

Ancient lore places the Elder Horrors at five, but this is not entirely known for sure. These malignant entities serve the Darkness, and they live only to transform the worlds they infest into places of despair and death. They are nightmares incarnate: mountains of blighted flesh and writhing tentacles that grow like cancers within the worlds of the Great Beyond. The Elder Horrors and their twisted minions are physical manifestations of the Darkness. To maintain their presence in reality, Darkness must consume untold amounts of matter and energy. Only the most powerful of these entities can manifest in the physical universe, and only for limited amounts of time. In it's natural state, Darkness exists outside reality. Driven by insatiable hunger, Darkness seeks to devour all matter and energy in the physical universe of Beyond. The beings that inhabit this realm are cruel, merciless, and nightmarish beyond any mortal comprehension. Entities of Darkness are monstrous horrors composed of pure negative energy. There is something further, something past our boundaries of reality. Aetharis - the world of Grim Hallow - is merely one of the countless worlds drifting through the vast reaches of the infinity of The Great Beyond.

It is an infinite living realm composed of innumerable stars, worlds, and mortal civilizations.

The Great Beyond represents the physical universe. Since the dawn of time, these forces have influenced Aetharis and the surrounding cosmos, setting the stars in motion and shaping the destiny of countless worlds and mortal civilizations. Aetharis is but one small world in a vast universe, a realm filled with potent magics and mighty beings.
