The Twilight Ways are a realm of existence adjacent to Creation proper, forged from a fallen shard of Arcadia Resplendent, with which it shares many properties. The Twilight Ways are by their nature a realm to facilitate rapid travel across Calernia.
Nature[]
Much like its name implies, The Twilight Ways take the form of gentle land under a constant, soothing Twilight full of stars. Like Arcadia, the Ways can be accessed through opening Gateways, however it is notably easier to create these gates than the Gates to Arcadia, with the Ways in some way apparently wanting to be used.
The ways were created by the fulfillment of Catherine Foundling's oath to the Wild Hunt who served her, proving seven crowns and one to them with which they forged a new Court of Twilight. The power of this court was broken by slaying the Grey Pilgrim after donning this crown, transforming the broken piece of Arcadia into an entirely new realm.[1]
The geography and features of the Ways facilitates comfortable travel, the temperature and weather are pleasant, the paths followed are easy to navigate. When passing into the Ways, a traveller instinctively knows the route they must take to get to where they must open the exit gate to their destination.
The heart of the Twilight Ways contains the Ruins of Liesse, which has been overgrown with the plant life of the Ways, existing now as a peaceful, if tragic, testament to the suffering of Liesse and the creation of the Ways.[2]
Among the many useful properties of the Ways, the realm inherently appears to reject intrusion by the Dead King and his forces.
Transit[]
Currently, three forms of travel into the Twilight Ways are known. Gates, permanent gates, and the skill known as sidling.
Crafting a gateway into the Ways is similar to the creation of a gate to Arcadia. Unlike the latter however, the Ways are inherently made as an aid to travel, and so seem to reach out and assist in the creation of gates. Mages can create gateways with much less skill and effort than those for Arcadia, and even the powers of the Light and Night can be used to open gateways-- however, the latter two seems to require an ineffable knack that only certain groups of practitioners seem to possess.
It is possible to create permanent gates into the Ways, but these can be temperamental, and disrupts ephemeral gate formation in the region they're in. The Twilight Ways do not seem to like permanent gates, having lashed out at Hierophant for creating more than one.
All who travel the Twilight Ways are guided by the Starlit Compass-- an instinctive understanding of the direction one must travel and where a gate must be opened to arrive at their destination (usually within a mile, accounting for accuracy.)
Sidling is another method of entrance into the Ways, where a user finds and exploits weaknesses between Creation and the Ways to slip into the other realm. These faults are almost impossible to spot without both inhuman senses and luck, and so are almost solely used by non-humans of power, and Named. Sidling is measurably faster than traveling by Gate, and will guide its users more accurately to their destination point, making it the superior method of travelling the Ways if available.[3]