Page 44 - Dungeon Master's Guide

Wheel, the World Tree, and the World Axis, but you The Orrery. All the Inner and Outer Planes orbit the
can create or adapt whatever model works best for the Material Plane, exerting greater or lesser influence on
planes you want to use in your game. the world as they come nearer and farther. The world of
Eberron uses this cosmological model.
THE GREAT WHEEL The Winding Road. In this cosmology, every plane is
The default cosmological arrangement presented a stop along an infinite road. Each plane is adjacent to
in the Player's Handbook visualizes the planes as a two others, but there's no necessary cohesion between
group of concentric wheels, with the Material Plane adjacent planes; a traveler can walk from the slopes of
and its echoes at the center. The Inner Planes form Mount Celestia onto the slopes of Gehenna.
a wheel around the Material Plane, enveloped in the Mount Olympus. In the Greek cosmology, Mount
Ethereal Plane. Then the Outer Planes form another Olympus stands at the center of the world (the Material
wheel around and behind (or above or below) that one, Plane), with its peak so high that it's actually another
arranged according to alignment, with the Outlands plane of existence: Olympus, the home of the gods. All
linking them all. the Greek gods except Hades have their own domains
This arrangement makes sense of the way the River within Olympus. In Hades, named for its ruler, mortal
Styx flows among the Lower Planes, connecting souls linger as insubstantial shades until they eventually
Acheron, the Nine Hells, Gehenna, Hades, Carceri, the fade into nothing. Tartarus, where the titans are
Abyss, and Pandemonium like beads on a string. But it's imprisoned in endless darkness, lies below Hades. And
not the only possible explanation of the river's course. far to the west of the known world in the Material Plane
are the blessed Elysian Fields. The souls of great heroes
THE WORLD TREE
reside there.
A different arrangement of planes envisions them
Solar Barge. The Egyptian cosmology is defined by
situated among the roots and branches of a great cosmic
the daily path of the sun- across the sky of the Material
tree, literally or figuratively.
Plane, down to the fair Offering Fields in the west,
For example, the Norse cosmology centers on the
where the souls of the righteous live in eternal reward,
World Tree Yggdrasil. The three roots of the World and then beneath the world through the nightmarish
Tree touch the three realms: Asgard (an Outer Plane Twelve Hours of Night. The Solar Barge is a tiny Outer
that includes Valhalla, Vanaheim, Alfheim, and other Plane in its own right, though it exists within the Astral
regions), Midgard (the Material Plane), and Niflheim
Plane and the other Outer Planes in the different stages
(the underworld). The Bifrost, the rainbow bridge,
of its journey.
is a unique transitive plane that connects Asgard One World. In this model, there are no other
and Midgard.
planes of existence, but the Material Plane includes
Similarly, one vision of the planes where the deities places like the bottomless Abyss, the shining Mount
of the Forgotten Realms reside situates a number of Celestia, the strange city of Mechanus, the fortress of
celestial planes in the branches of a World Tree, while Acheron, and so on. All the planes are locations in the
the fiendish planes are linked by a River of Blood. wodd, reachable by ordinary means of travel-though
Neutral planes stand apart from them. Each of these extraordinary effort is required, for example, to sail
planes is primarily the domain of one or more deities, across the sea to the blessed isles of Elysium.
though they are also the homes of celestial and fiendish The Otherworld. In this model, the Material Plane
creatures. has a twin realm that fills the role of all the other planes.
Much like the Feywild, it overlays the Material Plane
THE WORLD AxiS
and can be reached through "thin places" where the
In this view of the cosmos, the Material Plane and its
worlds are particularly close: through caves, by sailing
echoes stand between two opposing realms. The Astral
far across the sea, or in fairy rings in remote forests. It
Plane (or Astral Sea) floats above them, holding any
has dark, evil regions (homes of fiends and evil gods),
number of divine domains (the Outer Planes). Below
sacred isles (homes of celestials and the spirits of the
the Material Plane is the Elemental Chaos, a single,
blessed death), and realms of elemental fury. This
undifferentiated elemental plane where all the elements
otherworld is sometimes overseen by an eternal city, or
clash together. At the bottom of the Elemental Chaos is
by four cities that each represent a different aspect of
the Abyss, like a hole torn in the fabric of the cosmos.
reality. The Celtic cosmology has an otherworld, called
OTHER VISIONS Tfr na n6g, and the cosmologies of some religions
inspired by Asian myth have a similar Spirit World.
As you build your own cosmology, consider the
following alternatives.
The Omniverse. This simple cosmology covers the PLANAR TRAVEL
bare minimum: a Material Plane; the Transitive Planes; When adventurers travel to other planes of existence,
a single Elemental Chaos; an Overheaven, where good- they undertake a legendary journey that might force
aligned deities and celestials live; and the Underworld, them to face supernatural guardians and undergo
where evil deities and fiends live. various ordeals. The nature of that journey and the trials
Myriad Planes. In this cosmology, countless planes along the way depend in part on the means of travel, and
clump together like soap bubbles, intersecting with each whether the adventurers find a magic portal or use a
other more or less at random. spell to carry them.

CHAPTER 2 I CREATING A Mt.:LTI\ ERSE