All worlds that have magical powers will have an unseen place where magic actually occurs. This implies that magical effects will not be automatically visible, of course they may be visible—check with your GM to be sure. Such a realm is called the magical world. Depending on how your game world is developed this can be an unseen part of the everyday world, or it can be a separate plane of existence. This world will be called the astral plane by practitioners of magic.
No matter what the magical world is called it will have the same basic components. In some worlds these will be separate regions accessible only to those with specific types of skills. In others they might all be together in the same place, but only accessible to those with certain skills. The magical world is an abstraction where place, time, and shape have no real meaning.
Beyond the psychic world is a realm that is in the middle ground between absolute stability and the chaotic malleability of the psychic world. In fact, the psychic world is the lowest region of the magical world. For this reason psychic abilities never start out as powerful as magical abilities do, nor are they as potentially dangerous. Like the psychic plane, the astral plane has regions.
The lowest magical level of the astral plane is also the most obviously dangerous. It is a shadowy place where the traveler risks attack by those who would absorb their life essence.
This is not really a sea, though many imagine it be a sea of stars, each leading to another plane of existence. The substance of magic is the light from these "stars" and it permeates the astral plane. The attribute MP is the ability to manipulate this astral light.
Upon the astral sea are places that seem to be asteroids. These are called regions of stability. When a magician settles down and builds a place to work, it is represented on the astral plane as a small asteroid. As the place becomes more magically powerful, its representation on the astral grows in size and complexity.
The high astral is represented by stars, opening into realms of mythology. They are reflections of strong religious beliefs from the physical world, and they can also be reflections of spiritual and divine powers from the higher realms. These places are the sources of the astral light. The astral light is emitted into the astral plane from the spirit world.
Travel to the astral plane is completely magical, and is never physical in any sense. Astral travels leaves the physical body behind, it is a good idea for the astral body to be protected from possession by beings of the astral world looking to have a presence in the physical world. Unattended astral bodies leave what appear to be black vortices in the Realm of the Undead.
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