Planar Cosmology

[ancientempathy]

This is going to be a thread composed of planar cosmology. Please keep in mind what Hexer has stated here:

A recent question brought this to mind:

No character should know anything about the planes that exsist outside of Toril's own cosmology.

The known planes are as follows:

The Abyss, Avandor, Brightwater, the Barrens of Doom and Despair, Cynosure (mortals don't know of this one), Demonweb Pits, Dragon Eyrie, Dwarfhome, Dweomerheart, Elemental Planes, The Fugue Plane, Fury's Heart, Gates of the Moon, The Golden Hills, Green Fields, Hammergrim, Heliopolis, House of Knowledge, House of Nature, House of the Triad, the Nine Hells (Baator), Nishrek, Plane of Shadow, The Supreme Throne, and Warrior's Rest

Only the most powerful and seasoned sages would know anything about planes beyond these (and the knowledge they gleamed from it is likely to be scant at best). Places like the Outlands, Sigil, Mechanus, Archeron, Arcadia, Pandemonium, Gehenna, etc, are not common knowledge. Your character should know nothing about them.

This does not apply to people that have learned about the planes outside of Toril's cosmology via a DM run event. The only planes I want to see players being aware of are the ones that are detailed in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. Any knowledge about the planes beyond that is metagaming info from other sourcebooks into your character which isn't allowable. Again, this does not apply to characters that have learned this from a DM run event or from a player in such an event.

Thank you.

EDIT: Players that can cast spells to summon outsiders may be able to extend their knowledge slightly. A Marut, for example, hails from Mechanus, so the player may be able to question it a bit about its home. Still, the player learns little, limited to just knowing there is a plane of law somewhere called Mechanus.

((Information of the planes mentioned here, is information from the ', Manual of the Planes' by Jeff Grubb, Bruce R. Cordell, and David Noonan.))

[ancientempathy]

Elemental Plane of Air

It is as open as the eternal sky.

It is as solid as a child's breath.

It is falling forever.

The Elemental Plane of Air is an empty plane, consisting of sky above and sky below. Clouds billow up in bank after bank, swelling into grand thunderheads and dissipating into wisps like cotton candy. The wind pulls and tugs around the traveler, and rainbows glimmer in the distance.

The Elemental Plane of Air is the most comfortable and survivable of the Inner Planes, and it is the home of all manner of airborne creatures. Indeed, flying creatures find themselves at a great advantage on this plane. While travelers without flight can survive easily here, they are at a disadvantage.

Natural vortices connect the Elemental Plane of Air and the Material Plane, usually on high mountaintops or in the middle of a severe weather conditions (such as the eye of a hurricane).

[ancientempathy]

Elemental Plane of Earth

It is a place of hidden treasures

It is a wall against all foes.

It is a grave for the greedy.

The Elemental Plane of Earth is a solid place made of rock, soil, and stone. The unwary and unprepared traveler may find himself entombed within this vast solidity of material and have his life crushed into nothingness, his powdered remains a warning to any foolish enough to follow.

Despite its solid, unyielding nature, the Elemental Plane of Earth is varied in its consistency, ranging from relatively soft soil to veins of heavier and more valuable metal. Striations of granite, volcanic rock, and marble interweave with brittle crystal and soft, crumbling chalks and sandstones. Thin veins of gemstones, rough and huge, can be found within the plane, and these unpolished jewels often lead the greedy to this plane in the hopes of picking them up with minimal effort. Such prospectors often meet their match in the natives of the Elemental Plane of Earth, who feel extremely attached (sometimes literally) to parts of their home.

The Elemental Plane of Earth is a place hostile to life from the Material Plane, but unlike the Elemental Plane of Fire, it is not actively hostile. Rather, it is uncaring, unconcerned about the motes of life that move through it and around it. It is solid stone, as patient as the earth itself. And it has all the time in the universe.

[ancientempathy]

Elemental Plane of Fire

It is a plane continually ablaze.

It smells of burning flesh and ashen dreams.

It is a flame incarnate.

Everything is alight on the Elemental Plane of Fire. The ground is nothing more than great, ever shifting plates of compressed flame. The air ripples with the heat of continual firestorms, and the most common liquid is magma, not water. The oceans are made of liquid flame, and the mountains ooze with molten lava. It is a crematorium for the unprepared traveler and an uncomfortable spot even for the dedicated adventurer.

Fire survives here without need for fuel of air to burn, but flammables brought onto the plane are consumed readily. The elemental fires seem to feed on each other to produce a continually burning landscape.

[ancientempathy]

Elemental Plane of Water

It is an ocean without a surface.

It is domain of current and wave.

It is a bottomless depth.

The Elemental Plane of Water is a sea without a floor or a surface, an entirely fluid environment lit by a diffuse glow. It is one of the more hospitable of the Inner Planes once a traveler gets past the problem of breathing the local medium.

The eternal oceans of this plane vary between ice cold and boiling hot, between saline and fresh. They are perpetually in motion, wracked by currents and tides. The plane's permanent settlements form around bits of flotsam and jetsam suspended within this endless liquid. Even these settlements drift on the tides of the Elemental Plane of Water.

[ancientempathy]

Ethereal Plane

It is a plane out of phase.

It is a place of ghosts and monsters.

It is right next to you, and you don’t even see it.

The Ethereal Plane is a misty, fog-bound dimension that is coexistent with the Material Plane and often other planes as well. Travelers within the Ethereal Plane describe the plane as a collection of swirling mists and colorful fogs. The Material Plane itself is visible from the Ethereal Plane, but it appears muted and indistinct, its colors blurring into each other and its edges turning fuzzy. Ethereal denizens watch the Material Plane as though viewing it through distorted and frosted glass.

While it is possible to see into the Material Plane from the Ethereal Plane, the Ethereal Plane is usually invisible to those on the Material Plane. Normally, creatures on the Ethereal Plane cannot attack creatures on the Material Plane, and vice versa. A traveler on the Ethereal Plane is invisible, incorporeal, and utterly silent to someone on the Material plane. This makes the Ethereal Plane very useful for reconnaissance, spying on opponents, and other occasions when it’s handy to move around without being detected.

The Ethereal Plane is mostly empty of structures and impediments. However, the plane has its own inhabitants. Some of these are other ethereal travelers, but the ghosts found here pose a particular peril to those who walk the fog.

[ancientempathy]

Astral Plane

It is the space between everything.

It is the road that goes everywhere.

It is where you are when you aren’t anywhere else.

The Astral Plane is the space between the planes. When a character moves through an interplanar portal or projects her spirit to a different plane of existence, then she travels through the Astral Plane. Even spells, such as "dimension door", briefly touch the Astral Plane.

The Astral Plane is great, endless sphere of clear silvery sky, both above and below. Large tube-shaped clouds slowly coil into the distance, some appearing like thunderheads and others looking like immobile tornadoes of gray wind. Erratic whirlpools of color flicker in midair like spinning coins. There are occasional bits of solid matter here, but most of the Astral Plane is an endless, open domain.

Both planar travelers and refugees from other planes call the Astral Plane home. The most prominent denizens of the Astral Plane are the githyanki an outcast race that preys on travelers throughout the plane. The Astral collects the flotsam and jetsam of great events that have shaken the foundations of the cosmology itself. The shattered, fused bodies of dead deities, forgotten by their worshipers and banished from the divine planes, can be found here. Some say they are not truly dead, only sleeping.

[ancientempathy]

Negative Energy Plane

It the blackest night.

It is the heart of darkness.

It is the hunger that devours souls.

The Negative Energy Plane is a barren, empty place, a void without end, and a place of empty, endless night. Worse, it is a needy, greedy plane, sucking the life out of anything that is vulnerable. Heat, fire, and life itself are all drawn into the maw of this plane, which hungers for more.

To the observer, there’s little to see on the Negative Energy Plane. It is a dark, empty place, an eternal pit where a traveler can fall until the plane itself steals away all light and life.

The Negative Energy Plane is the most hostile of the Inner Planes, and the most uncaring and intolerant of life. Only creatures invulnerable to its life-draining energies may survive there, and even they have problems as the negative energy tugs at them imploringly.

[ancientempathy]

Plane of Shadow

It is the toxic plane of darkness and power.

It is the hidden place that hates the light.

It is the frontier of worlds unknown.

The Plane of Shadow is a darkly lighted dimension that is both coterminous to and coexistent with the Material Plane. It overlaps the Material Plane much as the Ethereal Plane does, so a planar traveler can use the Plane of Shadow to cover great distances quickly. The Plane of Shadow is also coterminous to other planes. With the right spell, you can use the Plane of Shadow to visit other realities.

The Plane of Shadow is a world of black and white; color itself has been bleached from the environment. It is otherwise appears similar (but not exactly identical) to the Material Plane.

The sky above, for example, is always a black vault with neither sun nor stars. Landmarks from the Material Plane are recognizable on the Plane of Shadow, but they are twisted, warped things--diminished reflections of what can be found on the Material Plane. Despite the lack of light sources, various plants, animals, and humanoids call the Plane of Shadow home.

The Plane of Shadow is highly morphic, and parts continually flow onto other planes. As a result, precise maps are next to useless, despite the presence of landmarks. If a traveler visits a mountain range during one use of a "shadow walk" spell, the mountain range may still be there the next time, but the individual mountains may have moved about. Precision is a lost cause in the Plane of Shadow.

The terrain of the Plane of Shadow is usually similar to the area where the traveler enters from the Material Plane. If a wizard travels onto the Plane of Shadow from a forest, she first sees an equivalent shadow forest. If she starts underwater, she appears within a shadowy sea that behaves like a Material Plane ocean, so her "water breathing" spell still works. However, as she moves away from her entry point, the terrain of the Plane of Shadow changes dramatically, although it usually bears some resemblance to the corresponding terrain on the Material Plane.

Spells often draw forth parts of the Plane of Shadow, in particular for illusions that have the shadow descriptor. The Plane of Shadow is a monochromatic world, but shadow material pulled from it can be of any color. The spellcaster usually colors, shapes, and shades the shadow-stuff to make it more convincing. A "shadow evocation" that produces a fireball, for example, appears like any other "fireball" to those fooled by the illusion.

[ancientempathy]

Positive Energy Plane

It is power incarnate.

It is radiance beyond compare.

It is life realized to the fullest.

The Positive Energy Plane is best compared to the heart of a star. It is a continual furnace of creation, a domain of brilliance beyond the ability of mortal eyes to comprehend. Its very being wavers and ripples as new matter and energy is born and swells to full power like a bursting fruit. It is a vibrant plane, so alive with itself that travelers themselves are empowered by visiting it.

The Positive Energy Plane has no surface and is akin to the Elemental Plane of Air with its wide, open nature. However, every bit of this plane glows brightly with innate power. This power is dangerous to mortal forms, which are not made to handle it.

Despite the beneficial effects of the plane, it is one of the most hostile of the Inner Planes. An unprotected character on this plane swells with power as positive energy is force-fed into her. Then, her mortal frame unable to contain that power, she immolates as a small planet caught at the edge of a supernova. Visits to the Positive Energy Plane are brief, and even then travelers must be heavily protected.

[ancientempathy]

Olympian Glades of Arborea

It is a plane of passion and peace.

It is abundant nature in its patchwork glory.

It is the domain of the Elven Lords.

The Olympian Glades of Arborea are a crazy quilt of climates and environments, all of which thrive. Arborea contains great woods of towering maples, birch, and oak. These great deciduous trees strain skyward, leaving a forest floor relatively free of undergrowth and brush. The ground beneath the canopy itself is a rolling landscape of velvet moss and ferns. But the forests cape sometimes retreats before open glades of wildflowers, fields of swaying wheat and barley, and neat rows of fruit trees untended by any human hand. Here are trees that have never seen the woodsman’s axe, fields rich with grain, and orchards heavy with fruit.

The very air of Arborea seems charged with anticipation and excitement. Sudden squalls brew up out of nowhere, beating the tree-lined paths with heavy winds. The pass within minutes and leave behind warm, sunny arcs of light filtering through the forest canopy. In the distance there always seems to be music; sometimes the elves and they fey are playing, but just as often the faint tune is merely the wind curling through the boles of the great trees.

Arborea is a place with flowers in bloom and trees bearing fruit simultaneously. There are uplands covered with snow, but even the snow shines beneath a crystal-blue sky. Arborea is almost overwhelming in its beauty, and the land embodies both wilderness and loveliness in one package.

Yet only the top layer of Arborea has the great forest implied in the name of the plane. Arborea’s second layer is an endless ocean, and its third layer is a borderless desert of white dust. All three layers are places of mercurial weather, sudden attacks, and strong passions. Arborea is a plane of joy and sorrow.

[Masterbard Alyster Darkharp]

Dragon Eyrie

\

As its name suggests, Dragon Eyrie is an enormous mountaintop surrounded by wispy clouds and crowned with an eternal cap of snow. Around it fly the spirits of departed dragons, keeping to themselves as much as possible. No city or village mars the perfect crags of the mountaintop, though some nondragons that come here in search of solitude build small shelters in which to live out their hermitic existences. The dragons do not tolerate any more extensive settlements, and they put up with the hermits
only grudgingly.

Dragon Eyrie Traits
Dragon Eyrie has the following traits.
•Alterable morphic. Each divine realm is divinely morphic.
•Mild faith.

Dragon Eyrie Links
Hlal maintains a portal here that leads to the realm of Erevan Ilesere on Arvandor.

Dragon Eyrie Inhabitants
Most of the native inhabitants of Dragon Eyrie are celestial and fiendish dragons and draconic petitioners.
Monsters of Faerûn: Abishai (in Tiamat’s realm).
Fiend Folio: Khaasta.
Draconomicon: Planar dragons (all varieties).
Although these creatures are native to many different planes, they all at least visit the Dragon Eyrie from time to time.

Dragon Eyrie Petitioners: The petitioners of this plane are the spirits of dragons, half-dragons, dragonkin, and all other forms of dragonkind. For dragons, the afterlife represents an opportunity to strive toward a perfection that was unattainable in life. Such perfection, however, is best pursued in silence and solitude. Though they are no longer great hoarders of treasure, dragon petitioners are still hostile to intruders who would invade their privacy, and they remain among the most arrogant creatures on any plane. Dragon Eyrie petitioners have the following special qualities.
Additional Immunity: Cold.
Resistances: Acid 5, electricity 5, fi re 5.
Other Special Qualities: None.

Features of Dragon Eyrie
Dragon Eyrie is divided into four broad bands—the dark roots, the lower reaches, the middle crags, and the peak. With the exception of the peak, which is entirely Null’s divine realm, no divine realm occupies the entire expanse of an altitude band. Most of the mountain is open territory claimed by no deity, where the petitioners of the plane seek their solitude.

Hlal: The lower reaches of Dragon Eyrie’s great slope include the divine realm of Hlal, the trickster and messenger deity of the dragons. Brass and copper dragon petitioners tend to congregate near this realm. These lower slopes are warm and dry, at least near Hlal’s domain, so they attract blue dragon petitioners as well, though the blues try to stay far away from the brasses and coppers. Other, wetter areas of the lower reaches are favored by green and black petitioners.

Null: The summit of Dragon Eyrie is the domain of Null, the draconic god of death. White and silver dragon petitioners are attracted to the cold of his realm, and in a way these two kinds of dragons represent the two very different views of this mysterious deity. The crude and bestial white dragons admire Null’s role as a taker of life and revere him as a force of violence and power. The silvers, on the other hand, worship him as the guardian of dead spirits—the one who brings draconic souls to their rest in the
Dragon Eyrie and, ideally, leads them toward perfection once they have arrived.

Task: Task’s realm lies in the middle reaches of Dragon Eyrie, in a region known as the Furnace because of its volcanic activity. Task dwells in a rocky cave filled with a vast treasure hoard. Red, gold, and bronze dragon petitioners live in this area, attracted to its hot springs and flowing lava.

Tiamat: Tiamat’s realm, known as the Cave of Greed, lies deep underground, at the dark bottom of Dragon Eyrie. Many chromatic dragon petitioners choose to make their lairs near hers (but not too near), and deep dragon and shadow dragon petitioners tend to favor this subterranean region as well.

Sources: The Candlekeep Compendium Volume IV, Players Guide to Faerun

[Munroe]

You left off The Blood Rift. It's the plane yugoloths comes from in the FR cosmology. It's between the Nine Hells and the Abyss.

The best place for information on the Great Tree cosmology that I've seen is Player's Guide to Faerun. It discusses the deities' personal divine realms (not just the planes they're on) as well as how to get off the Great Tree into the Great Wheel to get to places like Gehenna, Mechanus, Archeron. It discusses differences between the Ethereal Plane in the Great Tree and the Great Wheel as well.

[Samej]

I like how a lot of the descriptions are taken almost verbatim from the 3.5 Dungeon Masters Guide.

As for those still interested- DELIVERED!

Manual of the Planes
www.mediafire.com/?dmjm8t6r1fa

Planar Handbook
www.mediafire.com/?qwjz3wbqrlr

Forgotten Realms- A Players Guide to Faerun
www.mediafire.com/?2on2oqqmjuo

Forgotten Realms- Campaign Setting
www.mediafire.com/?cumymxm3ywk

[kaltorac]

Mar 30, 2010 15:16:59 GMT -5 Samej said:

I like how a lot of the descriptions are taken almost verbatim from the 3.5 Dungeon Masters Guide.

As for those still interested- DELIVERED!

Manual of the Planes
www.mediafire.com/?dmjm8t6r1fa

Planar Handbook
www.mediafire.com/?qwjz3wbqrlr

Forgotten Realms- A Players Guide to Faerun
www.mediafire.com/?2on2oqqmjuo

Forgotten Realms- Campaign Setting
www.mediafire.com/?cumymxm3ywk

*coughs* Links to copyrighted materials on a forum can get the forum Admins into hot water.

[Samej]

I believe it's all covered under the OGL, is it not?

Plus, this would constitute fair use in my opinion.

Using the Four Factor Test-

-Distribution for Educational Purposes
-The work is published.
-The work is out of print or otherwise not easily available.
-The work is distributed wholly and completely.

-After evaluation of the first four factors, the proposed use is leaning towards fair use.

And, most old edition books are put up as a free download on Wizards of the Coasts' site, they just cycle through them all very slowly.

[Deleted]

Mar 30, 2010 19:59:19 GMT -5 Samej said:

I believe it's all covered under the OGL, is it not?

Plus, this would constitute fair use in my opinion.

Using the Four Factor Test-

-Distribution for Educational Purposes
-The work is published.
-The work is out of print or otherwise not easily available.
-The work is distributed wholly and completely.

-After evaluation of the first four factors, the proposed use is leaning towards fair use.

And, most old edition books are put up as a free download on Wizards of the Coasts' site, they just cycle through them all very slowly.

Justify your piracy how ever you wish! I just proudly fly my pirate flag personally.

And no, It's not covered under the OGL. I don't think most Forgotten Realms material is OGL. The System Reference Document and works cited within it are actually the only products covered under the OGL. It's still not legal to pirate the books just because they are OGL, they still contain copyrighted flavor text, and artwork.

I haven't personally seen any downloads set up by wizards of the coast for 3.0-3.5 material yet, though I would imagine given time they will...especially considering that the books are all rampantly pirated at this point (along with 4th edition).

[Samej]

That being said...


Can I take any requests?