Day 75,035
Dearest Pomp,
Thank you for your most recent letter. It brings me great joy to know that you have finally been promoted! I understand, of course, that the small world to which you have been assigned may not be as exciting as you had hoped, but I will remind you that even your brother began his career with a rather modest assignment. With patience and determination, I expect you will soon ascend through the ranks of the ministry just as he did.
Regarding your question about the collective unconscious, I must confess that it is a topic about which I know very little. During my travels, I have briefly visited the mental planes connected to specific worlds, but it always seemed dangerous to go any further. Some of my colleagues have, after all, warned me about the ease with which one may become lost in foreign memories. Indeed, my visit to Planet Ward several years ago showed me just how seriously I ought to have taken their warnings!
It seems that a fallen Golden Age power has been slowly polluting the aforementioned world’s mental plane. It has not yet reached the outermost layers, so most mortals have not yet noticed. I, however, was attempting to find one of Zer Manetho’s wayward creations, a task which forced me to delve far deeper than normal. For weeks, I wandered half-remembered cities and navigated by the light of stars that had burned out long ago. Within that warped realm, I was unable to teleport to safety as I normally would. Because of this, I chose to abandon my quest the moment I came across a memory of a desolate world orbiting an unnatural white star. I already knew the fate of that planet and I feared that, if the memory played out in its entirety, I would end up trapped indefinitely.
Fortunately, I located an aetherial thread that I was able to follow back to safety. Even as the memories surrounding it shifted, my lifeline remained stable enough that I was able to return to the first layer of the mental plane and leave the world entirely. Perhaps one day I will return if I can convince Polonius to aid me. Some ancient ancestors of the planet’s current, blissfully ignorant inhabitants constructed a system of runes meant to slow the corruption’s advance, but I fear that their rather crude magic will not hold out for much longer. Our combined power may be enough to reinforce it for at least another century or two.
Ah, but I fear that I have once again allowed the point of my letter to get away from me. The simple answer to your question is that the worlds created by mortal minds (and immortal ones, for that matter) can be far more dangerous than they appear at first glance. Once you have had a bit more experience, I would be happy to take you on an excursion to such a place, but I highly suggest that you continue training in the relative safety of the underworld for the time being.
As always, I look forward to your next letter, my friend.
Kindest regards,
Linnaeus von Roslin