Any who passed from Creation through the Gate of Sundraprisha would find their Essence exposed to the raw energy of the Wyld and ravaged beyond endurance. Mortals experience a similar state to this when they venture into the Wyld and fell it's mutating influence. Exalted can throw up defences to protect themselves as they have learned to master their own Essence; only the Lunar Exalted are naturally immune to it as they were made to live in this environment. In them in an inherent understanding of Shinmaic principles that allows them to exist unchanged in the Wyld. It's through understanding of these principles they practise their powers of shapeshifting for in a sense they are always in the Wyld and can alter their forms as easily as if they were within it's formless depths.
By changing their Essence through the warping power of Lunar Exaltation they could change their form. They discovered that by consuming the Essence of other creatures they could understand them as easily as their own and learn to assume their forms as well.
A mortal could not enter Pure Chaos were it even conceivable their purpose would survive that long. Pure Chaos is not a physical location, it is a metaphysical state. To enter it you must pass through the Gate of Sundraprisha and that means comprehending the meaning of Nirakara and either undoing or superceding it's relevance to the mortal in question. Lunars are capable of doing so by manifesting themselves as ideas, a feat they are capable of even in Creation. Solars can do the opposite and maintain their forms even in the depths of the Wyld.
The Wyld is defined as a realm of pure Essence. Creation also holds such places called demesnes, but their aspect is fundamentally different and baneful to the Fair Folk. Demesnes are a product of Heaven, if they are Elementally aspected belonging to one of the quadrants, their Essence is derived from the element of Earth. In Creation raksha might tell stories as a way of luring mortals but in a realm of matter any 'reality' they may seem to possess is an illusion as the Fair Folk deal only in Essence and matter is a trivial, distasteful thing to them. In the Wyld however, everything is Essence and they are real, they can make a 'story' by manipulating the four artefacts of raksha magic and their Charms. Of course only a powerful Fair Folk noble would be able to make sweeping changes to the environment.
The five Elemental Poles change life around them to fit their aspect. Humans who live near one of the Elemental Poles in the Threshold for too long or in a demesne thus affected are know as beastmen. The Pole of Earth is a natural environment to humans and has no such corrupting effects. Terrestrial Exalted, like the dragons they were spawned from, suffer no ill effects from being in close proximity to the Essence of which they are aspected.
Beastmen often adapt to their adopted environment, acquiring mutations that make life easier, but living outside it difficult or impossible. A water aspected beastman might grow small gills allowing them to stay underwater longer. If they spent long enough near a source of Essence these might completely replace their lungs, allowing them unlimited ability to lve underwater but making it impossible to live above it.
It's within the power of the Fair Folk when within the Wyld to makes experiences tangible things. Thus they could form an artefact out of 'the feeling I get when I breathe the summer air.'
The Wyld is an environment so alien, an environment beyond the concept of shape, that how to roleplay within it is very difficult to conceptualise and even impossible. The roleplaying concept of Exalted is based on the fact that things exist, whereas in the Wyld they do not.
