Planes (Lorica)

Lorica's dual-planar reality
The world of Lorica has both a material reality which people live in, and separate reality of dark matter. At its most basic, the two realities are almost like mirror images of one another - but although many chemical and natural laws behave differently between the two realities, there are common elements, such as gravity and a shared set of dimensions. Both realities are comprised of matter, ranging from the most basic atoms or motes all the way up to complex organisms. However, the two realities cannot be directly interacted with, save via magic. The world (planet) of Lorica has about the same quantity of each (Tessa slightly less by a few percentage points).

Note the near mirror-like quality of the two realities/planes of existence:


 * Asset (Aseta) universe:
 * light matter, light energy
 * matter (mata) / material (materia)
 * atom (atoma) > molecule (molecula) > organelles (organela) > organisms (flora and fauna)
 * Tessa (Tesa) universe:
 * dark matter, dark energy
 * almatter (almata) / almaterial (almateria)
 * mote (mota) > moiety (moieta) > functional groups (functa) > organisms (faera)

Light matter cannot enter the dark matter world, and dark matter cannot enter the light matter world. While there are essentially counterparts for everything in the light-matter world in the dark-matter world and vice versa, the counterparts are not identical, so for example while there may be a periodic table in the light matter world, with all its patterns and attributes, that does not hold true for dark matter.

Magic
What is considered magic by commoners (leypeople), is the interaction between light and dark matter, made possible by various functional groups which bridge the divide between the two planes. (Dark-matter functional groups are the first and only type to have evolved to do this, hence there are no light-matter functional groups capable of magic.)