The Astral Space or the Astral Plane is a mana plane of existence that mirrors the physical world. All physical objects create shadowy representations of themselves in astral space. Living things have brighter forms on the astral plane, which is called an aura. The awaken have auras that are brighter and more colorful than their mundane counterparts. Nothing has a "physical" presence in astral space unless it has an astral form, though even then, nothing is truly physical on the astral.
Seeing the Unseen
Astral Perception
To see Astral Space usually requires that a person must be awakened. Adepts and mystic adepts need the adept power of astral perception, while full mages (including hermetic mages and shamans) can naturally see in to the astral at will. Using astral perception will make the awakened person become dual natured, which means that, like awakened critters such as ghouls, hellhounds, dragons, etc., they now exist on both the physical plane and have an astral form, so exist and can interact with both the physical world and astral space. Another possibility for awakened character to see the Astral Plane is to use the awakened drug called deepweed.
Astral projection
The next step up from astral perception is known as astral projection. In this process, a mage can separate their astral form from their physical form. This is only freely accessible to full mages, such as hermetic mages and shamans. It frees the magician from their physical limitations and projects their very psyche into the astral. This allows them to move at the speed of thought. It is possible for non-magicians and the mundane to astrally project if near an astral rift or with aid from a powerful free spirit with the astral gateway power, though this can be very dangerous for mundanes.
Seeing, but not Seeing
The astral plane is described using sight but it is not truly sight. It is more of a third eye or empathic link. You do not see light, but emotions. You can not read the words on a book, but you can pick up if a book is beloved by its owner. Likewise, mirrors and glass on the astral plane are opaque and non-reflective, since those are concepts associated with visible light. Strangely, water is still transparent.
Example
A blind magician (whether naturally blind or just in a dark room) switches their vision to the astral plane, while a non-blind magician views the blind mage through a one-way window. The non-blind magician can target the blind mage through the glass, while the blind magician would be unable to see the mage on the other side of the glass. Since the glass blocks the blind mage's line of sight, the blind mage is unable to target the non-blinded mage.
Lastly, non-living objects do make opaque shadows on the astral which can block line of sight, which can be handy for beings that cannot leave the astral, such as ghouls. This is also why you'll often find ghouls in tight and enclosed environments, so they don't have to worry about a projecting mage shooting them with spells that the ghoul can do nothing to stop. Some visual modifies do leave astral shadows that can affect astral sight, such as smoke grenades, fog, or rain, which can interfere with spell casting on the astral.
What Happens on the Astral Stays on the Astral
Spells on the astral plane can only be mana spells and cannot interact with the physical plane unless targeting something with an astral form. Targeting a mundane's aura is not enough to establish the link to cast a spell, for example. Likewise, a spell cast on the physical plane cannot affect the astral plane, though the spell will leave disturbances in the ambient mana, which will leave a magician's astral signature in astral space.
Background Count
Mana is created from emotions and live. Areas with a heavy emotional impact like a concert hall or a sight of a mass murder often have excess mana from the heightened emotions associated with that location. This creates a positive background count with often makes casting spells more difficult. On the extreme end of excess mana that are mana warps which often make casting unpredictably strong.
On the opposite spectrum areas devoid of life, such as hospitals or outer space, often have a negative background count as there isn't enough life to create ambient mana. On the extreme end of a lack of mana, there are mana voids where casting spells inflict more drain at lesser effects as there is just not enough mana to create spells.
Index
External Links
- Discussion on Reddit.