It's night time elsewhere. The night sky is bright, but filled with foreign stars. 

A desert stretches out beneath her, with deep runnels --like the tracks of something large and legless -- criss-crossing through it.

...Odd. And concerning. This is not Draenor, that is certain. She ought to have felt a teleportation spell that powerful.

Can she see anything that might have left the tracks?

There's some light in the distance, in the same direction of the tracks. It's dim, but it's there.

Worth looking, at least. She heads that way.

As she gets closer, the lights appear to be coming from inside buildings, shining through windows and such.

The buildings are also moving away from her.

Buildings generally don't move. Unless they're affixed to something which does.

That appears to be the case. The buildings... appear to be attached to a giant worm? Or at least something similarly alive and legless.

Well. That answers the mystery of the trails, she supposes. And raises new ones about how such beasts were tamed or trained.

As she gets closer, there are sounds of alarm-- horns and such-- from the city.

Hmph. Typical.

She banks wide around, out of bowshot.

They're not firing bows! But there is definitely some concern from the city.

It's only luck that he and Zana are in the city when the dragon passes over head.

Dragons aren't their remit, not by a long shot, but they're probably the best people to go investigate. They've got form dealing with absurdly powerful things. Dragons aren't necessarily unfriendly-- but they're not necessarily friendly either.

They get themselves and two of the local, leggy horses down the elevators on the sides of Shu'gohl, and ride after the dragon. 

Riders. And only two. Perhaps they will have information. She touches down on a convenient dune ahead of them.

The two riders catch up, and stop their horses shouting-distance from her. They're both human, and both armed-- but not well armed.

"What is your purpose here?"

"My purpose? That would depend on where here is, for it is nowhere I have seen before."

Okay... that is an answer, technically.

Zana glances at him, confused and concerned.

"Where did you come from?"

"A world that was once Draenor, though most now call it Outland."

Owain and Zana share a look of 'huh?'

"...do you know what Realm Draenor is in?"

"What is a realm?"

The confused expression deepens. It's possible that maybe this dragon had been isolated, and never encountered a realmgate before-- but that seemed like a back-justification to him.

Also he realisess that realms are weirdly hard to explain.

"They're-- they're the set firmament within the aether, each one tied to a distinct wind of magic--"

Zana cuts him off. "They're the little islands of reality. If you've only ever been to one, you might only know the one."

"They're not little."

"How big are these 'little' islands, typically?"

"They're small in comparison to the aether, but compared to other things they are quite large. They have multiple continents, and such."

"And what are the characteristics of the aether?"

"It's magic that is yet unshaped. It can come into the realms itself and take a form, such as aether-gold, but outside of them it is-- formless."

"Then I will venture to say that the Realm I come from, if it is a Realm at all, is unknown to you. Draenor is not my homeworld, but exists in the same space, and if one were able to stand the empty darkness between stars, one might fly from one to the other without need for the portal that allowed me passage. And these are not the only two worlds one might find by searching the Twisting Nether."

"...that does raise questions about how you got here."

She snorts. "Quite. It was almost certainly not intentional on my end, and I assume by the paucity of reception that it was not planned here."

"I wouldn't say it's impossible that someone planned it-- just not anyone that we know."

"And do you know many people?"

"We know some. In high places, even. Just not the sorts that would summon a dragon."

"For what purposes would a dragon be summoned?"

"To attack people. That's traditional."

"How arrogant."

She shrugs. "It works often enough. Though they usually inform the dragons."

"Where I come from, mortals do not deal so casually with dragons."

"I wouldn't call it casual. Though wizards rarely have enough self preservation, especially the ones that like to summon things."

"Regardless." It also speaks to a lack of self-respect on the part of the dragons involved, though of course she is not going to bring that up here. "Where might one find a dragon, without summoning?"

She scratches her head. "Around? They're fairly spread out. A fair few work with the aelves, but good luck finding them."

"Mmm." Her thoughtful noise is a low rumble, deep in the chest. "And what of the other races?"

"Hmm. Duardin don't seem to much care about them, neither do the sylvaneth--"

"Some humans are allied with dracoths," Owain butts in.

Zana frowns. "I don't think dracoths count. Chaos and the flesh eaters work with a few-- but you wouldn't want to meet them."

"What is a dracoth?"

"They're similar to dragons, though somewhat smaller and more... celestial. They're mostly found in Azyr."

"And duardin? Sylvaneth?"

"Duardin are Grungni and Grimnir's people; stocky and hardy smiths and warriors. The sylvaneth are Alarielle's; 'forest spirits' is the best way to describe them."

"I would like to see a map. And possibly a library."

"Shu'gohl has a library. Might be tricky to get you in there, but they have one."

"The wings are optional." There is a confused blur of something that is almost motion-

-and where the dragon was, stands a tall, dark-haired woman. "If that helps."

"That...that does help."

"Quite."

"Here's hoping the library guards actually let us in."

"I'm sure they will," Owain says.

Zana looks doubtful.

"Why would they not?"

"The knowledge in the library is... valuable, and they have had people try and take it in recent years."

"He means the gaurds are tetchy. But not completely without cause."

"I see." Most intriguing.

"The guards can be convinced. It's tricky, but--" He shrugs. "We've managed."

"Bribery, intimidation, or persuasion?"

"Persuasion and having a few friends among them."

"Isn't that useful."

"Friends are good. And Nyoka in particular is useful." He starts turning around. "Now, let's see if we can get you into that library."

"After you."

They head towards the Shu'gohl. The worm is even more massive when seen from the ground, with hairs large enough to carve into towers and great tunnel works in their flesh.

The elevator workers seem a bit surprised that they picked up an extra person but don't comment.

How polite of them.

She's never seen a city or beast like this one. It is... very strange, that something so large lives.

Shu'gohl is crowded with people, or all shapes and sizes and species. The elongated nature of the city means everyone is funneled through long arterial roads. Hawkers and pickpockets and black robed missionaries and aggressively leafy missionaries and missionaries covered in hammer symbols and common folk just trying to get from one place to another jostle past her.

They're heading towards the worms head.

Religion. Bah. Any pickpockets that want to try their luck on the well-dressed tall woman will find that her clothes don't actually contain any pockets.

Is there a sense of progression in the quality of the neighborhoods from tail to head? Commercial districts, industrial, residential?

The districts towards the head appear to be richer, higher class.

As expected. Some things about mortals remain constant, it seems.

They reach the library. It's a a huge tower, carved into the gargantuan hairs of the worm. The steps are guarded by armored humans, wearing tabards with hammer-and-lightning symbols printed on them, and carrying actual hammers nearly as tall as themselves.

These would be the guards. Hopefully her escorts' friend is on duty.

She is. An old woman in the same garb walks out of the shadow of statue. "It is good to see you again, friends."

"It's good to see you too, Nyoka," Owain says. "We have someone who'd like help getting into the library."

Nyoka smiles. "My comrades might point out that last time you went in, you brought in a vampire."

"We brought a vampire out," Zana says. "Big difference."

"I am no vampire, of that you may be sure."

"I assumed as much. They do generally skulk a bit more, and dress like they're from Shyish."

"I am not from Shyish, either."

"Oh, where are you from?"

There is some frantic gesturing from Zana and Owain that that is an unproductive line of questioning, but it goes unheeded.

"A world very far from this one."

She smiles. "Well, I hope you've been enjoying Shu'gohl so far."

"My final opinion will necessarily depend on whether you let me in to the library."

"I'll see what I can do."

She strides off up the stairs of the library, and Owain and Zana follow.

And assuming no one stops her, so will she.

Some of the guards look like they are about to-- and then they see Nyoka, and immediately deflate.

"She tore strips off the captain last time someone tried to stop us," Zana whispers as an aside.

"Good for her."

"You should've seen it. It was impressive."

They enter the library. Despite it's size, it's cramped. Shelves cluster against each other, each laden with more books than should fit on them, and tables squeeze into the gaps between the shelves.

Impressive.

"Is there a categorization scheme?"

"Of course!" Nyoka says, and she lays out the general catergorisation scheme.

Good. She's looking for atlases, historical overviews, travelogues, magical introductions, bestiaries, things that can tell her what this world is about.

This library has those. The contents are mostly focused on the Realm of Beasts, which is where Shu'gohl is. (The Realm of Beasts: notable for being filled with large animals, many of which want to kill you. Except the worm. The Worm is Nice. Praise the Worm.)

There are 9 realms: Azyr (of the heavens, where Sigmar lives, who varies between 'figure of religious devotion' and 'figure of controversy), Shyish (of death, where Nagash is, similar reputation to Sigmar), Chamon (of metal), Hysh (of light), Ulgu (of dark), Ghyran (of life, where Alarielle lives, an aelvan and sylvaneth god), Aqshy (of fire), and Chaos (...of chaos. And filled with gods, apparently. These books don't want to describe these gods.) These realms are connected by Realmgates, which are an important strategic resource.

There are many more species, many of whom occur all across the realms. There are humans, aelves (who apparently come in many varieties), duardin (ditto), various forms of undead, daemons (from Chaos, descriptions also vague), beastmen (huge, savage man-beast things), skaven (traitorous, disgusting ratfolk that invaded Shu'gohl not so long ago), Stormcast (resurrected humans, work for Sigmar), sylvaneth (tree people), seraphon (reptilian, maybe from the stars?), and orks (large, green, like to destroy things.)

Magic is Chaotic energy split into one of eight 'winds', one for each of the non-Chaos realms. Certain people can sense these winds, and manipulate them to cast magic. The likelihood that someone can sense these winds and the ease with which they manipulate them varies from species to species. Aelves are particularly good.

What is a Realmgate exactly? Are they naturally occurring? Can they be made, replaced, diverted? Are spells cast spontaneously or are they rituals? How is magic taught? When is it determined if one has sensitivity to the winds? Is there a test?

She works through her questions patiently and methodically, exhausting one stack of books at a time before going to gather another round.

They are portals between Realms. They can occur naturally, but can also be made deliberately. They can be closed or diverted, but this difficult. (And there's often conflict about where a Realmgate should go, making this more complex.) They can also be destabilised (making them as likely to throw someone travelling through into Chaos as to their destination) and stabilised.

Spells can be either spontaneous or rituals. Rituals for long term affects, spontaneous for shorter. Studying magic often takes the form of an apprenticeship to a more experienced mage, or studying at a university, but varies culture by culture. How they work out whether someone is sensitive to the winds also varies quite a bit, but tends to involve subtle uses of magic and seeing whether the prospective mage noticed it.

Next, the gods. There seems to be a pantheon, how many of them are there? Do they work together or separately? How trustworthy are accounts of their existence? Do they intervene regularly in mortal affairs? Is there a location where they are known to reside? Do they cooperate? Do they choose champions? Are they associated with creation myths? Is there a unified priesthood?

There's a fair few gods, but most counts of them hover at around 14. Some of them work together: the gods of "Order" such as Sigmar (of humans, Praise Be His Name), Alarielle (of sylvaneth) and Grungni (smiths and duardin, and the one surviving duardin god) have a tentative alliance, as do the gods of Chaos such as Khorne (anger), Tzeentch (change and ambition), Nurgle (dispair and disease), The Great Horned Rat (betrayal) and Slaanesh (desire...who's apparently they've gone missing.) The gods of Chaos and Order predictably do not get along. There's a few harder to catergorise ones, like the aelven gods Tyrion, Teclis and Malerion who are nominally of 'order.' And Nagash, of death. He's very nominally of 'order'.

There's solid documentary evidence that Alarielle, Sigmar, Grungni, Teclis, Tyrion and Malerion  all exist. Multiple people have seen them, and the details are consistent enough for things to be fairly plausible. There's less evidence for the existence of the Chaos gods or Nagash , but the gods who definitely exist seem to think they do, and that's good enough for most people.

How interventionist they are seems to vary a bit god-by-god. The aelven gods apparently rescued all the aelves from being eaten by Slaanesh--that seems fairly interventionist, but after that they went quiet. A fair few dwarven accounts make it sounds like Grungni regularly talks to smiths, but that may be metaphor. Sigmar definitely intervenes. He spent a fair few centuries not, and leaving everywhere but his home in Azyr under the depradations of Chaos, but he's back being active. He has an army who has beaten back Chaos. This army is also apparently immortal, magical, made up of people who gave their lives to Sigmar, and made of lightning. Somehow. (Grungni also apparently has operatives. Some them also let a vampire into the library?)

Different gods live in different realms. Generally in fairly innaccessible locations. Accept Sigmar. He has a palace in the middle of Azyr. Any difficulty getting to him is more bureaucratic than physical.

The creation myths--are weird. Apparently there was a world that was--destroyed?--exploded? And Sigmar and co. used bits of it to rebuild this new world, with the help of Dracothion (a ...star drake. A father of star drakes. Whatever that is. The books aren't quite sure either.) Most of the current gods were either gods prior to the world being destroyed, or were mortals who became gods during the destruction.

Unified priesthood? Hahaha. Ha. The various cultures who worship Sigmar can't even agree on how to pronounce his name, let alone anything beyond the broad details of his worship. And that's not getting into all the other gods, with their rival religions. There's places where these rival religions kind of 'get along', in the sense that no one will stop you worshipping Nagash instead of Sigmar, and will merely judge you. Heavily.

Okay. Religious situation: complicated, plausibly relevant. Good combination. Nothing further about Dracothonion?

Dracothion is a) large, b) in the sky c) powerful and d) capable of crying starlight and summoning meteors.

...it is slightly unclear if Dracothion is an actual entity, or a metaphor to explain shooting stars and constellations.

All right. More about the Realms. They all have a theme, how is that expressed? Are they like elemental planes where everything is made up of the element?

Not quite. Their themes run through each Realm completely, but it's not like each Realm is only made of one element. It snows even in the Realm of Fire. Said snow falls on the peaks of active volcanoes, but it still snows. The Realm of Life has deserts. Deserts filled with cacti and hyperactive ecosystems, but deserts nonetheless.

Parts of a world, right.

Is there any scholarship on the origin of the various sapient species?

Most of the scholarship comes down to 'they came from the-world-that-was.'

And where they came from in the-world-that-was is 'the gods.'

That's helpful. But that's what comes of a world without immortals. History is lost.

Hm. There was a reference to mortals becoming gods. Was that just a story or does it seem like there's anything more to that?

Teclis: definitely a mortal (if a long lived and powerful one) in the-world-that-was.

Teclis: Definitely a god now, in the world-that-exists.

Admittedly, there's a limited pool of people that remember the-world-that-was, and it's possible that Teclis made it up--but it is a slightly strange story to make up.

Where are they worshipped? Or where do they reside, if that's applicable?

Teclis lives in Hysh, and is one of the gods of it along with his brother Tyrion. He's also a god of aelves. ...some aelves. It's complicated.

How complicated?

Well, there's a few types of aelves, to start with. Malerion has his dark aelves, Morathi (not a god, probably?) has her Daughters of Khain, Tyrion has his light aelves, and Teclis had his.

The other complicating factor is that Teclis' aelves went missing. They dropped off the historical record almost as soon as they entered it.

Any convenient war or some such to explain that, or is it An Enduring Mystery?

Not really. They're just-- not around anymore. It's not even certain whether they're dead or not.

What about his brother, what happened to him?

Tyrion is around, as are his aelves in Hysh.

Is he also mortal-descended?

Yes.

Right then.

She extricates herself from the stack of books. Are her guides still around?

They're still around. Owain has his nose in a book about siegeworks engineering and is taking notes, and Zana has flopped over a chair as she thumbs through the history of armour in Shu'gohl. 

"Do you feel yourselves compelled to follow me should I leave the city?"

"...depends what you're planning to do? If you feel like conquering a neighbouring city, we'd stop you, but otherwise--" she shrugs "--assuming you just want to leave and don't want to strike a blow against the Free Peoples, we won't follow."

"Conquest holds no interest to me, and I bear no grudge against the Free Peoples."

"We won't follow, then."

"Then goodbye, if I do not see you later."

"See ya. Please don't change your mind about conquest, it would be very inconvenient."

She leaves the library.

And as a gesture of courtesy, she delays turning into a dragon and flying for a gate to Hysh until she's left the city.

The city appreciates that!

There's a gate to Hysh 40 kilometres north of the city.

That won't take her long to reach at all.

It's a natural archway of limestone. The rock glows a brilliant white, lit by the scintillating white and yellow light of the Realmgate.

Any guards on this side?

There are some people in plate armour: one and a half times as tall as a normal human, wearing golden armour and royal blue tabards. They seem, at least temporarily, unsure what to do about a dragon.

And what do they think of a human?

They seem like they know even less about what to do with a dragon that turned into a human.

Some hands go towards weapons, but they don't get drawn.

The probable leader of the group steps forwards. "Ma'am?"

"I would like to pass through." She indicates the gate. "Is there a fee to do so?"

"What is your intention in Hysh?"

"I wish to speak with a god who resides there."

They make an expression like that is a really weird purpose to try and go through, but not actually a disallowed purpose.

"You may go through. --in human form."

"Naturally." Through she goes.

The place on the other side of Realmgate is a glassy desert, with sand shot through with many colours, and broken spires reaching up to illuminated heavens.

The armoured guards on this side are much more impassive.

They haven't seen her turn into a dragon. She gets a fair bit of distance before so doing.

Hysh is bright. That's the most obvious things about it. Where it doesn't glow it sparkles, and where it doesn't sparkle it iridesces.

Hysh is ruined. Broken shells of gemstone enlaid towers litter the desert for miles, each find it's own way to crumple and fold in on itself.

A Realm aptly named indeed.

If one seeks a god, look first for his followers. She needs to find a city.

There's a city not too far off, with walls made of sapphire and emerald. It looks only slightly less ruined than everywhere else. Looks significantly more populated though.

That's all she requires of it.

Hello, city. How do you feel about visitors you may or may not have seen landing as a dragon some distance out?

If the city once had gate guards, it doesn't now.

Positively, then. Good.

The city is fairly quiet. There are definitely people living here--glowing, elfin people--but there don't seem to be many wandering out and about, and the ones that are are focused on themselves.

Any convenient signposts and/or religious iconography?

There is a street sign pointing towards a church of Tyrion, and another pointing towards a university.

Start with the church, then.

The church's walls are made of stained glass, and it glows from within. The front panel of the stained glass shows a blinded elf in ornate armour.

That would be Tyrion, yes?

Yep, that's Tyrion.

Any worshippers, priests, or other onlookers about?

There is someone sitting inside, who appears to be a priest. She's sat crosslegged in a corner, eyes closed, and she is wearing a robe richly adorned with the same motifs as the stained glass.

Does she react at all to Ellisaria's entrance to the church?

Not visibly.

Initiating interactions. How tiresome.

She walks over to the sitting priest. "Hello."

The priest looks somewhat annoyed about being interrupted. "Can I help you?"

"I am looking to learn more about the god Tyrion. Are you who I should be talking to?"

"I'm not a completely incorrect choice, no."

"Would you prefer I returned at a later time?"

"Well, you've already interrupted me, you may as well continue." She gestures for her to sit on the floor.

She does so, imitating the priest's posture.

"Shall I ask all my questions at once, or one at a time?"

"One at a time would be better, as to avoid asking questions that would answer themselves."

"Your god has a brother, yes? What is the relationship between them?"

"They are twins, born in the World-that-was. They awoke together in this realm, after the reformation of the world, but Tyrion had been blinded. He and Teclis explored this new world together, with Teclis being the eyes for both of them."

"And was what they saw much different from what I have seen today?"

"Less settled. No aelves had been found then."

"How did the gods come to find the aelves?"

"There were some in Azyr, but the rest of us were rescued from Slaanesh."

"And for that you give these gods your worship?" It is entirely unclear whether she thinks that's good or bad.

"Not purely for that-- but that is an important part of it, yes."

"And what do the gods get from it?"

"Allies. Power. The ability to bring huge amounts of man-hours to bear."

"What are the tenets of your religion?"

"To defend those weaker than ourselves. To strengthen ourselves, so there are more who we can protect."

"Is that all?"

She frowns. "Of course there's more. If you want a novel I can give it to you, but I doubt you want that."

"Perhaps. What happened to Tyrion?"

"He managed to escape the wreckage of the World-That-Was-- he was a general, and he did what he could to save it, but there was only so much one could do-- and he awoke here. Blinded. No one quite knows why. His brother Teclis was his eyes, and they explored this Realm, and helped rescue and remake the aelves."

"I read a book that said he had disappeared."

"Where was this book? It's human, I imagine. They think if you can't immediately tap it with a stick that it doesn't exist. They are both less-- present, than they were in early days, but they are both very much around."

"I found it in a library on Shu'gohl."

"Of course it would be there. --I wouldn't want to malign the place too much, but their Vurmite Order really does think much more highly of itself than it should."

"Why do you say that?"

"They think they have a very big library, and they think it means they know things."

"Libraries and knowledge are not uncorrelated."

"True, but it really does depend on what the library contains."

"Granted. Are there any libraries you think highly of?"

"There are some libraries that are acceptable. Most of them have fallen, to time or to Chaos. The City of Emeralds' library is reasonable." 

"Is that far from here?"

"A week or so on foot, faster if you have a mount."

"I fly, for preference."

She has to stop and think for a second. "Four days, then."

"Perhaps I will visit."

"It may be worth your while, if you truly seek knowledge."