A planar Rift in the Fractured Reach is not a portal, spell, or conscious anomaly. It is a structural failure in spacetime — a tear where the known universe thins or fractures, exposing layers of adjacent dimensions, subspace currents, or non-Euclidean realities beneath.
A Rift forms when stress on the cosmic “fabric” reaches a breaking point, usually due to:
gravitational shear near gas giants
ancient stellar collapse remnants
hyperspace route turbulence
quantum feedback from poorly shielded drives
natural cosmic strain in old star sectors
More than anything, a Rift is a wound. It does not ask permission. It does not care who sees it. It simply is — a point where physics loses its consistency and begins behaving according to foreign rules.
While every Rift is unique, most fall into one of four categories:
Localized tears that distort geometry. Distances become unreliable; straight lines curve; objects vanish and reappear slightly different.
Behavior: warps sight, space, and direction
Dangers: disorientation, folding, collision with shifted matter
Not time travel — time instability. Seconds stretch, minutes compress, or causality briefly stutters. Pilgrims describe it as “the universe skipping.”
Behavior: inconsistent time flow
Dangers: amnesia, temporal drift sickness, memory echoes
Openings to adjacent or parallel spaces not meant for human understanding. These are the Rifts from which Farborn sometimes emerge.
Behavior: impossible shapes, non-linear matter, sensory distortion
Dangers: contact with non-compatible physics, psyche stress
Tears that expose the underlying navigational layer used by faster-than-light travel. Often appear as shimmering “currents” or vibrating fields.
Behavior: hyperspace bleedthrough, navigation interference
Dangers: ship misalignment, spontaneous transit, collapse
Descriptions vary because perception itself becomes unreliable.
Most witnesses report some combination of:
shimmering distortions
inverted colors
“fracture lines” in the air
gravity fluctuation
sound behaving strangely
a feeling of being watched
The Rift Pilgrims insist that a Rift should never be described by a single pair of eyes — the mind fills in things it cannot comprehend.
Rifts rarely appear without warning. Prior indicators include:
Resonance spikes in local EM fields
Gravitational jitter
Temperature drop or inversion
Light bending in air
Pulse hum heard by sensitive individuals
The Rift Pilgrims have cataloged 317 unique precursor signatures.
Corporate Constellations deny this — publicly.
Matter may not behave correctly. Surfaces ripple. Floors invert. Liquids float.
The human nervous system struggles with contradictory sensory data, leading to panic, hallucinations, or Rift sickness.
Objects and living beings may be displaced into nearby subdimensions — or replaced with similar-but-not-identical matter.
Most beings that emerge are not hostile — simply lost — but some are incompatible with mortal existence and react unpredictably.
When a Rift seals, everything inside its distortion radius is compressed, expelled, or annihilated.
Rifts close naturally once their energy dissipates, but the process is unpredictable:
minutes for small spatial tears
hours for dimensional fractures
days or weeks for stabilized anomalies
Certain technologies can accelerate closure, such as:
resonance dampeners
subspace stabilizers
Pilgrim Fold Looms
controlled graviton bursts
But none can guarantee safety.
Farborn do not “come from Rifts.”
They come from worlds adjacent to the Rifts — universes that share pressure points with ours.
A Rift is simply the doorway that opens when reality strains enough to snap.
Farborn rarely intend to cross.
The universe simply… misfiles them.
Some attempt to return.
Some choose to remain.
Most understand the Reach far better than the Reach understands them.
Pilgrims hold five beliefs concerning Rifts:
A Rift is neither good nor evil — only unexamined.
Study prevents disaster. Fear invites ignorance.
Every Rift teaches, even when it kills.
Farborn are not threats; they are messengers.
The universe dreams, and Rifts are where the dream leaks out.
Pilgrims map the “tides” of Rift activity the way sailors track storms.
Most technologies malfunction near Rifts:
targeting systems misread distances
sensors loop or repeat
comms distort
engines sputter
However, specialized tools behave better near Rifts, including:
Rift scanners
resonance rods
Pilgrim tuning mirrors
stabilizer plates
certain Farborn-adapted devices
Corporate Constellations attempt to monetize Rift energy.
The Pilgrims oppose this aggressively.
Yes — but survival depends on:
orientation
duration of exposure
stability type
biological compatibility
Most who enter do not return.
Those who do come back changed.
Sometimes physically.
Sometimes cognitively.
Sometimes they return before they left.
The Pilgrims say this calmly, as if it is simply one more weather pattern.
Planar Rifts in the Fractured Reach are:
cosmic tears
dimensional failures
unpredictable events
sources of Farborn emergence
hazards, mysteries, and opportunities
studied by Pilgrims
exploited by corporations
feared by common folk
respected by all who survive them
They represent the heartbeat of the setting — the unknown pressing through the cracks of a universe too old and too stressed to stay stitched together.