"If i'Arathael and Rathe are lakes of aether, the Nebulus is a churning river between." - Rupius, Auric Scrollmaster
Between Rathe and i'Arathael, aether pours like a river of blood to form the Nebulus Rift. It is a stellarscape of possibilities, and like the wound it is, it may heal or it may spoil. Only time will tell.
Reality behaves strangely here. Distance bends. Matter and energy transform. Dust coalesces into life. Flesh transfigures into crystals.
Astral travelers will find themselves drifting upon aetheric currents in a cosmic void. The Nebulus Rift braids these currents into bridge-like paths that feel half-natural, half-constructed. Roads of starlight snake through ancient ruins and abstract monuments. Clouds of cosmic dust billow and shift, forming structures in a moment, mirages in the next. Rainbow hues sparkle from the graceful scales of the crystalline creatures that traverse the ephemeral skyscape, some imaginary, some very real.
The ebb and flow of aether is the only constant in the Nebulus Rift. Permanence is as illusory as a dream.
Auric Keep
The Auric Keep was originally built by the Aetherscribes as a citadel of learning and study, and to aid in the defense of Rathe during the War of the Old Ones. Anything the war effort needed, the Aetherscribes would conceive and create here, including their ultimate work: the Constella Intelligence.
With the cataclysm that ended the war, the Auric Keep was cast into the Nebulus Rift. Both its remains and its inhabitants were transformed irrevocably by the potent currents of aether there. No matter which starlit road one views it from, the Auric Keep's massive heliotropic towers dazzle as they mirror the cosmic backdrop. Inside, the keep's main atrium and compound now drip with glittering crystals, extraordinary even for the otherworldly beyond that is the Nebulus Rift.
Though centuries have passed since the Third Age, the exiled keep still stands as a sentinel against the Old Ones. Inside its transmutable walls, exiled Aetherscribes watch for any sign that the Old Ones or their influence may have survived the cataclysm. They scrutinize the shifting boundaries between the Nebulus Rift, Rathe, and i'Arathael, ever vigilant to the symptoms of their ancient foe's corruption.
Astral Bridge
Imagine a bridge that spans the vast distance between Aria and the Nebulus Rift and you have the Astral Bridge.
While this bridge is solid, it would be incorrect to call it physical. When walking across it, the bridge flickers and distorts, its properties changing due to the encroaching influences of the two vastly different realities it is anchored to.
How could a bridge of this kind come to be? During the Third Age, to protect themselves and their precious knowledge, the Aetherscribes formed a moat of molten aether around the Auric Keep, built a sturdy gatehouse named Shyldverk at the farthest edge, and devised an arcane bridge to span it.
To guard against the Old Ones' more insidious methods of intrusion, the bridge could only be manifested using the Voltaris Gem, a powerful artifact said to have an entire storm trapped within its crystalline walls. The gem was held under arcane wards within the keep, and when needed, was flown by a trusted Wayfarer to the gatehouse.
When the Auric Keep was cast into the Nebulus Rift, the gem, the gatehouse, the moat - even parts of the keep itself - were left behind in Enion. The exiled Aetherscribes theorized ways to return to Rathe deducing that the bridge may still provide the way, if they could just reconnect the Auric Keep in the Nebulus to Shyldverk in Enion. And through the combined efforts of Zyggy, Oscilio and Aurora, it came to be. The bridge was reestablished, an Astral Bridge now spanning two worlds.