Magic Limits

Magic, the working of miracles! Well, not exactly. Nanites work miracles every day. But that's not good enough for everyone. For them, there's extra planar power waiting to be grasped at.

The reality of the situation is that Earth's reality is just one layer of a great big sandwich of probabilities and energy states. The sandwich isn't even layered neatly, so a lot of layers are all sprawled on top of one another in contact in different places. Where these layers make contact, energy can flow one way or the other. The physicists were not wrong. Things cannot be created or destroyed, neither can energy, but the world is not a closed system.

Sources

• Most energy flow is natural and constant, creating pockets of 'strange vibes'. Places where things may act a little strangely, enough to draw tourists, but little more.
• Intelligent beings from the other planes can focus and direct the flow of matter and energy more acutely. Not all of them, of course, but we're only interested in the ones that can. Such beings, usually well versed in the mechanics of multi-planar manipulation, gaze upon the earth from where their home touches upon it.
  • Moving planes would take untold amounts of energy and cause massive damage from friction alone. It's safe to assume it just isn't done, at least not by any conscious will.
    • Planes can and do slowly drift on their own.
• Because of this, the contact points are the one thing that most extraplanar creatures cannot control. Their world intersects ours at a specific point, and that's all there is to it, and they have to work with that.

Order of Energy

• Energy, like everything else, prefers to flow from high density to low density.
• (un)fortunately for Earth, it is very low energy, causing extraplanar energy to leak into it where contact is made.
• It is not the LOWEST energy place, but it's down there. This makes it very, relatively, easy for outside things to reach Earth, while making it troubling for Earth to reach back.

Investment

Otherwise known as dedication.

• In order to expand their perceptions and reach in this layer of reality, extra planar beings will entice, cajole, intimidate, or otherwise convince natives to carry their influence with them.
• This investment(Dedication) is a considerable burst of energy, and not without its price on the investing patron, but the pay offs can make it worth it.
  • Any dedicant is an extremely minor touching point between realms, allowing the patron to view them and their immediate surroundings at any time.
  • As a touching point, it is possible to extend influence through them, but this is very limited, and taxing. As a result, most dedicants are given specific parcel of the patron's power, which can be used freely, leaving the patron to reserve their own true power for when the situation demands for a more flashy and costly move.
    • Some patrons collect dedicants in the hopes of bringing two planes together. Each one is a tiny little magnet, drawing them more snugly. Unfortunately, they are indeed tiny, and it would take a lot of dedicants existing over a long time before any significant change of planar course was made. Still, some extra planars have nothing better to do than wait and see...

Planar Travel

So, is it possible to move from one layer to another? Yes.

• At a contact point, with sufficient energy investment and advanced skill, an extra planar being can press from one layer to the next, hopping over to the one next door.
• This is very tiring, and since Earth has precious few energy sources to draw on, most extraplanars are not rushing to strand themselves on this desolate, but interesting, plane.
• Due to lack of local energy, the trip is usually one way. For some beings, this is acceptable. Fenris and the Kangaroo god are two examples of this.
  • Localized extraplanars are typically much weaker and limited, but can use what they have directly within the plane.
  • Most are still tethered to the touching points between worlds. While severing this link is possible, it requires yet further energy, which most don't have after expending enough to pass through the barrier of worlds.

Leaving

Well, what if an agent wanted to do the hopping?

• Because Earth is a low energy plane, the natural flow is against them. With the principles of Osmosis, the energy is moving from higher to lower, making the trip away from Earth quite daunting.
• It is unlikely anyone will be willing to power such a trip, as it would tax a functional United States to provide, and the US isn't terribly functional these days.
  • Perspective is easier to move than mass. Some extraplanars and even some old human traditions know the trick of decoupling perspective from mass, and traveling through contact points. Such 'vision journies', or as the techs call it, 'Extra Planar Perceptual Jaunts', could allow an agent to visit another world temporarily, usually for no longer than six to eight hours.
• Dedicants can make a half hearted attempt to join their patron. With enough effort, they go flying at the barrier between worlds and skip off of it like a well tossed stone. This effect allows them to skip great distances, though targeting is tricky and usually limited to the meeting point of worlds, or the last place they skipped from, which has a temporary dimple from the skip itself.