> [!Attribution] > The information below is an alternative take on the Pathfinder 2E planes and multiverse, and is based on and inspired by original Pathfinder lore and content. Several segments are directly copied and pasted from the pathfinderwiki and aonprd websites. > References: > https://2e.aonprd.com/Planes.aspx?Category=2 > https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Plane Beyond the planet of Ostium and the dark void around it lie the vast planes of existence referred to as the Cosmos. Often alien and dangerous, most of these planes embody some foundational aspect of reality—one of the chief elements that make up the rest of the universe, a kind of fundamental energy, or a divine alignment. Each plane is a reality unto itself, with its own laws of reality, various physical traits such as gravity and chronology, and metaphysical traits such as divine alignment and magical amplification. Many planes have their own native inhabitants who might visit, grant benefits to residents of, or cause havoc across the Material plane or other planes. >An artist's interpretation depicting a map of the Cosmos, focusing on the interactions and the influences of the planes. ![[Art_Planes_3 (The Great Beyond by Paizo).png]] >*Art: The Great Beyond by Paizo* Each plane is effectively a standalone, seemingly infinite world, differentiating them from demiplanes, which are finite and measurable. Planes are also often traversable via means of planar travel, while demiplanes are sometimes subject to more restrictive access. >An artist's interpretation depicting a catalogue of most of the known planes of the Cosmos ![[Art_Planes_1 (Map to the Planes by SirDidymus).jpeg]] >*Art: Map to the Planes by SirDidymus* The planes are typically categorized by their relation and interaction with the Material Plane and the planet Ostium is often used as a center and a point of reference when discussing other planes. Defying this categorization however are the recent discoveries of the planar manifestations of dimensions of reality, permeating across nearly all planes of the cosmos. Planar scholars have added the recently discovered dimensional plane of Time, alongside the recently re-categorized dimensional plane of the Dreamlands to the category of [[The Planes#Dimensional Planes|Dimensional Planes]], and have begun the search for other planes fitting this category. Moving past these new developments, the categorization of the planes around the Material Plane begins with the [[The Planes#Transitive Planes|Transitive Planes]]. These planes coexists and are connected with one or more other planes, in many places their connection being so close and strong that events in one are reflected in another. These planes are also often used for their namesake as methods of travel from one plane to another, or using their peculiar properties to bypass some limitation in a connected plane. Further out from the planes layered across the Material Plane are the [[The Planes#Inner Sphere Planes|Inner Sphere Planes]], which from a Ostium centric perspective form the heart of the Cosmos. They are the home of mortal life, the focus of divine attention, the source of mortal souls, and the origin point of the great cycle of quintessence that fuels the motions and stability of reality itself. While previously it was believed that the Elemental planes were arranged in nested shells growing away from the Material Planes, recent discoveries have led scholars to propose that the Elemental planes exist in a single, constantly morphing and shifting shell around the Material Plane, while the Energy planes, through extra-dimensional means and connections, exist both outside of this shell, and also within it, connected to the Material Plane through the Ethereal and Shadow planes. Finally, loosely outside of the Elemental shell surrounding the Material plane, are the [[The Planes#Outer Sphere Planes|Outer Sphere Planes]]. These planes are the manifest realms of divine alignment: chaos, evil, good, law, neutrality, and their admixtures. They are populated by celestials, fiends, monitors, and the divine. Per the current understanding of religious scholars and practitioners, the Outer Sphere planes are the backdrop upon which the mortal afterlife reaches its apparent conclusion, and the end destination of the [[River of Souls]]. The Outer Planes are regions of stability adrift in the raw, chaotic quintessence of the primordial Maelstrom. Below is the list of all currently known planes of the Cosmos deemed significant and foundational to reality, including their divine alignment, any known divine beings residing or ruling within them, and any potential deviations from the reality of the Material Plane. # Dimensional Planes --- ## Dimension of Time >[!Affinity: Lawful Neutral] >Divinity: >\- None/Unknown >\- Outer Gods (Speculated) >Deviation: >\- [[The Planes#Temporally Erratic|Temporally Erratic]], [[The Planes#Physically Immutable|Physically Immutable]] The most recently discovered plane, the dimensional plane of time is the least understood plane. It is all but impossible to access directly, and indirect methods of divining into it only reveal obscure and shifting images, fleeting thoughts, and in unfortunate cases, afflict the diviner with terrible and often incurable mental and spiritual scars. Magical interaction with this plane always draws the attention of vicious and violent creatures whose unnatural travel across the dimension of time makes them all but immortal and defending against them all but impossible. Given the absence of any known temporal paradoxes or anomalies, it is assumed that the eternal flow of time, causing or caused by this dimension, is self-correcting, and historically speaking, damages to the flow of time are quickly repaired. Often violently. ## Dimension of Dreams (Dreamlands) >[!Affinity: Neutral] >Divinity: >\- Outer Gods (Speculated) >Deviation: >\- [[The Planes#Temporally Rapid|Temporally Rapid]], [[The Planes#Physically Impermanent|Physically Impermanent]], [[The Planes#Causal|Causal]] Created and sustained by the collective dreams of sleeping mortals, the Dimension of Dreams (formerly called the Dreamlands) permeates all planes that host a dreaming being. When a creature dreams, regardless of the location of their physical body, they interact directly with the Dreamlands. They create temporary dreamscapes that coalesce near large concentrations of sapient beings and eventually become more permanent. The Dreamlands is exceedingly difficult to access by typical methods of planar travel, but it is posited that one possible method of accessing it is through the Ethereal plane, due to the strong connection between the Ethereal plane and the souls of dreaming mortals. While the presence of divinity within the Dimension of Dreams has not been confirmed, it is assumed that due to its causal nature (as it is a plane created entirely through the collective dreams of dreaming beings), it would be host to some as-of-yet unlocated [[Spatiotemporal Shift Induced Interplanar Leyline Oscillation#Divinity and Sapient Life|Causal or Outer Gods]]. # Transitive Planes --- ## Astral Plane >[!Affinity: Neutral] >Divinity: >\- Alseta, Apsu >Deviation: >\- [[The Planes#Temporally Static|Temporally Static]], [[The Planes#Subjective Gravity|Subjective Gravity]] A deceptively calm void that surrounds the planes of the Inner Sphere, and reaches out to the Outer Sphere at its edges. The Astral Plane (also called Astral Sea) also fills the vast distances between the planets of the Material plane. It separates the planes that it touches from one another and acts as a shield and a buffer between them. Acting as both a blessing and a curse, the Astral Plane creates tremendous distances between the planes it borders should one wish to travel through it from plane to plane. While such distances make accessing other planes more difficult from the Material plane, the void protects life within the Material plane from other planes and shields it from the dangerous metaphysical effects of other planes. These dangers can be seen where the Astral plane borders other planes, such as the blazing lashes of fire from the Plane of Fire, or gravitational draw of the Negative Energy plane. A peculiar deviation of the Astral Plane from reality is the near cessation of the passage of time within it. This deviation is however not the boon it seems as once anything departs the Astral plane, its temporal debt is exacted in short order, aging the entire duration of their stay in the Astral Plane in the a few moments. ## Ethereal Plane >[!Affinity: Neutral] >Divinity: >\- None/Unknown >Deviation: >\- [[The Planes#Subjective Gravity|Subjective Gravity (weak)]] The Ethereal Plane is a vast, misty realm overlapping each of the Inner Planes. Formed by the interacting tidal forces of creation and destruction from the Positive and Negative Energy Planes, this plane swirls with currents and eddies of fog, lit only by erratic pulses of soft green and blue luminescence and the dim reflection of the light of the planes it overlays. While it is a reflection of the planes it borders, it is also host to strange structures that create a sense of unease in mortals. Many magically capable mortals use the Ethereal plane's extreme planar proximity to the Material plane to circumvent physical or metaphysical barriers in the Material plane. Such use however is not free of risk as the plane is host to dangerous creatures capable of using its transitive properties exceedingly well to hunt mortals in the Material plane. With the Ethereal plane being the most common location for the souls of the departed to form after their deaths, it is also inhabited by innumerable spirits, most of them confused or afraid, seeking the beginning of the River of Souls. Some of these lost souls, either through the interference of malicious beings or through their own decay, transform into hostile spiritual undead, seeking to harm any mortals they can find. ## Fey Wild >[!Affinity: Chaotic Neutral] >Divinity: >\- The Eldest: The nine divines of the Fey Wild >Deviation: >\- [[The Planes#Temporally Erratic|Temporally Erratic]], [[The Planes#Metamorphic|Metamorphic]] The Fey wild, now serving as an extreme and chaotic mirror of the Material plane, was the first creation of the [[Spatiotemporal Shift Induced Interplanar Leyline Oscillation#Divinity and Sapient Life|Origin gods]], and a first draft of the Material plane. Abandoned by the divine and excluded from the cycle of souls, it has become a realm of extremes. From colors and sensations beyond those possible on the Material plane, to uniquely cruel and vicious creatures, it is a realm as dangerous as it is beautiful. Due to the nature of its creation, it has an unstable reality. Distance and time are inconsistent within it, and its connections to the Material plane are almost never permanent. Its native inhabitants, the Fey, reflect the chaotic nature of their realm and mortals often find their non-linear and absurd logic and their unpredictable nature difficult to engage with. While given its history, odd nature, and inconsistent reality, one may assume that the plane and its inhabitants would not engage directly with the Material plane, but that is not true. In harmless cases, some fey creatures cross over into the Material Plane and play confusing tricks on mortals. In more serious cases however, though still on a small scale, the Fey will at times attempt to indoctrinate or even kidnap mortals (most likely as a solution to their severance from the cycle of souls). And in a grander scope it is said that many Fey societies, rulers, and royalty, envisions goals and machinations for the Material plane beyond the comprehension of mortals. ## Shadow Plane >[!Affinity: Chaotic Neutral] >Divinity: >\- Zon-Kuthon >\- Velstrac demagogues >Deviation: >\- [[The Planes#Planar affinity|Shadow Plane Affinity]] A murky, distorted, and imperfect mirror of the Material Plane, the Shadow Plane overlaps the Material Plane and serves as a buffer or conduit between it and the Negative Energy Plane. The Shadow Plane exists in a state of perpetually dim half-light, occasionally lit ever so slightly brighter with infrequent flashes of violet light. Like the Ethereal plane, the landscape can contain similar features to the overlapping Material Plane, but nearly always in warped or twisted fashions. Cities on the Material Plane might exist on the Shadow Plane, often in ruins and sometimes as terrible, frightening replicas, home to dangerous and malevolent denizens. ![[Art_Planes_Shadow (Manual of the Planes, WotC).jpg]] >*Art: Manual of the Planes, WotC* Creatures who trace their lineage or origination to this plane are far less put off by its grim nature, and almost as if welcoming them home, the plane seems less dangerous to them. As such, there exist communities of sapient being who over generations of weathering the darkness of the plane have become altered by it, and grown accustomed to it. ## Maelstrom >[!Affinity: Chaotic Neutral] >Divinity: >\- Nethys >\- Speakers of the Depths >\- Protean lords >\- Outer Gods (Speculated) >Deviation: >\- [[The Planes#Metamorphic|Metamorphic]], [[The Planes#Temporally Erratic|Temporally Erratic]], [[The Planes#Physically Impermanent|Physically Impermanent]], [[The Planes#Empyrean Causality|Empyrean Causality (Theorized)]] The Maelstrom, infinite and ancient, existed long before all other planes of the Cosmos. It permeates all metaphysical space between all known and unknown planes, and as such is speculated to border all planes of existence, even if such a connection has not been found yet. Where the Astral Plane is the plane between the planes of the Inner Sphere, the Maelstrom envelopes the Outer Sphere planes. Much like mortals who traverse between planes through the Astral Plane or the Ethereal Plane, the inhabitants of the Outer planes traverse the Maelstrom to reach other planes. The Maelstrom is the metaphorical (and at times literal) ocean of raw, chaotic, quintessence, constantly forming into physical reality and falling apart. Where the Maelstrom borders another plane, the cycle solidifies, taking on the attributes of the bordering plane (though in an odd, distorted, and chaotic manner), and at times even slowly joining onto and expanding the bordering plane. Far away from other planes where laws of reality begin to lose their hold, the Maelstrom becomes the Cerulean Void: a trackless, liquid infinity devoid of stability and permanence. A landscape of chaotic unreality incomprehensible to mortals where unbound creation and cataclysmic destruction are said to take place. # Inner Sphere Planes --- ## Positive Energy Plane >[!Affinity: Neutral] >Divinity: >\- None/Unknown >Deviation: >\- [[The Planes#Energy Saturation|Positive Energy Saturation]], [[The Planes#Subjective Gravity|Subjective Gravity]], [[The Planes#Unbounded|Unbounded]] Known as Creation’s Forge, the Positive Energy Plane is at once the source of life-sustaining positive energy, the origin of all pre-incarnate mortal souls, and paradoxically the most innately hostile of all of the planes. While positive energy is deadly to undead and beneficial to living beings, such is the intensity of the plane that unmitigated exposure ultimately incinerates any extraplanar beings without sufficient magical protection. The plane is inhabited by powerful mysterious isolationist creatures that are hostile to all extraplanar life. Referred to as "gardeners" these creatures are believed to be the custodians or possibly the creators of pre-incarnate souls, and the first step in the great cycle of mortal souls. ## Plane of Air >[!Affinity: Neutral] >Divinity: >\- Elemental Lords of Air >Deviation: >\- [[The Planes#Elemental affinity|Elemental affinity with Air]], [[The Planes#Subjective Gravity|Subjective Gravity]] The Plane of Air is a vast realm of wind, storms, and skies. Illuminated by great artificial globes of flame and distant starlight from the material universe, the plane is populated by air elementals, dragons, mephits, and a great empire of djinn. ![[Art_Planes_Air (Wuggynaut).png]] >*Art: The Elemental Plane of Air by Wuggynaut* ## Plane of Earth >[!Affinity: Neutral] >Divinity: >\- Elemental Lords of Earth >Deviation: >\- [[The Planes#Elemental affinity|Elemental affinity with Earth]] A great and rocky expanse situated within the Elemental shell, the plane hosts a unique and varied ecology of creatures at home in its rocky depths. Far from an endless, solid expanse, the Plane of Earth is riddled with great caverns and cave systems, excavated artificial vaults, vast crystalline geodes, and underground oceans and springs of magma. ## Plane of Fire >[!Affinity: Neutral] >Divinity: >\- Elemental Lords of Fire >Deviation: >\- [[The Planes#Elemental affinity|Elemental affinity with Fire]] Sometimes as bright as a star in the Material plane, the Plane of Fire is a bright and violent part of the Elemental shell of the Inner Sphere. A perpetual ocean of fire with skies of smoke, storms of raining cinders, and lakes and rivers of magma flowing along its shifting border with the Elemental Plane of Earth, the plane is incredibly hostile to those unprepared for its natural hazards. Despite its dangers to life, it is rumored to be the home of a grand interplanar city where beings across all planes meet. ## Plane of Water >[!Affinity: Neutral] >Divinity: >\- Elemental Lords of Water >Deviation: >\- [[The Planes#Elemental affinity|Elemental affinity with Water]], [[The Planes#No Gravity|No Gravity]] Like the tides of oceans, the connections between the Plane of Water and its neighbouring elemental planes or any other planes appear and disappear in cycles. Within it is the limitless stretches of saline, fresh, and brackish seas teeming with all manner of oceanic life, lit by light from its borders with other planes. ## Material Plane >[!Affinity: Neutral] >Divinity: >\- Gozreh >\- Outer Gods The Material Plane is the prosaic universe and the home of mortal life. Host to uncountable stars and uncountable planets, including planet Ostium. The Material Plane serves as the destination for pre-incarnate souls descending onto it from the Positive Energy Plane, each mortal life born, living, and dying before sending its spirit toward the planes of the Outer Sphere for judgment. The Material Plane is the creation and focus of the Origin gods, each of whom is invested in fostering their own particular portfolio among mortal worshippers and the material world at large. Yet in the dark void between its stars where the Material plane, the Astral plane, and the Maelstrom blend into one another becoming indistinguishable, reside the Outer Gods. Causal divine beings created by the collective thought of all sapient beings, they rule reality and reflect it. Other than the war they wage against the Origin gods, little else is known of them. ## Negative Energy Plane >[!Affinity: Neutral] >Divinity: >\- None/Unknown >Deviation: >\- [[The Planes#Energy Saturation|Negative Energy Saturation]], [[The Planes#Subjective Gravity|Subjective Gravity]], [[The Planes#Unbounded|Unbounded]] The vast void of the Negative Energy Plane is a merciless, lightless expanse of manifest destruction and nothingness. Sapping and consuming the life force of any living creature exposed to its energies, it corrodes and disintegrates material objects to rubble, then dust, and then nothing at all. Such is the strength of this entropy that border regions of any neighbouring planes are barren wastelands, devoid of life, and only populated by strange alien crystalline bird-like creatures that hunt any living or undead beings with violent determination. Because of its extremely hostile and destructive nature, and the lack of any valuable resources, not much effort has been made in its study or exploration, and as a result little to no information exists of this realm. In the absence of concrete information, rumors and folktales tell of a jagged landscapes host to uncountable swarms of undead, obsidian cities host to alien crystaline populations, and even a dark reflection of the entire Cosmos. # Outer Sphere Planes --- ## Abaddon >[!Affinity: Neutral Evil (strong)] >Divinity: >\- Urgathoa >\- Daemon Harbingers >\- Horsemen of the Apocalypse >Deviation: >\- None ![[Art_Planes_Abaddon (The Four Horsemen, Paizo).jpg]] >*Art: The Four Horsemen, Paizo* A perpetual eclipse looms above the bleak wastelands of Abaddon, shedding an eerie half-light over a landscape of toxic, disease-ridden swamps, volcanic wastes, fog-shrouded forests, and the glittering, memory-devouring ribbon of the River Styx. An unnatural silence blankets the plane, cut only by the wails of petitioners falling from the sky like screaming, falling stars, or those already condemned upon the ground, desperate to find safety that doesn't exist. ## Abyss >[!Affinity: Chaotic Evil (strong)] >Divinity: >\- Droskar, Lamashtu >\- Nascent demon lords, >\- Qlippoth lords >Deviation: >\- None Like a corrosive rot in the roots of the Outer Sphere, or an antithetical, rival reality run aground into the Maelstrom at the dawn of time, the [[Beyond the Stormwall/1 - Lore/World/The Abyss|Abyss]] is a place of horror and destruction fed by mortal sin. Each of its innumerable regions is a unique iteration of chaos and evil, each with its own terrible and twisted environment, with one driving maxim: the strong survive, while the weak suffer and are destroyed. ## Axis >[!Affinity: Lawful Neutral (strong)] >Divinity: >\- Abadar, Irori, Norgorber >\- Primeval inevitables >Deviation: >\- None Axis is a realm of pure, absolute law, unhindered by the moral concerns of good or evil. The plane takes the form of a vast, gleaming, perfectly structured city. Built at the base of Pharasma’s Spire, the Perfect City is a bulwark against the chaos of the Maelstrom and Abyss, ## Boneyard >[!Affinity: Neutral] >Divinity: >\- Groetus, Pharasma >\- Psychopomp ushers >Deviation: >\- [[The Planes#Temporally Static|Temporally Static]] ![[Art_Planes_Boneyard (Unknown).jpg]] >*Art: Unknown* The Boneyard spans an impossibly tall and ever-growing spire of gleaming quintessence that rises up into the silver void of the Astral Plane. As the destination of the River of Souls, the Boneyard is where the souls of the mortal dead arrive for judgment and for Pharasma and her psychopomp servitors to direct them to their respective afterlives. ## Elysium >[!Affinity: Chaotic Good (strong)] >Divinity: >\- Calistria, Cayden Cailean, Desna, Gorum >\- Elven Pantheon >\- Empyreal lords >Deviation: >\- None Verdant, wild, and unrestrained by law, where passion and creation are fostered and rewarded, the plane of Elysium is a place of wild, idealized natural beauty. The so-called Promised Land and its inhabitants represent a wide variety of freely given benevolence, often willing to directly aid visitors but more often serving as inspirations and muses to foster positive change and self-realized success. ## Heaven >[!Affinity: Lawful Good (strong)] >Divinity: >\- Erastil, Iomedae >\- Dwarven Pantheon >\- Emyreal Lords >Deviation: >\- None The great mountain of Heaven is the realm of structured benevolence made manifest. Organized into seven tiers, the mountain’s solid appearance is actually malleable, making way for a vast assemblage of varied environments to accommodate both its own celestials and the souls who migrate there. Devoted to defending the innocent and crusading against the wicked, Heaven’s archons marshal into vast armies, commanded by their own empyreal lords. ## Hell >[!Affinity: Lawful Evil (strong)] >Divinity: >\- Asmodeus >\- Archdevils >\- Infernal dukes >Deviation: >\- None ![[Art_Planes_Hell (Levalochs menace tormented petitioners, Paizo).jpg]] >*Art: Levalochs menace tormented petitioners, Paizo* Hell is the realm of devils, the cosmic seat of tyranny and malignant law, and the divine domain of Asmodeus, the Prince of Darkness. Here every act is authorized, calculated, recorded, and set like perfectly ordered clockwork within a vast machine driven on methodical suffering and greased with pain and purification. The nine inverted layers of Hell violently oppose the surrounding fabric of the Maelstrom, each layer shaped to reflect the nature of its ruling archdevil. ## Nirvana >[!Affinity: Neutral Good (strong)] >Divinity: >\- Sarenrae, Shelyn >\- Empyreal Lords >Deviation: >\- None The pastoral paradise of Nirvana is the realm of purest good, a plane that promises sanctuary to the weary and enlightenment and transcendence to those who seek it out. Filled with beautiful wilderness of all types in perfect harmony with its occupants, Nirvana’s wilds are home to angels and others. --- --- # Planar Deviations from the Material Plane: ##### Temporally Erratic Planes with this trait have a flow of time that unpredictably slows down or speeds up relative to other planes. ##### Temporally Rapid Planes with this trait have a flow of time that is consistently faster than that of other planes. ##### Temporally Static On planes with this trait, the passage of time can be slowed *almost* to a halt. This effect is inconsistent in regards to events, effects, or magic, that was initiated within the plane. ##### Physically Immutable The physical nature of a plane with this trait can’t be changed in any way. ##### Physically Impermanent On planes with this trait, the nature of the plane's physical landscape is fleeting and temporary, and the plane's landscape is constantly shifting and being destroyed. ##### Metamorphic On planes with this trait, the plane’s physical nature can be changed by things other than physical force or magic, such as thoughts or chance. ##### Causal Planes with this trait were not created by divine beings or magical means, but rather through the collective thought, dreams, or other subconscious influence of all sapient beings. The nature of such a plane is fluid and constantly influenced by the changing collective psyche of all sapient life. ##### Empyrean Causality Much like a plane with the Causal trait, however a plane with this trait was created through the subconscious influence of divine beings, and remains fluid and reflective of that influence. ##### Subjective Gravity On planes with this trait, all bodies of mass can be centers of gravity with the same amount of force (Standard Ostium gravity unless specified otherwise), but only if a non-mindless creature wills it. This enables a form of pseudo-flight by falling towards other objects in directions other than "down". ##### No Gravity Planes with this trait have no directional gravity. This can cause unexpected dangers for extraplanar visitors such as the inability to move, or slowly creating an unbreathable bubble around themselves. ##### Planar affinity Planes with this trait are the cosmic and historic source of beings of the same trait. Creatures who have the energy trait of this plane are able to withstand the difficulties of the plane with ease, and seem to be less prone to the dangers of the plane as well. ##### Elemental affinity Planes with this trait are composed mostly of one particular fundamental element and have the potential of empowering elementals of that specific element. ##### Energy Saturation Plains with this trait are so awash with this energy with such intensity that the mere presence of an extraplanar being in their environment can be harmful or even lethal. The natives of the plane and most beings made purely of the specific energy type are immune to these harms. Depending on the intensity of the energy saturation, resistance and immunities to the energy type may fail. ##### Unbounded Discovered by the planer scholar and wizard Euclid, Planes with this trait loop back on themselves at inconsistent points near their "boundaries" and in inconsistent directions. This phenomena is referred to as non-Euclidean boundary looping. This is different than a spherical world which always "loops" at consistent points in consistent directions near its "boundaries".