Outlands

The Outlands—also known as the Concordant Domain—are the great wheel’s central plane, the vast and enigmatic realm that lies at the hub of the Outer Planes. It stretches outward in all directions from the base of the infinitely tall Spire, upon which Sigil, the City of Doors, hovers like a crown. The Outlands serve as a place of true neutrality, both philosophical and planar, embodying balance between law and chaos, good and evil.

This plane is physically expansive, appearing as a broad, flat disc stretching out for thousands of miles in every direction from the Spire. The terrain is diverse but generally temperate—rolling hills, wide plains, forests, mountains, rivers, and lakes are all found here, though no one biome dominates. The further one travels from the Spire, the more the land subtly shifts in tone and alignment, influenced by the Outer Planes that lie beyond its distant edge.

Around the circumference of the Outlands sit gate-towns, each one positioned near a planar portal leading to one of the Outer Planes. These towns often reflect the nature of the plane they border—orderly and rigid near Mechanus, chaotic and twisted near Limbo, lush and serene near Arborea, grim and oppressive near the Lower Planes. Occasionally, a gate-town can slip into the plane it neighbors, consumed by the very essence it stands beside, and replaced in the Outlands by a new town or a barren stretch waiting to be claimed.

At the center of the plane stands the Spire, a featureless, impossibly tall column that rises infinitely upward. As one approaches the Spire, all forms of magic weaken and eventually fail. At its base, magic ceases to function entirely—divine, arcane, even innate magical traits are suppressed. Time and space feel thin and strange there, and reality grows quiet and still.

The Outlands are not aligned to any moral or ethical extreme. They represent the equilibrium of all beliefs, making them a place of diplomacy, neutrality, and paradox. Philosophies flourish here, and the plane attracts travelers, factions, and seekers who wish to remain uncommitted to cosmic extremes. Though it may seem calm compared to the tumult of the planes that surround it, the Outlands are no less complex—its peace is not the absence of conflict, but the tension between all opposites held in fragile balance.

In essence, the Outlands are the multiverse's center point: a place between all alignments, all paths, all truths. It is the still heart of the cosmic wheel, where every direction leads outward to something else—and yet everything also leads back.