For the most part, the Threshold is a place to visit briefly to gain insight or information, but little more. Exploring it is impossible, as the realm has no defined boundaries or locations.
Visions After Death: Any character who is
severely injured can find himself in the Threshold. This is a good time to drop clues, hints or omens to suit the Chronicler’s plans for the Story. The visions and omens should never be too clear or spe- cific, however. Not only does the nature of the Threshold work against clarity, but the memories of the character should be jumbled and confused after the close brush with death.
Hunting the Soul Eaters: The Soul Eaters are a
dangerous and mysterious class of spirits, inhuman beings with great power (see later in this chapter). They prowl the Threshold, hunting lone and unwary astral travelers or the souls of the dead. An intrepid group might try to do a little hunting of their own, maybe even trying to follow these crea- tures’ tracks to their native realm. The quest might be for altruistic reasons, or simply to gain valuable information, as the Soul Eaters know much of the lore of the Death Realms.
Sanctuaries
Sanctuaries are areas created by powerful Gifted and Supernatural creatures inside the Threshold. They are little “bubbles” or “pockets” of normal reality that are built in the Threshold and connect- ed to other realities by a link of Essence. These “pocket dimensions” are used as hideouts, resting places, or even permanent homes by those who cre- ate them. They require a permanent Essence sacri- fice, however, and only the most powerful beings can build anything bigger than a large room or a small apartment. Sanctuaries are very hard to enter and locate for anybody other than their creators, making them the ideal safehouses. Furthermore, by spending enough Essence, the maker of a
Sanctuary can use the Threshold’s independence from the boundaries of time to make time move faster or more slowly in their “home.” This is often used to accelerate such activities as healing, long and difficult Invocations, and even learning new Gifted abilities.
To create a Sanctuary, the character must be either an Essence Channeler or a Supernatural being able to spend Essence freely, without need of a ritual (any Supernatural being that can empower his abilities with Essence without using Channeling, like the Fey or Vampyres, would qual- ify). The creation process requires a Simple Willpower Test and a permanent Essence point sac- rifice. Each 2 points of Essence permanently spent on the Sanctuary creates a self-contained space of one third of a meter cubed (1 foot cubed) per Success Level in the Test (additional Tests and Essence sacrifices can be used to enlarge the Sanctuary). This room can be shaped in any form of the creator’s choice. The process takes 2 hours per Essence point spent, during which time the cre- ator must be constantly concentrating on the activ- ity. If he is interrupted, he has to start over, but no Essence is lost.
The Sanctuary cannot be detected in the Threshold by anybody, Gifted or Supernatural, unless the creator allows it to happen (see below). The Sanctuary itself is a cube-shaped featureless gray room, although furniture and decorations can be brought in (anything that fits through the door- way, which is about 2 meters (6 feet) by 2 meters (6 feet)). The walls are solid and durable, but not indestructible; they have an Armor Value of 10. Inflicting 100 points of damage on a wall opens a small hole in it (about 15cm (6 inches) in diameter) that looks out into the Threshold. Doing more than 1,000 points of damage on any one wall causes the Sanctuary to collapse, throwing everybody out into the Threshold. On the other hand, the walls take nails and screws with no problem, and furniture, interior walls and even additional floors can be built into them.
Powers of the Sanctuary: The physical laws of
Malkuth, or of the plane of existence linked to the Sanctuary, apply within it. This means that Gifted powers work normally inside it. Furthermore, the creator, by spending 5 Essence points per minute, can open a temporary window into the Threshold, enabling him to use the Thresholds’ special pow- ers. Doing this, however, reveals the Sanctuary to anybody in the Threshold who might be nearby (like Soul Eaters) and also permits outsiders to enter the pocket dimension.
The Sanctuary’s doorway from Malkuth (or whatever Realm it is linked to) is fixed in place. Most creators pick an area that is secluded or under their control. Only the creator can activate the doorway, which is invisible when closed. When activated, it manifests as a dark hole in the air, about two meters (six feet) tall and two meters (six feet) wide. The manifestation is clearly visible, but noiseless. Opening the doorway costs 10 Essence points (regained normally) and takes a minimum of 2 turns or however many turns it takes to accumu- late the required Essence (if the creator is an Essence Channeler), whichever is more. Once open, the creator can hold it open for up to a
minute (after which another 5 Essence must be spent to keep it open for another minute), or make it shut down as soon as he is through (useful if the creator is being pursued by somebody or he wants to attract little attention). Anybody or anything that can fit through the doorway can be brought into the Sanctuary. Getting out requires the creator to open a doorway leading back to the point of origin, for the same Essence cost. If the creator is killed, the Sanctuary disappears and all its contents “spill” out into the Threshold!
Time Differentials: By permanently sacrificing
Essence, the character can make time move either faster or slower (one or the other must be chosen; a Sanctuary can either be “fast” or “slow” but not both) in the Sanctuary relative to the connecting world. Each 20% differential costs 1 Essence point, permanently sacrificed, on top of the cost of creat- ing the sanctuary (doubling or halving the rate of time flow, which would be a 100% differential, would cost 5 Essence points).
For example, Joyce is a powerful Necromancer with Essence Channeling. She wants to create a Sanctuary, and spends 6 Essence points permanent- ly on size. She gets four Success Levels in the Willpower Test, for a total area of four meters (12 feet) cubed. After a lot of work, she turns the room into a 2-floor dwelling and laboratory. Joyce sets the doorway in the basement of her own home, where nobody can see her go in or out. During the creation process, she also sacrifices 10 Essence points to triple the rate at which time flows in the area (+200%). If she spends a day in her Sanctuary, a mere 8 hours will have passed on Earth! Basically she can get things done three times as fast while in the Sanctuary, although that also means she will age faster, too.