Setting: The Dim

 

One of the most mysterious realms linked to the world of Mythren is called the Dim. Even before the Breaking, the Dim was considered to be merely a setting for children’s grim fairy tales until one of the fabled monsters escaped the shadow plane and crept into Mythren’s reality. In those days, the Dim became a place of deep interest and growing concern to the magical community as its unique powers and secrets were gradually revealed. It is a haunted realm that only a sparing few can access, and those that linger here often become hunted by what lurks within. 

 A land of shadow where the light of the sun is unknown, the Dim hosts a variety of terrifying creatures. Amongst the denizens of this realm, perhaps the most prevalent are the jackal o’dims. Terrifying humanoid creatures with a jackal-like skull, these monsters prospered to the point of running off other races.

 At one point a prison, the Warden’s Wall, was created in an effort to control the growing number of creatures and outlaws, many of which had been exiled here. To combat these growing numbers, guardians were placed here and a wall of tremendous size erected upon which the vigilant knights kept careful watch on the unsavory personalities and monstrosities. Over time, however, the number of prisoners far exceeded the number of guards. The subsequent slaughter was never recorded, though the tell-tale signs of its violent occurrence still remain in the devastated ruin of Warden’s Wall. The Dim is a place that seems locked in time—a location forever trapped just before full dark has encompassed the land. Nothing grows here, save for the black and twisted trees of the Crookwood Forest. And through this place frozen in perpetual dusk, the tattered howls of the frightful jackals echo in the wan light.

 Most notorious and often sought after by those in power, is the Twilight Lake. This is a legendary body of water within the Dim is known for its regenerative and healing properties. But the Twilight Lake does not give freely. Although most who come to the water source  are largely unaware, the lake drinks their wounds only to feed the evil that dwells in its heart. Once the adventurer leaves the lake, abhorrent creatures “born” of their injuries crawl from the dark water and onto the muddy shore. These are unnatural beings—living embodiments of the wounds, sickness, trauma, and anguish which the lake has absorbed. Here the featureless abominations are set upon by the other denizens; hungry not for flesh, but for the pain and suffering that has been given physical form. The only exception to this is when an individual suffering from mortal wounds is placed within the water.

For those bold or foolish enough to bring a dead body into the Twilight Lake, their wish for resurrection is granted at a terrible cost. Such an act creates a type of doppelganger called a Dim Walker.

Masquerading in the conjured flesh of the resurrected, the Dim Walker is, in truth, a  murderous monster eager to cause chaos and mayhem. Able to slip back and forth between the Dim and Mythren, the creature will hide its true hideous identity beneath the replicated veil of flesh. However, although they may appear exactly like the individual healed, going so far as to share memories, they are creatures made from pain and death. The Dim Walkers desire only this.They are true emissaries of the Dim--shadows cast in the space between spaces where nightmares clamor for a choke hold on life.

Todd VanHooser

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