Realms of Existence
“The familiar sun of this world still hides behind the horizon. Raw, unpolished earth unfolded below. Mountains curved in barriers that sketched fingers across the empty lands. Palaces, or rather, things that passed for palaces, failed to emerge above the lower hills. The curvature of the planet met the stars with a serenity and grace that few of the inhabitants below would witness. They are so scattered around the globe and cling so blindly to any kind of understanding that it is no surprise that they were conquered and didn't even realize they were in trouble.”
The universe of Runeterra is made up of various realms that exist in parallel and constantly interact with each other through their powers. The main realm where the adventures of Runarcana RPG take place is the material realm, where players are usually creatures of the most varied origins, exploring a world that has magic at its core and reveals itself in surprising manifestations with each new vision.
These realms are in constant interaction, primarily with the magical energy of the three acting together through the most fantastic manifestations in the material realm. While each realm has its own development and laws, the material realm seems to be the epicenter of events, holding an unknown importance amidst this cosmic puzzle.
Material Realm
Also called the Elemental Kingdom, the Material Kingdom is the physical realm where elements, ideas, and spirits manifest; it is also where mortal creatures are found, subject to the whims of time and predestined to have a brief history amidst the immensity of this world. Whether they are humans, minotaurs, or vastaya, these humanoid and intelligent species can be found in the most varied expressions of existence.
The Material Realm is where the planet Runeterra is located, a planet where the forces of the other Spiritual Realms are manifested and where most of the known regions take place, be it the land of the force known as Noxus, or even where a mere coin can cost a life (or is it the other way around?) like Bilgewater.
Most adventures in Runeterra begin and take place in the Material Realm; however, there is much more beyond this realm. As the heroes of the story, the player characters, learn and develop, sometimes a single realm is no longer enough.
Beyond the Material Realm
The Material Realm may be the overwhelming territory of most stories and events in Runeterra, however it is not isolated; beyond the material, other realms are connected in various ways, whether through temporary portals that constantly change location, or through a simple barrier that can be crossed with a brief wave of the hand.
Planar Travel
Traveling between planes may not be the most complicated or rare thing in Runeterra, but that doesn't make it easy or commonplace. There are people who spend their entire lives without ever having contact with other planes or realms. Adventurers are usually the ones who have a greater chance of having to travel between realms in order to complete their life's missions or simply to solve some small catastrophic problem.
Travel between realms can be done in many ways, but the two most common and easily accessible are through magic or through a planar portal:
Spells. Some spells allow for glimpses of other realms with less powerful magic, and others enable full group journeys to other realms of existence. Planar Transition and Portal are two spells that can transport adventurers directly to another realm of existence with varying degrees of precision. Ethereal Form and Astral Projection allow adventurers to enter the Spirit Realm.
Portals. A portal is a general term for a stationary interplanar connection linking a specific location in one realm of existence to a specific location in another. Some portals may be like doors, a window, or a mist-shrouded passageway, and the simple act of passing through it entails interplanar travel. Others are locations—cornerstone circles, floating towers, sailing vessels, or even entire cities—that exist on multiple planes, either simultaneously or alternating from one plane to another at a time. Some are vortices, typically connecting a Realm of Existence with a very similar location in the Material Realm, such as a mystical tree atop a hill.
Demiplanes
Demiplanes are small extradimensional spaces with their own unique rules. They are fragments of reality that seem unconnected to any other place. Demiplanes have come into existence in a variety of ways. Some are conceived through magic, such as demiplane, or originated from the whims of an extremely powerful being or some other unknown force.
They can exist naturally, as a fold of existing reality that has been squeezed out of the rest of the universe, or as a newborn universe growing in power. A given demiplane can be entered through a single point where it touches another plane.
Subjectively, the planar transition spell can transport travelers to a demiplane, but the required frequency for attunement is extremely difficult to achieve. The portal spell is more reliable, provided the caster knows the demiplane.
Spiritual Realm
The Spiritual Realm exists in parallel with the Material Realm, and in some aspects may merge with it, as in the case of Ionia, where the veil dividing the two realms is thinner and where spirits directly influence local life, both in fauna and flora, bringing abundant magic to the environment.
The Material Realm, Runeterra, is directly linked to the Spirit Realm, a place where time is irrelevant and the natural laws of the Material Realm do not apply. It is a place of extraordinary power where spiritual magic is extremely abundant and intense, capable of permanently altering a being's constitution, as was the case with the Vastayashai'rei.
Bandle City
The city of the yordles is located in an unknown demiplane within the Spirit Realm. In Bandle City, it is said that all sensations are amplified for non-yordles, colors are more vivid, food and drink intoxicate the senses for years and, once tasted, can never be forgotten.
The sunlight is eternally golden, the waters are perfectly crystal clear, and every harvest is extremely bountiful. Perhaps some of these accounts are true, but perhaps none are, for no two people in this world agree on what they have truly seen.
Only one thing is certain: Bandle City and its inhabitants possess a timeless power. This must explain why many mortals who find their way back seem to have aged dramatically, though most never return.
The paths from the Material Realm to Bandle City are rarely seen by mortals, as they only open under specific circumstances, or to those capable of reading and interpreting the Yordle language.
Some portals can only be opened with a series of specific gestures, usually defined by peculiar symbols inscribed at nearby points. One particular portal might open a path to a deep cave, whose recesses fill with water at low tide, revealing a pattern of runic circles. Although the location of the portals may change over time, many always remain in the same place. Sometimes, in these places known as bandlewood, spiritual magic travels between the two realms, affecting the local flora and fauna in strange and unpredictable ways.
Glade
The Glade is a demiplane connected to Bandle City that also exists as a hidden bubble in the Spirit Realm, also known as the fairy realm; it's an even stranger place than Bandle City. It existed long before the yordles arrived in the world and, probably, Bandle City was born from it. It's a place where you can change your surroundings, as well as alter your own form, as you see fit. Absolutely anything your fertile imagination can conceive can be realized.
Celestial Realm
The Celestial Realm, often referred to as the City of Gold and Silver, is a realm beyond Runeterra, whose entrance can be found atop Mount Targon, a location that also serves as access for celestial creatures to the Material Realm. This realm possesses a vast expanse bathed in golden light during the day and shimmering stars at night.
The Celestial Ralm is an expression of a reality incomprehensible to mortal minds, where beings known as Celestials reside — mythical creatures from the stars whose purpose is completely unknown, although they seem to have a particular interest in what happens in the Material Realm. Among the first beings to appear in the universe, Celestials are extremely strange compared to any other creature that can be found in the Material, Spiritual, or Celestial Realm.
The inhabitants of the Celestial Realm appear to be manifestations directly linked to these Celestials, such as various examples of Celestial Dragons and even simple Starcorns, which interact with the world of Runeterra for reasons far beyond mortal comprehension.
The Celestials
The Celestials are stellar beings that live beyond the Material, Spiritual, and even Celestial realms of Runeterra. These beings embody concepts and sometimes merge with mortals, ascending them, making them their hosts with whom they are able to traverse and/or interact with the Material Realm with relative efficiency. These are the Aspects.
The Celestials seem to have had little influence on the fate of the world in past ages, with one exception being the instructions that enabled the construction of the Sun Disc, which brought the God Warriors, the Ascended, into existence in Runeterra, channeling power directly from the Sun through the Sun Disc.
The Aspects
Aspects are the result of the fusion of a Celestial and a Mortal, usually occurring at the peak of Mount Targon when a worthy mortal passes the test of climbing the mountain and a Celestial bestows upon them their celestial blessing. With the exception of the Aspect of Twilight and its hosts, they rarely interfere in the Material Realm outside of times of great need.
Mitna Rachnun
Mitna Rachnun is a demiplane connected to the Spirit Realm, where the souls of the departed typically wander on their journey to the great Beyond. Connected to the Material Realm through the Immortal Bastion in Noxus, this realm was once an empty afterlife plane: a grey wasteland, shrouded in ethereal mist and tormented by whispers in Ochnun, with lost souls wandering and eventually disappearing into the fog.
All of this changed when Sahn-Uzal refused to disappear; this fierce determination allowed him to persist long enough to learn Ochnun, a profane language not spoken by any living being. He whispered it beyond the veil to mortals, until a clan of sorcerers brought him back, binding him to a suit of iron armor. From that day on, he was renamed in the Ochnun language: Mordekaiser.
After Mordekaiser ruled and massacred in eastern Valoran for nearly 3 centuries, he was banished back to Mitna Rachnun, where the souls of all those who died under his last reign awaited. Perverted by dark sorcery, their spirits would never truly fade. The strongest souls would compose his devoted army, and the weakest would be the building blocks of the new castles and buildings that would form Mordekaiser's new afterlife.
And now, nearly 1100 years after his banishment, Mordekaiser's afterworld is complete, and he prepares to claim every soul in his Final Reign.
The Void
The Void is not a place, but rather what exists between two places. It has no connection to any specific realm, yet it can connect to the Material realm.
In this place, the desire to consume is eternal; this desire is shared by all creatures born upon manifesting in the material world. These creatures are known as Voidborn. This desire to consume manifests itself in different ways for each of the Voidborn tribes, such as food, evolution through assimilation, or knowledge through disintegration.
Some of the voidborn known to mortals were named by the Shurimans in their ancient language. Each creature was described using a word that came to designate its species, or tribe, and another that designated them as individuals, such as Rek'Sai, where Rek is the word in Ancient Shuriman for Queen, and Sai is the word for desert, giving this creature the title of Queen of the Desert, as she is the queen of the Xer'Sai tribe.
It is unknown whether the Void possesses an entity that commands all the existing tribes of voidborn creatures, coordinating them in an elaborate attack on the other realms of existence, or if the creatures simply attack irrationally and unrestrainedly. However, there are strong indications that some extremely malicious entity is behind it all, even causing the Celestial Dragon, creator of all stars, to worry about it.
