✧ What are the Thirteen Realms? ✧
The Thirteen Realms are a collection of higher worlds (realms) that make up… well, the greater cosmos in a sense. The Thirteen Realms are the totality of existence in 13 Realms, forming the ultimate cosmological structure that governs all possible realities, dimensions, and states of being within the mythos. They represent the layers of existence, from the physical to the metaphysical, from the perceptible to the inconceivable, shaping all cycles of life, death, rebirth, and beyond.
✧ The Nine Accessible Realms
The Nine Accessible Realms are made up of the Six Towers (Realms) and the Three Connector Realms. It makes up the general observable totality that is the Thirteen Realms. Before the events of the story, the gateways between the Six Towers and the Three Connector Realms were shut, isolating the Spirit Realm.
Six Towers (Realms) ✧
– Chthonia ✧
The foundational realm of material existence. It embodies the Earth and its greater cosmic web—planets, dimensions, timelines, and speculative realities. Chthonia houses countless parallel and impossible worlds, where the very physics can fluctuate with the collective unconscious. Buried within celestial bodies are ancient entities whose dormant consciousness opens gateways beyond known reality, stretching into voids that consume dimensions themselves.
It does include galaxies, black holes, and other entire solar systems, an infinite expanse of them. The multiverse expresses itself into the multiple possibilities that branch off of the original universe.
In the heart of Chthonia, countless worlds spin in a cosmic ballet, each one a fragment of possibility. Humans thrive alongside aliens and ancient Chthonian descendants—those who have bonded with the planet’s primordial essence. The Chthon are living planet-bound entities, colossal and slow-moving, whose dreams seep into the core of civilizations, birthing architects, wanderers, and keepers of forbidden gates. Across cities hovering over planetary veins, they study quantum threads and seek to enter the tenth dimension where reality crumbles into void.
– Antlantaia ✧
A hyper-evolved civilization where societal structure mirrors a cosmic hive. Here, time and space are fluid, ruled by the Four Potentate, each commanding their own distinct realms and timelines. Reality fractures into layers where elemental forces ascend into higher dimensions, creating a constantly shifting eco-structure built on perfect synchronicity between collective consciousness and physical law.
A place where water, air, and ether/space are the same element, and where these Antlanteans are capable of manipulating the “Mother Element”.
Their rich culture built up from billions of years allowed them to bridge the gap between worlds and dimensions, allowing them to create a prosperous realm.
A living sprawl of towering colonies that stretch to the clouds, Antlantaia’s denizens, the Antlanteans, are not mere insects but titans steeped in the tradition to obey. Their queens rule over complex castes of elemental manipulators—builders who wield molten rock, weavers of air, harvesters of storm. Time itself bends within their spiraling hives, overseen by the Four Potentates, each sovereign over the elemental poles. They defend their reality from devourers who creep between dimensional cracks.
– Ne’vairdia ✧
A living realm of pure imagination. Thought and fantasy manifest physicality, and the Fairies sustain existence through creative will. Ne’vairdia thrives on the metaphysical act of dreaming—where impossible concepts, such as the personification of Time or Death, become sentient and rule aspects of reality. Reality bends to stories, and the void beyond imagination here threatens to unravel what is thought into what cannot be comprehended.
Fairies can become the personification of Time, Death, or even imagination, as they are nigh-synonymous with the Laws of Nature. That makes reality their playground, for the most part.
Dream incarnate, Ne’vairdia is a realm where Fairies, great and small, mold reality through pure thought. Through conquest or trials, they can continue to gain power over the Laws of Existence. Their cities float atop auroras, their planets the size of stars, while voids of imagination blossom into living storms. Some Fairies, called the Eidolon, ascend beyond form, existing only as echoes of songs. Others, the Verdantia, maintain nature’s rhythm, birthing stars as casually as flowers. It is said that a single whisper here can anchor the Laws of Time—or unravel them.
– Lavidra ✧
The metaphysical archive of memory and research. Home to ancient beings who chronicle existence through lifetimes, Lavidra is defined by the Liminal, a metaphysical corridor where every possible reality, outcome, or memory can be accessed. The realm is a cascading spiral of recursive knowledge, where reality folds over itself, birthing greater truths through lifeforce-fueled paths of power called Perpetua.
The ancient elves that live here have an insatiable curiousity to bridge that gap, which allowed them to reimagine their society (stretching across galaxies) or multiple versions of it to their liking, allowing them to prosper without the need to worry about their expansion.
Even so, there are not many elves, since their long lifespan does not require a desire to have children, to the point that children are delegated to antiquity.
In Lavidra, the elves have long since abandoned mortality for memory. These ancient beings craft Perpetua, metaphysical paths through the Liminal—a realm overlapping all possibilities. Their palaces are suspended in timeless archives, and their scholars wield lifeforce like currency, etching reality into permanence. Elder Perpetuans sculpt entire histories, while younger Initiates traverse layered realities, seeking truths older than gods.
– Arconia ✧
A primal realm where myth and instinct converge. Physical laws here are secondary to metaphysical force. Each elevation of existence scales toward the “Pinnacle”, with every level rewriting the laws beneath. Reality is defined through sheer will and primal force, where creatures ascend through their natural, primal energies, embodying abstract archetypes that shape the realms below.
For every being and world in Arconia, there exists its stark, insurmountable opposite, and one who masters their dual nature/being claims dominance over both reality and themselves.
Mountains coil into endless spires, and at their peaks, dragons slumber beneath veils of skyfire. The Beasts of Arconia take many shapes: some walk as humans, others remain titanic and primal. Their martial forms draw upon the Xao—a force of boundless instinct—allowing them to bend metaphysical laws through sheer will. Heaven itself is stacked above them in layers, and each ascent brings new revelations of self, until only silence and truth remain.
– Netherva ✧
The threshold between life and death, where the act of existence is cheaper than cessation. Constructs of thought and forgotten dreams take tangible form, with the dead creating new dimensions through memory and longing. Its Abyss is an existential sinkhole that devours even the concept of nothingness, erasing reality’s very refusal to exist.
Predominantly occupied by the reapers and the races they’ve created, they take a very passive approach, as eventually, all things that are forgotten by life and death end up in the Netherrealm.
Perpetually at twilight, Netherva is the liminal breath between death and life. Here, the Breakers roam: thought-born entities forged from forgotten dreams, broken promises, and lingering regrets. Travelers barter with memory, and contracts are struck with invisible notions. The Abyss beneath pulses, threatening to consume even the concept of nothingness. The living and dead walk together, bound by ephemeral oaths.
Connector Realms ✧
– Spirit Realm ✧
The connective tissue of the cosmos. An infinite expanse where all spirits dwell, serving as a hub of reincarnation and spiritual travel. Here, existence takes its truest form beyond physical trappings, and dimensional barriers thin, making it the ultimate crossroads for all realms, times, and lives.
Every blade of grass, plant, tree, bit of water, darkness, light, and the sky itself has a spirit, though it doesn’t always assume form, since most Spirits simply prefer to “exist”. Everything in the Spirit Realm is much more “real” than the other realms, something that Zekaito notes when he awakens there.
The main setting for the first two books in the Thirteen Realms Series, it houses all manners of spirits, including those who have descended from Hell & Heaven and the races found in the Six Towers.
An infinite canvas where spirits of all origins mingle, from the smallest ember to great phantasmal titans. Reincarnation spirals endlessly, with the echoes of all who lived and shall live weaving together. It is a land of unshaped potential, acting as both cradle and grave of the cosmos.
– Ephemeral Realm ✧
The realm of unrealized reality. Here exist the discarded dreams, forgotten possibilities, and abandoned futures. It is a paradox of existence, where being and non-being coexist, and travelers risk losing themselves to lives never lived. The Ephemeral Realm is the echo chamber of potential, a swirling sea of “what could have been” endlessly regenerating.
This realm is said to be incomprehensible, and even difficult to grasp by Spirits themselves. There are no known races that actually inhabit this realm due to its volatile nature.
Where wishes, unspoken dreams, and impossible realities swirl without form. Those who enter are often lost, living entire lives in imagined kingdoms. It exists beyond dimension, a mirror to what might have been and what never was.
– Celestial Realm ✧
The beyond of the beyond. Where dead realms drift, and the broken architectures of failed universes are archived. Celestials here wield abilities that rewrite not just reality, but the narrative of reality—manipulating causality, meta-text, and the pataphysical script upon which all lesser realms are etched.
Reality here is separated by “depth”, determined by the Zones which decide density and the level of power those born within or migrated to might have. Since it is the “beyond”, even Spirits, those who transcend dimensions, would be frayed.
It is, at it’s core, an expanse for what lies beyond. Dead realms drift here like forgotten nightmares. The Celestials, inscrutable beings marked by imprints of cosmic narratives, govern the fading echoes of collapsed realities.
✧ The Four Inaccessible Realms
The only possible way to “access” these realms is to experience True Death as a spirit, and be judged to go to one of the Afterlife Realms. As it stands, there is no known way to access the Chaos Realm nor Shibana.
– Chaos Realm ✧
The churning heart of entropy and absolute freedom. Home to countless ascending sub-realms, each exponentially larger and more complex than the last, spiraling beyond comprehension. The Chaos Realm is both prison and playground for powers that could annihilate the Thirteen Realms, a living paradox of endless expansion and implosive collapse.
The Children of Chaos are said to reside here, and their release could spell the end for the Spirit Realm itself.
A roiling sea of black void and fragmented existence. A forgotten King presides over a dark religion, her dominion stretching across the 300 ascendant realms of the Black Sea, each larger and more incomprehensible than the last. At the edge lies the Higher Collections, where even thought is swallowed, all the King’s creation. What the King’s motive is, is completely unknown, and what keeps her at bay is even more of a mystery.
– Shibana ✧
A secure vault of incomprehensible gods, where form itself ceases. Shibana exists beyond description, a realm where even conceptual thought cannot fully pierce. It holds entities whose dreams can annihilate worlds, suspended in an unending stillness to preserve the fragile lattice of the Realms below.
It is only by heresay and admission from the Cardinal Order do we know this realm exists. Anything that may have come in contact with it was wiped off of the face of totality itself, as though they were never recorded in existence.
This is the magnanimous prison of the “Outer Gods”. There is no form, no time, only the waiting hunger of entities that predate creation. Their whispers bleed into weaker realms, threatening collapse.
– Heaven ✧
An omniversal sanctuary shaped by the limitless desires of its residents. Ruled by Six Divine Attributes, Heaven is fluid, taking the form of each soul’s perfect peace. Its laws dictate the upward movement of all reality, and its energies subtly govern the order of lower worlds. It is form without form, a state of infinite, benevolent recursion.
It is the point beyond reincarnation and is sought after by everyone who lives. Angels are regularly sent out of Heaven both on business, to perform miracles, and pleasure.
Formless perfection shaped by its inhabitants’ desires. Six Divine Attributes reign and act through their pantheons, governing angelic hosts that uphold the balance. It is paradise, shaped by the infinite longing of its souls. Why would anyone fathom leaving in the first place?
– Hell ✧
The oldest realm, defined by perpetual torment and existential erosion. Here, the Six Primal Fears mold reality into inescapable horrors that reflect the deepest anxieties of all beings. Hell is not simply infernal punishment and torture—it is deconstruction. Every thought, soul, and being is stripped to its core and ground into nothingness across eternity.
It’s wardens, the demons, can even be sent out, on the condition they act as a servant to another, these demons are the Delialite. There are some races, however, that have been granted Asylum and live in the Spirit Realm.
Older than Heaven, it devours the broken and the forsaken. Ruled by the Six Existential Fears, it is an endless descent through horror, where even oblivion is a mercy denied. Those who “escape” are bound to Hell, sent to bring back or capture sinners, or kill them. They are the primordial embodiments of fear and pain, and despite the Angels and Demons having no real beef between one another (despite popular stigma), the Angels still are rather wary and declare them an unnatural existence.
✧ Historical Backdrop ✧
In the age before time was measured, before the world had shape, there were three Celestials: Setri, Anbura, and Enkiro. They were not mere rulers—they were forces, embodiments of the primordial law that governed the fabric of existence.
- Setri, the Sovereign of Order, was the balance between creation and destruction. He forged the unseen laws that bound the worlds together, keeping the great celestial gears in motion.
- Anbura, the Note of Life, was the heart of all things. She gave breath to the worlds, shaping rivers, forests, and the stars with a single whisper. Hers was a dominion of peace, of flourishing lands, of harmony beyond comprehension.
- Enkiro, the Shadow Crown, was the ruler. He was ambition manifest, a being who believed that laws were nothing but chains, that peace was merely a lie told to the weak. His was the mind of sovereignty, of control, of absolute dominion.
The War of the Three Primordials
In the beginning, they worked in unison. Setri wove the structure, Anbura breathed life into it, and Enkiro ruled over it all. The balance was maintained. Thirteen Realms were carved into existence, stretching across impossible distances, filled with boundless worlds and infinite stars.
But balance is fragile.
Enkiro watched as Anbura’s creations grew independent of him, civilizations blossoming across the realms without the need for a king. He saw mortals rise, not in submission, but in freedom. His rage burned deep. What was a world if not one that could be ruled? What use was a god if his subjects did not bow?
He descended upon Anbura’s domain, and in his madness, he shattered the peace she had built. He slew her, staining the rivers with the ichor of divinity, stealing her crown, taking her dominion for himself.
Setri wept, but he did not mourn. He acted.
Brother against brother, Setri and Enkiro clashed in a battle so violent that the heavens fractured. The Celestial Realm itself bled, and entire Realms collapsed, falling into ruin—dead, forsaken husks drifting in the vast ether. The graveyard of the lost, the Realm of Dead Gods, was born from their war.
In the final battle, Setri wrapped his arms around his brother, and they both fell from the heavens.
- Setri’s body burned through the Spirit Realm, his form dissolving into the very fabric of existence. His consciousness remained, watching, whispering across time.
- Enkiro plunged into the Netherrealm, where all that is half-alive and half-dead lingers. His hatred did not perish. His will continued, his legacy of control infecting generations to come.
With Setri’s fall, the structure of the Thirteen Realms was left unfinished, the worlds surviving, but fractured. And though Anbura’s people survived, their protector was gone. The Celestial Throne stood empty.
And for a time, the cosmos drifted into an uneasy silence.
But peace, too, is fragile.
For deep in the echoes of existence, something was stirring.
A shadow.
A Mad God waiting to be born.
Mordecai: The Rise and Fall of the Imaginary Demon
There are evils that arise from power or its pursuit. But there are also evils that arise from pain.
Mordecai was not born into existence. He arrived.
No celestial name heralded his coming. No record of his birth could be found. He simply… was.
A child, left wandering in a world that had no place for him.
Two girls found him—sisters, orphaned by war, survivors in a shattered world. They gave him a name. They gave him a home. They gave him what the universe never had—a reason to exist.
But then, curiosity turned to tragedy.
There was a forbidden place at the edge of their world, a wound in existence itself, a door into the Inaccessible Realms, where things beyond logic, beyond time, beyond sanity lingered. And one of the sisters entered.
When she returned, she was not herself. She whispered things that had no meaning, spoke truths that bent reality, and her very presence began to unravel the world around her.
Her body collapsed. Her mind shattered into an eternity of incomprehensible thought. She experienced true death.
And Mordecai, for the first time, felt the touch of true helplessness.
He looked at existence and saw cruelty.
He looked at existence and saw madness.
And in that moment, he made a choice.
“If the cosmos is suffering… then I will become the suffering that defines it.”
The Eldritch God was born.
The Imaginary Demon of Lore
Mordecai did not seek to rule. He did not seek to conquer.
He sought to erase.
The more he understood reality, the more he rejected it. He peered into the fabric of existence, into the collective dream of all things, and tore apart the boundaries between what was real and what was imagined.
He became the terror whispered in nightmares.
He became the abyss that civilizations feared to name.
He was the reason why people began to fear all that they could not see, that they could not name.
He became the demon of all that was eldritch—an entity that lived between the cracks of reality itself.
The Thirteen Realms burned in his wake.
Empires collapsed.
Gods fell silent.
But the cosmos does not forget its champions.
The Hunt & The Sealing of the Eldritch God
The greatest warriors, the last of the world’s forgotten heroes aided by the Archangels of Truth rose to strike him down. They carved through his armies, shattered his horrors, and brought war to the Eldritch Demon’s own domain.
And in the end, Mordecai fell.
Not destroyed, for even the gods could not erase what he had become. But sealed—imprisoned within a mortal body, buried in the soul of an unsuspecting child.
And so he slept.
He dreamed.
And he waited.
For one day, the boy would grow.
One day, the seal would break.
And one day…
Mordecai would return.
Their stories are not simply histories.
They are warnings.
They are legacies that refuse to die.
And in the world of the Thirteen Realms, nothing truly ends.
Not the echoes of the Celestials.
Not the nightmare of the Eldritch God.
And certainly, not the battle for existence itself.