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It is called Yggdrasil: the Sovereign Tree, the World Ash, the structure on which all Creation is built. Ravaged by the Excrucians, it is still a thing of argent majesty, of incandescent strength beyond the ability of time or evil to corrupt. It will die, of course — Creation is finite, even if the Excrucians are turned away. In the end, the fires of Hell will make of it a different kind of Ash. Yet while life endures, and power, and Creation, Yggdrasil will sustain it, structure it, and define the space in which it lives.

The Earth is just one of the Worlds Of The Ash suspended in its branches — although those who live wholly in its prosaic side never find the stiles that give access to the Tree. The Tree itself and some of the other worlds upon it are under as heavy an assault as the Earth is; others are at peace, at least for now. The logistics of the Valde Bellum are not the same as those of ordinary wars, but common wisdom has it that the Excrucian onslaught cannot be stretched onto any additional fronts without losing its unity and devastating strength.

Even as beasts and men live upon the various worlds of the Tree, the Tree itself is home to many strange monsters, from the Aarons Serpents, who participate positively in the defense of the Tree, to the draconic Nithog, ever-gnawing at its roots. The landscape is wonderful and terrible, with rivers of wind, snow, fire, and poisoned ice—to name a few—tumbling up from Hell towards Heaven. Lesser plants have taken root in Yggdrasil's energy-rich bark. The seven roads that travel the width and breadth of the World Ash guide travelers from destination to destination. Angels blinded by the bright glory of Heaven come down to sit upon the stones and meditate until their balance is recovered. Excrucian monsters tear and rend wood that heals nearly as fast as they can wound it. The Hum'a swirl in the air currents generated by the Weirding Wall that surrounds creation — a breed of birds which lives on the wing, and whose shadow's touch can make a man a King.

Powers of the Earth's Imperators are most vulnerable when on the Tree — though their Imperator may be an angel or a devil at home in any world, Earth's Ymerae have rooted their bodies and strength there. Their Nobles' strength attenuates when they enter a world that is so much more real than Earth will ever be.

Category Ash