Astratherea was formed by the coming together of two primordial deities that most ancient peoples came to call the Father and Mother, the Divine Pairing. All things are made of them, their essences compose every aspect of Astratherea, and the world exists in the place where they both come together.
The gnomish astronomers of Kosmimata gave the Father and Mother names -- Astar and Thera. As the influence of the Kosmian Empire expanded, these names became more widely used, as did the name for this world that is their joint creation -- Astratherea.
The druidic mystics of Og Wang-gug use different names for these gods -- for the Father, Mu, meaning “nothingness,” and for the Mother, Shil Che, meaning “substance.” These names suggest the properties that magical theorists have assigned the Divine Pairing.
The Father’s realm is the Astral Plane, hence the name Astar. The Mother’s realm is the Ethereal Plane, hence Thera.
Those wishing to draw upon the power of Astar and Thera may do so either by appealing to them as entities or as impersonal forces. Both prove equally effective. In general, Astar is understood to hold sway over aspects of the mind and Thera over the body. One could think of Thera providing the instrument while Astar produces the music.
Astar and Thera coming together creates an explosion of power. The nothingness of His Astral Plane interweaves and moves and shapes the formless substance of Her Ethereal. This interweaving first created the elemental planes. These Elemental Planes then condensed into the Prime Material Plane. Their fusion is not static, and as they continue their coming together, the energy of their union produces the power of magic.
As the magic that Astar and Thera produce pours through the Elemental Planes and into Astratherea, some of it can be more than the Prime Material Plane can hold. The reflection of this magic produces the spirit realm known as the Feywild, like a corona of light produced by shining a lantern on a reflective object. The darkness on the opposite side of that object is the plane of Shadowfell.
Wherever there appears a natural formation on Astratherea, the spirit of that formation appears in the Feywild. It contains the spirits of rivers, mountains, deserts, and so on. These spirits can sometimes “sidestep” into the material plane and take action there.
Should a natural formation be destroyed somehow, then its spirit -- the shadow of its existence -- would descend into Shadowfell. There the magical power of that spirit would be gradually dispersed into the universe to be utilized further. In this way, creation re-emerges from destruction.
Continued in The Dragon Wars of Astratherea