsius]

Also, agreed on the overuse of tentacles. I long for a new appendage type.

Well, there is not much choice...
legs, arms, wings, fins, tail... And tentacles. Everything not articulated is a kind of tentacle anyway, including tongues or some part of the male anatomy.
An appendage is a thing used by a body to interact with its surroundings. In order to have the "strange alien" factor, you need somewhat to not use vertebrates animals parts ("you see a Zwglyuks ! The horrific creatures has a few hundred kitty pawns waving in your direction" or "the Ghald'hurgul fly toward you at great speed, thanks to it twelve eagle wings"). So, you have arthropods legs (think Quori in Eberron) and the whole world of tentacles, from the classic squid tentacles to the delicate jellyfish filaments and the amoeba pseudopod.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

Well, there is not much choice...
In order to have the "strange alien" factor, you need somewhat to not use vertebrates animals parts ("you see a Zwglyuks ! The horrific creatures has a few hundred kitty pawns waving in your direction" or "the Ghald'hurgul fly toward you at great speed, thanks to it twelve eagle wings").

Call me unorthodox, but I think a fleshy "tree" with human arms for branches hopping around on huge, hairless horse's leg is freakier sounding than a tentacle monster.

 

[Ketjak]

Call me unorthodox, but I think a fleshy "tree" with human arms for branches hopping around on huge, hairless horse's leg is freakier sounding than a tentacle monster.

Reminds me of my Shadowfell: trees with arms and hands instead of branches and leaves, grass of short, thin fingers (children implied).

Perhaps I am reflecting a Shadowfell corrupted by the Far Realm?