If the PremiseThe Premise roils with the bare phlogiston of Creation ꧠ, upon contact with which all matter erupts into chaos. Enormous trees rooted in nebulae form islands of stability for Rhemes who intend microcosms into existence out of the raw stuff of this place, enacting free will in a world lacking cause and effect, while the nautilus-shelled city of the Mutatorium invites seekers of self-transformation.Turn to chapter is a realm for those whose lives were defined by saying “yes” far more than “no”, the Reverie is a resting place for those who lived the reverse.¹ An endless plain of cracked, light grey stone beneath a pale sky, its only features are the widely spread out abodes of the Eremites who rest here. Each is an extremely deep hole in the ground, with a geometric opening and smooth walls, and each contains one soul in peaceful solitude.

Many of these chasms are blank, but others reflect their resident. One houses an Eremite referred to as the Anointed: it descends to depths beyond sight, but a narrow cylindrical plinth rises up from the center, and on it is a small grassy plateau on which a man sleeps in a patch of weak sunlight that slips incongruously out of the empty sky. Another is covered by a diamond-walled structure through which one can spy gem-encrusted depths that hold a coffin swaying from golden chains. Others hold personal libraries, intricate carvings, or small pools and fountains; others seem to hold nothing at all.

Eremites are nearly always found asleep or motionless in contemplation, and totally unresponsive to visitors, though there are reported sightings of solitary Eremites silently traversing the Reverie’s plains. A notable exception is the case of the Lovers: two partners bickering indefinitely, their fractally nested arguments echoing up the bare heptagonal fissure. The pair is famously sought out for their wisdom, but inquirers must wait days or weeks at the rim for a moment of mutual exhaustion in which they may respond to a query.² A few mortals have found their way here as well, to build hermitages for themselves atop the plains or in empty chasms—these are perhaps less dedicated to their solitude than the Eremites and often keen to receive rare visitors.