Building the mystical world view

During the creation of Richard Hughes it became evident that if the player, Yiftach, is to play Hughes properly, he needs to understand how mysticism and the spirit world worked in our campaign. A good setting needs a backbone, and instead of a hodgepodge of mystical theories there had to be a hidden universal truth at work behind all those forces. Like in a comic book, eventually these things will be revealed but for now they created a part of the mystery.

Mysticism is the belief in realities beyond sensory perception, in forces that we do not perceive. In CoM these forces were called Spirits - essences of powers we see every day such as lust, disappointment, fire, ingenuity, ocean, fauna. These spirits exist in the spirit world, called the Otherworld but was given a different name by each ancient culture that explored it. This Otherworld is removed from our world and access to it is limited by the Myst - a barrier which obscures the effects of the spirits on our existence. In fact, our 'mundane' world is a result not of lack of spirit, but a densification of the Myst. As a result the effects of the spirits are less visible and life appears… grey. In CoM, this Myst is beginning to clear, allowing more primal, concentrated power into the world, creating superheroes, supervillians and super-phenomena. Ancient schools of mysticism are practiced once again; the lore of how to bind spiritual forces or how to manipulate the Myst is rediscovered. Individuals are born into the world who are not entirely human anymore, but incredible reincarnations of long forgotten mythical creatures such as the Fire Salamander. Life's forces are returning to the world - and they're starting at City of Myst.