The Liminal

[TLDunn213]

The Liminal is my take on where the Backrooms came from, why they exist, and what sort of things you might find there. 

The Liminal was actually created several different times by different beings in slightly different places but all of these pocket dimensions and Demi-plains are similar enough that over time they have been drawn together and merged. Now it is not known for sure if the heart of each version has merged with the others; or if The Liminal has several Hearts, each with its own powerful artifact, all just rather close to each other.

In any event some of the suspected creators included:The Arch Litch Vecna, presumably as a hiding place for his Phalactry. Varque, as a hiding place for a few copies of his Tome. The Litch King Angmar, for his Phalactry.

You may be noticing a pattern here?

Anyway, much as the Demiplane of Dread aka Ravenloft is composed of several different places where horrific things have happened The Liminal is composed of abandoned and forgotten places. 

It is unknown if The Liminal is alive and/or aware. The general consensus on that point is Simi-Alive and Aware, with the debate being mostly about to what degree.

Most reports on The Liminal agree that it has Entraping and Transformative properties related to the food that can be found there and to just staying too long. These reports are at odds with other reports of people who seem to be using The Liminal as a base of operations while still being able to venture into neighboring realms without any apparent difficulties.

One posable explanation for this is that if one embraces The Liminal it allows you to venture forth but with some time limit  or other restrictions and the people who are doing so simply know the limits and stay well within them.

Another possible explanation involves some form of shielding/purification arrangement that filters out the entrapping elements from the local environment. 

And of course it is entirely possible that both explanations are in play just for different groups.

 

[TLDunn213]

The Liminal borders several different planes and has some unusual properties that likely come from the different places where the Ritual for its creation was preformed.

Among these are: several different Prime Material Planes; The Plane of Shadows; The Astral Plane; The Ethereal Plane; The Plane of Mirrors(some notes to follow) The Plane of Dreams. There are rumors of connections with various other Demi Planes; including the Living Demi Plane Zool.(more about Zool last or elsewhere)

Notes about the Plane of Mirrors.

It is not entirely clear if the Plane of Mirrors is a single Plane or a loosely connected group of Demi Planes.

After all most travelers to the Plane of Mirrors report only having access to a rather small group of related Mirrors.

Now given that the thing that provides the relationship can vary it is possible that a hub point could be created.

For example a castle with Mirrors by several different makers could serve as a hub by Relationship: same Castle allowing access to Relationship: same Maker. 

In any event all known reports related to the Mirror Plane as accessed from the Liminal agree that it seems to only connect to other Mirrors in the Liminal and that the Mirror version of the Liminal is directly connected to the Liminal to the point that they are effectively the same place. With Mirrors only serving as shortcuts. Making it very much an open question as to whether or not the Mirror Plane can serve as a way in and out of the Liminal.

An odd detail about the Liminal being on both sides of the glass is that stepping through a Mirror doesn't require any spell, just an act of will. And probably a certain amount of magical energy for resonance. 

I should probably clarify here. No spell, beyond the initial enchantments that allow the Mirror to function as both a scrying tool and a means of travel.

 

 

Edited September 20, 2025 by TLDunn213

[TLDunn213]

Some interesting features of the Liminal includ 

Optional Gravity. Due to some versions having been started in the Deep Ethereal; Gravity is Simi Optional. It does take a bit of concentration and some amount of resonance; and, of course, you have to know that it is possible in the first place.  But if you meet these conditions it is possible to walk up walls, across ceilings and even float/hover/fly. The flying requires concentration and you only move at about half of your normal walking speed. Still useful for reaching places that you otherwise can't. 

Weak Ethereal Border. People who are aware that they can are able to shift into and out of the Border Ethereal of the Liminal simply by willing it to happen. Takes concentration at first but with practice,  the amount of concentration needed drops to the same level as walking.

 

 

[Snypiuer]

Is it possible that the Liminal is related to the Sidhe/Faery Realm?

Perhaps a reflection or even a distant part?

At least adjacent to it?

[TLDunn213]

It does have entraping and transforming properties. So it is entirely possible that one of the Hearts of the Liminal was an attempt by the Fae to expand or recreate their Realm. After all they came to what is now the Fae Realms from the Far Realms during the Great Migration. And it's not entirely clear what Realm or Realms were used in the creation of the Fae Realms. 

The main flaw in this idea is that the Liminal is mostly abandoned buildings and such while the Fae tend to favor more woodland/nature environments.

Of course the woodlands could be there as a way to keep the Liminal at bay if they started with cities and then abandoned them to get further away from Yuuxath. 

The fact that Yuuxath and the Yun-Xi are not particularly present in the Liminal is actually a bit odd now that I think about it. I'll have to give that problem some more thought. 

 

[TLDunn213]

It is worth noting that the transmutative properties of the Liminal probably originate in the Plane of Dreams. But by being combined with the other aspects that form the Liminal, we arive at a significantly different set of rules governing the types of transmutation that are possible here.

By using Runes and infusing the transmuted object with magical energy it is possible to make permanent useful items that remain stable even if taken out of the Liminal. Something that is not possible in most of the other Planes where Transmutation is possible.

While I was regarding this as just an unusual propertie of the Liminal, the question about the Yun-Xi and Yuuxath, leaves me wondering if they might have had a lot more to do with the creation of the Liminal than was previously believed. 🤔

 

[TLDunn213]

Another detail about the Liminal that tends to get overlooked is the existence of outdoor spaces.

Yes, there are parts of the Liminal that are outdoors. Abandoned schools often includ the playground, Abandoned parks, Homesteads, Ghosts towns. (As in abandoned not full of ghosts) 

As to ghosts and other undead, the ones you are most likely to encounter in the Liminal are Litches, Demi Litches, and Vampires. Mostly because they are the ones who are most likely to be in an inactive state for prolonged periods of time. Of course any Undead that is in a dormant state for long enough can potentially be drawn into the Liminal along with whatever abandoned place they are in. 

As to how far the sky goes in theses outdoor areas; no one seems to have bothered with exploring them. My expectation is that after a mile or less you cross into the Border Ethereal and then into the Deep Ethereal. Although crossing into any of the other Planes that the Liminal borders is equally likely, and it may well depend on where you are and/or what you expect/focus on. It is entirely possible that you can reach the Astral Plane by breaking through the sky with that intention.

While I have no reports of anyone trying it, I believe that creating a castle out of clouds to use as a secret base is something that could be done fairly easily; assuming of course that you knew enough about how the Liminal works to come up with the idea in the first place.

If the Yun-Xi wanted a secret base network; cloud castles in the skys of the Liminal,with linked mirrors as the way in and out, would be an excellent choice.

After all, most travelers are exploring the indoor parts and aren't even aware that there are outdoor areas. Much less trying to explore them. And the same holds for the skys above those areas; almost no one is going to think that there is anything up there to explore.

 

Edited September 11, 2025 by TLDunn213

[TLDunn213]

While I've mentioned the entraping and transforming effects of eating the food or just staying too long I haven't really gone into detail as to what you are transforming into.

I'm not going to assume that the following list covers all the possible transformations. These are just the ones I happen to know about.

Lurkers: this is the general term for those who are entraped and starting to change.

Type 1: Skulk: eyes are large and sunken looking. Skin is corpse pale at rest but shifts color to match the color of whatever is behind them when light levels are high enough. Skulks have low light vision with the expected sensitivity to normal light levels. It is unclear if direct exposure to daylight does them any actual harm they do shun anything brighter than twilight.

Type 2: Mongrel: Mongrels retain the color shifting ability and low-light vision but are better able to endure brighter light. They still avoid full daylight when possible but seem to be unhampered by it. Mongrels also have a limited amount of shapeshifting ability allowing them to have extra limbs and Monstrous appendages when needed. This shifting is somewhat unstable and sometimes requires effort to shift back while shifting to something Monstrous seems to happen spontaneously. They also have a fast healing factor. While not in the instant recovery range a Mongrel can regrow lost limbs in a matter of days or reattach them fully in a few hours. 

Type 3: Windego: Windegos seem to be a fast healing life draining undead type. Not much is known about them beyond the basic Fast. Tough. Dangerous. Due to the simple and inconvenient fact of the only people to survive encountering them so far are those that ran away quickly. Which doesn't exactly allow for gathering much in the way of useful information. On the other hand While staying and fighting offer more opportunities to gain information failure to survive the encounter does tend to limit ones ability to share that information afterwards. Especially given that Windegos either eat their kills or transform them into more Windegos. And neither of those options leaves any practical way of asking questions about what happened.

There are other types of monsters including undead that have been reported in the Liminal. But these seem to be imports and not things that people are transforming into. So I will cover those in a later post.

 

[TLDunn213]

New features of the Liminal 

Or at least newly discovered, they might have been there for a long time and no one who happened to find them survived to tell others. Or they could be a relatively new addition, given what we know about Yun-Xi activities and the shapeable nature of the Liminal. 

In any event you want to avoid these areas in particular. Really, unless you are part of a large, well equipped team you should probably avoid the Liminal entirely if possible.

Anyway. The first new feature our teams have discovered is referred to as a :Stair Tangle. And, yes it's basically what you would expect for the name. A large number of stairs (and sometimes Escalators and Elivators ) that don't always lead where they seem to be going. Vertical wrapping is the most common effect but hallways are also wrapping around and often to different floors and coming back in from random directions. It is yet to be determined if the wrapping effects are fixed, random, a shifting pattern, or subject to control of some sort. Of course these options are not all exclusive of each other, as a controller could set any of the other effects if they wanted to.

The probability that Stair Tangles are something installed by the Yun-Xi seems quite likely given the other discoveries we've made.

The Lower Levels aka The Catacombs: to be fair not all the Lower Level areas are Catacombs, some are more mundane stuff like parking garages, old wine cellars, and so on. But those areas are very likely to lead to Catacombs fairly easily. The outer sections just have the piles of bones and stuff, but as you venture deeper you will discovere patches of Mimic Moss, and increasing numbers of Lunesta Moths. As well as more frequent encounters with Windigos and other undead. We have also observed a new Lurker type that is being called a Gardener; as it's main function seems to be tending the Mimic Moss. So far teams have avoided interacting with the Gardeners. So it is unclear if they are hostile or dangerous. For now the assumption is territorial and at least moderately dangerous.

 

Edited October 3, 2025 by TLDunn213

[Snypiuer]

Is it just me, or does it seem the Liminal may be an abandoned or lost reality, below all others, that parts of the realities above it leaks into - a void or sponge, of sorts, that collects the detritus flaking off of other realities?

[TLDunn213]

Basically yes. 

It is a collection of lost/abandoned/hidden Demi Planes and broken off bits of other Realities that have clumped together. It is quite likely that Yuuxath is responsible for these bits coming together. After all while Yuuxath is a mad god he is not a god of madness but of lost forgotten and hidden things. As well as a god of ambition, given that he is trying to displace both Cronous, the God of Time and Gaia, the Goddess of Nature. 

And given the methods he is using to accomplish that, the broken off bits that make up the Liminal are mostly due to his efforts. So it makes sense that he would sweep up these bits and use the result as a secret base of operations for his followers.

 

Edited September 20, 2025 by TLDunn213

[Snypiuer]

WAIT A MINUTE!!!

What is the possibility that I MIGHT find my lost socks and tchotchkes in the Liminal?

Not pointing fingers, buuuttt, Yuuxath IS a bit of a ____ . . . just saying.

[TLDunn213]

Further exploration of the Catacomb levels of the Liminal have revealed that it is not only possible to gain access to the banks of the Styx from here, using the same spells as you would anywhere else. But using such spells here will connect with "abandoned ?" Yun-Xi outposts from the previous war.

As to how abandoned these locations really are; we don't know, yet, as the teams making these discoveries were not equipped for operations along the banks of the Styx and  chose to return and report. And gear up for further explorations later.

Edited October 3, 2025 by TLDunn213