The Thresholds
Preface
The thresholds are the liminal places where the Veil between the mortal waking world and the spirit-realms becomes thin. These thresholds serve as bleed-points where mortal and spirit-energies mingle. This is what allowed spirits from the realms to first enter into the waking world and form pacts with humans, allowing the creation of the first spirit-casted: those blessed by, and who walk alongside, the spirits from these realms.
Thresholds
Categorised
Although the thresholds cannot generally be seen by the mortal eye, sometimes they become so powerful that they are able to be perceived. Most are able to discern whether or not a threshold is in the area by a feeling of unease or the primal response of hairs on the back of the neck standing up or goose bumps. Thresholds that build up enough energy behind them can produce a bleed-point, or a gateway, between the spirit-realms and the waking world.
The following is a list of the different categories each of these thresholds have been placed into, and what one should be wary of when drawing close to one.
The spirit-pacts were first able to be formed at special bleed-points where the Veil first thinned enough so that spirits were able to pass through from their connected realms. These bleed-point thresholds are generally found in places of sacred importance: a forest clearing where silence feels too deep, an ancient shrine that offerings have been left at for generations, the mirrored-surface of a lake that reflects something other than the sky above.
At these special locations humans are able to swear pacts to the spirit-realms. If a spirit should hear their call they may cross over and anchor themselves to the mortal, producing a spirit-casted. Those seeking to form a spirit-pact should prepare themselves for the changes that will come with a successful bargain.
Bleed-Point Thresholds
The Everdoors
Type: Permanent
Threat: None
Known Location/s: Bolger Glade, Lemoyne, Fort Brennand, Roanoke Ridge, New Hanover
These thresholds are a permanent breach in the Veil and are often found within places that have seen tragedy such as old battlefields. These locations are generally safe to explore, but caution is always advised as secondary thresholds may still open. Everdoors seem to have connections with the spirit-realm that is known as the River of Ash and Bone; a place where souls pass from the waking world into their afterlife. As such, these places are filled with spirit manifestations that tend to be unable to perceive the waking world and do not interact with it.
Type: Temporary or Permanent
Threat: Low to High
Known Locations/s: Devil’s Cave
Those that have been categorised under this heading vary from threshold to threshold. Most of these thresholds are of little to no threat, the space is filled with whispering voices from the unseen worlds which can cause some feelings or unease or unrest. However, there are times where these thresholds become stronger and produce other effects to those unlucky enough to come across them. Travellers may start to lose sense of self and can become maddened or even violent whilst affected. These areas are feared as cursed places and, so far at least, only one permanent location is known of this type; the cave known as the Devil’s Cave.
The Whispering Veins
The Wound-Gates
Type: Temporary
Threat: Medium to High
Known Location/s: N/A
These are some of the most feared thresholds to appear within the world. They are often sudden and violent tears in the Veil where the energies become unstable and warped. The Wound-Gates are heralded by a heavy feeling in the surrounding air before a visible tear begins to appear. As the tear widens, spirits from beyond start to take shape, tearing and clawing at the tear until it becomes wide enough for them to cross into the waking world. The creatures that come through are spirits made manifest, they become driven mad by the unnatural world about them and will attack and become violent to anything in their path. The only way that has been found to close these thresholds is to defeat those that come through them; only then will the threshold close once more.
Type: Permanent
Threat: Low to High
Known Location/s: N/A
Some thresholds can be tied to objects. These objects then become dangerous relics that, if mishandled, can cause great harm to the surrounding areas. Anytime a threshold artifact is found it is taken and secured away so that it can do no harm, however, if one does find its way into the world then there are those that would hunt them down and destroy them. Destroying the item itself causes the spirits within to be released violently, and this in turn can cause a new threshold to form.
The Binding Places
The Mirror-Paths
Type: Temporary
Threat: None to Low
Known Location/s: N/A
The Mirror-Paths are thresholds of reflective surfaces such as lakes, planes of obsidian, or highly polished stone, that act like a sliding door between locations within the waking world. These thresholds are said to be linked to both the spirit-realm of the Twilight Path and that of the Shattered Mirror, as they allow instantaneous travel from one location to another. Recently, scientists studying the spirit-realms and the energies that come from them have been able to create relics containing spirit-energy from these thresholds that allows a person to summon a door of sorts; a portal that allows them to step through and appear elsewhere within the blink of an eye.
These items have been able to be both mass-produced and sold to the general populace of The Crossroads, but some locations in the world have utilised larger constructions to form gateways that permanently link two locations with one another; acting as a kind of transport network between larger cities.
The Hollow Crossings
The: Generally Temporary
Threat: High
Known Location/s: N/A
The thresholds that have become known as the Hollow Crossings are thankfully very rare. They only appear during liminal times such as dusk, solstice, during an eclipse or within a particularly bad storm. Generally these thresholds are only temporary, but throughout history there have been ones that have known to become more permanent and had to be destroyed in order to heal the lands around them.
Not much is known about these thresholds as, generally, those that stray too close to one either vanish without a trace or have become maddened and never speak a sane word again. Asylums across the world have become home to those who have been changed by these dangerous thresholds.
The Eidolon Thresholds
Type: Generally Permanent
Threat: Low to High
Known Location/s: See Below
The Eidolon Thresholds produce eidola, or manifest spirits, depending on the spirit-realm connected to it. These thresholds are generally in fixed locations but, sometimes, are able to open randomly across the globe. The following is a list of these locations within The Crossroads:
Lemoyne: Lakay
Attachment: The Umbral Wilds
Type: Reptile
During the early years of The Crossroads being founded and the city of Saint Denis being expanded, the area known as Lakay fell into disarray as a threshold formed and attached itself to the small settlement. The people that lived there were forced out as reptilian creatures from the Umbral Wilds started to spill out. These spirits have now become a permanent fixture of Lakay and take varying forms; from the small frogs, toads and lizards that are generally benign, to the more aggressive alligators that attack anything that ventures into their territory.
Lemoyne: Pleasence
Attachment: The River of Ash and Bone
Type: Undead
Pleasence was a small settlement situated just outside of the swamps surrounding Saint Denis. This place was cursed with bad luck and tragedy from its very founding. After the tragedies that ended all life within the settlement a threshold formed and became permanently anchored to the place. From this threshold spilled skeletal undead that now roam the area mindlessly.
New Hanover: Butcher’s Creek
Attachment: The Shattered Mirror
Type: Humanoid
The settlement of Butcher’s Creek was never a friendly place, often associated with rumours of cannibalism and cults, the place became a hotbed of spirit-energies from the spirit-realm of the Shattered Mirror as a threshold attached itself to the heart of the settlement. Those that remained within Butcher’s Creek ended up going mad and the threshold started to create reflections of these individuals. Whether or not any of the original settlers still live is unknown, but the area is now filled with maddened reflections that have taken human-shape.
New Hanover: Marko Dragic’s Laboratory
Attachment: The Shattered Mirror
Type: Robotic
The Laboratory that was once owned and operated by Marko Dragic has fallen to ruin after the scientist’s experiments have long since failed and the man himself left for pastures new. A threshold formed and attached itself to Dragic’s failed robotic experiment, turning this area into a permanent Binding Place threshold and anchoring itself to the laboratory’s very mortar and stone. The things that manifested as robots roam the area, attacking anything that their gaze falls upon.
New Hanover: Limpany
Attachment: The River of Ash and Bone
Type: Burned Undead
Once a thriving settlement, Limpany was burnt to the ground by a rival competing businessman whose eyes shine with greed and envy. The tragedy that befell this settlement caused a threshold from the River to attach itself to the area. Since then undead have spilled out through the tear in the Veil, their flesh burned leaving their features unrecognisable. These creatures act without thought or awareness, and instinctively attack any straying too close.
West Elizabeth: Cochinay
Attachment: The Umbral Wilds
Type: Animal: Wolf
There is a small clearing within the mountains that borders the northern area of Tall Trees. This place, known as Cochinay, was once a hideout and a place of fortification for many groups. Since falling into disuse the area is now a hotbed for threshold activity. With the nighttime song of wolf howl echoing over the mountains and down into the valley clearing, wolves from the Umbral Wilds have become drawn to the area.
West Elizabeth: Bharati Bear Cave
Attachment: The Umbral Wilds
Type: Animal: Bear
There is a large cavern hidden away in the crook of Mount Shann not too far from the town of Strawberry. The cave was always inhabited by bears during the winter, but recently it has become abandoned by natural wildlife and has become a home for bear-creatures from The Umbral Wilds. Whilst natural bears won’t always attack those coming too close to them, the bears from the Wilds are driven by the instinct of the wild hunt and will attack anything they see as prey or a threat.
New Austin: Rio Del Lobo Rock
Attachment: The Umbral Wilds
Type: Animal: Cougar
The area known as Rio Del Lobo Rock looks over the deserts of New Austin. It is here in this place of dry nature that a threshold has formed and allowed creatures resembling cougars to enter from the Umbral Wilds. These are not the felines from The Shattered Mirror, these creatures only know of the hunt and roam the barren shrubland looking for fresh prey to stalk.
New Austin: Hennigan’s Stead Canyon
Attachment: The River of Ash and Bone
Type: Undead
Many small conflicts have happened within the canyons of Hennigan’s Stead. It became a place where rival gangs would lay traps for one another or places to hold out when lawmen were bearing down upon folk. After The Crossroads was founded and people started to live and work in the area once more, they found that the canyons became a place where undead started to appear from thresholds. These undead vary in size and shape, and roam aimlessly within the confines of the canyon.
New Austin: Gap Tooth Ridge, Mining Camp
Attachment: The Shattered Mirror
Type: Robotic
Once a place of industry, the old gold mine located near Tumbleweed has found an attachment to the Shattered Mirror and through it things resembling robotic people are able to gain purchase within the waking world. No one is quite sure how these creatures came to be in this location. Theories vary wildly and some think that this has some kind of a connection with the threshold within the Roanoke where similar creatures appeared.
A Mention Regarding Nuevo Paraiso
The area of Mexico that borders with the state now known as The Crossroads, known as Nuevo Paraiso, is a place where none dare settle. The entire county has become a hotbed of threshold activity and, as such, has become a dangerous and unstable place. There are those that venture across the border and into this area from time to time, hoping to research the phenomenon more, or collect reagents and materials from the creatures that come through the thresholds, or even to try and stem the flow of the thresholds themselves. Such expeditions are dangerous and never undertaken lightly.