The Fade is an otherworldly realm of great power and mystery, a wellspring of magic, and, to some, the source of creation. They say you enter this kingdom of spirits when you sleep, as well as when you die, and that a corruption at its heart set in motion the Blight.
The Fade is home to a great many spirits—some evil, some benevolent. These single-minded creatures are ceaselessly curious about the complexities of a sleeper's mind and life beyond the Fade. The spirits shape their world to cater to the unconscious thoughts of the living, creating what the living call dreams.
It is possible to enter the Fade through one's mind and remain lucid. This is usually done with magic bolstered by ingesting lyrium. Only those who use lyrium to enter the Fade remain able to separate their dreams from reality.
Entering the Fade in one's mind while lucid is a considerable risk. When the souls of the dreaming are harmed or killed in the Fade, they return immediately to their sleeping bodies, waking before the moment of death. But the magic that keeps lucid minds in the Fade also prevents them from returning to their bodies at that moment of death, meaning they die in both realms.
When you enter the Fade, you do so in mind only. It is nearly impossible for any person to physically set foot there. Only a group of ancient Tevinter magisters was famously able to accomplish the feat, and only by invoking blood magic of unimaginable power. The act was said to spur the Blight, and has not since been achieved.
Accounts of the Fade in its raw form describe a twisted, frightening world of dark rock and raw lyrium where it is always night. An ominous ribbon of light stretches across the sky and a shadowy metropolis known as the Black City looms, always in the distance.
When shaped by dreams, the Fade may appear as something else entirely: at times strikingly similar to the waking world, mimicking reality. What dreamers and lucid visitors alike see is a skewed version of reality, built to the scale of the memories attached to real places. Spirits shape these illusions for their own purposes, often focusing on a key emotion they find especially intriguing. It can seem to the living that some spirits simply enjoy toying with them.
The Fade is separated into smaller realms reigned over by the most influential spirits. There are realms of fear, where dreamers may face horrors. There are realms of pain, where torturous dungeons or a moment of loss may surface. It is impossible to travel between these realms unless the visitor is lucid. Even then, the destination may be difficult to control.
If one is to travel in the Fade by any means other than by foot, it must be with the aid of a spirit. Even the lowest wisp possesses enough power to shape the Fade to the traveler's needs. Travelers, and especially mages, must be cautious, however. If a spirit figures out that they are not sleeping, it will attempt to use them to cross over into the real world, possessing the traveler's physical body. A mage is not powerless in the Fade, as spells do work to a degree. But they often do not behave as expected, as natural laws do not apply.
In the shifting otherworld of the Fade, the only geographical absolute seems to be that all points are equidistant from the Black City.
Visitors to the Fade may encounter dreamers. It is also possible for dreamers to interact with other dreamers in the same realm, but they will often not remember such contact when they wake. For the lucid, attempting to communicate with dreamers can prove difficult, as they are preoccupied by whatever dreams the spirits have created for them.
With so many dreamers, it can be difficult to locate a particular one. Even if communication is established, there is also no guarantee that the dreamer will remember what is said when they wake; dreams are readily forgotten, after all.
The Chant teaches that the Black City was once the Golden City, the seat of the Maker when he ruled the Fade. The faithful believe the Maker abandoned his throne when humanity abandoned him.
The ancient Tevinter magisters said the Fade was the realm of their Old Gods, and the Golden City was the center of the deities' power. It was beautiful then, a metropolis of impossible majesty. It is written that the magisters heard the whispers of the gods from across the Veil. It was from them that the magisters first learned the art of magic. But the magisters wanted more. They used magic, fueled by blood, to physically step into the Fade and approach the Golden City. For their audacity, they were cast out as the first darkspawn, and the corrupted Golden City blackened.
What secrets hide behind the Black City's walls, no mortal could know. Even the most powerful demons keep their distance.
Spirits are creatures native to the Fade. These powerful beings take the form of virtues, or, in the case of demons, sins. What seems so strange, and often frightening, to a visitor is commonplace to these Fade dwellers. Spirits, in turn, are mystified by the waking world.
Fade spirits shift the Fade’s appearance, dimensions, and nearly every sensory aspect of the realm at their leisure. When spirits encounter a visitor, most can’t help but mine the visitor’s mind for their thoughts and memories, and may use these to shape the visitor’s perceptions and trick them into thinking their dreams are reality.
Spirits embody and latch onto singular purposes. These purposes can be perceived as good, such as spirits of faith or valor. Demons embody the darker side of the living, and will shape the Fade to reflect this. They often take horrific forms representing everything from pride or rage to desire incarnate. Like good spirits, they may also possess the living or dead.
A spirit with a purpose does its all to fulfill that purpose. A hunger demon, for instance, will do anything within its power to feed.
According to the Chantry, the Fade is a land of primeval matter from which the Maker formed the world and all living beings. When the living die, their souls enter the Fade, and if they are faithful, pass through to join the Maker at his side. The wicked and unfaithful, however, are stuck in the Fade, doomed to wander endlessly.
Old elven beliefs call it "the Beyond," a holy place once home to their gods. What little of elven lore has survived speaks of Fen'Harel, a trickster god who schemed to take the Beyond for himself, imprisoning his brethren in the Eternal City at its heart. The elves believe their gods remain trapped in the prison to this day, as Fen'Harel, the Dread Wolf, gleefully patrols the Beyond to feast upon the souls of the dead.
A dwarf entering the Fade is a rare thing. The underground dwellers do not dream, and ages of lyrium exposure have made them largely immune to its power. Because no dwarven souls are found in the Fade, the Chantry claims that the dwarves were not created by the Maker.
The Qunari believe the Fade is the Land of the Dead. Entering it in any fashion is strictly forbidden by the Qun, and the idea that a sleeping Qunari might ever enter such a realm is reprehensible. Qunari insist that they do not dream as others do. Since they are rarely encountered in the Fade, it can be hard to refute this claim.