Dungeon Master's Guide
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item for sale, though the price might wei! be more than<br />
gold. The efreet are fond of trading in favors, especially<br />
when they have the upper hand in negotiations. Perhap<br />
a magical disease or poison can be cured only with<br />
something that must be purchased in the bazaars<br />
of the city.<br />
The heart of the city is the towering Charcoal<br />
Palace, where the tyrannical sultan of the efreet reigns<br />
supreme, surrounded by efreet nobles and a host of<br />
slaves, guardians, and sycophants.<br />
PLANE OF WATER<br />
The nature of water is to flow, not like the gusting wind<br />
or the leaping flame, but smoothly and steadily. It is the<br />
rhythm of the tide, the nectar of life, the bitter tears of<br />
mourning, and the balm of sympathy and healing. Given<br />
time, it can erode all in its path.<br />
A warm sun arcs across the sky of the Plane of<br />
Water, seeming to rise and set from within the water<br />
at the visible edge of the horizon. Several times a day,<br />
however, the sky clouds over and releases a deluge<br />
of rain, often accompanied by spectacular shows of<br />
lightning, before clearing up again. At night, a glittering<br />
array of stars and auroras bedecks the sky.<br />
The Plane of Water is an endless sea, called the Sea<br />
of Worlds, dotted here and there with atolls and islands<br />
that rise up from enormous coral reefs that seem to<br />
stretch forever into the depths. The storms that move<br />
across the sea sometimes create temporary portals<br />
to the Material Plane and draw ships into the Plane<br />
of Water. Surviving vessels from countless worlds<br />
and navies ply these waters with little hope of ever<br />
returning home.<br />
The weather on the plane is a lesson in extremes.<br />
If the sea isn't calm, it is battered by storms. On rare<br />
oc.casions, a tremor in the planar firmament sends a<br />
rogue wave sweeping across the plane, swamping entire<br />
islands and driving ships down to the reefs.<br />
Life flourishes in the upper reaches of the Sea of<br />
Worlds, called the Sea of Light because of the sunlight<br />
filtering down into the water. Aquatic humanoids craft<br />
castles and fortresses in the coral reefs. The marids<br />
are the distant stewards of this region, content to allow<br />
the lesser folk to compete for territory. The nominal<br />
emperor of the marids dwells in the Citadel ofTen<br />
Thousand Pearls, an opulent palace made of coral and<br />
studded with pearls.<br />
The deeper extents of the plane, where no sunlight<br />
reaches, are called the Darkened Depths. Horrid<br />
creatures dwell here, and the absolute cold and crushing<br />
pressure mean a swift end to creatures accustomed<br />
to the surface or the Sea of Light. Krakens and other<br />
mighty leviathans claim this realm.<br />
Any land that rises above the surface of the sea is<br />
hotly contested by the few air-breathers that live on the<br />
plane. Fleets of rafts and ships lashed together serve<br />
as solid ground where nothing else is available. Most<br />
natives of the plane never break the surface of the sea<br />
and thus ignore these habitations.<br />
One of the few actual islands on the plane is the Isle<br />
of Dread. The island is connected to the Material Plane<br />
by means of a regular storm that sweeps over the island.