Far Realm Ecology

The Far Realm is pretty poorly described, at least in the official sources that I've found. Personally, I see it as having the potential to express all possibilities, even those completely unimagined in the multiverse and the real life on which it is loosely based. Physical laws, dimensions, and consciousness exist not only in greater numbers than we are used to, but also in various combinations. Different multiverses, including the one we are most used to, float in this sea of possibility as self-inclosed infinities with a particular combination of traits that its residents consider normal. Obviously, when said residents leave the safety of their bubble and encounter the entirety of potential, or even a greater chunk of it, they are overwhelmed. Likewise, if they encounter a being from a different multiverse with different laws, they will it call it an aberration. What if a creature was born in a world where it could freely travel vertically, laterally, and temporally but was stuck in constant and uncontrollable motion forward? You get my drift - it's not just giant ticks out for brains. What we consider normal is just part of a greater whole that is the Far Realm, and it is certainly possible, within my theory, to encounter bubbles of existence with traits similar to those of the multiverse.

That said, the chances of finding one before succumbing to the madness are miniscule, and I agree with weishan that allowing working spells and areas of normality would simply turn it into a greater Limbo and ruin it.

Eh, I wouldn't be a fan of 'islands of sanity' in the Far Realm (like the relatively 'safe' towns in parts of the Lower Planes, which you would never have seen in 1e D&D). It makes some sense that individual people/critters would end up trapped there occasionally. I wonder if an incursion of stuff from our multiverse into a Far Realm would cause as much chaos as the other way around?

As an aside, I always liked the Far Realm theory about where illithids come from, rather than 'invaders from the future' as they are in Lords of Madness.

Perhaps that they originally came from one of the more 'nearby' Far Realms (in a very different physical form), perhaps a Far Realm that was destroyed, and managed to adapt to the inhospitable conditions of this universe (becoming modern illithids). The original species in this case would have been definitively non-humanoid and more protean (probably a lot more like neothelids). By infesting humanoid hosts and eating brains, they manage to survive here and fulfill their alien... nutritional needs.

Besides, it would explain why they're so frickin weird.

I tend to just ignore the 'evil' alignment. It just doesn't fit conceptually.

Mind you - if you're looking for a way to make the evil alignment 'work' - there's another way: If they're in the planes, they're subject to the belief effect just like anyone else... and certainly everyone who has encountered these beings and survived are easily of the opinion that they are horrifically evil. So it may be a 'definition' imposed upon them from our own realm. (All the more reason not to like 'normal' life forms as I'm sure such an innate modification of your very being isn't comfortable.)

I think a good fix for the problem of "evil" Far Realm beings would be to add some Neutral or even Good ones... that is, Neutral and Good from the perspective of non-Far Realmers... and Lawful and Chaotic ones, too (madness can be Lawful as well as Chaotic!). Yes, they probably shouldn't have given them ANY alignment, but since they DID, adding some variety will help get any from the "all Far Realm beings are EEEEVVILLLL..." syndrome...

Far Realm creatures should be beyond any kind of understanding--that includes good or evil, since these ideas would not exist or would exist in some entirely diferent context in annother reality. The Far Realm does not hurt visitors out of spite or hunger. The vistors are hurting themselves and the Far Realm because they are incompatible with the diferent realities and natural laws.