Pure and untainted, the Seven Heavens of Mount Celestia are said to be one of the most breathtaking planes in the multiverse. For those who follow the path of virtue and selflessness, the beauty is awe-inspiring and instills a sense of simple joy that moves many to tears. Those who walk a darker path see only a monument to overblown egos and pride, impressive still, but less moving on a spiritual level.

Everywhere, a vibrant aura of wisdom, justice, and virtue hums, and the souls that die across the multiverse and ultimately end up in the slopes and valleys of the Seven Heavens quickly learn to vibrate in tune with this near-invisible hum. Lawful and good to the extreme, Mount Celestia is a plane that brings out the best in people, pushing them to go farther than they thought they could and reach for an impossible ideal. For here, that ideal is not impossible.

Mount Celestia is often thought of as one single mountain, but the truth is much broader. Unlike the fiery slopes of Gehenna, where each layer is a self-contained volcano, finite in size though still enormous, each layer of the Seven Heavens encompasses a vast region of rugged terrain, plateaus, idyllic mountain valleys, streams, and breathtaking waterfalls. Ascending the “mountain” requires passing trials found at each layer's highest point, allowing the traveler access to the next higher plane. The seventh layer at the “top” of Mount Celestia is the hardest to reach and is supposed to contain a blinding radiance holding true enlightenment. Few have seen it.

Most of the population of Mount Celestia is celestial creatures known as archons. The souls of lawful good creatures across the multiverse are reborn on Mount Celestia as lantern archons, the most common of the celestial natives. However, they can advance through the ranks by performing selfless deeds and confronting evil wherever it may lie. A handful of communities of creatures have sprung up across the Seven Heavens, populated by mortals, archons, and a host of other celestial beings.

Creatures from the Lower Planes, especially demons and devils, view Mount Celestia as the ultimate expression of good and positivity in the multiverse, and many battles have been fought on the shores of the Silver Sea against fiendish invaders. Vigilance is the watchword of the archons stationed on the Silver Sea, vigilance against corruption and invasion from outside forces, and they must be faithful and strong in the face of great odds.

Powerful beings of all types can be found in and around the Seven Heavens. The most famous is Bahamut, the god of good dragons, who dwells in the Platinum Palace that floats above the plane. It is one of the few means of accessing the higher levels of Mount Celestia without having to pass the Trials of Enlightenment that separate each layer, but the vigilant forces of the Platinum Dragon are no fools. The greatest dwarf realm in all the multiverse, Erackinor, is found on the fourth layer, and within its mighty halls dwell Moradin and his powerful host. Paragons of halfling virtue are found in the Green Fields on the third layer of Mount Celestia.

Wisdom, patience, and justice are held in high regard by the natives of Mount Celestia, but it is all tempered with an edge of self-righteousness that can become stifling for those visitors who don’t share the same moral code. Evil acts are not tolerated anywhere, however, and those that perpetrate evil in Mount Celestia find the plane itself works against them. Fiends still try to tear down the great symbol, but most planar scholars believe Mount Celestia is as permanent a fixture in the multiverse as the Nine Hells and the Abyss.

Getting There

Access to Mount Celestia is restricted from outside the plane to the first layer, Lunia, and most often on the shores of the Silver Sea. Portals and gates often appear as two-dimensional silver disks glowing with a soft radiance, and are often found in areas consecrated by holy powers. Ancient temples to lawful good deities, monasteries that adhere to the highest moral code, and even castles of paladins and noble knights can all potentially hold latent portals or gates to the Seven Heavens.

No known portals in the multiverse lead directly to one of the higher layers of Mount Celestia. Rumors persist that some mighty dark forces have created temporary or hidden gates by ripping the fabric of the multiverse open, which may lead to some of the higher layers, but the archons and celestial forces forcefully deny the existence of such openings.

Traveling Around

There is little impediment to travel on the individual layers of Mount Celestia, with easy, well-worn paths crisscrossing the mountains, valleys, and other natural wonders. The Silver Sea is a sailor's dream, with few waves and a gentle but steady breeze that fills sails with great ease. The inhabitants of each layer are friendly to non-hostile outsiders and are usually willing to lend a hand or offer guidance on a particular issue or destination.

Lay of the Land

Lunia

The first layer of Mount Celestia is the most accessible. Lunia is known as the Silver Heaven, and this is where portals and gates from outside the plane lead travelers before they can ascend to higher layers. The sky is midnight blue but dotted with bright twinkling stars, and the lantern archons believe each star is actually a soul that has ascended to the highest peak of the Seven Heavens.

Lunia is unique among the layers of Mount Celestia for several reasons. It is largely made up of a vast wine-dark gulf known as the Silver Sea, through which swim all manner of creatures, celestial and mundane. The waters are naturally blessed and from them rise numerous pillars of natural alabaster stone. Countless creatures have built strongholds and citadels upon these stone pillars, though the most famous are the Beacon Towers, occupied by lantern archons on the lookout for invasion forces from the Lower Planes.

Beyond the shore of the Silver Sea, Lunia’s terrain is more hills and shallow valleys than rough peaks like the higher layers. The stars overhead bathe Lunia in glorious starlight so the darkness is never a bother, and everything is well-lit.

Beacon Towers of the Silver Sea

Lantern archons are responsible for watching over and guarding Lunia from invasion, and they do this primarily by staffing the hundreds of tall Beacon Towers stationed around the shores of the Silver Sea. Each tower stands about 100 feet tall, constructed of polished marble and granite, with numerous balconies along its five-story height. The crenellated top holds a dozen lantern archons at any given time, watching over their designated area for any signs of trouble, surrounding a tall pillar of white crystal in the center.

Each Beacon Tower is built within eyesight of the next, roughly 5 miles across the still waters of the Silver Sea, so that in an emergency, a lantern archon can fuse with the white crystal at the top to create a brilliant signal light. The signal light is then flashed a number of times in correspondence with a known lantern archon code to quickly relay messages throughout the Beacon Towers. It’s an effective strategy for rapidly alerting and passing along messages to whomever needs to be notified.

Mercuria

Beyond Lunia sits Mercuria, the Golden Heaven, where a vibrant golden light always fills the sky. The air is thinner here than on the Silver Heaven, but the mountainous slopes are mild and easy to ascend. Swift-flowing rivers of honey-colored water race through gentle valleys and empty into numerous lakes, many of which rest upon one of the numerous plateaus.

Mercuria is where the honored dead are put to rest, many of whom fought valiantly to keep Mount Celestia safe from invading forces. The archons who tend to the burial sites perform their duties with solemn attitudes, but Mercuria is not a sad place. Memories of heroes, kings, queens, lords, ladies, and more are kept alive by the countless stories told in the villages and small settlements.

Venya

Venya, the third layer of Mount Celestia, is also known as the Pearly Heaven. The hills here are old and rounded, and the air holds the crispness of winter's first touch, which invigorates body and soul. Many of the soft peaks are snow-covered, and it isn’t uncommon to find gentle snow falling from the pale sky overhead, which always seems to be just slightly overcast with pearly clouds hanging overhead.

The valleys of Venya are often filled with natural woodlands of beautiful pine trees and snow-laden meadows. Halflings are a common sight on this layer, as they wander in and around the Green Fields, home to Yondalla and the cheerful halfling powers. The weather is always mild, so a great number of tilled and worked fields can be found on Venya, with many halfling families working the land before cozying up in their burrows near the hearth to enjoy peaceful rest, knowing they’ve done good work in a blessed land.

Solania

Solania is the Crystal Heaven, where a burnished silver sky hangs over the quiet slopes and glaciers. A luminescent fog shrouds most of the valleys on Solania, many of which hold deep mountain lakes fed by the towering nearby glaciers. Rich deposits of ore, from the rare to the mundane, run like solid rivers through the stones of the Crystal Heaven, and it is widely believed that Solania has more caves than any other layer, and the legendary Monastery of Seven Flowers hides somewhere among its majestic peaks.

Solania is where the vast subterranean realm of Erackinor can be found, along with the thousands of dwarves that fill its halls. Moradin and many of the other dwarven powers dwell here, and the rhythmic sound of active mines and forges fills the marvelously engineered tunnels and caves.

Mertion

The Platinum Heaven, Mertion, is a surprising place for those who have ascended through Mount Celestia’s lower layers. Most of Mertion is gentle, rolling plains surrounded by low hills rather than rocky mountains, with nourishing grasses and still mountain lakes in abundance. The sky overhead sits in perpetual evening, with a soft rose-gold color tinging the edges, as if dawn were about to surface.

Numerous paladin orders, celestial hosts, and other martial forces gather on Mertion to train and prepare for glorious combat against evil in all its forms. The highest orders of archons can be found on the Platinum Heaven, planning strategies and taking in reports from across the multiverse. There are numerous secret paths from Mertion to the lower layers that the celestial forces take to arrive to deal with imminent threats quickly. Empyrea, City of Tempered Souls, is found on Mertion as well, and its hospitals and healers are renowned across the multiverse as being the best and most accessible.

Jovar

Jovar is the Glittering Heaven, and it’s easy to see why. The mountain slopes are littered with rubies, garnets, and red diamonds in countless gem fields that stretch in every direction. The rose-colored sky reflects these magnificent gemstones, each one sparkling with an inner light that catches the eye and steals the breath. Archons, who have no need for the priceless gemstones, wander through the fields without purpose as they reminisce about their past lives and deeds. Several enormous ruby heads shaped like humanoids with massive foreheads can be found on Jovar, though their purpose is a mystery to even the archons.

The Heavenly City of Yetsira sits at the highest point of Jovar so that its radiance can be seen everywhere on the layer. It’s a seven-layered ziggurat with enormous staircases running up each of its four sides. This is the only way into Chronias, the highest layer of Mount Celestia, and few have made it and returned.

Chronias

The seventh layer of Mount Celestia is Chronias, the Illuminated Heaven, and it’s also the most mysterious. Many planar scholars believe it is a singular shining radiance created from the composite goodness of the entire multiverse, and that any that actually proves worthy and crosses the Bridge of al-Sihal in the Heavenly City of Yetsira sublimates into the pure radiance of ultimate good. Maybe the story told by the lantern archons on Lunia is true, and the stars in the midnight-blue sky over the Silver Sea are visual representations of those that have reached Chronias. Or perhaps it’s something else entirely. It remains the most endearing mystery of the Seven Heavens.