I have played the spirit plane as a rough (in your words, greyish) analogue to the RW, but with the spatial dimensions totally messed up. What you see in the spirit world is just that - spirit analogues to their real world equivalent. But these are ANALOGUES, not simulations, and it's a very personal interpretation, so it's hard to come up with rules. So for example if you entered the spirit plane in a city, you might find yourself in a foggy forest, cluttered with trees (these are the overwhelming numbers of spirits of the people around you). If there was a festival in the market square, you might feel a refreshing breeze from a clearing in the forest. If there was someone dying of a pestilence in the next room, you might smell a vague odor of death and decay. Given this particular theme, if there was an elf that the party wanted to find in the city, they might stand out as an extremely healthy and vibrant plant or tree. I've also given my players a lot of synesthesia, which helps to highlight how weird it is, like telling them they see a loud noise, or hear something "purplish". Of course, IMG simple dreams are individuals' briefest brushes with the spirit plane. So it all flows from there. If it's not too rules-lite for you, I'd say just wing it. If your players call you on an inconsistancy, smile knowingly and ignore them. Hell, they'll spend hours coming up with a brilliant rationalization for your slip up and then you can just nod sagely and compliment them on their percipicacity. :)
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