The Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus
The Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus, sometimes called Nirvana, but mostly used the euphemism Mechanus, was an Outer Plane representing the alignment of lawful neutral, and home to the Modrons.
This plane was filled with an infinite number of country-sized circular interlocking gears which were habitable on one or both sides. These great flat wheels were at least 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) in diameter and had teeth that meshed at right angles, all turning slowly in synchronicity. Each disk had its own gravity that operated in a sphere circumscribing it exactly and pulling normal to the top and bottom surfaces. The void between the gears was filled with air, allowing easy flight. Outside a gravity sphere, objects would feel only very weak attraction to nearby disks. A plane of Law and order, Nirvana had equal amounts of light and dark, heat and cold, and equal measures of the four elements. There was a place for everything and everything was in its place. Even individuals living here existed to fit into the greater scheme of things and thus achieve a perfect society. There was no pain, but the only pleasure was in successfully filling a role like a gear in a machine. Passion, fantasy, and illusion did not exist here, except for what might be brought in by visitors, and any who tried to foment individualism or stir passions for a cause soon found they were not well received. Nirvana was connected to the Prime Material Planes via the Astral Plane, and to the Outer Planes of Arcadia, Acheron, and Concordant Opposition by portals which appeared once every revolution of the gears they belonged to. The period of rotation depended on the size of the gear, but a typical period was twenty days. The portals stayed open for exactly one day. There was one portal to Concordant Opposition, located at the center of the featureless bottom side of a large gear, that was continually open.
The only creatures native to Nirvana were the modrons, a race of beings organized in a rigid caste system and ruled by Primus, the One and the Prime. The most common modrons were the monodrones, single-function drones used as common laborers, servants, or soldiers.
After Orcus killed Primus and triggered an unexpected Great Modron March, he left the Energy Pool in Regulus to search for the Wand of Orcus, leaving the way open for a secundus to be promoted into the new Primus. However, prolonged contact with the Pool caused Orcus's evil influence to taint a fraction of the modrons. One tainted secundus disputed the ascension of any one of the other three and rebelled, leaving Mechanus and taking almost a million modrons with him. The dissidents settled a modron colony in Acheron, where they regrouped to later attempt to retake the plane. This schism crippled the modron race.
DESCRIPTION
This plane was filled with an infinite number of country-sized circular interlocking gears which were habitable on one or both sides. These great flat wheels were at least 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) in diameter and had teeth that meshed at right angles, all turning slowly in synchronicity. Each disk had its own gravity that operated in a sphere circumscribing it exactly and pulling normal to the top and bottom surfaces. The void between the gears was filled with air, allowing easy flight. Outside a gravity sphere, objects would feel only very weak attraction to nearby disks. A plane of Law and order, Nirvana had equal amounts of light and dark, heat and cold, and equal measures of the four elements. There was a place for everything and everything was in its place. Even individuals living here existed to fit into the greater scheme of things and thus achieve a perfect society. There was no pain, but the only pleasure was in successfully filling a role like a gear in a machine. Passion, fantasy, and illusion did not exist here, except for what might be brought in by visitors, and any who tried to foment individualism or stir passions for a cause soon found they were not well received. Nirvana was connected to the Prime Material Planes via the Astral Plane, and to the Outer Planes of Arcadia, Acheron, and Concordant Opposition by portals which appeared once every revolution of the gears they belonged to. The period of rotation depended on the size of the gear, but a typical period was twenty days. The portals stayed open for exactly one day. There was one portal to Concordant Opposition, located at the center of the featureless bottom side of a large gear, that was continually open.
INHABITANTS
The only creatures native to Nirvana were the modrons, a race of beings organized in a rigid caste system and ruled by Primus, the One and the Prime. The most common modrons were the monodrones, single-function drones used as common laborers, servants, or soldiers.
HISTORY
After Orcus killed Primus and triggered an unexpected Great Modron March, he left the Energy Pool in Regulus to search for the Wand of Orcus, leaving the way open for a secundus to be promoted into the new Primus. However, prolonged contact with the Pool caused Orcus's evil influence to taint a fraction of the modrons. One tainted secundus disputed the ascension of any one of the other three and rebelled, leaving Mechanus and taking almost a million modrons with him. The dissidents settled a modron colony in Acheron, where they regrouped to later attempt to retake the plane. This schism crippled the modron race.
"You are hereby exiled from the glory that is Mechanus! If you should ever return, even greater punishments shall be leveled against you, including but not limited to severe fines, imprisonment, hard labor, loss of limbs, loss of sight, geas magic, modron cleaning, modron counting, legal file alphabetization...” — A judge (fortunately) banishing someone from Mechanus.
Type
Dimensional plane
