Dungeon Master's Guide
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Wheel, the World Tree, and the World Axis, but you<br />
can create or adapt whatever model works best for the<br />
planes you want to use in your game.<br />
THE GREAT WHEEL<br />
The default cosmological arrangement presented<br />
in the Player's Handbook visualizes the planes as a<br />
group of concentric wheels, with the Material Plane<br />
and its echoes at the center. The Inner Planes form<br />
a wheel around the Material Plane, enveloped in the<br />
Ethereal Plane. Then the Outer Planes form another<br />
wheel around and behind (or above or below) that one,<br />
arranged according to alignment, with the Outlands<br />
linking them all.<br />
This arrangement makes sense of the way the River<br />
Styx flows among the Lower Planes, connecting<br />
Acheron, the Nine Hells, Gehenna, Hades, Carceri, the<br />
Abyss, and Pandemonium like beads on a string. But it's<br />
not the only possible explanation of the river's course.<br />
THE WORLD TREE<br />
A different arrangement of planes envisions them<br />
situated among the roots and branches of a great cosmic<br />
tree, literally or figuratively.<br />
For example, the Norse cosmology centers on the<br />
World Tree Yggdrasil. The three roots of the World<br />
Tree touch the three realms: Asgard (an Outer Plane<br />
that includes Valhalla, Vanaheim, Alfheim, and other<br />
regions), Midgard (the Material Plane), and Niflheim<br />
(the underworld). The Bifrost, the rainbow bridge,<br />
is a unique transitive plane that connects Asgard<br />
and Midgard.<br />
Similarly, one vision of the planes where the deities<br />
of the Forgotten Realms reside situates a number of<br />
celestial planes in the branches of a World Tree, while<br />
the fiendish planes are linked by a River of Blood.<br />
Neutral planes stand apart from them. Each of these<br />
planes is primarily the domain of one or more deities,<br />
though they are also the homes of celestial and fiendish<br />
creatures.<br />
THE WORLD AxiS<br />
In this view of the cosmos, the Material Plane and its<br />
echoes stand between two opposing realms. The Astral<br />
Plane (or Astral Sea) floats above them, holding any<br />
number of divine domains (the Outer Planes). Below<br />
the Material Plane is the Elemental Chaos, a single,<br />
undifferentiated elemental plane where all the elements<br />
clash together. At the bottom of the Elemental Chaos is<br />
the Abyss, like a hole torn in the fabric of the cosmos.<br />
OTHER VISIONS<br />
As you build your own cosmology, consider the<br />
following alternatives.<br />
The Omniverse. This simple cosmology covers the<br />
bare minimum: a Material Plane; the Transitive Planes;<br />
a single Elemental Chaos; an Overheaven, where goodaligned<br />
deities and celestials live; and the Underworld,<br />
where evil deities and fiends live.<br />
Myriad Planes. In this cosmology, countless planes<br />
clump together like soap bubbles, intersecting with each<br />
other more or less at random.<br />
The Orrery. All the Inner and Outer Planes orbit the<br />
Material Plane, exerting greater or lesser influence on<br />
the world as they come nearer and farther. The world of<br />
Eberron uses this cosmological model.<br />
The Winding Road. In this cosmology, every plane is<br />
a stop along an infinite road. Each plane is adjacent to<br />
two others, but there's no necessary cohesion between<br />
adjacent planes; a traveler can walk from the slopes of<br />
Mount Celestia onto the slopes of Gehenna.<br />
Mount Olympus. In the Greek cosmology, Mount<br />
Olympus stands at the center of the world (the Material<br />
Plane), with its peak so high that it's actually another<br />
plane of existence: Olympus, the home of the gods. All<br />
the Greek gods except Hades have their own domains<br />
within Olympus. In Hades, named for its ruler, mortal<br />
souls linger as insubstantial shades until they eventually<br />
fade into nothing. Tartarus, where the titans are<br />
imprisoned in endless darkness, lies below Hades. And<br />
far to the west of the known world in the Material Plane<br />
are the blessed Elysian Fields. The souls of great heroes<br />
reside there.<br />
Solar Barge. The Egyptian cosmology is defined by<br />
the daily path of the sun- across the sky of the Material<br />
Plane, down to the fair Offering Fields in the west,<br />
where the souls of the righteous live in eternal reward,<br />
and then beneath the world through the nightmarish<br />
Twelve Hours of Night. The Solar Barge is a tiny Outer<br />
Plane in its own right, though it exists within the Astral<br />
Plane and the other Outer Planes in the different stages<br />
of its journey.<br />
One World. In this model, there are no other<br />
planes of existence, but the Material Plane includes<br />
places like the bottomless Abyss, the shining Mount<br />
Celestia, the strange city of Mechanus, the fortress of<br />
Acheron, and so on. All the planes are locations in the<br />
wodd, reachable by ordinary means of travel-though<br />
extraordinary effort is required, for example, to sail<br />
across the sea to the blessed isles of Elysium.<br />
The Otherworld. In this model, the Material Plane<br />
has a twin realm that fills the role of all the other planes.<br />
Much like the Feywild, it overlays the Material Plane<br />
and can be reached through "thin places" where the<br />
worlds are particularly close: through caves, by sailing<br />
far across the sea, or in fairy rings in remote forests. It<br />
has dark, evil regions (homes of fiends and evil gods),<br />
sacred isles (homes of celestials and the spirits of the<br />
blessed death), and realms of elemental fury. This<br />
otherworld is sometimes overseen by an eternal city, or<br />
by four cities that each represent a different aspect of<br />
reality. The Celtic cosmology has an otherworld, called<br />
Tfr na n6g, and the cosmologies of some religions<br />
inspired by Asian myth have a similar Spirit World.<br />
PLANAR TRAVEL<br />
When adventurers travel to other planes of existence,<br />
they undertake a legendary journey that might force<br />
them to face supernatural guardians and undergo<br />
various ordeals. The nature of that journey and the trials<br />
along the way depend in part on the means of travel, and<br />
whether the adventurers find a magic portal or use a<br />
spell to carry them.<br />
CHAPTER 2 I CREATING A Mt.:LTI\ ERSE