Leudhort (pronounced Lay-ooth-ert) is a sanctuary found only by those who stop searching for it. Reached chiefly through the disciplined practice of Dreamwalking, it is an unstable realm suspended at the nexus of multiple dimensions. Here physical laws give way to dream logic. Streams flow backward, celestial moss guides the feet, and ancient stone walls perimeter the landscape. These walls remain visible from everywhere yet retreat whenever approached.
¶ The Experience
To walk in Leudhort is to navigate a shifting labyrinth. The ground is carpeted in luminous moss that subtly pushes wanderers along stream banks and beneath thick archways of vines. The air carries the sharp and resinous scent of burning frankincense mixed with damp earth. Rather than exhausting those who traverse it, the environment acts as a restorative. The closer a wanderer draws to the center, the lighter their physical and mental exhaustion becomes.
¶ The Receding Walls
Perimetering the garden are monolithic stone walls etched with unreadable symbols and overgrown with centuries of moss. Despite their massive presence, they operate on a geometric paradox. A traveler can walk toward them for days without closing the distance. They are not merely defensive barriers, but living conduits that anchor the volatile magic of the garden. They offer travelers a permanent focal point for meditation in a world that otherwise constantly rearranges itself.
¶ Flora and Fauna
The plant life of Leudhort thrives without sunlight. Translucent flowers emit a soft bioluminescent pulse while canopy trees stretch upward into a starless sky. The fauna consists largely of elemental manifestations. These creatures are formed of living glass, ash, and condensed vapor, and they serve as the pollinators and architects of the garden. Beneath the surface of the quiet ponds, long finned aquatic beasts glide through deep water. They rarely surface except to mark changes in the magical tides of the realm.
¶ Accessing the Realm
Physical entry into Leudhort is exceedingly rare.
- Dreamwalking is the primary route, which requires the traveler to project their consciousness during deep sleep. While entering is easy for the practiced, navigating the shifting architecture to return to waking life requires immense mental fortitude.
- Celestial alignments can on rare occasions tear temporary rifts in the physical world. This leaves stone gateways standing open in dense forests of the real world.
- Vortexes created by the native elementals of the garden can fold space. The creatures step through brief and violent vortexes to cross into other planes of existence.
¶ Mythology
According to foundational myths, the garden was not grown, but spoken into the void by a primeval force known as Das Ungezeigte, meaning The Unshown. It was crafted as a living engine to regulate the cycles of growth, decay, and rebirth across adjacent dimensions.
¶ The Custodians
While elemental creatures handle the brute labor of the garden, its true caretakers are the Schwebgartners. These are silent and spectral entities that drift inches above the soil. Barely visible save for the distortions they cause in the air, they act as the hands of Das Ungezeigte.
Rather than pruning or planting, the Schwebgartners tend to the underlying architecture of the garden. They pour liquid starlight over dead soil to force sudden and violent overgrowths. They also silently rearrange the stones of the labyrinth behind travelers, ensuring that no two souls ever walk the exact same path through the garden.