Planes of Existence

Throughout history, the Academy’s sages have put forth differing theories to explain the order of the cosmos. These include bizarre concepts such as the “great wheel,” the “world axis,” the “conjunction of the spheres,” and “planar orbits” to explain magical phenomena and catastrophes. There is no consensus; every theorist is quick to point out the glaring flaws and logical inconsistencies in competing theories.

Planar Travel

Most mortal knowledge of the planes comes from contact with extraplanar creatures via summoning magic or divination spells such as contact other plane. While there are countless ley lines and thin places where the unwary might slip between worlds, deliberate planar travel by mortals is the stuff of legends.

The knowledge and material components for the plane shift spell are jealously guarded by the highest-ranking members of the Amethyst Academy and the Faith of the Sacred Flame. Un fortunately, the means to create the tuning forks needed for the spell were lost during the fall of the Arcane Empire. Since then, powerful mortal spellcasters have devoted their lives to discover ing a new method for creating tuning forks without successes. A potential breakthrough may come from promising experiments with delirium recovered from Drakkenheim. The form these tuning forks take is described in the entry for each plane below.

Mortal World

The mortal world is a sphere of rock orbiting a fiery sun. Several other moons and planets join this cosmic dance, all suspended in an endless Astral Void. Far away, the sparkling stars are other suns.

Only a single tuning fork attuned to the Mortal Plane is known to exist, last seen in the Inscrutable Tower of Drakkenheim. As such, while it is possible to use the plane shift spell to travel to other planes, the spell is rarely used to return to the mortal world. For those who wander into other worlds, the journey home is an adventure in itself.

Siderealms

These worlds are metaphysically close to the Mortal World, such that some creatures can pass through the Ethereal Plane into the Mortal World, and rarely vice-versa. These Siderealms imperfect ly reflect the geography of the Mortal World, but altered in ways appropriate to that plane. A castle in the Mortal World might be an overgrown faerie palace in the Otherworld, a haunted ruin in the Shadowlands, filled with whimsical fantasies in Dreamland, and composed of fire or ice in the Elemental Planes.

Ethereal Plane

A truly liminal space, the Ethereal Plane lies on the metaphysical “borderland” of the Siderealms.

Dreamland

This strange realm is the mortal unconscious made manifest. It is a world of thoughts, dreams, and nightmares, inhabited by nightmarish creatures. Dreamland is effectively the Astral Plane of the world of Drakkenheim; spells such as astral projection allow characters to travel here.

Mortals who physically enter Dreamland find the experience not unlike a lucid dream, and they can exert a subconscious influence on the plane itself. Often, this causes apparitions, visions, and imagined creatures or places to appear or disappear. Upon returning to the waking world, mortal travelers recall their experiences in Dreamland in the same manner as they do dreams, thus their memories of such experiences quickly become hazy and difficult to remember.

Faerie Otherworlds

The realm of fey is sometimes called by other names, such as TírnanÓg, the Feywild, Wonderland, Avalon, and the Elusive Realm. It is uncertain whether or not these names refer to regions within the realm or are in fact distinct worlds entirely.

Of all the planes, there are more tuning forks which lead to the Otherworld than any other plane, and more Thin Places which allow travel between the mortal world and faery realms. They often take the form of trinkets and keepsakes. As such, mortal travelers have visited these planes more frequently, and even occasionally returned with their lives and sanity intact.

Shadowlands

A dark reflection of the mortal world held in perpetual gloom. The souls of the departed pass into the Shadowlands on their way to the afterworlds, but some spirits wander here eternally.

Elemental Plane

A primordial place of raw energy and unbridled potential, the individual planes of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water are found within the churning storms and burning seas of the Elemental Plane. The Amethyst Academy possesses a tuning fork for each of the known elemental planes. However, it is possible there are many more lost in ancient dungeons and temples to elemental entities. Each is made of the associated element. Travel to these places, however, is almost always fatal for mortals without powerful protective magic. Otherwise, a planar traveler would be be burned alive in the planes of fire, crushed or drowned in the planes of earth and water, or fall forever within the plane of air.

Thin Places

These are spots where the borders between worlds are especially weak. In particular, Thin Places often mark the places where creatures from Dreamland, the Shadowlands, and the worlds beyond step into the mortal world. Powerful planar magic can be harnessed here;

Thin Places are characterized by a subtle influence of the corresponding plane. Thin Places can wax and wane over time. An object such as a doorway, arch, stone circle, bridge, wardrobe, or looking-glass can act as a fulcrum for a thin place, and even spontaneously form a planar portal. Animal burrows, lakes, and even trees can act in the same manner, becoming places where mortals and extraplanar creatures can slip between worlds.

When Thin Places wane, it can leave planar travelers trapped in another dimension, unable to return home. Academy scholars claim this is how gnomes, goblins, and many anthropomorphic peoples came to the Mortal World, as well as monsters such as lycanthropes, trolls, and worse.

Afterworlds

Eternity is the sacred celestial afterworld where angels dwell. Followers of the Old Gods sometimes refer to this place as Valhalla, and know the angels there as Nuada’s valkyries.

Interchangeably referred to as Hell or the Abyss, the fiendish afterworld is home to both demons and devils. When they are not waging endless war on each other, demons and devils plot mayhem and conspiracy against mortals.

There are no known tuning forks for the Afterworlds, nor any Thin Places associated with them. The only means by which mortals can enter these realms is through a long and dangerous journey through the Shadowlands, or via the gate spell.

Worlds Beyond

Beyond these fundamental planes, countless other worlds are known to exist. Whether these are actual planes or planets is a matter of debate.