Roleplay Ramblings: Cosmology part 1
Inner Planes
For as long as there have been words, mortals have been trying to understand and explain the world around them, even the parts that they cannot directly see. Even now we learn more and more about our cosmos, revealing how much we still don’t understand.
This week, we’re going to talk a little bit about the multiverse is arranged in both pathfinder and older editions of the world’s oldest roleplaying game, not to mention certain mythological beliefs on the matter, the contents of these multiverses, and how to create a wholly new cosmology that fits your setting.
Today in particular, we’ll be looking at the “Inner” planes, and what those typically include.
One of the most common planes in fantasy cosmology is an ethereal plane, or a “spirit world”. Typically this is the realm of ghosts and other incorporeal spirits and haunts, not to mention many living ethereal beings, such as phase spiders, xill, and the like. The ethereal plane often completely overlaps the material world, allowing one to view material objects through the mists of the ether. Some versions may even have equivalents of said objects.
That last detail, however, is more the defining detail of the Plane of Shadow, that dark reflection of the material. There in the dark un-light strange creatures dwell in twisted reflections of material plane structures, either sinister versions of the real thing, or even more bizarre versions, such as pits where towers stand, and so on. Space is also distorted there, allowing the daring to travel long distances through it, albeit at the risk of inaccuracy when reentering the material plane.
Extending beyond such overlapping planes, one can see the elemental planes, made up of each of the four elements, Air, Fire, Earth, and Water, with more complex features here and there, each being the home of elementals, genies, and other exotic beings adapted and made primarily from their surrounding elements. Each one of these elemental planes supposedly serves as the fuel source for the creation of all worlds on the material plane, and even possibly other planes.
The positive and negative energy planes function somewhat like the elemental planes as well, serving as infinite wellsprings of constant genesis and constant entropy respectively, both being lethal in their own right. The former is home to all sorts of abundant and strange beings, including the Jyoti, who jealously guard the wellspring of all life against nearly all beings, especially deities and their servants. Similarly, the negative energy plane is a mostly empty, all-consuming place, home to the bizarre sceanduinar, as well as undead that are drawn to, or could not resist the pull of, the sucking, consuming power of the un-energy that animates them.
Of course, there is also the Astral Plane, the space between spaces, between all other planes. One can get to all other planes from here, in theory, but the vast emptiness is hard to navigate, and the denizens are quite bizarre.
While those listed above form the core inner planes seen in most settings, there are also others, such as the First World, home of the Fey and the template for all material worlds, The demiplane of dreams, Leng, and more. Each one has its own qualities, and some may simply be extensions of other planes. Regardless, they add a bit more flavor to the inner planes.
And that covers inner planes. I could go on for ages, and indeed Paizo has gone at length on the Elemental planes at the very least, in their Planes of Power supplement. I heartily recommend it. Tune in tomorrow for a look at the Outer Planes!
