Worldbuild24 The Fundamental Planes

 Skipping foward a couple of regions is the Astral Sea and Elemental Chaos. They had books about them and a lot of adventure descriptions, but I ran out of time to include them. Hence the short write-up. They were always a later priority due to how remote planar travel is in games, even if starting from 4E meant it was more common than other editions, bar Planescape.

The Fundamental Planes

Geography

Earthern Dagger, The – An earthburg of the Elemental Chaos, this infamous rock is feared for its erratic worldfall from its Plane to Earth. Many Dragons and wizards have tried to establish lairs and been driven off by other inhabitants or inimical environments as the mountain returns to chaos. Now it is home to the mercury dragon Tananzinaen. He is a great and cunning wyrm who once acted as an associate of young dragons to establish territory for benefits. Chased away by his own missteps, he serves whoever may pay him, reaping havoc and treasure, the wrath of a near God.[i]

Frost Spire – An island of rock and ice in the Sea of Howling Souls, home once to a might frost Giant. Jarl Hargaad was a mighty Viking and built a hoard plundered from dozens of domains within the Astral Sea, the cities of the Elemental Chaos and settlements of Earth. Following his death raiding Gruumsh’s realm. His followers hid his body and his island beneath a storm. His hoard has flooded since mortals of Flotsam and elsewhere find washed-up treasure. Some say the island was Kord’s spear, pinning down the Primordial Suulkar of oceans and water, between life and death.[ii]

Haemnathuun – Among Primordials, Haemnathuun the Blood Lord was exceptionally depraved. Both gluttonous and apparently lewd, his wicked impulses against the Gods gave rise to the blood fiends in his image, which were the inspiration for vampires. In the Dawn War, he invaded the Astral Sea and was slain with a mighty shearing blow, left to drift in the silvery void. Agents of the deities known as astral stalkers claimed the corpse and remain there. The flesh of such a being is potent, and many rumours say Dead Gods and dead primordials do not lie forever.[iii]

Hevastar – Great and beautiful is the Bright City. Among the Astral Sea, one realm throngs with High Traders, pilgrims who have saved for a lifetime, angels and the swaggering holy dead. Hevastar is the place where Ioun, Pelor and Erathis, the King and Queen of Light, walk among their people. A great silver lagoon surrounded by earthmotes and buildings grand. The greatest libraries and scholars are found here. Hevastar is so holy, that even the devils of the Nine Hells hold an embassy here and do no obvious wrongs. For the unfortunate beyond, the border islands are more akin to Earth.[iv]

Homelands of the Genies – All throughout the Elemental Chaos, the Genie races try to maintain some form of organisation amid the change. The dao have carved clusters of earthburgs into the Great Dismal Delve, the court being the Seven Mazeworks. The efreet’s City of Brass has achieved a trade position amid the fire far outside its mere origins. For the djinn, they have no more cities, so the Court of Ice and Steel is merely the greatest freehold, wrestled from fled Primordials. The marids are even fewer and haughty, so they have nothing permanent but their Padisha’s Citadel of Ten Thousand Pearls.[v]

Inchoate Mysteries, Temple of – A cathedral-like building floats in the silver mists. It is home to a sect of Giants who sided with Erathis and the Gods during the Dawn War. Astral giants seek the pursuit of knowledge and invention yet cherish their own privacy. Requiring sign and portents from their goddess to welcome others.[vi]

Sea of Howling Souls – A small location of elemental consistency amid the swirling vortex, the “sea” is a bowl of near-freezing water about fifty miles in diameter. Held in place by a storm of such ferocity that the liquid does not disperse. Even at its most calm the winds kick up the snow and spray. It is only notable because it forms a connection to Earth and so can provide dangerous passage, and it houses the legendary Frost Spire.[vii]

Vyc Zaleeth – Between seas of water and fire is a spire of rock. This is a monastery of the Githzerai, where they ponder chaos and develop counterbalances through mental discipline. Generations have trod the halls murmuring a constant stream of chants and mantras. For those lost in the Elemental Chaos, it is a vital place to compose, so long as you leave the petty conflict of the Planes behind.[viii]

Anthropology

Gith – Somewhere between a Demi-Human and Humanoid race, the gith’s origins have been lost in time to the machinations of the hideous Mind Flayers. Soon after the Dawn War they plotted and brought forth rebellion, slaying their masters wherever they could and driving them into the Underdark. Yet there was division. Those who sought power without became the Githyanki, fierce Dragon-riding raiders of the Astral Sea, building a city out of a dead God. The Githzerai sought power internally and retreated to the Elemental Chaos as monastical people, to perfect their emotional balance against the roiling vortex. Dire enemies mostly.[ix]

High Trade, The – Many students have and will ask as to the predominance of merchant stories to map the Earth. Why do such expeditions as the Elven Merchant Fleet and the windswept caravans of Jungo make their way across hostile wilderness when spelljammers and other Planar vessel travel father and in less time? The difference in returns in the primary motivator. A nigh-irreplaceable, magical and heirloom vessel could easily cross the world and return in a matter of weeks, but with only a single ship’s cargo. Far more valuable trade, from Gloomwrought, distant Sigil or Hevastar and unearthly currencies are their exclusive domain.

 

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[i] See Draconomicon Metal p.148-153

[ii] See Revenge of the Giants pp.98-123

[iii] See Open Grave pp.120-127

[iv] See Manual of the Planes pp.94-96 The Plane Above – Secrets of the Astral Sea pp.61-64 Dragon Magazine #371 pp.19-31

[v] Scattered throughout Manual of the Planes and Secrets of the Plane Below – The Elemental Chaos

[vi] See Revenge of the Giants pp.79-83

[vii] See Revenge of the Giants p.91

[viii] See Draconomicon Metal pp.130-137

[ix] See 4E Players Handbook 3 p.8, The Plane Above – Secrets of the Astral Sea pp.94-96