Planescape

Table of contents

1 The Planes 1.1 Outer Planes 1.1.1 Sigil 1.2 Astral Plane 1.3 Material Plane 1.4 Ethereal Plane 1.5 Inner Planes 1.6 The Shadow Plane 1.7 Demiplanes 2 The Factions 3 Portals, Conduits and Gates 4 Published Material 5 External links

The Planes

The planes as a whole are usually presented as a series of concentric circles, with alternating spatial and transitive planes; from the center outwards, they are order as follows: Inner, Ethereal, Material, Astral, and Outer Planes. (The Shadow Plane, if it is included, is separate from the others, as is usually represented as being connected to the Material Plane.) Demiplanes, although most commonly connected to the Ethereal Plane, can be found attached to any plane. All planes, save the demiplanes, are infinite in scope and size.

Outer Planes

The Outer Planes are physical manifestations of moral and ethical alignment, of belief, and of the will of the gods. Most of the Outer Planes are subdivided into layers, which are essentially sub-planes that represent one particular facet or theme of the plane. (For example, Baator's geography is reminiscent of Hell as depicted in Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy.) There are seventeen Outer Planes in total.

The Outer Planes are typically represented in a ring, with the Upper Planes (the planes of Good alignment) at the top and the Lower Planes (the Evil planes) at the bottom; the Lawful Planes are at the left and the Chaotic Planes the right. Clockwise from "top", they are:

• Elysium (Neutral Good alignment). The "Plane of Peace". The guardinals, noble immortal humanoids with bestial features, dwell here.
• The Beastlands (Neutral Good/Chaotic Good). The plane of idealized nature. The animal lords--archetypal rulers of the various animal species--reside here, as do many rangers;s.
• Arborea (Chaotic Good). Also called Olympus and Arvandor. Elves and other fey reside here, as do the mystical eladrin and the gods of Greek mythology.
• Ysgard (Chaotic Good/Chaotic Neutral). Also called Asgard and Gladsheim. The gods of Norse mythology and of various barbarians and berserkers reside here.
• Limbo (Chaotic Neutral). All manner of alien, anarchic and unpredictable beings dwell here, such as the frog-like slaad and the monastic githzerai.
• Pandemonium (Chaotic Evil/Chaotic Neutral). An infinite network of pitch-black catacombs, wherein the winds drive men mad.
• The Abyss (Chaotic Evil). The infinite armies of the demons;s reside here.
• Carceri\ (Neutral Evil/Chaotic Evil). Also called Tartarus. Innumerable liars, cheats and traitors are imprisoned here by their own deceptions, as are the Titans of Greek mythology.
• The Gray Waste (Neutral Evil). Also called Hades. Here, all emotion and compassion are drained away, until only hopelessnes, selfish desires and apathy remain.
• Gehenna (Neutral Evil/Lawful Evil). The yugoloths;s, fiendish creatures of true evil, hatch unimaginable plots here.
• Baator (Lawful Evil). Also called the Nine Hells. The empire of the devils;s marshals its forces here.
• Acheron (Lawful Evil/Lawful Neutral). This is a plane of constant, pointless war, where identity is forever lost. The gods of the goblins and orcs live here.
• Mechanus (Lawful Neutral). Sometimes called "The Clockwork Nirvana". This clockwork plane is the ultimate in order; constructs, scholars and modrons reside here.
• Arcadia (Lawful Neutral/Lawful Good). Also called "The Land of Perfect Order". A peaceful place where all live in harmony; consequently, it is quite dull.
• Mount Celestia (Lawful Good). Also called the Seven Heavens. Home of the devas and angels. Countless paladins and saints have ascended here.
• Bytopia (Lawful Good/Neutral Good). Also called the Twin Paradises. Gnomes and other industrious folk dwell here.
• And at the center, The Outlands (True Neutral). Also called the Plane of Concordant Opposition. As the Outer Planes lie at the pinnacle of the planes, and the Outlands lie at the center of the Outer Planes, the infinite Spire reaches up from the center of the Outlands, and at the pinnacle of that infinite Spire is the city of Sigil.

Geometrically, Sigil is a torus; the city itself is located on the inside of the ring. There is no sky, simply an all-pervasive light; over the edge of the ring is an infinite, impenetrable void. Sigil cannot be entered or exited save via portals; although this makes it quite safe from any would-be invader, it also makes it a prison of sorts for those not possessing a portal key. Thus, many call Sigil "The Cage". Though Sigil is commonly held to be positioned atop the infinitely tall Spire, some argue that this is impossible since the planes are infinite in all dimensions, and therefore there can never truly be a center to any of them, let alone all of them; thus, Sigil is of no special importance. Curiously, from the Outlands one can see Sigil atop the supposedly infinite Spire.

Nevertheless, Sigil contains an innumerable number of portals: any bounded opening (a doorway, an arch, a barrel hoop, a picture frame) could possibly be a portal to another plane, or to another point in Sigil itself. Thus, the city is a paradox: it touches all planes at once, yet ultimately belongs to none; from these characteristics it draws another of its names, "The City of Doors."

The ruler of Sigil is the mysterious Lady of Pain. The Lady is sometimes seen in Sigil as a floating, robed Lady with a face bearing a mantle of blades. The Lady does not concern herself with the laws of the city; she typically only interferes when something threatens the stability of Sigil itself. However, she is an entity of inscrutable motives, and often those who cross her path--even accidentally--are flayed to death or teleported to her hidden Mazes, lost forever.

Sigil is, theoretically, a completely neutral ground: no wars are waged here, no armies pass through. Furthermore, no deities can enter into Sigil; the Lady has barred them from the Cage. Of course, Sigil is hardly peaceful; with such a condensed population, consisting of everything from devas to demons, violence is common, usually befalling the foolhardy and incautious. Most natives of Sigil ("Cagers") are quite jaded as a result of living here.

Sigil is divided into six districts, called wards:

• The Hive Ward, the slum and the ghetto, home to the poor, the rogues, and the unwanted dregs of the city.
• The Lower Ward, an industrial district, clogged up with the smoke from the foundries and from the portals to the Lower Planes.
• The Clerk's Ward, an affluent district, home to most of the city's lower-rung bureaucrats and middlemen.
• The Market and Guildhall Wards are the home to the traders, craftsmen, artisans, guild members and other members of the middle class.
• The Lady's Ward, the richest and most exclusive section of the city, is home to the elites of society and of its government.

The Astral Plane is the plane of thought and memory, and of psychic energy; it is where gods go when they die or are forgotten (or, most likely, both). Some strange creatures, such as the tyrannous githyanki, use the petrified corpses of dead gods as floating fortresses. The Astral Plane is unique in that it is infinitesimal instead of infinite; there is no space or time here, though both catch up with a visitor to the plane once it leaves. The souls of the newly dead pass through here on their way to the afterlife from the Material Planes.

Material Plane

The material plane, also known as the Prime Material, holds many worlds not unlike our own, most of which have no direct connection with Planescape save the occasional portal or magical spell. People coming from such worlds are often treated as clueless inferiors by the planar elitists who dwell in Sigil and other planes.

Ethereal Plane

The Ethereal is often likened to an ocean, but rather than water it is a sea of boundless possibility. It consists of two parts: a Border Ethereal which connects to each Material and Inner Plane, and the Deep Ethereal which acts as the incubator to many potential demiplanes and other proto-magical realms. From the Border Ethereal, you can see a misty grey-scale version of the plane from which you are traveling; however, each plane is only connected to its own Border Ethereal, which means inter-planar travel necessitates entering the Deep Ethereal and then exiting into the destination plane's own Border. Many demiplanes, such as that which houses the Ravenloft setting, can be found in the Deep Ethereal; most demiplanes are born here, and many fade back into nothingness here.

Inner Planes

The Inner Planes are the building blocks of the multiverse, the elements and energies from which all else is created. They are arranged in a sphere; at the top is the Positive Material Plane, the plane of life and vibrant energy, and at the bottom the Negative Material Plane, the plane of death, entropy, stagnation and the forces that bind and empower the undead. The four classical elements (Air and Earth, Fire and Water) lie on the "equator" of the "globe" that makes up the Inner Planes. Where the true elements touch each other the Para-Elements are formed. Where Air meets Fire, Smoke is formed; Fire and Earth yield Magma; Earth and Water create Ooze; and Air plus Water equals Ice. Where the Positive and Negative planes touch the Elemental Planes, Quasi-Elements are formed. None of the opposing planes touch one another, as they cancel each other out violently, particularly in the case of Positive and Negative Energy.

The Shadow Plane

The Plane of Shadow was once a demiplane but recently became a full-fledged transitive plane. It is, as one would expect, an empty plane of darkness, where shadows are cast without any source of light. The Shadow Plane connects to other planes not only through portals but also through darkness; this is especially true on the Material Plane, where a monster or mage might use the shadows as a form of teleportation.

Demiplanes

Demiplanes are minor planes, most of which are artificial. Demiplanes are commonly created by wizards and demigods. Naturally-occurring demiplanes are rare; most such demiplanes are actually fragments of other planes that have been somehow split apart from their parent plane. Demiplanes are often constructed to resemble the Material Plane, though a few--mostly those created by non-humans--are quite alien.

The Factions

The Factions are the philosophically-derived power groups of the planes. In particular, the factions controlled, until recently, the political climate of the city of Sigil. Each of the factions is based around one particular belief system; many of the factions' beliefs make them enemies where their other goals and actions might have made them allies. There are fifteen factions in total, per a decree of the Lady of Pain; any additional factions emerging would be subject to her wrath. The fifteen factions are:

• The Athar ("Defiers", "The Lost"), who deny not only the gods' right to pass judgment over mortals, but their very divinity. They claim that the gods (who they call "powers") are powerful but do not deserve worship. The Athar are broadly derived from real-world atheists and agnostics.
• The Believers of the Source ("Godsmen"), who believe that each life is a test, and that every person has the potential to become a god.
• The Bleak Cabal ("Bleakers", "Madmen"), who deny that any belief system has any merit; as they see it, the universe has physical rules, but no metaphysical or philosophical ones.
• The Doomguard ("Sinkers"), who believe in the sanctity and inevitability of entropy. They see the decay and destruction of the universe as necessary; for once it is destroyed all imperfections will be gone with it, paving the way for a perfect new world.
• The Dustmen ("The Dead") believe that both life and death are false states of existence, that there is a state of True Death which can only be accomplished by denying one's emotions and physical wants and needs.
• The Fated ("Takers", "The Heartless") believe that those with power and ability have the right to own what they control and to take what they can from those who are unable to keep it, and that it is their right to exploit any situation to their advantage, regardless of how it affects anyone else.
• The Fraternity of Order ("Guvners"), who believe that knowledge is power; they learn and exploit both the natural laws of the universe and the laws of society.
• The Free League ("Indeps"), who reject the other factions and their bureaucratic, hierarchical dogmatism.
• The Harmonium ("Hardheads"), who believe that peace and stability can only be estalished under one rule--theirs.
• The Mercykillers ("The Red Death"), who believe in justice and retribution at the expense of all else.
• The Revolutionary League ("Anarchists"), who believe that social order and man-made laws are inherently corrupt and must be destroyed--though none of their members can agree on what what, if anything, should replace them.
• The Sign of One ("Signers"), who believe that the entire universe is a figment of someone's imagination; most of them are solipsists.
• The Society of Sensation ("Sensates"), who believe that personal experience is the only way to become enlightened.
• The Transcendent Order ("Ciphers"), who believe that physical action and mental thought are individually weak but, when combined, are pure and perfect, becoming more than the sum of their parts.
• The Xaositects ("Chaosmen"), who believe that the only truth is revealed in chaos.

Published Material

Planescape is an expansion of the idea presented in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide (First Edition) and the original Manual of the Planes. It in turn inspired the computer role-playing game and the revised edition of the Manual of the Planes; material from the latter has been incorporated into the Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide (Third Edition Revised).

External links

• http://www.planewalker.com/
• http://www.mimir.net/

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