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Planes of Existence
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The Multiverse is composed of nearly infinite Planes of Existance shaped like concentric
spheres one inside the other. Collectively this is called The Sphere of Reality.
The size a particular Plane is not actually linked to its location within the multiverse;
some Planes of Existance near the center of the Sphere are practically infinite,
while those at the top and the bottom are smaller.
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Each Plane features its own rules of what is and is not possible and each is organized
and structured seperately, though there is a marked tendency for Planes that are
in close proximity along the central axis to be very similar.
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Each of the four poles of the Sphere are nothing but fonts of powerful Primal Forces;
these emission points for opposed energies are called the Primal Nodes. From the
"left" pole originates pure Positive Energy, which is the wellspring of
all life and creative force in the Multiverse.
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Correspondingly the "right" pole absorbs all Positive Energy, reversing
it to a force of anti-life and destruction. From the "top" pole a force
is projected that orders all things into a perfect Stasis, a state of perfect unchanging
existance. The "bottom" pole draws and distorts all things, disrupting
Stasis with pure Entropy.
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THE OUTER PLANES
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The Outer Planes, the layers closest to the terminus of the Sphere, are composed
of pure Energy. The Outer Planes are vast and formless, and due to their relatively
close proximity to the Primal Nodes are strongly aligned along the Primal axis.
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The Outer Planes are inhabited by powerful entities that lack physical forms, being
nothing more than formless sentiences. These entities are vastly powerful, able
to manipulate the pure forces of the Multiverse to their will. These entities are
rare, unique, strongly attuned to specific Primal Forces, and often quite meddlesome.
As these entities are so strongly attuned to Primal Forces, there is a marked opposition
between entities attuned to opposite Primal Forces, and an eternal struggle between
these entities has been waged since the dawn of time.
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The Outer Planes closest to the Primal Nodes are sparsely inhabited by the most
powerful of these entities, while those closest to the Material Planes are inhabited
by the weakest most of which are the souls of deceased mortals and of inconsequential
power. Most of these nascent entities will rejoin the Material Planes, reborn into
a new body to begin another turn of existance, but the most powerful will not be
reborn, remaining Outer Planar entities.
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As Outer Planar entities grow in power, they will eventually ascend to a higher
Plane. Power may be gained by a wide variety of means, but the most often employed
is the garnering of worshipers among mortals. Defeating an entity of an opposing
Primal Force and draining their life energy is another popular means to power.
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Some of the most powerful Outer Planar entities, for reasons of the their own, have
been known to turn their powerful wills towards imposing structure and form to the
amorphous energies of the Outer Planes, making pocket realms with form and substance,
and rules regarding what is and is not possible.
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These pockets are referred to collectively as the Outer Realms. Mortal scholars
who refer to the Outer Planes are almost invariably talking about the Outer Realms,
as the true nature of the Outer Planes is beyond the ken of mere mortals, and any
mortal traveling to the true Outer Planes outside of a Realm unprotected would be
instantly vaporized.
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Many Outer Planar entities interfere in the Material Planes, where they take on
an aspect that is comprehensible to mortals, and are typically worshipped as Gods
or feared as Demons.
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THE INNER PLANES
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The Core of the Sphere, the place of perfect balance between all the opposing eneregies
originating from the poles of the Sphere, is composed of the building blocks
of physical existance, and the Inner Planes are like cross-sectioned pie shaped
wedges of pure Elemental Forces extending off of this Core, blending together the
elements across an unknown number of layers until finally it all merges together
into a homogenous whole, forming numerous Material Planes where all the Elements
are represented.
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The number of different Elements are numerous, but most scholars of the Planes tend
to group them into a classic arangement of 4 Elements, aranged along the axis from
the Core to each of the Primal Forces. Along the Entropic Axis gasses form, along
the Static Axis heavy minerals form, along the Positive Axis liquids form, and along
the Negative Axis flammables form.
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Similar to the Outer Planes, the Inner Planes are inhabited by disembodied sentiences.
However, the Inner Planes are not as energy rich as the Outer Planes, and the sentiences
that inhabit them are far less powerful as their Outer Planar cousins.
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The vast majority of Inner Planar entities manifest via manipulation of Elemental
substances to create a tangible form. Just as Outer Planar entities are attuned
to Primal Forces so to are Inner Planar entities, and thus are arranged along the
Elements laying along the Primal axis they are attuned to.
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The entities are generally referred to as Elementals by mortals. Some of the most
powerful Elementals approach the potency of weaker Outer Planar entities and though
still aligned along the Elements based upon their Primal Forces attunement, their
forms and abilities are not solely reliant on Elemental forces. These powerful entites
are referred to by many names, but call themselves the Jan.
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THE MATERIAL PLANES
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The Material Planes are where what might be thought of as "normal" life
occurs, although each of the Inner and Outer Planes is inhabited by a kind of life.
Those Material Planes closest to the Inner Planes tend to be odd, with unusual arrangements
of Elements, while those Material Planes farthest from the Core tend to be vast,
containing broad Universes of scattered Elements, with infinitely diverse arrangements
of physical laws.
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Towards the middle arc of the Material Planes there are numerous Material Planes
composed of a single continuous "world" or very small Universes.
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The Material Planes are home to a wide variety of lifeforms, some of which
are quite powerful in their own right, but all of which are ultimately mortal. On
some worlds life was created by one or more Outer Planar entities, on others it
occured naturally as a process of evolution, and in others a mixture of both. Some
worlds are barren, or lack sentient life, others have one sentient race, and still
others are home to many forms of sentient life.
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Still other worlds may have gone through one or more eras with a race rising and
falling, followed by another sentient race emerging. Some worlds are magic-rich,
and some have no magic at all. The only thing that can be said collectively about
the Material Planes is that Planes which lay near one another when considered in
the bigger picture of the Sphere tend to be more similar than not.
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THE TRANSITIVE PLANES
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There are also two special planes of existance that lay between other planes.
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SHADOW/ETHREAL PLANE
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Each Material Plane has an overlapping "Shadow" Plane, which is a dark
copy of itself. Also known as the "Ethereal" Plane, the "Spirit World",
"Limbo", the "Dreamscape" or a host of other terms often influenced
by local religions and spiritual beliefs. In addition to touching the minds of all
living creatures on a particular Material Plane, the Shadow Plane is also the home
of restless spirits that did not complete their journey to the Outer Planes after
death, and the source of pure dreams.
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Some magic users learn to travel through the Shadow Plane and to shape its substance
into waking dreams that can affect the living. Each Shadow Plane only touches one
Material Plane, so it is not possible to travel to different Planes using it.
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ASTRAL PLANE
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All the Planes of the Sphere are interconnected however, via a vast, mysterious,
and amorphous realm called the "Astral Plane". The Astral Plane is a formless,
featureless, seemingly endless reality which either interconnects and permeates
all things, or is simply the Void between all things, depending on what Planar scholar
you ask. Other scholars believe that the so-called Plane is not actually a Plane
at all in the true sense, but is rather akin to the Outer Realms, illusionary substance
woven out of formless nothingness.
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Regardless of its exact nature, the Astral is the conduit between all other Planes;
to travel from one to another requires passage through it. Via some means this passage
is instaneous and never realized, other forms involve travel directly through it
which is both powerful and hazardous, requiring special abilities or magic to survive.
Some entities have become lost in the Astral Plane, or deliberately opt to reside
there in a state of arrested existance. The Astral Plane is a fairly energy-poor
realm, and many such entities rely on predation of other travelers for sustenance,
or else stage occasional sorties into Material Planes for prey.
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As an interesting oddity, much as many Oceans on some Material Planes have currents
so to does the Astral Plane have Corridors, "tunnels" flowing directly
from one or more Planes to another. Sometimes these Corridors link Planes in close
proximity to one another, and in other cases they bridge Planes that are orders
of magnitude higher or lower in the Sphere.
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In many cases the entrances to these Corridors, called Nexi in the plural or Nexus
in the singular, are so thin that any creature might step through it even accidentally
and emerge suddenly in a new reality (which can sometimes be instantly fatal depending
on the nature of the new Plane. Some Nexi are invisible, others are like whirlpools
of reality, some are open all the time, others open randomly or on some idiosynchratic
cycle.
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