Cosmology
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The cosmology, or structure of the multiverse, is vast and extends far beyond the Material Plane that holds the world of Toril. Beyond the Prime lay many planes, which differ in size and shape. The exact structure of the universe has varied and changed over the millennia, the most recent change resulting from the Spellplague.
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[edit] Overview
The planes of existence are different realities with interwoven connections. Except for rare linking points called portals the planes are, in effect, separate universes, each with its own set of natural laws and native creatures.
[edit] The World Axis Cosmology
The structure of the local multiverse is known as the World Axis cosmology, which resulted from the Spellplague's effects on the planes. The Spellplague significantly altered the very cosmos themselves,[1],[2] causing the World Tree structure that had been present before to collapse. The planes of power merged into the Elemental Chaos, the Shadowfell was formed, the Feywild rediscovered, and the astral dominions broken free from the branches of the tree to drift in the Astral Sea.[3]
In the place of the World Tree was a new model, so named the World Axis due to the two axes formed by the parallel planes and the fundamental planes with the Prime, which serves as a fulcrum of sorts for the energies of the planes, around which are located the other four separate and discrete planes: the Astral Sea, the Feywild, the Elemental Chaos, and the Shadowfell.[4]
The structure of this new model is described below.
[edit] Prime Material Plane
Also called the natural world, mortal world, or simply the Prime, this plane lies at the center of the World Axis. While changed, the Prime continues to exist in spite of the changes wrought by the Spellplague, stable and at the center of the vast axes that bind the planes together. The Prime is where Toril and its inhabitants are located and remains the primary focus of the gods. The Prime has no single dominant force, unlike most planes, and is connected to the other planes through the Shadowfell and, to a lesser extent, the Astral Sea and Elemental Chaos.
[edit] Fundamental Planes
Surrounding the Prime and the parallel planes are the two fundamental planes: the Astral Sea and the Elemental Chaos.[4] The fundamental planes, according to common theory, are the basis from which all the other planes, including the Prime and its echoes, were formed.[5] Whether or not this is true is unsure and until the Spellplague, the Elemental Chaos is not believed to have existed, or at least not since the splitting of Abeir-Toril into two worlds.
The fundamental planes are also the homes of the astral dominions and elemental realms, smaller planes within the Astral Sea and Elemental Chaos. Only a few of these are known to the inhabitants of Toril, however, and it is believed that if one traveled far enough through the infinite spaces of the fundamental planes it might be possible to locate the dominions and realms of entirely different pantheons worshiped by beings from other material planes, though such a journey would be unimaginably lengthy. [5]
The two fundamental planes are as follow.
- The Astral Sea
- The Astral Sea is a great silvery void that contains the homes of the gods and which is considered the realm of pure thought and creativity, where thoughts and feelings become reality, if only for a moment. It is through this power that gods shape the cosmos according to their will and the astral dominions are forged.[6]
- The Elemental Chaos
- Nonexistent before the Spellplague, or at least not since the sundering of Abeir-Toril,[7] the Elemental Chaos is a vast and infinite sea of tempestuous matter and energy in which the cycle of creation and destruction continues without end. It is from the essence of the chaos that the world was first formed, tempered though it was by the divine essences of the Astral Sea.[6]
[edit] Astral Dominions
Within the Astral Sea lay the astral dominions, planes separate and unique from the surrounding fundamental plane but which owe their existence to it. Formed from the will of the Astral Sea's inhabitants[4] the astral dominions were once linked into an intricate network within the World Tree. As a result of the Spellplague, the formerly bound planes now drift freely in the Astral Sea.[3]
There are many dominions within the Astral Sea, the known ones being as follow.
- Arvandor
- Arvandor is the home of the elven pantheon, the gnomish pantheon, and several archfey. Corellon rules over this good plane with his wife, the goddess Angharradh, while Garl Glittergold holds his own, somewhat independent court.[3]
- Banehold
- Banehold is the home of the Black Lord Bane, who rules from his the keep the Black Bastion, as well as the gods who owe their fealty to him. The evil plane is surrounded by outlying wastelands that serve as a warning to these subjugated deities.[3]
- Celestia
- Celestia is an enormous mountain that contains three smaller peaks. The True Court is a city near the top of the mountain, from which Torm rules the lawful good plane alongside Ilmater and Bahamut.[3]
- Cynosure
- Cynosure is a neutral meeting place of the gods and is usually closed and uninhabited. Cynosure is merely a stately meeting chamber full of high pillars and decorated with portraits of gods and goddesses both living and dead.[8]
- The Deep Wilds
- The Deep Wilds is the home of Silvanus and his divine servants. The Deep Wilds are a vast expanse of untamed and wild wilderness, with no strong ties to any alignment but firm connections to several elemental realms.[9]
- The Demonweb Pits
- The Demonweb Pits is Lolth’s domain and a former layer of the Abyss. This strongly chaotic evil plane is an immense and dark dominion of woven planar matter, at the center of which sits Lolth’s arachnid-shaped iron fortress.[9]
- The Dismal Caverns
- The Dismal Caverns are a huge subterranean maze of natural caverns, ruled over by the solitary god Ghaunadaur. Other powerful entities, many aberrations touched by the Far Realm, also live there, dwelling in the vast darkness that fills the plane.[9]
- Dwarfhome
- Dwarfhome is the home of the dwarven deities and their worshipers, who dwell underneath massive mountainous crags teeming with life. At the heart of Dwarfhome is the great hall called Erackinor, the residence of Moradin and his wife Berronar.[9]
- Eternal Sun
- Eternal Sun is the dominion of Amaunator, Keeper of the Golden Sun, who shares the realm with Waukeen and his exarch, Siamorphe. Amaunator makes his home in the Palace of the Four Suns, the central citadel of a golden city which is located amid shining, thriving lands and seas.[9]
- The Fugue Plane
- The Fugue Plane is a flat and featureless plane with a ground of silvery mist. It is here that the god Kelemvor judges the dead, who arrive through the Shadowfell, either releasing them to the blessings of their god or sentencing them to eternal punishment.[9]
- Gates of the Moon
- Gates of the Moon consists of rocky islands that float on and above a silvery sea, over which the moon waxes and wanes constantly. It is here that the chaotic good greater goddesses Selûne and Sune both make their home, along with the goddess Tymora.[9]
- Green Fields
- Green Fields is a place of rest of lush valleys and hills ruled over by the Earthmother Chauntea. The halfling pantheon also resides here, moving from place to place like their mortal worshipers.[10]
- House of Knowledge
- The House of Knowledge consists of an ancient and tamed wood of giant oak trees and clear and fresh lakes and springs. A series of buildings throughout the dominion called the Library of All Knowledge is said to contain all the secrets of the multiverse.[10]
- The Nine Hells
- The Nine Hells, or Baator as its denizens call it, is the home of devils and is ruled by Asmodeus,[10] a former god-turned-archdevil-turned-god-again[11] who resides in Malsheem, the Citadel of Hell. Eight other archdevils rule eight other layers of the lawful evil dominion as vassals of Asmodeus.[10]
- Nishrek
- Nishrek is home to the orc pantheon, ruled over by the savage god Gruumsh. This chaotic evil plane resembles a natural setting ravaged by eternal war, filled with of scorching deserts, jagged badlands, and dense and tangled forests, with black seas and rivers.[10]
- The Supreme Throne
- The Supreme Throne is Cyric’s dominion but it is also a prison for the Prince of Lies, whose murder of Mystra has resulted in his internment for several centuries to come. The dominion has been sealed off by the other gods, and none can enter nor can any leave.[12]
- Towers of Night
- Towers of Night is the largest of the astral dominions, a vast and dark wasteland comprised of mountainous regions, deserts of black sand, and malevolent seas, rivers, forests, and bogs. Ruling over this plane is the greater goddess Shar, who shares the neutral evil dominion with her servants Sseth, Talona, and Zehir.[13]
- Tu'Narath
- Unlike the divine dominions where the gods reside Tu'Narath is a realm shaped by mortal minds, specifically those of the githyanki. Within the great metropolis carved from the corpse of a forgotten god the githyanki are ruled over by their lich-queen Vlaakith, who constantly plots for the conquest of the other planes and who holds de facto control of the other nominally independent githyanki settlements.[14]
- Warrior's Rest
- Warrior’s Rest is the dominion of Tempus, god of war and his nature shapes the plane into a landscape nearly as chaotic and unpredictable as the Elemental Chaos, constantly changing. The souls of warriors who worshiped Tempus or other human war deities live here, always waging wars dying again and again in endless battle only to rise again while the victorious celebrate in the many halls that dot the landscape.[13]
[edit] Elemental Realms
When the elemental and energy planes collided to form, or possibly reform, the Elemental Chaos most of them were lost, along with the other planes that fell into the mix, such as Limbo or Jotunheim. However, within the Chaos those beings strong enough and powerful enough to shape the materials around them were able to create new planes or preserve parts of old ones, either of which became known as elemental realms. Here numerous elemental creatures reside, alongside the mighty primordials who first created the planes alongside the gods.[15]
The known elemental realms are listed below.
- The Abyss
- The Abyss is the home of demons and is ruled over by none, though several of the powerful demon lords each claim control. A multi-layered pit, the Abyss lies at the very "bottom" of the Elemental Chaos, waiting to draw in and ensnare any who come too close.[16]
- The City of Brass
- The City of Brass is the home of the efreeti, fire genies who long ago forged this city, which is believed the oldest in all the planes. Though efreeti are known for their wars against other elementals, the City of Brass is best known as the center of interplanar trade.[17]
- Cresting Spires
- Dominated by the primordial Istishia, the Cresting Spires are a plane dominated by water.[16]
- Fimbulwinter
- Forged by the titan Thrym, this plane is covered in ice.[18]
- Hidden Realm
- The most powerful of the titans, Annam, rules this mysterious realm.[18]
- Muspelheim
- Ruled over by the titan Surtr, Muspelheim is dominated by a volcanic landscape.[18]
- Root Hold
- Dominated by Grumbar, the primordial lord of the earth element, Root Hold is a series of vast subterranean halls with strong connections to the Dismal Caverns and Dwarfhome.[16]
- Sky Home
- A realm ruled over by the primordial Akadi and dominated by rolling clouds and dark storms. Sky Home has links to the plane of Arvandor.[16]
- Steading
- This realm resembles a landscape of rolling hills and is dominated by the titan Grolantor.[18]
- Throator
- A plane of storms this plane is ruled over by the titan Memnor.[18]
- The Undying Pyre
- The Undying Pyre is a fiery plane of thick smoke and mighty flames, ruled over by the strongest of the primordial lords, Kossuth.[16]
- Zerthadlun
- Zerthadlun is a realm shaped by the minds and will of the githzerai, mortals who have taken residence in the Elemental Chaos in order to study the entropy that fills it. Through constant diligence and monastic ritual the githzerai maintain their realm, in spite of the chaos that threatens to engulf it.[19]
[edit] Parallel Planes
Parallel planes are strange reflections of the Prime, formed by the will of the primordials in the age of creation who gathered what they considered to be imperfections of the Prime and created new planes from them. Parallel planes are the closest of the planes to the Prime and resemble it geographically, though they are very distinct in their own manner.[5]
The parallel planes are:
- The Feywild
- A vibrant twin of the Prime, the Feywild is the home of the fey and is filled with vitality and powerful arcane magic.[20]
- The Shadowfell
- A dark and twisted echo of the Prime formed from the Shadowfell and part of the Negative Energy Plane, the Shadowfell is the home of shadow creatures as well as much of the undead that fill the planes.[21]
[edit] Demiplanes
Demiplanes are ill-defined planes of unusually small size that lie either within other planes, such as astral dominions,[10] or outside of either the parallel planes or the fundamental planes. There are undoubtedly several of them, but most are unknown. Aside from those that lay within the dominions of the gods the best known is Sigil, also called the City of Doors, which acts as a strange interplanar nexus with hidden doors to every known plane - and many that remain largely unknown.[22]
[edit] Transitive Planes
These planes have little in common, except for their most common use: getting from one plane to another. A great number of spells that allow travel from one plane to another briefly send travelers through one of the transitive planes before they reach their destination. Since the Spellplague the use of the term transitive plane has fallen out of disfavor, though the name's meaning still applies.
- Astral Sea
- The Astral Sea serves as a transitive plane between the astral dominions, much as it did prior to the Spellplague, though now the dominions drift freely.[3]
- Elemental Chaos
- Similarly, the Elemental Chaos allows travel between the elemental realms.[16]
- Shadowfell
- The Shadowfell, in addition to serving as a strange and dark echo of the Prime also is a stop for many planar travelers. Most commonly this purpose is served for the recently dead, who pass through the Shadowfell on their way to judgment in the Fugue Plane.[21]
[edit] World Tree Cosmology
Prior to the Spellplague the most commonly accepted structure of the multiverse was the World Tree Cosmology. In this model of the cosmos the planes, except for the anomalous planes, exist in a neatly arranged network often described as similar to a vast tree in shape and form. In many ways, it retains several qualities of the later World Axis model and the astral dominions, as in the World Axis, are typically considered to exist "above" the elemental and energy planes, which later would blend into the Elemental Chaos, which likewise lies "below" the Astral Sea. Likewise, the Plane of Shadow, the predecessor of the Shadowfell, served as both a dark echo and a link between the Prime and other worlds.
However, there are several differences, which are described below.
[edit] Astral Dominions
In the earlier World Tree structure of the planes elemental realms, the counterparts to the astral dominions, did not exist and the primordials had long been forgotten. As a result, the duality of the planes was generally interpreted along lines of good and evil, with those that adhered to neither side, laying somewhere in between. The dominions were hence divided into celestial planes and fiendish planes, each composed of a corresponding essence. These distinctions likely still exist in the new cosmology, but they are less recognized and considered less significant than the new distinction between astral dominions and elemental realms.
[edit] Celestial Planes
Celestial planes are planes composed entirely of good. All known celestial planes are also astral dominions, though this is likely not a necessity anymore than in the case of fiendish planes. In the World Tree structure, celestial planes were aligned "above" the elemental and energy planes and to the "left" of the fiendish planes. Generally, celestial planes are ruled over by goodly beings, though there are exceptions to the rule.
The known celestial planes from the time before the Spellplague were as follow, though the term could also apply to modern planes as well.
- Arvandor
- Just as in the World Axis, Arvandor served as the home plane of the Seldarine, though it also was home to the drow goddess Eilistraee before her death. Arvandor lay below Green Fields and above in the World Tree's branches and maintained portals to both Brightwater and Dragon Eyrie.
- Brightwater
- Brightwater was the home plane of Lliira, Sharess, Sune, Tymora and Waukeen. Brightwater lay above Golden Hills and below Gates of the Moon, which it later became a demiplane of, and portals were also maintained with Arvandor, Heliopolis, and Green Fields.
- Dwarfhome
- As in the World Axis, Dwarfhome was the home of the Morndinsamman, except for the duergar and derro deities. Dwarfhome at the time lay below Arvandor, at the very "bottom" of the celestial planes and was also contained within the structure of Mount Celestia, which at the time was a massive network of planes rather than a singular dominion.
- Dweomerheart
- The home plane of Azuth and Mystra, as well as their subordinates Savras and Velsharoon. The plane lay to the left of the House of the Triad and below the House of Knowlege before it was completely obliterated with the Spellplague and the death of Mystra.
- Gates of the Moon
- As in the later cosmology, Gates of Moon was inhabited by the goddess Selûne along with Finder Wyvernspur and Shaundakul. Gates of the Moon lay at the "top" of the celestial planes, bordered below by Brightwater.
- Golden Hills
- Home of the gnomish pantheon prior to the Spellplague, except for Urdlen, who tunneled beneath Hammergrim, the Golden Hills later became a demiplane within Arvandor. The Golden Hills lay below Brightwater and above House of Knowledge, with which it had a strong connection.
- Green Fields
- As in later years, Green Fields was the home of the halfling pantheon. Green Fields lay above Arvandor and below both the House of the Triad and Dweomerheart and also had a strong connection to the realm of the goddess Tymora within Brightwater. Green Fields was also, at the time, a part of the larger Mount Celestia.
- House of Knowledge
- Although Oghma himself is a true neutral god his home plane is a celestial plane and prior to the Spellplague bordered Dweomerheart and House of Triad below and the Golden Hills above, with which it maintained a portal.
- House of the Triad
- Part of Mount Celestia, House of the Triad was the home of the old Triad, as well as the gods Helm and Siamorphe. The plane, which had lain to the right of Dweomerheart, above Green Fields, and below House of Knowledge, represented the core of Celestia and was all that remained of the vast mountain after the Spellplague.[23]
[edit] Fiendish Planes
Just as the celestial planes are composed entirely of good essence and are typically ruled over by good outsiders the fiendish planes are composed of the evil fiendish essences and are ruled over by such creatures as devils, demons, or even evil gods, among others. The fiendish planes in the "upper" branches of the World Tree, to the "right" of the celestial planes and above the elemental and energy planes. Through each of the fiendish planes flowed the River Styx, now a part of the Nine Hells exclusively. Though the distinction between celestial and fiendish planes has fallen out of favor since the Spellplague, it likely still applies, both to astral dominions as well as to the Abyss, an elemental realm.
The fiendish planes known prior to the Spellplague are listed below.
- The Abyss
- As after the Spellplague the Abyss was the home of demons and theorized to have 666 layers. However, prior to the Spellplague the Abyss lay in the Astral Plane, above the Nine Hells and the Blood Rift, putting it at the "top" of the fiendish planes.
- The Barrens of Doom and Despair
- The earlier name for Banehold, the Barrens of Doom and Despair were before the Spellplague, as after, the home plane of Bane, Beshaba, Hoar, Loviatar, and Talona. The Barrens lay below the Nine Hells and above Clangor.
- The Blood Rift
- The Blood Rift, recently merged with the Abyss, was home of the yugoloths, renegade demons who eventually reunited with their brethren in the Abyss sometime in the Hundred Years of Chaos. The Blood Rift lay slightly below and to the left of the Abyss, while sitting above the Nine Hells.
- Clangor
- The home of the goblinoid and kobold deities, Clangor was eventually dissolved by Bane after his conquest of the goblinoid pantheon. Before this it lay below the Barrens of Doom and Despair and above both Fury's Heart and the Supreme Throne.
- The Deep Caverns
- Later known as the Dismal Caverns, the Deep Caverns were home to those beings worshiped by denizens of the Underdark that did not reside within the Demonweb Pits, including some members of the Dark Seldarine. The Deep Caverns lay above the Fated Depths and below both the Demonweb Pits and Nishrek.
- The Demonweb Pits
- Home of Lolth and most of the drow pantheon. Shortly before the Spellplague the Demonweb Pits were actually located deep within the Abyss but during the War of the Spider Queen Lolth reforged it as its own, independent plane, below Hammergrim, to the left of Nishrek, and above the Deep Caverns. Unlike in most fiendish planes, the River Styx did not flow through the Demonweb Pits, which were separated from the other fiendish planes except for the Abyss, with which it maintained several portals.
- The Fated Depths
- The home of Sekolah and Blibdoolpoolp, the Fated Depths were located below the Deep Caverns, at the very "bottom" of the fiendish planes, through which the River Styx emptied.
- Fury's Heart
- Fury's Heart was the home of the destructive deities Auril, Malar, Talos, and Umberlee, located below Clangor and the Supreme Throne but above Hammergrim. After the Spellplague it merged with the House of Nature to form the Deep Wilds, except for Talos' portion, which the aspect of Gruumsh took with him to Nishrek.
- Hammergrim
- Home of the duergar deities Deep Duerra and Laduguer, Hammergrim was eventually wiped out by the Morndinsamman in a war shortly before the Spellplague. Prior to this, Hammergrim lay below Fury's Heart and above both Nishrek and the Demonweb Pits.
- The Nine Hells
- The Nine Hells, as in the years after the Spellplague, were the home of the devils, ruled over by Asmodeus, who at the time was an archdevil rather than a true god. At the time the Nine Hells resided below the flaming ruins of the Abyss as well as the Blood Rift, while above the Barrens of Doom and Despair, with which it maintained several portals.
- Nishrek
- As it is currently, Nishrek was the home plane of the orc pantheon, ruled over by Gruumsh. Before the Spellplague it lay below Hammergrim, above the Deep Caverns, and to the "right" of the Demonweb Pits.
- The Supreme Throne
- The home plane of Cyric, though prior to his ascension during the Time of Troubles the plane still existed, presumably under a different name, where it was ruled over by slaadi. Although the Supreme Throne was later sealed off as punishment for Cyric's murder of Mystra, the Supreme Throne at this time was open to visitors, though it, like the Demonweb Pits, lay outside the path of the River Styx, below Clangor and above Fury's Heart.
[edit] Unaligned Planes
Not all of the planes located in the upper branches of the World Tree were composed of celestial or fiendish essences. Nor were these planes wholly aligned either with the forces of good or evil, often serving as the homes of creatures on both sides of the battle between good and evil. Located between the fiendish planes and the celestial planes the unaligned or neutral planes held no allegiances to neither of the former two nor even to each other. Most of the unaligned planes that survived the Spellplague remained in the Astral Sea while others fell into the Elemental Chaos, such as Jotunheim.
The known unaligned planes located in the World Tree's upper branches were as follow.
- Dragon Eyrie
- The home of the draconic pantheon prior to the Spellplague, the Dragon Eyrie collapsed during the Spellplague, with Tiamat migrating to Banehold and Bahamut to Celestia, with the fates of the other gods left unknown. Dragon Eyrie was located at the "top" of the neutral planes, above Heliopolis, and maintained portals to Arvandor, Heliopolis, and the Nine Hells.
- Heliopolis
- Heliopolis was the home of the Mulhorandi pantheon, who vanished without a trace after the Spellplague, possibly into Abeir's cosmological twin to the local cosmology. Tiamat also resided here, as well as in the Nine Hells and the Dragon Eyrie. Heliopolis lay below Dragon Eyrie and above the House of Nature.
- The House of Nature
- Ruled both by Chauntea and Silvanus, the House of Nature was also home to Eldath, Gwaeron Windstrom, Lathander, Lurue, Mielikki, Nobanion, Shiallia, and the primordial Ubtao as well as various animal lords and the deities of many nature-oriented creatures such as centaurs. The Spellplague caused the House of Nature to split apart, with parts becoming the Deep Wilds while Chauntea merged her portion with Green Fields. The House of Nature lay below Heliopolis and above Warrior's Rest, whilst maintaining a portal to Arvandor.
- Jotunheim
- Located below Warrior's Rest, at the very "bottom" of the unaligned planes, Jotunheim was home to powerful titans worshiped by giants as gods. During the Spellplague, Jotunheim collapsed into the Elemental Chaos and was torn apart, though parts survived as elemental realms.
- Warrior's Rest
- The home plane of Garagos, Uthgar, and Valkur, Warrior's Rest resided above Jotunheim and below the House of Nature. Tempus, the ruler of Warrior's Rest after the Spellplague, also maintained a demiplane within Warrior's Rest known as Limbo, which later fell into the Elemental Chaos.
[edit] Cynosure and the Fugue Plane
Unlike the rest of the astral dominions, Cynosure and the Fugue Plane were not arranged within the branches of the World Tree but instead lay on opposite sides of it, like stones flanking its trunk. The Fugue Plane lay to the "left" whilst the Cynosure lay to the "right." This kept them isolated from all the other gods, thereby preserving their presumed neutrality and maintenance of the "Balance," as defined by Ao. In no major ways did they differ from their nature in the post-Spellplague years.
[edit] Planes of Power
Because the Elemental Chaos did not yet exist the elemental and energy planes were as neatly organized as the astral dominions, though they lay at the bottom of the World Tree, acting as the roots that fed into the Prime Material Plane and the Transitive Planes. Known together as the planes of power, these realities were incarnations of the basic buildings blocks of the universe. Each of the planes was very inhospitable to all but native or the most adaptive creatures of the plane.
It is not known for sure but it is likely that the planes of power were the result of the primordials' banishment from the local cosmology by Ao during the sundering of Abeir-Toril. Before this cataclysmic event the planes of power were likely blended together into an earlier version of the Elemental Chaos much as they are currently muddled together. Differences at the time in which the World Tree cosmology was the dominant model are listed below.
[edit] Elemental Planes
The elemental planes, which lay directly below the energy planes, embodied the four of the five basic elements in nature, air, earth, fire, and water, with an elemental plane of storm being oddly absent. The planes were extremely inhospitable except for natives of the plane, such as elementals, genies, mephits, and others. Each Elemental Lord, at the time believed gods rather than primordials, also made their home in the elemental planes. Several quasi-elemental and demi-elemental planes also exist, sitting at the junctures between the elemental planes such as the Elemental Plane of Cold, which lay between the Planes of Air and Water.
The primary Elemental Planes are listed below.
- Elemental Plane of Air
- The primordial Akadi ruled the Elemental Plane of Air, home also to air elementals such as djinns, lay furthest to the "left" of the elemental planes, next to the Elemental Plane of Water. After the Spellplague the Elemental Plane of Air collapsed into the Elemental Chaos, except for fragments such as the elemental realm of Sky Home and a few djinn motes.
- Elemental Plane of Earth
- Ruled by Grumbar, the Elemental Plane of Earth lay furthest to the "right," adjacent to the Plane of Fire. Home to earth elementals such as the dao the Plane of Earth collapsed almost entirely into the Elemental Chaos during the Spellplague except for Root Hold, Grumbar's realm.
- Elemental Plane of Fire
- Kossuth, the mightiest of the Elemental Lords, ruled this fiery landscape that was paradoxically both the most lethal and the most prolific in native life of all the elemental planes, home to the highly successful efreeti. The Plane of Fire, which lay between the Planes of Earth and Water at the "bottom" of the World Tree, was mostly dissolved during the Spellplague like the other elemental planes although the City of Brass and the Undying Pyre both survived its destruction.
- Elemental Plane of Water
- Istishia ruled this water-filled realm, which lay between the Planes of Fire and Air, at the so-called "bottom" of the World Tree's "roots," and was home to water elementals such as mereids. After the Spellplague most of the plane was destroyed, although Istishia still rules over its successor plane, the elemental realm known as Cresting Spires.
[edit] The Energy Planes
Sitting just "above" the elemental planes were the energy planes, which were no less extreme than their elemental counterparts. During the Spellplague the two planes collapsed, for the most part, into the Elemental Chaos. The energy planes were home to very few lifeforms and neither any deities nor any primordials make their home in either of the two planes, which are described below.
- Negative Energy Plane
- A dangerous realm from which the negative energies that helped to fuel undeath flowed the Negative Energy Plane lay to the "left" of its neighbor, the Positive Energy Plane. During the Spellplague it fell mostly into the Elemental Chaos, but not before the goddess Shar folded part of it into the Plane of Shadow, forming the Shadowfell.
- Positive Energy Plane
- The opposite of its neighbor, which lay to the plane's left, the Positive Energy Plane was a realm filled with intense radiant energy. No less lethal than the Negative Energy Plane, the Positive Energy Plane eventually collapsed into the Elemental Chaos.
[edit] Parallel Planes
Prior to the Spellplague the nature of the parallel planes was unknown. The Feywild was all but forgotten and the Plane of Shadow, the world's dark echo, was considered a one of a kind oddity. However the parallel planes did exist in much the same manner as they have since the Spellplague, though in a more elusive and unknown manner.
[edit] Faerie
Prior to the Spellplague, the Feywild was almost entirely unknown. Well-read scholars did know, however, that the Tel'Quessir were not native to the Prime but rather outsiders who had arrived in the distant past.[24] This realm was known to scholars of the time merely as "Faerie" or perhaps the "Plane of Faerie" and was thought of a twilight land lush with forests, home to the fey and their Seelie and Unseelie Courts.
[edit] Sildëyuir
Likewise, most scholars were not aware that the "demiplane" of Sildëyuir was merely an echo of the Yuirwood in Aglarond, considering it a separate plane of existence. It was best known at the time as the place of origin for the star elves.
[edit] Transitive Planes
The transitive planes differed little prior to the Spellplague to how they operate now, though the Elemental Chaos had yet to form and the Shadowfell was still divided into the Plane of Shadow and Negative Energy Plane. During the years prior to the Spellplague the term transitive plane was also used more commonly than it was afterwards.
The major differences of the transitive planes are outlined below.
- Astral Plane
- The former name of the Astral Sea, the Astral Plane's nature as a fundamental plane was unknown prior to the Spellplague. Likewise, just as the dominions were wrongly believed infinite the Astral Plane was wrongly believed infinitesimal, when it was in fact, infinite in size. The few bits of matter scattered throughout the vast plane were mostly portals leading to every plane in the cosmology.
- Ethereal Plane
- The Ethereal Plane was a misty continuum that coexisted with the Material Plane. Individuals within the Ethereal Plane could see into the Material Plane, but not vice versa. It was accessed by spells such as etherealness and ethereal jaunt, as well as various portals scattered through the planes. The Ethereal Plane was destroyed during the Spellplague,[25] though its exact fate is unknown, perhaps being folded into the Astral Sea, Shadowfell, or both.
- Plane of Shadow
- The Plane of Shadow, prior to its transformation into the Shadowfell, acted as a transitive plane. The most common way of accessing the plane is through spells and abilities like shadow walk, most often used for covering great distances on the Material Plane undetected and unhindered. Mask and Shar both made their homes within the Shadow Plane and it was through Shar that the plane was later remade into the Shadowfell.
[edit] Great Wheel Cosmology
Although the World Tree interpretation of the planes was commonly accepted prior to the Spellplague, the Great Wheel cosmology was a popular alternative. Unlike the World Tree, which aligned the planes in a manner balanced between divine and elemental realms, much like the later World Axis, the Great Wheel held the multiverse to be structured like a massive wheel, with the Prime Material Plane at its core.
While most scholars believe the World Tree more accurate, evidence suggests the Great Wheel model may apply for material planes other than the Prime in which Toril is located. It is also possible that the Great Wheel reveals some truths unknown in the World Tree model.
The manners in which the Great Wheel interpretation differs from the World Tree are described below.
[edit] Outer Planes
In the Great Wheel model the astral dominions, rather than being arranged like the branches of a tree, were located around the rest of the cosmos like the rim of a wheel. Known in this model as the "outer planes," the dominions were, as in World Tree, organized into celestial and fiendish planes, with neutral planes laying in-between.
[edit] Inner Planes
In the Great Wheel model the planes of power, which would later form the Elemental Chaos, were aligned as a ring within the rim that were the outer planes. Known as the "inner planes" these realms lay closest to the Prime, with the exception of the transitive planes. In all other ways they were viewed nearly identically to the planes of power.
[edit] Transitive Planes
The transitive planes, unlike in the World Tree model, where they lay along the rim of the Prime, instead overlapped with it, straddling its borders with the exception of the Astral Plane, within which all the other planes lay. Around the transitive planes and the Prime which they lay with were the inner planes, putting the transitive planes at the center of the cosmos in the Great Wheel model.
[edit] Anomalous Planes
Though most planes fall into the above categories there are some exceptions and not all planes have a clear place in the known cosmology. These planes exist in unknown, nigh unreachable places and only a few well-informed scholars know of their very existence. These planes may drift distantly in one of the fundamental planes or lie entirely outside of the World Axis or any of the other models. Perhaps because of their remoteness these planes often do not follow the same physical laws as do the other planes and are immensely inhospitable.[5]
The known anomalous planes are as follow, though undoubtedly more exist:
- Far Realm
- The Far Realm is a distant and terrifying plane that lies "outside" of the rest of creation. This maddening realm is feared for its power to twist unfortunate visitors into gruesome monsters and it is from here that aberrations come.[26]
[edit] Other Material Planes
Although it may seem otherworldly and strange it is a fact known to some that the Prime Material Plane within which Toril rests is not the only plane of its kind in all the cosmos. Other worlds have been recorded to exist, which lie beyond the local cosmology and outside of the crystal sphere that surrounds the Prime. Of these at least three are known.
- Abeiran Material Plane
- Although Abeir once operated in the same cosmology as Toril, the sundering split into a cosmological twin of the local multiverse at the time, with its own separate parallel and fundamental planes. Other than the fact that exists and that it occasionally interacts with the Prime, little is known of it.
- Terran Material Plane
- A world called Earth is located here, of which little is known but which was once visited by Elminster in the Year of the Prince, wherein he met with a scholar there named Ed of the Greenwood.[27]
- Oerth Material Plane
- A distant world visited by Khelben Arunsun the Younger, Oerth differs enormously from Toril, being a geocentric world around which its sun and planets rotate.
[edit] References
- ↑ Bruce R. Cordell, Ed Greenwood, Chris Sims (August 2008). Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, p. 4–5. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-4924-3.
- ↑ Bruce R. Cordell, Ed Greenwood, Chris Sims (August 2008). Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, p. 60. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-4924-3.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Bruce R. Cordell, Ed Greenwood, Chris Sims (August 2008). Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, p. 62. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-4924-3.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Richard Baker, John Rogers, Robert J. Schwalb, James Wyatt (December 2008). Manual of the Planes, p. 12. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-5002-7.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Richard Baker, John Rogers, Robert J. Schwalb, James Wyatt (December 2008). Manual of the Planes, p. 8. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-5002-7.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Richard Baker, John Rogers, Robert J. Schwalb, James Wyatt (December 2008). Manual of the Planes, p. 84. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-5002-7.
- ↑ Bruce R. Cordell, Ed Greenwood, Chris Sims (August 2008). Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, p. 66–67. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-4924-3.
- ↑ Bruce R. Cordell, Ed Greenwood, Chris Sims (August 2008). Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, p. 62–63. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-4924-3.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 Bruce R. Cordell, Ed Greenwood, Chris Sims (August 2008). Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, p. 63. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-4924-3.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 Bruce R. Cordell, Ed Greenwood, Chris Sims (August 2008). Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, p. 64. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-4924-3.
- ↑ Bruce R. Cordell, Ed Greenwood, Chris Sims (August 2008). Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, p. 73. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-4924-3.
- ↑ Bruce R. Cordell, Ed Greenwood, Chris Sims (August 2008). Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, p. 64–65. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-4924-3.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Bruce R. Cordell, Ed Greenwood, Chris Sims (August 2008). Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, p. 65. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-4924-3.
- ↑ Richard Baker, John Rogers, Robert J. Schwalb, James Wyatt (December 2008). Manual of the Planes, p. 111. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-5002-7.
- ↑ Richard Baker, John Rogers, Robert J. Schwalb, James Wyatt (December 2008). Manual of the Planes, p. 13. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-5002-7.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 16.5 Bruce R. Cordell, Ed Greenwood, Chris Sims (August 2008). Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, p. 66. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-4924-3.
- ↑ Richard Baker, John Rogers, Robert J. Schwalb, James Wyatt (December 2008). Manual of the Planes, p. 73. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-5002-7.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 Bruce R. Cordell, Ed Greenwood, Chris Sims (August 2008). Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, p. 67. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-4924-3.
- ↑ Richard Baker, John Rogers, Robert J. Schwalb, James Wyatt (December 2008). Manual of the Planes, p. 77. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-5002-7.
- ↑ Richard Baker, John Rogers, Robert J. Schwalb, James Wyatt (December 2008). Manual of the Planes, p. 32. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-5002-7.
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Bruce R. Cordell, Ed Greenwood, Chris Sims (August 2008). Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, p. 69. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-4924-3.
- ↑ Richard Baker, John Rogers, Robert J. Schwalb, James Wyatt (December 2008). Manual of the Planes, p. 7. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-5002-7.
- ↑ Richard Baker, James Wyatt (March 2004). Player’s Guide to Faerûn, p. 159. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-3134-5.
- ↑ Sean K. Reynolds, Matt Forbeck, James Jacobs, Eric L. Boyd (March 2003). Races of Faerûn. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-2875-1.
- ↑ Richard Baker (June 2nd, 2008). The one and only "Ask the Realms authors/designers thread" 3. Retrieved on January 14th, 2009.
- ↑ Richard Baker, John Rogers, Robert J. Schwalb, James Wyatt (December 2008). Manual of the Planes, p. 30. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-5002-7.
- ↑ Brian R. James and Ed Greenwood (September, 2007). The Grand History of the Realms, p. 142. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-4731-7.
[edit] Sources
- Ed Greenwood, Sean K. Reynolds, Skip Williams, Rob Heinsoo (June 2001). Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 3rd edition. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-1836-5.
- Jeff Grubb, David Noonan, and Bruce R. Cordell (September 2001). Manual of the Planes. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-1850-8.
- Richard Baker, James Wyatt (March 2004). Player’s Guide to Faerûn. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-3134-5.
