DarkheartOne/TheWyldIsDreaming

Fair Folk and the Unshaped. Wyld mutations. Shinma. The Elemental Poles.

For ages, Man has pondered the nature of the Wyld, and the reason why it exists. Ancient and modern scholars have come to the conclusion that the Wyld is an unknowable, seemingly-unpredictable force of un-nature that has existed well before Creation and may well continue to exist well beyond it, should the World not be swallowed up by the maw of the Abyss. Considered nearly infinite in narrative and creative force, the Wyld has somehow spawned---almost without proper explaination---the most basic physical concepts that apply to the rest of Creation, as well as brought forth its own take on 'existance' in the form of the Unshaped. It was the meddling of Man (or, rather, the Scarlet Empress and the Realm's Defense Grid) that brought about the Fair Folk that Creation knows of now, a curious mixture of Wyld and Creation's Essence.

All of these statements, taken beyond face value, are absolutely incorrect.

The Wyld Is Dreaming

This is mostly a theory and/or an alternate setting for my own selfish purposes. Everything below is mostly food for metaplot thought and assorted silly fair folk matters.

The Five Truths of the Wyld

The Wyld Is One Entity

... even though it seems as if the Wyld consists of millions of separate, sentient beings with varied purposes and desires. All of these beings are merely unaware puppets controlled by an equally unaware puppetmaster in an endless show amongst themselves and the beings of the Waking World---the place known as Creation.

The Wyld Is Dreaming

... and its interactions with the Waking World are what forms the various 'layers' of the Wyld. Its outer self is still healthy and strong, but further within the infiltration of what makes Creation have begun to creep further outward. The Wyld, unconsciously drawn by this delightful source of dream fodder, cannot refuse to participate willingly.

The Wyld Is As Real As Creation

... and technically stronger than it, but it ultimately defers to it. After all, it is merely a dream, and dreams pale before reality. This deference was cemented with the loss of the Wyld's Heart, a place that the Creation-born now know as the Imperial Mountain, to the Primordials who chose it and its nigh-eternal wellspring of Essence to begin their work.

The Wyld Is Neither God Nor Monster

... but is, instead, something completely different. This unaware Dreamer is, by nature, inherently alien in thought and purpose to that which made and was made by the Gods. It may never be truly known how it came to be, for what reason it exists, and why the Primordials chose to bring forth Creation from within it.

The Wyld Is Dying

... and the Essence of Creation (and The Underworld and Yu-Shan, to a lesser extent) is the cancer slaying it. The Dreamer's death is from a wound only made worse by the Dreamer's uncontrollable interactions with Creation, and may come to pass after thousands upon thousand of years... or mere decades. No matter the time frame, eventually there will only be Creation.

But Wait! How Does This Explain...

The Balorian Crusade?

One would assume that the Wyld was trying to win the Crusade and drown everything in Chaos.

Nothing could be further from the truth. It was simply that the Wyld had been waiting for a suitably dramatic and epic moment to fail, and that moment came when the Scarlet Empress activated the Realm's Defense Grid. Normally, this would have done little more than push the Wyld out of the Blessed Isle, but the Wyld, in its dream-wisdom, opted to allow itself to be 'defeated' for maximun narrative effect (and because destroying the source of its wonderful dream-interactions would be pointless). Also, the effect allowed the Wyld to 'explain' the creation of the Raksha and the Mountain Folk.

The Mountain Folk?

An unexpected side-effect of the activation of the Realm's Defense Grid was that it trapped much of the Wyld's weird Essence within the Isle. These calcified chunks of Wyld soon became the Jadeborn we know and may or may not love. They are completely separate of the Dream, seeing that they are so inundated with the Essence of Creation now. When the Wyld falls, they will remain.

The Shinma?

'They' are merely names and aspects given to the rawest of natural physical laws. Their incorporation into the stuff of Creation is now so complete that the laws will remain even when the 'Shinma' fade into obsolescence.

What happens to Wyld-made things when the Wyld dies?

They will fade. Completely, finally, eternally. Only that which is fortified with the Essence of Creation will remain, so the Mountain Folk and the Shinma Laws (as noted above) are protected. Everything else will crumble to dust. This will have a decidedly dramatic effect on the Essence of Creation, as Freeholds and tainted Essense wellsprings will quite suddenly become clean, and the 'proper' flow of Creation's essence will be reconfigured in the process. There will also be a massive amount of untainted lands to explore, rediscover and claim, and the removal of the Fair Folk as a 'threat' may finally force the various entities of Creation to focus on the actual dangers of the Yozi and Neverborn.